Last chapter: Sange attempted to start Sceptiles training. After being introduced to some of Dean's Pokémon, they were almost killed by a swarm a Beedrill. But luckily, Moon saved them.
Sorry about the wait on this one everybody, it's been total hell coming up with some good villains, but thanks to the power of sugar induced dreams, I finally came up with some !!
WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME DARK THEMES
Saruo let out a malicious laugh that was laced with pleasure as the security guard lay twitching on the rain soaked concrete. As Targan watched, the security guards eyes rolled up into the back of his skull and blood started to trickle from his tear ducts, ears and nose.
"Ohhhhh yes….."Saruo moaned as he saw the blood. He cupped the guards face with his hands and touched the top of his forehead with his own. The pale skinned man licked some of the blood pouring out of the incapacitated security guards face.
"Give me…your dreams…" He said while moaning. Targan watched as Saruo stared directly into his eye sockets, his black eyes refusing to blink as he stared at the broken mans white orbs called eyes.
The security guards body went totally rigid and the spasms he had been experiencing a second ago disappeared. The healthy skin around his eyes became an incredibly pale shade of white, almost as if all the color in his body, or spirit was being sucked out of him.
In a way, it was.
Saruo let out a quivering moan as the paleness spread across his body like a fire in a dry grassland. Soon all the color was completely gone, giving him the look of a lifeless corpse. But Targan knew that he was not dead, but will soon wish to be.
"Give me your spirit!" Saruo let out. Saruo's eyes began to quickly dart around rapidly but they continued to focus on the man's own eyes. If anyone else was in the room they would have felt a slight prickling sensation in the back of their necks and a shivering sensation in their hearts. Targan knew these where the signs of a human using a psychic power.
Unlike Pokémon, humans could only use most psychic powers like blunt objects instead of a surgeon's scalpel. This caused people to feel the bleed-off of the energy that was being used as a "prickly sensation. Very few people in the world could use the powers of the mind without this effect, most of them didn't have any idea they had the power in the first place. But Targan knew he had those powers.
Saruo was beginning to shake rapidly as he looked into the man's eyes. Targan could tell he was close to finishing as the moans of ecstasy and bouts of laughter increased. Targan snapped his fingers.
Saruo let out a yelp of surprise and anger as he was suddenly thrown back several feet by an invisible force. He turned his angry gaze towards the grinning psychic.
"What did you do that for?" He demanded.
"We are later you walking monstrosity." Targan said simply.
"I don't care I want to finish!" he turned his gaze back towards the security guard. "I want his soul…"
Targan sighed and snapped his fingers again. The security guards chest exploded in a shower of red. All his movements immediately stopped and the man's eyes drooped a little. Saruo let out a moan of sadness.
"He tasted good…" Saruo whined. "You never let me have any fun…"
Targan let out a sigh of disgust and began to walk towards the building entrance.
The others would be here soon.
Alex Dogle had given hundreds of people rides during his time as a Delta City riverboat boat taxi. He had seen them all. Loud people, silent people, famous people, social people, rich people, crazy people and beyond. Frankly put, he thought that he had seen it all.
But fate usually liked to slap people in the face in these situations.
Out of every person that had chosen to travel the waterways, none was more unsettling than the women sitting in front of him with her legs crossed and hands at her side. She had approached him and in a flat, emotionless voice, told him she needed to travel to the northwest warehouse sector and that she needed to do it as fast as possible.
He was about to decline, as the northwest sector was very far off his normal route. But after the woman waved a large sum of money across his face, Alex immediately changed his decision. But now, after ten minutes traveling through the canals, he had begun to feel the urge to drop everything he was doing and run from the woman.
She hadn't said a single word or even moved from her position the entire time they had been on the boat. Her incredibly deep blue eyes stayed glued to the front of the boat as if her life depended on it and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed was the only indication that she was still alive. After a few moments of standing next to her, Alex had begun to sense a strange coldness that emanated from her. It was one of both cold air and one that touched his soul.
He couldn't help shuddering every time he looked at her.
"Turn here." She said quietly in a slightly muffled voice. Alex flinched in surprise at her first words during the trip and looked to where she had indicated.
"Miss, that's a narrow corridor, I won't be able to turn around." Alex explained. She had indicated a small passage between two large buildings.
"Turn there." She said again, completely ignoring him. Alex felt himself get angry.
"Look I don't care-." He began. But the woman turned her head and looked him directly in the eye.
"Turn there." She repeated. Alex gulped in fear. The woman's voice was completely emotionless, but her eyes had murder written all over it. Alex nodded and began steering towards to small cut. He made sure he aligned himself correctly and then started moving forward, there was barley an inch to spare.
After a few moments of careful navigating, the woman suddenly stood up.
"I'll be getting off here." She said, indicating a small flight of steps that connected the canal and a large building. She gently stepped off the boat and then turned around towards Alex.
"Thank you." She said and held out her hand. Alex looked at it for a second and then shook it. Her skin felt ice cold, so cold in fact that Alex immediately pulled his hand backwards in surprise. The icy feeling still lingered in his palm.
"What is..?" he began but a sharp stinging sensation in his hand interrupted him. The cold sensation suddenly spread from his palm and over his entire body in a matter of seconds. Alex fell onto his knees and tried to call out for help.
His mouth refused to work.
Slowly, he began to feel intense cold spread through his body, chilling him to the core. He felt himself losing control of his motor functions and he started to feel incredibly weak. A few seconds later, Alex Dogle was dead in his own boat.
Above him, the woman turned around and began walking up the stairs.
A nearby thunderbolt seared across his vision leaving a bright white after-image that temporarily blinded him. At the moment he didn't care if he was blind, only if the Pokémon he was riding on was. A falling sensation in his gut quickly confirmed his fears.
"PiiiiidgeOT!" His mount let out as he began to lose altitude. Zav put his arms over the large bird Pokémon's neck and tried to pull up. Through the rain a fog on his flying goggles, he could see the streets of Delta City approaching rapidly.
"Come on you pile of feather!!!" He yelled though the howl of the wind. Slowly his Pidgeot pulled up until they were flying straight….straight down Downtown Delta City's main street. In front of Zavs eyes was a dangerous mis-mash of power lines, streetlights and ropes holding lanterns.
"AUUUUG now you've done it you freaking bird!"
Pidgeot sighed and ignored his easily excitable master. Now that he wasn't blinded anymore he could fly perfectly. He sailed around streetlights and over and under power lines in a dazzling display of agility and control. The people in the streets looked up and saw him as he sailed through the air. He spread his wings out a little further as they looked at him.
"Showboat…" Zav muttered as his bird Pokémon flew up several hundred feet and out of the danger of hitting any obstacles. Zav pulled out a small GPS from his pocket and strained to look at it through the rain.
"Ok….head thataway!" He said while pointing towards the west. His flying Pokémon let out a loud cry and began flying toward his destination. Within the span of minutes, Zav spotted the building he was looking for.
"Land on that one!" He yelled through the wind. Pidgeot obliged and sped towards the roof. Pidgeot's powerful wings slowed him down as his talons felt the ground. The bird Pokémon bounced a few times before coming to a complete stop. Zav jumped off and returned his Pidgeot to its poke ball.
"Thanks boy!" he said and turned around towards the entrance into the building.
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack
"You hear something?" Will asked his partner, Ryan. The exhausted looking security guard shook his head.
"No, it's probably just the rain." He said, while looking at his sports magazine. Will frowned and tried listening again. The ambiance of a Delta City thunderstorm greeted him as he strained his ears.
Click-clack-click-clack
"There it is again!" He exclaimed, this time Ryan had heard too. He picked up his walki-talkie.
"Checkpoint B, this is checkpoint A. You have anything unusually on your end?"
Nothing but static answered him. Ryan frowned and Will gave him a look of confusion.
"Checkpoint B?" He repeated, but there was still no answer.
Click-clack-click-clack
Both Will and Ryan spun around to see the source of the sound. There was a figure walking in the rain towards their guardhouse with slow and deliberate steps. He was dressed in what seemed to be a far eastern black robe with a strap going across his shoulder. His face was hidden by a locks of black hair that were pushed into his face by a black bucket hat.
"What the hell?" Ryan exclaimed before putting on his hat and running outside. Will quickly followed him into the rain. Ahead of him, the black robed stranger came to a stop and watched the two security guards approach him. As Will got closer, he noticed the man's shoes appeared to be wooden sandals.
That's what had probably made that noise.
Ryan came to a stop.
"Hey you, you can't come over here!" Ryan said in a strong voice. The man looked at Ryan and brought his hand up to shove some of his hair away.
It wasn't a man, Will realized, but nothing more than a teenager. Beside him, Ryan let out a laugh.
"What some kid? Looks like your late to a Halloween party." Will let out a small laugh too. The teenager simply sighed.
His hand twitch
Will blinked
One moment he was standing a few feet in front of him, the next he was almost ten feet behind him, walking towards the entrance of the building. The two of them whipped around.
"HEY KID YOU CAN'T- urk.." Will looked over to see Ryan holding a hand to his side. He was about to ask what has wrong but he noticed a large amount of blood flowing from a slash wound on Ryan's flank. Forgetting the teenager, he was about to walk over and help before he felt a stinging sensation in his gut. He looked down and saw blood flowing from a wound.
"What the..."He managed to get out before falling to his knees. Strangely all he could feel was a minor discomfort, but no pain. As he looked down, he could see hundreds of small cuts forming down his torso, legs and arms. He began to feel weaker and weaker until he fell over to his side.
The two security guards then proceeded to bleed to death in the rainy streets.
Twenty feet away, the teenage boy sheathed the black sword he was carrying in to the scabbard strapped to his back and walked on.
He really didn't like the two men that were walking in front of him, the old man mused. As he watched Saruo and Targan walk down the hallway towards the meeting room, he sensed the stench of death on the two of them. The old man sighed and ignored the horrid stench.
When those two inflicted death it was a horrible drawn out and painful affair. Far different from the honorable way that he did.
From his hiding place in the shadow a dim hallway, he listened and watched as the two of them talked about their most recent victim and how they had killed him.
Disgusting….
Saruo had absolutely no concept of honor and mercilessly tortured his victims and Targan always used his psychic prowess to give him an advantage in everything. Both killed almost indiscriminately and without honor. It was sickening to the soul.
As the two psychopaths walked away, the old man heard another set of footsteps approaching and turned to see the wild-haired Zev approaching. He was soaking wet and his hair as his brown jumpsuit was shining from the water on it. He was walking calmly down the hallway without a single care in the world.
The old man could at least be around Zev without getting sick to his stomach. Out of all his comrades in arms, he was the only one that seemed to have a normal sense of humor and no hints of insanity. It sometimes made him wonder how a brilliant aeronautical engineer like Zav would join the Advent, let alone rise to the rank he was in. All the captains, including himself thought the old man, seemed to have some psychotic streak in their personalities. You just had to find it in some.
Zav walked right past him, not knowing that the Old man lay hidden only a foot or so away from him. He continued walking until he was turned down the hallway and exited to the meeting room. The old man snuggled deeper into the shadows as he sensed someone else was approaching. The next person came through the doorway, heralded by a subtle change in the temperature.
A woman with deep blue eyes and long blue hair walked past the old man. He could feel a deep chill in his spine as she passed him. The old man had seen much in his life, but the woman in front of him unsettled him to a large degree. Out of all the years he had known her, not once had he seen her display a single emotion other than apathy. There was no smile, no laughter, and no anger. Just simple apathy.
As she walked away, he felt the coldness in the environment and his body dissipate into the original temperature that was in the room before she had walked in. He sighed, he knew that the woman who had just walked past him was probably the smartest of all the Advent Captains, but what always concerned him was her complete lack of emotions.
The old man was about to get up when he heard another person coming.
Click-clack-click-clack-click
He quickly shoved himself deeper into the shadows as the only man who he had an ounce of fear and respect for approached. A few seconds later, the robed teenager walked through the doorway. He took several steps forward and stopped.
"Shouldn't you be at the meeting?" He said quietly in a weary voice, then he continued to walk towards the meeting room. The old man sighed and began to follow him.
It's been twenty years since I've met him, and not once have I ever gotten the drop on him…
"Well now it seems we are all here…except where is the old man?" Trask asked from the head of the long table.
"He's here." Said the teenage boy who looked like he had just come back from a Bleach anime convention. None of the other captains knew his name, so they simply called him master because of his skill with the blade.
"Very well then, I guess we shall go ahead and start." He indicated a blue haired women, "Yanna, please show us your findings."
Yanna stood up and handed a few documents to each of the captains.
"The recent Intel I've gained through our mole in the Special Operations Division of the Rangers and my recent….actions….have given us a clear picture of their current state of operations pertaining to our interests in the boy. But it came at a cost; they now know that we know they exist."
"How?" Zav asked as he flipped through some random pictures.
"One of their agents overheard a conversation between one of our men and Varne."
There was a snort of laughter from Saruo and everyone except Master looked over to him. Targan too, had a look full of amusement.
"That man is so eager to please the Boss that he would screw up like this. He's a pathetic has-been that doesn't deserve to be in our 'illustrious' breakfast club. We never even needed him in the first place, since we already knew about the Spec-ops ever since they started out."
"I don't like him either, but if the Boss says he's alright, I guess he's alright." Zav added while running a hand through his hair. Yanna waited until Saruo calmed down before continuing.
"It doesn't matter what that sack of shit Varne does as long as he stays out of our way." Targan said with a sigh.
"Nevertheless, the Spec-ops will be on their guard even more now because of this. But we have been able to gain a better understanding of the direction the group is taking. What we know so far is that their final destination is Delta City. They plan to take the Leyalin route and then the hot springs."
Zav scratched his chin.
"Why would they take the Leyalin route, the Grass Sea is much faster…"
"Who cares, The east side is still boring, no urban areas to hunt in…" Saruo said with a malicious grin on his face. Everyone present ignored him.
"Do we have any more information on Spec-ops Plant?" Targan asked.
"Luckily, the file that we stole had a complete personnel file on the commando. Turn to page 16." There was a muffle of pages being turned. There was a pause as everyone read up.
"Interesting….he has no last name…" Trask commented.
"I believe it might be a fake name, I can only find records of him going back five years when he joined the Spec-ops." Yanna said.
"So….Kite eh…he can't be that bad, he's only a teenager…no offense Master." Zav said to the swords master, but received no answer. He turned around to look at the teenage swordsman. What he saw almost made him fall out of his chair. Behind him he heard Saruo and Trask let out small gasps.
In front of them, the captains where observing something that was almost as elusive as a shiny Articuno with Pokerus. Something none of them had expected to see in their lives.
Master, the cloudless blade of the East, had a look of shocked surprise on his face.
The teenaged sword masters eyes where open wide and his mouth jaw was hanging onto his skull by a thread, if someone was to listen closely, they would have heard a tiny gasp of disbelief.
Everyone stared at him for a few moments in utter disbelief until Trask broke the silence.
"Hehehe…seems Master is intimidated by thi-"He started to say.
Nobody saw his hand move, or the flash of silver in the air, but they did see the small knife impaled in Trask's chair, less than an inch away from his neck. Trask immediately jumped to his feet, seemingly unfazed by how close to death he had come. His hand reached down toward a poke ball.
"Don't." Master said. That single word held so much power, that it forced Trask to immediately freeze. He looked up at the sword master who had his eyes hidden under his bucket hat. Master folded his arms.
"You may be a so called 'Pokémon master', but I can still kill you in a hundred different ways before you can even blink." Masters voice was calm, but there was a slight edge of menace in it that made everyone present except Yanna and Saruo shudder.
"I have lived far longer and seen more things that you little man, so don't think about talking to me like that." Trask sat down in his seat and pulled out the knife that was embedded in the chair. Master turned to Yanna.
"This man, Kite, Is this accurate?"
"Yes it is."
"I'm not quite sure..." He said in a rare moment of humility (for him, that's the best you get)"But I think I've seen him before."
There was stunned silence across the table.
"May I ask how?" Zav asked.
"No." Master said simply. Zav was about to argue but thought better of it.
"Let me guess…someone you crossed blades with?" Targan said sarcastically.
There was a slight pause; master looked as if he was unsure what to say. Then slowly, he nodded.
Targan immediately started to pay more attention, along with the rest of the group also. Even Yanna managed to look surprised to a small degree by raising a single eyebrow.
"WHAT? AND HE SURVIVED?" Saruo almost screamed.
"Someone escaped your blade??? That's impossible!"
"I am inclined to agree!"
Everyone started to throw questions around, raising the rooms volume to a massive degree.
"Enough." He said simply. Immediately everyone became silent.
Master look off his beach hat and ran a hand across his short, silver hair. He usually only took his hat off when he was trying to concentrate or when it was wet. And since the sprinklers in the room weren't going off, he was clearly trying to think.
"Even if I did meet him in the past….this has absolutely nothing to do with any of you, and I will not force this issue upon you." He raised a finger into the air. "However, none of you shall interfere with Ash Ketchum, his friends and especially Kite unless I allow it."
Saruo immediately jumped to his feet in anger.
"You can't tell me to do that! The Teenager was to be mine! I was going to be the one who would break him and taste his soul!"
"Honestly, Nightmare Master, sometimes I wonder what the boss saw in you to let you in to this. The only thing you do is torture people. Torture without a honorable fight beforehand is wrong."
Saruo let out a 'fhee' noise and stuck his nose up in disgust.
"You're starting to sound like the old man….where is that old fool anyways?" He asked while looking around.
Master considered telling him that he was two feet behind him listening carefully to everything Saruo was saying. But that wasn't his style.
"The fact of the matter is, if you touch him in anyway…" He laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Everyone present tensed, even a look of fear appeared in Saruo's eyes.
"I'll fucking cut you into so many pieces that you would look like a red puddle on the ground."
While most people would take this as an exaggeration, everyone present knew that this was the complete and utter truth.
Trask sighed.
"Fine…the bosses plan doesn't require Ketchums……abilities until far later. Do what you want."
Across the table, everyone else grudgingly came to an agreement on staying out of Masters way for the time being. The teenager gave a small bow and sat back down.
"Well….I've said my piece." Yanna exclaimed. Trask sat up in his chair.
"I guess it's decided then, we have what we need and we know our next course of action. I shall now take my leave." Trask pressed one of his poke balls and a Alakazam appeared.
"Until next time my fellow comrades." Then there was a flash of light and he teleported away. Yanna got up, and without a word, walked out of the meeting room. There was a noticeable change in the temperature as she left.
Saruo and Targan both gave Master and Zav dirty looks before walking away. Saruo was already talking about finding another victim by the time they were gone. Leaving Zav and Master alone. The teenager turned towards the High-flyer Captain.
"I require the use of one of your planes."
Zav put on his flight goggles and looked at him with a curious look.
"Thinking about taking a field trip?"
"Possibly, how long would it take for me to get to Palmer?"
"Well…if the wind is alright and there are no major storms over the Mid Mountains…probable two days…"
Master nodded his head.
"It doesn't really need to be that fast…but I'll take whatever you got."
Zav nodded to him and began walking away.
"Meet me later tonight, normal place; I'll have a crew get your ride ready." And with that, he walked out of the meeting room. Master sighed and turned around to the old man, who had hidden himself in his shadow. He had a knowing expression on his face.
"I know…..I know the chances of him being alive are one in a million….but I somehow I know its him, old friend…"
He looked out a window at the stormy evening.
"If it is him….I will make him suffer…."