Disclaimer: If I said it once, I'll say it a thousand times over: I don't own Pokemon or Noir, but I do own Daisuke, General, Claude and Wild Bill.
Forces of Darkness
Chapter 8: Warning Calls
(Scene: Team Rocket Base, Seoul, South Korea.)
A feeling of cold washed over the team in the meeting room as they heard the assassin speak over the phone, via intercom.
Daisuke smiled as though he was going crazy. "If it isn't the one called Noir." he said. "I must applaud on how fast you found me."
"Isn't dat the one dat looked like a Christmas tree?" Meowth asked Butch and James in a whisper.
"Isn't her name Kuroi?" James asked.
"It's Chloe." Butch replied.
"Oh... Thanks, Botch!"
Butch returned the favor by pulling out a squeaky mallet and knocking James unconscious in one hit. "Baka..." he added.
"It's not that hard to keep an eye on your every move." Chloe replied to Daisuke.
"Is that right?" Daisuke asked with interest in his voice.
"That is, however, I am somehow unable to lose sight of you in seven days..."
Everyone was stunned to hear this. It was as though she was a psychic. Even General was now giving full attention to Chloe as she said nearly the same thing as the Noir that was going after Wild Bill.
"Keep going..." Daisuke said to Chloe.
"I will make an effort to abide by my client's offer in anyway possible. However, if I have not completed my mission to kill you by the end of the seventh day, I will let you go free and you will not hear from me again."
"Okay." Daisuke replied with a nod. "...When you say that you'll abide by your client's offer in anyway possible..."
"I will not endanger the lives of your teammates when it is you that I'm after in the first place."
"I thank you."
"Well, that's a relief..." Jessie said.
"Can we go home now?" Mondo whined.
"Your teammates should at least make an effort in protecting you." Chloe informed Daisuke. "They are family, after all..."
"What! You call them 'family!'" Butch and Cassidy asked Chloe as they pointed to Jessie and James.
"Consider this your first day." Chloe said to Daisuke, ignoring Butch and Cassidy's outburst. "By the seventh, you'll be on the other side of the world..."
Daisuke smiled. "And I look forward to overcoming each trial I face against you. Mark my words, Chloe, I will not make it to the other side of the world by the seventh day!"
"...You have no other choice..." Chloe said as she hung up.
Silence fell upon the room as everyone took in the threat.
Daisuke sighed, muttering under his breath, "You cold-blooded son of a-"
"Daisuke!" a familiar voice cheered. The screen at the end of the room turned on, displaying Otaku's silhouetted face. "Good afternoon!"
"Good evening, Otaku." Daisuke replied. "We're talking to you from the future!"
"Sorry, not in the mood to joke right now after I've eavesdropped on that phone call you had."
"You heard?"
Otaku nodded. "Forgive me for being skeptical yesterday. Never believed once that Chloe was after you."
"It's okay."
"Yeah, so about the last thing she said..."
"Yeah?"
"Don't you think that was a double meaning? Remember what I told you last night about the forces of darkness meeting at the Manor for the last battle and on like that..."
"Ah-ha!" Daisuke shouted, pointing at Otaku. "I knew you slipped that in on purpose!"
Otaku sweatdropped. "Um, 'kay... As I was saying, I found a fair amount of info about the Manor that was stated in this old book I found (...on eBay (snicker)). This Manor is found somewhere on the border that divides Spain and France."
"That's the last place Wild Bill was reported to be in before he was killed." General stated.
"And you'll be pleased to know that the Priestess of the Soldats resides within the Manor. ...Altena... I think that's her name, don't get me wrong..."
"And, you're telling me this... why?" Daisuke asked.
"She's the one that gives Noir, in this case, Chloe, the missions to assassinate her targets."
"So, you're saying that we should go to this Altena person and tell her to stop Chloe from killing me?"
"Basically, yes. And you should be quick about it!"
"What? Leave now?"
"Yeah. That's the second reason why I called you."
"What's the first?" James asked.
"When Daisuke took the phone call from Chloe, the whole base fell into a trap!"
"A trap?" General asked.
"The GP bugged the phone call! They're on their way to the base as we speak. And you can guess who's behind all of this!"
As soon as Otaku finished his sentence, the door to the hallway was shoved wide open as an troop of armor-clad soldiers poured into the room, assault rifles drawn. "(Hands on your heads!)" one of the soldiers spoke.
Butch quickly reacted to the soldier's order, showing his teammates what they should do. "(It wasn't me this time, I swear!)" he whimpered.
(Scene: Writer's house, Minnesota.)
At the exact same time, someplace in Minnesota, the young writer, that made the random, religious outburst the night before, was up again this night, contemplating over an empty word processing document on the relic computer.
The song being played over the headphones ended softly before it began the next track: a mysterious jazzy-techno tune.
The young writer, curious to know what this new song was, checked the back of the CD cover, mouthing the words: "Salva... Nos..."
(Scene: Team Rocket Base.)
"(Wrong language, soldier.)" a familiar voice said. In entered the annoying Blackhawk, with his stubborn smirk. "(They do not know a word of Korean. But, all the more reason to confuse them.)" He looked to Daisuke, struggling to get his injured arm to move above the level of his collarbone. "(Ensign.)" he called to the soldier standing behind Daisuke, pointing the rifle at his head.
"(Sir?)" the ensign asked as he looked away from Daisuke a moment.
Daisuke, faking his struggle all along, reached behind his head, grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and pulled it downward, away from his head.
The ensign reacted to the sneaky move by holding the rifle tighter and pulling the trigger...
...when the rifle was aimed at his own foot.
The ensign hobbled in pain, letting go of the weapon as Daisuke pulled it away at the same time.
Having it rest upside down on his shoulder, Daisuke, still not looking at the ensign, fired two shots into the soldier's chest; committing his first "sin."
To be continued...
Yay, eight's done! (blows noisemaker) Okay, done partying. (pose) I must continue on! I cannot leave you hanging in suspense. ...Then again...