Chapter 05 – Gang Wars Round 2
Nimbasa City – Main Street
As we walked through the streets of Nimbasa City, the first thing we noticed were the TV monitors displayed all over showing the recent updates of Latias giving speeches across the region, taking people and Pokemon from the crowds as prisoners. We saw the soldiers drag screaming children ripped apart from their families as they attempted to save their children, rushing at the soldiers, fight them back.
Driftveil City was the destination we were heading in, it was where Yuri my sister was imprisoned by Team Annihilation Reborn somewhere there. The only clues given where she might be was 'Inside a bar' 'full of the thuggish types looking for trouble' it was said by Devon's intel team that underneath was the hidden lab, and that's where we would find her.
"Things have become a lot worse now that Shiny Bitch announced Latias as the leader of that vicious group." Espeon said as she shook her head at the sight of the newly formed crowd gathered in front of the monitors showing the face of Latias talking about the new rules and curfews. The crowd shouted vile things about her, planning to attack her if she ever showed up in the city and even planning to head wherever she would go. "If only they knew the true leader, I'd sleep better knowing Latias wasn't getting things thrown at her and being yelled at in those gatherings her sister makes her go to… Shiny Latias is truly fucked up. Oh, and might I add a coward as well?"
"Shiny Latias yesterday up on that roof had me under her control. She could've just taken me back to her base or something and declared victory to the region, but instead she chose to let me go telling me to get stronger... and then she did this to Latias…" I sighed sadly. "I know she's punishing me this way."
"It'll be alright Zackary." Espeon slightly nudged me as we walked. "Once we have saved the others and I know we will, we'll all go home together with Latias. Shiny Latias will be wishing she had never messed with us after we have finished with her. Then we can finally be at peace." I hoped she was right about that. For too long I have been out here trying to put an end to the fighting. I just hoped all of us could come back in one piece.
We walked towards the exit of the city to continue to Driftveil City, we would arrive there by nightfall at this pace we were going; a little bit fast and not too slow not wanting to draw much attention anywhere we went, but a white furred Dewott with black sclera and blood red eyes especially one wearing a cloak and carrying a bag over their shoulder did make me stand out like a sore thumb, something that has attracted the attention of Team Annihilation Reborn soldiers.
But as we were walking, I noticed at the corner of my eye a tall man, bald wearing sunglasses and white suit walking towards the center of the city. It was only when he turned his head I got a look at his face, that was when I stopped.
"What's up Zackary?" Espeon asked as she walked up beside me. I pointed over at the man.
"That man in the white suit, the bald guy wearing the sunglasses, I think I have seen him before. During my first year as a member of The Savior's, Sakura, Isaac and I were given a mission in Driftveil City, a member of the mafia had hired us to deliver something for one member imprisoned in the prison, only for us to realize they wanted to kill the man so a man named Drake could be in control and run it how he wanted it." We hid behind a trashcan near the store before he looked our way. "That man, I am sure this man is the same man who worked alongside Drake in his crew. Drake was the co-leader of the Driftveil mafia working alongside his brother. Last I heard he and his crew got out."
"Not a good guy then. So what do we do, go after him? Or should we perhaps leave this city and head on over to Driftveil City?" I was going to, I really needed to get to Driftveil and fast, but when he turned his head right where we were hiding, it was if he were looking right at us that he knew we were here, that was when he started walking back down the street towards the center of the city. If he was still working with Drake and if he was in this city that couldn't be good. Innocent people were hurt because of Drake the last time we met, if he was in this city then the people here were at risk and I couldn't let that happen.
"If drake is up to his old ways again, if he really is here then we can't just let him go. If we leave now who knows what he'll do here." We trailed the man at a distance as he walked down the street at a slow pace, sticking close to the buildings hiding behind trashcans, cars and alleys should the man look back in our direction.
Luckily the street was kind of busy for us, more than enough people and Pokemon to blend into the crowd without being noticeable by the man we were tailing, but it didn't stop us from being noticed by the people and Pokemon we were near to hide from the man, often casting us odd glances at us, trying to get us to move away from them, raising their voices at times for us to leave them in peace. I couldn't count how many times I had to pull Espeon away before she yelled back at them for pushing her with their legs.
The man stopped at a stop light waiting for the cars to drive on by, this was a good opportunity for us to get in close without being seen and without the risk of losing him. The man turned, not back at us but to his left when another man wearing the same white suit as him began speaking to him. We couldn't tell what it was exactly he was saying, it was small talk before the other man walked away down one street.
"Who was that guy? Did you recognize him?" Espeon asked as we hid behind a store sign. I shook my head.
"I didn't get a clear look at him. They were wearing the same kind of suits as each other." The cars came to a stop and the lights changed allowing people tpo walk across the road safely, that was when we quickly moved in before the stop sign turned on creating a barrier of cars between us and the man in the white suit walking away. After crossing the street I turned back down towards the other street to see if I could find the other man wearing the same white suit, but I couldn't, he had already vanished.
The man in the white suit continued walking up the street towards the western section of the city towards the business district, and then suddenly he turned the corner down an alley between a book store and a pharmacy. We speed up and reached the corner and watched the man walk further into the alley before he came to a stop and turned his head back slightly.
"You can come on out, I know you are there; Zack Raines, and your Espeon companion." The man in the white suit suddenly spoke out before turning around completely, crossing his arms in waiting.
There was no point in hiding now. 'How did the man notice us?' I thought, I figured he either noticed us earlier when he did look directly towards us before we began following him, or the other man wearing the same white suit as him was on the lookout or something. We emerged from the corner and entered the alley but not going into the large square opening, Espeon cautiously looking behind her and up at the rooftops should an ambush await us.
"You knew we were following you." I said after coming into the alley, it was a large opening away from the people on the main streets, good place for an ambush, so the both of us prepared.
"Hm, noticed you two following me back there near the city exit, I thought something was up. This didn't go exactly as." He cleared his throat. "But the boss was right about on you being here. It was only a matter of time for us to make our move. We were going to set a trap right outside the city waiting for you, but since you are already here, well then here we go." Then from the streets entering the alley came several men wearing the same white suits as the man, then from the backdoors of the buildings opened and out came more men in the same white suits each with a weapon of their own; baseball bats, knives, and broken bottles.
"I hate to break it to you, but me and Zackary here are Pokemon in case you haven't quite yet noticed by now." Espeon scoffed. "We are more than capable on handling all of you using our powers alone. So be a dear and call off your flunkies and call it a day, 'cause we will mess you up badly not even your own mothers will recognize you once we're through with you!" The men weren't fazed by her warning; they stood their ground only holding their weapons tighter waiting for the man in the white suit to begin their attack.
The man smirked and held up his hand. "Alright boys, let's bring out the backup!" He clicked his fingers and almost all the men immediately reached for their pockets and threw out a Pokeball into the air above them sending out Pokemon surrounding us. The Pokemon they brought out weren't of various types, they were all the same; Dark types, not good for us. "You're right about you two being Pokemon. Since we are dealing with Pokemon we decided to use Pokemon ourselves to fight you. We did our homework, and since you two are Psychic types, well we have Pokemon that can 'mess you up badly!' boss wants to be the one to off you for what you did to him, but not before we get the chance to mess you all up for what you did."He cracked his knuckles, before signalling to the men to start with the attack as each men commanded there Pokemon to fight, giving them orders to attack us with their moves. We knew our Psychic type moves would have no effect on them because of their types so we had to use our other moves; Razor Shell and Scald for me, Swift and Hyper Beam for Espeon.
We hadn't really got a battle pattern down for how we battled together; we weren't expecting a fight like this to happen so suddenly.
When Aqua and I travelled throughout the region when I had lost all of my memory, we quickly made up a battle position should we ever run into any Pokemon wanting to battle us; Aqua and I back-to-back so we wouldn't get jumped, it worked in the majority of our travels since all of our foes were mostly close ranged targets. But now since Espeon and I were facing enemies with range we would have to come up with something, especially if I wanted all of us to come back home together. I tried to do the same battle position with Espeon I had done with Aqua, but the longer we stayed still the more Pokemon we would have to deal with, so we split and took care of those that come for us.
A Poochyena and Scrafty attacked me while a Sableye went for Espeon with a Vullaby, both of us countered these attacks with attacks of our own before the other Pokemon could attack us. But the Pokemon attacking Espeon grabbed her attempting to pin her down, surprisingly despite how many were on top of her pushed them all off and attacked them all with a Hyper Beam… defeating them in one hit. I attacked a Pawniard with a Scald move and defeated that Pokemon in one hit, then attacked another set of Pokemon with a simple Psychic pushing them back… they were easily defeated.
Yet, despite the type advantage they have against us didn't mean they were all strong in terms of strength. "The heck!? Didn't you morons train your Pokemon so they would last longer than one hit? You fools!" The man in the white suit shouted at his men scared as their own Pokemon were easily defeated. Perhaps a last minute thing they did to try and defeat us, catching Pokemon after finding out our weakness, they must've been freshly caught Pokemon since most of them didn't look at all pleased to be there, some unmoving to their trainers commands.
We did get hit by one or two moves from the attacking Pokemon, dark type attacks but not enough damage to inflict any serious wounds for how weak they were. After they were defeated, that was when the men recalled their Pokemon and moved in to attack us with their weapons. Weapons we could handle and the men attacking us they were easy to take down, but not without being hit by a few of their weapons; baseball bat to the shoulder, a knife slightly slashed at Espeon's tail, and something solid thrown at my leg.
As soon as all of them had been taken out, our attention turned to the man in the white suit as he attempted to flee the alley, but was immediately caught by Espeon holding him up in the air with Psychic before slamming him into the wall as we walked over to interrogate him. "Easy, don't hurt me!" he protested as Espeon lowered him down so we were eye level.
"Oh that's funny, one minute you were about to hurt us and the next minute you're playing the victim." Espeon scoffed, lifting up her paw up to his face pretending to scratch at him. "I should just cut up your face for what you and your friends did to us. You cut up my tail, bitch!"
"Where is Drake?" I asked calmly, almost hearing the voices urging me to kill in head again. I had to control them or else this could end up worse, Espeon could be at risk from them. "Why is Drake after us?"
"I ain't telling you jack! You won't get anything out of me!"He smirked, shifting uncomfortably as the Psychic hold around him got a little stronger.
Espeon then jumped up at the man and pressed her forehead against his, then after short while she sighed and turned to me. "He's at the amusement park in the city, haunted house the last time Kenny here saw him last before giving him the order to hunt down you if you ever came here." Espeon used her Psychic to read his mind to gather the information needed. It was something she had only started to train on long before arriving in the hideout during the five year search and before I was missing for a year after the fight with Team Doom. It was a tough ability to learn if you didn't have anyone to help train you on, so Espeon had to self taught until she got it right, only getting the hang of it without injuring anyone.
"Ah dang it! I should've known a Psychic could do that." He grunted. "Alright fine, the boss is there waiting for you. But he has a lot of us guys if not more just waiting for ya's to show up, they ain't going down easy like these guys did-"
"Oh really, Drake has people there with him stronger than these guys?" Espeon interrupted him as she smirked. "After the downfall of his organization the only men who stayed with him are these guys and no more and no less. Drake is by himself inside the haunted house waiting for you guys to show up with updates on Zackary. So by the time we arrive he won't last a second with us. Your boss is history."
The man in the white suit known as Kevin sighed in defeat refusing to fight against the Psychic hold that held him pushing back against the wall. I thought it was odd that a man like Drake was in that haunted house by himself, I would have figured he would have at least more men with him should something happen. But when Espeon peered into his mind she only found that Drake did indeed send all of his men away to search for me.
"Drake is in the amusement parks haunted house. I saw through Kevin's memories that all of Drake's flunkies have left him alone. So we have a good opportunity to take him down without any guys like these from getting in the way." Espeon glared at the man named Kevin still in her Psychic grip before knocking him out cold.
I called the authorities to come and collect these guys left here before we would leave the alley and head on over to the park. But before we did we checked them all to see if they had a radio or anything to alert their boss before we showed up. They didn't have anything on them besides more bladed weapons and money. "Alright, we should get going before Drake realizes something is up." We ran out of there and made our way towards the amusement park. a quick run about ten minutes or so and we would arrive. Yet despite Espeon telling me about how all of Drake's men were here in the alley, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was odd about this, I wasn't sure what until we were at the park where Drake was.
Amusement Park
A place of fun for all ages to come and go on rides, win prizes at arcades, spend time with friends, it was a place where me and Latias spent a day here on a date six years ago, it brought back a lot of happy memories now long gone. I wanted to come back here ever since, but not like this, not on a life threatening mission, I wanted to come back here with my friends and family, even Latias to enjoy our time here again like we used to. Espeon and I easily found the parks map just a little away from the main gate; arcades to the north, rollercoaster's and other thrill rides to the south of the park, gentler slower rides to the west side of the park, and east were the hedge mazes, bumper cars, Ferris wheel and the haunted house where Drake resides.
"It shouldn't take us long to get to the haunted house." I said pointing from the park entrance and then pointed at the haunted house. "But I recommend we slip in through the back and go from there to avoid attention."
Espeon cocked her head up at me. "Why through the back way? It's not like we ain't a match for this Drake character. After peering into Kevin's mind Drake is alone in the haunted house with no backup at his disposal, so we have nothing to worry about." I noticed in the crowd some people were staring at us, a normal thing and not something I worried about, they were mostly children and a trainer here and there. But one thing I did notice were two men by the ice cream stand staring at us before they left the area. They were wearing white or gray suits and ties; it was hard to tell from where we were and that they were standing in the shade.
"Kevin's mind told Espeon that all of Drake's men had left Drake alone here." I thought, thinking back to that alley before leaving. "All of the men never regained consciousness until the police arrived, and none of them ever escaped or left during and after the battle. Perhaps it was just a coincidence I saw the two men wearing suits just like the ones Drake's men were wearing. I don't know why, but I feel something isn't right about this, how Drake sent all of his men away to hunt me down leaving himself open like this…" I shook my head and the two of us walked through the park, glancing over my shoulder occasionally to check if we were being watched or followed, but never did see anyone. Either they were very good or Drake really was alone.
The haunted house was closed due to repairs on most of the ride, which is a good thing for us not wanting to have people around the area as we move in on Drake; the last thing I wanted was for innocent people to get hurt. The ride was pretty simple; get on cart, a five minute ride through various rooms with scares featuring your classic scary monster screaming at you or moving. I had only ever been on this ride two times; it was alright in terms of it being a fun little ride, a little cheap on the scares but fun to say at least.
We walked around the building to the back to find one of the windows open allowing both Espeon and I to enter and walked up the set of stairs to find ourselves in the upstairs corridor with three separate doors; staffroom, electronics, and an unnamed room at the far end. Our first room we checked was the staff room next to the stairs to find it empty, but tons of notes and files left over. Walking up to examine them they were all none relevant to Drake and mostly about the haunted house and the repairs needed for certain areas and costs. Next to the refrigerator were many food wrappers and half eaten food, some cold and rotten, and some warm and still fresh. Someone was definitely here so we had to keep on searching; however the search didn't take us too long.
The electronics room was the next room we entered. Several old looking pieces of furniture and props left lying around, boxes of light bulbs and batteries stacked on shelves on one side of the room with the other having electronic panels and computers, typical things one would find in here. At first seemed to be empty, but then the door of the back room opened up and out came the man I hadn't seen in a long time, Drake. He hadn't changed in appearance all that much; dark hair and stubble hiding most scars around his mouth, he was wearing a maroon suit and tie with a black buttoned shirt underneath. We could see he didn't have any weapons in his hands or a gun in his pocket or any weapon equipped, perhaps he was expecting his men. But from his look, he knew who I was and his face didn't show fear or panic, he looked calm, placing his hands in his pockets as he stepped a few meters away from us and spoke.
"Well, well, if it isn't Zack Raines, and his companion who I do not know of personally, only reading about her in the reports." His voice didn't crack at all. His smile, the way he stood, something was wrong about all of this.
"Why isn't he worried that we were here, isn't he going to ask where his men are?" I thought, keeping my eye on him.
"I believe your name is Espeon, right?" He said, smiling at Espeon as she only glared at him. "Travelling companion of Zack Raines for a really long time. Oh, and I already know you can talk, I read the reports."
"And I heard from your buddies you set up a trap for Zackary, or were about to before we noticed them and defeated them with ease."
"Why are you here, Drake? Why did you set up a trap for me?" I asked. I was about to mention Shiny Latias, but chose not to. Drake wasn't the kind of man to work with others or have someone else order him around. His brother did that mostly before he was put in prison before we arrived in Driftveil all those years ago.
"This isn't about that bounty hanging over your head, screw that. This is personal, this is my chance to exact my revenge for what you did to me back then." He spat, glaring down at me, about to take a step forward but stopped at the sight of Espeon preparing to attack him. "My family have decided to let me go from theirs, only with what I can carry. But you know I did see the posters around the region while I was planning on capturing you and killing you myself. A million for your capture, alive? No, no, no, ain't no way am I handing you over to your friend the Latias. How rich is that, your best buddy the leader of that group? Man you sure do know how to pick 'em. Careful Espeon, he might just make you a leader of a horrific evil group next." He smirked before erupting in laughter, taunting me over how I am friends with the leader of Team Annihilation Reborn. I heard the voices inside my head again, but quickly calmed myself down.
"Screw you! Screw you and your stupid revenge plan. 'Oh, I got evicted from my family because a kid and his friends defeated me, boohoo' who the fuck cares about that!" Espeon growled. "We don't have time for you, so we can just knock you out, call the cops and arrest you and throw away the key. And just in case you haven't realized it yet, we can easily take you down, you two-bit wannabe gangster bitch!"
Drake scoffed and lifted his right hand out of his pocket and clicked his fingers. As soon as he clicked his fingers, four men both were wearing the same white suits as the men from the alley entered the room from the back door and surrounded us, knives at the ready in one hand.
"Heh, it's always best to have an extra guard or two after figuring out you were a Psychic type Pokemon after all." Drake crossed his arms and the four men surrounding us moved in until they were mere inches close to us, waiting for their leader to give the orders or unless we acted first. "After coming back and after finding out what you have become, I did some digging around and found out you are a Psychic/Water type Pokemon. And if memory serves me well, Psychics can enter one's mind if not another. I figured something like this would happen; you digging into one of my men's mind to check whether or not I was alone, right? It was a good thing I kept things hidden from my men. Call it a backup plan."
"Not all of us can read minds, it various from Pokemon to Pokemon." Espeon scoffed, glancing up at one of the men's knives really close to her head, then at the other men before looking back at Drake. She was looking around the room, at things to use to attack them with. So I went to work on searching for something else to use to help us get out of this. Using Protect would be a synch, so I would use that not risking the men slashing at either one of us while Espeon attacked them. All we had to do was keep him talking until we were ready. "Sometimes it takes years to master it without injuring the other or without destroying their mind. But it won't change the reality of the situation that us two are Pokemon and your men are human, so either you're good at fighting lasting a good while or else this will be a quick fight if your men are weak."
"Weak or strong, how skilled are my men?" He sighed. "Well you two can find out for yourselves!"
The men all moved in and slashed at us with the knives, but not before Espeon had several objects around the room in her Psychic hold and threw them at the men knocking them away from us. I had deflected an attack from one of the men using Protect before readying a Scald at one of the men slowly regaining himself to rush at us with the knife. Espeon tripped one of the men over with a Psybeam as she moved in on him and knocked him out cold by slamming his head against the floor.
With one down out of the three armed men, Espeon and I separated to focus on the men attacking them with our moves as they tried to slash at us with their weapons. I had to deal with just the one, a quick shorter than the other four men fast on his feet as he moved in stabbing and slashing away at me as I fought him off with Razor Shell. Espeon had just knocked out one of the two men knocking them over into a table before I noticed the other man slashing at her ear, the knife coming into contact with her drawing blood.
My eyes widened as my mind recalled to that moment when my friends Sakura and Isaac were killed right in front of me, I panicked believing the same thing would happen again. But the moment I looked away, I was caught off guard as I was kicked in the stomach by one of Drake's men. I tried to reach for my scalchop to use to defend myself with, but the man instead kicked me in the stomach again knocking me down. I looked up to see the man pressing his foot on my back as Drake casually walked over.
"Hah, what a joke." He chuckled. "To think that the last active Savior member within the region, the same Zack Raines who brought ruin upon my family, the same Zack Raines after five years being named by many like me as someone to fear at the thought of you showing up and using your so-called terrifying moves to kill Pokemon who fight you and cut up so many of us… just to see you like this. I can tell they were going overboard with the stories just a tad bit too much." He brought out his own knife as the man who kicked me pinned me to the ground. "Oh, and here is something that just might get to you before I kill you; I'm going after your family and friends next, 'cause I know where they are."
"Kill him, kill him, kill him!" I suddenly heard the voices erupt in my head just as soon as he said that. Despite being dazed from the kick in the stomach, I gritted my teeth and my muscles tensed as I felt myself lose control, using Psychic to throw the man off of me and into a wall very hard. I reached for my scalchop and immediately used Razor Shell and sliced at his legs. He screamed as he fell back on the floor dropping, attempting to flee by crawling away, but I held him up with my Psychic, first crushing his ribs before focusing my Psychic up to his eyes, slowly crushing them. Everything around me seemed silent and the only thing I could hear was Drake screaming and begging me to let him go. The voices in my head urged me not to do so since Drake said he knew where my friends and family were, those who were safe and kept hidden from Shiny Latias. I was starting to agree with the voices, I couldn't let him go, I was set on killing the man.
"M-my eyes! S-stop it! I was lying alright! Please I-I don't know w-where your friends are! STOP!" Drake desperately screamed, a scream I hadn't heard until Espeon had snapped me out of my anger state by pushing me before raising her voice telling me he was lying after looking into Drake's mind to see if he was telling the truth or not, shouting my name to stop. I let him go of my Psychic hold and dropped him to the ground. Him covering his eyes with both hands gasping and crying, and me feeling disgusted at what I almost did to the man.
"Zackary, what happened?" She stood beside me, placing her paw on my shoulder still shook up at what had happened. I don't think I had ever seen her look this worried before, I didn't know how to respond, to say anything to justify what I did, what I almost did. "Zackary…" We remained silent after that. Maybe she could sense it too. Before whenever the voices almost got to me I was always alone, sometimes ending with someone either dead or hurt really badly. But I was happy Espeon was here to help pull me back.
Drake was taken in after the authorities showed up. His eyes were okay and his eyesight not damaged, he would be alright with recovery as with his men we defeated in that house. After the first fight we had with his all those years ago, his family he swore to cut him out leaving him with all he had left, his crew and at least a small amount of power within the last area he had control of; Nimbasa City. He had sworn revenge, but in the end he failed and lost it all. What would've he had gained from it if he had won? Satisfaction? Perhaps a way he could be brought back to his family? Who knows.
The things that didn't leave that day were the memory of me hurting him like I did that day, and the thoughts- no, the voices echoing throughout my head despite being calm telling me other and over again that I should've finished him off, he wouldn't be missed if I did.
Despite my five year search, training every chance I had gotten I could never get rid of these voices controlling me whenever anger filled me. I don't know what would've happened if I did let those voices fully control me when they did, I might have hurt Espeon after I hurt Drake.
To be continued…
Trivia:
This chapter originally took place in Driftveil City, the location were Drake first appeared in the first story.