Sub didn't resist against Freth pulling her hand away, in fact he was going to let go first but he had a bit of lag going on with all his motor functions, the shock of everything that just went on (and what he was now seeing on television) still settling in. Standing there in silence for awhile his eyes would dart around the room. Lysandre monopolizing on Ein's madness, Freth decking Blizzard, Aile attempting to make off already, and Amaranth trying her best to hold things together but instead looked like a confused child.
"Um..." The Snagem leader began to speak, a tone of uncharacteristic uncertainty and startling lack of confidence in his voice. "Please. Stay, Aile." He pleaded with the woman before turning to glance over at Blizzard. "You okay?"
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 6:16 pm
It would be not a moment after the other Snagems arrived that a burst of pink energy would pop as Reno appeared, flanked by his whole team of Psychic types alongside his Houndoom. He wouldn't even bother examining the room, simply floating off of the ground as he skated around the base in a frenzy. "C'mon! I gotta be in time for this! She said it went down today, so it means I need to stop it or..." As he ranted out loud, he would be grabbing things such as a mechanical arm, his supply of goods, and the keys for his hovercycle. But he would grind to a halt as the protests of his Pokemon finally began to process through to their leader.
"Wait. I'm too late?" Reno slowly mumbled, drifting back into the living room as he turned to the TV and the gathered Snagems. He would stare at the screen for a few minutes before he would find his voice once again. "So...guess I rushed back here for nothing....After everything that happened...." Reno continued mumbling, slowly falling back onto his feet before simply letting himself fall backwards onto his butt to stare at the floor. Turning to his left arm, Reno would sigh as he stared at the somewhat slimy looking mechanical arm that sat attached to him. "I.....I think I might need a minute. When I get angry again, then you'll find me pretty easily. I'll be the imbecile throwing himself at anything remotely Cipher to burn it to the ground, and doing similar to anything Kalosian. Because, apparently, its the only thing I'm good for."
It would be not a moment after the other Snagems arrived that a burst of pink energy would pop as Reno appeared, flanked by his whole team of Psychic types alongside his Houndoom. He wouldn't even bother examining the room, simply floating off of the ground as he skated around the base in a frenzy. "C'mon! I gotta be in time for this! She said it went down today, so it means I need to stop it or..." As he ranted out loud, he would be grabbing things such as a mechanical arm, his supply of goods, and the keys for his hovercycle. But he would grind to a halt as the protests of his Pokemon finally began to process through to their leader.
"Wait. I'm too late?" Reno slowly mumbled, drifting back into the living room as he turned to the TV and the gathered Snagems. He would stare at the screen for a few minutes before he would find his voice once again. "So...guess I rushed back here for nothing....After everything that happened...." Reno continued mumbling, slowly falling back onto his feet before simply letting himself fall backwards onto his butt to stare at the floor. Turning to his left arm, Reno would sigh as he stared at the somewhat slimy looking mechanical arm that sat attached to him. "I.....I think I might need a minute. When I get angry again, then you'll find me pretty easily. I'll be the imbecile throwing himself at anything remotely Cipher to burn it to the ground, and doing similar to anything Kalosian. Because, apparently, its the only thing I'm good for."
"Reno..."
Before Amaranth could try and say anything further, the ball containing Gale would burst open... only, instead of a Pidgeotto, a Pidgeot had taken her place to loudly chirp at the beleaguered channeler and lightly smack him with one of her wings. It was the closest thing to a slap he might see, with Amaranth a little too surprised and trying to figure out when Gale evolved. Then again, with everything that had gone on in the lab, maybe it wasn't nearly as surprising.
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:02 pm
Aile looked at Amaranth for a moment before turning to Sub, narrowing her eyes. "So, now you want me to stay. I do believe the last time we saw each other, I'm pretty sure you hated my guts and decided to drop me off in the middle of nowhere with just the shirt, pants, and shackles I was wearing, and with only one of my Pokémon to start with," she spat, continuing to rub her arms. "And now you're asking me to stay. Why should I? ...And is it normally this cold in here," she'd randomly ask, getting a slight sheepish look on her face, "I don't remember it normally being this cold..."
It took a few seconds for Sub's words to register but when I finally came around. "Sure...I'm fine. Can't really feel a thi-oh wait there it goes...GAAAH!" I shot up grasping my face from the sudden shot dealt. "Freakin' hell...what did I do this time!?"
"Where in the hell were you!?"
"Didn't Tristen tell you? I was in Alola!"
"Yes, he told me. Something about family problems or whatever. Did you get it all settled for good?" She then spoke up, clearly agitated.
"Not 'for good' no, just...good enough stopping place because I figured I needed to get back here at one point or another..." I said, trying to get feeling back in my face. "What happened that got you so riled up now?"
"Let's see...Cipher decided to say 'hi' to us again in Ein's fashion, true to form, Lysandre decided to make himself look like a hero everyone needs, Gateon Port is just as much as desolate now as the rest of Orre, and before all of that to kick it off that so called safari contest that you and Tristen told me about was in a stupid abandoned dead mall where a Tyrogue wanted to lock me in a storage room, then afterwards when it was over the mission we went out on we had to run out on a machine that looks like a rusting robotisized Kyogre to Citadark Isle only to meet up with a meat-head ready to take us out of the picture!"
"Did you make that last one up?"
"NO! And while Citadark is on my mind, come to find out that both Sub and Sol has been hiding their intentions more than what even you realized, Blizzard, and the stuff they were hiding came back to bite everyone, let alone him and Sol, right in the hide, which speaking of..." Freth turned towards Sub. "Explain. Now."
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:10 pm
Reno gave a sidelong glance towards Aile as she spoke up, staring up at the woman with a dead-eyed and small look. "Please stay. I don't....don't want to lose anyone else today." Reno stumbled out, eyes returning to the ground as he did so. He could hear Freth and Blizz beginning to talk, the subject of Sub being somewhat duplicitous now coming up. Good, so they were beginning to see that maybe the pedestal they all had him on wasn't some immutable law of the universe. That was both relieving and even more depressing, now that Reno thought of it.
Keiko and I made our way out of the training room, a Pikachu with a notched tail walking beside me before I thanked her for her effort and recalled her to her ball.
"We just need to keep up with this effort if we're gonna catch up with the rest of the team, let alone surpass Ein and Team Cipher," Keiko said, the tail end of a long discussion about our sitation and the options that lie in them.
"Yeah. I kinda wish I'd focused a bit more on keeping my team up before. But I had no way of knowing what was in store for us," I shrugged.
"You could have done that anyway," Keiko mentioned. "So you could, you know, finish that badge run you started."
This elicited a sigh from me. "...yeah, I could have. Strike that, I should have. But I can't change the past, so, might as well work on it now."
"Yeah.." Keiko trailed off, gathering her thoughts. "I was kinda sick at the time, but didn't someone say something about Sub and hidden intentions or something?"
"Oh, yeah," I sighed, knowing what she was getting at. "Sub used to be a member of Team Rocket, whatever that is. Apparently, he did some shady things before taking this team over from... whoever it was that ran it before."
This made Keiko worry a little. "...shouldn't we ask him about that? I mean, don't you want to know what he did? What if he did something really bad?'
"I don't care," I said flatly. "Honestly, anything Sub could have done in the past pales in comparison to the fact that he's leading the only group of people capable of cleaning up Ein's mess."
"...you really think we're the only ones?" Keiko asked meekly.
"Well, Lysandre certainly isn't about to put in work," I huffed. "If anything, Flare's likely collaborating with Cipher. I'd be surprised if his little speech was anything more than keeping up appearances.
"Oh," Keiko sighed, looking very worried for a moment.
Mushy Stuff
By now, we had wandered up to the second floor. "Hey... Terashi? Wasn't there... I mean... You said you... wanted to show me something... right?"
I smirked when she brought this up. "In all the anarchy of that last mission, I almost forgot," I said with a light chuckle before leading her away from our rooms.
The room I took her to was bigger than the ones we were living in. There was enough bed space and storage for two people to live comfortably in. "This is it," I said simply.
"...a room?" Keiko asked, looking a bit surprised, though she didn't seem to quite get the point yet. "It seems pretty empty."
"Well, yeah, nobody's living in it, yet," I smirked. "We'd have to bring our stuff in to make it look really good."
And then she got it. "Y-y-you wanna... m-move in with m-me?"
I couldn't help but enjoy how adorable she was when she asked that question like that. "This doesn't have anything to do with what's going on in the world right now," I explained. "I was planning on doing this as soon as I got back from my mission, but... well, you remember," I shrugged, not wanting to ruin the moment by bringing up Keiko's crying and the battle that was interrupted by that mission.
"What changed?" Keiko asked, her face as red as the top of a Voltorb. "You were kinda distant around me when we first started dating... You hardly reacted when I showed you my bikini. Why now?"
"The short answer is that I was gone a long time and not once was I ever able to stop thinking about you," I told her. It wasn't entirely false, I did think about her a lot, but obviously there were parts of my training in Mosdeep that demanded my full attention. "The long answer... I saw a vision of the future... of our future."
"What was it like?" Keiko asked, suddenly very excited.
"I don't know. I didn't see much." I shrugged, which disappointed Keiko a bit. "It was like being in a dark room. All I could see were you're eyes."
"How did you know they were my eyes?" Keiko asked.
"The shape and the color," I lied. "Though really, it was a premonition. It just -felt- like I was looking at you."
"What did I look like?" Keiko asked, apparently really into the idea of being in a vision.
I hesitated, debating whether telling the truth would ruin the mood, though I eventually went with it. "To be honest, sad. Like something terrible had happened. It felt like you really needed me for something, and... I'd let you down. Like I was too late. I... The vision didn't last too long, but... well, obviously, the first thing in my head afterward was that I never wanted to see you look at me like that ever again,"
"Well, yeah," Keiko said jokingly, though I could tell that she was very worried from what she'd heard.
I couldn't help but smirk, though. "But, I... contemplated the vision for a little while longer, and... well, that's when I decided that I wanted to do this because life's too short and there's nothing to gain from not spending as much time with loved ones as possible."
Keiko didn't say nothing, but she smiled at the romantic notion. She then kissed me, and I reciprocated before she pulled away. "I'll go get my stuff,"
With a smirk, I watched her run off before heading to my room and packing.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 3:51 pm
"Since we're slinging mud let's not forget about the whole treachery thing." Sub shot back at Aile, though his tone wasn't particularly hostile, instead it was more of a 'matter of fact' tone, as if implying while he did take responsibility for banishing her that she wasn't exactly absolved of sins herself. With Aile addressed the man turned his attention back to Freth, taking a deep sigh before beginning his story.
"It all started thirty or so years ago, honestly I can't remember how long it's been anymore but that's a story for a different day..." He began to speak, pulling a chair up and sitting down as he prepared himself to guide them down the roads of the past. "I may repeat some information you already know so bear with me."
-----
"Cherokee, status report." A two-way radio hanging on the belt of a man dressed in black crackled, its owner standing straight and tall as he peered out at the horizon through an equally black pair of binoculars. "All clear." His owner answered back, having unclasped the device from his belt, depressing the button on its side and speaking into it. Though he did not receive a confirmation from the person on the other end the man-in-black knew his superior heard him, that man hears everything. "It was clear five minutes ago..." The man mumbled to himself as he continued to stare at the empty ocean ahead of them, not even a Wingull insight. It was lonely up here in the crow's nest.
"I hate this, everything is going so smooth." A young bald headed man spoke up after tossing his walkie talkie onto the desk in front of him. With a sigh he would remove his dark sunglasses and use his black shirt to wipe them off before putting them back on. They had been out at sea for several days now, transporting such a large and valuable shipment without so much as a stray Rattata on board and it made the commander of his 'fleet' nervous. Something had to go wrong, it always did.
"Captain, we should make landfall in two hours." Another man-in-black said to the bald man upon entering his chambers without so much as a knock Ordinarily this would annoy the bald man but not today, he had more pressing concerns to worry himself over. "Thank you, Wyatt. I would like a complete inventory taken on the cargo before we arrive." The bald man replied. "But sir, we've taken three already. One before-" Wyatt would be cut off as his superior spun around quick in his chair and stared at him. Despite his eyes being blacked out by the shades in front of them Wyatt could just feel his cold stare, a wave of fear washing over him. He had heard the stories, that despite his seemingly comical name Commander Shades was ruthlessly efficient, emphasis on ruthless.
"Yes sir. I apologize, commander." With a little bow Wyatt would turn around and quickly walk out of the room, slowly and carefully closing the door so that he did not anger Commander Shades further. With his lesser gone 'Shades' would remove his glasses once again and begin to rub his temples. "I guess I better pump myself up for this. I only hope he's not there this time." Thought to himself. With a bit of a seated stretch he would put his glasses back on and stand up, straightening up his shirt so that the red R on the front didn't look like a deformed P. With his self made up and his mean face put on Commander Shades would proceed out of his office, he had to make sure things were ready for when they landed.
----
"As a recap this was when I was a member of Team Rocket. I didn't have much of a specific field or specialty, I just went where ever they needed me. More often then not I was put into leadership roles, to oversee very delicate and important operations. One of which was our smuggling operations from Kanto to Orre. Ordinarily no one in Orre has enough money to make Pokemon smuggling worth our time but there was one group that did, Team Cipher. I didn't ask why they wanted so many Pokemon, in fact it didn't matter to me at the time, it was just a job. It wasn't until this run, my fourth, that I would discover the truth about Team Cipher and their desire for Pokemon...or should I say Ein's desire..." He said, stopping in the middle of his story about the last shipment of Pokemon he did in order to emphasis his ignorance of everything at that time.
-----
"This should bring the total up to one hundred and twenty-eight." Commander Shades said as he slapped a hand on a nearby crate, his comment would go ignored however as a swarm of Cipher grunts scurried around, busily moving the crates around while their superior, Major Peon Skrub oversaw the receiving of the shipment. Man he hated these guys, especially Skrub.
"So this is the last shipment, correct?" Skrub asked Shades, never once looking up from his clipboard as he went over the itinerary. "It is, like I said it should bring the total up to-" That's when he walked in, their true client despite who the money came from. He had been introduced to Chief Scientist and Cipher Administrator, Professor Ein before but today there was something about him that seemed more...sinister, than usual. He never liked this guy from the first day he met him, something about him gave him the creeps and today it was in full force.
"Commander Shades! You're looking healthy, been sleeping well?" Ein called out to the Rocket commander from the other side of the room as he approached, a young girl with pink hair following close behind him as she carried a large stack of folders and binders.
"I sleep well enough, Professor Ein." Commander Shades replied back. While he was cordial to the Chief Scientist well enough he had no interest in befriending him. Something told him bad things happened to those who got close to him and in hindsight all his gut instincts about Ein were correct, more than in fact.
"Well you have arrived at a very interesting time. I was just getting ready to do a presentation of my latest project for the upper echelons of Cipher. A proof of progress of sorts. Would you like to join us? After all, without you none of this would have been possible." The scientist asked, positively enthusiastic about what horrors were to come, if only he knew then what he would witness he would have never agreed to go along.
-----
"Ein had insisted I came with him, and I did. I'll never forget what I saw that day. It was a Makuhita, the poor thing looked so distraught. A normal healthy Makuhita is plump, a good layer of thick fat on it. This one however had very little, if any, as well as bulging ripped muscles. It was unnatural to see such a muscle-bound Makuhita. You could tell it was in pain but none of them seemed to have cared, they all just kept going on about how powerful it was as it was commanded to do various acts to show its strength. You should have seen Ein's face when he kept having it Shadow Rush a defenseless Gastrodon over and over, the poor thing just kept using Recover in vain. And then the applause they all broke out into when the Makuhita went into Hyper Mode and knocked the Gastrodon out with one hit. I'll never forget that smile of Ein's...it was haunting." Sub explained, stressing how horrible the entire thing was. "After that I left Orre. I had hoped to never return but as fate would have it I would. You see, Rocket wanted to reward Ein for all his aid in cloning a Mew. I soon learned what the reward was..."
-----
"Subject: Origin is secured. You are cleared to disembark." A voice spoke through the speaker built into Commander Shades' new desk, the Rocket finally getting to use his new promised ship. Two years ago he had gotten promotion for overseeing the successful search and capture mission of 'Origin', or more commonly known as 'Mew'. This particular mission had been in the works for years, a slow build of hearsay, rumors, and the like leading them to a far away island not found on any map. Commander Shades himself was the one to subdue the Mew, and boy was that one ornery feline. The commander questioned why they weren't allowed to capture the legend with a Pokeball. According to his higher ups the chief scientist in charge of Project Scion claimed that devices such as Pokeballs are known to inhibit a legendary Pokemon's true power and thus they did not want to risk discovering any other side effects of capture devices, especially on such a valuable specimen.
With Origin securely contained in the mid-level of the ship, locked in Ebonite shackles, Commander Shades would order his crew to set off, their destination Gateon Port once more. It had been about five years since he last set foot in Orre and yet it seemed like yesterday he was smuggling Pokemon into the region for a man he now considered to be of questionable sanity. And yet here he was smuggling one more creature into the region for him. The Rocket commander felt very uneasy about this run, far more than the last one he did five years ago. Was it pity? Couldn't be, he had captured and sold off so many Pokemon during his time in Rocket without so much as a second thought and this time should be no different than the last. And yet it was.
"Commander, Cherokee is reporting some rough weather ahead." Rocket grunt Wyatt informed Commander Shades as he entered his chambers, not knocking like usual. With a grunt the commander would get up and stomp on past the always rude Wyatt. These days his lackeys seemed to always be getting on his nerves.
-----
"Cera, or Origin as she was known as back then, was more crafty than we, I, originally thought. Somewhere along the way she managed to alert a couple of Aqua grunts to our plans, two of which were sore over my betrayal of them when it was revealed I was a double agent for Rocket in their ranks but that's beside the point. She had gotten a hold of an old Pokegear of mine and took it upon herself to make a few calls. Even back then I admired her resourcefulness, wasn't even angry." He said with a bit of pained smile. "Either way after a bit of a fight with Aqua, wanting to steal away Cera as revenge for Rocket's treachery, we eventually made it to Orre. I assumed I would be meeting Ein at Gateon Port like before but that turned out not to be the case..."
-----
"Pretty smart thinking back there." Commander Shades said to the the little pink creature strapped to the back of his Tyranitar, the chains that bound her to the beast made of Ebonite just like the ones back on the ship. "I underestimated your Psychic abilities. Though how did you know how to operate a Pokegear? Read minds to learn or something? I know some Psychic types are capable of it and with you being...you, I imagine you could do that and more." He went on, complimenting his captive. The Mew however did not respond.
"I know you can talk, you were saying all kinds of nasty things to my grunts, at least that's what they say. How come you don't speak to ole Shades?" He asked, and yet the Mew stayed silent. "I get it, I don't blame you exactly, I am definitely the bad guy in this scenario." The man admitted. "I can only imagine what they did to you already, let alone what...he will do to you. If I could I would take you away from all this but you and I both know they'll find you again, what with that tracking device they put in you. As for me they'll probably kill me, one of the cons of being part of the mafia." The Rocket commander sighed, the Mew however took no pity on him.
The man didn't bother talking anymore, instead he continued on ahead through the Orre desert, just his Tyranitar at his side with the Mew strapped to its back. Ein had specifically requested that just Commander Shades delivered the Mew, by himself. Ever since Ein had fled to Kanto after the collapse of Cipher he had become increasingly paranoid. By the time he left Kanto to return to Orre he was suspicious of nearly everyone around him, Pokemon included, everyone except for Shades it seemed though.
"Ruuupt!" Roared a Camerupt as it came exploding out from underneath the sands in front of them, molten rock spewing forth from its humps as its Trapinch underlings came rushing towards them through the sand.
"...you contacted Magma too!?" Commander Shades shouted at the Mew. She still wouldn't speak too but this time she responded with a smile. This was just the beginning of their love-hate relationship.
-----
"After another scuffle and a few more tricks thanks to a certain Mew I made it to Ein's lab, the one you guys seen first, the one in the middle of the desert. It was pretty uneventful, I had been escorted in by Ein's Manetric, his pink haired assistant noticeably gone. I took Cera straight to Ein, finding him at the lowest level of his lab, busily putting the place back together as it seemed it had seen better days. You probably wouldn't believe it now but at that time Ein looked horrible. He appeared to have not slept or bathed for days. From what I gathered he had been working nonstop since he left Kanto. Apparently he had made a breakthrough in some research after Cera had produced a viable Mew embryo. With today's revelations I realize what he was so frantically working on and that is his Project Genesis, the birth of Shadow Mewtwo." He explained.
"He shared a surprising amount of information with me that day, telling me about the pure unadulterated energy Mew contained. How certain stones have similar pure energy, especially ones from space. He also informed me of the failings of his former assistant who had replaced him in Cipher for a time, Loverina. Apparently she had successfully Shadowfied a Lugia of all things only for it to be captured and purified. He kept stressing that while she failed that she was on the right track. At that time I became increasingly fearful for my life as he kept telling me more and more and showed me some of his various creations. In retrospect I think one of his experiments he showed me was the predecessor to S-22, a tank of Carvanha which he had genetically modified to regrow their scales an infinite number of times at an increased rate. After leaving I kept wondering what he planned for Cera..." The man was just glad Cera wasn't around to hear all this.
-----
"Good morning, mister Wilton." The secretary greeted Daniel Wilton just like every other work day at Silph Co., and like usual Mr. Wilton would shoot Mrs. Rosa a pleasant smile and give her a little wave. And just like every day Mr. Wilton would go straight to the vending machine to get himself a Rage Candy Bar for later on in the day, it was a confectionery he himself had asked to be stocked, shocked that they actually did it. With his candy bar in hand he would get on the elevator where he usually ran into Mr. Toumei. He was a nice enough young man, so full of energy and aspirations. From what Daniel Wilton gathered Mr. Toumei had just graduated college less than a year ago, having landed his dream internship at Silph Co. just a month later.
After exchanging pleasantries Mr. Wilton would get off on the forty-second floor, Research and Development, this is where he would spend the rest of his day. Daniel Wilton himself had only been at Silph Co. for two years but he quickly rose through the ranks thanks to numerous recommendations from people of influence as well as a little bit of dirty money coming out of Celadon Game Corner. Regardless of how he got into his position he was good at his job, so good they trusted him to work on their latest and greatest project, the Master Ball.
This was a particularly important day on the forty-second floor and for Daniel Wilton, though for two different reasons. For the R&D department, this was the day they would test a Master Ball prototype. Originally the CEO of Silph Co. was against doing any private testing due to the sheer cost of even creating such a device, especially considering if the private test failed he would have nothing to show the shareholders and investors who have put a small nation's worth of wealth into this project. If it succeeded, though, he would at least have a video tape of the test to show them.
As for Mr. Wilton today was the day he was suppose to steal the Master Ball. At first it just felt like another job, he would slip in, grab the target, and then disappear before anyone had an idea about what happened. As watched his fellow 'researchers' leave for lunch he would stay behind, claiming to want to finish up a few more equations he had been working on. With everyone gone he let out a heavy sigh and pulled his dyed blond hair, pumping himself up for what was to come. Darting his blue contact covered eyes over at the security camera the man would flash a smile, it was the sign him and his fellow Rocket teammate on the other side of the camera had agreed on and just like that the camera went dead and it would stay dead until someone else turned it back on.
-----
"Taking the Master Ball was surprisingly easy, I literally walked out of the place with it. I supposed it helped that Rocket had several plants in the place but that's beside the point. No sooner did I take the ball in hand did I start having thoughts of the Mew I had dumped off at Ein's. At the time I didn't know why those thoughts came back and why they filled me with such dread. Sure, I thought about her before and felt bad about what I did but at that time it was positively unbearable, it was as if some force was compelling me to right my wrongs. I would listen to that force, whatever it may be, and make off with the Master Ball. I would dump all my belongings in a trash can in the alley before hoping the Magnet Train to Goldenrod City. From there I would go back to my hometown and hide out in an old mansion in Ecruteak Woods, me and Subarao used to play there as kids. I would never again have contact with Rocket and after a few days of solitary meditation I decided on a new course in my life and it would start with righting one of my many wrongs..." Sub said, adjusting himself in his seat a bit, wondering how much longer everyone would stand around to hear his story, had to be at least twenty minutes since he started.
-----
"Nevermore!" Squawked the crow on Sub's shoulder as he walked the dirty dusty streets of Pyrite Town. He had arrived in town two weeks ago and already he was sick of this place. Despite how little time he has been here no one really messed with him anymore, not after those last two thugs tried to take his Murkrow off his shoulder, they both learned a hard lesson from a certain Tyranitar and the trainer made sure it was a public display of savagery.
He was on his way to the Pyrite Colosseum today, that's where they had agreed to meet, he and the liasons. He was suprised at how quick he was able to establish contact with the local mercenaries but then again he did use his reputation and former Rocket connections to get into their good graces.
After arriving he would take a seat on the third level as instructed, on the very back row next to a pillar. He and Nevermore would have to wait long, they would spend just ten minutes watching a Mightyena and Breloom pair take on a duo consisting of Raichu and Golem before the expected liaison would arrive, a tall intimidating man with a look which could scare away a Gyarados. His blond hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin made him not so bad to look at but Sub wasn't interested in making any romantic connections in a dump like this.
-----
"That's when I first met Sol. Technically he wasn't a true member of Gonzap's Snagem but he had been contracted out to them and he was who Gonzap designated to meet with me so it was good enough for me. We didn't have to talk long before we reached an agreement, apparently his 'boss' was very interested in my plan. You see, I had convinced Gonzap that Ein was holding numerous valuables in his base, having stolen them from Rocket including a device that can capture any Pokemon. So after showing Sol some official Silph Co. blueprints of the Master Ball I had stolen he promptly showed me to Eclo Canyon, it was there I finally met Gonzap, my true plans starting to come together and my hopes of redemption growing..." He was now thinking of Sol, hoping he really would make it back okay.
-----
"That thing was cramped! Why couldn't that freak make something more spacious!?" Gonzap complained as he exited the Robo Kyogre, its pristine blue paint job shimmering even here on the eternally dark Citadark Isle. Sub just ignored the complaints of the Snagem leader and the rest of the grunts as they all disembarked. The only one who didn't complain was Sol of course, silent and reserved like always.
They had only learned about the Citadark lab after raiding the desert one. When they found the proof of this lab's location in the other one Sub could not shake the feeling that they were being led here on purpose by Ein. Did the mad scientist know he was coming? How? He had been careful to conceal his presence in Orre, in fact this is the first time in numerous years that he had sported his natural hair., he wasn't even wearing glasses of contacts like he had been for his entire adult life.
Shaking off the thought of Ein having been watching him Sub proceeded forward, away from the rocky beach and towards the threatening volcano, Sol and the rest of the Snagems following close behind. He planned to go in as a group but only one of them would be coming out and it would be him with a Mew containing Master Ball in hand.
-----
"Some of you can imagine what we encountered in there so I won't go into too much detail. The one thing I noticed a stark lack of was this mutant Eelektross Ein had created and used as a guard of sorts. Apparently he had spliced it with a Reuniclus, the giant eel gaining these strange gel-like growths all over its body. After it had taken out a few grunts we realized it was capable of draining their life energy and storing it in these growths to use later to completely recover any and all damage, including complete loss of limbs. That coupled with its natural ability to absorb electricity and plenty of sources in the lab for that the thing was for all intents and purposes immortal. Sol and I managed to escape it after sacrificing Gonzap to it. Back in Pyrite Town I had managed to convert Sol to my team after telling him my true intentions, saving Cera. Apparently he had enough of Gonzap anyways so this was just the perfect opportunity for him to get away." Sub said with a wry chuckle.
"We thought everyone, including Gonzap, was dead by the time we found Cera. Funny enough Ein was nowhere to be seen but I almost expected that. When we did get to Cera we both saw for our own eyes what he had did to her, the former Mew now some sort of chimera of different legendary Pokemon. The poor thing was exhausted and covered in numerous sores from what appeared to be endless testing. After seeing Cera and all the other mutants of Ein's Sol was completely convinced that Ein had to be stopped. We wouldn't have time to pamper her for too long, though, after a certain mutant Magnezone came out of nowhere with its Beedrill horde and chased us out. We only managed to escape after Sol's Charmeleon hit them with a well timed Fire Blast." The man would give a little bit of a shiver as he recalled the Beedrill they encountered today, still surprised that some survived after all these years.
"After making it out of there in relatively one piece we would crash in Eclo Canyon for awhile, the place all to ourselves after Sol had chased off the remnants of old Snagem. With Gonzap and most of the others thought to be dead Sol and I claimed the Snagem title for ourselves, Sol informing of the location of the team's signature device. Once Cera was healed up we would seek out a certain former Snagem, Wes himself, and relieve him of the device. With the only Snag Machine created in our position we solidified control over the Snagem title. Unfortunately Rocket finally got wind of my presence in Orre so the three of us fled Orre, hiding out once again in the old mansion in Ecruteak Woods. There we decided after seeing some of the things Ein was cooking and had a chance to read over some of the files we stole from him we decided we had to do something to stop him and his ambitions. We knew he would revive Cipher one day, his plans were all in black and white. We also knew though we couldn't stop him alone..." Sub continued, standing up for a bit as he butt was starting to hurt from being seated for so long.
-----
"Identification, please." A Pokemon Ranger asked Cameron Hillborn as the brown haired man attempted to disembark from the S.S. Aqua. With an unintelligible mutter the man would fish out a passport and present it to the Ranger, the 'defender of peace' taking it and staring at it with a suspicious eye.
"Says here you're from Hoenn, mind telling me what business you have in Johto?" The Ranger asked.
"Pleased to!" Cameron said enthusiastically. "I am the the assistant curator of Lilycove Museum. I'm on my way to Violet City to see about procuring for our humble museum a carving of an ancient Pokemon battle discovered in the Alph Ruins. Remarkable piece of work it is, you can tell-" The Ranger would cut off the rambling man as he held a hand up to his face and presented him with his passport with the other. Once the thin book was taken the Ranger would thumb behind him as he attempted to get Cameron to move along. While rude the imposter of a man was more than glad to move along, he never liked messing with these Rangers, they had a habit of jumping on the smallest suspicion and making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Now safely in Olivine City the 'assistant curator' would make his way to Ecruteak City first, he had to pay a visit to the Tin Tower once more to burn a few more things. After that he would skip across the river to Mahogany Town and pay a visit to the 'Poke Mart' there. Mr. Hillborn had a piece of artwork he wanted to 'pawn' off. He needed money and a lot of it for what he had planned.
-----
"You see, the three of us split up after a few months, Sol and Cera going off to Kanto to give her some down time to heal and get far away from Ein. As for myself I knew if I was going to create a team powerful enough to stop Ein I had to first ignite a spark to get people to join said team and I couldn't think of a better target than the corrupt Ranger Union." He explained.
"I know what you're thinking, that Miles put the team together to stop the Ranger Union and while you're technically not wrong he did have a little help. Using my old Rocket connections and blackmail I accrued a large sum of money. My original plan was to recruit people in the fight against the oppressive Ranger Union and I had spent a good many months traveling the various regions scoping out prospective team members. A gym trainer in Mahogany Gym, an orphaned street urchin in Sootopolis, a teenage hybrid under the care of Erika, and so on. Everything was going so smoothly until one day the Ranger Union rounded almost all of my prospective members and jailed them." Sub continued, making note of three current Snagems he had been looking at.
"I was certain Ein had something to do with it, and to this day I insist he did. I always felt like he was watching me, for whatever reason. Either way it worked out for me. With a few bribes I weakened security in the prison and managed to get a message to a man I deemed useful on the inside, a Ninetales hybrid named Miles. I had been scoping him out as well. Any who, I promised him shelter and funds for fighting back against the Ranger Union, all he had to do is escape with as many other prisoners and flee to a derelict mansion in Ecruteak Woods, providing him with a crudely drawn map to its location." Sub said, dropping a pretty big revelation that he was behind it all.
"He would succeed in breaking out and bringing the others with him. I would have further contact with Miles under anonymity, using good ole Nevermore as a go between. I relied on him to build up the group in my absence while I focused solely on gaining funds to provide him with. Oh, and about that old mansion, yes it's the same one I hid out in years prior, played in as a kid. It was once owned by a former sage of the Tin Tower, over a hundred years ago. I learned about it through an old visitor log the tower owned, the only record of its existence after it had been forgotten about. When I returned to Johto as Cameron Hillborn I went back to the tower to find the book and burn it, to ensure no one else would find out about its location. Either way he did a very good job of laying the ground work. I was most shocked about how he named the team. You see, I knew he was curious about the Capture Stylers and using them against the Union so I gave him the old Snag Machine blueprints I had and next thing I know you guys rig up a makeshift Snag Machine from a Capture Styler and name the team appropriately! Couldn't have gone better!" He said with a laugh, though the laugh quickly faded.
-----
"Going back home?" Sub asked a certain Ninetales hybrid, a young Vulpix at his side. The older hybrid would just nod. "Listen, I do want to apologize for all the trickery and subterfuge. I probably could have been upfront about my plans in the first place but it all got away from me. I guess old habits picked up from being part of a shadow cabal die hard." He said with a laugh, the older hybrid smiling in response. "I'll take good care of the team, make sure that the b*****d responsible for all this, even Tails' suffering, pays for what he did." He said, looking down at the young Vulpix hybrid who nodded sternly in response.
"You guys just go back home and live out the rest of your days in peace. We'll take it from here." The man would grin and hold his fist out to Miles, the Ninetales hybrid extending his own fist and bumping it against the Dark One's. It was time for Sub to step out of the shadows and claim the mantle of leader, to prepare them for the true enemy.
-----
"Before he left to go back home I explained to Miles everything I done. Sure, he was a bit shocked at first but he seemed accepting and understanding enough. He knew how twisted Ein was anyways and once he heard about Ein's greater plans he insisted he stay and help but I convinced him otherwise, Tails needed to be a kid for once and he needed someone to watch over him. So that kind of brings us up to date. With him gone I assumed leadership and just began running things myself with little shadowy business. Sure, I may have pulled a few strings in the darkness but I have never forced any of you to do anything you didn't want to and have always been there to protect you and get you out of trouble. You guys are my teammates and I like to think I have proven time and time again my willingness to protect you. Jumping off of Prism Tower to save Cera, again, from the king's minions. Today willingly going into the Devil's playpen to save someone I had written off as a traitor. I will always do what I can to make sure you guys are safe and we are ready to fight Ein, even if it means doing some questionable things. I always have and always will do what is necessary, no matter what. Now that you guys know everything you may judge me how you will. I'll accept any and all criticism and repercussions for my actions. I have no one to blame but myself." He said, waiting to get grilled by his teammates.
Aile snorted at Sub's comment to her, about to respond, but then Sub started speaking again. The woman would take a look over at Reno before sighing and walking over to the wall instead as Sub began his story, leaning her staff up against the wall before sitting down with her back against it, patiently listening to the leader.
Once he finished, Aile looked down at the ground, flexing the hand that hung off of her knee, taking all of that in. "So. That all happened... you said thirty years ago or so," she finally said, sliding back up the wall, "I would assume you were an adult when all of this started, then, so... How the hell old are you really, and how do you still look as young as you do? What, did you find the fountain of youth as well and not tell anyone? That's all I want to know, or really care about right now." She'd glance at the door again as she grabbed her staff once more, but made no visible motions towards it as her gaze would return to Sub. She figured that she might have enough time to get to the door if things got nasty once more between her and the team, but gauging the state of everything and everyone, she was probably the last issue they needed to deal with.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 4:48 pm
As Amaranth stood by and listened to everything Sub had to say, years' worth of explanations coming all at once, she was left speechless for much of the whole thing. Not only was it a lot to take in, but it raised even more questions and revealed that Sol had lied to her face. She remembered being told that Cera was really young when he had taken her in, keeping as light as he could on any specifics beyond that. Obviously, she knew now that couldn't have been further from the truth, but whether he said it to keep the wool over her eyes or for the Mew's sake wasn't something she could discern until it was revealed that Ein had more than had his way with her too.
If anything, she could sympathize with her. With what had to have gone on, either Cera didn't remember anything about it herself or- in a moment that made her shiver along with Aile- she was fully aware of what happened and probably didn't want to remember it. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to know how traumatic that had to be and that by the time she was rescued, she might not have been much better off. All she could do was grasp at straws and go off of her own experiences, but most of what she remembered came after she had "woken up" as a Ho-oh hybrid. The only thing that wasn't a foggy blur involved the tank... that much had become clear as day while at Citadark Isle.
It was at this point that she had also become painfully aware of the fact that she hadn't seen Cera around the HQ in some time, but with everything that had just been spelled out, maybe that was for the better. Being told that you'd effectively given birth to a monstrosity like Shadow Mewtwo might just break her all over again. And yet, she could feel that sooner or later, Cera was going to have all of it laid in front of her, forced to face it whether she wanted to or not.
She almost went to ask how Sub didn't look all that much older than she did, until Aile had beaten her to the punch. With the words taken out of her mouth, she kept silent, too caught up in trying to let everything sink in.
"I am...not sure exactly how old I am, biologically. That said I was born fifty-seven years ago." He plainly stated in response to Aile's just, giving people a moment to take that in before he spoke again. "As for how I am so youthful appearing it's not from finding a fountain of youth or anything like that. Instead I guess you could say I found god, or alleged god." Okay, now he wasn't making any sense. "I'm still blurry on how I found the place, that whole time of my life is a faint memory these days. Years after leaving the tower but before I had gotten in heavy with Team Rocket I had taken an interest in the mythical, I guess you could say it was thanks to my tutelage at the tower. I had stolen a good few scrolls and such from the tower and when I was committing crimes I studied them, following various clues where ever they led me." He began to explain.
"One thing led to another, every piece of the puzzle I unearthed falling into place so easily. I'm not one to really believe in destiny but how I found that place, how easily, makes it hard to resist believing in such a concept. I didn't know where I was when I stumbled upon the beginnings of a stone path, my PokeGear completely stopped working and the stars began to drift. Before I could find out what this place was, these ruins, I was attacked by none other than the Registeel I own today, a guardian of the temple. What I found, and what is responsible for my youth, was some sort of temple dedicated to what the books refer to as Arceus, the Alpha Pokemon." He said, dropping another, so far mild, bomb.
"The temple's inner walls were lined with hundreds of Unown, spelling out various phrases, telling the story of the temple. From what I could translate it was once a stage for Arceus, back when it would communicate with humans. Make no mistake, I have not seen Arceus myself and can not confirm its existence but there is one quality about the Sinjoh Ruins, or temple as the Unown imply, that makes me believe it does exist. You see, time doesn't move right there, or at all. I haven't been there in awhile but I used to spend long periods of time at the ruins, studying all I could. Ever wonder how I know so much despite my age? That's how. I considered it a gift for fighting Ein, giving me plenty of time to personally prepare for him. But whenever I am there the aging process doesn't seem to happen, or rather is considerably slowed, allowing me to hold onto my youth while the outside world passes me by. So there you have it. Now how Ein looks so young I can't answer." You know, despite half the team being hybrid mixtures of Pokemon and human, some of them by mystical means, all this seemed almost unbelievable.
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 5:39 pm
Freth, Tristen, and I listened to the explanation of his background, which incidentally involved even Tails of all people, Sub’s age…and honestly? This is about as surreal as it gets. It answers pretty much all of the questions for the most part, though it was clear there was mixed feelings between the lot of us. We were silent for the most part as the questions started to fly to Sub some more, but we were there to our own thoughts. Freth was still agitated, perhaps not as much...at least she's not wanting to punch anyone again...yet. Tristen felt robbed in a way when Tails was brought up, wondering if this was the reason why he hasn't been here in a while, a notion that I also thought as well, but for some reason I was a bit on the more composed side than the other two. Rather it be gym discipline or something else, while I was caught off guard sure, I was unusually calm. Perhaps a bit of clarity here...
“Well, that explains why the teams needed more work done the closer towards my take over of the gang back at home. They were in so much in disarray, they needed all the help they could get.” Freth said a bit back in hind sight. “Still, that’s…that’s…blast it, I don’t even have words! All of this! This…this changes-“
“Absolutely nothing.” I spoke up, interrupting Freth, getting up finally.
“What? How in the hell can you still say that? We’ve been played with the entire time to further some sort of agenda that he’s left us in the dark on until now! This could have been avoided altogether from the starting gun!” Freth said.
“Maybe.” I then had to spit, still reeling from Freth’s Frustration fueled punch and dealing with the effects of it, briefly rubbing my fingers on the inside of my mouth for a couple of seconds to see how bad I possibly could have been bleeding. “But then, consider, that it was just him, Sol, and Cera. Cera went on the down-low with the Rangers, Sub stayed in hiding in a void somewhere, and Sol recused himself to be a father figure of…debatable quality, which is saying something when I know that I am not exactly the best in the world besidethepointmovingon, and all three of them had at least four organizations, the Rockets, Aqua, Magma, and Cipher breathing down their neck because the three of them in one regard or another screwed them all, which probably made it easy pickings for a bunch of kids between ages ten to fourteen and subsequently the Rangers to get the better of them eventually.” I explained. “That much you of all people would know that is not a position you would want to be in.”
“I guess.” Freth crossing her arms, staring at me, wondering where this was going to go.
“Not going to lie though, kind of irks me to think that I was right in some way about being targeted when this group came together. Though up until now, I’ve always had the idea Miles is the one that did that one. That he picked everyone for their own unique traits and anyone else that he gets would perhaps be a bonus. Miles had called me a ‘spearhead’ on a few occasions, something that other people picked up along the way; wasn’t hard to figure out why. Something that desperately needed getting into or someone in the way to overcome, not much was going to stop me; I’d figure it out. Celcius, the Rangers, Ein’s abominations in his middle-of-nowwhere lab, what have you. Never pegged Sub for doing that much only to be told differently. God knows that Sub put me to use in that regard. Ein’s lab again? Breached. Lumiose City? Breached. All it really took was to give me a target in any regard. Funny, when you think of it, Sub almost never got me at all in the end.”
“It was the Ciphers that came to Mahogany with the Chi machine that day.” Tristen then spoke up, thinking back to that day.
“Yea, Ein screwed that one up, or perhaps it was a non-issue to him in foresight.” I said. “Just as well, I guess…think about it. Ein might have not saw the team coming, but he was a master mind enough to adapt. His little entourage to do his dirty work for him…Kess, Dull, Zera, his cyborg abomination…they are practically foils, if not outright counters, to all of us here, a point they made clear when they showed themselves to us. Think about us a few years ago, Freth, after we parted ways from Snagem for that two weeks, you know that time that Tristen just said. If things continued on for us then without getting dragged back into it as we did, do you honestly think the two of us could of went toe to toe with say…Kess, for instance? Honestly? When Ein would have inevitably wreaked havoc over that way?”
“Considering your first fight against her? Probably not.” Freth said. Such a notion did not settle well with Tristen, given the look that was made on his face.
“Like it or not, we would have had to step up because there’s not that many in the world that would be willing, much less able, to stand up against what guys like Lysandre and Ein can pull. Sure we could have tried defending Mahogany in particular on our own…we wouldn’t have lasted. Because of what we been through since Sub took over we ended up getting better prepared for the threats on hand. THAT BEING SAID…” I then looked over towards Sub. If it looked like he was completely off the hook, one would be sadly mistaken. “Sub, I didn’t. Have. To be lied to just to get something done. I had to make that point obscenely clear to Miles a while back, for the record. If I know good and well that something was a legitimate threat, then I would have done it. I’ve hung around all this time until now, despite your hiding stuff from me, because I saw just how bad off those threats were, especially Ein and Lysandre, if you want more recent examples. Your history meant nothing because you’re dealing with a bunch of people with various backgrounds, and honestly thought it was going to matter? Freth was right, though, perhaps not for the ways she was trying to bring up, this could have been avoided. You knew about Citadark Isle for instance and you didn’t bring it up to anyone of us any sooner? Because we would have more than likely figured out the connection with you and Cipher eventually? And because of your inaction to that, Aile gets captured subsequently luring you out.”
“Which nearly gets us killed off anyways, rather if that was Ein’s intention or not, and nothing would have gotten in Lysandre’s or Ein’s way.” Freth then spoke up.
“The whole situation did in fact bite you and Sol, at least, in spades.” I then said. “I don’t know what irritates me more, the lies or the reckless cowardice.”
Night didn't mean to eavesdrop on Sub's story. Really. She just happened to be on her way to the kitchen when she overheard people talking and, well, curiosity got the better of her.
Eyes closed, she listened intently as every new revelation to his past came as more of a shock to her. She knew Sub had to have had some dark spots in his past. They all did, to some extent. She just never realized just how dark, or how big, those spots were.
After he was finished, Night pretty much tuned everything else out while she collected her thoughts and composed herself. Couldn't let anyone else see her all flustered over this.
"I think it's safe to say we've all done some stupid s**t in the past that has, later, come back to bite us in the a**. V, here, is no exception to that. I'm not exactly crazy about the secrets and lies, but there's not much to be done about that. What's done is done and we can't change it. All we can do is move forward and try to refrain from repeating the same mistakes. "
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 6:43 pm
"Uh-huh... Ein's crazy enough, I can see him making clones and transferring his essence... or whatever to a new one when the old body deteriorated too far. I mean..." Aile trailed off as Blizz and his small group spoke up, her eyes turning to them. When her name was mentioned, she looked down, thinking about her own situation, completely cutting off her own thoughts on how Sub managed to preserve himself, so to speak, at least for now. At the end of the day, she was the bait, the reason why they wound up having to go there in the first place, and just knowing that left a bitter taste in her mouth. Her eyes then shifted to her free arm as she moved it out in front of her, her gaze resting on her wrist for a good minute before she shook her head, finally turning and heading towards the door once more.
She stopped halfway there, however, and turned back around one more time to say something. "I'm sorry. You all were there because of me, and..." She sighed and shook her head again. "Sub, you know the one thing I have against you. Hell, even all of this that you just told us? Outside of that whole Arceus malarky, I can't hold any of that against you. I think you're a bit crazy on that regard, but my family could never get me into any sort of religion anyways, so that's probably not on you. Anyways..." She ran her fingers through her hair as she turned back to look at the door. "You never did give me a reason for why I should stay." The woman stared at the door, her hand still in her hair, trying to figure out what to do next. "Because I'll be honest, I don't feel like I belong anymore after Kalos."
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 7:37 pm
All of a sudden, the HQ's loudspeakers would crackle, coming to life as a voice spoke up.
"Please tell me this thing's going through. I won't be able to say all of this more than once, and I'm not taking any further chances that Ein might find some way of catching wind of any 'pirate' broadcasts in the region. If he hasn't already... but knowing him, he probably doesn't care. He's got nearly everything in motion as it is. But Wes and I've managed to give him the slip, but for how long, I can't say. Now's as good a time to come clean as any."
Though it wasn't easy to make out, it sounded like Sol. While in the middle of a wind tunnel, the roar of a motorcycle adding to nearly drown the hybrid's voice.
"By now, I've expected that Sub's explained everything. Surprise, you're all making up our side of the board in a riveting, decades-long game of three-dimensional chess and as you've all seen, Ein just called check. Maybe a crude way of putting it, but it's no less true. So, while we're all getting introductions out of the way, I guess it's my turn. It's safe to say that Sol isn't much more than an alias, a name that before the Snagem of today, would've otherwise stayed in the mercenary circles it was born in. To save the sob story, it was a means to an end. Person's gotta eat to live; if that means doing some dirty work or making sure someone's silenced, then it meant one more day that I wasn't the one on the receiving end. Can't say it made me the nicest person to deal with, as Sub can attest.
"As for anything he's said, I can vouch for its truth and the uglier details within. Perhaps we should have been open about it from the start, but look around. I doubt too many of you would exactly jump at the call to join some team with a less than stellar reputation, with the eventual task that we've finally been dealt, and all too soon at that. Never mind Cera or Aden; if I had a choice in the matter, I'd have preferred they not get involved. Cera had dealt with enough, and when Aden was born, I vowed to myself that I wouldn't drag him into this mess.
"Well, clearly I ate my words back then, because they both got theirselves involved and showed me that they weren't backing down. I should have prepared them for this day, and for that, I'm sorry. Blizzard, if you're hearing this, I'll give you another free punch. I still can't thank you enough for the tutelage you were able to give Aden. As for Cera... when I saw her in the state Ein left her in, I wanted to keep her safe. Call it me softening up, an act of compassion, whatever. His handiwork left me so sick to my stomach that I had to do something and when we all split up, I figured I'd need to know as much as I could, beyond what Sub already knew. Kanto seemed like a good start with their history with Team Rocket, though it wouldn't be the only thing that I'd find there.
"See, from the start, I knew I'd need to prepare for this day. That one way or another, it wouldn't be stopped and it'd come back to haunt us. One fateful day, I ended up in Mt. Ember and... well, that's a story for another time. I should be keeping this short. But, I met someone there, someone who'd offer the chance for untold power if they were willing to give up something. I think my form speaks for itself. I spent a little longer under this someone's wing, until I went to the towers in Ecruteak. I'd hear of this special artifact crafted from the Brass Tower's remains and forged in its fires, and for years, I thought it'd give some answers when the towers didn't. In the years to come, I wouldn't find many answers, but I would find love. I would settle down for the sake of the family that had come to be, only for everything to come back again years later.
"Finally, right after we met S-22, a new lead was found. As Sub will tell you, I headed out without a second thought. I knew if I was to have a chance, I'd need to do something. The time since then, I've tracked that lead, wound up being put through harsh training, and lost a lot more than a simple blade in Mossdeep before going through the wringer all over again... but it all paid off. I found it, though at some point, it stopped being about the artifact. I found my answers, and judging by the correspondance from Wes, it wasn't a moment too soon. Even if I had to improvise to get to Citadark Isle myself.
"I suppose that catches everyone up on why I've been gone for so long, but I'm afraid it'll be much longer before I can return. I can't leave Orre like this, and I heard the broadcast on my SNAG. Leaving the region won't be easy even if I did want to, and this may be the only correspondence I can give. Wes and I will do our best to keep up the fight here, so don't worry about us. And Aile? If you're still there, let me leave this much. What you do is your choice. You probably don't feel like you belong with the team, if the limited correspondence I've had with Sub has told me anything. But, they say that some societies will welcome those who've wronged them should they survive an arduous, often deadly journey. To those societies, the survivors have atoned for their sins and have earned their place within once more. Consider the Skarmory I gave you my way of welcoming you back. I'm certain you'd do a much better job of raising it than Gonzap did..."
Suddenly, there'd be a sort of yelling from Wes. Something about hurrying it up.
"Right. I need to cut the transmission here. Sol out."
The loudspeakers would finally quiet down, save for a loud click.
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