Book II: Impending Twilight
Chapter 118: Bad Blood
Point of View Black
It was just another ordinary day with my friends on our journey. The sun hung over the horizon, bringing a wide array of reds and oranges to the sky. The clouds arched around the sun as its rays were painted across the horizon.
From afar, I sat on a hill, watching as night came. I wasn't really sure where I was, but everyone seemed to be gone, except for Naomi who was leaning against me. Naomi's head rested against my shoulder and I leaned into her.
Neither of us spoke a word, just watched in peaceful silence. The evanescent red and oranges of the sky faded, bringing out the moon and an asterism of glittering lights.
Both of us radiated under the full moon. Blues and yellows brought a glow to each blade of grass around us. Naomi's paw moved over my own. I looked down at it. It was much smaller and more nimble than my own, given that Naomi was always a bit smaller for an umbreon. Regardless, who cared when I loved her? Not like I was your ideal umbreon either.
In response to Naomi's paw, I turned and gave a kiss on her head with my eyes closed. Something felt off about her fur. It was all smooth and moist… was it her fur? My eyes opened to see two ice blue eyes looming just inches from my own. My lips pressed against the nose that belonged to the blue eyes.
"Touch Naomi again and I'll kill you!" The voice snapped me wide awake. I sucked in a deep breath as I jolted from the floor. Panting heavily, I scanned the room. It was all a dream, a bizarre dream above all else.
"What in the hell?" Somehow, I could still feel the dampness of the white umbreon's nose against my lips. I had wanted my first kiss to be with a girl… not a maniac serial killer that was my romantic rival.
"Everything alright?" Rhys asked from the shadows of the room, sitting at a small table and sipping at a cup of steaming coffee. "looks like you just woke up from some night horrors." Ironically, the false marowak looked like something from a nightmare.
"You have no idea," I grumbled. "Do we have anything to drink? I got a nasty taste lingering in my mouth…"
"Nasty taste huh?" Rhys chuckled. "Ever had coffee, great morning drink. Humans are crazy over it, especially during the morning hangovers." Rhys blew the steam from his coffee, before sipping at it.
"Alex used to drink it all the time in the morning. Not black as they called it, he put flavoring in it, I think?" I mused, trying to remember exactly how he liked his coffee. Why I cared I don't know, just bothered me that I couldn't remember.
"Here," Rhys put a bowl down on the table and began pouring a black liquid into it from the pot he had brewed. "Beats the living hell out of morning grogginess. May get your system moving a bit, heh. The boost is worth it."
I stumbled my way across the room and took a seat across from Rhys or Rei. I looked down at the dark liquid, it steamed with heat, also holding a bit of brown in its blackened colors. I sniffed at it, feeling the wetness of the steam entering through my nostrils. I wasn't sure of what to make of it, couldn't tell from the burn of the steam. With my tongue, I lapped at it once. What I got was not only a scorching burn but the taste of bitterness.
First, I sucked in a breath to cool down my mouth, then I shot Rhys an angry glare. "This sucks," I declared, sticking my tongue out into the cool air.
"It's an acquired taste as they call it." Rhys chuckled again. "interesting fact: coffee in some cultures is viewed as a middle ground that brings people together."
"Huh?" my head cocked to the side.
Rhys laughed to himself before taking another sip and then cleared his throat. "Well, think about it. Around the world, all cultures enjoy the drink. Hoenn, Kalos, Unova, even the small less fortunate regions, all coffee drinkers. You can sit down with anyone and have a consensus on liking coffee, hence, they have coffee shops. Places like those bring in all kind of people. From kids trying to find a way to keep awake for early morning classes, to a writer sitting down in the store to write that first word in his next novel. It's just an interesting fact since most of the time everyone has to oppose each other with the freedom of opinion. Not with coffee, everyone can like it, even you if we perhaps make a latte or cappuccino."
I stared at Rhys, not knowing how to even begin on a response. Is Coffee linking everyone together like that? "Well… that's interesting, I guess."
Rhys smiled at me, "Even Ghost enjoys his cup in the morning."
"Then why don't we invite him to a starbucks or something? We can talk it out, treat him to a cup and stuff. He probably likes whip cream and sprinkles in his."
"Wish it were that simple," Rhys eyed at his coffee, swishing the liquids in his cup around in a circle. "It's just a fun fact, Ryder. Maybe, just maybe, you can meet a pretty pokemon at one. They have pokemon cafes all over. You can meet a lot of nice sophisticated wome-"
"When did this turn into love advice?" I stipulated as I stood up in shock.
"Rhys continued to look down at his coffee, his eyes lost. "Life's short Black. When all this is over with, I promise you a normal life. I can't bring back your family or friends, but I can help you walk forward. What am I getting at? Don't stay tied up in the past, go out make friends, find a pretty espeon, have a kid, have a whole family. Don't get hung over Naomi for the next twenty years. Life's too short to waste time. I'm damn near through mine, felt like yesterday I was playing at the creek with my friends. Now look at me," Rhys gave a smile, still looking emptily at his coffee.
I didn't reply, only thought of what he said. Life really was short, when you look at it. Everything I've enjoyed was short lived. I was cut short on my family, friends, love. I loved every second of it, but it was really short. Not even much time passed before Flare was my closest friend, and I was always thinking of Naomi. Kana's life was short too… Too short. She seemed like the type to live every day to its fullest, but did she get enough out of it? 'Fuck, I can't think about this.'
"Change of topic," I started. "My Father, today we see him, when?"
"Quite soon Black, quite soon," Rhys placed his finished cup of coffee on the table. "Lily will be back from her patrol shift any minute. we'll leave then."
Point of View Naomi
Morning birds sang, the sun beamed over the horizon, blinding me. The air was still frigid this early, and the ground had a thin sheet of snow from the night before. Best part of the morning, the crisp fresh air. To no end I enjoyed it out here, it reminded me of home, kinda. Out here it was a wooded area. No cities, only small homes that were cut off from civilization every once in a while.
Stark and Raiden walked alongside me, Stark on my left, Raiden on my right. The raichu carried the backpack for us, since he had hands and stuff. He also navigated with the tablet we were given. From time to time, I'd fiddle with it, I tried a puzzle game, but everything was hard to use. Not impossible, just hard.
This whole journey reminded me of back then. It wasn't happy memories, it was the worst actually. Still, I couldn't help but be happy to have Raiden around. It was mostly Sam who ruined my life, alongside Jack. Raiden may have been docile to what Jack said, but in no way did he lack morals. I couldn't blame him for what Sam and Jack did, they were the monsters manipulating us. Sam enjoyed every second of it, he was a monster, a psychopath by the books. He lacked any real care for others. He did whatever he wanted to please his wants, and joked about the horrors after. And he was still out there, somewhere. Anywhere.
"Looks like we'll be in Dendemille within the hour," Raiden commented. "Haven't been there since-"
"Jack," Stark finished.
"Yeah," Raiden's voice went cold.
In a way, I was happy to hear their answer because I wasn't the only one hung up on the past. Still, Stark and Raiden were stronger than me. I wasn't sure if I could do this. Sure, when I was asked it was easy to say yes, I had Stark. But now that we were close, I felt much smaller and fragile, like I was a little eevee going to face my childhood bullies. Not possible, I'd never be able to face any of my tormentors, I was too afraid. Then again, when I want back home I beat the ninetales half dead. All that stress came out at once on him and I probably would have killed him if Dante never stopped me. Jerk would have had it coming, every second of it.
"Naomi," Stark awoke me from my trance.
"Yeah?" I turned to him.
"You going to be alright?" Stark made eye contact but looked like he was struggling to keep it.
"Yeah, why, is everything alright?"
Stark smiled, but it was weak and fake. "Yeah." He nodded. "I just worry about you, that's all. You know, you don't have to come see Jack. I don't want you to see Jack. So, just let us go and do this."
I broke eye contact, watching my paws as they walked along the dirt path. "I can't," I simply answered.
"Naomi, I would prefer to keep you out of this. You were never a part of this plan to begin with, let me and Raiden do this. We know Jack better than you."
"yeah, and what if you need the backup? I recently went against Jack, remember?"
"Yes, yes you did…" Raiden awkwardly distanced himself from me.
"I'm not mad at you, Raiden," I looked over at him. "You were just his pawn at the time."
"And still would be if you didn't whoop us," Raiden replied. "I would have killed every one of you, you know? Even the kid. I would have hated myself, but I would have done it." The raichu looked through the forest, looking for a distraction.
"The past is the past," I stated, not even sure on how to respond to that.
"If so, what makes me different from Jack and Sam? I've shed my fair share of blood. Just as much as Sam probably. So, why am I different?"
I paused, not sure again. A minute had passed or maybe the awkward silence made it feel longer. "You didn't act like you enjoyed it. You were remorseful even when you tried to kill us. You would have made it quick and clean if you could."
I wasn't sure how I felt on explaining how his method of killing me made him redeemable, but it was happening and it felt weird. "Sam on the other paw. He had a chance to kill me. He didn't take it though, because it wasn't fun for him." I shuddered at the memories of when he captured me in Cyllage. "Back in Cyllage, do you know what he was planning to do to me when he captured me?"
"No," Raiden admitted. "I actually knew little about that at the time. I only heard about it after you escaped, which was a surprise."
"Right," I nodded. "He didn't plan to kill me though, and I got lucky on escaping."
Stark added his own question, "What was he going to do to you?" His voice became unnerved. I could already tell he was imagining the disgusting things Sam would do to me.
I felt my face go pale, luckily my fur hid it. "He… he wanted to let my meds wear off. So my memories would slip away, then I wouldn't be able to hold memories as well. He said he wanted to sell me to pokemon because I'd be vulnerable…" I stopped, the thought chilling me to the bone. "Before then, I think he planned to do things to me, things I wouldn't be able to fight against."
"Fucking bastard," Stark snapped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that-"
"It's fine," I quickly said. "If I didn't escape, I think to this day I'd still be trapped in whatever he-"
"We don't have to discuss this further," Stark said as he rubbed up against me as we walked. "Sorry, I know you didn't want to, but… Never mind." Stark sighed. "I'm happy we got to meet again. So for that, I have to thank you, Raiden."
"Me, for what?"
"Getting beaten by a girl."
"Screw you," Raiden held up his middle finger jokingly. "Still, I'm glad I did lose. Gave me a different opportunity to meet Rhys."
There was something I never thought to ask. "How did you come to meet Rhys?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. I don't think I ever did explain that. Well, after Sam and I escaped the hospital that one night, we needed work. Sam contacted some old friends, and we ended up working in Genesis together. Short story actually."
"Right," I nodded. "I kinda got that, I guess I was more interested in the whole Rhys thing."
"Ah yeah," Raiden nodded. "Well, he knew us, I guess. He saw our talents, well more specifically mine, he kinda left Sam out for obvious reasons. So, he proposed to me that I join him. I agreed because I knew that a lot of the stuff that was happening down in that Genesis base was wrong." Raiden gave a dark monotone laugh. "The things I saw were awful. I can't actually believe what these guys were doing to pokemon. It was a violation of basic rights that any living being should have. Yet they didn't care. They'd experiment on pokemon night and day. The stress in that place is too much for them, suicide rates are off the charts. I mean they actually have therapists there just to keep them from trying to kill themselves."
Raiden's explanation made my pace slow as I felt a sudden weight on me. I actually almost took a job there, I wanted to help them. "Was it really that bad?" I asked, mostly wanting to get a better understanding.
"Oh yeah!" Raiden exclaimed. "I worked security there. I got to make sure they all didn't try to escape. That also meant checking to make sure they weren't trying to kill themselves. Genesis did whatever they wanted to these pokemon. They used drugs that brought unbearable pain. Some pokemon were put in simulations where they'd be forced to do terrible things, like murdering their family.
Genesis attempted to make hybrids between the eeveelutions with multiple affinities. Hell, I think they tried making pokemon have offspring from the sperm cells of pokemon in different breeding groups. They got a few babies to deliver alive, but they were all deformed and died within hours of being born. Most ended in miscarriages though."
"That's messed up," Stark agreed with Raiden's point.
"Very, and just when I thought no one could be worst than who I was. All that stuff was just glorified torture labeled science. That's why I chose to team up with Rhys, I couldn't sit and watch it another day. Something had to be done."
Neither of us said anything in response to what Raiden said. I wasn't sure about Stark, but it was dark. It made it even worst when I thought about how that was just probably a small fraction of what was going on. If that's what a security guard knows, then what are the classified experiments? What Raiden said also made me consider what kind of person Ghost was. With some honesty, he did intrigue me. I wanted to know what would lead a human to do all this stuff. Well money, duh. Maybe I just wanted to learn what such an evil man was like. Was he like Sam and Jack, or was he a systematic psychopath that never lost his composure? Perhaps he even puts up the persona of a nice man, someone you'd never expect to be like he was.
I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but after a good while, the woods thinned out. A large windmill was the first thing to pop into sight.
"Here we are, Dendemille!" Raiden chimed, presenting the town with his right hand.
Stark and I didn't comment, probably because he felt just as nervous as I did. Tonight, we were going to do this. I was going to meet Jack Jaegar again.
"We should settle in, wait till later, then get Jaegar at our first opportunity." Without any further words, Stark led the group into the town.
"Right," Raiden agreed.
I lingered behind the two, but not too far. To take my mind off things, I tried to impress myself with Dendemille, but, in reality I couldn't have cared less about this town. It seemed like a nice area, most of the homes looked cozy. Almost all were made of stone brick, even the walking paths were made of a similar stone. Probably a result of the town having a mine that half of the townfolk men worked in. Always in our sight was the large windmill, slowly the propellers moved in a circular motion. Boring. That thing probably cost more than it would ever pay off with the energy it generated. It'd take many generations to actually live and die before that thing earned its worth. Smart idea, but why just one? That's what makes it so ineffective, the one just hardly did anything.
Raiden grabbed the bag from his shoulders and took out the tablet. He slung the bag back over his shoulder and opened a map of the town. "Alrighty, so first things first, we'll need a psychic-"
"I've been thinking about that," Stark interrupted. "You mentioned a gardevoir on the team, yes?"
"Yeah, Eva. You suggesting we just utilize her?" Stark nodded. "Well, we could, but if we can't get her to cooperate we're in trouble."
"True," Stark gave another nod before stopping in the street. "Then what? What psychic is going to agree to talk to a trained assassin?"
"Good point," Raiden sighed. "I mean; Jack did have a habit of using her a lot for translations. Not for us though, he didn't care what we had to say."
"Of course," Stark snorted.
"Point being, he'll probably have her out, or will get her out of her pokeball to talk to us. Acutally…" Raiden paused as he placed a finger on his chin. "He'll bring her out because of you two."
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Simple. You Naomi are on his shit list, and Stark is presumed dead. I'm sure he'd be interested in figuring out how you're alive and all, before he tries to put another bullet into-"
"Yeah-yeah, I get it. I don't want any reminders of our last meeting," Stark muttered.
"Right, sorry. But, our little map here gives us where he'll probably be, which I'd agree with it."
"Care to elaborate?" I questioned.
"Well, as you know Jack got a lot of his work through Genesis. Well, as you know he failed bad when he tried to kill a kid's team of pokemon, which included Ryder. Well, that put Genesis in a bad position, so they blacklisted Jack. Shortly after, Jack got a voucher to join a club, a place called Kershaw's. It's a club place or whatever for mercs. Great work can be found there, booze, drugs, women or men, depending on your taste, pretty much had anything a man without morals would want."
"Fun," Stark spoke with sarcasm.
"Oh yeah, it's gonna be helluva time visiting him there," Raiden laughed.
Point of View Black
"So, that's the plan, got it?" Rhys finished explaining as he held the door. I was the first to walk out, followed by Lily.
"Yeah I get it, just take your side, persuade my Dad and go with your plans if anything changes."
"You got it," I could sense a smile from under his mask.
"Do you though?" Lily scoffed as we exited the alley and went to the main street. "I think you have problems following directions, mister I screwed up an entire subway."
"Fuck you," I snapped at her. "Just drop it, I had a meltdown, okay?!" Lily hadn't even been back for ten minutes and she was already getting on my last nerve, as always. Sure, we could get along if we didn't talk, but she was always condescending towards me, even from the start. Now she held the subway incident against me.
"Just stating my worries," She mused as if there was no problem and sauntered past me. She began to hum as she wore that stupid doll face grin she always had.
'I swear to Arceus, keep pushing me,' I raged in my head, wanting to teach her a lesson.
"Both of you, focus. This isn't the time for this. Gaining the alliance with WPA is something we must do. If we fail that then this war is already lost. Because the help the others are getting won't be nearly as much as what we're getting from, the WPA."
"Mhmm." Lily just turned her head from me. If I had fingers, I'd be saluting the snob.
"Now, shall we depart to where Zack should be?" Rhys asked as he pressed his skull firmly to his head. Lily and I both agreed and we left.
Our walk was mostly carried out in silence. Not once did I look in Lily's direction, but she seemed to act as if she never antagonized me to begin with. And to think I was almost stuck with her as a permanent leader… That would've been absolute Hell.
At the heart of Anistar, we reached our destination. Here the city seemed to flourish. Humans crowded the streets as they walked, streaming around the city like two river currents fighting against each other. Many of the buildings were taller in the area, but not even coming close to Lumiose. Everything in the area was more compact though, hardly any allies, smaller stores and commercial buildings crammed in as they followed along the streets.
"That building there," Rhys said, pointing a claw at a one story building that looked like a warehouse. A large chain fence followed around the building, and out back of it there were many garage doors. A large lot surrounded the building, most of which was in the back. A few cargo crates were stacked outside, and pokemon were hauling the contents inside the one opened garage door.
"That?" I said, not convinced.
"You see pokemon, don't you?" Lily snorted.
"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Then that's the base, stupid," Lilly stabbed at me with another 'stupid' insult.
Rei lead us in the direction of the building. "Let's go. We don't have time for you two to argue. And so help me, if you two don't get along in there… I expect you two to act close."
"Mhmm, right," Lily smiled. "Blacky and I here are like brother and sister."
"Don't piss me off," I growled.
"Pff, let's go, little brother."
"Enough!" Rei snapped before whacking Lilly in the back of the head. The sylveon's head flinched a few inches before looking back at him, batting her eyes in surprise. "I mean it, enough. We need this to be professional."
"Jeez, I know. I'm just playing around."
"Good, now start walking," Rhys instructed with a point of his finger at the structure.
The three of us walked all the way to the right of the building where no pokemon waited. Rhys shifted to a scyther and sliced an opening into the fence and then shifted back to his marowak form. Lily was the first to slip in, then me, followed by Rei. When inside we walked towards the main building. Still no one in sight.
"No one should suspect us when we're in," Rei said. "They'll take us as one of their own. Just don't talk unless necessary until we find Zack."
Lily and I didn't argue, and just went with it. As we followed along the perimeter of the building, we found an emergency exit which we entered in. Inside I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't anything too bizarre. Pokemon of all kinds hung around. Some carried stacks of paperwork, others worked at desks on computers. As we walked through the facility, no one paid us much attention. In one corner of the facility a group of pokemon sparred. A mienshao fought hand to hand with a charmeleon. The lizard threw multiple jabs, before the mienshao grabbed his arm, pulled, before pushing back on it with a twisting motion. Just watching the charmeleon flip through the air and onto his back made me cringe. The charmeleon laid still, until the mienshao offered a hand, and helped him up.
In other areas pokemon ate lunch, talking amongst each other. At one particular table a group talked, laughed, and pretty much interrupted the working environment of other pokemon. At another table two pokemon made out, which was pretty awkward, so I turned from that spot.
"Should be a conference room, keep an eye out."
"Okay." We made our way into the center where the base was its busiest. Rei glanced around for the room he talked about, but as he did that I noticed something. Everyone was stopping and starting to look at us… or me? Did they recognize me; did they know I was Zack's son? I couldn't be that popular, no one would even care.
"Found it," Rei said as he started to walk, but a limber pokemon walked in front of him.
She gave Rei a friendly smile, "Say, what's three pokemon like you doing here?"
For a moment Rei paused, I could sense the shock of the question. "Here to get my next assignment for my team," Rei simply answered.
"Team? what team are you, I don't think I've seen any of you before? And I'd remember a cute umbreon like that," The delcatty winked an eye at me. Whether she was trying to figure us out, or make advancements towards me, I wasn't sure, but I didn't like it. I just nervously smiled at her, before a jab stabbed me. I yelped in pain, before looking at Lily who was pretending to look away.
"Really?" I growled at her.
"Just wanted you to keep a clean, vigilant mind for this, Blacky."
"Blacky?" The delcatty overheard and pushed herself past Rhys.
'Shit, really Lilly?' I cursed in my mind as the delcatty looked me over. "Umm h-hey."
"So Blacky, that's an odd name. Guessing you were captured at one point, huh?" The delcatty said with a purr in her voice. I swallowed my spit, leaving my mouth dry. Why was she doing this, I just wanted to get out of here. When I ripped my eyes from her, I noticed more pokemon were watching, almost forming a circle around us.
"How long have you been without your trainer?"
"About thr-"
"Blacky," Rei spoke up. "We got important business, don't got time for getting flirty."
I exhaled a breath of relief, "Umm yes, right, sure," I nodded frantically as I ran to Rei's side.
"Blacky?" The delcatty mused. "Blacky… Black." Her grin widened. I didn't like the way I she looked at me like I was a rattata for her to play with. "And what about those red eyes, are those contacts?" The delcatty giggled after the question. "Blue rings too, a shiny. Hmmm, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were hmm I don't know, Ryder?"
Suddenly I noticed how quiet the room had gotten. No longer were their sounds of chatting, sparing, or computer work, just awkward silence.
"So, what's a cute little eevee like you doing here?"
"Ummm, what's going on?" I backed from the delcatty.
"Well, seeing as you're a terrorist, it's our job to detain you, for what you did back in Lumi-"
"What?!" I cut her off, realizing what she was getting at. "That wasn't me-"
"Shh shh, save it. As of now you three are in our custody, any attempts to resist will result in your demise."
I looked at Lily in the corner of my eyes. "What do we do?" I whispered.
Suddenly Rei spoke up, "Don't resist." I looked up at the marowak who had his hands up, but still had his composure. "We're outnumbered, three to Arceus knows how many. But, before you do take me away, I want to speak to Zack."
"You think you call these shots, lizard boy?" the delcatty spoke with amusement.
Rei nodded. "Tell him, I've come with a proposal. If he wants to stop Genesis, he'll speak to me. I have information he needs, regardless of whether you kill us now or not."
"Then you can tell me here," the delcatty demanded.
"Nice try kitty. I'll only speak to Zack, and Zack only. So, tell him what I said, let him know Ghost is making his move, and there is less time than he thinks."
The delcatty turned and looked back at all the surrounding pokemon. "Alrighty, take these people away. Keep them under close surveillance."
Point of View Stark
"So, Rhys left us quite a bit of cash," Raiden reminded us. "So, I mean if words won't persuade Jaegar, money should warm that cold heart of his." Raiden counted through the endless rolls of bills Rhys had given. It was more money than I had ever seen in my life.
"So, where exactly did this money come from. Is Rhys that wealthy?" I asked over the noise of hard rock playing from a building.
The raichu counted the last roll, and placed it back in the smaller bag within his backpack. "Rhys borrowed it from Genesis. I mean they're rich, so this much is chump change to them."
"How much do we have?"
"twenty-thousand, all in hundreds."
I nearly yelled out from the amount. I never cared to count the amount, but I didn't guess near the amount we were given. "Surprised he trusted us not to run off. Three pokemon can get by a long time with that much."
Raiden shrugged before he looked off towards the club where Jack waited. "Yeah, well I'd get by a long time. You'd be dead without your meds within two-three months. Naomi would have trouble retaining her memory, which would probably get her killed."
"I wasn't saying I would," I added as I looked back at the club. I took in every detail, of the building, trying to guess what the inside layout would be. It was a tall brick building, well taken care of. All windows were blocked out from black blinds, and from the outside the place almost would've appeared vacant if it weren't for the sound of music and lights shining around the blinds.
"So, we ready for this or what?" Raiden asked as he cracked his knuckles.
"Naomi?" I looked over to her, which she didn't even notice my question or anything else. "Naomi, you alright?" I asked more firmly, waking her from her thoughts.
"What?"
"I said are you alright? Maybe you should sit this one-"
"No," Naomi quickly replied. "I got this, I promise."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," Naomi gave a frail smile. I shook my head once, before looking back at the building.
"Alright, let's go." No one seemed to be guarding the outside, so we were easily able to sneak around the building unnoticed. The walls of the building vibrated from the noise of bass and symbols chiming. For me, it was unbearably loud, especially since umbreon's have good hearing. At the back of the building, we found the back exit, which would probably be our entrance.
"Think we can get it open?" Naomi asked.
"Hasn't stopped us in the past," I reminded her.
"Easy," Raiden reached into the bag, pulling out two thin twigs made of steel. He approached the door, "Stark, give me a lift."
I moved to the base of the door and firmly planted my paws down as Raiden climbed up onto me. Surprisingly for a rat he was heavier than he looked, but nothing too heavy. Raiden mumbled to himself as he played with his lock picks, until 'click'.
"Gotcha," Raiden laughed as he opened the door and jumped from my back. "One of the upsides to fingers my friends."
Inside the air was covered in a thick smoke. It smelled like a mix between cigarettes and… hell I wasn't even sure, but it burned my throat to breathe. The lighting was dim, shadows bounced around the room as beams of light shot around the room from a projector. The clacks of a pool table sounded through the room as burly men played at a table. The humans came in all forms, some looking to be part of a biker gang, to mafia, to flat out looking like they came from a Matrix convention. Sitting in a chair lazily with his legs spread apart was a magmar. A combusken swung her rear towards him as he held onto her waist, massaging her. Yeah, it was one of those places… Anything goes, just don't call the cops and you're good if you don't get your teeth smashed out. Luckily, I knew how to blend with this kind of crowd, so long as no one got annoyed with my different appearance. Naomi on the other hand I worried about. Places like these had no respect for women, so I was just waiting for someone to walk up and try something on her.
"He's usually by the bar," Raiden informed us as we walked past the party of humans. Halfway through the joint, a man smashed his pool stick against another mans head, snapping the stick in two. The two exchanged hits, but like it happened every day, no one paid attention.
"This place looks… rough," Naomi spoke up, but was muffled to a whisper from the music playing from a live band near the bar.
"Just don't talk to anyone, don't look anyone in the eyes, but don't look powerless," I responded. I looked away from Naomi, and towards the bar. There, passed out at the bar was him. My teeth gritted together from the sight, Jack Jaegar.
Suddenly, it got hot real fast, almost like an oven. I couldn't believe it was him… Only a year may have passed, but he still looked the same. Black trench coat, mafia looking hat, long grown out hair that cried for a trimming in its crazy mess. His hand stuck out over the table with his face buried in his other arm. A knocked over shot glass was inches from his limp hands, but bone dry.
"Well, we caught him passed out drunk," Raiden said, jabbing at his legs. "Should I zap him awake?"
"No," I shook my head. I glanced around the room, looking for someone who'd fit what I was thinking, until I spotted a machamp. Covered in gang tats, and his four arms wrapped around two pokemon..
"Get some money out, Raiden."
Point of View Black
Drip drip drip… There was a loose pipe somewhere. It was very annoying.
Down in the basement of the WPA base we found ourselves in a cell block. Rhys, Lilly and I were all crammed in the same one, along with five other pokemon. There were only two blankets, a toilet and a sink for us. Lilly, Rhys and I all sat along the wall, trying to get a small bit of space from the five other inmates. Rei sat against the wall, playing a harmonica that he got from nowhere. No I'm not even kidding about that, it was literally from thin air. If I had to guess it was probably some illusionary harmonica.
He played cliché harmonica prison music, something I've seen in a cartoon that had played on the TV long after Alex fell asleep. It was honestly quite annoying after five minutes and when someone tried stopping Rhys he just snapped their wrist when they tried prying it from him. Now a smeargle laid curled up on the ground, nurturing his injury in tears. All the others got the message, don't come near.
Rei was also deprived of his skull helmet, WPA wouldn't trust him with it. For the first time I got a good look at what was under a marowak's helmet. His head almost resembled a totodile, but the snout was a bit shorter.
A loud buzz startled me to my feet. A door soon opened at the end of the cell block and the sound of feet tapping along the hard floor followed. It grew nearer and nearer until three pokemon stood outside our cell.
"Where did you get that?" the delcatty questioned Rei as he looked up.
"Just had it on me."
The delcatty looked at Rei for a minute, barely blinking. "No, we took everything from you, including your helmet. You had nowhere to hide it."
"All but one place," Rei winked at her before extending out the harmonica. "Here you want it? All yours."
"Ew, no way," she quickly backed away.
"So," Rei stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Did Zack finally agree to speak to me?"
"He did," the delcatty said. "He wants you too, Ryder."
I stood up from the ground. I anticipated I would have been getting out of here soon, there was no way my Dad would leave me in here without one last word.
"What about me?" Lily asked with a bit of worry.
"Hmm, nope. He didn't mention you, sorry."
Lily frowned at that. "Don't you two leave me he-"
"We'll be back," Rei smiled at her.
"Alright, you two, come." One of the two pokemon accompanying the delcatty, an elekid, unlocked the cell. He opened just enough room for Rei and I to squeeze through. The elekid locked the gate behind us as the delcatty led us down the hall. The other two pokemon followed close behind. We travelled to the first floor, and across the facility until we were at the door of a conference room.
"Zack is inside. We have specific instructions to send you two in alone. Just know, if you two do anything, then you'll have all of WPA in here to put you down in less than ten seconds. We clear?"
"Yeah," Rei agreed, before opening the door. Inside I was blinded by a brighter atmosphere. A long table stretched across the room, made of some glassy wood. Plants were also in each corner of the room, but that was all there was to this room. No décor, just plain and simple. I didn't have to walk too far in the room before I caught sight of Dad. He sat at the end of the table with Isaac at his side. The grovyle leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, glaring at me and Rei with malice.
"Ryder, thank Arceus you're alright," my Dad stood from his spot, rushing over to me within a second. He embraced me in a quick hug, taking very little notice of Rei. With a weak arm, I tried to return the hug, but emotionally I didn't feel it.
Dad released me and gave me a little space, but kept his eyes focused on me, like he was studying me for the first time. Hell, after so long he may actually think he's looking at a different son. I wasn't the same, haven't stayed one way for too long over the months either.
"Listen," Dad cleared his throat. "I know what they're saying, I don't believe any of it. But, everyone is pinning this on you. We need to talk about this if we're going to change this, if not…" My Dad shook the thoughts away. "So, tell me it wasn't you. You didn't do it, right?"
"N-No!" I quickly uttered. "Why would I ever do that!"
Dad gave a sigh of relief. "I knew you wouldn't, but I just had to hear it."
"So is everything good then, this'll clear up, right?"
He shook his head at me. "No, sadly I can't overrule it, not without more support."
"But you're the lea-"
"A leader," Dad corrected. "There are four others. "I'm just one. Most blame you, others are undecided, but only because I was so intransigent when they tried to accuse you. If you talk though, we can fix this, but I need the full story of everything down to the last detail."
"It wasn't your son," Rei spoke up as he tore a leaf from a plant.
"You're the marowak that's wanting to talk, aren't you?"
"Mhmm. Names Rei, and I can tell you everything about what happened too."
"Yeah, you were there at the scene as well, so you can expect me to be questioning you."
"Alright, so I'll explain things. But more importantly, you should know that the doomsday clock is ticking, and times running out."
"Excuse me. Wanna elaborate on what you mean by that?" The fur on Zack's neck stood, I could tell he didn't like any of this.
Rei tore at the leaf, piece by piece smaller strands fell to the carpet. "Ghost has a plan to change the world, and it's right around the corner. I need the help of WPA to stop it, along with anyone I can get. So, I'd hope the World Peace Association will take some interest in this." Rei turned to my Dad, his tawny eyes tearing into him.
"If you're holding information, then you better start talking," Isaac stepped forward, his arms crossed in an intimidating pose. Rei and Isaac both stood as the same height, and both appeared equally intimidating.
"Of course." Rei smirked, and without his mask I was able to see his pointy teeth. "So how much do you know of nano cells?"
"A small bit, I know Genesis has been experimenting with them a lot over the years."
"Good good, you're not completely ignorant of your enemy. Now, what if I told you, Ghost has been conducting research on nanomachines that control pokemon and humans subconsciously?"
Dad stood, blinking his eyes in place, trying to figure out what to make of the rhetorical question. "I'd say you told me something that interests me. Go on."
For almost an hour straight Dad and Rei talked. He gave my dad the full lecture on how Ghost wanted to unify the world through having similar beliefs and cultures to minimize conflict. He even went into details about how no one would have free will to harm each other and stuff. It was nearly the same explanation I got earlier a little under a week ago after I departed Lumiose with him. By the end of all this my Dad was taken back, speechless as he stood in place.
"Well, what do you have to say, Zack?"
"I don't know," Zack answered blankly. "I'm trying to figure out how a nobody knows all this." Zack looked Rei in his eyes.
"Want to know my secret?" Rei closed the gap between him as he leaned in close to Dad's ear, nearly pressing his lips against it. "I'm really Rhys in disguise." Dad's eyes flinched to a glare as he darted back, charging a flame attack. Isaac leapt to my Dad's side, ready to kill in an instant.
"Hold the flames!" Rhys rose both his hands in submission. "You win, I yield."
"Why the Hell would you come here!" Flames spewed from my Dad's maw as he struggled to control himself. "Looking for a fight!?"
"I just told you why I'm here." Rhys turned to his zorua form, and didn't seem the least bit worried. "Let's be honest Zack, if I'm telling the truth you need me. I know everything about Genesis. I even know who Ghost is, down to every detail. I know how to stop their plan. Do you want to make an enemy of your greatest ally?"
"I don't care, you're responsible for a lot of crap I had to go through. You're responsible for-" My Dad stopped himself.
"Yeah, I am responsible for your brother's death. But, a lot more pokemon and humans are going to die if something isn't done. If you wish to settle things with me, fine, but leave it for after this battle."
"Ryder, get away from him!" My Dad ordered.
"Dad…" I looked him in the eyes. "He's serious. Genesis is doing this; it's why I chose to help him. I've seen proof of it as well. The pokemon who caused that subway to derail are under the influence of these nano cells."
"Bullshit, you don't know what the Hell you're doin-"
"I do!" My voice rose. "I'm not some kid anymore, I'm an adult! And you know what, I went through a lot of shit to get here. I watched Mom, Cassie… Kaz, all of them die. I survived on my own after, till Alex caught me. Then I survived multiple shit storms after. So don't say I don't know what I'm doing, because I've seen enough to know that Genesis needs to be stopped. I have a right to make my own choice and to choose my own side! I trust Rhys, he's not lying, it wouldn't make sense for him to do all this just to lie."
"And you're aware he's responsible for a lot of what's happened?" Dad retorted, still fuming heat.
"Yeah, I am. But, Ghost is up to something, and right now that needs to be our priority."
"He's right," Rhys added. "Whatever bad blood you and I share, we can deal with it after. You may hate me, but you know Ghost is the greater threat."
Dad snorted, before exhaling a sigh. "How much time do we have?"
"Less than a month. His plan takes action on new years"
"And you wait this whole time just to tell me now?!"
"Believe me, I did everything I could to get out here. There was a lot of preparation, even I, Ghost's right hand pokemon doesn't know everything. Everyone in Genesis is kept in the dark, only a small handful know what he's up to." Rhys walked towards my Dad, stopping only with a few steps between. "So, what'll it be. You can choose to kill me here, and you'll be fighting Ghost alone in the dark, or work with me and have access to everything you'll need to successfully win."
Dad's eyes went blank as he began to ponder everything. Rhys waited, until my Dad spoke up. "If what you're saying is true, then I'll do it. Not because I have any respect or trust in you, but because I agree Ghost is a threat." My Dad move in close to Rhys until their faces were inches apart. "I swear though, should you do anything to make me doubt you, I'll kill you in the most painful way possible."
Rhys just nodded. "You'll find that I am hiding nothing from you. I do have one request though, one you'll agree with, most likely."
"You got to be kidding m-"
"I will continue carrying out this mission under the persona of Rei the marowak. It is very important that I am able to keep my identity a secret, and it would probably work best if the world didn't see me as the criminal Rhys. For now, that is."
"Fine, but let's get something straight 'Rei,' you work under me, you got that? All members of WPA are under my command, not yours."
"Of course." A smile grew on Rhys as he transformed to his marowak for, with a new skull forming on his head.
Point of View Stark
Rope tightened, and with a grunt a knot was tied. The machamp from the bar firmly had Jack tied to a chair, still passed out drunk. The man snored, no worries, no guilt, easy dreams. Seeing it made me laugh out of hysteria, I really wanted to kill him right here. It'd be too easy, he was Christmas wrapped right here, thanks to the machamp I paid to help us.
"Anything else?" The machamp cracked his two sets of hands and flexed out his muscles. Tattoos of skulls riddled his arms with violent details of blood oozing from the eye sockets and knives sticking through them. Cool art, dumb to wear plastered to your arms and chest. It screams criminal all over it.
"No, that's all. Thanks for helping." I turned to Raiden. "Get his pay, tip him as well." Raiden did as I said, paying around four-hundred dollars for the help and for his silence.
"Well then, if you need anything else, you know where to find me." The machamp didn't waste any time on leaving us with Jack.
We waited for Jack to awake on his own. It wasn't until the first beam of light pierced the blinds of the motel room that Jack started to shuffle in place. His eyes opened, blinking repeatedly as he took in his setting.
"What the?" He turned to look around, before clenching his eyes shut with a migraine. "Whoever did this, you got something coming to you." Jack's eyes opened, and he turned to meet stares with me. At that instant his eyes widened like one of those bizarre anime characters. "What the fuck!" He yelled as he struggled in the chair, nearly tipping it in his struggle.
"Morning, sleepy head," Raiden teased as he gave a jab into the human's leg, sending an electrical current through him.
"You two got three seconds to explain what the fuck this is! I killed you, and you should be dead as well!" Jack thrashed about in the chair. Raiden shook his head, before sending an even stronger shock through him. The human seized for a second from the electrical volts, before he stopped, panting for air in pain.
"The gardevoir's ball is the one marked with a one," Raiden told me. I glanced at the two pokeballs Jack had left. I remembered back in the day how he had the pokeballs numbered by rank. I used to be number one back then, Sam was two, Raiden three, and Naomi in last. Now he just had two left, the gardevoir and the blaziken Naomi mentioned. I found number one and kicked in front of Jack.
Naomi came out of the shadows, revealing herself to Jack. The human's eyes narrowed in on her. "Jiminy fucking cricket, her too?! The fuck is this, you should all be dead fucking pokemon!" Jack continued to fight against the ropes binding him. Raiden climbed up onto the human's shoulder and placed his palm to his temple.
"Open it," Raiden told me, and I pushed the button on the pokeball. With a flash of light, a willowy form took shape. Two red eyes flickered, first thing she saw being Raiden's palm pressed against Jack's head. In a quick blur her hand reached to her back where she had a knife sheathed.
"Freeze! One move and I fry his brain till a potato has more intelligence," Raiden yelled just as her hand touched the blade's handle. Jack bit at his lip as he tried to pull away, but Raiden just pushed against his head. "Now, Eva, mind being a friend and translating what we have to say to Jacky boy here?"
Eva gave up on the knife as she curiously looked at Raiden. "So, what, you're turning on us now?"
Raiden smirked at her, "Yeah, that'd be the simplest way to put it. Now, do what I asked."
Eva placed a hand over her hip. "Fine, but if you kill Jack I'll put this knife in your-"
"And then I'll kill you," I growled from behind.
"Oh, it's you," Eva looked back in surprise. "I've heard lots of stories about you, infamous white umbreon. I remember hearing you were dead."
"You heard wrong."
Eva turned back to Raiden. "Fine, I'll translate. But what I said earlier still stands. Touch Jack and you're dead. Now go, I'll translate what you say."
I cleared my throat as I stood in Jack's view. "I don't even have words for this," I started. "I had this whole trip to ponder the words I'd say to you, but I can't even begin to form the right words. I'll kill you if you touch Naomi again would probably be a good start. And I'll make sure it's painful too."
"Tff," Jack snorted. "Think you scare me, you fuck-"
"Shut up and listen," Raiden flicked Jack in the eye, getting a yell of pain from the human.
"Right now I want to kill you," I continued, trying to keep my composure. "It'd be easy right now. I'd just kill the gardevoir, she wouldn't respond fast enough. I'd then move onto you. Usually I'd go for the jugular, quick and easy, but you deserve far worse than that. So, what would I do? Probably chew off your Achilles heels, then take you far out into the middle of nowhere and leave you unclothed to freeze and starve to-
"You ever going to get to the point?" Jack yawned. "Putting me to sleep with your fantasizing. What do you really want? If you wanted to torture me you'd already be having the romp of your life doing it."
"Smart, and dumb," I responded. "Yeah, you're right, I would have already done what I wanted to you if I didn't need you for something else. So, truth being said, I was sent here on someone else's whim. He wants your help getting ahold of the mercenaries not linked with Genesis. Since you were blacklisted after your failure in Cyllage, you now belong to a group that works outside of Genesis."
"And what's it to you, wanting back in the game or something?"
"I already said, someone else sent me. So here's the deal. I'm going to give you a meeting place, and you're going to bring your whole party of friends with."
"And why would I help you, fucking idiot?"
"Because, there is a lot of money involved. Millions to go around. My boss is Rhys, right hand man of Ghost."
"Ghost, as in the leader of-"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Rhys has a plan to go against them. So, in return anyone who helps will be paid a great deal of money, since the money will be coming from Genesis's pocket."
"How much?" Jack leaned forward with interest.
"For you, millions if you can get your friends to come and help. After that, you and I, we part ways. I won't come after you, and you won't come after me. I'm still wanting your blood, but after this Genesis ordeal is over I just want to settle down far away."
"Like I care what you want. What I care about is the money. Call your boss, I want to hear it straight from him."
"Fine, if he'll answer," I replied. "Naomi, can you set up a call?"
"Yeah," she nodded as she went over to the tablet that was on the table. She climbed up from the couch and onto the table. For two minutes she messed with the device using her shaky paws. It was obvious she was uncomfortable, Jack saw this and just laughed at the sight.
"What's the matter, got some brain damage you retar-"
"Quiet!" I snapped and shot a shadow ball past his face, searing the skin on his cheek. Jack didn't utter a word after, and that's just how I wanted it. A few silent seconds passed, before Naomi got a live video chat going. The tablet rung as we waited on Rhys to answer, and just when I thought he wouldn't answer, he did.
"This better be important, I don't exactly have a lot of time," Rhys showed up on the tablet in his marowak form.
"Jack wants to say hi," Naomi told him. "Can you talk to him?"
"Yeah, I'm currently hiding in a bathroom stall just so I can answer this call. Just got to be quick, kay?" Naomi grabbed the device and held it up in her maw for Jack to see the marowak.
"So you're Rhys, a pokemon?" Jack said with disappointment.
"Yes, and you must be Jack Jaegar."
"I am," the human said. "So let's cut the shit, how much do I get for helping with this, and what exactly am I doing? No BS, or I'm out."
"Right," Rhys agreed. "The pay for you will be five-million dollars, if you can bring me a sufficient amount of help. All of them will be paid as well. As for the task, well I'm about to fight a war and I need man power. So, I need people who aren't afraid to put themselves in danger, but can also work in teams."
"That's it, get paid to fight against Genesis?" Jack sneered. "Fine, but I want half up front, pronto."
"No can do, Jaegar," Rhys replied.
"Then fuck you, you fucking fucker!"
"All we can do up front is ten-thousand. Most of the money that's going to be used to pay your fees will be from what I commandeer after Genesis falls. When Ghost is out of the picture I'll have clear access to everything, including Genesis's money. It's five-million Jack, do you want to turn down the offer of a lifetime?"
"You mean the scam of a lifetime? Do you think I was born yesterday or something?"
"Not at all, I know you're an intelligent human, otherwise you wouldn't have survived this long being a killer. But, how about this, if you refuse to do what I ask, I could also leak information to the WPA on your little posse of friends down at Kershaw's. Would you prefer that? Not many places left for you to work after that."
"You threatening me, because if you are I'll slit your throat you fucking reptile!"
"I'd call it more of a warning, but perceive it how you like. Now Jaegar, do we have a deal?"
Jack looked Rhys dead in the eyes and studied him. A grin grew on the human's face, before he started laughing to himself. "Screw it, I don't care. Five-mil, I'll take it. If you're lying though, don't think I will hesitate on putting you down."
"Right, now I got to go. I'm quite busy." The call ended there. Jack glanced at all of us.
"Well, you going to let me go or what?"
"Not yet," I replied. "We'll mark down a place and time for you to meet us. The same person who helped us get you here will be back later tonight to untie you." With that said, I walked back to the gardevoir's pokeball and returned her back into it.
"You're going to leave me tied up here?!" Raiden jumped off the yelling human. He searched through the motel, until he found a scrap paper and a pen. In neat handwriting he wrote down the location, time, and date of where to show up.
"Well, take care Jack. See you soon," the raichu waved off as we exited the motel. Jack began to curse and threaten us, but we ignored him.
Outside the air was crisp. The motel was just outside the city on the main road that led into town. I sighed a breath of relief, happy that I managed not to kill him with all those years of built up anger.
"So, you really mean that, you're going to let him live after all this?" Raiden asked.
I didn't bother looking at the raichu, "No. When this is over, I do plan to kill him. He'll probably try to do the same."
Raiden exhaled a strong breath. "He will, so I'm glad you're not being an idiot about this. Just be sure to get the drop on him."
Oh I did plan to get the drop on him. First chance I get I'm killing him. It may not be slow like he deserves, but he's going one way or another. When he brings us the help we need, I'm taking him out. He's going to pay, for making me a killer, for hurting Naomi, for everything.
Chapter End
Author Note: This chapter took a bit longer due to complications and it being longer. When I wasn't even that far into this chapter I developed something called stenosing tenosynovitis. basically what it is is where the sheath of my middle finger became so inflamed that the tendon couldn't get would also lock my finger up over night, and it would hurt a lot to open. So this made my right hand useless due to immense pain. So, I had to write this chapter with my less dominant hand... Fun.
Guest review Zero Lunar: I would like to thank you for all the reviews over the past two weeks. I read all of them and really enjoyed hearing your opinions. Unfortunately I don't think it'd be a good idea to respond to all of it here, so I'll just answer something you mentioned about updates. I update once every other week, but sometimes it takes me a third week if life complications get in the way. I also don't randomly disappear, but I do from time to time take a 1-2 month hiatus, but that's always in my author notes with the date I plan to be back. Thanks again for all your reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying the story.