Why can't it ever be easy?
Project Head Sigma asked himself this question very rarely. After all, his current position had to be earned, not only through hard work but also the constant infighting that so frequently occurred between the other officers. Of course, that's not to claim that that was the only way to attain such a high rank. Much as they would try to deny it, many of the other Named received their status through personal connections and other similar nepotisms. Sigma didn't really care about all of that, though, because the vast majority of the Nova leadership did actually earn their way up.
All of that aside, Sigma knew what it was like to be challenged. Nothing came easy, and that was just how he liked it. It kept his mind sharp. However, in situations like this, he would've preferred things to go off without a hitch.
He had lost contact with his specialist.
It's not like communications disruptions never happened, because they did. In the post-war world, even state-of-the-art Nova relays constantly failed or simply needed maintenance, much as Sigma would hate to admit it. Indeed, on top of that, specialists rarely ever reported in unless they had secured a target. The part that raised Sigma's internal alarm wasn't the complete radio silence, but the cause of it; Agent Mavin's tracking beacon had gone completely offline.
That was a big no-no in any department that worked in the field. Even before the Software Wars, the wilds outside of the cities were still teeming with wild Pokémon and were thus extremely dangerous to traverse. Knowingly switching off your tracker was a hugely punishable offense, and having read Mavin's file, Sigma knew she wouldn't do that in any situation at all, accidentally or otherwise.
That left only three possible explanations. The first was Mavin's most untimely demise, but that was unlikely. The Saffron wilds were purported to be comparatively very safe, and even if she had been killed in action, the traitors she was tracking probably wouldn't have known to turn off the tracker.
Second was Mavin's capture. To what end, Sigma wasn't sure, seeing as the traitors wouldn't have the means to hold her for very long.
Third and finally, there was perhaps a slight possibility that Mavin had defected, but Sigma refused to entertain the thought for even a second. All candidates for the retrieval program were thoroughly screened for such thoughts, so that they wouldn't defect during a mission. Sending a specialist to track a specialist would be a pain and a half to coordinate. During their conversation in Saffron Site, Mavin had sounded extremely determined to find the traitors. Surely, that wasn't an act...right?
Before he could overthink things too much, Sergeant Kata walked into Sigma's office. "Give me the good news first, Kata," he said. "I have enough on my plate as it is."
"Only if you're polite about it, sir," Kata said back. "I do have some good news, though. It's all I brought, as a matter of fact."
"Alright, I'll bite," Sigma replied, clasping his hands as he sank further into his chair. "Give me the good news first, please."
"Good enough, I guess," Kata said, jokingly feigning reluctance. "Our researchers have found a lead on Kyurem's location."
"That is good news," Sigma affirmed, leaning back forward. "This isn't another false lead, is it? I hope it's at least a little more believable than the rumor that it was hiding in the Desert Resort."
"It is partially your fault for even entertaining that thought, but yes," Kata said. "I've checked and double checked their report against surviving records, and their proof seems to hold up."
"So where is it?"
"They've tracked it to the Giant Chasm up north."
"Isn't that where Kyurem was found originally?" Sigma asked.
Kata shrugged. "At least it's consistent," she said.
Sigma stood up. "Alright, you go down and organize an expeditionary force. The Giant Chasm is a dangerous place from what little I've heard. I, however, have something else I need to do right now."
"Oh? What's the problem, sir?" Kata asked.
"I activated a specialist earlier today. I've already lost contact with her."
"It sounds like you could have chosen a little better, sir," Kata remarked.
"Her skills aside, I still have a problem that she was supposed to solve." Sigma picked up his radio receiver. "Any objections to me stealing one of your standing teams in Vermilion?"
"You're the boss. They're a little underequipped at the moment, though. I don't know if they'll be able to capture anyone."
Sigma smiled grimly. "They won't need to."
I'm starting to regret taking Kira as a prisoner.
Not that it was entirely my decision, of course, but I'm pretty sure the other guys were having similar thoughts. I never expected her to be happy about literally being dragged along with us, but Arceus damn; she was not making it easy. As the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon, so did my levels of tolerance.
"Look, all I'm saying is that you could stand to make the rope a little tighter," Kira announced. "It keeps rubbing against my wrists, and if you think my bitching is annoying now, you should just wait until I get a rope burn or something."
"This is probably the eighth time you've complained about your bindings," Zach groaned. "For starters, they're not meant to be comfortable. They're rope handcuffs. And another thing, I've checked them pretty thoroughly. Jack didn't do the best of jobs tying your hands together, but that rope physically cannot get any tighter."
"Can you at least fix the bindings?" Kira asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "If you could untie me for just a moment-"
"That sounds like a tremendous idea," Reese interrupted. "On a related note, where should I designate the splash zone?"
"Very funny," said Zach, visibly finding it not funny. "Anyway, I'm not touching your ropes, Kira. There are only three possible reasons why you're complaining about them. One, you're actually uncomfortable with it, in which case tough shit. Two, you're trying to annoy us until we set you free, in which case…tough shit. Three, being tied up with ropes is getting you off-"
"Come on, Zach, show some class," Reese said.
"Hey, I'm just calling it as I see it."
Welcome to my life.
At least this on the low end of Kira's grating remarks so far. But hey, wouldn't it be lame if she never said anything? That's a trick question; it was never fun or cool to begin with.
We eventually arrived at a dark, secluded spot in the forest and decided to hunker down there for the night. Wait, did I say "we" decided? I meant Zach and Reese decided on it; they weren't really in the mood to value my input tonight, but I can't say I really blame them.
As they schemed for tomorrow's continued journey, I was volunteered to watch after Kira. They explained it away by saying that I had the most experience dealing with her in the past, and perhaps that was true in some regard, but I'm almost positive they just saw it as a way to get me off their collective back. Oh well, I guess someone had to do it.
As we found a moderately comfortable place rest, Kira wasted no time at all in starting another tirade of irritating statements. Already fed up, I snapped at her.
"Do you always act this annoying, or are you just trying to save that for us?" I asked. "You might think your quips are funny, or badass, or whatever, but it's just getting really old."
"Digging deep for that one," Kira said. I might've actually touched a nerve there, though, because she didn't follow up on that statement. However, at the same time, I really didn't care. We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes, watching a Pidgey fidget with its nest until she spoke up again. "I don't…try to be annoying, you know."
"I didn't know, actually," I said. "How about you put your hands around my neck again and educate me?"
"Hey, as long as you're asking," Kira said back, trying to present her bound hands. "But seriously, I don't. I happen to think I'm hilarious, but I understand that not all of my jokes really land."
"You're also less funny when you're actively homicidal."
"True," she conceded, "but even outside of that, I try to crack jokes to break tension a lot. I can see how that would be annoying sometimes, and I'm sorry. It's just something I picked up in specialist training."
"You just couldn't resist," I groaned. "No matter the topic, you always bring up the fact that you're a specialist."
"But it's true, though," Kira said. "There's not many other women in the specialist program, so I mostly had to bond with the other guys there. They were annoying, but I guess they had enough good crude humor to rub off on me. That, or I just picked it up to fit in better. Probably both, if I'm being honest."
So the agent still had a heart after all. I never even asked her about this stuff, and she still felt like sharing anyway. She could just be telling me to build up my trust again, but that ship has long sailed.
Either way, though, I don't really see a reason for her to lie about her past, either. As uncomfortable as it may be for her to recount, from what little I do know about her I also highly doubt she'd pass up any opportunity to gloat about her position as a Certified Nova Retrieval Specialist Extraordinaire.
As if she read my mind, Kira took it upon herself to explain. "I bet you're wondering why I go on about being a specialist so much."
"I am," I said, "but at the same time, I don't feel like giving you yet another opportunity to boast about it."
"Fair," she said, "but I also don't see anything else you could be doing right now. You could always go bother the ex-guards, but you'd also be leaving me alone and running the risk of me finding something sharp to amuse myself with."
"I can think of quite a few meanings for that, and I don't like any of them." I crossed my arms and sighed. "Fine. Lay it on me."
"It's kind of a big deal for me, honestly," she said. "I'm the second youngest specialist to ever be inducted into the program. It's never brought up because you don't really get recognition for being the second."
"Who's the youngest?" I asked. "Were they thirteen or something?"
"Twelve, actually," Kira said. "But they also got kicked out on their first day because they never got permission from a parent or guardian."
"I'm just surprised they passed the physical exam," I remarked. "At least, I assume there's a physical portion."
"There is, but I can assure you that they didn't fudge any results. I reviewed the records during my studies and the kid was was very gifted. A prodigy, really, but they neglected the official paperwork and paid the price." She nodded at me. "As much as you like shit on my employer, at least they're relatively responsible."
"Ah, you say relatively," I pointed out. "So you admit that Nova isn't perfect."
"I never said otherwise, dumbass," she said. "No organization is perfect. Even I'm not stupid enough to believe otherwise." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, part of the reason I was even considered for the specialist program after that aforementioned fiasco was just plain nepotism. Don't get me wrong, I still had the skills to qualify, but the Kaiser was very hesitant to go through the intensive training process with a child again. My parents, luckily, are moderately high-ranking members of Nova, so they ultimately had some sway in his decision. They're also how I ended up being a part of Nova in the first place. Yep, you're looking at a new dynasty right here." She made a proud face.
"Charmed," I said. "What do your parents do?"
"My dad's a captain, so he's generally on assignment. At least we got to tag along with him on missions sometimes. That's also how I was able to meet Mightyena. My mom is a scientist, so she's usually pretty busy. Somehow, though, they both found the time to get me into the specialist program, and as much as my job sucks sometimes, it's good work."
"Yeah, I can't think of any job better than hunting people who have dissenting opinions," I said."
"If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it," Kira snapped. "I'm telling you my whole life story so you can quit bullying me about it, and you're just bullying me while I tell it, too. How dare I try to be nice for a change."
"Ah yes, I remember how kind you were being earlier today. The dull ache in my skull remembers, too," I said. Kira merely grunted at me. "Also, I never really asked about your life, either."
"Well, if you're just going to be rude about it, then I'm not telling you any more. Good night." She then turned away from me and presumably started pouting.
As much as I would hate to admit it, Kira's past did intrigue me somewhat. I was still pissed at her for trying to kill me, and I doubt that feeling would ever fade, but the more I knew about her, the better…and I'd probably be able to tell if she was going to try to kill us again. You know, practically speaking.
Still, though. She definitely was not in the mood to talk anymore, because justifiable as it may have been, I was still kind of an ass to her tonight.
A short time later, Zach and Reese came back over to us, having finished their conversation. Their ultimate plan for tomorrow wasn't really noteworthy. It was mostly just continuing onwards towards Vermilion as normal, with allotted time for eating, taking a leak, and even for getting lost. The last point was decided to be unnecessary, but would give off the impression that we finished our day early. I didn't see the point in that, but I also wasn't the trained guard that either Reese or Zach was, so what do I know? With all of that out of the way, we called it a night, designated who would keep watch and when, and went to sleep.
In the morning, I would apologize to Kira for being rude, if for no other reason than to prevent her from being even more grating than usual.
The team received their first message at approximately two in the afternoon: "You've been reassigned. Get ready for deployment."
The message was met with elation. After their team wa conscripted by a man named Sigma, they were subsequently placed under the command of one Sergeant Kata. She hadn't had them do very much in the past few months. They were all merely supposed to guard Novan assets in and around Vermilion City, and beyond the occasional smuggler bust and local Pokémon tournament, that wasn't a very exciting posting. Now, though, that was all about to change.
The team received their first orders at exactly 2:37 in the afternoon: "Hunt down two rogue guards and their accomplices. Estimated coordinates and trajectory included."
The team's name was the Harvesters. Many of them had been farmers before they joined Nova, but that was only a lucky coincidence. The group had once specialized in doing the dirty work of Novan officials, as one of many similar groups. Shortly after the Software Wars, Nova used the temporary power vacuum to quietly establish themselves. However, other organizations sought the same thing, and so the Harvesters were founded to combat them. What vile acts and terrible misdeeds were committed by the Harvesters? According to them, none at all. Certainly, no one alive can testify otherwise.
At exactly 11:43 in the evening, the Harvesters officially departed Vermilion City into the wilds beyond. There was quite a distance between them and the estimated intercept point, so the Harvesters took their trusty armored truck. Crashing through the trees, they quite literally forged a new path onward. If specialists are a well-placed sniper round, the Harvesters were a cannonball. It mattered little to them, though. Either has its use.
The team received their final orders at half past one in the morning:
"Eliminate them all."
I awoke the next morning to Reese and Kira arguing over something. About what, I didn't know, or really care. Honestly, at this point I was just used to it. Shocking how quickly you can become desensitized to something, huh?
Zach wasn't anywhere to be seen, either. Not really surprising, either, but I hadn't known him long enough to be concerned about where he went. The fact that Reese wasn't in crisis mode was probably a good indicator that Zach was just scouting ahead or something. Unfortunately, that meant I had to be the one to intervene between Reese and Kira.
"Shut up for a minute, you guys," I said wearily. "Talk about a rude awakening. How long until Zach gets back?"
"Not long," Reese said, now ignoring Kira entirely. "He said he wouldn't be going very far, and he only left a little bit ago."
"Yeah, that's what I was trying to talk to Reese about," Kira said. "I don't think we should wait on Zach. If we're all in such a rush to get to Vermilion, then we can't waste even a single minute."
"And as I've said," Reese retorted, "we're not just going to abandon Zach. You might think otherwise, but we're not heartless."
"Okay, I don't have the patience for this," I said. "Figure something out while I grab my shit."
"I'm not budging until Zach gets back," Reese declared. "It's simply the polite thing to do."
"Well, I'm going on without you, then," Kira said. "I don't care if my hands are bound. I'll rendezvous with Nova people in Vermilion if I have to crawl the whole way there."
"You two are acting unnecessarily confrontational this morning," I observed. "Whatever. Let's make a compromise, yeah? We go on without Zach-" Reese hmphed at me and Kira. "-but in the direction he went to try and link up."
"Sounds good to me," said Kira. "You're so smart."
"Yeah, suck me off while you're at it," I retorted. "That's the kind of 'moral dilemma' they give to actual 8-year-olds. What's more impressive is that neither of you thought of it first."
"He's right in both regards," Reese said. "Zach went due south of here, and he has most of our gear. It'll be faster, but if we miss each other, we'll be in some pretty deep trouble."
"That's a risk we'll have to be willing to take if we want to get to Vermilion before our supplies run out. You may remember that we packed for three and ended up with four."
"How kind of you to remind me, the guy who packed your shit," Reese said in a monotone. "Anyway, it could still be for three if you quit being nice about it." He glowered at Kira, who scoffed and looked away."
"Either way, we'll be out of supplies by the end of the day, so let's quit arguing and get this show on the road," I said.
We began trekking through the forest again, with Reese at the front. He had his rifle out, scanning the terrain for potential threats. I, meanwhile, got relegated to watching after Kira again. That meant I was last in line, prodding Kira along with my own weapon. Classic prisoner transport formation, as it was.
Luckily, bringing up the rear worked in my favor this time. Once we had traveled a decent distance, I softly grabbed Kira by the shoulder. "Drop back a bit. I want to talk to you," I said quietly. We waited until Reese was maybe 15 steps ahead of us before we resumed.
"What the hell do you want now?" she asked. "Are you just going to verbally abuse me more?"
"I actually wanted to apologize for how I treated you last night," I said. "As justifiably mad as I am at you, that's no excuse for-"
"All right, cut the shit," Kira interrupted. "That's probably the flimsiest apology I've gotten in a long while. What is it you actually want from me?"
"I can see you haven't cheered up any either," I said. "Fine. I just wanted to hear more about your personal life is all. Life outside of Nova work, that is."
"I think that window of opportunity has passed," said Kira. "You're not getting any more out of me until you can think of a better apology. Besides, I seem to recall that you thought I'm annoying, so clearly it would be best if I didn't say anything at all."
I bit my tongue to stop myself from meeting her jab. "Come on, Kira. There's gotta be something you want to talk about to pass time. Vermilion is still a long way off, after all."
"Nope. Nothing at all. Especially not to you," she said, harshly.
"Nothing?" I inquired. "Surely there must something. Here, I'll think of some topics real quick." I paused dramatically. "Hmm, maybe funny workplace stories? More insight into your family? Pokémon training tips? Nova secrets, even?"
"I'll have you know, I'm still loyal to Nova," Kira reminded me. "It doesn't matter how many corners of the Earth you drag me to. I'll always uphold what Nova stands for."
"And what even is that?" I asked. "All this time, and you've never even bothered to tell me what it is your organization actually does."
"Our cause is a noble one," Kira replied, getting more and more starry-eyed as she spoke. "We operate on the fringes of society to prevent humanity from slipping back into the barbarism and chaos of prehistory. The occasional nudge here and there can have a massive impact down the line. That purpose became especially clear after the Software Wars began. Sure, we've never gone public, but that's simply because they would never trust us. Not after so many other Teams that had superficially similar goals."
As if remembering something, she changed her tone slightly. "I know our methods may seem cruel at times, but we really do have humanity's best interests at heart. We can't afford any extra variables, or worse: enemies. Plenty of misguided revolutionaries that know of us would like nothing more than to watch us be the spark that burns society down."
"See, I knew you wanted to talk about something," I said drily.
"Blow it out your ass," Kira said, walking even farther in front of me.
We didn't have to go much further until Zach burst out of the trees ahead of us. He stopped right in front of Reese, panting pretty heavily, like he had been running for a while.
"What's wrong?" Reese asked, putting his arm around Zach for support.
"I was…scouting ahead…as we agreed to…" he said between breaths. He inhaled deeply and continued as normal. "We need to get out of here. Now."
He wasn't able to continue explaining, as suddenly, a band of armed mercenaries (I would have to assume, given the lack of markings) barged out of the same tree line that Zach had. There were only seven, but that was seven more than I wanted to see. All of them had assault rifles trained on us.
Wasting no time, I grabbed hold of Kira and dragged her behind cover. It wasn't much, but it was still better than standing out in the open waiting to get shot.
Reese had a similar idea; he made a mad dash into the trees, stopping only long enough to make a couple potshots at the mercs. One of them struck true, and the respective fighter went down with a rifle wound in their gut. Reese than continued further into the wilds.
Zach wasn't as lucky. Tired as he was from running to warn us, he wasn't quick enough to get out of harms way. He swung around and fired at the opposing group a couple of times, but it wasn't enough. A few well-placed shots to the chest, and Zach was sent to the ground.
I didn't have any time to mourn, though. I still had to get to safety, and basic morality dictated that I had to take Kira with me, too. We found a fallen log to take shelter behind, but I was still able to peek over it. Most of the fighters had broken off from the main group and were running off to track down Reese. That left behind three mercenaries and their one wounded.
"How should we go about this?" Kira asked from right beside me. I started, not expecting her to be there.
"We're not doing anything. I am," I corrected. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're not really combat capable right now."
"I don't know if you've noticed," she said, "but they're aiming for both of us." She presented her bound hands. "I could help, you know. You can trust me. I wouldn't even have the time to betray you, anyway."
"That's encouraging, but I'm not suicidal, thanks," I said. "Or as stupid as you may think. Besides, I already have a partner in crime to fight back with." I unclipped my PokéBall from my belt. "Stay here and try not to get shot." With one more glance over the log, I clambered over it and sneakily tried to get closer to the group. If I had one chance at a surprise attack, I wasn't going to waste it.
As the boy climbed over the log, a shining metal tool dropped out of his waistband. The agent waited to see if he would notice. He did not. Instead, he silently ran over towards the group of attackers. Even Agent Mavin of Nova did not recognize them. If the attackers had been sent by Nova, then they were some sort of black-ops group she had never heard of before. Then again, that was the point of those groups, wasn't it?
Mavin quickly scanned the log, looking for something in particular. It didn't take long to find; a broken, jagged stump for a branch that had withered away long ago. Perfectly sharp enough to cut the climbing rope…especially at her angle. Mavin got herself into position and began to saw away at her binds.
I found a good spot to begin my attack rather quickly. Then again, there weren't very many places to choose from to begin with. The mercenaries were huddled around their fallen comrade, tending to them as best they could while scanning the trees looking for me and Kira.
I released Flytrap as quietly as I could, holding my finger to my lips to indicate silence as he took form.
Pokémon moves were extremely effective against people; usually nonlethal, but with Flytrap's move set, I had to prepare myself for the possibility that I was going to have to kill someone today.
Loading my rifle, I whispered to Flytrap, "Sonic Boom. Middle of the group. Don't be seen." He somberly acknowledged my order and flew up high while I observed the group through my rifle's scope. They had no idea what was about to hit them.
The attack came as swiftly as I wanted it to. Flytrap's Sonic Boom landed squarely on top of the wounded mercenary, causing all of the bones in their chest to visibly cave in and the rest of the group to go flying a short distance away. I took the opportunity to advance on them, firing my rifle wildly at anyone right in front of me. Unlike yesterday's target practice, I actually managed to hit one of them as they scrambled to their feet. The last two ran into the forest, presumably to avoid Flytrap's continued bombardment. I signaled to him to follow them, and so he did.
As I prepared to move into the woods behind me, I heard a branch snap from behind me. I swung around to see who the new interloper was.
It was Kira.
She somehow escaped her binds and now had her handgun leveled at my head. Shit, I must've forgotten to put it away in Reese's bag yesterday. Now I was going to pay the price for my ineptitude.
Not to go down without a fight, I raised my rifle to position as quickly as I could and pulled the trigger. All that met me was a small click. I had spent all of my rounds firing wildly at a group of panicking mercs. That's 0-2 to my ineptitude, now.
We stood there for what felt like hours, both of our weapons readied for the killing shot but knowing full well who the winner would be.
Then Kira shot me. Twice.
…
This is rather familiar now; I didn't feel anything.
I turned around just in time to see the very same mercenaries I attacked slump to the ground with holes in their chests. Turning back around, I lowered my rifle. No point in trying to use it right now, anyway.
Kira holstered her gun and walked past me, towards the spot where Zack fell. "Come on," she said, "he could still be alive. Don't worry about the others. Reese can probably handle them just fine." Almost on cue, more gunshots rang out in the distance.
"Slow down," I demanded. "You had me completely at your mercy, again, so why didn't you do it? Why didn't you kill me?"
"I never wanted to kill you," she said, not slowing down. I had to jog to catch up. "Like I told you, I was just following orders. Luckily for you, those orders are void now." She gestured to the fallen attackers as we passed them by. "They were shooting at both of us."
"How could you possibly know that?" I asked. "Assuming these…mercenaries…were sent by Nova, they wouldn't have had a reason to attack you."
"They do, actually," Kira replied. "There's a reason why specialists are said to never fail at their jobs. It's because we always fight until the very end. If I had died fighting you, then that would have been that, and my employer would have sent another in my stead, easy as pie. But specialists are NEVER captured. To save face, I'm sure Nova simply listed me as killed in action and sent these guys to finish the job."
We made it to Zach with no time to spare. I quickly went to flip him over and see the damage. As I rolled him onto his back, I found that there was…none at all. The protective plates on his chest, thin as they were, were completely intact. In fact, he seemed completely unharmed.
As I marveled at the feat of engineering that was his armor, Zach coughed in my face. Ew. Wincing, he pushed himself up into a sort of reclining position. Seeing my confusion, he explained. "These plates work better than you'd think. They're tough enough to resist even .50 caliber bullets but…" He coughed again. "…they're only designed to protect the user against smaller rounds. I may be alive, but I wouldn't be surprised if those shots still broke some ribs. Where's Reese? Actually, more importantly, why aren't you still tied up?" he asked Kira.
"Long story. I'm sure she'll gladly regale you later. But for now…" I helped Zach to his feet. "We need to get out of here. We don't know how many more of these guys there are."
"But where's Reese?" Zach repeated.
"Right here."
Reese walked triumphantly towards us, his rifle casually held in his arms. He certainly looked better off than Zach did. I guess he was a better shot than I initially gave him credit for. He looked us up and down. "Why aren't you tied up?" he asked Kira.
"Again, later," I said. "We need to get out of here. I assume you aren't being followed?"
"Not unless they're crawling after me," he joked.
"Don't get too cocky," Kira spoke up. "Now that I'm up close, I recognize these guys." She held up an arm patch, decorated with a faded depiction of a scythe. "I grabbed this while you guys were all talking." She gestured to the crater of a person that Flytrap had attacked. "It kind of…flew off." She shuddered. "Anyway, these guys, the Harvesters, were an old group that was dedicated to silencing competition and traitors in Nova; kind of proto-specialists. I had to find and read surviving records about them during training. They were good at what they did. The only reason we won is because they must've gotten old and complacent. I expect that Nova will only send bigger and stronger groups after us as time goes on. That means getting to Unova is our highest priority."
"Whoa, slow down," Zach said. "Who's this 'we' you keep talking about? You're still our prisoner."
"If you want to try and tie me up again, go ahead. I'll break even more of your ribs," Kira taunted. "Otherwise, I'm on your side now. I'll be loyal to Nova until the day I die, but as long as they keep trying to kill me, I'm going to help you in your quest to Unova instead. You can interrogate me about that later, but for now, let's listen to Jack and get the hell out of here." She pocketed the patch and looked around. "The Harvesters had a huge, armored truck that they used for missions that weren't explicitly stealth. If they took it along with them, we should be in Vermilion before day's end."
There was a long silence. None of us knew what to say to her. So much was happening in such a short time frame. More people had tried to kill me in the past 48 hours than the entire rest of my life combined. I quickly felt a heavy sense of dread in my body, and my bones felt denser than stone. I hunched over, my hands on my knees.
"I'm going to take Zach and search for that truck," Reese declared, putting Zach's arm around his shoulder for support. "Kira, if you want to really start helping, then make sure Jack doesn't have a panic attack."
As Reese wandered off, with Zach in tow, Kira came over to support me. "Relax," she said. "It's just the adrenaline wearing off. You'll be fine in a minute or two."
"I don't think I will," I said. "I just killed someone, and I don't even feel that bad about it. How am I supposed to feel about that?"
"It doesn't get any easier; I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you," said Kira, not helping me feel any better. "Eventually, though, you get more and more numb to it. The fact that you feel any remorse at all is still a good sign. You're more human than these guys were." She gestured to the corpses strewn about.
"I just don't know," I said. "I didn't start this journey to kill people. I just wanted to train Pokémon like the rest of the population. Why did you have to drag me into this?"
"Trust me, Jack," she said. "I never intended for any of this to happen." She got close to my face. "Something is wrong in Nova. Maybe it was always like this, but I can just see it better now. Your friends want to go see something in Unova? Fine. If Nova wants us to keep us away from there, then there's something worth seeing."
She stood up and held out her hand. "So let's find out. Together."
I let her pull me up. "We need to get out of here anyway," I said. "Not just to get to Vermilion, but so I can get away from…that."
"Yeah…I don't blame you."
We ran after Reese and Zach, after having called Flytrap back, and also in search of the Harvester's hypothetical transport. Luckily for us, they had already found it. It was a big old thing, more like a tank than a truck. It had angular armor plating, presumably to minimize profile while maximizing protection. The result was something that looked sleek yet ugly. Pure functionality.
Reese noticed us. "So you were right after all, Kira," he admitted. "They didn't leave behind the keys, though. I can try to hotwire it or something, but you're all responsible for Zach in the meantime."
"I'm not an invalid, you know," Zach said. "I am feeling better now."
"No, you aren't," Reese said. "Get in the truck."
We helped Zach into the truck, despite his protests. As we hopped in the back of the truck, Reese got the truck working, and eventually we were traveling back through the crushed undergrowth that the truck had driven through earlier. Today was thoroughly terrible, shitty even. But as many night terrors this morning would bring me later, at least I'd be able to reach Vermilion without any further problems. Plus, if Kira was being genuine, I wouldn't have to worry about her trying to kill us anymore. Overall, today is a net positive.
So why doesn't it feel that way?
