(Author's Note: Hello, Readers! This story was a result of a good idea that I simply couldn't put aside. For those of my fans that don't know, I often have trouble focusing on any one thing for a super long period of time (days, weeks). That in mind, I have created this as my other main story, alongside the Unbalanced Power series. By going back and forth between these stories, I hope to improve the quality of both by making it not seem so tedious at times. Enjoy!)
(This story is rated M(MA) for blood, gore, terrorism, rape, detailed sexual scenes/lemons, and severe language. You have been warned!)
10:15 PM
It's the silence that's the most unsettling. After three days always accompanied by the roar of the flames, the seventeen year old girl was startled nearly into shock by the absence of the sound. She shakes off her nerves and urges the Staraptor beneath her to land. She braces herself against the strong bird-type's neck and he folds his wings, going into a near vertical dive. It only lasts a second before he spreads them once again.
By that time the pair are only a few feet off the ground, hovering. The girl pulls one leg off the Staraptor, then rolls off his side with practiced precision, landing neatly on the ground. The Predator Pokemon, now free of his fragile burden, takes a moment to nuzzle the girl. She pats the side of his neck.
"Thanks a lot, Staraptor. Safe flight!"
She stands for a moment, watching as the Staraptor takes off, leaving her behind. As he gets out of sight, a quiet beep sounds from her wrist. She sighs, momentarily ignoring the sound and instead stretches her arms high above her head, standing momentarily tiptoe and groaning.
The beeping goes silent for a moment, then starts again, and the girl sighs. She brings her fairly skinny right arm up to eye level, and flicks her wrist. On it, a peculiar device recognizes the gesture. It's about five inches long, braced on the back of her wrist to about half way up her forearm. It's rounded top is bright red, and it has a small, yellow antennae on the tip. In response to her wrist flicking, the panel on the top of the device opens up, revealing a high definition screen displaying a rather dusty control room. The girl hadn't seen the place before, but she knew it was the underground version of the Ranger Union back in Almia. It was right below the main building, separated by ten feet of soil and three feet of solid steel. It was the equivalent of a nuclear bunker.
She does know that her sleep deprived features are being displayed to several of the top Operators in Almia via the small camera on the Capture Styler, but she directs her attention to the man in the middle of the room. He looks extremely annoyed.
"Daphne Yuuki, if you don't start answering your Styler messages sooner, I'll have your badge," the man says. He's old and wrinkled, with a shock of white hair and a messy lab coat on. Dark circles under his eyes outline his sleep deprived attitude, and the girl decides to go along with it.
"Apologies, Professor Hastings," The Ranger says formally. "I just landed, and I was stretching. That flight was longer than I expected, not including the absurd amount of time it took to find a Staraptor." The girl sighs, flicking her dark, shoulder length hair out of her face. Her blue eyes analyze the Professor's dark brown ones. "You haven't slept," she noted.
"Of course I haven't," Hastings snapped. "We're in a damned crisis here! You don't have time for minor comforts. Mission report, Daphne Yuuki." He says the last part with authority, but only succeeds in pissing off the girl.
"Oh, can it, Hastings," she snaps. "I'm here, smooth flight, nothing to report. Now, are you going to sit there and complain about me, or are you going to tell me what the hell I'm doing here?" Hastings and the Operators look taken aback, but the girl is on a roll now. "Honestly, you up and tell me to abandon my post and fly nineteen hours to Sinnoh for an 'important mission.' Yeah, well, the sole reason I could think of was you wanted to waste your best Ranger by trying to have her Capture Arceus. Pardon my lack of modesty," she adds.
"I'm warning you," Professor Hastings starts.
"And I'll warn you to call me Yuuki, not Daphne," Yuuki retorts. "We've been over this. Now, stop lecturing me and tell me what the hell you want me to do. I've already lost Charley to that monster." she adds angrily.
The effect of those words is astounding: The whole Communications room goes silent. Even Yuuki seems shocked by her own words. She shakes her head vigorously. "Just tell me what to do," she says, a slight quiver to her voice.
"Your Styler says you landed in Celestic Town," Professor Hastings says immediately, his voice now solely professional. "Satellite images show that the cave may have survived Arceus's arrival in Celestic. It might have some insight to how to defeat Arceus." Yuuki just nods firmly, then looks away from her Styler and inspects her surroundings for the first time.
Had the Styler coordinates not told her otherwise, she would've never believed she had arrived in Celestic Town. She had never personally been, but she had seen pictures. It was a quaint little village in Sinnoh, situated in a valley. It was famous for its ancient cave drawings of the mythical pokemon Dialga and Palkia. The idea was sound: Dialga and Palkia, being direct children of Arceus, would probably be able to clue into weaknesses of the beast.
Keyword was. Now it was nothing but a crater. She had landed at the supposed entrance to the village, but instead she had found a giant, charred hole. She gazed out over what had once been Celestic: a ring of deep holes and the remains of buildings, trees, and… less welcome sights.
She took a moment to steel her nerves, then tapped on her Styler. The little screen flipped around, angling the camera in the direction of her pointer finger. She held out her arm to give the HQ a live update.
"Lord above…" she heard Hastings mutter. She slowly started walking into the pit. She found the main stairway in the Village, which had provided a direct way up to the entrance to the city. It was mostly crumbled rubble now, and was nearly disintegrated in places. She picked her way through the jagged boulders, taking care not to be cut. After over an hour, she found the bottom of the pit. Or, what looked like the bottom.
She gazed around, pointing her camera all over the 50 foot circle of land she had arrived on. "Professor," she started, "there's nothing he-EERE!" she squealed in surprise as the ground suddenly gave way beneath her. She frantically rotated around and grabbed wildly for a hand hold from the rocks behind her, but only succeeded in putting a deep scratch in the top of her non-styler hand.
She fell towards the ground at the speed of a truck. Desperately, she tried to orient herself to tuck and roll the landing. Had she been given another half a second, she would've been able to do it, but she landed hard on her feet. Her feet didn't like that. She heard a terrible crunch, then screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground.
"Yuuki! YUUKI!" Professor Hastings yelled through the mic. He turned to one of the Operators. "Get Sven over there!"
"Right!"
Yuuki could hear all this clearly, but she was too busy trying to get a hold of herself. Her right leg was screaming in pure agony, her vision tinted red. She instinctively tried to grab her injured leg, but when that only caused the pain to escalate, she let go, gasping for breath.
Heaven's sakes, Yuuki, get a GRIP! She thought furiously to herself. She forced herself to go absolutely still. With her position, she might've been asleep. Agonizingly slowly, the pain in her leg dies down to barely tolerable levels, and her breathing got under control.
"Yuuki?" Professor Hastings asked hesitantly. In the background, she could hear another Ranger talking urgently to one of the Operators.
"Yes?" she responded, her voice barely a whisper.
"Oh, thank God," Professor Hastings said. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know," Yuuki stammered. She struggled to maintain her train of thought through the pain. "The ground gave way beneath me… I must've been on top of the cave, and if it was weakened by the blasts, I would've been too much weight. Stupid…" she muttered that last part.
Hastings wisely ignores the last comment. "Can you move your arms? Your camera is still in tact, but we can't see anything. We've remote activated your flashlight. Angle it over your body so we can assess the damage."
She groaned, but did as they asked. She slowly lifted her arm, wincing at a pain in her chest. She must've at least bruised a rib when she collapsed. It was only when she turned it to her leg that the professor gasped. "What?"
"Nothing major," Hastings responded, sounding casual. "I wouldn't recommend looking at your leg, though," he adds.
"Noted," she responds, chuckling weakly. A tear trickles down her cheek.
By itself, the camera on the Styler turns around to face Yuuki again, it's flashlight dimming so as not to blind her. An older lady is now standing next to Professor Hastings. Her gray hair is done into two towering pigtails, and her orange dress with yellow trim is faded, slightly. She leans over and appears to only be standing with the help of her cane.
"Calm yourself, Yuuki," Chairperson Erma says, her voice kind but stern. "You should be safe for the time being. We've had your Styler scan the surrounding area for any threats, and it has found none. Also, your Partner is about five seconds out," She smiles.
Sure enough, a couple seconds later a small, blue and red blur rockets into the cave and lands, twittering madly, on Yuuki's shoulder. The Top Ranger smiles at her Taillow's distress. "Hey, Taillow," she says tiredly. She strokes the bird's small head.
"Sven has received your distress call. He's about ten minutes away."
Another voice chimes in, this one cool and collected. The screen separates itself into two halves, one staying on the two elders, while the other reveals the slim face of Sven, grinning at her from atop a Staraptor's back.
"Don't worry, Yuuki, I'm coming. We can't have you laying around, now, can we?" he jokes. He's got dark green dyed hair, with a red and white fedora, and dressed in an identical, but male oriented, version of the Ranger's uniform.
Yuuki smiles, although it's watery. "Thanks, Sve-" A growl cuts off the last part of the message and she stiffens up, immediately going silent.
"What was that…? Professor Hastings says nervously.
Yuuki scans the cave carefully with her eyes. Then she looks up, and the camera catches her astonished expression. "Professor…?" She says, her voice a timid squeak. "Could you tell Sven to come a little faster, please? And maybe rescan the area for threats?"
Her camera turns, revealing the glowing red eyes of a Houndoom, staring hungrily at her from atop the cave.
"SVEN, MOVE!" Professor Hastings screams.
"Right!" He cuts off his mic, though from the picture alone they can tell he's urging his Staraptor to new speeds. The wind whips at his face, but even as he does, the Houndoom jumps clear to the floor of the cave, landing almost catlike in front of her. Taillow launches herself furiously at the Houndoom, but he swats her aside, raking a claw down her chest. The bird screams once and then is silent, but the Styler's info on her Partner Pokemon tells Yuuki that she's only fainted.
He turns to face her, and she gulps. "Now, Mr. Houndoom, I didn't mean to anger you…" She starts fearfully. The Houndoom seems to take no notice, walking slowly forward, staring into her eyes. Then he looks down. From the angle he's starring, Yuuki realizes at once what he's doing. "No," she musters every ounce of courage she has left.
He takes no notice as he ends up next to her, towering over her. She gulps, sucks in a breath, then shouts: "Capture, On!" A burst of white light explodes from the end of the Styler, and a top comes shooting out the side. Quickly, Yuuki spins her arm and the top follows her movements, starting to spin around the Houndoom's midriff. The action causes her chest to flare in pain.
She only gets one spin before he pins her arm with one of his front paws. The top launches away and smashes into a corner of the room. It loses all momentum and lays on it's side, useless. She begins hyperventilating. Professor Hastings barks an order to one of the Operators, and the camera is quickly oriented back to the scene.
They can only watch helplessly as the Houndoom takes his other claw and slowly cuts open the Ranger's shorts, exposing her slit to the open air. She shivers. The beast's member quickly comes into view, and it licks its lips hungrily.
"It's going to rape her," Erma says weakly. "Hurry, Sven!"
"Shit!" Sven yells. He urges Staraptor even faster. Some part of him believes he'll make it.
He knows in his heart that he won't.
Yuuki shivers as Houndoom puts his nose to her slit and licks. Her body goes against her mind and she moans, though she tries to hide it. Her leg still burns in agony even as the Houndoom positions himself atop her. He's got one of his back legs pinning her good one.
He's an inch away when a bright light flares above them. Yuuki screams as a blast of pure heat erupts over her. The Houndoom is blasted away, landing in a heap in the corner of the cave.
"Flamethrower again!" Someone shouts, and another blast of fire erupts from the rim of the hole, keeping the Houndoom in the corner. Suddenly a dark shape launches itself against the night sky, a human shaped silhouette. It lands in the middle of the cave, tucking and rolling much more successfully than Yuuki. The stranger takes a fighting stance, yelling; "Capture, On!"
Yet another burst of white light erupts, but It's too quick to reveal much of the person's face except that she's sure now it's a guy, though the voice alone did that. The fresh top spins quickly around the Houndoom. Yuuki can tell at once he's experienced. The capture is nearly complete when the Houndoom manages to orient himself once more. He slashes at the band, but quicker than should be possible, the Ranger whips his arm to the side, and the top dances out of the way. He brings it back in and spins the top faster. The beam of light wraps itself tightly around Houndoom, seems to go super nova for a moment, then disappears. The top jumps back into the Styler.
"Capture Complete," the guy says happily. "Houndoom, go up and help my partner protect this area," he adds. The Houndoom, now bonded to the Ranger, heads back up via a few tricky looking platforms of rock.
The Ranger turns to Yuuki, and she gasps.
"Ch-Ch-Charley?!"
The Ranger nods, quickly walking over to the Taillow the Houndoom had attacked. He pulls a potion from a small backpack and sprays it on the bird. The cut closes, scarring over, but her breathing slows and his Styler show that her vitals are stable. Gently, he picks Taillow up, walks over and sits down next to Yuuki, carefully avoiding looking at her midsection. He places Taillow in her arms.
"How… How?!" Yuuki says frantically, but Charley puts an arm gently on her shoulder, then hugs her. She forces herself not to break down, though she badly wants to. Charley breaks away and pulls off his shirt. A plain tee shirt, Yuuki notes. Not a Ranger's uniform. He pulls out a pocket knife and cuts the shirt, making a square with about a quarter of it. Gently, taking care not to touch, he covers Yuuki. She blushes heavily at him.
"This is gonna hurt, Yuuki, there's no way around it," Charlie warns. She nods and he gets positioned at her side. Then, as quickly as possible, he jabs down on her broken leg. She screams in agony as he wraps it tightly in the rest of the shirt, sobbing. He's finished after only a few seconds. Her chest goes up and down rapidly as she tries to regain her breath. He takes her hand in his and rubs it. Only then does she realize she's making a fist so tight her hand has turned white. She releases the tension and sighs deeply as the pain in her leg recedes.
At that moment, a third Ranger, though only the second to do so willingly, dives into the cave. He rushes over and kneels down at her side. "Yuuki! You ok?!" Then he gets a clear look at Charley's face. "WHAT THE HELL?!" He yells, standing quickly and backing up a couple steps.
"WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" A third voice bellows. It sounds a bit weird, coming from two different speakers, and Sven winces, taking a look at Professor Hasting's face in the device.
"You tell me," he says, then points his camera at Charley.
"Hey, Professor," Charley says casually. "Good news: I'm not dead!"
