(I KNOW I SAID FASTER UPDATES. But dammit, I'm working on SIX FICS right now, and I didn't even want to write this chapter, because a shitload of characters DIE. Dammit! Ah, ignore me, I'm just pissed. Anyways, I swear faster updates...if I don't have to kill anyone else off...I don't own, okay?)
Red grinned, as he stared up at the fortress that was the Indigo Plateau.
"Tonight, we fight. Now," He said, shoving a gun in his holster, and Pokeballs into the clasps on his belt, "Let's go save Livvy."
Jack rushed toward the door. "Livvy! We're coming!" The group, consisting of Sapphire, Ruby, Lady Berlitz, Diamond, Yellow, Blue, Silver, Gold, Opal, Anna, Akira, and their respective Pokemon, burst into the place.
Obviously, the guards spotted them. Pika fired off a Thunder Wave, Saur, a Stun Spore, leaving them free to speed past the guards and get in.
Olivia sat in the training room, and watched Tristan and Jeremy duke it out. Jeremy had an Ursaring, and Tristan was using his Ivysaur. She sighed, and put her head in her palms, observing quietly.
Tristan's Ivysaur was tough; he had managed seven Razor Leaf attacks in a row, and a Vine Whip to hold Ursaring down. However, this particular Ursaring was huge, cruel, and brutal, ripping at Ivysaur with his claws.
She noted, however, that Ivysaur actually had the advantage; Ursaring's attacks were missing at a high rate, because he was only focused on the bloodlust, and not strategy. Olivia highly doubted that Jeremy would use him for official League battles, then. Why would he?
Since the training rooms were downstairs a bit, none of them heard the alarms or screams. But for a second, Olivia looked up. "I...I think I heard a noise upstairs. Can we go investigate?" Tristan and Jeremy stopped their battle, and looked up. Nodding, the Elite Four and small girl went upstairs—
And were instantly greeted by gunfire.
"Shit!" Tristan swore. "Fucking shit!" He fumbled in his pocket for his gun, and swung his arm out, .22 in hand. He pushed Livvy behind him, and kept going on, fighting his way through.
"The Resistance Order! It's a fucking raid!" Derek shrieked. Tristan looked up, and indeed, saw Red. He groaned quietly. "Olivia! Go talk to them! TELL THEM TO STOP FUCKING SHOOTING!"
/Olivia's POV/
Oh shit, oh shit, Red has a gun and he's shooting the fucking place up. Where the hell is daddy!?
"RED! STOP! STOP! IT'S OKAY, I'M FINE!" I roar over the shouts and gunfire. He ignores me, and shoots another guard in the stomach. I groan.
"You BASTARD! I'm FINE! GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!" I scream, trying to find Jack before he gets shot.
"Livvy! LIVVY!" My head shoots up. "JACK!" I roar, running towards the sound of his voice. "JACK!" I see the silvery Eevee, surrounded by Santi, Grimwald, and Lev. I scoop him up, and beckon to the others.
"Get in your Pokeballs, and stay there! Jack, you too!" The other three accept the red beams of light, but Jack shakes his head. I roll my eyes. "Fine."
I set off again, rushing through the crowd of people, trying to find Red and tell him to stop, and—
"Zap Cannon."
I look up. Gengar stood there, with my daddy by his side. The Ghost Pokemon charged up the bright beam of energy, and fired it off. It struck the wall, which incinerated.
"DADDY!" I roared, rushing towards him. He grabbed me, and pulled me close. "Red." He murmured.
The Trainer looked up into daddy's eyes.
"Hello, Morgan. Like what I've done with your little pet project in your absence?" He purred, eyes focused on Morgan. "I've come to take back my soldier." I stopped, and realized this was my chance to explain anything before more people got hurt.
"Red! It's okay! He's not capturing me, he's my dad! I'm here because I want to be!" I explained, hoping that this would cause him to put his guns down and escape. Red's lips curled into a snarl, disproving my point.
"Your father. So, Olivia, how does it feel so be sired by that pig, sitting there ordering executions to please the fundamentalists? How does it feel to know that he's the reason you're fighting now? It's terrible, isn't it?" Red continued on.
"You were called a freak, weren't you? A bastard, a witch, and a maniac? It was all his fault. Your mother died because your father got her caught up in his stupid schemes. Died, Olivia. Aren't you angry? Don't you want to kill him?" I looked at daddy.
"But...my mom...she's alive. And in Pallet Town..." Morgan's eyes filled with hatred as he gazed at Red.
"Your mother is dead, Livvy. Her name was Bethany Moore, and she...died fighting against Bruce. She died for her cause, Livvy. Is that what you want?" His eyes were pleading as he looked at me.
I shook my head. I didn't know. I didn't want to die, but what was the point of living in a world where I wasn't free? I looked at Morgan, and made my decision.
"I'd rather die than kill you." His eyes glowed from within with a warmth and love that made me feel so much better for having said something I wasn't sure was true.
Red frowned. "But bringing him down is the point of this matter! How are we supposed to bring that about without the death of the one poisoning our country!" I stopped for a second, and began to scream.
"It's not all his fault! It's us too, don't you get it!" I stared out at everyone's surprised faces. "It's the whole region! It's us, only us! We could stop this if we tried! We don't even have to use violence! There are so many of us that they couldn't win if we all raised our voices in defiance!" My shoulders were shaking. What the hell was I doing? Did I WANT to get shot?
"Violence isn't always the answer! Why do more people need to die for a cause!? Shouldn't they all be alive to enjoy it after everything's done!? I understand that there's fucking consequences to a war, get that not everyone goes home alive or in one piece! But what's the point of throwing life away when words would work just as well!?" Red stopped.
"You forget your place." He snarled. I shook my head. "I'm just as worthy to say it as you are. Probably even more, since I don't see you speaking up." I turned to the entire group.
"And you know what? If people don't get it because they don't know, make them aware! Do whatever you can to make sure word gets out, because if you get pissed off enough, you'll do whatever you can to stop things!" I looked at Morgan, who merely had an eyebrow raised at this point.
"And if you all tried a bit harder to actually raise awareness about the cruel things that happen to those who don't obey, maybe you'd have more of a goddamn following than a bunch of people sitting in a fucking mountain, plotting who to assassinate next! Doesn't that sound like a better idea? Don't we need more people dedicated to our cause?!" I looked at Red, whose eyes smoldered.
"We don't always need violence. Words, when used correctly, hit as hard as bricks. We just need to get everyone pissed off!" My voice rose to the breaking point.
"SO STOP FUCKING KILLING PEOPLE AGAINST US, AND START PISSING PEOPLE OFF FOR OUR CAUSE, MORONS!" I stopped, voice ragged from overuse, and breathing hard.
Red raised an eyebrow. "Touching. Very sweet, Livvy. But if you don't want to kill your 'daddy', I'll do it for you." He leveled the gun at Morgan, and fired a shot.
It struck Morgan in the shoulder, and it wouldn't be fatal, but he was shot. "MORGAN! SIR! MORGAN!" Tristan roared, rushing over to him. He clutched his body, and Morgan groaned.
"For fuck's sake...Tris...go...shoot...him." I almost giggled, but I remembered that daddy wouldn't understand that I was giggling at Tristan, not him. "Daddy?" I said quietly. Morgan nodded.
"Be...fine...Collins...let's go..." The Elite Four member nodded.
"Okay then! Typhlosion, Smokescreen!" He ordered, and as his Pokemon bathed the room in smoke, I noticed that Collins, Morgan, and Tristan had disappeared, leaving Derek and Jeremy.
Derek nodded at Jeremy, who...changed, for lack of a better word. The intelligent, cunning eyes became a deceptively soft and sleepy looking pair of summer-sky eyes.
"Ursaring." He murmured, tossing out the Pokeball.
"Kill them."
In a flash, I realized what he really used that giant bear for.
Executions.
"Shit." I muttered, before the bear ripped open Red's skull.
Yellow screamed, and the sound aroused Ursaring's killing temper further. He turned to the others, and roared. "GET AWAY!" I shrieked, seeing Gold and Silver already fleeing the building.
"GO! GET OUT!" I screamed, as the Ursaring roared a challenge to the others. Most had escaped, but for Anna and Akira.
Anna looked to be having trouble on her legs, and I remembered her cancer. She just couldn't take the strain anymore, I supposed.
Ursaring sniffed in exultation, sensing a weak victim. He turned to Anna, and grunted happily. I screamed again. "NO, NO! STOP IT!" Anna backed away, pale as a ghost.
Akira leapt in front of her, and I remembered too late, that as much as Anna wouldn't want it, Akira was too damn loyal. He'd die for her...even knowing it was futile.
Was it because he refused to live without her, knowing she would soon fade away into the darkness as well, knowing that the years would stretch on for eons until finally, he just faded away, nothing more than a whisper etched on the onyx wall of remembrance in the Underworld?
Ursaring lunged, and Akira fired off a Psychic blast—
With a snapping sort of crack, Derek fired a gun, and five bullets went out quicker than lightning—
I knew why he'd done it, it was because Akira had missed, and the blasts were headed for me, he was only trying to protect me but he'd killed Akira—
He sagged back against the wall, and Jeremy recalled Ursaring in the heat of the moment, and Anna was screaming and screaming and screaming and WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP I CAN'T HEAR AKIRA DYING—
"AKIIIIIRAAAA!" She roared, voice raspy and harsh, a death-rattle sort of noise, and I knew that my voice would sound the same, only for a different reason, because I was trying hard not to laugh—
"Wotcher, Anna." He muttered, as she leaned in close. "Luv, your aura, your psychic scent...it's doubled for two people." He murmured as the blood leaked out, "...Take good care of the kid, love. Remember me. I love you, Anna." She held him close, as blood soaked her jacket.
"Love you too...Akira." She said, voice muffled by misery and tears. He grinned at all of us surrounding him.
"...Wotcher..."
And he died.
The shine of his glimmering eyes disappeared, and somewhere, a star winked out in sympathy.
"No." Anna said softly.
"Anna...Anna...no, it's okay. You've got a baby now!" I tried to cheer her up, but she shook her head. She turned to the two remaining Elite Four.
"You will leave this room. I will take Olivia for one day. For the funeral. You can do whatever the hell you want after that. I don't care." She looked at me, and she smiled, but her eyes didn't follow suit.
I got up, and told Derek and Jeremy, "Tell dad I'll be back as soon as I can." My voice dropped.
"And you can tell him, Jeremy, you killed a father."
We walked out in silence, Anna carrying Akira's body. Red was left behind. We just couldn't handle the weight, mentally and physically.
"Anna..." I said softly. She turned to me.
"Listen to me. Whoever you love, do not let them go. It's not worth living without them. Take care of Jack, Olivia. And take care of yourself, because you mean the world to Jack, and it'd kill him if you died." She kissed me, just once, and there were tears in her eyes.
"Let's go."
The night was so close to waning that we could bury Akira in silence. Just me, her, and Gold, Opal, and Silver. They'd shown up because Amai had alerted them to the death of a fellow Psychic.
We stood there as the night began to give way to daylight.
"Say something." I told Anna, as we stood over the pile of dirt. A white stone nearby had been chipped away by Grimwald's teeth into a headstone, and psychic energy from Amai had inscribed,
"Akira: Friend, Lover, Would-be Father. His death will light the way for a new world." All of the Pokemon were out, and bawling silently.
She spoke quietly.
"He meant the world to me. I loved him enough to do anything for him. Wherever he is...I hope I end up there too." We all nodded, and suddenly, Anna turned on her heel and fled.
She tore off, feet pounding against the dirt floor of the forest, and she burst through the gates of the Headquarters.
"NO! NO, ANNA, NO!" I roared, as we gave chase.
She pulled out a gun, one she must've stolen from one of the Elite Four, because she wouldn't have carried otherwise, not one more person was dying tonight goddammit—
She burst in, and ran down the steps, finding Collins outside the hospital wing. She leveled the gun on him, and screamed, pulling the trigger.
It was empty, but Collins didn't know that. He shot five times, /Just like Akira/ I thought, and she fell.
"ANNA!" I roared, skidding to a stop in front of her. Collins was weeping. "I didn't know...I'm sorry, Livvy, I didn't know it was empty..." I looked down at her.
"Why, Anna? You...you had a kid." She grinned weakly at me.
"Didn't want him to grow up without a mother...or a father...cancer woulda killed me anyway, 'fore the kid was even two. Better just for all of us...to stay in heaven together..." She looked at Jack.
"You mean the world to him. Remember that. You're all the other has got." She struggled weakly to slump against the wall.
"Live, damn you." She spat. "Live...because I couldn't...Without him..." Her eyes welled with tears.
"His name would've been Damien." She closed her eyes, and let one final word slip from her lips.
"Akira..."
I stopped.
She was dead now. But there weren't any more tears.
Just another dead body.