Part III
"Welcome, welcome! It is my pleasure to invite you into my little world! I am sorry it is so cramped, I had barely enough space to accommodate my precious artifacts in here, so the living quarters got the short end of the stick."
And that was putting it nicely, J mused. This ship was no airborne apartment, it was foremost a flying museum with something resembling a shoebox with a bed squeezed in. The actual dining room was more akin to a conference hall adorned with esthetically tasteful scalps and several taxidermic preserved specimen, just the perfect atmosphere to wet one's appetite.
Not that it helped that J wondered who the hell her brother expected to invite onto his ship. Business men interested in stockpiling his expensive collection of holo cards?
"I hope you are okay with poor lonely me cooking your dinner tonight, because I did not have the resources left to hire a cook. Interior decoration is expensive when you have to make sure that your collection stays in perfect condition."
Yes. Because having perfectly preserved trading figures was more important than a warm meal.
J tried to hide her cringe. She knew her brother's cooking, and from the look of dread on Zero's face, he, obviously, knew as well. They might as well have been feasting on packet soup.
"That should pose absolutely no problem." Uttered by the fortunate one who had no idea what kind of garbage meal she had gotten herself into.
Then again, being a psychic probably meant that she could not be poisoned the ordinary way, so she was out of discussion, anyway.
Lawrence disappeared into a small side room that was barely big enough to pass as a kitchenette, and contained such luxury items as a mini fridge and a kettle. And an egg boiler, just as to spite her brother's already laughable cooking skills.
"I must admit, sister, I am honestly surprised to hear about you tying the knot."
"You, and me…" She lamented.
"I think someone like you would prefer to go through her life all alone, not to saddle herself with the responsibilities of a marriage."
J propped her chin up in her palm. He was certainly one to talk. With all the time he spend with Pokemon instead of humans, the impression one could get was an entirely different here as well. "Maybe sometimes, we feel lonely enough to actually break through that barrier of self-imposed celibacy and decide to let someone walk our way with us for a while, however short that may be. Reclusion is easier to bear when you're together."
Zero raised an eyebrow. "My, sis, that almost sounded philosophical! Did you quote that?"
"Yeah, from the book I'm just going to hit you over the head with."
Their older brother laughed, bringing with him, sure enough, a bowl of something that smelled suspiciously like instant soup, and had barely just the right consistency not to be called water with flavor anymore.
And that, J mused sadly, was just the start.
Then again, maybe she could use the dinner to ask him about his latest explores, without arousing his suspicion.
Or, if she was lucky, his pride would get the better of him and he would do so himself.
She glanced at her side, seeing the psychic sitting calmly next to her. It was about time J got her lucky streak back.
"I was surprised to see the two of you out of prison. Weren't you supposed to be detained for some time, actually?" Lawrence asked, taking it to painstakingly highs to ensure that his suit did not get stained. Why he had bothered with serving tomato soup then, of all the things, J could only begin to guess. Likely, it was for him to prove that his superior manners simply prevented him from being maculated in any way.
"So were you, dear brother, if I understood right." She glanced at him, wondering if he would dare to ask her for sources for her claim. She had heard it from the league firsthand, but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for her to have picked it up during her shady travels as well.
"Oh, it pays off to have the right connections when you want to avoid trouble. You know, grease the right wheels, please the right heels."
"Take out your eel and kneel." Zero added, innocently peeking at the wide open class ceiling.
J was inclined to slap her brother in the face if she hadn't been totally surprised at the fact that not only did he manage to fulfill the pun, but also do it in a halfway fitting sexual way. Heck, she hadn't even known her brother to have any understanding of humane reproduction besides the bare basics of biology.
"Something like that." On the other hand, Lawrence was positively unconcerned. He was one of these characters that would, when presented with a stark naked woman having rolled herself up in an Pokemon skin, protest vigorously and unwrap her rabidly in order to preserve the poor, violated artifact.
"You paid your way out of prison. How uncouth. Bad style, brother. I would have expected you to break open the prison walls with your personal helicopter."
Said the one who paid for her freedom with her status as a single.
"You don't know me well, sister, obviously. I haven't owned a helicopter in years. Not spacious enough and the noise, oh dear." He wiped his mouth with a napkin, which, sure enough, stayed as white as his vest. The few tomato particles that had been mixed into the powder had likely dispersed between the three guests.
Excusing himself, he stood up and cleared away the plates. He apologized in advance for not having prepared anything again. "But this joyful occasion came as a total surprise to me, dear sister!"
J tried to squeeze out a smile. "You don't even know…" She wailed quietly.
"It saddens me to say that had I known about it beforehand, I would have prepared more in advance, dear sister. A real banquet. Guests! I would have invited our dear father if you had informed me earlier!"
J faked heaving. "Oh please, spare me the honor." She coughed, hitting her chest in case she had actually chocked on that single piece of tomato paring that was hidden somewhere in the soup. "I mean, thank you for your concerns, brother, but I do not think we want to make a big show out of it." She glanced at Sabrina. Of course she didn't want to spread their so called engagement around, as it was as fake as fake could get. At least one part had that impression. Or hope.
"Actually, I thought it would be more fitting to make it a bigger event comparable to other league happenings, seeing as this is how we met in the beginning."
Hope, definitely hope it was.
J didn't care how suspicious her brother got as she glared furiously at the gym leader, her fear that the psychic was taking this act way too seriously growing by every minute.
"You met at the league? Oh my, sister, what has become of you? You're losing your edge, it seems."
A knife to the wall behind him informed him about the accuracy of his statement.
"My, my, Jean, sister dear, be careful with that. You could hurt someone. Or worse, damage the décor."
She rolled her eyes. "Brother, the Tauros's already dead, the worst I can do is put that skull out of its misery and make it crash to the ground." She paused, pursing her lips. "And we met in prison, let's not get the facts mixed up."
Heaven forbid, that was actually her brother giggling! Now she started to regret wasting that valuable butcher's knife on something that could not cringe with pain anymore.
"That sounds more like it! I see, you still have your amicable sense of humor."
"Nowadays, Law-Law, that's the only thing keeping me sane anymore." She dared to glance at the psychic again, finding her to be all too uncaring, instead preoccupying herself with the sad excuse of a steak that seemed to be made out of her brothers designer shoe soles, marinaded in Botox.
"Hey, may I ask what you've been up to recently, big bro? I haven't seen you in years, you actually finished your collection?" Zero left it open to interpretation what collection he was actually talking about, seeing as how their older brother seemed to collect everything that did not move anymore.
And way too many things that still moved on top of that.
Lawrence sighed deeply. " I am afraid to say that after my first failed attempt at completing my bird Pokemon collection, I was forced to abandon all endeavors of collecting for a while. The better part of it was destroyed along with my first ship. I was only recently able to scrape together the resources needed to restart my collection."
Zero glanced at J, who was slick enough not to let the spike of interest the conversation had just been injected with show.
"You did?" She asked, nevertheless. "My, brother, you never bothered to take up a more sensible hobby?"
"Oh, you mean kinky torture and thievery, like you do? Or IT-management, the occupation Zero barely scrapes through without making a fool out of himself…again, I might add?"
"At least I have a degree!"
"A degree in what? In connecting your computer with the circle of life? Please, Zero. You weren't even going for something tangible!"
J fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Oh, and you were? What palpable proof do you have of your success?"
She saw the gleaming in her brother's eyes, and she knew she had hit the jackpot. "You want to see my achievements with your own eyes, sister? Oh, I can oblige you." He stood up, carefully wiping his mouth again, which hadn't even touched the so-called meat in disguise in the meantime. "Sorry, dessert will have to be cancelled."
J rammed the fork between her younger brother's fingers for emphasize when he dared to pout at these words, but the hunter was positively puzzled when the psychic seemed to be just as crestfallen.
"You haven't missed anything that wouldn't scrape the tissue out of your stomach, anyway." If that cheered up the gym leader, then it only showed in her trying to actually take J's hand in hers. The hunter flinched back just as fast. "No, this is an act, have you forgotten that already?" She hissed under her breath, finding the psychic to putting on the affirmably most childish pout she had ever seen on a living being's face that was verifiably over the age of five.
"Oh, come one, you gotta be kidding me…" She glanced at her brothers, which were already on their way to Lawrence's personal zoo that fully consisted of Pokemon he had totally lawfully acquired. Zero was actually looking shyly over his shoulder, registering that his sister and rightful protector was staying behind.
"Oh, for Arceus sake!" Grudgingly, she took the psychic's hand and yanked her along behind her.
"And these are immensely rare North and South Sea Shellos. It took me seven months of wandering Sinnoh to acquire these beautiful specimens. You see the differentiations in coloration? They're minimal, but they're there. North Sea Shellos is actually of a light peach color, in contrast to the bright pink of the West Sea Shellos, and South Sea Shellos' body is of a powder-blue color…." Lawrence turned around. "Just like our dear sister's hair, no?" He spread his arms. "Tell me, aren't these just beautiful? And so rare, so far, there has not been a single colony found! The sheer existence of these Pokemon is a mystery!"
The psychic at J's side, who refused to let go of her hand no matter how much J punished her by twisting their wrists, took a brief look at the pair of Pokemon. "That is because they're not a different species, but so called shining Pokemon of their respective species. They are rare indeed, but not in the way you're proposing."
"Oh, they are, aren't they?" Lawrence's enthusiasm sank faster than his ship after a direct hit.
J rolled her eyes. The psychic had never learned how to butter someone up, had she? It wasn't exactly advantageous for them to madden Lawrence.
Not that it took much to drive him over the edge, but one didn't need to force it.
Lawrence sighed. "You're a tough nut to crack, I see. Interesting choice you've made there, sister." He grinned. It was the kind of look on his face that made J wish she could just cut it short and hurl him out of the window.
Knowing him, though, he would have hidden a paraglider beneath his suit and give her the finger while flying off into the sunset.
The collector smacked his lip against his gum. "So it seems that I have been forced to get out the big guns now, hm? I'm actually glad it has come to this, sister. Maybe you'll all become witness to my greatest triumph so far! Wouldn't you like that?"
Not any more that she would have liked to lick tomato soup off his floor.
But she had to admit, as far as plans that weren't really well-thought-out plans at all, this worked splendidly well. While she was no fortune teller- not any more than her so called 'fiancée' was, she would certainly make the bet that whatever her brother was gushing about now had to do a lot with the birds. They were, after all, what he liked to describe as his Holy Grail.
"Well, what do we have here?"
"An overgrown, burned turkey?" Zero asked, crossing his arms over the other.
"No, and this time, I'm fairly sure I'm not mistaken!" Lawrence hissed. "Witness the burning fire of the legendary bird, Moltres! Isn't it enlightening? Isn't it, ah, I know, almost romantic, to stand so close to the radiant of the sun?"
Sure. If only he would step a little bit closer so that his hair would actually get scorched. That would be sight to behold and keep in mind! That would warm up her heart!
J scoffed as she noticed that the psychic had taken the chance to grab her arm and hold it tight, emphasizing that it would be hard to get rid of her now. If J had actually worried about possessiveness being a problem before, she now certainly did.
Lawrence sighed deeply. "It has been years since I last had the chance to see a Moltres that close up."
„Ehm, no, Lawrence, this is actually our sister blushing up a storm!" Zero giggled.
J wouldn't have minded getting back at least enough of her freedom in order to be able to punch her younger brother. Surprisingly, the psychic obliged, even if only by leaving J's side for a short moment. Yet, still, it gave her enough time to walk over to Lawrence, and examine the captured Legendary. It was, she had to admit, a sight to behold from up close.
Moltres was caught in what J assumed was one of the so called Enormous balls. They were unlike any other Pokeball she had ever seen or come into possession thereof. Normal Pokeballs, as far as she knew, weren't transparent. They also didn't have the neat feature of the Pokemon being visible behind their dome, something which might depict the consequence of transparent walls. But even this novelty could not explain properly why the Moltres was positively glowing with an eerie, golden hue. J had seen her fair deal of legendaries in her life, and she was positive that none of them had emitted this kind of light over a longer amount of time, especially not when the Pokemon seemed to be in a state of trance, or sleep.
She whistled, if only to uphold the impression that she was taken aback by his achievement. "Not bad, Law-Law, for someone who couldn't properly tie his show-laces at thirteen." She glanced downwards. "And at thirty-seven, nothing has changed, I see." She coughed, before her brother could point out that her bra holder had slipped out of place, as that wasn't her fault, but rather that of an overly enthusiastic psychic who had taken up the goal of dislocating J's shoulder while appearing as clingy as possible without verging into stalker territory.
But then again, giving her actions, the psychic was likely not even above such.
And who was there to stop her, if she did? Police? Certainly not.
J sighed, deciding to squeeze more information out of her brother to keep her mind off the less pressing, but no less disturbing matter of the psychic posing as her future bride. "Mind illuminating how you managed to catch Moltres? We're family, no need to withhold secrets." If something like Karma existed, she was up for an anvil dropped on her for that single lie alone.
Lawrence seemed to be of similar opinion, but his pride got the better of him before he could challenge her question. "It was a tedious process, dear sister. First, I had to wring out the blue-prints for these wonderful devices out of the league's hands." He petted the smooth surface of the Ball, his visage, as J noted with disgust, being reflected. "The league wanted to impress the public with their huge Balls, but I beat them to it by building my own giant Balls." J glanced at Zero, finding him to be grinning as well. "Then I spend around a whole month loitering around the Silver Mountains before I was able to locate the cave of Moltres. In hindsight, that was the easier part of the mission. It was much harder to squeeze my solid, sizeable Balls into the tight entrance of the cave without damaging them. Convincing Moltres to jump onto them was less difficult because of my impressive persuasive character."
J had to bit her tongue to keep herself from laughing. Likewise, Zero had started staring at the ceiling with a look that seemed strangely otherworldly. Only the stoic psychic remained.
J poked her in the side. "It wouldn't kill you to crack a real smile for once!"
Sabrina glared back.
"Once Moltres was safely placed in one of my gigantic Balls, I had to transport it back into the ship, which proved to be even more difficult than the action of removing them, because my Ball was now considerably heavier."
Zero seemed to have stopped breathing in order to keep himself from laughing, while J's chest was the only thing betraying her amusement.
The psychic still stared ahead, but J could tell that it was all façade and not much restrain left.
"Once that was done, well, I was able to place the Ball with Moltres inside into the museum."
"You plan on putting your tremendous Balls on exhibition?" J asked as dryly as she could while her lungs were positively burning.
"Well, of course."
"So people will come to see them?" Zero uttered with as much strength as he had left in him, conspirationally winking at his sister.
"That is my hope."
J glanced at the psychic. She was close, so very close.
"You must be proud of your massive Balls then." Was it really that hard to talk without breathing? Or, for the matter, to live on without a tongue, as Zero seemed to be intent on biting his off.
Lawrence, to their misfortune, was getting suspicious. "Of course. Though I must admit, without the league, I would have never come into their possession, or else, we would have soon started a competition of who is able to create bigger Balls."
"Oh, I see. That must have been…" J waited for the perfect moment to deliver the punch line, glancing at her side. "…a tough nut to crack."
And with that, the golem at her side finally cracked as well, breaking out into guffawing so bright and loud that J almost didn't believe it to be coming from the creepiest woman she had ever met.
"You…" J wasn't sure which word the psychic was actually going for, but assumed that it would rhyme with 'witch', as Sabrina actually treaded on her foot, all the while crying with laughter and holding her chest tightly in case she toppled over with an unexpected heart attack.
"…did I miss something?" Lawrence asked.
"Nope." Zero grinned. "Just the taming of the unhumorous."
If Lawrence hadn't known it any better- and actually had a sense of humor that was triggered by immature puns, he would have said he had been witness to the first time ever that his sister didn't response to physical violence by blasting the offender into space.
Instead, she was positively having a blast with that 'fiancée' of hers…
Sadly, their moment of reconciliation was broken by the shrill sound of a siren going off.
"What went wrong?" Zero asked, blinking, still in the possession of his gustatory organ despite having done his darndest to choke on it before.
"Zapdos." Lawrence explained in an eerily dreamy voice.
"Zapdos went wrong?"
"No, you idiot! Zapdos is appearing!"
J and Sabrina shared a look. The hunter contemplated if and how she could snag the electric bird right under her brother's fingers, while the psychic wanted nothing more than to prevent exactly that from happening.
And, if she couldn't help it, without turning anyone present into a small child's toy. It was an option left, though…
Lawrence seemed to forget altogether about his guests and instead went up into his own cloud of grand delusions.
Or command centre. That worked as well.
With him having disappeared upstairs, the three more or less voluntary league employees had no other choice but to follow the starry eyed collector.
There, it seemed as if he came at least back to his senses long enough to register the presence of spectators.
"Attention! Behold! Witness the power of human technology conquering the natural beauty of a beast!"
J kicked Zero before he could actually agree with his older brother.
In front of Lawrence's ship was something that could, with the suitable humbleness, only be described as a natural disaster. And it was neither a haircut gone wrong nor someone pissing off the powerful psychic.
Which might, in fact, be one and the same thing.
No, it was the legendary bird of thunder, Zapdos, who had just decided to wake up from its slumber and take a short fly around the lake it protected oh so well. Only for it to suddenly be assaulted by flamethrowers.
J crossed her arms. "You improved, brother. Last time, you only had artificial tasers."
"And that disadvantages me how, dear sister? Do I need to refresh your memory to make you bear in mind that I had caught all three birds last time, despite having only artificial tasers, as you imbecile call them?"
J shrugged. "It just seemed inefficient. You wasted energy with the tasers and by keeping the Pokemon in these artificial cages." She nodded to her calcification gun. "As statues, the only thing they consume is space."
Which Lawrence had in abundant, but that was neither here nor there.
"My sister, ever the analyzer." Lawrence shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Let's begin the capture progress!"
And just this moment, the siren went off a second time.
Lawrence furrowed his brows. "Something went wrong this time." He uttered, before gliding over his control panel with smooth, fast fingers.
J would have to ask him later how this was possible with gloves on.
Then again, she mused, she would get a very long-winded explanation battle between her brothers, and she was just not ready for this kind of mind-numbing lecture yet. She certainly hadn't indulged in enough alcohol for allowing that to happen.
Lawrence's hands were flying over the control panel, his eyes jerking from one side to another, as various pictures switched in rapid succession over the screen. J could barely register the images and was sure she had seen at least once the private chamber of her brother, which, just as she had expected, consisted of a bed and a drawer and nothing more.
Her brother grumbled deep. "It seems that we have even more guests." Of the unwelcomed kind.
And then, the round dance of pictures finally stopped long enough for the trio to actually register them, and immediately, Sabrina and J shared a look of negative foreboding.
Lawrence sighed. "So the league is already on our heels. How unfortunate."
J had recognized the young man at once, and was sure of his identity, even if she was quite baffled at him still wearing that plain, black mask weeks after the masque ball had taken place. Still, there was no other individual that could represent an eggplant that easily.
Who she didn't recognize, though, was the woman following in his shadows. The surveillance pictures weren't blurred or anything, so her attire was bluntly visible. And even J, who had seen her fair share of agents over the years, had to admit that she was positively bewildered.
And yet, she reminded herself, someone who took on a secret mission in high heels was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
„That is Karen", the psychic, hunched behind J, whispered in a strange thunderous tone.
"You know her?" J asked back, lamely, well aware that bringing up her 'fiancée's' occupation might tip Lawrence off. And with all the more good reason, even!
"Yes. Of course. She is an Elite Four, just like William is." The psychic paused, seemingly unsure of her next words. "She's also Will's girlfriend."
"And is that important in any way?" Zero asked, ducking away from his sister's elbow just before it would have broken his nose a second time.
"I don't know about you, Zero, but from my experience, couples working together in secret missions always pose a bigger problem than single individuals." She snarled. The topic held a lot of explosives in store for her. "They have more to lose. Never piss off couples, or, heaven forbid, actually injure one part. The other will swear revenge, Zero, that you won't even be able to find our asshole after they've blown you to pieces."
Lawrence, whose mind was occupied by finding ways to do just that to the infiltrating league agents, paused long enough to bare a teething smile at his younger sister. "Oh, of course you've got experience with that, Jean. Of course."
The single, the only, the one reason why J didn't pull out her gun at this moment and blasted his pitch clotted lips through his throat and out of the back of his head was because she had no idea how to navigate his ship, and while she was sure that her younger brother would be able to maneuver it without as much as a manual, she didn't want to begrime his virgin eyes with their older brother's flesh.
That was the tiniest bit too macabre, even for her.
Maybe the psychic would take over for her.
"Any plan on how we deal with them?" Zero asked lamely. He still threw a glance at his two team mates, but they were holding back for the moment.
Lawrence straightened his back and went over to Moltres' glass prison. "We won't." He pushed a button on a remote control he had carried with him from the control panel, and the Ball started to light up, as did Lawrence's eyes. "Moltres will."
Again, over the course of her impressive career, J had seen and captured several legendary Pokemon, and she was pretty sure this was not the end of the road for her, either. Moltres hadn't been on her bucket list, so far, which meant that she was in for a new experience. And one hell of it, it was. The opening of a Pokeball was, normally, not a spectacle to behold. In fact, it got pretty lame after the third or fourth time, at which most of the recipients were ten-year old children. Therefore, someone more than twenty years older had seen her fair share of Pokemon freed and didn't think much of it anymore.
But just like the giant Ball itself proved to be a miracle, so did the release of Moltres. The Ball erupted into blinding, white light, sprinkled with golden flakes and soon afterwards with the glimmering ashes of Moltres' wings. The bird screeched, and shook itself, causing sparks to hit the entire floor. It cranked its neck and turned to its captor, the look in its eyes angry at best, outright furious and murderous at worst.
Lawrence's face turned sour. "Well, while it is understandable that you would be upset over your capture, Moltres, let's not forget that it is me who is your official trainer now, and therefore, you have to obey me!"
As if negotiating with a legendary bird had ever been an option. Especially one that couldn't even have been calmed down by its supervisor Lugia.
And what had Moltres done to Lugia, instead? Yes, attacked it, indeed.
Which just made for the brightest outlook for Lawrence, after all.
The collector gulped. "Is this how Pokemon normally behave? You tell me, you are trainers, after all."
Sabrina sighed, almost, if she had been capable of showing her disappointment. She had only just started to allow herself to laugh in front of J, it would be too much of a stretch to ask her to expand her emotional display just yet. "The huge Balls are prototypes. It may be that they are not sophisticated enough yet to include the taming mechanism."
"You're telling me now?!"
"You never asked…"
Lawrence took a deep breath. "Jean, you might have to rethink your choice of partners."
J, on the other hand, crossed her arms. "Never thought less about it, brother."
And this moment, several, unfortunate things happened at once.
For once, Moltres became aware of its rival Zapdos circling the unusual object invading its territory, and having literally a bird's brain, the fire Pokemon had no other incentive anymore than to prove to the world that it truly was the most powerful of the trio, and with a mighty battle cry, it broke through the glass front, which in turn alerted Zapdos to the double invasion and caused the thunder bird to attack not only Moltres, but everything in its direct vicinity, which included the sad group of humans.
On the other hand, this was also the moment the two Elite trainers stormed the halls as well, their respective Pokemon at their sides.
Almost reflexive, J called upon her Salamence, while she saw out of the corner of her eye her brother getting his Magnezone ready.
Both were stopped short, though, by the psychic scolding them. "Did you forget which side of the law you are on, for the moment?"
J rolled her eyes. "Sorry, automatic reaction." Still, she felt more comfortable having a Pokemon by her side right now, especially since things were getting ugly no ten feet to their left between Zapdos and Moltres.
Something which the two Elite trainers obviously noticed as well.
"My, how did you manage to wreak so much havoc in such a short amount of time again, Sabrina?" The young man, their wanna-be blackmailer Will, asked.
Sabrina, to give her credit, didn't even cater to his words. She grabbed J's wrist and teleported them over to the two trainers, so that they would have a suitable and competent human shield. "Are you going to take care of this?" She asked with a strangely hissy voice.
"Sure…." Now, J realized why the psychic might have acted up. Whoever this woman was that accompanied Will, she was something to be wary of, and J didn't say this from a villain's, but from a mere sane human's point of view. No one who could utter a single word with such a morbid combination of carnality and frenzy that it chilled her down to her bones should be trusted, ever.
And that was before Karen turned around and licked her pinky.
"Gengar!" She called out. Her action had apparently been command enough for the grinning ghost, as the Pokemon disappeared into the shadows, and reappeared over in-between the fighters, all the while wearing the most fashionable slasher smile J had ever seen on a Pokemon. It wasn't as offsetting as it was on its trainer, for sure, but the difference was, all in all, marginable. The Gengar then proceeded to laugh loudly at the two unfortunate birds, who had no idea how to properly react and backpedaled fast. Not fast enough for the ghost, though, as it licked over the whole of Zapdos' forehead- J asked herself if that shouldn't hurt, given that Zapdos' feather structure made it look as if it had outgrown Carvanha's Rough Skin, before Gengar disappeared back into the shadows, all the while cackling to itself.
J glanced at Sabrina. Hadn't the psychic owned a Haunter herself? Should that worry her?
Whatever effect the Lick attack had on Gengar, it was clear that Zapdos was affected gravely by it. The bird stood still and stiff, its eyes wide open with a look as if it had been caught walking out of its nest with only its boxers on.
Which was absurd in case of a wild bird, but it made for an interesting mental picture, anyways.
"Xatu!" Now with Zapdos being taken out of the game, the psychic Elite Four felt comfortable sending out his own bird Pokemon, which promptly went over to the slightly stunned Moltres. Again, no direct attack was being uttered, but J had the feeling that this time, it was the consequence of telepathy being used.
Now, J knew enough about Pokemon attacks to be aware of the fact that Hypnosis' accuracy was anything but overwhelming. And still the strange bird Pokemon managed to lure the much bigger legendary bird Pokemon into sleep almost immediately, without burning its wings off.
She retreated slowly, keeping her guard up. These two were Elite trainers for a reason, and while she had no problem with going on a collision course with the Elites of her own region, that was rooted in the fact that she knew them by now.
And they knew her.
It hadn't come to the point of mutual respect yet, but at least each party was aware of the other's dangerousness.
And speaking of danger…
"No!" Her brother, enraged by this unfortunate turn of events, jumped behind his control panel, swiftly pushing some way too ominous buttons.
Their effect, though…
"Oha, out of the way!" Zero exclaimed, boarding his Magnezone and flying out of the contact zone before the giant Pokeball could roll over him. The stunned Zapdos was taken by surprise, though- mostly because it was paralyzed and could not move away any way, and was hit by the structure, at first falling over like a tumbled statue.
Then, though, its paralysis was broken off. And as if that wasn't enough bad luck in itself, the riot woke Moltres up, of course.
"Thanks for your input, brother! Really! Couldn't have done it any better, myself!" J snarled.
Lawrence himself fumed just as much. "Sister, do I have to remind you which side of the law you are usually located on, as well?"
J glanced at Zero, who had landed next to her and answered first. "Well, brother, I'm on the side that pays me the most, and, I'm afraid, since the league pays us anything, while you don't pay us anything at all…"
"And as for me, I'm on whatever side my girlfriend is on." J crossed her arms, before she had the chance to register what she had just said and start an invalid tantrum as well.
Zero tutted her. „Fiancée actually, don't forget that."
Of course, that caused a confusion, as not everyone present had been aware of the apparent change in status.
"What?" Will asked, turning around and alternately glancing between J and Sabrina. "Well, that escalated quickly…"
J rolled her eyes. "You're telling me, boy…"
"Don't you boy me, hag! I am long since no boy anymore!"
It was by no means certain, but without Sabrina holding her back, J might in fact have attacked their only sane savior. And a good thing it was that she was being restrained in the end, because while she was fully capable of dealing with legendaries when she had enough time to prepare and the right equipment on hand, handling two of them that were exceptionally angry without arrangements in advance was a bit troublesome.
Elite trainers, it seemed though, were always prepared for these occasions and knew how to de-escalate them.
"Gengar, Confuse Ray!"
On the other hand, some Elite trainers seemed to find joy in upsetting the balance and causing even more collateral damage.
"Xatu, Confuse Ray!"
And apparently, some amorously involved Elite trainers forgot all basic rules of fighting as soon as they were battling alongside their significant other and just went their way, their sanity taking a holiday.
From the moment on the two confused legendary birds began trashing the finely selected interior of Lawrence's ship, J swore to herself that she could never let her own battle style be influenced by that of the strange psychic. She knew the power of the Elite Four, and she knew enough about their cleverness and cunningness to determine that all these two were up to was even more trouble.
In fact, they seemed to enjoy the chaos they had just produced, putting further discredit to their pedigrees.
"Xatu, Whirlwind!"
No, Moltres using Flame Wheel on the pillars wasn't enough of a hazard. It had to be a burning tornado to really get across how awesome the situation truly was.
"Is the league always this suicidal?" J asked lamely, turning to the only one who could even give her a sensible answer.
The hunter wouldn't have been able to read Sabrina's face even if her life depended on it. The stoic was back to her old ways. "No, I assume not. But the G-Men in general have a different concept of danger and peril."
"Good to know. Remind me never to set foot in Kanto again, honey."
"Will do."
J turned back to her, surprised. "I wasn't serious…"
And again, she wasn't all too sure, but she thought she might have seen the psychic giving her a minuscule smile. "Good. I would have regretted repeating your oath to you."
Glass crashing brought an abrupt end to their discussion, as Zapdos had decided that the hall was hideous enough as it was and didn't need any more fake artifacts lying around uselessly. It might also have been that Zapdos' sense of direction was influenced by the colorful swirls it saw dancing around its head, reminiscent of that one time it had indulged a bit too much in fermented fruits.
Either way, the consequence was that a shower of sharp glass shards raining down on the humans. Zero took hide behind his Magnezone, while Will shielded everyone else with a psychic barrier.
"Would you already cut the show, and take care of the job the way Lance instructed you to?" Sabrina asked her colleague in the same strangely gnarly voice she had used before. She also glared daggers into Karen's back, who, to J's surprise, seemed to notice the invisible assault and turned back, tongue out.
Usually, this was an act of exposure, meant to embarrass the recipient. While this wouldn't have worked in this case either way, J was sure that the undertone of Karen's action was anything but innocent. In fact, it rubbed her in quite the wrong way again, and she found herself edging towards the border of the psychic barrier. If she had to choose between being close to this woman, wiggling her tongue like a thirsty Growlithe, and having her eyes pierced by stray shards, she would gladly choose the latter.
"Okay, okay, killjoy." Will wagged his hand, and the control panel that Lawrence had been clutching the whole time left his hands and reappeared in the male psychic's ownership. "What do you think, baby? Capture ourselves some birds?"
Karen nodded, eyes wide open and jaw clacking against her upper teeth. J would wager that this was her way of impersonating her own Gengar.
"William…."
At the personified sound of impending doom, J edged away a few more feet, yet found that the safest place next to the wall was already occupied by her brother and his Pokemon. Ruthlessly, she let Salamence take on the job of scaring the two of them away.
"Lance wanted the birds to remain free. I do know that you have the authority to catch them, but I do not think that this was the intention our supervisor had for this mission."
The other psychic rolled his eyes. "Really, Sabrina, do you have to spoil all the fun? Haven't you seen how majestic these giant Balls look like? I bet they would suit little old me very well!"
J and Zero shared a look. Sabrina took the time to glare at them at the speed of light, before turning back to Will, angrily. "There are plenty of other options they can be used on. Besides, they are prototypes. They were never meant to be used outside of the test laboratory so far. We do not know how they'll affect the Pokemon inside."
"Fine, fine….can't get away with nothing when you're around, I see." His eyes seemed to linger longer on J than was necessary, and the hunter felt herself becoming uncomfortable with his glance. So much that she detached herself from the wall and placed herself near the Saffron gym leader.
William sighed. "Okay, how about that…your 'fiancée's' brother there", if his gesture was to be understood right, he found the sudden betrothal to be fishy as well. Sadly, Sabrina would have disagreed with him on that," and I take care of Moltres. Lure it out of here and back towards its territory in the Silver Mountains eastwards, hm? Dear Karen here knocks Zapdos out so we prevent it from following Moltres and safely return it to the lake as well. No worries, the lake will heal it, special electrical currents in the water, or something." He shrugged. "And you two can take care of the dumbass behind me who tries to glue some fake China back together."
There was an uproar of protest as Lawrence claimed that he had the right certificates to document the authenticity of all of his belongings.
The female psychic's sigh was almost inaudible. "Agreed." She looked at J, who shrugged. Taking care of her brother was not on her list of hobbies, but that was merely because they didn't meet often enough. Otherwise, she would have gladly started giving him the same treatment as she did with Zero, just a bit, ah, harsher in case of Lawrence.
Gotta show how she played favorites, after all.
Avoiding the obstacles on their way down the stairs proved to be more difficult than J had anticipated, and involved, to her chagrin, the psychic jumping up her prized Salamence as well and hugging her for balance.
"You couldn't do that on your own?" J asked sarcastically, while keeping her face straight and in front of them, not only in order to look out for any more debris thrown their way, but also to hide the raising blush from everyone present.
She definitely didn't want to end this endeavor with a mass murder. Not just yet, when she hadn't had the joy of kicking Lawrence in the, pardon, balls yet.
"Not as long as she's around…" Sabrina hissed, much to J's surprise. The hunter would have liked to ask her what exactly she was mumbling about, but they had to land first. Lawrence, being less than sixty feet away from them, had obviously heard about the new plan, and wasn't all too keen on being captured and imprisoned in succession, muss less by his own sister.
In pretty much the last ditch effort that he could come up with, his grabbed his own miniature tasers. Yet, just because they easily fitted into his palms, they were no less dangerous when you wanted to avoid having the most outrageous hair style ever, oh, and didn't want to be electrocuted to death. J was well aware of that, and therefore, didn't waste any time aiming her own calcification gun at him.
"You traitorous bitch!" Lawrence shrieked, before hiding behind a desk, which immediately changed structure and material in ways humanity could not explain just yet.
"Sorry, I could not understand you clearly over your bitchy whining!" J snarled. She glanced backwards for a moment, just to be sure that her younger brother was safely accompanied by the psychic Elite four. How it was physically possible for a Natu, of all things, to carry a full-grown, adult man, was beyond her knowledge, but she wouldn't be surprised if some psychic power wasn't featured as well.
She jumped backwards in surprise when her brother came out crawling from under the desk and shot off the electric beam at her. She barely avoided the thundershock, although Lawrence's advance was cut short by something resembling a midnight black stream from the side. It didn't even fully came in contact with her brother- barely grazing his suit, and still, the fabric hissed and dissolved, as if it had been doused with acid.
"What is…"
"Shadow Ball."
Apparently, yes, the psychic still had her Haunter. And that strange ectoplasmatic being that J hadn't quite come to terms with was an not only a great comedian and conqueror of its own trainer, but also an excellent battler on its own.
Lawrence had to jump over the desk in order to avoid the Shadow Ball, which disappeared as it came into contact with the solid object.
"Oh, how nice of you to make a detour! I was waiting for you…" Momentarily forgetting that it would have been easier to turn him into a statue- if certainly less satisfying, she tried to ram her elbow into his face, only for him to sidestep her, making her lose and balance and subsequently making her fall from Salamence and hitting the modified desk with a harsh grunt.
She turned around quickly, knowing her brother not to be a slacker in this regard, and just as she had expected- and feared, if she had been honest with herself, he had already use his chance to taser her Pokemon- which was a pitiful attempt in itself, but it angered and irritated the dragon enough that it lost its focus and crashed to the ground as well, shaking its sizzling head.
One opponent taken care of for the moment, Lawrence jumped down towards her, taser in hand, grabbing a knife that had oh so conveniently been left over from dinner. She would have likely managed to push him to the side, but thankfully, that wasn't needed. The psychic had had left Haunter to his own devices- if J's eyes didn't betray her, he was currently supporting Karen's Gengar, and now she proceeded to kick Lawrence to the side before he could hurt the hunter.
Lawrence responded by growling and throwing the knife in the general direction of the psychic, who, for a split moment, looked taken aback and had to duck out of the flight path in order to keep her face from being speared.
"YOU BASTARD!" J positively roared, forgetting herself for a moment. And considering we are talking about an already ruthless hunter here, it was a miracle she didn't just bite through Lawrence's neck the next moment.
She grabbed his collar, and pressed him against the glass walls, fully intending on crushing his trachea. "Don't you dare to hurt her…don't you dare to hurt another of my girlfriends. You have done enough damage already." She hissed with the malice of Nemesis, disregarding the fact that the psychic was behind her and seemed utterly confused about the deal.
Lawrence, speech being a slight inconvenience for him since breathing was hard enough as it was, hacked. "Oh, are you still sour because of Miya? I told you, I have nothing to do with her death, that was an accident…"
J pulled at his collar again, nearly ripping the fabric apart. "I do not believe in coincidences anymore when it concerns you, brother. Not only were you with her, it was your fucking idea to join in the first place! And look what happened! She is gone! Gone! Just when we were ready to take on the world! We could have had everything! We would have raised her daughter together, as a real family, not the lousy excuse you and father pretended to have! But no, you had to put this idea of grandeur in her mind, and encourage her on taking this mission! Ending with her death! You…." She pushed him against the glass, intend on doing so until it would crack and she could hurl him out, downwards towards his misery, his face disappearing from her life forever and for the better.
A miniature coughing from behind held her back. "Jean, I think it would be better to turn him over to the police."
Her shoulders slumping, all of her anger leaving her like a faucet turned on, she fell to her knees and let Lawrence fall to his side next to her.
No, she would not cry. A hunter J did not cry. A hunter J had a minor eye irritation that resulted in discharge, but never cried.
She heard someone walking up to her, and guessed, correctly, that it was the psychic, who was silently approached her. Sabrina took a short look at Lawrence, who was on the floor, gasping for air like a deranged Magikarp. Taking another glance in the direction of the Elite trainer, who was still in the middle of her battle with Zapdos with the additional help of her own Absol and Sabrina's Haunter, the psychic sighed. She was frustrated by the ordeal of having to wait until the dark woman actually withdrew her Pokemon before she could be of any substantial help.
"Are you alright?" She asked J, coughing politely. There was another burning question on her mind right now, but she felt confident in guessing that it was nothing J wanted to cater to right now.
"Yeah…I think so." It was less than a lie when she believed it herself, right?
J stood up, rubbing all resemblance of mourning out of her eyes, and followed the psychic's gaze towards Karen. The trainer had easily gotten the upper hand, but it was hard to tell whether or not she was succeeding in her goal of beating Zapdos. Or, rather, whenever she actually wanted to succeed, as it seemed that she was positively toying with her prey like a carnivorous Pokemon before the kill strike.
J made a face. Definitely role model material for the young generation of trainers.
"Should we help her out?" J asked. She nodded towards Salamence, who had taken it upon itself to guard Lawrence, both from ill-willed attempts at fleeing as well as the wrath of his ill-tempered sister.
"She should be able to take care of this on her own."
And by all means, she was. She just prolonged the inevitable, by deliberately using attacks that did little damage, but annoyed Zapdos to no end. Sabrina was irritated at seeing Haunter joining the fun, so she called him back before he could actually take upon Karen's battle style.
What she hadn't expected to provoke with her action, though, was an attack going astray.
J actually saw it before Sabrina did, which in itself was an oddity that screamed for explanation. Yet no matter how fast they could have reacted, though, they wouldn't have been able to stop the attack.
In J's eyes, it was just a dark blur across her field of vision. Like a distortion following an invisible path, slightly crescent-shaped. The attack had been intended for Zapdos, obviously, but the bird had shifted when the threat of the smaller ghost was removed from the game, and thus, the attack suddenly drifted towards the two women.
J quickly jumped to the side, Sabrina a moment later to the other side. Still, she didn't manage to avoid it fully, and her left hand was caught in it, causing her to shriek uncharacteristically loudly with pain.
If J hadn't exhausted her whole arsenal of nasty actions for that day, and didn't feel mentally tired for some reason, and didn't know fully well that she was dealing with a dark Elite trainer here, she would have had a word with Karen, and it wouldn't be a nice one.
Instead, she slowly crawled over to the psychic, who sat hunched against the wall, holding her wrist in her hand and wincing every time she as much as tried to move it.
"What was that?" She was aware that Pokemon attacks had a different effect on humans, and she was all too well aware of how dark attacks absolutely trashed psychic Pokemon, but she had never seen a dark attack hurt a human psychic.
Then again, Sabrina was the very first human psychic she had gotten to know personally.
"You're alright?" She asked softly, fully knowing that her question was actually unnecessary. Of course the psychic wasn't alright, would she of all people cringe with pain, otherwise?
Still, the younger woman took a moment to answer. "It will be alright. It will take a while to fade, but there won't be lasting damage."
"What damage at all, if you forgive me the blunt question?"
A sigh. "The effect of a dark attack on a psychic is not visible to the mere eye. It is an injury on a deeper level. You might as well say that it rips apart the Aura of a being, yet actually, that is oversimplifying things bit."
Oversimplifying and incomprehensible at the same time. She would have congratulated her on that achievement if not for the morbidity of it.
J blinked. "So you'll be alright?"
"Yes. Give it a day or two."
"Hey, girls! Sorry, that was not intentional, my dear baby here misaimed!" Karen swiftly jumped onto the platform next to them, her Absol on her heels, purring as its mistress petted its furry collar.
Sabrina forgave her fast. Too fast for J's liking. "Have you beaten Zapdos?"
An eager nod. "Of course I have! Birdie did not know what came over it, hah!"
J raised an eyebrow. Not only the 'birdie'…
Karen turned around. "And here are our Lords and Misters."
That was…grossly overestimating the tiny amount of respect J had for her brother, but it made for a nice entrance any way.
"Got Moltres back into its cave for all it's worth!" Zero said, while jumping from his airborne Magnezone. J noted that he had some burn marks all over his body, as did his Magnezone. Still, both of them looked oddly proud with themselves. She would have to beat that out of them later before it could have lasting effects on his self-assurance.
Will followed. "Zero here agreed to fly the ship to the headquarters so we can properly confiscate it. Guess Lance will be happy about another vehicle in his already impressive car pool." The psychic paused. "I hope so, at least…"
"So we're out of woods?"
"Well, figuratively, dear sister…"
J rolled her eyes, purposefully knocking the end of her gun into Zero's chest.
Sabrina slowly stood up, bowing to Will, and, to a smaller, next to none existent amount, to Karen, before turning to J. "If you'll excuse me, I'll take my time to heal now…I'll see you again in due time."
J was just about to ask the psychic how she was supposed to return to her own ship, since they were still airborne despite massive damage having been dealt to the ship, when she felt the familiar tingle of a teleport enveloping her whole body.
And surely, seconds later, she was left standing in the middle of the command centre of her own ship.
Her henchmen had obviously not expected their leader to return at any given time, since they were busy watching certain movies on the main screen.
J snarled. She wouldn't have punished them so hard if they had actually been watching porn movies, as men their age were supposed to, but no, her useless suckers actually had to watch cartoons…
End Part III
Epilogue
"And your hand is okay?" J asked, head resting in her palm. A few days had gone by, and she had actually started to worry about the psychic, since she hadn't heard anything from her, and the papers were also suspiciously quiet about anything other than the actual imprisonment of her older brother. Someone within the league must have been pulling string either way, as neither her nor her brother were mentioned anywhere. Officially, it were forces of the league itself- in other words, the holy G-Men, that were responsible for this successful endeavor.
Not that she was jealous, or angry at being embezzled. The less attention that was brought to her name, the better.
"Yes. I told you it would heal after a while. It was a mere inconvenience not being able to use it for a few days." The psychic, standing stiff across her, answered.
"Good." J paused. She had wanted to add that she had worried for the psychic's health for a moment, seeing her hand basically paralyzed by something well out of her realm of understanding, but she would rather bite her tongue off than actually doing so.
It didn't matter, as the mind reader let a tiny smirk show. That smile disappeared fast, though. "There is something else I wanted to talk about."
J closed her eyes. "If it's about what I said at Lawrence's…"
"Yes."
"I didn't mean the girlfriend part. That just…slipped out." She turned her head to the side. Definitely she hadn't meant that. A true slip of the tongue, nothing more.
Sabrina paused. "That was not what I meant." There was no need to talk about this bit. Sabrina knew as well as J did that she had meant it, actually.
"If it's about Lawrence and his…questionable deeds in the past, you won't get any information squeezed out of me, either. Read my mind if it's of any importance to you."
Sabrina shook her head. Not that she was above such actions, but that was certainly not her point of interest, either.
For the moment, at least.
"Then what?"
"…Lawrence was talking about your father. He made no mention of your mother, though."
J rolled her eyes and nearly groaned. So they went from one unfortunate topic to another, eh?
"That's because she's dead."
"Oh. My deepest sympathy."
"No need, honey. She died twenty-four years ago, just a year after Zero was born. He knows next to nothing about her. With father and Lawrence, I was the only kind of motherly figure left in the family." She laughed emptily. "I don't think I did a very good job."
Sabrina wisely, for once, chose not to comment that. "I have talked to Lance. The league's compensation should arrive within the next days. I shall also relay his deepest gratitude for your and your brother's assistance in this delicate business."
J shrugged it off. "How's Zero, by the way? I heard he's getting along quite well with Professor Oak and…how was his assistance's name again? Giles?"
Sabrina opened her mouth, only to freeze. "I…think so." She paused, then coughed. "Indeed. He is presenting himself as a very talented young man who will certainly be of great help for the professor in the future." The psychic paused again. "And you?"
"Hm?"
"Do you have any plans?"
J shrugged. "I've gotten an assignment in concerning the Regigigas around Snowpoint. And let's not forget the issue with the giant Dragonite that still needs to be solved. Let's see what can be done about that."
"I would wish you good luck on that, but that would speak against my chosen alignment."
J laughed. "No trouble, honey. You certainly were enough of a lucky charm recently." She slowly stood up, intending to end the conversation.
Yet, once she was on her feed, she stopped in her movement. "I'll see ya around?" She asked, a few decibel quieter than what was the usual volume for J.
Sabrina didn't answer her. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed J straight on the lips.
Breaking the kiss off just as swiftly as she had initiated it, the psychic teleported away with a smirk.
J, for her part, stood there, slightly dazzled, until she managed to shake her head and let herself fall back into her chair, thankful that she had invited the psychic into her personal quarters. She was fairly sure that had the kiss actually taken place in her command centre, there would be no survivors left to tell the tale.
And that undoubtedly included herself.
But before she could sit down, she felt something small, solid shifting in her pocket. Blinking, she picked it up.
It was an USB-Stick, labeled with four letters- "EB-BP", wrapped in a hand-written note.
'I did not humor myself by stealing them just for fun.'