Anguirus111 Note: This story is extremely dark and may be bumped up to M, I'm not sure yet.
War Council: The Generals were back in their seats as The Legend decided to simply stand nearby.
"Alright so we finally take the fight to Team Rocket. The question is how," said the PM.
"Well we'll need two different teams," said Sherman. "One team will take on Team Rocket proper, primarily as a diversion, and the other team will go and find the warhead."
"I'd like to be on the first team," offered The Legend.
"Overruled," said the PM before Taggart could respond.
"Overruled?" asked The Legend confused.
"I realize it's where you'd like to be and it would likely devote more attention to that team than the one that's searching for the warhead, but the main problem itself is the warhead and outside of this room you have the most knowledge about it. So it makes sense that you're a part of the team that eventually finds it," began the PM. Realization dawned on The Legend's face.
"You want it back don't you," he said deadpan.
"Yes," said the PM assuming that was common knowledge. "Why, what did you think you were going to do once you found it?"
"Destroy it," responded The Legend truthfully. Laughter erupted from across the table.
"Why would we do that?" asked Taggart.
"Because of what's going on right now and because of the circumstances that arose during its creation," The Legend pointed out. "As long as that warhead continues to exist it's a threat to us all. We need to get rid of it and all evidence surrounding the project so that we're never placed in this situation again."
"You know damn well how much money we poured into R&D," asked Sherman. "We spent too much on this project for it to go up in smoke."
"Like I asked during the planning stages for this weapon, what good is something that destroys everything in its path? Of what possible use could it be?" demanded The Legend. The silence told him more that he needed to know.
"No," said The Legend disbelieving it.
"Yes," responded the PM darkly.
"Does the Emperor know about this?" The Legend demanded.
"The Emperor…is out of the loop," responded the PM hesitantly. "He has no vested interest in this so he doesn't need to know."
"I'm not hearing this," said The Legend in shock. "You're no better than Giovanni is."
"You have nothing to say in regards to 'who is better' because you're in this as deep as we are. At any rate we are the people who are in charge of this country and we make the decisions for better or worse and you have to abide by them. You are not to tell the Emperor or anyone else about this and you are not to destroy that warhead unless you are presented with no alternative, is that understood?" said the PM harshly.
"Did Alpha Flight know?" asked The Legend sadly. "Did they know what they were dying for?"
"Is that understood?" repeated the PM emotionless.
"Did they know?" shouted The Legend. More silence.
"No they didn't," responded Taggart finally.
"Were you planning on telling me?" asked The Legend.
"We hadn't yet decided, though to be honest you have no excuse for not coming to that realization anyway," responded the PM. "And this is as far as this conversation is going to go because it's not going beyond these walls and time is not on our side."
Silence.
"I am going to stop you," said The Legend firmly.
"Whatever," said the PM. "Now may I introduce you to Beta Squad."
A group of individuals filed into the room consisting of pokemon and humans.
"Created after the loss of Alpha Flight, Beta Team…" began the PM.
"Save it," said The Legend leaving. "I'll be around if you need me but I'm finding the warhead on my own."
The Legend made a motion to leave but as he did, a human female blocked his path.
"You were not told to leave," she said. The Legend's eyes boiled over to pure red rage.
"If you think you can stop me, go ahead," The Legend growled. The PM waved her off and the woman stepped back as The Legend's eyes returned to normal as he faced the War Council.
"I'll find your warhead and I will return it. But know this, we're through. It was this kind of crap that made me leave sever my ties with the government in the first place and it's this kind of crap that's only going to bring death and destruction on countless innocent lives. My master told me prior to his death that I had to ensure that what happened at Pokemopolis would never happen again and this is how it started, remember that," said The Legend darkly. With that he was gone leaving the Generals and Beta Team alone.
"I knew this was a mistake," Taggart grumbled.
"We all agreed that The Legend was a risk but one that we had to take. We need that warhead and he is our best shot at getting it back," said the PM. "But I think with him going solo the two team idea needs to be restructured. I want Beta Team to focus solely on attacking Team Rocket. However, Kylie, I want you to investigate the disappearance of the warhead on your own."
The individual who had earlier stopped The Legend nodded and the team filed out.
"I hate to cut out so soon," said Taggart hesitantly. "But I think now I'm going to need that vacation now more than ever."
"It would be better if you take your leave of absence now rather than later," the PM agreed. "See you in two weeks General."
Taggart nodded and filed out internally shuddering at what had just occurred. The PM watched him go before returning his attention to the remaining Generals.
"Now, let's plan that assault on Team Rocket," he began.
Later, Orre Region: The Legend stood out in the desert with a pair of humans individuals and an Espeon and an Umbreon.
"You hear anything about that Celebi please let me know," said The Legend. The male and female nodded.
"You think Team Snagem has something to do with this?" asked the male. The Legend shrugged.
"It was darker than most Celebi's I've run across and if it wasn't a shadow Pokemon I don't know what I could've been," responded The Legend.
"I wish I could've gotten a look at it," responded the female. "I have a knack for sensing if a Pokemon is influenced by shadows or not."
"Yeah well let's just say if you had to go through what I went through just to find out it wasn't a normal Celebi you'll wish you hadn't," responded The Legend.
/Flash/;
"That Celebi should be around here somewhere," said The Legend, holding up the tracker he'd confiscated from Blue Squad's HQ. He and Giovanni were currently in a series of caverns inside of a mountain in the Hoenn Region.
"Suppose we do find it, what will you do with me?" asked Giovanni, whom The Legend had shackled his feet and hands together after finding out the truth of what Giovanni had done.
"I don't know yet," responded The Legend darkly. Giovanni and The Legend continued on in silence. Finally the device pinged and the two emerged into a cavern with the Celebi at the far end.
"Finally we can go home and end this farce," commented The Legend. As the two approached the Celebi it opened its eyes and looked at them curious.
"Celebi, you brought us to this timeframe and now I request that you return us to our proper place and time," asked The Legend. The Celebi looked at them confused before eyeing Giovanni curiously.
"C'mon, Celebi we've got to go," said The Legend impatiently. The Celebi then flew up to face The Legend right in the face.
"Celebi," began Giovanni. "It is time."
Lightning suddenly crackled from The Celebi's eyes as The Legend looked at it confused. A massive wave of energy slammed into The Legend flinging him backwards into the cave wall and knocking the wind out of him.
"What the hell?" he rasped confused. As The Legend struggled to get up, Giovanni's chains suddenly exploded outwards and were flung aside. The leader of Team Rocket stood up laughing as he rubbed his wrists before looking at the collapsed form of The Legend.
"You didn't seriously think I wouldn't have a backup plan did you?" he cackled over the sound of the lightning erupting from the Celebi. The Legend struggled to his feet and stood up shakily.
"So how did you convince it to work with you?" asked The Legend, trying to summon up the last reserves of his strength.
"Work with me?" asked Giovanni laughing. "He's mine."
"You've never captured a Celebi, if so I would know about it," responded The Legend half-confident.
"Well I guess you'd be right on that end, but that doesn't mean I don't have one," said Giovanni cryptically. The Celebi suddenly exploded in a flash of light and its white and green skin became pure black.
"A little present I picked up in the Orre Region care of Team Snagem awhile back," said Giovanni. "I knew it'd come in handy some day."
Realization dawned on The Legend's face. "This was all a trap."
"Yes, yes it was," said Giovanni triumphantly. "I knew once I obtained that warhead that the only way my plan would work would be if you were out of the way. Since conventional tactics like flat out obliteration didn't work, I had to come up with something unconventional. I had to get rid of you completely and the only way to do that was to put you someplace you couldn't come back from and that was the future. But I knew that the only way to pull it off would be to have you willingly come through the time stream, so I used the warhead as a piece of bait that you couldn't afford to ignore and instructed Celebi to transport you through the ages into the future. As you can see, it was a perfect success."
"But you came through as well," began The Legend.
"An unforeseen consequence but it ultimately changes nothing," said Giovanni. "In the end I'm going home and you're not."
The Legend's right hand began crackling with energy as Giovanni sighed.
"In your weakened form you're not match for Celebi, just stop now or he'll be forced to kill you," said Giovanni smugly. The Legend weighed his options and the energy in his hand died.
"You can't win," added The Legend simply.
"I already have," said Giovanni simply. Then an energy ball surrounded the Celebi and Giovanni and both vanished leaving The Legend utterly alone in the bleak desolate future.
/Flash/;
"So what do you think Team Snagem got out of whatever deal they made with Team Rocket to deliver this Shadow Celebi?" asked the male. The Legend held up his hands defeated.
"I don't know, I'm completely out of ideas," the pokemon responded. "You?"
"I'm just surprised that Team Snagem would work with Team Rocket," responded the male confused. The Legend nodded in agreement.
"Well whatever they got, you'd best be prepared for it," advised The Legend. "So what're you up to now?"
"Rumors have a Shadow Lugia being seen in the area, we're going to go check it out," said the female. The Legend nodded.
"I wish I could help you out but as you can see I've got my own problems right now," responded The Legend. The two individuals laughed.
"We'll see you around," said the male turning to leave. The Legend nodded.
"Just…be careful and keep your eyes on the sky," said The Legend ominously. The two nodded and boarded their strange bike contraption along with the Espeon and Umbreon before heading off into the distance. The Legend then spun around and walked off towards a mountain range in the distance. After a couple hours of walking, the wind suddenly picked up and sand flew everywhere as a helicopter landed nearby bearing a JSDF logo on it.
"Wonderful," The Legend grumbled. He continued walking across the desert as a lone individual exited the helicopter with some gear and hit the side of it as it took off back into the sky. The individual grabbed their gear and ran up to The Legend who was ignoring their presence.
"Sir," responded Kylie unsure as to how to address him. The Legend remained silent but at least glanced at her briefly.
"Lieutenant," he said finally. Kylie nodded as she shouldered her gear.
"Why are you walking?" she asked confused.
"Why are you?" responded The Legend. "I didn't ask you to come down here and accompany me. Perform your own investigation and don't let me get in your way."
"I would, but my orders mandate that I work with you on this one," responded the lieutenant responded offhand.
"I won't tell if you won't," promised The Legend.
"Yeah but I'm sure someone will," responded Kylie. "Besides, you know a lot more about this whole situation than my briefing can account for so it seems unlikely I can accomplish my mission with much success without your help."
"Fair enough," responded The Legend. "But do you even know why you're on this mission?"
"Yes, I'm to recover a warhead capable of wiping out the entire planet thanks to Verteron Particles," respond the soldier. The Legend shook his head.
"But think, why would the government want something back that is that deadly?" asked The Legend.
"Because it's more deadly in the hands of the enemy," responded Kylie. The Legend shook his head.
"If only that were so," he said distantly. The two continued on silence.
"So what are you?" asked Kylie finally.
"I'm a Mewn," responded The Legend simply. "Or so I coin my species but it's really a moot point as I'm the only one."
"The only one, huh?" asked Kylie. "Go figure, I'm the only child of my family."
"There's a slight difference between you being the last member of your family and me being the first and last member of my species," said The Legend. The two continued on in silence after that statement.
"You were a Mew once, right?" asked Kylie. The Legend nodded his head but said nothing more.
"So what's to stop other Mew from evolving like you did?" Kylie asked. A small chuckle came from The Legend's mouth, which was then followed by laughter, but the laughter soon turned to evil maniacal cackling.
"What?" demanded Kylie. The Legend whirled to face her with dark red eyes as pure energy rolled off of his body.
"How you ever seen a Mew?" the Pokemon asked darkly. Kylie shook her head a little fearful.
"And you likely never will. My people, the Mew, were nearly all slaughtered by humans because someone decided that it was their turn to die. I will never allow such an event to ever come to pass again," finished the Pokemon before the moment passed and The Legend's eyes returned to normal. He continued on as Kylie watched him go, stunned.
"I had no idea," she said. The Legend said nothing in response but continued onward in silence.
"So then how did you evolve?" Kylie asked chasing after him.
"It's not important," answered The Legend. "Now hurry we must get there before nightfall, it's not safe in Orre after dark."
The two continued onwards in silence as the sun lazily descended beyond the mountains. As they were only a couple miles from the silo, two Houndoom appeared barking angrily at them.
"I'll deal with this," said The Legend as Kylie reached into her bag for a gas grenade.
"Shouldn't be a problem for you, right?" asked Kylie smirking.
"It's hard to tell," responded The Legend softly before drawing himself into an attack stance.
"You're saying you can't defeat them?" asked Kylie incredulously.
"Of course I can, these pokemon are no match for my experience level. What I am saying is that even I have to obey the basic rules of type advantages…and disadvantages," said The Legend. "Dark Types are strong against Psychic Types, all psychic types."
The Houndoom charged but were promptly flicked to the side by an invisible force.
"We should probably get going," said The Legend pressing onwards. Suddenly several howls erupted as several houndoom and houndours descended on The Legend, biting and clawing at him.
"Wonderful," said The Legend as he did his best to ignore the pain. Kylie reached into her bag for that grenade again when her hand went completely numb.
"I can deal with this now get out of here, these are shadow pokemon and that means…" began The Legend.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" asked a voice from high above. The Legend and Kylie looked up to see a pair of men perched on a boulder that was looming over them.
"Team Snagem you have ten seconds to release me or I will destroy you," said The Legend as his eyes began to start glowing. The pair was a little put off by that statement before leaning forward smugly.
"You and what army?" one asked. The Legend didn't respond as the boulder suddenly shook itself loose and began rolling away. The flunkies were tossed from it and hit the ground hard where their visions were clouded by artificial darkness save for a pair of glowing red eyes.
"You will leave now," said The Legend darkly. The two team members looked at each other through fearful eyes and ran off as The Legend watched them go before turning his glaring red eyes on the Pokemon currently latched onto his body. The pokemon broke their grips on him and took off as well into the desert. The Legend then turned around and continued onwards towards the silo.
"Why didn't you destroy them?" Kylie asked.
"What would've been the point?" asked The Legend. "They're flunkies, killing them would make no difference to Team Snagem and their priorities of causing civil unrest."
"But I heard that you eliminate all evil you come across," said Kylie. The Legend laughed.
"I'm not a do-gooder," he responded. "I don't go out of my way to eliminate evil in fact I don't even bother with it most of the time. There is only one thing in my life that consumes me and it isn't the desire to do right."
"To kill all the Pokemopolitan descendents, right?" asked Kylie. The Legend nodded his head grimly.
"It's all I have left in my life," he said.
"The quest for vengeance?" asked Kylie trying to understand.
"At first it was for vengeance," The Legend agreed. "But it ceased being vengeance and became revenge the day I killed a Pokemopolitan descendant who had never had anything to do with Pokemopolis. I didn't intend to kill the child, but the family resisted my attempts to destroy them and the descendant was killed in the ensuing melee. It was then that I realized that there was no turning back and that I would make them all pay for what they had done!"
Kylie looked at him completely stunned as The Legend stared out through cold unfeeling eyes.
"I am not the good guy and I never have been in fact I'm much, much worse. Whatever good that was left in me died 5,000 years ago with the annihilation of my species and the death of my master. I am going to hell for what I have done and I have realized that for a long time now, but I will not rest until every single Pokemopolitan descendant is dead do you understand me?" The Legend growled as he leaned forward to face Kylie, pure rage emanating from his body.
"Yes," Kylie croaked out. The Legend's body returned to its passive state and he trudged off.
"You really are a monster," she thought astonished.
"Yes…I am," responded The Legend as if she'd said that thought aloud. "But I make no excuses for what I have become and we have a job to do so let's get it done."
Kylie nodded in fearful agreement as they approached an unassuming piece of the mountain. The Legend held out his right hand and flicked his wrist and a mechanical noise was heard as a strange light permeated the rock wall and then a portion of it slid away revealing a corridor beyond. The two entered and the door shot down behind them, bathing them in darkness. Kylie flipped on her flashlight and two advanced down a long hallway before emerging into a darkened room. Kylie moved her flashlight around which revealed numerous tables, chairs, and scientific equipment all covered with plastic covers. Given the amount of dust present in the room it was apparent that the room hadn't been used in years.
"Brace yourself," said The Legend as he approached the far wall. He grabbed a massive switch and pulled down on it. Light suddenly erupted from the room as dozens of overhead lights came on, though a couple did immediately short out. With the lights on, the room came into startling clarity. The room was one massive laboratory complete with test tubes, microscopes, and various other pieces of machinery. But something was amiss. While a good portion of the room was clean and immaculate, the other was in complete disarray as chairs and tables had been thrown everywhere as if a fight had broken out. The Legend stepped through the disarray and looked down at the wreckage, if Kylie wasn't fooling herself by what she saw, with a hint of sadness. He then walked over to a massive blast door with a single viewing port near the top. The Legend looked into the room sadly as his eyes became glazed over before his head hit the door with a resounding thud.
"Legend?" asked Kylie confused as she stood next to him. The Legend looked at her through tear stained eyes before slowly turning away and stumbling off. He collapsed in a chair defeated before holding his head, depressed. Kylie looked up at a sign above the door which read: Storage and Containment, before looking into the room and seeing a pile of skeletons inside, both human and pokemon.
"What happened?" she asked softly. The Legend meanwhile was looking at something that was beyond her line of sight.
"There was an accident…a containment cylinder broke and verterons were released into the atmosphere of the base," began The Legend. Kylie jumped at that statement as she quickly held her breath and fumbled for her gas mask.
"Don't worry I purged the base of the particles shortly after the release. But I was still too late the team had become infected," began The Legend before his voice began breaking up. "It drove them mad…they tried to…tried to escape, but...I couldn't let them go, it'd compromise the quarantine of the base. They had to be stopped…I had to stop them. They resisted, I had no choice…I had no choice…I had to stop them. I sealed them in there…and they died. I watched them die…I killed them…" finished The Legend in shock.
"Wait, why weren't you affected?" asked Kylie confused. The Legend shook his head.
"I just wasn't," responded The Legend cryptically.
"Okay," said Kylie deciding that she wasn't going to get anywhere before deciding another tactic. "But that still doesn't explain how you killed them. I mean you didn't sabotage that canister did you?"
"No!" shouted The Legend startling Kylie. "I would never do that."
"Then how?" pressed Kylie. The Legend looked at the item he was clutching before tossing it to her. What she saw shook her to the bone.
"Because..." began The Legend as Kylie looked at the photo which showed an image of several lab scientists and their pokemon while in the center stood The Legend with his arms crossed. Below was a description giving their positions on the team and below The Legend it read: Director.
"I'm the one who designed and created the Verteron Particle," he finished.