Chapter V: Resurgence
September 27, 2061 1:01 p.m.
The room was cold as ice.
A single figure sat behind the glass; only identifiable from where the captive sat by its silhouette. With his hands and legs bound, he was only able to look up and down towards the glass. Of course, he was asleep at the moment…
"…Let us begin."
Wires strapped to the chair sent hundreds of volts into his body, jarring him awake with a plethora of curses and yells from the excruciating pain.
"*huff* *huff* Augh…what the…fuck…"
"Good evening, Rocket. Did you sleep well?" The feminine voice came through speaker overhead as the captive began to adjust to the light of the lamp above. Looking around himself, he tried to pull his arm out of the chair restraint…
Another charge went through him, stiffening his muscles once more. Within the moment the shock ended, allowing him to take in several ragged breaths.
"*huff*…where am I?"
The woman behind the glass bent her head to the microphone at the table she sat at. "You are under Kanto Army Marines custody, Rocket. I believe that you know why you're in this position now."
He gritted his teeth, extending and retracting his right fingers. "Yeah, I can tell…and I'm not telling you shit, bitch."
"Hmph. I suppose you liked the shocks I gave you then. I'll give you another if you don't want to talk…
…and by the way, I'm what you would call 'psychic'."
He eyed her nervously. "So that means…"
"That I can read your mind, yes. In other words, I may not be able to get information from your mind directly, but I can most definitely tell when you're lying and I can also take the information from you when you just think about it. So far I know that you are from Team Rocket Shock Squadron, Division Seven. Any chance that you might want to give me your name?"
"…Fine. It's Darrel. Happy?" He spat back, looking away. Up in the observation box the woman ran a hand through her long, dark hair. "It's a start, Darrel. Let's move on now."
…
"Pulse, are they advancing at all?"
"…No. They're still holding their position. Anything from Sollus?"
Shadow's radio went silent as he looked back towards the large group of Team Rocket soldiers who had been cautiously advancing to the road.
(What do you think we're going to do now, Light?)
(I suppose we'll just wait here until something makes a move, Sh-)
(Sh!) Shadow cut her off, patting his own collar warningly, over a small node on the radio part that had a green light on.
She quickly covered her mouth, ears drooping slightly. (Sorry…)
(It's okay…just be careful.)
Of course, Light had to get used to the fact that she couldn't refer to Shadow by name when the lights on the collars were on. Otherwise, his identity would certainly be revealed, and she didn't want that to happen.
Not at all.
They would probably take him away and put him in a cell somewhere. At the same time, she knew that if Sentinel found out he might just be glad to put a bullet through Shadow's head.
"…Sollus says that she hasn't seen any suspicious movement, but at the same time we shouldn't move either. What do you think?"
Shadow already had his eyes on the Rockets across the road before Sentinel was done speaking through the radio. Peering in closely, he noticed a group of three taking an object out of a large box. Light urgently tapped his shoulder before he could get a good look at the weapon, pointing in the other direction.
Small objects were in the air, hurdling towards them in the shape of huge bullets firing in an arc from the forest across the road…
"Sentinel, take cover! They've got mortars coming in!" Shadow said hurriedly into the radio while the first mortar penetrated the trees to their far right.
More shells began to arc up from the across the road, raining down in the area around them. Nervous sweat slid down their cheeks as more explosives came whistling through the air around them, blasting apart trees and lighting the grass aflame. The sound of a bass drum being hit hard reverberated through the air, returning with each boom of the exploding soda can-sized mortars.
Shadow and Light gasped as one fell down between the two limbs they were standing on. The tree vibrated violently with the explosion of gravel that spewed through the branches, followed by a yawing sound as the wooden trunk began to snap under them.
(To the tree behind us, come on!) Shadow ordered quickly while turning tail, feeling the trunk begin to fall to the Earth.
The branches in front of them swung towards them. With a grunt, both Shadow and Light flew out of the tree to the one behind it. Below them the tree they had been on crashed into the road, and the trunk began to glow with orange flames. All around the forest gray smoke began to rise from the many fires that were being set, and trunks continued to crack and shatter with each hit they took from a shell.
The whistling above stopped, leaving Shadow and Light to breathe heavily. Light spread aside a branch to look outside the canopy, seeing the Rockets begin to advance onto the road near the corpses, albeit cautiously.
"Sentinel, you there?" Shadow said into the collar radio.
"I'm here. Damn Rockets…are you and Light okay?"
"We're fine…I don't think they saw me and Light jumping to the another tree when the one we were in went down…
…Sentinel, they're moving towards the bodies."
"Got it…let's see how big a bang these mines make then…hold on…"
The Rockets slowly crept forward into the road, looking all around themselves. The choking smell of the hot, gray smoke began to waft in the air around them from below. Light looked back, sighing as she saw a tree several yards from theirs begin to have fire licking up its leaves.
"…Pulse, Light, remember those fools Jessie, James and their talking Meowth? They're going to be coming along to support us as soon as James's mines go off."
"With what, exactly?"
"You'll see…Okay, as soon those charges go off, hit them with everything you've got charged in those cheeks of yours."
On the road, about ten of the Rockets slowly and cautiously moved toward the corpses, guns pointed all over the tree in front of them.
Light concentrated on each one of their movements, from the few who continued ahead to the others who examined the broken Rocket truck on the side of the road. On the road, she saw one of the Rockets step towards a body. Nudging Shadow, they both covered their heads…
Bright, spectacular flashes of orange and yellow explosions popped into view, ripping up chunks of ground and several unfortunate Rocket soldiers. The sheer amount of yells sent a chill through Light, and each explosion sent waves of heat and pressurized air at her. She felts bits and bits of gravel rain down on her, followed by the massive odor of dust and burning flesh.
"Go!" Sentinel yelled over the radio as he hastily picked up his rifle, Sollus guarding his flanks.
(Light, let's go!) Shadow yelled, rampant electricity charging all around him as he leapt high out of the tree in the wake of loud gunshots from Sentinel's weapon.
Hesitating from surprise, she nodded and dove down after him. Behind, the sounds of a massive helicopter tore into the sky, followed by the sight of the machine itself. Sentinel looked up to it, smiling in approval of the trio piloting the vehicle.
I don't know how they learned to build this stuff, but it works.
"I guess all those years of chasin' dat twerp…err, of chasin' Ash paid off, gang!" The Meowth said confidently from over the shoulders of the two pilots. James laughed with satisfaction. "Indeed it did, Meowth! Any comments. Jessie?"
Jessie crossed her arms and smiled haughtily. "Oh James, we all know that I'm the true leader behind this group, so I should be credited most!"
"Hey…Oh well. Jessie, get on the cannon controls! Meowth, radar and damage control!"
"Aye aye!" both yelled charismatically, hurriedly setting up their stations as James lowered the gunship slightly to aim his minigun.
Streams of lasers from the gunship above ripped through the Rocket's ranks. At the same time Sentinel reloaded his gun, firing round after round past Shadow and Light who voraciously fought in the dust of the road.
Heh, Sentinel had some planted on their side of the forest, too…
The area across the road was shaken by a well-placed cannon shot from the gunship overhead. Light rushed fast through a cluster of Rocket grunts and Pokemon, yelling as she whipped her tail around at them, dashing and slicing at two with her electrically charged tail.
"Let me assist you."
Her eyes lit up bright white as she landed from another attack, grabbing her tail by the foot of the thunderbolt like a sword. Keeping it close to her body and leaving slack for the wiry part of the tail, she suddenly sprinted forward with white energy emanating from her body.
"What the he-UGH!" A grunt choked as the air in his lungs forced itself out of his mouth when Light smashed her tail into his chest. She spun as her tail left a rigid cut in the man, landing and then flipping forward to slam the flat side of her tail into his chin.
Power ran through her bones and through every fiber of her flesh. She bounded high into the air with the white fire behind her, letting go of her tail and raising her paw over her head toward the clouds. At that moment lightning shot down upon her, flowing through her with almost as much intensity as Raikou himself.
She reached for the bolt as she began to descend, somehow grabbing onto it and rolling in the air as she forced it toward more Rockets like throwing a spear.
(You're mine!)
She gritted her teeth as she landed and leapt out the way of the mighty, snapping jaws of a Mightyena while the sound of thunder boomed from where she had thrown the lightning. Rolling back on her feet, Light threw bursts of electricity shaped like arrows at the dog Pokémon. It ducked down as the bolts flew right over it, bracing its legs to lunge at Light with its razor-sharp fangs once again.
Sentinel swung the crosshairs of his scope over a Mightyena attacking Light and fired, scoring a red mist from the dog's head as it crumpled to the ground with rivers of blood pouring from the hole in its head. He continued running with the rifle firing at more targets, making sure to keep one thought in his head, as taught by his own teacher:
"Don't waste a single bullet." He whispered while stopping with his back pressed against a tree. The joints in Sentinel's fingers rolled as he stretched them quickly, taking another magazine from his ammo pouch and ripping out the old one from his rifle. Quickly, albeit carefully, he inserted the full clip while placing the used one into the pack under his ghillie suit.
A round readily fed into the chamber as he pulled back on the cocking handle, looking out from behind his cover while Sollus made a quiet bark.
"Okay girl, I want you to go back to the camp and tell the captain that we are going to need some support to secure the area. Come back to me with the force they'll send. Got it?"
(Yes sir.) She barked back, the collar translating it instantly. Sentinel nodded as he shot again. "Good. Get going now."
Sollus turned and sprinted into the forest while the former Rocket trio overhead flew by in their helicopter…
It seemed that the trio above was doing a good job in helping them keep the Rockets from crossing the road. Cannon shots streaked down from the air and tore massive pits into the ground right on top of a group of Rocket soldiers.
"And to believe that we were actually working with these people before!" Jessie said after seeing more red beams fly past them. With a tilt of his control stick, James moved the ship to the right and pressed the fire button on the control.
"Well then it was to make some money…at least back then they weren't trying to KILL people, we were just being told to capture Pokémon!"
"Yeah but it looks like our former boss went mad, eh?" Meowth commented from behind while looking over his own specially-designed control panel.
"Jessie, will you take control for a moment?"
"Sure, why not." She said quickly as she seized the stick with her left hand while James bent towards a box in-between their seats. Behind, a beeping noise came from Meowth's controls. "Missile comin' right at us!"
Jessie pulled the stick as hard as she could to go left, but the missile changed course to match their direction and hit with a massive explosion. James gripped at the soda he had pulled out of the box and nearly bumped his head on Jessie's arm, gritting his teeth. The other two braced themselves at their controls, bodies shaking with the sudden, sharp tremor of the helicopter as it shuddered in the air, alarms going off inside for a moment before the vehicle automatically regained equilibrium.
Meowth eyed his panel, noticing the flashing yellow point of the helicopter on the monitor. "Left side armor is at 80% , and da hull is at 95%. I guess ya did build dis ting strong, James!"
James sighed, quickly forcing the cap off the soda bottle and chugging the cola down. As he finished the soda, out of the corner of his eye he saw Meowth pointing nervously to Jessie. Dropping the empty bottle into a trash bag on his left, James looked over to see Jessie sitting with her fists shaking on her lap, eye twitching.
Oh boy…
James and Meowth both braced their ears, knowing the next thing that was going to happen: Jessie's yelling.
"How DARE they try to blow ME up!" Jessie screamed angrily while seizing the controls to the cannon once again. Before the reticule on the targeting system even began to process a Rocket reloading a missile into its launcher in the forest, she was viciously jamming her thumb into the fire button.
The helicopter recoiled from each blast of the firing shells, with James holding onto the control stick for dear life to stabilize the vehicle. Jessie stopped slamming her thumb into the button only after firing at least ten shells at the one soldier.
The ten artillery shells shredded the forest below in huge fireballs. The ground shook beneath Sentinel's feet as flaming debris was thrown high into the air from the forest. Grunting, he raised his arm over his head as rocks pelted him from above.
…
"What was your mission?"
"I said I'm not talking…can't you take a hint? For apparently being psychic you seem pretty hard headed!" Darrel yelled through the restraint of his own body's fatigue. By this time he had taken just to chastising his captor; he had gotten shocked at least five times by now, and evidence was wearily visible by the way his hair looked so ragged. Hues of purple were appearing over his skin and his eyes glared, bloodshot.
Still Sabrina just shook her head again. "Why do you have to make this difficult? You could just answer all my questions so easily, yet you refuse to even speak on the subjects…You're not even trying to think about this, are you? Your mind's wandering off to thinking about other things, like…"
Darrel rolled his eyes. Yes, he was thinking of something alright, and the thought stayed fixed well. He had been thinking about it for nearly a month now. It just refused to go away…
"…So you know the Pikachu called Shadow." She spoke calmly, twiddling her fingers.
"Yeah, I knew him…" Darrel said spitefully. "
"KNEW him…so he's dead then."
"Pfft…yeah right. The Raichu, Light probably led him to one of your bases to try and get into your army…not that I care anymore."
Through the glass he could see her eyes flash. "What? What division is he trying to infiltrate?"
His muscles tensed up with the electricity again as he cried out, growling through grinding teeth. He kept one eye wide open, the other shut fast as he gasped for breath when the shock stopped. "*huff*Err…Fuck you...and how the hell should I know what division he's joined? All I know is that he's in one right now…somewhere by where your teams captured me. Besides, he's betrayed us and become one of you anyway, so why would you care?"
She brushed her hair out with her hand, crossing her arms on the desk afterward. "You're lying, even without psychic abilities I could tell. Why would Shadow just defect? It's absurd, considering the amount of deaths we've got accounted to his name."
Darrel smirked, remembering just how brutal Shadow had been with some of the Kanto soldiers. The sheer amount of them he killed was enormous…by what he had seen anyway. Nonetheless, he decided to make another remark. "Wow, so you've counted how many of your soldiers have died because of him…let me guess, 100? 150?"
"Actually…it's probably somewhere around 250 he's killed personally. That's NOT including Pokémon."
…
What was this feeling?
For some reason she had chills. It wasn't from the battle itself, but instead she could feel…
A certain presence…
Meanwhile the Pikachu planted his hind legs into a gasping soldier's abdomen, feeling the gobs of saliva that flew from his mouth and landed all over his fur.
The voice pressed into her mind again:
"Go to Shadow, now!"
Small pieces of flaming debris rained down once more as Shadow saw three armored grunts approaching, armed with what looked like arm-mounted energy shields and electrosabers. The thing that got Shadow the most about these men was the fact that there was only three of them…and they all were wearing gas masks with the eye sockets glowing orange.
They're…!
Shadow spun away from another Rocket soldier to take a good look at these new arrival's shoulders.
A badge with the red 'R' was there. Directly under the 'R', a subtitle, in runic-style lettering, simply read Shock Squadron…
No division title.
Meaning…
Shock Squadron…
1st Division soldiers…!
"Sentinel, tell the guys in the helicopter to fire at these guys in front of me, now! They're 1st Division Shock Squadron!" Shadow yelled while pressing the button on his collar to activate his radio as he dodged another laser shot, all while the faceless, black armor-plated men approached like three clones of the modern black knight…
Two things irked at Sentinel; one, why did 1st division TR-SS have to be there at a time like this? Second…
How does Pulse even know about the Shock Squadron divisions?
More and more, he doubted whether Pulse was who he said he was…
…however, he had to think about it later. There was a battle going on.
"…Got it…James, concentrate fire on the three men in front of Pulse!"
Overhead the helicopter tilted, going far left until it was above and far behind Shadow. One of the masked men looked up towards the gunship as its cannon trained on them, crouching and pulling his saber back behind him
"Fire!" James yelled.
Jessie tapped the button on her control. Strangely, they did not feel the helicopter recoil, nor did they hear a blast.
"Jessie, fire!" James yelled again. Jessie angrily started pounding on the fire mechanism with her thumb, getting no response while Meowth was waving his arms with alarm. Jessie growled. "I don't understand, we loaded this thing with at least 100 shells! It can't be out of ammunition!"
"Guys, one of them are gone!"Meowth yelled from behind. James and Jessie looked back at him. "So what?"
"He's clingin' to da-!"
At that moment a blue beam cut through the bottom of the helicopter, slicing right between Jessie and James, and then through the console Meowth was sitting at behind. Meowth jumped out from the seat he was at just before the beam was going to slice him in two, backing up with a shocked expression toward James and Jessie. The two humans slowly looked at each other, saying the same thing:
"Oh no…"
"How the…fuck…" Sentinel said with wonder at the sight of the SS soldier jumping back from the bottom of the helicopter as it exploded, leaving behind scraps of metal that flew from a massive fireball. Raising his arm to protect himself from the flaming shards of metal raining down, Sentinel saw the trio flying away from the explosion.
"Well, this brings back memories!" James yelled as the land ran fast under him. "Yeah, it does, and they aren't very good memories!" Meowth added in. Jessie had her arms crossed, looking away from the both of them. "Hmph…I never thought I'd have to go flying again…"
"You mean…blasting off?" James said as they increasingly began to go further away from the road.
"Yeah…" Meowth said. "How about we say what we used to say, just for old time's sake?"
"Fine."
All three of them inhaled:
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
…
Dust rose from the ground as the soldier landed back amongst his two other comrades, all facing Shadow.
The ears on the Pikachu's head were erect at the sides of his head.
Light came dashing in, sliding to a stop next to Shadow with her aura flowing all over. (Shadow, they're…)
(I know…Shock Squadron, 1st division…and they always gave off a bad aura…)
She shook her head. (They're…giving off a dark aura…VERY dark…)
(So you're saying…)
(They're no ordinary humans.)
The one at the lead of the trio spun his saber in his gloved hand. All around it was very quiet…
"…It seems you've made our allies retreat." He said, voice airy from the gas mask's filter.
"Shock Squadron division 9 was good, but not that good…and 10 was a bit of a joke when it came to being a special force group. They're barely better than the normal groups." Shadow shot back.
The lead stopped spinning his saber and held it parallel to his energy shield. "…Hmm…a talking Pikachu…" He said robotically.
"…So this is where you were, Shadow."
...I guess my feeling was right…
Sentinel moved the view of his scope over the back of Shadow's head, then back to the lead Rocket SS soldier. His bottom lip tucked back into his mouth, his brain churning.
"…I denied it at first…but now I know, Shadow…"
The black lines centered on the lead's head. "I probably would've shot him at first…"
There was no denying that. If he had heard Shadow say that 'Shadow' was his name instead of 'Pulse', then Sentinel would've kicked him into the air that moment and shot him. Of course, he'd have to deal with the other two that were there, and he knew it would probably not end up well for him.
Sure, it would be difficult to have handled the Raichu, but to successfully defeat who he now knew was Ash's Pikachu…
An absurd idea.
…If the Captain's Pikachu was with Shadow, then Shadow must've defected…
"…I guess you don't have to hide your name anymore, Shadow." Sentinel said as he pulled back the trigger of his gun.
The Rocket looked toward where Sentinel was, only to get thrown back by the bullet ripping through his helmet. At that moment, the other two lunged at Shadow and Light with sabers raised fast.
As Shadow slid to dodge the first, swift slash the soldier made he noticed that the one that had just been shot did not fall. Instead, a black smoke was starting to flow out of his helmet, with purplish static racing through it…
Sentinel's eyes widened as the Rocket ripped off his broken gas mask to reveal a necrotized face underneath that had pure red, glowing eyes and pitch black skin. The hole in the skull where the bullet had gone through was the source of the black smoke, along with smaller cuts and punctures in the man's face where smaller leaks of smoke were coming out.
The blue saber's energy crackled against Shadow's Lightning Blade as they struck, then struck again as the other man attacking Shadow smashed his weapon hard into Shadow's.
Growling, Shadow managed to push the man back, but not before he had slammed Shadow with his energy shield. Bluish static coursed across Shadow's body as he rebounded, cursing to himself.
Light, on the other hand, immediately jumped back from the soldier attacking her and put her paws together in front of her, channeling white static. The next moment, her body recoiled as a beam blasted from her paws while the soldier quickly discarded his energy shield and put his bare hand forward.
Seizing the opportunity, Sentinel pulled his gun's trigger once more and watched for the bullet to hit the head of Light's attacker.
The beam screeched as it made contact with the man's dark energy shield, tearing the ground under it while his hand stood firm…
His head snapped back while throwing out a puff of black smoke from the exit wound on the back of his head. For that moment his entire body recoiled, allowing the white beam to break through the black translucent shield. As the energy pierced his body the frames of glass on his mask broke, revealing scarlet red eyes underneath.
The next moment his entire form exploded with dark and white energy, followed by all of his armor tearing off to reveal the tattered, zombified form underneath that let out an otherworldly scream…
Light watched as a large shadow began to appear out from the soldier's face, with slit-like scarlet eyes and no mouth. Viciously, it ripped more of its body from the dead man's, screeching as its true form was covered in white aura, like it was on fire…
An Ethereal?
"Yes, they can possess dead bodies…they did this when Marxus first appeared long ago as well."
(They're Ethereals? No fucking wonder then!) Shadow yelled as his assailant acrobatically kicked at him, then spun on his heel to attack with both his shield and his saber. In response, Shadow quickly forced his dark energy through his Lightning Blade and slid fast under the man's sword, his ear catching the searing shield on the man's arm before he cut into the soldier with his dark Lightning Blade…
Though it wasn't the reaction Light had gotten from her opponent, Shadow's attack was effective nonetheless; the soldier recoiled back, screeching like the Ethereal near Light and gripping at a black static filled area near two packs on his chest. Another scream sounded as the black static exploded all over him…
"Headshot." Sentinel said as he charged forward through the trees, firing at the demon soldier's gas mask. Once more, his aim was perfect, catching his target between the eye sockets of the mask.
Falling backwards, the soldier began to twitch on the ground before his own armor exploded off of him in a black flame, allowing a single Ethereal to jump out from the body with its deafening, eerie screech…
…
"So you were just another of a number of individuals to get robotics, soon after Shadow left you."
"Yeah…I didn't know for sure, but I know that the upper guys were trying to make me another cyborg, just like some others. You fuckin' know, your forces have probably already seen some of the bodies with prosthetics."
Sabrina sighed, standing up. "I have one last question for you…do you know anything about the monsters that begun to appear in your ranks?"
Darrel tilted his head, just slightly motioning his hands up in their restraints so he wouldn't get shocked. "How should I know?"
"Near where you were captured, a team destroyed a large humanoid creature that the team leader described as being ten feet tall, over five hundred pounds and very muscular. Aside from that we had gotten reports before that there was an extremely agile Pichu with three-inch claws that had killed several others."
"I don't know anything about the big guy…as for that Pichu, I heard Shadow put his lights out…"
"He's dead?"
"Didn't I just say that Shadow put his lights out?"
…
Sentinel's radio crackled at his ear. Crouching into the bushes, he put his finger to his ear.
"Hello?" "Sentinel, this Ash, I'm on my way."
"Ash, did my Umbreon make it to you alright?" He asked worriedly. "Don't worry; she'll be coming back to you with me and my Pikachu. What's the situation out there?"
"Most of the enemy forces have retreated, but there's three…'things' here that had possessed some corpses or something like that…anyway, one of them single-handedly took out or air support, and right now Light, Shadow and I are fighting these things."
"…So you figured out who he really is?"
"Yeah…you knew?"
"Yes. He's not actually bad, Sentinel…anyway, what do these creatures you're fighting look like?"
Sentinel peered over the top of the bush to see Shadow jumping back as an Ethereal slammed its claws into the ground, shrieking as the ground in front of it exploded with dark energy. Suddenly Sentinel felt the shockwaves from the attack knock him off his feet, throwing him back into a smoldering patch of blackened grass. Quickly, he got up and patted off small flames that had begun to start on his ghillie suit.
He put his finger to his radio again. "They have slit-like red eyes, no mouths…their bodies are humanoid, pitch black, and they keep making this horrid screeching sound."
"Ethereals…Sentinel, you better hang back and let Shadow and Light handle them. Your bullets will have no effect on them."
Sentinel nodded to himself. "Understood…how long until you arrive?"
"Right now."
The mighty, thunderous roar of a large dragon trumpeted through Sentinel's ears. Surprised, Sentinel threw his head up to the sky to see a massive Charizard sail through the sky with a bonfire swelling in plumes of hot yellow and white on the end of its tail. Its giant claws gleamed in the sunlight as it descended with Ash riding it, with Bolt holding on to the back of his head.
The Charizard's call stopped Light dead in her tracks, along with the Ethereal wasting away in front of her. Snapping to see the great orange dragon barrel rolling, she saw a human jump off and roll in midair, with a white beam extending from his hand before he hit the ground and took off towards the final, unrevealed Ethereal who was still walking in the form of an undead soldier.
(Got you!) Shadow yelled as he jumped and charged dark electricity into his tail. The moment the Ethereal in front looked back at him Shadow smashed his energy infused tail across the blank face of the creature.
The Master dashed past Shadow with Bolt jumping off of him. As Bolt descended on the neck of the Ethereal in front of Shadow, A white dagger of aura rose from his paw
Bolt slashed through the creature's side, followed by Shadow passing him on his way down.
(My turn.) Shadow said as he jumped up and sliced into the stunned Ethereal's head with his dark energy-imbued tail, leaving behind a trail of black smoke from where it punctured the creature's head.
Ash's own long aura blade crashed through the corpse soldier's body, ripping the Ethereal from within it on the edge of his blade and throwing it far into the air as the body it left behind fell to the earth. In the air, the Ethereal looked from Ash to the great Charizard diving in on it with a long, white jet of fiery energy blasting out from his mouth.
The beam hit the dark creature with a powerful explosion that shook the earth below with waves of heat. Within the great fireball, the Ethereal made a last, shrill screech before evaporating into the light.
A fog of gray smoke hung where the fireball lit up the sky, ascending slowly into the atmosphere as the Charizard landed on the ground with a monstrous boom of his legs, lifting his head into the air to make a loud, triumphant roar.
A shining, bright tear split the left side of the Ethereal's head that Shadow attacked. Its expression remained silent as it turned its head up, the slash illuminating before the monster's head vaporized into a black gas, followed by its body.
Bolt turned his view to Shadow, studying him from ears to feet. (Not a scratch, I see.)
(Nothing.) Shadow replied as Light ran over, her eyes no longer glowing. (It's good to see you, Bolt.)
(You too. Anyway, there were no problems, I hope?)
(Eh…the helicopter that was sent here got destroyed by one of the Ethereals, and the crew went flying…) He turned around to face the smoking forest on their side of the road. (…but…they seemed like they were used to it…they yelled something like, 'we're blasting off again.')
Bolt rolled his eyes. (Oh, them…Ash and I had MANY encounters with them until seven years ago. They started chasing after us when he was ten, just to get me. They were and still are persistent…)
The older Pikachu shook his head. (No matter how many times we defeated them, they kept coming back for more, across so many regions. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova…they kept trying to get me. )
(So…they were thieves at one point?)
(Actually…) Bolt said as Ash approached with the Charizard, while Sentinel walked out of the trees. (…they were members of Team Rocket, before the boss you have decided to use weapons to achieve his ends.)
This was a surprise to Shadow; both that those three were once part of Team Rocket, let alone that there was a time when Team Rocket didn't use weaponry.
In fact, he had never heard of Team Rocket before he was there. The whole thought of a totally different organization then seemed almost alien to what he had established Team Rocket to be. If it was all about just thievery before, then something extreme had to have happened to Giovanni to make him turn to the use of warfare…
Ash walked past them, instead heading towards Sentinel. Brushing some dirt off his ghillie suit, Sentinel sighed before taking his weapon in both hands, taking short glances at the area around.
"Sentinel, I see you and they have gotten the job done."
"It was a challenge, but it's done. So far we've had a very…interesting time out here." He said while shifting the rifle in his gloved hands. Looking to Shadow talking with Bolt and Light, Sentinel's grasp on his weapon tightened slightly. Ash's eyebrows rose for a second, then they went back into position with understanding.
The ghillied sniper looked questioningly back to Ash, whispering. "…Is that Pikachu really the Rocket agent Shadow?"
Ash nodded. "FORMER Rocket agent Shadow. He and Light are the one we had heard about that helped Xepher out of the Team Rocket base"
"Hmph. Funny thing…" Sentinel said, feeling a massive amount of irony to this situation. "…He was supposed to be my next assassination target, but the higher-ups told me to take him off my list for some reason…look."
His hand reached into a side pocket on his pouch, taking out a small notebook with a simple title drawn on it in marker that read 'bingo'. Opening it, Sentinel flipped through the pages of the book, revealing many faces that either had bars over them or a red 'X'. Finally, he made to a page that had 'SHADOW' on the top, with a blank area where the picture was supposed to be, though there was none present. Small descriptions lined the left side of the photo area, few in number, such as species, height, and other data.
"Well, now I know why they told me to mark him off…so, can we trust him?"
"Xepher told me that Shadow was blinded for a little while, and so Team Rocket deemed him useless. They chased him and Xepher throughout the facility, and once they got Light they all made a break for it…and from what he told me when you brought him to me, he's dead serious on going along with us."
"Good to know…say, where's my Umbreon?" Sentinel asked, noticing that his canine friend was nowhere to be seen. Nodding, Ash reached to his belt and took a shrunken Pokéball off of it, handing the small sphere to Sentinel. Rolling the red and white ball between his fingers, Sentinel sighed. "Remember the good old days, Ash? People used to be walking back and forth through this road, and you could literally see the trees teeming with Pokémon. I'm pretty sure I had seen you during the Indigo League Conference about twelve years ago, in fact."
Ash produced a faint smile, nodding. "Yeah. That was the first League Championship I had competed in, and four years later it would be the first that I'd win…"
He remembered it well. By that time he had matured greatly from when he started, though he still had a boyish attitude to him…
…
The feeling of tens of thousands…no, MILLIONS, even…of eyes watching him had forever been imbedded in his memory. Deafening cheers sounded all around, with a chant of 'Ketchum' going through the crowd. Everyone was one their feet as fireworks exploded into brilliant display of color in the night sky.
Behind him the Pokémon he had taken to win…Bolt, Charizard, Snorlax, Bayleef, Wartortle, and Pidgeot, all stood celebrating along with their trainer. His hands were shaking with excitement as he hoisted the golden trophy, which shined just as brightly as his spirit. Near the platform he was on stood his mother, Professor Oak and his friends Brock and Misty, all clapping for him.
He could see tears of joy rolling down his mom's face, tracing around her overjoyed smile. Professor Oak, on the other hand, approached him and shook his hand firmly.
"Congratulations, my boy! Very well done! Truly, that was one of the best performances I've seen in all my years!" The gray-haired man exclaimed, his grin stretching his wrinkled face. Ash returned the handshake in kind as his Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder, a triumphant fist in the air. Ash looked to his long-time friend, feeling the excited discharge of static emanating from his bright yellow fur.
(Finally, we did it! Can you believe it, Ash? You're the champion!)
Behind him he could hear the rest of his Pokémon making similar happy comments, but he raised his left hand. "Calm down, everyone! It wouldn't have been able to make it here without all of you!"
He shifted his hat as he looked over his six loyal Pokémon, all waiting for him to speak once more. All of them noticed a glimmer from his eyes as a chuckle escaped his mouth.
"…Thank you, all of you. I wouldn't be here without any of you or any other Pokémon that I can say are mine…you're like another family to me. Because of you I've grown both as a trainer and a person…all the time I've spent travelling with any of you were times I'll always cherish…"
All of his Pokémon listened intently to his heartfelt words.
Another explosion of yellow and blue sparks rippled in the air in the shape of a thunderbolt as Ash wiped his eyes, smiling brightly at them.
"I'll never forget you for what you've done for me."
Behind, he heard one of them taking steps toward him. Turning around, he was met by a hug from his mother.
"Ash, you've grown just so much! I knew you were going to make it someday, but you're still so young! Now I know you'll get your dream soon!"
"Aw, mom…thanks."
"Hey Ash! Good job!" Brock said as he walked over with Misty. Ash withdrew from his mother and looked from Brock to Misty.
His closest travelling partners, for so long…
"You too guys. First of all I don't know how I could've made it in the forests and deserts without you. Then, you've both taught me so much. Thanks for being like an older brother and sister to me."
Misty put her hands to her hips, orange hair swaying slightly in the wind. "Well it was just fun to go along with you! I'm sure Brock and I have learned a lot from you too. Right Brock?"
Brock laughed, crossing his muscular arms. "Yeah, we've practically gone halfway across the entire world together. It's not like you can't learn from that experience."
Ash backed up towards the golden Indigo League trophy on the ground, eyes meeting everyone else's of the one who helped him make it…
…after all these years…
Again, he gripped the handle of the trophy next to him and hoisted it in front of himself. Looking to it and then to them, he shook it.
"I have this…because of all of you."
…
"…Ash, are you okay?" Sentinel said as the three 'Chus gathered by them, followed by the Charizard, stomping his way over.
Light stared up into his face with concern; he seemed to be concentrating on the ground, almost unblinking. Her ears lowered, looking into the centers of his eyes to see nothing.
Nothing but a powerful longing within…
(…Ash?) Bolt said, tugging worriedly at his pants while a low, worried growl came from the Charizard. With a short gasp, Ash's head shot up, breathing heavily.
"If you're feeling sick, there's no reason for you to be out here, sir." Sentinel added in, putting the Pokéball containing Sollus into his side pack. After a pause, Ash shook his head. "I'm fine…anyway, we've moved the camp just a quarter mile back now. Right now this is a bit of a bump in the perimeter around Viridian City…"
He sighed, looking down to Shadow below him. "…By the way, Sentinel knows, Shadow."
For a moment a streak of alarm flashed through Shadow as he looked to Sentinel. The sniper uneasily readjusted his grip on his rifle, clearing his throat. The outline of his mouth moved on his balaclava:
"…at the moment, a third of me wants to thank you for the help so far…another third is thinking of so many questions for you…"
Sentinel's pointer finger braced against the side of his rifle, above the trigger. Shadow stiffened, Sentinel's semi-hateful glare piercing into him. "…and the last third wants to make a tunnel through your head."
Shadow shrugged, expecting that kind of answer. "I don't blame you…I understand that I did some pretty bad things in Team Rocket, and so I want to fix everything I've done."
"Good. We could use your help, Shadow…now, we've got a problem here…" Ash said, looking back to the formerly reanimated corpses, once again lying dead on the ground.
"…The Ethereals are still among us."
…
"That will be all for today, Darrel. Enjoy your stay for the time being."
Darrel saw her rise from her chair and open a door, flipping the light switch on her way out to leave him in near total darkness. The only things that provided some illumination was the assortment of colored lights on a monitor next to him, indicating things like his heartrate and blood composition.
Other than that, he closed his eyes and relaxed slightly. Figuring that his wrist binds would still shock him if he tried to move his arms, he simply reclined his back on the metal chair…
In a way, he envied Shadow for escaping. He didn't have to deal with the kind of hell Darrel knew he was going to receive soon. At the same time, he was glad. He didn't have to be used anymore by Team Rocket…
…Now you gotta watch out for being used by Kanto, Shadow.
Darrel breathed slowly, his eyes fluttering closed. Within the minute, he had slipped into sleep with the rough sound of his snoring filling the room…
…
…
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