Ah, I love this Episode. Dispite how complicated it was to write. This is infact the forth version of this, which explains the delay. Believe me, this is a lot of foreshadowing and whatnot.
I really do expect a fair few comments for this, or it will become even more confusing.
Episode Eighty-Six: Truth or Fiction?
I woke up to find myself looking at an almost identical, minus the scar looking Charmander who was staring right back at me.
"Ack!" I yelled, rolling to the side and strait off of the bed. The floor didn't have a carpet so it hurt when I hit it.
"Good morning to you too," the other Charmander laughed.
"Don't do that!" I said as I pulled myself up.
I decided to take a quick look around at my surroundings. I seemed to be in some sort of medical facility, due to the boxes of medical stuff like bandages. The two beds were shabby looking and the walls were bare, so I definatly wasn't in the Pokémon Center.
"This is Team Rocket's Vermillion base if you are interested, Flame," the other Charmander explained, leaping down next to me.
"I guessed that much," I muttered, "wait, how did you know my name? Scarlet?"
"In the scales," she laughed, "I survived that little swim you forced me to take."
"I can see that. So, why haven't you killed me yet?"
"It's a rule. We're not allowed to fight other Rocket Pokémon, especially not our partners."
I froze at that.
'Rocket Pokémon? So I really did get caught.'
"I'm stuck with you untill you get a proper owner," Scarlet explained, "so you are out of bounds. However, if you betray us then I can murder you however I want."
"I'll keep that in mind," I sighed, wondering what was going on back at the Rebellion Headquarters.
A door swung open and a Human walked in, wearing a white coat. I couldn't believe the surreality of this.
"Ah, so our patiant finally decided to wake up then?"
"Nurse Joy?" I muttered, 'She is a Rocket?'
"Oh, don't look so suprised," Nurse Joy laughed, noticing my look of confusion, "every organization has a black sheep, I work for the bad guys."
It all began to make sense. Nurse Joy was how the Rocket's knew about me, how they managed to capture the Center and Moron in the process. She'd set us up, the whole damn thing was a set up from the minute we'd arrived.
"You are the reason that all this happened," I growled at her, clenching my paws, "come near me and I'll rip your pink hair off and force feed you it!"
My threat got across, through tone of voice rather than her understanding me, and both her and Scarlet backed off a little.
"Save your agression for the 'Rebellion,'" came another familiar voice and Ethan walked into the room, "now, Joy here is only going to remove that bandage of yours."
I glared at them all for several seconds before growling, "there is no way that I am letting her anywhere near me," and ripping the bandage off myself. Everyone winced at the sound of tearing but nothing happened, I just dropped the torn bandage to the floor and snuck a quick glance at my arm. It was covered in ash but the injuries had healed fine on their own.
"Well, that was a plesant suprise," Ethan sighed, "I'm glad to see that my new star player is in perfect condition."
"What the hell does he mean?" I asked Scarlet, who didn't look that confused by this.
"Let's just say that, for now, you are the best hope we have got of taking over this city," she said with a smirk.
"Why would I help you defeat my friends?" I replied, mentaly preparing myself for a fight.
None came. Scarlet just looked me in the eye and told me, strait to my face, "your friends are not who you think they are."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I shouted, getting really confused now.
"The Pokémon called Alpha, for example," she said, with dead seriousness, "has burnt down several small towns all over the region. We had stopped him and stuck him in a cage, only for him and his friends to trick you into breaking them out."
I couldn't believe what I had just been told. It was true that I didn't know anything about Alpha or any his group's past but that was a little too strange.
"You cannot expect me to believe that," I said.
"I've seen the videos," she countered, "it was definatly him."
"You liar!"
"Why else do you think that a fire started in those caverns? They had managed to plant some sort of bomb on one of their earlier breakouts, you got them a shot for freedom and they blew up all of our computers so we couldn't prove that we were keeping them prisoner for their crimes."
I slumped to the floor, trying to make sense of everything. I just couldn't take all of this in at once and I didn't know what to believe anymore.
"That Scyther you travelled with," Scarlet continued, "actually was an assassin. He had killed at least three Humans and also massacred a entire herd of Tauros."
I felt like crying. While Alpha's past seemed too surreal to be true, I could actually believe that Scyther would be able to do such a thing. I clutched my head in my paws, trying to work out what was a lie and what wasn't.
"I'm so confused. Nothing makes any sense," I muttered, over and over again. I only stopped when Scarlet knelt down in front of me and whispered, "then listen to Ethan, he has all the proof you need. We really could use someone of your talent and firepower if we are to save the world from those cold blooded killers."
I raised my gaze, from the floor, and managed a slight smile.
"Well, might as well. No harm in it, right," I said as I climbed to my feet. Ethan smiled, he seemed to have realised my decision.
"Well, we better get started then. Before we show you around, we're going to have to give you a small collar which will allow us Humans to understand you," he said, to which I nodded and added my own comment, "good idea. I've always wanted to give some Humans a piece of my mind."
Ethab led me into the corridoor and into a second room, with Scarlet following behind, inside I saw that the red-clothed Human was waiting.
"Looks like our Charmander friend finally decided to wake up from his nap," the Human laughed.
"Yeah Johnathan," Ethan sighed, "next time, please try not to cause a fight with my patrols."
"Sorry Ethan but those idiots wanted to beat Flame around a bit, and we wouldn't want that," Johnathan sighed before turning to me, "sorry 'bout the sleep dart by the way. But we needed to get you back here without you injuring anyone. Save the hurts for the bad guys."