A/N: The self-bribery with soda is working well enough. I'm now half-way caught up with chapter edits, and considering that the last ten or so chapter shouldn't need more than a light touch-up, I think the rest will go smoothly.
I can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Within an hour, Fisher had mobilized Giovanni's remaining forces into three broad columns. The dredges of the drafted militia and police units, battered and exhausted from front-line fighting, lead the columns, while the fresher Grunts brought up the rear, armed with as many pokéballs as bullets. Tanks rumbled in between the columns, and eleven anti-air guns hid in their midst.
Seven was at the head of a tank convoy, seated in front of a mangled machine gun that had been hammered into a makeshift shield. Around her were their remaining machine guns, mounted on flat-bed trucks, along with fifty flamethrower-wielding Grunts and most their remaining grenade launchers. To the rear, more trucks carried artillery, and four had their surviving helicopters.
As they approached the river, Seven filled herself with her power, drawing up as much of the pool as she could hold. Breaths came in ragged gasps, and her arms felt like boulders. Her illusion wavered, and the texture of her hair and eyebrows faded to brown smears.
From the convoy, nothing had changed. For anything across the river, it would appear as though this flank were crawling with anti-air cannons, with no machine gun support at the front, and no helicopters waiting for empty skies to the rear.
The Pokémon huddled in a writhing mass around the stone walls and towers of the castle. They sat, ate berries and fish, and made no move to confront the approaching army.
The Rockets stopped. They turned the flatbeds so the machine guns faced the enemy in a zig-zagging line, and they set up artillery in the rear. The helicopters started their engines, and the anti-air guns sighted out sections of sky.
Seven thought she would pass out from the strain of holding such a large illusion. She had a finger on her radio, about to tell Fisher to hurry up, when they fired the first shot. The tanks and artillery boomed like a pile of giant firecrackers. The ground around the Pokémon vanished in a spray of dirt and rocks. About a thousand lay dead and bleeding, but the remaining host roared and charged. They swarmed toward the center, attacking in a rabid jumble. Mightyena and Herdier lunged at machine guns, teeth snapping at the barrels, as a torrent of bullets tore them to pieces. Onix and Graveler were blown to pieces by tank rounds. Birds fell like rain as they flew into anti-air flak, and Pokémon burned to ash racing through flames.
Yet, for every one that fell, ten more broke the front lines, ripping apart men and machine guns. By this point, Seven's grasp on the massive illusion slipped, and it vanished like smoke. The Pokémon didn't react or respond, continuing the mindless forward assault.
As the front crumpled, the middle ranks called out their Pokémon. Though still outnumbered four to one, the Rockets' Pokémon fought in close-knit groups, holding back the surging tide and picking it apart drop by drop, mauling a Drowzee with Crunch, roasting a Victrebell, and denting a Lairon with a well-placed punch. Blizzards swept across the field, freezing the river into a blood-red sheet. Earthquakes shattered ground and ice into treacherous terrain. The enemy advance slowed and stumbled, trampling their own numbers beneath countless feet. Despite their organization, the Rocket groups fell in dozens, swept away like grains of sand.
Seven's tank had fallen back behind a wall of steel-types. The others pressed forward, firing tank rounds and machine guns into the fray, but Seven's tank retreated to the rear lines, next to silent artillery and anti-air guns.
She leaned back, gasping for air and mopping up sweat with her uniform. Though her task was complete, she felt a stinging knot of unease in her chest. She felt useless. Fear's finger traced a line down her back, leaving a cold, tingling shiver in her spine. Giovanni had counted on her, and she couldn't even slow them down.
As she watched, the enemy pressed further forward, leaving a trail of corpses, both human and Pokémon, in their wake. She could tell friend from foe, but the fast-paced battle left her no opportunity to craft another illusion. A pistol would do nothing, and she'd be crushed before she got close enough to use her knife. That left her with only one idea.
She called out Horus and Thoth. The Porygon examined the battle, claimed there were too many variables to process, and said it didn't like their chances. The Noctowl's eyes widened, and it hunched its head, ducking behind the tank.
"We need to get to the castle on the other side of the river," Seven told Thoth. "Once there, we need to find and assassinate Gh- Bruno."
With another glance at the battle, Thoth taught Horus Fly and charted a route around the fray, just inside the tree cover to the south. Horus refused to budge until Seven kicked it. Talons dug into her arm as Horus enveloped himself in a blue glow. Seven floated up, weightless in the Noctowl's grip.
Horus bolted for the trees, wings flapping like jet turbines. Once there, the flight slowed as Horus gasped for air. The talons felt too much like needles for Seven's liking, and after a few minutes, hot and itchy lines ran up her veins.
They passed over a strip of red slush and stumbled into a sudden clearing. Stumps dotted the ground, and countless feet had trampled the earth bare. Horus squawked and dropped like a stone. Seven hit the ground feet-first. As she rolled forward, she hit her shin on a stump. Hopping on one foot, she sat down and rubbed the bruised area.
"Any ideas, Thoth?" she asked.
"If you want to get in undetected, I recommend having Set remove some window panes and going in from the back."
Thoth had to sternly lecture the Haunter to keep it from hurling the glass panes on a Breloom and Bisharp standing guard at the entrance to the castle. The stone frame was too narrow for her to squeeze through, but with a few careful cuts, she dropped silently to the stone.
Behind the throne was a staircase leading down. The marble gleamed like a mirror. In her reflection, the R on her front blurred into a bloody smear on her chest, and the uniform became a body bag.
Swallowing, she stepped into the depths beneath the castle. The stone writhed beneath her feet as Set merged with her shadow. A toothy smile and glowing red eyes looked up from the nebulous, carnal shadow she cast. Blood dripped from its mouth.
Thoth's glow lit the narrow passage around her, but in the darkness ahead, the scalpels and needles hovered, waiting, backing away as the light advanced. She flinched each time they came to a crossroads and the surgical instruments closed on her from all sides.
Ghetsis' voice murmured from the walls, imperceptibly at first, but gaining volume as she went deeper.
"You were a fool to come here. There is nothing you can do to stop me. Turn around, run, and you might live a few years before I find you."
"Do you hear something, Thoth?" she whispered.
The Porygon stared at her. "Aside from your footsteps, my sensors aren't picking up anything."
Her shadow chuckled at her.
The darkness faded away, gradually at first, until she turned a corner. Lights ensconced in the walls lit a tiled path to a white door, a door she knew too well. With a trembling hand, she squeezed the knob and pushed it open.
Fourteen cells lined the large room. She passed three empty cells and stood in front of the seventh. In the center stood a pile of scalpels, needles, pliers, and other instruments, specked with blood. Vomit welled up in her throat, and it spilled past her fingers.
Thoth flew up to her and prodded her with a lumpy arm. "You appear to be suffering from symptoms of hypoxia," it said. "However, I detect no anomalies in the atmosphere. Perhaps we should withdraw."
"I'll be fine," Seven said. Bile burned her throat as she forced it back down. "Which way do we go?"
The shadow giggled and licked its lips, spattering red flecks across the floor that vanished like raindrops. Thoth scanned the room. "There's only one passageway out of here, at the other end of the room."
The double-doors slid aside for her. Figures without in white coats hunched over computers, typing and studying the screens. None turned from their work as she passed them. The screens were all blank. Past them was the door to Ghetsis' office.
"I'm detecting a faint electromagnetic signature up ahead," Thoth said. "We should prepare before we meet it."
Seven wrapped the room in illusion to block sound and threw all her Pokéballs on the floor. The Magneton hovered in place, eyes fixed on her. Horus gave a muffled hoot as his head hit the ceiling. With some clumsy flapping, he perched on a magnet, puffing out its feathers each time the Magneton twitched. Ra let out a puff of smoke and settled onto the stone floor. Subject Three glowered at her. The Tyranitar scratched at the metal collar around its neck and rumbled like grating boulders. She thought about bringing out the Ditto, but Fourteen could do nothing in a battle.
"Ra, you will batter down the door and use Smokescreen. Magneton, follow after and let out a Discharge. Horus and Set, both of you will use Hypnosis. Ghetsis won't be able to do anything if the body is asleep, which is when, Thoth, you should be able to destroy the eyepiece."
Thoth processed her plan and said, "I don't see any option with a greater probability of success."
A sudden flash blinded her as Thoth taught Ra Rock Smash. With a nod from the Porygon, the Torkoal lumbered up to the door. It reared up on its hind legs. All its weight slammed into the door and broke it to splinters. Smoke billowed out from its mouth, obscuring the room ahead in a roiling black cloud.
Magneton darted in, sparks jumping from its magnets. The crackle of electricity on stone rumbled out the smashed door. Horus and her shadow swooped in. With a last glance at Seven, Thoth went inside.
One minute passed, then two. Sweat ran down Seven's face and neck, soaking her uniform. She took out her gun, flicked the safety off, and turned to the Tyranitar.
"Smash through that door, and attack anything that moves. Don't go out of sight."
Subject Three roared and plowed forward. Stones tumbled from around the ruined door frame, and smoke poured up and out from the gaping hole. A flash of white lanced through the darkness, ripping stone apart with a popping, hissing scream.
The Tyranitar looked back at her. Fumbling around in her hair, she pulled out the flashlight and held it in her left hand, braced against the pistol. Gun and flashlight aimed at the darkness, she stepped past Subject Three. Scalpels loomed ahead, but they danced away from the short, flickering beam.
Bony mush squelched beneath her left boot. Still gripping her gun and flashlight, Seven reached down and poked at the mass with a pinky until she found a soft, slender shape. She pressed her face towards it and saw a long, brown feather, snapped in two and smeared with blood.
She fired two shots into the darkness ahead of her. Bullets rang off stone with empty cracks.
Like a curtain dropping, the smoke fell to the floor. The ceiling glowed with harsh blue light, stinging Seven's eyes. To her left, an iron lump glittered with sparks. To the right, a puddle of lava sputtered and spat as the edges hardened. A shadow writhed on the floor, and Thoth lay in flickering pieces of code, struggling towards the broken doorway.
And in a black leather chair behind a white wooden desk, sat Bruno, eyes closed, arms folded in front of him. A white coat was draped around his shoulders, and a black cane, tipped with gold and studded with rubies, was propped against the arm of the chair. Two bullets, as bullet-shaped as when they were shipped off the factory floor, sat on his desk, and the stone behind his desk was gouged out in an arc around his head.
One eye opened, and the other lit up, one dull and unfocused, one bright and staring straight at her.
"Welcome back, Subject Seven," Ghetsis said. "You're earlier than I expected."
Changelog
12/31/18 – minor edits