So, OMG, I read this great comic on Webcomics called The Class and it's amazing. A. MAZE. ING. So, yeah. into superhero comics? Read it.
Amy47101 does not own pokémon. Only Vale.
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The Adventure Saga
Enlightening the Soul
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Vale stared bitterly at the half mask in her one hand. It was scratched from it's trip across the room when Mask backhanded her, but seemed otherwise fine. Her hand covered the left side of her face, as if afraid someone would have the gall to waltz into her room. She was terrified of them seeing the scars... It was proof. Proof of her traitorous ways. Proof of helping her brother escape. Proof that she was weak and timid. Afraid of everything that moved, even her own shadow.
"Stupid..." she growled, clenching the mask, sure it would shatter in her fist if she squeezed her fingers any tighter. A knock sounded on her assigned bedroom door, and she whipped her head in the direction. Slipping the half mask perfectly on her face, she whipped open the door, seeing a grunt paused in mid-knock. She looked scared as Vale laid her icy glare on her. "What?" she hissed.
"M-Mask wishes to see you in the labs." she stuttered out. A flash of puzzlement went through her mind. So soon? He's already inflicted his punishment for disobeying him. Another mission? But they have the catcher girl...
She stood up a little straighter, and strode out, ignoring the grunt. Vale wound around some corners, grunts saluting to her as she passed. She supposed it was because of the icy aura that she gave off, for some of them almost never gave her any form of respect that she deserved. She paused, getting control of her anger before walking inside.
Mask was, no surprise, staring at the monitors of the edge of his desk. She glanced at them herself, and was slightly surprised to see a girl dressed as a pixie wandering aimlessly through the halls while another young man dressed as a hiker plowed through everything in his path, though he hardly battled, just punched the grunt in the face and pressed onward. Her eyes finally rested on one more monitor, a young man with red hair dressed as what she supposed was a mafia boss attire, coldly ordering his Quilava to burn anything in his path, then would try to beat information out of the grunts.
Their costumes made her want to laugh, while at the same time the differing strategies confused her. One wandered confused, one plowed through, and one tried to logically think of a solution. How strange.
"We have intruders." he said.
"I see." Vale responded.
"Vale. Hunt them down." he ordered, turning to her. Vale frowned slightly.
"Hunt them down? Capture them?" she asked, confused.
"No. I have a new idea for you." he turned around, placing two objects on the desk. Vale looked at the two items, widening her eyes. One, obviously, was a gun. She was aware of how to use one, but mostly for threats. She never had to actually shoot someone...
The other item grinned up mockingly at her. Now she knew he was taunting her.
"I noticed some slight damage to your current mask." he said. "So I had a new one made for you." he slid it towards her, and she resisted the urge to throw the thing on the ground and trample it to pieces. Three thin, black lines curved down, one right under the eye, one forming from the edge of the eye, the third trailing down the side of the face.
They almost perfectly matched her scars.
"Something wrong, Vale?" she could sense his smirk behind the mask. It must be similar to the one on his stupid mask. She could imagine it, even though she's never seen his face.
"Sir," she stated slowly, treading carefully. "This mask makes me feel uncomfortable. I would prefer not to wear it."
"I would prefer you did." he answered coldly. "We've both been through this before. You know what I'll say next." She knew. His trump card. She clenched her fists and snatched the mask away, replacing it with the scratched one.
As soon as it was on her face, she knew something was wrong. It felt as if small pulses of electricity were shooting into her face. Not small enough to be harmful or to scar or burn, but something was wrong.
"M-Mask..." she said slowly. "This thing... It's-!"
"It's not going to hurt you." he said, the pulsating continuing, giving her a slight migraine. "Now listen. You are going to take this gun," she glanced at the gun, then back up at his masked face. "And hunt down the three intruders."
"In-" her voice cracked slightly as she tried to focus on what he was ordering. These stupid pulses were breaking her concentration! "Intruders?"
"Yes. I want you to bring the redhead here."
"Redhead?" the only redhead she knew... Her brother-! She grunted slightly as the electricity increased, her migraine getting worse. She reached up to pull the mask off. She didn't care if her old one was scratched!
"Vale, stop." she unwillingly stopped, hand dropping to her side. What-?! Mask chuckled.
"The pixie girl and the hiker..." he trailed off, passing her the gun. "Kill them." She numbly nodded, even though something in the back of her head was whispering that she didn't kill, she refused to do it! A pop of pain erupted in the back of her head. She grunted. "Bring the redhead here. Hurt him if you have to. I want to talk to him."
She couldn't bring him here. Her brother... she couldn't bring him back. She helped him escape. He knows that-! Mask knows that he's still around!
"You're dismissed. You know what to do."
She took the gun from his hand, turning and pausing for a moment. She doesn't kill-!
"Vale." his voice was cold and serious. She continued walking, her mind slowly going blank.
"Kill the pixie and the hiker. Bring the redhead to me." Mask's voice echoed.
She kept moving around a corner, trying to think on coherent thought on her own free will.
Don't take him to Mask. Keep him away. Keep him away.
She turned another corner and saw the pixie girl dashing down the hallway.
"Kill the pixie and the hiker." Mask echoed again.
You don't kill. You always refused to kill, no matter the punishment. Don't kill. Don't kill. Don't kill.
"Vale." his voice was laced with cold ice. She rounded the corner and remembered seeing a door slam in her face
Protect the redhead! Protect your brother!
"Kill the pixie and the hiker. Bring the redhead to me. Bring him to me, Vale. Reunite the family."
"He's in my head!" she thought frantically. "He knows-!"
"Gah-!" she exclaimed as the headache became to much to bear, hands flying to her temples. She panted heavily for a few moments.
"The pixie..." no doubting it now, he was in her head. "Drag her out in the open. Prolong her death. Draw a crowd. Draw the hiker. Draw your brother."
She slumped against the wall, falling to the ground as she tried to think clearly, hand flying to the mask. She had to get it off-!
Silver-!
This was the last thing she remembered thinking before her hands dropped to her sides and her mind went completely blank.
o.0.o.0.o
"Alright!" Lyra exclaimed as Eevee bounded back towards her. "Great job, Eevee!" she bounded past the grunts she defeated and rounded the corner. "Now, if I were an evil organization, where would I hide a kidnapped coordinator-slash-catcher~?" she mused under her breath as she tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully.
She heard a couple of thuds, then a grunt of annoyance. She knew these sounds. They sounded like someone getting slammed around, and then falling to the ground unconscious. She swallowed shakily. Who was getting beat up? She was having trouble it was the grunts fighting each other. These Masked Rockets seemed much to organized for that...!
She turned the corner, running away as quickly as possible, passing doors at a breakneck speed, Eevee whined slightly as she bounced about on her shoulder, but fell still. She grabbed a random door handle, opened the door, then slammed it shut. Sliding down the door, she held her hands over her ears as Eevee hopped off, sniffing around curiously. She was shaking.
Lyra couldn't quite understand. She couldn't say what quite was wrong with her. Just every time she heard or encountered a fight, it just reminded her of all those other times. She sniffled, ducking her head down.
"Why, momma?" she wondered to herself. Eevee bounded over, brushing her nose against her, mewing silently. She glanced at Eevee, remembering that pokémon often felt what their trainers felt. She really didn't want Eevee feeling sad, so she put on an upbeat smile. "It's alright, Eevee, I just need a break. We've been searching this place for hours, and have yet to even catch a glimpse of Ethan or Krys!" she laughed. "I'll bet ten poké that if Silver were here, we'd be outta here by now~!"
She stood up, glancing around the room. It didn't seem all to important, just some spare sheets and other miscellaneous items. Eevee brushed against her leg, and she smiled.
"It's okay. There doesn't seem to be anything important in here." she turned towards the door and opened it, seeing a young woman with long raven hair, her head down, slumped on the ground. "Oh!" Lyra exclaimed as she rushed to her side, Eevee coming after her to see if she was okay. "Miss? Are you alright?"
A faint nod in response. Lyra sighed in relief as she lifter her head, staring blankly at her. Lyra sighed in relief as she stared face to face with the young woman she faintly remembered in the Ilex Forest. Her one visible blue eye stared blankly at her while she lowered her hands to her side. Lyra wracked her brain for a name.
"Um..." she trailed off. Rhymes with 'trail' she thought... "You're Vale, right?" she sighed, happy she could remember her name. "Helping us back in Ilex? You protected Silver..." Vale continued to stare blankly. "You don't remember? Ah, probably not. You're probably, like, super busy, right?" she said nothing. "Uh, miss?"
Suddenly, her hand shot out, grasping a huge handful of Lyra's light brown hair and yanking upward, getting a exclamation of pain and shock from Lyra and a growl of defense from Eevee. A click echoed in the room, a loaded gun pointed. Lyra froze.
"O-Okay." she said, slowly peeling her hands from Vale's wrist. "W-What is it? What do you want?"
Vale gestured her gun towards Eevee, who was trying to bite through her white boot.
"Eevee," Lyra said, pulling out a pokéball. "I'll be okay. Just... Just return before the both of us gets hurt." Eevee stared at her for a moment before bowing it's head dismissively, allowing herself to be returned. Returning the pokéball to her bag since she didn't have her belt with her right now. Lyra looked up at Vale. "Look, no pokéballs. Can you... can you let me go now?"
Vale said nothing before tucking the gun away, then snatching Lyra's bag from her shoulder and tossed it aside, dragging her down the hallway by her hair. Lyra felt herself shaking as dread settled deep in her stomach.
The beatings always started with getting dragged out the safe sanctuary of her room by her hair.
o.0.o.0.o
Silver sighed out in irritation after realizing that the grunt he was beating for information had slumped over. Unfortunately, he knocked them out before he could gain anything useful...
"Tch." he growled, tossing him aside with the other grunts. "Weaklings." he rounded some more corners, angrily stalking away, rounding more corners. How many damn corners were on this stupid airship?!
Among the gray walls, a flash of yellow caught his eye. He blinked, staring at the tote bag that seemed familiar. He glanced around, wondering if the owner was coming to retrieve it, then shrugged, unzipping it and rummaging through the contents. On the top, he came across some pokéballs, in which he smirked. Maybe something rare? He pulled out one, then frowned. A Flaafy.
"Lyra has one of these, doesn't she?" he muttered to himself. He shook his head. It couldn't be Lyra's. Mareep are fairly common outside of Ecruteak City, he remembered using them to train his Zubat. Simply a coincidence, he reassured himself, and continued to pull out the pokéballs, one by one.
A Dratini.
"Any moron could've won one at the Game Corner." he muttered.
An Eevee.
"Lucky encounter." he said, though fear began to drop into his stomach. He pulled out the last two, and his heart leapt to his throat.
A Snorunt and a Bayleef.
He dug around a little further, then pulled out a pokédex. Yes, he was sure now. He dumped the pokéballs and pokédex back in the bag then stood, swinging it over his shoulder. This was Lyra's. He knew, though he thought it was stupid, that Lyra loved these weak pokémon more than her life. She wouldn't carelessly dump her bag and her- Arceus curse him now- friends in the hallway.
So where is Lyra?
He heard jogging footsteps, and turned as he saw some grunts running excitedly down the hallway.
"Excuse me," Silver said, shooting his hand out to stop one. "What's the rush?"
"Hm? Oh, the Executive is apparently beating the shit out of some chick dressed as a pixie!" one exclaimed.
"Executive Vale almost never commits extremely violent acts, so this is a once in a lifetime chance!" the second said before both zoomed off. Silver blinked. They looked forward to watching Vale beat the shit out of someone? And furthermore, that person being Lyra?
Rage boiled in his veins as he bolted past the two grunts.
"Yeah, you wanna see it too, right? Nothing like a good meowthf-" his voice went to a yelp as Silver rammed his fist into his face, smashing his half mask.
"Shut up and just die!" he hissed as he slammed his fist into the second grunts throat, causing him to gasp for a moment before crumpling to the floor. Silver paused. He hoped he hadn't killed the grunt... The rise and fall of the grunt's chest proved otherwise, so he turned away and continued running down the hallway, Lyra's painfully bright bad slamming against his side with every quick stride.
He turned and heard shouting and cheering. He saw a bunch of grunts gathered around in a circle. Silver craned his head over them. He swore he felt a blood vessel pop somewhere as his rage increased.
Lyra was on the ground, hands curled around her face and hand, completely submissive as Vale landed blow after blow. Silver was mad, but also slightly confused. He knew that, despite the set 'rule' that men are to never strike women, if he was in that situation, Vale would already have a broken bone or two. Lyra just curled up and took it like it was a naturally instinct rather than fight back or defend herself.
He slightly pushed himself through, trying to get closer. He had to figure out a way to get Lyra out of this mess before something really bad happened, but had to be careful to actually conceal himself. No doubt Mask knew, and breaking up the supposedly 'once in a lifetime fight' certainly would rocket him up to the 'most watched' list.
"She's gonna blow her brains out!" someone shouted as he heard the echo of a gun being cocked. He saw Lyra part her eyes to stare down Vale as she saw the gun. Vale's visible eyes was completely blank. Uncaring. Cold. Like she was a robot. Silver saw something he never thought he'd see in Lyra's big, doe eyes.
Acceptence.
"Like hell!" he roared. Something snapped in his brain as he plowed through the grunts and sent Vale flying off her feet. The young woman seemed slightly shocked at first, a hint of recognition in her eye before it went blank again. She took the gun, pointed it at Lyra, and shot.
Lyra shrieked, scrambling back as she stared at the bullet hole in the floor, a few inches from her foot. Vale cocked the gun again, prepared to shoot.
"Grunts!" she said, voice cold and demanding. The grunts immediately stood straight, suddenly very afraid of the young woman. "If you value your life, leave us be!" Almost immediately they saluted, then ran off.
Silver glared at Vale, whom stared back blankly. She moved over to Lyra, snatched her wrist and lifted her into a standing position, then began dragging her along. Silver blinked, slightly confused. Vale paused, turning to look over her shoulder at him, then pointed the gun at Lyra's head. The brunette flinched, going completely stiff.
Silver quickly caught up to her, scowling.
"A hostage, Vale? That's low." he stated. Vale said nothing, simply lead him along. When she stopped at the door, he knew exactly who was on the other side.
"S-Silver..." Lyra trailed off. Silver glanced at her. She had to be terrified right now. Hell, he felt a small, minimal sense of fear when he saw the gun get pulled out. He honestly could understand the fear of facing death.
So he did something he never have done before in his life.
"We'll be fine." he muttered under his breath as he took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked at him, slightly surprised, then slowly nodded.
"I'ma gonna trust you, Silver." she said softly. Silver simply passed her bag back as Vale opened the door, making sure his hand was free of hers.
Vale moved behind them, prodding them inside. He saw flickering TV monitors, and knew it was a security system. He glanced around and failed to find Ethan. Where was that moronic boy?
His gaze flicked to Lyra, whom's expression was like an open book. She was terrified. Silver slowly turned his gaze back to the man in the chair.
"Silver," the man stood mockingly as he opened his arms, as if he expected Silver to embrace him in a father-son hug. Silver could see the smirk on the mans face as he spoke the next words. "Welcome back to our family."
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So, yeah. I hope you enjoy!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^