Chapter Eight—Yuya's Discovery and the Final Plan
(AN: Well, I finally got working on this again, (I hope you all are pleased, even if this chapter is short!) but I've moved to live with another parent, and I left my Gamecube at my old house. Heh... That's not a good sign, is it? Hehe, let's see how well DM's memory works! dodges the thrown rotten fruit and empty cans)
"Yuya?" Char asked into the PokeGear, trying to get a response.
Nascour was alarmed, he sat next to Char now, peering at the device, waiting for the next cry.
But there was no such cry. The PokeGear was silent.
Char looked at Nascour. "I'm certain that was Yuya's voice. She just called me. I think it was a cry for help. Can you trace it?"
Nascour looked blankly at Char. "Yes, I can, but why do you care, Char? We need to focus on Realgam. Does she have some sort of importance to our mission?"
Char's eyes snapped wide. Of course she had some importance to the mission, she could see Shadow Pokemon! Ok, so maybe the Shadow Pokemon they'd run into were visibly Shadow, but still, maybe she could see something they couldn't about them…
"Don't you remember, Nascour? Yuya can see Shadow Pokemon. She might be useful to us. Her eyes pick up the shadows from the Shadow Pokemon's aura. Maybe she can tell us something about them that we don't know," said Char, voice somewhat shaky. He knew that deep down, he didn't need to be thinking about Yuya. But before Cipher—she was all the friendship he had..
"Ah yes, the Shadow Pokemon girl. She could be useful. In fact, from studying her eyes, we may be able to develop some eyewear for Cipher's peons. You wouldn't mind us studying her, right? I mean, you only want to save her because she would be useful to Cipher."
Char didn't know if he meant this. "Yes. Once she is found, you may deliver her to Ein for study."
Nascour smiled. He knew he'd won when Char would put Cipher before old friends. It was how he wanted him.
Using a cable, he linked the PokeGear to his laptop, downloading data from the calls. Finally, he removed the cable, and viewed the laptop screen. He then quietly turned to Char.
"That call came from somewhere very close to Realgam Tower, Char. You know what that means. The enemy's got her."
Char's jaw almost dropped. If the 'evil' Cipher had Yuya, she could already be dead. That was one possibility anyway. But they knew about her eyes as well! And they knew she was his friend! No, they would not kill her… they would use her…
"They won't kill her, Char. But they could use her against us. She IS your friend," and here Nascour frowned, "and I know from past experiences how you act with friends…" And mentally he added, 'and what I'll do to them if they get in my way.'
"I, I…"
"Swear to me Char! I'll help you save her under one condition! You swear to me, swear it, that she will not come between you and your duties for Cipher. Between you and your mission. Between… you and me," Nascour added quietly at the end of the statement.
Char looked into Nascour's eyes and really thought. 'Would I let Yuya get in the way? She was my best friend, but she seems to care more about Orre's safety than my ideals.. And I should care more about my mission than her! And nothing, comes between Nascour and I. Nothing.'
"I swear it. She's just for study! Cipher's mission is way more important to me than Yuya or any other friend of mine! And you.. you are more important to me.. than anyone," Char finished, leaning in to kiss Nascour.
Nascour accepted the kiss, but just briefly. "I think we should come up with a plan. We can't just storm the Realgam Tower by ourselves. We're going to bring the Admins, and a few of their forces with us. We can save your friend and strike at Realgam at the same time."
Char nodded. "Yes, so how will we do it?"
Nascour went into planning mode. "Well, first, I think we should teleport all the force we need to the mansion. Once they are assembled, we'll assign them different tasks. Some should secure the area, some should look for anything useful we can take.. you know, the basic stuff. Our mission, will be mainly to destroy whatever they're using to make Shadow Pokemon, and to take out Gonzap and Evice. After we've done that, we can find your friend."
Char smiled. "This is going to work perfectly."
Nascour looked seriously at Char. "Perhaps, but be warned. You know Evice is tricky, and Gonzap's more stubborn than me. Our former bosses aren't going to give up their evil plans. We've got to stop them at ALL costs."
Char nodded firmly, and then leaned over to look at the laptop screen.
Nascour clicked a couple times and brought up a map of the tower. Explaining to Char the layout of the building and where the different Admins would be stationed, the two began to form a plan that would serve them flawlessly.. they hoped.
-Realgam Tower-
Yuya stirred quietly. Her memory was clouded, her head hurt fiercely. Looking around provided her with one answer to her questions.
"I've been captured..." she whispered, noting well the bars around her.
After a minute of thinking, she realized that she had to be within the Realgam Tower, and probably in a part of it she hadn't seen before. She didn't remember this place.
Glancing around for her belongings was well-rewarded, she found her pack lying close by, and Pikachu's pokeball not too far from that.
"They didn't take my things... good. Maybe that means I can get out of here somehow.."
Yuya released Pikachu, and immediately the yellow pokemon's sparking cheeks lit the area.
"Pika-chu?" it asked, looking up at Yuya in confusion.
"Pikachu... we're trapped here. The bad guys have captured us, and they're holding us here... wherever this is."
"Chu, pika pika.." Pikachu said, walking slowly up to the bars, investigating. In a few seconds, Pikachu had squeezed through.
Yuya's eyes lit up. "Pikachu! That's great! Now if you can figure out a way to—"
Yuya was quickly cut off by the sound of a large door opening. Pikachu scrambled back into the cell, and Yuya quickly hid the electric mouse.
The door swung shut, and at first, it looked like no one had come through. But as Yuya's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw two figures clad in black.
"Damn, that thing is dangerous, huh?" the voice laughed, "we battle with everything we have, we use all the Improved Shadow Pokemon we can—and it still killed them," here the voice was silent, "killed them all."
The second voice was slightly more serious. "I thought our Improved Shadow system was invincible. But whatever the bosses did to that pokemon—is insane. I mean, insane. That.. thing, whatever it is.. it's not just dangerous. It's evil."
"Yeah, I know, but the bosses know what they're doing. Besides, I've heard rumors that Nascour and them... the other Cipher—they have great power too. Shining Pokemon or something."
"Yeah, I don't know very much about Shining Pokemon. But I can gather that they must be a threat to us... why else would they create an Ultimate Shadow Pokemon, if we didn't need it?"
"You're right..."
"Well, come on. We need to drop these empty pokeballs off quickly, before one of the Dark Troops catches us up here talking."
"Yep.."
The voices faded out as the figures disappeared back out the door they came through.
There was silence, and then Yuya finally spoke, a low whisper to Pikachu. "Did you hear that?"
"Pika."
"The... Ultimate Shadow Pokemon.. and it kills other pokemon... We need to warn Char."
"Pikachu!"
"I know, I know he's one of the bad guys too, but still, he's in danger. If I know him, he'll be coming here, to save me. If he isn't warned about this—he could... he could be in more trouble than I thought," Yuya said, looking down. She was obviously worried, and Pikachu picked up on this.
"Piika-chu, chu."
"We need to get in contact with Char, somehow," Yuya glanced at her PokeGear, which was deactivated, "the PokeGear can't get a signal out in here. Something is blocking it. If you could.. find that, we could send a message to Char again."
"Chuu!"
"It probably has an antenna. And it probably is on this floor. See if you can locate, and destroy it."
"Piikaa," and Pikachu scampered off, through the cell bars, and into the darkness.
"Good luck, Pikachu..." Yuya whispered into the now pitch-black cell. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear... and also, one of hope.
-Nascour's Mansion-
"Yes. Good. Arrangements will be made for your transport as soon as we're ready. I'd say tomorrow is good. Yes. Alright then." Nascour spoke into the communication device. Ending the call, he turned to Char. "The plan has been started. I've informed the Admins, they say that they're ready to move when we are. All that's left is us," Nascour paused, then resumed, "Cipher's forces have been spread out over Orre, and while that is a good thing, you know by now that the smallest number of peons remains here with us. If we leave, we can't afford to take anyone with us."
"I understand. I always knew that the attack on Realgam would be with a small force. We need to leave our fighters at their stations, in case the enemy is expecting us. Sneak attacks seem to be their specialty... an attack on our 'territory' is always an option," Char said, knowing very well the danger this attack could put them in.
Nascour looked down, then back up, slowly, focusing on Char.
"Char," Nascour said, calmly.
Char made eye contact quickly. "Yes?"
"In this mission, we are putting the entire organization on the line. If we fail, Cipher, no, everything is no more. You and I, we don't even know what we'll be facing in there. No one really does. I want you to promise me that you will give your all. Your loyalty to Cipher... to me, can be proven here."
Char opened his mouth to respond swiftly, but then stopped. He knew that a speedy answer wasn't what Nascour was looking for.
"Nascour... I do understand the severity of this mission. And I know that... my loyalty to you and to Cipher has been.. shaky in the past. But I promise you, I swear—I will not fail you this time. This mission is the most important thing to me. Cipher will not be defeated, not while I'm around."
Nascour smiled. His fears had been calmed. "Good."
Nascour opened his laptop and brought up the map of Realgam. "Ok, as you know, Realgam is a very, very large tower. There are areas inside that tower that even you do not know about. Most of them are small, but, directly underneath the Colosseum at the top, is an area we used to train and store the Shadow Pokemon. It also functioned as a Shadow Lab, so that is where their equipment will be. That floor needs to be completely wiped out. That's what the Admins will do. Our job is to reach the top, where our strongest enemies wait."
"I still have the layout pretty much memorized, I think."
Nascour pointed to the laptop screen. "The starting maze of halls leading to the elevator remains unchanged, according to Ein's data. That's one piece of good news, that's an area we can cross quickly. However, we are unable to scan the rest of the tower. That means that we can't count on anything else in there being the same."
"We know that they couldn't have possibly changed it too much, the outside structure is the same."
"True. But still, there will be challenges. I know Evice. He'll make it difficult."
"Right."
"My plan is for us to teleport to the outside of the tower, as we did with the Shadow Pokemon Lab, not inside it. This is a slightly safer move, but it still could be dangerous. However, if that is successful, we enter, and make our way to the main elevator. We'll travel as a group until we reach the last elevator. There is a way to make the elevator stop before it reaches the top Colosseum. Hopefully, we can still activate it. The Admins will leave us then, to destroy the equipment on that floor. I know Evice will wait at the top, I just know it. We need to defeat him. That is our mission."
"I've defeated Evice once. I can do it again," Char said lightly. "He won't get in our way."
"I certainly hope not, because you're the strongest we've got."
The two went silent for a minute. Neither one wanted to admit that this was certainly.. intimidating. Neither one wanted to admit their fear.
"Well, tomorrow, we strike. I suggest that we sleep, because we have to be at our best, for this to work."
Char shook his head. "You go up. I can't sleep right now. I'll be up later, ok?"
Nascour understood, turning to leave. But right before he took his first step, Char rose from his place on the couch.
No words were exchanged, Char walked forward, twining his arms around Nascour and embracing tightly. Nascour held him close.
Finally, Char let go, staring defiantly into Nascour's eyes. "At the end of the day tomorrow, Orre will be ours. That's a promise."
Nascour nodded once, and headed for the stairs.
Char lie back down on the couch, sighing heavily. It all came down to this. His life's desire was right before him.
He simply, couldn't fail.
End Chapter Eight