Chapter 5
Saffron City PokeMart Docks
Angi, Jenny
6:07AM
Even after a full night's sleep, Jenny was still exhausted. She was working almost non-stop at the Guild Clinic and was hoping for a week or two off, but instead was thrusted into a mission with little time to actually prepare. She woke up with a groan, wishing she could just have five more minutes, but would rather not have been woken up abruptly by an employee kicking them out. She picked herself up and adjusted the cloak tightly, before looking down at her comrade who was fast asleep. Annoyed that she was supposed to be the one waking both of them up upon agreement, Jenny was less than happy about it.
"Come on sleepy bones…." She groaned out in a nearly half dead voice. Jenny tried everything to wake up the electric canine, but was unable to find anything she could use. "I don't want to deal with this nor do we have the time….why am I the one that does all of the work here?" She whispered under her breath. Using her psychic powers, Jenny was lifted up into the air, and then was dropped onto a giant pile of wooden boxes from a 5 foot drop. A giant explosion of wood and splinters rose up when she had hit the ground.
"Ooooooooooww….." she whined, wondering what the heck had happened for her to be on the ground at 6AM in a pile of boxes.
"I told you to wake up and you refused to wake up. I've been trying to wake you for about 10 minutes. We need to get out of here before the employees come to the dock."
"I just wanted to sleep for 5 more minutes.….." Angi pouted, picking herself up from the broken pieces of wood that surrounded her.
"If anyone around here needs sleep it's me. Anyways let's get going and see if we can find any information around town." Jenny pulled out the map from her cloak pocket and set it down.
"Well thanks. Now I have splinters everywhere. Couldn't have found a better way to wake me up?" Angi asked her, really wondering why she was being so rude.
"Do you think you've broken anything? Let me take a quick look at you just to make sure." Jenny did a quick examination, and just as she thought nothing was wrong.
"So that's all you're gonna say? No sorry or anything? I mean you dropped me 5 feet into a pile of wooden boxes..." Ignoring what Angi was whining about, Jenny immediately focused on the task at hand and started to figure out the layout of the area.
"Ok so we're near the center of the town. SilphCo is in the dead center….the Gym is about 2 blocks away. I say we head to the gym and see if we can find anybody that might have seen an Umbreon or Ninetales on their travels. Since they're on the run I highly doubt they would show up in a highly populated area such as town square or near Silph Co. Then after that we head to the Pokemon center and see if we can find any information there as well."
"Sounds like a plan. If we don't find anything here, we just head on to Celadon." Angi and Jenny started heading towards the gym. Since it wasn't a long way away, it didn't take awhile to get there. Gyms usually opened around 8AM and are always filled to the brim with trainers.
"I guess we got up a bit earlier than we should've. The gym doesn't open until 8 and it's like 6:30. Looks like we've got some time to kill." Angi sighed as she laid down in the shade of a nearby tree.
"So Jenny...do you really think this might be Soul? I honestly have my doubts that he is."
"Well what do you mean?" Jenny pondered what Angi meant in her head, she met eyes with her, intrigued in what she had to say.
"Well obviously you've known Soul longer than I have."
"Yeah. I think this would be about 4 years since I've known him. Maybe close to 5."
"Well, from what I know about him in general, he doesn't seem like the type to just abandon his village. If this Umbreon we've been chasing has been out there for awhile. At least longer than three weeks. Why hasn't he made any attempt to reach out to us?" Angi had a very good point. Soul wasn't the type of person to leave someone on read like this. He would've tried coming back home to Spirit if it was the last thing he did.
"I...I don't know…"
"That's what I'm saying. I don't think this Umbreon we've been chasing is Soul at all. He wouldn't just up and leave us for a year if he could help it. And if he's been roaming for more than 3 weeks and was in Pewter City which is right by the forest, he could've easily come home. It just doesn't add up to me." Jenny had to take in all of this info, it was too much to think about. Angi had made a very strong argument. Whether or not this figurative was Soul was irrelevant either way. It would help them in another case even if it wasn't him.
"See...while you make a very good point Angi, there's just something about this whole situation that has Soul written all over it." Jenny stated. "You see, back when I first met Soul, he was depressed, he felt he was a danger to everyone. If Rocket truly is involved somehow in this, it very well could be Soul."
"What do you mean depressed? What was Soul like before all of this?"
"It was about 4 years ago when I first met Soul. He grew up near Pewter City, but not in Viridian Forest. He didn't tell me a whole lot of his younger life, but when he was little, he had a family that he was very close with…."
7 1/2 Years Ago
(Jenny Narration)
"Hey Mom!" Soul screamed, racing to the door to greet his mother. She grabbed him up and tossed him in the air, catching him on the way down.
"Hey kiddo. Did you miss me?" She spoke in a loving tone. Her ribbons caressed his hair, and patted him on the back as she spoke. Her eyes had a certain soft feeling about them, making anyone around her feel at ease.
"Yeah...it seems like you were gone forever...why do you always go away for so long?"
"Well I was working on getting a special surprise for you. Me and your dad had been looking everywhere for it, but we couldn't find it." Soul cocked his head to the side, wondering what they could mean. Well whatever it may be, he was just glad that they were finally home. It had been hours since they had left, and he was just excited to play a game with his family.
"Surprise!" An Eevee launched from behind and pounced on Soul. The two of them fought with each other for a while, before Soul was able to pin the Eevee. He tried wriggling out of the right grip but was unable to.
"You're never gonna catch me off guard and win. I got lightning reflexes." Soul chuckled while mimicking the movements of a Jolteon.
"Man, it's so unfair...how come you're so much better than everything than me big bro?" He whined, wanting to learn the secrets of Souls superiority.
"It comes with seniority. The older you are, the better you get at stuff. Experience is key."
"Now come on. Stop fighting in the den you two, go play outside if you want to roughhouse."
(Everything was peaceful. He was just an Eevee worrying only about the present, nothing about the future mattered to him as long as he had his family by him. He'd usually spend time with his little brother playing around in the forest. Everything went wrong one night when they were outside playing in the forest.)
Night dawned over the forest, and the two were playing hide and seek, passing the time until dinner. Soul had found the perfect place to hide underneath a dead tree stump. His brother looked long and hard for him, but unable to find him.
"C'mon I can't find you...I've been searching forever…" he cried, wanting to give up on the game of hide and seek. Soul still hid, waiting for him to admit defeat. He taunted him by calling out his name and throwing rocks in other directions. His brother ran around looking for him for hours on end, leaves crushing underneath the weight of his body, until all of a sudden all sound stopped. Worried about his brother, Soul came out of his hiding spot to look for him. He searched around the forest but found no sign of him anywhere.
"Riley! Where are you?" Soul started to cry out into the woods, anxious to find his brother. He searched for so long, but he couldn't find any trace of him. "This isn't funny anymore! Come out!" He continued to search, when all of a sudden he heard cries of help from his brother further into the forest. He ran and ran to figure out where the sounds of distress were coming from when he found a poacher trying to trap Riley. He kept slamming the fox around trying to wear it out enough to where it would be easier to catch him. Soul had to do something but didn't know what. He froze in fear, his limbs like concrete. Suddenly without thinking he lunged to his brother's defense, relentlessly attacking the poacher.
"Leave him alone!" Soul cried, teeth latching into his arm. Moonlight broke through the trees shining on him, giving him an overwhelming sense of power. The poacher managed to shake him off and threw him to the side, but Soul just continued to get up for more and tackle him to the ground. White lights enveloped him as he continued to claw at the man's shirt or anything to delay him. His teeth grew sharper, his fur grew long and dark, his eyes turned blood red, and large glowing rings formed on his head and legs, but he paid no mind as he continued to attack the man.
(When Soul kept attacking the poacher, the other poachers got out of their truck to assist the man. One grabbed a tranquilizer gun and aimed it towards the newly evolved Soul, but he was too fast for them to actually do anything about it.)
"You're not getting away with my little brother if it's on my last breath!" He remained the man holding the tranquilizer gun, tearing into his hand preventing him from using it ever again. The other two men helped up the first guy Soul attacked while one helped him get back to the truck, the other grabbed the tranquilizer gun and shot 3 consecutive rounds into him. Soul, drained of any energy, still tried pushing on. His bites and scratches got weaker, till they eventually became harmless. The guy underneath Soul threw him off of himself, and picked up the unconscious Eevee to throw him in a cage.
"No….." Soul moaned, trying his best to stand up and follow them, but was immediately kicked by one of the unharmed poachers into a tree stump. Whatever wind was left in him was knocked out, and he slowly shut his eyes as his brother drove further off into the distance.
(For a while Soul was unconscious, just sprawled out into the forest, bruised and battered up beyond recognition. When he got up, he tried to go home.)
"Mom….Dad…." He cried as he limped his way home. All of the lights were out and his furniture was destroyed. He looked around for his family but was unable to find anyone, as if they both had abandoned him. "What happened here?" Walking into his parents bedroom, there was nothing but a single box on the bed with a tag card attached to it indicating it was Souls present. Inside the box was a thunderstone, something he had wanted for so long but was no unable to use. Soul started to break down and cry, as not only was he trapped in a form he did not desire to be in, but he now had no one left in the world to care for.
(He never found his family, and wandered aimlessly for months before finding us at the village.)
(End of Flashback)
Back in Saffron City
"Wow…..I didn't know Soul had it so rough beforehand. No one should have to go through all of that." Angi hung her head down, realizing how much he had gone through just to get where he is today.
"Yeah…..so I think this is Soul we've been chasing. Soul cared too much for Spirit and the rest of us to just leave without saying anything." Jenny hated to think more of the past, but knew it was inevitable either way. "I know I don't talk about that night much, and I don't talk about Soul much….but I felt that you should know a bit more about him. Why I think it's him." Angi was having trouble thinking of a response for Jenny's heartfelt words. She had opened up to her, and all she could do is sit there in awe as the tragic tale unfolded. The two of them remained silent for a while and headed towards the Pokemon Center, hoping to find a lead of some sort. Compared to normal towns, Saffron City was always busting with people. It was the most active place in Kanto, most likely because it was in the dead center of the map. Although in the morning it was usually slower than a slowpoke. Some people just used it as a shortcut to get other towns, while some lived in Cerulean and worked here. But the main selling point of the town was Silph Co., a company built on making the world a better place for everyone.
"Think anyone will be up here by 6?" Angi wondered.
"I mean Pokemon Trainers come from all over the world just to visit Saffron. It would be a shocker to not see a few trainers out here since it's open all day." Right as Jenny finished her sentence, police sirens and cop cars flashed right by them, driving 70 down the road.
"Damn I wonder what all the hurry is…" Angi tried looking down the road to see where they were headed, but they were too fast on the turn for her to catch them.
"Nevermind them, let's just go in and see if we can find anyone." When the wide sliding glass door opened, a nice gust of cool fresh air blew out. At the counter was a girl with a hat and her Ivysaur, trying to get her team healed.
"So what exactly happened to your team?" The nurse asked her.
"Team Rocket is raiding Silph Co. and I tried to stop them….my friend Red is in there right now and I need to get back there and help!" She told her, desperate to get back into the fight. She took off her hat and set it on the counter, nearly bursting into tears that her friend was fighting them alone. Anxious to get back to the battlefield she hurried the nurse.
"Thank you mam!" She grabbed her few Pokeballs from the desk and bolted out the door like a Rapidash. After a few moments to process all of the information out there, Angi had an epiphany.
"Jenny! Do you know what this means?" she started, "If Rocket is in town maybe we can find Soul or at least figure out where his location might be!"
"Hmmmm….that's not a bad plan."
"And if they're currently being distracted by that "Red" kid and the girl than we can slip in and find some more details on location and information!" Angi was excited to finally have found a lead and have some action.
"Yeah, let's sneak in while we have the chance. We need to get there before the cops shut off all entry. Should probably start trailing that girl so we can find our way in." The duo rushed out of the Pokemon Center and started to follow the girl down the alleyways of Saffron. Her bag flew in the wind, and had to have one hand on her hat to prevent it from flying off because of the wind. Disregarding anything in her path, she pushed over tall cans and jumped over cardboard boxes and any obstacle in her path, leaving them in the way of Jenny and Angi unknowingly.
"Watch out Jenny!" Angi warned her before knocking her out of the way of some boxes that were about to tip over. The foundation of the boxes fell over and a huge stack of them plus the garbage cans had fallen behind them, leaving a wake in their path.
"Thanks for the save there."
"Don't mention it. You can repay me next time by not dropping me in a pile of boxes." Angi chuckled. "I can still see her up ahead." The girl was trying to plead with the cops to let her in, but the officers wouldn't allow her to come in.
"Looks like we won't be taking the entrance." Jenny sighed, looking for another way to enter the building. "Maybe the back entrance is open? It's probably our only shot." Going behind the giant tower of the building, there was a door marked "Fire Exit". "Good, it's not guarded yet. Let's slip in before anyone notices that this way isn't guarded yet." And then they both slipped in, no one any wiser that they had just entered Silph Co.
Rock Tunnel
Scarlett, Aaron, Lance, Tori
Lance continued to lead the group despite his injuries, determined to get everyone safely out and find their leader. He still had a few marks from the battle of yesterday, those electric attacks had done a number on him whether or not he liked to admit it. Tori noticed his grunts and slight limp and decided to confront him about it.
"Lance. I doubt you should be taking the lead if you're hurting this bad. Let me or Aaron take the lead."
"Tori I got it. Just let me do my job and we will all be fine. We're almost out of the cave anyways, we can see about a medic once we get into town." Lance tried assuring her but it didn't comfort her at all. Scarlett was still tired from last night, so Aaron just carried her on his back so she could get some more sleep.
"Do you guys mind being quiet? Scarlett is still trying to sleep." Aaron scolded them. "Lance if you don't want Tori to take the lead, you could always let me take it." He suggested that he take the lead, as it made more sense anyways that a fire type would take lead in a dark cave. Lance did not agree with him, shot him a look of disapproval, he still didn't trust anything about Aaron. "Fine then. Be that way." Lance kept positioning the torch different as some positions would hurt after a while with his injuries. After another few hours of silence, the group had finally made their way out of the tunnel. It was nice to finally be out of the dark and gloomy tunnel, daylight rained down from the sky, and there was a nice breeze that had settled in. As one would expect of the "city of the dead" there wasn't much traffic going on at the time. Scarlett had just woken up after being on Aaron's back this whole time and would have nearly fell off if it weren't for his tails supporting her. They gently picked her up off his back and set her back down on the ground.
"Perfect. I don't think Rocket isn't here yet so we can take our time and scan out the area." Lance was finally happy to have some good news as the last 24 hours had harbored none. Of course they would still have to be careful and keep an eye out for Spirit and Soul, but nothing they couldn't handle.
"Great so let's split up and…." Lance had yanked Scarlett's cloak so she didn't get ahead of herself.
"No. We aren't splitting up this time," he told her. "Instead we need to travel as a group. Rocket could appear at any time and pick us off one by one. If we stay together they won't be able to do that. You have to think ahead Scarlett." Lance patted her on the head and let go of her cloak. She pouted and then fastly turned around, not wanting to be told what to do. "First let's see if we can't restock on supplies. Let's head over to the mart and then look around and ask some locals if they know anything about Soul."
"Sounds like a plan. Let me lead the way, I've been here before." Aaron insisted that he lead then through the town as he would know the area better than any of them. One wouldn't expect much from the city of the dead, they would probably think it would look abandoned, or haunted, but it was farther from the truth. It was always clean, and people sometimes swept in front of their shops to give it a more clear appearance. Why it was called the city of the dead was due to the looming tower dedicated to the gravestones of dead pokemon. Almost 10 floors of nothing but pokemon corpses and spirits. Most people only come here just to pay respects to their partners, as people who live here generally think that they are cursed. Little litwick lights took place of the street lights, further giving the appearance of a ghost town.
"If I remember correctly the next block hosts the Pokemart." Aaron took a left at the next intersection and the big blue store was right there.
"So we need potions, rope, and some revives would be nice. Aaron, Scarlett, you mind going in? Me and Tori will stay out here and stand watch."
"Will do." Aaron told Lance. As they headed into PokeMart, He laid down on the ground waiting for them.
"Are you alright Lance? Wounds feel fine and everything?" Tori asked as she examined his back and neck. Nothing that set off any alarms but still didn't look good.
"Yeah I'm fine. It just hurts all over from that thunder fang. I really wasn't expecting it so it caught me off guard" Lance sighed and then looked up at Tori. "I wouldn't have been able to hold off both of them. If it weren't for your help we might be 2 team members down." Lance said. Such praise from a tactitioner was an ego booster. Toris cheeks were redder than the sun, and one could see how much she was blushing.
"Oh thank you Lance….from a tactitioner of your status it's really good to hear."
"No problem Tori. Thanks for checking up on me and keeping the group in high spirits." Within a few minutes the two had come out of the store with supplies and packed them up.
"So what in all did we get?" Lance looked into the packed rusack to check and make sure everything that was on the list was there.
"We got about 20 potions, a rope, and 5 revives." Scarlett told him. "We got everything that was on the list."
"Alright. Next move I suggest we go to this area called….Mr. Fuji's house? Supposedly abandoned pokemon gather there to be taken care of. I figure if Soul would be in Lavender Town that would be the only place." Lance thought that this would have been the only logical move, as any other place in the town would've been more susceptible to discovery. This is the only place in all of Kanto where wild and abandoned pokemon are fully welcome without question. Surely this is where he would be.
"Fuji's house isn't that much farther from here. It's about a block away to the left from the mart." Aaron started showing the way to the house. It only took everyone a few minutes before they arrived at the old looking house.
"Wow this house is so small for a place that supposedly houses a bunch of abandoned and wild pokemon...it looks so rickety as well." Tori mentioned the old house. The gutters looked badly torn up, the garden was nice but there were weeds and everything in the plants, a broken window, and cobwebs draped down upon the entry way. "Are we even sure people are still here?"
"C'mon Tori there are lights on in the house, at least someone has to be there. He's an old man so much maintenance doesn't get done on the place most likely." Lance reasoned with her. "Let's just go in and see if we can find anything more about Soul." The door had a large creek as it slowly opened. All of the furniture was smashed and broken ceramic cups scattered across the floor. Pillow cushion feathers littered throughout the place, indicating that there was a struggle in bound.
"Hello?" A whiny voice slithered out of Scarlett's mouth, obviously scared of the environment she was currently in. Nobody had answered her call out.
"I don't think anyones here. Let's see if we can take a look around the place and see what happened here…." Tori started to look around for any clues of what might have happened here. "What do you think happened here Lance?" Tori asked him, figuring he might be able to tell a little bit more on the situation than she would be able to.
"Its hard to say really…" lifting up his paw, he could feel the stickiness on the ground, the puddle of tea he was standing in was recently made. "There was definitely a struggle though. This tea is recent. Most likely only been a few days. Week at most." He scanned the area some more and found bits of blood on the broken table. "Obviously someone wasn't very happy with Mr. Fuji. Its like he was harboring something, or rather SOMEONE, that whoever did this wanted for themselves." It was a rather easy case to tell who did it, but the puzzle pieces still had to be aligned. There wasn't a clear cut reason for what the main objective this was for, or how long ago this was. "I think this is a pretty clear case of Rocket looking for Soul. The timing is way too perfect. If they were looking for us here the tea would have at least been warm. The blood is rather minimal so I don't think anyone actually died or was injured too badly, but we know for sure that at least Rocket was behind this." Lance knew for sure that Rocket was somehow involved with this.
"Lance if you think Rocket is involved with this don't you think we should get out of here before they come back? It would be like being an open invitation if we stay here." Aaron proposed that they skip Lavender and start headed towards Saffron, and stated maybe Spirit made it out and headed there herself as well.
"No this is a clear indication that Soul WAS here." Lance was sure of himself. "If Soul wasn't here, then they wouldn't have any reason to tear down the place. It would be like waving a big white flag saying that they're here and looking for him." Just as Lance had finished speaking, Scarlett saw some eyes flicker in the dark corner behind them, like someone had been watching them ever since they had come into the room.
"Guys I think someone is over there….." Scarlett ducked behind Tori, not wanting to get any closer to the mysterious figure in the darkness.
"Hello? Is someone over there?" Tori called out. For a few moments complete silence fell amongst the cast, before a feint yes came from the corner. A little Growlithe came out from the shadows and sat down in front of them.
"So what happened here? Do you know?" Tori asked the poor creature.
"About 3 days ago a group of men in black came here to raid the house looking for an Umbreon and their Project. He had come here not too long ago to get away from them…." He had started crying, how he was alone and afraid.
"Well that would explain why everything was torn to shreds. Soul was definitely here." Lance lowered himself to wipe the tears away from the pups eyes and tried to calm him down. "What happened next?"
"Well since the Umbreon had left a few days prior to then arriving, we didn't have any clue as to where he went. They thought that Mr. Fuji was hiding him, so they kidnapped him and took him to the tower."
"Wait why would they need to go to the tower? That's a pretty strange area to go to especially if you're kidnapping someone…." Tori murmured under her breath.
"Do you have any idea where this Umbreon went? We think it's our friend and he's trying to escape these bad people." Lance asked him.
"We don't have an idea of where he went. He left us in the middle of the night so we don't have any clue as to where he could have gone." After a few more minutes of interrogation, the group had made sure that the Growthlite was healed up and had enough water and food to last him
"I'd say we could take him with us, but honestly he's a lot safer here than with us due to Rocket chasing us and everything." Lance told Tori on the way out.
"No I get it. I just hope he can make it just fine, and that Fuji will come back soon. It still doesn't make sense on what they would want to do with a whole graveyard of pokemon." It still perplexed her as to why they would want anything to do with a grave site.
"Beats me Tori. Let's just get headed to Saffron and see if we can find something there. If not we head to fuschia from there."
Authors Note: Wow. 5 years since this story began. Time really flies huh? And it's been a year exactly since the last update to this boom. Every time I leave the story for a bit it just comes back in to my mind randomly for whatever reason. I feel like some day a comic would suit this story better than my writing could. Anyways, happy late 5th anniversary Midnights Sky. And here's to hopefully finishing Arc 2 before your 6th.
-Cross
