Chapter 35: Prey

Evening

Hoenn

Cave of Origin

Shelly, midriff bared and with her hands on her hips stared impassively at Whi-2, sure the girl was cute and had a thick, bushy ponytail however, Archie makes it a point not to take in young recruits and this one was unfortunately very young. Instead of giving up, the girl stood her ground defiantly and her azure irises sparkled with determination. To the amusement of the guards stationed at the entrance of the cave. A trainer had surfed across the ocean on the back of blue jellyfish-esque pokemon and bravely strode to the entrance. Once she got there she kicked up a fuss of joining team Aqua and the two guys helplessly had to call the admin to see her. Shelly found her enthusiasm rather wonderful, unfortunately her boss won't allow the child to enter. Besides, the criterion for joining their ranks was a strict one.

"Sorry darling~ I admire your courage but our leader won't allow it. I would appreciate it if you cheered for us from home; tell all your friends and family about how wonderful the goal of Team Aqua is."

"I'm not going home; I want to join you people!" Whi-2 thought that she was doing a poor job; her attitude came off as snobbish, demanding and childish. She acted on instinct, there were no senior to guide her on her actions and even though she had been on many missions, this was her first solo and it was making her extremely nervous. Nevertheless, she opted to get her job done at any cost and without blowing the cover of her identity and if driving a few people (plus herself) nuts in the process was going to get the work done, then so be it. Glancing up at the dark skinned woman, she proposed, "let's battle, if I win, you will allow me into your ranks, if I lose, I'll go back home. Deal?" She flipped her hair confidently akin to Blue and inwardly flinched, it was one mess right after the other. At her words, the admin raised a penciled eyebrow and smiled.

"Sure kiddo, if you manage to beat me, you're welcome in our base. In fact, you can take my position. My name is Shelly; I'm the vice-captain of Team Aqua." Whi-2 gulped and prayed no one heard, yep she was royally screwed. Without further talk, Shelly led her deeper inside the cave where a hive of activity was taking place. She saw the interior being reconstructed to house great numbers of people. There were large rooms blasted into the rock face; metallic lifts and connected walkways enabled the team to move about efficiently. The first floor was designed as a living quarter, according to the administrator sashaying in front of her, here, the underlings lived about their daily lives and the area was designed as such. A kitchen and mess hall was situated in one corner and opposite it were the bathrooms and shower stalls, Whi-2 even spied a makeshift library and game room of sorts, these were still under construction judging by the way the books and screens were all scattered around. Reaching the edge of the first floor, she was escorted into an elevator and the two females descended into the bowels of the earth. When the lift stopped with an audible hiss, Whi-2 strode out and stopped cold in her tracks. The floor she descended in was smaller and dimmer compared to the other one. Here, her attention was grabbed by a huge glass cage filled with water. Inside it was Kyogre, the moment she walked in, the primal beast stirred and pinned her with a bloodshot eye.

"Shelly" a scarred voice issued from the gloom, "I told you not to disturb me unless you have urgent news."

"I do" the woman's voice had turned somber. "I have a young girl with me who wants to join us." At her words, the sound of a man getting up from a chair reached the Dex-holder's ears. A hulking man stepped forward and the youngster nearly fainted from fright. Like Shelly, he was also tanned, the upper part of his face sported a cross shaped scar and the rest of his body was clad in a body-hugging sharpedo skin suit. The male wore thick gold ornaments and by all means looked like the meanest, most despicable villain Whi-2 had ever seen on television. However, instead of cursing in that guttural voice of his, he merely stooped to her height and kindly rattled off reasons why someone as young as her couldn't join his glorious crusade. Taken aback, the little spy merely blinked but kept on insisting she be given a place.

"We agreed to settle this with a battle" the female admin drawled and her boss let out a huff, this was a waste of time.

"Fine, do it quickly and get this child out of here. A lass her age should be playing around at school."

They moved to a space beyond Kyogre's tank and took stances. When she let Foongy out, Shelly laughed at the little pokemon. In contrast, the opponent's carvanha's razor sharp jaws reflected the apprehension painted on Whi-2's face. The odds were in her favor yet the swirling anxiety rooted in her belly won't dissipate. In order to be accepted, she had to make an impression, merely defeating Shelly won't suffice and she had to put the woman down thoroughly and memorably. So, when the savage pokemon came for her with its mouth wide open, the Unova native decided to play brutal. Underneath carvanha, grass tendrils rose up in the air and seized the predatory fish. It knotted around the beast first closing its jaw, then trapping the fins and finally the living vines constricted so tightly, even Shelly looked alarmed. She barked out an order and her monster struggled against its confines, writhing and managing to tear a few of the bindings. As it attempted to execute the move, amoongus fired a solar beam, it hit the thrashing fish point blank and the executive wore an expression of horror. When the light dissipated they were awarded with a carvanha half stripped of its flesh. Whi-2 wanted to gag at the sight of the half carcass; she could see the semi charred intestines of the beast.

A tense silence stretched between the three occupants in the room. Her heart was hammering in her chest, Shelly looked at her disbelievingly.

"Well kid..." Archie eventually broke the spell, "you've just defeated the second in command. Welcome aboard."

Afternoon

Unova

Route twenty one

"It's floating...Just how Green and that N dude said." Lack-2, russet tinted eyes wide with wonder stared at the gigantic ship. Yesterday, the top three decided to get rid of Team Plasma's mobile base and since no one would be a better information source than their former king, the leaf haired adolescent was summoned. N told them that the huge ship was generally moored near Route twenty one. The security on the ship is extremely tight and the boss was a man by the name of Colress. After a mini argument between Red and Green, the former man was instructed to stay put at base and send a few of his subordinates. Restless and seething, he rattled off the names of Gold, Lack-2 and Saph, the three took off right then; after spending a night partying away in Nimbasa, the trio slept in the morning and departed for their designated mission at noon. Now, the little group stared at the levitating ship in wonder, a thick, rusted chain anchored the watercraft. Still the distance between the sea and the deck of the ship was formidable.

"I guess we need our flying types to...Hey, what are you doing? As Gold was musing on the course of actions, the two youngsters got busy. Saph grabbed the anchor chain and began to scale it and Lack-2 followed her. The acting leader watched with amusement, the duo managed to make it half way up till fatigue overcame them and they jumped. More specifically, Saph jumped, his apprentice lost balance and fell on the sand below. A low grumble issued from him as he got up and dusted his hair.

"Trying to climb up the chain was a stupid idea," the amber eyed trainer scolded, "I mean; can't you see how high the ship is floating? Get your pokemon out and...Wild gal...What in Ho-oh's good name are you doing?"

"Ya got no sense of adventure" the bandanna wearing girl grinned and dug out a length of rope from her bag. "Sure we could just fly our way up there, but exploring other ways to get up is also fun." Twirling her cord expertly, she threw it up and it failed to snag on the railing. The two watching males sniggered at her doings. Huffing, she paid no attention to them and continued to wield her rope with vigor. After much tries it eventually snagged and she smirked, giving it a vicious tug to make sure it won't dislodge, she began to haul herself up. A few contemplations later, Gold and Lack-2 joined her in shimmying up. When they reached about halfway, Lack-2 decided to voice his concerns.

"Stuff like this doesn't go smoothly, I reckon someone is going to notice something and throw your shimmy rope off...right about...now." And Arceus, true to his words, the three went screaming all the way down. Gold fell first and grunted in pain, Lack-2 fell on him and wheezed, eventually, Saph plopped on top of them and instead of getting off, she sat on the two boys and screamed profanities to the plasma grunt that was stationed high up in the air. The three detangled amidst shouts and curses and in tandem glowered at the ship.

"I say we launch cave gal up there and let her wreak havoc."

"How senior?"

"Dunno, she can take a flying leap from my outstretched manly arms."

"This isn't one of your childish cartoon shows, be reasonable! I don't even know how seniors Crystal and Silver keep up with you" Lack-2 rolled his eyes and studied the frigate again. In the meantime their female comrade had disappeared. When the duo turned around to look for her, they found her hefting up a boulder. Alarmed, they made way and she staggered to the edge of the sea and launched the rock with all her might, as expected, it fell very short of the ship and splashed into the water several meters away from her.

"Hey Saph, your boulder didn't hit the target." Gold pointed out and she loured at him.

"Well yeah, I was relieving some stress, perhaps my next target should be your head and clearly it won't be a miss. The two younger trainers chuckled and the eldest embarrassedly ran a hand through his short hair.

"Point taken...Now all in favor of actually executing our mission? We're on a schedule here!"

The plasma grunt on deck eyed the three specks on the ground distastefully, whoever they were, those three idiots needed some grey matter in their hollow skulls. First they try to scale the length of their anchor chain and next they throw up a rope and try to climb up that way. Perhaps the trio was a couple of rouge trainers seeking to create some trouble; Team Plasma has become notorious these days. Walking away from the edge, he grabbed a mop and began to swab the already pristine floor, Captain Colress preferred to have his spaces clean and tidy, thus even though the grunts had absolutely nothing to do (what do people do on a floating, stationary ship?) he still swamps them with cleaning work. The grunt briefly wondered if the trouble makers should be reported...Nah, they will probably grow tired of their mischief and go home. Besides if they were serious of getting on the ship, they'd come prepared with flying types at least.

"HOLY KYUREM! We got INTRUDERS!" screeched his masked comrade who was sweeping a few meters in front of him. As he turned, the world turned with him. Moments later his eyes swiveled upwards and they both fainted with gleaming needles poking out of their necks. The Dex-criminals landed with soft thuds and cautiously looked around.

"And I told you my Ducklett won't be able to handle my weight! I should know best!" Hissed Lack-2 clearly annoyed with something, Gold and Saph ignored him in favor of creeping around the surface of the ship, when they made sure there weren't anyone else, they regrouped in the middle.

"Security was tight huh?" The blue eyed trainer stated sarcastically, "I expected this place to be crawling with those people. Kind of disappointing actually, at this rate my martial arts is gonna rust."

"I say we charge in and-"

"Lack-2!" His mentor's voice had a commanding lilt to it, "the plan was to be quiet as possible, don't make my life difficult. If senior Green finds out we drew the media in, he'll have my neck on the chopping block." The other two nodded in understanding and their gazes turned solemn. However, at the same moment, a whole army of identically dressed grunts poured out from below, alerted by the initial shout, reinforcements were sent. In complete disregard of his teacher's earlier plea, the young Unova's eyes glittered with vicious glee. Whirling around, he tossed a ball into the air and took a battling stance; his well-disciplined samurott pawed the wooden floor next to him. A command from its trainer had the quadrupled beast charging into the throng of people, several were tossed aside mercilessly, others stamped underfoot and one was impaled by the long cream horn protruding from the water type's forehead. Competitive streak ablaze, the lone female in the group also went. Like an Amazonian, she howled a war cry and dove with her Toro, soon, the monster-human duo were a fantastic blur of orange flames and flailing limbs. Like flies, the opponents dropped, some of them had their clothes blackened and issuing wisps, others clutched their chests and necks and moaned in pain. Gold pigmented irises took in the carnage and watched how the other two battled with obvious glee; majority of the grunts did not even have time to summon their pokemon. His student had a twisted expression on his face; apparently his hatred for Team Plasma hadn't dimmed.

"Ugh, what the hell! I'll roll with them as well, they can't be hogging in all the fun!" Saying this, he pulled out his pool-cue and whacked a random grunt on the head, smiling widely the three man team trashed the place.

Fifteen minutes later, Saph worked out a crick in her neck and unceremoniously plopped to the deck. Lack-2 dug out a cloth and was meticulously wiping samurott's horn free of multicolored body fluids. Once again, Gold took in the groaning, bloodied trainers around him and inwardly moaned, why didn't he do the sensible thing and stop them? He was the eldest for Rayquaza's sake! Returning Exbo back to his ball, he made a beeline for his student; the brat needed a firm lecture.

"Listen up Lack-2" he began and the boy trained an apathetic gaze on him, "and this concerns you as well Saph so pay attention." The two paused in their actions to hear him, "we are now going to go under and don't you two dare start a ruckus! Do you hear me? This mission was supposed to be done covertly, unfortunately thanks to you two that's all tossed to the winds a-"

"I'm sure my eyes weren't deceiving me when I saw you rampaging around with your stick and typholsion, practice what you preach you pervert!" Lack-2 cut in scathingly.

"...Don't dish out your foul mood on others every time you encounter something unpleasant you stupid brat!" The older male shot back, "I'm getting sick of your attitude you hear me? Just because I joke around most of my time does not mean I'm not capable of sending you to hospital if I feel like it..." Gold's eyes were flashing dangerously and his words stung deep, "care to recall who was it that defeated senior Red when he was at the pinnacle of his glory? Oh Yeah, Me! I have a lot of patience and you are wearing it out by constantly disobeying any orders I tell you to do, also your disappearing acts are starting to grate on my nerves. If that happens one more time...I'll revoke you as a student and toss you to senior Red, who at the moment is not in very high spirits. I won't be surprised if Pika uses you as a stress relief...And that won't be a nice experience would it? Next thing you know, poor little Lack-2 is paralyzed in bed. Reflect on your actions right now and when you are done, we will continue with our task." The boy quailed under his mentor's uncharacteristically acrid glare, the Johto native tugged his peak cap off and harshly slapped it on Lack-2's untamed locks, the force of the blow caused the boy to flinch. Gritting his teeth, he meekly sat down on the deck with his head bowed whilst Gold strode away.

"It's rare to see senior Gold this heated up...He gets really angry when he's worried about the people he cares about, so don't give him a hard time okay? Well, I'm partly to blame so..." Sapphire trailed off with an apologetic look on her pretty face.

"I'm sorry, I should go and apologize, my actions would drive anyone insane." Quieting down, he ruminated. For as long as he lived, Lack-2 never, ever regretted any one of his actions, no matter how severe the consequences may be. He worked like a well-honed monster, not letting his target out of sight. During his work, he had sacrificed things which he'd rather not think about; doing so would plague his nights with nightmares. Thus he abandoned all attachments. This was not the first time he that he was on the receiving end of bitter words, other times he'd shrug it off, however this time the words gnawed at him, it made him feel remorse and regret. Why? How did a mere trainer have such a remarkable hold on him? When he was embroiled in their shenanigans, he forgot everything around him, the heavy weight looming over his head, his unhappy childhood. It began to dawn on him that he viewed the black haired trainer as a sort of an older brother. The man patiently put up with all his nonsense without complaining...Inhaling deeply, Lack-2 got up and approached Gold who was busy conversing on his Poke-gear. An apology was pending.

"Aww come on~" the amber eyed trainer cooed, "just once, please? Just you and me, Silver can act as an escort. Seriously super serious gal? You crushing on your spiky haired commander or what? Okay, okay, forgive me; I won't ever entertain such a thought ever again!" Letting out a breath, he snapped the device shut and turned to see his student waiting for him, the boy had his gaze trained to the ground.

"I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time..." Lack-2 prayed the words won't get stuck in his throat, at the moment; it's taking all his willpower to force them out coherently, "I won't do this again." The cap was taken off his head with a swish and a hand ruffled his hair fondly.

"Don't sweat it. Just listen to me more often okay? And if you wanna go all out, ask me first, your awesome teacher won't refuse you!" Imparting another genial grin, the older trainer ambled away to Saph and the brown haired youth watched him go.

The warmth of content diffused in his chest as he beheld his seniors discussing further plans.

Night

Hoenn

Team Aqua's headquarters

The young girl eyed the outfit and trained her lazuli irises at Shelly; it was a plain cry for help.

"Don't look at me that way kiddo, I told you we don't accept youngsters. Anyway, you need to get changed and knock off for the night; we have much work to do!" Saying this, the older woman left Whi-2 alone. The trainer eyed her age inappropriate uniform with mild concern. Slowly, she put the waterproof suit on and stared at herself in the body length mirror. Her top barely went past her ribs and the pants revealed too much skin, maybe she should've opted for a grunt uniform, at least the striped leggings would cover something. Scandalized by what she was wearing, she quickly spun away from the mirror and began to braid her hair, the voluminous mane was neatly tied with a bow and stiffly she marched out to see a lackey waiting for her. The dude gave her a once over, cocked an eyebrow and grinned. Saluting, he led her to the commander's living area, this space was situated a little further away from the grunt's quarters and Whi-2 followed with as much confidence she could muster. The other subordinates eyed her, some smiled, others sneered and looked away. Head held high, she ignored snide comments and came to a stop before an intricately carved door.

"Have a good night miss" the underling intoned, "please call me if you need something." Saying this he bowed and melted away. Whi-2 swallowed nervously and went into her room.

The interior was a pleasant surprise, the walls of the compound had wave and seashell designs imprinted on it, on scrutinizing the chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, the young trainer found that it was made of shells, coral and pearls salvaged from water pokemon, shelves were bolted to the wall, there was a nice wardrobe and a huge bed. All in all, the room was rather well decorated...the only problem was:

Too many shades of blue.

Sighing, she flopped to bed and brooded, tomorrow, she would be given duties befitting of a vice admin...According to what Shelly told her. The thought knotted her stomach and the Unova trainer shut her eyes tight and clenched her fists in conviction, besides, if her seniors could do this, so could she. Now that Whi-2 was aware of how huge and organized the criminal syndicate was, her initial conviction of bringing them down single handedly wavered, maybe she should just find out about their schemes and report to her seniors, the actual combat can be handled by the Execution department, it was their calling anyway, the mental image of Lack-2 and Gold trying to outdo each other surfaced in her mind and elicited a giggle from her. Eyeing the time, she pulled out her Xtransciever and decided to update Silver on her doings; he made it clear that they should keep each other informed. Dialing his contact, she waited for him to pick up.

The same evening

Hoenn

Gnarled den

Courtney watched blissfully as the man she rescued imparted another gorgeous smile. Since his clothes were tattered and filthy, he was promptly given a grunt's uniform to wear, not that he minded. The black haired man was kind; his voice was low and soft. Unlike Tabitha, he wasn't fat, similarly to Blaise, he wasn't scrawny. The duo was sitting at a table and the lilac haired commander was doing her best to make the amnesiac guest feel welcome. In the same vein, he was allowed to keep all his personal possessions, the other admins kicked up a fuss when she refused to hand over his pokemon studded belt. For this he was extremely grateful and to show his gratitude, he kept his beasts out of sight. Unfortunately, he didn't even know who they were so using them was out of the question. With another simper, she pushed a bowl closer to him and desperately tried not to flush when he thanked her with a confused grin.

"I'm full already Miss, if you bring out any more dishes, I'll start becoming over weight."

"You need to eat" her sing song voice floated in the cavern, "we need you to be in top form."

"Why?" his fine features distorted in bewilderment.

"Yes, care to tell us why?" an obese male entered the space and boomed; "don't tell me you're planning to recruit a dude who doesn't even know his name."

"You saw his pokemon didn't you Tabitha?" Courtney rose from her chair, "we can make good use of him!" Hearing this, Silver's head shot up.

"You want to use me?" his tone betrayed disbelief, "I'm sorry for imposing on your hospitality but please, I don't think I'll be any good...Also none of you are telling me what this place is and last night I heard some...Awful roars." He screwed his eyes shut and rocked; the two admins looked at him, one with visible worry and the other with tangible scorn.

"Have fun beating some back bone into your useless grunt" Tabitha scoffed, "And Boss Maxie wants to see you as soon as possible...In other words right now, guess you'll have to leave your pet boyfriend for a while huh?" With a mirthless chuckle, the man left. After casting a harrowed gaze at the inert Silver, Courtney too followed him out, now the adolescent was all alone with an entire buffet laid out before him, he watched the steam rise from the delectable dishes, alas his appetite was gone. The uniform was suffocating, sluggishly; he put the hood up and gingerly touched the horns decorating it. Such dubious fashion sense, what was the purpose of those projections anyway? They made the wearers look like miltanks. As his hand came down, a loud blaring tone issued from his pocket. Fumbling, he brought a device out and stared at it, someone was calling him. A certain person by the name of Whi-2. Casting a wary gaze around and accepted the call, a picture of a young girl filled up the tiny screen on his gear.

"Senior Silver!" She piped and proceeded to ramble on about how she managed to haphazardly join a Team Aqua and gain their trust, he observed her blankly as she related her experiences; her words were coming too fast for him to accurately process what was happening.

"Senior?" Whi-2 stared at him, he was wearing a Magma grunt uniform so his infiltration must have been successful, however her normally sharp eyed superior appeared dim witted, his slightly confounded gaze bored into her and she felt an uncomfortable sensation creeping down her spine, did those people do something to him? "Hey senior!" her voice came out louder, "are you okay? Did those Magma people umm...brainwash you?" her contemplations were morbid.

He stayed silent, silver irises swinging up and down.

"...Hugh...would've probably gotten a heart attack if he saw you wearing such scanty clothes. Highly inappropriate Whi-2" Silver finally admonished with a lopsided grin and the girl reddened with embarrassment, with an indignant squeak, she angled her Xtransciever to only show her face. "I'm doing okay...I'm suffering from lapses in my memory and my head is throbbing nonstop. When I tried to get here, I fell from a considerable height and woke up feeling all confused and fuzzy. The top three admins found me and the female admin concluded that I was suffering from memory loss...which was partly true. I guess her incorrect conclusion actually saved me from a lot of trouble; I'll have to pretend to be hopeless from now on. As for you, congratulations, I see you did your job successfully. I'm proud of you Whi-2 and I'm sure Sis will be as well. Keep on doing your best and thanks for contacting me."

"Don't drag Hugh into this!" her face was still red but she warmed at the praise, it was not everyday Silver dished out compliments. "I guess he will throw a fit, I couldn't help it! After I defeated the vice-captain to a duel she made me an administrator and gave me this...Thing to wear. Some of the grunts hate me; you should see how they gave me the evil eye."

"Don't worry about them, focus on your work only, if you are overly nervous, it will only be detrimental to your mission." His tone turned tender, "once again, remember, if you are in any sort of life threatening danger, abort the mission and return. If you are in a capricious position, call my sister and she'll get you out. Understood." She nodded and spoke up again:

"I think you clonking your head did some wonders..."

The disguised red head frowned, "Come again?"

"Do you know how nice you sound?" his junior chirped, "normally you have this dead sounding, apathetic voice but now your words are all warm and fuzzy" a small laugh escaped her, "I think commander Blue will be happy with your emotional growth, she always complains that you have the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"The tone of my voice is none of your concern...I hear footsteps and it's late at night so go to sleep. Later." with a click, he stowed the device away and his face scrunched up. What was his ditzy underling talking about? Fuzzy voices? He'd have to remedy the problem before going back to base. Gold and his sister would never stop making fun of him. When his ponderings subsided, Courtney slunk back into the little grotto-esque room and he leveled a glare at her before remembering that he was supposed to be amnesiac. Forcing a grin on her face she approached him.

"I had to convince Boss to allow you to stay here" she relayed somberly "he told me if you can function efficiently, you will become a fully-fledged member..."

"That's nice to hear" he droned and the female admin blinked.

"You must be tired" the woman got up and gently tugged on his arm, curbing the urge to knock her out, he followed her like a puppet, his head whirred and after noticing the numerous coy glances she threw his way, he finally relented and smiled. Courtney simply melted all over again and Silver suppressed a sigh. This mission, he decided, was going to suck.

A/N: The verdict has been given…my laptop ain't coming back. I'm not sure if I should cry because now I won't be able to play games anymore. And besides, that thing was with me for long. Anyway, Gold admonishing Lack-2 anyone? And poor Whi-2. At Eevee, it's weird to call me by my pen name? Lol why? Fatti is actually my nickname and most friends call me either Fat or Fatti, till my bio teacher decided the –chan sounded cute. She calls my sister Mindy-kun. Hahaha, is Whi-2 falling for Silver? Read on to find out! As for Whi-2's skills, I wanted to write about someone who was still inexperienced and made blunders, I hope the next chapter gives an insight of what she is capable of. At Jack54311: Thanks for the explanation, I learnt a lot and yes, there is going to be some ship teases since I don't want romance to be the main plot. Eh, possibly shipping as well *shrugs* who knows? (But only in the final arc though) At Silver: Them joining up together in the face of a common enemy does make sense no? You had me laughing at Honchkrow's thought processes. The poor pokemon needs a break. Anyway, please read and review! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. And virtual chocolate to all. Thank you for reading.