Chapter 03 – Ruler of Team Annihilation Reborn
The Savior's Building – Rooftop
Standing on the rooftop after scouting the city for the main camp Team Annihilation Reborn where stationed at, I was face to face with Shiny Latias, the one I had been after for five long years. She was suddenly there after I turned around to head back down the stairs, our eyes met accidentally and I was trapped by her ability preventing me from using my own moves to fight back or try and escape. I don't know how or when she found out I was in the city, I made sure I was careful entering and sneaking my way through the city. Perhaps Shiny Latias was levitating above the city when I had just begun using the binoculars an hour ago and noticed me up here on the roof.
"Heh, you were easy to catch." She said with a short chuckle. "I'm surprised almost, after last time I caught you six years ago causing you to lose all of your memory I figured you would look away upon seeing me, close your eye fighting blind, but you failed. But what do you see when you look at me, Zack? Would you see as something so vile like a monster? Or perhaps you are worried what would happen if you did look at my eyes. Knowing my ability, whoever shall look at my eyes, all I need to do is to activate my ability for me to take hold of them to do my bidding; tell me their secrets, their darkest fears, ones hidden desires they long to reach their heart aches for it, I can even control them to do whatever I tell them to…" She levitated closer to me. "…I can even tell them to hurt themselves, kill themselves or their loved ones. If you want your precious Latias so badly then all you have to do is say so and you shall have her for one hour to do as you please before she will return home. I will order you to stand right outside the Savior's building, and I shall bring my sister to you before the hour is up. And depending on what you two say to each other that may reveal the location of my bases location you two shall fight to the death, and whoever lives I will force the winner to fight their daughter to the death."
I wanted to see Latias again. After so many years apart, the nights without sleep, from town to town every inch in search for Annihilation for her and our daughter I did not know I had only finding out immediately after I returned home to Nuvema Town five years ago. Many of my friends were kidnapped by them, by Shiny Latias taken and separated throughout the region to be tested on, tortured, and who knows what sick things she had done to them. I wanted so badly to just give in and look at Shiny Latias so I could see Latias once more, but I knew I couldn't. She would take control over me just like she did six years ago, and she would win and this fight against Team Annihilation Reborn would be all for nothing.
"You look well. Almost torn to shreds with all of those lovely scars you have. Tell me; what are you doing here? Answer calmly and honestly." She smiled as she gave me a command. With her ability still in effect I had to obey.
"I'm here after seeing you on a TV report last night of the soldiers here in the city. I had come here to defeat you and find information on the location of my friends and family you taken from me."
"Defeat me, huh? Trying to find your allies after all this time? And for five long years." She said as she leaned in close, never keeping her eyes off of me, she taunted with a wide toothy grin. "Did you ever find a single one of your precious allies I took from you? Have you found Latias yet?" Her eyes glanced at my eye patch, using her paw to trail the three long scars across my left eye. "This was an accidental attack on you, Zack. My apologies, I only meant to aim for something not required for me to take control over you. But my sister and that annoying Espeon of yours did this to me." She showed me her own scars across her face. Not as much as I already had on mine after what Shiny Latias did to me up on that rooftop of Team Doom HQ, and all the battles I had been in searching for my friends.
"Espeon was really an annoying Pokemon. She caught me off guard when I was hurting you in front of my sister, scratched up my face really badly freeing you from my Psychic grip. When I protected myself, I realized both you and Espeon were gone. But at least I still had Latias to play with. She tried to persuade me to stop the fighting, but I had to show her that I wasn't playing around, that this was my calling; Team Annihilation, and I intend to finish what my father Juro started all those years ago before you came along and destroyed it all." She said as she slowly scratched deep into my forehead. "I really want to kill you, Zack. I want to hear you scream in agony before you die a horrific painful death. Force you to kill all of your friends, slicing them up with your attacks, allowing them all to fight back as you kill them one by one. Once this region is mine to rule, I will have no use of you." Shiny Latias smirked as she held me up with her Psychic, pulling me over the edge of the building leaving me to hang.
I could only look down at the ground below, hearing Shiny Latias as she began to chuckle, levitating beside me. "If I dropped you here right now…" She sighed. "It wouldn't be satisfying to me. A long drop and a quick death doesn't suit you, no, not after what you did to me. I need you Zack; I need you to get stronger for me when I do need you. You're still weak, but you have so much potential still to become stronger. I order you to speak freely." She commanded, and I didn't a single second before asking her about Latias.
"Where is she!? Where is Latias!?" I demanded, but all she did was make that sadistic smile she had on her face, almost laughing at what I had just said.
"Latias? Why just her, what about the others you have spent five years of your life searching throughout the Unova region for? Don't you care for your adoptive father and sister Yuri? You'll hurt their feelings if they heard you say that." She said in a mocking tone. "Let's just say they are on this planet. But I won't reveal to you the location of either one of them. Are they alive, still waiting barely hanging on that help will come for them never giving up hope? Or are they dead, all of them now bones and not much else? Their cries never answered, begging someone to save them. Oh, how agonizing must it feel on not knowing if they are still alive."
"Of course I care about them!" I growled, feeling my muscles ache as I tried nonstop to escape her hold on me, wanting to finish this off for good. "Let them go, it's me you want!"
"I know, but I won't give them up. If I did you won't fight and get stronger for me." She tapped my nose with her claw before scratching my cheek with it, almost cutting the cloak covering my mouth. "Not your family, not your pathetic friends, not my dear sister, or even your little daughter. I want you to get stronger, I want my soldiers to fight you, kicking you around, taunting you knowing that anger thing you have that causes you to lose control over yourself, killing anything you see. You can't escape me. So I'll let you go out into this region and let you train so you can get stronger. Then I'll capture you again and make you kill all of my enemies, and that includes your loved ones." Shiny Latias flew closer to me, both of her paws held my head up to make me look at her, her eys glowing as another command was made. "Just so you don't try and go thinking you can get out of this; you will not leave this region. You will not kill yourself or allow yourself to be killed. You must fight and get stronger. So eat and sleep well for me, kay?" She smiled before ending her ability and instead threw me rather harshly onto the rooftop face first before levitating away. "Oh by the way Zack; if you watch the news later tonight you'll see something spectacular. Not many people in this region or the other know who the leader of Team Annihilation Reborn is; I might as well announce who it is." She chuckled before picking up speed.
She didn't give any command to me to prevent me from attacking her. Slightly dazed, I stood up as fast as I could ran back to where Shiny Latias was to see her levitating away north of the city; first at a short speed, then picking up the pace after she noticed I had already gotten up. I reached my paw out to her and used Psychic to grab a hold of her to pull her back to the roof so I could finish her off with a Razor Shell, but she was already out of range, she had gotten away.
Castelia City – Diner
Later that night before leaving the city I took shelter from the rain at a diner near the city exit, eating food and recovering my strength. But most importantly the reason I was here was what Shiny Latias said before she flew off, she told me to watch the news tonight and I would see something 'spectacular' whatever that meant. Knowing her, it couldn't be good. She said that no one knew who the leader was of Team Annihilation Reborn and tonight all of Unova would find out. At first only a handful of men and women entered the diner at the seats against the windows ordering food. Then an hour later a large group entered cheering and celebrating gathering by the counter ordering drinks at the birth of a baby today and the boss of the company bought everyone a drink on him.
The TV in the corner of the diner behind the counter never had its channels turned channels from the news. I sat patiently and waited for news about Team Annihilation Reborn or Shiny Latias to appear on TV like she said it would.
By the time the clock reached ten at night no new update appeared on the news, nothing about Team Annihilation Reborn or a shiny Pokemon attacking cities and towns. I was beginning to wonder if Shiny Latias was lying to me, to keep me in one place while she sent out her soldiers to come after me. That's what I was beginning to think this was about, a trap she had set for me, powerful soldiers and Pokemon had entered the city waiting for me to challenge them in combat just as Shiny Latias had left and I had walked right into it. I was about to get up from my seat and walk out of there until one of the men gathered by the counter with his friends raised his voice over the rowdy crowd celebrating the birth of a new baby for the volume of the TV to be turned up and the crowd to be silent as a breaking news had just been announced. And the text at the top of the screen read 'Team Annihilation Reborn'
The TV in the diner had its volume increased; all who gathered around it remained silent to hear the broadcast. News regarding Team Annihilation Reborn was usually the big thing a lot of people talked about in the region, not supportive of them but rather hating them for everything they had done; kidnappings, executions, destroying homes and beautiful locations across the region.
The TV then shifted to another area titled 'Team Annihilation Reborn Room' before showing a Latias on top a stage looking directly into the camera. This wasn't Shiny Latias; it was a red Latias with multiple scars across her head, long neck and body, looking malnourished. Looking into the Latias' eyes, it took me a while before I recognized the Pokemon on TV. "Latias?" I whispered as I leaned up from my seat to get a closer look at the TV screen. In almost six years had I last saw her, the final battle with Team Doom, a healthy and strong Latias eager for the next battle, only now to see her like this, how skinny she looked with all of those injuries on her body, the bags under her eyes, it made me sick to see what they had done to her. Confusion is what the audience had on their faces when shown a Latias of all things, but to me I had was mostly shock and worry and anger on mine since Shiny Latias did say she was going to announce something on the news tonight.
A soldier then walked to the side of the screen and bowed at Latias first before bowing to the camera. "I am a soldier of Team Annihilation Reborn, and I am here to announce the leader all of Unova have not yet gazed upon. Behold; Latias!" Latias glanced at the man before glaring into the camera with the same smile Shiny Latias made upon looking into my eyes up on the rooftop of The Savior's building.
Before Latias spoke the people up front began whispering amongst each other, some of which I could hear from where I was in the corner of the diner. "A Pokemon leading those low-life thugs?" Scoffed one of men in the crowd. "And it's a Latias of all Pokemon. This has gotta be bogus!"
"No way a Pokemon could lead all of them soldiers in this region." Another man whispered as he pointed at the TV.
"I don't know man, Team Annihilation Reborn don't play around or pull things like this. Could be legit."
"I am Latias, I am the leader of Team Annihilation Reborn, citizens of the Unova region." None of the other people in the diner could understand what she was saying; they only could get their 'translation' from a soldier telling the audience what she was saying. Saying how Team Annihilation Reborn will continue their siege against the region, the curfews will stay in effect, that anyone deemed suspicious will be arrested and taken into custody. And finally enemies of Team Annihilation Reborn 'The Saviors' must be handed over to them.
"Are you listening Zack." Latias said staring right into the camera. The translator saying something else, it was a message directed to me from Shiny Latias. "Shiny Latias has controlled me to pretend to be the real leader, someone to hate. People around the region have been angry at her team, so she has made me to be the face of Team Annihilation Reborn. I will be out to make public hearings, and I will allow the spectators to throw rocks at me. My sister says that I need to be punished; all of your friends, family, and allies need to be punished. So get stronger for her, Zack." Throughout the entire speech, I saw the look on her face how she tensed up every time she talked, looked into the camera with somewhat dewy eyes, I could see she was trying her hardest to resist Shiny Latias' control over her. To me I saw Latias being controlled what to say to the region trying her hardest to resist. But to others watching the broadcast throughout the region saw the leader of Team Annihilation Reborn reveal herself on TV, something which the crowd gathered by the TV were talking about a lot, not nice things.
"So that's their leader then. The things her soldiers have done… boy, would I like to get a hold of that Pokemon and demand she beg for forgiveness after those soldiers killed my boy!" one of the men said sitting beside the counter.
"Not before I get there first brother." Another man agreed, patting the other man on the back, raising his glass in the other hand as other men agreed. "What kind of monster would kill kids like that? Disgusting…"
"We ever see that Latias here, we're going to mess her up for what she ordered her soldiers to do to our friends here!" The man held up a Masterball to show the others. "Got me one of them one hundred percent guaranteed catch balls. We nab her and take her back with us, bitch is history. Can't wait to kill that monster."
The men laughed, cheered and agreed as they held their glasses up high, eating up everything they heard. That was my cue to leave that diner. As much as I wanted to protest, prove to them they were wrong about Latias, I didn't want to cause a scene let alone attract the attention of the soldiers. Last thing I wanted was to be attacked and forced to kill because of my anger turning me into some uncontrollable Pokemon. Anger was right around the corner for me, and if that happened then the voices would most likely gain control over me killing everyone here and I didn't want that to happen.
Latias was no monster, far from being one. I didn't know what they had done to her during those five years apart, but I wanted to save her and bring her back home. I had some pretty mixed feelings about seeing Latias again after all these years; happy to see her again knowing she was still alive, but disgusted on what they had done to her ,to see her like that with all of those scars and injuries.
"Hey look guys, it's a white Dewott!" yelled out one of the men in the group announcing my presence to nearly everyone in the diner before I had reached the door. But I didn't stop; I still kept on walking towards the door ignoring them.
"Forget about that, why the heck is it wearing that getup for? He thinks he's people!" A drunken man sitting on the stool burst out laughing as he pointed out my cloak, bag, and eye patch. As I almost reached the door of the diner, the man who had gathered everyone here pressed his hand against the door preventing me from leaving.
Clearly drunk, the man pointed at me as he spoke to the other man who had a masterball. "Hey buddy, what say we catch this Pokemon and sell 'em. Looks rather rare if ya ask me." Before the any of the other men could respond, instead of pulling the door open with my paws, I used my Psychic to slightly push him forward, falling directly into the men cushioning the fall. I didn't display my moves to any of the people in the diner, I didn't want to cause a scene and have them chase me or alert the guards. The drunken man falling like that was seen to them as a drunken man having a little too much to drink and nothing more.
I had finally walked out of the city into Route 04 without any problems, so no guards, no angry drunken mob chasing after me; I was alone and ready to continue on with my search. Reaching halfway in, I stopped as I thought back to Latias. I felt myself feeling that I had lost, that the search was all for nothing. I felt anger kick in as I reached for my scalchop and used Razor Shell, hacking and slashing at a broken down tree on the side of the road in a fit of rage. Hearing the voices echo in my head; 'kill, kill, kill!' was only heard briefly either seeing as though I had no target in sight, or I regained myself.
I looked up at the sky above for a moment trying to find a way to keep going, a sigh or anything before I walked in the direction of Nimbasa City. I was unsure how I could continue this search for my friends, my family, and Shiny Latias to put an end to this fighting. How far would I have to travel, how much would I have to search? Shiny Latias and Team Annihilation Reborn were based in this region, somewhere hiding those I want to save. I had been all over this region for five years searching nonstop, I just had to keep going and hope I would one day find them somewhere out there. I suppose the memory of them, their faces is what kept me going in the end.
To be continued…
Trivia:
Shiny Latias originally didn't appear within this chapter. Instead Zack would've fought against Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers after they had discovered he was in the city, but the information Zack wanted to find about his missing friends and family weren't there leaving Zack furious and having him feel hopeless on the search.