Chapter 17 – Meeting

Opelucid City

The next day after the whole thing involving Mr. Sad forcing us to take part in his game to search for the codes needed to deactivate the collar bombs around my friends necks within two hours or they would detonate, we decided to stay in the city for a day or two to plan out our route. With the members of The Five still out there waiting for a chance to fight us within another route or a city we had to be careful.

After the battle yesterday I was taken to the Pokemon Center to be healed of all my wounds I received, deep wounds on my arms, legs, body and face that would become scars, all to be added to my collection of the many scars I had on my body.

I was walking through the city in the early morning of a new cold day with Espeon tagging along to make sure I wouldn't leave the city and continue with the search for my friends by myself like I had almost done. My excuse for leaving if asked by the others would be 'I needed the fresh air, the medical supplies inside the center was too much for me.' but the real reason for leaving the center wasn't because of the smell but it was because of a dream that I had that night. That night I had a dream, I was in northeast section of the city standing in front of a decrepit rundown house. It was my childhood home where I lived with my parents and sister before Juro came and killed them all. Standing beside me in the dream was Jessica, she told me to come here once I wake up. And so after waking up I made my way to that old house I once called home.

"So you and Jessica have been teaming up long before Devon and I contacted you?" Espeon asked, almost near to the house I saw in the dream.

"Yeah. She has informed me of Team Annihilation Reborn checkpoints I should be cautious of, underground labs and camps that may be worth looking into. We only met face to face once in Route 08 a while ago and have contacted each other through messages to be safe from Shiny Latias. Surviving members of the Team Doom Eight besides me are still being hunted down by her."

"If Jessica contacted you like this, then something must be up. When was the last time you two spoke?"

"Two weeks before Devon contacted me. Nothing about Team Annihilation Reborn or Shiny Latias, she was just asking how I was."

"She never said where she was going to go next?"

"Only that she was heading east." I shook my head. "She never told me what she was going to be doing over there."

"Hmm… say like a Team Annihilation Reborn camp or small lab was there she would tell you about it you in a message. Perhaps the reason she didn't tell you why she was going over there were because she didn't want to give you false hope. That maybe she may have found our missing friends and went alone to investigate."

I stopped. Wondering that too and feeling nervous as to why Jessica wanted to meet me. Usually when we talked by message she would tell me where she would be heading and for how long a city/town for about a week or two maybe longer before moving to the next destination. I thought nothing of it when she just said 'she would be heading east' and that was it, I just told her to be alright and that was it. Had she been on to something? Was there something east of this region? Could Jessica have found the base of Team Annihilation Reborn? I was starting to feel hopeful that was what it was, that the search would soon end and a peaceful life was just around the corner for me and my friends. But I had to prepare myself to be disappointed if that wasn't the reason why she wanted to talk to me.

I continued walking with Espeon towards the street where the house was. Espeon asked me if I remembered the street. "I only remember the house, nothing about the street." I said, noticing how the street we were in had mostly boarded up abandoned old houses with trash scattered everywhere. Juro not only killed everyone inside my old home but killed many others within the street, taken them to their base and turned into reanimated monsters to be used for Juro's army. "I remember what the inside looked like. My dad had an actual grand piano in the living room and played it from time to time. My mom, my sister and I sat around to listen to him play… I don't remember the music; I only remember that we sat to listen together."

"Maybe you could learn how to play the piano just like your dad, once this is over. Learn some lessons to impress your children with."

I smiled at that. "If the piano is still there in the house and in good shape I'll have to get someone to take it out to be taken to somewhere else until all this is over."

"Ah, that'll be nice to listen to some piano music again. You know, when I lived with Eliza, her mother listened to piano music whenever she read books." She said with a smile as she walked happily down the street with me.

"Really? I didn't' know that. Depending on how fast I learn how to, we'll see if I can play something."

Raines House

A two-storey wooden decrepit house at the corner of the street, old wooden planks covering the smashed windows, a broken roof, and an old police tape wrapped around the front door. The sight of this house in its current state I remembered the night when Juro came, the sounds of a gunshots firing. I was hiding inside a closet hoping Juro wouldn't find me, but he did and killed me. Since then I had never went back to this house, I don't know why I never did. I suppose coming back here would bring back bad memories. The only things I remembered about this house were my mom, sister and me listening to dad play on the piano, and the memory of Juro killing my family. Those two were the only things I could remember and nothing more.

"You came." We looked back to see levitating from the trees on the other side of the street was Jessica at a moderate speed before coming to a stop by landing her feet on the ground and smiled. "I was beginning to worry that my method to contact you wasn't going to be enough and may be shrugged off as a random dream."

"It didn't seem like a random dream to me. How did you know we were in the city?"

"I saw you and your friends about to enter the city yesterday. I was about to approach you guys, going full speed but then without looking a tree got in my way slowing me down, and thus I was down for a little while before I could get back up. "

"Full speed? Ouch! You alright?" Espeon asked with concern as she walked up to the Mew to inspect her head.

"Yeah I'm fine. These things happen, one minute you're doing fine and the next you find yourself flying into trees after not paying any attention to where you are going, am I right?" She chuckled. "So after a short rest to recover I flew into the city to find out you guys for some reason caused a lot of trouble. Care to explain?"

"Ever heard of a guy calling himself Mr. Sad?"

"Ah, that explains it." She nodded. Taking a few steps towards the front gate to lean on it. "I know the man. Not personally, but I do know him from my later times when I was in Team Doom. He had a strange obsession over playing deadly games with his victims, always wanted them to do extreme things just for his entertainment. I'm glad you guys are alright."

"We almost didn't make it. Mr. Sad would've gotten away if Espeon hadn't used the Dark Place before the end to find out he was nearby in his truck following us so he could be in range of his drone he used to follow and give us tasks."

"One down, four more to go while searching for your friends and Shiny Latias?"

"That's right."

"Well, I don't know where the four remaining members of The Five are currently at, but I do have some information about Shiny Latias, something I believe to be her lair."

"What do you know?" I asked, wanting to know where Shiny Latias was or where her main base was.

Jessica smiled in the direction of the house as two Pokemon had left. We turned towards the house to see come out of the house was a gray Dewott with black iris' sclera and pupils, and a green red eyed female Ninetales. Two members of the Team Doom Eight, Ren and Rose. "Hey, you guys might want to get inside or else someone we don't want seeing us all together like this calls for some unwanted guests for us."Ren called out, gesturing with his paw for us to come inside.

"Sure, be right here!" She called back. "Now that we are all here, let's head inside and then we'll talk."

We walked inside the house and stood in the kitchen since it was the only room free of any trash lying around or broken furniture, but a small one. Ren and Rose stood on one side of the kitchen near the door, Jessica in the center leaning her back on one of the cupboards that wasn't damaged in anyway, while Espeon and I stood on the other side were a broken table was.

"Well, I see the last surviving members of Team Doom are reunited once more with the exception of our leader. But I am more than happy with her not being here." Jessica smiled. "So are you guys ready to being?" All of us nodded and listened in close to what Jessica was about to tell us. "Firstly; thank you all for showing up. I'm surprised I was able to reach out to all of you without too much trouble. I trust you weren't followed?"

"Rose and I are always careful wherever we go." Ren said as he and Rose looked at one another. "After we left Team Doom we were always on high alert, unsure if Shiny Latias sent soldiers or anyone to come after us."

"You would be surprised by how many we have encountered who are hunting us down to take us back to Shiny Latias." Rose rested her head on Ren's shoulder. Ren held her close with his paw. "We wouldn't have come here if we knew we were followed."

Jessica turned to me. "You can relax, no one followed Espeon and me."

"That's good." Jessica sighed, relieved not having to deal with any soldiers. "I saw Ren and Rose nearby and contacted the same way I did with you, Zack. I told all of you by contacting you through your dreams to come here where we could talk about something important about Shiny Latias. As we all know, she has an ability to control all who look into her eyes, even just a little glance you are under her control. I'm sure you all know about her usage of the Doom Serum?"

"I remember that." Rose spoke up. "In the files back in our old hideout I remember seeing the file on the Doom serum. They had tested on other Pokemon to find out if a Pokemon could be injected with the serum, only most cases said most failed leaving those injected very sick before it killed them. Shiny Latias was one of many to inject herself with the Doom serum, and she wasn't rejected by it, and so she now has a powerful ability to control all who look into her eyes. She wasn't the only Pokemon to be injected the serum and survive it. I heard another survived."

"I know who that other Pokemon is, it's Aqua."

"Who's Aqua?" Ren asked.

"Aqua is my mate; she is a female Dewott I met in Castelia City when she was still an Oshawott. This was after the battle with Team Doom when I lost my memories. We travelled the region together to return to Nuvema Town. We discovered Aqua had a unique ability that allows her to see into the future warning her of danger."

"Does Shiny Latias know about her?" Rose asked.

"Unfortunately, she does." I slowly nodded my head. "But even knowing of her ability she still wants to kill her. I figured with an ability like it that would be deemed useful on her rise to power, know all the dangers ahead, and where to go. But friends and allies of mine will die is what she said, including Aqua. I doubt she would let her live for long if she does decide to use her for her ability."

"A file I too found two months back in a base I had found north of here. Apparently Aqua and those who have ever been injected with the serum are all being hunted down by Shiny Latias. She wants them to be killed and life energy absorbed by Zack so he can become powerful enough to take over multiple regions one after the other without rest."

"While I was heading east not long ago, I happened to come across a town called Lentimas Town. There I saw hundreds of soldiers enter Reversal Mountain. Curious, I followed them through twists and turns of the mountain, down and up slopes for a mile and then I saw a long road the soldiers used to walk across above the ash fields. And right up ahead, to my shock I saw Shiny Latias by the entrance with other soldiers watching her soldiers return in front of a huge skyscraper-like building where many trucks and mechas, as if readying for battle."

I thought back to what Maia had said to us, about Shiny Latias near entering the final stage of her plan. An all out assault on me to test if I was ready. No matter the outcome of the battle, she would still try to take me back with her to be used as her puppet, a weapon to be used against all who dare oppose her. "Lentimas Town… so that's where she was hiding. How could I have missed that!?" I silently growled. Thinking back to the times I had been very close to that town and entered it a few times."I had searched this region for five years nonstop and Shiny Latias was there in Lentimas Town? Reversal mountain… yes, that mountain was very maze-like, and I never did dare stay in a route or a cave for too long not wanting to run into any controlled soldiers. I looked at maps of that town and the mountain before, looked up to see if there was any Team Annihilation Reborn activity or any sign that there was something there." I felt two things at that moment; one being angry that it was right under nose this whole time, and two was that I was relieved, happy I guess that this search for Shiny Latias and her hideout was finally known. "Thanks Jessica. But um, did you find out anything else about this building? Maybe if Reiko or Latias is there?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't get close to the building with all of those drones flying around the building. I would've been caught if I tried. I didn't want to risk trying with Shiny Latias there; she is incredibly fast when she takes flight."

"We should tell Devon about this. The more we have on our team the best chance we'll have against Shiny Latias' controlled soldiers." Espeon looked at the others. "Ren, Rose, and Jessica, when the time comes for us to battle, would you be willing to help us out?"

Ren stepped forward with Rose. "We'll help. Shiny Latias needs to be stopped. Knowing she is out there we can never rest."

"We have grown stronger since we left Team Doom, we'll be ready for the time the battle begins." Rose said to us as she looked at Jessica, wanting to know if she will join in on the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn.

"I'll be there too. Just let me know by sending me a message and I'll be there as soon as possible." With that, Jessica stood up straight and turned towards the door. "I think it would be best for all of us to split up for now. Stay out of sight and don't interact with any soldiers. The last thing we need is for one of us getting ourselves captured and by them and controlled by Shiny Latias. See you guys soon. Take care." She smiled with a short wave before levitating up off the ground and out of the room, leaving Espeon and me with my brother Ren and Rose.

Rose stood up and walked out of the room quietly while Ren took a step closer towards me. "Hey uh, Zack? Last we met I uh… I was a real jerk to you. I'm sorry for trying to kill you and your friends." He sighed. "I don't blame you for Rachel's death…" Rachel was his mentor and friend when he was still a member of Team Annihilation. During the battle with Juro, a female soldier approached me, trying to grab me, but after finally breaking free I pushed her off the balcony and into the Reanimated Corpses to tear apart. For years he had held a grudge for me, wanting to exact his revenge. But after our battle in Team Doom's hideout, I defeated him making sure not to knock him out and told him I was sorry for taking away his friend before leaving him to go after Shiny Latias. When I saw Ren the first time in almost six years, I didn't know what to think when I saw him. But now I feel even though we were enemies at one point, we could be brothers again.

I took a step forward myself towards the other Dewott. "I am sorry for what I did, I really am. I just uh… I hope we can still be brothers. I uh, I'd like for you to meet Aqua and your niece and nephew."

"I have a niece and a nephew?" He asked, sounding a little excited. "W-what are their names?"

"Light and Kairi, they were hatched on the same day." I looked back at Espeon to find her about to walk to the kitchen door.

"You two look like you want to catch up. I'll be outside watching over the place if you need me." She smiled back, allowing me to have a one-on-one talk with Ren about my family.

An hour passed and during that time I told Ren about my son and daughter, only ever seeing them from behind a monitor and never face-to-face since I was out here searching for my friends. When this battle was over, I would finally go up to them and give them the biggest hug, the first of many. Ren had told me how he and Rose were planning to start their own family once Shiny Latias had been dealt with. I was happy for them, and hoped soon all of us would get together again.

To be continued...

Trivia:

A sort of very short flashback moments for the other surviving members of Team Doom was to be included, but that was cut from the story.