His destiny with the Vera family started out from a tragedy.
"He couldn't have gone far! Find him! I want to skin him alive!"
He was one of the most notorious hitmen in Hoenn's underworld, having numerous enemies for a variety of reasons was par for the course. Still, there came a day when even he had to flee in the face of superior numbers and strength.
He could remember clenching his fist in hatred as he hid and laid low within the dense foliage of Petalburg Woods. He could still remember the screams of his wife and the cries of his daughter as he witnessed how they were murdered before his very eyes. It was the work of his enemies.
They did all of that for a very laughable reason. They just wanted to replace his position as one of the top hitmen currently listed in the rankings of Hoenn's underworld. The entire affair felt like one big joke, because he was already making plans to retire for good and to spend the rest of his life as just another ordinary man. All he wanted was to leave the underworld for good and be a good husband and father.
Now, even that one simple wish was robbed from him.
He had fought desperately to escape the ambush. Now, he only has three pokemon left: zangoose, claydol, and medicham. He remembered clenching his teeth in burning vengeance, swearing to himself as he hid within a huge thick bush to escape the notice of his pursuers.
He has to make it out alive. It will never be too late to get his revenge as long as he lives. For his wife, his daughter, and his pokemon companions who sacrificed themselves to allow him to escape. He will eradicate them from the face of the earth and pay back to them tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousand times more than what they had inflicted to his family and him.
"There he is! Get him!"
Unfortunately, his hiding spot was ultimately found by his enemies. He dragged his injured and beaten body and continued to run. He had promised to enact vengeance for his family but for that to happen he has to first escape and survive, then get stronger to make that plan a reality. As it is, he couldn't even put up a decent fight against his pursuers even if he could easily do so under normal circumstances.
He fled towards the direction of Petalburg City, hoping to lose his pursuers by blending into the crowd if he managed to reach his destination. That wasn't bound to be, however, as he was eventually surrounded and boxed in from all sides by the very same people who killed his family and pokemon companions right before his very eyes. There was no escape, no hope left in being able to see the sun rise again the very next day, but vengeance still burns strong in his eyes. He is the top hitman of Hoenn and he's not going down without a fight. If he has to die today, he will drag as many people as he can down to hell.
"I was wondering who or what was making the pokemon on my farm so restless. If you guys came here to have a gang fight, I'm afraid that you have come to the wrong place."
The words of an unfamiliar stranger that nobody noticed until he announced his presence had everyone turned their heads towards the source of that voice. It was the first time he met the then leader of the noble Vera Family, Azer Vera.
"Oh fuck off! Get out of here or we will kill you too!"
The man who interrupted the fight merely looked unimpressed at the threat. He pointed to a nearby fence which was already in shambles when some of the pursuers had unknowingly destroyed it earlier during the chase. It seemed that they had perhaps exited the Petalburg Woods without knowing it and stumbled onto some private land at some point. That was confirmed by that man's next words.
"This is the Vera Farm and I am the owner of this place. You wish to kill me on my own land? Think again."
The linoone beside the man hissed threateningly after hearing its master's words. That was enough to signal the start of one huge messy deathmatch and he could remember how he tried to rush to the side of the unknown Vera to assist him, not wanting to further implicate anyone else in his own mess. His family and pokemon were already part of the casualty borne out of his own sins, he doesn't need another life to weigh on his conscience.
"Get them, Whiskers."
The linoone was unexpectedly skilled. It's not a species known to possess incredible power but that linoone was more than capable of dealing with most of the pokemon sent to take it down. Things changed when someone released a salamence and he remembered calling out his zangoose to meet it in battle, not wanting this man who was obviously from the Vera family to come to harm. He had already owed him enough.
"Quick, run away before it's too late! I will hold it back!" He remembered shouting to the man behind him but all he received was an amused chuckle from that man.
"For how long? Ten seconds in your current state?" The man laughed as the linoone skidded back to the man's side, unworried at the huge draconic threat that was just released upon them. "I have no idea who you are but thanks anyway, I can still handle a threat of this level."
The man snapped his fingers once and a green blur burst out of the trees to meet the salamence in battle.
"Blades, Dragon Claw."
That green blur was an unbelievably powerful sceptile. In just a few moments it had brought down the salamence from the skies. In just another few seconds, it had swiftly taken down all of their enemies with one masterful slice of Leaf Blade.
So this is the power of the Vera Family, one of the most ancient and noble families of Hoenn who still guards the region today.
He wasn't able to refuse the man's invitation to his home. To be more exact, he wasn't left with another choice after seeing just how powerful that sceptile was and that Vera wasn't actually giving him an option despite being so awfully polite. The Vera actually brought his bloodied and battered self back to his own home as though he's bringing back another guest.
The Vera lent him a bathroom to wash up and gave him a spare change of clothes to change into. After he was done, Azer introduced him to his family.
"This is my wife, Elena. My son is out for the moment, probably making another trip to the pokemon center again… Now that I think about it, he's been making frequent trips to that place. Maybe he finally found a woman that he's interested in," the man mused and talked to himself as Elena greeted him with a smile. "Wait, I don't think we have yet to introduce ourselves to each other. My name is Azer Vera, yours?"
"Dalton Bekker," he replied truthfully.
"Oh? That sounded awfully similar to one of the top hitmen in the underworld."
"That's me," Dalton admitted honestly. This is the man who saved his life, so he didn't see a need to hide certain things from him.
"Is that so? What's your plan going forward?"
"I…" Dalton hesitated, and it was then he realised he had no idea what he should do for the foreseeable future other than enacting vengeance for his family and pokemon. The people which Azer Vera defeated earlier were just one small group out of a larger one, the organisation which ordered the deaths of his family and pokemon still exists.
"They killed my wife, my daughter, and my pokemon," Dalton replied in silent fury, fists clenched and body tensed. "I will make them pay."
"I don't want to rain on your parade, my man, but if what happened earlier was any indication I don't think it's going to be easy even for you."
"I know! But… But-!"
To this day Dalton remembered very clearly the agitation he felt but at the same time, could also very clearly remember the helplessness permeating his body because Azer was right. How could he take on that entire organisation who murdered his entire family when he was already having trouble dealing with just a fraction of its strength?
Maybe this is karma. He had been a hitman for all his life, killing and working for the highest bidder. Now, it's his turn to experience what the loved ones of his victims had felt.
"Tell you what," Azer broke the silence as he drank a sip of the tea in his cup as Elena excused herself from the room to leave them alone to their discussion. "I can help you, if you don't mind."
"In exchange?" Dalton asked, knowing that nothing in this world is ever for free. However, if this man can really assist him to take revenge on the people who took away from him the people who he loved most, he wouldn't even care if they asked for his soul in exchange.
"Work for me."
A pact was made that day. One week later, Hoenn's underworld was short of another powerful underground group and Dalton's hands were stained red with blood for the very last time. Dalton was content. There's nothing else that he would ask for now that he had his revenge and closure.
Azer introduced him to his son not long after. From what Azer told him, Azer's son was recently forced to retire from ACE from a crippling injury and also left him with only two pokemon left. It's a cruel fate for any trainer to see their pokemon die before their very own eyes, so Dalton understood why Griff was acting so snappy towards anyone and everyone. He's still grieving.
"This is my son, Griff. Griff, this is Sebastian. He will be working for us from today onwards."
Sebastian, that is the new identity Dalton decided to go by after he swore himself to Azer and to the Vera Family. Azer was the one who gave him a new lease of life and the person who granted him his desire for vengeance. For that alone, he pledged to serve the Vera Family and them only until the end of his life.
Picking a new name to signify the start of his new life just seemed like the fitting thing to do.
Griff barely gave Sebastian a glance, but acknowledged him with a dismissive grunt anyway before heading out. Elena called out after her son as he left, reminding him not to be late for dinner that night which Griff promised to be there on time.
"Forgive him, he had been through a little too much as of late. He will recover eventually, he always does," Azer apologised to Sebastian on his son's behalf, but there's no mistaking the proud yet doting look of a parent in his eyes. Azer was right. Once Griff had gotten over his mourning he started to act as the future leader of the Vera Family as he's supposed to be. Sebastian continued to serve the Vera Family as their trusted butler, serving them to the best of his capabilities and witnessing the change in the family as the years passed in the blink of an eye.
Lady Elena passed away, Young Master Griff got married and had a son. Master Azer's hair started to turn whiter and whiter and everything suddenly seemed too soon when Master Azer couldn't even get out of his bed anymore, being too sick to do so. Sebastian wanted to do something, anything, but yet clearly understood that there's nothing he could do to help his master.
"I still cannot bring myself to rest peacefully, Sebastian," Azer lamented with a sigh as Sebastian carefully supported his master to sit up on his bed and lean on the headrest so that he could look outside the window which overlooks the vast land of the Vera Farm outside. "Griff is bright, but he's still not ready. There's still so much that I haven't had the opportunity to teach and pass on to him."
"Master…"
"Can I entrust him to your care?" Master Azer turned to face him with that same smile Sebastian remembered seeing on the very first time they met. "He can be quite a handful, but it seems that being a father has done some good for him and have him learn the meaning of responsibility."
"I will do my very best," Sebastian promised as he forced himself to not show his tears, his resolve already made a long time ago when he had sworn his allegiance to this man and his family. "Young Master Griff, Young Lady Hanna, Young Master Vance; I will lay down my life for them."
"Thank you, Sebastian. No words can express how grateful I am to have met you."
"Those are my words, Master Azer."
Master Azer passed away a few months later, but not before laying out what needed to be done and leaving behind the secrets that Young Master Griff needed to know before he could become a qualified leader of the Vera Family like his father was. Young Master Griff then became Master Griff and once he was finally a splendid successor that his father knew he would be, Sebastian knew that the final job Master Azer entrusted him to complete was done.
Sebastian then chose to leave Petalburg and contribute to serving the Vera Family as their representative in Master Griff's place. One day, he received a call from Master Griff.
"A baby girl?"
The excitement and joy in Master Griff's voice was tangible even through the phone. Lady Hanna was pregnant with a second child and this time, it seemed to be a girl. However, fate had apparently decided to play a cruel joke on the young lady when she finally came into this world.
"Were you able to find any other doctors who might… Dr Warf? Alright, it's worth a shot."
Young Lady Velda was born with such a sickly body that it was a miracle she wasn't a stillborn. In the years that followed Master Griff and Lady Hanna had seeked out every renowned doctor in the region who they could possibly find but their diagnosis were all the same. Young Lady Velda wouldn't live past fifteen years of age, and that was the most optimistic estimate being given. She could easily die at any time for the smallest of reasons.
Sebastian had seen his young lady in secret during the few visits he made to Petalburg over the years, staying out of sight and out of detection. She looked a lot like her mother, she's blessed with almost everything one could ask for but the only thing that she wasn't blessed with was a healthy body. She had everything yet nothing at the same time, because the things that she was blessed with since birth would easily disappear if her illness suddenly acted up and took her life.
It's a very cruel fate for a girl so young.
Still, life goes on and the world continues to spin on its axis. Things started to get better for the Vera Family. Even the young lady had finally grown healthy enough to be able to go on her own journey as a pokemon trainer and would you look at it, she even managed to emerge as the runner-up in her Ever Grande Conference.
Master Azer would be so proud if he could see this. Knowing him, he would have probably spoiled his granddaughter rotten if he had lived long enough to witness Velda's birth.
"I need you to slowly start handing your work to somebody else. I need you back for something that I can trust only you to do."
Master Griff called him over back to Petalburg one fine day. Over these years Sebastian had diligently worked as the face of the Vera Family so that Master Griff could spare the time and attention in raising his children, especially during the years when Young Lady Velda's health was at its worst. Now that the young master and young lady had finally grown up and were starting to leave the protection of their parents to walk their own individual paths, it seemed that Master Griff had finally decided to take a more active role in managing the family's business. It's a change that Sebastian welcomed.
"You know, I wish that I could keep my girl by my side forever. She's so prone to getting herself into trouble of epic proportions and sometimes I just wish that I could just let her continue to be ignorant of the family's business and dealings, but she values her freedom too much. Restricting her freedom would only just make her hate me. Can't let that happen now, can I?"
"You mean…?"
"She has made her choice and as her father, the only thing I can do is to support her the best I can. But Hanna has a point, we are starting to get really sick of learning how our girl had almost come to harm or nearly died or something along those lines. I need someone that I can trust to watch her and be by her side where Hanna and I cannot, and I also need someone to teach her the things she will need to eventually learn as a member of the family. There are things that she can no longer afford to be ignorant about now that she has decided to be more involved with the family's affairs."
"It will be done," Sebastian promised with a bow, having understood the new assignment that Master Griff just gave him. It will be a nice change of pace, to finally be able to personally serve a member of the Vera Family once more just like how he had served by Master Azer's side a long time ago.
"And let me know if any boys get too close to her or if she takes a shine to anyone. No matter what Hanna says, my little girl is too young to be dating just yet."
Sebastian wisely chose not to comment on Master Griff's overprotective tendencies whenever it concerns his daughter.
He accompanied Young Master Vance to Unova and he finally had the chance to interact with the young lady. She impressed him in many ways, having overcome difficulties that would have made any lesser person losing hope in life. She's a fast learner, a diligent student, a caring trainer, and had all the qualities needed to be a qualified successor as well should she ever decide to try becoming one. She's overly independent and seems to dislike being over reliant on anybody else, something which he attributed to her unpleasant experience of being confined to a sickbed in her younger years and had no choice but to have someone assist her in almost everything. Like her father had said, she values her freedom highly, and so as a professional butler he made an effort to give her the space and freedom she needs.
Although he only finally understood what Master Griff meant when he said that the young lady was very prone to getting herself into trouble of epic proportions. Being attacked not even a month into arriving at Unova, the encounter with an ancient volcarona which would have meant certain demise were she any less skilled as a trainer; such encounters were rare to be on the receiving end of to begin with and yet she had already experienced it all. He wasn't even including the list of things she had already experienced in Hoenn and in Indigo.
Now, it seemed that she had gotten herself into trouble again.
Low body temperature but increased heart rate, unresponsive to external stimuli but high brain activity detected. Her breathing was so slow yet it seemed that she was able to take in a much greater quantity of oxygen with each breath as compared to before. She's constantly breaking out into a cold sweat as if in extreme discomfort no matter how much Flannery helped to wipe her down. Sebastian had witnessed quite a number of unexplainable things before but none of it could quite explain just what had happened to her.
He had immediately teleported to Opelucid City when Young Master Vance's girlfriend had requested his aid. They had managed to get Velda medical treatment in time but the symptoms which she was showing baffled even the doctors. Nobody had ever seen such a drastic change in the human body in such a short timeframe.
Furthermore, whatever operation the interpol and the Unova League had planned to reduce Team Plasma to size seemed to have backfired in the worst way possible, because from what he currently knows the Unova League had suffered great losses in each of the four cities which they had originally planned to destroy the Team Plasma bases. Opelucid was frozen over, the Unova League lost a Gym Leader and one entire legion of their elite forces at Icirrus, they also lost Gym Leaders at Striaton and Nacrene when Team Plasma revealed just how many Ability Holders they possess in their army, with each of them capable of utilising Resonance. It may be a very crude and unrefined manner of using Resonance, but Team Plasma has massive armies of such people. The threat that they posed is not something that anyone can possibly ignore.
Maybe it would be best to immediately send the young lady back home as soon as possible. She's not in a state where she could contribute any further to the interpol's cause and the situation in Unova had taken a turn for the very worst in the short span of a single day. Flannery is also still beating herself up for not being there to protect Velda from whatever had caused her to turn out like this.
In fact, he was so close to making a call to Master Griff back in Hoenn to update him about this situation and also to inform him about his opinion, that it would be best to send Young Lady Vera back to Hoenn with immediate haste. Unova is currently too unsafe for her, or just anyone in general. They just lost three Gym Leaders to those religious fanatics. To put it even more bluntly, even he is starting to doubt if the Unova League could continue to exist beyond the end of the month, as unbelievable as that sounded. Just the presence of the powerful tactical weapon that froze Opelucid over, now known as the Plasma Frigate, is a threat so powerful that it could easily neutralise Gym Leaders with a single blast of its cannon. It was a miracle that Flannery returned back alive at all.
He would really have made that call back home if it wasn't for Looker's unexpected arrival. He took one look at his young lady who was still lying on the bed, put two fingers on her wrist to read her pulse, before stating his diagnosis.
"It's her ability at work. She will wake up eventually."
Flannery, who had been sitting on a nearby chair with her head hung low in guilt, finally raised her head.
"Explain."
"My teacher is also an Ability Holder with a ghost-inclined ability. I had never seen it myself, but she had told me before about something that is unique to ghost-inclined Ability Holders which she referred to as "Devouring". This is exactly what is happening to Vel right now."
"Devouring?"
"When two ghost-inclined Ability Holders are within close vicinity of each other and one of them dies, Devouring will occur. As long as two ghost-inclined Ability Holders are in close proximity to each other it is an automatic process that will happen with or without the Ability Holder's consent once one party is dead. Till this day, nobody knows what triggers this process, how the abilities were devoured, or why this even exists at all. All my teacher was certain of was that this only applies to ghost-inclined Ability Holders, and that the person who devoured the abilities of the deceased will be forced to inherit all of the deceased's abilities. Through this method, theoretically speaking, the party who devoured could possess more than one ability. Low body temperature, extreme discomfort, increased heart rate, unresponsiveness to external stimuli, followed by a high fever; these are all symptoms which my teacher had shared with me and said will occur when a ghost-inclined Ability Holder is in the process of devouring the abilities of another. If things really happen as my teacher described Devouring to be, Velda will be having a very high fever soon. It's the only symptom left that hasn't appeared."
"So she met another ghost-inclined Ability Holder?"
"And most likely, killed him as well," Looker added with a grim nod. "From the looks of it I wouldn't be surprised if the other party had more than one ability, probably through devouring the abilities of his victims. I heard that this process is a painful one and with every ability consumed it will cause the party absorbing it to become more and more "ghost-like", so to speak."
"Will this have any adverse effects on the young lady?" Sebastian asked, to which Looker slowly shook his head in reply.
"I have no idea. I am more inclined to think that there shouldn't be any issue, but we wouldn't know for sure until she wakes up. At the very least, her life is not under threat right now, so rest easy. There will be changes to her body once the Devouring is done. It might be obvious visible changes, it might also be not. However, we should keep in mind that ghosts are a part of the Mind Arts Trio, so do be mentally prepared for the possibility of her behaving out of character and having violent tantrums or irrational bouts of anger after she wakes up. There's no telling if this will or will not have an effect on her mind."
"What kind of effects are we looking at here specifically?" Flannery asked.
"Have you ever seen the worst in ghosts?" Looker replied to her question with another. "That's the worst-case scenario we are looking at. Of course, the chances of the worst-case happening is low, but it will always be a possibility."
"You said that she will be more and more "ghost-like", and by that you meant…?"
"Recklessness, vengefulness, viciousness, callous disregard for life, lack of regard for personal safety, the reluctance to abide by the rules and seeking to overcome them through loopholes, these are just a few out of many common behaviours seen in ghosts. Most likely, one or few of the abovementioned traits will be more pronounced in her when she wakes up. As to whether that will be a permanent or temporary thing, again, I cannot say for sure."
"So you're telling me that the only thing that we can do now is to wait and see?" Flannery asked through gritted teeth, obviously not liking the idea that there's nothing that they can do.
"Unfortunately, yes," Looker said with a sigh as he made his move to exit the room, leaving Sebastian and Flannery to continue to keep a vigil by Velda's bedside. As much as Looker wishes to join, he cannot. There are still many things for him to personally oversee after the unexpected turn in events.
At the end of the day, ignorance was their downfall. Everyone knew that Team Plasma had a huge army, but nobody expected Team Plasma to have such a huge and powerful military force. The Plasma Frigate, the army of pseudo-Ability Holders that turned out to be much more powerful and numerous than their initial estimate, and the revival of five genesects. The only good news that turned out from this was that Volkner and co were able to retrieve the genesects so hopefully, something could be done to get the genesects fighting for their cause instead. Mary is still working on the genesects' reprogramming as he speaks.
The biggest threat, in Looker's opinion, would be the unknown airship referred to as the Plasma Frigate. The existence of that ship was not known to anyone until today.
"How's it?" Looker asked the moment he's back in the meeting room where everyone was busy with helping out in the investigations.
"Not good," Volkner frustratedly combed his fingers through his messy yellow hair. "The castle popping up at the League headquarters is one thing, but that castle cannot possibly hold their entire army. There must be other places that they use to retreat to and hide. Can't pinpoint a plausible location as to where on earth they had disappeared to. It's like they disappeared into thin air."
"Secret Power, maybe?" Norman suggested. "It was what Team Magma and Team Aqua used to evade detection back in Hoenn."
"That's actually… possible," Volkner agreed after some thought. "But the only person who I know has a pokemon who can use that move is now lying on the bed with no idea when she would wake up."
"Velda's pokemon knows how to use Secret Power?" Now it's Norman's turn to be surprised. This was not a tidbit of information that he was let on into.
"Weren't you her teacher- Oh, wait, now I remember, she told me that her knowing Secret Power was supposed to be a secret. Uh… you didn't hear this from me?"
"I think it's too late for that now," Jasmine chastised her husband, "but we may need Velda's pokemon to help us if Secret Power was indeed what Team Plasma used to make their unexplainable getaway."
"I don't want to be that guy, but don't you guys think that things really aren't looking too good? As in, it doesn't feel like the Unova League is going to be able to continue existing now that three of their Gym Leaders are suddenly dead, the strongest one still lying in the ICU together with the Champion," Akamu piped up. His words made the atmosphere in the room turn solemn in an instant.
"Yeah, and let's not forget that they have a freaking flying airship that could easily defeat or even kill a Pillar with one shot and freeze an entire city over in a matter of minutes," Skye muttered darkly.
"Locating and destroying that frigate will be our topmost priority," Looker emphasised. "Nova, any updates?"
"It was last seen flying towards the northern end of the region. Volkner's porygon-z is still working on estimating the routes it could have taken but nothing had come up," Nova shook her head in a negative. "Honestly, there's too little for us to work on."
"Feels like the only thing we can do is to wait for them to make their next move before we can do something about them," Volkner sighed tiredly. "The Resonance thing though, is there a way to bypass that bullshit powerup?"
"Kill the trainer and Resonance will automatically cease, I've verified that in Striaton City when the army of pseudo Ability Holders made their assault," Norman spoke up. "It also seems that not every Ability Holder within their ranks is proficient in it, many of them need time to… "charge up", for the lack of a better word, before they can activate Resonance for their pokemon."
"So as long as we don't give them time to prepare, we can take them down before they activate that Resonance crap?"
"That's the gist of it."
"Wow, wonderful," Volkner remarked sarcastically. "As if they would be stupid enough to "charge up" right in the open for us to stop them."
Nobody had a clue despite their best efforts to identify any new leads that might aid them in their investigations. It's like what Volkner said, the only thing that they can do now is to wait for Team Plasma to make their next move before they can do something.
Unova is in a very precarious position, and only time will tell if it will be able to remain in existence after the huge loss they recently suffered.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Clefairy (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male
Azer Vera, deceased, Male, Previous head of the Vera Family
Elena Vera, deceased, Female, Wife to Azer Vera
Dalton Bekker (Sebastian), Age: ?, Male, Butler of the Vera Family
1) Zangoose
2) Claydol
3) Medicham