Naru
It's been a decent while since I was assigned a mission without discussion first, but I wasn't about to complain much. Getting assigned missions was strange, but I imagined that Core didn't have the most faith in me when it came to making rational choices at the moment, and I can't say I blame him. That being said, I was off on my own, making a small delivery, about four miles out. I wasn't even going to a town or anything, as far as I knew, I was going to a single pokemon that lives in a tent. In the usual bag I had thrown around my neck, alongside my scarf, I had medicine, a vial of a special painkiller to heal burn wounds. I had no idea something like that was even possible, typically, using natural remedies, ice, and water were the only ways to cure a burn effectively, but hey, leave it up to Force and Scythe to make something like this. Those two were certified geniuses at this point, being able to create such effective types of medication.
It was wrapped up in a small cloth, in order to make sure it didn't pierce anything in the bag, and since I received it like that, I have no idea what it looks like. Not that it matters much, but it was just a thought that went through my head. To be perfectly honest, thinking about any type of burn wound was the last thing I wanted on my mind, so I tried my best to ignore it.
After I walked for about two miles north-west of the Nest, the area I was in became much more dry, with less ponds and trees in the usual endless fields. The neutral air still surrounded me, and was no more or less pleasant than usual. The cold season was just starting, so it seemed like the weather would be stagnant like this for a while, which I didn't mind at all.
I don't think I had ever gone off in this direction before, usually I would always have a feel for an area I've been in before, but where I was now, I felt no such thing. Exploring a new area would usually excite me a little bit, but I couldn't will myself into it right now. It was simply something to note for later, and that was that.
Being all alone out here, walking miles out to deliver something, the silence that accompanied the trip, it was oddly calming. It created a contrast to what I was doing before, trying to balance my own crumbling emotions with talking to a bunch of pokemon as normal, but out here, I didn't need to worry about that, which was something, even if a bit small. I'll take what I can get right now.
A decent amount of time spent lifting my paws through short grass brought me to my destination, marked on a map that I, for the most part, memorized. Not too far away, just as I was informed, I spotted a very small tent, maybe large enough for one or two pokemon. How do these pokemon even contact the Nest in the first place..? I brushed the silly thought aside.
A large gust of wind blew behind me, making the short grass brush the tops of my paws lightly, a decent feeling. The tent in my vision slowly grew larger as I came closer, right until I was outside the small entrance of the yellow shelter. I cleared my throat quietly. "Hello? Is anyone there?" I inquired calmly.
A few seconds passed, and the entrance to the tent shifted open silently, holding a tyrogue, They looked rather young, but not to the extent of being a child. "Hello?" The male tyrogue looked at me, observing, until his eyes arrived upon the symbol on my side, hardly visible because of the color of my fur, but still evident nonetheless. "Oh! You're a Raven! I've been waiting!" He sounded excited, but then winced.
I bent my head down and let my bag fall to the grassy earth. "I'm here to deliver you some medicine. For burn wounds, right?" I asked, calmly once more. I would usually be more eccentric when delivering items, but I wasn't really in the right state of mind.
The tyrogue giddily nodded. "Yes ma'am!" He winced once more. "Kind of… got burned by a feral, both of my legs. It's been hard to walk ever since."
I nodded in response this time, and gave him a small, half-forced smile. "Well hopefully things will get better for you after you use this." I reached a paw into my bag, and grabbed the vial in between my digits, a bit uneasily, not used to lifting things with my paws. Kuro is great and carrying things in his paws, he can even write. That must have taken a ton of effort.
I ended up spacing out a bit while holding the wrapped up vial, letting my thoughts wander too much. "Um… Miss?" I shook my head to the voice of my client.
"Sorry about that, here you go." I placed the cloth on the ground right in front of the tent, and he happily picked it up with a large smile. "Injecting it into your neck should heal your burn wounds quickly, after that, you'll be good as new." I managed to get myself to smile again.
"Thank you! I really appreciate it!" He bowed his head appreciatively, happy to have the solution to his burned leg, which was out of my sight.
"Not a problem, really. Anything else you need?" I wouldn't have minded staying out here a bit longer, so I figured I might as well ask.
"Nothing else! Thank you!" His enthusiasm brought some old memories of me back, making me smile a bit more naturally than before. I simply nodded and began to dip my head down to pick my bag up again.
I didn't get my head all the way down before I was socked in the cheek from somewhere out of my sight, causing me to yelp in surprise, and a large ache traveled through my head. I slid across the ground on my side, before steadying myself, hopping off of the ground and landing on my paws. I heard a yell similar to mine from the tent, coming from the tyrogue, who had just closed themself inside of it. I brought my eyes to the source of the attack, and they widened involuntarily.
A rather disturbing laugh invaded my ears, giving me a brief chill, and distracting me from the small drops of blood gathering on my inner lip, the earlier hit causing me to bite into it a little. It wasn't a voice I wished to hear anytime soon, and combined with the force of the attack applied alongside it, I shivered a bit.
"How did that feel? Just like all that time ago?" My wide eyes hardened to a glare. For a split second, I was afraid. Luckily, a second is all it lasted. No matter what taunting was thrown at me, I knew that things were different now, Kuro did a good job proving that to me back in Myriad. But still… that hurt a ton. "Cut the fire in your eyes, put on that look of fear that you always used to!"
I ignored the repressed memories raising up, staying calm. "If that felt just like it did all the way back then, wow, you really haven't improved at all." I got into a defensive stance, confident.
"Where's the snarky attitude coming from?" He cackled. "Did you develop arrogance over the weeks it's been? You were cowering last time we met."
"Now I know for a fact you're nothing to worry about, so I have no need to be afraid." I shot back, unmoving from my stance. "After your ribs healed, did you go back to bullying pokemon younger than you?"
He shook his head and made his mouth curve into a disgusting smile. "I tried to find you again, I wanted to show you terror, just like I did in the past. Sadly, I couldn't find you, but a positive development took place instead."
"Too bad I'm done being scared of you. Finding me would have changed nothing." I was tempted to attack him, but that would have been reckless. I didn't have a very clear head at the moment, but it was enough to determine what the right move was, staying patient rather than letting my impulses control me.
"Then all I need to do is re-invent that feeling within you. It shouldn't be hard, not with the way I am now." She took a step closer, and I tilted my head. Sure his punch didn't exactly tickle, it actually hurt quite a lot, but that alone wasn't enough to scare me. It made me curious though.
"I don't see that being possible." I took a step closer as well. "Did you get your act together and actually train yourself up?" Seeing any amount of diligence from him wasn't exactly expected.
Just as I thought, he shook his head and laughed with a dark tone. "I had the fortunate opportunity to find that leafeon that beat the crap out of you later on, by myself. She gave me an offer of sorts."
I didn't like where this was going, but I figured that I would get the full story before attacking him. "You trusted someone who broke bones in your body the same day?" Considering his intellect, I wouldn't doubt it.
"She was quite persuasive, she gave me an offer, and I accepted it. I now feel like a whole different being, for the simple price of helping her with some work at an organization." he began slowly walking towards me, and I resisted growling.
"You're telling me you joined the Void? For a bribe?" What kind of stupidity can you have… "Do you even know what they do? What you got yourself into? Do you know anything?"
"A good bribe, one that allows me to go after you. Not only you, but your partner as well." His grin grew, and I extended my claws involuntarily. "To answer your questions, no clue. But I don't care, all I care about is going after both you and him."
I scoffed. "Such a one track mind… Why even hold such a grudge? What did I do to you? If anything, I should be the one with the lust to beat you up, all I did was submit to being a victim to your violent actions." I truly didn't get why he hated me with the passion he did, I understood his disdain towards Kuro, but towards me, it just didn't make sense.
"I never liked you, haven't even considered it. So I pushed you further down whenever I could." He didn't have much of a tone anymore, he seemed devoid of emotion at the moment. "Then you vanish for years, hardly leave your home, and come back, completely different than before. That leafeon… she broke me with a swipe of her tail. I was useless, and yet you step up, and perform against her, without breaking, and you survived. I couldn't take you being stronger than me, not a wimpy little glaceon who cowered in fear before. I resent you for that." I paused, absorbing everything that he just said.
"I didn't want to be that glaceon, the one from back then. Defenseless, scared and hopeless. So I changed. It took everything I had, but I did it." I sighed, annoyed. "The fact that you're willing to kill others along with the Void over a grudge you gain out of… what, jealousy? That's idiotic."
"I don't care about your opinion, I just want to crack your skull over my knee." He put his hands up, in a fighting stance of sorts. "I already got to pay a visit to your partner." He smirked evilly, and my body froze, my claws ripped into the ground, and my growling was evident. "The Void healed it off of me, but he's vicious when he's entrapped. The guy ripped half off the skin off my arm even when he was restrained, but I got to sock his head into a wall either way, so I'm satisfied until I go back, where I'll beat on him more."
That was all I needed to hear. Whatever mercy I had to hold myself back, it was gone.
I dashed at him, straight on, ripping a small patch of dirt from the ground just where my paw picked up for the initial lunge. My eyes traced his body, and I slid to the side, avoiding a jab he prepared in advance. I rammed my head into his side, entailing a grunt, though his body was unmoving. He brought his fist down and slammed it into the opposite cheek he hit before, sending me along the ground farther than last time, the ache worsening.
I took in a quick breath, fixing myself once more, though I nearly tripped as soon as stood, I was able to correct myself. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end? I punched the damn umbreon right in the skull, and he didn't budge. Isn't it frustrating!?" he laughed hysterically, sounding like a lunatic. I spit out the blood stored in my mouth from earlier, and crouched down.
He hurts… and he's quick…
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. That was dumb of me… I shouldn't have sprinted at him like that. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. He's seen Kuro… he knows where he is… I'm not letting him leave without telling me. Even if I have to beat it out of him.
"You're weak compared to me now, you're nothing to me!" He began running towards me. I stood still and waited, letting my maw fill itself with icy buildup. I felt my emotions bubbling up, I couldn't help them from rising in intensity. Standing in front of this guy, just thinking about the fact that he hurt Kuro, it was enough to make me want to break an ice shard over his skull, and repeat the action until his face was covered in blood. I was lucky that I had such a strong grip on my feelings, otherwise I might have no been able to keep my head cool. Maybe it's more lucky in his favor than mine…
The hitmonchan berading me arrived directly in front, sliding on the ground and preparing to strike me again. His right hand began to glow, and in the form a fist, it flew at me just as it did before. I rolled out of the way, avoiding said attack, but he wasn't open to be attacked yet, so I hopped back a bit, creating a gap between us again. He turned and dashed at me once more, this time tossing a bright, glowing orb that he formed in his left hand in a steady line at me. I sidestepped the orb, and as he approached, I ducked under his next swing and blasted his stomach with an orb of frozen water, point blank. Like before, his body stayed sturdy, but his facial expressions and grunts told me that he was feeling the attacks I gave. Not sure how much he can deal with, I'll have to hit him harder.
I slowly backed up again, waiting to see what he would do next. The fact that he was eating my attacks, barely budging was just a little bit intimidating, but I wasn't going to back down. Intimidation meant nothing if he couldn't follow up on it, and so far, it didn't seem as if he could. As I predicted, he turned to me again, and began running like before. Instead of backing up and dodging like before, I froze the crown on my head and sprinted towards him full speed, obviously catching him off guard. I jumped and slammed my crown into his chest, making him fall back and slide across the ground, the conflicting momentum of the two of us making him really feel that attack.
Getting a bit overzealous, I ran at him again while he was on the ground, taking a deep breath and firing an ice beam at him before he could move. As I should have expected though, he blocked it with one of his arms, and resisted the freezing factor that the attack would usually have. Right after, he rushed at me, and missed an uppercut, me sliding out of the way again. Right after his missed attack, he slammed his other curled-up hand onto my head, pushing me to the ground harshly. My head clashed with the earth below, making my ears ring, and getting a groan out of me. As he was standing over me, he lifted his arm again, ready to pummel me into the ground. I flipped onto my back and released a shadow ball right into his head, causing him to flinch and making him back up a few feet once more. I pushed myself up, facing him once more, glaring with an aching head I was trying to ignore. Why is it always my head..?
I shook the aforementioned cranium, re-focusing myself. Much to my surprise, he let out a nasty chuckle. "How do you like it? I can break each and every one of your bones with next to no effort if I wanted! I'm surprised you're even conscious after those hits to the head!" Because you didn't hit the right spot idiot…
I stayed silent, not wanting to talk to him unless it was an interrogation to figure out where Kuro is. Instead, I built pressure under one of my forepaws, waiting for him to inevitable rush again. Just as it popped into my mind, he did just that, sprinting at me full force. His proximity closed in on me, until I could reach my paw out and touch him. Rather than do that though, I released a pent up shockwave into his body, knocking the breath out of him. He began coughing, and seizing the opportunity, I lunged at him, jamming one of my claws into his shoulder. I headbutted his skull stright on, and he began to stumble, but didn't end up falling over, bringing his other arm up, and wrapping his hand around my neck. Hard.
He held me away from his body, and I struggled to breathe. I felt the exact spot where he was putting pressure on my windpipe, cutting me off from taking any effective breaths. I struggled, unable to free myself immediately, and in realization of this, the hitmonchan before me cackled.
"Did you think that would be enough? No no no, I'm beyond that!" He tightened his grip, and whatever noise that could be released from my mouth left me, a quiet and pained grunt. "Don't you see how amazing the Void's resources are? Look what they did to me! I can crush you in the center of my hand, after making sure you know how helpless you are against me." I swayed one of my hind legs, not quite being able to connect with anything.
"Where's that new glaceon? The one that isn't a weak coward? It doesn't exist! You're just like you were before!" He laughed harder, making sure as much air as possible was prevented from entering my body. "I know what it is, you're still the same, aren't you? You never changed, you started talking to your partner. He's the one giving you the illusion that you're someone different now. On your own, you'll always be this. Weak, frail, and useless." I began to feel lightheaded.
His voice was light, but I could make out what he was saying. He had merit to believe that I'm the same, that the only reason I act different is because Kuro was with me, and that the only difference between me now, and me as a child is my physical ability. Nothing else has changed, it's just me relying on someone else, while hiding my own weakness. To him, I was the same, nearly broken glaceon from my childhood. Maybe to an extent it was true, that I had been relying on Kuro. I couldn't deny that, he helped me a ton, probably way more than he knows.
But to say I haven't changed, to say that I'm still the same as I was right after I lost my adoptive family, that's a false statement.
Through my lack of air, I kicked my other hind paw forward again, lightly managing to brush it against one of his arms, the one that was holding me up. As soon as that slight contact took place, I extended a claw, and swiftly dug it into that arm. He gasped in surprise, and I felt his grip on me loosen a bit. Taking advantage on the situation, I lifted one of my forepaws to that same arm, and began to freeze it over. Noticing what I was doing, the hitmonchan pulled back, releasing me in the process. As soon as I was free, I took in a huge gulp of air, and spit out a spontaneous hyper beam right at him, connecting at point blank, and sending him back with a scream.
After I landed on the ground and my attack petered out, I stumbled and brought a forepaw to my throat, taking in short, fast breaths. My legs were shaking a little, my neck pulsing and burning. I coughed a few times, before shaking my head and looking forward, standing strongly once again. A decent distance away, the hitmonchan slowly stood up, blood leaking down both of him arms now. He angrily glared at me, obviously irritated and annoyed.
"Why don't you just give in and die? You're fighting back like you can win, and seeing as I'm still much stronger than you, you're finished!" There was only one word I could use to describe everything he's been doing, one word that can sum up everything. Naive.
I took a second to fully catch my breath. "Then let me show you what I can do." I closed my eyes, releasing a cold breath, visible in the air. "Even by myself, I'll show you." My body began to emit a dull light, pale blue, nearly matching my fur. " My coat of fur slowly solidified, my body looking as if it was made of ice fully and completely. "I can easily stop you!"
I sprinted at him this time, taking an offensive position. The hitmonchan didn't seem to know how to react, so he stood still and rose his hands with a wince. As soon as I made it within scratching distance, I ducked my head low, and closed my eyes again.
Above me, the hitmonchan wrapped his hands around one another. "Just lay down and die!" He swung both of his hands down, aiming for the back of my head. I stayed calm, and opened my eyes, shattering the ice all over myself into small, pointed shards. Less than a millisecond later, I pushed a shockwave towards the ground, causing a burst of wind to rise up around my body, and a small area around the two of us. All of the small shards I had created shot up to the hitmonchan at breakneck speeds, multiple piercing his chest and arms. He dropped his attack and yelped, and I brought my head up, slamming it into his gut as hard as I could. He yelled louder this time, and flew back, landing face up on the ground a few feet away.
I immediately ran over to him and stepped on his now-blodied upper body, getting another shout from him. He was breathing quickly through his teeth, trying to hold back from yelling any longer it seemed. His body was unorthodoxly twitching, not used to being pierced as I just did. His arms were a bloody mess at this point, small bits of ice lining each and every leaking opening in them. I couldn't have been more accurate with what I pulled, hitting his arms and disabling him from grabbing me again, and also getting them all over his chest, enough to cause extreme pain, but not enough to fatally wound him.
I stared downward, right above him, and he just looked back, reverting to the terrified gaze he had all the way back in Myriad. And he says I haven't changed.
The two of us stared one another down for a few seconds, the battle was over now. I had taken him down with one well placed move. He not only looked as if he was in extreme pain just by his expression, but he also held a hint of uncertainty, confusion. "H-How did you do that..?" He coughed right after talking, and groaned once more, albeit not as loudly as previously. "How d-did you knock me down like that..?"
I sighed, feeling more annoyed than angry now. Don't get me wrong, I was still PISSED. But I was even more so annoyed at him for the way he acted. "A better question for you. Why did you think a bunch of chemicals or whatever you were given would just make you invincible?" I gave no attempt hide the growing animosity in my tone.
He stayed silent, just staring up at me. My paw was still on his chest, where I could feel him trembling. "You're stronger than me, sure. That's all you are though. You've never been in a real fight to the death before, I have multiple times." Talking like this while looking down at the same one who put me through so much torment years ago felt… oddly satisfying. I hoped I wasn't becoming a sadist. "Why rush at me like that so hastily? You had every advantage, every resource to better yourself, and as soon as you were given… whatever they gave you, the first thing in your head was to come straight for me, and look how that turned out." I felt the sudden want to push down on his chest harder, but I held myself back. I wasn't supposed to find enjoyment in others' pain.
"I-I can't believe that you can outmatch me… I-I can't…" He said in a pained voice. I sighed again. What did you think? That working for the Nest for as long as I have been at this point taught me baking necessities?
"Well I did, and I always will." My eyes formed an intense glare. "You're going to answer the questions I ask you now, and if you refuse, you'll regret it." I was tempted, once more, to increase the pressure on his chest, but like before, I resisted.
He locked his fearful stare with my overtly aggressive one, and gulped, before nodding. I took a second to think of what exactly I wanted to ask. There was one thing that was evident on my mind. "You said you hurt Kuro." Me saying that out loud made all of my temptations push forward, but I put a wall before them. "Tell me where Kuro is. Right. Now."
He gulped again, and looked up at me in terror, shaking more than before. "I-I can't do that…"
Right after those words left his mouth, I felt the wall I put up ever so slowly crumble, and streaks of light were shining on through. I began slowly putting more pressure on his chest, making him yell out in protest again. "Tell. Me." I began pushing down more, causing him to begin panting along with his erratic movement.
"I-I… C-Can't!" He spoke between heavy breaths, and I felt my psyche snapping, I felt the wall crashing down into a million pieces.
I drew a claw out from my other forepaw, and leaned closer to him, right above his face. I made the icy tips of it trace the front of his neck slowly, causing him to let out what almost sounded like a whimper. "Tell me… Do you want to die?" I asked with a malicious tone. "You're willing to kill others just for some petty revenge, you were about to go off and kill innocents." I drew my claw closer, digging at the skin over his neck a little. "Do you want to feel the pain you meant for them?"
His levels of panic and distress multiplied, obvious from his trembling, his face, and his shaky, weak voice. "I-I…" He wasn't able to get any words out, which was further aggravating me.
"Tell me before I dig my claw into your throat!" I yelled, getting a flinch from him on the ground. I was very quickly losing my patience, and I had never killed anyone in the past, but to be perfectly honest, I was having a very hard time holding my leg back from finishing the job right now. I had never felt the want to kill someone, but a combination of so many things made the act of killing someone seem almost… practical to me. I really was more unstable than I thought I was.
"H-H-Hold on! I-I really can't!" He shook his head, creating small scratches on his neck from my claws. "I-I don't know where! T-They won't tell me!"
"Then how did you go there to hurt him!?"
"T-They knocked me out when they took me there! E-Every time I go there and leave, t-they knock me out!" I grit my teeth, unsure if I should believe him or not. "C-Come on! W-Why would I lie if you have me down l-like this!?"
My foreleg was shaking, tempting me to slit his throat, but I resisted, and drew it the slightest bit further away from his neck. It was still extremely close, but no longer making contact. "Do they do that with all recruits? Not give information that important?" I tried to sound calm but it was obvious I was far from it.
"Y-Yes, the only ones who know are the a-admins." He gulped, likely noticing the lack of pressure I was enforcing as compared to a few moments ago.
"How much do you know about the Void? Anything?" I wanted something to come from this, even if the realization that I wasn't any closer to finding Kuro was heart-wrenching to me.
"N-Not much, all I know is that they have someone being mind controlled, and t-that the leader has a grudge against your boss." That statement made me think. "I-I don't know what though! A-All I know is that they aren't fond of one another."
I stared blankly at him, wondering about the bad blood between Myra and Luna. It had to be more than just the opposing organizations, otherwise there would be no need to mention it. "If any of this is false, you'll be a priority target to us. I'll make sure of that." I removed my claw, and un-pinned him from the ground. I don't think I'll get anything useful from him.
He immediately crawled away backwards, never switching directions from facing me. He very slowly stood up with another pained groan, and was breathing heavily, clearly injured. I spit out a bit of blood, coming from the cut inside of my mouth. Luckily it didn't feel like anything more than that, a cut, but it still made its presence known. "If you go back and hurt Kuro any more, or anyone for that matter, anyone at all, and we meet again, I'm killing you on the spot."
He flinched form my words and just turned away, beginning to run. I didn't avert my eyes until he ran passed all of the dry greenery, leaving a train of crimson liquid behind him. Soon enough, he was no longer in my sight.
I paused, standing still for an indecipherable amount of time, and then I turned to look at the small tent, the reason I was here in the first place. He knew I was going to be here… So did the one who took Kuro, she knew where he would be. There's really only one way how though… and we need to do something about it as soon as we can.
I checked up on the tyrogue, who was frightened, but ultimately okay. He gave me a thank you and I bid him farewell, heading back to the Nest. Not much time had passed, in all honesty, that all happened in about forty five minutes, not long at all for a mission to go through. I suppose that's standard for deliveries though.
I walked back to the Nest in solidarity, holding back tears.
Hello Readers!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Got it finished much quicker than I anticipated! Had a lot of free time, which is nice! Though, if any of the next updates are exceptionally slow, I apologize, but a hurricane ripped through the plant that makes the meds I use to regulate ADD and Anxiety, so I have a verrrry hard time keeping my focus while writing without them. I can do it, but sometimes it takes me like twenty minutes to type out half a paragraph, and if that keeps up, then it's going to be a slog to get through the whole chapter. I did the last half of this one without them, and I think I worked at a decent rate, so it's a good sign at least!
Thank you to everyone who has sent a PM, a review, the like. I really appreciate every single bit of it, it helps me more than I can describe! Really! Not to mention I love just reading them and interacting with you all! Thank you to my beta reader for cleaning up all of my chapters nicely! (8-BitUmbreon)
See You Next Chapter!