Book II: Impending Twilight
Chapter 133: Infiltrating the WPA
Point of View: Flare
By far, I had nowhere near enough sleep for what was planned. Maybe four- no three hours at best. Course it was nothing more than nodding in and out of consciousness. Despite this I still had a deep reserve of energy burning fiercely inside me. By the time the first crack of light peeked over the horizon I knew I was as ready as I was ever going to, question was, was everyone else?
I rustled around in the bush Zylen and I had concealed ourselves in. A very prickly mess to stay in for hours at a time. The zoroark hadn't whispered a word in hours either. He kept an unlit cigarette in his mouth as if it was going to help fight off his addiction as he anxiously awaited the signal.
My eyes focused in past the brush. With the light breathing new life onto the landscape I could clearly see where they were holding Black. It was going to be rough. To think such a large manor existed outside of Snowbelle. It made sense that Rhys would pick a location so far out from Snowbelle to hide. At least if things came down to it we could get loud If needed.
The manor was a behemoth in size. Stone walls stretched all the way up to three stories, but with their old age moss had begun to grow between some of the bricks. In the winds I could make out the shape of pokemons doing their patrols.
With how run down the place seemed it almost looked haunted, like something you'd see out of a horror movie. Except this would be an action movie. The kind with explosions, we'd run up to the large wooden doors and with a swift snap of my fingers the doors would blow off their hinges and we'd storm in! Of course, before we'd have to worry about the sentry guards stations on the third floor who were keeping close watch. But, with the time we put into waiting we were able to figure out all the quirks in the guard schedules that'd give us our clear shot!
All that we had to worry about now was the guy who'd be getting us our opportunity to sneak in.
Point of View Aiden
"Doo-dumm-doo, I like singing, bum-bum, breaking and entering," was the beat I hummed as I strolled about the building, dragging my claws along the fancy wall paint and leaving a jagged mark. Before you get mad, the paint was already peeling, just now it has creepy ghost claw marks! Heh, I can already hear the ghost stories that'll go with this one.
Just some friendly advice for when you do decide you're ready to break and enter into your first abandoned manor (We all do it at one point), be prepared for dust galore. At one point when I had first entered a clump of dust nailed me right in the nose, resulting in some obnoxious sneezing. This attracted the attention of a guard, luckily, I was just able to phase through a wall. I can deal with him later.
Not going to lie, the whole ghost thing is coming in clutch as some would say. Like imagine you peek your head around a corner, a guard thinks he spotted something. Said guard goes to investigate, but by the time he gets there you've already phased through a wall and are long gone. They've got nothing on me! I am the best!
With a bit more inspection I was able to locate the kitchen, unfortunately all I found was some milk that expired years ago… I will not go into words about how putrid milk can smell after being left to rot in an enclosed space for years! I gagged to say the least.
Searching further I managed to find more halls, a guest room with a really nice mattress, lots of guards who were becoming confused from my ghostly presence. Eventually, I did land my way in a large study. All around there were shelves of books, if I didn't know better I'd say I stumbled into a library (Is there a difference?). Hundreds of books. HUNDREDS! Yet no matter how much I searched I couldn't find a single comic… Dude who owned this place had no appreciation for real literature apparently. No, instead he just liked his fancy walls of texts, maybe an art book or two, but none of the cool ones. Definitely none of the real art you'd find online.
I continued to tip-toe forward using the shelves for cover before a guard crossed past the aisle I was in. Sucking in a deep breath I back-pedaled myself through a shelf and came out on the other side. I exhaled my breath. That was close.
Kind of weird being the ghost in this situation, usually I'd be the moron hunting for ghosts, yet now I'm the ghost…
I'm loving it.
About a minute passed by the time I was sure the guard was gone and I decided to push forward. One tippy-toe at a time I accessed the second floor of the library on some spiral staircase. When at the top I found more books, as expected. A bit further and I decided to phase through another wall, this time I found myself in a large closet full of cleaning supplies, vacuums, dusters, garbage bags and all other things you'd expect in a nightmarish Hell.
"Bleh, cleaning," I hissed as I quickly phased through a third wall. The process of me travelling through the moldy manor continued on for nearly five minutes before I came upon a room of interest.
"Hey there, this looks good," I mused as a grin grew across my face.
In an empty room a aipom-guard cycled through different camera feeds of the manor. The monkey's head bobbed up and down as she slouched forward, each click of the mouse bringing her one step closer towards falling asleep on his job.
"Huh," I shook my head with my arms crossed.
The aipom's head perked up as her head snapped back in a freakish way with her eyes bulging out of her skull.
"W-who's there?" the pathetic monkey whimpered.
I cleared my throat before speaking with a booming voice of authority, "It tis I," I began, "I have cometh for thou soul…eth."
"Souleth?" the aipom cocked her head to the side as her fear was replaced with a baffled expression. "Is this some kind of prank, and what's with the corny makeup?"
"Makeup! Hey, this is one-hundred-and-ten percent real! I mean just look at these scars and my eyes!"
"Right…" The aipom turned back towards her computers. "I'm just going to go back to what I was doing, thanks for trying but you should get back to work to-" before the aipom could finish I lunged at her and wrapped both my arms around her neck and squeezed.
The money thrashed in my arms, "What are you doing?!" she wheezed as I tried my best to strangle her.
"Shhh, just let it happen," I whispered, all while thinking of how easy Lucy made the whole process look.
"You're not even doing it right!" she hissed as her claws scratched at my arms.
"I'm trying, okay!" I shouted before I quickly let go of her, reached to my left and grabbed a phone that had been on her desk and whacked her right over the head. The aipom stumbled for a second before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she landed with a thud. On the ground the money struggled to climb back up.
"Arceus, will you just…" I whacked her again, this time leaving her out cold. Seemed to be very effective.
With a bit of honesty, all the stealth games I had played in the past made the whole straggling thing seem a lot simpler. They never really resisted, it just took a few seconds and bam, I was ready to continue. Then you get pokemon like this chick who just ruin the fun.
When I was sure she was down I fell to my rear huffing as if I just ran a marathon without rest. My eyes traveled towards the camera system they had set up. Compared to the rest of the mansion this system was brand new. Meaning, they probably had to just of moved in recently, since I doubt the security system would have been updated with how cruddy the rest of the manor was.
With my foot I rolled the aipom out of the way and took a seat by the computer system. I unslung a book bag from over my shoulders and unzipped its contents. First, a USB drive that we had to acquire the night before. All part of our awesome plan. I didn't waste any time and plugged the sucker right into that USB drive. For a moment the computer did the loading ring of death as it installed some drivers or something like that. Hell if I know, David always handled this stuff for me.
As I waited for the flash drive to do its thing I reached into the bag and pulled out a mic. This too I had to plug into the computer (No duh). Next, I pulled out a headset for my radio set. I fastened on the device, leaned my chair back and reached into my bag for the most important item I brought with.
A can of doctor pep.
I popped the can open, propped my legs up on the desk and as the drivers finished I radioed in to my team.
"This is recon squad to command, do you have a copy?" I really liked the way radio talk sounded, especially using all the lingo. So cool.
"Copy," Naomi responded from the other side.
"Systems are in place, ready to get this show on the road," I spoke into the radio.
"Right, I'll radio the others to start in a minute. Just finish up your part, okay?"
"You got it."
I cracked my knuckles and walked over towards the unconscious aipom and claimed her radio for my own use.
"Don't mind if I do," I happily smirked as I sat back down. Taking in a deep breath I began the next and probably my favorite part of our plan! I pushed down on the radio and began a transmission, "W-We've got a problem! I-It's Genesis, they're attacking us way up south on the border of the woods! They're coming right for the mano- Graaaa!" I gave out a dramatic scream before ending that transmission.
A voice anxiously called back on the radio demanding to get a more clear report of the situation.
I snickered in my chair and pinched my nose to alter the sound of my voice a bit, "Arceus, They're in central Snowbelle too! We need backup, now-" I cut the transaction.
"Heh heh, this is actually pretty fun," I sneered as I switched to our team radio line. "Alright Naomi, send in our distraction peeps," I said excitedly.
And this is where things would be getting interesting. See, all night we were up planning. All around the manor we set up remote controlled explosives, flares, smoke grenades and stuff that'd create false illusions of battle. Plus, our injured zoroark friend would be able to make a few illusionary targets to make things more believable. This is just what the others would need to move into the mansion for our assault. Not only that though, the USB drive I Installed onto the computer is supposedly allowing Naomi to have direct access to all of their cameras and information meaning we see everything they see, and with a few tricks we're able to jam their lousy radio system as we please. Just think, all of this is thanks to me!
"Heh, suck on that you WPA chumps, you're even stupider than I thought for going against me!" I laughed hysterically as I got ready to make my next transmission.
Point of View Flare
The sound of explosives setting off in the background made the quiet morning shake. My heart began to pound as the avian's of the forest fled to the sky.
"That's our queue," Zylen gave a strong nudge on my shoulder. The zoroark's stare peered into me. "You sure you got this?" He firmly asked. I gave a confident nod and the zoroark crawled back out of the bush. "Alright, I'll catch up with you when I can. Just remember that nothing here is worth throwing away your life for."
"I remember you saying that," I sighed, but by the time I looked back the zoroark had disappeared. Focusing my eyes up front I could see some of the WPA guards scurrying out the front gate, abandoning their posts to give backup to the needed areas.
I adjusted my earpiece, making sure it wouldn't come undone from anything that might transpire from all this.
A few more seconds pass and I see my opening. I claw my way out of the bush and make my way towards the manor. I slip between the bars of the fence around the manor. Thankfully being such a small pokemon has its advantages. I continued onward and kept as low to the ground as possible, at times nearly crawling on all fours. In the front yard I obscured myself behind a water fountain. I poked my head out and see the one guard in the vicinity. He was far more interested with the transmissions over his radio than actually watching his post, so I was easily able to advance my way closer to the mansion.
When I was near the front entrance of the manor I stuck to the left and avoided the front door. I put a fair amount of distance between the guard and myself.
"According to the blueprints of the manor there should be a vent along the walls nearby," Naomi informed me.
I kept my eyes open for the mentioned vent until I did eventually spot it. It was pretty high up, especially with me being a short pokemon.
"Here we go," I spoke out as I ran at the wall and jumped towards it. Trying my hardest I pulled myself up using the vines covering the walls. Where I couldn't find any I had to dig my claws into the brick walls. I only had to struggle up a small bit, but the real challenge was unhinging the vent hatch while holding on with one arm. Eventually I did succeed and I threw the hatch off. Inhaling a deep breath I heaved myself up and climbed into the dark passage.
Tight, that is one word to describe this vent. Dark would be another. Maybe filthy and filled with dust and debris are the most important details. I found myself struggling to breath, I strongly felt I needed some kind of dust mask or I was going to have a coughing fit of some kind and I'm sure the guards would question why their vent was coughin.
"Gross, so gross," I kept repeating to myself as I slowly crawled through the vent. For five minutes I followed the vents, at one point having to choose between a split path. I decided with left, unfortunately this path had an incline. Eventually I did find a hatch that'd lead me into a room, I had to do was remove the latches.
Unlike before I found that this hatch was securely bolted down. I opted with a different strategy than before. I crawled over the hatch and half stood in an uncomfortable scrunched up position. My back pressed against the roof of the vent and my feet were cutting into the fin-like design of the hatches ventilation system. Grunting I pushed with my back. My lower spine felt the tension of straining myself in such an awkward position, and my feet felt the fins of the vents hatch cutting into them. I give one last grunt before I heard a pop. Faster than I could blink the hatch had popped open and I was sprawled out on the floor below.
I couldn't move, my entire body ached. I couldn't even roll to my back to help me breathe. All I could manage was writhing in agony on the cold floor, the only detail being clear to me was my own pain. About a minute passed before I could think of rolling onto my front side. Slowly I had to struggle up onto my feet, using the wall for assistance.
"I'm in," I groaned over the radio as I glanced around the room, ready to begin the hard part.
Point of View Stark
Outside the mansion things were beginning to stir up, meaning it was time for me to get to work. Almost like the old days. Regardless, these would have to be my last days as a killer of any kind.
In the shade of a tree I crouched low, watching a group of pokemon head out to examine the sounds of explosions. I counted three, a purloin, a phanpy and a swallow.
Rules of killing pokemon in this scenario. You'll always want to go for the flying type. Know why? They're always the first to flee, it's literally fight or flight for them, and they choose the latter. When they run they'll more than likely come back with friends. Next up is the purloin since the phanpy will be slow to react, plus a phanpy is less likely to go down in one hit. Best to deal with the fast one first because I can dance with a phanpy all day.
I inhaled a breath and stayed silent, not a single breath as they passed. I stalked them as they moved along, and it wasn't until they had their backs turned that I had lunged out at them. Dark matter formed at the end of my tail and with a spin my tail swung at the swallow. The avian only opened its mouth before my tail sliced its neck all the way down to the spinal cord.
The swallow only gave out a gurgle, more from all the blood forcing its way out of its neck than from the swallow actually struggling. His blood had gone everywhere, all over myself and even his friends. The purrloin's eyes stared at her friend before moving down to her torso which was covered in the warm thick red essence of her dead friend.
"Eric!" the purloin gave out a terrified scream. Petrified she fell back, her eyes widened in terror. She trembled like a child. I jumped up into the air and made her my target as I did a flip in the air and aimed my tail down at her. A blur of blue slammed into the cat and knocked her out of the way, instead my tail met my other target. The elephant collapsed to the ground next to the purloin, blood gushing out from his shoulder from a severed brachial artery.
"N-no…" The purloin whimpered as she crawled up to her fallen teammate, cradling his head in her arms.
The phampy breathed hard, red flowing out his shoulder all over his purloin friend. Tears streamed from her eyes, each breath of her friend's growing fainter and fainter, the beat in his chest giving out until there was nothing but a lifeless husk.
"Wake up! Please don't go!" She screamed out as she desperately applied pressure to his shoulder.
It only took one step forward for her head to spring up towards me, all the fur on her body standing up in fear. She fell back and feebly cowered away from me.
I continued forward, keeping my eyes focused on the cornered pokemon knowing that at any moment she could lash out at me. Never underestimate a cornered pokemon.
"Why… why are you doing this?" she whimpered, "We… we were just doing our job, trying to get by and…" her sobs broke out.
Suddenly it became clear to me that this little purloin was merely a young teen, despite being in the WPA. No older than fourteen. I couldn't let that make a difference though, she'd only run off and get backup. She sold her life when she joined the WPA. Best I could do was make it quick for her, painless as possible.
I pressed forward and crouch down low in preparation to take her life.
"Stay away!" She begs, shielding herself as her body scrunched up into a ball of tears and misery.
It was time to end her misery, but then the fur on my neck stood up, feeling a shift in the air my instincts commanded me to jump back. A strong gust blew past me and cut a tree clean in half. With a loud crack in the wood and a crash the tree hit the ground.
"Preying on a defenseless little girl, do pokemon such as yourself have no limit of how low you'll stoop?"
My head snapped towards my new opponent, making their mark on an absol, a hideous creature baring many scars old and new. Bandages wrapped all around her neck, covering a red stain over her shoulder. Despite her apparent injuries she didn't waiver in the slighter, she had the utmost confidence in that cold killer glare I knew all too well. The way her eyes bored into me were unsettling.
"Go on, kill me if you can," she started up, her tone sounding more bored than anything. "I'm already half dead, but just know, if you fail with your first attack, fall even one inch short, you're dead. Think you can stop me in one move?"
I didn't even have to try to know she already knew I wasn't capable. I heard all the stories of this absol, the WPA's trump card, a pokemon that was a true monster. I retreated back a few steps as I kept my stare on her, knowing that seeing a single twitch of her muscle could be the difference of life and death.
"I see, you only fight those weaker than you," she snorted. "How disappointing, I've heard the stories of the ashen umbreon, cold blooded killer that was unstoppable. Fables in the end I guess."
I got low to the ground as my form scrunched up. Knowing this was going to more than likely be my end. Dark matter expanded out, creating a thick layer around me.
I allowed myself one deep breath for composure. I told myself I wasn't going to die. I made sure I knew that I was going to see Naomi again no matter what.
"If you won't make the first move, then I will."
Point of View Vincent
Infiltrating the manor was a very simple task. I don't know how elaborate the WPA thought they were, but their security was sloppy, a complete disorganized mess that couldn't handle an emergency. The entire manor was nearly cleared out, the few pokemon that did remain were more than easy to take care of. Now all I had to do was locate my brother and Mandus and we could leave. Everything can go back to how the plan was supposed to be.
As I turned a corner leading into the common areas I found one pokemon walking through the area, a delcatty. She casually hummed a song to herself, not sounding the least bit stressed about everything going on around her. I came out from the corner, cutting her path off.
"Oh, why hello there," the delcatty smirked. "You sure you don't want to try and get me when my back is turned? That'd be the smart thing to do."
"Attacking a female from behind wouldn't be very gentlemen-like of me, now would it?" I responded.
The delcatty giggled at my response, "And what if I kill you? Would your morals as a 'gentleman' matter then?"
"No, because I'll be dead, but I'm not afraid of you" I firmly stated. "Now, where do you keep the prisoners, answer quick and I might be willing to let you off the hook."
The delcatty licked her lips, "Heh, you're the brother of that cute umbreon we have hostage. You aren't half bad yourself, especially dig the white fur, though your families tendencies of being criminals must be hereditary. Probably from your mother's side since I know your father was a decent man."
"Doesn't quite work that way," I shook my head, "Maybe through genetics one can be more prone to be a way, but it doesn't label us at birth as a criminal or an ideal pokemon. Now, you already know where my brother is, so tell me where I can find him."
"Assertive and smart, I like that," the delcatty purred. "Could stay and spend some time with me, sure Blacky could wait a bit more for you. It's just us-"
My heart suddenly skipped a beat, "Restrain yourself woman!" My voice lashed out, my breathing picking up. Why did it have to be someone like her of all pokemon?!
"Aww, don't tell me you've never been with a woman bef-"
"I just know that the instant I let my guard down around you you'll kill me. I think with my head, not my other parts," I insisted. "Maybe my brother would be foolish enough to fall for such a ploy, but you need to understand that I'm the smarter one of us two."
"I see," she deeply frowned with a whine. "Well you could have at least made it easy for me."
"Not that kind of man," I shook my head, "Now, tell me where my brother is, my patience is running thin."
"Alright-alright," suddenly her voice went from flirty to serious, "I'll show you." The way she acted took a one-eighty degree turn, the way she presented herself now was more tense and her eyes seemed to show she was a bit lost in thought.
"You'll show me?" I said skeptically. "I know I demanded it, but usually it doesn't work like that."
"Okay you want me to show you or not?" the delcatty scowled and turned her head from the espeon. "I'll show you, but only because things aren't as they seem anymore. I used to actually be pretty high up in the WPA, a respectable member, now all of a sudden I've been demoted back down to a grunt so a sylveon could be Zack's new go to pokemon."
"So, you're upset because someone was more fit for the job?"
"Fit?!" The delcatty hissed. "No, she's not fit for anything, she just showed up out of nowhere and treats everyone like garbage, yet Zack for some reason chose her to replace me, and I bet I know what kind of things she's doing for Zack to move up the ranks that quickly! Something's going on here and I don't like it. Zack was so quick to bail his son out, now all of a sudden he changes his mind and completely ignores him."
"Does sound quite suspicious," I nodded in agreement.
The delcatty exhaled a breath and turned away from me, "Alright, well if you want help follow me," The delcatty started walking and I hesitantly followed after her. That was a really fast change of heart from her, and because of that I made sure to let her stay a good distance ahead, last thing I needed was a surprise attack.
"I haven't been here for long, only two days to be exact," she continued. "That does mean I have a good layout of the area, but I haven't really seen where they're keeping your brother."
"Then where are you taking me?"
"Well, truthfully I haven't seen him here, but I have heard things around here. I managed to eavesdrop on something Zack was saying to a grovyle named Isaac, something-something about a hidden passage in the basement or something like that."
"A hidden passage, that's peculiar, why would there be a hidden passage here and how would Zack know of such a thing?"
"Don't know, this whole place is strange," the delcatty mused. "Like out of all the time I've worked for the WPA why have I never heard of this place, or even seen it as an asset in the WPA's property. I highly doubt a manor like this was just sitting this whole time, someone would have bought it or demolished it by now."
"Suspicious indeed," I nodded. Of course I was skeptical of what she said, but at the same time I couldn't really imagine why she'd fabricate a lie this bizarre. The whole idea was curious, like how I knew for a fact that this manor did not belong to the WPA, yet all of a sudden it's in the WPA's control, or the abnormal activities I've been hearing about the way the higher ups at the WPA are conducting themselves. False rumors? Perhaps, but let's say they are true, then that would mean something was going on in the WPA.
For a bit the delcatty and I didn't exchange any words, just walking. The more time I spent with her the more I felt that she wasn't leading me on. Call it foolish if you must, but working the conditions I have over the years you get an idea of what kind of pokemon and people you can trust. Some would argue that it's those you suspect the least you should worry about the most, but at the moment I felt that she posed no threat, but if she did betray my trust… then I'll kill her.
"Down here," the delcatty cleared her throat as she stood at the top of a long set of stairs leading down into the basement.
Didn't look the least bit suspicious, but as of now I had no better options, so the suspicious basement it was. The delcatty gave a shrug and started down. I slowly followed her down the wooden steps, my weight on each step making them creak. The air was quick to become dusty, damp, just flat out uncomfortably and musty. My nose scrunched up and before I could stop myself I gave out a violent sneeze. The delcatty shot back an upset glare, her eyes just saying 'do that again and I'll make you regret it.' Course if we were compromised she might be the one making me regret it.
At the bottom I found that the basement was unfinished, looking a lot like a cellar, almost like a dungeon. The grey stone walling of the basement was crumbling away, a numbers of webs were hidden away in the dark corners of the corridors.
The delcatty walked over to the wall and batted the side of a lamp with her paw. I flame flickered to life and the shadows of the basement were pushed back away from us. She pushed the lamp in my direction, sliding it right in front of me.
"Here, you did say you were a gentleman, so be a doll and carry that, prefer not to put my mouth around that if it can be helped.
"Right," I replied, grabbing the rusty handle in my maw. The delcatty continued to lead me onward.
The entirety of the basement was comprised of old wines, abandoned furniture that was wrapped up in plastic for later use or for whatever they had planned. A few portraits were found, some of the family that inhabited this domain, some classical art pieces, but none I really found too noteworthy.
"So, where exactly down here do you believe this secret entrance is?" I questioned her with my muffled voice.
"I don't know, just know it's down here. Just look for something out of the ordinary."
"Could be a while."
"Probably will be."
Point of View Stark
"If you won't take the first move I will," The absol declared, her voice was as cold as ice, sending a tremor through my spine. I didn't even realize it at first, but I was cowering away from her.
If I fought her I would die, regardless of her injuries. Far stronger pokemon have fought against her and came out dead, I didn't compare to her in the slightest.
All I saw was her first step that was followed by a blurring incomprehensible speed. I threw myself left, landing hard on my side, but with all the adrenaline pumping through me I didn't feel all the force on my ribs, no, instead I was back up on my feet scurrying away before I even knew what was going on. My feet moved as fast as they could while I weaved around each tree, but when my paw got tangled up on a branch I tumbled into the snow.
My head lifted from the ground and met with the icy glare of the absol, a white blade of energy coming out from her horn that she was quick to swing down. I grunted a curse as I rolled left, but a deep burn in my side told me I was too slow. I frantically got up and ignored the red that was streaming down my side.
"Dammit," was all I could think to say as I leapt at the absol in retaliation. I summoned dark matter around my claws and swiped at her face in mid-air. She merely stepped back, avoiding my entire attack and spun herself in a quick circle, her tail meeting with my claws. The two forces collided, I saw a disgruntled expression show on the absol as I touched down on the ground. A bit of her tail had been eaten away by my dark energy.
I sneered a bit, knowing that I landed an attack on the White Reaper, but then I felt a stinging pain igniting at the tip of my paw. My eyes stared down, widening as my blood seeped out of the tip of my paws. Only a bit below the claw itself she had severed part of my paw.
"Seems I'm a bit slow," the absol sighed. I struggled to take my eyes from my mutilated paw. "If I was in proper shape I would have taken the whole thing clean off, but that's alright, we'll work at it piece by piece until I get the results I want. Now then, are you going to run or try to fight again? Either way I'll kill you."
The pain in my limb only grew, soon I was starting to feel woozy, my legs shaking uncontrollably. The absol launched herself at me, she cocked her head back as she swooped in for her finishing blow. All I could think to do was close my eyes and flinch back as if the pathetic performance would miraculously save me.
But my death never came.
An arm wrapped around me and yanked me from my spot. It all happened so fast, I didn't even think to open my eyes until I was thrown onto the ground. Dazed I glanced up to find my savior.
"Scarlet," I whispered below my breath, watching as the greninja held her ground between the absol and myself.
"Oh," Dawn frowned, "Another dogged contender. Do you think you'll be the one to stop me?"
Scarlet didn't speak a word, she merely held her composure as she formed a water shuriken in each of her hands.
"So be it, you two can fall together," Dawn grumbled. Scarlet and the absol both moved at a speed that no normal eye could follow, one I had no intention on trying to follow.
My blood seemed to be everywhere. Crawling up onto my three good legs caused immense pain, my body wasn't holding out. I limped forward as best as I could, both my mutilated paw and the deep cut in my side taking a toll on my speed.
Despite my pride, I did the only thing I could do, I abandoned Scarlet and fled. My movements were all over the place, I did manage to start in a run, but with all the blood I lost I was eventually broken down to a pathetic limp and soon a crawl.
When my body felt it could take no more abuse I scanned the area, eventually finding a nook under a tree to hide in. In the most pathetic way I struggled to the nook and cowered under its sanction to bide my time.
I curled up in a tight ball, the only limb sticking out being my mutilated paw. I couldn't stop staring at it. My limb had been rendered useless in a split second, never again would I be able to properly use it, I was weak now… I'm ruined.
My eyes clenched shut as I pressed the limb into the snow, trying to use the cold to numb the wound and slow the blood loss. The pain of freezing the limb didn't help me forget, the screaming voice in my head didn't either. It kept telling me over and over how stupid I was, what I should have done right.
The limb continued to burn, for the first time in my adulthood I could actually feel tears coming on from the pure agony I was in.
Point of View Vincent
Our exploration of the basement had been mostly silent, until a scream shattared the eerie silence of the basement. Not a scream of horror per say, but more one of fury, or even agonized? Reasons of why weren't important, the violent noises sounded a bit harrowing and was not the noise you wanted to hear in my situation.
"Dare I even ask?" I spoke up and looked towards the delcatty for some kind of explanation.
"Don't look at me, I don't know who that is, but it's really creeping me out. Better not be like a ghost haunting this basement or something."
"A ghost…" I stared at the delcatty with dumbfounded look, "Do you really believe that's the rational explanation?"
"No! But why else would someone be screaming bloody murder down here?" the feline was quick to defend herself.
"Supposed we should check it out, who knows maybe it's my brother. Faster we find him the faster I can leave."
"You're really going to head towards that?! It doesn't even sound masculine!"
"And you think my brother is manly?" I snorted as I proceeded towards the violent shouting.
I turned a few corners, entered through a few doorways, eventually coming upon a long hall with many doors leading to miscellaneous rooms.
As I did proceed I made out the voice shouting, "Let me out!" over and over, each yell her voice sounded more and more broken until she seemed to broken down to an incoherent sober.
It was in fact not my brother, and I knew as I reached the door at the end of the hall it'd be pointless to bother with her. Regardless, my impulse of curiosity made me push the last door open.
What I did find on the other side of the door was a jolteon who had collapsed to the ground from her exhaustion. She panted in her sobs, not even realizing I was watching over her now. If it weren't for the collar chaining her to the ground and the cell bars I may have been tempted to let her go free, but releasing her from those restraints would take time and that was something I didn't have.
"Didn't realize we had a jolteon captive down here," the delcatty said as she approached me from behind.
The jolteon's ears perked up at the sound of her voice and soon after her head sprang up. Her eyes scanned over us, trying to figure something out. With a clear view of her face I couldn't help but think that something about her was very familiar… but from where?
"What do you want?" The jolteon said in a startled voice. She climbed up onto all fours and walked forward until she felt the jerk of the chain around her neck. Her ears flattened at the crude reminder of her restraints.
"I know you from somewhere" I stated, before it clicked in my head, "Wait, you're that jolteon that was with my brother back in Lumiose."
While it was mostly Merrick who had interaction with her, I did catch glimpses of the jolteon through spying on my brother. What I did learn of her was that she was a pokemon of no real significance, or at least not to me.
"Wait… how do you know me, and how do you know…" The jolteon's words died off as she probably realized who I was. "You're… Vincent," The jolteon said, her voice almost sounding a bit fearful. With the stories my brother probably fed her I would be too if I were in her shackles.
"Ah yes, I would have expected my brother to speak very vehemently about me and our 'childhood', so it's no shock that a friend of his knows of me."
"What do you want from me?" The jolteon quickly spurted out.
"Me?" I said with a bit of offense. "I just happened to followed the sound of screaming, and it so happened to lead here to you."
"Then why are you here, since when were you with the WPA?!" The jolteon rose her voice in frustration.
"Who said I was with the WPA?" I chuckled. "I actually happen to be here looking for my brother, but it doesn't seem he's here with you. Don't suppose you have seen him around, have you?"
"Even if I did I wouldn't tell you!" the jolteon snapped back. "I doubt he'd be any better in your hands."
"Considering how things are looking outside this cell, you would be very surprised. So maybe you should reconsider and I'll even sweeten the deal and free you if you're smart enough to assist me."
"Even if I wanted to help you, I don't know where he is, or even if he is here," she said.
"I see, then you aren't really of any use to me, have a nice day," I turned my back to the jolteon and headed towards the door I came in.
"Wait, you can't just leave me here! Let me out, I can help you find him! Don't leave me!" the eeveelution pleaded, her voice breaking down into more sobs as she begged me for freedom.
I turned to face the delcatty, "What do you think?"
"Well, she seems to know your brother, so maybe she just ended up here with him. Maybe it'd be helpful if we at least bring her along, could help us in a fight."
"Eh, everything I have heard about her is how passive she is, she isn't a fighter." I shrugged, "But, I suppose in the event that we need a getaway we could always use her then."
I turned back towards the jolteon's cell. The gem on my head glowed and a bright pink shot out and severed the bars of her cell, I then proceeded to shoot another psycho cut at her chains. In mere seconds metal was falling everywhere so fast that the jolteon seemed a bit dazed.
"Well, you coming?"
The jolteon skeptically glared at me, but after a moment she followed after me.
"Let's just get one thing clear, jolteon, you're following my lead, otherwise you're of no use to me. Stick with me though and I can promise we'll find Ryder.
Chapter End
Author Note: Whoops, got a bit distracted from writing. To be honest this chapter made me mad, I just couldn't get into writing it. Wasn't until I got a third shift spot at work that I wrote it since I could just be on my laptop. Yep, so that means I have paid to write this chapter XD.
Anyways, I do apologize for the wait, I'll see about speeding up the process. Anyhoo, don't forget to share your thoughts and opinions and tell me how great I am, or maybe I just suck...