Ch 2
Phenac City was known as the beautiful city of opulent water for good reason. The entire town was surrounded by water that was pumped up from deep underground, cooling the area and bringing about a lushness that wasn't there before. The bus dropped off Rui and her friends along with the crowd of trainers ready to try their luck in Orre. Rui headed for the Pokémon Center, leading her friends along to register for the colosseums and act the part of normal trainers out to make it big.
Silver crammed her hair under her black and yellow hat and grinned. Dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and dark shorts with sneakers, she looked more like a boy ready to start a Pokémon journey. She marched into the center with May and Brendan following after. Rui watched them go, then looked up at Red.
"Aren't you going to register too?" she asked in confusion. He shook his head.
"I don't want to call attention to myself like that. I have a job that demands as much anonymity as possible." he replied and looked out at the city. "Misty would have liked this place. There's so much water here."
"What kind of job do you have?" Rui asked as the crowd of trainers passing them by began to be jostled about. Red grinned.
"Can't say. But it pays well and helps me take care of my mother." he replied and blinked as a young woman marched up to them.
"Hey, you!" she yelled and Rui turned in surprise. The girl blinked and blushed. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else." A small boy standing beside her shook his head.
"Ya see, sis? Why can't you just give up on that rematch?" he sighed, "The dude wasn't interested in you anyway." Rui raised her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes at the girl.
"What dude? Was he dressed like me? With gray hair and golden eyes?" she asked coldly. The trainer, dressed in jungle camoflauge and short purple hair, glared back at her.
"Yeah, that's him. He owes me a rematch. He cheated me out of a fair battle that I should have won!" she declared.
"The prize was a date and the dude wasn't up for grabs." the boy threw in and grinned when his sister scowled at him. "Lilith's been training to have another duel with him." Rui bristled and whisked her jacket open, snatching up a pair of Poké Balls that contained the female Eons, Neptune and Saturn.
"Damn right, he's not up for grabs!" she declared harshly, "Seth is mine! And he'll stay that way once I've found him again!" The other girl held a pair of Luxury Balls in her hands, striking a pose with them. She grinned icily and Red made the point of stepping back.
"Let's have a battle then and see who's woman enough to have him!" Lilith purred and tossed the two balls forward, "Lilith calls the mighty Queenie and the gallant Hariyata!" In a burst of light, a violet colored Pokémon with a small horn on its head stood on the ground, followed by a rotund Fighting-type that evolved from a Makuhita, the first Shadow Pokémon Seth ever snagged.
"Neptune! Saturn! Let's show her who deserves to stand by Seth!" Rui declared and threw down the twins.
"I'll referee this battle!" Red declared, "First trainer to have both Pokémon faint on the field loses the match!" He threw out a hand as the Pikachu whistled in appreciation of a battle. "Battle commences now!"
"Queenie! Hyper Beam that Espeon! Hariyata! Fake Out the Umbreon!" Lilith ordered her Nidoqueen and Hariyama. Rui ground her teeth as her mind raced. What should she do? She didn't know the first thing about battles! The twins yelped and Neptune dodged the Hyper Beam, hiding behind her sister to escape the blast that nearly slammed into the center.
"Yow! That was close! What do we do?" Neptune cried, panting as she gazed back at the damage to the city's protective wall. Saturn growled up at the Hariyama that lumbered towards her, fists ready to pound into her.
"Pray our new trainer learns the tricks of the trade before we meet our makers!" she replied.
"Point against Lilith! Hyper Beam attacks are not permitted within city limits unless held in an insured building for Pokémon battles!" Red declared. Lilith snorted and grinned.
"I don't need it anyway. Looks like Ms. Wannabe Tough Chick can't even battle!" she declared and struck a victory pose, "That man's gonna be mine in a nutshell!"
"What do I do? How do I battle? What attacks do I use?" Rui whispered to herself and blinked. "Wait a second. These two are just like Jupiter and Pluto." She stole a glance at Seth's twins in their balls on her belt, then looked up to see the Hariyama slam its fist into the ground where Saturn had been. The Eons had jumped aside and looked back at Rui anxiously, waiting for orders. "What would Seth do in a fight like this?" she murmured.
Red watched her flounder and falter and sighed. He was probably going to regret this move, but he couldn't stand seeing someone so helpless. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the MasterDex, his heavily modified PokéDex.
"Rui! Catch!" he called out and tossed it to her. Rui caught the device and stared at it blankly. "Open it and point at the Pokémon!" he added. She flicked open the device and aimed the bulb on top at the strange violet Pokémon she had never seen before.
"Nidoqueen. A Poison-type Pokémon, it is known to defend its young fiercely. Evolves from Nidorina. Many of its attacks are quite powerful, if not somewhat unreliable." the computerized voice rattled off.
"Queenie! Finish off the Espeon with Earthquake! Hariyata! Use Vital Throw to get rid of the Umbreon and score the win!" Lilith laughed as she jumped for joy.
"Saturn! Confuse Ray the Hariyama!" Rui suddenly blurted out. The Umbreon snapped her gaze at the Fighting-type, a brilliant light shining in her eyes. The behemoth blinked and waved its arms around as the world spun for it. The Nidoqueen began to slam its weight down for its attack when it was knocked off balance by a stray punch from its partner. It staggered back and forth, trying to recover from the blow as Lilith blinked in shock.
"Hey! What's going on?!" she exclaimed as Rui jumped and cheered.
"Yeah! Now, Neptune! Psybeam the Hariyama! I don't want it to attack Saturn!" she commanded.
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Neptune laughed and turned her power on the Fighting-type. It fell back in a faint, arms still waving about in a dizzy.
"Hariyama is unable to battle!" Red declared and threw his arm out to Rui, "First victory to Rui Roane!"
"Hariyata, return! Queenie! Hang in there! Earthquake!" Lilith yelled and the Nidoqueen regained its balance, slamming both fists into the ground and sending a shockwave their way. Rui cried in surprise as Saturn barked out something and her twin leaped onto her back. The force of the attack hit Saturn head on and she buckled, calling out in defeat as she caved under her sister. The spectators that stopped to watch and the battlers all fought to keep their balance from the attack. Rui braced her legs and breathed hard. The match was taking its toll on her. Was it like this for Seth each time he battled, too?
"Saturn! You did great! Come back and rest!" Rui declared, holding out the Poké Ball and recalling the Umbreon.
"Umbreon is unable to battle! Second victory to Lilith!" Red announced, aiming his hand at the grinning girl.
"There's no way you can beat me now!" Lilith crowed, "Say goodbye to your Espeon and your man!"
"Neptune! Your sister took the attack to save you and give us another chance!" Rui exclaimed, "Don't let her sacrifice be for nothing! Psybeam on Nidoqueen! Poison types are weak against Psychics!"
"Queenie! Slash! Finish her off!" Lilith demanded. The Pokémon charged, its claws ready to cut into the silvery cat that stood her ground. The gem on Neptune's forehead shone and a burst of psychic energy fired from it, concentrated in a beam that slammed the hulking Poison-type and threw it to the ground. It squalled and writhed, then lay still, too dazed to do much else. Red grinned and held up his arms as the people around them cheered.
"Match ended! Rui is the winner!" he shouted. Lilith shrieked in a fury and threw another wad of money down on the ground.
"It's not fair! I trained for weeks to get back at that jerk and I lost to his two-bit girlfriend?! Argh! That's it! I'm going back to Hoenn where people pay attention to pretty girls like me!" she raged and stormed off with her Pokémon. The boy only grinned up at Rui.
"Nice work showing up my sis. She needs a wake up slap to the face every now and then." he remarked, "I'll let you in on a tidbit of info I heard while we were traveling around here." He looked around and waved Rui down to his level, then whispered into her ear conspiratorially. "I heard that the Realgam Tower has more levels to it than people believe. Some say that the blueprints to it will reveal the path to a new challenge. But that's just what people say." he murmured and stepped back. "Well, gotta run. Say hi to that guy for me, okay?!" he added and ran off, waving back at Rui.
She straightened and watched him leave with a worried expression as Red walked up to her with her prize in hand.
"Rui? Are you okay?" he asked, holding the money out to her. Rui shook herself out of her trance and smiled up at him, exchanging the MasterDex for the cash.
"Ah, fine, thanks. Let's go and get Saturn and Neptune healed at the center and see if the gang is ready to go and stock on supplies." she replied and turned to enter the building, "I'm afraid we're going to have to walk to the lab."
"Not really. We have Flying Pokémon, remember? We'll go by the sky!" Red remarked with a grin and his Pikachu agreed in his own way, pumping a tiny fist into the air with a resounding, "Pika!"
Rezrik wasn't happy with his 'promotion'. He and several other peons from the former Cipher organization that remained loyal to Evice were sent from their hiding positions in Kanto to investigate the Indigo Plateau. Their foremost priority was to find Seth, or at least signs of him. The stadium was crawling with police still combing the wreckage for bodies and evidence of what had happened. On top of that, they had to deal with the fact that the now condemned stadium could collapse at any time.
"Man, I don't wanna do this!" Rezrik griped as he and the others entered the building and made their way to the announcer's box. The ceiling shifted and dust sprinkled down on them as they gingerly walked in and looked around, aiming their flashlights into all corners of the room.
"Creepy. The boss's kid might be hiding here? He must have a death wish." one peon muttered as they explored the room carefully. Rezrik shushed him.
"He already had one. And from the looks of this place, it got fulfilled again." he grumbled and blinked when his light fell upon the two black drives collecting dust on the table. "Hey! Are those what I think they are?" A third grunt inched over and raised herself on her toes, peering at them.
"Yeah! They have the Cipher Corp. logo on 'em! Those are the hard drive backups of Seth Evice's memory database!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice. She reached out and picked one up, "They look okay. Let's take these back to the boss and see if they have a clue as to where he is." She passed the disks over to Rezrik and they crept out of the room.
"Did you call in the outside unit?" he asked a comrade as they made their way out of the stadium.
"Yeah, they say they've searched the perimeter of the arena and some few miles out with Growlithe and choppers. Nothing. Not even a body." the other peon replied, "Fein's been shipped off to his family, wherever the hell they are. Ein's up and vanished on us; then we have Sera and Gonzap to deal with. I don't know if we're screwed or saved if they are dead!"
"Don't get your shorts in a twist. With these and a good working computer," Rezrik remarked, holding up the two disks in his hands, "we should have all the information we need to find Seth and get him back to Mr. Evice. God knows the man's gotten more insane and is paying a fortune to get his kid's copy back."
"What does he plan to do with him, though? The Earth Seal Project has been completely destroyed." the female peon pointed out. Rezrik shrugged.
"Who knows? Who cares? Let's just find him and get the reward." he grumbled, "I'm putting it towards my retirement. I'm sick of this Cipher grunt work. I don't wanna end up like Fein."
A young man with silver-gray hair and a slender figure opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Slowly, he sat up and rubbed his head, then blinked at the Caterpie that scuttled along in front of him as he sat still. The Pokémon paused, then looked over at him.
"Mornin', neighbor." it remarked and resumed its walk. The young man blinked again in surprise that it talked, then thought about his situation and shrugged. Maybe all creatures in this place talked?
"Good morning!" he called after it and sat back, supported by his arms as he clacked his boots together. He looked up and took a deep breath, then closed his eyes to think over what he knew.
It was morning, and a small green creature called a Caterpie said he was a neighbor.
"Yup! It's a good morning!" the man remarked brightly and smiled at nothing, watching the Caterpie crawl up a tree and nibble on the leaves.
