Side Story 04/05 – Five Years

Safe Zone – Espeon's POV

Life inside the safe zone was okay the first month, but the first day into the second month and the following became repetitive and boring. You could train for a while, rest and eat terrible food in the cafeteria before watching the same old movie again and again until next month for the new movie they brought to us. They don't ask us what kind of movie we would like to watch, they don't ask us to write a list for them to bring us what we would like, we just had to live in that safe zone until it was safe for us to leave.

Zackary and Aqua's children often found ways to keep themselves occupied, quickly getting used to life inside, but outside was something they were afraid of at first. It took them time to get used to it, only ever knowing the inside and not much of the outside world. Poor things, I had hoped they would be alright after all of this was over and they could go on living a normal life.

Every now and again, random at times these guys would allow us to go outside in a square garden to get fresh air. it was big enough garden for all of us so we didn't have to worry about the space, a couple of trees here and there, grass that felt fake, all surrounded by huge walls blocking the precious suns light from touching us. The only thing that was good about all of this was that we could at least get some fresh air and be outside for a while. Three hours at a time was the limit for us, would've preferred longer and somewhere else other than this small square garden.

Every week Gardevoir would read to us a page or two from her beloved dictionary, a way to kill the boredom she once said. It was optional to listen to her dictionary reading sessions, so it was a relief to know it was optional, perhaps a good method if you had trouble on sleeping just go to her and have her read a page or two.

I do not know how that Gardevoir can read a dictionary for hours at a timer, finding enjoyment out of reading every single word of every page. If asked to read a normal book with an actual in it she claims they are boring and that dictionaries are the best… of all of the millions of Pokemon out there we had to stumble upon one who enjoys reading the dictionary, and collecting them.

So first year was getting adjusted to life in the safe zone, watching the same old movie every week, three hours of the outside and cloud watching I suppose, and listening to Gardevoir's exciting reading session that always seemed to make the time fly… yeah, first year was kind of a bore.

Second year

Oh! I forgot to mention about the calls with Zackary. Every two weeks for ten minutes at a time The Savior's allowed us to speak with him; he gave us updates on his search for his missing friends and family.

Why ten minutes? I don't know, I guess something to do with not wanting to risk detection or something. Aqua spoke to him the most out of all of us; she brought Light and Kairi up to the video phone so Zackary could see his children.

I remembered the first time Zackary saw his children on the video phone; he went from his usual look to teary eyed when he saw them carried in Aqua's arms. He touched the screen and smiled, wanting to be there for them, but with Latias and the others still kidnapped by that crazy psychotic evil shiny bitch (boy, that was a mouthful) trying to take over the world, Zackary had to find them, to save them and then defeat Shiny Latias before he returned to us. He wanted his children and us to live in a world without Shiny Latias or her followers coming after us, he wanted to live a life without ever fighting again. I wished he told me this before he left, I would've wanted to go with him, keep him safe at least.

I was worried about him when he was out there, relieved to see him again over the video calls every two weeks throughout them five years, and yet I was worried he would get captured by that crazy Latias or discovered later that day he had been killed. I had noticed every two weeks he would show up with a new scar added to his face and body, how he was in a battle or argument with a controlled soldier or some random angry drunk and voila, new scars added to this collection of the hundreds added to him over the years. The only things we could do were to wait until this was over or if Zack would fall into the hands of the enemy.

But no, I wasn't going to do that. I needed to get out there as fast as I could to help Zackary defeat the shiny bitch once and for all. The Savior's protecting us here wouldn't allow us anywhere near the exit of this safe zone, safeguards placed here and there, anti-Pokemon move devices to prevent us from us Pokemon escaping. But that wasn't going to stop me from trying. I spent most of my days training almost nonstop so I could get out of here.

But how would I get out of here if The Savior guys won't let us? Those devices they have placed at the exits would be a hassle for me. I suppose I could try and convince Zackary on letting me tag along. Proving myself as a strong Pokemon to him might make him change his mind after the other times I had asked. Everyone would see that I was more than capable of handling myself against those controlled soldiers that I wouldn't goof around as much as I did in the past. I wanted to show him that I could be a great help to him.

So I trained in the gym to improve not only with my moves, but with my stats as well trying to get faster and stronger, quick to react to danger and able to take heavy damage. And no rare candies were ever involved on my training.

I gave it my all to grow stronger. As impatient as I was within the first year, wanting to get out of there and to fight alongside my friend, I had to stay and be prepared for the dangers ahead. I knew it would take a lot of time for me to get to that stage to be ready; I had to wish for Zackary to remain safe until I could be by his side again.

After our battle against Team Doom, all of us Pokemon returned home with either minor scratches and pulled muscles, we spent a year sitting there back home between mourning the loss of Zackary thinking he was dead and wandering what to do next. So I had to get that year back and train as hard as I could.

Third year

They called him a dangerous Pokemon. The media called him a menace to the region, most saying Team Annihilation Reborn would just go away once they capture him suggesting to the readers to capture him and bring him to the enemy. Morons. Team Annihilation Reborn wants to capture him so they can rule this region; they will never go away, not while Shiny Latias watches over things. I would've thought they would be on his side after praising him for many years, saving this region a few times from destruction during his time as a Savior.

Zackary wasn't bothered by that all that much, the only thing on his mind was his friends and family still imprisoned in one of many set up small Team Annihilation Reborn bases within this region. They were crafty, setting up these small bases within cities and towns right under the peoples noses. Some members of Team Annihilation Reborn dressed in casual clothing while guarding the entrance of their hidden base within the cities. Zackary accidentally stumbled upon one of them after fighting a trainer's Pokemon trying to capture him. Zackary's attack had hit the guard still standing by the door, dropped his key card with the Team Annihilation Reborn emblem on it. Zackary for so long had been looking for soldiers guarding outside a building never once thinking Shiny Latias would dress her soldiers up in actual clothes other than that armor they always wear. Zackary entered this base and discovered inside a map of many other bases within the region.

So he set out to find them. But unfortunately each base never had any of his friends, family or any trace of Shiny Latias inside, only useless information on how to repair broken armor and repair plans for the base. Never any prisoner manifest, information on where Shiny Latias herself was, where their main base of operations was.

One time when Zackary entered Driftveil I remembered when a bunch of morons who listened to the media or wanted the prize money offered to whoever captured Zackary alive approached him, called him all sorts of things, mean things I will not repeat. They said that Team Annihilation Reborn would go after he was captured. Zackary tried ignoring them at first, but they wouldn't allow him to leave. Zackary at first remained silent. Then one of them asked why he was still out here, Zackary then spoke to them for the first time and told them he was searching for his friends and family Team Annihilation Reborn had imprisoned in one of their bases. That was when things turned bad when one of them said to him they were probably dead by now and that he should give up. Then all of them released their Pokemon tying to capture him, believing him to be upset, that their words had gotten to him.

Zackary's ability kicked in and he became enraged, attacking them and anyone in sight. Most ended up in hospital, a handful of Pokemon dead by Zackary's ability. Zackary regretted that and should've used his moves to escape from them, push them aside and walk away.

Then the media entered the scenes once more and gave the region another reason as to capture Zackary and take him to Team Annihilation Reborn, giving theories as to why they wanted him. A dangerous experiment was one theory that was mostly believed by the populous. I never used that word before 'populous' and thus I don't care. Anyway; they thought he was created by Team Annihilation Reborn as a dangerous weapon gone rogue or released accidentally out into the region and that they wanted their weapon back. Not sure where the 'We'll go away after he is brought back' came from. Maybe a belief that the dangerous team would go away peacefully and that would be the end of it.

I was worried about Zackary. Hearing the fights he had gotten into, how media posts didn't support him anymore, the towns and cities he had saved over the years, people kind of forgot about that. He told me that he felt alone out there, not knowing if he would ever find them. 'You can do it, Zackary.' was what I told him. Telling him he would find them again, all of the fighting would be over soon. My words got to him and his near hopelessness turned to being hopeful.

Fourth year

Things kind of toned down quite a bit with the whole media thing. Zackary still accepted missions to earn money with the Savior's, helped people and Pokemon now and again.

But what didn't tone down were the people still after him and wanting to capture him believing it would end Team Annihilation Reborn for good. Also, about when Zackary lost it, injuring everyone in Driftveil, that didn't go too well for him for many reasons; some people were afraid of him, less jobs available for him on the Savior posts, not that Zackary was struggling with money after years of working for The Savior's have earned him a lot of money. And to top it all off was that Team Annihilation Reborn had raised the bounty for his capture almost up to the millions, claiming the following:

He is a murderer

He is a liar

He is dangerous

He will hurt people/trainers after killing their Pokemon leaving them for dead

He is the true enemy of the region

They seemed to add new things to say about Zackary every month, increasing the reward money with every season passed, promises to whoever captures Zack a promising future, whatever that means. Maybe Shiny Latias won't control you, maybe she will. Who knows what this promising future was.

Training for me had to be put on a hold for a while, a broken paw bone after I fell off a training prop when trying to practice my evasions. Pushed me back for two months before I could return to the gym again and get back at it. But when I did come back to the gym, I saw the other Pokemon inside waiting for me. They too wanted to come with me so we could help out Zackary fight Team Annihilation Reborn after hearing how they had improved on their weapons, tech, and numbers had increased to the thousands. I never told them about me wanting to leave the safe zone. So we got to talking, and they wanted to train together so all of us could leave. Zackary needed all the help so together we could take down the shiny bitch. So with a smile I agreed and helped them train.

I was surprised to see Aqua there with us, asking why she was there with us. She also wants to fight alongside Zackary and help out in the battle. Whenever someone suggested she remained behind, Aqua would counter this by saying she still has her ability to foresee any danger, that she would be safe if she listened to her visions. So I let her join in on the training since Aqua was careful. Whenever we would fight Team Annihilation Reborn we would most likely keep Aqua behind somewhere safe, and put her medical experience to good use. Better to have her train her for battle rather than have her be all rusty with her fighting should the enemy attack her.

So that was pretty much it for the fourth year, training the other Pokemon so we can join Zackary in the fight against Team Annihilation Reborn and listening to Gardevoir's dictionary reading hour. It would take some time for them to get prepared for the fight that was to come, but for me my time there was about to come to an end.

Fifth year

And the fifth year, the year I was ready to get back out there and join Zackary and help him save our friends. Shiny Latias needed to be stopped. After countless training and stat building I was ready to get going and join up with Zackary. But the major problem was several reasons; the first being that I wanted permission by Zackary to let him know I wanted to go with him, that I had trained a lot and was more than ready. But contacting Zackary was sometimes unavailable for us. Sometimes- I mean mostly Zackary was heavily injured a lot after a recent battle and couldn't stay on the phone all that often. Other times the connection was pretty bad and we couldn't talk to him.

And the other issue was the guards at the exit of this safe zone. They wouldn't allow you to leave, no matter what you told them, if you pleaded them, sometimes threatened, tried to clear a path yourself, they would always find a way to keep you inside. Either persuade you to stay, ignore you, or keep the anti Pokemon move device active so Pokemon couldn't use our moves to break out.

So I had to wait around until Zackary could speak with us without any problems. That took a while, and I was growing impatient. So I tried to look for other ways out of this damned building. But as luck would have it, the opportunity to leave this place came to me. Walking down a corridor, I overheard a guard talking with another man I had never seen before.

He was an average height man wearing a black suit and tie. He had short hair and pale skin. His name was Devon. A Savior working in the Unova region who had gone into hidding like many had since Shiny Latias began to kill all Savior's her soldiers had come across since the downfall of Team Doom. Devon had been working with the others in hiding trying to find Shiny Latias' main base of operations wanting to shut them down for good.

I had heard other guards talk about Devon before, about his plan on finding their main base. When I had heard about him being in charge of this plan I expected someone older. Someone with a beard or scar or two, and yet Devon didn't have any of that. He was a Savior passionate on wanting the region to return to normal.

Devon noticed me when I neared the open door of the room they were in. the guard looked at me and told him. "That's the one." Before Devon knelt down and gestured for me to approach him. I did so and allowed him to pet my head.

"Hello. My name is Devon. I take it you are Espeon?"

"Hello Devon, it's nice to meet you." I smiled back. The sound of me speaking the human language startled him briefly before chuckling, amazed at a talking Pokemon.

"Wow, I never met a talking Pokemon before. I mean one that can speak the language of humans."

"There are a few of us that can speak the language of humans. It may take some time to get used to. So relax."

"You're a friend of Zack Raines, right?" Devon asked as he stood up and sat back in his chair. He gestured me to sit on the chair opposite him and so I jumped up and sat comfortably on it. After a quick scan into his mind with my Psychic I could see he was a good guy, he was legit, and so I answered honestly.

"That I am. So why do you ask?"

"We have important information to give to Zack, information regarding to the whereabouts of his missing friends and family. His sister Yuri, father Henry, his friend Reiko, and Latias, we have the locations of two so far." A quick scan into his mind, I saw he really did have information to help Zackary on finding the others, maybe even Shiny Latias herself.

"How do you know its them? It might as well be some other prisoner with the same name and description."

"My team wanted to make sure. The prisoner manifest we had found in one of the bases secured by Team Annihilation Reborn mentioned Zack's sister Yuri, her age, how long she had been with them, eye color and hair… even the things they-"

"I don't want to know." I cut him off. Not wanting to know what form of torture they used on her.

"I wasn't going to talk about that. As I was saying, my team checked this information, the base she was being kept in, to check if this girl was Zack's sister. It took a long time to get a drone small enough inside the base to locate her."

"And was it?"

"It is her." He glanced at the folder beside him and shook his head. "Our drone took photos of her… and so I wanted to contact Zack Raines about it. Those closest to him, friends and his family still here are the only select few who can get in contact with him."

"Ah, right. Only here you can contact him using the phones. Some protection thingy going on. I take it you want to contact him. What about those Savior requests you send Savior agent's on? Zackary reads them a lot to earn some money for the road. Wouldn't it be simpler if you got in touch with him that way?" I asked.

"He is still an active member of The Savior's, the last one within this region. But that request board isn't exactly private. We just ask him to come to a certain spot to talk to him about this; someone would read it, maybe follow to see who his contract is with. And I do not want the enemy to know about this information. It could blow the whole thing. Shiny Latias has been keeping tabs on what contract he takes."

"Ah, good point. Zackary does call us every two to three weeks, but I doubt you would want to wait that long until he call again. Then I suppose the only thing left you can do is call him on his Savior device." I scanned his mind multiple times, checking his memories to see if Shiny Latias had ever spoken to him, that if was controlled by her. Shiny Latias could alter their memories, something I have seen done in the past, but there would've been some kind of trace left, there always was no matter how careful you were when altering or deleting a memory. A fragment would be left hidden in the darkest corners of the mind.

"We could do that rather than wait two whole weeks. I suppose the next best thing we could do is contact him using the equipment we have here. But that would mean Aqua and the others won't be able to speak with him for another two weeks." Devon sighed. "I know Zack Raines likes speaking with them, almost never misses the calls. But how else can we get in contact him without the enemy knowing? None of us know where he is."

"I'll speak with the others about it. They'll understand. And I'm sure Zackary will understand. Important information such as this, Zackary would be eager to listen to it after all this time without anything to go on."

Devon stood up with the folder in hand. "Right, I'd better get going. It was nice talking to you, Espeon-" I had to stop him. He was leaving this safe zone to contact Zackary. If I could convince him to let me tag along I would be out of this place today.

"Wait, I want to come to." I said before jumping off the chair. "If this information does help Zackary find his friends and family he'll need help to save them. For five years Zackary has been alone out there fighting Team Annihilation Reborn and the shiny bitch. And those underground bases are most likely crawling with the controlled zombie soldiers; it might be too much for him to handle alone. I know how to fight, I haven't been cooped up in here sitting down and watching the same boring movie every night, I have trained a lot. I am ready for this."

Devon looked at me and paused for a moment. "It'll be dangerous."

"I know. I could die fighting alongside Zackary. But if Zackary is captured by Shiny Latias and controls him to do her bidding then this world and everyone in it is as good as dead." I turned back to see Light and Kairi playing together out in the small garden. "Zackary has only ever talked to his son and daughter through a video phone; he has never held them in his arms. They have never really seen the outside world, stuck in this small building they have known since they had been hatched from their egg." I then turned to Devon and said. "I want to help Zackary defeat Shiny Latias for good. He doesn't want to fight anymore. All he has ever wanted was to live a peaceful life with his family and friends. I want to help him come back home so he can be with his children to take them out of this place and to see the world."

Devon smiled and gave a small nod. "I can only take you with me to the place Zack will be meeting with us to discuss what we talked about, and no one else. I can't risk the enemy finding this place."

"Yeah, that's fine. The others will get there moment soon. But right now they need to train a lot more. We'll need them for when we face Shiny Latias and her controlled soldiers."

And so Devon allowed me to leave this safe zone once and for all, but not before I said my goodbyes to the others first, the children hugging me and crying not wanting me to go, Totodile and Bayleef wishing me luck out there, Golurk promising to look after everyone, and Gardevoir wanting to read a few pages from her dictionary before I leaved soon. They told me they would continue to train for the battle with Team Annihilation Reborn if we ever found their main base.

So after all the goodbyes it was time for me to leave, entering the back of a truck and sitting beside the cargo stored inside with Devon. The back of the truck shut and with the start of the engine we were on our way.

"So, how long will it take for us to reach Nimbasa?" I asked, attempting to rebalance myself in the moving truck so I wouldn't fall over.

"Two days if the traffic is fine." Devon said as he just there in the back of the truck with his arms folded. "But our other members helping Zack out will take them some time to arrive in this region."

"Two others helping out? Two from your team."

Devon shook his head. "Not from my team, but from other regions. You should know them; Lisa Rivers and Brent Jackson are making their arrangements on leaving their home regions to come here to help Zack."

Finally finding balance in this moving truck, I sat down beside Devon and smiled at the thought of seeing my friends again. It had been so long since I last spoke to Lisa or Bent, they would be of great help on fighting against Team Annihilation Reborn. "That's great, can't wait to see them again!"

"They won't be able to meet with you and Zack in Nimbasa, it'll take them a short while to arrive. So it looks like the two of you will be going at it alone until they arrive. So be careful out there, okay?"

"Don't worry about us, Devon. We'll be careful. I didn't train all those years inside the safe zone just to get a permanent black out once I get my first encounter with the enemy. I'm ready for 'em."

I knew this wasn't just a reunion of old friends catching up on lost time, travelling the region together for another adventure. I knew we were travelling the region together to save our missing friends and Zack's family, while putting a stop to Team Annihilation Reborn and Shiny Latias for good. It would be dangerous. Some of us might not come out of this alive. But we wouldn't give up. This had gone on for far too long; her reign of terror had to end.

The end of Side Story 04/05

Trivia:

This side story was originally part of the main story Espeon told to Zack when she would travel with him.