Author's Notes:
Shout out as always to Doreh and Neophilic!
Only one chapter stands between you and brand new material not posted anywhere on the internets. PREPARE THYSELVES.
Fifteen
D.E.V.A. CLEARANCE LEVEL 9
CLEARANCE ACCEPTED.
DOCUMENT TYPE: TRANSCRIPT
DESIGNATION: THE ADAM INCIDENT, FILE 014
DESCRIPTION: TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO RECORDING—CONVERSATION BETWEEN C-01 AND PROFESSOR YVONNE NETTLE
DATE-TIME: RECORDING DATE, 17/10/01, 16:32
C-01
Ah! Professor Nettle! We meet again!
NETTLE
I'd received your invitation. Why here, of all places?
C-01
Why the apartment you assigned William, you mean? Why his home-away-from-home in a facility where he should have been safe? Why his personal spot that he accepted under the assumption that the next few weeks would be a pleasure for him? Simple, Yvonne. No one would look here. Also, the welcoming committee left a fruit basket in his fridge, and what kind of man would I be if I let perfectly good food go to waste?
[C-01 BITES INTO AN APPLE.]
NETTLE
I have no patience for this, McKenzie. What is it that you want from me?
C-01
There should be a "professor" in there somewhere, love.
[PAUSE IN CONVERSATION.]
C-01
Fine. Be that way. I need your analyses.
NETTLE
My what?
C-01
I know about your hackers. D.E.V.A. agents have been watching your little insects carefully ever since we noticed them on our science team's secure lines. We know you're streaming information from Project Stardust, and more importantly, we've been tracking William and his actions through that hacked collar you've put on him. We need all of your data. All of your speculation. If you Rocket scientists have breathed a single word about the ixodida, we need to hear what it was.
NETTLE
And why would I grant you permission to do that?
C-01
Because I have leverage.
NETTLE
Oh, you do now?
C-01
Of course. Take a look at where we are, Professor Nettle. Take a good, long look.
NETTLE
Yes. We're in your son's apartment. We've established that.
C-01
And you notice how he's not in it?
NETTLE
Obviously.
C-01
Yes, well, you're aware of a thing called the Yeled Protocol?
NETTLE
Yes. We've discussed this. Team Rocket has officially disassociated itself with the agent responsible. Your son's condition was a mistake on our part and a conscious action on hers. We had no intention of even touching him.
C-01
We have the security tapes. If the moments before his capture by your men are any indication, you have some balls. A jynx? Really?
NETTLE
He stopped being your son the moment he was infected. He's gone, Professor McKenzie. The Yeled Protocol didn't apply to him when we attempted to collect him.
C-01
Oh, good, you know how to properly address your peers. Right. So, that's bollocks, and I can tell you right now how I know. I know because if William was completely gone, your jynx would be as good as dead. You challenged a bloody steel-type with abilities no one fully understands yet. Be happy William's still in there. Present tense, Nettle. Yeled Protocol still applies.
NETTLE
Professor McKenzie—
C-01
And as for the other matter, our officers have gone through those bloody tapes thoroughly. You want to know how many violations to the protocol there were? Here's a hint: it's a massive number. Even just a tiny percentage of the list would've been enough to annihilate you, but you decided to make our job easier by giving us an entire list of reasons. And you know why we haven't wiped you off the face of the earth yet?
[PAUSE IN CONVERSATION.]
C-01
It's because you might know something we don't. But believe me, Nettle. We have big [EXPLETIVE] guns pointed directly at your [EXPLETIVE] headquarters and your [EXPLETIVE] of a boss, and he bloody well doesn't know it. If it turns out you don't know anything or if you screw with me from now until I'm done with you, you'd better [EXPLETIVE] believe I'm gonna pull those triggers.
NETTLE
I see.
C-01
Good. Meet me in the mess hall at 2030. Bring the latest reports from your Rocket agents on a flash drive, and remember. You screw me, and I'll have things you've never even dreamed of blow a crater into your headquarters. Got it?
NETTLE
Understood.
C-01
Good. Now get out.
[END RECORDING.]
—
Bill had expected to arrive back in Adam's tent. He quickly wondered what good that would have done, but it still would have been a slightly more welcome sight than the unending black he found himself floating in. He tried to breathe, but each breath felt like molten gelatin: hot and suffocating. He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't obey. He simply floated, waiting for the moment when he would stop thinking altogether.
So this was it. He was going to die. Bill had to admit that death by volcano was not quite the way he had expected he would go, but then again, life had a strange way of playing out. It never went the way one planned, and he knew that. He knew that oh so well for a variety of reasons, the least of which was the fact that he was going to die in the body of a half-alien mutant.
How many times had it been? Three? It must have been the third. First was during his transformation. Second was when he fell on Lanette's blade. This was the third time he was going to die—the third time he would die, but this time, he wasn't sure how he could possibly come back. It was funny, really. The first two times he died were quick but painful. Full of agony and torture. But this? This death was nothingness. Not the desolate beauty of an empty dreamscape. Not the blinding white torment of his blood pouring out of his body. There was nothing this time but heat and darkness. He was going to die, and all he could see was an unending, eternal nothing.
You are not going to die.
A twinge of irritation ran through Bill's mind. He had hoped that in his third death, he would get a moment of peace, but apparently, Adam wanted to take even that from him.
I do not want to take anything from you. I want to give to you. Do you want to live?
Of course Bill wanted to live. Bill had lists of things he wanted to do, wanted to see, wanted to discover. He couldn't die yet!
Then we will need to act quickly. I can merge my reserves of energy with yours. This will bind our lives together, just as it has with any other of my kind and their hosts. We will be one, and we will fight as one. Do not fear this; for us, it will only be temporary. I can separate us after the battle. I have not yet forgotten the main tenet of our agreement, and I do not intend on doing so now.
It seemed to Bill that there was a "but" to that. Adam was making the game too easy. There had to have been loopholes.
Astute. Yes, there is a condition. All things come with a price, and you know what that price is in this case.
He did. A spike of anger lanced through Bill's mind at the thought of it.
It must be done. Now that the leader of this nest has acknowledged you as a threat, he and the others will stop at nothing to ensure that you do not survive. News travels quickly through colonies. You will not have a choice. We will not be able to rest. They will find us, no matter where on this planet we go. You must agree, Bill.
He thought about it. And then he squirmed in his incorporeal state, attempting to emulate thrashing as best as possible. No. He would never. He would absolutely not agree to what Adam was asking. He would almost prefer his own death to killing someone else.
Is that so? Very well, Bill. Goodbye.
Then, there was silence again. Dark, unending silence. Bill settled back into it, feeling the void all around him, the bereft-of-a-body emptiness. He wondered how long it had been since he had been thrown off the cliff. The magma pool couldn't be far below him.
Just as quickly as he had settled into the silence, his thoughts stirred again. He considered death. It seemed so inevitable now. He thought about all the things he wanted from life, all the things that nearly drove him to agree to Adam's terms.
He had so much left to do.
To discover.
To learn.
To experience.
To protect.
Bill jolted. The last thought echoed through his head, but the voice was unfamiliar. Was it his? Adam's? He couldn't tell. His mind pushed through the darkness, reaching out to find it again.
To protect.
What? To protect what? He was struggling to remember. The heat was almost unbearable now, and that was his only sensation. It clouded his thoughts and his memories, and it lured him towards confusion.
No. I've got to … I've got to think! Concentrate! Come on!
To protect.
Something was coming through. Sparks of memories flared in the void. His sister's voice. The pride he felt over the storage system. A distant song from a giant's shadow. His pokémon's faces. Lanette's smile. Thom's laughter. His mother. His friends. His dreams. The scream of the ixodida.
Adam!
The parasite's presence wrapped around him, as if it had been waiting for him all this time. Yes?
I've thought about it, he said.
And?
There really isn't a way around killing them, is there?
Not until we overthrow the empress.
That's your ultimate goal?
It is now.
Bill huffed. It was an act that, in hindsight, was a bit ridiculous considering he didn't have lungs at the moment, but at the very least, the fact that he noticed this was a good sign. It meant that he was ready. He didn't particularly like the idea of being ready, but he loathed the idea of giving up. Especially now.
Fine. Let's do it.
Excellent. Now, brace yourself, Bill. This next part will be disorienting.
Adam neglected to mention the sensation of a thousand needles of heat and light jamming into his body all at once. Nor did the symbiont mention the feeling of being hurtled into the air, directly at a bright, gold light that exploded across Bill's vision.
Disorienting would be putting it mildly.
—
The next few seconds went by in extremely rapid succession. Bill's eyes snapped open, and in the following instant, he realized that time outside of his body had barely passed. He was still tumbling towards the magma pool, but he was barely halfway down the volcano's shaft. Initially, he thought time was slowing down in his panic, but then he noticed that the light around him looked odd. Everything had a quivering, golden tinge to it, as if he was looking at the world through a yellow-tinted flame.
That's when he noticed that the golden light was coming from his skin. And it was then that he realized he was literally slowing down.
"Bill, quickly, do you feel that?" he said. But he knew that it was Adam's thoughts, filtered through his mouth. Yet … there was no numbness, no being pulled to the back of his head. It was as if he and Adam were existing in the exact same place at the same moment.
"I … what?" he replied.
"Slow as usual, human."
He felt his body jolt to a halt, hovering mere feet from the magma pool. Finally, Bill figured out what Adam was asking. He could feel it. He could feel his skin. He could feel the electricity coursing through it, the way the air seemed to push against it, the sharpness of something at his back. His tail tensed and flicked, drawing long, sweeping curves behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he watched it wave and snap beneath two pairs of golden energy streams. He arched his back, marveling at the jets as they streamed from his shoulder blades like fairy wings.
Then, twisting in the air, he pushed the energy under his skin outward and launched his body into the sky.
"What is this?" he murmured. "What's going on?"
The answer came to him in the form of thoughts, as if he knew already and was simply recalling what it meant. He moved quickly, cutting through the air and past the screaming ground-types until he came to a stop far above the volcano's peak itself. Gazing down at the world, he trembled.
"Magnet Rise," he said. "That's how—yes." His voice dropped into a monotone. "That is correct, Bill. That is how we got to Hoenn. Do not spend too long in our head. The longer you do, the harder it will be to pull us apart. Understand?" He placed a hand on his forehead. The thoughts stirring in his mind were swirling with Adam's, almost as if they were leaking out of his brain while Adam's were leaking into his. "R-right. And in any case…" He removed his hands and looked down. "Right. We need to focus. What do we…"
He trailed off when he spotted Fallarbor's hunting party. Even from where he was, he could see them. He could see them so clearly, as if he was hovering directly above them. All the details. All the looks of determination. All of the individual humans and pokémon gathered in the ash-covered fields of the western route. And at the same time, he could hear the ixodida, the scraping claws and chattering calls of the ground-types beneath the earth. The two were growing closer and closer together, and it would be a matter of moments before they met.
"No!"
His tail flipped in the air, pointing him downward, and in a graceful dive, Bill swooped at the ground-type monarch. The drones barked at him. Their hands flailed over the dust around them to form bones to throw at him, but none of them were quick enough. Bill dodged each of their attacks, swung down, and hooked his arms around the waist of his target, and with surprisingly little effort, he lifted the monarch into the air. Yet no matter how loudly the creature in his arms shrieked or how hard the monarch thrashed, Bill refused to let go, opting instead on carrying him up and over the lip of the volcano's caldera. Together, they skimmed the mountainside, keeping close to the ground as they moved rapidly towards the battlefield.
"Call them off!" Bill shouted.
The monarch stopped fighting. "Your precious humans will die here, you pathetic gnat."
Bill yanked him back into the air, ascending like a rocket until the shrubs dotting the mountainside were green specks.
"Call them off, or I'll drop you!" Bill snapped.
"I do not fear death," the monarch replied evenly.
Bill hissed. The monarch's calm tone threw part of him off—just the part that was still himself. At the same time, the part that must have been Adam dug its fingers into the creature's back and watched its calm expression.
"One more chance to settle this civilly. Call them off, or you will give me a reason to go after your empress."
The monarch didn't say a word. He didn't flinch. He merely stared calmly at the sky until a bullet went through his shoulder and struck Bill's with a metallic ping. Looking down, beyond the monarch, Bill realized where he had taken them: directly over the battlefield. All human eyes were pointed up, straight at them.
"No!" Bill whispered. "Don't look at me! Pay attention to the burrows!"
"No, they should watch us. Watch us and die," the monarch rasped. Then, he gripped Bill's arms, pulled himself up until his mouth drew close to his ear, and whispered, "Long live Her Benevolent Majesty. May she reign forever."
In a fit of anger Bill knew wasn't entirely his own, he threw the monarch directly at the ground. Gunshots rang out, riddling the monarch's body…
…While masking the sound of the drones' screams.
The humans had no warning before the ixodida streamed from their burrows. Any warning they could have gotten was drowned out by the chaos they had already stirred among themselves. By the time the hunting party of Fallarbor realized what was going on, the ixodida descended upon several of its members, dragging them into tight knots of claws and sprays of blood. It was only then that the water and grass-type pokémon were finally turned on the ixodida, and the battle truly began.
"No!" Bill cried out again, desperately this time as he dove into the fray. He needed to find the monarch. He needed to kill him. That was the only way—
A hard blow to the side of his head jolted him out of his flight path. It was followed by a blast of hot, green energy that drove him into the ground. The golden light around his body dissipated the instant he slammed into the earth, only to be replaced by a dull ache all over his body. Groaning, he picked himself back up, but another sharp blow came down on his head. With some effort, he flipped himself over and threw his hands into the air, conjuring a quick Protect before Lanette's crowbar could smash into his face. Staring up at her, he could see the wild look in her eyes, the way her teeth gritted, and the tension that played across her body.
"Traitor!" she screamed. "You asshole! You told them! You told them what we were doing!"
The barrier between them dissipated, forcing Lanette to lose her footing. She tumbled down, crowbar first, until Bill grabbed her weapon with both hands.
"I don't have time for this!" he cried. "I'm sorry!"
With that, he shoved her off him, an act that, by sheer accident, flung her into the air. Bill scrambled to his feet just in time to see his partner come down hard on her back several feet away. She cried out, prompting her altaria to rear back and screech from where it stood mere feet away. The bird swung her head down as her open beak filled with brilliant, green flames. But that wasn't the only threat Bill sensed. All around him, humans turned their guns on him. Their weapons roared, but their bullets ripped through Bill's shirt and struck his armor with harmless pings. Bill hissed and fell into an attack stance—arms shielding his face, knees bent, feet wide apart. And in his throat, he could feel a fire, as if the muscles of his neck were sprouting razor blades. Something in his core bubbled up, and without thinking, he responded.
His mouth opened, and he screamed. But it wasn't like any other scream he experienced, and it wasn't like the other ixodida shrieks. This one was deafening and metallic, like metal nails on a chalkboard, and the air rippled with it. All action on the battlefield froze, save for the altaria's attack, which she launched into the ground. Everything else—Lanette, the other humans, the pokémon, the ixodida—doubled over and trembled at the sound. When the shriek died in his throat, Bill realized that everyone else was screaming; their voices had been drowned completely by his own.
Bill had no time to marvel at what he did. His body dropped to its hands and feet, and he dashed forward with a new purpose in mind: to find the monarch.
He knew the thought was Adam's. The plan was too gruesome, too visceral to be his. All he knew was that he had to find the monarch. He had to find the monarch's core. He had to devour the thing, and then … then he didn't know. The thought died there, but Adam seemed to think it would end the battle instantly.
Bill couldn't argue with that.
So as the combatants all around him gradually came back to their senses and resumed their battle, he darted between them. He evaded their hands and their shots as his nose locked onto the strongest scent he could find. Blood. Fresh earth. Something sweet and sour and unlike anything he had ever smelled. He knew it was the monarch. Nothing else seemed to matter right then. Not the bullets ripping through his clothes and ricocheting off his armor. Not Lanette's screams through the din of the fight. Not the errant attack that would have struck him if he didn't instinctively dive low or leap over them. He was like an animal on the hunt, and his prey was close.
Sure enough, he found the monarch at the heart of the battle, surrounded by humans and pokémon. Water-types—marill, azumarill, lombre, lotad—fired jet after jet of water and bubbles at the ixodida. Every time the jets struck, the monarch pinwheeled in place like a carnival doll and nearly tipped over, and at the most violent turn, the humans shot him with round upon round of bullets. Yet the monarch didn't fall. He steadied himself on his feet, back bent and claws hanging in front of him. His body was riddled with bullet holes, but as he stood, each hole closed up rapidly, like the apertures on dozens of macabre cameras. Limbs that were nearly detached snaked back to the trunk of his body and rejoined his flesh. Missing chunks in his face would bubble back into place until, at last, he looked as if nothing had happened.
"You poor creatures," he growled. "Did you honestly believe that it would be that easy?"
Ground-type ixodida burst from the earth, latching their claws onto whatever they could grab—humans, pokémon, it didn't matter. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished again, back into the earth as they dragged their screaming prey under. Bill could hear the wet squelches of tearing flesh, and then, each voice underground fell completely and abruptly silent. That was when Bill stood, rising within the crowd until he reached his full height.
The humans around them readied their guns again. One even shot, piercing the monarch in the shoulder, but the ixodida did one thing Bill didn't expect in response.
He grinned.
A chill ran through Bill at that point. He had only seen ixodida that were incapable of forming expressions, yet here this one was, grinning.
"Do I scare you?" the monarch said. "Do you think of me as a monster, brother?"
Bill ground his feet into the earth. "No."
A flash of gold erupted around Bill's body, and he took off into the crowd, snatching the monarch into the air. Once again, they took to the skies, this time ignoring the shots fired at them.
"I will not call them off," the monarch told him.
"I didn't expect you to," Bill replied.
They arced over the battlefield, sailed through the air away from the fight, and slammed into the earth several yards away. Ash flew up into a cloud, engulfing both ixodida. Bill drew himself off the monarch, vanishing into the fog of dust. A few seconds later, the monarch rose shakily to his own feet and popped his shoulder back into its socket with an audible crack. The wide grin still extended across his face.
"Are you attempting to hide?" he asked. "Did you forget that earth is my element? I can sense you. I can feel your entire shape through the ash. I can count the individual threads of your garments, and I can see each pore in your skin as if you were right in front of me. You cannot hide, little one."
It took a minute for the ash to settle. And Bill was standing within arm's reach of the monarch.
"I know," he replied calmly.
The monarch's grin began to fade.
Bill cast a glance down at his tail, which rose slowly to his side. He could feel an energy burn within him, the same kind of energy that had ebbed under his skin when he used Magnet Rise and Bullet Punch. But this time, it snaked down his spine, pouring itself into his tail. Each segment in its length flashed silver, and every muscle solidified against his armor.
He spun, swinging his tail behind him, and it cut through the monarch's waist as if it was made of clay.
Snatching the top half of the monarch out of the air with both claws, Bill watched as the bottom half fell limply at his feet. Blood poured freely, and part of the creature's intestines dangled from the cut. But besides the flow of blood and digestive fluids, the severed half of the creature remained still and unmoving. Glancing up, Bill was barely surprised to see that the monarch's expression had settled back into blankness. Pallid and grunting, but still blank.
"No?" Bill asked. "Guess your core isn't there. Then how about this?"
He summoned the same fire back into his tail and dropped the top half of the monarch. This time, when he swung his tail, he sent it cleanly through the creature's neck. Both halves thumped to the ground, the head bouncing off the creature's legs and rolling to a halt a few inches away. Looking down again, Bill observed the arms of the creature carefully. Still no movement. Then, turning to the head, he watched as the creature opened his eyes. The head grinned one last time as the spikes the back of its skull twitched and moved. Something underneath them ripped, and as Bill crouched over the severed head, he could hear the soft scraping of claws on dry earth.
An engorged parasite dragged itself out of the tangle of spikes. Bill jammed his hand onto it and pulled it into the air. Its legs flailed and clacked in protest, but Bill didn't seem to notice as he shoved the whole thing into his mouth and bit down. The parasite's carapace crunched against his fangs. A splash of something acidic filled his mouth, and the entire thing slid easily down his throat. The familiar feeling of an intense fire blossomed from his stomach and reached every point of his body. He tilted his head back in momentary pleasure.
Then, he turned his head back to the battle. It hadn't ended. Or, at least, it didn't for the humans and the earthling pokémon. Even at a distance, Bill could see all of the remaining ixodida.
Every last one was staring at him. Just standing there, dead still, staring at him with blank eyes.
And they were being shot at and attacked all the while.
"No," Bill rasped. "No! Stop!"
Only the ixodida seemed to obey, dropping to the ground like rag dolls in unison. This didn't stop the humans or their pokémon, however. Each one of them continued to attack until every last ixodida lay in pieces. And then, slowly, they stood down. They backed away. Guns lowered, and pokémon rested on their haunches. Then, a chorus of pops and flashes of light brought fire-types into the open, and quietly, they set fire to the field.
On a technical level, Bill wasn't sure if the blood inside the ixodida parasites was actually blood, but whatever it was, he could smell it in the air. The acidic bite. The metal. The burning flesh. It smelled like meat laced with ammonia.
He trembled and dropped to his knees. In his head, he could feel something pull free, and all of a sudden, he was alone in his mind. His hands fell to the earth, and he bowed his head low at the emptiness.
There, Adam murmured. It is done.
"No…" Bill said. "No, it didn't have to end like this!"
Adam didn't respond as it crawled to the back of Bill's head. And for a long while, no one moved or said a word. There was just the roar of the flames at the center of the hunting party's circle. And then, there was the sound of boots crunching on dead grass.
Bill didn't even have to look up to know Lanette had found him.
"I hope you're happy," she snapped. "Half our party is gone. I don't know what the hell you did over here, but I know what you did in their nest. You're a self-righteous asshole, Bill."
He didn't move. Lanette gripped her crowbar tighter and took another step towards him.
"Which one of you is in control right now?" she barked. "Is there even a difference anymore?"
Bill took a shuddering breath. "Yes."
"Yes what?"
He lifted his chin and looked into her eyes—her hard, stony eyes. "Yes … it's me."
"Then make this easy," she said, her eyes narrowing. "On your back. Now."
At once, he started, his eyes locked on her. His brain had frozen; he couldn't process the words she had said or why she had said them.
He lingered for a second too long. Her boot came up and connected hard with his nose, jolting him backwards. Bill tasted blood and felt his nose snap, but it reformed as quickly as it had broken, settling back into its old shape just before his back hit the ground. But the blood … there was nothing he could do about the blood. It flooded his nose and nearly made him choke, if Lanette's foot didn't come down hard onto his stomach and forced him to cough. He shuddered and turned his head to the side, letting the remaining blood drain onto the dirt.
"William McKenzie," she announced. "You have been found guilty of treason against the Haven of Fallarbor Town. As acting head of the haven, I hereby sentence you to execution." She raised her crowbar, its sharp wedge end aimed directly at Bill's heart. "May the gods have mercy on your—"
A set of jaws snapped around the bar. The rest of Manectric's body followed, forcing Lanette to twist and stumble towards the ground. She fell to one knee instead, her hands closing around her crowbar as she bared her teeth at the dog. Manectric returned the look, keeping its jaws clamped tightly on the center of the bar. Behind them, a shot rang out, and as Bill craned his neck, he could see Officer Jenny standing several feet away from Lanette's right side. Thom, meanwhile, stood several feet away from Lanette's left. Jenny had her gun raised but pointed towards the ground at Thom's feet, and Thom, eyes wide and lips pursed, had his hands up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Thom exclaimed. "I think we all need to chill out for a sec here."
"Wattson," Lanette growled without taking her eyes off the dog. "Get your manectric off me, or I'll—"
"What, charge me with treason?" Thom replied.
Officer Jenny shifted her gun until it pointed at Thom's head. "Sounds reasonable."
Thom turned back to Jenny. "Whoa! Hey! Come on now! We're all friends here, right?"
"Grow up, Wattson," Jenny snapped. "In fact, look down."
"I'd rather not, thanks," Thom said. "Because, y'know, there's a dead ixodida there. Kinda messy. And well, it's no secret that I'm a little squeamish, so—"
"What in the gods' names are you even doing here instead of watching over Raye?" Lanette snapped.
"She'll be fine," Thom answered as he waved his hand. "It's way early in the morning, and you went off to wipe out the ixodida nest. I figured that if you were really gonna get the jump on them, there'd be nothing to worry about because all of them would be over here."
She shot a glare over her shoulder. "There's a burrow in the pokémon center's basement, you idiot!"
Thom hesitated. "Oh yeah." He shrugged. "Well, no harm done, anyway. I mean, I don't know what happened exactly, but did you see the looks on the ixodida's faces a moment ago? Completely dead-looking. Or, you know, more dead than usual. That was creepy."
Lanette released her crowbar and swiveled around to face Thom. "Why are you wasting our time?"
"Well, at first, I was gonna join the fight because I figured there'd be a lot more of them than us, so maybe, I dunno, Manectric could do something. Grandpa taught him Ice Fang, you know? But then I saw Bill doing this really amazing stuff like fly through the air and take down a fully-trained monarch with his bare hands. Or … tail. I guess."
Bill shifted uncomfortably and propped himself up on his elbows. Up until now, he had been sitting in shock over Thom's sudden appearance, but now, hearing Thom describe what he did with a sort of reverence? That left a tight, cold knot in the pit of his stomach.
He didn't want to look at the monarch either. He knew what he did. And even doing it to protect the people of Fallarbor didn't seem like enough justification for it. Especially given what happened afterwards.
"He killed in cold blood," Lanette stated plainly.
"So how is that different from what you guys were doing?" Thom asked. "Come on, guys. At least Bill did it to an ixodida that could defend itself. You all did it to ixodida that looked like they were surrendering."
"They were in shock over the loss of their monarch. If they had a chance to recover, they would have chosen a new monarch and retaliated with even more force," Lanette explained.
"That kinda makes it worse," Thom said. "I mean, if you put it like that, that means Bill saved us. Before the ixodida stopped dead, they were slaughtering us. We only started slaughtering them because they stopped trying to kill us. And here you are, trying to kill off the guy who let you get a shot in. He's on our side, guys. I don't know why you're calling him a traitor, but you gotta stop."
Manectric set the crowbar down in front of Lanette. She snatched it up and rose to her feet. Her head bowed, and for a long while, she stood there, motionless and silent.
It was then that Bill thought he had a chance.
"Lanette," he said. "I … I know what it looks like to you. But I swear, I—"
"Exile."
Bill felt his heart twinge at the word. "What?"
She raised her head. "I'm letting you live, but I'm sentencing you to exile. I don't want to see you in Fallarbor Town anymore. Go."
"What?!" This time, the question came from Thom. He stepped forward, brow furrowed and fists raised. "Come on, Lanette! He didn't do anything!"
"He killed someone!" Lanette shrieked.
"So what?! So has everyone else in your hunting party! How is he different from you?!"
"He's different because he's Bill!"
"What the hell does that even mean?!"
"It means…"
Thom, Officer Jenny, and Lanette all turned to Bill the moment he said those two words. Stiffly, he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. His eyes were on the ground, but he tried his best not to look at the dead monarch. Slowly, his thoughts began to resolve themselves into a coherent response, into one coherent goal.
He knew then what he had to do.
"It means I'm not as in control as I thought I was." He raised his eyes to Lanette. By then, his entire body was trembling, and he couldn't help it. "I'll … I'll accept exile."
"Wait, what?" Thom stepped torwards him. "C'mon, Bill! You can't give up that easily! You know she's not making any sense, and you know how valuable you can be to us! You gotta convince her you're okay!"
Bill shook his head and swallowed. When he spoke next, his voice was barely audible. "I'm sorry, Thom. There's something I need to do. I can't stay here."
"Like what?" Thom asked. "Can we help you with it?"
He forced himself to grin, but it was a shaky grin, one that threatened to collapse in on itself. "No. No, you can't." Then, turning to Lanette, he gave her the most apologetic glance he could muster. "Lanette … I'm sorry. I hope someday you'll forgive me. In the meantime…" His grin faded, and his eyes drifted towards the ground. "…Please take care of Raye."
She glared at him one more time and turned away. "Just go."
With a small nod, Bill swung around and took a few steps towards Mt. Chimney. His skin crackled, and the golden aura flared to life around him again. He pushed off the ground and cut through the air, ascending in a rapid arc up and away from the battlefield. Within seconds, he was gone.
For a long time afterwards, there was only the sound of wind. Lanette kept her head bowed. Officer Jenny holstered her gun. Thom kept his eyes to the sky.
And then, finally, it was Thom who spoke first.
"So is anyone gonna talk about the fact that he knows how to fly now?"
—
Some distance away—he wasn't sure how much, though he knew he had crossed from the ash-covered fields to the rugged mountain scrub—Bill landed and dissipated his golden aura. He breathed heavily, taking in the barrenness of his surroundings. And then, he dropped to his knees and screamed. Tears streamed down his face as he bent over, wrapping his arms around his stomach.
"Oh gods … oh gods, what have I done?!"
Adam's presence blossomed in his head, but it was far more uncomfortable now than it ever had been. You did what was necessary. The child was right. That entire settlement would have been wiped out had you not intervened.
"I killed someone," Bill cried, his voice high and strained. "I killed someone! Oh gods, I killed someone!"
Adam constricted beneath Bill's skin, applying pressure to his bones and muscles. Yet that wasn't uncomfortable. It was warm … gentle. Like the arms of a parent.
Listen to me and never forget, Bill, it said. You are not a murderer. You are a soldier. We are in a war, and you are doing what is right to protect this planet. So please. Do not be afraid of what you are.
Bill shook his head. "No! You don't understand! It was for nothing! I tried to … and then … everything…!"
I know. I understand. Some decisions are difficult, and sometimes, we make the wrong ones. Perhaps all of the violence that transpired today could have been prevented had you not tried to forge peace with the Sun Clan first. But that is in the past, and as much as you may wish you could, you cannot change what happened. However, there is another way you can fix things. And you know how.
The pressure in his body released, and Bill could feel Adam slithering back into his head.
So go.
Bill shuddered and bowed deeper. "I can't! I can't do this! Adam—"
A thud cut off his thought. He raised his head slightly to see the carcass of a headless machop. Taking in a shaking breath, Bill looked up further to see an absol standing over him. Her piercing, red eyes locked onto his, and she seemed unaware of the blood matting the fur around her scythe-like horn.
But neither the blood nor the carcass nor the stare of the pokémon herself shocked Bill more than the fact that he understood her growls as if she was speaking a human language.
"Eat," she said. "You will feel better."
It was at that point that Bill felt he had had enough.
So he fainted.