When one attained eternal life there are only so many things one can do to pass time. As an immortal herself, Aline Serre could fully attest to this claim.
She is the High Priestess of Tarot, one of her master's most trusted people in this whole world, one of her Master's companions who had seen what the world could offer in both its most gracious and cruellest times. Her life belongs to her master, she would do everything in her power to fulfil her master's wish.
And so when her master left it to her to create an organisation during their travels in order to do what needed to be done, Tarot was born.
The tudor style house whose corridor which she is currently dusting off with a feather duster is where her master would usually choose to reside and is her master's preferred residence. Her master prefers to live alone and usually does the chores herself since she doesn't like having servants around, but there's no way Aline would allow that. She is her master's servant, such menial chores should be left to her to complete. Her master's hands should remain unsullied.
As an ability holder with the power to foresee the immediate future it was easy for her to predict when her master would not be home and as such, would not be around to chastise her for doing the chores for her. Nobody would ever believe that the esteemed High Priestess of Tarot, the de facto leader of the organisation in their leader's absence, to be a mere housekeeper.
Personally, she found doing menial chores for her master to be a very meaningful way to pass time. The monotonous act of cleaning allows her to clear her mind and seeing things being perfectly organised and cleaned simply gives her a feeling of satisfaction she cannot find elsewhere.
But that is a service she offers only for her master. If it were anybody else, she would mercilessly crush them with the heel of her foot if they so much as look at her the wrong way.
"Aline, we talked about this."
Aline had centuries to get used to her master making sudden appearances from out of nowhere, so she's no longer spooked when that familiar voice sounded out from behind her back. Like always, she could never sense her master's presence if her master fully intended to conceal herself.
"Welcome back, milady," Aline greeted with a respectful bow, not at all worried about flouting her master's orders once again. "The rooms are cleaned and the laundry washed, there are no longer any chores to do so please have a fruitful rest."
"Nobody ever listens to me nowadays," Aline continued to keep her head bowed as her master walked past her with an exasperated sigh leaving her lips. "Aaron and his tendencies to get in trouble with the PWL, Yasu never giving himself a break, Seiji always forgetting to eat his medicine, Sephira and Kyo and their stubborn streak-"
Mocking cackles broke out from all around them, the owners of those cackles unseen.
"Oh shush, y'all."
Those cackles exploded into howling laughter instead.
"I'm disowning all of you," her lady verbally threatened the unseen ghosts hiding themselves around them but none of them took her lady's threats to heart. Her lady may be the most powerful person in the underworld with her prowess and influence- perhaps even possibly the most powerful person in the world- but this is one such time that her words held no effect.
"If I may ask, where have you been, milady?" Aline asked out of curiosity. Her master never liked to stay at one place for long.
"I was feeling bored so I went to track an interesting pokemon down, caught it, then went to tame it at the corral," her lady absentmindedly replied.
"That pokemon is very fortunate to have been taught by you," Aline stated sincerely. Her lady may be a Ghost Specialist but the depth of her knowledge of every known pokemon species and types is unfathomable. As an international underground organisation Tarot has their own independent ecosystem for nearly everything; be it their own economy, supply chain, so on and so forth. They are an existence that could rival a nation. These are things that took centuries of work to build up and was what made Tarot so huge and powerful today, to the point that they could exist as an independent entity outside of the framework that was set up by the PWL which the seven regions abide by.
Naturally, Tarot has their own supply of pokemon to distribute to their members. The corral that her lady visited is one such place where they breed, train, and distribute pokemon among Tarot.
"Milady, Hanged Man and Magician had met each other," Aline decided to inform her master about this tidbit of information after some thought. As the original creator of those cards which the Cards of Tarot held to identify themselves by, she would know who was in the vicinity of each other and who had met whom.
"Is that so?" Her lady was unexpectedly interested in this bit of news. "Hanged Man didn't get himself killed, I hope? He's still useful."
"I'm afraid not."
"Thankfully," her lady audibly muttered under her breath before clicking her tongue in annoyance, "but that would also mean that Team Plasma would soon be enacting their big plan. Yet, this is not the best moment to interfere."
"Milady?"
"How's volcarona coming along?"
"It is now at my command," Aline reported dutifully, a small hint of pride filling her voice for being able to tame that monster in such a short period of time. She would never fail her master.
Her lady fell silent, deep in thought and Aline didn't dare to disturb her. It wasn't long before her master spoke again.
"Send Aaron and Yasu to Opelucid. What other Cards are at Unova right now?"
"I believe that would be Sun, Hanged Man, Magician, and World."
"That many? Hmm, in that case feel free to mobilise them if needed. Hanged Man might need a little incentive to do so since he's currently working with the Plasmas, but his dependence on us far outweighs what he could get from them. I don't think he would need much convincing from us to turn him against Ghetsis."
"I concur. Do you need me to assemble all the Cards?"
"No need for everyone to be involved. Well, since you and Alder had already met, you might as well represent Tarot on a diplomatic visit. Tell him that we would solve the Plasma problem for him for…" Her lady held up five fingers and Aline immediately understood the unspoken message. "He's definitely not going to agree, but that is fine. Since we are going to inevitably help him clean up his mess either way, we will make Unova cough up some form of payment eventually."
"Understood."
"But just in case, get Sephira and Emperor to head to Unova too. We will need them as backup when we finally put our plan into action."
A hesitant look appeared on Aline's face.
"Will the young lady… I mean, he is there…"
"Just tell her that these are my words. If she's not being cooperative just get Reizo to pick her up. She will kick up a fuss, but it will only be a small tantrum," the lady waved her hand at the air in front of her and a tear in space appeared at her command, courtesy of hoopa. She was about to step through the portal when she turned back once again.
"And oh, before I forget," her master tossed a pokeball at Aline which she caught. Aline knew that things are definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface when said pokeball was a Master Ball.
"Just pass this to Magician if we ever need to mobilise him to deal with the Plasma problem. Tell him that it is a loan from us."
"This is… the pokemon which you just caught?"
"The one at New Moon Island is too hard to make contact with without alerting the Sinnoh League, but this one strayed just far enough for me to capture it without drawing any attention," her lady elaborated with a lazy yawn. "It's also a lot more mild mannered and cooperative, thankfully. Taming it didn't take as long as I estimated it to be."
"Milady!" Aline figuratively exploded when she finally connected the dots. "This is a mythical pokemon! I know you have hoopa but you shouldn't be facing it alone! You should have brought some of us with you!"
"And have it catch all of you in a never ending nightmare with Dark Void?"
"But-"
"Dark Void has no effect on me. I'm the best person to capture darkrai."
"You could have sent Aaron!" Aline was trying her absolute best not to shriek at her master in her worry. Really, she did try. "He is the best person for this job! Or get Judgement to accompany you! He's just at Snowpoint!"
"He… Forget it," her master facepalmed at the mention of the Card who could technically be considered her student in a manner of speaking. "He's far too serious and too much of a worrywart."
While it is an attestment to her master's ability that she single handedly captured and tamed a mythical pokemon, Aline is not at all pleased that her master needlessly endangered herself like that. However, she is her master's servant, and as such it is not her place to criticise what her master should have done.
"Milady, please, the next time-"
"I get it, I get it, I will bring you along the next time."
No, Aline would bet that she definitely wouldn't.
The first thing I wanted to do after sending all the people that I wanted to send off the island is to sabotage the Genesect Project. Sadly, I wasn't given the chance.
"If I were you I would not take a step into Dudley's lab. The guards would have realised by now that their prisoners are missing and that would mean that the entire lab is on high alert."
Colress' words were a not so subtle reminder that he would not be assisting me any further for the moment. I could understand his rationale if I were to put myself in his shoes and he certainly is more familiar with the protocols and how things are run in this lab. If he is absolutely certain that trying to sabotage the Genesect Project right now is a foolhardy move, then the only thing that I could do is to heed his advice. I also need to acknowledge the fact that I have too few pokemon on hand right now and that my chances of success are at an all time low. Zoroark, spiritomb, and Nosy are not exactly the strongest fighters around.
If I want to do something, I need to play my cards well.
"I cannot allow the Genesect Project to be completed."
"You are not the first to try sabotaging the birth of those genesects. I knew for a fact that Marianne planted a virus into genesect's programming when she was forced to clean up after Dudley's mess, I just pretended that I didn't notice it. Have some faith in her."
My impression of Mary went up a few notches after hearing that. Colress had close to no incentive to lie to me when it comes to Mary so I am inclined to believe what he said.
"And if Team Plasma detected that virus and removed it?"
"They won't," Colress was confident in his statement. "None of them are as brilliant as Mary or I. Even if they do detect it by some lucky chance I doubt those fools would be able to remove it without needing to take the genesects apart and build them from scratch again. That is a risk they cannot take because they are not good enough to replicate what Mary had only problem I can see is that the virus is now in a "dormant" state and will need to be remotely activated somehow to wrestle the possession of the genesects from Team Plasma. The real challenge for her will be to remotely activate the virus from its "dormant" state to actively hack into their programming once she gets back to the mainland. It is the best trade-off she could make under her circumstances in order to insert such a near undetectable virus into genesect's programming without being found out. Honestly, I'm very impressed. Even for me, I couldn't claim to successfully replicate what she did when being held hostage."
"So once she gets back safely, she could possibly remotely control the genesects from afar?"
"Theoretically, yes, but the actual results remain to be seen. What she did with the Genesect Project is to take the fruits of porygon research to achieve the fusion of technology and living breathing pokemon. Porygons may have been seen as artificial intelligence given life, but the creation of genesects takes one step beyond that. This is the first time a cybernetic pokemon is created, nobody can predict what will really happen when someone attempts to remotely control it through installing a virus into its core programming."
"And if she fails in that endeavour too?"
"Then perhaps that is fate. If even she couldn't do it, then I doubt anybody else could."
Colress started packing up to leave the unmarked island that the P2 Laboratory was built on after he finished saying his piece. In his words, he would give it two hours for the Unova League to pick up on the distress signal emitted from the escaped interpol agents, locate the exact coordinates of this secret Team Plasma lab, and send their best and brightest to reduce the place to rubble.
To him, escape is necessary. He's my only ticket to worm my way deeper into Team Plasma's inner circle and while I could force his cooperation through violence, that option really is a last resort that I won't take unless I really have to.
After all, this man is a fellow Card like I am too. While I still do not trust him much it would be foolish to underestimate him and equally foolish to take the goodwill that he had given me thus far for granted.
So, if he deemed it necessary to place more trust in Mary's skills to deal with the genesect problem and to leave this place immediately, I had no other choice but to concede. I do not want to sour our relationship yet because he still has what I need.
"I hope you would appreciate the lengths I went to help you with your little agenda, Jayce. The losses I incurred, the risk of being suspected by Ghetsis-"
"Since you are already knee deep into my mess, why not just help a friend out and tell me all that you know about their plans?"
"Contrary to your belief I'm not in their inner circle," Colress elaborated as we flew through the ocean separating this island from mainland Unova on the back of his metagross. "And besides, your problem is not my problem. I'm already giving you a huge opportunity to snoop around by making you my assistant, so make use of what you already have and stop putting me between a rock and a hard place."
Fair enough. I could grill him for more information through violence but… Not really a wise or viable option at the moment. A collaboration with him is the best that I'm going to get. He's willing to take the risk and give me the chance to snoop around Team Plasma secret bases as his assistant without asking for anything in return. Considering that we only met each other a few hours ago, that's already a very generous offer.
As long as he is able to give me the opportunity to truly infiltrate the heart of the organisation, I am willing to let this opportunity to sabotage the Genesect Project go. I am not well-equipped for such an endeavour right now and since Mary already has contingencies in place, I shall just place my trust in her capabilities for now.
"Where are we heading?"
"I'm going to lay low, obviously," Colress deadpanned. "When the Unova League inevitably blows the P2 Lab up Ghetsis will want to know where I've been. I would need to play the convincing role of how I barely managed to escape their pursuit, hid myself from their radar, and finally reached out to them against all odds to warn them of this development after the storm blew over."
"And you couldn't inform me about this earlier?" I held back the urge to push him down to the sea below. If I'd known this was his plan I would have just rode on hydreigon's back and returned back home together with Iris. This was a waste of time. I thought he was going to bunker himself down and lead me to another secret and important Plasma stronghold, not laying low on his own.
"You didn't ask," it was Colress' turn to roll his eyes. "But ultimately I don't think laying low might be necessary, or at least for too long, because if what I suspect turns out to be true Team Plasma should be starting their grand plan anytime now."
"What plan?"
"What else? Take over the world one step at a time, starting from Unova."
"... That's so lame."
"And Team Rocket's goals weren't? Separation of Kanto from Indigo, revenge against our Johto oppressors?" Colress countered. Wondered what he would think if he knew I was from that very organisation that he spoke of. "Are you seriously telling me that you believe Giovanni will not plan on waging war against the other regions if his plan succeeded and Indigo fell? If there's one thing I learned as a hired merc it's that human greed knows no boundaries. Once you had a taste of it, you would never be satisfied. The temptation of obtaining absolute power festers greed and greed begets desire. I haven't seen anyone who remained sane in the face of such temptation. "
I would admit that Colress made a valid point. Whether Giovanni would stop at Indigo if he ever succeeded, I would never know, but it certainly is a possibility.
"What made you join Tarot?" I decided to ask the scientist in an effort to get to know him better since we are going to be partners in crime for the foreseeable future until we start tearing each other's throats out like the criminals we are.
"Why, greed, of course. They had the means for me to get what I want and in turn, I offered my services. Like I said many times before, I'm simply a hired merc."
"A scientist for hire?"
"Are you underestimating the power of science?"
"No, but it's not everyday I get to see a scientist who is also a hired merc."
It was then I thought of something. If Colress is such a brilliant scientist to the point that he earned himself a seat among the Cards of Tarot, would he know anything about Resonance? His lips were pretty tight about things he felt that he shouldn't carelessly reveal about Team Plasma but it would never hurt to try asking.
"Resonance? You asked the right person, I was partially involved in that project," Colress freely admitted when I questioned him. "My goal is to find the true way to draw out the true strength of pokemon. I believed Resonance could be the key but the results ended up being… very unsatisfactory."
"I need details."
"Resonance is a power that only Ability Holders can tap into, but even for them it's exceedingly difficult to tap into that power. Unova's first Champion, he was a master with Resonance, which was why he became Champion. So imagine, what would happen if Team Plasma unlocked the secrets of Resonance, where every single ability holder under their command is able to utilise it? Of course, making everyone a master like Champion Harlow is simply unrealistic, but even if we settled for a cheap imitation to utilise Resonance at a level where it is far more achievable for the average trainer… imagine the kind of military power that would mean for them. Imagine it, an average trainer suddenly being able to give their pokemon a power boost that could allow them to easily rival an Elite trainer or possibly even more, and multiply that number by the hundreds or thousands."
"So they are creating an army of Ability Holders? And not just that, an army of cheap imitations of Champion Harlow?"
"To put it simply, yes."
That's definitely worrying.
"But not all Ability Holders in Unova are supporters of their cause, so what stemmed from that is the idea of creating their own Ability Holders who are already on their side. That's how the mass kidnappings came about. Each and every person that Team Plasma kidnapped, they are all Ability Holders. I'm not sure how exactly, but Team Plasma has a reliable method of identifying and locating Ability Holders. After which, they would conduct organ theft, transplant their organs into their most loyal members and through some surgical procedure that I'm not fully let in on, somehow turn them into Ability Holders as well. These people may have been Ability Holders created through artificial means, but the possibility of them using Resonance is now an option the moment the operation is a success."
"How big of an army are we looking at?"
"I don't know. Like I said, I'm not being fully let in on this project. What I can say is that the results of this project are not satisfactory, at least when measured against my own standards, that is."
"Then what projects are you let in on?"
"The one which I cannot reveal to you? If word ever gets out that the secrets of that project are leaked I'm the first person that the Plasmas are going to suspect and hunt down because I'm the only "outsider" involved, so to speak. While I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself I don't wish to undergo the unnecessary trouble of escaping their pursuit, thank you very much."
"And if I can guarantee your safety?"
"I would never put my safety into the hands of another. I thought this is common sense for people like us?" Colress threw his head back and laughed at the very notion. "Be patient, my friend, be patient. What I can share is that you will see for yourself what they are planning very soon."
"And if it's too late by then?"
"And if Unova couldn't even stamp out a zealotic cult then I'm afraid it should just cease to exist in the first place. Maybe an era of change is in order."
After Colress very helpfully ferried us to Unova mainland through the aid of his metagross, he made it very clear that he would be laying low for the foreseeable future since his status as a hired mercenary in the underworld would make things very awkward if he ever bumped into anyone from the League. He didn't mind exchanging contact details with me before he left though, and he looked sincerely honest about helping me to sneak into the core of Team Plasma inner circle without asking for anything in return.
Really could have fooled me there. A cunning man like him wouldn't subject himself to meaningless or pointless exchange of favours. He's definitely trying to use me for his own gains just like how I am currently using him for my own gains. I'm willing to turn a blind eye to this only because it seems like a fair trade since both of us are able to further our individual agendas through this shoddy collaboration, and also because he was indeed a great help back at the P2 Laboratory.
The next few days passed by relatively peacefully. I finally got the chance to return back home and reunite with my family and pokemon, also sending word back to Black Sight that I returned alive and along with it everything I've learned about Team Plasma's plans or progress in the short time that I went undercover at the P2 Laboratory. Everyone seems a little banged up, but otherwise fine. I also ascertained that Iris, the interpol agents, and the kidnapees had all been successfully rescued. The interpol agents I rescued brought back very useful information they learnt about Team Plasma to the Unova League from their stay there.
"We did not manage to find those genesects as well when we raided the place," my old man told me with a tired sigh after he returned from the raid on that place after learning about it. This also meant that Team Plasma had somehow managed to relocate the genesects somehow before the Unova League came raiding the place.
All in all, not a piece of good news. The only thing we can place our hopes in now would be that Mary would be able to succeed in taking control of the genesects through the virus she installed into their programming.
"As for that Shadow Triad, do not approach them alone."
"They killed Asher."
"I'm aware," I could hear the seethe that my father is trying very hard to conceal, "but they are Ghetsis' best trainers for a reason. To face a Dark Specialist is to take part in mental and information warfare, you should know this better than anyone else. Until we are able to figure out their secrets, we lay low. Understand?"
"Fine," I conceded. It's true that I'm being outnumbered and overpowered when it comes to those three. I still had not come up with a feasible method of dealing with them if we ever cross swords again. There's too little that I know about Ghetsis' best trainers and about that Resonance phenomena which they used against me. Until I found a way to deal with that Resonance nonsense, enacting vengeance would have to sit on the backburner.
"Like I'm telling ya, I'm fine! It's just a broken leg!"
While we had fortunately found Iris before anything bad befell her, it was also a fact that Amelia and Lexus were injured trying to defend Iris from the kidnappers on that day. Amelia suffered only light injuries that could be slept off after a good night's rest, but that was because Lexus took on the brunt of the attacks directed their way and bodily shielded her from harm. Help had arrived soon enough that none of their lives were in danger but Lexus still made quite a comical sight with him lying on his bed, his left leg in a cast and hanging in mid-air, half his head wrapped in bandages, and his right arm being mummified as well.
"What do you say to Lexus?" I reminded my champ when I brought her to Lexus' room. The girl had a very serious look on her face at my reminder. If it wasn't for Lexus' fiercely defending Amelia and Iris they wouldn't have emerged from that attack as unscathed as they did. Yes, we are all family and family look out for each other, but it's still a fact that it's not an exaggeration to say that they owe Lexus their lives.
"Thank you Lexus! I promise that I will not report you to Jayce or Let for sneaking me sweets for the next month!"
"Wha- How is that a thank you?!"
"It is! Really!" Iris looked very indignant because to her, she felt that she was already being very sincere with her expression of gratitude. "Look, even Haxy gave you two thumbs up! Haxy, two thumbs up!"
The dragon that miraculously managed to fit into the room very cooperatively gave the bedridden punk two thumbs up upon Iris' request. Obviously, Lexus wasn't convinced.
"How about you stop hacking into my phone and we call it quits?"
"I didn't hack it! I just figured out your password!"
"It's the same thing you damn squirt!"
"Hey, language. We have a child here," Mikhail poked at his injured leg right above the area that was wrapped in cast. He must have purposefully poked at a pain point because Lexus was howling pathetically almost immediately.
"Watch where ya poking dipshit! That's freakin' intentional!"
"I know dipshit! That's a bad word!" Iris pointed an accusing finger at Lexus and looked to Amelia for confirmation.
"Yup, it's a bad word," Amelia confirmed before an evil glint flashed across her eyes as she looked at Iris. "And people who say bad words should be punished, and how do we punish bad boys who couldn't keep their mouths clean?"
"Tickle party!" Iris suggested as if that was the most righteous punishment to be meted out against a sinner who committed such a vile crime. Amelia and Mikhail didn't even hesitate for a second before they swooped down at Lexus like hungry mandibuzzs alongside a very hyped Iris.
"Hahaha- not there not there-! Ssss-! Watch the leg assholes! I'm really going to be crippled- Hahaha stop it stop it- Ssss-! I SAID NOT THE LEG- Hahahaha! Stop tickling me dipshits!"
"Another bad word!"
"And people say that I'm the bad influence," I cannot help but mutter under my breath as Iris and my younger cousins continued to wrestle in a tangle of limbs with laughter and curses filling the air. While I'm not going to partake in such childish behaviour they are all still children, so let children be children while they still can.
Them younger cousins have us older cousins around for a reason. Until the day comes where they can truly shoulder the responsibilities that comes with the family name through their own power we will be the ones holding the sky for them.
I might not have been there for my younger brother, but I will be here for the people who share the same blood as I do for however long I can afford to remain here in the world of the living with them.
It's simply the thing that I should do as their older cousin.
"Are you alright?"
Leticia heard Jayce asking her that question the moment they exited Lexus' room, leaving their younger cousins and Iris to their own devices. It was a very worrying period of time for her when she heard that Iris was being targeted and subsequently abducted by unknown individuals and leaving her younger brother and Amelia injured in the process, but thankfully everything turned out fine in the end.
It was very fortunate in hindsight. Losing Asher to Team Plasma back then was hard enough, she wouldn't know what to do if she lost any of them too.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She habitually adorned a false smile on her face.
"Your skin is pale to begin with but you look a lot paler today. You also didn't say much back in Lex's room. None of your usual barbs and snarky quips whenever he does something stupid again."
"I'm-"
"Not fine. You are already breaking out into a cold sweat. Are you going to see a doctor or am I going to carry you there myself?"
Sometimes, she really wished that he's not so darn perceptive.
"It's fine, it will go away soon," she assured him but one look into his eyes and it felt like she was being dissected at a glance, reminding her that this man in front of her was someone who played the role of a double agent for nearly two decades and who nearly succeeded in taking the life of someone as powerful as Giovanni.
"Is it here?"
He lightly poked at her lower abdomen, the gesture far too unexpected and her far too slow to react to it thanks to the constant pain she had been in for the past two days. The constant ache spiked in intensity with that one simple poke and she couldn't help but responsively hiss in pain, her body bent over to the point that she's almost kneeling on the ground and her face scrunched up with cold sweat accumulating on her forehead.
It was just a very light poke but the pain was really reaching the threshold where it was becoming intolerable even for her. She had many different types of syringes hidden on her at nearly all times of the day and she reflexively reached out for one specific syringe to deal with such a situation. It's not the first time she relied on this method and it wouldn't be the last, but at least it will bring her some relief for the next eight hours.
Unfortunately for her, her plan never came to fruition. She felt a firm grip holding onto her wrist and she shot a glare at the future head of the family.
"That's definitely not a normal painkiller. Let me guess, an unhealthy dosage of numbing agent of your own making? Is that how you dealt with your menstrual cramps all along?"
"Let go, please," she half-begged through gritted teeth. If there's one thing she hated about her body it's that her menstrual cramps had always been on the extremely painful end of the spectrum, far more tortuous than other women, but she never wanted any of her family to worry about her. It had always been her little secret and she'd thought that she kept this secret very well hidden. Not even her adoptive mother had ever realised that she had been resorting to numbing herself with her self-made painkillers that no doctors would ever approve administering, because the usual kinds found on the market were of little to no use for her cause and anything above those industrial approved doses could result in something serious if administered carelessly.
She owed this family enough. She doesn't want anyone to fuss over her over such an insignificant matter.
She saw the unapproving frown on his face but his grip eventually loosened, indicating that he relented to her request. She jabbed the syringe into her left arm and pumped the contents in the syringe into her blood without hesitation, the usual numbing sense of relief washing over her body almost instantly.
The brief period of silence was eventually broken.
"Does Aunt Giselle know about this?"
She shook her head, her lips pressed into a thin line as she looked away with a strange sense of guilt gnawing at her. She did end up sneaking a glance at his face when the silence that befell thereafter became a little too uncomfortable, and instantly regretted when she saw the stone-cold look on his face.
He's definitely not pleased with her answer.
She saw him flicking the fingers on his right hand in one of those mysterious gestures he used to command his pokemon and shadows immediately engulfed them. She found herself in her room a split second later before gravity seemed to momentarily lose its hold on her and she found her world spinning. She barely registered herself being carried in his arms before being laid gently on her bed before pulling the covers over her and while that gesture definitely is sweet, the look on his face definitely wasn't.
For the first time in her life she found herself fearing someone more than she feared her adoptive mother.
"How long has this been going on?"
"... Since the first year I have had my period when nothing else seemed to work."
"Which is, almost a decade?" Even without looking at him she could hear the simmering disapproval in his voice. She suddenly felt like a child being reprimanded despite already being an adult.
"You are telling me that you have been drugging yourself like this once a month, twelve times a year?"
"You don't understand-"
"Yes, you're right, I don't," Leticia's eyes were feebly shut in guilt when she heard him gnashing out those words through his teeth, "I would never know how painful it would be to experience menstrual cramps but I had seen the consequences of pumping unknown substances into the human body far too many times to count. I'm a victim of it myself. Trust me, none of them met a good end. I'd always thought you are a smart one, Leticia, and honestly I'm a little disappointed in you right now."
The words at the end of his last sentence hurt like none other. If there's one thing she would never want to ever experience it's being unaccepted by the family who took her in despite the dirty blood running through her veins which she inherited from that traitor. This family is all she has left.
"... I made this myself. There's no side effects," she weakly argued in a whisper.
"The family doctor will be the judge of that," his verdict was the final nail in the coffin and she knew that she's as good as done. Her lie will be immediately exposed the moment he sends her concoction for testing. While the side effects are not deadly and she's sure that her body could handle it if taken in controlled dosages, it's not medically approved by industry standards for very good reasons too.
Her mother would go ballistic when she learns of this, she's sure. The last time her mother was mad at her was before she became a pokemon trainer and it was so bad that she could still recall those memories with vivid clarity even till today.
"... I'm sorry," she whispered, fearing that he might dislike her because the mere thought of the family disowning her was her one and truest fear ever since she learnt that she does not share the same blood as the Dandolos. It's an irrational fear, but it's her greatest weakness that she could never seem to overcome. It's a fear that could bring her to her knees and bring tears to her eyes at the very thought of it.
"The only thing I'm mad at you for is drugging yourself without our knowledge," the tone of his voice finally evened out, giving her the courage to finally look into his eyes again. "Does it still hurt?"
"No," she answered, "not for the next eight hours."
"For how long more would your cramp last?"
"It would probably end in two to three days?" She estimated based on her past experiences and since she's feeling much better now that the pain has been numbed, tried sitting up to leave her bed. "I won't let it affect my work, if that's what you are worried-"
"Leticia Dandolos." Her heart stilled when she heard him mentioning her full name and she very obediently laid back down on her bed when his glare looked as if he could scare even her arbok into submission. "You are far from a fool. You know that's not what I'm worried or furious about."
"I wouldn't have resorted to this if I had a choice," her words came out as a plea but she also knew that it's also an excuse. As someone who frequently dabbles in chemicals she knew very well what would happen to her if just a single detail went wrong in synthesising her own creations.
"I'm grounding you for three days."
Her head whipped around to look at him the moment she heard him, the look of horror and disbelief fully conveying the how could you do this to me to Jayce.
"Am I the future head of the family?"
"Yes."
"Do my words hold any weight to you then, Leticia Dandolos?"
"... Yes."
"Then rest up. I will take over your work in the meantime," he ordered before the look in his eyes mellowed out a little. "This is my fault as well. You had been running yourself ragged trying to deal with all this crap while I wasn't around."
"This is my responsibility to begin with-"
"And you are also my responsibility. Either you accept my proposition or I'm telling Aunt Giselle. Your choice."
Her glare had intimidated the vilest of men when she executed her duties as a Dandolos yet it had no effect on him. Not only that, never had she felt the urge to punch someone in the face as badly as she is feeling now.
"You can be very unlikeable, you know that?"
"If it means stopping you from drugging yourself with whatever the hell that is, yes, I can be."
He left her room, leaving her to her thoughts until he returned shortly after with a hot water bottle to help ease her pain.
"Put this on your abdomen. Massaging the area might help as well. If you need someone to do it for you I can get Amelia to help."
"I'm surprised you know what to do. Had experience in this?" She cannot help but ask when it became obvious that she wasn't the first woman he had done this for.
"She used to have very bad cramps as well. Not all the time, but enough to make her curl up in bed for days if it gets to that point," he replied as he handed her the hot water bottle and took a seat on a chair next to her bed. "The only type of painkillers we could get our hands on back then were not the healthy kind so this was the only thing I could do to help make things more bearable for her, even if just a little. I still remember that I had to give her massages for hours on end until the pain went away."
She knew who he was talking about. The look on his face was peaceful, as if the person who he talked about wasn't someone whose life he valued above his own and as if he didn't fall in love with her before. He never talked about that part of his past and nobody in his family ever asked to avoid reminding him about those unpleasant memories.
In fact, she's surprised that he brought up something from his past at all.
"Enough about me. Didn't you have a childhood sweetheart or something? Apparently someone who's really really smart? Pretty sure Aunt Giselle said something along those lines before she sent me to EDGE."
"Oh, him," she couldn't help it when the edge of her lips tugged slightly at the fond memories. "We have known each other since primary school. I was young and highly insecure despite having a powerful background. He's very normal, but also incredibly smart. When I was picked on by the girls in class it was him that defended me when nobody else in class did."
"Getting picked on doesn't sound like you."
"I… I wasn't always this strong. I'm actually very fragile on the inside. Still am, actually," she chuckled. "He was someone I looked up to. Like me, he aspired to be a trainer so we had many things in common that we could talk about. To anybody else he's just someone who looked so average but to me back then, he was the only person outside of the family that I wanted to emulate and keep up with. I… I really liked him. You saw my stoutland?"
"Hard to miss it."
"I first met it when I was walking home with him one day. It was raining very heavily, I remembered being so happy because it was an opportunity to share an umbrella with him. For someone so smart he's weirdly gullible. I told him that I don't have an umbrella and asked if he could share it with me and walk me home. He bought my lie without doubting me once."
"So you confessed?"
"Didn't have the chance. We ran into two newborn lillipups instead, abandoned in a back alley in a cardboard box and drenched in the rain. Might have died if we didn't pick them up. We ended up adopting one each."
"So do you two still keep in contact with each other?"
"Not really anymore," she shook her head. "I've been really busy ever since I donned the Dandolos name and so has he. He is now a very accomplished trainer, far more than I am, in fact. Despite the hints I dropped him he never looked at me in that manner and… I don't know, it just ended before it even started."
"What's his name?"
"It's no longer important," she sighed before looking back at him. "How about you? Do you still miss her?"
"Not as bad as when I was still a Rocket. I've accepted her death and I've decided to move on, sometimes I might still find myself fondly recalling those good times for a short while, but that's about it. I don't know about her, but if I were the one who died and she was the one who lived, I would have preferred if she forgot about me. Living in the past can be very painful."
"It's… not easy to move on," she agreed, knowing that she herself hasn't fully moved on from the fact that her father betrayed the family in the worst way possible and how she ended her own father by her own hands in that very same manner. Some things will stay despite your best efforts to push on. There will be things that you experienced that can never be understood by another unless they too, had experienced it for themselves.
Nobody has the right to persuade another to let it go and move on unless they had experienced the same pain themselves.
"Thinking about your father?"
"I have nothing but hate for him," her reply flowed out of her mouth without even needing to think through her words. She had never confided to another about her deepest and darkest thoughts ever since Asher passed away, one of the two people her age who she trusted enough with her secrets, the other being Elesa. Asher's passing had been a huge blow to her as well. They were more than just cousins, they were each other's confidantes who worked hand in hand ever since they were children, knowing that they would one day take over their parents' mantle to lead this family to greater heights. They were each other's best friends, cousins, family, and more. They were very close.
And then he died, just like that. She would never forgive Team Plasma for that.
"There are times I wish I was never born. Sometimes the reminder that his blood flows through my veins fills me with disgust and I feel so unclean. If I could go back in time I would seriously consider preventing myself from coming into existence at all."
"I used to think the same way, that if I had the chance to go back in time I would not want to come to this world in the first place. I still felt the same way after the Rocket thing blew over and I found myself in the hospital when I fully expected to die trying to stop Giovanni, until Daisy slapped me in the face and told me to do my darndest best to live, because otherwise Jane's sacrifice would have felt so cheap. And you know what? I'm glad she slapped me that day. That slap forced me to move on and I eventually came here. Whatever I lost in Indigo, I think I found it here in Unova."
She then saw him giving her a look that sent alarm bells ringing through her head.
"So if you are still feeling as if you should have not been born in the first place, maybe you need a slap too? Whatever that worked for me might work for you too, speaking from personal experience."
For the first time in her life her tongue was tied. How on earth is she supposed to answer that?
"I could even let you choose if I should slap you on the right side or the left side. Let me tell you, Daisy wasn't that generous."
"... Can I refuse?"
"Only if you stop viewing your life so cheaply. Being confident in your skills as a pharmacist is one thing, but what you did back there was more than just that. What bugged me was how you subconsciously view your own life to be a cheap object, that it didn't really matter how much you abuse your body as long as you can continue fulfilling your duties as a Dandolos as if trying to atone for something. Maybe it's true that nobody in the family understood how you felt, but I could fully relate to the mindset you had that led you to using whatever you pumped into your body on a monthly basis. What you did was no different from me abusing the power of Mega Evolution when I was still Kain's agent despite understanding what price I had to pay. As long as it gets the job done, my health and even my life is a small price to pay. Sounds familiar?"
She had no idea when her vision turned blurry, but she did manage to not shed anything more than a single tear.
"I promise."
"I really can't hear you."
"I will take better care of myself, I promise," she repeated with a louder volume before quickly adding. "Thanks."
"I know the topic of menstrual cramps is a very private and personal matter but if it gets to this point again, let me know, I'm sure we can work out an arrangement that doesn't result in you needing to rely on your preferred method. The family wouldn't crumble because you are unable to work for a few days, just like how I am confident it would still continue to function if I disappear for days on end. You keep telling me to rely on you so heed your own advice for once. Learn to rely on us too."
"My method is already the best method," she cannot help but grumble under her breath. Yes, the chemical composition of her creation is definitely medically unhealthy if she were to abide by industrial standards, but her body had always been much more resistant to drugs and poison when she started practising Mithridatism back when she first decided to become a Poison Specialist, which was basically the act of building up resistance against poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts.
She conveniently chose to forget that none of the adults were pleased when they eventually caught her in the act. From the look on Jayce's face, he shares the adults' view as well.
"Okay, okay, I won't do it again," she quickly conceded when his stare made her feel that odd feeble sense of guilt once more. She might be feared across Unova as the deadly Rose of Dandolos but even her thorns lost its sharpness in his presence.
That feared presence is truly something she expected from the future head of the family. He would make a far better leader than she would ever do.
"You'd better," he shot back. "Honestly though, what other methods of relief are there besides medication, massage, or hot water bottle?"
"Well…" Her words trailed off and a mischievous idea flashed through her mind, a little curious about the kind of reaction she could incite from her cousin. "Actually, there is something else I haven't tried before…"
"Is it something that I can help out with?"
She nodded her head.
"What is it?"
She gestured to him to lean down closer to her with a curl of her index finger, which he did until he was low enough for her to whisper into his ear.
"Childbirth."
"What?"
"Don't you know? Cramps tend to lessen significantly or just outright vanish after childbirth," she blinked at him in faux innocence, enjoying every moment of this. "Since you so helpfully asked what you could do to help I surmised you and I could just-"
He pulled the covers over her head, stopping her speech in its tracks and by the time she pulled it down he was already exiting through the door of her bedroom. She's certain that she wasn't imagining it when she spotted how red the tips of his ears were. She's also pretty certain that he could hear her laughter even when he had already closed the door behind him.
Honestly? She didn't expect to incite such a huge reaction out of him. She honestly thought he would just give her a deadpan stare, not walk out of her room like that.
It's so awkwardly cute.
AN: Seriously though, if I have to give Jayce a love interest (and before you guys say it, no, no harem), would you guys prefer Elesa or Leticia? Or somebody else? I'm honestly curious. Personally, I'm kinda torn between the two because both seem to have their charms.
Name: Jayce Dandolos
Age: 23
Pokemon Team:
1. Ninetales, female
2. Exeggutor, male
3. Weavile, male
4. Honchkrow, female
5. Umbreon, male
6. Hydreigon, male
7. Drapion, female
8. Zoroark, male
9. Bisharp, male
10. Shiftry, male
11. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless
12. Greninja, male
13. Spiritomb, male
14. Pikachu, (Grumpy), male
Name: Leticia Dandolos
Age: 21
Pokemon Team:
1. Venemoth
2. Arbok
3. Scolipede
4. Roserade
5. Amoonguss
6. Weezing
7. Stoutland
