Just something to show that I'm still working on this story. It's not like I've abonded this story, it's just that Humanty's Last Hope has taken up a lot of my time and between my summer and school starting...
Well I hope to be able to contine working on this in the near future.
Chapter 4: "Recruiting"
(New Bark Forest)
(Main POV)
A gunshot echoed throughout the forest, making a nearby flock of Pidgey fly away from the area in fear. The armed man stood in front of the new Ninetales morph… Slowly, the fox opened her eyes, expecting to see the afterlife… But instead saw her ex-partner frozen in place right in front of her.
The man did not speak. All he did was slowly move his hand from the muzzle of his gun to his back, where his uniform has been stained by his own blood.
Not soon after the first round, three more shots rang out. The Ninetales girl tightly shut her eyes and covered her head with her paws as the man was hit by a small stream of bullets. The human threw his weapon into the sky and fell to his knees before falling to the ground, face first.
The Ninetales was too afraid to move. She kept her head down and prayed that the attacker would be merciful and shoot her in the head. Her vulpine ears, dispute being covered by her furry hands could still hear the sound of grass being crushed under the weight of a human's foot.
Feeling a little brave, the girl slowly opened her eyes to see who it was that fired. The shooter was none other than Jason Miles, the crazed mercenary hired by the JSF to investigate the forest. Jason didn't notice the morphed girl as he walked up to the dying soldier. The mercenary chuckled and stomped down hard on the arm of the man's body. He heard the man groan in pain.
"Still breathing, huh?" Jason asked as he quickly turned the soldier's body over and removed the soldier's gas mask. "Good. I have some questions for you… and you're going to answer them." Jason said placing his weapon under the man's chin.
"Now how's about you tell me what the hell you were transporting in that old truck of yours?" Jason questioned his new prisoner. The soldier said nothing, all he did was chuckle. "You shouldn't have done that…" The man started. "Yeah? Well there are a lot of things in my life I probably shouldn't done have… but I did them anyway." Jason remarked. "Now TALK before I lose what little patience already have!"
"Why should I tell you anything? You're gonna kill me no matter what I do…" The man explained as the skin on the back of his neck began to turn purple. "Yeah, you're right… but I'm not in any rush." Jason said as he squeezed the trigger of his pistol and shot the man in the leg… however the man didn't seem to feel it…
"TALK!" Jason shouted "Bite me!" The man responded by spitting into Jason's mask. "It's like you're trying to piss me off." Jason said as he smacked his prisoner with his gun and continued to beat him as he tried to get information out of the slowly changing human soldier.
"Who do you work for?" The mercenary asked, attacking the soldier. "Your mother." The man hissed. "WRONG ANSWER!" Jason shouted, punching the soon to be morph across his face.
"Now tell me! Who do you work for?!" Jason showed, his patience quickly wearing thin. "I… I work for a man named Katashi Akashi." The man finally answered once Jason was done attacking him. The man's transformation was quickly spreading across his body.
Jason suddenly stopped attacking the man and looked at him in shock and awe as his captive was becoming less and less human. "What Akashi plans to do is rule the world… by using Pokémorph soldiers…" the man's skin was rapidly being replaced by purple scales; his legs began to merge together, causing the creatures pants to rip and fall off it new tail.
"His plan is fool proof… He'll transform entire cities with this plague…" His arms became thicker, more muscular as his hands sharpened forming claws. "From there, we'll capture the morphs in their state of shock, train and finally brainwash them. Making sure that they follow our orders to letter, without remorse or hesitation." the transforming human explained as his face began to shift into that of an Arbok.
The snake grinned a huge, fang filled, evil looking grin as his changed from human to the slit eyes of a serpent. The new morph easily forced Jason off him and knocked the mercenary off of his feet with his tail, causing the human to lose his weapon. To Jason's horror, the transformation actually healed the enemy soldier and increased his strength.
"And now you know too much." The snake hissed. "How about we fixed that, human?" He laughed. Jason got back on to his feet and began to laugh himself, puzzling the poison Pokémorph. "What'ssss ssssso funny human?" The Arbok hissed. Once more the mercenary laughed through his mask.
"Oh now you're trying to make me laugh…" The mercenary paused and looked at transformed human, arms shaking in anticipation of the coming fight. "And here I thought this was going to another boring contract." Jason mused, a smile hidden under his mask. "Alright then…" Jason smiled under his gas mask. "Let's see how strong you are now, morph."
The snake coiled up and quickly lunged at the mercenary. Jason rolled out of the way and watched in amusement as the creature slammed into a tree. The human laughed at his opponent's blunder and quickly picked up his handgun.
Jason fired off a couple of rounds at the snake. The morph quickly slithered up to the mercenary, dodging the gunfire and sprang up in front of Jason, knocking the firearm from his hands. The Arbok grinned, showing his new fangs. "Nice try, human," The serpent hissed. "But this fight's over… any last words?" The morph drooled over Jason's shoulder.
The mercenary was shocked how animalistic his gazed seemed… it was as if all humanity that bastard had not minutes ago had disappeared. "No? Alright then…" The serpent grinned. The serpent opened his mouth, revealing a very reptilian forked tongue, and prepared to latch down on the human's shoulder.
Thinking quickly, Jason trusted his head forward so that his head would crash into the jaw of poison morph, causing the morph to release the mercenary and recoil in pain. Jason, himself, was left with a minor headache.
Once free, the mercenary quickly punched the snake in his face, grabbed the morph by the tail and toss him to a nearby tree. Once the Arbok hit the tree, he quickly stood straight back up on his tail and hissed at human, who by now had retrieved his weapon and loaded a new ammo magazine into the handgun.
Jason turned to face the former human and watched the monster slither up to him at great speed. The Mercenary stood his ground, keeping his weapon pointed at his enemy. The Arbok morph was no fool. He knew that Jason was waiting for him to get close so that the mercenary can shoot him full of holes.
Instinctively, the morph opened his mouth and used Poison Sting, firing small, poisonous needles at Jason. This caught the human off guard, however Jason had just enough time roll out of the way, just barely avoiding getting hit and poisoned. However that stunt gave the Arbok morph all the time he needed to get close to the mercenary.
The serpent tackled Jason to the ground, once more disarming the human and struggled to pin Jason to the ground. However Jason had managed to reach his knife in their struggled and in one swift motion, drew the blade drove it into the neck of his enemy.
The dying morph quickly rolled off the human, flailing all over the place in pain, giving Jason all the time he need to roll towards weapon grab it and unload the every round he had in that gun into the dying Pokémorph. He really only needed one round to hit, but Jason doesn't know the meaning of the word "Overkill."
Once the former human was taken care of, the mercenary sat up, adjusted his gas mask, sighed out in relief and let out a hearty laugh. "…Jason… what have you gotten yourself into this time?" He asked himself, once more laughing. "Oh well… That was fun… I really should do again sometime…"
Jason got up and noticed the morphed girl he had previously over looked. His first instinct was pull a gun out on her and pull the trigger, however when he aimed his weapon at the Ninetales he restrained himself from firing. The Ninetales had her eyes tightly shut as she waited for the bullet that would end her miserable existence… that was all she really ever wanted. Just for it all to stop and for her to just die… however for some reason the mercenary didn't shot her right away… he just stood there gun pointed at her Vulpine head.
"…W-well?" The Ninetales weakly asked. "Ar-aren't you going to killing me too?" She asked, tears building up in her eyes."
Jason shook his head a little. "I'm here for info on whatever it was you and your ex-boyfriend over there were carrying in that truck." He calmly responded through his gas mask, motioning to the dead morph behind him. "And like I said to the snake… I have questions… and you have the answers."
The golden fox sighed. "Well you might as well kill me right and now… because I'm not going to tell you anything…" She solemnly responded.
Jason laughed. "Oh really?" Jason smirked under his mask. "Alright then… You want to do this the hard way?" Jason asked as he slowly closed in on the multi-tailed fox. Once he was close enough he struck her face with his pistol. "Fine by me…" The mercenary coldly said. Ninetales fell to the ground and just stood down there… afraid of what might happen to her next… just wishing that the human would end her torture and kill her.
"Now… what part of your body should I put a bullet in first?" Jason asked him. "Well all nine of your tails are out because of that damn curse… true you are a morph and I'm more than certain that you were never born one, so you probably don't know how to use any 'mystic powers…' but better safe than sorry, eh?" The Mercenary shrugged. "I guess I could shoot you once the shoulder… or maybe in the knee? I probably shout avoid shooting your chest if I want to keep you alive long enough to talk…" Jason pondered aloud.
The Ninetales suddenly just lunged forward and grabbed the mercenary's leg. "What the hell?! LET GO OF MY LEG!" Jason shouted in surprise.
"Please! Please don't make me suffer any longer… I don't want this… I don't want to be this freak… Please just kill me!" The girl pleaded. Wanting nothing more than to be dead right now.
Jason had thought of killing her just to shut her… but he remembered his contract well and how much his contractor was paying for the info he was sent to get. So instead of killing the fox, Jason punched her across her vulpine muzzle with his free hand, once more knocking the Ninetales to the ground.
"You're one deranged little lady fox, you know that?" He asked the morph as she lay on the ground weeping. Jason saw that her fox ears were flat against her furry head as she sobbed. He could see tears rolling down the girl's golden furred muzzle and all of tails had curled around her body.
"Please… please just kill me…" The morph sobbed. "All my life… I've always been a failure… at everything I've done… No matter what I tired… I would fail and let everyone down… No one liked me, in fact, no one even wanted to talk to me… My parents did all they could to help me feel better… but they were taken from me in a freak accident…" she sobbed. "Just kill me… I don't want to live with this cruse… I don't want to live as this… this… FREAK!" She shrieked. "Just make it quick and painless… no one will miss me… just kill me and get it all over with…"
Jason looked at the fox girl completely speechless. This was as rare a moment as ever in this mercenary's life time… Jason Miles, the man that has been known to murder thousands with our remorse… was actually feeling sorry for someone. He felt sorry for this girl and what had happened to her. And for the first time in his life, he was actually thinking about killing her. During a normal job, Jason would murder first, ask questions never and wouldn't care about the people he killed… but then again there was nothing 'normal' about this job.
The mercenary just sighed, withdrew his weapon and turned his back on the morph. "………In my lifetime, I've been commissioned for many contracts." Jason suddenly spoke up. "Many of which were to fight against rival criminal organizations, take down mad scientist or to stop ancient legends from coming true… and in those mission I've seen things you'd never believe." Jason laughed.
"Now I really wouldn't call you a freak, kid, because I've seen what real freaks look like…" The human turned to face the morph. "And trust me kid, you ain't one of them."
"How can you that?" The Ninetales girl shirked again. "Look at me! Do you anyone would care for a creature like me?"
Jason desperately fought back the urge to say that every closet fur on the planet would probably want naked pics of her and try to 'get to know her better.' "Well… I'd guess that people would treat you differently." The human admitted "…But still, look on the positives. You now have amazing senses and powers normal people would kill obtain and you still have human… or rather human like arms and legs. On top of that, although you're not psychically human anymore, you still have the mentality of one."
The Ninetales morph fell silent as she thought over what the mercenary had said. "Well than… if you're not going talk…" Jason shrugged and began to walk away from the fox.
"Wait!" She called after him, quickly standing up.
"What is it, Ninetales? Can't you see that I'm a little-"
"The barrels we where transporting were filled with a failed chemical substance." The fox interrupted Jason.
"Wait, say what now?" Jason responded.
"Didn't you want information from me and my former partner?" She asked the mercenary. "We were carrying a failed serum that, from what I've heard, was supposed to produce a virus that would transform and brainwash humans into mindless Pokémorphs. This virus would've been introduced into heavily populated cities so thousands of people would… 'join' the ninth battalion. The group I used to belong to." She explained. "From there, our leader, Katashi Akashi would lead his morph to take over the world."
Jason reflected over this for a moment. 'Using Pokémorphs… to take over the world, huh? Come on, Gunner, couldn't you have been more original than that? Seriously how many times has this plot been used before? What's next? Capturing the Legendary Birds?' Jason mental teased the author. (A/N:………) 'Still, Akashi's behind, huh? Good, that bastard owes me…I'll make him pay with his life if have to.'
"Mercenary?" The fox asked.
"Hm? Oh, yeah… thanks for the info, fox. See ya." Jason nonchalantly answered, turning to head into Rese City.
"Wait! I want to help you!" The fox shouted, grabbing the mercenary's arm with her pink padded paw, still covered in traces of her gloves.
"What? Why?" Jason asked, although the Ninetales couldn't see the merc's face because of the mask covering it, it was clear he was shocked.
"W-well… this all my fault… as usual." She sighed. "And I want to try fix and this mess I've created."
"…No." Jason shook his head and released himself of the Ninetales grasp.
"What?" She asked the human. "Why not?"
"'Cause you'll just slow me down." He simply responded.
"Oh come on!" The Ninetales complained. "It's not like I don't know how to defend myself." She stated.
"Oh, so you know how to use those powers of yours?" Jason asked the morph.
"N-no…" The Ninetales admitted. "B-but I'm going to help you. Besides, you don't know what the Ninth is capable of. I know a lot about the weapons, tactics and Pokémon they use. You need me."
Jason looked into her big, fox like, red eyes and saw that she was determined to help no matter what. 'Heh, this little vixen's crazy… not a minute ago this girl was crying her eyes out and begging me to her in her head… now look at her…' Jason thought to himself.
"Heh…alright, fine… You can help, but don't come crying to when you're tails have been blow clean off your ass." Jason chuckled.
"Really? YAY!" The fox cheered as she jumped in the air. Jason was amazed how quickly her attitude had changed. Not too long ago she was crying 'kill me, kill me, I don't want to be this," now she's a happy-go-lucky Ninetales morph psyched about this mission… 'Why is that I always have to work with the crazies?'
"Hey, Ninetales?" Jason asked looking at the sky.
"I have a name, you know." The fox girl retorted, folding her arms. "And that name is Felicia Heather."
"Whatever… you hear that?" Jason asked as the sound of distant thunder was growing.
"…Yeah, I do." Felicia responded, twitching her vulpine ears. "It sounds like… thunder? But… there's not a single cloud in the sky."
"That's not thunder… it sounds more like… fighter jets." Jason pointed out.
"Here? But why?" Felicia asked.
"You tell me, you used to be one of them." Jason retorted, still looking at the sky.
It wasn't too long before the two noticed that the area was covered by large shadow as a very large, metallic object blocked out the sun. The two looked up at the machine in shock. "F-Felicia, what is that thing?!" Jason asked.
"The Rayquaza… so it has been completed." The Ninetales commented gazing in awe at the large airship hovering over head.
The vents on the bottom or the airship quickly opened and sucked in the transforming green gas that still lingered over most the forest and the nearby city, completely clearing the air. Once the gas was cleared, the duo was able to make out two small aircraft bellow the shit.
"Those are Helicopters!" Felecia pointed out.
"I know… wait a minute… I recognize that color scheme. Those are Johto Security Force Aircraft!" Jason shouted. "They didn't trust me! So they sent in troops of their own to get the job done. I for one am insulted." Jason remarked.
However, unknown to the duo, the giant airship had already locked on to the transport helicopters and fired missiles at both aircraft. One was hit and quickly exploded, falling to the ground in smoke and flames, while the other had lost its tail and spun down, a couple of miles close to Jason and Felicia.
"Holy Shit… what is that thing?" Jason asked again.
"I told you, it's the Rayquaza." Felicia responded. "It's basically a flying fortress, capable of housing the entire Ninth battalion and any all future members." The Ninetales commented.
Jason quickly took off his gas mask and dropped it onto the floor. "So… what you're saying is, that thing is a sci-fi wannbe." Jason chuckled.
"This is serious, Mercenary!" Felicia shouted.
"Hey, the name's Jason Miles and no one is to talk to me like that. Got it?"
Gunfire quickly erupted from where the second helicopter had crashed. "What?" Felicia gasped.
"Looks to me like someone survived that crash." Jason smiled, handing Felecia the weapon her ex-partner nearly killed her with. "You wanna help? Fine… try not to shoot yourself and kept your tails out of the line of fire." He smirked.
Felicia took the weapon and gave Jason a dirty look. The human just laughed as he grabbed the shotgun strapped to his, loaded it and race off towards the action, followed behind by the Ninetales girl.
Again, sorry for the wait and expect to be awhile before this story's updated again.
As Always: Love it, Hate it, Just Review it.
Gunner out.