LOVE AND SACRIFICE
Love and Sacrifice: The things little sisters do...
Determined, Shadow approached the Zentai base, armed fully with just
about every weapon he had with him, plus a full set of dark pokemon
attacks. At each side, one of his pokemon trotted in sync with his
quick pace, knowing full well what he had planned for that night.
When he reached the gate, he tucked the houndoom under his arm and
held the umbreon close to his chest, then leapt over with the acrobat
skill and grace he had been born with. In one swift, silent movement,
he made it over and killed the single soldier on duty before rushing
off, ignoring the alarm and concentrating on doing as much damage as
one lone hybrid possibly could.
But one warning, it hurts like h*ll The lightning hybrid's
words the night before replayed in his mind, and for a split second,
he hesitated, wondering whether he should go on...
But no, he could not stop now. Together with his pokemon, he
slaughtered just about every living soul in the base, pokemon and
human, and all that was left was to get rid of the pokedolls, but
there was only one way he could do such mass destruction without
normal explosives. Self destructing.
Dark pokemon were normally unable to learn the attack self-destruct,
but a high electrical charge was not the only way to die while
creating a large energy blast. All the hybrids had a sort of internal
device, created for tough situations where the only way to avoid
capture was to die. He knew the surviving soldiers would find out his
location soon enough, and he had to make up his mind quick.
Solemnly, he regarded each pokemon, checking to see if they still
wanted to go on with this. He expected them to at least seem a little
wary, but proud determination shined in their eyes.
Inside the building where the pokedolls were housed, Shadow was about
to press the button when a shout from outside the door stopped him.
"SHADOW!"
He looked up and saw an extremely familiar form circling the sky and
swooping down. Almost instantly, a charizard landed, one he had know
his entire life, one that had grown up with him, evolving from a baby
charmander to a fully fledged charizard right before his eyes. A
pokemon that had often been his only friend and companion, each of
them comforting each other before, during, and after lab tests...
Next to that pokemon, on the back of a fearow, sat his sister, dear,
innocent Donari, with blazing fires of anger and pain burning in her
eyes.
Before Shadow could say anything, she ran up to him and stood right
before him, her brown eyes blazing indignantly. "How dare you?
Did you even stop to think about the people you'd be leaving
behind?" Without thinking twice herself, she raised a hand and
slapped him as hard as she could. "How could you?" Tears
streaked freely down her cheeks as she grabbed the detonator out of
his hand and smashed it on the ground, crushing it with her foot,
staring defiantly at him the whole time.
Shadow blinked, then turned his head to one side as he looked at
Donari with his dead eyes. "You...care?" Silently, he sank
down to his knees, blankly looking up at her, a single tear
struggling to trail down his fur.
She laughed bitterly before kneeling down and hugging him. "Hai,
did you even have to ask?" She kissed him on the cheek, then
stood up. "C'mon, let's go back, `kay?"
He nodded, standing up and looking around at the damage he had
caused. How had he done all of that by himself, even with two
pokemon? The will to die did strange things to people...
--------------
[Next Night]
Shadow sat beside Indenki in the truck they would be using to travel
around and try and find the whereabouts of Jarith Oak. Leaning
outside his window, Donari peered in with a strange expression on her
face.
"So you're the one that got my brother into thinking about
self-destructing, huh Indenki?"
The lightning hybrid looked at her, neither nodding nor shaking his
head. "He decided on his own."
Softly, she snorted. "Well, next time, I'm not letting you off
so easily." Backing away, she waved. "Track me down
sometime, Shadow!" She called out as they drove off into the
night.
In the truck, Shadow turned to look at Indenki, a slight flicker of
emotion in his eyes. "If it were you, and a girl was crying,
begging you stop, you'd still have done it, wouldn't you?"
Not taking his eyes off the road, the younger boy replied. "Like
I said, the only way to live a good life is to act on your
emotions."
--------------
[Back at Blade's]
"So, where to next, Donari?" Blade asked, stroking the fur
of Love, the persian, who sat beside him.
"Leah doesn't like me wandering around a lot. She wants me back
on the island," Donari replied, feeding Sacrifice small chunks
of meat. It was an intimidating task, holding out food for those
massive jaws to snatch.
"What island?"
"We've sort of set up a small pacifist nation off the coast of
Arasia. There are a lot of refugees and such living there. Leah's
trying to set me up as a sort of figure head, but I dunno about
that..." She smiled. "I think I'm a little too stubborn and
hotheaded to be a figurehead!"
Blade laughed, his mercury eyes twinkling. He had not liked Shadow
and Indeki's announcement of their departure, but he understood that
there was only so much time a soldier could spend not fighting.
Besides, the steel hybrid also had a lot of work to do. "Maybe
I'll drop by sometime."
"I think I'd like that," she replied. "I'd like that
very much actually..." /It'd be nice to have someone around my
age to talk to for a change. Then I can spend less time pining over
people who're never there.../
----------------------------------
Love and Sacrifice(v3): Would it help if I said I'm sorry?
Indenki sat at the computer, searching for any information on the Oak
family that he could hack his way to. As he was about to slip a disk
into the computer though, his arm cramped up, and he dropped it.
"You should take better care of yourself." A voice spoke
from behind him, its owner bending over and picking up the disk,
handing it back to Indenki. "Here."
Wordlessly, he took the disk and then pushed it into the CPU.
"Go sleep, I'll finish up," Shadow said. They had too much
to do for the lightning hybrid to work himself to death.
Having learnt a while ago not to argue with the dark hybrid, Indenki
got up, faltering slightly as his legs slowly adjusted to being used
again. He realized that Shadow was right, and he should take
better care of himself. A soldier needed to be in perfect condition,
and self-destructing took a lot out of a pokemon, or hybrid for that
matter. Somehow, he made his way to where his raikou lay sleeping,
and curled up beside it, falling into a deep sleep almost
immediately.
Shadow`s fingers moved smoothly over the keyboard, and he tackled the
task of finding out where the location of the next hospital they
would be stopping by was.
---------
Next Day
---------
Unsheathing his claws, Shadow assessed the distance up to the rooms
they would be checking out and decided that he could handle it.
Scaling up the old brick walls with incredible speed, he silently
checked in each window, seeing if he could find Jarith Oak in any of
them.
Finally, at the third to last window, he found the man, still in a
coma, laying in his hospital bed, with whom Shadow was pretty sure
was his youngest daughter. Quickly, he climbed down to where Indenki
waited.
"Room 209. I believe May is with him too."
/May Oak... Most likely named after her great-great-grandmother.../
"I'm going up now."
"Now? Why?" Shadow asked. Why on earth would he want to go
up there while May was still there?
"I have something I need to do..." He replied, putting on a
cap and disappearing into the hospital.
Deciding that he wanted to keep an eye on the lightning hybrid,
Shadow climbed back up and perched outside the window.
The door opened, and May turned around, startled that someone had
entered. When she saw Indenki, she stood up, fear in her eyes.
"D-don't... hurt him," she stammered, standing protectively
in front of her father.
"I'm not going to hurt him." For a while, he held her eyes
before looking down in shame. "I was the one who cast the
lightning attack on your father's plane, but it was an accident.
Zentai tricked me into thinking that it was one of their
planes..." He reached into his coat and drew out a gun, handing
it to her. "Here. It`s only right that you get to do it."
With trembling hands, she took the gun. "I can't!"
"It's only right."
Silently, she lifted the gun, aiming it at him, but she hesitated,
and finally lowered it, fresh tears running down her face.
"You're a coward..." She said bitterly, hiding her face
from him. "You knew I wouldn't have the guts to shoot
you..."
"I wanted you to have the chance." His blue eyes betrayed
nothing, and he looked at her with an even gaze that never faltered.
"Take it back!" She threw the gun at him, then turned
around. "Go. I won't let anyone know you're in the area if you
just leave now." Indenki could not see, but Shadow noticed the
tears that had started to fall from her brown eyes. She was young,
maybe around the same age as the dark hybrid.
As noiselessly as he entered, Indenki left.
Shadow climbed back down and met Indenki outside, having watched what
had happened, he was wise enough not to question him, and simply
followed him into town.
They wandered the streets aimlessly, in a way searching for any signs
as to Zentai's progress into the area. Shadow wore a hooded jacket
that pretty much hid his entire face except his eyes, and one look at
their dead glaze was enough to cause any passer-byer not to look
twice.
"That car's been following us," Shadow whispered quietly,
peering in the rear-view mirror of his motorcycle, which he'd brought
along, but was not riding.
Cautiously, Indenki looked behind them and saw a black car slowly
tailing them.
"Let me, you're injured," the dark hybrid said, mounting
the bike and dashing off through the streets. Instantly, the car sped
after him, and Indenki fled in the other direction.
Shadow raced on, going towards the harbor. It was a dangerous gamble;
for all he knew the people following him knew the area well enough to
know what he was planning. Right as he reached the pier, he leapt off
in a back flip, landing perfectly on a clothesline up above, and the
car, having not noticed the fact that it was heading towards water,
landed in the sea with a splash. He had got lucky. They had not known
the area.
Having done away with their tracker, Shadow calmly walked on the
clothesline, jumping off when he reached the end, and retracing his
trail back to where Indenki would be waiting.
--------------------------------------
Love and Sacrifice: Born to kill
"Run into any trouble?" Indenki asked as Shadow entered the
clearing in the forest.
"No," Shadow replied, leaning against a tree.
"You two are very hard to track."
They both spun around, greeted with the site of Lt. Vaela Demis
casually strolling in. Instinctively, they both dropped down to
fighting stances, and Indenki's hand moved to where his gun was.
"I'm not here to capture you, or kill you for that matter."
Raising her hands above her head, she smiled gently. "I'm here
on order from Lt. Reix. He wants to schedule a duel with you."
She looked directly at Indenki. "He says you were un-able to
finish the last time."
Not even bothering to consult with Shadow, Indenki nodded. "Tell
us where to meet him."
She shook her head. "You have to come with us. It's too far for
you to be able to travel, even riding a pokemon or a vehicle. You
need an airplane or a jet."
Now, Indenki did turn to Shadow, who reluctantly nodded. "Fine,
we'll come with you."
-----------
2 hours later
-----------
They reached the area of hidden base with no trouble along the way,
having avoided any of the flying patrols that were searching the area
for Reix, who had been labeled a traitor to Team Rocket. Not that he
cared, for he did not approve of the groups non-existent battle
morals.
"Lt. Demis, there's a patrol up ahead! I think they've spotted
us." One of the soldiers came in and informed her, a panicked
expression on his face.
"That's fine. I can handle them," she replied, pulling out
her pokeball. "Go Slash!"
A fierce looking scyther appeared, one big enough for a grown person
to ride on without causing the pokemon any trouble. He sliced the air
with one scythe, then looked at Vaela, ready for orders.
Shadow walked up to it, cutting her off as she was about to mount it.
"I can handle it."
She shook her head. "How're you going to get down? You don't
have any flying pokemon, do you?"
Suggestively, he looked at her syther.
She let out a bark of laughter. "Slash doesn't let anyone except
me come within a foot of me, let alone mount him!"
Ignoring her warning, he walked up to the scyther and placed a hand
on its shoulder. First, it whipped around to glare at him, and raised
a blade to attack, but instead, lowered them, and positioned itself
to let him mount, which he did.
Shocked, Vaela watched as the two leapt out of the airplane and
descended, then she turned to Indenki. "Why...?"
"He's the dark hybrid. Other pokemon hold dark types in high
regard, even if they have a type advantage over them," the
hybrid replied, sitting back down in his seat. "He'll be
fine."
"I'm going after him." Looking around, she surveyed the
group of soldiers with her. "You, you, you and you are coming
with me," she ordered.
--------
Shadow guided the scyther to about two feet off the ground, the
released his two dark pokemon. "Attack anything close enough for
you to hit, but stay hidden," he commanded them before going a
little higher into the air. He could see some of the patrol troop
coming up, half of them on flying pokemon, the other half on land
pokemon.
Narrowly, he dodged a cross-bow arrow, and realizing that if he kept
still he would get hit, he flew higher, then swooped down, shooting
the rider of a fearow. Flying up high again, right where the sun was
shining brightly so that they could not see him, he prepared to swoop
down and attack again.
He ran out of bullets soon, and had to resort to using the scyther's
scythes, and some of his own dark attacks to take out the soldiers.
Down on the ground, his own pokemon were doing a good job of
attacking close enough soldiers, either spooking the pokemon so that
they dropped their riders, or sending an attack straight at the
person.
After ten gruesome minutes, Shadow was nearly done, and only the
commanding officer of the patrol was left. Determined, Shadow rushed
at him, ignoring Vaela's protests for him to stop.
/Those who have seen a hybrid shall not live to tell about it. Orders
I cannot ignore at this time./ With that in mind, he directed the
scyther straight at the man on his fearow, and slashed his throat,
the bird pokemon fleeing in fright.
He descended, then shakily got off the scyther, surveying the damage
he had done. /Again... I've done it again./ He thought, his eyes wide
with shock as he sank down to his knees, shaking slightly. /Why can't
I stop?/
He blanked out.
------
Love and Sacifice: The first step to hybrid dating
"Zia, dragon rage!" Merideth yelled out, admiring her new
pokemon's efficiency. Originally, she had been disappointed about
replacing her old pokemon, but she realized that it really was more
practical to update her team as the enemy got stronger. Her old
dragonite just was not up to the challenge of having to go against
pokedolls on his own, and as much as she loved him, he would be
taking a backseat to Zia.
"She's very skilled," Swift remarked from his position on
the floor, kneeling by his fearow while grooming its feathers.
"She'll be useful, plus she flies well."
"Yeah, she will..." Merideth replied, recalling the pokemon
and taking a seat a little near Swift. /Is flying all he thinks
about? Maybe I should've listened to Blade... / A little louder than
she meant to, she sighed, her eyes visibly darkening.
Swift immediately turned to look at her, catching the sad look in her
eyes. He walked up to her and stooped in front of her, holding her
chin in his hand. "Feeling alright Mer?"
She blushed, surprised that he was showing concern. "Yeah... I'm
okay, just a little stressed. Everything was heated up for a couple
of months, and now all of a sudden we can't attack because Zentai
might target some poor area and then blame it on us!"
Well," he leaned a little closer, "I thought something else
might be bothering you, but I guess I was wrong." Tilting his
head a little to the right, he allowed his eyes to twinkle curiously.
"You positive you're okay? That was a depressed sigh, I'm sure.
God knows I've had thousands of those in my life."
She opened her mouth as if to answer but clamped it shut. /We never
did talk about your past, did we? Come to think of it, did we ever
talk beyond the war, flying, and music?/ Again, she blushed as she
realized that he still held her chin in his hand, and that his face
was mere inches away from hers. "I'm positive-"
Deciding to take the initiative, Swift cut her off by closing the
distance between them and kissing her lightly on the lips. A little
taken aback at his boldness, he drew back immediately after, looking
at her with a surprised light in his eyes, yet a somewhat satisfied
smirk on his face. "I apologize for that Mer, and for the way
I've been treating you. Maybe we can..." He lowered his gaze to
the floor, rustling his wings nervously. "Maybe we can go for a
leisurely flight sometime? And we can talk about some other things?
Beyond the usual I mean?"
She grinned, still a little dazed. "That'd be great, Swift!"
"Kay, then, uhh... Tomorrow night?" He started to back out
of the training room, nearly tripping over one of his own primary
feathers.
"Sure!"
"Okay..." He gave her a thumbs up sign, then quickly
retreated.
For a moment, Merideth sat, blinking. Then an even wider grin spread
over her face, and she collapsed into a giggling fit.
"Eurelians!" She exclaimed. "No, wait... Boys!"
Then she stopped, raising a hand to her lips. "He kissed
me!" Jumping up from her seat, she extended her wings and
twirled around. "My first kiss! Probably his too..."
Merideth gracefully danced around, for a moment forgetting about the
war and the horror that she had seen and caused.
Taken away from the battle field long enough, she almost seemed like
a normal teenager.
------------------------------
Love and Sacrifice: Re-Match
Indenki gently stroked the neck of the large zapdos, and he ran the
other hand over the pokemon, checking for any un-healed injuries.
After a full examination, he turned to Reix. "Why'd you save
him?"
"I wanted us to finish our battle. It's only right, don't you
think?" The older teenager replied, patting his own zapdos
briefly.
"You didn't completely heal your own zapdos though,"
Indenki pointed out, a slight scowl on his face.
Reix shrugged. "It's a continuation, right? Therefore handicaps
from the previous fight should be left."
For a moment, the lightning hybrid looked at the two pokemon, then at
Reix, and finally Shadow. "I can't accept this."
Having obviously not expected that reaction, Reix frowned lightly.
"But you have to if you want to continue the battle."
Shadow nodded. "He's right."
"I accept then, but don't think that makes us allies or
anything."
"Of course," Reix replied, shrugging again. "This is a
fight to the death anyway. See you at night." Pivoting on his
heel, he left, satisfied that he had finally gotten the younger
trainer to agree to battle with him.
*Reix, you sure you want to go through with this?* Lt. Demis asked
over the com-set.
*Yes, just make sure we aren't disturbed,* Reix replied, fastening
the buckles to the harness that secured him onto his pokemon.
"Ready?" He asked it.
"Zapdos," it said, stretching its neck and snapping it's
beak.
"Good." He raised his arm, the signal to Indenki for them
to both rise into the air, and as soon as they were at a suitable
height, they commenced fighting.
The area was mostly flat grassland, but there were wood areas,
perfect places to hide. Swooping down low, narrowly avoiding being
hit by a thunderbolt attack, Indenki directed his zapdos into a clump
of trees. Following close behind him, Reix dived in, and they wove
through the wood, flying with skill that many trainers would kill
for.
"Thunder!" Indenki commanded, and as they rose out from the
shelter of the trees, the attack crashed down on the Zentai officer,
shocking his pokemon momentarily and sending several trees down on
them. "Higher, then down," he urged his zapdos, and it flew
higher into the clouds. When they reached their desired height, they
swooped down with incredible speed, crashing into the opposing team
and nearly knocking them out of the sky, but instead entangling in a
wild beak and claw fight.
Knowing that continuing in that way would make his chance of winning
and losing too much of a gamble, Reix ordered his pokemon to break
away, which it did, after snapping at the other pokemon's wing first.
It had hoped to handicap the other's ability to fly, for its own wing
had not been allowed to fully heal, and it was not at it's full
flying abilities. "Hold on," Reix encouraged it, rubbing
its shoulder as it let lose a spontaneous thunderbolt that
surprisingly reached its target, the tail of the other zapdos.
"K'so," Indenki swore in his native language as he realized
his pokemon had been hit on the tail. That would slightly limit his
pokemon's flying capabilities, but if Reix wanted to play dirty, then
he would too. "Quick attack, then use a thunder with me!"
He instructed it, and they flew at the other full speed, hitting them
with a combined thunder attack as they swerved away and dived down
into the cover of some trees.
-------
From her position at the base tower, Demis watched with total
fascination at the skill of the two trainers, or rather, soldiers.
There was a four-year age difference between them, yet they were at
the same level. The hybrid did, of course, partially owe it to his
genetic breeding, but then, so did Reix_ While many were not aware of
it, the hybrids were not the only things that had to do with the
splicing of human and pokemon genes. The initial experiments that
lead the to hybrids started out with adults having pokemon genes
added to them to enhance certain senses, and later on, other things.
Followed by that were the same experiments performed on unborn
humans, and pokemon. Finally, the hybrids were attempted. The
information about the initial experiments was a well kept secret, so
well kept, that there were many that had been altered, yet did not
know it, or who had parents who had been altered, and therefore it
had passed down to them.
A great percent of the Zentai trainers and soldiers were like that,
ever so slightly genetically altered one way or the other. So were a
lot of civilians, although most had been drafted into one army or the
other, even if they were not told about the experiments. One
well-known family, even if all of them did not exactly know about it
themselves, was the Tavis line, of the infamous Ferina and Nerina
Tavis. The identical twins had performed numerous experiments on
themselves, and therefore passed them down through the family,
including the glowing green eyes that were so unusual for an Arasian
to have, yet were ignored by most, and dismissed as a family quirk.
Reix was one of those individuals who came from a family of altered
humans, and Demis herself had too. That was why they were two of
Zentai's top soldiers, the top of their class, and legends among the
lower ranks.
A blinking light on the radar attracted her attention, and Demis
groaned slightly as she realized that it was yet another patrol
troop, and this time, more than triple the size of the last one.
*Reix! There's a patrol coming in, and it's too big for us to handle.
You're going to have to cut the battle short; we don't have much time
before they find us. Get back here now! And don't go off on your
own.*
"Damnit!" Reix cursed as soon as Demis ended her
transmission. "Indenki, I hate to do this, but we've got
company." Completely ignoring what Demis had said, he set off to
find the patrol.
Indenki watched him leave, then allowed his zapdos to land. Shadow,
who had been observing nearby, ran over.
"What happened?"
"There's a troop coming. They're looking for Reix, but if they
find us too, they're going to go after us. We need to go."
Shadow mounted the zapdos, sitting behind Indenki. "We should be
able to find shelter a few miles from here."
"Good," Indenki replied, gently kicking the pokemon's side
and instructing it to take off.
---------------------------------
Next
Previous
Back