OK. I know I've done a lot more since posting the last chapter. I started to write a new story, and then the exams and a hundred other obligations came and I barely had time to sit down at the laptop and write. But that's why I'm proud to tell you that I'm going to finish this bird and I don't plan on leaving it unfinished. Thank you for your patience and I hope it was worth the wait. Tell me in the comments if you expected this kind of plot and what you think will happen next.
At Team Rocket's Mount Coronet base, it was a mess, to put it mildly. Domino, one of the right-hand men of Team Rocket's leader was slowly starting to lose her temper with the situation getting more and more out of control. Not to mention that her last plan was a total disaster. She hoped that she would be able to get hold of the minerals from those caves and manage to secure them for the boss's project, which was in a very large backlog due to Luna's small attack.
In the beginning it was all right and they were all closer to their goal because pokemon on the mountain allowed people and trainers to get close and considered them as enemies which was a big advantage for them. She also managed to discover that Smith was one of their helpers and managed to get hold of their files as well as their research on energy minerals. The last couple of times they managed to get away and delete the data from the previous bases she had broken into in time, but the dominoes fell on the way and she knew that happiness could not last forever.
Worst of all Natsume had to be sent here since they couldn't handle the situation. Their membership was dwindling and materials and supplies were becoming critical until before his arrival. It made her hair stand on end because no one could control which scared everyone inside the base. And yet, even with him on their side, they did not manage to reach their goal in any of the locations because, in addition to the wild pokemon, the leaders of the gym as well as other trainers and officers from the region, as well as a few of them from outside, interfered. In the end, they could not sustain the fighting capacity, so they had to retreat, and soon he would have to call the boss and inform him of another failure.
While Domino was thinking about what to do next, she heard a knock on her office door that pulled her out of her thoughts and thus made her even more annoyed. "If it's not urgent, you'd better not come in." after which the door slowly opened and one of the members entered, trying not to make any sudden movements, not wanting to provoke his supervisor even more. "I have good news and bad news, madam." Domino let out a big breath not knowing what could be worse from this situation but she had to pass on the full report so it was necessary to know. "What could be worse than this situation, please tell me." She asked sarcastically as the man opened his hologram tablet wanting to show her the current state of their machines, supplies, medical supplies... And even worse.
The cherry on top of everything was that Natsume overestimated his abilities and decided to go straight at the strongest fighters alone while controlling the multi-mutated pokemons and that he had already used a large amount of energy before that. Then Domino snapped and she shouted at him with a threat that could be felt throughout the entire base. "Give me one reason you're giving everything now and I won't kill the incompetents here along with that monster Natsume." She shouted as she held the gun pointed at the helpless man's head. He stammered in reply fearing for his life as his knees trembled. ,,But...I also have great news ma'am. We caught the little girl." Then Domino froze for a second looking at the frightened man, not believing what she heard.
After a few seconds, a creepy smile began to appear on her face, followed by an evil laugh of victory. "Finally, that drool is not standing in our way. ." She put the gun down on her desk as she readied the big screen to call her boss asking the next question. ,, How is Natsume doing?" man started looking through his tablet for the medical report they received just ten minutes ago along with the other members. ,, His body took a lot of damage during the fight but he should recover in a couple of hours. with a piece of mineral as well as to restore him to his full power." This suited Domino. Especially that Luna was in their possession and only Natsume had a chance against her and her tricks. If what the man said was true Natsume should be back on his feet before their guest regained consciousness. It's a shame that just Natsume can use small portions of the crystal's power for self-healing and mutation stabilization in pokemon. They assumed that it was a consequence of his psychic abilities, while in other people automatisms caused death. "Increase the security around the girl's cell as well as the guards at the exits." She must not escape us at any cost." The man immediately left to reorganize the others inside the base taking the opportunity to escape the office not wanting to be pointed at again.
When everything finally calmed down and when she was sure that no attention would be drawn to her, Luna began to open her eyes and regain her consciousness, which she had not lost in the first place. , It worked. ' Luna tried to feel her surroundings to check how many people around her actually fell and their exact positions. It only took her a few moments to make sure she wouldn't make any sudden movements, even though she started to sit up and take a closer look at her cell. The doors were automatic and metal until the vents were so small that barely a pichu could fit through. , This time they decided to use the head.' Luna didn't like this situation, but she suspected that Team Rocket wouldn't make it any easier for her to escape from there.
She wasted no time activating her earrings to emit a signal hoping that when they were stupid enough not to pick them up they wouldn't even notice the signal or frequency from her earrings. Since Natsume was in very bad shape it was one less worry for her and her plan to do damage to the base, but it wasn't enough to let her guard down. She turned her head around a few times and noticed that there were three cameras around her, which after her were in the corner that they couldn't notice her activation move because it looked like she was moving the hair out of his face again by tucking it behind her ear . Not wanting to waste time, she started to check the door, which instantly gave her an electric shock when she touched it, which wasn't the best feeling for her, but it didn't bother her at all. Because since she was little, she would help her father and that included six contacts with electric pokemon, so like Josh, Luna had a certain resistance to electricity. But all the while she was shaking her hand like crazy pretending to be in a lot of pain so that those on the other side of the camera wouldn't notice it.
Being caught didn't mean Luna was going to reveal all her secrets to them so easily. She started thinking to herself, Since they installed the cameras, there is a high probability that they will reach my cell. Since they haven't tried to kill me so far, it means that they will try to persuade me to their side again, or force me, or if none of that works, kill me.' Luna let out a breath realizing that if they really did come for her it wouldn't be easy to squirm out. She was also taking into account the damage she had done to Natsume that surely he wouldn't come for her and that a group of goyim would come and try to sedate her with sedatives so they could overpower her. Taking into account the incident since she was twelve years old, there will surely be a couple of units if nothing else.
Once she cleared that up in her head Luna sat down on the floor trying to meditate to at least regain some strength and manage to store and distribute small amounts of aura around her body in case of an emergency without ending up half dead from uncontrollable twitching. Since her friends weren't there to handle the situation if it came to that she had to be super careful. After what seemed like an eternity she felt the presence of several members of Team Rocket as well as a huge energy presence masking the last aura that seemed familiar to her. After she heard a loud metal clang the metal door began to open very quickly revealing Natsume standing with much less serious injuries than she remembered. The other members of Team Rocket stayed outside the cell ready in case something went wrong or if Luna tried to do something unpredictable. Luna carefully scanned in a fraction of a second, both superficially and his aura, which was above the maximum and could be felt without her senses.
The energy was of a similar uncontrollable magnitude as the one she hid in her core deep within herself, surrounded by a mighty barrier, and it ran wild and destroyed everything around her. It was not possible according to her thinking that he managed to easily control all of that, the only logical solution was that they had somehow subjected him to mutation and that it probably cured his wounds to some level. The burns from the electrical attack could still be seen as well as bruises on his arms that were the size of his head, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least. There was a big sneer on his face as he stood in front of her, as if he wanted to show her that even her best tactics and strength were not enough to knock him down for a long time. He then allowed himself to release a larger amount of energy that Luna could sense best of all and could understand as a threat and an attempt to make her inferior. Luna felt her will have a flight instinct to get away from the threat as soon as possible, as well as difficulty in keeping him from trembling before him along with his expression. She could feel the same force from before that tried to get into her head and thoughts, but she didn't go wild. She realized that her mind shield was barely able to resist Ntsume's powers but she had no intention of letting him break her so easily.
,, Look what the kitty brought us. Haven't you had enough of a beating so you came for more?" Luna answered him without the slightest hesitation showing no fear or even being bothered by his sudden power surge and quick recovery. On the contrary, she found the strength to put a mocking smile on her face as she showed him was actually wrong if he thought he would find her here curled up and scared. Natsume could be seen to be partially irritated but he seemed to expect that the moon would have some comment and try to hide behind her mask. It didn't matter that she was still quite unaccountable even for him, so he couldn't let his guard down even for a second. "The only beaten thing here will be you if you don't solve your attitude problem." Natsume threatened her as he signaled to the others to leave them alone which was surprising but Luna didn't want to let her gallows create scenarios that wouldn't happen. She remained as calm and relaxed as possible considering that she was in a hostile base, a well-locked cell, with a madman who received additional reinforcements and was mentally unstable for the public, according to her. ,, Sorry sir, you are the one who has problems with my attitude and not me. So it's up to you to deal with that problem thank you very much."
She replied arrogantly not allowing him to intimate her any further as well as trying to make her feel powerless or trapped. She had already been through far worse than she was now so she at least she knew what not to do, and that was to let them see that they got her. Natsume didn't like this answer in the least. It annoyed him that even in such a hopeless situation, Luna was trying to resist, knowing full well that it could cost her her life. "Why are you still resisting?" Natsume asked her as he began to pounce around her like a lion around its prey before tearing it apart, playing with it. "No matter what you do for them, you'll always end up rejected and alone." Luna knew that he was trying to use her past against her to make her suspicious, but still, despite that, the pain was no less than before. The same malignant thoughts stirred in Luna's head making her heart even more restless even though she knew it wasn't true.. And yet the same feeling has never gone away since then, the same one that made her develop her caution, anxiety like when all eyes were on her waiting for just one mistake.
She didn't even have to make a mistake, because it was enough to be in the vicinity of some accident and immediately all the accusations would fall on her first. She hated those feelings of insecurity, vulnerability, loneliness... Like a dark vortex that was draining her against her will, she ended up drowning in her dark thoughts that she had been trying to suppress deep inside all these years, hoping that they would never surface. She was back in the dark endless place as the cold seared through her making her shiver. Hateful thoughts and feelings surrounded her and were so intense that you simply moved to touch them and feel them moving around you, like a hound around its prey on a dark night. Her body refused to move and the inch left her floating in nothingness until they appeared. One by one the darkest memories and thoughts began to play before her eyes like a movie in which she could move.
Flashback
At that time, Luna was about thirteen years old and it was a beautiful spring day. The entire forest turned bright and colored with beautiful shades of pastel flowers and leaves that adorned the young crowns of the old trees while bright young flowers filled the bushes and the ground releasing a sweet scent that all pokemons enjoyed. The weather was quite warm and wonderful, so Luna went to the forest early in the morning to spend the day with the others, while the twins would join her a little later. By now she had learned her way through the forest and knew almost every nook and cranny of it like the back of her hand, so she casually made her way deeper and deeper towards the nearby stream where they planned to fish that afternoon. Luna enjoyed the peace that the forest provided far from the city far away.
As she sat on the bank of the stream, a necessary chill began to creep into her, raising her fear and caution to the highest level. There was almost no one around her, everything was calm and quiet, too quiet' she thought as she cautiously rose to her feet, trying to see what was wrong while her thoughts immediately assumed the worst. First she tried to use her sense to see where the trouble was and check if anyone needed help. As she expected trouble was never far away when all went quiet. It wasn't too far from where she was already, half a mile upstream in her estimation was the source of several distress signals as well as something that was making her stomach sick.
Despite her mind telling her to go back and call for help or at least wait for Sunny and Star, she headed straight for the source of the problem. As she ran towards the target place, her caution as well as all her other senses were at their maximum because her instinct told her that whatever was happening there was not going to end well. When she started to hear clapping in the distance, it was a sign for her to slow down and lie low in order to assess the situation as well as to assess the pain. Due to the recent rains, business in the area around the rivers is more sensitive and somewhat unstable. And if you add to that that the area under the river is filled with a lot of tunnels that pokemon dug to prevent the river from overflowing, you could easily fall and get seriously injured, which wouldn't help Luna at all when she didn't even know who she was dealing with. But since the whole forest works together for pokemon, they inform each other regularly about such things so that there is no chaos, and therefore Luna.
Luna decided to observe this situation from a height, so she started climbing the trees like an aipom, and the fact that the forest was dense was only an advantage in such situations, because the treetops intertwined with each other, building bridges between each other, which definitely made Luna's job easier, in this moment. Through the dense canopy, she could see what was going on and hear quite well. Several men in their forties, massively built in hunting gear, were looking around them, keeping an eye on the cages that held quite a few pokemon, most of which were fire type. Luna tried to concentrate to hear as well as possible.
,, When will these idiots come back!? The longer we stay here the better the chances of someone noticing us." the blonde with a mask over his face spoke with irritation in his voice, getting more tired of waiting for the rest of the group who were still catching pokemon in the forest. "Come on Steve. We're quite far from the city and we haven't been here that long and we haven't left any trace or sign that anything is wrong. We're almost done after all so you can relax a bit." The black boned man spoke to him trying to calm him down a bit and convince him to be patient while he played with the electric hunting net gun. Steve stormed off at him, yelling at him. ,, I am serious when I tell you that the chill of this place gives me goosebumps. I constantly feel like the ladies are being watched and I don't like that at all." The brunette just shook her head ironically knowing that she couldn't calm Steve down once he got nervous. The two of them continued to pound around the cage as Luna watched and mused. , Hmmm. Let's see, I don't know how many there really are, it is obvious that they are armed and they know what they are doing, we are quite far from any road and even more fences, and I am quite sure that they have experience with these types of fielders, they managed to drag the cages and to praise so many pokemon in a short time..." no matter how she looked at the situation, it was Luna who was in trouble and couldn't do anything at the moment. She couldn't run home to get help because they would probably be gone by the time she got help, and of all the days to answer the phone, it had to be this one. - Be quiet, they will notice us.- Not far from the tree where Luna came across, in the thicket, pidgey and cindaquil were hiding and trying to be as quiet as possible. Luna seamlessly jumped from the tree into the bushes as seamlessly as she could not wanting to attract attention and give away her location as well as of another two pokemon.
But as she was coming down she made a small noise in the bushes and Steve immediately fired a trap net from his catapult and the two of them hurried to where the rustle had come from. Both poachers took out their pouches from their belts and opened their holsters, ready to meet anything but what actually happened. Steve cursed with a loud laugh as his friend scowled as he looked down at his net that had wrapped around a larger branch that seemed to have fallen from a tree and was itself the source of the sound. "You old fool. You're making me start to get paranoid too." he said putting the knife back in his belt muttering how he was glad no one else saw what happened or he would have collapsed into the ground in shame. "Come on Thomas, you have to admit it was hilarious," Steve commented as he slowly calmed down from all that loud laughter, trying to catch his breath.
As they slowly returned to their original positions, Luna was finally able to she let out a sigh of relief. As they fired the net she thought for a second that she was done for, but she was lucky as the net narrowly missed her. On the way she managed to grab the two young pokemon and put her fists over their mouths so they wouldn't let out at the sound and discover positions. Cyndaquil and pidgey slowly began to calm down and stop squirming realizing that it was Luna who grabbed them and not poachers. When Luna thought it was safe enough she released her two little friends and told them to be as quiet as possible . . . ,,What are you two doing here? You should be as far away from here as possible." The two little ones briefly looked at each other and answered almost at the same time, -No.- Luna sharpened her gaze like the one her mom uses when she causes some trouble, but they didn't even flinch. - We are not leaving them. We want to help. - Luna herself was aware that she would not change her mind because she herself is just as stubborn. Her mere presence in this sauce is more than enough proof.
Luna nodded in agreement with their decision. ,, OK. Do you maybe know how many there really are." She asked them, to which they just shook their heads, obviously not knowing the answer. With not knowing how much time they had until the rest of the group returned, nor how many there were, and without reinforcements, their options were quite small. , Of the days he forgets his phone or walkie-talkie." Luna thought as the other two looked at her with anticipation in their eyes, hoping she could somehow help them. Wasting no more time Luna addressed them. "Pidgey, do you happen to know where the hall for training and care of electric pokemon is?" she asked him and he nodded enthusiastically, listening carefully. - Of course, I often fly over with the rest of the pack.- , to which Luna smiled and continued her story. ,, I want you to fly there and look for my father and Raichu. Explain the situation to them as soon as you can."
Pidgey didn't waste a moment but immediately flew as silently as he could towards the destination to get help, while the nervous cindequil looked worriedly at Luna. - What if they don't come on time. My mom is over there...- Luna put her finger in her mouth signaling her to calm down and be quiet, which Cindaquil obeyed. "That's where we come in. I'm going to try to drag these two bullies as far away as I can and stun them while you try to free the others somehow." The small pokemon still seemed unsure but decided to go with the plan. In a few moments, Luna managed to sneak far enough away from the cyndaquil. With each step as she crept her heart pounded harder and harder as she thought about how to get their attention. She was barely able to keep her body still and focused enough from her adrenaline to not give up prematurely. As she took her stance she sighed a few times to focus her thoughts.. . ,, Ahhhhhhhh! who threw that, show yourself, you cowards!." Steve yelled, rubbing the back of his head that had been hit by a rock and was still throbbing from the impact. Both poachers turned in the direction the stone came from, looking for and demanding the culprit to appear. "Guess who." Luna burst out of her hiding place shouting with a mocking tone and a sneer on her face. The two poachers looked at her rather confused but no less annoyed and furious. "What's a brat like you doing here?" Steve asked her while Luna, unsurprised by his reaction, just answered coldly. "I could ask you the same thing. I don't know where you came from, but smuggling is prohibited here, as well as catching and selling pokemon on the black market." Luna told them in a threatening tone in her upper part as the two of them began to laugh at how absurd and empty her threat seemed to them. , Interesting, Then why don't you go with Thomas and tell the others, girl." Steve replied pointing to his friend who was starting to get closer to her. , How naive do these jerks think I am..; Luna started to take a few steps back and yelled.
But as she was coming down she made a little noise in the bushes and Steve immediately said, I have a better idea. Why don't I just tell the police about this." and then she started sniffing deeper into the woods as Steve and Thomas chased after her trying to catch up and catch her. , Okay, Idiots are following me. It's only a matter of time before I get netted or caught. ... Thinks Luna thinks . What can I do.; Luna began to climb the slope of one of the hills in the forest trying to buy herself time and tire out her pursuers as much as possible. As she ran up the hill behind her she heard a gunshot that it made her reflexively bend and by less than an inch the iron balled rope missed her. In the distance in front of her there was a very loud bang and the sound of crashing with a slight tremor. Those sounds froze Luna in her tracks for a second causing another rush of adrenaline to released in her body, knowing full well what would follow if she didn't turn around and move in the opposite direction the same second. , If it knocked down a tree like that then it can only mean one thing.; Luna jumped to her feet starting to get to safety as quickly as possible out of the unstable area.
Luna started running as fast as she could thinking of nothing but scolding herself for how she could forget that the area was unstable, and that she had been warned multiple times. , I'm such an idiot.. Her train of thought was interrupted by a powerful incoming strike from her side throwing her to the ground further wrapping her in the web that hit her. As soon as she realized what had happened, she began to free herself in every possible way, buckling, kicking and dragging the net, but everything only made the mess she got into even more complicated.
Every millisecond she began to panic more and more. So much so that she didn't even notice when the two poachers approached. "You're not so smart now," Thomas mockingly addressed her as Steve adjusted his net thrower this time as if Luna would start running again any second despite the fact that she was already on the ground all wrapped up and unable to move. Luna wasn't going to answer that this time or have the last word like usual. Especially since right now wasn't the best time for it when disaster could strike any second. As Thomas grabbed the net and prepared to start pulling Luna back, beneath their feet, in Luna's case beneath her, a slight tremor was felt in the ground. Soon, distant noises of rocks breaking, branches snapping, and a massive commotion of mass, approaching at high speed, began to be heard.,, Tomeas, leave me here and let's run from here. Hurry up...!" Steve yelled, starting to run in the opposite direction of the landslide, leaving Luna behind, still unable to move.
At that moment, Luna realized how stupid she had been. If only she had been a little more patient, this would not have happened. If she had come up with something smarter and not played the hero. Along the way, she scolded herself, where did she get the idea that she can be a hero when she only creates problems wherever she goes. And now it all caught up to her, her pride, stupidity, impatience, impatience... She felt her life flying before her eyes, her mother scolding her for her carelessness, her father telling her another anecdote from his travels while filling up the Raichu enthusiastic story from his perspective. Twins who argue at bedtime over who will go swimming first, neither wanting to be first. Maya and Matt too... Tears slowly began to fill her eyes as the first wave of stones breathed towards her and started to create cuts, bruises, she was sure that one larger piece had already managed to break her leg. She was aware that every second the crowd would take her away in one fell swoop and she hoped that if it had to end, it would be quick and painless.
She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the impact to come and the pain along with it. But she only felt a strong jerk and the wind embracing her. "Is it over yet?" Am I dead?" Luna whispered, slowly opening her eyes, seeing that there was a large Landslide under her that was carrying everything before it, breaking rocks, uprooting trees, as well as water started to pour out on top of all that, as parts of the earth collapsed. -No you didn't. But I have to admit you gave it your best shot.- spoke a deeper voice above her. Luna finally tore her eyes away from the horror happening below them to see that the pidgeot was carrying her with all the netting in its claws. Then she was relieved to have avoided disaster. But the happiness didn't last long as she broke into a cold sweat as her brain processed the whole situation in a split second. Luna began to panic and frantically tried to scan the terrain below her. ,, Pidgeot. Did you notice anyone else in the room with me." A cold silence fell between the two immediately giving Luna the answer to her question.
Luna began to shiver not knowing if she was scared that she almost ended up like that too, or mad at herself for knew very well that this was her fault, but somehow a trace of irony crept in slowly. Later that day, it was reported on the news that the two had died on the way to the hospital and that there was no way they could have survived their injuries. It was a real miracle that they remained alive for so long in the pain of the seventy fasts of a broken skeleton, internal bleeding, bruises, multiple convulsions... The last words they uttered were,, cursed witch...,, Within a few hours, the whole town as well as several neighbors found out what happened... And Luna felt enormous guilt, unable to believe that death was following her every step. And with her luck, sooner or later he'll probably end up hurting her family and friends. After that day, Luna became even more depressed, which she hid in herself from everyone else, and it was not at all easy for her to digest that stories about her, about the Witch of the Violet Forest, began to spread.
Luna hated herself every time she thought about the horrible things that happened to her when she interacted with people almost every time they left her alone. She hated herself for causing many people pain, fear and even death for some, even though she didn't want to. "You see, you don't need your powers to bring destruction and misfortune to everyone around you. You're naturally talented at it." such a comment from Natsume hit a nerve that was already sufficiently irritated by the memory playing out before her eyes that she along with the other nightmares she was trying to push as deep into her mind as possible without thinking about them.
Luna looked at him sideways as if she's already thinking up a scenario in her head, how to strangle him, to pull out that hole she calls her mouth once and for all. "You have no idea..." Luna's voice was telling her, refusing to remain monotonous and controlled, and they came out in a snarl full of rage. "He has no idea what I'm talking about. Really Luna, how long are you going to cover yourself with your lies. There's no way to run from this or hide, the dark shit never stays still, especially when it's bloodthirsty." Luna didn't want to listen anymore. She knew she didn't do any of this on purpose, she never meant to harm, let alone kill, anyone. She didn't ask for this kind of power, she didn't ask for any of this chaos that has become her life.
"I never meant to hurt or kill anyone. The only bloodthirsty sadist here is you." These words only aroused laughter and playfulness in Natsume. He enjoyed breaking Luna down by tearing down her walls making her all the more vulnerable while she fought and denied everything. "Don't tell me that you never thought of hurting someone when you were angry. When everyone rejected you, isolated you, tried to hurt you more than once, not wanting to listen... I'm sure it hurt." Luna tried to pull herself together but everything was overwhelming for her at that moment. She couldn't get the screams out of her head.
The hurtful words, the looks that were directed at her, the guilt she felt, the fear that crept into her bones again after years. She was on the verge of snapping but she refused to give in. She refused to bow to a monster like Natsume. She refused is to admit that she was a small part of the administration. She was angry at the world that rejected her for no reason. "I can feel what you're thinking Luna. You should stop fighting and embrace your dark side. You'll see how things get easier." ... Luna could feel him trying to penetrate her mind again. It was getting harder and harder to repel and block the monster that was standing in front of her with a devilish laugh. She felt so weak, like never before. She felt so alone and abandoned...