Chapter 11: Deal With A Demon

(Alright, here comes the next arc. With the way these are going, the story should be about 38 chapters long. Hopefully more people will start enjoying the story as well.)

{Rui's Point of View}

Cray and I arrived at the rendezvous point. Upon arriving, he asked me to talk to him alone where no one else will hear. I just couldn't believe it. It's entirely my fault. I allowed myself to feel love and because of that, they know. How many others know? I didn't even feel Margrev access my mind to begin with! Who else could have? Did Aura know from the start or is she able to affect me emotionally without my knowledge? Cray must have noticed my panicked expression and held my shoulder, "Stop. Relax. Only Margrev can access your mind without your knowledge. She's able to do that with anyone who's born into the Gardevian Estate. Without the blessing, she saw exactly what you've been up to and why you are doing it." I calmed down a little bit and felt guilty for doubting my feelings for Aura and her integrity. Cray continued, "Look, you're not wrong to be paranoid. You're not wrong to question things in your life. Unlike the rest, you are human. You can't see into the minds of others, nor can you manipulate emotions. Maybe one day you could though." I picked my head up and gave him a puzzled look, "Cray... I don't understand. Why am I able to use psychic abilities?"

Cray stared at me for a bit before sighing and looking away, "I guess I might as well spill everything. All the humans in the Estate have their powers locked away. Their Gardevian Ancestry gives them the ability to use psychic and fairy powers. This and every other estate have their ways of sealing powers." I asked, "How is this even possible?" Cray frowned, "This needed to be possible... at least in their eyes. Humans were not meant to gain powers. That's their mindset but like everything else, they found a way to make this useful to them." I felt even more confused, "How deep does this Cinderace hole go?" Cray continued, "There's a reason our kind have different gowns. It shows many things, including how much respect they have earned. There's a reason brown gowned Gardevians exist. Humans were just the perfect test subjects for them. Once the Nobles and Matriarch learned how to do it, they then practiced on those who've committed transgressions against them. This has helped solidify the order of power within the ranks. Otherwise, many would try and kill each other outright. Being a human's servant is something so demeaning it helped make sure weaker entities would stay in check." I remember the servants, "We treated them so kindly... I guess in their hearts they must have still hated us." Cray lowered his voice, "There's also one more thing we need to do." I whispered back, "What? What more do we need to do?" Cray looked around to make sure no one was trying to listen in, "There's also one hybrid sealed away near here. I want you to bust him out. If you do, he'll be a big help to you." I asked, "Hybrid sealed away? Never heard of that. Why the hell would they seal him away?" Cray shrugged, "I don't have the faintest idea why. All I know is supposedly he was sealed away and forgotten there. How long? Long enough to be forgotten by many. That alone should make it more... likely for him to join on our terms." I thought about it, but it bugged me, "This seems pretty fishy."

Cray sighed, "And here I thought you were a badass human." I got mad, "Don't try to play me." Cray laughed, "Play you? I'm just trying to help you. Another ally for you is a better outcome than to not make one at all. He's sealed regardless, you don't have to free him." I could tell he has his mind made up, "Alright, when should I go?" Cray said, "Now. He'll probably be helpful in finding Angel. If not, he'll be able to handle her." I felt a little better knowing that possibility. He texted me the coordinates and said he'll be setting up base camp with our kind. I went towards the coordinates, finding a ruined army base. I say ruined, but more like in disrepair. Some of the dates listed around the property puts it back at least two hundred years. Just abandoned and left to rot. They must have really wanted to forget what's left here. Some of the doors are unable to open. It appears a fire type melted the metal around the edges to create an airtight seal. Some of the open buildings contained nothing of use. Nothing but ash and human bones littered them. If this is a lab, then they must have murdered the scientists and burned their research to the ground. Surprisingly, a single generator was spared of the cleansing flames. It worked for a couple seconds but needed gasoline. Gasoline isn't very common to find nowadays, but one of their supply caches in the base might have some if it wasn't burnt to the ground nor sealed. After some hours, I found a canister with enough gas to fill the generator. My phone went off and I noticed it was Aura wishing me a good day and saying she loved me. I didn't smile, I didn't want to lose the blessing right now, but I quickly replied with I love you too. The doors next to the generator opened revealing itself to be an elevator. Inside were several Pokémon corpses decayed to bones. In dried, fading blood, the word 'Traitor' is painted. I got in and hit the lowest floor possible. As it went down, I suddenly felt the air get heavier. The light in the elevator flicker and the corpses one moment had their flesh and blood with hollow eyes. I ignored it and waited for the elevator doors to open. Torches lit with Fey Fire lit up the dark corridor ahead. Seeing the fey fire made me incredibly uncomfortable. I looked at my arm for a moment before continuing on.

Eventually I reached a large circular room with what looked like a cage on one end. A bright hexagram lit up and created a barrier keeping whatever is in the cage trapped within. A very dark voice greeted my ears, "Oh... Hello." The darkness within the cage seemed to move forward as whatever this being within the cage approached me, "Does my eyes deceive me? After so long. Someone new came to visit. Hah. Hah. Hah." His eyes and grin shone dimly in the darkness. A dark violet with a grin stretching from ear to ear. I decided to ask, "Who are you?" A cane with a color reflecting his eyes formed from the darkness. He leaned forward against it, "I? I am a prisoner. Can't you tell?" I asked, "Why is that?" The grin widened, a sound of cracking followed suite, "The answer depends on who wants to know. Are you someone here to free me? Are you someone here to kill me? I highly recommend not being the latter. Trying and dying is hardly good in that matter." I looked at the Pentagram, "You must have been here for a long time." He chortled, "Much longer than you could believe. Even that base is like a newborn in comparison." How did he know about the base? His grin shifted to a smile, "Your eyes can betray many things... one of my favorite things is learning what has transpired outside my own vision. Just by looking at yours, I can see many things. Even things you cannot feel." I flinched, looking at his smile and feeling evermore intrigued. "Are you a hybrid?" He tilted his head in confusion, "Hybrid?" he asked in a low growl. I nodded, "Yes, a Hybrid. A human hybrid has a human female and a male Pokémon parent." He snickered evilly, "I'm not really interested in this. If you must know though... I am not your normal average run of the mill hybrid. I do not even consider myself one." I decided this conversation was not going to answer my questions... at least not how I'd like them to be. I said to him, "Releasing you must have some sort of benefit for me." A flash of interest lit his eyes up as his grin came back, "Yesss... There is... uh..." I told him my name, "Rui. Interesting name. Not one I would think you'd have but apart from that, who cares. Rui, we can make a deal. I want freedom... and you look like you are in need of a friend. I can be your chum, your friend, your bum. Anything you need, I can guarantee I'll at least try. Psychos, Bandits, Murderers and more, I'll be by your side until they are gone." I replied, "I'm thinking about it, but I need to know for my own peace of mind." He still grinned, closing his eyes and sighing, "I came to be despite no guarantee. My father was their original intent, summoning without a request. The girl happy as can be, only to die all thanks to me. Fearing for their life, as if I'm a living knife. They sealed me away, without letting me live not one single free day. So, Rui. With my freedom, I must make this deal. I can tell from your eyes; you know how it'd feel. To continue living trapped, please don't go back. I'll be on your side til the end, one way... Or another." I stared at him, thinking about it before saying, "I don't know." He stood up straight, allowing the light to cast his shadow, revealing it to reflect as if light is passing through his eyes and mouth. It looked like a demon... Fitting for him. "I'll even give you a longer life span. Think about it. I'll be your friend until you die. I'll keep you and your loved ones safe as can be. I have no reason to even lie. Just please, save me." I noticed a hint of desperation in his eyes, even with the demonic look, I could tell. I moved to place my hand on the seal, "Alright, you've got a deal." He said, "Wait!" I paused my hand, "Don't touch the hexagram." He extended a shadowy claw-like hand from the bars, "Shake."

I grabbed his hand. We shook hands and the entire room started to shake as the torches went out and darkness consumed everything. I looked around in a panic until I heard some footsteps. I turned to see a demonic entity walking towards me slowly shifting to a slightly taller, skinny humanoid... person? The same violet eyes and wide grin with pale skin and short violet hair with a top hat. I asked, "Why the Top hat?" His eyes looked around before smiling, "I thought it'd be ridiculous enough to make you feel less scared. After all." He leaned in, grinning evilly with a slightly demonic expression before pulling back with a happy smile, "Why would I want to scare my new friend?" I felt a bit better, "So, who's your dad?" He rolled his eyes, "I do not have a dad. They tried to summon Giratina... instead their petty, poorly made summoning created me. I am a demon. A demon hellbent on freedom and now that I have it..." He lowly growled and sung, "When we fight... I'm gonna make them wish that I was gone... With devilish might. When I'm done... they're going to make sure to turn and run. Oh lord, won't that be fun." I then realized I never asked, "What's your name?" He thought to himself for a moment, "Hm... don't have one! Just call me... Abaddon." He raised his cane and tapped it on the floor making a dark portal appear, "Come chum, let's leave this place and reach the surface. I've never seen the sun."

When we appeared on the surface, I fell from the portal and felt like something jumbled my organs. Despite trying not to, I puked, and Abaddon walked out beside me and said, "Sorry, it's not so bad once you get used to it." He took in a breath of fresh air and said, "AH! That feels really good! I'll admit I was worried I'd burst into flames at the sight of the sun or worse." I looked at him angrily, "Are you stupid or something!? If you thought that's possible then why'd you risk it?" He chuckled, glancing at me with his happy grin, "What's life without a little risk?" He tapped his cane on the ground, snickering, "I'll enjoy learning more about this world..." I walked by him, "You want to learn, that's fine but right now let's just get to where I need to be." He cheerily walked besides me, spinning his cane with his signature grin, "Alright Chap, let's get to business. I haven't gotten a chance to taste some blood in a long time."

It took us a while; I could have asked for him to make a portal... but I really didn't want to puke again. When we showed up, my brother looked at Abaddon but didn't react initially. One of the sisters tried to attack only to have their wrist grabbed by Cray, "Don't do anything stupid." Abaddon smirked, "Yes. You don't want to create an unnecessary enemy." Cray looked at me, "All good?" Before I could reply, Abaddon walked up to Cray and forcefully shook his hand, "Abaddon is the name. Assisting in matters is my game! As this man's friend, I am here to assist. With my power I'll prevent an unfortunate end, while giving the adversaries' arms a twist." When Abaddon let go, he wiped his hand on his shirt, "It's quite the pleasure to meet you all." The sisters didn't look very happy but accepted it because Cray did. I did notice some of them looking at me with hints of distrust. Abaddon noticed and whispered to me, "There's always the kill them option." I scoffed, "No, we're not doing that. They're family." Some of them heard that, their gaze reflecting regret. Cray stepped in, "Everyone here is for the best of our kind. Remember that." One of the sisters rejected this, "No, we're here because our leader is being strong armed." Cray looked at her, "And as her followers, we are meant to handle these ordeals. If that's not good enough." Cray walked towards her threateningly, "I can give you a much better reason to do this." He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her, "Your life... or better yet... I could rip away EVERYTHING that makes you one of us. I will make you bear the gown of shame and toss you to the very servants you mistreated... and I'll enjoy watching them return your cruelty in kind. Does THAT change your attitude my dear sister?" The sister initially struggled but once the threat of being brown gowned met her ears, her arms slumped and grunted in submission. Satisfied with her silence as compliance, Cray put her down and let her go. She backed away, rubbing her neck and frowning. She didn't look angry... she respected him. I couldn't stop myself from shaking my head in annoyance.

Cray took charge and told everyone to come together. Abaddon made some of the sisters uncomfortable, but they still tried to focus on Cray's instructions. He pulled out a map and pointed towards several areas, "The slavers were killed in this general area. I want you sisters to search for bodies to extract info from. They might be too far gone to retrieve anything, but better to try than never to bother. Me and Rui along with his 'friend' will inspect the main slaver area. There might be tracks or other useful pieces of information there. If we can pinpoint Angel's next movements, we can find her and stop her." I asked, "What do we do when we find her?" Cray replied quickly, "I'd say kill her, but Margrev wants her back alive. She wants to interrogate her." Something about that made me wonder what the hell is really going on. Margrev wanting to personally interrogate someone is extremely odd. Why bother interrogating anyone when you can literally rip their memories out of them? I know for a fact he meant it this way too; we know how to talk about our kind. Something about this just reeks of wrong.

- One Hour Later -

Over the next hour, we commenced with the plan and investigated the area. As we worked together, I found myself talking with Cray about something I've wondered, "Hey Cray. Why is it there are so many females when it comes to our kind?" Cray gave me a weird look, "What do you mean by that?" I clarified, "After leaving, I thought back to the Estate a lot. One thing I've wondered is why are there so many female Gardevoirs compared to male? It sounds crazy I bet, but there's a noticeable difference." Cray nodded, "Ah. That. Well, you know a male Kirlia can evolve into either a Gardevoir or a Gallade right?" I did remember this, "Yes, but shouldn't the number of males in general be near identical to the females?" Cray replied, "Correct, in a perfect world. To become a Gallade there is another requirement. They need to find a Dawn Stone. If a male Kirlia wishes to find one, they are released in areas, typically in groups, to find these stones. They are not allowed to return until they are Gallades. A little more than half of Male Kirlias choose to participate and only twenty percent or less come back as Gallades. The others all die." I looked at him a little shocked, "That'd mean roughly 40% or more males are being killed. What about the ones that choose not to?" Cray said, "Those typically are too timid or scared to try and survive this ordeal. They evolve and become mates or other things." I asked, "But why are there still so few males in the estate? I have seen more outside the estate." Cray shrugged, "Usually it's the same reasons I left. Males don't like the treatment of humans after a while. Not because they feel bad per se, but it gets tiring after a while. With less males, females just use more and more human males as... comfort mates. Females like sex and with so little males of our kind around they just turned to the humans since they're needed for breeding stronger children to begin with." I then asked, "Did... you ever consider telling Silvia to stop?" Cray froze for a second before sighing, "No. It's not my place to." I looked down angrily, "Oh..."

Abaddon spoke up, "Wow. This is such great world building you're both doing." I looked at him, "Oh shit, I forgot you were here." Abaddon held something in his hand, "Not just here, also working as a good friend should. Look at what I found." Abaddon handed me a piece of paper. On it is a list of locations, some crossed out and the Gardevian symbol for Angel on the top right corner. One of the locations had a circle around it. I gave it to Cray, "Looks like we have a lead to the next location." As he looked at the note, one of the sisters came to report their findings, "Leader, we've finished looking at the bodies. As expected, their minds have been wiped clean. We've also found some ear drums have been ruptured and some have Aura like damage." Cray raised a brow, "Aura? Like Aura Sphere?" She nodded, "It looks like it. It's extremely strange. Could Angel be getting help?" Cray thought about it, "It's... unlikely... but I'd say there's some chance of that. Still, Aura Sphere is not exactly well known by many types of Pokémon but generic enough amongst them to not warrant direct suspicion." She also added, "There's also evidence Moon Blast and Grass Knot have been used as well." Cray looked even more perplexed, "Moonlit? What the hell is going on? I don't even know anyone in the Estate that is Moonlit..." She then said, "Your dad was." Cray looked agitated, "My dad is dead." She shrugged, "I know. Just stating it." Cray looked at her, a serious expression eying her, "Say what you mean Miori." Miori looked down, not challenging him, "I meant nothing leader. I swear." Cray nodded, "You better. Let's clean this up and get everything ready for the next trip."

Abaddon stood next to me as they walked off. He whispered, "Strange beings." I agreed, "Very strange." He twirled his cane, "Why do you work with them?" I sighed, "Well, I'm one of them." Abaddon leaned on his cane, "Yet they don't treat you as such. Some of the females looked... interested." I shrugged, "It's just the way things are. At least currently." He shook his head in agreement, "Yes, for now. One day they'll truly respect you. Especially with me here." I said, "Thank you Abaddon. You've been a good friend so far." He laughed, "I didn't do much." I stared at the sky for a moment, "... That's still more than most."

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