Authors Note: Sorry this took so long to get out, I wasn't really sure how to do chapter two… I think this is okay. But again, I need feedback to improve. Tell what you liked and what you didn't like in your review. You are going to review right? Good, I thought so -- just making sure. ^_^. Chapter three should be out a lot faster (reviews help to motivate me… hint hint) Sorry it's so short.
One other thing. If anyone wants me to beta their fics, e-mail me or something. Mesa like to beta. ^_^.
Time's Edge
Chapter Two: Training Base
Marcus Torrent piloted the large black helicopter down onto the concealed landing pad at the Team Rocket base in Mt. Mortar. It had taken over three hours to get from Goldenrod to the hidden Rocket training camp. Only two trainers had seen them, a young boy traveling along route 42 and a strange looking girl carrying a sword outside Goldenrod. He had left behind a fully trained agent to deal with each of the children. They wouldn't be telling anything to anyone.
The Goldenrod base had thirty three new recruits for the team, all of whom where seated comfortably in the back of the helicopter. The Boss had recently called for massive recruiting to be done by all Rockets. For every recruit you brought in who successfully made it onto the team, you received a "generous" bonus. Marcus had made sure to get several himself, but with his high level position in the training base he didn't get out much to find any.
The metal blades groaned slightly as he shut down the engine and he watched as the helicopter descended down the familiar scantily-lit rock tunnel. What was now the base had originally just been part of the random tunnels within the mountain, most likely dug out by groups of Diglett and Dugtrio. Most people think it would be impossible to establish a secret base in Mt. Mortar because so many trainers pass through it; but even with all of the trainer traffic, the mountain was still big enough that no unwanted visitors had as of yet run across the base. They had sealed it off with fake rock walls, which appeared identical to the cave's walls.
As he walked down the pilot's landing ramp, he saw the recruits being lined up and marched off for basic training. Sucks to be them, he thought. Basic training was a rather... unpleasant experience on Team Rocket. On the other side of the rather large hanger bay, two Rockets were having their pokemon beat the crap out of each other.
Marcus walked around the battle and through the exit to the hanger bay, all the while wanting to kill the humans. He had long ago realized that the human race was corrupt. Team Rocket was a prime example of that corruption; but they were certainly useful.
Just before he got out of the hanger bay, a young boy with purple eyes who was not in uniform walked up to him and asked "My name is Bobbis, may I please borrow an apricot?" as if it was the most sensible request in the world.
"I don't have any apricots, leave me alone," Marcus replied.
As he was walking away, Marcus heard the boy muttering to himself, "Damn, how can I get back to New Mexico without an apricot?" What a freaky child, he thought.
The corridor on the other side of the large metal door was empty. Marcus strolled along the dim hallway toward the boss's office. Well, the boss of this base anyway. He was required to give a report upon returning from each successful recruiting run.
The base was virtually impossible to navigate without the assistance of a map for all but those who lived there. Mt. Mortar had been selected specifically because of its passageway's natural complexity. They make it virtually impossible to effectively attack the base.
As he walked, a small fly zipped around his head. "Buzz off," he muttered as he swatted at it and it flew off to bother someone else. As he approached the boss's office, he could hear shouting of some sort. Not particularly unusual, the boss here loved to scream at people. Especially terrified newer members. Marcus almost felt sorry for whoever it was... almost.
He sat down on one of the wonderfully padded, ornately decorated seats outside the office to wait for his turn to report. The yelling died down after a few minutes, and the grandiose, intricately carved wooden door flew open, revealing a large angry man covered in metallic body armor with a gun at his left hip. He glared at Marcus and stormed down the passageway in the direction Marcus had just came. My turn, thought Marcus.
As he got up, another fly buzzed around his head twice and flew off down the corridor. What is it with this place and bugs?
The office was rather large, obviously much more so than was necessary. It had a large wooden desk with similarly artistic carvings to those on the door, two computers, shelves upon shelves of unread books, and incredibly expensive wooden chairs with red velvet pillows resting on top of them.
The boss himself was sitting on an enormous, ridiculously expensive, beautiful leather chair. He wore a black business suit, with a black tie and black sunglasses. His face was slightly red from anger, presumably at whoever Marcus had just seen leaving. He could almost have looked intimidating, with his hands cupped together, fingers intertwined and the death glare he was giving off. Except that he was only about 4' tall.
"So what was that all about?" Marcus asked.
"Nothing that concerns you, now shut up and give me your report."
Marcus bit back a comment about how he couldn't shut up and give his report at the same time; it probably would have gotten him killed. The boss hated being outdone, but he was one of the stupidest people Marcus had ever known.
"Well sir, Goldenrod had thirty three new recruits for us, they're all in processing now. We ran into two trainers on the way, but Jek Fisher took care of one and I let Yuurei Harris take the other. Yuurei got a strange one... she was carrying a sword. Anyway, they're both dead now, so they won't be telling anyone about the Rocket helicopter flight they saw."
"Good... good, have you heard any new news about the Mt. Silver mining project?"
"No, I haven't," replied Marcus. "I'll let you know if I do, sir." He just barely added the 'sir' onto the end, as if he had remembered it at the last minute. The boss glared at him but didn't say anything.
"Alright Torrent, unless you have anything else to report, you're dismissed."
Marcus nodded once, and walked silently out of the office.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*Why does he have to be a ghost trainer?* Kaze thought.
With Ditto taken out, she only had one other highly leveled pokemon available: Espeon. But physic types are weak against ghosts; Espeon wouldn't be much help in this situation. She would have to take down the trainer and hope that his pokemon decided to help their master rather than attack her.
Kaze recalled Ditto and ran towards the Rocket, sword held straight up in preparation for her swing.
"Double attack psychic on that girl trainer. NOW!" the Rocket commanded.
The gaseous pokemon complied immediately, sending a massive blast of psychic energy at the young woman -- but she was no longer there. Kaze had heard the order, same as the ghosts, so she lept forward as far as she could, executing a flip in midair to increase her momentum.
She landed solidly on both feet and jabbed her sword toward the trainer's stomach. She didn't want to kill him, that would enrage his pokemon to the point where they would simply kill her as retribution. Her goal was to injury him badly enough that they were forced to teleport him to the nearest hospital, and leave her here.
The Rocket lept backwards, but Kaze had anticipated this and threw her body forward, swinging to the side and bringing her sword in a wide arc designed to slash open his stomach. True, this might kill him, but he would not die immediately -- so he would still be taken to a hospital. Hopefully. Then again, the ghosts might decide to kill her anyway.
Her sword whistled through the air, and left a long bloody gash in her attacker's stomach. Kaze didn't wait around to find out what they decided to do. She turned and sprinted off into the forest surrounding the path she was on so fast that her body would have looked like a blur to anyone watching.
She kept up that pace for almost two minutes, just putting distance between her and the path. As soon as she stopped, she released Espeon and ordered her to scan the area for pursuit using his psychic powers.
Espeon didn't ask questions, she simply obeyed, stretching out with her psychic powers. She couldn't sense anything abnormal. Well, Kaze seemed on edge, but other than that, everything was as it should be. When Espeon turned to report this to Kaze she noticed that her master was drenched in sweat and the sharper edge of her sword was covered in a thin coat of blood. She was also breathing heavily.
"I'm alright," she said, noticing her pokemon's concerned glance. "Is there anyone following us?" Espeon shook her head no. "Good, I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't continue to Goldenrod now. Where could we go? We should head basically to the other side of Johto, maybe even Kanto. Team Rocket's gonna be mad as hell when they find out that I beat the shit out of their agent. Can you use your powers to project a map of Johto, Espeon?"
She complied, her eyes glew white and a dot of light flashed in front of Kaze, expanding up into a square transparent map of Johto - complete with city's and landmarks. "Hmm. Blackthorn City or New Bark Town? Blackthorn. More expert trainers there, less of a chance of a T.R. influence."
"Thanks Espeon, return." The red light engulfed Espeon, sucking her back into the ball. After calling out Ditto, healing him with potions, and recalling him, Kaze set off for Blackthorn City.
Post Fic Notes: Okay… finally done with chapter 2. I'm thinking that your character will appear sooner if you review… just seems fairer that way. I'm gonna be introducing a lot of new characters next chapter, so stay tuned. ^_^ Again, sorry about the shortness.
Bobbis is my brother's character. He's just sort of a random evil dude. I'd like your comments on him. ^_^.
Also, to my knowledge, non-pokemon bugs have not yet appeared in the series, game or manga. They obviously do exist in my little version of the pokeworld though. My justification is that… well, there isn't really a good justification, other than this is a fanfic, so I don't have to do things exactly how the show does. No other real world animals will exist. ^_^.
Random Question: Does anyone know a one word synonym for the word synonym? Cuz I don't think there is one and I just find that amusing for some reason.
Thankies for the reviews to those who reviewed / are about to review.
T B