Turn 17: As the World Stirs Around Them
Location: Route 6
Time: 5:51 AM September 18th
Condition: Drizzling
Proton stood overlooking his the temporary camp he and his men set up just outside of Mistralton City, most of them were gone leaving only a handful of tech-operators and low level grunts there. His fist grew ever tighter as he thought about it.
"No." He grumbled to himself. "Team Rocket's Iron Fortress hasn't fallen. I will not let this failure define me or Team Rocket."
"Boss Proton!" a Rocket Grunt ran up to him. Before he could get any closer to him Proton punched him, knocking him right into the ground.
"How dare you run up to your superior?" Proton shouted down at him. "What is it you wanted?"
"We're receiving a call from Kanto sir." The grunt explained. "It's from the Main Building."
"Get out of the dirt already and clean yourself up." Proton told him before leaving in the direction of the communication tent.
"Yes sir, Boss Proton." The grunt stumbled up and ran off in another direction.
It didn't take Proton too long in order to get to the communications tent. He opened the flap and headed in, on a screen on the opposite end of the room was an all too familiar face
"Proton." He heard the gruff sounding voice of his superior.
The man on the screen appeared to be very large in stature with a broad chest and large arms. He had a stern as rocks face with a frown forever carved on his face. He had a short white beard that flared up into his long hair which was tied back into a curly ponytail.
"Big Boss Charles." Proton immediately fell to his knees bowing to the screen.
"Rise up Proton; I can't see your face." Charles ordered.
"What do you want Boss?" Proton asked.
"I am disappointed in you Proton. I placed you in charge of taking over the splintered Unova Region and you can't even do that." He boomed at him.
Proton started to speak. "I apologize; I swear that next time I will…"
"There will be no next time you fool!" He boomed. "You are being replaced."
"Replaced?" Proton asked.
"By me." A man stepped out from behind the screen. He was about the same age of Proton but with much fairer skin that appeared as though it had never been touched before. He wore a white suit with a Rocket Insignia on the right of his shirt and Proton could see a little of his black undershirt peeking up from under the collar. He had short teal hair and seductive eyes of the same color. He held his arms behind his back with great esteem. His calm demeanor made the air around him seem cold; he probably even had minty breath.
"A white executive." Proton repeated the title that man before him held.
"Archer I leave the rest to you." Charles' face disappeared from the screen.
Proton suddenly realized what he meant by being replaced. He was about to do something about it before something whipped out from the shadows and wrapped around his neck.
"Oh there's no need to run." Archer smiled at him. "This will be over before you even know it."
Proton couldn't see what was behind him but he could tell by the barbed tail wrapped around his neck that it probably belonged to a houndoom or some other dark type pokémon. He noticed something in the shadows of the room to his right.
He couldn't make out any features about it other than the fact that it was certainly a human. A scarf waved in the wind from the figure's neck. "Figures that a white executive can't dirty their own hands."
Archer rolled his eyes as if bored. "Kill him already."
Walking out into the recently collapsed strip mining facility was Kyouhei. It was not a pretty sight. He started to remove his disguise as a member of White Plasma.
Kyouhei then heard a few pebbles and dirt falling from above him. He looked up to see a much older scruffy looking man wearing a tan poncho and hood trimmed with an orange/brown. The man pulled off the hood revealing a stern face and long spiked red hair with orange highlights that had been pulled into a thick and spiked pony tail. Hanging over his shoulders was a long belt with three poké-balls hanging from either side. It was the Knight of Four, Alder Wienburg.
Kyouhei climbed up to the precipice of the, would be, mine to get to him. "Alder, it's been too long." Kyouhei gave him a fist.
"Agreed." Alder bumped his fist against Kyouhei's.
"Excuse me, but we don't really have time for pleasantries." They heard the voice of an annoyed little girl. She had much darker skin then either Kyouhei's or Alder's. She was Iris Alstreim the knight of Five and only about twelve years old making her the youngest member so far.
She wore a large and elaborate, tan dress trimmed with pink featuring long robe-like sleeves; the skirt of the dress was pink with tan fills at the hemline which seemed to stoop upward to just below her waist revealing a bit of her legs. Above her waist the skirt seemed to be tied into a large bow. She wore a gold diadem that had three think tines with two green oval zircons either of the two end tines. Her long thick black hair was tied into a massive pony tail that spiked up a bit at the top. Her hands were placed firmly on her hips, obviously not happy about being ignored.
Kyouhei covered his mouth trying to hide his snickering. "How do you get around in that get up Iris?"
She rolled her eyes at his comment. "This is a ceremonial dress for the Dragon Priestess' of long ago. Drayden gave it to commemorate my becoming Unova Champion."
"I agree with Iris. We need to be more focused right now." Another young woman agreed. She looked much older than Kyouhei but not nearly as old as Alder. She had long brown hair tied into a pony tail. She had blue eyes and wore a white tank top under a black waistcoat, denim shorts and a pink and white cap. It was the legendary Knight of Two Hilda Kruszewski.
"Hilda, nice to see your still in good health." Alder said with a bow.
"Now where's Nii-sama?" Kyouhei looked around.
"Right here!" They heard a cry from above. Falling from the sky from off his Swanna was a man appearing to be in his early twenties. He had messy brown hair and forest green eyes. He landed nearby them. He wore a long purple sleeveless coat with a high collar. Under the coat he wore a long sleeve white shirt with an outline of a sword with three wings extending from either side of the blade printed on the front of it. Inside the outline it seemed painted in gold. He returned his swanna to her poké-ball before walking up to the rest of them. This was the greatest of Knights of the Round who bore the crest of evolution in his right eye as the Hero of Truth and master of Reshiram. He was the Knight of One: Suzaku Kururugi, he was coincidentally also Kyouhei's older brother.
"Could you make your entrance more dramatic?" Iris shrugged sarcastically.
"Sorry, I didn't want to waste any time." He explained rather politely before dawning a much more serious face.
"Now I know you've been gone from Unova for a long time Suzaku so I'll fill you in a little bit on what's going on." Alder said.
"Judging from the looks of things, it can't be very good." He commented while looking into the pit below them.
"Well, after N left Team Plasma, it looks as though they splintered off into two groups. One who's ideals align more closely with that of the original group referred to now as White Plasma. The other fallows the dictates of a man named Colress under Ghetsis' command, referred to as Black Plasma.
"Team Rocket has also since been making a bid for control of Unova. Team Rocket by far has control of Unova then either of the previous too mentioned." Alder continued.
"I know very well about Team Rocket's bids for control, I've been attempting to stay them off in places like Hoenn and Kalos." Suzaku explained.
"Well, as you can see their gang war here has gone particularly sour. A man called Lelouch has taken command of White Plasma and is seeking to reunite the two groups into one so he can destroy Team Rocket and gain control of all Unova." Alder finished.
"Lelouch?" Suzaku repeated the name. He knew it all too well; along his first journey across Unova he has numerous run-ins with him as he travelled from place to place. He would even go so far as to call him a friend. He always seemed to kind, so gentle, how could he be capable of all of this? "So what are your suggestions?"
"I suggest we take on Team Rocket first, as dangerous as Lelouch and Ghetsis are they're likely to fight amongst themselves making easier to take on Team Rocket First." Alder suggested.
"But what if either of them somehow gets the upper hand over the other? Team Plasma could grow exponentially while we try and take out Team Rocket. Team Rocket is certainly much less radical as they're only purpose is to fulfill their greed. Team Plasma, however, want more than just money or power which is why their capable of much worse crimes." Hilda pointed out. "I recommend we destroy Team Plasma first."
"I agree with Hilda, as bad as Team Rocket is, Team Plasma were the ones who almost plunged Unova into the dark ages four years ago." Iris nodded.
"Alright then, instead of that we're going to split up and take them all on at once." Suzaku started. "Iris you'll go to all the Unova Gym Leader and get them to join our offensive against the gangs. Alder and Hilda you'll fight off Ghetsis' Plasma while Kyouhei takes on Lelouch's Plasma because you have much more experience with them. I will go on to fight off Team Rocket in the meantime."
"Alone?" Hilda questioned.
"Yes, I've been dealing with Team Rocket the most, I know how they work. Besides if Iris does her job then we'll all have a lot more people to have as back-up." Suzaku said.
"Hay, you sound like you don't think I can pull it off!" Iris protested.
"Actually." Kyouhei raised a hand in protest to the plan. "There's something I neglected to mention about Lelouch in my last report. It was too important to relay over a report like that."
"What could be so important?" Alder asked.
"Lelouch isn't just some trainer, he has Zekrom." Kyouhei told them, it became suddenly quiet like a chill had just entered the area.
"Zekrom?" Iris stuttered, and Kyouhei nodded in reply.
"How do you know?" Alder asked.
"I fought it about a month ago, although it was dark and I wasn't sure I could trust my eyes. But today, he unleashed the full furry of Zekrom on his enemies. It was terrifying to see so much power, I doubt even Lancelot could have dented him." Kyouhei told them. "What you see before you now is a result of that."
"That changes everything, our priority is now Lelouch." Suzaku said. "We're all going for Team Plasma, Kyouhei you're coming with me, you're going to be my support against Lelouch and his Zekrom. Alder and Iris you'll be attacking Team Plasma at large while Hilda goes on to defeat Ghetsis. We will stop Team Plasma today!"
"Let me out, so I can rip the hair off your stupid little heads!" Rosa shrieked kicking against the cage bars holding.
"Um, Commander." Blake tapped her shoulder.
"What?" She jerked around glaring at him.
"You might want to keep it down; we're not the only two in this cage." Blake pointed to a small girl in the corner sitting up against a wall.
She appeared to be no more than twelve years old with long silver hair tied into two short pigtails on either side of her head. She had unique looking red eyes that despite their color looked very gentle. She wore a dark blue sleeveless silk shirt with red trimming that extended into a root stylized heart shape over her chest. Her pants were a, much more rugged looking, dark blue pants with a long red sash tied around her waist.
She was rolled up in a fetal position with her arms wrapped around her legs to bring them in closer. She was staring at nothing in particular with a depressed frown curving down her face as if ready to break into tears.
Rosa pouted as if sympathizing with her. "What's a kid her age doing here?" Rosa whispered to Blake.
"You got me, but she doesn't seem to react to much." Blake pointed out.
"She wasn't a member was she?" Rosa questioned.
"She's too young to be a member of our group and way too young to be a member of Black Plasma or Team Rocket." Blake told her.
"Whoever she is, she doesn't deserve to be alone." Rosa said walking over to the corner. She lean up against the wall the girl was under and slid down sitting next to her. Rosa took off her gloves before giving a smile and offering her hand. "Hi there, my name is Rosa."
She didn't respond she just sat there staring off into space as if Rosa wasn't even there. Rosa dropped her hand. She folded her hands over her lap and stared off in the same direction that the girl was staring. Rosa, however, kept smiling as if trying to reassure the girl that she wasn't going to force anything on her.
There was a sudden noise from the hallway just outside their cage. Rosa noticed the girl's head perked up as a bit of hope glimmered in her eyes. Someone had just entered. Walking up to the entrance of their cage was Xingke looking grumpy as ever.
"Xingke, what are you doing here?" A guard walked up and asked.
"I'm here to question the prisoners." He muttered to him before opening the door to the cage.
"Are you sure it's walk in there? I heard one of them screaming bloody murder not five minutes ago." The guard warned.
"I'll be fine." He entered before closing the door behind him.
"If you insist sir." The guard bowed before returning to his post.
"What do you want?" Rosa asked glaring up at him.
"I want to ask you a few questions." He glanced down at her before Blake stepped between the two.
"If you want to talk to get to the commander you'll have to go through me." Blake told him.
"Commander? It's been a long time Rosa but I didn't realize it was that long." Xingke responded.
"You know the commander?" Blake questioned. "I don't believe you."
"Then why don't you just ask her." Xingke glared back at him.
As the two continued to argue, Rosa noticed that the demeanor of the girl next to her had changed. She no longer looked so down, but she didn't seem interesting in what they were talking about either. She also noticed that ever so often he would look her way as if trying not to look at her.
Rosa stood up and gently pushed Blake aside. "Leave him alone Blake, I don't think he means us any harm." She reassured him.
"Oh, and what makes you say that?" Xingke seemed interested.
"This wouldn't be much of an interrogation if I just told you." Rosa smiled.
"Well don't expect any favors for old time's sake." Xingke told her. "I want to know everything there is to know about Lelouch and White Plasma."
"I'm not telling." Rosa told him.
"Then I want to know about Zekrom." Xingke insisted.
"Zekrom?" Rosa and Blake showed honest concern and interest.
Xingke glared suspiciously. "Whatever. What do you know about Lelouch's plans? I want to know what his goals are."
"Never." Rosa reassured him.
"Give me a straight answer!" Xingke stepped forward aggressively before throwing a punch into her gut. She gasped from the force of the punch. Blake quickly ran up to try and stop the violence.
Before Blake could do anything Xingke twirled around kicking him across the face into the ground. Xingke stepped over him before drawing his sword and pointed the tip right at Blake's neck. The girl gasped at the sudden display of violence "Tell me!"
"Alright! You want to know what I know about Lelouch, he's a good person, with a good heart who'll help! You want to know what his plans are what he fights for, he plans to free the world, and he fights to bring peace!" Rosa shouted angrily at him.
Xingke sheathed his sword and turned towards the cage exit. "Well if that's all I'm getting from you then I guess I'll leave.
"Rosa." Xingke said before leaving the cage. "Thank you for your honesty."
"No problem." She nodded. Blake thought he must be going crazy; she almost looked like she was smiling at him. Xingke left to the right of the hallways towards the exit.
"Did you get anything out of them?" the guard asked.
"Outside a bit of blood, no." Xingke admitted. "Although I feel next time I met with them they'll be much more open with me."
"That's good to hear sir." The guard nodded.
"Does it hurt?" The girl crawled over to Blake holding onto his bright red cheek. It hurt so bad he couldn't even feel his hand on his face.
"Yeah, but I'm fine." Blake told her while sitting up.
"I'm really sorry, he normally isn't so mean." She told him. "He's really a very nice man and always treats everyone in here with respect."
"What's your name little girl?" Rosa asked.
"You're not much older than her." Blake pointed out.
"Shut up." Rosa grumbled.
"My name is Jiang Lihua." She introduced herself.
"Well Jiang, I wouldn't be too concerned about how nice he normally is to people." Rosa reached into the black sash she was wearing and pulled out a key. "Cause he just bought us a one way ticket out of here."
"What?" Both Jiang and Blake gasped at the sight.
Proton stumbled through the forests holding the gaping wound on his side. Blood seeped from his hand and dripped steadily to the ground. He wasn't sure exactly how he managed to survive that attack, but he knew what he was going to do about it.
Proton glared off into the rising sun. He could feel the pain all over his body as he moved. His right leg was in so much pain from another cut all the way up it that he could hardly use it without experiencing intense pain.
"Lelouch, Charles, I'll show you all, the meaning of pain!"
I'm sure that some of you have noticed by now the cover of the story has changed. It's the new Super Special Limited Time "Knights of the Round Cover" featuring everyone's favorite knights with their pokémon next to them. I hope you are as excited as I am about the up and coming White Versus Black chapters, where Lelouch and Suzaku face off with their respective forces clashing.