Chapter 87: Reluctant Alliance

To say Shadow was unhappy with the turn of events was an understatement. He had once more allied himself with humans, each of the three clad in white space suit like outfits, with helmets hiding their features. The terms of their agreement were simple, Shadow would assist them until they no longer needed him, and they would not pursue Blade. Considering violence hadn't curbed their actions until now, he opted for a more peaceful solution.

Though he knew that if they ever broke their end of this agreement.

'Well, humans are rather fragile. More so than even the weakest of pokemon.' He thought as he followed behind the trio. He glanced to his side, Pyre was walking alongside him. The poor charmander's eyes were glowing a deep red, he was under the influence of those EM waves, docile and completely obedient. But to the benefit of most, Shadow could tell it was having the opposite effect than they intended.

Whenever humans used EM waves, it was to control and amplify aggression in pokemon. But aggression wasn't the key to Pyre's power, and thus even under their control he would never be at his full strength.

He glanced around, it had started to rain. Though he could feel it, how artificial the weather was, even as accurate as it was, it made him uneasy. It was just wrong. The Terrarium, as it had been named, was deep underwater, hidden from most of the world, and perfect for what his new compatriots had in mind.

They spotted a boy with purple shoulder length hair, with golden tips in a wooded area by a riverbank. He was dressed in a blue shirt and white shorts. Seemingly a teenager.

"Are you there?" The boy turned around, facing them.

As they passed a tree Shadow glanced at it, nothing was there and yet. He pressed on not thinking further on it.

One of his three companions stepped forth and removed their helmet, revealing their short red hair. Her name was Misty, and something about her had Shadow in a constant state of irritation, he had a deep desire to tear her apart, but as per their agreement, he would do no such thing.

"Well, hello there," she said. "Thanks for, you know, like meeting." She giggled.

Even the way she giggled made Shadow furious.

"What did you make me come here for," the violet haired boy demanded.

Shadow glanced around with his eye, keeping his head still. He felt as though they were being watched.

"You have some explaining to do," snapped one of the other humans, their voice unmistakably male, given its harsh depth. They raised their wrist and displayed a holographic image.

Shadow found it disgusting, the hologram depicted the boy before them and another kissing and embracing rather lewdly.

The boy's eyes widened. "How… how do you know about that."

"We told you we'd be keeping an eye on you," Misty spoke. "But that's not important right now. The point is you lied to us. You told us that you were single, and you weren't dating."

"It wasn't a date," he protested "It was just a hook…"

She cut him off. "I believe our employer was very clear when he hired you. No surprises and no weak points. He needed someone clean and reliable for this. You told us that you were on…"

She was cut off in turn. The boy was visibly irritated and took a step forward. "And that means I can't hook-up with a guy…"

Misty took a step closer to him, glaring at him. "He wasn't interested in you, you dolt. Who would want to fuck you? That boy's name is Goodman. He was a scientist, but he works as a private detective. If he was interested in you, he was likely looking for a lead to our employer. You weren't careful enough."

"Wha-what," the boy gasped. "I-I-I…"

"How much did you tell him? What did you know."

The boy stumbled back and tripped over a rock landing hard in the grass. "I-I just told him that I had a benefactor who had funded part of my research and that I'd had some criticism."

Misty folded her arms. "Anything else."

"N-no…"

"You're lying. Shadow." She snapped her fingers.

Shadow considered ripping her fingers off right then and there. He wasn't a trained dog, but he had agreed to it, and he was one to keep his word.

He hovered forward, closing the distance in seconds and seizing the boy by his hair. He then dragged him to the water's edge. Even as the boy struggled in protest, Shadow brought him close.

"No…NOOO….I swear, I'm telling the truth. I…"

Without warning Shadow dunked his head into the water. He held him there, cruelly watching as the boy thrashed. He paused for a moment having thought he'd heard something. And then a few moments later he pulled the boy up and tossed him onto the grass. Misty stepped closer kicking him.

"Ough…" The boy rolled onto his side and coughed water up, desperate to breathe again.

"Ready to talk now," Misty asked.

"Alright…alright." The boy tried to stand, but Misty kicked him hard in the chest. She put her boot on the back of his neck and pressed down to keep him in place.

"Ahh…You're hurting…"

"What did Goodman ask you about when you slept together? Did he ask you about the project?"

"He…he asked me about my research and who was funding. I just told him that most of the work I did was through the school and that we had some specific funding from the Marco Cosmos. That's public info…ahh. Owww that."

"I'll snap your neck if you don't tell me the truth," She snapped. "Did you talk to him about your findings? About your speech."

The boy was struggling through gritted teeth. "He said my speech to the UN was really brave and that he admired me. I-I-I don't remember everything he said, we'd been drinking at this point. Then he asked if I could give him my opinion on something."

"What was it…"

"I don't know. I-I was pretty keen to get his pants off at that point. He showed me a couple of charts. It had something to do with sea ice in the Galar region and Eiscue populations on route 9. Said he thought it might contradict a statistic I'd mentioned in my speech. I said I'd take a look later. We were making out and I wanted to go further. We got naked; we touched a bit. Then he was on top of me, thrusting his penis against mine. I was getting close to climaxing when he stopped and said something like, admit it's a conspiracy or you don't get to cum. I thought he was only joking. You know to tease me. Ahhh…It's hard to breath." he squirmed. "Please stop."

Shadow was disgusted, he found humans physically repulsive, and to hear such detail, it made him want to vomit.

"And what did you tell him?"

"Ahh…I'd had a bit to drink at that point, and I was horny as fuck. I just said honestly that, while I was sure there was no conspiracy, some of the data had problems. You know, too many weather machines at airports. I also told him I had a friend who worked at the aether Foundation who thought it was all a conspiracy, but his theory was nuts. Like really crazy."

"What did he say," snarled Misty. "Your friend."

"Jeeze, you're really hurting me!"

The boy took a deep breath before continuing. "It was this really deep conspiracy stuff. He thought some shadowy organisation had been scheming for years to create a fake climate disaster. Like really deep conspiracy stuff. He reckoned whoever was behind could influence academia, industry, and politics. I told him. My friend. That what he was saying was wrong and immoral and if he was going to get into conspiracies then I didn't want to be his friend."

Misty considered him for a moment. She eased the pressure on his neck, then asked, "your friend. What was his name."

"I don't know if I should," the boy began to protest, but stopped when he felt Misty reapply the pressure. "Ahh…AHHH…Lyte. His name's Lyte. He's a Pokémon researcher. I haven't spoken to him in over a year."

Lyte. Shadow hadn't heard from him in a while. Now he had something to keep from his new companions.

"When was the last time?"

"Would have been about six months ago. We were out for a milkshake. I wanted to ask him if he wanted to be boyfriends. But all he would talk about was that stupid conspiracy theory. I hated it. It ruined his brain. He told me that a contact of his had found a document in the Galar region. From inside the council of ministers. One word. Skyfall. It just sounded like nonsense, and I told him that."

"That was it," snapped Misty. "And you told Goodman that?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. But I told him it was nonsense. Now please…let me go."

"Hmmm…" After a few tense seconds of, she removed her boot from the boy's neck.

He sighed, slowly sitting up in the grass, too afraid to stand. He looked up at Misty, his eyes bloodshot from crying.

"Wh-what's going on h-here? Is there any truth to this? W-was I hired to perpetuate a hoax... I think I'm entitled to some a-answers! I did every..."

Misty struck him across the face with her fist, cracking his nose, causing it to bleed profusely.

"Owwww."

Misty pulled him to his feet, snapping at him "You think you're entitled. You think you're entitled you whinny brat. We got you into this academy. We ensured that you had the resources to do your research. We set you up to succeed. Not to mention the small untraceable fortune we paid you. You're entitled to nothing. In fact, if anything, you owe us! And you didn't do everything we asked. You let a private detective get you drunk and concupiscent. Seducing you into giving away sensitive information."

"Hey I..." The boy struggled, to form coherent sentences. "I-I-I didn't know I wasn't meant to say any of that."

"You were told our project needed somebody dependable," shouted Misty. "Somebody with a discrete and interesting personal life. Immune to attacks from trolls or the media. And you've done the exact opposite. If that detective was looking into you, it means he has a link to us. And you just handed him a thread on which to pull on."

Human politics were always so tiresome, and Shadow knew exactly where this was going. The boy had become a loose end one he would be asked to tie.

Misty threw him to the ground. "I-I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't k-know!"

"Boys!" snarled Misty. "You're all the same. Impulsive, licentious, and blinded by the privilege your penis affords you. Unable to see the bigger picture. I once knew a boy and his dirty rodent who destroyed my bike. A custom-built bike costing thousands of Poké. Apologising for his stupidity didn't repair my bike, just as your snivelling apology won't undo the damage your little indiscretion caused. Fortunately, we caught this early, and we can stitch the thread before this detective has the chance to pull on it. We have the name, Lyte."

Shadow fought back a chuckle.

"So" the boys voice caught in his throat.

"Unfortunately for you, that concludes the part of the program in which we need you to keep breathing."

His face went pale with terror. "N-no, please, no. D-don't k-k-k...I know I've done wrong, but I'll make it right. D-D-Don't..."

Misty cut him off. "I'll make you a deal. If you can get out of here alive, I'll consider letting you live."

"W-w-w..."

A nasty smile spread across Misty's face. "Better start running." She almost sang the word running.

The boy scrambled to stand and raced off down the path, following the waters edge

Shadow thought he'd heard something, just before he rushed off after the boy. Even running with all he had, the boy couldn't escape, as Shadow came to a stop in front of him, painfully grabbing him with both clawed hands. He had made it far enough that Misty was out of view. "I am sorry." He whispered as he threw the boy back.

Moments later, Misty and the others came rushing up.

"Hmm how pathetic was that," laughed Misty. "This is your life and I'm not convinced you were even trying. Oh well. Pyre!"

Shadow was stunned.

"Charrrr…" The Charmander stepped forth bellowing blue flames from his maw, reducing the boy to ash.

"Shit," a voice came. "Bastards!"

"Wait, what was that." Misty was suddenly looking around wildly. "I heard something."

"I didn't hear anything," one of the other humans spoke.

"Shadow, use detect!"

Shadow has heard the voice as well, multiple times, part of him felt bad, they outed themselves, and now he'd have to deal with them.

"Oh fuck!"

Shadow's single red eye flashed blue for a moment and he snapped his attention to where the voice has come from. He raised his clawed hand, as a beam of black and purple energy shot into a patch of tall grass.

The Interlopers in question were an Inteleon and a Sobble.

"Shit!"

"An Inteleon!"

"Shadow, make sure you kill it," ordered Misty. "Nobody can know about this!"

Inteleon hit the ground and took of as fast as his legs would carry him, with Sobble clinging to him.

"What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO!"

Shadow blitzed after them, though he wasn't entirely giving it his all, if this got out, he and Pyre would be in danger, but they were more likely to escape and survive than those humans.

"We run," replied Tel. "We head back to the elevator and get back to Jacquie. It wasn't far from here."

Shadow chased them along the shore and watched as they ascended a rocky cliff face at equal pace as they had run along the ground.

"Communicator activate," said Tel as he reached the top of the cliff. "This is agent 009 requesting immediate extraction. Code red, I am being pursued by a hostile entity. Repeat code red."

Shadow barely heard him speak.

"I am in the coastal biome of the Terrarium. I should be able to see the entrance point soon!" he turned his head over his shoulder. "Sob, you're looking for a white structure!"

"009 do you copy."

"Loud and clear."

"The extraction team is ready, but you need to get out of the terrarium. Can you manage it?"

"Oh, I can manage."

"Ahhhh." Sobble suddenly screamed. "TELLLL!"

Shadow came over the cliff at high speed stopping almost immediately as he stared down upon them.

"I got this Sob," replied Inteleon as he spun around. "Snipe Shot."

Instantaneously the shot hit Shadow in the chest and it dispersed into a cloud of mist, blinding him. The Interlopers took the opportunity to leap from the cliff.

"TELLLLLL!"

"Hang on sobby," Inteleon shouted over the wind.

The mist dissipated and Shadow came to the cliff's edge, watching them land upon a train and quickly into a tunnel. They had managed to escape.

"Tel, and Sobby. I will remember you, perhaps you will be the keys to saving Blade and Pyre. And myself." He spoke wistfully as he turned back, ready to return to his compatriots.