Disclaimer: I do not in anyway shape or form own pokemon, but I do own Emerald.

Alternate Reality: The Trials of Emerald

Chapter 2

Blood dripped from Emerald's mouth and hit the ground. A small smirk formed on her mouth and she let out a chuckle. She opened her eyes and looked at Rasa. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Good one Rasa…guess I forgot the cosmic shield." Emerald's eyes began to glow as she painfully rose to her feet. A white light slowly emanated from her body and the sound of bones resetting echoed throughout the surroundings.

She raised her hand to her mouth and wiped the blood away. Emerald looked down at her hands and clenched them into fists. She squeezed different parts of her forearm and touched her ribs. "See Magi, good as new." She walked over to the flopping Magikarp and picked it up. "Although, I do appreciate the assistance."

Emerald placed Magi in the fountain again. She kneeled so that she was level with him. "I guess I didn't explain the training sessions enough before we started. Rasa and I train like this every moment we can. Today I forgot to use cosmic shield because I was excited to receive you…other days I don't on purpose." Emerald stood up, but her eyes were downcast. "I was…gifted with these powers." She made a fist and held it up in front of her face. Electricity began to cackle and grow around it. She released her fist and the electricity disappeared.

Her eyes narrowed and determination lit up in her eyes. "I won't lie to you Magi. I train for only one reason, revenge. They took my parents and my baby brother away from me. They took your home away from you. They've taken away so much…from everyone."

Emerald looked Magi straight in the eyes trying to find some sign of recognition. "I will ask you to do anything that I can put myself through, but nothing more. I am training myself for the day I can get revenge. When that day comes I want to be ready." She turned to Rasa. "We're going to have to train twice as hard now…the Elite Four was taken. They were some of the most powerful pokemon trainers out there. I'm still not sure how they were beaten..."

There was silence for a few minutes before Emerald smiled. "Let's get to work on that tackle of yours Magi." She crossed her arms in front of her and formed an X. A smirk appeared on her face. "Let's see what you can do."

A rare smile graced Emerald's features. It had been a month since she first received Magi. The progress she had made with him was extraordinary. If there was one thing she could say about her Magikarp, it was that he was determined. She had not expected him to put so much effort into their training sessions before he knew them well. When she first glanced into Magi's eyes she thought that it was empty space, but now she could tell what he was thinking. It just took a different perspective. Staring at them every day for a month was helpful too.

Emerald slowly crawled out of the water and looked around. Everything was clear and she hastily went to the shadows of the many buildings of the city. She was always safe in the shadows. With practiced ease she slipped from shadow to shadow. Sometimes soldiers would pass inches by her and not notice. A little mental persuasion for them not to look at her helped as well.

When she arrived at the last shadow suspicion began to well within her. Her keen eyesight picked up that the door was cracked very slightly. Her instincts told her to turn around and go back to her island. But if something had happened in the pokemon center, Nurse Joy might be in danger. Emerald bit her bottom lip while weighing her choices.

There was always the possibility that Nurse Joy had left it open a crack on accident. But if there was one thing she had learned; it was that one could never be too cautious.

Emerald looked around and made a dash for the back door. When she got there her hand stopped inches away from knocking. If something was wrong she wanted to have the element of surprise. She placed her hand on the door and slowly pushed it open. All of the lights were turned out. That was not a good sign. She quickly scanned the shadows to see if an ambush was waiting for her. When she saw nothing her eyes narrowed. Odd… Shouldn't there have been someone waiting for her? It made sense to catch your opponent off guard.

She entered the building and closed the door behind her. Darkness filled every corner. Her eyes glowed green as she searched for the hidden door and her hand traced the wall until it came to an empty space. Fear began to creep into her heart. The door was already open.

Emerald took a couple deep breaths to calm her nerves. She silently crept down the pitch black stairs. Her eyes stopped glowing before she descended. I don't want to alert whoever's here; two brightly glowing eyes isn't very good cover. Now if I remember correctly, the light switch is at the bottom of the stairs. Emerald walked down the stairs silently thanking whoever made them when they didn't squeak. She stared into the the room and turned the lights on. They flickered for a moment before dimly lighting up the room.

Emerald let out a small gasp and all thoughts of scanning the room left her. Her eyes couldn't leave the middle of the room. In the middle of the room was a chair and Nurse Joy was tied to it. Two tears made their way down Emerald's cheeks and her bottom lip began to tremble.

Nurse Joy's head was lolled to the side and her eyes were staring blankly ahead. A red line was on her neck and crimson liquid leaked from it. Emerald was frozen in place; she had always feared this would happen. She had never thought it would actually happen though. If it wasn't for Nurse Joy then she probably wouldn't be alive. Nurse Joy was as important to her as her family was. She was her foster mother almost.

Emerald felt someone come up behind her and cuff her wrists. She was still lost in her own world and didn't struggle. They threw her against the wall and grabbed her face roughly with one hand. Her eyes were still fixed on Nurse Joy. It was only when he spoke that she turned to look at him. There wasn't any emotion on her face or in her eyes.

"What do we have here?" His eyes narrowed. "You're just a kid. I was hoping to find a rouge trainer." He let go of her face and was about to walk away when a glint of red caught his eye. Emerald's secret pocket had been revealed when she was thrown to the ground. He reached and pulled a pokeball from her pocket. An evil smile came to his face as he stared at the pokeball. "This will definitely land me a promotion." He turned to Emerald. "Thanks a lot little girl."

He released Magi and began to laugh as it flopped around on the ground. "I can't believe that woman risked her life to give you a Magikarp. Since this pokemon is probably loyal to you I can't allow it to live." Emerald's mind was still unfocused from the sight of Nurse Joy, but it came into focus when he said that he would kill Magi. "No!" A confident smile appeared on his face. Emerald's eyes narrowed; whatever he was about to say he had said it a lot. "If you want your pokemon to live you could always join—". "Never!" Emerald pulled against her bonds. "You killed my family, why would I ever want to join you."

"If you don't, not only will I kill your pokemon but I'll kill you as well. We don't like to keep prisoners. When I get my promotion you will either be a new recruit or a corpse." He brought out a blood stained knife. Emerald's brain went into overdrive; she needed to get out of this situation. I can't release Rasa because my hands are bound…I guess I'll need to trust Magi for this one. "Magi, tackle attack!"

Magi stopped flopping around for a moment and came at the soldier with his most powerful tackle. The man was almost knocked off of his feet and looked at Magi in surprise. "Again!" Magi came at the soldier but he just knocked him away with his arm. "I've changed my mind. I think I'll keep your Magikarp and kill you. I'll get a promotion for turning in this traitorous Nurse Joy anyways." Emerald pulled against her bonds some more, but they were metal and she could not break them. He walked towards her with his knife. "Just a little slit like your friend has over there and it will be over."

Emerald's eyes narrowed. There was no way that she was going to die today from some grunt. Power began to grow within her but then it stopped. A white glow came from behind the soldier and her eyes widened. Something was happening with her Magikarp. The white light began to grow and the grunt turned around in surprise as well. When it disappeared a Gyarados was stooping in the small room.

Gyarados hit the man before he could move and he hit the wall with a loud thud. Before Magi could land a tackle that would have crushed his ribs Emerald yelled for him to stop. She stood up while the man looked warily between her and her Gyarados. Electricity grew around her body and her collected around her wrists. Her cuffs snapped off. "H-how did you do that?" Her eyes glowed green and her voice was calm. "You'll regret killing her and threatening to kill me," she said as if she was talking about the weather.

The grunt huffed. "What's the worst you'll do to me little girl. Kill me? Little girls don't kill people, even freaky ones." He was trying to sound confident but it was easy to see that he was scared. "Stop calling me a little girl." The man flicked his wrist and a dagger came towards her. She raised her hand and it stopped inches away from her palm. She grabbed the dagger from the air and threw it to the side. "You have no idea what I can or will do."

The grunt was backed up against the wall with no weapon and nowhere to go. "If your friend had been more careful this never would have happened." Emerald walked up to him and pinned him to the wall with a wave of her hand. "She was very careful…you're lying."

The man pulled vainly against his invisible bonds. "What are you?" Emerald ignored him. "Why did you kill her? There was no way you could have found out." She applied more pressure. "Because I wanted to…We get whatever we want. I wanted a kiss and she wouldn't give it to me. She tried to run down here, but when she did I found the perfect reason to punish her. This lab is highly illegal. Remember, we don't take prisoners." He chuckled. "But I did get that kiss."

Emerald was silent.

"You wanted the truth didn't you? So what are you going to do now, torture me or get your little pokemon to? As soon as I recover I'll tell everyone who needs to know your description. You won't be able to hide anywhere. Kanto was just the first step. Anyone who has even been seen with you will probably be interrogated then killed as well. But that's if you make it out of the city alive. There are patrols all around the building. If your pokemon does anything it will attract attention. I know you won't do anything except push me against the wall little g—"

"Shut up!" Crimson liquid splattered against her face and silence descended upon the room. Emerald's eyes widened in surprise; slowly she removed her bloodied fist from the middle of the grunt's neck. His lifeless form dropped to the ground. She stared at her hand for a few moments transfixed by the blood dripping off of her fingers. She turned her head towards the large Gyarados that took up half the room.

"…Magi…take me home."

Magi lowered his head and she clumsily got on. With a roar Magi broke through the roof of the pokemon center. Every patrol turned towards the Gyarados. Luckily none of them could get a clear look at the person on his back. They tried to chase after her, but Magi flew as fast as he could towards the island and gently deposited Emerald near the fountain. She washed the blood from her hands and released Rasa.

"What have I done? I-I just got so angry and then…" Tears were falling freely from her eyes.

You would have had to kill him.

"What?"

He saw your face…if you are identified you may never get your chance for revenge.

"Shouldn't killing have been part of my revenge Rasa? I had thought about killing all of them when I was training but…I didn't feel better when he was gone."

Revenge may never make you feel good, but it is the reason you've been training so hard. You started to avenge your family, right?

"Yes…"

I did as well. I will only have comfort when everything they are is destroyed. That can only happen one member at a time.

"I didn't know it would be so hard…I thought I had prepared myself for everything."

We are both still young. Whatever you want to do I will follow you Emmy. If you do not wish to continue I will understand.

"No…"

Emerald's eyes hardened and something in her died. "…I want revenge. If that means I have to kill every single one of them, I will. If I have to kill their pokemon I will. I'll do whatever it takes."

Emerald's head turned toward the city. "They are coming." She turned to her two pokemon and gave them a few quick words. "Magi, I'm very proud of you; you evolved just to protect me. I hope you understand what I had to do. Rasa, thank you for talking with me; you're the only reason I'm still sane." She brought out a pokeball and a red light enveloped Rasa.

Emerald turned towards her Gyarados and he put his head down. She climbed on making sure she had a firm grip and gave her home one last look.

"Take me away from here…away from Kanto…we'll come back when we're ready…"