Chapter 21 – The Second Member
Route 13
The next day we left Lacunosa bright and early knowing Devon's team would take care of the rest. The citizens after regaining consciousness were alright and didn't sustain too much damage couldn't remember much about how they were controlled by a shiny Pokemon or that Team Annihilation Reborn was constantly there watching them in the base up north of the town.
Undella Town was our next destination and then Route 14 and then finally Black City before coming back to Undella walking through Reversal Mountain to get to Lentimas Town, the place all of us would gather to move in on Team Annihilation Reborn's main base. But getting through Route 13 would both be a long walk which could take us hours and one of caution because this route was one of the more dangerous routes since many soldiers patrolled this area more than any other I had been on.
"So let's see; we have normal Team Annihilation troopers armed with light to medium weight weapons, controlled Pokemon of many types, drones shooting blue pellets, shield and baton guys Zackary fought yesterday, mechas unpiloted by anyone." She sighed. "I wonder what else Shiny Latias will create to stop us? Perhaps a new type of mecha that can launch nuclear weapons from anywhere on the planet, I call it; Steel Cog. Maybe once this is all over I can create stealth games with that title. So no one steal it because I want to be the one to name it should they ever come up with a new type of weapon similar to that."
"Eh, with the final phase of Shiny Latias' plan about to start I'm sure we'll be seeing new types of soldiers pretty soon." Brent sighed before coughing a little.
"Well there are tanks they use, but they don't use them a lot, only twice whenever I ran into a large squad of them waiting for me in the past." I remembered about the tanks they had used, they were very difficult to destroy even with so many soldiers blocking my way to escape if things got too bad for me which happened every time a tank was involved. I was happy about not seeing a lot of them during my five years out in the region searching for my friends, but I was worried that I would be seeing a whole lot more as the final stage of Shiny Latias' plan was about to begin.
"Tank?" Espeon asked, looking up at Brent as he coughed again. "I'd hate to put up with something like that. How did you manage last time you fought against them?"
"I used Psychic to grab and throw the rockets they fired at me. Kind of an odd attack since they want me alive, and yet they use real rockets at me. I only ever fought against them once or twice not allowing myself to test to see if those rockets were the real explosive ones or special ones that don't inflict damage or death, but a sleep bomb or something."
"Well that's good that they didn't use live rockets at you, you'd be nothing but red paste on the ground and Shiny Latias' master plan to use you would be thrown right out of the window." She shook her head, glancing up again at Brent as his coughing continued. His cough started minutes after we had entered the route growing worse with each step he had taken, so we had to stop.
"Brent, you alright?" I asked him, he shook his head and held his hand over his chest.
Brent's cough had gotten worse, gasping for breath as he clutched his chest and knelt down to the ground. "Brent! What's wrong? Brent!" Lisa knelt beside him.
"M-my chest…" he gasped, coughing in between each word. "W-what the… ah! I'm burning up…!" Brent was helped by Lisa to rest beside a rock at the side of the road. When Brent was finally sat against the rock, only then did we notice something was sticking out of Brent's thigh. Espeon pulled it off with her Psychic to see it was some kind of dart.
I pulled out my Savior's device from my bag to call for help, but the moment I did, the device began to ring notifying me that someone was calling me, an unknown caller.
"Hello?" But no response the first time around. "Who is this?"
"Hello Zack Raines, remember me?" It was the voice of that woman who had attacked us outside of that cave a while ago, Cara one of the five members of The Five, an elite team within Team Annihilation Reborn. Mine only worked on other devices like the one I had, it could never call normal phones or receive.
"How did you get this number?"
"Well to tell you the truth, I found one your allies walking alongside the route that you are on. I had noticed the man a few times now, for example when you and your team defeat a Team Annihilation Reborn base they come around and clean up the place, and there I saw the man I took the phone off arriving and leaving with that team, saw him walking through this route and shot him dead and voila; the IDs of many devices of many of your allies use to call each other with."
"You…!" I growled.
"Careful now, getting too angry and you lose control. With your allies so close to you, you could attack them and quite possibly kill them leaving you all alone on your journey." She laughed.
"Where are you, you bitch?" Espeon growled as she stepped closer towards me, glaring at the device.
"Some place far but good enough so I can see the Dewott glaring at the device used to call others on, with my aim aiming right at his heart." With that I looked around the area, almost moved back before she quickly added. "Don't you dare move! If you Zack move a muscle or try to hide behind the rock your poisoned friend is hiding behind I will kill you."
"Poisoned?" Brent gasped. "I'm poisoned?!"
"Where are you?" I growled.
"Like I said before, someplace good enough to see you. Now stay still Zack, not unless you want to die that is."
"Shiny Latias needs me alive for her master plan to work. If you kill me you'll be her next target."
"I have a lot of money. Give me another hour and I'll be out of this region and to another before her screams of rage can be heard throughout the region. I'll simply change my identity, start a new life for myself and I won't ever have to worry about her ever again. But I'm sure you want to live to see your family again. Unlike the others I work with, I am not afraid of Shiny Latias." She chuckled.
"I shot the handsome man's leg with a deadly poison that will kill him in one hour unless he doesn't get the antidote. I know you have already encountered Mr. Sad already and defeated him, but now you face me." Cara gave a light chuckle over the device while Brent lying next to the rocks began to sweat. "He gave you a task so you can save our friends if you completed it, so now I give you a task and here it is!; defeat waves upon waves of Pokemon I will send at you only stopping until one of your allies finds me and takes the antidote from me. I know from the reports you don't like fighting against Pokemon, not wanting to kill any because of your ability."
"Damn you!"
"Trying to flee or use a Protect to shield yourself from my shots, well you can guess again. My bullets can penetrate moves that shield yourself. Go ahead, try it, and look at the small rock near your foot." I used Protect and all of us looked at the small rock to see it the next second shatter into pieces after the bullet broke through my move as if it were nothing. We didn't hear the gunshot at all in this area. "You must fight all Pokemon I send at you. Should you be defeated by them, I will get up and leave and your friend will never get the antidote on time. The ally you send to find me to retake the antidote must not be seen, complete stealth from where you are to where I am. But if I see them, I will shoot to kill. Calling anyone on your phone and I'll shoot your legs off."
"Why don't you come on down and face us, you coward!" Espeon yelled down the device. "You're just another weak soldier working for that shiny bitch!"
"And I got paid pretty well, more than enough to get an early retirement." She chuckled. "Yeah, you see I'm a human and my opponents would be two humans and you, Zack and the other two's Pokemon against only one of me plus my Pokemon nearby putting me at a huge disadvantage… so no. I have your buddy in my sights ready to fire and one hour to play with you before I decide to leave. Since you have never seen my face since I wore that rusty helmet when we last met, it will be difficult for you to exact your revenge against me for poisoning your friend before he dies. So either you play along or very soon he'll be writing down his last will to you fools."
"Maybe you should be doing the same once one of us finds you." Espeon again growled down the phone.
"So much words, so much insults, and yet no action so far. Hunt me down if you can, or stay by 'Bent's' side until he finally breaths his last breathe. Oh and don't call for help otherwise I will kill the Dewott and leave. I'll keep in touch." She hung up the phone. I looked up at the route ahead of us, a long road with the beach to my right, and tall palm trees and hills to my left. Wherever she was she was watching us. I turned to the others and saw Brent sweating badly.
"Bent, it'll be okay. You're not going to die." Espeon said looking worried about him while sitting by his side as she gave him some water to drink. "You still gotta read us your stories, you big goofball. So stay strong."
"I'm hanging in there, I ain't gonna let a darn poisoned dart kill me or anything just yet… ugh, but seriously, I'm gonna need an antidote fast."
"I'll go." Lisa said about to turn to the bushes beside the rock to sneak through them to find Cara somewhere within the route.
"Lisa, I can do it." Espeon got up and stepped in front of her trying to stop her. "I'm smaller than you, plus I can detect the presence of life very close to me, so if Cara is hiding in a tree, hiding within some tall grass or on top of a rock wall I can detect her."
"Espeon, Cara might have other soldiers and Pokemon with her just waiting for one of us to find her. It'll be just you going with no one helping you out if you go alone. I have Umbreon and Pidgey with me. The three of us can fight her together and any ambush she might have set up for us."
"Hmm… I don't know…"
"You need to stay here and protect Brent and Zack from Cara. I can do this." Espeon looked at Brent for a while before nodding and allowing Lisa to pass.
"Okay, but just be careful."
"Once you take care of her, let us know immediately so we can call an ambulance to take Brent to a hospital."
"Will do." Lisa said before beginning to crawl through the bushes.
Not too long after she left, almost immediately after Lisa crawled through the bushes the device notified me of another call, again it was Cara, and I answered. "So Lisa Rivers is today's volunteer to try and find me, eh? I saw her leave through the bushes, but I cannot see her through the scope at all so far, but if I do… you won't hear the shot if I do see her. But this will not be another poisoned dart I will shoot at her, but an actual live round right to the head."
"Bitch!" Espeon yelled as she stayed hidden behind the rock with Brent.
"Calm yourself Espeon, just focus instead on watching over Brent Jackson in his final hour alive. Comfort him, tell him how much he meant to you, or how much his dreams to write stories will always stay a dream and never real, or something else friends do or say to another about to die."
"Fuck you!" Espeon shouted, turning to Brent. "Don't listen to her, stay strong."
"There you go. Comfort him as much as you can. But as for you Zack, knowing you cannot move from the main road I have set up a new task for you; you must fight Pokemon I have sent after you."
"You want me to kill them. Absorb their energy making me stronger." I held a growl, trying my hardest to remain as calm as I possibly could. I didn't want to risk allowing the voices to grow stronger making me lose control over myself and possibly kill Espeon and Brent. With the task she was about to give me, I thought about evading the Pokemon's attacks they threw at me, refusing to fight until Cara had been defeated, and then came the rules for the fight.
"You have ten minutes to fight two Pokemon at once. You must defeat both Pokemon by yourself without any help from your friends. Should you receive any help or be defeated in battle and I'll let you know of your failure and leave resulting in your friend dying by the end of the hour with no antidote to be given." She said as a Linoone and a Zigzagoon emerged from the bushes on the opposite side of the road, both of them were controlled and getting into a battle stance. "Sure, you may think ten minutes will be enough time to defeat your opponents, that is of course you are fighting weak to mid strength opponents. These little guys are strong, training with some of the best, able to take down a legendary within seconds. Then once you defeat these two, two more shall appear to fight you. I don't care if you are injured after each battle, on the verge of defeat with one HP (hit point) remaining; you must not heal yourself up or treat your ailments should you be inflicted by any."
The Linoone attacked first using Take Down, charging the attack right into my chest and sending me rolling into the dirt, but before I could get back up the Zigzagoon attacked with Fury Swipes cutting into my chest with its claws before pushing it off with a Razor Shell. The Savior's device was on the ground at the side of the roud, loudspeakers on giving us a commentator reminding me constantly how bad or how good I was doing, how much time I had left before the ten minutes was up and how much time Brent had left to live.
Route 13 - Lisa's POV
Crawling through the tall grass and through thorn bushes wasn't new to me, I had done it before in the past so I guess I was used to it, but that wasn't the real reason I left because I was used to it, but something else. Ever since joining Zack and the others to fight against Team Annihilation Reborn and save Latias I had felt that I hadn't done enough to help out, that I was an extra wheel that wasn't needed.
Working with the Savior's prior to coming to the Unova region I didn't do much. I had been working inside most of the time rather than leaving the building to go on missions, filing paperwork mostly or attending lectures, most I already knew about. I felt like I wasn't doing anything helpful while I was there, but when Espeon had called me and Brent to help Zack fight Team Annihilation Reborn, not only did it feel great to be working alongside my friends again, but I wanted to do some good, my actions mattered. Since reuniting with the others, I wanted to do all I could to help out, but it has been hard to do so, not knowing where I could start without feeling as though I am getting in the way. There had been many times when I had an opening to do something, to step forward and help out, but I just waited too long and let someone else do it.
I didn't want to just travel with them, but I actually wanted to fight and feel like I mattered instead of tagging along for the ride and then 'see ya' once it was all over.
I heard an explosion coming from where Zack was, followed by the sounds of Pokemon I could hear in the distance shouting before another smaller explosion could be heard. "Cara must've sent controlled Pokemon and maybe soldiers to attack Zack just like did." I thought as I continued to move quietly through the grass, careful not to poke my head out and have a hole blown through my skull. "The Five must all have Pokemon Shiny Latias wants Zack to fight and kill to absorb their energy. Once all members of The Five have been dealt with, Shiny Latias will most likely move in and try to control Zack to be her puppet, her weapon to take over the region. Maybe we shouldn't fight them and instead escape them so Zack doesn't have to fight any Pokemon, but Mr. Sad and Cara both have trapped us in a life and death situation; play their game or die. I wonder if that will happen with every member of The Five."
After fifteen minutes of crawling down on the ground almost nonstop and past a few wild Pokemon staring at me as I crawled, I came to a stop at one of the tall hills on Route 13 to take a short break before continuing my search for Cara. Her weapon she used was quiet when she shot through Zack's Protect and destroyed the rock, I suspected a suppressor but you would still hear the shot. In this huge route with her silent weapon it would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but after one glance up at the sky, my eye caught something long stick out over the cliff. It was metallic and it moved back and forth. Not sure what it was I went to investigate and crouched low to the ground and moved silently as I found a way to get up the hill. Up top I hid behind the trees and peeked my head carefully around the tree and saw a soldier lying down on the grass with a rifle aiming down at the road. Before making a move, I checked the area multiple times, an ambush waiting to strike, soldiers and Pokemon hiding in the trees, hiding in the bushes. I sent out Umbreon and had her check the area, she shook her head, and so we carefully and silently emerged from behind the trees and approached the soldier.
Getting closer, I saw the woman who had attacked us out the cave when The Five first introduced themselves to us; she was lying on the grass with a sniper rifle aimed at Zack who I could barely see down the road. With Umbreon at my side I whispered to her to wait for my signal to attack Cara should she try anything before I stood up and called out. "It's over Cara, you're game ends. So get up off the grass with your hands up! Don't you dare try anything; my Umbreon here will attack you if you do!"
Cara got up off the grass and stood up with her hands held up. "Didn't expect to see you here this quick. I expected the Espeon to show up, I had an anti Pokemon move grenade with me to prevent her from attacking for a little before I struck the fatal blow to her. Those kinds of devices come in many forms and work in various ways; some are attached to soldiers, making them immune to Pokemon moves except the device of course, that can be easily destroyed by a Pokemon move, just the user. Then there is the grenade, pull the pin and release nullifying moves of a Pokemon for a short time, but a huge advantage if you know how to deal with them." She explained, slowly moving away from the cliff edge and into the clearing.
"Lisa Rivers, am I right?" I didn't reply. Instead I just watched carefully with Umbreon beside me ready to use Dark Pulse, waiting for me to give her the signal to use it. "A Savior agent and you are from the Sinnoh region if I am not mistaken by your accent. You had a brother named James, did you not? He was a member of our first team; Team Annihilation, right?" I heard her chuckle as my eyes narrowed at her. "He was once one of us before he got himself shot and killed by some thugs during a deal gone wrong. How did I know all about your brother? Well, knowing Zack's allies meant a lot of background checking was involved for us, and tada! Your brother James worked with us, and after his death you feared people would find out about your brother, how he worked with what some foolish people of this region and beyond called Team Annihilation cruel and evil. That kind of information would eventually follow you everywhere you go, jobs, the media if it ever got a hold of your information… once that is released to the public, and where you live will be like living with a target on your back, making you a target for those who despise us. That kind of information leaked may leave your reputation destroyed, betrayed by your allies, and your friends. So how about you leave me alone and I'll give you the antidote unless you don't want that information being released to the public."
"The people I work with don't care who my brother was, neither do my friends. They know of my past, your threats are nothing to me."
"Sure you have your allies and friends backing you up, but the people who don't know you personally, they'll see you as nothing but the brother who worked with one of the most evil teams responsible for killing so many." She crossed her arms. "I'm making a deal for you, you allow me to leave and I'll allow you and your bodybuilding fiend to live knowing the information about your brother my team have will never see the light of day." She held up her hand. "Scout's honor!"
"You're mistaken if you think I will make a deal with you or Team Annihilation Reborn." I pointed at her. "And I highly doubt you'll keep your word you'll never release that information if I do decide to let you go. Release it or not, but I know I'll be fine as long as I have my friends with me, they know the real me for who I am." Cara laughed.
"It is tough to decide whether or not one is lying or telling the truth. With friends it can be easy, but with total strangers like me, an enemy, you're stuck between a big fat no, to undecided." She sighed. "Even if we do release this information; The Savior's, Team Annihilation Reborn, the media, a random post on the internet, no matter who uploads this information about your brother will still spread. Some may not believe it, some may pass it off as a false rumor a hoax, but others may do some digging around, curious if this information is true. Like gas to a fire, the flames will spark the attention of others, perhaps in the thousands, and they might come after you. Doesn't that scare you? An angry mob coming after you for just being related to James? Shouting, screaming, throwing whatever they can at you, attacking you and maybe your Pokemon, can you imagine that?"
"I can. It sounds scary just the thought of an angry mob one day or one night coming after you. I wouldn't know what to do if I was alone in my home if that ever happened. But I will not change my decision; I will not allow you to leave." Cara slowly nodded her head and slowly lowered her arms. She then pulled out a knife from her belt and threw it at us. Just as she did so, Umbreon had used Dark Pulse underneath her feet and exploded shortly successfully defeating her. Cara had missed my neck by a few inches with her knife and instead hit a tree behind me. If I hadn't moved to the side when Umbreon attacked… I was lucky to be alive.
I walked closer to the unconscious member of The Five and took away anymore weapons she might have should she be faking being unconscious or regain consciousness anytime soon. Umbreon watched over her while I grabbed the Savior device, and a strange vial, but it didn't say it was an
"Guys, you alright over there?"
"We're still here alive and exhausted. You got the device; does that mean Cara has been taken care of?" Zack asked.
"She's been dealt with. Call for an ambulance for Brent.
"And the antidote? Was there one?"
I looked at the strange vial held in my hand, unsure if it was the antidote to Brent's poison or a fake. I didn't want to just inject Brent with the liquid without making sure first, so until we knew for sure we had to stay beside Brent's side until he was cured. "I have something, but we can't be sure, it could be anything."
"We're calling for help right now. I'll call Devon so he can get his team over here to have Cara taken away. Let them know where you are by having your Pidgey fly overhead. Espeon is going to check the area if there anymore controlled Pokemon or soldiers nearby. You did great Lisa, nice work."
"Yeah, great job defeating the bitch. Ice cream is on me tonight."
"Uh… yeaaaaah, h-have a good one… bro!" Brent slurred over the device.
I smiled. "Thanks guys. See you soon." I was happy, happy to have helped out.
Brent was shortly picked up by an ambulance to be taken to Undella Town hospital where thankfully he made a quick recovery. The 'poison' Cara had shot at him with a dart wasn't real, instead it was some kind of tranquilizer and paralyze dart hunters had used for Pokemon to capture them without battling them. It was nonfatal and a handful of people had been shot at with those kinds of darts before. The rifle had been loaded with tranquilizer darts but no live rounds were ever found on Cara. I suppose she didn't intend on killing anyone that day, but with the knife she threw at me I guess not.
To be continued…
Trivia:
Cara was originally going to have a larger role in this story than just a villain of the week character similar to that of the previous member of The Five Mr. Sad. Her appearance was very close to how one of Zack's friends Cleo, a girl from Pokemon Dreams 02 Till the End of Time who was erased from existence by the main antagonist Infinite.