A massively unrelated note, today I re-discovered the magic of Ed Edd Eddy. And to you all, I bid thee butter toast.
Last Chapter- Kite has an odd experience with Kiri. Sange decides to train Ash's Sceptile
"Night Jim, see you tomorrow." Zach said to the security guard as he walked out of the Spec-ops building. Jim held the door open for him as he stepped out into the rainy streets.
"Leaving early Zach?" He asked. Even though it was around 7:00, Zach usually left at 10:00 every night. But he had spent the past two days at his desk trying to dig up anything that could help Kite who was a few thousand miles away. Willow had told him to go home and take a shower. Being exhausted from the lack of sleep, he complied.
"Just this time Jim, I'll be back early."
Zach nodded toward the security guard and walked out into the rain. Outside, a Delta City thunderstorm was raging across the sky, throwing lightning bolts into the tops of buildings and causing constant claps of thunder. The rain was a sporadic drizzle at most, small enough to not warrant the use of an umbrella, but large enough to still be annoying.
Zach walked down towards the street and looked back at the Spec-ops building, and then at the sign that was above the entrance.
Southlands Waste and Management Utilities
Zach contemplated the reasons for keeping the Spec-ops a secret. The last major war had come to a close hundreds of years ago and peace had seemed eternal in the Pokémon world, but Zach knew better. He remember something Kite had told him before about the reason people like the two of them existed.
"As long as there is greed or want, there shall always be evil and suffering in the world. There will be those who want power and will go to any length to get it. But then there are those like us, who make sure they don't."
The whole "Illusion" of peace was maintained thanks to the actions of some of the bravest people Zach had ever known. Each and every day of safety had been bought with the blood of heroes. Yet the saddest part was that only a few would know of them. For the past two hundred and seventy years, the Pokémon Ranger Spec-ops had protected the innocent by doing what needed to be done, and that was exactly why the world couldn't know about them.
Because we did what we had to do…the ones we lost knew about this.
He thought of the Wall of the Fallen that was in the Spec-ops Central Command building in Kanto. The wall had existed ever since the spec-ops where formed, and gave testament to the dedication that each and every member had. The names of every person that had fallen, or was lost, while on a mission were written into that wall. Zach had seen it once, and he had never forgotten the long white wall that seemed to stretch hundreds of feet. After all, his father's name was on that wall too.
Zach sighed and turned back towards the street and started walking again. Sometimes he really hated all the secrecy that was involved with his job. But he had wanted to follow his father's footsteps so he had enrolled in the Pokémon Ranger academy. He had graduated with top marks in Communication, computer sciences and Intel analysis. He had then been allowed into the ranks of the Spec-ops, no thanks to his name.
That had been several years ago
It seemed like a distant memory, almost as if he was a different person back then. He thought about it for a moment and was forced to agree. Being in the Spec-ops changes your life.
Whether for the good or bad….I'll never know.
Zach suddenly realized how parched he was. He had spent the last two days drinking only from the water cooler, as he didn't really allow himself a break to eat. He wondered if he should go get a drink before heading home. He then remembered the only thing he had to eat at his house was a week old cold pizza and several Twinkies. He groaned.
The pizza probably smelled like death incarnate now.
He took a turn at another street and began walking towards his favorite bar. He knew that the drinks where good and he could find some privacy. Knowing the bartender personally also helped a lot too.
After several minutes of walking, he finally reached a small building with several large windows. Zach pushed open the door and walked in.
There wasn't much of a crowd that night. In one corner were a few college frat boys talking about some idiotic college things. One of them said something about freshmen, causing the others to laugh loudly. Zach ignored them and looked at the other tables, only about half were filled. At the bar sat a man with a fedora and trench coat who appeared to be engrossed with a document he was reading. Zach sat a few seats away from him, preferring to be alone.
Jake, the owner and bartender of the little pub, walked over to him.
"Haven't seen you around here for awhile Zach." He said while reaching down for a cup and filling it with a mix of drinks. Zach knew Jake prided himself on knowing everyone's favorite drink.
"Work has been busy Jake." He said as he took of his hat. Jake handed him a glass of his favorite drink and then picked up a glass and started whipping it with a cloth. Zach took a long gulp and savored the taste. After drinking only water for the past few days, the cola mixed with assorted liquors and rum tasted amazing. Zach smiled.
"You know, every time I see you, your always cleaning a glass." Zach told the long haired bartender. Jake merely shrugged.
"Give me something to do on nights like this." There was another loud laugh from the table full of college kids. Jake started cleaning a little bit harder from annoyance. Zach suddenly had an image in his head of a 80 year old Jake.
Sitting in his rocking chair, he continued to massage the glass with his rag.
"this glass is going to be so f**king clean when I'm done with it…"
Zach laughed.
"What?" Jake asked him.
"Nothing, just forget about it." He said between giggles. Jake looked at him for a moment before turning to his treeko, who was snoozing in a chair behind the bar. He let out a small whistle and the small, green Pokémon opened on eye and looked at him. Jake threw him the glass he was polishing and the Pokémon caught it. He then reached up and put it in a cabinet above his head. Treeko then went back to sleep. Jake looked around and then paused.
"What?" Zach asked him.
"Oh nothing." He said. Jake reached down and pulled out a large silver plate and showed it to Zach.
"Wondering if you want anything to eat?" Jake said tapping the plate with his finger.
"Jake, your food tastes like shit, why would you think I want any?"
Jake tapped the plate with his finger a little harder.
"No I insist."
Zach was about to tell him no again until he looked down at the plate. More specifically, the reflection it was showing.
Two men were staring at him from across the room. Both had large tan trench coats on, with the collars on them up to conceal their faces. Zach frowned.
"Friends of yours?" Jake said with a whisper. Instead of answering, Zach simply blinked three times. Jake looked at him oddly. Zach realized his error.
Forgot I'm not with Spec-ops right now
"No." Jake looked over at the other man who was on the barstool, the one who was reading a document.
"I have someone who can take care of them for you."
Zach shook his head. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, and he was perfectly fine by himself. He quickly downed to rest of his drink in one massive chug and let out an outrageous belch.
"Got to be going now Jake, put the drink on my tab!" Zach started to walk away.
"You got it, See you later." He silently mouthed the words "good luck." Zach nodded towards him and walked outside and into the rain. He began to take a route that would take him, not to his house on the beachfront, but towards an abandoned industrial warehouse area. If he had to beat someone up, he would at least do it without anyone seeing it.
As he walked, he looked around at the various mirror-like and reflective objects around him. Kite had taught him that in a place like this, you could drastically reduce or eliminate your blind spots. This was an important lesson for him because of the situation he found himself in now.
He looked at a store window and saw himself, and farther back, the two men that were in the bar. He couldn't help but smiling.
Amateurs…probably just some muggers wanting to get lucky
He rounded a corner and saw the warehouse quarter spread before him. The rain, combined with the complete lack of people in the area, gave it an almost haunted look. In front of him was a large open concrete felid that had originally been used for moving materials. But ever since the seaport had expanded, this area had become silent. Zach decided he should end this now instead of dragging it on.
He quickly rounded a corner and waited on the other side.
Several seconds passed. Zach listened closely for footsteps. The only sound he heard was the silent pitter patter of the rain and low rumbles of a thunderstorm. Several more seconds passed and he was about to give up, until he heard voices.
"-really think this is a bad idea." Said a small voice.Zach smiled.
So one is having second thoughts
"What are you worried about?" Said another voice, this one was gruff.
"I'm just saying, I got a bad feeling about this."
"Well the boss wants this done, so we're going to get it done."
The boss? They could be organized crime….although I've never heard of a mafia
There was a short pause. The gruff voice spoke up.
"Besides, he's only a communications desk jockey, what's the worst he can do?"
Zach jerked backwards.
They know I'm in the Spec-ops!!!! That must mean…..Advent……
Before Zach could finish his train of thought, the two men walked past the corner. They almost didn't see him, but 'almost' didn't cut it.
"There he is!" Small voice yelled and jumped towards him, shortly followed by his partner
"DESK JOCKEY!" he yelled in anger. "I'LL SHOW YOU DESK JOCKEY!"
Zach slammed his palm forward and caught soft voice in the face. He pushed forward and shoved him onto his back, the man let out a gasp of pain from both the pain in his face and back. Zach then jumped into the air and launched a kick towards gruff voice.
Gruff Voice quickly moved to the side, dodging it. Landing on his feet, Zach spun around and slammed his leg into the back of his attackers knees, making him fall down to the ground.
Zach grinned. You didn't make it into the spec-ops without dozens of hours of training sessions of Hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and physical training. He might not be a field agent anymore, but he was still a deadly force.
Running over to the fallen soft voice, Zach reached down and pulled him into a choke hold. He lifted him up till he was on his feet. He then reached in to his coat pocket and brought out his firearm.
An old, .44 Magnum Revolver.
He aimed it at Gruff voice, who was just getting to his feet. The man immediately froze.
"Now….instead of letting you folks go home and tell all your friends how a desk jockey beat the living shit out of you within ten seconds, I'm going to take you guys downtown."
Zach motioned with his pistol for gruff voice to get up. The man slowly stood up.
"Hands over your head."
With hatred in his eyes, he put both his hands on his head. Suddenly, Soft voice began to struggle in his arms. He saw him reach down and press something on his watch.
"Hey now!" Zach said. He lifted his pistol up and beat him over the head, knocking him out instantly. Soft voice slumped in Zach's arms, but he didn't let him go.
Beside him, gruff voice started to laugh.
"You must have really hated this guy to laugh at a time like this." Zach said.
Instead of answering, gruff voice took a step backwards. He took something out of his pocket and showed it to Zach.
It was the memory stick he had been carrying. More importantly, it was the memory stick that had everything on the Ketchum case.
How did he….never mind….
Zach was about to yell at him when suddenly there was a bright flash behind him. He turned around to look.
After a few seconds, the light dissipated to reveal something that almost made Zach drop his gun. In front of him stood at least three dozen white robed men, all looking pissed off. Several of them had guns in their hands. In the very front, stood a tall man with an Abra in his hands. He pulled out a poke ball and retuned the small psychic Pokémon.
Behind him, he heard gruff voice running away towards the warehouses. He would have chased aafter him, but he had some bigger problems.
The man in the front pointed to Zach.
"We have what we want tear him to pieces!"
Several Poke balls appeared and guns jerked towards him.
"Oh Balls…" Zach muttered. Someone started to open fire.
Zach threw himself behind a corner as dozens of bullets went flying towards him. He slammed his back onto the wall and started to fire blindly around the corner with his own gun.
"I'm so freaking screwed." He kept saying over and over. He hadn't been in this much deep shit since…well…ever.
Any other person would have immediately panicked and ran away.
But he wasn't any other person.
He had an obligation to prevent the Advent from escaping with the Intel he had been carrying.
Thinking quickly, he realized that the only place he would be able to make a stand was in the warehouses. But he had to first run across the large concrete field. And with all those guns, running across that place was suicide.
"Metagross, Go!" He let out his blue Iron leg body, who immediately wondered why he was being shot out. But he had seen weirder things in life.
"I need to get over to that building." He pointed over to it. "Can you shield me?"
His four legged Pokémon nodded and began walking out of the corner, bullets pinging harmlessly off his iron body.
"Here goes nothing…"
Zach ran close to the ground behind his Pokémon. He could here multiple bullets flying over his head. He kept telling himself this was the dumbest idea he had ever had in his entire life, and he had had some dumb ideas. Moving slowly, the pair made their way to the warehouse. Staying under the cover of his Pokémon, he threw open a door inside and jumped inside.
Zach let out a huge sigh of relief.
"META!" Came a yell from outside.
"Opps, sorry." He forgot his Metagross didn't fit through most doors. He quickly returned him to his ball, and re-released him back inside.
Zach stood up and looked through a small window. A large group of Pokémon where making their way towards the warehouse. It seemed their human masters didn't want to risk getting killed by Zach.
He turned around and threw out three poke balls. In front of him stood his Electivire , Sceptile and Infernape. All his Pokémon looked towards him.
"Alright team, the shit has seriously gone past the fan and is now lodged in the air conditioning unit. We got a small army of Pokémon headed this way, and no help in sight."
All his Pokémon started to stretch out, knowing what was coming.
"I need you guys to hold them back while I go find something I lost…"
Strangely all his Pokémon saluted him. Zach smiled.
"Thanks guys, good luck!" he yelled and ran off towards a door at the rear of the warehouse.
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"Bloody hell….he was right, that is a small army." Infernape said while looking out the window at the advancing small army. Behind him, Electivire cracked his knuckles' and a few sparks danced around his fingers.
"Doesn't matter, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!!"
Sceptile walked over and slapped him on the back of the head.
"For god's sake this isn't the Alamo."
"Actually I was quoting Winston Chrurch-"Sceptile slapped him again.
"I don't care!"
"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Metagross yelled. "GOD YOUR SO FREAKING ANNOYING!"
"yeah well your loud!" Sceptile shot back.
From the window Infernape let out a squeak.
"Guys!"
"SO WHAT?"
"Being loud makes you annoying! It's like answering a forum post with ALL CAPS!"
Infernape let out another yell.
"Guys!!!"
Metagross walked over to Sceptile and stared at him. Sceptile folded his arms and stuck out his tongue.
"What are you going to do? Sit on me?"
"I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT"
Suddenly there was a large WHAM sound from the wall nearby. Sceptile, Metagross and Electivire turned around and saw Infernape jumping up and down and pointing at the wall.
"They're trying to blow a hole inside!!"
"Why didn't you tell us?" All three of the Pokémon said at the same time. Infernape slapped his face.
"I'm surrounded by knuckleheads…just great…" he muttered.
There was another large WHAM and this time a huge dent appeared. Sceptile walked forward and looked around.
"If we can keep them in the hole they make, we can hold them back easily."
The three other Pokémon took positions around the hole. Metagross in the center of the group, with Infernape and Sceptile on the sides and Electivire in the rear, ready to assist when one of them was forced back.
WHAM
The flame on Infernape's head grew a little larger as he punched the air a few times.
WHAM
The leaves on Sceptiles arms started to glow in a white light.
WHAM
Metagross began to pound his large feet into the ground, making it sound like someone was hitting a base drum over and over.
WHAM
"I just realized something….." Electivire started to say as the wall started to burst open.
"I really got to pee…."
A horde of Pokémon descended on the four of them.
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"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME FOREVER." Zach yelled at the retreating figure. Zach fired off several shots from his pistol, but missed because the rain threw his aim of slightly. Zach cursed and ran after him. He watched as gruff voice ran to a nearby warehouse, open the door and run in.
Zach reloaded his weapon while running and threw open the door and entered.
The whole building was pitch dark, only being illuminated by the flashes of lighting. Every time the lighting flashed, Zach got a glimpse of several stacks of raw materials in the warehouse but no sign of the guy he was hunting for.
Zach brought his gun up and slowly walked through the dark.
Where are you….
He could hear nothing except his own heartbeat and the sound of rain hitting the metal roof. Another lighting flash, nothing was in front of him.
He stopped moving and tried to bring his heart rate down.
He looked around again and noticed something on the floor. He leaned down to pick it up and found what seemed to be a PDA. He flipped it around and looked at the text on it.
DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE
"Son o a bitch…" He muttered. He pocketed the PDA and stood up.
Something collided with the back of his head and he fell the ground. No sooner did he see the outline of gruff voice with a metal pipe in his hand, he drifted off to unconsciousness.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"I'MA FIRIN MY LAZOR!!!" Metagross yelled as a large white beam shot out of his mouth and collided with several Pokémon, knocking them all out instantly. Beside him, Sceptile kicked a Loudred between the eyes, sending it flying backwards, he spun around a let out a volley of bullet seeds at several Electrikes. Not even stopping, he jumped into the air and grabbed a hold of a Staravia and let loose with a full volley into its face. The flying Pokémon was immediately knocked out and fell towards the ground.
On the other side of Metagross, Infernape was a flaming hurricane off moves. Not even moving his feet, he let lose a fire blast, fire spin and several fighting moves all in quick succession. A dozen or more fell in quick succession.
"This is too easy!" Electivire yelled as he let lose a devastating Thunderbolt into the midst of the battle. Several yowls of pain were heard.
"YOU ARE CORRECT" Metagross yelled as he swept aside a Machamp with his massive iron legs.
"To easy……Electivire, go find the boss." Sceptile yelled as he spun around in a circle, cutting several Pokémon that were unlucky enough to get close to him.
"Why?"
Sceptile started to charge up a solar beam.
"JUST GO!" He yelled as he let out a huge burst of energy. The electric Pokémon let out one more thunderbolt and sped off the way Zach had gone.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
"Ow….my head…" Zach managed to mutter. He opened his eyes and found himself outside of the warehouse in the rain. Gruff voice stood in front of him with his back turned. Zach was about to get up and beat the living snot out of him, but then he realized he was on the phone.
"Are you sure you can confirm the data transfer?.....yes….Oh he ran…..no I managed to knock him out….um..Thank you General Varne…..yes I will….ok….thank you sir!" He closed the phone and laughed. He then pulled out a gun, more specifically Zach's gun. He turned around and aimed it at Zach.
There is no way I can dodge…crap this is it!
Suddenly there was a yellow flash and Gruff voice fell to the ground, smoking. Behind him stood his Electivire, who gave Zach a thumb up. Zach laughed and stood up.
"Thanks boy, is everyone else ok?" He asked.
Suddenly there was a massive explosion from the warehouse he had left his Pokémon in.
"OH NO!" He yelled and took off running, His electric Pokémon behind him. He ran until he was standing in front of a large hole with smoke billowing out of it. Hundreds of feinted Pokémon lay on the ground.
"are they…." Zach started to say. Nothing moved in the hole.
Suddenly His Pokémon pointed and shouted gleefully.
Out of the smoke, his three Pokémon appeared, walking in super slow motion. Each one of them looked like they had been through hell.
"Last time I ever let you do an explosion in a room with me in it" Sceptile said.
"IT WORKED DIDN'T IT?"
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"Are you sure he said Varne?" Willow asked him as he held the ice pack to the back of his head. Zach had hauled ass back to the Spec-ops building and told Willow what happened, who immediately called an emergency briefing. When Zach had dropped the words 'General Varne' she had contacted Central Command with a request that the leader of the Spec-Ops, The Old Man, haul his ass out of bed and get on a video conference.
"For the last time, yes!" He said. Willow walked over to an aid who handed her a file.
"This is just freaking great, we lose our Intel and we find out none other than Varne is with the advent."
"You know him?"
"Know of him, not personally." She pointed to a computer that was against the wall. "Tell Kite to get his ass out of bed, he needs to here this too." She slammed the file she was carrying onto the table.
"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THE OLD MAN HASN'T CONTACTED US BACK YET?"
Nobody had an answer. Willow cursed.
Zach sat down and started typing the command s needed to contact Kite. Sky walked over beside him.
"How many were there?" He asked.
"I didn't have time to count." Zach replied sarcastically as he hit the SEND button. Now all Kite had to do was answer the call.
"Well I'm glad you didn't get your brains beat in…"
"Thanks." Zach said absent mindedly.
After several seconds, Kite finally answered the radio.
"God damn it Zach it's two in the morning…." He said with a yawn.
Zach quickly filled him in on everything that happened.
"Varne…so he is alive.." Kite mumbled.
"Why does everyone seem to know who he is except me?" Zach complained.
"He was before our time, but I did research. He used to be in the spec-ops."
Zach sucked his breath in. He finally understood why for the past ten years, it had been impossible for them to gain any solid Intel on the Advent. Simply put, the Spec-ops best weapon, secrecy, was gone in this situation.
"What happened to him?"
"Honestly, no idea. I think there was a cover up though."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just my gut…"
"Director is coming on Commander." Yelled an aid who was working the communications booth.
"About damn time..." Willow muttered. A large screen on the side of the room flickered on. After loading for a few seconds, a image of an old man, well into his fifties appeared.
"Director Milo Braven online" said a computer generated voice. The director immediately launched into one of his famous rants.
"DAMN IT COMMANDER, I'M IN BED DREAMING ABOUT RETIREMENT AND YOU WAKE ME UP FOR THIS?"
"Sir the Intel we have is very important…"
"YOUR DAMN RIGHT ABOUT IT BEING IMPORTANT! WHY WASN'T I TOLD SOONER!"
"Sir we just found out about it…"
"WAIT no…I don't give two shit's about it. THE IMPORTANT thing is, our organization has been compromised if that Intel is true. The Advent knows who we are, that's reason enough to call the situation FUBAR." He leaned towards the screen. "Commander I want you to double, no triple security. I want you checking round the clock for any breach. I want you to sit your ass down so tight on any Intel you find that you shit paper for a week. And you better find that god damn mole too…"
Willow looked at the director with a confused look.
"Sir what mole.."
The old man's face made him look like he was trying to pass a kidney stone the size of a beach ball.
"DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY BRAINS?" he sighed and calmed down. "Look, they knew EXACTLY who to target when looking for Intel on this Ketchup err, Kochep I mean Carp Syrup kid…god damn it, what's his name."
"Ketchum!" One of the aids said.
"WHATEVER! Find that mole, you have your orders. Now where's Kite?"
"Here sir." Kite said from a speaker.
"Kid, I want you so far up Ketchum's ass that you develop a suntan line for the parts that are NOT. That kid is our bait, once they take the bait you reel it it. Do I make myself clear?"
There was a short pause. Zach frowned.
"Yes sir." The old man turned back to Willow and began talking about the Intel that was lost. Zach flipped a switch so he could talk to Kite alone.
"Something wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing…." Kite said.
"I've known you for five years, I can tell when something is wrong."
He heard Kite sigh from the other line.
"I don't want to put Ash and his friends in anymore danger than I have too…He's not bait to me."
Zach frowned again, Kite never said anything like this before. He usually didn't give a rats ass about the people involved in a mission.
"Run that by me again…"
"No…I think it's just the sleepiness…"
"Yeah, the sleepiness." He said sarcastically. Suddenly he felt someone slap him in the back of the head. He groaned in pain as it hit the spot where gruff voice had hit him. He turned around and saw Willow.
"Go home and take a shower, and for the love of god, don't get in a fight this time.