18
I take out Markus' pokéball and release him. He lands from the red flash in an aggressive stance, an angry fire in his eyes. I don't know who this man is, but he won't get Veera.
I nod, and then see Draxik shove a long, hard object at me. I hold it and look at it's end and see the hilt for a sword. "What in the-"
"Your pokémon can't always be there to help you. Take this Katana. You know how to use it?" He looks at me with a blank, yet curious face.
I unsheath the blade and look at it's majesty. The hilt is black, wrapped in a crimson cloth, and the whole blade slid out of the sheath easily and silently. The metal has no engravings, but shines with nearly no direct light and seems strong. I spin it around a few times, and stop it near my head, the sword in my right hand. I keep the blade down and point it forward, and keep my left hand near my waist, palm up, as if ready to catch something. I beam. "Been a while since I picked up one of these. Though I've never had such a magnificent sword…"
He shrugs. "I make them from time to time."
We start running down the hall when two men confront us. Both are wearing white lab coats and have pokéballs in their hands. The throw them at the ground and release a magneton and a magmar.
I stand back and hold back Markus. He could take out that magneton with a close combat, but magmar would get a clear shot…
I feel a huge wind blow pass me and I look up. A white sphere shoots past me and hits the magneton dead on. It goes sprawling into the man who called it out and down the long hallway. I look at Markus, who has both of his hands forward, above and below each other. "Since when can you use Aura Sphere?"
Since Draxik taught me how while you were unconscious in pokémon tower.
I glance at him and he gives me a nervous smile. "I know things…"
I turn back to the magmar, which under command of his trainer, launches a flamethrower at me. I act quickly and dive at Markus, knocking us both down to evade the flamethrower. While it cools down, I decide to try out a little sword combat. I get up and lunge at it and make a stab. It sidesteps, but gets cut a little in it's side. It staggers into the wall, and I make a clear slash at its midsection. Blood shoots out at me as I make the cut, and I lick it off my lips with my tong. It falls over dead.
I then walk up to its trainer and pin him against the wall, pressing the sword lightly against his throat, making sure not to cut him. "That man who came by here earlier, with a black and red robe. Who is he?!" I yell, almost pressing hard enough for the man to bleed.
He grimaces and says, "They say he works for Team Rocket. A man who has Dark Ambitions…" He pushes the sword away when I hear him and just runs down the corridor.
The man… with Dark Ambitions… this will be sweet. I think, and head to the stairs, only a few feet away on my right. Markus follows right behind me and Draxik makes no comment about my odd choice of excessive violence as he follows us up. When we get to the next floor, I don't see anything.
I turn to Draxik and ask "Draxik, what do you know about this place?"
"I know I used to work here until the Rocket incident. I also know the president made the first Master Ball, and he is at the top floor, 13 I believe. That may be where this man is going." He keeps a thoughtful look on his face as he answers my question, but I ignore it. I decided that I don't want to come face to face with any more pokémon or trainers, and head to the elevator. Draxik follows and Markus does too.
We head up to the 26th floor and on the way up, Markus asks me something. Why… did you kill that magmar? And in such a vicious way. A plain stab would have done the job with less blood, and you could have just kicked it away at its trainer.
I just stare straight ahead and don't answer.
Raizu!? He says to me, even louder.
"It's nothing. I just… felt a little angry and excited with a sword in my hands again. I haven't trained since I was 11. It was a little hobby of mine, I was quite good too apparently." I leave it at that, but he persists.
I know you well enough to know that you aren't one to kill…
"Then you don't know me because I am!" I snap back at him, and he hunches over in a corner. I look forward again just in time for the door to open and reveal to us a long hallway, which has the same red carpet the lobby has. I take my sword stance and Draxik pulls out his zanpakto from it's scabbard, secured by a sash around his waist, and Markus just follows us from behind, slowly, probably upset by my outburst again. I decide to not let it get to me, as the last thing I need is to worry about his feelings in a situation like that. While running down the hall, nothing jumps out at us. I was expecting some kind of trap, or someone to lurch out from one of the lab doors on our right, but nothing.
We get to the end of the hall and turn left, coming to a door that faces the direction we just came from. I walk over to it and wave my hand. "Not motion sensor." I say.
"Well, do we have a pass?" Says Draxik, who is looking at a key pad near the right side of the door. I walk over to it, and ask for Draxik to turn off the lights. He gives me a weirded out look, and does so. I get out a little flash light thingy I always carry around and shine it across each key. I notice 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 are all oily.
He turns the lights back on. "Okay," I say. "This must be used a lot, as I must be the luckiest person alive. We know the 5 keys they use because of the oil left on the keys. If this was some abandoned ware house, that would never have worked."
Markus acts unimpressed, and just says, So, what is the order?…
I shrug. "Got me."
"We're running out of time. I say," Draxik stands back and raises his sword above his head. He calls out SHADOW CLAW in an abstract voice, like an echo, and cuts the door down diagonally. "That we just cut it down." He finishes with a smirk.
I don't even thank him as I dash into the room, holding the sword now at my side, pointed to the ground. I see two people lying in a bloody mess in the corner, slain by what appear to be gashes in their sides. One is a man in a fancy suit and the other a woman, with an equally fancy dress, a purple color. But both of their bodies are in a heap, covered from in blood from the gashes. I look away, but Draxik walks over to them. "Killed not to long ago."
"How do you KNOW these things?…" I ask, and don't wait for him to answer. I look at the opposite end of the room and, past a huge, circle table, I see a lone window. The hooded man stands at that window with my eevee in his hand. He is holding her by her tail outside the window, ready to drop her.
I totally freeze up. Not… Veera. No, just no.
The man begins to laugh. "So, you like your little eevee, eh? I'm sure you would LOVE for me to drop her and watch her splat on the ground, but I think we may have a way to solve this problem."
He stops long enough for Veera too look at me and screams its name in pure fear.
She says to forget about her, he works for Team Rocket. Translates Markus. He walks up slowly from behind and charges up an Aura Sphere.
I bat his hands away. "No, I want to hear what he'll say."
The man with Dark Ambitions chuckles. "Good boy. Now, kill yourself."
I freeze up, and ask him, "What did you say?"
"Kill yourself. Surely you know why Team Rocket wants you dead. Because I want you dead. I want Team Rocket for myself, and you are in the way." He let's Veera slip a little from his hand a little and she squeals.
I just act. It was instinct, and I don't know why I did it. I jumped forward, dashing at an unbelievable speed at the man with my Katana ready to strike. I slide over the table an swing horizontally at the Man with Dark Ambitions, and he blocks it with his hand. An open hand, hidden under his robe still.
"Tch, that isn't a suicide Raizu." He picks up my sword, tosses it away, and then drops Veera.
I do what was quite possibly the stupidest thing from a logical stand point. I just jump straight out the window before she begins to fall and just hug her close to me as we both start to fall to the Earth from 26 floors above the ground. Tears well up in my eyes and I say to her quietly, "I'm sorry, but I guess you'll be alone now."