Chapter 10: Voices

…in the beginning, there was darkness…

Nori blinked, rubbed her eyes. Had she fallen asleep? On the edge of her mind, she remembered a voice…

No, that wasn't right. She sat up, looked around. The beach ran a short distance to the ocean, where the turquoise sea lapped gently at the shore. Across the thin channel was another island, Dewford's wayward sister. It was thickly forested with tall palms and other subtropical growths. Its high cliffs prevented access by sea. There were tourists further down the beach, easily recognized by their brightly colored beach umbrellas, but no one near her.

The bench she sat on was made of concrete, had left her with stiffness in her back. She had come down to the beach to wait for the gym to open. Dom had been more impatient and she had left him at the gym's entrance. He said wanted to be first in line. She must've fallen asleep in the sun.

There was something else…had she let her pokémon get some fresh air? At that moment, Bitey and Agni ran past, chasing a flock of ordinary geese. The birds probably needed to be in the water to make a proper takeoff. Neko was…? Nori glanced down and noticed the mostly pink ball of fur at her side. She stroked the skitty, marveling at how disoriented she could be immediately after waking up. She sighed and twisted one of her spiked bangs before checking the time on her pokégear. 10:37 glowed dimly on its screen.

What the hell?

Nori leaned forward quickly, disturbing Neko, who meowed in protest and repositioned herself. If that time was right…then she'd only been asleep for a few minutes. How did that work out? She felt like she had been asleep for hours. The gym wasn't even open yet. Now, that voice…

Or had it even been a voice? She hadn't so much heard it, as suddenly…registered that those words were there, read them as they scrolled along behind her eyelids. Bizarre to say the very least…

She sat a moment, palms pressing into her eyes before making a decision. If it's worth worrying about, it'll happen again.

She went down a mental checklist. Agni, Bitey, Neko, check…where was Levi? Oh, yes, he was out swimming in the straits. She'd know when he was back by the screaming. Wait, a fifth pokéball…oh, right. She hadn't even looked at what was in the pokéball that Edward had given her.

"Ah well, no time like the present," she muttered, tossing the pokéball onto the sand. What appeared in a burst of red light was quite unlike anything she'd ever seen.

It winked at her, no, blinked was the right word, as it only had one eye. The flash of red reminded her of a mightyena, just outside of the circle of firelight. It was blue metal, edged to make it look as if it had been hewn…but you couldn't cut metal like that, could you? The end opposite the eye was flat, and had three gray claws sticking out of it. The entire pokémon gave the most unsettling appearance; it was like a severed arm, floating in midair.

"Bel—who are you?" it asked, its one eye seeming to darken with…suspicion?

"My name is Nori," she answered, a bit unsettled. There was something distinctly… artificial about this pokémon that worried her.

"I see. What happened to my previous trainer, Mister Notley? Have I been…traded?"

"Not so much traded as…gifted, I guess."

"I see. Are you a trainer?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. Will I at last attain perfection?"

"Perfection?" she repeated, confused.

"The road to perfection lies in evolution. Evolution is only attained through the gain of strength. Trainers allow pokémon to achieve new levels of strength quickly. Am I to be trained?"

"Well, yes, probably. I haven't looked at any of the data for you or your species yet, though." Nori dug in her pockets for her pokédex. It was like talking to a computer, an incredibly smart computer.

The pokédex beeped as she turned its electronic eye toward her new pokémon. Its stats and moves appeared on screen.

"So…you're a beldum. And…gender unknown? Weird…"

"All manufactured pokémon are genderless. The means for our creation lies in the hands of human beings. Scientists."

Nori blinked at the beldum. "Manufactured pokémon?"

"Yes. Pokémon, such as voltorb, magnemite, porygon or beldum, are mechanical for the most part, and created by humans. Some can survive in the wild, near power plants or landfills. Others are distributed by humans."

"I see. So…you are obviously intelligent. Do you have emotions?"

"Yes. Emotion is simply a reaction to an event."

"Okay. I guess I'll have to learn more about you, Beldum…" Nori glanced at her pokédex, brought up the pokédex entry for beldum.

Beldum, it read, the iron ball pokémon. Floats by generating a magnetic force that repels that of the earth. Is thought to communicate with others of its kind using magnetic pulses. When resting, it anchors itself to rocks or trees using its claws.

"When resting, eh? I was starting to get the impression you were some kind of computer, Beldum."

"No, I am far superior."

"I can tell…let's see, steel and psychic type? Wow, you've only got two weaknesses, then…level nineteen…your stats are kind of pitiful, but you are going to evolve…let's see, attacks learned…only take down? Jeez, for your sake, I hope you learn something new when you evolve."

"It is likely."

"Hmm, speaking of your evolved form, I wonder what it looks like…" she brought up the next entry. "Metang, eh? Eh, it looks kinda' silly…is there another form, I wonder?" she said, scrolling to the next pokémon.

She was silent a moment.

"What is your decision? Am I worthy of being trained?"

"Good lord," she managed to choke, "you are so being trained. Right after I get this next badge."

~*~*~

Nori managed to collect her pokémon, except for Leviathan (mostly because she had no idea where he was) before turning her attention to Dewford's gym. She met Dom on his way out, who didn't hesitate to show off his new badge. It was shaped like a boxing glove and was mostly dark blue in color, but the 'thumb' of the glove was red.

"Hah! Easy. Brawly uses fighting types, my spoink wasted 'em."

"Heh, thanks for the info'. I don't think I've got any type advantages, though…ah well. Listen, after this I'm going to go look for that Steven guy, I'll meet you back on Mr. Briney's boat, 'kay?"

"Yeah, alright. I was thinking of catching a pokémon or two, so take your time. See ya."

"Yeah, 'bye."

Nori was relieved to see that there was only one other trainer in the lineup to fight the gym leader. She quickly registered with the receptionist before sitting down to wait.

The trainer who had been facing Brawly when she walked in and the one ahead of her had both walked out of the battle arena looking extremely dejected, which was never a good sign. When it was finally her turn, Nori started to wonder how she was going to pull this one off without a type advantage. True, Agni did know a flying-type attack and was a fighting-type herself, but she was feeling very doubtful about the whole situation.

She walked into the next room, the doors swinging shut behind her. She caught a glimpse of the walls in front of her before the entire area was immersed in darkness.

"The hell?" she said, startled.

Nori put her hands out and felt her way forward, feeling the walls open into various corridors.

"Crap, it's a maze," she muttered. She fumbled at her belt, her fingers brushing against the tops of her pokéballs until she found the one that felt right.

"Go, Bitey." The flash of red light illuminated the walls for a moment before fading.

"Huh? Why's it all dark?" Bitey asked. He was invisible save for his glowing red eyes.

"No idea. Can you show me the way to go?"

"Yeah, sure. Just follow me!" Bitey started trotting along, navigating through the maze easily. As a dark-type, he could see in complete darkness. Nori followed him, feeling clumsy as she kept a hand to the wall, not wanting to walk into something.

"There's a door here," Bitey said, eventually, stopping.

Nori groped for the handle, her hand sliding across the door's surface. She found it, opened the door quickly. She felt like she was almost blinded by the sudden light. She put a hand in front of her eyes, shielding them, while blinking as her eyes adjusted.

"Nice work. You've earned the privilege of battling me," came a voice. She saw that it belonged to a tall, muscular man; blue-haired and wearing an orange t-shirt and shorts of a shade similar to his hair.

He extended his hand; Nori clasped it and mimicked his efforts to crush her fingers.

"Name's Brawly. I'm the gym leader here."

"Noirsha Hunter. What was with the maze?" Nori asked, massaging her right hand.

"It was a test, really. If you can't get through it, I'd say you aren't ready to face me."

"I see. I've passed, then?"

"Easily. Shall we begin the battle? Two pokémon each."

"Sounds good." Nori glanced around as Brawly walked to his end of the arena. It was virtually identical to Roxanne's gym; similar sand and rocks littered the battlefield. Fighting-types relied wholly on their physical strength in battle, so the arena was probably decorated to suit their other abilities.

"Ready to battle?" called Brawly, holding a pokéball in one hand.

"Ready!" said Nori. She recalled Bitey and selected Agni's pokéball from her belt.

"Then, go, Machop!"

"Go, Agni!" Nori took her pokédex out of her pocket and pointed it at the battle. The device beeped and sprites of both pokémon appeared on-screen. It approximated the machop's level at seventeen, and Agni's at eighteen. Good, thought Nori, at least I have a bit of strength advantage.

"Agni, peck him! Go for the eyes!"

"Machop, use Bulk Up!"

The combusken leaped at her opponent, jabbing him mercilessly with her predatory beak. Brawly's machop managed to push her away, then glowed red. Nori's pokédex beeped and indicated an increase in both offensive and defensive abilities, but the pokémon's health points were lowered to fifty-five per cent.

"Peck it again, Agni!"

"Karate Chop!"

Agni attacked the machop again, reducing his stamina further, before he retaliated. The edge of the machop's hand caught Agni hard in the abdomen, knocking her flying. She landed on the sand and slid a few feet before she got back to her feet, her eyes starting to glow angrily. She was at about sixty per cent health, according to the pokédex. Ouch, Nori thought.

"One more peck should finish him off," said Nori.

"Try to Karate Chop her again," said Brawly, but it was obvious that he knew his pokémon was about to lose.

The machop tried to defend himself, but was knocked unconscious under Agni's onslaught.

"Machop, return," said Brawly. "Looking impressive so far, trainer, but next up is Hariyama!"

The hariyama looked obese, his hide mostly yellow but dark gray around his neck and on his fists, making it look like he was wearing gloves. The two red circles on his cheeks and the two 'ears' on the very top of his head gave him the appearance of an extremely fat mutant pikachu. Despite his ridiculous appearance, Nori knew not to underestimate him, as gym leaders often saved their best pokémon for last.

"Hariyama, Bulk Up!"

"Agni, peck!"

Agni complied, pecking her new opponent. The hariyama tried to shield himself before simply punching Agni, sending her flying, once again. He glowed red, raising his stats.

Agni rose, panting slightly. She spat something that sounded like a curse, but the translator didn't seem to pick it up.

"Stay out of range of those fists, Agni!"

"Obviously," the combusken snapped angrily.

Nori blinked. "Um, try an Ember attack…"

"Bulk Up, again."

The combusken spat a number of fireballs at her opponent, but the attack didn't seem to affect him. Once again, he glowed red, increasing his strength further.

"That won't work, trainer!" Brawly called. "Hariyama's ability gives him protection from fire and ice attacks!"

"Damn," said Nori. "Right, then, use your Double Kick, Agni!"

"Sand Attack, Hariyama!"

Agni rushed the hariyama again, kicking him powerfully before a cloud of sand hit her in the eyes. She screeched, birdlike, stopping to rub away the grit.

"Vital Throw!"

"Watch out!" yelled Nori. "Double Kick again, if you can!"

Brawly's hariyama seized Agni around her narrow waist, leapt into the air and sent her streaking downward. She crashed into a couple of rocks before sliding to a halt on the sand. Slowly, painfully, she rose, pure murder in her eyes. She attacked once more, kicking, pecking and scratching, before Hariyama struck her again, knocking her unconscious.

Nori recalled her beaten pokémon. Oh crap… she thought. Who could she use now? Bitey was weak to fighting and Neko was far too inexperienced. She'd break out the big guns with Levi, but she didn't have him. That left only Beldum…but he—she left she needed to refer to the pokémon with a gender-specific pronoun, despite Beldum being genderless—only had one attack. Then again…he was stronger than Bitey and his defense stat was far higher, at least, according to the pokédex. Hariyama was at forty-five per cent health.

"Take a chance," she muttered to herself. "Go, Beldum!"

"Whoa, that's a weird pokémon," said Brawly.

"Yeah, he is," agreed Nori. "Use Take Down!"

"Use Arm Thrust!"

Beldum shot at the hariyama, slamming into it powerfully. The fighting pokémon fought back, punching it expertly.

"Dammit…Take Down again!"

"Arm Thrust, again!"

The attacks were repeated, with similar success. Nori bit her lip, looking at her pokédex screen. Hariyama and Beldum were both on their last legs. Beldum could probably finish his opponent off, but the recoil damage would knock him unconscious also. It would be a draw, but that would mean challenging Brawly again…

Her next command sounded extremely resigned. "Give it another Take Down…"

"I have a better idea," Beldum replied, before erupting in blue light.

Nori squinted against the blinding glare. She could barely make out the details, but the beldum seemed to be growing larger…

The light slowly dissipated, revealing the beldum's new form. He hovered in the air, two arms on a round central section. The arms looked very much like beldum had, before. Two eyes glowed from small indentations, separated by a metal spike. Two other, similar spikes grew out on both the left and right sides of the center.

"Metang…" said Nori, slightly in awe.

Metang raised an arm, pointing his claws at the hariyama. Nothing happened for a moment, prompting Brawly to begin to command another attack.

"Hariyama, finish it—what?"

The fighting pokémon was surrounded in a purple glow, and started rising in the air. He struggled uselessly and cried out as his direction abruptly reversed. When the cloud of sand cleared, Hariyama was out cold.

Nori rushed out onto the field as Brawly recalled his pokémon. She leapt on Metang and hugged him tightly.

"You won you won you won!" she chanted, excitedly. She was brought back to reality by a polite cough behind her.

"Er, congratulations," said Brawly, a bit awkwardly.

Nori blushed slightly, embarrassed at her uncharacteristic behavior and returned his handshake. It was far more gentle than the first, much to her relief.

"Thanks."

He held out a drawstring bag, which she took.

"You seem like an exceptional trainer. I'll be following your career with interest, Noirsha," he said, smiling.

"Heh, I'll try to make sure you won't be wasting your time, then," Nori said, grinning.

She recalled Metang. As Brawly turned to leave, a sudden thought hit her.

"Hey…Brawly, do you know a man named Steven Stone?"

"Yeah, but who doesn't? He's an amazing trainer."

"Oh. Well, do you know where he is? I have this letter for him and—"

"Oh, playing messenger, are we? Anyway, he's in the Granite Cave to the northwest, last I heard."

"Thanks, I hope he's still there."

"Yeah, he gets around quite a lot."

"All right, 'bye then," said Nori, turning and heading for the double doors.

"Be seein' ya. And don't worry, the lights are back on in there."

~*~*~

Maximus had seen a lot of horrible things in his lifetime, and this paled completely in comparison, but there was something about having your younger daughter place a severed human finger in front of you that gave the situation an entirely new spin.

He stared at it a moment before turning his gaze to Mal, his eyes wordlessly demanding an explanation.

"You said Team Aqua had no idea we were setting up a base outside of Lilycove," said Mal, her eyes hard. "That is all that is left of Administrator Ishida."

Maximus watched her for a moment. The death of a team member did not bother her unduly, but if there was one thing Mal Firestorm could not tolerate it was incompetence. Traitors were another.

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "They didn't, the last time I checked. What happened?"

"Ishida went into town on his break. He came back in a box, left at the door. Bits of him, at least. Team Aqua attacked in the morning. Though their forces are weak and undisciplined, they overwhelmed us through force of numbers and type advantage. They have probably converted the base to their own uses."

Good lord…have we fallen so far? thought Maximus. "What are your thoughts?"

"Either Ishida encountered Team Aqua members by chance and was interrogated, or we have a spy."

Maximus thought a moment. "I am more inclined to believe the former, given the circumstances, but I believe we should monitor all outgoing transmissions more carefully."

"May I suggest more hidden cameras outside?" said Mal, her voice barely audible.

He nodded. "Speak to the Executive about it."

Mal turned and walked toward the door, her zangoose pair silently following her. As they passed Lily, Mal shot her a look of hate, which Lily mirrored briefly before her face contorted in pain. Mal's shiny zangoose grinned evilly, fangs glistening, and held up a bloodstained claw. Mal smirked, before exiting the room.

Lily staggered forward to Maximus' desk, trying to remain upright and lean her weight on her uninjured leg.

Maximus glanced wordlessly at the finger still on his desk, before taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and sweeping the severed digit into a wastebasket. He looked at Lily impassively, choosing to remain blind and impartial to the conflict between his adopted and biological daughters.

"Whose finger?" Lily managed to say. She had heard most of the exchange, save the beginning, due to her own inattention, and the end, due to lack of volume.

"Administrator Ishida."

"Tom? Shit. Sir." The 'sir' was an afterthought, something hastily remembered.

"I fear we may be falling apart from the inside, Lillith. I fear I may even be losing the loyalty of those closest to me," Maximus said.

"You will always…have my loyalty, sir," she said. "Always." Her vision was getting out of focus…crap, he knew, didn't he? Microphones in the hallways…couldn't've hit an artery, could it? "Personal views…don't come into it."

"I am relieved, Lillith. Remember. Three weeks, or perhaps sooner. Make sure your squad is ready."

~*~*~

Ben was outside Maximus' office, waiting. "What did old Maxie want this t—sweet gods, what happened?"

Lily staggered and collapsed onto Ben, who held her tightly, supporting her. She wrapped her arms around his chest limply, a reflex action for the most part.

"Mal's…goddamn…zangoose," she said, her vision swimming.

"Gods…she gets them to put poison on their claws, doesn't she? Zangoose are immune to poisoning, anyway."

Lily nodded weakly. "'s slow acting…ver' painful…" She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I hate her…so much…"

"It's okay…she'll get what's coming to her, one day," said Ben quietly.

"Take me…infirm'ry…'fore I pass out…"

"Sure, just, um, let go for a second," he said, a bit awkwardly.

Lily obediently let her arms go limp, and Ben lifted her bodily without much trouble. She grunted in pain as her leg bent, as the wound started at her knee.

"Sorry," muttered Ben as he started off along the corridor.

"'s okay," Lily said, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Her right arm was limp across her stomach and her left hand had hooked onto the collar of his uniform—reflexively, he decided. He couldn't tell if she was even conscious anymore, anyway. It meant nothing.

Nothing at all.

~*~*~

There, how's that, eh? I hope it was worth waiting for. Anyway, nice fresh cookies for everyone who guessed Beldum! Feebas was a good guess though, so anyone who guessed Feebas gets a gummi bear. ^_^

Anyway, please review as usual, it makes me want to write more, and if you notice any inconsistencies, please point them out, I'm terrible at spotting them. x_x