Poke-genetics: falling
This had to be a lie, there was no other way. She could not be… no! That was just something that couldn't be. It was too twisted to be possible!
Still in Janes's hands, Ash couldn't hold back his tears.
He had failed his son… he had promised.
He could see Alex's joyous expressions when he looked at him. Would he still keep that vision of his father when he'd be old enough to understand how much he had failed him? Would those pure eyes come to be filled with hatred?
No, that was too horrible to imagine. If that happened, he'd break into pieces. If Alex didn't love him…
«When can I see him? I'd like to play with our child. » Janes's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Play?
She… wanted to play with Alex?
In the corner of his eyes, he could see Genno's unconscious body next to Pikachu, bleeding heavily. Screams of horror echoed into his ears: «NO! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY ANYMORE! », images of his friend crying at the thought of what he went through flashed before him.
She was smiling, enjoying his misery, his fear. He could see her million of times despised face so close to him that he knew it. She was absolutely sincere.
The world was no longer white; it was red, bloodily red.
Her. There was nothing else that mattered than her… and his desire to hurt her, to kill her. Building into him was the strongest intent to murder he had ever felt.
His mind went blank.
Janes recognized the wilderness in his eyes and threw him on the ground before it was too late. The pikachu didn't even seem to notice as he unleashed a massive amount of electricity that filled the dark corridor with light.
It was so bright that Pikachu completely lost sight of both Ash and Janes. Blinking furiously, he was trying to regain his sight the fastest he could. He had no idea if that attack had been effective, but he had to see if Ash was okay. He definitely didn't look like his normal self, even when he was angry.
When his vision cleared up, he gasped in shock.
The lightning that Ash had unleashed was being held in place by Janes's Alakazam.
«I should have known he was here somewhere! She couldn't have just appeared here otherwise. » Pikachu thought.
Frustrated, his friend was yelling in rage while trying to overpower the psychic type… without success.
Amazed at the strength of Janes's pokemon, Pikachu was approaching a state of full panic. Why did he have to be injured at a time like that? Struck by the answer, he almost hit his forehead.
His power building up in his cheeks, he prepared to assist his friend.
He didn't have the time.
Panting, Ash stopped his electric attack and had chosen to charge at Janes.
Perfectly calm, she shot a look at her alakazam and said:
«Use Teleport. »
«You won't get away like that! » Pikachu shouted.
The mad grin she had when she turned to look at him was the most disturbing thing he had witnessed yet.
And it widened when, as Ash was getting closer, her psychic type flew toward him and put a paw on his back.
Before either Ash or Pikachu could react, the psychic type had disappeared… leaving Janes alone with Genno and Pikachu.
At the success of the maneuver, Janes chuckled.
«Where have you sent him? » Pikachu asked her.
Her joy still clearly visible, she answered in a mysterious tone.
«Where indeed? »
«YOU…!»
She did not even blink.
«Do you really want to know? » Janes said with a gourmand voice. «If I tell you, will you break down like Ash did minutes ago? Will you show me some delicious pain? »
At that, Pikachu's anger was replaced by fear. What had she done with Ash?
«You'd like to know, wouldn't you? Fine, I'll grant your wish, but only if I can explain it before. You know, to gloat a little never hurts. »
Seeing the pikachu staying immobile, she continued.
«You see, I like to take people's ugliness and shove them in their face. It's a great source of despair when people see their true nature. Ash is a fighter and like all fighter… he has wild untamed bloodthirsty side. »
«That's a lie… » Pikachu muttered.
This was not Ash at all. He was the greatest friend and trainer Pikachu ever had. He had seen trainers that took pleasure in crushing their opponents, in inflicting pain to others' pokemon, and Ash was not one of them.
«Oh… really? » she asked, delighted at the disillusion the pokemon was trying to believe. «Then, how would you qualify his attitude from before? »
Had Pikachu been slapped in the face by Ash himself, he would not have reacted differently.
«He was out for my life and you know it. It worried you, didn't it? That attitude of his. It was like he was not the trainer you knew. Well, considering he lost his human body a few months ago, it is not that surprising. »
«His body doesn't matter! » he protested, suddenly energetic.
«Of course, that's why I attacked his spirit, that's why his mind is little more than that of a beast.»
His energy faded once more, his face drained of blood and his body, of strength.
Pushing her advantage, Janes hammered it down.
«It's such a pity, isn't it? »
Her words sounded compassionate but her expression demented it vehemently. She was savoring every seconds of it.
«The poor boy was deeply affected by the absence of a father figure in his life. Now, when he has a son of his own, he is terrified at the idea of making him live the same things. He wants the best for him, but he's constantly forced to do the opposite. He has to fight and put himself at risk, even if that meant not taking care of our child, just so he can make sure he will grow up in a happy, united family. And now, I, big bad Janes, have destroyed his only hope of truly keeping his words to our son. I've destroyed that dream, I've destroyed some of his friends, and I keep getting away with it. It's not fair. The poor boy can't do anything at all and it builds up inside him: frustration. Unable to protect anyone, unable to defeat his enemies, unable to keep his promises, he just won't be able to cope with it… and let it all go out. »
Her smile was more terrifying than ever. She had saved the best for the last.
«Guess what, little pikachu? I've sent him in a place where he will be able to unleash that anger: Viridian City. »
Pikachu's jaw fell to the floor.
«What? »
Her perverse expression intensified.
«You don't get it, do you? » she mocked. «In his state of mind, he won't even make the difference between me and another human. He won't be able to logically think; I broke him and I made sure it'd turn out like this. »
«He'd never do that! »
«Are you sure? » she asked, a childish persistence now showing beneath that madness.
Pikachu kept silent. Ash would never harm innocents. Never! There were no doubts in his mind.
«Well, I beg to differ, but I suppose you can't be convinced. Anyway, since you seem so faithful, I'll just underline the fact that Viridian City is the place who sent the most police officers after us. If he breaks lose, he might easily do some great damage… even kill bystanders. »
Her voice was a poison, but he stood strong and tried his best to keep it at bay.
Before Janes could add anything else, her alakazam teleported behind her.
He was alone.
«How did it go? Was he just as violent as I predicted? » she inquired sweetly.
Her pokemon nodded slowly and she had to restrain herself from laughing. Instead, a subtle, dangerous, smile appeared on her lips as she stared at Pikachu.
«Excellent. Two downs, one more to go. »
«We can do this! » Jenny's voice pierced through the echoes of the battles.
She was right, they could. Around her, another Team Blast member had fallen to the ground, defeated by a police officer.
Suddenly, she jolted back. A trail of poisonous liquid flew right past her face, where a criminal's arbok had attempted to get her.
«Keep fighting! We will end this today, once and for all! » she shouted.
She was like a burning lighthouse and her arcanine fiery taking down opponents contributed to that feeling even more. The whole room seemed to revolve around her. She was the most impressive fighter, the most dangerous opponents, and the more she advanced, the more her enemies wanted to take her down.
The few police officers closed to her doubled their efforts and fought even more fiercely. This madness would end today! Those criminals had stepped on their pride as officers, on their beliefs and attacked the people they swore to protect. No one could stop them from getting their revenge!
Another criminal fell to the ground, Jenny's pokemon having outwitted them. She called one of them and gave a very important order.
«Gengar, find the ones in command and strike them down! »
With a nod, the ghost type disappeared in midair.
Satisfied, she focused on the other groups.
Good, they would soon be ready for the second part of the plan.
Relaying another order, she continued to fight. She was the one leading the assault; there were no ways she would let it fail.
She bit her lips. Things were not looking good.
For every officer they managed to strike down, another fought back with that much more energy. Even worse, there were regularly psychic types moving between the fighters to stop or plainly teleport the ones in peril to safety.
They knew any fallen officer could become a hostage that they would be too happy to take.
She yelled an order to her closest subordinate. The enemies had made a breach in their defense and were progressing at a much faster rate than before.
When she shot a look at the man she had assigned to that position, she realized the man was nowhere to be seen, most probably lying on the ground.
Worried and struck by a presentiment, Captain Seriza observed the positions of her other subordinates. What she saw made her fear for the battle.
None of the lieutenants she had placed around the room were still standing.
She would have been completely appalled by this discovery had it not been for the movement that she caught in the corner of her eyes. They were no members behind her.
«Beedril! »
Instantly, her pokemon jumped out of its pokeball and flew toward whatever was behind her. She only heard a panicked «Gar!» before she could turn around.
Nothing.
But the reaction of her pokemon proved that she had not imagined it.
She didn't have the time to focus on that, she only ordered her pokemon to watch her surrounding carefully.
Concentrating on the battle in front of her, Captain Seriza evaluated the forces still under her command. They were still plenty of fighters in their ranks and the policemen and women battling them were tired from their first fight not long ago.
Team Blast would be the victor.
A predator grin found its way onto her lips. With smart commands, the criminals under her orders could turn this around.
She relayed another order and her eyes fell, by complete accident, on the leader of the assault forces: Officer Jenny.
Panting, she was completely in the middle of the battle and was one of the most dangerous opponents to face, second only to the gym leaders.
However, her presence was so inspiring that the ones next to her were as much of demented opponents as she was. She was the one they had to strike down.
Even more intriguing, her shadow was literally floating over her head. What was that supposed to be?
The captain got her answer when it changed of shaped and turned into a gengar. She instantly realized it was what she had noticed behind her… and got her subordinates.
«That was smart of you, Jenny. » she admitted to herself. «But it will take much more than that.»
For a second, the two women saw each other and they both saw the other one would not let her side lose.
While smiling, certain of her advantage, Seriza silently articulated: «You will be defeated. » From that far, she could not tell, but she swore the female officer was angry.
That emotion, however, disappeared fast. Instead, she seemed surprised by something. Seriza could only try to guess what happened, but when she saw the smile on Jenny's face, the same as the one she had before herself, she knew this was not good.
As prepared for the worst as she was, Captain Seriza could never predicted what happened next. Her arcanine spitting fire toward the ceiling, she shouted one order:
«Retreat! »
The captain was completely unable to hold it back:
«WHAT? »
Pikachu was feeling his treacherous heart beat too fast in his chest, slowly worsening the problem caused by the wound on his shoulder. His blood was leaving his body. He had to treat that wound sooner than later…
But right now, he couldn't care less.
He had the gaze of a monster on him.
«So, Pikachu, you were lucky in the end. You were the one that I had the least interest at the beginning. I supposed that a simple pokemon would not be as fun as a human... but maybe I was wrong. » she explained with her dark smile.
Pikachu gulped loudly.
«Frankly, until Genno fell into my hand, I had no idea about who you were. I heard the rumors about you and your power like everyone else, but that was not enough to pike my interest, after all, I have powerful pokemon myself. However, there is a detail I found really interesting: you had the chance to evolve.»
The horror fully enveloped every fiber of his being. Speechless, he was looking at Janes with the face of someone knowing to be doomed.
«I wonder, what exactly is the reason you don't want to evolve so badly? You had the chance to for a long time. You faced a few raichus during your travel with your trainer, but you always refused to evolve. Normally, any pokemon in your situation would jump on the opportunity. Not every pikachu has the chance to find a thunderstone, but you… you've had the chance to be offered two of them. »
Even in the middle of all this fear, Pikachu could notice the mistake.
«Just… one. » he whispered, more to himself than for Janes.
She heard him anyway.
«Ohhhh, what was that? » she asked, her vicious smile widening. «Oh, I can't believe I did it again! »
The theatrical manner in which she said it had a little touch of dark pleasure in it. By the expression on her face during the split second before her exclamation, Pikachu knew she was going to do it again: she was going to try to break him.
«I meant to say that later on… like in a minute. »
Her hands plunged in her pocket and picked up one very particular item: a thunderstone.
«Oh look, I've found a thunderstone. They are so expensive. We better use it right away, don't you agree, Alakazam? » she said once more with that mocking tone.
Breathing heavily, Pikachu prepared another thunderbolt.
«You shouldn't do that. » Janes advised. «Genno is right behind you and if Alakazam has to redirect your attack, he might take the hit. You wouldn't want that, would you? »
Pikachu was too desperate to listen.
«I'm stronger than your alakazam! » he yelled.
«With your leg in that state? » she inquired, acting genuinely curious. «That would be impressive. By all means, try it. »
It was that, this sheer intimidation, this malevolent aura of power she was emitting that convinced him. It was pointless to try against her.
Internally, she rejoiced.
«He's already starting to break. I guess being the last one standing takes its toll on you. He will probably put up a little fight when I will get too close with the stone. It's just a pity for him that I already have something else in mind. First, he needs to still have some fire burning inside. »
Nonchalantly playing with the stone, she looked at the pokemon in the eyes.
«Do you wonder why I know so much about you? »
Oh yes he did.
«You don't think I was only playing with Genno, did you? Well, you wouldn't be entirely wrong. From times to times, I asked him questions. At first, he didn't want to answer, but, just like every other, he learned to be talkative. I promised that I would stop hurting him if he answered, which I did… for about five or six seconds. »
The horror was still there, but it was overshadowed by his anger.
«YOU BITCH! »
She snickered.
«That's the strongest word you could throw at me? You do not have a lot of imagination. Then again, I have heard so many of those before that it doesn't bug me anymore… mostly because those that did died. » her tone suddenly lowered, becoming much more threatening.
He did not care, she was a monster and she had to pay!
«Alakazam… » she simply said, seeing the pokemon had no intent to stay still any longer.
It was as if an enormous pressure had been put on his shoulder. His wound helping, his legs gave in and he was pressed against the hard ground.
Janes slowly walked to him, amused by the pokemon's struggle. It was too weak. If he didn't listen to her and attacked, Pikachu might have injured her, but he fell for her trap.
«You probably think I'm just going to put this stone on you and be done with it, right? »
The cry of rage she heard was more than enough of an answer.
«As I said before, you lack imagination. Here is what I am going to do. »
Her voice was nothing more than a weak whisper at this point. It penetrated much further through Pikachu's mental defense that way.
«Alakazam will send you away. Oh, not in Viridian City, like your friend, but close. Let's say… half an hour away… while running fast. It would be no problem for a strong pikachu like you, right? But, oh, you are injured and I don't have anything to heal you with… except… maybe… this. »
She held up the thunderstone just under Pikachu nose, who was carefully eying it.
«It heals a pokemon to evolve, don't you know? It's the same thing as a ditto's transformation. »
It finally sank in.
«No… » he protested weakly, his throat tied up by the horror.
«Oh yes. » Janes confirmed with delight. «I will give you the choice. You will either evolve and have a chance of preventing Ash from causing too much damage, which should be deliciously high at this point, or refuse to evolve and die from your wound. Even if you did not succumb to this little wound out of blood loss, would you forgive yourself for letting your friend commit murder? »
The poison of her voice filled him from the inside.
«I am quite curious as to see what your choice will be. I am sure you will spend a wonderful time making your choice. »
Before he could say anything, she ordered:
«Alakazam… you know where to send him. »
As the psychic type grabbed him, Pikachu felt true despair. This was a nightmare!
«Bye! » Janes ended their conversation with the innocence of a child.
«NO! » Pikachu yelled.
But his plea was cut short by the teleportation.
Last one standing, Janes let her pleasure loose.
What a marvelous moment! She was living for this kind of stuff. Oh, the boundless fear on Genno's face, the wild bloodthirst in Ash's screams, Pikachu's pure despair, all this wonderful suffering all for herself. She couldn't get enough of it. It was so much fun.
Her gaze fell on the motionless teen next to where her pokemon had disappeared.
Her mood brightened even more. She had a feeling that more pleasurable things were about to happen.
Jonathan passed a hand on his sweaty forehead. The lab had been heated to meet the requirement of the experimentation and it was quite incommoding, but it was worth it, perfectly. No matter how inconvenient, it was nothing compared to that certainty in his heart: he had succeeded! His experiment involving the discarded eggshell of the legendary Mew had been complete succes and its result was just in front of him.
He sighted with ease; he knew. After all these years, he knew. Nothing could break this ecstasy.
He overestimated his happiness.
The door at the back lab opened slowly, making a screeching sound.
Enraged to see his precious moment broken, Jonathan turned around violently, a revolver in his hand.
«Who dares? »
She was there. In the doorframe, her feline grace the same as ever, Janes was waiting, looking mockingly at her boss.
«What are you doing here, Janes? You were supposed to stop any intruder from getting in this place. »
«I did. I stopped the three boys from reaching you. Shouldn't you be thankful? » she replied, an apparent annoyance in her voice.
«For what? » Jonathan shrugged the complaint off. «A subordinate has to obey his superior. I gave you an order, you followed it. »
«Or did I? » she pensively murmured, a finger on her chin.
«What do you mean? »
«Nothing, of course. » she assured.
Seeing her boss steaming in rage, she chose not to push him any further and turned around, about to take her leave.
«Geez, even when you should be rolling in happiness, you find the way to be aggressive and pointlessly angry. It's bothersome. » she finished.
The loud exploding sound that followed took her by surprise... as the cold sensation in her abdomen.
Janes fell to the ground, one hand clutched to the hole made by the fired bullet.
When he saw her fall, Jonathan grinned, satisfied.
«You are no longer a bother, Janes. Be happy. »
Returning to the contemplation of his success, he muttered something like a: «foolish woman». Finally getting the fearsome woman out of his mind, Jonathan did not notice the small glow around the wound, nor her mad smile.