A Reminiscence

Chapter Seventeen

Sacrifice

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As we came into the hotel's garage and walked up to the Horizon, an issue became apparent: it would be rather difficult for all of us to fit inside, as its profile was quite low.

"Okay, how is this going to work?" Jack asked. "Sweet car, by the way."

"It's fantastic!" Slick commented, meticulously looking over its sleek curves. "Can I drive?"

"Absolutely the hell not!" Ralph said in a rare moment of emotion. "You barely even have opposable thumbs!"

Slick looked down at his claws. "Hey, these are perfectly opposable! I have every reason to want to drive this piece of kickass!"

"No way in hell am I letting you anywhere near the driver's seat," Ralph insisted. "This is my car, so I'm driving. End of story."

"Oh, fine. Jerk." Slick pouted, now rather surly.

"Get over it," Jack said. "Okay, if you own the car, I think it's fair that you drive. Berkeley, you go up front, we'll try to cram into the back."

"Fair enough," I said, opening the door for Ralph and I. "We should not waste any more time, come, let us give chase!"

"Let's beat this jerk down!" Slick said, practically diving into the back seat. "Got any good music?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, climbing in next to him. "Let's just go, I'm getting sick of this guy. Ruined my whole day!"

"Indeed, he is quite the unpleasant character," I said, as Ralph turned the engine on and pulled out. "You might as well get comfortable, this car is expertly designed. Hand-assembled, as well."

"Damn, Ralph, this is quite the prize!" Jack said. "Silph must have really liked you!"

"It certainly seemed that way," I said, as we finally came out of the garage and into some alley. "Now, the question is, where is he?"

"Can you hear anything?" Anne asked to Ralph, leaning over the seat.

"I think…there!" Ralph said, looking to his left, where, down another alley between two very large buildings, a number of people had congregated, looking up at something that was very easy to guess.

"He's still hanging around," Ralph noted. "He must have wanted to wait for us instead of getting away."

"A foolish choice!" I cried. "He has no more agents! What could he possibly do now?"

"Do you think he really came all the way over here in a Chinook with only two guys?" Ralph asked. "He could probably stick a whole army in there!"

I paused, realizing the implication. "Oh…oh dear."

A sudden gust of wind shook the car, and we turned down the alley to see that the Chinook had moved over it and the crowd had dispersed.

"Oh, shit!" Ralph cried as he noticed a telltale glint from inside the helicopter: that of a sniper, taking aim at us. Just as he pulled the trigger to fire, Ralph pulled out, the bullet just barely missing us and presumably lodging itself in the ground somewhere behind.

"A sniper in a helicopter?" Slick asked, surprisingly calm. "That doesn't seem like a very good idea."

"What are you talking about?!" Anne yelled.

"Well, I'm just saying that helicopters move around a lot and there's a bunch of wind resistance…he probably would have missed anyway, you know?"

"NO!" Anne shouted back.

"Will you two quit talking so I can focus?" Ralph requested as he pulled back into the street, noticing that traffic had, naturally, stopped almost entirely, forcing him to stop on the astonishingly wide sidewalk.

"God damn it," Ralph said. "That helicopter stopped everybody!"

"What do we do?" Anne asked. "We can't outrun it, and we can't drive anywhere."

"I disagree," Ralph said, as he pulled back slightly and turned the wheel away from the hotel, which, alarmingly, would have been towards the helicopter.

"Ralph, what are you doing?" I asked, fear at last creeping into my voice.

"Something stupid," he answered, as he pressed down on the pedal and tore absolute hell on the sidewalk, deftly avoiding the traffic, although the pedestrians barely had enough time to run out of the way. Soon, we passed through the intersection next to where the helicopter was lying in wait, and our little trick did not evade its notice, as it continued giving chase, this time against a much faster target.

"Jesus Christ!" I cried, gripping onto whatever I could take hold of and praying that against a moving target, the sniper would continue missing. "You are probably going to get us killed before Zerus manages to!"

"I know what I'm doing," Ralph said, as he plowed straight into a newspaper receptacle, sending sheets flying everywhere, including on our windshield. Luckily, our sight was not entirely blocked out, but it was still quite a severe hindrance.

"Oh, god!" I cried, feeling my heart's pace increase far beyond what could possibly have been healthy, which was not helped when I looked outside and noticed that the helicopter was right behind us, and the sniper had not given up. Another shot rang out, and this time it nearly found its mark, hitting somewhere on the boot.

"Holy shit, he's trying to kill us!" Slick cried, adjusting his hat.

"What do you think he was trying to do before, give us a nice present?" Ralph asked, as he noticed something: a colossal park, coming up to our left. "Say, Larch?"

"What?" I asked, not really excited at the prospect of answering a question of any sort from Ralph in this situation.

"Do you think this thing can go off-road?"

"What the hell are you…oh, for God's sake!" I yelled, as Ralph pulled into a path leading into the park, replacing concrete sidewalk for grass, although pedestrians were still present, and still quite shocked as they leapt out of the way of our car. "How will this help?"

"Tree cover," Ralph explained, as we did indeed go under a dense canopy of trees. "I'd like to see that sniper get us now!" he said, seeming quite pleased with his achievement.

"The forest does not last forever, Ralph," I said. "We need a plan."

"All right, then, you take the wheel," he said, unbuckling and climbing out.

"Oh, now what?" I demanded as he crossed over to the passenger's side.

"Take the wheel," Ralph commanded through the window, which I rolled down to help the communication.

"Me? Take the wheel?" I asked. "Whatever for? What are you planning on doing, anyway?"

"I'm going to stick up through the sunroof when we get out from under these trees and take shots at the chopper," he explained, holding up the gun he had stolen from the valet. I, of course, stared at him and his weapon as if they had both turned a particularly bright shade of pink.

"Have you gone completely insane, or are you just stupid?"

Ralph smiled. "Sometimes I can't tell the difference myself. Take the wheel before we get shot ourselves."

I realized that, in the face of what could only be either sheer brilliance or sheer idiocy, sometimes you just have to trust in it. "Very well," I said, unbuckling myself and quickly shifting over to the driver's side. I gripped the steering wheel, finding it an astonishingly comfortable device, while Ralph took his new seat.

"Ready for this?" he asked, his eyes gleaming with a vicious purpose.

"In no possible way could I ever be ready for this, Ralph," I said, as I pressed down on the gas and sped off, bits of grass flying off behind the tires. "Of course, we do seem to be doing pretty well for ourselves, all things considered."

"Keep driving, the trees end up here," Ralph said, and indeed, just ahead, the trees stopped around a large fountain.

"What is the plan?" I asked.

"Stop," he requested, and I did so as he opened up the sunroof, coming to rest just in front of the fountain. "Wish me luck!" With that, Ralph pushed himself through the opening in the roof and took aim, getting a few shots off at the approaching helicopter. From what I could tell, they had absolutely no effect at all, and Ralph retired as the sniper took another shot, sending a bullet into the fountain.

"Well, that didn't work," he muttered, clearly annoyed at the failure of his plan.

"You say that as if you are surprised," I said, driving off once more down the path, heading for the end of the park. "Really, I am surprised that you did not get shot."

"It was a good distraction," Slick offered. "It could have been better, though."

"Yeah, I could have actually shot that sniper," Ralph said, looking over his weapon. "Say, do you hear sirens?"

I listened for a moment, and did indeed hear the distinctive noise of police sirens. "It seems we have made an impact on the city!" I said, panicking.

"Uh…can I try something?" Slick asked.

"A disguise?" I asked, trying to look back while still keeping an eye on the path. "I fully support that idea if it will keep us from getting arrested!"

"Hold on…" he said, as we once more passed under a thick canopy of trees. "Here goes!" A red glow surrounded the car, and stayed there, as Slick strained to maintain it. "We are now driving a piece of shit pickup truck!"

"Oh, good, just the image I want to project," I said. "Besides, how will that help? They already know we are under the canopy, how many vehicles do you expect to find in a park such as this?"

"Hey, it'll get the cops off of us, at least," Slick noted. Indeed, just after we pulled out of the park, a police cruiser sped right past us, completely unaware of the trickery we had pulled. However, the people in the helicopter saw right through it, and were easily able to follow us, but had thankfully given up on taking shots.

Soon, still with the helicopter chasing after us, we found ourselves in the less built-up section of the city, which accordingly had less traffic. While it would certainly make it easier for us to move around, it would also make it easier for the helicopter to maneuver, a questionable tradeoff. Still, I realized that if we occasionally changed the illusion, we could probably make a safe getaway, assuming we were able to get out of sight first.

As I drove through the streets, carefully driving in and out of the traffic and making fairly good time, I saw a potential opportunity for escape: a surprisingly large car park that would be impossible for the helicopter to see into.

"Bingo!" I said, driving in and looking around for an empty spot. It seemed, however, that it was well-frequented, so it took some time to find anywhere to park, and it was only on the third floor we managed to. Still, it allowed us a moment for me to enact my plan.

"Slick, could you please make the car look like something else?" I asked, looking back. He glared back at me, evidently quite annoyed at my request.

"You asshole," he muttered, straining to shift the illusion to something else. "I'll just make it look like that one," he said, looking to my left at a massive white Hummer.

"What?!" I cried. "That is the most conspicuous disguise possible! They will notice it in an instant!"

"Oh, fine, then!" Slick said. "Enjoy your shitty Camaro, asshole!"

"Slick!" Anne said, disapproving of such vulgarity.

"Bite me! This is hard to keep up, you know, especially on such short notice!"

"Well…I apologize, then." I finally noticed that Jack was having a poor time of it, as an expression of utmost fear was stuck upon his face and he was furiously gripping the door in his terror.

"Jack, have you been like that all this time?" I asked, attempting to sound concerned.

"Maybe," he said through strongly gritted teeth.

"Look, we're safe now," Ralph said, attempting to bring some semblance of order back, "let's all just relax and let this blow over."

"Are you sure about that, Ralph?" I asked as I heard that distinctive noise of police sirens once more. "They must have noticed anyway. Blast!"

"It could have been from the giant fucking helicopter chasing after us," Jack noted, calming down slightly. Unfortunately for him, his fear returned when we heard a loud voice coming from outside of the car park, listing a quite specific demand of us.

"This is the Black City Police Department!" it came, echoing all throughout the walls. "We know you're in the Camaro! Come out with your hands up or we will resort to using force!"

"Say nothing," I warned. "We can negotiate this."

"What?!" Slick said in a whisper, not understanding what I was trying to do.

"Look, Zerus wants me, it's obvious. I'm at the center of his plan, and if I give myself to him, you can all get away and be safe."

"He'll kill you, dumbass!" Jack said, leaning closer to me. "You're gonna turn yourself over to that douche?"

"If it means you can be safe, then I will gladly do so," I said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have some negotiations to do."

They continued objecting as I stepped out of the car, but it would never be enough to stop me from my task. I walked over to the railing on the edge of the building where the police had congregated, and looked over it, noticing that the helicopter had landed among a large group of squad cars.

"Hello, officers!" I said as loud as I could, gaining their attention. "Have you need for me?"

"Come out now, sir!" somebody from down below yelled through a megaphone, his voice reverberating through the entire parking garage. "You have five minutes to comply!"

"I want to negotiate!" I called back. "I believe the vice president has want for me?"

I noticed that, indeed, I had gotten Zerus' attention, as he left the helicopter and walked up to the man who was holding the megaphone, tapping him on the shoulder and taking the device.

"What do you want to negotiate?" he asked, sounding cross.

"Hello, Zerus!" I greeted him. "I believe you want us, correct?"

"That is correct," he answered. "You've been behaving very illegally as of late, and we have every intention to take you all into custody."

"Unfortunately, that is far from ideal," I said. "Come up here and we can talk more about how we want to do this."

"Fine, asshole!" Zerus said, throwing the megaphone to the ground and storming inside, at the protest of everyone around him. I gave him some time to come up, and when he finally got up the stairs, he beelined straight for me, an expression of rage upon his face.

"All right, look, dickhead," he said, grabbing my collar, "I am sick and tired of you wasting my goddamn time, so how about we work this out now before I just throw you out of this building myself?"

"I must confess I would prefer if you did not," I said, smiling. "Now, about that deal?"

Zerus released me, calming down slightly. "Okay, what do you want to do here?"

"It depends on the extent to which you are willing to negotiate," I answered.

"At this point, I'm mixed. For one, I want to finally get rid of you, but on the other hand, you've really pissed me off today, and when I'm pissed off, I tend not to want to bother with anything."

"Well, worry not, Zerus, because this deal shall have great benefits for us both!"

"Losing interest…" Zerus droned.

"Perhaps this will regain it! If you go along with this, I shall repay you by going along with you…"

"What?" Zerus asked, disbelieving. "How could that possibly benefit you?"

"Because, if I do go with you, entirely willingly, might I add, then my other friends will go free and remain separate from your plan." I gestured towards the car, which Zerus considered for some time.

"That's the dumbest-ass deal I've ever heard!" Zerus yelled. "You're going to get killed! That's the point!"

"I really do not care, so long as they go free of your insane plan." I said, entirely sincere. However, my sincerity merely provided more confusion, as Zerus stared at me as if I had said something entirely nonsensical.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Zerus cried. "You're gonna die so those idiots can live?!"

"I resent that!" Slick cried from inside the car.

"Shut up!" Zerus yelled, removing his glasses and throwing them to the floor. "Just shut the fuck up, all of you idiots! I had this whole plan very carefully laid out, and I finally get to enact it, and what do you shitheads do? Fuck it all up! And who should be involved but my idiot little brother who barely did anything when I was still around! I'm glad he left! He sucked! You all suck! No deal, Larch! No deal!"

"What?!" I cried. "I just gave myself up to you and you are going to throw it all away? This is your chance for the plan to work!"

"All right," Zerus said, quickly coming down from his rage. "You want to save those little friends of yours so bad? You want them to get away and live their merry stupid little lives while I shoot you in between the eyes?" he asked, pulling a submachine gun out of his coat. "Fine, then! Here's your fucking chance!"

"Christ!" I yelled, grabbing his wrist before he had a chance to fire and forcing it up. In an instant, a volley of rapid-fire metal death spewed forth, peppering the ceiling with fair-sized holes. Zerus glared at me, released the trigger, and kicked me in the shin, but I did not loosen my grasp in the slightest.

"What the fuck is going on up there?!" an officer called from below, sounding very unnerved.

"Just some negotiation!" I said. "Nothing to be concerned about!"

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Zerus yelled, trying to point the gun at something, but failing.

"Like I said, nothing to be concerned about!" I said, attempting to call attention away from it.

"SHUT UP!" Zerus yelled, pushing me away and training his gun at my head. However, luckily for me, he decided to go for a different plan.

"All right, Larch?" he asked, setting his gun down. "You want to die while your friends live? I can do that."

"How so?" I asked, tensing up.

"I'll show you." Zerus walked over to the edge of the building again, looking out and sending out a command. "Bring the helicopter up to the top level of the park!"

I could see the pilot nodding, entering the helicopter and turning it back on, the rotors slowly coming to life and raising it up off of the ground.

"I'm going to take you on a little trip, Larch," Zerus said. "It's a lovely spot, really, it is. Quite a nice lake, I think you'll really appreciate it."

"A lake, then, is it?" I asked. "Very well, then. Let us go."

The building shook slightly as the helicopter landed above us, sending some dust down from the ceiling. "Looks like that's our ride," Zerus said, turning to give one last command. "All right, everybody, I would like to extend a pardon to everybody in the car except this guy! I'm taking him into custody and will personally escort him to prison!"

"Can you do that?" somebody from down below asked.

"Can I do that?" Zerus mockingly imitated. "Of course I can do that! I'm the most powerful person here, I can do whatever the hell I feel like doing! Let these guys go or I'll send your ass to federal prison!"

Zerus turned back to me and viciously grabbed hold of my shoulder. "Come on, professor. Your chauffer awaits." He smiled cruelly as he dragged me over to the stairs, passing the car, which had long since abandoned its disguise. As we moved closer, Slick came out, staring at us both. Zerus paused, allowing us a moment.

"You're really going through with this?" Slick asked, sorrow in his eyes.

"Indeed I am," I answered. "I do not care what become of me so long as you all are safe." Unseen by Zerus, I winked, and Slick immediately got the message of it. "Do tell them that they are the finest group of friends I could possibly have asked for."

"I-I will," Slick answered, keeping his knowledge of what I was trying to do hidden expertly.

"Yeah, yeah, enough of the sobbing," Zerus said, pulling me once more up the stairs. I looked back at Slick one last time before he disappeared, and I was quite glad as he got a vicious smile on his face, clearly coming up with a plan.

Up the next few levels, we reached the open parking lot on the roof, where the helicopter had parked itself in some of the empty spaces, crossing over a number of them. This sight instinctively caused me to cringe from the memories of people without the ability to park correctly. Of course, unlike them, the pilot had at least some excuse for it.

I got a very good view of it as Zerus threw me inside and went to give the pilot instructions, forcing me face-to-face with the sniper who had, just a little while ago, tried to put bullets through us all.

"Hello," he said, his face remaining calm as he rubbed his rifle. "You're pretty clever to evade me like that. I usually don't miss."

"Well, I am sorry for damaging your record," I said, trying and failing to keep myself from glancing at his weapon. "However, I am sure you understand, as most people tend to enjoy keeping their heads intact."

"This could destroy a watermelon at 500 yards," he said, still expressionless.

"Well, then, I am glad to have avoided it."

"Are you two finished?" Zerus asked, climbing in next to me, having finished his instructions. "Because I'm getting very impatient again."

"I was simply congratulating the professor on avoiding me for so long," the sniper said, turning his head very slightly to face Zerus. "Few people have ever been able to do that."

"Yeah, about that," Zerus started, "what the hell was that?! They said you were the best in your field!"

"I am," the sniper confirmed simply. "It's just that they were better."

Zerus smirked and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, shaking me slightly. "Yeah, well, when this guy is out of my hair, I won't have to worry about that any more, because I can just go right ahead with the plan, finally! It'll be fantastic!"

"And you will leave the others alone?" I asked.

"That depends on how quiet we can keep them," Zerus said. "If they go back to whatever shithole they lived in and don't breathe a word of this to anybody, then, frankly, I have no reason to care about them. And if they do start going off about the truth behind my little war, they'll just sound like lunatic conspiracy theorists!"

"But they will still be saying the truth," I said. "And nothing can change the truth."

"Yeah, whatever." Zerus hiked his voice up, calling to the pilot. "You can take us out to the lake any time you want!"

"What lake?" I questioned as we took off.

"Hatara Lake!" Zerus said, excitement coming into his voice as he described it. "It's one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world! Absolutely massive! The river it connects to is enough to nourish all of White Forest!"

"White Forest? I have heard some fascinating things about the Pokémon there," I said, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, the Pokémon are pretty good, considering that's where I used to live before all of this! And you, Larch, are lucky enough to get both a bird's-eye and close-up view of all of it."

I realized what he was planning to do and broke into a sweat. "Well, then, pushing me out, is it?"

"Oh, you know it!" Zerus said with psychotic glee.

I realized that it was now or never, as we went of to the esteemed lake, trying to ready myself for what would occur and recall what was necessary for such a situation as this.

After some time, we ended up out of the city and near the lake, which, true to his word, was absolutely massive, almost enough to hold the entirety of Pallet Town within its waters. Also true to his word was that the pilot had stopped quite a ways over it, allowing me an ideal view of the lake and the forest that surrounded it. However, that was hardly the time to admire any scenery, considering I was about to get the closest view possible of the lake.

"Take a good look, Larch!" Zerus cried over the roar of the helicopter's rotors. "This'll be one of the last things you ever see, so I hope you enjoy it!"

"This is it, then?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes…yes it is," he said, forcing me up and setting me beside the open doors. "Larch…it's been a lot of things. It's been annoying, it's been triumphant, in some ways I might even go so far as to say fun, but it's finally time to pull the thorn out. Goodbye, professor. Have a nice trip!"

I did not bother to fight back as he pushed me out over the water, since doing so would probably only end up with me getting shot and then getting pushed out anyway. For several seconds I fell, and I did my best to get into the best position: feet first, knees bent slightly, and so on, so that I could reduce the impact of the landing as best as possible. When I did hit, despite my best efforts, it still felt like I had been hit with a truck, as the cold water of the lake surrounded me after my legs had almost been turned into jelly. I had little knowledge of what, exactly, happened after the impact, other than sinking down to the bottom of the lake as my vision faded out, hoping desperately that my friends had done something in time…