Chapter 3: Cold, Cold Heart
The next morning Dee got her leg looked at by the outpost's medic, who gave her an antivenom injection just to be safe before bandaging the bite. Dee bought a handful of Stimpacks along with her food and water just in case. She ate breakfast with Alex before she set off again.
As Dee headed for the door, Alex's voice stopped her, "Dee, can I ask you a favor?"
Dee turned back to see the Ninetails-man still staring at his empty breakfast plate, "What kind of favor?"
Alex turned his head to face her, "If you ever find yourself at the Magma Caravan's office north-east of New Lumiose, tell them I want to sell Kitun Caravans. It's just the name at this point but I want to try and get something for it and if I sell the name then at least I can get out of here and maybe go home."
Dee nodded, "I will, I promise." Then she left as Alex ordered another plate.
Dee was almost out of the outpost when a feminine voice called from her right, "Hey, Lucario girl!"
Dee turned, then looked up at the top of the building where the voice had come from and saw a white-scaled Salazzle-woman wearing shades and a wide-brimmed ranger hat looking down at her. "Yeah?" Dee called back.
"Come up here for a minute, ramp's around back," the Salazzle-woman jerked a thumb towards the back of the building, "I want to ask you something without waking the whole camp."
"Too late!" one of the guards on duty snarked back. Both women ignored him as Dee made her way back around the building and up a crude wooden ramp to the roof.
The shiny Salazzle-woman, wearing a ranger's outfit, greeted Dee with an extended hand, "Ranger Ghost."
"Dee," Dee shook Ghost's hand, "What did you want?"
Ghost turned and pointed to the east down the road, "You're a courier, right?" Dee nodded, "I think there's trouble in Coumarine City. No traffic from there on the roads, and while I can explain that away, the smoke from the town I can't."
Dee looked out to the road and shaded her eyes from the morning sun. She'd seen the smoke yesterday and it was still there. "Want me to check it out?"
Ghost nodded, "I'm sure it's been hit, what I need to know is if they survived it. Might be one of the raider gangs with all that smoke up in the air." She turned to Dee, "If there's anyone left they'd be in the Coumarine town hall: go there, check it out, let me know what you find. A sexy Lucario-girl like you can clearly handle herself out there."
Dee could sense the worry emanating from her and nodded, "I'll do it!"
Ghost smiled, "Look at you, all fired up and ready to go. Wish half the troops here had your attitude." She sat down on a chair near the roof edge and picked up the sniper rifle she'd left leaned against the roof wall, "Listen – I don't want you getting killed for this, so if you head in there and run into trouble I'm asking for eyes and ears, not your life. All right?"
"All right," Dee turned to leave as Ghost returned to her watch duty.
The walk down the hill road was much easier on Dee's paws than the walk up and she did her best to keep her back supported. The walk to Coumarine was about as eventful as the walk from Santalune but this time Dee was attacked by a few Rad-Skorupi, larger and more aggressive but nothing she hadn't dealt with before and a few Blaze Kicks was often enough to deal with them. When Dee stopped around noon in the shade of a brick wall, that was all that was left of a building, she was ambushed by raiders and took a few bullets before she was able to kill them so stopped to administer a Stimpack before taking their gear and the few supplies they had stocked on what had once been the house's inside.
Before she continued, Dee stepped back and focused her aura sight on the wall, as Cassandra had taught her, then formed an Aura Sphere in her hands. She focused as hard as she could and fired! But the sphere flew up and struck the top of the wall, still off-target but at least it flew in mostly the right direction this time. She needed more practice.
It was disturbingly quiet as Dee approached the Coumarine City and she paused to look at a pair of yellow banner flags with five-petaled black flowers to either side of the city gate as the smell of fire hit her nostrils. Before she could process that, a cry of joy startled her and she turned to see a Venonat-man (fuzzy human with compound eyes, antenna and white mandibles to either side of his mouth) in a blue shirt and pants come running out from behind the first turn in the street ahead.
On seeing her, the Venonat-man ran right up to her with a gleeful expression on his face and shouted, "YEAH! Who won the lottery? I did!" he took a deep exaggerated breath, "Smell that air! Couldn't ya just drink it like booze!"
Dee took a step back, her eyes wide, "Lottery? What lottery?"
"What lottery?" the Venonat-man sounded like Dee had asked the dumbest question in the world, "The lottery, that's what lottery! Are you stupid? Only lottery that matters! On Arceus smell that air!" He gave a jump for joy then whooped and took off back down the road Dee had just come down. She watched him sprint away for a minute then looked down at the white lottery ticket he had just dropped, with 219 written on it. Dee gulped then walked past the flags and into town, her aura dreads rose as she felt a mix of terror and desperation pouring from within the City.
She didn't have to go far to see something was wrong. Evidence of a battle: spent shell casings, scorch marks from weapons and techniques, recently broken masonry and dead bodies. There were a few civilians and NKR troops, raiders in scrap metal armor and a couple wearing sporting gear repurposed into armor, each with bullet holes or wounds from blades or physical attacks. A wind blew a flurry of lottery tickets down the main street ahead, just like the one the Venonat-man had dropped.
Rounding the corner to the main street subjected Dee to a sight of horror! In the middle of the road was a massive burning pile of tires and on either side of the road dozens of Poke-people were lashed to crude crosses by their hands and feet as they dangled helplessly, lottery tickets scattered everywhere on the road. Dee's aura senses only made things worse as she could feel the resignation, fear, pain and hopelessness pouring off them and even more that lingered in the surrounding city. Before she could even process this, a group of five Poke-People emerged from the side of the tire fire: two Machoke-men, a Hitmonlee-man, a Hitmonchan-man and a Thievul-man wearing goggles in the lead; all wore what looked like repurposed sporting gear for armor and carried swords at their sides made from scrap. Hate and scorn poured off them like poison.
Despite the situation, Dee readied herself for a fight but the Thievul-man put up a hand and spoke in a disturbingly calm voice. "Don't worry, I won't have you lashed to a cross like the rest of these degenerates."
"Who are you?" Dee struggled to maintain her composure under the assault from the waves of contempt, fear and death that surrounded her.
"My old name no longer matters and you may call me Toyotomi Hideyoshi, leader of Nobunga's Shinobi," the Thievul-man spread his arms to indicate the town as if it were a work of art, "It's fortunate that you happened by. I want you to witness the fate of Coumarine City, to memorize every detail. And then, when you move on, I want you to teach everyone you meet the lesson that Nobunaga's Kogun taught here, especially any NKR troops you run across."
Dee took a step back but they didn't advance, "What kind of lesson is this… this… massacre!?" she started to shake.
Hideyoshi rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Where to begin? That they are weak and we are strong? This much was known already. But the depths of their moral sickness, their dissolution? Coumarine serves as the perfect object lesson." He began to pace back and forth, gesturing to various landmarks and the crucified victims as he continued, "This was a wicked place, debased and corrupt. It served all comers, as long as they paid. Mottainer troops, raiders, men of the Kogun such as myself – the people didn't care. It was a town of whores." He smirked and turned back to Dee, which only made her recoil further, "For a pittance, the town agreed to lead those it had sheltered into a trap. Only when I sprang it did they realize they were caught in it too."
Hideyoshi turned and pointed to the tire fire, "We herded them to the center of town. I told them their sins, the foremost being disloyalty. I told them that when Ashigaru are disloyal some are punished, the others made to watch. And I announced the lottery. Each clutched his ticket, hoping it would set him free. Each did nothing, even when 'loved ones' were dragged away to be killed."
"You killed all these innocent people!" Dee felt sick.
Hideyoshi turned to her and laughed mirthlessly, "Innocent? Hardly. Cowardly, though. They outnumbered us yet not once did they try to resist. They stood and watched as their fellows were butchered, crucified and burned, one by one. They stood and hoped their turn would not come. Each cared only for himself."
Dee felt something else from the four fighting types behind Hideyoshi, lust directed at her. It was finally too much for her to bear, senses overwhelmed by the horrible emotions pouring off everything she turned and ran with Hideyoshi's voice calling after her. "I bid you sayonara, till me meet again!"
The Hitmonlee-man stepped forwards, "Hideyoshi, why are we letting her go? Look at her!" he held an arm out towards Dee just before she vanished around the corner, "She's perfect breeding stock: birthing hips, plentiful breasts and a Lucario as well. She could have finally given the Kogun some potential aura masters."
Hideyoshi held up an arm but didn't turn to his subordinate, "Were she here in the town when we delivered judgement and there were more than five of us, perhaps, but we need someone not blinded by elation to spread the message." He turned to the other four, as if sensing their disagreement, "I was there when we subdued the Auras, my plan broke them as we tried to pursue their fleeing young and split their attention so we could win. Lucario are dangerous, even the females and especially when cornered. It's far more likely she would have died or been crippled in the fight then be taken alive and thus a waste of time. But enough, we have to return to Cottonwood Cove and deliver our report. Move out," the Thievul-man motioned for them to move out, heading east.
Dee ran.
She ran through the fading light as fast as she could not caring about the discomfort of her breasts bouncing on her chest, anything to get away from the horrible feelings, sights and smells of the gutted corpse of Coumarine City. She heard Rad-Skorupi but they weren't fast enough to pursue her as she ran all the way down the route even as the sun sank below the horizon.
She finally slowed down halfway up the ramp to the Kalos outpost, winded but more sore in the back and chest than tired. Someone else didn't have as much stamina as Dee heard them gasping for air nearby and turned to the owner. To her surprise, it was the Venonat-man who had escaped the fate of the rest of Coumarine city.
"Hey!" Dee called out and approached him.
The Venonat-man turned to see Dee, then grinned, "Well hello hot-stuff! Looks like my luck just keeps getting better. Sorry I didn't stop to admire you when we met earlier but I guess you saw why. Good luck for you too they let you go. My name's Oliver."
Dee ignored his come-ons, "What happened to Coumarine? What was the lottery?"
Oliver sighed but decided to tell her, "Well it wasn't like we came to Coumarine to play it. Me and my gang had a plan to kidnap some NKR troopers that went there to get laid. Made a sweet deal with that scumbag mayor to ransom them back and keep all their weapons. But once we got in position we were surrounded by those Kogun freaks. They dragged everyone to the center of town and that jackass Thievul started talking about how we were all bad people, that we needed to be punished for what we did, but not all of us, then gave everyone a fucking lottery ticket."
"And that's when he started drawing numbers," Dee just stared, "What happened when people got called?"
Oliver shuddered, "That's how he decided how everyone got punished: first was the 'lucky losers' who got decapitated, which I guess was lucky because it was quick. Then it was being burned alive on a pile of tires, that's what happened to the mayor too, and then the crucifixions which went on forever. The runners up all got enslaved and I won so they let me go free." His story over, Oliver put on a grin again, "So since we both survived how about we celebrate? I bet the outpost will take pity on us and give us a bunk to share."
Dee was too distraught to respond to or even rebuff his come-ons and just turned to march up the slope, "I gotta go, just tell them everything when you get there."
Oliver thought about trying to chase after her, but a cramp in his side from sprinting all evening put a stop to that, "Alright, I'll catch up later!"
Dee marched in silence the rest of the way up then up to the roof where Ranger Ghost still sat, not able to tell if she was tired behind the sunglasses.
Ghost turned to greet her, "You check out the Coumarine town hall yet? Smoke trail's not getting any shorter."
Dee gulped, "Didn't need to, the Kogun attacked the place. Killed or enslaved everyone before I got there and told me to 'spread the word'," she shuddered at the memories.
The shiny Salazzle-woman's expression cracked, "Kogun this far west? You're fucking kidding me! That not outside the border, their moving in – and fast." She slumped back down in her chair and rubbed her eyes from under her shades. Coumarine wasn't the most friendly town but…"
Dee pointed down the slope that led to and from the outpost, "there's a Venonat-man down there they also let free, he can tell you more. I… need to lie down."
"Yeah," Ghost nodded as Dee left, "Thanks for checking on it. Wish it set my mind at east, now I'm more on edge than ever."
Dee didn't even say hi to Alex, just ate then headed for a bunk again. Only the energy she burned from the run back let her sleep easy and even then she didn't sleep well. Even worse was that she knew she'd have to go back that way the next day. The longer she waited the farther away the Persian-man and his lackeys would get.
Dee left early the next day, getting a free refill on her supplies as thanks for the scouting mission. She traveled at a more brisk pace than before, even though she was getting closer to Coumarine by the minute. Instead of passing through the city, she turned south when it came back into view and skirted around the edge of where she could still feel the lingering horror from the now dead city. By late evening, Dee found herself almost dead on her feet in her efforts to force herself past Coumarine by nightfall and her restless sleep from the previous night so she stopped at an abandoned drive-in theater for the night. She almost dropped to the ground, using her backpack as a pillow to try and get some sleep.
Noise and bright blue light awakened Dee. It was still midnight as she rubbed her bleary eyes and tried to focus on the source of her sleep interruption. It looked like a crashed satellite she'd been too tired to notice when she arrived and it was projecting a short looping video of a blue eye onto the drive-in's movie screen. Hoping to find some way to shut it off, Dee approached the satellite and tried to force open a panel.
There was a bright flash of light that overwhelmed Dee's senses and a moment later she had vanished, leaving the satellite to keep projecting its video loop.