CHAPTER 11: BLOOD
Forty minutes before the Team Rocket Combat Squad broke through the ranks of the clones and invaded the island complex, the children and the researchers powered up the stairs into the cavern of the spring to find only a Nidoqueen, a Rhyhorn, and their children—albeit strange offspring they were. As they mused aloud over this and the nature of the healing spring, Briar leaned against the wall at the mouth of one of the exiting passageways, listening intently to the invaders and realizing swiftly the implications of the harm that would come to this sacred place if the researchers discoveries were shared with the world. The trio of children, devoted to the rescue of an electric mouse, did not concern her nearly as much. Yet it was bad enough that there was a fleet heading this way, possibly to seize Mt. Quena—if all of humanity gazed upon this spring with greedy eyes and flocked here for the cute to all of their ailments, what then…? Not only would the pack, Mewtwo and herself included, be forced to leave for fear of discovery, but then this pure Eden would be defiled, so much like much of the rest of the natural world….
This was, roughly, where her child had been conceived and where she had been given another chance at life, at purpose, at…at so many precious things—and if these adults too from here the secrets of this place, it would be polluted by others who had no belief in how hallowed it was…and that thought sickened her. Although the clones made it clear these humans were benign, their intuition in play, she comprehended the risks. She must convince these people to depart and keep silent about what they had learned. If she must frighten them into secrecy, so be it—she wouldn't stand for her home to be defiled!
As they began to race towards her, she drew the knife from her belt, picking out the boy who ran in the lead. Slinking back into the shadows she waited until his footsteps smothered the heavy pounding of her heart and his shadow slid into the dark, then lunged out of the darkness, seizing him from the side and hanging on, pressing the blade against his neck just so. He yelped loudly enough that the terrified cry echoed into the caves, and the friends behind him jerked to a halt, calling out to him in concerned yells. As they reached for their belts, presumably for their pokémon, Briar growled out, "Release your teams and his throat will be sliced open—go back into the chamber, slowly, so we can have a little talk."
All four immediately edged backwards into the light, and with both arms clutched around him, Briar half-led, half-dragged the boy back into the light. Upon seeing their friend held at knifepoint, both the redheaded girl and the dark-skinned man cursed angrily and glared, their teeth gritting audibly. The older man in back shouted for her to let "Ash" go, while the woman…the woman….
"Briar? What—what the hell are you-? What are you even doing here?" Luna Carson shouted, her glasses glinting as she looked the young woman from months ago up and down. Something was different with how she held herself, her very frame, but with the boy held in front of her…wait…her abdomen…but she had told Luna the test was negative, not-! Why as she in this place when she was in this condition? What was-?
"Luna…I would ask you all those same things, but I'm already aware of your reasons. However, while I have no issues with these kids reclaiming their friends and going on their way, what you and Cullen Calix are considering must not be done. You cannot reveal the springs healing properties to the world—if you do, humanity's greed will bring them to decimate this place, and I cannot allow you to destroy my home."
Calix was not pleased to hear this. "The use of the spring will be carefully monitored if it can provide the restorative properties I suspect it can—humanity can benefit form it, and who are you to say we should just deny a cure to ailing patients because you think the wayward actions of a few will result in-?"
Yet Luna had caught a more significant part of what Briar had said. "Wait, Cullen, just be quiet a moment. Briar, what do you mean, 'your home'? Are you saying you've been living here all of this time? You appeared out of nowhere one day and vanished the next—I had my colleagues looking for you, but there was no trace of where you'd gone. Do you really mean that you've been in this place? How have your survived?"
"I've lived here for nearly/over a year—how I did is no concern of yours," the woman practically hissed.
"Um, hey, I hate to interrupt, Luna, Ms. Briar, but the knife keeps pressing in harder and I'm getting kind of nervous about my safety. Obviously, you don't have an issue with me, so could you let me go, please, so I can find Pikachu? Um…um, that kind of hurts…!"
With a snarl, Briar flung the child away from her, and watched coolly as he stumbled into the redhead and they crashed to the ground, the boy on top and his hands settling in some rather lucky, or unlucky, places, considering the girl's response was to blush the color of her hair and then strike him with a mallet she pulled from god knows where. As the black, young man helped them to their feet, they all glared at her, and they gawked openly at her stomach—now Brock at least understood why this Briar was so desperate to keep her home safe: it was a natural territorial affect of females who would soon give birth, as they defended their dens rather fiercely, even from their mates. Considering she'd been living up here for months at least, far from society, he was willing to bet parts of her had degraded into primitive functions and instincts, essentially rendering her halfway feral. To say the least, it would make an intriguing case study, but for now, this woman could turn violent on them if they weren't careful. It was the whole mother-bear-protecting-her-cub's kind of response….
"Once you find who you're hear for, leave—and don't breathe a word to anyone else what you discovered here, or my partner will track you down and—"
"'Partner'? Briar, is there someone else up here with you?"
The woman was swiftly growing more and more agitated. Luna was speaking to her as if she were a mad, dangerous psycho, rather than what she was: a person trying their hardest to save what mattered most to her. Throwing her arms up in vexation, she said, "Until you and the others came, I was the only human allowed to remain here—I daresay longer than any other, and with good reason considering your intentions. Humanity has no more respect for the Earth—if you swarm here, you'll ruin everything. You can't—this place belongs to the pack, to the wild pokémon, not…simply because mankind dominates this world does not mean it belongs to them!"
Luna approached, carefully, cautiously, "Briar, calm down…no one is going to destroy this place—it's a wildlife preserve, they can't legally—"
"Those laws can be changed if—"
"Calix, shut up!" And this came from the three children who were more of less urging Luna to get that feral woman to relax so maybe the knife could be taken away.
Briar, her hormones surging her mood wildly, began to tear up in desperation. "Miracles have occurred here, but miracles can't be synthetized or multiplied without consequence."
She wrapped her arms around her stomach, fear growing in her—what would happen if Mt. Quena was infiltrated…what would happen to Mewtwo, the other clones, to her and the baby she carried?
Luna's hands came to rest of her shoulders. "Briar…what are you really afraid of? What the invaders from that future could do here, or what that invading fleet outside will do?"
Briar pulled away, and looked up at the sky. "I…."
But her fear was never voiced—instead, it was realized.
From outside came the sounds of explosions and battle—the fight had begun, and as the wind rose Briar smelled an odor that she knew better than any other—the odor of smoke. Even as dread began to sink in and Nidoqueentwo and Rhyhorntwo called out in dismay. Vulpixtwo dashed in, shouting, "Briar, get your supplies—I think we'll need it soon!"
"Vulpixtwo, what's going on? Is someone hurt?"
The thought of a pack member injured dashed the intruders from her mind—only the pack mattered.
"Mewtwo told us to either stand and fight or run—so half of the pack decided to run, and the airborne invaders intercepted them. Their fighting with the wild ones against that fleet right now—and Briar, the enemy started a forest fire. Our people don't have anywhere to run to—I think Mewtwo going to go over to help them any—"
And in that moment, nearly three dozen pokémon appeared in the chamber, hissing, shrieking, moaning in shock and pain and fury, some of which being members of the pack and other wild ones caught in the crossfire. They settled across the grass, on the stone outcrops, in the spring itself, blood, feathers, fur and scales littering the area as they thrash in place. Briar, taking in the count, immediately turned to the humans—they had packs on them, surely…. "Do you have medical supplies on you?" she shouted.
"Some, but—"
"Then help me with the wounded! The spring water should boost their abilities to recover, but we need bandages, splints, stiches, any healing ointments you have! I need to go get my drug kit, stay HERE and get started!"
"But what about Pika-?"
"Ash, I found him!"
"Misty, where-?"
She grabbed his hand and dragged him along.
The dark man ran to Briar, sweating. "You're in no condition to be running around—tell me where your supplies are and I'll—"
"Vulpixtwo, lead him to my quarters and hurry back ASAP."
"Got it!"
As they ran, the kid called, "In the meantime raid my pack—I have a kit there, though my supplies are in need of restock!"
"Thanks, mister-?"
"Brock!"
"Alright, Brock, sprint fast!"
"Right!"
As they left, she spun to the adults. "Our issues can wait—for now we have lives to save. Consider this your only trial in to the restorative properties of the spring waters, Calix—get to work."
And so the group raced to the wounded and began to attend to them—Ash and Misty sorted the individuals out by the extremity of their injuries, Briar and Brock cleared wounds and mended hurts the best they could, while Calix and Carson offered spring water to the patients, silently noting the effects of the drink. Of the injuries, a good several passed away from their wounds, namely from gaping slashes and lost limbs, the blood loss too severe to stem or restore. The children, unused to death, were aged by this, but they kept going, determined to keep more of their charges alive than dead. Of those who perished, they were among the wild ones—the clones had either evaded the worst of the attacks or were to heart to succumb so easily, though there was more than one close call among the pack, and many would be left with battle scars that would never fade. All through this process, reports filled in from the fleetfooted Vulpixtwo, namely concerning Mewtwo…and then, once the battle moved to the island shores and injured clones staggered in from outside, about how the struggle outside was faring. And Briar could tell just by glancing around that it was not going well. Although the children offered to go fight, what good could they do? The enemy was cutting down creatures of more power than they could conceive—they stood no chance, and besides, they needed able hands here to attend to the patients.
Yet then the shout came that filled them all with icy fear—even those who were not personally involved, who only knew that the enemy had no compassion for the pain of others. It cried out the dreaded word: "They've broken through our ranks—they're coming!" and from the fearful howls of the pokémon, the other humans needed no translation.
Briar leapt up, shouting, "Everyone, take the passageway into the marine exit—if you can't swim, get someone to carry you—"
"We got across by boat, so they can take that!" Calix called.
"You and Luna lead them there, okay? Just move! We can't stay here!"
The pokémon who could move bolted to the exit, being directed there by Nidoqueentwo and Rhyhorntwo, who bellowed for their children to help the others down the passageway into the makeshift harbor. Other clones, less wounded, began to dash the wild ones down into the care and run back for more. As the spring chamber began to empty out, the sounds of elemental blasts—and what sounded like gunfire—began to echo from the cave that led deeper into the complex and ultimately to the western shores. As the final patient was shipped out, leaving the humans, Pikachu, Meowth, and half a dozen clones behind, including Vulpixtwo, Meowthtwo, and Pikatwo, the first of the enemy charged in, shouting—at which point Brock ensured the others would no be followed. Calling forth his Onix, he shouted for the giant rock serpent to collapse the exit to the harbor; the goliath thrashed its body against the stone, which crumbled and brought boulders the size of automobiles down from the wall, filling the exit and, at least for a time, preventing anyone from pursuing the rest of the group.
And as the Pewter City Gym Leader returned the rock snake to its pokéball, the enemy rewarded him for his heroics with a crushing blow to the side of the face.
"Brock!" Both of his friends shouted, with Pikachu bounding up to him to nudge at him into awareness, but with no avail—the elder trainer had been knocked out cold.
Misty turned to the black-clad grunt with a snarl. "How dare you! He didn't deserve—"
"Those who interfere with Team Rocket will receive no mercy—only those who step aside will be treated with any hint of consideration."
Domino, the Black Tulip, the Blond Bitch of the Elite Team Rocket, stepped forward from the care with a smug smile—not altogether pleased that her quarry had gone astray, but as a sadist she took pleasure in punishing or observing the punishment of others, especially those belonging to the native/naïve? And pitiful League. As her eyes swept over the other humans and the pokémon her eyes glinted as they passed over the latter, like a predator spotting prey: she took from her pack what at first seemed a bundle of innocent flowers—tulips, to be precise, and unnaturally dark ones at that. Yet as she flung them towards the cluster of monsters, they seemed to solidify and spark, like needles electrically charged, and upon biting the ground they erupted into a frenzy of electrical jolts with an intensity that stunned even the electric mice—the grunts tossed darker rings immediately afterwards, which opened to loop around the creatures' arms and legs, binding them once again, just as they had been in the previous battle, and just as their fellows were that Team Rocket had overtaken to reach this spring.
Moans of pain rose as the ensnared beings hit the ground, and Brock-knowing how powerful those bolts had to be as a future breeder—spun, shouting at the blond to stop—hadn't they caused enough pain already?
Briar, was even more horrified—these, after all, were her fellow pack members, her friends for months, excluding the two counterparts. "You monsters! You let them go! You let them go now! You have no right to treat them like this!"
Domino merely laughed. "They're barely any more evolved than simple animals, little girl—and considering how they came into this, world, I daresay they belong in human hands. Furthermore, as we formed their leader, who formed them, in an indirect way they belong to us—so who are you to judge how we treat them?"
Her purple eyes gleamed hungrily. "Better yet, who the hell are you, anyway? You didn't come here with any of us, did you?"
She already knew the answer, but Briar didn't know that, but regardless, the way the blonde gazed at her was disconcerting. She stepped back, placing a protective hand over her stomach—a gesture which Domino took note of eagerly. What treasure did that womb contain? Would she have to split it open to take a peek? Yet no, no…there were other ways, smarter ways, and reigning in her demonic self, the executive smiled with fake sweetness and said, "Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Now let's get moving—these little critters need to join the others on the shore so they can be prepared for shipment."
"Shipment?" Briar echoed—where did these people intend to take her pack members? Yet the blonde did not clarify…she led them into the halls, their ranks surrounded by the armed grunts who made certain none would take five steps before death ended their escape attempts. They wove their way through the passageways, the sounds of conversations, shouts, bellows from the captured, moving mechanical equipment, all mixing and growing louder with each step…Domino said something on her radio, but a revving engine from around the corner, from which light poured into the passageway, poured in, drowned out her precise words. "…caught them," were the only legible words.
Yet when they exited the cavern, none of that mattered anymore to Briar. Horror freezing her, she saw her captured pack members lived up in a row, to be placed in cages and heard up ramps into the bellows of the docked flight vehicles. She saw whips falling across their face and others shocked into paralysis, the pain too much to look upon. But worse, so much worse than all of that, were the pained moans that came from above…and the sight that met her eyes as she raised them to see it.
All of the strength left her. She collapsed on her knees, tears running down her face.
"No, no, no!" Yet her screams did not matter.
Far above her hung her partner, her lover, the father of her child, crucified in a sphere of burning light.
