Part 5 Dead City

Kotone sobbed, screamed, squalled and oh so much more as she was dragged. Proton's Victreebel was dragging her by its vines.

So that's where I am. Kotone thought in her head frantically, *I'm not that far, they can still come and get me.* She looked at the dim buildings, devoid of light. Team Rocket had cut power to the city, to save their resources. That's why she hadn't recognized it, until they had been walking through the city for over an hour. Goldenrod had been a place of light, so much light that at night the night almost seemed like a small day beneath the stretch of dark night above, everything lit with orange and yellow lights. This wasn't Goldenrod anymore, it was the skeleton of the city.

Out in the night, under the stars over Goldenrod, barely anything but the tallest tower remained standing. Although the other Rocket hideouts had been found out, the one in the Underground, the one in Mahogany, and some others… the tallest tower in Goldenrod had remained hidden and secretive. In plain, glorious sight. Around the tower, in what used to be a bustling city and where Cal, Marina and Kotone had been previously running was now mostly a wasteland of ash and crumbling buildings. A great sweeping area of blackened things. A warning to the world. A warning that all that fought him would fail, and only what Giovanni wanted to stand would stay standing. It was through this debris that Kotone was being driven. They had continued until they came to the tall Rocket tower that was in the middle of the city, where Kotone was being taken to the front door. He drove her up the stairs to the glass door.

Kotone made a low mewling sound deep in her throat as she was dragged up the stairs. Her feet were exhausted, and blistering, and her stomach had a stitch in it. Her face felt swollen from where Proton's whip had hit her when she had tried to run.

"Damn girl, don't you ever shut UP?" Proton snapped and shook the whip. It was lashed around her neck and digging in. Every time she resisted, or stopped in exhaustion, she was tugged along and it bit into her neck. Now, when she whined, he shook it and opened up the cut on her neck. Kotone started to cry. Proton whirled on her, teeth bared and eyes wild, "SHUT UP!" He kicked her in her chest, and sent her falling to the ground, where she lay crying. He stomped on her knee when she wouldn't stop. Seeing her tears continue was rage inducing. He lifted his boot to smash something else when a young woman ran up to him, coming from out of the building.

"Proton, sir!" She greeted. With a glance up at her, he looked back down to Kotone and kicked her in the gut, sliding her over the asphalt. The woman came closer, a smile on her face, "Would you like me to take the prisoner sir?" She tucked her bright pink hair back under her cap and smiled brightly at him. She had been waiting for him, watching on the cameras.

"That might.. be…. Best." Proton grit out, letting out a long, hissed sigh. That Kotone was making him feel more than pissed was pretty obvious to him. He'd probably end up killing her. He couldn't stand mewling. If you had the stones to survive this long, you might as well be prideful about it.

"Actually, we need to take her up to Giovanni. He wanted to see any helpers that Elm had." Proton stared blankly for a minute, rubbing at his wrists. "Get her cleaned up. We take her up in an hour. I have to go do something first."

"I'm g-gonna meet Giovanni?" Kotone's voice came out as a squeak, her eyes wide and showing a lot of white. Proton blew out an exasperated sigh through gritted teeth.

"Oh, honey, no no. You don't get to meet the boss." Proton turned to her, his legs spread apart, and he hit his open palm with his folded whip, "I get to get the information out of you. It's not a meeting at all." Another thump to his palm, "He wouldn't dirty his hands on something like this- although I don't think he'd mind, I, personally, love doing it myself." He started to laugh, loud and harsh. Kotone shrunk back, shaking. He couldn't enjoy this, could he? He couldn't possibly?

"Mr. Proton Sir? Giovanni said he wants her now." The woman said brightly. Kotone stared at her, wondering how in the world this pretty petite woman couldn't be afraid of someone like him. Proton laughed and turned his smile to Kotone.

"Today's your lucky day. The only man I take orders from says he wants you now." He laughed again, "Take her away Neon." He walked away, curling his whip up so it could be attached at his hip.

"T-Thank God." Kotone whispered. She gingerly touched her neck, and the slice of skin that had been chaffed off around her neck. She stood up shakily, glad that a woman was taking care of her.

"Welp, we gotta go." Neon said cheerfully, "Lickintung!" Kotone turned to see a Pokeball light vanish and then a pink tongue was flying towards her. She squeaked briefly before the tongue whipped around the back of her neck and slapped wetly over her mouth and nose. She panicked, trying to pull back away from the Pokemon but it ground its feet it and held her easily there, "You gotta be good girl." Neon smiled brightly at her as she started to see black spots. Her muscles tightened, and she knew paralysis was setting in from the Lick. Neon let her fall to her knees before she called the Lickingtung off, "Licky, let her breath. Drag her."

The Pokemon's tongue loosened enough so it slithered down and wrapped around her arms and waist and it started to drag her, following it's master. Kotone attempted to curl up, but then just went limp, sliding along the hump of the front door and then was squeaking along tiles. The rubbing made her cuts ache. She tried to stand up, but her legs were too weary, so she just stayed limp and go dragged. Thank God the woman wasn't walking too quickly, and thank God she had fallen in here instead of out there along briars, or asphalt. Little favors.

What kind of place had she been taken to? She shivered as Neon went up to an elevator door and pushed the button. She turned and stared at Kotone for a moment.

"You'd better give Giovanni all the information that he needs." Neon smiled at her and then walked into the elevator. Lickintung walked in and then reeled her into the elevator.

"Where am I... Where are you taking me?" Kotone asked.

"You'll see when you get there." The elevator didn't go far. Kotone couldn't see through tear blurred eyes, but they must have only gone two or three floors before they stopped at the bing of the elevator. By this time, Kotone was standing she was being walked forward. She stared around blankly. She had been expecting a dungeon, or cages, or something. Maybe even a lab. But it was like an office space. A long central walkway, with office and supply doors on either sad. There was even a fax machine standing in an anclove. It was *very business-y.

They walked forward until they came to the end of the hallway. Neon walked up to the door and knocked.

"Enter." A deep male voice said. Neon promptly entered into the conference room, walking Kotone behind her.

There was a man in a black suit and a large R on the breast of it. Beside him, on either side, was Koga and Sabrina. She stared in awe between the three. She knew that this man must be Giovanni. Neon had told her, that's who she was meeting. But Koga, an Elite Four member, was here. And Sabrina was a Gym Leader. They might have been prisoners. Kotone mentally shook her head. Marina had told her to stop being naive. No, they were free. They were with him. They should have been the regions protectors, but apparently they were not.

"Hello, Kotone." The man who must be Giovanni beckoned her forward, to sit at a chair in front of him. The tongue of the Lickintung dropped from binding her, and she timidly walked forward, sitting on the chair. In front of this man, she felt small and weak. He was taller than her sitting down. And her skin showed through her tattered clothing, one rip going up almost to her her armpit. Bruises were blooming over her arms, blood caked her neck where the whip had dug in, and debris was all over her. Sitting in front of him in his clean suit made her feel small. And he knew her name.

"Hello." She answered in a small voice.

"So, where did they take you from?" Giovanni asked.

"T-the outskirts of Goldenrod." She answered.

"Where were you headed?" He asked. Kotone swallowed dryly. She had been heading to the professor's. She stared around at Koga and Sabrina. Sabrina was sitting back, deep in her chair and staring very blankly at her. An Abra was sitting on her lap, apparently sleeping. She'd been so fixated on Giovanni that she hadn't noticed it there, "Kotone." Giovanni's voice snapped her back, "Where were you headed?"

"We were gathering supplies. To eat. Food?" She said. Giovanni nodded at her answer.

"Who was with you? He asked, and Kotone paused. She didn't like saying their names, not to him, but that creepy guy had already seen them both.

"Gold and Crystal."

"Where were you three taking the supplies to?"

"We didn't really have a set place. We just had to find a place to... to hide..." She stared into his eyes, her pulse racing, knowing that he was the reason that she had had to run and hide. He was the reason Marina's Pokemon were dead, and all the other Pokemon and Trainers she had seen through the streets.

"Half lies." Sabrina spoke up abruptly, "You had a destination." Kotone looked over, about to look her in the eyes, and then looked down, lip shaking. She was a Psychic trainer. What if she met eyes with her, and she could read her mind?

"Where were you going?" Giovanni asked again.

"Azalea..." She answered in a very little voice. Giovanni glanced at Sabrina, but she didn't speak again, only stared at Kotone.

"Why Azalea?"

"It's where we were hiding. It had a house there, and a well for water." Kotone answered, a tear going down her cheek.

"Who else was there?" He asked.

"No." Kotone sobbed, scared to give the Professor's name.

"Silly girl. You already gave us the location. Who else was there?" Koga spoke up.

"Just us." Kotone said, another tear going down the other cheek now.

"Lies." Sabrina spoke again. Kotone burst into tears, covering her face, panic settling deep into her brain and lungs. She started breathing fast. Now, she would have to decide whether to tell them, or not. What were they going to do to her? Sabrina was the lie detector, what was Koga here for? She was so afraid to find out.

"Kotone. I am not a patient man." Giovanni stared at her, leaning forward.

"No, I don't want to tell you." She sobbed. She couldn't even lie, because Sabrina was there, doing whatever it was that she was doing.

"Koga." Giovanni sat back. Koga tapped a Pokeball on his belt, and a Toxicroak came out. Koga didn't even look at her, just issued his command.

"Poison Jab." He commanded. Kotone jerked upwards, tears flowing freely, and knocked the chair over. She turned and tried to run, snapping the door open. She went right into a Barrier and stumbled backward. Neon was standing outside the door with a smirk, and her Mr. Mime was standing there, hands circling in front of it. The sparkles of the Barrier glinted in her eyes. She turned to face the frog, cowering back. It came forward and it's sharp spike stabbed into her side, breaking skin. With a cry of pain from her, it stepped backward, hunkering down like it was ready to attack again. She slid down the barrier and collapsed to the ground. Queasy waves started to hit at her stomach, and she knew she had been poisoned. It was like a early stages of a severe food poisoning rushing right at her within seconds.

"Kotone." Giovanni said her name, "Who was with you?"

"The Professooooor..." Kotone sobbed, hiding her face in her hands. None of the four people there moved to comfort her or do anything. The questions continued, most being answered honestly. There was two more times she felt horrified to answer, to afraid to give him the information that was needed. Both times she was attacked and left on the floor. When Giovanni was done with her, he looked up towards Neon.

"We're done here. Take her to a cell. Get her cleaned up, and give her an Antidote. We made need her for now." The Barrier sparkled and then zapped into non existence.

"Lickintung." Again the tongue was wrapped around her. She didn't even have the strength to attempt to stand. She had already been running for days before they had caught her. Now, she just felt like a shadow of herself. She passed in and out of consciousness, until she felt something dribbled into her mouth. She coughed a bit, but most of it went down. When she regained some consciousness, she was in a prison cell. She could hear Pokemon screaming, roaring, barking and chirping around her. She was with enslaved Pokemon.

She looked around weakly, and saw a bunk above her from where they had left her on the floor. She slowly rolled over and had to stop to breath. She crawled towards it, unable to put wait on her feet or knees apparently. When she got to the cot, she had no idea how to get up there. The Toxicroak had stabbed her in the legs the other two times she hadn't answered. She tried to pull herself up, and sobbed when she couldn't. She didn't have muscle. That was Gold and Marina. They were the strong ones. She tried to pull the blanket off of it, but nausea swam over her so badly that she started seeing things. Instead of getting a bunk or even a blanket, she crawled under it, curled up, and closed her eyes.

It felt like even her heart hurt. Not her physical heart, but her soul, her being, her center. Her brain felt sour. She sobbed gently, the sobs making the stab wound in her side ache. She felt like a piece of herself had been ripped away today. She felt less naive than the day before, and she didn't like it. How could those people just stand by and let her get hurt? How could they do that to someone living? Why were they after the Professor? Kotone started sobbing again, and she couldn't stop, even despite the pain in her side.

She had told them where the Professor was. She was weak. With a clarity she had never had before, Kotone knew that they were going to go after the Professor. She just hoped that Cal and Marina were there to protect him when they came. They were strong, they could survive. They could do anything.