Nov 12, 2025
Chapter 17 is now out!!
I have nothing witty to say so have a photo of one of the scenes instead 💥
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
seen from United Kingdom
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seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from Philippines
seen from China
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seen from China
seen from China
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Chapter 17 is now out!!
I have nothing witty to say so have a photo of one of the scenes instead 💥
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
New chapter is up! Hope y'all enjoy :D
https://archiveofourown.org/works/84329896/chapters/225560981
Ready To Depart: CHAPTER TEN
Pearl Clan
“Greetings, Miss Irida,” Ingo approached, tipping his hat in respect.
“Oh, Hello Ingo, it’s not often that you visit the village.” Irida nodded with a smile, “What brought you here?” She asked, as she stooped down to pet one of the Vulpix at her feet.
Ingo briefly closed his eyes, steeled his resolve, before looking directly into hers, “I need to speak to you, it’s an important matter.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
WE’RE BACK!!!
To all those who so kindly still follow us and enjoyed our story, we are so happy to present to you this long overdue chapter! And we have more to come! No promises on any fixed scheduling tho 😅
The Angel of Reckoning Chapter 2: A New Rival and a New Mission
Olivia gets her starter Pokemon, but things don’t turn out the way they intended, and later, things escalate when she meets a mysterious young man who bears hatred for her missing father. Meanwhile, the few remaining members of Team Rocket prepare to take on a mission they may not be able to face: defeating Polaris.
-:-
CHAPTER 2: A New Rival and a New Mission
-:-
In Professor Elm’s New Bark Town laboratory, Matt, Nekou, Olivia and Bunny found themselves face-to-face not with Johto’s regional Pokémon expert, but Unova’s. That region, far from Johto’s shores, was dramatically different in many ways, and accordingly, its professor couldn’t have been more unlike Elm.
“Professor… Juniper?”
Juniper smiled apologetically at Nekou and Bunny’s surprise. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out. You four… you’re the folks Elm was expecting today, aren’t you?” The more she looked at the quartet, however, the more a sense of doubt grew in the professor’s mind. “Wait, have we met before?” she asked Nekou, narrowing her eyes. “I feel like I’ve seen your face.”
“Oh, this face?” Nekou shrugged, playing the inquiry off with a smirk. “You ain’t seen anything like this face anywhere. It’s one of a kind.”
“She’s always like this,” Matt sighed. “You’re right, though. We were supposed to-”
“He was supposed to give me a Pokémon today!” Olivia interrupted, unable to hold back any longer as a result of her confusion. The day was supposed to go a certain way, after all - and Elm’s absence didn’t fit into her obsessively-planned script at all. “He’s not… Professor Elm’s not here? Where is he then?”
“Last I heard, he was heading up to the Ruins of Alph to have a look at that meteorite impact site. You all know about that, right?” When her question was met with a quartet of nods, Juniper continued, “Yeah, then. He was going to meet with his associate Mr. Pokémon on Route 30, then go over to the impact site. I don’t know where he is now… he was supposed to be back today. We had a meeting planned to discuss some ongoing research.”
“But then, if he’s not here, I can’t get a Pokémon, and if I can’t get a Pokémon-”
“Wait,” Juniper said, holding up her free hand. “You’re not totally out of luck. I’ve got a couple of Pokémon I brought with me from Unova. If you agree to help me out with my research in Johto, I can give you one of them.”
“Can I see them?”
“Sure.” The professor set her briefcase down on a nearby table and opened it to retrieve a pair of Poké Balls from within. One of the two Pokémon that emerged when she opened them was a red-and-black piglet, while the other was a sea otter with a blue body and a white head and arms. “Allow me to introduce you to Tepig, the dependable Fire-type who will eventually evolve into the Fire-and-Fighting-type Emboar… and Oshawott, who fights with the shell on its stomach and gains a second shell, then a pair of shell swords, when it evolves.”
Both Tepig and Oshawott, sensing that they were being sized up for selection, attempted to appeal to Olivia. Tepig showed off by snorting out some small embers, while Oshawott, seeing how Olivia was staring at him, detached his shell from his stomach and wielded it.
“I just don’t know,” Olivia admitted, unable to mask her disappointment. “I just… I really had a vivid picture in my mind of how this was all going to go. I was going to get a Totodile, and then with it and my Roselia and Minccino…”
“Maybe we should get something to eat first,” Matt suggested. “We could clear our heads and refuel a little. That ought to help you figure this out.”
“Now that’s an idea I can get behind,” Nekou chimed in, resting her arm on Matt’s shoulder to his visible annoyance. “I need my fucking morning coffee.”
“Might I join you, then?” Juniper proposed. “I know a good place in town, and I’d like to have a conversation with you.”
-:-
Time had not been kind to Doctor Gabriel Zager. His career at the Vermilion City clinic had continued until eleven years prior, at which point he finally had enough of the consortium behind its operation and fled, eventually finding himself protection in the all-too-welcoming arms of Team Rocket. Working for a crime syndicate certainly wasn’t his number one career choice, especially compared to the noble ideals he once followed, but he needed to ensure Penelope’s safety. Anything else was secondary to that. His physical state reflected his situation; his once-orderly hair had become disheveled and taken on the same ghostly pallor as his mustache, while he replaced his glasses with a monocle over his left eye, the one in which his vision actually was weaker.
Dr. Zager’s working environment was very different from that which he had before, too. His new lab was falling apart in places - wood paneling was cracking off the walls, the red curtains over the windows were tattered and torn, and some ceiling tiles were missing, allowing colorful cables to hang through the openings. True to his profession, however, his equipment was meticulously well-kept, affording him an array of high-tech tools.
Keeping the scientist company were two very different individuals. One was a Galvantula, an electric spider Pokémon that had been with him for decades, and the other, a curvaceous redhead clad in white, who was eating a doughnut from a small box of the snacks.
“I hope you’re going to clean up that mess when you’re done, Ariana,” Zager said to the woman, looking back over his shoulder at her from the computer bank at which he was working. “This place is pretty run-down, but I still don’t appreciate having doughnut crumbs on the floor. I don’t care if you’re an Executive or not, Giovanni knows I need my space in order.”
“Don’t be such a killjoy, Zager,” Ariana sarcastically remarked, “A few crumbs aren’t going to ruin anything. Besides, Galvantula’s picking them up.”
“I can see that,” Zager sighed, watching his Pokémon skitter about and eating the crumbs. “You know I’m trying to keep her healthy, though, so can you cut me a little slack?”
“Oh, alright.” Their conversation was interrupted by a chime from Ariana’s phone, and after she checked the notification, she got up and walked over to a nearby counter. There, she poured herself a cup of coffee from a pot that was being kept hot, and swallowed a pill with a single gulp of the scalding liquid, unbothered by its temperature. “Ahhh, you and Rosalie inventing medicine I can take with coffee instead of water is a miracle of modern science.”
“At least something of my knowledge could be used for good, I suppose.” Another alarm sounded, this one from Zager’s computer console. One of its screens featured video feeds from the security cameras around the building, revealing to him and Ariana that Pierce, Jessie, James and Meowth were waiting outside. “Ah, they’re here,” he said to his colleague, pressing the button that would allow them inside.
A few moments later, Pierce led Jessie, James and Meowth into the laboratory. Aside from the short feline Pokémon who had nothing on his feet, their steps made heavy creaking sounds on the floor; this was especially true of the heavy boots Pierce was wearing. Upon setting eyes on Zager and Ariana, Jessie, James and Meowth glanced nervously at each other.
“Team Rocket Elite Agent Pierce reporting,” he said, bowing slightly to Zager and Ariana. “I have brought the agents as stipulated by emergency protocol Code Black Seven.”
“At ease, Pierce,” Ariana casually replied, waving her hand. “There’s really no need to be so serious. Not here, at least.” Picking up the box of doughnuts, which she had only eaten half of, she offered, “Any of you want some of these?”
“No thank you, Executive Ariana.” Pierce remained as rigid as ever, despite Ariana’s clear attempt to bring a lighter mood to the meeting. “It would be unbecoming of me to accept such an unearned bonus.”
“You really shouldn’t be such a stiff, Pierce. Look at them, they’ve got the right idea.”
Ariana gestured to Jessie, James and Meowth; the trio had each taken several of the confections and were voraciously eating them, as if they hadn’t had any food in days. The sight earned a chuckle from not only the Team Rocket Executive but her scientist colleague as well.
“This certainly brings back memories,” Zager said, stepping away from his computer bank with his arms crossed behind his back. “Welcome, Jessie, James, Meowth. It’s been quite a while since we last met.”
“The operations in Unova against Team Plasma, to be exact,” Jessie clarified. “So the boss kept you working all this time?”
After Zager responded by nodding, James posed a question of his own. “What’s changed, then? That code the boss activated was only for the worst case scenario with Polaris. What have they done to get us called in now?”
“What haven’t they done?” the scientist bitterly thought, though he kept his regrets to himself. “I’m not the one who’s going to fill in those details for you.”
Returning to the console, Zager punched in a sequence of commands. The main monitor responded by flickering to a still image of the three-dimensional, script-font letter ‘R’ that served as a symbol of their organization, which remained on the screen until it was replaced by a bespectacled young woman in a dark red business suit.
Jessie’s demeanor soured immediately upon seeing her. “Oh, great,” she whispered to James and Meowth, “it’s the bob-cut glasses goon. Already.”
“Need I remind you that I can hear you?” the woman sternly said, adjusting her glasses.
“It ain’t like any of us like each other, Stacia,” Meowth bluntly admitted. “Why are we runnin’ in circles pretending otherwise?”
“It is true that our professional relationship is hardly a close one,” Stacia conceded, before pursing her lips and adding, “But I expect it to stay just that, professional. Moreover, Mister Giovanni also expects as much.”
The mention of Giovanni’s name got all three of the agents to straighten up. “Fine. Tell us then, what has Polaris done?”
Stacia adjusted her glasses once again, then answered James’s question. “During our time monitoring Kanto and Johto for any signs of Polaris’s activity increasing, we discovered an unusual anomaly that you may, admittedly, be the best qualified to investigate. Zager, show them.”
At Stacia’s cue, Zager entered a new command into his computer, bringing up several new windows on the smaller screens. Several outlying windows displayed a variety of energy gauge readouts, while the biggest one depicted a three-dimensional model of a giant, jagged rock floating through outer space.
“This is the asteroid Persephone-2213, currently on track for its closest pass to Earth in over a millennium,” Stacia explained. “Most objects from its debris field to enter our atmosphere have burned up during entry, but a small number of meteorites have made impact, most notably at the Ruins of Alph. Following this impact, radar systems we initially developed during the operations in Unova detected that the meteorite that impacted at the Ruins of Alph is made of the element Meteonite.”
That one word - ‘Meteonite’ - got Jessie, James and Meowth to turn serious in an instant. They remembered it well, and remembered its implications even more clearly.
“As you may remember,” continued Stacia, “Meteonite is an unusual element with highly conductive and reactive properties. Even today, we still do not understand all of its mysteries. However, the impact site at the Ruins of Alph is not the only place we have detected a Meteonite energy signature. A much fainter signature was detected on Route 29 in the Johto region, west of New Bark Town. This is unusual as no impact ever took place there, and because of Polaris's previous interest in the Meteonite we found in Unova, it is certain they will also pursue this lead. Agent 013 and the Razor Claw Squad have been mobilized to gather intel in the field, therefore your mission is to locate and obtain any Meteonite pieces you can. Go with Pierce to Cherrygrove City, split off to Route 29, and track the first piece down.”
“We’ll be coordinating everything from our end here,” Ariana chimed in. “Any supplies you’ll need can be provided here as well. After you get suited up, we’ll get you equipped and you can start the mission.”
Turning away from Ariana, Jessie inquired, “I assume you’ll be providing the tech again, Dr. Zager?”
“That’s right. I’ll supply everything you need.”
“Then it truly is like old times,” she said to James as they faced each other.
“I don’t think the stakes were quite as high last time, though.” A strange hint of sadness could be heard in James’s voice; the meaning of their new mission had clearly already taken its toll on him.
Jessie and James eventually left through another exit from the lab, with Meowth and Pierce silently following. Once Pierce shut the door behind himself, Zager and Ariana shared an uneasy glance between themselves.
“Do you really think they’re going to be okay handling all of this?” he wondered out loud.
“I sure hope so, Gabriel. I sure hope so.”
-:-
After they departed from Professor Elm’s laboratory, Juniper brought Matt, Nekou, Olivia and Bunny to a roadside diner a few blocks away. It was a place she’d become fond of since arriving in New Bark Town, she told them, and she was certain they’d feel the same way.
They had barely arrived before Nekou darted straight for the front desk to order coffee, and by the time they sat down at a table, she already had it. The others could do nothing but watch, somewhat uncomfortably, as she threw her head back and downed the drink like its temperature didn’t matter at all to her.
“Like I said, she’s always like this,” Matt ventured, in an attempt to break the silence around the table with humor.
“Ah-ahhhh!” Nekou exclaimed as she swallowed the last of the coffee and finally put the cup down. “Now that’s more like it!”
“I take it you enjoyed that.” Juniper hesitated, considering her words. “Actually, it feels like an understatement.”
“It’s not Sonata Coffee, but it’s more than enough.”
Juniper couldn’t help but be struck by Nekou’s response. Sonata Coffee was a brand popular in and originating from her home region of Unova - which was also where she had been so sure she had seen Nekou before. Yet, Nekou denied that they had met, so was it really all a coincidence?
She shook her head. That line of thought was completely irrelevant to the reason why the five of them had gone to the diner in the first place, so why waste time pursuing it?
“So, Olivia,” the professor said, changing the focus of her attention, “I’d like to know, what are your goals, exactly?”
“I just want my dad to come back,” Olivia sullenly answered. She had been in a sour mood ever since the derailing of her carefully-laid plans, and showed no signs of recovering. “He left because I wasn’t living up to his expectations. I’m sure of it.”
“Was Rich really like that?” Bunny asked. She had some idea of the answer already; even though she hadn’t been present like Matt had been, he had told her the truth about Rich’s fate. Like Matt, though, she also couldn’t bring herself to be the one to shatter Olivia’s hopes. Neither of them had been able to find the right time. “I mean, Anabel must have seen something in him…”
“It has to be!” Olivia insisted. “I must have done something to disappoint him! There’s no other reason he’d abandon me like this!”
As the odd woman out in the gathering, Juniper wasn’t as caught up on what unspoken agreements had been forged among them. She glanced from Nekou, to Bunny, and then to Matt, who deduced what she was thinking and shook his head to stop her from verbalizing it.
Understanding his silent plea, Juniper decided to instead play along and asked Olivia, “In that case, what do you plan to do to get him to come back?”
“I’m going to challenge Gyms and maybe do Contests, too… if I can succeed at as much as I can, then he’ll have to change his mind and come back to love me again. That’s why I have to follow tradition to the letter and get a starter Pokémon before I do anything else. I have Roselia and Minccino already, but… it’s the way tradition goes. If I don’t do it right, he won’t approve.”
“You surely don’t want to waste time. If you want one of the two starter Pokémon I have with me, have you decided which one yet?”
All eyes moved to Olivia as Matt, Nekou and Bunny all tried to guess what she would say. In their minds, they had opinions of their own - Bunny actually thought she might decide to break the mold and choose the Fire-type, Tepig, while Matt and Nekou expected her to go with the seemingly safe choice, the Water-type Oshawott. Both sides used the same logic to arrive at their conclusions, that being the idea of Olivia deciding based upon which choice would catch Rich’s attention more.
“It’ll be Oshawott,” Olivia forcefully asserted. “No matter what’s happened, I have to follow my dad’s expectations and go with a Water-type. I just still wanted Totodile like I planned… speaking of, what's this research you wanted my help with? If it's going to mess up my plan to get my dad back any more than this, no deal."
Olivia’s strict adherence to her carefully scripted goals brought a memory to the forefront of Juniper’s mind as she lifted her briefcase onto the table. It was of a young man who received a different starter Pokémon, a Grass-type Snivy, from her in Unova several years prior. When he first met her, he was a bookish boy dedicated to becoming stronger and attaining the title of Unova’s Champion. His outlook changed over the next couple of years, however, and he matured into a mentor figure for the younger trainers he taught after becoming a Gym Leader.
Olivia struck the professor as being quite similar. She was more outwardly emotional, and what drove her was clearly more intense, but Juniper thought her to be capable of similar growth if given the chance.
“First off, here’s Oshawott,” Juniper said, handing over the Poké Ball containing the Water-type Pokémon. “Give him a chance, I think you’ll be surprised.”
“I guess…” Olivia’s sullen mood didn’t significantly improve. “What’s your research about?”
“You’re not from Kanto or Johto, so you might not have heard about this,” explained the professor, “but a migration project to bring Pokémon from other regions to this continent has been underway. My assistant is out there conducting research on my behalf, but you know what they say, two heads are better than one.” Juniper produced a pink, cellphone-shaped device from her suitcase. It had a Poké Ball pattern on its bottom half, a screen on the top, and a second screen could be flipped out from behind it. Passing the item over to Olivia, she explained, “It’s a Unova Pokédex, but I already upgraded it to track some other regions, too. I’d like you to take it and record what you see out there as you’re traveling.”
“I guess, as long as it doesn’t get in the way…” Olivia muttered, pocketing the device. “I don’t want anything else to go wrong…”
“Don’t worry,” Juniper assured her. “Once you’re out there, you and your Pokémon will figure it all out. I promise.”
“If you say so…”
Juniper shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She wasn’t sure how to continue addressing Olivia’s concerns, so she elected to instead move the conversation along, hoping that a topic shift would help de-escalate things. “I actually did want to talk to you as well, Matt. Word gets around, you know? The grandson of the great Sutter Chiaki…”
Matt sighed and leaned back. “I guess his legacy sure goes a long way, huh?” he uttered, giving Juniper a weary grin. As much as he cherished his memories of his famous archeologist and adventurer of a grandfather, it did get tiring to always be immediately recognized through familial ties.
“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong! I just brought it up because my father studied Professor Chiaki’s work quite extensively, and he shared a lot of it with me. It left an impression, you know, so I wanted to talk to you about what you’re pursuing and see if I can help you.”
“Reshiram, you mean.” Juniper’s firm, focused expression confirmed Matt’s guess, prompting him to become serious as well. Resting his hands on the table, he explained in a voice just loud enough to hear, “I’ve been through a lot in life I don’t understand, but I think I know where it all began. When I heard about Reshiram’s flames and their ability to reveal the truth, I came to the conclusion that if I could find Reshiram, I could find peace through the answers its flames could give me. I bet you’re asking yourself why I’m here and not in Unova, given that it’s so prominent in your mythology…”
“I have my thoughts,” Juniper replied, “but we’re both people of science, so I want to hear your take.”
“Alright, well… the reason I didn’t go to Unova is that I’ve never been there before, so I wouldn’t know who to talk to or where to start searching. Here in Johto, on the other hand… I know that the Frontier Brains of the new Battle Frontier are some of the most well-traveled trainers out there. I think that if I challenge them, I’ll find someone who knows the information I need.”
“That’s as good an approach as any.” As serious as he had been, Matt didn’t expect Juniper to put much stock into what he had to say, so he found himself surprised to hear her being just as serious back. “We have a few trainers in Unova that know the world as much as the Frontier Brains do, but they’re scattered around the region, not part of a collective like the Battle Frontier. The reason I think that’s important… well, I’ve been researching Reshiram since it and its counterpart Zekrom, the Pokémon of ideals, were involved in Team Plasma’s bid to take over Unova and the rest of the world. I haven’t been able to uncover much yet, but Reshiram is very fickle by nature… finding it might not even be a question of where, but why. There’s a lot of ambiguity regarding Reshiram itself, its connection to the concept of truth, and what that all means for locating it. The very act of you searching for it by challenging the Battle Frontier might even be enough to prove you worthy. There’s just so much we don’t yet know.”
Matt sat back, absorbing all the information he’d been given. If he was honest with himself, he hadn’t exactly placed high hopes in the idea of locating Reshiram in Johto. He figured one of the Frontier Brains would eventually give him information that forced him to go searching in Unova, But with what Juniper suggested? That opened up a whole new range of possibilities. Now he had to press onward, more doggedly than ever. The answers he sought truly could lurk behind any corner.
While he was lost in thought, he didn’t see Nekou scowling. Her expression had soured more and more as Juniper presented her ideas, but while Matt hadn’t noticed, the professor from Unova absolutely had.
“What’s got you so angry?” Misinterpreting Nekou’s mood, Juniper asked her, “If you don’t want him to find Reshiram, why are you going along with them?”
In an instant, Nekou’s demeanor flipped. It was like she hadn’t been angry at all. She threw her arms around Matt and Olivia, cheerfully exclaiming, “You’ve got the wrong idea. I’m just a girl who likes to be where the action is, and don’t these two just radiate major protag energy?”
Olivia ate that kind of attention up, so it cheered her up. Matt, on the other hand, just deadpanned, “She stole money from me and bought a feast with it. So she’s my, quote, bodyguard to work the debt off.”
“You make it sound like work,” Nekou playfully complained, “but guarding your body is a fun way to pay a debt off.”
As it turned out, if Matt had to again be honest with himself, Nekou’s over-the-top personality was helping him feel better about things, too.
-:-
The rest of the group’s breakfast passed in relative peace. By the time they were leaving, Olivia, Bunny and Juniper found themselves deep into a conversation on the migration project and the latter’s request for aid in studying its impact.
“You’re heading for Violet City first?”
“Yeah, it only makes sense,” Olivia replied to the professor. Though not fully back to one hundred percent yet, she had managed to claw herself to a somewhat sunnier state of mind. The frustration over her plans being disrupted was still there, but for the time being, she was managing it. Maybe, just maybe, if she could get things back on track, it would all be okay. “Violet Gym is typically the first one people who start out from here visit, right? I did my homework. I know how this story is supposed to go.”
Olivia’s insistence on rigidly sticking to her script gave Juniper pause. “You should try to be more open-minded, Olivia. There are many ways to reach the same goal… but for the time being, when you’re in Violet City, you’ll be near the Ruins of Alph, too. Are you planning to go visit them?”
“I am,” Bunny said. “I’m interested in checking out that meteorite impact site, too.”
“Might I be able to put in one more request, then? There are rumors of Pokémon not native to Johto being sighted there even before the migration project started. If you could keep your eyes open for anything unusual while you’re there, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to go up there and risk missing Elm if he comes back.”
“I think I can do that.”
Outside of Bunny’s sight, Olivia frowned. “Glad you made that decision… I want to get it all done as quick as I can. Finish in Violet, head to the next…”
“You! I finally found you!”
If Olivia thought her plans had already been thrown off course, the deep, commanding voice of the individual that confronted the group as they left the diner all but left them flying blind. Clad in a weathered poncho, scarf and brimmed hat, all of which bore clear signs of repeated self-repair, his only visible identifying features were his icy, sea-green eyes. They, along with the intensity in his voice, chilled Olivia and the others down to the bone.
“Great, a roadblock already,” Olivia complained with a sigh. “Tell me who you are or just get lost.”
“I’ve come a long, long way to find you, daughter of the so-called hero,” the mysterious young man sneered in response. “Of course you don’t know who I am… that doesn’t surprise me. But I know who you are. I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment, but now that it’s here… I’m disappointed. You’re… smaller than I imagined you’d be. The undeserved generational legacy at work, I suppose.”
“Yeah, I’m over it.” Rolling her eyes, Olivia started to turn away from him. His biting insults wounded her, but her annoyance over the way her script had already been disrupted left her mostly unwilling to engage. “Some weirdo trashing my dad, what a surprise. I don’t care.”
Something about what Olivia said got under the cloaked figure’s skin, and he bit his lip to restrain himself from lashing out. “The name you may call me is Renzo Milos. Your beloved father… he took everything from me, so I’ve come to even the scales. I will destroy you, and then I will destroy your mother, and when all of that is done, I will walk among the ashes of that man’s so-called legacy.” He produced a single Poké Ball from somewhere inside his decrepit clothing and concluded his rant, “The road to my revenge starts right here, today.”
A cold breeze swept over the area, punctuating how serious Renzo was about his threat. Cliché, Olivia thought, but it fit all the same. She knew right away that she would accept his challenge and went to retrieve one of her Poké Balls, but paused when she felt Nekou grasp her shoulders from behind.
“You know, this punk stepping up to you might be exactly what you needed,” her smirking friend whispered in her ear. “You wanted to get things back on track, right? Well here comes the rival who hates you for some reason, marching right up to you.”
Olivia paused for a moment to think, and soon matched Nekou’s grin. “I get what you’re saying.”
“Good. Now go fuck him up.”
Energized by Nekou’s encouragement, Olivia stepped forth to decisively confront Renzo. “What rules do you want?”
“A pair of one-on-one battles with no substitutions. When one side’s Pokémon faints, that’s it, both sides have to switch to their next one.” Glaring straight at Olivia, Renzo added to his instruction, “I know you only have two Pokémon…”
“Wrong,” Olivia interrupted him, “I’ve got three.”
“Then you just got one of them. I don’t want to face that one. There is no justice to be had in defeating a weak opponent.”
“Or are you the one with two Pokémon?” In spite of her suspicions, Olivia turned and released Oshawott from his ball. “Hey, Oshawott! Take the bench on this one and watch if you want to learn how I do things!”
Oshawott voiced his disappointment, but waddled to the sidelines all the same. He was soon joined by Matt, Nekou, Bunny and Juniper.
“Is that enough for you?” she demanded of her foe, planting her fists firmly on her hips. “Can we get this going already?”
“You’re going to eat those words. I’ll make sure of it!” Renzo’s cold glare gave way to an intense fire in his eyes, and he flung the sphere, roaring, “Timburr, let’s go!”
The cloaked trainer’s Poké Ball gave way in a blinding burst of light to a small, gray Pokémon holding a wooden beam under his left arm. His body, which was almost entirely pure muscle, had pink veins bulging out in several places.
“A new one already?” Olivia wondered. Recalling the instructions she’d received from Juniper, she fetched her Pokédex and scanned the creature.
“Timburr, the Muscular Pokémon,” reported the device. “Type is Fighting. It fights by swinging a piece of lumber around. It is close to evolving when it can handle the lumber without difficulty. These Pokémon appear at building sites and help out with construction. They always carry squared logs.”
“A Fighting-type… Minccino won’t be much good against that thing…” Olivia muttered to herself. The circumstances essentially made up her mind for her, and she threw her other Poké Ball, calling out, “Roselia, let’s play!”
Despite Timburr’s small stature, he still stood over Olivia’s Roselia. The flower Pokémon refused to let that scare her, however. She bravely faced her opponent head-on, matching his gaze with all the ferocity she could muster.
Off on the side, Bunny said to Matt and Nekou, “A Fighting-type against a Grass-and-Poison-type… I think Olivia should be able to handle this.”
“Yeah,” Matt concurred before adding, “Fighting-type moves aren’t all that effective on Poison-types.”
“Olivia will win this, I’d bet a beer and a bag of chips on it.” Nekou took a bite out of her butter-drenched bread roll after proclaiming her wager, while Matt and Bunny looked on in exasperation, both of them doubting she would be willing to actually pay it out.
Another cold wind swept across the area, prompting both Matt and Renzo to pull their scarves closer to their faces. Olivia’s cloaked nemesis and his Timburr stared her and Roselia down, holding off on attacking for a reason neither of them could truly discern.
Little did she suspect, unnerving her was exactly what Renzo was trying to do. “Timburr, Pound!” he suddenly called out.
“Roselia, Energy Ball!” Olivia hastily countered.
While Roselia gathered up energy from the terrain around her, giving it shape in the form of a crackling green sphere near one of her arms, Timburr darted toward her with his right arm pulled back. Upon reaching his target, Timburr swung to punch Roselia; however, she deftly shielded herself with her budding Energy Ball, leading him to strike it instead. The sphere burst in a shower of sparks, injuring both Pokémon and shoving them apart.
“So that’s your tactic for close-quarters combat,” Renzo uttered. “You clearly inherited much you didn’t deserve from him.”
Confused by her adversary’s words, Olivia raised and eyebrow and said, “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”
“So you say,” Renzo sniped back, clutching where his scarf covered his mouth. “You won’t mislead me with your deceptive ways.”
“Oh, just shut it already,” Olivia sighed, “I’m tired of hearing this. Roselia, Sludge Bomb.”
“Is that how it’s going to be? Timburr, Rock Throw!”
Both Pokémon utilized projectiles in their followup attacks; Roselia generated a lump of viscous purple slime from her flowery arms, while Timburr kicked up a small rock from the ground and swatted it in her direction using his wooden beam. Neither had particularly good aim, but Timburr’s Rock Throw actually managed to graze its target. Her Sludge Bomb missed Timburr entirely, and her right arm went limp as she fell to the corresponding knee.
“Your aim is poor,” Renzo taunted both Olivia and Roselia, making them scowl at him in tandem. “If you can’t hit me from afar, then this battle is already over. Timburr, use Rock Throw again. Take out its other leg!”
“Don’t give up yet, Roselia!” Olivia cried out, trying to conceal the feeling of dread that was creeping over her. “Try another Energy Ball!”
With only her left arm immediately usable, Roselia was more sluggish than usual in creating the Energy Ball. This left Timburr more than enough time to bat another stone at her, but mere moments before it knocked out her left leg, she was able to launch the green orb she’d formed. She collapsed to the ground as Timburr got hit in the forehead, singeing the protrusion sticking out from between his eyes.
“Roselia!”
Matt, Nekou, Bunny and Oshawott all shared the bad feeling Olivia held regarding how things were progressing. They all knew she was in trouble, and reluctantly had to acknowledge that Renzo was more skilled than they had expected.
“Well, Timburr, it’s time to take what’s rightfully ours. Use Pound to finish this up.”
“Roselia, get ready!”
There was no chance for Roselia to escape from Timburr as the Fighting-type Pokémon bore down on her, so instead of trying in vain to get away, she braced herself against the ground. Timburr smiled as he drew nearer to his target. The blow he had prepared would surely defeat her, he believed.
Little did he expect that getting in range for his strike would leave him wide open for Roselia’s counterattack. A thorn glowing with purple light suddenly emerged from the rose on Roselia’s right arm and jabbed into Timburr’s stomach. Caught completely off guard by this Poison Sting, Timburr howled in pain as he flew back through the air. His wooden beam slipped from his grasp, landing a short distance from Renzo’s feet.
“So you’ve still got some fight left in you,” Renzo growled, clenching his teeth. “A real Seviper in the grass, just like him… I refuse to fall to the likes of you! Timburr, no more games! Use Rock Throw and hold nothing back!”
Without his beam to hit the stones with, Timburr opted to pull a rock up from the ground with his bare hands instead. The beam’s absence changed his center of gravity, however, and he stumbled before he could throw the stone.
Feeling the tide of the battle turning, Olivia was able to smile as she ordered, “Roselia, hit Timburr with Sludge Bomb! You’ve got a shot!”
Roselia’s aim was still slightly off, but it was much more accurate than her prior attempt, splattering sludge all over Timburr’s torso. He cringed from the burning of the toxins on his skin, and though he did manage to fling the rock at his foe, his weakening stance left it to go astray.
Timburr stumbled forward, but he was becoming tired and weak, a fact conveyed by his labored breathing and trembling body. Renzo picked up on this, but he had no time to do anything about it. His Pokémon let out one last gasp and collapsed, defeated.
“Roselia!” Though victorious, Roselia had been fairly badly injured, so Olivia was careful when she picked the Pokémon up in her arms. “You did really well out there, okay? Rest up.”
Hearing a soft chirp in response, Olivia shuttled Roselia over to where her friends were sitting and set her down next to Oshawott.
“That was superb work, Olivia,” Nekou said. She happened to have another of the butter-covered bread rolls, and handed it over to her friend as she continued, “You earned this. Listen, you’re halfway to cleaning this arrogant little jerk’s clock, so don’t lose your pace now.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to.” Turning around but still reveling in the words of praise she’d been given, Olivia strode back to her battle position while eating the roll one bite at a time. She felt like things were happening incredibly fast - the day had barely just begun, and she’d already met a professor, suffered a setback in her quest before it even really got started, and received a completely different starter Pokémon than the one she’d planned for in her dreams. Now she was in her very first battle as an official trainer and was halfway to winning it, and it excited her even beyond her original goal of impressing her father. Winning, she was quickly coming to discover, felt good.
Just as Olivia returned to her position, Renzo finally recalled Timburr. The fallen Pokémon’s wooden beam got pulled into his Poké Ball at the same time as its owner.
“It is unsurprising you would be able to defeat the weaker of my two Pokémon, Olivia Lynn Mistbloom…” he thundered, his piercing eyes blazing with rage. “How speaking that name sickens me! You, who has no right to exist with anything other than the air you breathe, consider yourself entitled to so much more… it’s my role to bring justice by taking that away from you! Drowzee, let’s go!”
Renzo’s Drowzee yawned and stretched upon emerging from the sphere, excess air making his trunk vibrate. He then shifted his gaze to Olivia in an apathetic show of interest in what he’d be facing.
“Alright then! Minccino, I wanted to use you before, but I knew Timburr would be too much for you to handle. Now it’s your turn!”
To face Drowzee, Olivia sent out her Minccino. The gray chinchilla cheered happily when she got out of her Poké Ball, but shrank back slightly when her big black eyes met Drowzee’s lazy gaze.
“I want to make this quick, Minccino. Tail Slap!”
Shaking her initial fear off, Minccino sprinted up to Drowzee and jumped up to be level with his face. She then spun around in the air, bringing her tail around to whip the Psychic-type repeatedly.
“Drowzee, use Poison Gas at close range!”
Just as Minccino disengaged and started to retreat, Drowzee expelled a cloud of noxious purple gas at her from his trunk. She inhaled it and fell into a violent coughing fit, rolling away from her foe and straining to get up as the poison’s effects set in.
“Well, that’s not going to help at all,” Bunny uttered in dismay.
“Come on, Olivia!” Nekou yelled to her. “Don’t let him get away with that shit! Finish this before it’s too late!”
“I’m working on it!” Olivia shot back. Her patience was already being tried as well, through a combination of the existing pressure and her concern over Minccino’s well being. “Do you think you can pull off a Swift, Minccino?”
“I won’t let you!” Renzo interrupted. “Drowzee, Psycho Cut!”
Simultaneously, Drowzee quickly crossed and uncrossed his arms to send two blades of concentrated psychic energy at Minccino, while the Normal-type returned the favor with a shower of star-shaped rays from her tail. Renzo had actually intended for Psycho Cut to simply block Swift, but the stars passed just under his attack, leaving both Pokémon to suffer harsh blows. Minccino struggled to get back up after the strike, due to the poison still working its way through her.
“If she doesn’t win this now, the poison will do her in before Drowzee can,” Matt thought, shifting uncomfortably. “It would just be a tie if she loses, yet, I think she really needs the win here, for her own peace of mind…”
“We can’t do this with just Swift, Minccino! Try Aqua Tail!”
“Coming in close again, are you?” Renzo sneered.
Instead of shooting for multiple strikes, this time Minccino aimed squarely for the middle of Drowzee’s head for a single attack using her tail, which had taken on an aquatic blue shimmer. Drowzee, surprisingly, just stood still and allowed Minccino a clear shot. He barely flinched even when the Aqua Tail made contact.
“That range should be ideal. Drowzee, use Thief.”
The Psychic-type Pokémon jabbed his hand forward like a spear, catching Minccino in the stomach as she fell back. She squealed in pain from the crushing blow, which sent her crashing to the ground below.
“Minccino…” A conflict was developing in Olivia’s mind - she had started to doubt whether she still wanted to win or not. Obviously, beating Renzo after all of his trash talk was something she wanted, but she struggled with the question of whether the price was worth paying. Minccino was struggling to get back up, suffering greatly from the combination of Drowzee’s Poison Gas and his other moves. All she had to do was call out to stop the battle, and her Pokémon could be spared a further ordeal. The option certainly felt tantalizing…
…or at least it did until she gave the progress of the battle to that point another review. There was still one way out, she realized. Not only did such an opening exist, Renzo had shown it to her all by himself.
“Minccino, quick!” Olivia shouted. “Use Swift and aim for Drowzee’s legs!”
The sound of Olivia’s voice gave Minccino a burst of strength, and she jumped to action, sweeping her tail to send a wave of stars into her opponent’s lower limbs. Renzo’s cocky confidence meant Drowzee had already fallen down before he could react.
“Drowzee, get up now!” Renzo snarled, his demeanor whiplashing back into anger as he felt his victory, which he had thought was close at hand mere moments earlier, slipping from his grasp. “Don’t you dare fail me here! Psycho Cut!”
“You’re finished! Consider this one to be from my dad… Tail Slap!”
Now it was Drowzee who was struggling to stand. Seeing this gave Minccino another rush of energy, and she darted straight at her foe. His face practically presented a bullseye for her to aim at, and she took great joy in lashing at him once, twice, five times in rapid succession. The last hit was delivered to his chin from below, with such force that it threw Drowzee up into the air and down onto his back, kicking up a small cloud of dust and dirt around him. When he fell, he did not rise again.
“I think that’s more than enough,” Nekou loudly declared, making her way to Olivia’s side and throwing her arms around her friend. “A victory against the new archenemy rival who ambushed you on day one? I’d call that the definition of a good way to start a story.”
Olivia certainly couldn’t argue that. For all of the frustration she’d felt with the disruptions to her plans, defeating Renzo made her swell with excitement for what would come next. She flashed Nekou a wide grin, but the reality of Minccino’s situation caught up with her, and she pulled away from Nekou’s embrace just as Matt and Bunny reached them.
“Minccino!” she called out, noticing that her beloved Pokémon was barely able to keep standing. “Minccino, hold on!”
Olivia was too far away to catch Minccino before she fell, but luckily, Juniper was right there to do it instead. The tiny Pokémon trembled in the professor’s arms, and Juniper said to her trainer, “Minccino needs to be healed. Roselia, too. Fortunately for us, Professor Elm’s lab has everything we’ll need.”
“Can you take care of them, please?” Olivia inquired, handing over the duo’s Poké Balls.
“Of course, I’d be glad to. I’ll head down there now, so you guys meet me there.” Turning to the Pokémon, she pointed the spheres in their direction and said, “Roselia, Minccino, come with me. I’ll fix you both up.”
A red laser shot out of the button on each Poké Ball, engulfing Olivia’s two Pokémon and bringing them back into the safety the spheres offered. Juniper then nodded to Olivia before setting off toward her fellow professor’s laboratory.
Matt, Nekou and Bunny clustered around Olivia, each of them intending to congratulate her in their own way. Riding high on her newfound waves of confidence, she shut her eyes, hoping to revel in what they would say to her.
But it wasn’t their voices she heard. No, it ended up being Renzo who broke her out of her daydream.
“You are certainly a worthy adversary, Olivia Mistbloom,” he grumbled from behind his scarf, his voice sharp and acidic. “I expected as much, you being his daughter and all. I will concede that much. But let me warn you now, this isn’t over. Far from it. If you consider this the beginning of your story, it’s the beginning of mine, too. And I promise you, I will be there to put an end to that story of you and your fraud of a father.”
Having completed his threatening speech, Renzo pivoted and stormed off in the direction of New Bark Town’s exit, leaving Matt, Nekou, Bunny and Olivia to try and overcome their confusion to make sense of his behavior.
“Okay, someone tell me they’re going to remember that little fucker’s name,” Nekou groaned, slouching forward. “I stopped caring.”
“Renzo… Milos, was it?” Bunny repeated to herself. “Besides the fact his name sounds like some ancient statue or work of art, it doesn’t really stand out that much. Besides, it doesn’t say anything about why he hates Rich so much.”
“Kind of funny he’s got the same initials, I guess…” Olivia noted, “but does that really matter?”
“You know how many R.M.s there are out there? I don’t think it matters at all.” Nekou shrugged, then added, “Tell you what, Olivia, how’s about I buy us all some pizza when we get to Cherrygrove City?” She leaned in closer, smirked, and said in a voice just loud enough to deliberately let the others hear her, “Of course, that means Matt is buying us pizza when we get to Cherrygrove City.”
“Come on, Nekou,” Matt retorted, “isn’t your debt to me deep enough already? Running up a tab with me for food is how you got into this.”
“I don’t care who pays for it,” Olivia interjected, while Nekou took the time to stick her tongue out and wink at Matt instead of saying anything. Pushing her way past the others, she approached Oshawott, who had been patiently standing nearby. “Did you see all of that?” she asked him. “That’s how we’re going to do things. We’re going to work hard and find my dad. Now is your chance to leave if you want, because there’s no turning back.”
Much to her surprise, Oshawott did not back down from the seriousness of the situation even as she presented it to him. He simply exclaimed his name and jumped up enthusiastically, showing that he was more than accepting of Olivia’s terms.
-:-
Far away from New Bark Town, in a chamber somewhere deep underground, a council of men and women was meeting that held the threads of not just Olivia’s fate but that of many, many more people in their hands. They were seated at a ring-shaped desk, eight in all, and all but one wore a mask that obscured their face. There were two empty seats, as well, sitting beneath banners bearing the letters ‘I’ and ‘X.’
Light shining down from several fixtures hung overhead illuminated the two women standing in the middle of the ring. Shackled and dressed in rags, they presented a strange, unsettling sight, something not helped by the blank facial expressions they both wore as they slowly swayed around the circle.
“The voices of the despairing cried out for salvation, but the one to whom their pleas were addressed did not answer,” the woman with flowing, dark blue hair said in a breathy, flat voice. “No, it was the great hand of the Forbidden Beast that reached out to them, from the Terminal Void at the end of space and time.”
“The Forbidden Beast reached out to the despairing voices and took not just their lives, but their minds,” added her companion, distinguished by her green, braided ponytail. “Their very essences. All existence was taken at the Forbidden Beast’s hand, the universe and all that inhabited it trapped in the endless spiral of the Forbidden Beast’s coils. Thus, this event was foretold, and was named the Day of Reckoning.”
“Thank you so much, Anthea, Concordia,” uttered one of the eight members of the council, his every word dripping with venomous sarcasm. Seated under the banner marked ‘III,’ he was the only one of them not wearing a mask, opting only for a rectangular, black-and-red monocle over his right eye. Those colors matched the patchwork cloak wrapped around his frail, thin body. “Fellow members of the Sacred Helix, as you can see, the traitorous waste known as the Tenganist people know information that can assist us in pursuing our beautiful ideals!”
“We didn’t need you to tell us that, Ghetsis,” sneered the man at the seat designated ‘VIII,’ who was clad in a similar cape but hid his face behind a mask in the image of the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo. “It’s a core Polaris teaching.”
“Watch it, Jeunes,” the executive at the seat bearing ‘IV’ reproached. Her face, head and shoulders were covered by golden armor, leaving only her aged nose and mouth visible. “As correct as you are, there is no need for such pettiness between members of the Sacred Helix. We were all chosen by Father for a reason, and we’ll all be equal in the promised land Polaris will bring us. Ghetsis surely prepared this presentation as an argument for me to keep investing in his section’s work.”
“Yes, Finansielle,” Jeunes apologized. “Please forgive me.”
“Might I also urge Jeunes to remember that he’s the leader of section eight while I’m the leader of section three,” Ghetsis saw fit to add, turning his sarcasm on his colleague.
The man sitting at the seat for section number two would have none of this. “And I would urge you, Ghetsis, to remember your place. You had all three of the Angels necessary for us to bring about the Day of Reckoning within your grasp in Unova, and you let them slip away. Your failure set us back by years, and we cannot afford for that to happen again. Polaris must free this diseased world from its suffering without delay.”
Ghetsis’s incredible ego was bruised, and it drove him to slam his cane into the floor. “Team Plasma’s work in Unova was held back by this body’s own lack of cooperation! If I was given the manpower and funding I needed, we’d have reached the world I - no, we - envision! You know that more than almost anyone, Praeses!”
If Ghetsis could have seen Praeses roll his eyes, it would have only incited his rage even further. The council member’s visage was obscured by a mask with a billowing white plume atop it, however, that combined with the ragged tuxedo he wore gave him the appearance of a Darkrai.
“You know how we operate, Ghetsis. Unova was the mission we entrusted you with. If you were unable to complete your task, that is your failure. Polaris had to spend significant capital to maintain your public image outside of Unova after your actions. Consider yourself lucky you’re even still on the Sacred Helix at all.”
Suddenly, the sound of heavy doors opening pierced the air in the room, interrupting the acrimony. A tall, lithe man in a white suit emerged from the shadows behind the number one seat, his clothing and his gray hair standing out in stark contrast to his dark surroundings. He wore no mask, but a small pin on his chest depicted the insignia of the organization, a double helix twisted into the letter ‘P’ set against interlocking red and blue diamonds.
As the new arrival sat down, the council member lounging at seat number five with her legs up on her chair spoke up, complaining, “Archer, did we really get called here to listen to Ghetsis huff and puff about himself? Father couldn’t even show up?”
“Now, now, Séduire, fret not,” Archer replied to the younger girl, whose red hair combined with her spiked mask to give her the appearance of an Entei. “There is nothing to be upset about. Father appointed me as his envoy to the Sacred Helix for important matters such as what we have to discuss today. Chromosomes, as you know, we have not had a leader for the tenth section since the unfortunate demise of its previous leader five years ago. Today, we present the matter of appointing a new Chromosome to fill that seat.”
Archer waved his hand, prompting a change in the lighting from the lamps above. Anthea and Concordia had disappeared from the center of the ring, their replacement lowered to his left knee and bowing his head out of deference to the panel judging him. The way the lights hit him let the Sacred Helix see him, but kept his features obscured in shadows.
“Allow me to introduce the candidate,” Jeunes announced. “As you already know, through Finansielle’s generous investment in my section, my team has been conducting what we termed ‘Project J.’ The candidate now standing before you is the product of our work, our bid to create a vessel for Polaris’s ideals using the research of the genius Dr. Dante Fantomos as a guide. Through Dr. Fantomos’s discoveries on the nature of DNA, we were able to give this vessel a body using just the slightest scrap of genetic material.”
“And I sincerely thank you for giving me this new life,” the shadowy individual said. “In the past, I could never have dreamt of the independence I now have. I owe a tremendous debt to Polaris, and I intend to serve you most faithfully to repay it.”
Praeses spoke up next. “You’ve been in training since you were given your body, and your first field mission for us was stealing the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs from the Pewter Museum. Clearly, your mission was a success, but we want to hear your report in your own words.”
“The job was easy, I assure you of that. I was able to infiltrate the museum, get the Orbs, and get out. Virtually no trouble at all.”
“And you can credit that to my section’s technology,” boasted the diminutive young man seated in section nine, who was wearing an Electivire-themed mask and helmet complete with antennae. “When our nominee claimed the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, he was using an invention of mine, you see. Would you care to describe it?”
“Of course. You supplied me with a bodysuit possessing the capability to wield electricity. With that I was able to disable the museum’s security and carry out my orders.”
“All this talk of technology is fascinating,” the executive in section six cut in, her eyes narrowing in on the candidate from behind her Braviary-themed mask. “I want to talk about values. You were made to be a vessel for Polaris’s beliefs, but what are your beliefs? Do you have any of your own, or do you simply do what you’re instructed?”
Though the members of the Sacred Helix couldn’t see it, the subject of their questioning smirked. “I must answer that question with another question. With all due respect… must there be anything other than what Polaris stands for? Look out at the world beyond these walls. The corruption. The rot. That world is diseased. It doesn’t offer anything of worth for those of us with morals. I ask all of you, look into yourselves. Was it not the evil of that world that drove you all to be here today?”
Chatter broke out around him, his interrogators mostly acknowledging his claim. With his point made, he pressed on.
"Since you asked, though, I'll give you an answer. I do have things I believe in. Before I was… liberated… through your use of Dr. Fantomos’s research, I had to watch everything that happened around me, with virtually no ability to affect it. Try as I might, I was trapped. Polaris has already given me the freedom to be who I really am, and I’m never giving that up. That’s why I’ll fight, no matter what it takes.”
“My fellow Chromosomes, what more could you possibly want to hear?” Jeunes said to the others, raising his arms and spreading them. “We set out to create a vessel that could embody Polaris’s ideals, and we’ve succeeded beyond our wildest dreams! Project J has borne fruit! In light of that, I propose we vote immediately on the confirmation of our creation to join this board.”
“Motion accepted.” Standing up from his seat, Archer proclaimed, “As the envoy of the First Chromosome, Father, I, Archer, cast a vote of yes!”
Praeses was the next to rise. “As the Second Chromosome, I, Praeses, cast a vote of yes!”
As Ghetsis hobbled to his feet, the subject of the vote smiled to himself again, outside the view of the panel assessing him.
“As the Third Chromosome, I, Ghetsis, cast a vote of yes!”
Three down, and Finansielle stood up next. “As the Fourth Chromosome, I, Finansielle, cast a vote of yes!”
Four yes, zero no, and Séduire rose. Unlike her older colleagues, she hesitated in making her decision. Something about the mysterious person troubled her. He felt… familiar, somehow, in a way she couldn’t place. Nevertheless, she finally was able to say, “As the Fifth Chromosome, I, Séduire… I cast a vote of yes.”
With five yes votes out of nine total to be cast, the outcome was already sealed. But formality demanded the remaining panelists announce their choices, and so the woman in the Braviary mask rose to her feet.
“I am troubled by what you are,” she said. “In the absence of further questioning, as the Sixth Chromosome, I, Mercury, cast a vote of no.”
At section seven was a man in a cape and a Dragonite mask who hadn’t spoken at all in the meeting. He simply stood up and declared, “As the Seventh Chromosome, I, Athleta, cast a vote of yes!”
“Of course, I have to cast a vote for yes,” Jeunes immediately followed up.
Last was the ninth section’s leader, the young man in the Electivire helmet. “As the Ninth Chromosome, I, Getriebe, cast a vote of yes!”
“The final vote is eight yes, one no,” Archer announced to the assembly. “I hereby induct you into our ranks, our new Tenth Chromosome. What shall your name be?”
“My name…” Emerging from the shadows, the new Chromosome had already pulled on a Sigilyph-themed mask and helmet that completely concealed his face, hiding the wicked smirk stretched across his features. “My name shall be Geminus.”
“Very well. Geminus, in the name of all those who believe in Polaris, may you help keep the guiding star of our cause burning bright!” Archer retrieved a tall glass of champagne from his desk and raised it, a toast to all that had been accomplished - and all that the organization would soon be doing. “Chromosomes, with our ranks full for the first time in five years, our resurgence is finally complete! It is now time for us to guide those to whom we give meaning into the promised land of our future. Consider the history of our planet… Earth took shape as a mass of molten rock millions of years ago, and from that beginning, humans, Pokémon and all other living things emerged. Today our world is suffering… no, it is dying. Our world is dying because of our ignorance and greed. We have reached the end of what the species inhabiting Earth are capable of. In order to survive, and to thrive once again, we must become something better. This is what Father has promised us Polaris will do. To you, the Sacred Helix, who will lead the faithful into this paradise! To the Forbidden Beast, whose power shall make this dream come true! To Polaris, the guiding star to a new world!”
END of CHAPTER 2
Chapter Ten: All Rivers Reach the Sea
Title: Salt for Salt Fandom: Sanders Sides Category: Gen, M/M Rating: T
Janus's heart was already racing painfully, but he felt a tight squeeze of panic begin to compress his lungs even trying to think about it. He didn't know where to start in trying to understand this. To understand what was happening to him—what the creatures wanted from him, what they were doing to him, why. And he wasn't too proud to admit that he was afraid to know. Because there was something very wrong with him now that hadn't been before he came to Inch Murrough. It had started the moment he had set foot on the island—perhaps even the moment he stepped onto the ferry—and its monsters were the only possible cause. He had to believe that it wasn't too late. That getting away from the island might stop it...
Chapters: 10/20
As Cruel As You - Chapter One
As Cruel As You has officially launched! Keep reading to see the first chapter!
Learn more about As Cruel As You here
Read this chapter on AO3 here
Attention students of Hope's Peak Academy…
You are special.
Nothing could ever hurt you as long as you have your talents. Here at Hope's Peak, we strive to pave the way to a greater perfection than what we know now. To create a society of young, promising people with no imperfections whatsoever, to create a more profitable world worth living in, that is our goal...
… as they told us.
Hope's Peak painted the world as a place where you could thrive amongst others in harmony, but if all are to thrive at once, how does one such as yourself remain unique? If you must shine as the brightest star, the rest around you must be extinguished.
Look around the room at the unfamiliar faces surrounding you, and know this: Blood will shed for survival. It is in your nature.
---
“Just in case I forget, my name is Komaru Naegi.”
The Komaru in the mirror blinked.
“Oh, mine too!”
She smiled awkwardly at herself. She was running out of ideas for a unique conversation. She didn’t know how much time had passed. Hell, she didn’t even know how old she was anymore.
“Then again, I'm at that age where you forget how old you are anyway,” she always told herself, “so like sixteen or seventeen…”
Talking to herself was Komaru’s specialty. She was the only person she could talk to in this lonely apartment with no contact or even sight of the outside world. The windows were covered by large metal plates and bars from the outside. Had the sun exploded yet? Komaru would’ve had no idea. Her skin was suffering from it… actually, her whole body was, and her brain too. Vitamins were really all she had outside of food. She believed that she was kidnapped. She hadn’t heard another human voice in… uh… she didn’t know-
“OH! I’ve never heard their voice, but there is someone else I talk to: my caretaker. They bring me food!”
It was through a little delivery slot by the exit door, which had never been opened before. Komaru had never seen her caretaker. They knocked at the door whenever she spoke to them, possibly signaling that they were listening. She just wished she could open it to see them...
“I'm trapped in this apartment, but I don't really care. I just want food and a friend.”
The Komaru in the mirror didn’t respond. She must have run out of things to say. Then again, this Komaru ran out of a lot of interesting things to do and say. She even wore the same three outfits… Well, two of them were actually the same outfit just with sweatpants instead of a skirt, which was what she was wearing now. The other outfit was a pink pajama shirt. It was always at least a little bit exciting when any of them developed a hole or a loose string. Regardless of attire at the moment, there was still nothing to say. Maybe the person at the door would be more fun to talk to? Komaru, as in the one not in the mirror, walked over to the big brown door. It wasn’t actually that big, but it felt like it. Perhaps it was the heaviness in the air that surrounded it. Komaru didn’t really care though.
“Hey buddy!” she called. “I can't keep myself entertained this whole time. I still don't know what you even want from me! You give me supplies, but that's it! What am I, a tamagotchi? Is the world actually just a tamagotchi game? BY THE WAY THE EARTH IS ROUND!!! I haven't lost my mind yet!”
A loud knock at the door responded.
“Aha! There you are!” Komaru said.
Another thump confirmed the greeting.
“Are you gonna let me open the door this time?” Komaru asked.
...
“Can I say hi?”
Though it never worked, Komaru reached to twist the doorknob for the millionth time… and it actually moved.
“… Yo…”
With a smile, Komaru flung the door open to greet her mysterious caretaker. It was standing right in front of her, though she had to look down a bit to see it. She was quite surprised to see it standing on four legs. It was an odd looking bear, its fur split between black and white neatly down the middle of its entire body. It stared at her with both a dead black eye and one of a strange jagged shape that emitted a faint red light. The bear bared it’s sharp, shark-like teeth with a wicked grin.
It was in that moment that Komaru’s body realized for her that she was not, in fact, looking at what had been taking care of her these past few however-long-it’s-beens, and the next thing she knew, she was running down the halls of the apartment building on feet that barely touched the ground. The bear, with clearly audible robotic limbs, pursued her swiftly. Komaru would soon discover that there was more than one of these bears as they would jump out in front of her at various intersecting corridors, forcing her to change direction. In truth, she had no idea where she was going. She had no idea if she would even make it out alive. Well, if she didn’t, at least she had the chance to run around at full speed one last time in an event that she could at least consider new and exciting…
… but alas...
BAM!
Suddenly, Komaru was lying on her back, the wind almost knocked out of her. She began to process the fact that she had just ran into something that let out a very human-like shout as she had collided with it. She tilted her head to see before her a young man about her age pushing himself up off of the floor from the fall. He certainly didn’t dress like his age, what with a black suit and tie, a serious scowl and squinting eyes. He pointed what appeared to be a megaphone at the bear, putting himself between her and it.
“Stay back.”
From the megaphone came a bright blue light that fired at the bear, causing it to explode into pieces in midair as it had attempted to lunge at them. Immediately afterwards, the young man looked back at the floor, squinting until he spotted a pair of white glasses that he proceeded to put back on his face. He then reached down, grabbed Komaru by her wrist and pulled her to her feet. He did all of this as if it was an ordinary day in which he did not just blow up a killer robot bear with a seemingly magical megaphone.
“Komaru Naegi, yes?” he asked in a very flat voice.
Any other day, Komaru would have judged this man as a stuffy brat who thinks he is better than anyone else, but after being isolated from any human interaction for who knows how long, she promptly began suffocating him with a hug.
“Hello human person!” she gleefully chirped. “Hello hello helloooo!!! I'm Komaru!! What's your name? Thank you for saving me! I love you. Are you my caretaker? I've been here for, like, AGES! How are you???”
It took the young man a few seconds of silence to recover from the onslaught of extroverted greetings. He was able to survive the squeeze and wriggle himself free from Komaru’s grasp.
“My name is Byakuya Togami,” he said, brushing his now wrinkled clothes straight. “You'll need this.”
Byakuya took another megaphone from his belt that Komaru had failed to notice until now and handed it to her.
“Oo! Thank you thank you!” Komaru said, thrilled that someone would entrust her with something that could be called a gun.
“It's a hacking gun,” Byakuya explained. “You in particular don't need to know about the hacking part, just the gun part. That device was specifically designed to defend yourself against the Monokumas.”
“The robot bears?”
“… Obviously.”
Byakuya made his way to one of the elevators in the room and pressed the down button.
“Remember to aim for the eye,” he said. “I need you to go to the first floor to meet your escort so that I can stay here and look for more survivors.”
Komaru clung onto Byakuya’s arm as he guided her into the elevator.
“Can I stay with you?” she pleaded. “Pleeeeeaaaase???”
“Sorry, but no,” Byakuya said. “It's too dangerous.”
“But I-!”
“Trust me.”
Byakuya shook her off once more, reached into the elevator and pressed the first floor button.
“Makoto sent me.”
Komaru froze as the doors to the elevator closed.
“… Makoto? M-My brother…? Where's he been?? Is he my escort??? Byakuya!?”
Byakuya could not hear her, or perhaps he ignored her. Soon, Komaru had reached the first floor to meet her escort. The good news is her escort wasn't Makoto. That's only good news because the bad news is that the escort exploded.
“And that's all I remember so far!”
Komaru had awoken on a firm bed within what she would describe as a “prison cell from the future.” Around her wrist was a tight black wristband with a bright red line cutting through the middle. It felt a little heavy and uncomfortable, but she somehow didn’t notice it until she saw it. She didn’t remember ever getting it… perhaps the creature at the foot of her bed knew? Well, it was a person, but it wasn’t quite human. She soon found out that it was yet another boy about her age, but instead of hands and feet, he had terrible claws, and though they were sharp, his face was gentle. His wispy white hair had trailed around his body, markings on his torn clothes dotted his sides a dull red and green, the same colors as his target-like eyes. His snout was narrow, his whiskers long and thin. A long, fluffy tail protruded from his back that wrapped around his body as he was curled up around himself. Even the efforts of his nearly matted fur around his neck and the dark, tight collar that looked much like Komaru’s wristband could not hide the thinness of his bony neck. His frailness and unkempt fur made him look much like a sickly, elderly cat.
Komaru, though surprised by the sight of the young man, didn’t take long to process his existence. He seemed friendly and patient despite his apparent condition. He spoke with a gentle yet raspy voice. Yes, he could indeed speak.
“Greetings,” he had said the moment he realized that Komaru was awake. “Do you remember how you got here?”
Komaru had sat up and done exactly that without question. She didn’t care, it was another person to talk to.
“It was kinda sad seeing the city torn up like that,” she said after reciting everything, “but hey, it's a change of pace in life, I guess.”
“Of all of the hostages, you're the most optimistic,” the boy said.
“Who, me?” Komaru laughed. “Nah, I'm just too tired to scream at whatever gods may or may not be out there, but thanks anyway! So! What's your name, fuzzy fella?”
The creature seemed a little worried about Komaru’s attitude, but she didn’t notice his discomfort.
“The Tamer prefers that everyone calls me by my nickname.”
He placed a paw upon his chest.
“Toto.”
Komaru placed her hand on her chest.
“Komaru.”
Toto gave her a sympathetic smile.
“You'll meet the Warriors themselves shortly,” he continued, his smile fading as he looked down. “… just like everyone else does…”
For once, Komaru noticed the other’s sadness.
“You good?” she asked, tilting her head a little.
After thinking for a few seconds, Toto looked back up at her.
“Komaru, can you make me a promise?”
“That depends on the promise, but I'm listening.”
Komaru waited patiently as Toto took in a long, deep and heavy breath. Something was plaguing his peace of mind.
“My friends and I are imprisoned here,” he said. “If you can win the game you're about to play, we will be freed from our cages… and hopefully, our curses.”
“Curses?” Komaru repeated.
“We used to be completely human,” Toto explained, “but we've been turned into… I'm not even sure what to call it. Weaponized creatures, I suppose. I'm one of the few who can still speak to other humans.”
“… Does this mission involve killing anyone?” Komaru asked. “Just curious.”
“Kill as few as you can, none if any,” Toto said.
“Well, I'm already wondering where my family is,” Komaru said. “I figured that'd be my mission, but I can take a side quest too. I'll do it!”
Komaru takes Toto’s paw and shakes it.
“Thank you,” he said. “I must warn you, the Warriors may release my friends upon you as weapons. Please, do not kill them under any circumstances.”
“You waited until after I promised to say that, didn't you?”
“Well, you are my only hope as of right now.”
They let go of each other’s hands.
“What about everyone else?” Komaru asked. “Y'know, you mentioned how they all meet the Warriors?”
“You're the first person to make that promise with me,” Toto said. “All others assumed it was a trap. It just goes to show how much you care about others… or perhaps how little you care about yourself.”
Komaru silently ignored that last remark. Not waiting for any kind of response, Toto jumped down from the bed, and from the foot of it, retrieved the hacking gun.
“Oh! My gun!,” Komaru gasped gleefully as Toto placed it in front of her. “Thank you!”
Komaru reached over and pulled Toto into a hug. He made a quiet wheezing sound as she squeezed him, but didn’t protest. Komaru couldn’t help but notice how oily, sweaty clammy he felt.
“Are you alright?” Komaru asked as she let the poor creature go. “You feel gross.”
“I'm as good as I'm gonna get right now,” Toto said, not offended by the rather blunt remark.
“Alright…” Komaru sighed. “It’s just that everyone I've met so far doesn't seem well. I don't know if Byakuya survived the bear attack. He's the guy who took care of me while I was trapped, I think.”
“I'm terribly sorry if he didn't survive,” Toto said softly. “On another pressing note... The Warriors will explain everything else you need to know. I'll guide you to them.”
Toto hopped down from the bed once more and approached the door of the cell. Rearing up on his hind legs, he pressed a button on the wall beside the door and stepped back as it opened. Shuffling off of the bed, Komaru latched the hacking gun to the belt of her pants and followed Toto out of the room. Surprise! They were walking through the halls of what appeared to be… a spaceship? At least in Komaru’s eyes. The walls were of metal, lined with softly glowing beams of blue. The floor, however, was a bit out of place. It was a checker pattern, though at every corner the corridor came to there was a large black tile with a white emblem of a four-pointed star haloed by a ring. Checker patterns always reminded Komaru of casinos or American diners. Perhaps the designer wanted to capture the feeling of the latter or had a gambling addiction. Either way, it was tacky. What was worse than the appearance of the place was the smell. It was different from the cell, which smelled of nothing notable, but here there was a faint smell of… Komaru didn’t know what to call it, but it did indeed remind her of a hospital.
“Ugh, it smells like a hospital in this place,” she groaned.
“I too am disgusted by the smell,” Toto agreed. “Hospitals hold no fond memories in my mind.”
Through the winding halls they journeyed, though before they even reached their supposed destination, one of the metal doors they passed by notably had monstrous sounds of roaring and growling coming from behind it. Toto didn’t acknowledge it. He warned of nothing, explained nothing, pardoned nothing. In fact, his gaze may have even been averted. Komaru merely glanced at it. She could probably guess what was behind that door… but ultimately she said nothing. She continued to silently follow Toto until they came to a point where the halls intersected four ways. In the center room was the most forgettable sculpture that Komaru had ever seen, so much so that she had forgotten what it even looked like the moment that Toto guided her away and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a rather large landing for something that held nothing but a set of large double doors on the opposite end of the room. They were notably white, lined with gold and crowned by an ornate glass window above it. Either the glass or the sky was blood red. Komaru could not be sure. Another thing she could not be sure of was if this place wanted to look like a casino, a spaceship, or a cathedral. Regardless of its intentions, it was kind of ugly. Still, it was a new sight, which made it automatically better than being locked up in that godforsaken apartment.
Toto stopped at the center of the room and sat down, waiting for Komaru to catch up with him. When she did, he just looked at her, though she understood what he meant. She approached those large doors and pushed them open. The place they were in had officially decided that it wanted to be a cathedral, for before them was a grand room of marble… or what at least appeared to be marble. One could not trust the appearance of materials these days. The walls were lined with pillars, golden trim and windows and curtains of red. Every small step Komaru made reverberated through the mostly empty room. The only things present within it besides Komaru and Toto were five children in the dead center grouped in a linear formation, staring at her. None of them could have been older than twelve. They all looked rather calm despite the strange situation everyone seemed to be in. In fact, they stared at Komaru as if they knew exactly what was going on, like they had been anticipating her arrival.
The right-most child was dressed mostly in pink with a warm brown hoodie overlaying her puffy skirt and shorts. There were long white and pink striped stockings beneath her tall brown boots. Her hair was long, even while styled in pigtails topped with a headband that gave her big pink devil horns, all tied together with a little white bow above her bangs. Were her eyes also pink, or was that just a trick on Komaru’s eyes played by the smiling little girl’s rosy cheeks?
The second child had a rather stern look on his face, his blue eyes glaring daggers into Komaru. It was a stare that she was familiar with, but she wasn’t exactly intimidated by him. His hair was short and light blue with two pointed cowlicks that reminded Komaru a bit of cat ears… or perhaps another set of devil horns? His outfit was rather plain, with a pale blue coat and shorts blanketing a darker blue shirt. The sleeves were long like the darker blue stockings that met at his feet with a pair of hook and loop shoes that matched the color of his coat. Around his neck was a striped golden-orange scarf. Overall, it was hard to determine the kind of weather that this kid was dressed for, but he seemed very serious about himself.
The child in the center of the group sat in a red wheelchair. Her eyes were bright green, and though she donned a sweet and innocent face, something about her stare was haunting. Her short curly hair sort of reminded Komaru of pickles. Besides her big red bows atop her head and around the neck of her dark blue dress, the only other notable thing about her was the wolf plush that she was holding upon her lap.
The fourth child finally broke the pattern of hair color matching eye color. His eyes were blue, but his spiky hair and bushy eyebrows were a screaming blood orange. He appeared to be a sporty kid, wearing a striped black and orange shirt beneath a white tank top with denim shorts and sports sneakers. He also wore white headphones, but not even those could suppress his fiery hair. He held a baseball bat over his shoulder in a proud manner.
The left-most child was probably the least excited of them all. In fact, they looked rather sullen. They wore a mask of leather scraps that shielded their face with the exception of their mouth and pale eyes. Dark plastic wire mesh circles covered their ears and a few other spots on their head possibly just for ventilation, but the purpose of the breathing tube that hung in front of their chin was uncertain. They were mostly dressed in brown, their body almost entirely obscured by a long dress shirt with sleeves that went far over their hands. Around their waist was a belt of various little sculpting tools, more of which could be seen protruding from the lid of a white randoseru upon their back.
…
Komaru waved to the five children.
“Hullo!”
“See? I told you guys we should've made our outfits at the Halloween store,” said the sullen child. “Not every Demon is gonna be afraid of us on sight.”
“You know darn well I can't walk through Halloween stores with those crappy decorations that pop out at you!” the girl in pink snapped.
“Guys! Shut up!”
The other children looked to the sporty kid.
“We have to do the thing!” he said. “The protoceratops or whatever it's called.”
“Protocol,” the stern boy corrected.
“Yeah, that,” said the sporty kid, rolling his eyes. “Dinosaurs are cooler but that's what I meant.”
“You have a point,” Komaru said.
“SILENCE, DEMON!”
“Oh my bad.”
“I mean like, thanks for agreeing with me, but shut up. I'm gonna start the Protoceratops now. And I'm calling it that because dinosaurs are awesome and I want to call it that, not because I'm dense.”
Komaru should have guessed early on that these kids had no intention of being peaceful with her. Hell, they could barely remain peaceful with each other, what with the stern boy redirecting his glare of daggers to the sporty kid. The only child who didn’t seem to want to argue in that moment was the girl in the wheelchair. The children all then focused on Komaru.
“We are the Warriors of Hope!” the sporty kid proudly announced. “Thanks to our val-i-ant efforts, the world of Demons has been van-quished, making way for a peaceful and pros-per-ous world for children who shall no longer live in fear of the wrath of adults!”
...
“… Jataro, it's your turn.”
The sullen kid flinched as the sporty kid said his name.
“Oh, right, sorry…” he mumbled before raising his own voice. “Demons brought us nothing but sorrow and led us to fall into a deep pit of despair. We were only rescued when our Goddess chose us as the heroes of our people, and guided us to slay those who had hurt us. She then told us that we were destined to create a Paradise for all children and free us from the world of adults once and for all!”
“From this, we crafted a game we call "Demon Hunting," where we release our captured Demons and hunt them down,” the girl in pink continued on cue. “Whichever one of us kills the most Demons by the time all Demons have been eliminated wins the right to rule our new world. Do not underestimate our power, as we are the five chosen Lil' Ultimates of Hope's Peak Elementary, and have trained to optimize our abilities.”
“You have been chosen as our next Demon,” said the stern kid. “Together, we will cast you into our new world-”
“THE PARACHUTE!”
The rest of the children scowled at Jataro, minus the girl in the wheelchair, who just looked a tad bit disappointed.
“Uhhh we forgot to give the last Demon a parachute,” Jataro said. “That just kinda ruined the fun early.”
Komaru felt a slight nudge as Toto had begun carefully strapping a parachute to her back. It must have been difficult with his claws, so she remained as still as she could.
“… Er, thank you, Jataro,” the stern boy reluctantly said before continuing. “Together, we will cast you into our new world, our Paradise! You only have so much time to see what the whole world will look like after you've left it! Who will it be who hunts you down? Will it be…”
“Masaru, the Fighter!” shouted the sporty kid.
“Jataro, the Priest!” piped up Jataro, whose name had already been uttered multiple times in annoyance.
“Kotoko, the Tamer!” the girl in pink said cutely.
“Nagisa, the Sage!” said the stern boy firmly.
“Or Monaca, the Mage?” the girl in the wheelchair nearly whispered.
The girl now known as Monaca retrieved a small remote with a big red button from her pocket, aiming it in Komaru’s direction.
“Demon, do you have any last words before the Hunt begins?” she asked with that haunting voice of hers.
Komaru stared blankly. She looked back at Toto, who was sitting a little far back by the door. He looked gloomy, but there was a gleam of hope in his eyes…
...
“… Hey, I'm sorry, I kinda zoned out for most of that,” Komaru said. “Could you guys repeat what you said?”
The children stared at Komaru for a few seconds with the most disappointment she had ever seen on the faces of children before Monaca promptly pressed the button. Before she knew it, the ground beneath Komaru had vanished, and she was swallowed into a deep red sky. In that moment, she screamed, and though she would later find that it should have been more so in fear, for now it was mostly with excitement to feel the wind on her face again, to feel some kind of rush of adrenaline, to breathe the murky outside air...
Finally, something, anything was happening.
6 // AXL II
“Call me if anything changes,” He said, standing as the mattress bounced back at the loss of his weight. He could hear the clattering of bowls and spoons from the kitchen and made his way over into the living room.
Still unchanged with the piano in the corner, sunlight catching and bleaching the South side of it. He placed the magazines on the table, trying his hardest to not remove any of the bookmarks or sticky notes that were being used as page markers.
He emptied one of the drawers on the TV cabinet, throwing out the tangled enards of cables and wires before he reached where he was looking, arm straining as he picked up the object. He pushed it down into his pockets alongside the pack of Marlboro’s that he’d dug out of the nightstand.
He needed all the strength he could get.
Axl made his way back through the bedroom and pulled on a pair of white socks, definitely a pair of his, considering they weren’t cutting off the circulation of his ankles.
“Axl, be careful,” Adi said, dark eyes staring through him before she twisted onto her side. He remained looking over her frame.
“Of course I will be honey,”
He lit the cigarette when he shut the apartment door, uncaring of the no smoking signs and instead embracing the tar as he inhaled it deeply. He needed it as he made his way down the stairs to the parking lot, a cool breeze blowing through the open windows.
It was a wonderful day.
Sinner. Sinner. Sinner.
Axl kept walking, thudding down as his boots hit the concrete. He had no need for righteous forgiveness and salvation, who needed such things when the mag in his pocket was full.
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