A/N: Almost there! Think of this chapter as a way of padding the last one. I worked well on this one, I believe. Enjoy!
Ch 7
Ein looked up from his work on the Snag Machine as Fein waltzed in, whistling cheerfully as he juggled the Master Ball, a diet cola, and an apple in his hands. He was followed soon afterwards by Seth, who popped cherries into his mouth from a bowl he carried. The scientist raised an eyebrow and looked between the two of them, then sighed.
"Bloody hell, I do wish you two wouldn't do that." he remarked with a twitch of his eyebrows as the twins leaned over the table to study the machine.
"I got the funky gay ball you wanted." Fein declared unnecessarily, tossing the ball to him. Ein caught it and slid the ball into a compartment built into the machine. Where once the round and silvery circle rested over the heart of its wearer, a chamber now existed in the Snag Machine, designed to hold the Master Ball and duplicate its perfect capture signature into every ball Seth would charge.
"You don't trust me to snag Pokémon on my own?" Seth asked irritably, eyeing the Master Ball's new place in his machine. Ein reached out and plucked a few cherries from the bowl, then nibbled at them.
"I never said that. Sera thought it would be a splendid way of ensuring that you never fail at capturing your targets." he replied simply and pat the machine. "Well, it's completed. Put it on and let's have a test of it." Seth barely contained his satisfaction over having his Snag Machine back, slipping it onto his arm and flexing it. It was perfect, like the machine had never left his body. The Master Ball was concealed behind the silvery panel over his heart, waiting for his first move.
"What am I supposed to test it out on? Should I re-snag the years that Sera startled out of me?" he asked dryly.
"Hey, good one!" Fein laughed as he brought out a notepad and started writing, "I gotta remember that one!" Ein waved his hand, cherry twig twisting in his mouth.
"Just charge a ball, then give it to me. I'll check its new signature and compare it to the Master Ball's code." he answered. Seth nodded and pulled out an Ultra Ball, holding it in his left hand. He held his arm straight out, focusing on the grip he held on the ball. The Snag Machine picked up the style of the grip, charged it with the specially configured Snag signature, then added the code from the shrunken Master Ball contained in the machine. The ball flashed once the charge was complete and Seth tossed the altered Snag Ball to Ein. He tapped open the container, then tossed him the Master Ball as well.
"Cool." Fein remarked and sipped at the diet soda, watching Seth's movements and memorizing them. "Dude, that one step is hard to get right."
"Then stop copying." Seth grumbled as Ein studied both signatures and smiled, tossing both balls back to him.
"I am a genius! It worked perfectly!" he declared triumphantly, "Now, let's get ready to go to Indigo Plateau!" Seth looked startled.
"What? Now?" he stammered in shock. This was going far too quickly! He had barely had the time to sneak the tape out of the lab when Ein went out for lunch and review it. It seemed his idea of reading the blueprints on the Earth Seal machine would fall flat. Without knowledge of the project, he wouldn't have a chance at destroying it or preventing it from using him.
"Why not now?" Ein asked suspiciously, eyeing him. "You did want to get this done and over with, didn't you?" Seth recovered quickly and coughed into his fist.
"Of course I do. I just thought we'd have lunch first, then go to the Indigo Plateau for our final move." he replied quickly and forced a smile. "I can't conquer the world on an empty stomach, you realize! Those cherries won't fill me up at all!" Ein looked at him strangely, then shrugged.
"I'll get my notes ready for departure. Fein, go get Seth some lunch." he finally said and began collecting various notebooks. The peon scratched his head, then rolled his eyes and walked out.
"Actually, Ein, why don't you go and grab a bite for yourself, too? I'll gather up the necessary materials and meet you at the cafeteria." Seth offered, picking up several books as well. He tried to sound casual. The scientist glanced at him, thought it over, then smiled.
"Now that I think about it, I could use a hot cup of tea about now. Get myself relaxed and limber for the next few hours. Gather the notes on the Earth Seal and I'll see you in twenty minutes." Ein replied with a contented sigh and left the lab himself. Seth waited until he was sure both men were gone, then sat at the terminal and began typing furiously. He had to know what he was going up against before he could be forced into a role he didn't want.
Rui read the message as Red and Silver helped the Jennys clear out the building of grunts and peons from Team Berserker. The subject was empty, but only because Seth didn't bother with headings. The fact that he sent a message at all was enough to warrant a look into the mail.
"'Rui, this may be the only chance I get to send you my words. I wanted to say that it has been a joy and a pleasure to have spent so much time with you. You may hate me and distrust me, but I want to keep in my memory the girl I've come to care for so much. I plan on keeping our picnic in Agate Village last month as my final memory of us.'" she read the letter to herself as May and Brendan rested nearby, exhausted by the siege fighting that took them straight from one day to the next with no time to sleep.
"'I know from a source I don't want to mention that my plan for stopping the Earth Seal from within will fail. Rui, I never meant to hurt you, and I still don't want to, but I promise this will be the last time that I will ever cause you pain. For the sake of this world that you love, and for you, so that you may find a better man, I will end any hopes that Cipher may have for using me. Don't come to Indigo Plateau. I don't think I can carry out my plan if you are there. Love always, Seth.'"
Silver sat beside Rui and sighed. The redhead stared at her PDA in shock, then looked up at her, eyes tearing up.
"Silver! We can't go to Indigo Plateau!" she cried. The trainer stared at her, confused, as Red appeared with a platter of hot coffee cups. "Seth wrote me a letter and he said we can't go to Indigo Plateau!"
"Figures the traitor would want to keep us away while he conquers the world." Brendan grumbled as he sat up for the coffee. He had been nudged awake in time to hear Rui's words. Rui turned on him in a fury and slapped the bottom of his cup, spilling the hot liquid onto his pants and making him shriek in pain.
"Shut the hell up! I didn't ask for your opinion, you bastard!" the normally quiet girl snapped, "Seth has a plan for destroying the Earth Seal, but for it to work, we must not go to the Indigo Plateau!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that." Red replied softly, ignoring the boy running to the bathroom with May chasing after. "We will continue as planned. If Seth fails in his plan, we'll be the last line of offense against the Earth Seal."
"But..."
"End of discussion. We'll be heading to the Indigo Stadium in one hour. Get some rest." the older champion told her shortly, "As we have said before, it doesn't matter if Seth is on our side or not, the fact that he lives is a threat to the world." Rui glared up at him, then blinked as his Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder and crackled with electricity. Red held up his hand to the mouse and it unleashed an electric burst that formed a shape in his palm.
The object resembled a dagger made of pure electricity, shaped like the Pikachu's tail and serrated along the blade. It was deadly to look at and hold, yet Red handled it casually and without pain.
"The Thundershock Dagger is the most lethal weapon in my arsenal, developed by Pikachu and myself over several years." Red explained calmly, "I'm sorry, Rui, but I will use this dagger to kill Seth. I promise it will be an instant death." The redhead burst into tears, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed. Silver rubbed her back soothingly but she jerked away from her touch.
"Red, I know that what you are doing is for the good of us all, but couldn't you show a little more tact and not display the murder weapon to her?" Silver hissed at her fiancée. Red shrugged and walked off, still holding the dagger in his hand. "Rui, please understand that we're not killers. We're not out to get Seth, we just know that if we had to choose between one life and thousands of others..." she trailed off, not willing to say the rest.
"And what if that one life is the one belonging to the man you loved?" Rui snapped at her angrily and ran from the group outside. Silver watched her go and sighed glumly.
"Red already experienced that. To save the lives of millions from a storm, he gave his own. Destiny and friendship saw fit to return his life to him." she murmured to herself, "Perhaps the same will see fit to give Seth another life."
Cipher and Red's group left their respective places at roughly the same time, both headed for the same destination. Watching from a safe distance, the group of legendary Pokémon trooped along the path up to the stadium. Mewtwo looked up at the jet carrying the Cipher group to the plateau and shaded his eyes.
"That's sweet. Why couldn't we take a plane? God knows I have enough frequent flyer miles to cover all of us." he remarked for no real reason but to fill the group's minds with chatter.
"For the same reason we didn't take the Rapidash Bus-lines." Raikou grumbled, "We're trying to pull a secret mission here, man!"
"I bought a trench coat and hat for nothing then?"
"We're almost there! Just another few minutes and we can witness destiny unfold!" Celebi cheered, waving her hands about as the sun climbed higher into the afternoon sky.
"Dang, and I didn't bring extra film for my camera." Raikou muttered. Entei shook his head and watched the jet descend into the stadium, Rayquaza circling over head and guiding their passage in.
"Celebi, if Rayquaza can not see you, how will he be purified?" he asked worriedly, "Seth can't possibly calm him with Pokémon massages! It would take him a whole day to do one massage!"
"The Time Flute he carries will do the job." Celebi replied, looking up at the dragon with a grim face, "If Rayquaza can hear the song, it will act as my power and open his heart to his memories again. The problem is getting Seth to stay alive long enough to play it."
"That and getting him to play your summon at all. You know that it's his last Time Flute." Ho-Oh pointed out. Celebi smiled.
"There's another one in Orre that he hasn't found yet." she revealed, "At the top of Mt. Battle, a third Time Flute lays hidden. He just has to get over his fears and climb that mountain!"
"Hey, here comes the other guys." Articuno pointed out, watching the Latias and Charizard wing their way to the stadium. "Latios, your sister sure has a ton of stuff hanging around her neck. That normal?"
"Cute Contest winner's ribbons. My sister is sickeningly cute when she knows what's at stake." Latios muttered as the group continued their climb.
"Like what?"
"Her candy."
Seth took a deep breath as the jet landed and Sera clapped gleefully. Gonzap glared out the window before getting up and following the group off the plane. They climbed the steps to the announcer's box and entered it to find another set of computer terminals. Ein left the backups of Seth's memories and the Cipher database next to one terminal, then booted up one of the computers.
"All right. Everything is set. Activating the Earth Seal!" he declared and input a series of codes. Seth watched as the unlit torch at the top of a set of stairs rose into the air, supported by a pole that emerged through it to create an antennae dish. The base of the pole was revealed to be a chamber, and the door slowly slid open. The Snagger swallowed hard and backed from the window.
"Getting cold feet, brother?" Sera whispered harshly, "Now is not the time to be thinking things over."
"I never said I was. I'm just mentally preparing myself." Seth hissed back and walked out of the room, "Get things set up and I'll meet you downstairs at the chamber. Don't take too long, my former friends might show up to stop us." The doors slid closed and he walked towards the device, mind racing. "Though I hope they don't. I don't want Rui seeing what I'm going to do." he whispered to himself and shook his head.
Fein grew bored of the boot up and decided to follow Seth to the Earth Seal chamber. He was excited by the prospect of finally having the whole venture done with so that he could get started on his next one; the perfect duplication of Seth Evice. He may be unable to mimic the Pokémon powers that the Snagger had been blessed with, but who cares, in the end? It was the intimidation factor from his presence that Fein wanted, the ability to command a room just by being there. In that lay power to control people. He smiled as he continued on. Things just couldn't get better.
Gonzap followed suit and left the room, eager to beat Seth to the chamber and finish the long-standing grudge. Far too many times had the Snagger escaped punishment for destroying his team, and his own security. The remarks and insults from both Sera and Seth were driving him closer to insanity. He was a man and he couldn't have those two Evice brats making him think he was anything but a man! There was only one thing that could be done.
"Kill them, duh." he muttered and smiled, a strange light flaring into his eyes, "Now why didn't I think of that before? To hell with this Earth Seal crap, I can take over the world my way! First I'll kill off the Snagger boy so he's not bothering me anymore, then the corporate slut goes! She was never good in bed anyway. No love lost there."
Gonzap laughed as he went on towards the Earth Seal.
Sera took the gun that held the injection of Rayquaza DNA and headed out after Seth. She had waited far too long for this. The knowledge of Gonzap and Fein out loose in the stadium meant little to her. She only knew that Seth was on his way to the Earth Seal, alone, and too far for anyone to rescue. She licked her lips and gripped the gun tighter.
At last, she would have him. She wouldn't wait. She would fire the gun and, just before the DNA took effect and transformed him into the weather god she dreamed of, she would have him. His last human thoughts would be of her victory over him. How sweet it would be.
"Just wait for me, my lovely weather god. There's no escaping me this time." she whispered. The glowing green fluid in the gun seemed to grow brighter. The time was almost here.
Outside, clouds were beginning to gather as the Charizard and HeartSong landed outside of the stadium, flying low to avoid detection by the Rayquaza. It was focused on the events within the building, not bothering to gather its energy to stop the weather changes. Red slid from Charizard's back, then called it into its Poké Ball after Silver jumped off. Rui had held onto the broken Snag Machine throughout the journey and now wore it, ignoring the sparks that burned her jacket sleeve.
"This is it. The Elite Four must have sealed themselves within the deeper chambers of the stadium." Red murmured, "It's the only explanation for how easily Cipher was able to get inside. If they can't snag the Elite's Pokémon, we're in good hands."
"So let's go! For the sake of the world!" Brendan declared and raced for the stadium entrance. The others yelled the same and charged after him, dashing for the doors into the building.
Rayquaza shrieked almost the moment it saw them enter the center of the stadium, the grass waving erratically from the wind caused by its circling. The Earth Seal towered overhead, the dish pointed at the clouds that spun lazily around in the sky. The figure of Seth could be seen standing before the machine, waiting. Rui gasped and knew what the scene before her meant. It was time. Time to decide if she would let Seth go back.
Back to where?
The beginning, to where it all began.
Could she do that, knowing she had no idea where the beginning was or when it was?
She stopped her thoughts as Gonzap came tearing after the Snagger with a mad shriek, holding his fist up to attack. Sera came racing in soon after, followed by Ein. The two Cipher agents were yelling in a fury at Gonzap, who had leaped upon the startled Snagger and began to beat on him with all his strength.
"SETH!" Rui screamed in horror as the group ran for the steps to join the fight. The Rayquaza circling overhead roared and whipped itself around in the air, waiting for a command from its mistress.
The Snagger managed to untangle himself from Gonzap and fled the scene, disappearing into the stadium through the doors on the other side of the walkway. The Snagem head and Sera followed, still screaming in rage and insanity. Ein made to follow as well, then halted as yet another Snagger stepped around the Earth Seal and held up a small device.
"It ends here." the real Seth hissed and pressed the detonator in his hand.
The tiny bomb packs scattered around the Earth Seal went off in a chain reaction, sending the group that stood nearby scattering away as it fell, the chamber filling with smoke from the bombs as the construct ended at a strange angle. The dish still pointed skyward, the door to the device still gaped at the two opposing teams as the machine crackled with the electricity jumping from thousands of broken circuits.
"Dammit all to bloody hell!" Ein finally swore in a fury, glaring at Seth, "You will drink from the River Styx upon first birth of new dawn's might!" Seth staggered as if he had just been struck in the temple, dropping the detonator. He quickly recovered, shaking his head and glaring at the scientist.
"Rui! I thought I told you not to be here!" the Snagger yelled out, knowing full well that she was given the message to avoid his next maneuver.
"Even though I wanted to follow your letter, I couldn't!" Rui declared, "Red wants to kill you and I keep telling him no! There's got to be another way!" Red drew the dagger and pressed forward.
"I'm sorry it had to end like this for you!" the trainer called out as he readied the weapon. Ein whipped out a small gun and aimed it at Red.
"Drop that weapon! You'll not kill my finest project! He is mine to do with as I please and I will take him with me to recoup from this recent disaster!" the Admin snapped, "With the data he's given me, I can recreate the Earth Seal and fulfill Mr. Evice's goals of conquering this world! Prepare to die, Red the Kanto Champion!"
"Enough!" Seth bellowed, hand sliding under the Snag Machine on his arm, "The only death here will be mine!" The group blinked in startled shock as the Snagger drew out the silver steak knife from his first Cipher-given meal and held the blade to his neck, hand braced to drive it into his throat.
"Seth, what in bloody hell are you doing?" Ein hissed, still keeping his gun trained on Red.
"Seth, don't! Please!" Rui wailed.
"When did he get another Snag Machine?" Brendan asked inanely, the shock still brain-numbing to him.
"Ein, put that gun down now. I'm holding myself hostage." Seth announced coldly, "You have your data to build the Earth Seal again, but it will be for nothing if I am dead. And believe me, I'm going to make sure that there is no chance of you reviving me once I finish myself."
"It's just like my dream. But where is the glowing green thing? Where's the Rayquaza DNA?" Rui whispered tearfully. "Seth! Please! Listen to me! I have something I want to tell you!" The Snagger ground his teeth and pressed the blade closer to his throat, drawing a thin line of crimson that began to trickle down his neck.
"This is no time for tearful apologies! I've already sent you mine!" he snapped, "I'm going now. Red, if my hand doesn't kill me, finish me with yours."
"As you wish." the trainer murmured, readying the Thundershock Dagger once more.
The doors beyond them burst open as Fein came racing out, tailed by Gonzap and Sera still. Ein blinked in surprise as the others turned to watch them. Seth remained immobile, preparing to drive the silver blade home.
"Die!" Gonzap yelled, jumping onto the woman and tackling her to the floor. He began beating on Sera as she shrieked in pain and rage.
"I'll rule it all!" she cried and fired the gun at the receding figure before her. Fein cried in pain as the Rayquaza DNA injection hit his back and flooded his body. He crumpled to the ground and clawed at his back. Gonzap took no notice, proceeding to strangle the woman beneath him as she caught sight of Seth standing just beyond Fein's convulsing body. A wail of horror and fury streamed from her mouth as she used the last of her strength to lift the gun and fire once again.
"Sera! The faulty code!" Ein shrieked and switched his aim at Gonzap, firing once to get him off. The huge man collapsed as Rui and May screamed at the bloodshed.
"It's a massacre!" Silver cried and jumped as Seth shrieked in pain, arcing backwards under the blow of Sera's last attempt to complete him.
The Earth Seal shuddered and a net of energy flew out from within the chambers, wrapping Seth in the cocoon and dragging him into its maw. Watching the Earth Seal absorbing the Snagger set Rui's decision in stone.
"Seth!" Rui screamed out as the Snagger struggled vainly to escape. He looked at her in sorrow, hand reaching for her.
"Rui! Help me! Kill me! Hurry!" he cried to her, "Don't let it finish me!"
"Go back to the beginning! Do what you have to, but go back! Don't stay for me! Go back!" Rui screamed and Seth disappeared into the machine, the doors sliding shut as the device charged with energy. Ein stepped back from it in horror.
After only a few seconds, the Earth Seal suddenly began to sound an alarm that carried throughout the stadium, filling the air as a beam of dark energy fired from the lopsided dish into the sky, bringing the clouds swirling faster and faster, building in intensity and turning the heavens into a dark hellish nightmare. Rayquaza roared and spun with it, adding its wind to the clouds and fueling the storm cell.
Beams of light shone through and landed on the grass within the stadium as the cell grew larger and spun faster, completely overshadowing the Indigo Plateau as the building began to shudder. The heroes gathered together and looked all around in confused terror, trying to make sense of the horrible chain reaction that had just begun.
"Hey!" Jirachi called out to the group as the other legendaries appeared from the lights, "Did we miss anything?"