Inferno, Chapter 4
Hello, sorry about the wait. It's been a rough week. Anyway, this should be an interesting, if conflicting, chapter. I've been wondering if I should break the fourth wall on these introductions. What do you think?
I Didn't Do It…
Blaze sat in front of his fire, enjoying the meal. He didn't really like killing, even to eat, despite its necessity. Part of the reason was that Team Rocket told him his purpose was to wipe out opposers and their pokemon. Evidently, they had suffered some kind of humiliating defeat at the hands of a brat with a Pikachu. This time, with Project Hybrid, they would be prepared.
Blaze shuddered as he remembered wanting to annihilate Team Rocket, who he considered his real enemies. He had been subjected to many tortures when he was disobedient, which was to say, a lot. Lora had always made him feel a little better, but with each new scar he gained, his psyche was damaged just a bit more. He didn't quite have the hatred towards humans in general that Team Rocket's first experiment, Mewtwo, had, but he did hate the Rocket's with a passion unparalleled by anyone he met so far. Though they tried to keep a low profile, he and Lora had a bad habit of meeting someone new every couple of days. Maybe they would hang around for a week or so, but Team Rocket would always make another attempt on him, and they had to split after Lora wiped their memories.
She hadn't done it to Marie and June, which surprised him, but since she wasn't here at the time, he couldn't ask her why. He held the pendant he wore so he could look at it, admiring it as he thought of her, and he remembered when she had given it to him.
Flashback, two or so years ago…
Blaze entered the room after a particularly brutal punishment. He had openly defied his orders in training; he was supposed to kill several small Rattatta, the scientists telling him that they could easily be replaced. Blaze had stared at them in horror, and they in turn gazed at him with wide, tearful, beady eyes. He turned his back on them, facing the scientists, crossing his arms in front of his chest and saying
"No, I won't do it."
"You'd better do it, or else!"
"Or else what?!" Blaze demanded.
"You'll torture me?! You already do that on an hourly basis! I'm used to it! You can't take away my mother because the last guys who tried to are all in the hospital! You wouldn't dare kill me, because I'm the only successful elemental hybrid you have! And if you keep trying to force me to take innocent lives, I'll take yours instead!"
He felt a massive amount of electricity surging through his body, and he fell to one knee as he tugged at the collar around his throat. It was nothing more than discomfort to him now, but it still had a tendency to mess with his nervous system, really it was a miracle that it wasn't completely fried by this time. Team Rocket preferred to use these shock collars to keep their victims in line, which was why they almost never had ground pokemon. It eventually stopped, and Blaze stood again, panting a bit. He looked at them and smirked, asking
"That all ya got?"
The lead scientist grinned evilly and stepped forward, chuckling and replying
"Oh believe me, you'll wish it was."
Several hours later, Blaze had stumbled into the room he shared with Lora, his mothering unit, the one he had believed all his life to be his mother, at least, up until a few years ago. Now he was transitioning from calling her "mom" to her actual name, Lora. It was weird at first, then less so. She continued to encourage him calling her mom, but it just didn't feel quite right to him.
She ran up to him and supported him, helping him to the bed and asking
"What happened?"
Blaze scoffed and said
"More of the usual. Team Rocket told me to do something; I didn't do it, so they abused me for it."
Lora shook her head and helped him sit down, saying
"I know you don't like them, hate them, but is it worth all this suffering you go through?"
He looked into her red eyes and told her
"It's better that I suffer rather than cause hundreds of families to do so at my hands. I could never live with myself if I did that. I just couldn't, Lora."
He bent his head in shame and exhaustion. Being tortured took its toll on a person, even someone as tough as him, and Lora rubbed his shoulder, saying
"Don't worry; things will look up someday, you just have to weather through it."
"But how long will that be, Lora? I've already been stuck here for my whole life; how much more of it will pass while my nervous system is being Kentucky-fried? How much longer will I be forced to try to kill children who have been forcefully separated from their previous lives? How much longer must I go on without ever knowing who my real mother and father are? Don't get me wrong, you are a great mother, but you're not my mother."
Blaze looked at the floor, and he was on the verge of losing his composure. Lora tentatively put an arm around him, and when he did not shrug it off, which he had a tendency to do, she drew closer and hugged him. After a moment of indecision, he hugged her back. For about ten minutes they embraced, and when they broke apart, Lora lifted his head and said
"I may not be your true mother, but I have done the best with what I was given. And compared to the suffering you have endured, you have turned out better than I could have possibly hoped. Let me tell you a secret."
Blaze was listening intently now, and Lora told him quietly
"I currently hold the record for the longest-living mothering unit in this organization's history. Most are the first target for hybrids. Since they are typically within the Machop family line, though, fighting comes naturally for them. Even some others, Team Rocket children, are trained this way. When I learned of this, I was horrified that you would have to do the same for me. I wasn't worried so much for my sake as I was yours; I knew that if you had to eliminate me, willingly or otherwise, it would have meant the end of the child I raised. But you fought against it all, and to this day you remain the same as I have taught you to be. I couldn't be more proud of you."
She smiled warmly at him, and he smiled back, then hugged her again and whispered
"Thanks."
Her smile broadened and she said
"Don't thank me just yet. After all, today marks a special occasion."
Blaze sat back up, confusion written across his face as he asked
"Really? What?"
"Your birthday. Today is the day I received you, thirteen years ago, to raise as my own while Team Rocket trained you to become the ultimate fighting warrior. I know you haven't had much reason to celebrate, but considering what you have been through this past year, I thought you deserved it. I even have something for you."
Blaze's eyes lit up and he asked excitedly
"Really? What is it?"
Lora giggled and winked, saying
"First you have to close your eyes. And no peeking. I'll know if you are."
Blaze rolled his eyes, then closed them. He placed his hands over them for good measure, and when Lora was certain he wasn't peeking, she closed the door, then walked to the desk she sometimes used to help Blaze study for one thing or another. She reached behind a loose panel on the wall that no one, not even Blaze knew about. She withdrew a small, sharp object crudely wrapped in brown paper. She walked over to him and sat down, then held it out in his direction and said
"Okay, open them."
Blaze lowered his hands and opened his eyes, immediately latching onto the brown that stood out against Lora's green skin. He lifted the package and slowly ripped the paper off. When he finished, he held a beautiful amethyst colored crystal, inscribed on which were runes he couldn't understand. There were holes on the top and bottom, presumably to attach string to. He held it up in front of his face and asked
"What is this?"
Lora smiled and said
"It's a teleportation amulet. It can only be created by a psychic pokemon over a long period of time. It took me eight years to craft this before I was satisfied. I made sure to add holes so it could double as a necklace. When it is filled with energy from a psychic being, it allows anyone who holds it to teleport. It has a limited amount of energy, depending on how much the psychic loaded it with. The results can be a bit mixed, since the best results come from the psychic who created it filling it with energy. If another psychic does it, it can still be used for teleportation, but the user won't get as far. It can be very useful, and I hope you'll hang on to it for years to come."
Blaze slowly stood, gazing intently at the crystal. Then he said dazedly
"This is it, our ticket out of this hellhole. We can use this to escape, forever!"
Lora sadly shook her head and said
"It's not that easy. I have to fill it with psychic energy before it can be used for that purpose, and this collar won't let me use my power, except for the most basic, which doesn't really do anything."
Blaze frowned and asked
"But if you need psychic power to make these, how did you do it?"
"It only requires very small amounts at a time, sparsely used. It's like making a rock sculpture; it takes time, precision, and a lot of patience to do right. It cannot be rushed, or the results don't wind up the way they should. It could be that the crystal simply won't work, or it might even explode. I, however, took the time to make this properly. It wasn't like I was rushed into it. But filling it takes time and energy, lots of it. If I use more than what I should, this collar will shock me, breaking my concentration."
Blaze looked at his claws, then asked
"What if I pick that for you? I can put it back on when you're finished."
Lora's eyes widened and she waved her hands frantically, saying
"No, no! They have devices informing Team Rocket if we forcibly remove the collars, remember?"
Blaze chuckled, then replied
"Yeah, if they're forcibly removed. But all I'm doing is picking the lock. I know it works because I've done it many times before. It doesn't trip anything, I get a few moments without being randomly shocked, and Team Rocket is none the wiser."
Lora considered the proposal for a minute, then said
"You know if we flee, they will follow."
Blaze nodded and said
"And without these damned collars on us, we'll be able to take 'em on. You don't want to waste away in here, do you?"
Lora shook her head.
"And even if you fed this with energy, there's no way I'd leave without you. I can't leave you here to suffer in my place, and they'll be sure to crack down on you if I leave you behind. So, what do you say?"
After another minute of thinking, Lora stood and gently took the crystal back, placing it behind the loose panel and telling Blaze
"Let's wait until after lights out tonight. I'll have the time necessary to fill the crystal, and the chances of us being caught are slimmer. Besides, there's a barrack inspection today, and the last thing we need to happen is to be caught with this in our hands. Once I have it filled, the energy can be built on the day after it has settled, giving extra jump in teleportation. One more thing, it can be used to make small jumps, or to cover a very large distance."
Blaze chuckled and said
"I think I know which one we'll be using."
Present
Blaze chuckled as he reminisced. They weren't exactly good times, but they were the best he had among the Rocket's base. He was full now, and he set the deer aside for breakfast tomorrow, adding more wood to the fire so it would last. Then he laid down and placed his hand under his head, falling shortly into a light sleep.
Meanwhile, the Team Rocket grunt who had been tracking him throughout the day waited on the signs of the mass sleep. When the Kricketots began chirping, he slowly crept to the hole the fire hybrid had descended into. He could see a flickering light and guessed it to be a fire. He brought out some climbing gear, looping the rope around the log in front of the hole and hooking it together, making sure it was tight. Then he started his slow, quiet descent into the hiding spot.
When he was down far enough, he risked turning to loom at his quarry. The hybrid was asleep, but lightly. He would have to go more slowly, quieter, until he started snoring. Even then he had to be careful.
He continued his descent until he touched the floor, then quickly but quietly unclipped his climbing gear, making sure it didn't bang against the wall. Then he set about creeping toward the freak. He heard him snoring, but not the deep snores that announced full-on sleep. The grunt tried stepping carefully, but even he couldn't predict everything. What he didn't know was that Blaze had set up an approximation of a burglar alarm, placing dry twigs in clusters under moss, near areas that would surely have been walked through. As the grunt brought his foot down on a clump of moss, he heard the loud snapping of multiple twigs, and his head whipped up as the boy began to stir.
Blaze's head rose up toward the sound, and he was horrified to see a man dressed in black with a large red R on his chest. He jumped to his feet and said
"You'll never take me, you know."
The grunt chuckled and said
"Is that so? Well, unlike my predecessors, I came with a fool-proof plan."
He whipped out a large net gun from behind his back and aimed it at Blaze. Blaze smirked and bent his knees, ready to dodge when the grunt fired. The grunt narrowed his eyes, then calculatingly pressed several buttons, never taking his eyes off Blaze. He pulled the trigger, and in a flash of powder, a rope net came flying out, expanding as it flew. Blaze rolled to the left, but as he settled he heard another bang, and a net made of metal links flew at him and caught him in it, bringing him to the floor. He struggled in it briefly, before realizing it wasn't getting him anywhere. The grunt laughed and said
"Oh, you'll never get out of that. After all this time, the boss will be happy to see you again."
The thought of seeing that bastard again drove anger through Blaze's heart, added with a touch of panic.
"No, I'll never go back!" he shouted. The grunt laughed again and hissed
"That's fine, except you have no choice. You're comin' with me, you pain in the ass."
He walked toward him, ready to drag him along. Blaze's breathing picked up, nearly causing him to lose consciousness. He shouted
"Stay the hell away from me!" then covered the area in front of him with fire. It spread from his mouth, and though he was initially shocked, he kept feeding it, not quite sure how to stop it. The grunt was shouting in agony for a moment, then all was silence, save for the raging inferno emitting from Blaze's maw.
He closed his mouth and opened his eyes, which he had closed due to the intensity of the light. He saw the metal links in front of him were glowing red from the extreme heat they had been subjected to, and the area he painted with flame was charcoal black and had the distinct odor of severe burning. Underlying it, though, was another smell, one he couldn't identify. He worked on the mesh net, eventually throwing it off of him, then rose to his full height. He looked before him and could feel his heart plunge into his stomach.
In front of him, laid out among the burnt and burning foliage was the husk of a burnt human body. That was the smell he couldn't identify; burning fat. He could feel something horrible happening to him, and he ran over close to the entrance and puked his dinner behind the rocks. After he was finished dry heaving, about five minutes later, he returned to the body and thought about this.
"I've killed… after all this time, I have finally killed somebody."
Hunting prey was nothing compared to this. He thought he felt guilty from hurting innocent pokemon, despite that being the natural course of life. But this… this was a human being, even if he was affiliated with Team Rocket, and human laws were strict against these matters. Forget the human laws, though, when considering the ramifications of Team Rocket.
"I need to get out of here" Blaze said hurriedly, panting. He ran the opposite direction of the original entrance, away from the body. He jumped over the stream several times and hopped over rocks in his way, occasionally landing painfully on the floor, but always getting back up and running again. He kept running until he found an exit to the cave and crawled out. He whipped his head around, knowing he was a good distance away. He stumbled through the undergrowth until he located another empty cave, this one well hidden but not as supplied with fresh water. That didn't matter much to him at the moment, though.
He walked past the entrance and headed for the back of the cave. There he curled up, feeling weak and tired from his exertions and having lost his dinner. He began to think about what he had done. After this, Team Rocket would be after his head; if the humans found out they would be after him, too. But there was one question that continued to assault his mind, one that caused him to enter a fitful sleep.
What would Lora say or do?
The end of another chapter comes and goes, as do all things in their courses. Review me soon, please!