The Greater Evil IV : World of Ruins 

Part 3 : Twilight

Chapter 11

There was no warning of the attack, the Avaraen appearing out of nowhere to strike at them. For a brief moment Elayne wondered what the creature had against them, why they kept warring against mankind as they did. A brief moment only. There would be time later to sort who was right and who was wrong, now she would be fighting in self defense.

 

She thanked whatever power had made her run in Kyle and Aimée after the breaking, thank to them, she had managed to get arrows with starspire points, arrows she could wield against the most deadly opposition they had to face. Or rather, she was reminded as an arrow whistled past her, they had managed to get such arrows.

 

One of them, a grubby little shadow, perhaps an imp of some kind, rushed at her, but a quick slash of her long-bladed dagger brought it short. Two more arrows whistled past on either side of her head, coming entirely too close to her comfort. She could use the same focusing technique as the kai masters, at least to an extent, but her companion was only a novice at it...she was too young, too inexperienced...

 

Two more quick slashes of her dagger, another point-blank shot whistling past her to slay an Avaraen, and then the meadow was silent once more, unbroken arrows on the ground the only sign of what had come to pass.

 

Slowly, she turned, her mind reeling from the deadly accuracy of the shots. In the middle of the path, behind her, her companion stood. Her companion, and much more. Black hair covered her head, blue eyes shining in the sunlight. Had it not been for the gift, maybe the curse, she had been given by Aimée and Kyle, she would have been far smaller, the height of one who was barely two years old. Instead, they had argued, claiming she would almost certainly die without what they intended to do, they had struck at her heart, using her weakness to force her to accept what they had offered. She had been too weak, a fool, too much of a fool, sacrificing everything for threats that seemed so distant and so unfounded.

 

Oh, they had not seemed so distant, so unsure then, but now that the deed was done, that the girl she had carried within her had grown fifteen years in the space of two, her age making her closer to being Elayne's sister than her daughter, now that it was done....

 

Now that it was done, she was left with a bitter taste, filled with regret. She had lost Damian, a sacrifice for the world or so they had told her, she had lost their daughter, had not seen her first steps, had not held her for more than a few days, strange magic making her in a woman not much younger than herself in the space of two years.

 

"Thinking about that again mom?" The young woman moved closer, letting a comforting hand rest on Elayne's shoulder. They were close, but being close as they were didn't feel...right. Not like a mother and daughter relationship...not the kind of relationship she would have wanted to have with her daughter.

 

Even her words, meant for comfort, stung her. She had not been a mother to Sarah, never would be, she knew that. She almost pleaded for her to stop using that one word in reference to her, but could not bring herself to do it, to sever a last link to the truth.

 

"I know you're thinking about how you weren't there." The young woman announced, shaking her head. "That doesn't change a thing." She continued, a whisper of sadness in her eyes. She had not enjoyed being motherless for two years, or fifteen. But somehow she could not bring herself to blame anyone for it, for doing what they truly believed was the best for her. "Just be my mother now. That's all I want."

 

With a weary sigh, Elayne caressed her daughter's hair, wishing futilely she could forgive herself as easily as Sarah did. Night was settling down on them slowly, a blanket of darkness covering the world. They had little to eat, but yet they did as they could, swallowing what they had, before rolling in the blankets they carried with them, sleeping as they could on the hard soil.

 

At least Sarah was old enough to take a traveling life, to allow them both to stay on the move and not penned down, was old enough not to be a steel chain around her neck. Selfish arguments in a way, but yet the only reasons she could find to atenuate the pain of what she had done. It didn't work, not nearly well enough, but it was all she had.

 

Her blue eyes closed, her blond hair falling loosely around her head, she could not in any way perceive the black lifeless iris eyeing her from the other side of the road. She had wandered down a dangerous path during the battle, one that the dark figure would not let her explore further. She certainly was still far from a solution, but understanding the problem remained all the same the first step to finding one.

 

Slowly flying away, the Angiris mused about what best way there were to deal with the problem.

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The barren lands south and to the west of the Silver Mountains had once been covered by a great forest, so that any who flew over them would witness only a sea of emerald. The loss of the rivers that fed the land had been an harsh blow, and now the trees had died. Fire had taken some, its source unknown, not that it mattered.

 

"Why did you insist on coming this way?" Jeffrey's voice was merely curious, barely an hint of frost in it, only perceivable if it was sought. May simply ignored it. She had far better to do than bother with half- forgotten remnants of an hatred of her that had been more than justified. She wished he could forgive her, but could not blame him for not doing so. She had not tortured herself, had done what little she could to save as many as possible from the inquisitors...it had not been enough, not nearly so.

 

"Why not come this way?" Misty objected before May could speak.

 

Pushing the edge of her cloak back, May mentally nooded. The dry, dusty road were bare and without much of interest, but then, so had been the sea, empty and dark, yet seemingly a monster waiting only for a rising wind to swallow them. She felt much more comfortable on land, feeling solid soil under her feet than at sea in a small wooden ship that would capsize with a good sneeze.

 

"Why not go another way?" The question was just as easy to ask, an answer just as efficient as the one Misty had given.

With a brief shrug, Misty looked around. "What difference does it make anyway?"

"That I wouldn't have sore feet, that's the difference it makes." Jeffrey chuckled, obviously not meaning it. He had fought too much on the wall, as far as May could tell, to be bothered by a few days of walking. He had walked a long time, too, with Ash and his companions, from all accounts she had heard, but she preferred not to dwell on that. Thinking of Ash brought stinging thoughts of her inability to save him, something too painful even now.

"I'll find you some warm water." Misty promised merrily. "That way you can have a feet bath by the time we settle down tonight. Now wouldn't that be nice?"

"Yes, especially if you let me dump it on your head right after." The reply was mocking, as they all grinned. All except May.

 

The wind picked up around four in the afternoon, or at least so they assumed the time to be thank to the sun. Their watches, which had barely survived the breaking thank to the protective wave of energy cast out by Mewtwo, had long since died to lack of energy, and the few remaining power sources had far too much to do to be wasted on watches.

 

The blazing sun slowly lowered, earlier than May would have liked it to. At night, finding their way would be hard, nearing impossible, not with the stars as their only guide, moonrise too far away to be of any help. Yet another day searching, yet another day without finding even the smallest traces of the hundreds, thousands of Avaraen that had sailed from the southernmost part of the Alph peninsula.

 

"May, I think we should stop." Misty called out, pointing at the sun, now more than halfway down beyond the horizon. Yes, soon the darkness would be too total to even set their camp, it was time to stop. She wished it could be otherwise, a bitter feeling eating her inside as she vainly hoped for some miracle that would let them continue their hunt.

"Right, time to set up camp." A voice filled with words she didn't want to mean, but had no choice but to say.

 

It was quickly done, of course. For an army on the march to set up camp, hours would have been needful. For the four of them, it was done before the sun could go much further down, a warm fire kindled by Naïa, ever thoughtful of ensuring they had what they needed. Some dried brown bread from their pack, cheese as well, some water from the last stream they had encountered, it was a meager meal, but it was what they could get, and at least enough to allow them to sleep without too much protests from grumbling stomachs.

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Three more days traveling, filled with remorse. Elayne wished she could just forget, but it was one of these thing that were deep carved in her now. She had once been part of the infamous Team Rocket, there had met Damian, falling in love with him. She had discovered she was one of the nine, had fought against the Lord of the night, had carried a child, hers and Damian's. And just as those were part of her life she could never forget, so was the deal she had been forced to strike with Kyle and Aimée.

 

Again, the attack came without warning, though it was of a completely different kind. As they made their way on what might have once been a road, they ran in a small encampment, filled with men. They wore white cloaks, carried swords and lances.

 

Neither Elayne nor Sarah had been ready for the ambush, and as fast as she drew her knife, she knew she couldn't defend herself nearly well enough. Not outnumbered and outmatched as she was - in close combat against well armed humans, she definitely was not skilled.

 

The only possible saving grace she could see was the fact that she could take many wounds without being killed, the gift of nature, just as each other member of the nine had been gifted with a strange shape painted, though in such a way that no washing would ever wash it out, on their back, and with powers matching.

 

The first slash that caught her struck her lower left leg, a nasty red cut appearing out of nowhere, then vanishing half a second later. She fought onward, her wounds healing as they were made, but knowing it wouldn't nearly be enough.

 

There was no need to yell to her daughter, the young woman understood by watching. Fighting as she could, Elayne held back the attackers in the narrow area between the edge of a cliff and the foot of another. It was barely large enough for a man to stand, and, grinding her teeth, she could hold her own there for a while. Sarah ran behind her, fleeing from the battlefield. Just what Elayne had wanted.

 

Her arm seemed to grow heavier with every strike she took, but she struck still - until a rasp on the head by a man who had managed to sneak behind brought her down. She was stunned for but a few moments, but they were enough. The leader of the men, a telltate red lotus flower on his cloak that sent shiver down her spine, looked at her quickly.

 

"Pokemon trainer, uh? Good. That means a few more avaraen for our army." He muttered. "Catch the other, she should be another good choice to kill. She's at least related to a pokemon trainer, I'm pretty sure."

 

A few of the officer's men walked off, or rather raced, as Elayne watched, bitter tears flowing down her cheeks. She had not wanted life to end like that, not when she barely even knew her daughter, and certainly not handing a weapon to those who obviously were against the world. But it was too late now, or so it seemed.

_______________________________

 

"What's that shouting?"

 

They had gone five more days through the wasteland then up the mountains, and even May's feet were beginning to be sore. Somehow, the hard days she had spent walking across the world alongside Misty did not seem so harsh as those she now spent on the move.

"I don't know. Guess we should take a look." She replied quickly, her hand reaching for the hilt of her sword. She was not the only one to do so. Jeffrey had lowered his halberd, ready to charge with it, and Misty's hand hovered dangerously close to her katana.

"Right." Misty nodded, silently moving along the path, then in the rocky land that provided far better cover to approach enemies that whatever else they could come up with. They followed her, all of them as silent as the other, a skill Naïa had taught them all in the first few days of their journey, after they had left the ship behind.

 

Even sneaking, it didn't take too long to reach the source of the screaming. A young dark-haired girl was being dragged by a group of rough- looking men toward another such group. To May, familiar with military deployment, it looked like a scouting group reporting to their leader after finding out an enemy scout too near.

 

Peering again at the leader, her heart froze. On his white cloak, a red- shaped lotus was definitely visible, an emblem she was familiar with, all too much so. The Crimson Lotus, which she had once led. Some of the men down below looked like common bandits, but others, the captain especially, had the demeanor of professional warriors, those who had fought long.

 

"That's not going to be easy." She softly warned the others.

"Feeling regrets at no longer being with them?" The biting question could only come from Jeffrey.

"Feeling regrets about then mot coming over to this side with me." She answered just as quickly. "Naïa, used those shuriken of yours on the leader, and as many others as you can get. Jeffrey, stay close to her, cover her while she kills them off." She started giving out her order crisply. No matter if it was thousands of men clashing, or four against fifteen, she was in her element now.

"Misty, with me. We need to hit them hard while they are disorganized." She added quickly, her sword now unsheathed as she made her way down.

 

Before long, a soft whistling noise barely head signaled that on the other side, Naïa had launched a first shuriken. The sound was only there for those who sought it, as the enemy leader had no warning, crumpling in a heap withint instants, as did two of the guards near the young woman.

 

The white-cloaked troopers reacted quickly, at least most of them did, their stance and efficient deployment clearly showing they were veteran soldiers as their captain had been. Those who raced toward Naïa's hiding place, however, ran in a nasty surprise as they were met thunderbolt raining down from the sky and an halberd slashing at them with fierce fury.

 

Drawing their swords, Misty and her charged from behind, quickly finishing up the job. The young woman looked at them curiously, as they turned to face her.

 

Chapter 12

 

Bodies littered the ground, that of the ten guards they had just killed. Taking deep breaths, Misty tried not to think too much about the live wasted just then. It was something she had learned to do during the long and deadly war against the Crimson Lotus, years before. Thinking about the killing would only make her fee guilty, dirty, disgusted at herself, no matter the cause.

 

"Who are you?" the young woman they had just rescued had dropped back in her fighting stance. "What do you want?"

"Whoa, calm down..." Naïa smiled. "My name's Naïa Ashalan. We're only trying to help you." She reached out with and hand to the young woman as Misty observed her. She was young, younger than them certainly, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. Jet black hair framed her face, sending sharp stabs of remembrance at Misty, too similar to Damian's. Her blue eyes were wary, guarded, not betraying any true feeling, reminiscent of Elayne's. Had she not been much too old for it, Misty would have been tempted to say the young woman was their daughter. Of course, that was impossible, given that she was at most five or six years younger than Misty herself or Elayne.

"I'm Jeffrey Surge." The young man presented himself.

"And I'm May Oak." May shrugged slightly. Her eyes were looking curiously at the men on the ground, as if she was looking for one to interrogate, one that would have survived the blows. "Why did these men attack you?" there was something odd about May, Misty realized. Something...not guilt...she looked haunted.

"They appeared around here a few months ago. They try to capture people, who are never seen again." The girl breathed sharply, her mask slowly fading as what seemed to be a tear began to form in her right eye.

 

Noticing her distress, Naïa was quick to move, letting a comforting hand rest on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" She asked softly.

"They got my mother during a fight yesterday. They already carried her off." She shook her head, bitter tears now flowing, sadness mixing with a still-struck disbelief. "She just was so good with that bow...I don't know how she could even lose a fight..." Shaking like a leaf in autumn, the young woman let her head rest on Naïa's shoulder.

 

"Doesn't she remind you of someone?" The soft whisper came from Jeffrey.

"Of course she does. Two someone. Did you really need to ask?" Misty's reply was just as hushed. "But I just don't see what link there could be...I mean, she's too old..."

"Right. But on the other hand, a certain friend of us is adept at toying with time. And if I remember well, that friend's mistress just happened to be the elemental of nature, which was the one linked to Elayne."

 

Turning the idea over in her head, Misty considered the point. It could be possible, she reluctantly had to admit, at the same time berating herself for missing it. The link seemed tenuous, hardly visible, a thread that could be used for fishing...but fishing rope, while thin and nearly invisible, was among the most solid there was.

 

"It could be." She bit her lips, keeping her voice down, stealing a few glances at Naïa and the young woman.

 

"What's your name?" May broke the silence, her voice awkward, her eyes still haunted.

"My..." The girl gulped. "My name?" She breathed, brushing off a tear. "My name's Sarah." She seemed to hesitate, unwilling to give the rest of the name somehow. "Sarah...Waterflower." She finished, getting a variety of reactions. May glanced at Misty in surprise, while Naïa patted Sarah on the back, an encouraging smile on her lips. Jeffrey nodded, while Misty herself took a sharp breath. Theorizing on how it could be was one thing, seeing their theories confirmed was another entirely. "At least...that's what my mother told me my father's name was." She amended slightly."

"And what's your mother name?" The question was, of course, purely for confirmation, they had already surmised the answer, except Naïa.

"Elayne Loreana." There was no shock, no great reaction. It only confirmed what they already knew from her earlier answer.

"How, though? I knew Elayne...she's much too young to be your mother...no offense meant..." May asked, then added precipitedly, realizing how closely she had come to alienating the young woman.

"Do you know her friend Aimée Ryder? She's the one to blame." There was no bitterness in the girl's voice, as if there was no true blame to be given. "At least partly. Outside that, there were others involved, but I'm not too sure about that stuff, so..." She said no more about the topic. Misty only nodded, her suspicions confirmed. So did Jeffrey, for that matter. May, stealing a glance at them, caught the message, nodding in turn as she accepted their judgment.

 

"Well, I guess I should present myself." Smiling faintly, Misty walked up to the young woman. "I'm Misty Waterflower. Your father's twin sister, I believe."

 

As the girl turned to watch her, curiosity painted all over her face, Misty reached out with her hand, feeling a bit foolish, dumbstruck, and above all, understanding at last why Tanya had reacted so strangely to finding out she was Misty's aunt.

___________________________

 

"Is Tanya coming back any time soon?" As they walked in the deep forest of Viridian, the question left Giovanni's lips. Anything to not think about the damp weather that piled lead on their shoulders, making each step harder than the last.

"I've tried to get in touch with her. She says she'll do her best, but that there are plenty of things she still wants to check before leaving." Danea seemed to have an easier time with the weather than most of them, seemingly blowing the air around her with her mind, keeping the heat from being too restrictive. Uselessly, Giovanni wished he could do the same, something that of course was not the case.

 

Behind, the other three members of their group walked in single file. It was not much, the seven of them, but together, they might be able to find a way to counter the growing power of the Avaraen, or the mysterious new threat that had appeared in the south, beyond the barrier of the mountains.

 

"What are we looking for exactly?" The voice was curious, as befit one of the greatest surviving scientist of the world. Most of them, like Samuel Oak and Philena Ivy were dead, but Bill Watson was still alive, with all the knowledge inside his mind. Two of the others were pokemon breeders, not to mention they were more or less the de factor leaders of Pewter, while the last two were simple rocket agents. Or had been, has defining them as simple rocket agent would lead to forgetting all their actions in the past five years or so.

"An old research installation of mine. Where we were testing a prototype EMP shielding system by the time the breaking started."

 

The sharp hiss of amazement was Bill, as he would be the only one to truly grasp what the shielding might mean, if it was successful. Had been successful he corrected himself, the time for it to face its greatest test was long since past. Had it been successful, they would have access to some high-end, military grade computers and weapons from before the breaking, absolutely intact - an entire research facility filled with equipment mostly everyone thought lost to mankind. There had been a few other EMP shield being worked on by various groups, and probably other such locations subsisted, but the matter was, too often, that their creators had been drawn in other conflicts before they could make use of their bases. It had taken three years for him to be able to come back, three years too many.

 

There it was, the dull gray of concrete visible against the brown of tree trunks and the emerald of their leaves. A quick tingling feeling as he passed what had to amount to the defensive shielding, and he headed toward the door. Praying, he unlocked the door, walking in the dark building. A switch nearby would set back up the power generator, which had been wisely closed down, he pulled it. Soon the humming noise was heard throughout the location, a first victory. Praying even harder, he reached for a second switch. If the shield had not worked completely, if it had failed to protect all the base...He pulled the switch, his eyes closed.

 

A flash of light caused him to open them again, blinking, as great glow panels lit up all over the roof, as computers everywhere powered up, as bristling research material in perfect condition was revealed. It had worked, as he had hoped. Of course, the laboratory alone held little weapon, certainly not enough to wage war with...

 

But with it in their hands, developing the new weapon they would need has just turned a lot more easier.

 

"Bill, I believe before the breaking you had an interesting project about induced evolution?" He started, wondering how long getting to the depths of that one path would take. It would take the time it had to, but hopefully it would be what they needed, too.

____________________________

 

"So these guys took your mother away." They had talked for a while, and now May, her voice sharp, brought back the topic of what had happened to Elayne.

"Yes." Sarah nodded once, kept silent, nodded again.

"I don't get it. She used no pokemon, right?"

"Didn't even carry a pokeball with her. She had her pokemon, but didn't use them." The answer was crisp and clear, no traces of the emotions that had been there before remaining. She had to be hiding them, that much was sure.

"Why would they attack civilians for no reason?" May, on the other hand, was walking around as a caged animal, eyes haunted, disbelief painted all over her face. "That's not the way we used to do things...what are they up to?" her mutter was hardly audible, though Misty caught it.

 

"I guess we should go and see what they're up to ourselves." She offered. "Besides which, we should really try to get Elayne back, shouldn't we?" A much more valid reason to go as far as she was concerned, but if May was more interested in knowing the truth than in rescuing a friend...

 

"Two good reasons. The later especially so." The young woman nodded quickly. "Anyone has an objection to that?"

"Shouldn't we find those avaraen first?" Naïa brought up.

"I think we're better off rescuing Elayne. She might have information for us." May mused softly. "Anyway, better to have a clear goal than to wander aimlessly around trying to find a trace of them."

"Good point." With a quick nod, Jeffrey turned toward Sarah. "Can you take us to where they ambushed the two of you? From there we should be able to track them down..."

 

With another nod, the young woman rose to her feet, leading them in the twisted rocks. They traded no words as they walked, none either as they found the obvious tracks leading away from the ambush spot toward the south.

 

They simply followed it, ready to draw their weapon, Naïa on point, Misty silently moving from half-black tree to half-black tree on the side of the path, a surprise for any attacking Avaraen, while the others just spread out to make it harder for an attacker to surround them.

 

As the sun faded behind the mountains, they had of course not caught up with anyone, and Misty couldn't help but wonder if they'd be there in time to save Elayne. She fervently hoped it was so, it had to be so.

_________________________

 

"I have to admit, your idea makes sense." Ash gave in, listening to Sabrina's idea. He too remembered the mysterious "city" he had seen on that map that none other except Sabrina had been able to catch a glimpse of. How much random chance could it be that the city, in mountains he had always felt drawn too, had only been seen by him and Sabrina, the two that were gathered now? Too many coincidence not to investigate the whole matter.

 

Sabrina was about to reply when an espeon jumped to sit in her lap, smiling. Sabrina stared in surprise at the creature, scratching it between the ears, caressing it idly as she returned to the discussion.

 

"It certainly does." She seemed to consider it again slowly. Ash did the same, making sure not to leave one stone unturned, any chance that they might be going on the wrong path ignored. "I don't see anything better for us to do than go that way, anyhow."

"Good point." He admitted again. There might be reasons not to go there, but there was nowhere else to go. They would do as well wasting their time trying to go there as they would do wasting their time staying in the crater, as there at least was a chance that the new journey would have a point. "Gary, Tomoyo?"

"You can count on us, of course." Gary flashed him a smile. He would not miss out the action, that much Ash had been sure of. Hopefully, he would fare better under enemy fire than he had done before.

"Thanks..." Sabrina paused, though Ash had been sure she was about to say something else. She looked curiously at the Espeon, her eyes puzzled.

 

"Something wrong?" Gary questioned, just as surprised as Ash himself.

"Not really wrong. Just...odd. Like someone had used a partial disable of some kind on that pokemon..." She seemed to muse. "Let's just see what I can do about that."

 

As she concentrated on the pokemon, Ash concentrated on what she had just said. She had seemed to hesitate, though only barely, before calling the Espeon a pokemon. It made no sense, so why? He reached out for Tairen's memories, hoping to find a clue...

 

Then stopped in the middle of doing so. He had just found a clue, but not in Tairen's memory - or rather, only in the fact that they existed. It could be a soul gifted human, having obtained the ability to transform from such a gift...

 

And then Ash froze as a thousand little hints fell in place, perfectly fitting, explaining all too well why the so-called pokemon had fled when its so-called mistress had been killed, instead of going to them. Explaining too well, too, why the Espeon insisted so much on hanging around Gary now, and explaining why Sabrina thought it wasn't a pokemon at all. It was no certitude, but it made sense.

 

Sabrina's eyes blazed as blue light enveloped her and the pokemon, a tremendous wave of energy even he could feel washing around them. The blue glow subsided, to be replaced by a white glow surrounding the espeon.

 

"Since when does espeon evolves?" Tomoyo questioned, her eyes wide.

"She's not evolving. She's transforming." Gary, apparently, had drawn the same conclusion, and his quivering voice certainly confirmed that.

"Yeah. I would guess that she transformed at first as a reflex to the soul gift, then was unable to shift back somehow, and fled." Sabrina nodded. So she had understood the implication of her finding as she had made it. All the implication, she made that obvious with a glance at Tomoyo and Gary in turn.

 

The white shining form seemed to elongate, became more humanoid. And as the glow slowly faded away, instead of an espeon, a young woman stood there, The long greenish hair in ponytails on either side of her head were hauntingly familiar, her face, though older, that of someone they all knew. Duplica.

 

Chapter 13

 

"I've been thinking about one thing for a while..." Duplica told them all seriously the next morning. "It's about my name."

 

They had not talked much the day before, too awed to do anything but sit together. Duplica had been thoughtful the whole time.

 

"Oh?" With a raised eyebrow, Gary turned toward her. The others reacted in similar ways.

"Yeah, well...you probably noticed a long while ago Duplica isn't much of a name..." She smiled sheepishly. "Which it isn't, not really. It was a nickname, or more accurately, a scene name, which I took when I started putting together my show." She admitted. "Anyway. I thought that us guys had worked together enough..." Her gaze carefully and dutifully avoided Tomoyo, "That I might as well tell you my real name. You know, a mark of friendship and of trust, and all that."

"I get it." Ash slowly nodded. "I was going to tell you earlier Gary, but we didn't really have time that morning, and, well...I couldn't really do so afterward."

 

With a nod, Gary sighed in relief as the hurt he had not realized was there slowly vanished, like darkness before the radiant sun. Of course, it made sense...she had planned to tell him, but had been brutally interrupted. "I understand."

"So, what's your name anyway?" Ash's question was straight to the point, a bit insensitive, though certainly not as far as Gary could tell meant to be so.

"Miyako." She smiled. "I looks a lot like my mother, but my father was from Hosho. I got my name from him, and for everything else I'm my mother's daughter."

"That's a pretty name. You should have told us before." Ash smiled.

"Yeah, well..." She seemed to hesitate. "Truth is, stopped using it after I started my show, so...I got used to thinking of myself as Duplica long before you met me. I only thought about my real name when Gary and I got together..." She trailed off, Tomoyo glaring at her. "And after that, I started thinking Duplica just didn't sound right for a name anymore...it was a kid's name. I think we all aged in more way than one since then." She concluded. "If you'd rather call me Duplica, I understand, but I'd appreciate it if you helped me let that name behind."

 

She did not need to add anything. To Gary at least, it was perfectly clear that she simply didn't like having her scene name used now that her key partner, her prized ditto, was dead.

___________________________

 

"Do we walk all the way, or do we take our pokemon and fly?" Gary's question came out as he gathered what few belongings he had in the cave inside the crater. Ash turned, a sympathetic smile on his face, knowing his friend was trying very hard not to think about the love triangle in which he had suddenly found himself.

"I vote for walking. A feeling I have flying just wouldn't do the trick." Sabrina replied.

"Personally, I would rather fly. I could turn in some flying bird and then Gary could fly me." Miyako - it was hard not to think of her as Duplica - suggested, the twinkling in her eyes saying louder than words that she was aware the sentence could be taken in a very wrong way.

"Good thing you said fly and not one of the other term you could have used there." Gary laughed, then became sober again. To Ash's mind, there was no doubt he was once more trying to find a way to avoid destroying his heart and that of either Dupli - he interupted himself, forcing his mind to accept the name Miyako instead of Duplica - or Tomoyo.

"Back to the real matter at hand" Ash focused his mind back on his friend's question. "I think we'd better go on feet. Just a feeling, like Sabrina."

"Well...I'd just as soon not fly." Tomoyo admitted. "I'm - or at least I used to be - sort of airsick."

"Guess that makes it a majority vote. We're walking, it looks like." With a weary sigh, Gary finished packing, just as Tomoyo was doing the same.

 

Leaving the island on Sabrina's small boat was not much of a challenge, it was large enough to carry the five of them from one side to the other. Had it been too tight, one or two of them could have flown over, but they didn't really need to do so.

 

Twilight was settling down around the land as they arrived on the shore of what he assumed has to be the mainland. There were no lights, no signs of visible habitation nearby, only a lush forest waiting, with the stark peaks of the Wall mountains to the east. To get to the city and back in Johto, they would have to cross those giants, most certainly not a pleasing prospect. The Wall had kept at bay the Serlanders invader from Johto and Kanto all but two time in history - once, nearly two thousand year before, when they had first invaded, and again, later, when the world had been embraced by an all-encompassing war.

 

Without much else to do, they stepped in the forest, tracking their way northward - at least, with little way to see the sun, they thought it was north - in the vast sea of trees. Maples were dominant, though some birch trees were found also, and here and there the tormented shape of a pine, more frequent as they moved further from the sea, could be seen. There was wildlife in the forest, although not much of it - a few pokemon, mostly pidgey behind the low branches and sentret jumping around, and some small bugs, luckily not mosquitoes.

 

At first there was some luck, as they found a stream that seemed to go northward, and followed it through the forest, confirming their position with the sun whenever they reached a clearing. Before long, however, it took a wide swing to the east, leaving them without a clear guide. Still, they kept on northward, or as northward as they could without any way to guide themselves.

 

They didn't speak much, at least not as a whole group. Ash and Sabrina would often spend time together, talking about what they had seen in the cave and how best to do something about it, while Tomoyo and Miyako would either be talking or glaring at each other, their relationship a strange mix of friendship and hatred. Gary tried to avoid them all, only talking with Ash from time to time, but mostly isolating himself as he tried desperately to decide what - who - he really wanted.

 

"Things are quiet. I thought Avaraen were crawling everywhere when I got kicked back downstairs." He commented softly on their fifth day of traveling, as they installed themselves for the night in what should amount to a safe place for the night, where the branches of a number of pines and low bushes formed a sort of natural cave between them, keeping most of the soft rain off them.

 

A small campfire was quickly set up by Gary with some of the dry wood he had picked up all day. Ash made as if to move to prepare something to eat, but he was stopped by Gary. "Don't you dare Ash." He smiled, though briefly. "I'm not going to let you poison us all."

"Hey!" With a rapid protest, Ash ran after his friend all over the small clearing while Miyako and Tomoyo watched, bemused.

"Children." Sabrina laughed softly, quietly, a sound he had almost never heard before. He whirled in surprise, there she was, chuckling to herself, a twinkle of happiness in her eyes he had never seen there.

"Hey!" He said again, then hesitated, deciding finally that he would certainly have more occasions to pick a mock fight with Gary, while such an occasion with Sabrina was something rare. Turning, he went after her. After throwing him a startled look, she elected to run, though her smile was still very much there.

 

Still, he did catch up with her and, with a grin, started tickling her. She shuddered, her smile disappearing for the a long moment as he did so. Seeing her face, he immediately stopped as she shuddered again.

 

"Sorry..." She shivered again, pain in her face. "It's just...remember that time a few years ago just before we all gathered at Danea's place? We told you about it..."

 

He nodded, the memories flooding back. At that time, a man had tried to rape her, being stopped in time, but still managing to go quite too far already. Yes, he could certainly understand why the tickling would have brought back memories.

 

"It's me who's sorry." He sighed. "I should have thought about it - I knew what happened back then."

"You couldn't remember." There was a slight tremor in her voice, perhaps sadness. Once she had been a master of keeping her emotions hidden, of freezing them past what anyone could see. No more. She might not be as open as the average human, but she was far more open with feelings than she had been. "Don't worry about it." she whispered.

 

They were silent for a while, just sitting close to each other, though not too close. Ash's mind was on Misty, and on the day they had all spent traveling together, while Sabrina seemed to be trying very hard not to think - without much success, again surprisingly.

 

"Sometime, I wish you guys had never saved me...things were so much simpler when I didn't have to worry about feelings..." She shook her head. "About all those stupid emotions."

"True. Life would probably be much simpler without emotions. Much blander, too." He couldn't know, but as far as he was concerned, it was the truth. Emotions made life worth it. His love for Misty, his friendship with Gary...without them, he wouldn't have pulled through so many tight situation.

"Yeah. And once you have love and serious, strong friendship, I guess it's true...but without them, it's hard to realize that." Her tone was hushed, pained. He looked at her again, her words registering on his mind - and searing it. It was true, she had never known either, not really. They had been comrades, traveling companions, all of them, but friends? Not really. Not the true, strong kind of friendship he had shared with Richie, or Damian, and far from the even stronger kind he shared with Gary.

 

He wouldn't be able to help much when it came to her finding love, but at least, he could help her find friendship - he would give it his best try. "I see what you mean." He whispered.

____________________________

 

A succession of faces, whirling in his dreams as he tried to sleep. Miyako, but she called herself Duplica again, then turned back to Miyako. Tomoyo. One after the other, each of them smiling, their shining eyes like daggers piercing at his heart. He tried, wanted to decide which one he really loved, but couldn't.

 

Conflicting emotions raged through his entire self, tearing him apart. He could not bring himself to break the heart of either of them - but if he didn't do so, he would break the heart of both, and his own. Though of course, his own heart would be broken just as well if he did make a choice, by having broken the heart of the other.

 

Wearily, knowing he would not get more sleep that night, he woke up. Reaching for his bottle of water, he drank a little from it, though not much. Shaking his head, he looked in turn at either of them, trying without success to make up his mind once more. Both of them were wonderful, awesome women. Both of them were intelligent, and both of them had managed to catch his heart in a vice.

 

It would have been so much simpler if Duplica had not apparently died six years - had it been that long already? - before. Or if, over those six years, he had really forgotten her, not simply buried his feelings for her deep. Or if Tomoyo had stayed a simple soul inside of him. Or if Duplica had actually died, not simply been trapped in a body not her own to return now as Miyako. Or...

 

With another sigh, he stopped. There was no point thinking about might-have- been. Things were as they were, and there would be no changing it. He simply wished he could make a choice, any choice, and end the torturing wait for them all.

 

He did not get more sleep that night, he had not expected to. Rising the next morning, he felt more tired than he had been in years, and had a strange urging to not leave his blankets. Yet he did rise, knowing they had to make their way further.

 

That day, and the next two, went by normally, the alternating sun and moon barely visible over the trees. There was no telling how far north they had come, especially since they were on the Serland side of the mountains, one none of them knew, and therefore had no true landmarks to locate even when Ash managed to find a clearing in the trees large enough to go fly around for a better idea of how things were.

 

"All I can say is that even spiraling up as far as Celes will go, I didn't catch the smallest glimpse of the sea. Which means we have gone a long way north." He reported. "That should be good news of a kind."

"I guess so..." Shaking himself, Gary tried to take his mind off his own problems. There would be time enough to deal with matters of love once they had saved the world. Now, if only his heart could listen to reason...

 

Of course, Duplica picked just that moment to come in the little clearing, back from trying to find some water for them all. Sabrina was not far behind, seeming to have a great deal of fun with the stack of wood floating - or rather, acrobatically flying - behind her, surrounded by a blue glow. They each took their turn at setting things up when they stopped for the night, now it had been Gary's turn to set up the campsite, along with Tomoyo, while Ash scouted out ahead, and the other two gathered wood and water.

 

Her return brought down his pitiful attempt at not thinking about the dilemma mercilessly. Again it tore apart his heart. Miyako, Tomoyo. Tomoyo, Miyako. It seemed as if he would never be able to chose, but such a choice was one he could entrust to no one else.

 

Chapter 14

 

"Induced evolution, in a nutshell, is how you can, for example with the elemental stones, force a pokemon to evolve." Bill explained them. "Now, it was long thought that for evolution to take place, you needed simply to reach a certain criteria, at which point the pokemon would become a more advanced version of itself."

 

"Yeah." Brock nodded shortly, wondering what the scientist was leading them toward. The old Rocket lab around them was well-lit, a welcome difference from the ruined world around them.

"However, certain pokemon can evolve different ways when different criterias are met. Slowking, the Eevee line and Politoed are all examples." He explained further, juggling with a pair of evolution stones.

 

"That has led us to speculate that the evolution trigger is one thing that vary from pokemon to pokemon, but that other elements also influence on how the evolution take place. For example the Eevees evolves at contact from an elemental stone, or during battle if they are extremely happy. What determine how they evolves is another factor completely. At least we believe so. Without any outside influence beyond their evolution criteria, they evolves normally, or sometime not at all."

"So you think it would be possible to create new pokemon that simply?" Giovanni sounded awed ."After all the time we spent on gene-splicing, such an easy solution..."

"I definitely think so. In fact, I was about to begin experimenting with that with what I had when you bothered me." The researcher smiled. "Though I guess having the team you gathered to work with me is going to help."

"Thanks." The older man gave a brief smile.

"All right. I guess we should do some experimenting about my idea now..." The scientist smiled. "We'll need a pokemon for that that's almost ready to evolve by battling."

"My Rhyhorn would work, I guess..." Brock replied doubtfully, not too sure he wanted to risk one of his prized pokemon in an experiment.

"A Rhyhorn would work fine." Bill nodded. "Let's set everything up, then."

"Let's do." Giovanni nodded. "Jessie, James, help Bill with whatever he needs you to do." The man who had once led Team Rocket ordered. "Brock, Suzie, take care of the Rhyhorn. We don't want it smashing this lab." The stern voice was unnecessary. They all realized how much the place was worth already.

 

Bill quickly gathered his material, a strangely metallic sheet and a fire stone, looking them over carefully to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. Just the same, even though he knew the Rhyhorn has been bred as carefully as possible by Suzie and him, Brock looked him over to make sure he was in the best possible health.

 

"All fine here." Bill finally stated.

"All fine here too." Brock reluctantly said, patting the large stone beast.

"Let's begin then." Giovanni watched them sternly as they made their way through the various check-ups.

 

Under Bill's expert direction, they quickly wrapped the steel sheet over the pokemon's back, trapping the fire stone under it. It was easily done, and soon enough they were ready for the experiment.

 

"Subject number one : " Bill reported, taking notes down. "An healthy rhyhorn specimen. Age is three years old. Estimation is that the pokemon is one battle away from evolution readiness." He clinically noted everything down. "Subject was bred by Suzie and Brock Slate from the best two Rhydon specimen they had."

 

The pokemon seemed oblivious to what was happening and not too bothered by the enormous weight on its back. Of course, it's own weight was much greater, but still...

 

"We will now have the subject meet it's evolution criteria while equipped with material suspected of causing an alteration in the elemental influx around the subject." Bill continued to note clinically. "In this specific case, the subject is currently in direct contact with a metal coat and a fire stone." He kept going on, relentlessly adding to the sheet.

 

Quickly, he pulled the string of a cage, releasing a raticate in the room. The small rodent looked around, saw the rhyhorn, and viciously rushed ot the offensive.

 

Of course, it was not a fair battle, barely even a battle. The Rhyhorn was quick to swat aside the offender with one huge strike of his enormous paw, sending the beast flying. There were the briefest flickers of light around it, but nothing else. It had come close to evolution but not close enough.

 

"Very well. We'll have to send in another, stronger pokemon." Bill simply nodded, as if he had expected the very result they now had before them.

 

The second pokemon indeed was stronger. The second rhyhorn might not have been at Brock's one's level, but it was certainly strong. The two pokemon eyed each others warily, before the less experienced one charged brutally, swinging its horn madly.

 

Brock's one met the charge, horn crossing with horn like the swords of two fighters in a duel, a clash of stone on stone. The two eyed each other as they struggled, their legs digging in the ground as they put all their strength in trying to bring down the opponent.

 

They pulled and pushed, fighting insanely. Brock's pokemon pounded the ground a few time with his paws, causing small earthquakes to rock the whole laboratory without doing much damage, but they didn't affect the opponent much either.

 

Without warning, the steel coat-outfitted Rhyhorn howled, particles of light gathering in its mouth out of nowhere, before being catapulted forward at screeching speed like a laser. The piercing brightness normally wouldn't have wounded much a rhyhorn, but with its greater experience, the great beast was able to direct the beam exactly at the weak point of its opponent armor, causing it to fall on the ground and faint.

 

The light from the beam subsided, returning in darkness.

 

"Damn. Looks like that wasn't enough." Bill reported. A sudden glow filled the room, streaming from the Rhyhorn.

_______________________________

 

The great metropolis of Viridian had suffered much already, both from the terrible battle fought there at the end of the Lotus war, when the tide had been turned back, and later during the breaking, when forces unparalleled had rent the earth apart.

 

"General, we are ready." One of the man reported, bearing the insigna of a colonel on his shoulder.

"Good." Reluctantly, the young man gazed at the city again. He had no choice, but he wished he had one, wished he had the courage - or was it the cowardice? - to give up on what he had been forced to start...to end it all...

 

Shaking his head, he tried to get his mind back to the matter at hand. He could not abandon what he had started. Not now. His family...they would die if he didn't do it, would fall mercilessly. He would do it, because there was no choice.

 

"All right. Send your troops on a flanking attack on the southern side of the city." He ordered, biting his lips to keep himself from giving the counter-order that would send them to the north instead, giving a much easier escape route to any trapped enemy soldier - and to the innocent civilians who had already been hurt too much.

 

"Yes sir!" The man saluted and left, racing back to his division. They would attack, defeat the enemy army as it could be defeated...and he would just have another thing to hate himself for. But with his the menace of killing his family, Starkhad held him and would not let him go.

 

He sent no troops to the north, he would at least give them the chance to run to the forest and away from his men, from the pack of rabid murderers he was forced to lead.

 

The flanking maneuver was done as he had ordered, quickly completed, two or three hours after the order was given, blocking off the enemy's way south. From that point forward it was easy to attack. His troops rushed in the little defended city, swarming over it, taking down what was left of the defender with astounding ease.

 

Some of the refugees fled north, but most of them headed south, directly in the trap he had had no choice but to set. He winced, hoping against hope something would happen to turn the tide of the slaughter and capture of thousands, hundreds of thousands, that would take place.

 

And something did. As the refugees reached the southern line with Todd's main force trailing behind them, driving them forward, a swarm of arrow struck the men holding the south.

 

"What?" The scream went up from many of the soldiers who held the area locked, as their comrades fell to the ground wounded.

 

Before they had any time to react, a swarm of infantry trooper, well armed and easily a match in number and training for those troops he lead, came out of the hills and struck.

 

"Who are these?" He screamed, though at least a part of him was secretly relieved of the unexpected arrival of a strong opposition that would give him a valid reason to turn back. His aide de camp suddenly growled as the enemy general appeared on the field, flanked by a man carrying a blue flag with a white lotus shining on it.

 

"Nelson!" The low growl was full of hatred. "The traitor...he turned against us..."

____________________________

 

Watching as the Silver Lotus troops swarmed over their opponents, Eric Nelson felt a momentary surge of pride. He at last had been able to strike at Starkhad's operations, has he had sworn himself he'd do immediately after the murder of the grand master.

 

"For May!" He shouted, throwing himself in the thick of battle, his sword held high, then falling as it cleaved in the opponent ranks. From both sides, he could hear shouts of "traitors" as old comrades at arm in the Crimson Lotus met on the battlefield, split in those who now followed his Silver Lotus, and those who remained in what Starkhad had done of the Crimson Lotus.

 

Slowly, they opened a breach through the encircling forces through which the refugees could make their way, a small passage between the spearhead of the now split enemy forces that they could take to escape to safety, toward the island of Pallet.

 

The refugees rushed through the now opened passage, strength born of despair giving them wings to race to the sea.

 

His troops slowly pulled back, withdrawing inches by inches, giving the refugees all the time they could afford to buy. Or at least, that had been the plan. However, they had not expected the enemy army to start withdrawing, and that of course completely changed the situation. With both forces pulling back, it seemed the battle was over.

 

It had been done quickly, and the victory had not been too costly in human lives, though they had lost some of their troops in the fighting. All in all, it was worth it, they had saved much more lives than they had lost in the fighting.

 

If only May had been there to lead them. They would not have lost half as many life if she had, they would have been able to do much more to the enemy...If only she's been there. If only she had been there, she's have been with him...he would not have felt so alone, so empty.

 

She might not be here, but he wouldn't forget her, and wouldn't forget what he had learned thanks to her. He would not let the only one he could think of as her murderer live in peace, too - he would remain a thorn in Starkhad's foot as long as he could. The battle he had won was just a beginning.

 

Chapter 15

 

The form of the pokemon slowly changed as the glowing light enveloped it, stronger than Brock remembered the light of any evolution he had witnessed. Of course, if Bill's theory was right, this was not simply an evolution, but the birth of a whole new specie of pokemon, an event unparalleled in magnitude.

 

So far, Bill theory was impossible to confirm. The shape within the shadow seemed to stay much the same, only altering a little in proportion and size...Nothing that didn't happen with nearly every evolution, so nothing that would prove the theory one way or the other.

 

And then it started to change, to truly change. It grew, far larger than any other pokemon Brock remembered seeing except a handful - the dragonite at Bill's lighthouse, the Tentacruel at Porta Vista and the Gengar and the Alakazam at Pokepolis.

 

Its small horn grew much larger, turning almost in a blazing sword of fire as plates of steel wrapped around its body, protecting the neck like the bony plates of ancient creatures long vanished. The head's general shape was that of the Rhydon's, but larger. Steel plates overlapped from its four legs, armoring it beyond belief, and creating a mostly protected space on its back were people could seek refuge. It's tail became longer, larger, the end a massive ball of steel that could be swished around and used to crush opponents. Again, Brock's thought returned to the size, nearly that of a bus, as he realized how much potential the creature had in the war that was sure to begin soon from all he had heard.

 

The glow slowly subsided, leaving them able to witness the sight of the astounding creature, fire and steel shaped in a living weapon of destruction.

 

"Whoa." Bill breathed sharply. "That's...astounding. Just astounding." He looked in awe at the beast, his eyes wide. He certainly had not expected such awe-inspiring results.

"Yeah..." Suzie was every inches as awed. So were all of the others who had witnessed the evolution.

"I wonder if it kept its ground type." Giovanni mused. "Jessie, James?" He turned toward his two henchmen. "Could you try to have this beast shocked to verify?".

 

"Of course." James nodded briefly. "Pikachu?" He turned toward the yellow pokemon that had accompanied them in the shack a few days before. Brock had not known it back then, only realizing later it was Ash's pokemon, and deciding it was better not to ask why it was perfectly content to be with team Rocket.

 

The electric pokemon gathered energy, sparkles flowing from its charged cheeks, filling the air with static energy, then discharged it in a fiery bolt aimed at the steel war machine. The pokemon looked back curiously, obviously unaffected by the blast.

 

"Whoa." Giovanni muttered under his breath. "Now, that's what I call impressive. Three types, and huge. Great job Bill." He congratulated the scientist.

"Thank you." The man smiled. "I believe you'll want me to go forward with more such research?" He asked.

"Of course. I'll try to find more people to help you here, too. There's war brewing on the horizon, and everything like that you manage is going to help." He pointed at the tank-like pokemon. "Try to create more of these. I'll get you the steel, the rhyorn and the fire stones." He ordered. "Those will be awesome weapons." He confirmed Brock's opinion.

"Very well." The scientist was thoughtful for a second. "What should we name this project?" He asked.

"I don't know..." Giovanni was slow to answer.

"We're trying to create new species." Suzie pointed out. "So, Neo-Genesis would make sense in a way." She suggested.

"I guess that works." Brock brought his wife closer as he agreed with her. "What I'm more interested in is how we'll name that monster there..." He pointed at the great beast, still looking at them. It had been trained to not attack unless ordered to or already threatened, so it wouldn't cause trouble, but having a name for it would be nice.

_____________________________

 

Unlike its lowland sister Celadon, Saffron had escaped relatively unscathed from the breaking. The only major changes was that the great plain that had used to border the plateau to the west and south was gone, replaced by a great sea. Islands, especially near the half-broken moon mountains to the west, were all that remained of the land that had once been there.

 

Peering out of the window, Lance wondered idly why things wouldn't go better for once instead of turning worst with every passing day. Battles here, plagues there - though those usually were dealt with quickly -, things kept turning worse by the hours. He longed for the days when he had had the whole power of Kanto behind him, even if they had been behind him to fight the Crimson Lotus - at those time he had been powerful enough to play a serious part in changing things. Now, there was no more effective government, and he simply was one of the many leaders of those who did the little they could to turn the tide. Sadly, whatever they could do was far from enough to seriously have an effect on things.

 

The gym leaders could have helped them pull through, but they had either vanished or were busy with problems of their own. Giovanni was in the vicinity of Viridian, though not the city itself, and so was Brock, working together on some project or another. There were no traces left of Surge, or of Sabrina. There was no city at Cinnabar anymore, and Evelyn, Blaine's granddaughter and his replacement as gym leader, was believed to have died in the breaking anyway. There had been no words from Fuchsia, Koga and Aiya might well be alive but they could just as well be gone. Of the Cerulean gym leaders, only two were still in the city instead of the original four. Daisy had vanished without trace, and Misty, perhaps the most able of them all, had never been there much in the first place. Erica had no gym to lead anymore, but she had more or less taken charge of the vicinity of Saffron since Sabrina could not be of much help.

 

"Something wrong Lance?" The voice, concerned thought it sounded as if the speaker couldn't care less about the answer, belonged to Lorelei.

"Nah. I'm alright." He replied, looking at his friend. They had worked together for years with the Elite four, along with Bruno and Agatha - one of which was now out in the Moon mountains trying to funnel the flow of refugees from the Silver mountains chased by the reappearance of the Crimson Lotus, the other having long passed on, leaving the task of league seer to her apprentice, Tracey.

"You sure?" The young - no longer so young, in fact - woman replied, coming to watch the world extending below at his side. "What do we do now?" She asked, her voice ever so slightly bitter. She had lost her family since the day of the breaking, at least as far as she knew. Of course, some of them were maybe still alive, but she had no idea who, where.

 

"Don't you wish sometime that we were just normal trainers, instead of being stuck trying to do the little we can to help the world?" he brooded, his eyes peering at the clouds forming over the mountains in the north.

 

"Yeah. I wish I never had heard of the Elite Four. Though...things were fine until the Lotus invasion started, weren't they?"

"That they were." He nodded briefly. What they had found hard in those days, discussing the budget of the League and the State seemed so trivial now as to almost make him want to laugh. It would have, had it not been for the darker truth underlying the realization. If something was dark enough to make the economy of one of the largest country in the world seem a trivial matter, then disaster would barely begins to cover it.

Columns of smoke billowed from the general direction of the Moon mountains, barely visible without the spy glass he held.

 

"Viridian's burning." He reported somberly. Lorelei removed her glasses, and nodded. She saw extremely well from afar, it was her close-range vision that was ajar.

"They are growing bolder in their attacks. And they finally got Viridian." She nodded. The city had been their last stronghold four years before in the war against the Lotus, where they had turned the tide , a symbol of the combativeness of the people of Kanto.

" There isn't much we can do to stop them..." Shaking his head, Lance looked down at the ground below. He could jump, end it all. Someone else would try to finish things for him, he would simply be one among the hundreds of casualties of the war.

"Don't even think about it." Lorelei warned. "I don't give a damn whether you die or not, but you're the only person holding the people here together right now." She muttered. "Don't you dare die on us, Lance Ketchum. We need you still." Dark fire was in her eyes.

"Hey!" He protested. "I wasn'T even thinking about it." He lied, wanting to put an end to her accusing barrage of comments.

"Like hell you weren't!" the hidden fire in her eyes had awakened. "Don't." Her eyes were locked with his. "You." She grasped his arm, drawing him away from the edge forcefully. "Ever." She seemed like a feline ready to attack its prey. "Lie." The fire in her eyes slowly withdrew, replaced with something darker, beyond anger. "To me." She finished at last, snarling out the final two words.

 

"Whoa, calm down..." To say that Lance was taken aback by the sheer fury of his friend would be like saying that Cerulean had "Disappeared" during the breaking - obvious, yet barely covering anything. He slowly drew away as much as he could, though her hand was still locked around his wrist. "You can let me go now. I'm not going to jump off. Promised." He swore. He had never seriously considered it, her outburst obviously would have dissuaded him if he had been.

______________________________________

 

"I don't like those reports about the Crimson Lotus activity." Giovanni's voice was quiet and deadly as they held their war council in the old laboratory. "I don't trust them at all to leave us alone."

"Of course they won't" Brock answered.

"The question isn't what they're going to do to us. The question is, what can we do about it?" James surprised himself by speaking out loud. "We can't do anything about their plans as long as we have no idea what they are really up to." He pointed out, an unnatural calm and control holding him. He had changed, he knew...it just amazed him everyday to realize how different he had become since joining the nine. Once, he had been a loser, a pathetic incompetent. Once. His and Jessie's track record since the Rocket Civil War, when Butch and Cassidy had tried to take over, spoke much of their ability, and Giovanni had noticed it - and rewarded accordingly.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Danea nodded thoughtfully.

"Question is, how do we find the information?" Suzie answered right back.

"We go looking for it." Jessie's confident shrug was not something he would have seen from her even two, three years ago.

"That would be the best course. You two are much more useful on infiltration missions than here." The man they had once called boss approved. He still was their leader, their boss, but he also was...not their friend, not quite, but the next step to it. Outside, the great bellow of one of their two Rhymoth could be heard. The great beasts wrought of fire and iron could, if enough of them could be evolved, turn the tide of the war. Provided, of course, that their work base was not overrun before their knowledge and work could be secured.

 

"We'll do it." He nodded. "They seem to be coming from the mountains, a bit to the south of Viridian, probably at the end of that stretch of sea. We'll check the area out. Probably fly our way there, too." He smiled.

"Good plan to me." Brock nodded. "In fact..." He seemed to muse for a second. "Bill, do you think we could use these birds we just got?" He asked their lead scientist. "They might be useful for a sneaky mission."

"True." The man nodded. "We might as well start getting a use out of those."

"What new pokemon ?" Giovanni definitely was curious.

"Penumbra. It's a dark/psychic/flying pokemon. We obtained it by making a few natu evolves under certain special conditions." He reported, a certain pride in his voice. In barely over a week, they had already created two entirely new breed of pokemon, both of them beyond anything seen before. He had, as far as James was concerned, every reason and every right to be proud of his work.

"That sounds like a very good idea. They should be able to sense enemies without being detected themselves. That's a massive edge."

"That's what I had in mind." Brock admitted in answer to Giovanni's comment.

"We'll go gather our things for the mission." Jessie stated, rising from her chair. "Can you have those at the main gate in two hours?" She questioned, obtaining a nod as the only answer.

 

They were, indeed, able to do so. As they exited the building, ready to leave, two great black bird, more like the size and shape of a pidgeot than that of even a Xatu, waited for them. They seemed to welcome their riders, their night-sky like feathers like a whisper of shadow in the falling sunlight. Their eyes shone like the moon or distant stars, bright silver points.

 

"Those are magnificent birds." Giovanni commented. "And powerful too. You are doing a wonderful job." He complimented Bill, then Brock and Suzie. The Rhymoth that guarded the entrance howled, a piercing sound that shook the forest.

 

"Well, good luck on your mission." He finished, turning toward the two of them.

"Luck's got nothing to do with it. We relied on it often enough back then, now if that's all right with you I'll rely on skill." He smiled back.

"Skill works." Their employer smiled. "But luck can help sometime too. Just don't count on it." He waved them goodbye as the two great dark birds flew off the ground, toward the south.