Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: Hey there, another late update... I know, sorry for that =/. Currently I have a very bad habit of writing everything in one go, that would be cool and all. But seeing how busy I'm most of the days with work and stuff, I end up not writing at all. Seeing as this is not pratical and not very healthy too, now I'm going to start writing a little bit every day to speed up the process and keep my sanity too.
With that lame excuse out of the way, lets start this chapter.
"Wh-who?" Said the oldest man in the little scared group of people tangled together. "W-why are you doing this?" His voice stuttering even more after the brown-haired youth gave him a fierce glare.
"Really?" Brendan said with a disappointed voice. "Poor John over there was giving his all in his speech, the little you guys could have done was pay attention to his words." The Grunt named John nodded sadly to Brendan and looked disheartened to the other Grunt standing next to him. "Anyway… I will not repeat his words, again great job John. To put things fair and simple, we, Team Rainbow Rocket, own and rule over this region. Got it?"
"I don't get it. You are the Champion... our Champion." Said a female member of the staff crew.
"Hah! You're right. I am the Champion." Brendan raised his left hand, placing it on his left cheek and caressing his own skin in a weird way. "The strongest trainer in this sorry place. In the service of the strongest organization in the entire world, hahahaha."
"The strongest one, huh?" Zinnia slowly stood up, glaring daggers at the young champion. "Don't make me laugh."
With a certain disinterest, Brendan tilted his head to the side, taking his gaze back to the red-eyed woman. "Lady, can't you see how stupid this is?" He asked with a condescending grin. "Stay on the ground or you will get hurt again."
Now Zinnia was the one smiling, a very devious smile. She stomped forward, going toward Brendan with her red-eyes burning with rage. "You are the stupid one here." She shook her head letting out a short little laugh.
"What's so funny?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did I hit you so hard that you started to hallucinate?"
With a quick step to the side, she faked a dash toward the door and then used the strength of her right leg to propel her body into Brendan's direction. Her left fist flew in, going faster than he expected and hitting the young man square on his chin. The force of her strike, combined with the sensible spot where it landed, shut down his sense of direction for a moment, forcing him to fall on the ground while groaning in pain.
"The fact that you don't know me is more than enough proof." She said defiantly. "Who the hell are you?"
Holding his chin with one hand, Brendan looked at the draconid woman with a livid rage. He then changed his gaze to her side, looking behind her. "Now!" He shouted the order.
In response to his signal, Zinnia did a quick spin with her arms ready to counter an attack coming from behind. "What?" As her feet landed in position and her eyes turned to the spot he was looking, she noticed that no one was there. The two Grunts are still standing next to the wall, watching her with stern eyes and the group of hostages is still sitting curled on the floor. "What are you playing on-" A firm fist exploded on the left side of her face, a strong sensation of pain overwhelmed her senses, forcing her to close her eyes. Then another punch came in right after, hitting her on the same spot, taking away her footing, making her body collapse.
Before she could fall down, this Brendan grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to be in the same height as him. "I told you to stand down… Now, look at you." With two fingers he touched the fresh bump that appeared on her cheek, at first, he only softly glided on the bump but shortly he began to press it with force, forcing a few pained hisses from her. "A shame to ruin your pretty face."
"Y-you… You are not." She said weakly. "Not…"
"Excuse me, what was that?" With an over exaggerated pose, he leaned in closer to her what she was trying to say.
"YOU ARE NOT BRENDAN!" She shouted the loudest she could, the echoing sound of her voice delivering a ringing pain onto his ears. "Who are you?" She asked with a loud voice again, but her eyes were not focused on his, instead she was looking directly to the camera pointed at them.
'You…' He clenched his fingers on her hair and pulled her head backward, forcing her to face the ceiling. "Nice try there, slag." Before she could say anything in protest, Brendan clasped his other hand on her mouth, shutting the girl for good. He pulled her closer and pressed his lips on her right ear. "I won't let you ruin this. From now on, I'm Brendan's public face." He whispered softly so that only she could hear it.
A heavy crushing sound came to life inside the room with metallic parts flying everywhere. The hostages and the Grunts, all of them yelped in surprise after something jumped in and smashed the camera using sharp claws.
"Young man, that is no way of treating a lady." Max stepped inside the newsroom, his expression showing is growing irritation with this Brendan. "Let her go or I will do more than just break your toy."
At first, his eyes followed the shattered pieces of the camera; he saw a menacing Luxray growling at him. He then traced back to the newcomer, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "I will… make you pay for that." Brendan looked to the Grunts behind him and gave them a little signal with his head.
With a little trade of glances, they nodded to each other and dashed out of the room, alarming Max as they ran away past him.
Giving a few more glances to the entry door to make sure those two were not preparing to ambush him from behind, Max furrowed his forehead and returned his gaze to the remaining member of the criminal organization. "Let her go… this is my final warning." As he voiced his threat, the Luxray stomped forward sounding an even louder growl.
"You want her?" Still holding her by her hair, he dangled Zinnia in front of him. "Then catch!" With a swing of his arm, he pushed Zinnia toward Max. In her third shaky step, she tripped on the floor, but luckily her partner jumped with his knees sliding on the cold surface and catch her before anything worse could've happened.
"Hey, are you okay?" Max held the draconid woman closely to himself.
"Wha- Gah…" She hissed in pain as she tried to speak, the swelled area of his face got even worse than before. "What you think?"
"Jeez… how could someone do-" Max felt a cold rush on his back, his entire body tensing up. 'Crap I forgot about him.' He wrapped one arm around Zinnia's back and pulled her closer, with that he pulled her together with him in an awkward roll. Just as they moved from their spot, a massive pink scorpion smashed its claws on the floor.
"Aw… what a shame, you got away. Drapion please don't miss on the next one." The impersonator said and his Drapion replied with a sonorous cry.
"Close call… Luxray what the hell are you doing?" Max shouted angrily but quickly noticed that his Pokémon is currently engaged in a fight against a Rampardos. "This is bad… I only brought Luxray with me." He looked to his partner in his arms. "Zinnia, can you help me out in this one?"
"No… I left both of mine outside." She said weakly. "I didn't expect… this." She pointed at the fake Brendan.
"Something amiss?" The young brown-haired man said with a cocky grin. "Wait, don't tell me that our courageous savior has only one Pokémon with him."
"More than enough to spoil your plans." Max responded with a grin of his own.
As the two trainers exchanged cleaver words at one another, Rampardos got the upper hand on his battle and caught his opponent with a powerful charge, sending Luxray flying across the room with a headbutt.
"Hahahaha, what were you saying?"
"Zinnia, whatever happens now… Just trust me." Max said with a serious face.
"What are you- Aahh!" She felt one of his arms slid down to her lower regions with his hands going in between her thigh and grabbing her left leg. "Take your hand out of there!"
"My bad, can't do." Max steadied himself and brought Zinnia to his shoulders, holding her like a heavy sack of flour. "Luxray, plan B. Now!" He closed his eyes and shouted. The electric Pokémon cried out in reply and a bright wave of light erupted from his body.
"Gaaah! Seriously?" Brendan yelled out, getting completely blind be the sudden surge of light. "You will not escape! Drapion, Rampardos… cut those two into pieces." He can still point out if the light is still shining brightly or if just his eyes are stuck in a perpetual sea of white. However, this Brendan could clearly hear the stomping footsteps of his Pokémon running of the room. 'Geez, I'm lucky that he broke the camera before all this… Those guys would certainly make fun of me.'
"Maax! Put me down right now!" Zinnia squirmed in protest, only making the position of his hand even more uncomfortable.
Max while in the middle of running away and carrying his partner with him, can barely keep his pacing right without tripping and panicking. "You… Stop that… Both of us will fall." He said already gasping for air.
"I don't care, just put me down." She said with a furious blush on her face. "You hand is in a really unappropriated spot."
"Shut up… will you." He protested back, by tightening the grasp of his fingers.
The terrifying sound of heavy foot-steps sounded from a hallway around the corner, the entire building seaming to shake at each stomping sound. Luxray that was running right beside his trainer, speed up his pace and darted out of the place.
"Where are you going? Your furred coward!" Max shouted angrily as his little Pokémon friend vanished out of his view.
A loud bang sounded from just behind them as a massive hole appeared on the wall. Drapion and Rampardos came out of the nearly opened hole, with the black dinosaur already preparing himself to another destructive charge into the direction of his targets.
"Aaahhh, they never stop?!" Max shouted in panic, his legs going twice as fast and his face turning into a disturbing grimace of pure fear. Paying no mind to the state of his right hand, Max let slip the detail of his hands going further closer to the place where it should not get, so close to the point of the tip of his finger touching that said area.
"MAX!" Zinnia screamed in panic for a lot of reasons. In an instantaneous reaction, she jerked her body backward, forcing the man to bend his back and to lose the balance of his body. A loud thump soon followed as both of them crashed onto the floor just a few meters away from the exit door.
"Gosh, what was that for." He complained rubbing his nose, he tried to shot a dirty glare to his partner, but an ever-increasing shadow looming over them got his attention. "Gaaahh… Waaaaahh, I am too handsome to die!" Max shrunk on the floor, holding both arms in front of him.
Rampardos continued his furious charge, his eyes burning in the sight of the nearest target. With a mighty roar, the black dinosaur tossed his body forward aiming the tip of his hard head on the whimpering investigator lying on the ground.
A second shadow passed by the two of them, going faster than the rampaging Pokémon. A ferocious and even louder roar exploded on the tight hallway followed by the unmistakable sound of the heavy bodies colliding against each other.
"Huh?! I'm not dead?" Said Max in utter relief. He opened his eyes and caught the sight of a Typhlosion standing between him and his doom in the form a dinosaur. "Wha-wha-what- Who are you?" He yelled in confusion and surprise.
The fight of attrition between the two Pokémon continued for a few seconds until the Typhlosion firmed both feet on the floor and using both of his hands, he lifted his opponent in the air and tossed him at a wall.
"Look out!" Zinnia warned.
Startled by her sudden shout, Max looked to the side and noticed a pink silhouette skittering rapidly onto him. "Hey big guy, over here!" He called out for his enflamed savior but got no response. Typhlosion ignored his pleas and walked over the fallen Rampardos. "You forgot one!" He yelled again.
A dark little blur jumped from the wall, landing right beside Max. A cocky looking Weavile spared a little glance to the afraid man but quickly focused its sight on the Drapion coming ahead.
"Vi." Weavile smirked confidently and waited for its opponent to take the first action.
The little smirk coming from the Dark-Ice Pokémon proved extremely effective, Drapion clacking his pincers a few times enraged by the provocation and skittered even faster, now aiming at the shorty newcomer.
With a surprisingly high Jump, the pink Scorpion bounced from a wall, throwing himself at Weavile with pincers ready to attack. In a display of elegance and impressive speed, Weavile darted below Drapion's attack and readily followed up with a flurry of claw attacks. A heavy screech of pain came from the poison Pokémon, his body flying up to the ceiling and then bouncing back to the floor.
"Vi, vi." Weavile gave a second smirk, this time motioning with one of its claw for the scorpion to attack again.
Drapion growled, his eyes turning bright red with anger. The scorpion rolled back to his feet, darting forward like a derailed train. In a repeat of the first time, Weavile dodged to the side with a gracious jump, clinging to the wall with its sharp claws. After failing in his attack, Drapion not only missed his target, as he full headed tackled his own companion that was too focused on his battle to notice.
"That was amazing." Max said euphorically. "Get them, little guy." He cheered on Weavile, glanced back at him and replied with a cold glare.
"Where did those two came from?" Zinnia eyed the door in hope of finding their trainers but found only the empty street. "Wait, where are Salamence and Tyrantrum? I left them guarding that door."
"If Luxray is of any indication, they probably ran away too." Max said in a jester which earned him a discontent frown from Zinnia.
"Vi." Weavile jumped on the floor and prepared both claws to deliver a powerful attack. The dark-slasher tossed both arms backward and dashed at full speed inwards the collapsed Drapion and Rampardos.
Typhlosion's ferocious roar exploded on the hallway once again, this time the fire beast got on his for members and released an explosive wave of fire. The heated beam of flames barely missed Weavile that was running on the way, the little Pokémon jumped to the ceiling just in time. As the fire blast collided with the collapsed Pokémon, the entire building trembled once again, the fire wave pushing Drapion and Rampardos all the way making their body pass right through a metal door of a back room.
"Vi! Vi, vi, vi!" Weavile jumped from its spot right to where the Typhlosion is standing. Agitated cries and growls came from the little ice Pokémon. Sharp cold claws slashing away angrily on to the air while Typhlosion just looked at Weavile with disinterested eyes, barely showed any response to the other one's tantrum.
"Weavile, stop that!" A stoic voice came from the entrance, making the little Pokémon jump in response.
"Vi, vi." Weavile pointed to Typhlosion and them to the dark burning marks on the hallway.
A red-haired young man stepped in, looking rather annoyed with his Pokémon. "It's your own fault for following that stupid fire head without my orders."
"Vi!" Weavile slashed at the air again, showing some annoyance of its own.
"Hahaha, she says harsh words just like you do." Another young man entered the building, this one with dark raven hair and golden eyes. "Oh, hey there." He smiled at the pair of investigators sitting on the floor.
Max was the first one to stand up and respond with a warm smile. "Hello there. I supposed I should thank you too for sending these guys to save us, right?"
"Something like that." The man with golden eyes replied with an even wider grin. His eyes then shifted to Zinnia and his expression changed. "That looks bad, mind if I see it?" He walked closer and kneeled in front of her, pointing to the bruise on her cheek.
"Please don't." She pushed his ever-closer hand away. A frown appearing on her features. "Right now, I don't want anyone touching me." She said rather harshly.
"Ethan… Not now…" The red-haired hissed angrily. "You keep distracting yourself with unimportant matters. Stay focused for once." He casually stepped to the side and walked in, nodding to his Weavile to follow him around inside.
"Hah… Sorry about that. He is kind of grumpy right now." Ethan scratched his right cheek with an apologetic look on his face. "And sorry if I offended you. Never wanted to creep you out."
"Don't worry… If someone earned the title of creep today, certainly was not you." She glanced to Max, shaking her head in disapproval.
"Hey, I was helping you escape. A little gratitude is always great, you know?"
"Anyway, glad to see that you guys are okay. But as my partner said, we have something important to do." Ethan stood up, giving a friendly wave of his hand. "Maybe I will see you guys later." With that, he dashed in, tapping his Typhlosion on the way. Trainer and Pokémon ran after the red-haired one and his Weavile, both quickly turning over the corner and disappearing from the view.
"What a mission, huh?" Max said with a strange sense of relief.
"What a failure, you mean?" Zinnia spat back. "We got trashed and failed to capture that guy."
"However, we stopped their little show and scared all the others away from the building." He placed both hands on his waist and nodded in satisfaction. "A good day on the job."
"Then, what now?" She asked. "Are we going after them?"
"Did you saw that fire monstrosity they have with them?" Max said with shrug. "Let's leave the rest for those two, they seem like reliable fellows. Hey, never mind that. Aren't you worried that they will catch your boyfriend?"
"That is not Brendan." Zinnia glared at him. "Whoever or whatever that was… It was not Brendan."
"Well, the priceless question now is… Where is he then?" Max placed a hand on his chin, tightening his eyes.
"That's what I'm going to confirm." She finally stood up, still a little dizzy from the hits on her head. With a quick pace, she walked out to the streets and saw two familiar faces looking at her from the other side. "Hey! What are you guys doing over there?" She tried to sound angry, but could not hide the relief of seeing her precious friends safe and sound.
Salamence glided over to her, leaning in closer with his head practically begging his trainer to touch him. Tyrantrum slowly walked over but still carrying the same eyes as his friend.
"And what about you?" She turned around and asked her partner.
"Right now, I will just take a bath and make a call to my sweet wife." Max sighed with a silly smile. He shook his head in the realization of what almost happened. "You know, almost getting killed tends to drain your energies… At least I heard something like that." From the corner of the next street, a happy looking Luxray came running and rubbed his head on his trainer's leg. "AH! There you are, your little traitor. Where did you learn to run and leave your friends behind, huh?"
"If I remember correctly, probably from you." Zinnia said with a smirk.
"Okay, that was one time. And you told me to run." He replied right back at her.
"I did not! To this day, I still remember that stunt you pulled. I only told you that they were preparing to blow up the place, not for you to run away and leave me behind."
"Tomayto, Tomahto… Same difference for me."
"Gah, I don't know why I still talk to you." With an angry grunt, the draconid woman jumped on the back of her blue dragon and called her Tyrantrum back to his Poké-Ball.
"Another mystery for us to resolve, heh." He gave her a little wink and waved with one hand. "If you find him, say hello to the lover-boy for me."
"I could do that, but Brendan doesn't like you, so no." Zinnia mounted on Salamence properly and responded to her friend with a wave of her own. With a little tap on the dragon's back, Salamence flew over to the sky going directly to a little town on the other side of the region.
"Lover-boy, if you get a hold of what happened today. I hope you give these bastards hell… They deserve it."
At this hour, the sun is shining its brightest on Hoenn, making this early afternoon nice and warm. However, the only signs of this midday are the little ray of lights passing through the heavy and dark curtains on the bedroom windows. Sleeping soundly on his bed lies a very tired Brendan, buried deep inside blankets despite the hot temperature of the day.
While Brendan is sleeping on his room, a pair of Pokémon are watching over the house, more accurately staying over the living room. "Mur, Mur!" Aster did a little dance in front of Ekkisu, trying to get his attention. The large Sceptile spared a simple glance to the little fur ball and promptly ignored her. "MUR!" The Whismur cried even louder, showing an object on her hands with a wobbling wave of her arms.
Ekkisu rolled his eyes and turned his body away from her, focusing his attention at the open window in front of him, watching as the grass sway over the blowing winds.
Aster pouted angrily for being ignored, she stomped her tiny feet on the floor and turned away from the Sceptile. Annoyed and grumpy, the little pink ball marched her way to the bedroom making as much noise as she could with each step she took. As she reached the side of the large bed, Aster jumped upwards, landing right beside her friend's body.
"Mur, Mur." She softly tapped Brendan on his forehead, making him stir and groan.
"Aster?" Brendan asked with his eyes still closed. "What's wrong?"
"Mur, Mur, Mur… MUR!" Aster mercilessly bombarded him with complaints. At first, she was pointing to the door, most likely to Ekkisu, then she pointed to Brendan which at that point her ranting got even worse.
"H-Hey, calm down a little." Brendan chuckled at her antics. This little Whismur sure knows how to be noise when she wants, but after he patted her on the head she slowly stopped and only looked at him while dangling her head from side to side. "Now explain it slowly. What happened?"
Aster nodded firmly, but instead of sending another barrage of little "Murs" she just raised both arms and presented the object on her hands to Brendan. As she lifted the PokéNav, the gadget turned on and flashed a bright light on the trainer's unprepared eyes.
"Waahh, Aster!" Brendan cowered behind his blanket, a tingling sensation taking over his eyes after being flashed like that. "That was so unnecessary..."
"Mur, Mur." With a happy cry, the vicious Whismur placed the PokéNav on top of Brendan's chest and casually hopped off the bed. After getting back at someone for being ignored, Aster skipped her way out of the room.
"To think that I almost forgot the temper you have…" With a playful smile, Brendan crawled out of his blankets and grabbed the PokéNav on his hands. "Someone was calling me?" A little icon flashing at the corner also got his attention. "And also left a message, let's see… Eleven voice messages? What in the heavens- All from Steven?!"
Steven was always a unique person, but even for him to leave so many voice mails… Something is wrong, Brendan can clearly see that. With a little hesitation, he opened the mails and clicked at the first one he got.
'Brendan, why are you not picking up? I need to talk with you.' Steven's loud voice almost cracked the sound coming out of the device.
With another clicking sound, Brendan played the second one. 'This is serious! Where are you?'
Then the third one. 'Brendan… I know we had a difficult talk, but please. Just call me back.'
"Steven… You're scaring me here." Brendan moved his finger to close the mailbox and call his friend, but he stopped before clicking it. Instead, he moved his finger downwards again and played the fourth one.
'Stop ignoring me!' Steven's voice echoed on the room, his shout cracking the sound once again.
The fifth one. 'I walked away from the crowd… they are so noisy. I don't know what else to say to them…'
The sixth. 'Listen, doesn't matter what I saw... what everyone saw. I know that is not you, it cannot be you. Just call me back.'
"What is happening out there?" Brendan looked to his closed window and laughed nervously. "Did I miss the end of the world or something?" Steven distressed voice and messages shook the champion to his core, his friend rarely gets so worked up like this and even the explosion on his family company building did not manage to unsettle Steven likes.
With a troubled sigh, he played the next audio, unsure of what he would get from this one.
'Is this even the right thing to do? I cannot say… But I will do it anyway. I'm sending you a video, don't even know how they separated this so fast, but that is the press for you.' Steven let out a disheartened chuckled, something more akin to a nervous little laugh. His heavy breathing showing how exhausted he feels. 'Listen, this may shock you or give you a different type of emotion, I don't know… Just, whatever you decide to do, talk to me first.'
After hearing the message, Brendan finally noticed a small little icon at the corner of the screen. This icon showing that an attachment is available for him. He held his finger right on top of the play icon for this video, he eyed that button for more than a few seconds before mustering the courage to play.
'Hoenn belongs to Team Rainbow Rocket!' Brendan's jaw dropped as the video started to play. He saw himself standing in a newsroom, dressed in a completely strange set of black clothes. However, the worse of it all is the evil look that he is carrying on his face, an image so wrong that a sickening sensation shuffled inside his guts.
With each passing moment, Brendan was getting more and more disgusted with his own image. At some point, he started to even distrust himself or his sense of reality. There was no way he would say anything like that or do those things, but that was him, that was his face and his mouth saying those words, no mistake about that.
'The strongest one, huh?' Zinnia's voice awakened him from his self-doubting trance.
"Zinnia?!" He clenched the screen in desperation. He watched as she engaged in a fight against that fake Brendan. He grinned when she tackled the imposter on the ground, but his happiness was short lived as his copy tricked her and smacked her on the face twice.
"You… STAY AWAY FROM HER!" His scream echoed loudly in his room, the sound of his desperate voice startling both Aster and Ekkisu, who appeared at the door with a worried look on her faces. "Get your hands away… hah… from… hah… Gaaarh!" Brendan bent forward, taking one hand to his chest; A burning pain, no, more like a smoldering urge exploded inside of him.
Barely keeping his eyes open in with the turmoil happening in his heart, Brendan did his best to keep watching, hoping for anyone or anything to appear and save his loved one. "Zinnia…" A single tear escaped his eyes, sliding down on his cheek and falling over the screen. Just then the image died and the video ended. No salvation or closure, the last scene left there was the sight of his adventurous draconid woman beaten and hurt.
The pain stopped, the confusion, frustration and the feeling of hopelessness, all vanished. Brendan raised his head and fixed his eyes on the wall in front of him. Inside of him something strange and yet so familiar exploded into existence, taking over every bit of his being. "This… I…" He held to his chest again, but now in the realization of something. "I remember this… calling." Brendan slowly turned his head to the side, his eyes landing on his wardrobe, a strange glowing red light pouring out from the cracks.
With a soulless motion, Brendan slid out of his bed and slowly approached the ominous looking furniture. He pulled the door opens, his eyes locking on a specific drawer that remained closed for years. "I am not weak… I'm not afraid of them." He placed his right hand on the handle and pulled it open. "And I had enough of this." His lips curved into a wicked smile as he saw a glowing orb and a twitching black colored Poké-ball.
The front door of the house opened with a bang, the heavy sound of steps resounding as someone hastily make way to the bedroom. "BRENDAN!" Steven popped out on the door, his tired face changing to a terrified expression as he imagined to get a proper look on his friend. "Wha- What are you doing?" He asked loudly.
Brendan turned over, holding both the red orb and the black Poké-ball in his hands. His face is now nothing like it usually is; An evil grin is tarnishing his usually friendly features and his eyes are scary looking, especially his left one that now has a glowing red omega pattern shining on its iris. "Taking action." He responded with a certain venom in his tone. "Steven, they will regret setting a single foot on Hoenn."
That way of speaking, that burning hatred showing in his friend's face and that symbol in his eye. All the pieces quickly fell into place into Steven's head and he dreaded the conclusion. "Groudon..." Just saying the name sent chills into his spine, but liking it or not. The raging lava primal has awakened once more.
A huge uproar spread around the underwater facility. All the members of Team Rainbow Rocket are cheering and celebrating the huge success of their operation today. From the first level to the third one, their voices are loud and everywhere, making the only noise free spots Giovanni's office and the deepest level where are the sprawling hallways full of labs.
Only the most dedicated scientists are present at his level when everyone else is chatting or drinking, turning the labs a lonely and rather spooky place on this moment. In the furthest room and darkest corner of this level sits the most important lab and the most terrifying place of this criminal base.
A large room, mostly empty save for a few computers and two glass tubes. The largest tube is filled a greenish transparent liquid and holds a strange mass that keeps changing its color from blue to a dark red. To the left side is a smaller glass tube, this one having just a small iron base for a light object.
The strange mass inside the largest tube is a point of various gossips and serious concerns around the scientific team, but also their proudest accomplishment. Still, they cannot ignore the ominous feeling coming from that subject, something that makes this room empty most of the time with the only exception being when Giovanni gives a specific order. Yet, on the last passing days, someone has spent more than a few hours inside this creepy room, going as far as to enter without notifying the people in charge.
In this moment of great joy and celebration between the entire team, this person has chosen to come here yet again.
"Haha… I did… I overcame everything in my way." This person stepped away from the dark corner and walked to the big tube. As the light shone in his features, it revealed the same Brendan with black clothes that commanded the attack this morning.
"I never felt so capable… so powerful." He touched his left cheek and smiled. "And is all thanks to this." With a gentle action, he twisted the skin of his face and all of his turned into a grey color, a false face detaching from his head, showing the true features behind the mask.
"Is because it changed me to him or only because I was wearing it." Rush looked to the grey mask on his hand, his little smile becoming twisted in a full evil grin. "Hahaha, does it matter?" He opened lifted the lid on the smaller tub and place the mask on the support. As it rested on the proper spot, the devious object shifted its size, colors, and shape. After uncanny spams, it reset to a neutral form, a little bigger than it was before but now colored in the same strange blue and dark red pattern from the sinister blob from the other tube.
Rush gave the mask one last look and then shifted his gaze to the other thing in front of him. With all the care in the world, he placed one hand on the glass and caressed its cold surface as if he was touching the most precious thing in his life. "With you here, I can take them, all of them." He snorted and trembled, his behavior getting stranger even for him. "Ha, Brendan, Ethan, Josh… I can feel like squashing all three of them. Maybe I can even take on Red himself?" He looked surprised by his own words, his face breaking down to a hysterical state. "Heh, hehehe… Hahahahah!"
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giacomoX chapter 11 . Apr 4 – Things will only get more chaotic; let us just hope that it will not get out of hand. I also want that, Stevend and Brendan are friends they should not be fighting with each other.
DOOT76 chapter 11 . Apr 5 – Yeah, in a "real world" setting, trainers should not rely on their Pokémon to everything; maybe a few good punches can solver a situation too. Well, now you know who that "Brendan" was. What do you think that he will do with that "power" of his?'
Sammael Morningstar chapter 1 - chapter 7 . Apr 13 – I gotta say, I had so much fun seeing your reaction with "live" feedback with each chapter. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm, it was really fun to read.