Pokemon - Void and Veil - New Enemy
A/N: I know, I know its been over a month, I've been busy, works been a pain. I've also got my new story I've been working on, Magic in the air, based on Fairy Tail, which should be out now. So yeah busy.
"Speech"
'Thought'
"English"
"Hatty!" I yelled aloud, causing the little witch to shoot forward in a psychic cloak, a barrier, slamming into the Gurderr. Which was instantly struck with a follow-up of Psybeam, throwing the creature into the watchog.
With the way now clear, I took my chance, using my own psionic energy to lighten myself, in a barrier of my own, I rushed toward the two grunts.
The woman was still cradling her own ravaged hand, so the male was my current target, I couldn't risk him contacting anyone either. The problem was this was an adult man, he was far larger than me, and I don't think I could pull that ranged trick again.
He lashed out with a sloppy kick, and I was moving too fast to stop or avoid it. Bad news, I slammed into his foot. Good news, my barrier absorbed most of it, and on one foot the grunt fell to the ground, with me on top of him. Not usually a good place to be considering the size difference, but I was armed.
I brought my knife down right into his solar plexus. Earning me a piercing wail from the man, who lashed out in retaliation, slamming a fist into my temple.
My barrier held, but I was stunned long enough for him to get his hands around my neck to choke me, and barrier or not if I couldn't breathe, I was done. I slammed my free hand, not currently gripping the knife, thumb first at his eye.
He pushed me off of him using his size for the first time, causing me to miss. My grip on the blade handle faltered from the slick blood coating it, and I was thrown to the side.
I tumbled with the force and quickly rolled to my feet in time to hear the female grunt's voice, "Swift at the boy."
It knew swift?
Oh, shit!
Bang BANG bang Bang boom.
Oooh, that hurt.
"JERICHO!" I mutely heard two voices through the ringing in my ears, as my barrier finally shattered under the stress of an actual Pokemon move, and the drain was massive, I felt sick again.
But through the pain and burning of my muscles came a rare emotion for me, rage, "AAHHH!" I roared in defiance of the attack, as my adrenaline dulled the pain.
Pushing through the already deep exhaustion, I stumbled forward, much to the woman's horror.
I could feel that Hatty had already re-engaged the watchog. I pulled a throwing knife as the downed man attempted to rise, failed, and began gurgling frothy light-colored blood. I'd hit his lung, and this bitch was next.
"Watchog, kil-" Was as far as she got, when a fist-sized stone struck her in the face, dazed she fell to the ground. Zoey, of all people, screamed at the top of her lungs, charging and jumping onto the dazed woman, then slammed the other rock she apparently had into the woman's face, again and again.
Zoey looked terrified and had I been in my right mind, I would have stopped her. As it is, I instead ran up to the dying man, and with considerable effort, for a six-year-old, I pulled the knife free against his now weak resistance. While Fiona ran up to Zoey, pulling her off of the downed woman.
Before I could fully regain my focus in the wake of, well, everything, a cry of pain garnered my attention. Forgetting about the soon-to-be dead man, I turned to see my partner losing ground from the two Pokemon's assault.
I charged once more back into the fray, throwing my smaller knife, I managed to stick the Gurrder in its back, distracting it from its attack. While I clashed directly with the Watchog bringing my blade down for its throat, which the creature stopped with its damn oversized teeth.
My attack might have failed, but my distraction had worked, allowing Hatenna an advantage as she began to attack the Gurder with all she had, its type disadvantage becoming clear.
I, however, had my own problems as the faux Merkatt overpowered me, the difference between Pokemon and Humans showed as it bit at my chest with some kind of fang attack. I only held it at bay because my blade was still in its mouth. Even still, it had pushed me to the ground and the foremost part of its incisors had drawn blood. I hissed in pain, both hands on my blade at this point.
A crack echoed through the clearing, drawing the rodent's attention. But I already knew, Hatty had just finished her fighting type enemy, its neck broken.
I lashed out with a kick, forcing the overgrown rat off of me, hissing as its teeth ripped from my wound.
"Fuck," I exclaimed in pain, rising quickly I slashed sloppily at its huge eyes, causing it to retreat further to avoid the strike.
Then to my ever-lasting relief, Hatty teleported in front of me, blasting the creature with a Psybeam as it jumped for my throat. The Watchog slammed against the iron bars of the fencing with force enough to dent them, then it hesitated because now it was outnumbered.
The buck-toothed Pokemon hissed in a threat display.
Crunch
A pair of jaws snapped down on the Watchog. "Haha, wonderful," The damn Grim laughed in amusement, licking its chops.
That's it, I am done, I didn't want the girls involved yet here we are, and bonus they have their own enemies. I'm pissed, I reached into my herb bag, which included salt, and hucked some at the monstrous canine.
The reaction was immediate, the grim roared in pain and backed away. "Brat!" It wailed as me, tackling the bars.
I didn't care.
Looking back, I watched Fiona holding a sobbing Zoey, the cause was clear, neither of the grunt's chests were rising. Both were dead.
Looking for a moment at the man I had killed, I felt a rising cold in my gut, but ultimately, I took a breath, I needed to focus, but I was tired and felt very sick.
I took a step toward the two sisters but failed as the world span and the next thing I knew, I was back on the floor
I groaned, that was the longest two minutes of my life.
Steadily, I became aware of my surroundings again as the haze of combat faded. The ring in my ears had returned and the throbbing of my body pulsed uncomfortably. My body was running hot from the massive exertion I'd put on it. I was clammy from sweat, my chest was wet... Oh, right bleeding.
Hatty cooed in concern, she was roughed up but doing far better than me.
"Jericho," Came a quiet voice. Looking to the side, I saw Fiona still clutching her sister... I'm still processing that.
"H-hey," I greeted them raggedly, my young body wasn't handling this well.
Silence stretched on for a few moments...
"Don't move," The trainee nurse commented, kneeling, a red-eyed Zoey following.
I grunted as the girl took out some bandages and pressed them against my chest wound. Hatty let out a tired trill and leaned against my side.
"Sorry," I said, patting Hatty's head, no longer able to do it telepathically.
"Are you girls, err, umm-" I trailed off, unable to finish. I don't know what to say.
"They're dead," Zoey choked out.
"...Yeah," I acknowledged. The Grim began chuckling maliciously from the side, no longer raging. Instead, it looked amused.
"What is that thing?" Fiona asked as she taped the new bandaging down. Ah, she'd put something on them, it burned.
I hissed in pain, but responded, "It's a Grim." There's no point in lying about it. The creature chuckled in amusement once more.
Fiona paused her treatment, "A Grim?... As in-".
"Yes," I interrupted, I knew the two had picked up things from my studying, this must be one of them.
"I'm sorry," Zoey repeatedly sobbed. I almost forgot she brought us here.
I sighed, "It's ok, you didn't know, I couldn't stop it either." I patted the poor girl's hand in, I hope, comfort. But Zoey latched on to my hand while, Fiona moved on to checking over Hatty.
"No, but we knew about them," The pinkette interrupted, glaring at the now-dead grunts. She sighed in exhaustion and picked up Hatenna, "But we didn't know they were HERE."
I forced myself up, partly, then tugged at Zoey's hand, getting her attention. "Help me up?" I asked the understandably upset girl.
Thankfully, the young cadets' training had prevented her from going completely catatonic, she was grieving but functional. She slowly stood and then yanked me up.
I grunted in pain as I stood, leaning heavily on Zoey. Then I found an Oran berry being waved in front of my face, courtesy of Fiona, Hatty already munching on one, in her arms.
"You're an adept," She stated and pushed the berry into my free hand.
"Yes," Was my simple acknowledgment, as I took hold of the fruit and ate it. The energized food rapidly going to work and reliving me of the worst of my symptoms. I was still weak as hell, but I could stand somewhat under my own power now.
"S-Should we call mum?" Zoey asked quietly, quivering. She was staring at the two corpses.
"No, they mentioned calling someone, there's bound to be more around, and when these two don't report in, they'll come looking. We can't stay and wait," I explained. Zoey hugged herself, but Fiona nodded, more serious than I'd ever seen her.
"Besides, I'd rather not expose more people than needed to the Grim, it... It wouldn't end well. Plasma will be sending people, but at the moment I can't do anything about that," I finished explaining. Fiona set her jaw and grabbed Zoey's hand, leading the way out of the clearing. It was quiet as we made our way through the prior battlefield, we were all just... Processing, I guess.
As we left I heard a deep chuckling from behind me, I kept moving.
It was around 1100AM as we headed back being as quiet and out of sight as possible, to avoid attention, specifically that of Team Plasma.
All in all though, it hasn't proven to be too difficult. The school was close by, and taking the overgrown backstreets meant the few people we did see we could hear first and avoid. Usually via a nearby bush or the like, which wasn't fun with my injury.
It was the school itself that was the hard part, with its camera system and the fact it was part of, you know, a castle with a vault. That made sneaking in improbable.
Though now that we were out of direct danger we had a chance to clean ourselves up, more so myself and Zoey, thanks to the grunt's blood.
Though a mix of alcohol rubs, from Fiona, and reversing our jackets helped with that.
We still looked off, mind you, haggard and dirty, but it was better than the alternative. It was good enough to get us in at least, then I took the two girls back to my family's room as quickly as we were able, it was far more likely to be empty compared to their family's dorms.
Thankfully, the dorm was indeed empty and we piled into the room. Fiona took Zoey to the red quilted bed and put Hatty down, while I checked the hallway was clear and locked the door. That done, I took a seat in one of the sage-colored chairs.
No one spoke for a few more minutes as the analog clock ticked away on the bedside table.
Zoey was the one to break the silence, after staring at the wall for a while, she broke down, pulling her knees to her chest and crying aloud. Fiona was immediately trying to comfort her, holding the girl close.
I, I honestly didn't know what to do, never had I been more aware that these two girls, for all their intelligence and maturity, were truly just children.
"Thank you," I spoke softly but got both of their attention. Zoey was hiccuping now, but Fiona's eyes were like ice.
"You saved my life, Zoe. My barrier was down after that first attack, if she'd been able to call another..." I didn't finish, the implication was clear.
Zoey began sniffling between sobs now, trying to control herself. While Fiona went back to comfort her sister.
"You two are sisters, aren't you?" It was a statement framed as a question, both froze at my words, but I continued, "They wanted you. They said YOU'RE father-".
"HE! ISN'T! OUR! FATHER!" Fiona cut me off, obviously upset.
I held up my hands in surrender, "Easy, I meant biologically." The girl hugged herself and looked away, and wasn't that concerning.
"They said, Lord, so Ghetsis?" The pinkette finched, as did her sister, pretty much confirming it.
That... that, really pissed me off, Ghetsis wasn't a good man, worse he was actively cruel. In canon, he adopted 3 children, N and his two sisters. And Ghetsis showed he was more than willing to kill them if he needed two, children he had raised.
If these two were ever around that monster, it would explain why they were so mature and extreme in their personality, even for Joys and Jennys. They feared him, so it wouldn't surprise me. But the question was how he became their sperm donor... I, I don't think I want to know, but I do know I want him dead.
I let out a slow breath as my mind raced, "If Plasma's here, is he?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Fiona yelled with tears in her own eyes. He's a dead man.
Worse though I know the girls don't show up with Team Plasma in canon, yet he obviously wants them, and that scares me.
"What about you!?" Fiona yelled, grabbing me by the collar and yanking me up. "How do you know about them and, and that thing? How long have you been lying to us, adept," Pink-haired sister was very upset and angry, and I could feel Hatenna's concern through our link.
I sighed, "The Grimm, you mean? I didn't know it was there for sure, I only found out about the supernatural just over a month ago, the same time I became an adept. I'm still figuring it out myself."
Fiona didn't release me, rather she paled, "You idiot!" She shot a brief look over to my partner, then focused back on me. "You're a forced adept, you could've died!" She shouted, she was wide-eyed and panting. I winced, yeah, of course, she zeroed in on that, she was a medical trainee after all.
Unfortunately, this got Zoey's attention, "NO!"
I found myself wrapped in a back-breaking hug that wrenched me from Fiona's grasp, and was doing a fine job of aggravating my wounds.
Well, she hadn't taken that well, I rubbed the bluette sisters' back as she began crying anew.
"Zoey!" Fiona admonished, immediately attempting to remove her sister off of me, which had the side effect of Zoey latching on harder.
Groan
"Zoe, can't breathe" I struggled to get out. Zoey gasped and released me, so of course physics took hold. The two girls fell one way while I went the other.
"Ouf," "Oww," Came two voices.
My own response was a bit... Stranger. A quote from back on Earth, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, "Ah, gravity, thou art a heartless bitch." I heard Fiona snort as I propped myself up, though she quickly smothered it. It was something at least.
"Fiona," I sighed out, getting back to my feet. "I might not have told you the truth, but neither did you," I calmly informed her.
"It's a family matter!" She barked out in reply.
Zoey, however, cut in quietly, "We didn't want you to leave." Much to Fiona's chagrin as her face turned red in embarrassment.
"You think that bastard scares me? No, he's dangerous, but that's all. I've already seen worse," I tried to reassure the two, Ghetsis was already on my shit list, now he's at the top.
Fiona let out a weak stressed laugh, "Worse? You don't know what he'll do to you if you get in his way."
"More than you'd think, I've faced down undead. He's a big fish in a small pond," I stated, thinking back to the train restroom.
Both girls heads snapped to me, as I continued, "Look, I didn't want to get you two involved either. Once you enter this world, you can't leave."
"Explain," The Joy prodigy glared then demanded, "Now!"
I took a calming breath, "Creatures, like the Grimm, come from the void between realities, between that and this world is the veil."
I paused and took out my book on the circle of magic, speaking all the while, "The veil is meant to keep us separated. But it isn't perfect, it can weaken, things get through, and people see them." I handed the book over to Fiona, who took it with some hesitation.
"The problem is the more people who know, the weaker the veil becomes, which in turn means more creatures and anomalies get through, it's a vicious cycle," I stopped to sigh, this part would be the hard part. "And they're attracted to people that are aware, people like you now," I stressed, so they would understand the danger they were now in.
It worked given that both girls paled and Fiona went wide-eyed at the book title, then began to flick through it, as she spoke, "It called YOU a magi."
"Ah yeah, but I more, adopted the order? I'm trying to take up the mantle, there isn't anyone else as far as I know. And someone has to. The Circle of Magi, they used to maintain the balance between the three domains, but they were wiped out in the war. It's been left unattended for... A while," I finished my explanation, and slumped in relief.
Fiona flicked through the book for a few more minutes in silence, before finding something and nodding to herself. She closed the old book gently before meeting my eyes, she was much less defensive now, but her own eyes were still hard.
"And how do you know about Plasma, and... And him," She asked, spitting out the last part like rancid milk.
OK, here we go, at this point it's better to be honest, they're already in it, "It's... Complicated, and honestly, it sounds crazy, it's why I never brought it up before."
Fiona raised a brow, "Crazier than this?" She held the book aloft.
I sighed but nodded, "Yeah, the long and short of it is that I'm a reincarnation from a world without Pokemon, where this one is a TV show and game, that's how I knew about them."
Fiona suddenly looked rather concerned, "Jericho, are you OK? Did you hit your head in the fight?"
I twitched slightly, "So Grimm and undead are believable, but this isn't?"
"Jericho," She said sternly.
"No, Fiona, I didn't hit my head... I think," I answered hesitantly, sue me that Swift was all over me.
"You think, or you know?" She asked with concern.
Sigh
"Hatty," I called my partner, "Can you show them, what I showed you?" The little witch gave a coo of confirmation. Thank goodness.
I turned back to the two sisters, "I can prove it."
"You want us to let a psychic into our minds," The Joy was back to glaring as she grabbed her sister protectively.
I walked over to Hatty, who looked rather deflated by Fiona's words, and picked her up, "Look I know it sounds crazy, it is crazy. But you wanted the truth, and this is it."
I held the little psychic out to them, "We fought Plasma for you, trust us. If you don't like it, ignore it, pretend it never happened. But DON'T tell anyone, same goes for the creatures, you two are smart enough to know you'll sound crazy. And you know what will happen if more of those things appear," I made clear the situation. I admit to feeling some dread of what could happen. If this is too much for them could I have Hatty... No, no, I couldn't. Hell, I don't even know if erasing the memory would prevent the void beings from being attracted to them. It was never mentioned, almost like the topic was avoided in the book.
See this is why I didn't want anyone else to know, their rejection would hurt though. Huh, maybe we are friends. Shit, I hope this works, I'll have to teach them to protect their minds, but that's a small price to pay.
Zoey's hand shot out, touching Hatty's feeler. "Zoey!" Her sister reprimanded, grabbing her arm.
"I want to know," The young cadet replied, red-eyed but serious, starting her sister down. Well, at the very least, this was distracting her from the prior fight.
The pinkette set her jaw and placed her hand on Hatty's other side, "Not by yourself."
At first, nothing happened, then I felt Hatty poke at my depleted reserves, fueling them for a connection, and linking us back up. Then she pulled at my memories, Ah, I see.
I pushed several memories to the front of my mind. Starting simply with villages and towns that don't exist here. Then pets and other mundane animals that lived around humans naturally, my trip to the natural history museum, and flashes of Earth's history from documentaries. Then I moved on to my own life, I remembered my time in school with old friends, being injured training at my MMA GYM, but it wasn't serious, and we laughed it off. That was followed by when I was learning how to drive. Then I moved to the Pokemon game and show, small flashes ran through the link, Ashes journey, the near world-ending events, and of course, Team Plasma and Ghetsis.
Then it ended, and psionic energy dissipated. Never have I been so glad I'm a psychic class adept, my mental facilities had improved by a considerable amount, including memory recall. That had made this much easier, all things considered.
"Wha?" Fiona shook her head, looking shocked.
But it was Zoey who got out a sentence first, "You... Your, Jericho, right?" And dammit if she didn't sound defeated.
She would ask the big question, I sighed but focused, "Yes I am Jericho, this happened back when I was two." I rubbed my head recalling the confusion and chaos of my arrival, "When my parents died at the train station, something happened, memories flashed, it was confusing. But by the time Gran took me back to the house, everything came into focus. I was aware, with memories of a life before this one, I AM Jericho, we're the same person, this is the only person I've ever been. It's difficult to explain." Honestly, I'm not truly sure myself, but my explanation was close enough.
"... So, you are the same boy we met in the lab?" Zoey asked, obviously unsure.
"Yes, Zoe, I'm the same person, the ONLY Jericho you know as far as I know," I answered the redundant question, I'd already said this happens before I met them. But if it reassures them a bit, I don't mind, it is a lot to take in.
Zoey sighed in relief, though Fiona groaned and pinched her nose in irritation.
"This is crazy, seriously, Jerry? How are we supposed to take this? Everything I thought was fake is real, do you have any idea how much this changes my research!?" The nurse trainee tugged at her hair in annoyance.
Well, glad to see that she's back to normal... relatively speaking anyway. This, this was going better than expected.
"How about for now I tell you what I know, about Team Plasma, and several other possible upcoming calamities?" I clapped my hands together as Hatty took up position on Fiona's head, without any resistance, thankfully.
Fiona's hand met her face, but Zoey's own eyes shined with a familiar spark. Yeah, this is how it should be, I had no idea how much I'd miss this until it was nearly gone. Guess that's why we're friends.
Hatty cooed happily as Fiona patted her.
Ghetsis P.O.V
Walking onto this battlefield was quite frankly beneath me, but when one of your elite agents contacts you saying this required your direct presence, then it more than likely did.
That much was already obvious, when I had arrived at the battlefield I had expected it to be in line with the weakness of the current generation, defeated Pokémon and grunts in need of... Retirement.
Instead, I had walked onto a battlefield akin to the great war, blood coating the ground, scorched earth and pocketed ground. This had been a fight to the death, though no bodies were present.
"Report!" I commanded my troops, one of the triads appeared before me and bowed.
"My Lord, the scouts were found off of their patrol route, their prior report indicated that they were investigating a possible lead on your daughters," The assassin reported. Ah, yes the Joy and Jenny girls, the new order that Team Plasma would make, required members of such prodigious family's in their ranks. Who better than my own flesh and blood, besides a common woman wouldn't do for one who bore royal blood, two problems solved at once. Until their mothers took them, I could help but scowl at the thought of such traitors.
The loyal soldier took out a photograph of the two girls along with a boy, "Their last report included this picture and assurance they would, against orders, return your daughters. It broke out into a fight. We believe they fled with the boy, who had a local Pokémon known as a Hatenna at his disposal, through the hole in the fencing."
Looking up, it wasn't hard to see the dented bars that had been forced outward. "And the male?" I needed to know what to expect from an unknown, a bodyguard? A servant? Or a simple acquaintance?
"Name; Arc, Jericho, age six. Pale completion with blond hair and dark blue eyes, extremely intelligent for his age. The only known Grandson of Professor Margaret Magnolia," My special operative informed me.
An acquaintance then, I smirked, so young and they were already making contacts.
He continued, "After a search through official records, we have found two incidents of note."
I raised my brow at that and gestured that he continue. I admit to being curious as to what a 6-year-old could have done to get one of the triads' attention.
"His first incident, at age three, was uncovering and having a corporate spy arrested, anonymously. Something that has come to light recently," The soldier reported. Interesting, that kind of ingenuity could be useful.
"Secondly, during his sister's, one Sonia Arc's, fourth school year. She gained several bullies from the sixth year, that actively harassed the girl. Death threats, hair color and lack of parents. The only reason it didn't escalate was due to one Leon Monarch, chairman Rose's new student," The soldier's report, was becoming quickly tedious.
As I waved him along, he began again, "The bullies attempted to corner the eight-year-old girl while she was with her brother, four at the time, and outside of school. The boy found out about the death threats and attacked the older boys, 3 to 1, the boy received major bruising, fractured ribs, and knuckles. The sixth years, however, were effectively maimed, one blind in his left eye, another with testicular hemorrhaging, and the last with damaged vocal cords."
I blinked, somewhat surprised at the sheer brutality that a 4-year-old had inflicted. "And after," I demanded in interest.
"Afterward charges were pressed; however, after a review of the school's security tapes revealed the harassment, the professor would press her own charges, two teachers were fired along with the principal. Eyewitness reports of the fight and threats prior, before they stopped the incident, made sure the charges were dropped. Though Jericho Arc was barred from the school, the older boys were bared from beginning their Pokemon journey," The Soldier finished his report on the boy, it was something I would have to look into at a later date.
My eyes roamed the area housing me to notice a number of my troops surrounding the old church, likely where the children were hiding, there was no other exit.
"You've checked the church, I take it," I asked. The soldier was quiet for a moment, a quick glare fixed that.
"We've made several attempts to enter, my Lord, but there's a barrier of some kind preventing entry," He said evenly. These incompetent morons.
"Are you telling me that children are stopping the might of Team Plasma!" I could feel the look of disgust on my face, I needed better than these idiots, I deserved better, the new order WOULD raise, and I would remember this failure.
"No my Lord, the children have long returned to the school. We believe that the protection on the church is from during the war," The idiot responded.
"Then why are you still here, clear out and find a way to get me those children, all three" I commanded. Yes, Colress would appreciate a competent student, and it would help keep my daughters in line.
I thought for a moment, "Where are the grunts responsible?" Though I'm sure I know the answer.
"Missing, my Lord, we believe the children received reinforcements that drove them off, or perhaps killed them, there is evidence of an Arcanine taking the field," He pointed at several large paw prints that were burned into the ground.
They better hope they're dead.
"Leave no evidence we were here," I ordered, then turned to leave. The sheer incompetence on display here was abysmal. I would have to increase their training.
A/N: I know the punctuation is a bit off for my stories. I am using some apps to assist me but even they get confused at times. Dyslexia is a pain in the arse.
Still hope your enjoying the story, we're around a quarter throught the Galar arc.
So you know the supernatural and magic aspects of this story will slowly be increasing, Jercho however is learning it from scratch, where as he has a teacher in Hatenna for is psionics, so right now he has a tendency to call on them first for a fight. That and his magic still isnt really rated for combat, yet.
