Name: Eminai
Title: Claret
Rating: Mentioning of fire arms and paragraph about getting shot... O.o Yeah...
3 Bullet
“I believe we should raise the age for starting journeys,” Steven suggested while brushing back his pale periwinkle hair. The rest of the Elite Trainers and Gym Leaders stared at each other then at him.
“Why do you suggest this? I think the new trainers should have a chance to start a journey early. Besides, I think the parents have that law covered,” Chuck dismissed with a wave of his hand. Cynthia, who was listening intently, brought her hand up to her lips and pondered about it for a minute. Across from her was Mr. Gregson, his hands scribbling lightning fast. Every word they said was written down along with the person who proposed it.
“Chuck, I’m afraid Steven is right. Team Rocket is getting more and more ambitious, and this makes competitions between organizations. According to-“
There was a quiet knock on the door. A security guard, a tall and imposing man with professional shades, asked for a password. After a few more seconds of mutterings, the man was satisfied and opened the door.
“I’m sorry. Our trip had some… unexpected delays,” a brown-haired man replied and straightened his green exploration jacket. The rest of the Frontier Brains came in after him, all muttering their little greetings before seating themselves in the appropriate chairs. Spenser nodded a silent ‘hi’ to Morty who gave his own personalized salute then stopped as Lance gave a cough.
“According to Lt. Surge,” Lance continued as if nothing happened, “he has noted a raising level of activity in TR. In the G-men office is the same. We have noticed more reports coming in about attacks and murders which involved this crime syndicate. I feel we need to keep children safe, just Steven suggested. If this means postponing the applications for younger Gym Leaders, I’m afraid we’ll have to do it.”
At this, the two twins Tate and Liza glanced at each other. Their blue eyes went to a redhead with a spiked ponytail. Flannery gave a weak smile back; they were lucky.
“Hm… Such an important matter for an ordinary meeting,” Sabrina commented, her red eyes flashing. “And yet… one member stands missing.”
“Giovanni said he had an important matter to deal with,” Falkner replied as he stared at the empty chair beside him. “… That is, unless you suspect him of something…” he guessed.
The plain conference room was now packed with assumptions. It weaved against each other, fabricating stories and tales beyond disbelief. The stories began mixing with each other, and then, when the last drop of theory was added, the room’s silence became dreaded.
“You cannot be serious,” Mr. Gregson finally spoke, shattering the stale air. His pencil lay forgotten along with five pages of recorded thoughts. “If… No… He’s been with us for so long…”
Sabrina sighed. “I’m afraid it is true. Will, Lucian, you have been sensing this too, am I right?”
Both, with regret, gave slight nods. The rest of the members in the conference stiffened, and their gazes turned into steel.
“But if it true, we have had an informant. All of our information has been revealed to him, and… and now, he’s using the best of it…” Mr. Gregson started, but his voice trailed off. His chocolate eyes widened and now, he picked up his partner and started to write as fast as his mind could think. The trainers all stared at him on baited breath, waiting for an answer. Finally, the pencil, which had became a yellow blur, was put down. “Don’t you all see? He has been targeting towns in our blind spots! Northern Winds Valley, Riten Village, Masakawa… None of these towns had any sort of qualified trainer come from it. None of them had Gym Leaders, Champions, Breeders, nothing! He has been tainting these areas and possibly winning locals over. He probably has established a base somewhere in these places. There’s no way we could’ve kept track of him simply because these towns are unknown! And-“
Right then, a small melody reminiscent of Pachelbel’s Canon came from his pocket. He motioned the trainers to wait and took out a compacted cell phone. There were dents and scratches over it, and the man flipped the scarred device open.
“Yes? Oh… What? Is she all right? … Oh thank Mew. I’m at work right now… Yes… Go on…”
The Pokémon League members watched the man turn pale then into a bone-white shade. His chocolate eyes were now frozen with shock, and a flitter of anxiety flashed over them. His breathing became hard, and his jaw started to stutter. His vibrating hands gripped the phone tighter.
“Y-yes… I understand… Th-thank you…” The last few words were whispered, and the man hung up, looking as if he came back from the dead.
“Mr. Gregson, what’s wrong?” Lance asked as his black eyes narrowed in inquiry.
The trembling man looked out on all of them, his eyes till wide. “My…” he began then found the need to swallow. “My hometown, Suna… was attacked last night.”
Silence resumed in the room.
“Um… There were no casualties. Team Rocket just seemed to be attacking for no reason… So… Larissa is fine.” Now he managed a faltering smile. It wasn’t convincing for the league members still had concern upon their faces. “However…” His shaking became more prominent, and his next few words were so distorted no one made heads or tails of it.
“My dear man, calm down,” Wattson said worriedly, his usual smile gone.
Mr. Gregson nodded, took a deep breath, and said with quivering words, “But… the police found no signs of my son… Thomas is missing.”
-
Reiyu…
-
As the morning sun rose, he felt as if his legs were being stabbed by a thousand burning swords. The scarlet glow of dawn reflected off of the beads of sweat gathered on his brow. He was aching, and the pain was like nothing he ever felt before. Yet like a madman, he continued to run while parting the long grass which made the off-road field. Thomas managed a gulp of air between his heavy gasps. His lungs devoured it quickly and screamed for more, but he ignored them and pressed on. Then without warning, he felt the land lower beneath his soles, and caught off guard, Thomas stumbled. He swayed towards the right and swung his legs to the left in an attempt to get his bearings.
“All right. It’s a promise.”
Thomas suddenly continued his sprint, straining his legs beyond their limits. His emerald eyes closed as a searing pain shot up his calves, but a sudden image of blood caused them to snap open. His speed increased, and he spent his last drop of energy to bullet pass the grass stalks.
‘Mr. Haru…’
His numbed senses came back to life as something wet and chilling splashed onto his feet and licked his ankles. A sharp gasp escaped from his throat; the water stung and nipped his shivering legs. Quickly his feet became unfeeling, and they felt strangely absent as he trudged back to a grassy edge. His chest heaved uncontrollably, drawing in wheezing breaths. Thomas felt his legs bend forward, and he fell onto the prairie without another thought.
“… Hey, you think he’s dead?”
“Come on Ardor, you know what Mom said about ‘them’.”
“Pfft! Look at him! Hey, get a stick and-“
Groggily Thomas shifted his head against the soil.
“Wah! He moved!”
“Don’t be such a baby,” came the curt reply. The boy did not respond as the soft pattering of tiny feet came closer to him. With his fogged eyesight, he could still see the long grass parting for… whoever it was. Something else followed, its steps slower and more irregularly paced. Twice the sound paused only to continue after a few words of assurance. Then Thomas felt his left arm tense; something rigid poked his skin. A sharp gasp quickly pursued along with a shrill shriek.
“Are you crazy?!”
“What are you so scared about? He’s lying there like a lump; there’s nothing he can do.”
Thomas twitched in response to those words, and his hand slowly began to curl into a fist. Against his body’s will, he shifted his arm closer to his side. The boy repeated the sluggish process with his other arm. The rocky dirt rubbed against his skin as he budged his shoulders, lifted his head, and pushed himself upwards on his wobbling arms. The words ceased, and the two voices became muted. Then, the second voice broke the silence.
“A-a-a-a-ardor… H-he’s…”
The boy gradually straightened his legs and took in a gulp of morning air. Almost at once, his lungs refilled, his legs strengthened, and Thomas finally realized how long he’s been running. It was barely daybreak when he sprinted away from his charred town, and now a morning sun was clear in the sky.
“H-he…”
“Run for it!”
“What?” Thomas asked as he turned to the two voices- only to see no one there. His brow furrowed, and his emerald eyes scanned the horizon; he was sure there was someone there, unless that recent fall made him somehow delusional. Thos mentally scoffed at this before swiveling to his right. Delusional. That was same thing his mother said about him ever since he brought in an injured Gale. All of a sudden, a twang of guilt reverberated in his chest.
After the excitement from escaping the lab and the shock of seeing his town, he had completely forgotten about the tiny Pidgey. He could imagine him now, sitting dejected and alone along the riverbank, waiting… for no one.
He sighed then slid his pack off of his shoulders. It couldn’t be helped; after all, how long would a flightless Pidgey last in the heat of battle? Maybe it was for the best, Thomas reasoned with himself, yet the unsettling feeling of shame still swirled in his stomach. Then another sensation crept into his chest as he slowly unzipped the black bag. Four round Pokeballs tumbled out, their new sheen sparkling in the sun. Thomas picked one up and stared at it uncomfortably before taking a glance at the other three. The hard truth had finally struck him; the Pokeballs belong to somebody else. There would be four trainers this morning that would go home dejected with their hopeful dreams delayed, and he would be the one to blame. With a halfhearted toss, Thomas threw the Pokeball into the air and the electronic sound of release filled the crisp air.
“Pikacha?” came a small reply.
Thomas blinked as a yellow furred mouse-like creature stared at him with its brown eyes. It twitched its black tipped ears and a tiny triangular nose trembled. The creature stepped forward confidently and sniffed the boy.
“A Pikachu… Aren’t you cute?” Thomas asked the creature and hesitantly petted its static infused fur.
A small drop on excitement started building up within his guilt; the Pokeballs were his now, and even though it sounded extremely harsh, the Pokémon are his now. No matter how those trainers cried and begged for their new Pokémon, Thomas, though remorseful, would never return them. At this thought, his black gloved hands picked up the remaining Pokeballs and tossed them. Three flashes of digital light colored the field scarlet.
“Bulba…”
“Squirt!”
“Char?”
Three more pairs of eyes gazed upon the boy who felt his heart flutter. He was a trainer now. His previous sin forgotten, Thomas walked up to the newly released trio. The Pikachu has already integrated itself into the group, and the four seemed to recognize each other. Thomas watched them from a comfortable distance, observing their manners and their actions. The Charmander had strange drooping eyes, and once and a while, it would yawn, showing off its tiny canines. With an unusual amount of energy, the Squirtle babbled and constantly glanced at distractions. At this the Pikachu would growl as if it was annoyed. The Bulbasaur didn’t seem to enjoy its time with the group. Thomas noticed that the bulb upon its back was a pale pink, and he wondered if it was a girl.
“Um… How do trainers talk to their Pokémon… Er… Hi?” Thomas felt incredibly inane. All four of them stared at him silently which made it worse. “Uh… My name is…” He paused. If he used his real name, there won’t be any delay until some sort of police force found him. He racked his mind for a decent name, one that would pass in the public. “My name is Reiyu,” he hastily continued.
Reiyu… Now why does that sound so familiar?
“I… I’m your new trainer… So…” Thomas’ voice faded off. He didn’t want to know how they would act upon the words ‘I stole you from the lab’.
They kept on staring, but finally, it was the Pikachu that broke the hush.
“… He looks like an idiot.”
Thomas let out a scream and retreated a few yards. The Pikachu stood in the grass as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Thomas took in a deep breath of the morning air and started to ponder if the fall really did make him delusional. He glanced at the yellow rodent, but it was silent.
“Okay… Calm down… You’re just hearing things…” Thomas told himself. He rubbed his face with his hands then faced the Pikachu again. “Er… You have a name?”
“Everyone does. Except, I won’t tell you,” the Pikachu snapped back.
Thomas screamed again and backed away a couple of feet. He felt the grass disappear under his shoes, and his heart jolted as he felt himself fall. With a splash, the boy found himself lying in the nearby pond that he fell in earlier. A stinging red came to his face when he heard the Pikachu’s howling laughter.
“You-You-“ Thomas stammered.
“Tsch. Such a clueless look on your face. How are you supposed to be a trainer?” Bulbasaur asked with disapproval in her voice.
“Father promised us a good human…” Squirtle mumbled dejectedly. He sighed then plopped himself onto the grass. “Did he lie?”
“Maybe he’s supposed to take us to the human Father mentioned,” the Charmander replied with a shrug. Unlike the others she doesn’t seem the least bit bothered that her trainer was a dense idiot. The three glanced at her then at Thomas.
“Yeah… Maybe she’s right…” The Pikachu exclaimed as he scratched his chin. “Maybe this runt’s just the delivery kid. Oi midget!”
Thomas couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at this; at most, a Pikachu couldn’t surpass one foot in height, and he was a proud five feet tall. Thomas raised himself from the pond and stood dripping wet on the field.
“Yes?” he growled. The Pokémon talking was still mystifying him, but a hot, bubbling feeling in his stomach made him immune to the expressions of awe.
“We need you to do us a favor: take us to whoever we’re really supposed to be with.”
“And how would I know who that is?” he spat back. At once his Arbok imitation became full-fledged as he leered down at the tiny yellow rodent.
“Er… We’re supposed to get a feeling… Like a gut feeling…” The Pikachu responded and rubbed his ears. “By the way, who sent you? I mean, if you’re the messenger boy and all…”
“I-… I st-… Mr. Haru did,” Thomas finally answered. The scene from last night poured into his mind: the blood, the punctured door which led to Mr. Haru, injured and weak. He was telling him to go on, to start the journey. He was making a competition just so Thomas would go… He even commented on his clothi-
A sudden realization crossed Thomas’ mind. Mr. Haru was blind, his unknown eyes covered by the wraps of gauze and bandages. The bandages, despite the trauma, were still intact. So, how could he have seen? How could he have known that Thomas was standing there in his new outfit?
“Mr. Haru? Never heard of him,” The Pikachu admitted. The Bulbasaur shook her head at this and huffed.
“Then our best chance is to go to every city and try our luck with the best trainers around,” the Bulbasaur reasoned. “After all, Father promised us a ‘miracle’.”
Thomas was getting a slightly disturbed feeling whenever ‘Father’ was mentioned. He was positive that the four starter Pokémon do not belong to the same egg group, much less was it impossible to interbreed four types of Pokémon at once. Unless the Father they were referring to was the Professor, but then again why would he tell them that?
“What’s the closest town?” the Squirtle asked.
“Viridian City has a gym leader there…” Thomas’ voice faded off. Even after coming this far, he still might lose a chance to become a trainer. His Pokémon were expecting someone else, and they will leave him after they found that mystery man. And he would be left with absolutely nothing.
-
“No sir, it’s not there… Yes, we have searched every house and burned the town into ashes… Has Dr. Eliwood given new information? … Oh… No sir, I just wanted to make sure. Our men are getting restless again, especially Agent M. You know his bloodlust… Any suspicious-Wait, there was that old man… Never mind, we shot him and left him to die. There was no way he could’ve been it. …A child? With green eyes? No… Wait,” a man muttered secretively as he placed down a raven-colored cell phone. His sharp yellow eyes gazed out beyond the trees and focused on a figure in the plains. He picked up his phone again. “I see something. I’ll report back later.” The call ended with a click.
“What is it?” a hoarse voice asked. Agent M, sitting only a few feet away from his commander, stared at the prairie with hard, dirt-brown eyes. His face was shielded by a bone-white skull mask, and in his leather-gloved hands, a rifle nestled comfortably in his grip. Both he and the commander were dressed in the same uniform: black rippling folds of fabric which covered every inch of skin, and in the middle, a crimson R.
“I see a boy,” was all that the commander replied.
Ten others around a snuffed out campfire glanced up from their activities. After last night’s raid of Suna, they were told to keep watch for any stragglers that they missed. The powers up above were certain that it was here in an unknown little town with nothing remarkable.
“… Wait… He has green eyes… “
At once the campsite became filled with muffled shuffling and excited breaths. Black pistols and other firearms were packed into cases and loaded into a camouflaged van in the shadow of trees. One got into the driver’s seat, and he brought the van to life. Deep rumbles of the engine filled the small patch of trees as the campsite started to disappear. The wood for the fire were incinerated completely, the dirt was clear of any foot prints or tire tracks, and all of the members gathered at the edge of their temporary hideout, waiting.
“… Is he it?”
Their commander placed down his binoculars. “We cannot know for sure unless tests are done… Agent M, tag him.”
A grin must’ve shown from behind the mask for the rest of the team moved uneasily away. Agent M straightened to his full height, which towered easily over the others, and placed the butt of the rifle on his shoulder. Slowly he brought the eyepiece into his vision, and there he stood, eager for the kill.
-
“A Gym leader,” the Pikachu exclaimed excitedly. “Oh man, he must be it!”
“Yeah…” Thomas responded dejectedly. He was starting to regret ever getting the thought of being a trainer. Weren’t trainer’s supposed to keep Pokémon they receive? Then again, as Thomas remembered, he never received them in the first place. He told himself that it must be fate’s way of showing what greed to lead to, and at the moment, he hated fate.
“Really? Cool!”
“Eh… Hope he’s near… Lots of Gym leaders, you know” Charmander drawled.
“Better a Gym leader then this kid.”
Thomas was about to defend his deteriorating case then-
Crack!
Thomas turned as the air was seemingly sliced in two. He heard his heart beat accelerate, and every hastened breath he drew seemed to slow down. Then, a fountain of red rained in front of him, the scarlet drops spraying onto the grass. A sharp stinging pain erupted in his right shoulder and shot down to the rest of arm. With every centimeter gained, the pain increased, and he felt a terrible shock as something struck his bone. At once, a wave of numbness drowned his nerves. His legs gave out, and he felt himself fall. His blood was still rushing, his vision started to blur, a scream was still lodged in his throat, there was a shrill ringing in his ear as the rest of the world was silent, and he was still falling-
And his vision turned dark.
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