Story Notes:
If you're thinking, 'Where have all the reviews gone!? WTF happened?' well it was due to an error, you see when the change over happened from the old AGNPH to the new one happened, I had to add my Co-authors back on, seeing as it took them off for some unknown reason. Anyway, when that happened, 2 copies of this story were made. I tried to delete the one without co-authors but when I did, it also deleted the other one, leaving me with no copies of blood and love, so yeah, have to re-upload. This is a pain in the ass but I heard that there was a problem with the text in all the older stories that made the text all glitchy, so maybe it was for the best that I re-uploaded it. Fortunatly, 'Blood and love' over at FanFiction isn't fucked up so that should make things easier. Also I've now noticed theres a duplicate 'Blood and love' story floating around, why this has happened I have no idea but I'm gonna try get it deleted. Oh, hears the stats for the story before it got wiped out.Views: 26,000Rating: 4.5Reviews: 59Oh, disclaimer. Yeah, Pokemon, I don't own it and I don't intend to make a profit out of it. This was done just for fun.
The black and blue rose.
The next morning...
"Fuck yeah!" Bruce shouted randomly just after waking up and taking a look into his backpack to find that his drinks had now thawed out. He grinned as he took out a very cold bottle of vodka and opened it; he looked around for Kiara before raising it to his lips and gulping it down.
"Ah, fucking amazing. Maybe I should get her to freeze my drinks more often." Bruce uttered to himself before looking over to his still unused and disassembled camping stuff. "Next time, I just wont fucking bother." Bruce mumbled as he stood up and walked over to his camping stuff to pick it up and stuff into the back of the car.
Tera's eyes slowly fluttered open as she awoke to the sound of the others talking to each other outside of their tent. She could feel Richard's arms around her, one draped just above her waist and the other just behind her head. Tera didn't want to go anywhere, she silently stroked his arm that was just above her waist and enjoyed the warmth that she felt radiating from his body.
Richard silently awoke; he could feel Tera stroking his arm. He kissed the top of her head and said, "Good morning beautiful."
Tera looked behind her to see his bright face; she smiled before they pulled each other into a loving kiss. One paw went straight to the back of Richard's head as her other went to his back.
Richard's hands did the same as they closed their eyes, and their tongues touched. They held each other closely as they passionately kissed and touched each other, but this moment was short lived.
Kiara ran near the tent yelling, "Hey you two! We're going to leave soon, so get up!"
Richard let out a little sigh. "We'll be right out!" Richard shouted back out to her.
Tera could see the disappointed look on his face; he was feeling what she was feeling. Tera placed a paw on the side of Richard's face and almost instantly, that disappointed look disappeared with a happy smile.
"Come on, the others are probably waiting for us." Tera stated as she lightly stroked the side of his face. Richard nodded and gave her a quick kiss before he happily left the tent with Tera. It was funny how the smallest actions could make a big change.
Reaper and Louis had finished packing up their camping gear and now sat on the log by the now burnt out campfire. Louis was asking questions about Reaper's life before he met him. "What were the other Scythers like?" Louis asked curiously.
"Calm and quiet, we didn't talk to each other much unless it was about leadership." Reaper replied.
"Why did you leave the other Scythers?" Louis asked.
"There was no reason for me to stay, I was just another Scyther in the crowd, and nobody really thought of me as anything more than a fighter. I left them in search for a new place to stay, you know; somewhere I could stand out a little more. That's about the same time I found you." Reaper told him.
Louis thought back to when he first met Reaper, he was about to be loaded into the back of a van by two armed slavers at the age of just 11. Reaper tore off one slaver's head and impaled the other.
Louis was scared of both the blood splattered Scyther and the sounds of the people he knew being dragged out of their homes and shot or being loaded into the same kind of vans he sat in as he looked at the Scyther.
Louis had nowhere to go, and the Scyther showed no interest in harming him, so he followed Reaper out of the city.
Louis snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to the large armored and battered car that the others were now climbing into. "Looks like we should get going." Louis said as he stood up and began walking towards the car with Reaper.
Kiara was the last to get into the car; she sat in her usual seat, opposite Bruce who was now giving her a look of hatred. "You're still angry about the drink thing, aren't you?" Kiara asked.
"Well it was only last night in case you fucking forgot!" Bruce angrily yelled back to her.
"Weren't you the one who said I should make myself useful and chill your drinks?" Kiara questioned with a little smirk.
"CHILL! Not fucking freeze! And not while it's in my fucking mouth!" Bruce shouted at her.
"I know, I just thought it would shut you up for once." Kiara stated to him.
"You better watch your fucking back." Bruce mumbled as he continued to glare at her.
Kiara just smiled as she stared back at him, she really pissed him off, and she really enjoyed it.
Bruce thought about ways in his head to piss her off just as much as she pissed him off. He thought of everything from just tripping her up to throwing her in a fire.
Owen was still driving through a long road up in the mountains, he knew that it would be a long drive to Kanto, although he wasn't sure just how long. "Richard, you should probably take a look at 'The Medic's dossier." Owen started as he continued driving.
"Alright." Richard said as Tera passed the dossier to him. He opened up the dossier and looked through it. The first thing he noticed was the picture of a man with blond hair that was parted in the middle, light brown eyes and his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a Gallade to his left and a human woman to his right.
The woman appeared to be somewhere in her late fifties, as the Gallade appeared to be aged as well. Richard noticed something about the man's eyes, they weren't just light brown, and they had what looked like a red tint to them.
'The Medic'
Recruit number: #0767
Name: Kovick Elout
Age: 29
Background info: He is an excellent doctor that was also trained in the same program as Agent 177, he passed with flying colors but he never went onto his first mission, he instead worked for a brief time as a surgeon before enlisting and becoming a medic in Johto's armed forces despite being born in Unova.
His reason for never moving onto his first mission as an agent was, 'I wanted to help people, not blow them apart... Even if it is really fun.'
He lost his first patient two years ago, he threatened to quit over the lack of necessary supplies to keep the patient alive, although the problem was never solved, and he still continued his work as a medic. He may work as a medic, but he has proven to be a solid fighter.
Side notes: His father is a Gallade named Jack; his mother (Human, female) is called Kim. No other living relatives. He works closely with his Ninetails assistant (Aneko), it is suspected that he may have romantic feelings for her.
Height: 5 ft 12 inches
Place of birth: Unova
Richard stopped reading at that point although he did take a look at the other pages but they were all just areas Kovick had visited and places and times he had worked.
Richard put down the dossier and lay back in his seat, Tera once again rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her soft fur Richard couldn't wait until they got to Johto where they could show their love for each other just like they did back in Hoenn.
Richard was proud of his relationship with Tera, he didn't care what anyone else thought and he just wanted to do stuff that normal couples would do. He knew that this mission was hard on her, and he wanted to take her mind off all the bad things that could happen.
He wasn't sure just how he was going to do that, but that's what he was going to do.
Bruce wanted to stay angry at Kiara, by now he would have thrown her out of the car, but he just had too much to think about. He was going back to Johto, he moved from there for a reason.
Kiara noticed that Bruce was much quieter than usual; she also noticed that he gave her less threatening looks. She didn't know why, especially not after the incident with the frozen drinks.
Owen knew where he was driving to, Blackthorn City. 'The Medic' wasn't going to be in that city, but it was the closest city to them right now.
Louis turned to Reaper and asked, "Can you actually fly with those wings? I don't think I've ever seen you even attempt to fly."
Reaper let out a sigh before answering. "Others can, I can't. I can't move my upper left wing so I can never get enough power to fly, and when I try I usually end up stumbling over to my left." Reaper told him.
Louis gave him a confused look. "Why can't you move your wing? Was it because of an injury?" Louis asked.
"No, it's just how I was born, but I don't care. I can still fight and that's all that really matters, well, that's what I told myself anyway." Reaper stated.
"Did the other Scythers treat you differently because of that?" Louis asked as he was drawn in deeper by Reaper's personal history.
"Yes, when I was younger. I got into a fight with another Scyther; he suggested that we should attack other innocent Pokemon for food, even though there was more than enough fruit for all of us." Reaper said to him.
"What happened?" Louis asked.
"Well, he was the leader at the time and he asked if anyone objected, and I objected. He then called for a duel, a polite word for saying I want to kill you. I accepted and I fought him, and killed him." Reaper finished.
"Why didn't the others object? Wouldn't it have been easier just to convince the others that it wasn't worth it?" Louis asked.
"No, they were all too scared of him, he was the strongest fighter among us, or so they all thought. They didn't care about others; they only cared about themselves and their survival. They weren't about to take the side of a Scyther that couldn't even fly." Reaper reminisced, as his mind wandered back when all of the Scythers were quietly watching as the other Scyther and himself got ready to kill each other.
"How did you kill him?" Louis inquired.
"I stabbed him through his abdomen and tore his head off." Reaper flatly threw out.
"What happened after you killed him?" Louis probed.
Reaper gave a strange look, one that looked like he was smiling, he was glad that Louis was so interested and in a way, he was reminded of the times he used to listen to the older Scythers stories.
"I almost became leader, but I didn't. I gave that responsibility to someone I knew would be a good leader but was not a good fighter. When I told them who would be leading, nobody objected, then again, after killing the strongest Scyther around, I guess they wouldn't." Reaper said.
Louis felt like saying 'What happened after that?' But he guessed that he had asked him enough questions for now.
3 hours later...
"What the fuck is taking this hunk of shit so long to get to Johto!" Bruce shouted out.
Kiara was the one to answer his question.
"We're driving on an old abandoned rocky dirt road, high up in the mountains, driving in a car that weighs more than a Snorlax at a buffet and on top of that there's the all the equipment in the back and lets not forget that there is six people and one drunken ass in the car." Kiara spat.
"Keep talking like that and that there will be five people in the car and one happy drunk right after I throw your frozen ass right out of this fucking car!" Bruce angrily retorted before he brought up a bottle of vodka to his mouth while keeping a very close eye on Kiara.
Kiara didn't doubt that he really would try to throw her out of the car, but that didn't stop her from trying to annoying him. "You keep talking like that and there will be six people in this car and one dead frozen drunken ass." Kiara shot back.
Bruce smiled, every time she threatened him, he just felt like laughing. "I just can't take your insults seriously; it's like being threatened by a blue rabbit." Bruce thought out loud.
"What do you mean by that?" Kiara said with a vague look of confusion on her face.
"And you call me dumb. I mean you don't exactly look like the most threatening thing around here do you? You look like you would kill someone with your sickening..." Bruce trailed off, he was about to say, 'cuteness' but he didn't want her to think that he liked her.
"Sickening what?" Kiara asked as she eagerly awaited a reply.
"...Sickening appearance, seriously, you look like you're about to hug someone to death." Bruce replied before he took another mouthful of vodka. He figured that if he fucked up in his conversation with her, he could always blame it on the alcohol.
"Appearances can be deceiving; you'll find that out for yourself soon enough though." Kiara replied in a menacing tone.
Bruce didn't bother to ask her what she meant by that because he didn't really care. He just drank the rest of the vodka and hoped that they would be in and out of Johto quickly, before he did something stupid.
Kiara sat quietly and continued to stare at Bruce like a hawk watching its pray, but much to her surprise, he didn't even glance over back to her. She didn't even notice him mumble any swear words to himself.
4 hours later...
"How much longer will we have to drive and how much damn gas does this car have!" Bruce shouted out randomly.
"Not much longer now, and as for gas, we have one more can of it in the back somewhere so we don't need to worry much about gas right now." Owen answered.
Bruce just sighed as he continued drinking and watching the same sight out of the smashed out window. 'Nothing but rocks, trees and nature... Somebody should build a strip club here.' Bruce thought to himself.
Richard was just looking out of the window like he had been doing the whole ride here, but now he saw something else other than just mountains and trees, he could see buildings, it looked like a city in the mountains. Richard knew there was only one city like that in Johto. "Blackthorn City, is this where the next recruit is?" Richard asked.
"No, but we should stop here to gas up and buy any supplies we need." Owen answered.
Richard had travelled across Johto for sometime before working as a mercenary, he remembered spending some time in Blackthorn. He wondered if it was still the same quiet boring place it was when he left.
Tera knew that Richard had been to many places in Johto before he became a mercenary, she wondered if he could tell her more about where he traveled. "Where was the orphanage you grew up in Richard?" Tera curiously asked.
"Huh, you mean what city?" Richard responded. Tera nodded in response and Richard answered, "Goldenrod City, don't get too excited about the name, there's nothing golden about it."
Tera remembered all the stories that he had told her about his childhood, it still pained her to think that such a kind and loving person was forced into fights and gang wars. "Wasn't there anything good about that city?" Tera asked.
"I can't think of anything good about it. If there was something good in that city, I didn't see it and neither did any of the others, that is why they were willing to risk death by joining up with mercenary groups." Richard replied as he remembered a line of both young men and women signing their lives away on a 2 year contract that made them the mercenary company's soldiers until their contract expired, or they until they die.
"I'm just glad I'm out of there now." Richard finished before letting out a sigh. Although he knew Tera had a better childhood than he did, he didn't envy it, not one bit.
He felt like falling apart when Carter died, and that was his best friend, he couldn't imagine what pain Tera felt when all her friends and family got killed in just one night. That was the reason why he never really asked that many questions about her clan, he didn't want to remind her of the people she lost.
Tera saw a sign through the window, it was big and it had 'Welcome to Blackthorn City' written on it. "Blackthorn City, have you ever been there Richard?" Tera questioned.
Richard gave a smile and said, "Yes, I stopped here for a while back when I was traveling. I even took up a job at a shop there."
"What's it like there?" Tera asked.
"When I was there, it was nice, quiet and windy. I'm sure you would like it there." Richard told her.
Owen drove the car up a dirt road towards the city and eventually made it to its streets, although the streets weren't much different from the dirt road he had driven up to get here, the only difference seemed to be that there was less rocks.
The houses and shops looked fairly modern, although for a city it didn't seem that heavily populated. Although they were high up in the mountains, there seemed to be river flowing nearby too.
Owen eventually saw a nearby gas station and drove up to its gas pumps before switching off the engine. "Right, I'm going to get some gas, try not to get into trouble while I'm gone." Owen said as he looked over to Bruce and Kiara before getting out of the car and closing the door behind himself.
Richard waited until he saw Owen enter the shop before he got up and opened the car door. Tera looked over to him and said, "Richard, where are you going?"
Richard looked back to her and the others still sitting in the car. "I'll be right back." Was all Richard told her as he got out of the car, closed the door behind him and ran over to the river that he saw when they drove into the city. He hoped that he could find what he was looking for.
Kiara looked over to Bruce and said, "Wow, I'm impressed."
Bruce gave a look that said 'piss off.' "What?" Bruce mumbled, he knew that he wasn't going to like whatever she had to say.
"It's been about ten minutes since your last drink, yet you're not searching around in your backpacks full of alcohol to suckle on your next bottle like the baby you are." Kiara stated with a smirk.
Bruce finally snapped. "Right, that's fucking it!" Bruce said as he lunged forward for Kiara who quickly jumped out of the smashed out window and ran over to the river. "You fucking run you twat! Run!" Bruce shouted out of the smashed out window before throwing his fist into the car door in anger.
"Fucking bitch!" He shouted out again as he sat back in his seat while Louis, Reaper and Tera looked down to his hand which bled lightly around his knuckles.
Richard was down by the side of the river, and he found what he was looking for, a flower. It looked like a rose except its petals were blue and its color changed to black in the center.
He remembered seeing it back when he stayed in this city for a brief time, when his shift at the shop was finished; he decided to rest by the river because at the time, he didn't even have a hotel room. He stumbled upon these flowers and wondered if they were rare or worth something.
Richard had no idea why he remembered it so well, but he always thought that if he ever came back here with Tera, he would give one of these flowers to her. He wondered why this particular flower stuck in his mind, maybe it was the similarities between the flower and Tera, blue and black, grew in the mountains, and from what he heard about the flower from the locals, not very fond of the cold.
Richard carefully plucked it from the ground and stood up, right before he saw a familiar face.
Richard saw Kiara sprinting over his way as she shouted, "Hey, Richard!"
"What's wrong, why aren't you in the car?" Richard asked as he immediately thought the worst.
"Err; well Bruce is kind of annoyed at me right now." Kiara told him.
Richard let out a sigh and asked, "What did you do to piss him off this time?"
"Well I might have said something about him sucking on his bottle like a baby." Kiara stated with a smirk.
"Oh, I can't possibly imagine that going down badly." Richard said sarcastically. "I'm guessing he didn't take that well." Richard added.
"He didn't, he jumped at me and I ran out of the car. I also heard him shouting something at me but I was to busy laughing at the idiot to hear what he was saying." Kiara finished with a giggle.
"Why do you want to annoy him so much?" Richard inquired.
Kiara stopped to think about her answer for a few seconds before she replied, "There was a reason, but I forgot. Maybe it's just because its fun to see that stupid drunken human so annoyed."
"You should stop pissing him off like that; I think we can all imagine you both ripping each other apart." Richard told her.
"Can you also imagine me freezing the stupid man solid while I toss all of his drinks off a cliff? I can." Kiara daydreamed with a big smile.
"I know you don't like him, but would it be so hard to just try to not piss him off?" Richard asked.
"Fine, I'll try to be nice to him." Kiara said before she sighed and frowned.
Richard smiled as he looked at the frowning Glaceon. "Hey, I'm not asking you to kiss and make up, just try to avoid killing each other." Richard added with a chuckle.
"I'll try... Wait, what's that you've got?" Kiara questioned as she looked over to the blue flower in Richard's right hand.
"This? Oh, it's just a flower. I picked it for Tera; I just wanted to do something nice for her." Richard quietly stated.
Kiara smiled and replied, "I'm sure she'll like it."
"I hope so, she's been feeling a little down since we got shot at back in Vermillion." Richard said as he remembered the previous nights when she cuddled up to him and sobbed as she told him how much she means to her, and how much she worried for him.
Kiara had noticed Tera feeling a little down since then too, but she never really said anything about it. "I noticed, but she'll be back to her normal cheery self when this mission is over and everybody can go home." Kiara optimistically said.
Richard smiled; he enjoyed the thought of finishing the mission and coming back home heroes. Even if nearly nobody knew what they when through to bring down Silas, they would know, and they would still have each other and in the end, that's all that would matter.
"I hope we get home soon." Richard whispered to himself as he began walking back to the car. "Lets go, we don't want to keep the others waiting do we?" Richard asked with a smile.
"What about Bruce? I really pissed him off and I bet he's going to try something." Kiara told him.
"You should have thought about that before you pissed him off, but if he tries anything serious, I'll help you." Richard reassured her as he continued walking back the way he came from.
"Thanks." Kiara responded, as the two walked away.
Owen had finished gassing up the car and he was about to get into the car, before he glanced into the back through the smashed out window and saw that his team leader Richard and the Glaceon was missing. He also noticed that Bruce was holding his right hand. "Where is Richard and the Glaceon?" Owen asked, the question directed at Tera.
Tera looked out of the window and said, "Right there."
Owen looked over to see Richard and Kiara running over, he also noticed a blue rose-like flower in Richard's hand, but he had a good idea as to why he had it. Owen said no more, he just walked back over to the drivers side door, opened it, climbed in and closed it behind him.
Richard opened the door for Kiara and she jumped into her usual seat, and watched Bruce who was staring at her like he was trying to stare into her soul.
Bruce wanted to stay angry at her, if it were anyone else saying or doing these things then he would have knocked them out by now. But he couldn't stay angry at her, it just seemed hard to hate something so cute, besides, he was starting to like her style. "Bitch." Bruce whispered in an attempt to provoke her.
"Drunk." Kiara sharply replied. After that being said, they just sat and quietly stared at each other, trying to look as intimidating as possible.
Richard sat in his usual seat again, next to Tera. He smiled as he handed the strange blue flower to her and said, "Here, I picked this for you."
Tera's eyes went wide as she looked at the beautiful sweetly scented flower in her paws. "Its beautiful Richard, thank you." She said before she gave him a hug.
"I'm glad you like it." Richard whispered as the smiling Lucario stroked his back.
1 hour later...
Louis and Reaper were still chatting, Bruce and Kiara were still glaring at each other, Richard and Tera were still sitting quietly as they stroked and held each other and Owen was still driving the car through Johto.
Richard couldn't help but smile when Tera held the flower to her snout and breathed in it's sweet scent, she had done that a few times and every time she did, her smile seemed to get bigger and brighter.
Owen was driving the car when he heard Rhea's voice in his ear again.
"Owen, what's your current position?" Rhea asked.
Owen used one hand to steer the car and the other to press the button on his earpiece, a hard thing to do when one hand is wrapped in bandages and can't move properly. "We've made it into Johto, we're currently at route 46. Do you have our next recruit's location?" Owen responded.
"Yes, your next recruit is stationed at a military base just outside of Olivine City." Rhea said.
"Okay, heading there now but with terrain like this, I doubt we're going to make it today." Owen told her.
"That's fine, your recruit isn't heading anywhere anytime soon anyway. I'll give you an update if anything important comes up, good luck." Rhea said before her voice crackled out again.
Bruce looked over to Owen and shouted over, "Hey, where are we going?"
"Olivine City." Owen replied.
"Olivine City? It would have to be fucking Olivine City wouldn't it? Shit." Bruce angrily swore to himself. 'I knew I shouldn't have just fucking agreed to go along with this mission.' Bruce thought as he looked out of the window, he felt like punching himself for returning here.
Kiara looked at Bruce and and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Don't ask." Bruce said as he thought about what he was going to do, he wanted to stay away from Olivine City as far as possible, but at the same time, he wanted to go back there and live there. He still wasn't sure if moving away from Olivine City was a life saving move, or possibly the worst move of his life, or both. Bruce was about to reach down for another drink, he sure felt like he needed one but he stopped himself from actually grabbing one. '... Shit!... If I'm going to face them, I need to be sober.' Bruce thought to himself as he took his hand off the backpack and sat back in his seat again.
Kiara couldn't believe her eyes, she was certain that Bruce was going to pull out another drink yet he just sat back down in his seat. "You're not drinking... Are you dying?" Kiara asked with a smirk. Richard let out a sigh in response, he knew that one of them was going to try to provoke the other at some point, they all knew.
Bruce shot her another angry look before saying, "Shut up ice queen before I decide to become a pyromaniac and melt your icy ass down into ice cubes."
"Blah, blah, blah, same old crap from the same old drunk." Kiara taunted.
"Blah, blah, blah, go fuck yourself!" Bruce shouted back at her.
Kiara couldn't help but smile at the angry human, she enjoyed seeing him so worked up.
Richard could see Kiara thinking up something worse to say to Bruce, he figured that he should step in before they rip each other apart. "Why don't you two save your anger for the people who are trying to kill us all?" Richard asked them.
Kiara looked back over to Richard and said, "Pff, fine, I'll leave the drunken ass alone."
Bruce still stared at Kiara as he said, "And I'll leave the frozen bitch alone... For now."
That wasn't exactly what Richard was hoping to hear but he knew it was the best he was going to get. Richard rested his head on Tera's head, he knew that this day was going to be a long one, just like all the others since the mission started.
"Fuck yeah!" Bruce shouted randomly just after waking up and taking a look into his backpack to find that his drinks had now thawed out. He grinned as he took out a very cold bottle of vodka and opened it; he looked around for Kiara before raising it to his lips and gulping it down.
"Ah, fucking amazing. Maybe I should get her to freeze my drinks more often." Bruce uttered to himself before looking over to his still unused and disassembled camping stuff. "Next time, I just wont fucking bother." Bruce mumbled as he stood up and walked over to his camping stuff to pick it up and stuff into the back of the car.
Tera's eyes slowly fluttered open as she awoke to the sound of the others talking to each other outside of their tent. She could feel Richard's arms around her, one draped just above her waist and the other just behind her head. Tera didn't want to go anywhere, she silently stroked his arm that was just above her waist and enjoyed the warmth that she felt radiating from his body.
Richard silently awoke; he could feel Tera stroking his arm. He kissed the top of her head and said, "Good morning beautiful."
Tera looked behind her to see his bright face; she smiled before they pulled each other into a loving kiss. One paw went straight to the back of Richard's head as her other went to his back.
Richard's hands did the same as they closed their eyes, and their tongues touched. They held each other closely as they passionately kissed and touched each other, but this moment was short lived.
Kiara ran near the tent yelling, "Hey you two! We're going to leave soon, so get up!"
Richard let out a little sigh. "We'll be right out!" Richard shouted back out to her.
Tera could see the disappointed look on his face; he was feeling what she was feeling. Tera placed a paw on the side of Richard's face and almost instantly, that disappointed look disappeared with a happy smile.
"Come on, the others are probably waiting for us." Tera stated as she lightly stroked the side of his face. Richard nodded and gave her a quick kiss before he happily left the tent with Tera. It was funny how the smallest actions could make a big change.
Reaper and Louis had finished packing up their camping gear and now sat on the log by the now burnt out campfire. Louis was asking questions about Reaper's life before he met him. "What were the other Scythers like?" Louis asked curiously.
"Calm and quiet, we didn't talk to each other much unless it was about leadership." Reaper replied.
"Why did you leave the other Scythers?" Louis asked.
"There was no reason for me to stay, I was just another Scyther in the crowd, and nobody really thought of me as anything more than a fighter. I left them in search for a new place to stay, you know; somewhere I could stand out a little more. That's about the same time I found you." Reaper told him.
Louis thought back to when he first met Reaper, he was about to be loaded into the back of a van by two armed slavers at the age of just 11. Reaper tore off one slaver's head and impaled the other.
Louis was scared of both the blood splattered Scyther and the sounds of the people he knew being dragged out of their homes and shot or being loaded into the same kind of vans he sat in as he looked at the Scyther.
Louis had nowhere to go, and the Scyther showed no interest in harming him, so he followed Reaper out of the city.
Louis snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to the large armored and battered car that the others were now climbing into. "Looks like we should get going." Louis said as he stood up and began walking towards the car with Reaper.
Kiara was the last to get into the car; she sat in her usual seat, opposite Bruce who was now giving her a look of hatred. "You're still angry about the drink thing, aren't you?" Kiara asked.
"Well it was only last night in case you fucking forgot!" Bruce angrily yelled back to her.
"Weren't you the one who said I should make myself useful and chill your drinks?" Kiara questioned with a little smirk.
"CHILL! Not fucking freeze! And not while it's in my fucking mouth!" Bruce shouted at her.
"I know, I just thought it would shut you up for once." Kiara stated to him.
"You better watch your fucking back." Bruce mumbled as he continued to glare at her.
Kiara just smiled as she stared back at him, she really pissed him off, and she really enjoyed it.
Bruce thought about ways in his head to piss her off just as much as she pissed him off. He thought of everything from just tripping her up to throwing her in a fire.
Owen was still driving through a long road up in the mountains, he knew that it would be a long drive to Kanto, although he wasn't sure just how long. "Richard, you should probably take a look at 'The Medic's dossier." Owen started as he continued driving.
"Alright." Richard said as Tera passed the dossier to him. He opened up the dossier and looked through it. The first thing he noticed was the picture of a man with blond hair that was parted in the middle, light brown eyes and his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a Gallade to his left and a human woman to his right.
The woman appeared to be somewhere in her late fifties, as the Gallade appeared to be aged as well. Richard noticed something about the man's eyes, they weren't just light brown, and they had what looked like a red tint to them.
'The Medic'
Recruit number: #0767
Name: Kovick Elout
Age: 29
Background info: He is an excellent doctor that was also trained in the same program as Agent 177, he passed with flying colors but he never went onto his first mission, he instead worked for a brief time as a surgeon before enlisting and becoming a medic in Johto's armed forces despite being born in Unova.
His reason for never moving onto his first mission as an agent was, 'I wanted to help people, not blow them apart... Even if it is really fun.'
He lost his first patient two years ago, he threatened to quit over the lack of necessary supplies to keep the patient alive, although the problem was never solved, and he still continued his work as a medic. He may work as a medic, but he has proven to be a solid fighter.
Side notes: His father is a Gallade named Jack; his mother (Human, female) is called Kim. No other living relatives. He works closely with his Ninetails assistant (Aneko), it is suspected that he may have romantic feelings for her.
Height: 5 ft 12 inches
Place of birth: Unova
Richard stopped reading at that point although he did take a look at the other pages but they were all just areas Kovick had visited and places and times he had worked.
Richard put down the dossier and lay back in his seat, Tera once again rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her soft fur Richard couldn't wait until they got to Johto where they could show their love for each other just like they did back in Hoenn.
Richard was proud of his relationship with Tera, he didn't care what anyone else thought and he just wanted to do stuff that normal couples would do. He knew that this mission was hard on her, and he wanted to take her mind off all the bad things that could happen.
He wasn't sure just how he was going to do that, but that's what he was going to do.
Bruce wanted to stay angry at Kiara, by now he would have thrown her out of the car, but he just had too much to think about. He was going back to Johto, he moved from there for a reason.
Kiara noticed that Bruce was much quieter than usual; she also noticed that he gave her less threatening looks. She didn't know why, especially not after the incident with the frozen drinks.
Owen knew where he was driving to, Blackthorn City. 'The Medic' wasn't going to be in that city, but it was the closest city to them right now.
Louis turned to Reaper and asked, "Can you actually fly with those wings? I don't think I've ever seen you even attempt to fly."
Reaper let out a sigh before answering. "Others can, I can't. I can't move my upper left wing so I can never get enough power to fly, and when I try I usually end up stumbling over to my left." Reaper told him.
Louis gave him a confused look. "Why can't you move your wing? Was it because of an injury?" Louis asked.
"No, it's just how I was born, but I don't care. I can still fight and that's all that really matters, well, that's what I told myself anyway." Reaper stated.
"Did the other Scythers treat you differently because of that?" Louis asked as he was drawn in deeper by Reaper's personal history.
"Yes, when I was younger. I got into a fight with another Scyther; he suggested that we should attack other innocent Pokemon for food, even though there was more than enough fruit for all of us." Reaper said to him.
"What happened?" Louis asked.
"Well, he was the leader at the time and he asked if anyone objected, and I objected. He then called for a duel, a polite word for saying I want to kill you. I accepted and I fought him, and killed him." Reaper finished.
"Why didn't the others object? Wouldn't it have been easier just to convince the others that it wasn't worth it?" Louis asked.
"No, they were all too scared of him, he was the strongest fighter among us, or so they all thought. They didn't care about others; they only cared about themselves and their survival. They weren't about to take the side of a Scyther that couldn't even fly." Reaper reminisced, as his mind wandered back when all of the Scythers were quietly watching as the other Scyther and himself got ready to kill each other.
"How did you kill him?" Louis inquired.
"I stabbed him through his abdomen and tore his head off." Reaper flatly threw out.
"What happened after you killed him?" Louis probed.
Reaper gave a strange look, one that looked like he was smiling, he was glad that Louis was so interested and in a way, he was reminded of the times he used to listen to the older Scythers stories.
"I almost became leader, but I didn't. I gave that responsibility to someone I knew would be a good leader but was not a good fighter. When I told them who would be leading, nobody objected, then again, after killing the strongest Scyther around, I guess they wouldn't." Reaper said.
Louis felt like saying 'What happened after that?' But he guessed that he had asked him enough questions for now.
3 hours later...
"What the fuck is taking this hunk of shit so long to get to Johto!" Bruce shouted out.
Kiara was the one to answer his question.
"We're driving on an old abandoned rocky dirt road, high up in the mountains, driving in a car that weighs more than a Snorlax at a buffet and on top of that there's the all the equipment in the back and lets not forget that there is six people and one drunken ass in the car." Kiara spat.
"Keep talking like that and that there will be five people in the car and one happy drunk right after I throw your frozen ass right out of this fucking car!" Bruce angrily retorted before he brought up a bottle of vodka to his mouth while keeping a very close eye on Kiara.
Kiara didn't doubt that he really would try to throw her out of the car, but that didn't stop her from trying to annoying him. "You keep talking like that and there will be six people in this car and one dead frozen drunken ass." Kiara shot back.
Bruce smiled, every time she threatened him, he just felt like laughing. "I just can't take your insults seriously; it's like being threatened by a blue rabbit." Bruce thought out loud.
"What do you mean by that?" Kiara said with a vague look of confusion on her face.
"And you call me dumb. I mean you don't exactly look like the most threatening thing around here do you? You look like you would kill someone with your sickening..." Bruce trailed off, he was about to say, 'cuteness' but he didn't want her to think that he liked her.
"Sickening what?" Kiara asked as she eagerly awaited a reply.
"...Sickening appearance, seriously, you look like you're about to hug someone to death." Bruce replied before he took another mouthful of vodka. He figured that if he fucked up in his conversation with her, he could always blame it on the alcohol.
"Appearances can be deceiving; you'll find that out for yourself soon enough though." Kiara replied in a menacing tone.
Bruce didn't bother to ask her what she meant by that because he didn't really care. He just drank the rest of the vodka and hoped that they would be in and out of Johto quickly, before he did something stupid.
Kiara sat quietly and continued to stare at Bruce like a hawk watching its pray, but much to her surprise, he didn't even glance over back to her. She didn't even notice him mumble any swear words to himself.
4 hours later...
"How much longer will we have to drive and how much damn gas does this car have!" Bruce shouted out randomly.
"Not much longer now, and as for gas, we have one more can of it in the back somewhere so we don't need to worry much about gas right now." Owen answered.
Bruce just sighed as he continued drinking and watching the same sight out of the smashed out window. 'Nothing but rocks, trees and nature... Somebody should build a strip club here.' Bruce thought to himself.
Richard was just looking out of the window like he had been doing the whole ride here, but now he saw something else other than just mountains and trees, he could see buildings, it looked like a city in the mountains. Richard knew there was only one city like that in Johto. "Blackthorn City, is this where the next recruit is?" Richard asked.
"No, but we should stop here to gas up and buy any supplies we need." Owen answered.
Richard had travelled across Johto for sometime before working as a mercenary, he remembered spending some time in Blackthorn. He wondered if it was still the same quiet boring place it was when he left.
Tera knew that Richard had been to many places in Johto before he became a mercenary, she wondered if he could tell her more about where he traveled. "Where was the orphanage you grew up in Richard?" Tera curiously asked.
"Huh, you mean what city?" Richard responded. Tera nodded in response and Richard answered, "Goldenrod City, don't get too excited about the name, there's nothing golden about it."
Tera remembered all the stories that he had told her about his childhood, it still pained her to think that such a kind and loving person was forced into fights and gang wars. "Wasn't there anything good about that city?" Tera asked.
"I can't think of anything good about it. If there was something good in that city, I didn't see it and neither did any of the others, that is why they were willing to risk death by joining up with mercenary groups." Richard replied as he remembered a line of both young men and women signing their lives away on a 2 year contract that made them the mercenary company's soldiers until their contract expired, or they until they die.
"I'm just glad I'm out of there now." Richard finished before letting out a sigh. Although he knew Tera had a better childhood than he did, he didn't envy it, not one bit.
He felt like falling apart when Carter died, and that was his best friend, he couldn't imagine what pain Tera felt when all her friends and family got killed in just one night. That was the reason why he never really asked that many questions about her clan, he didn't want to remind her of the people she lost.
Tera saw a sign through the window, it was big and it had 'Welcome to Blackthorn City' written on it. "Blackthorn City, have you ever been there Richard?" Tera questioned.
Richard gave a smile and said, "Yes, I stopped here for a while back when I was traveling. I even took up a job at a shop there."
"What's it like there?" Tera asked.
"When I was there, it was nice, quiet and windy. I'm sure you would like it there." Richard told her.
Owen drove the car up a dirt road towards the city and eventually made it to its streets, although the streets weren't much different from the dirt road he had driven up to get here, the only difference seemed to be that there was less rocks.
The houses and shops looked fairly modern, although for a city it didn't seem that heavily populated. Although they were high up in the mountains, there seemed to be river flowing nearby too.
Owen eventually saw a nearby gas station and drove up to its gas pumps before switching off the engine. "Right, I'm going to get some gas, try not to get into trouble while I'm gone." Owen said as he looked over to Bruce and Kiara before getting out of the car and closing the door behind himself.
Richard waited until he saw Owen enter the shop before he got up and opened the car door. Tera looked over to him and said, "Richard, where are you going?"
Richard looked back to her and the others still sitting in the car. "I'll be right back." Was all Richard told her as he got out of the car, closed the door behind him and ran over to the river that he saw when they drove into the city. He hoped that he could find what he was looking for.
Kiara looked over to Bruce and said, "Wow, I'm impressed."
Bruce gave a look that said 'piss off.' "What?" Bruce mumbled, he knew that he wasn't going to like whatever she had to say.
"It's been about ten minutes since your last drink, yet you're not searching around in your backpacks full of alcohol to suckle on your next bottle like the baby you are." Kiara stated with a smirk.
Bruce finally snapped. "Right, that's fucking it!" Bruce said as he lunged forward for Kiara who quickly jumped out of the smashed out window and ran over to the river. "You fucking run you twat! Run!" Bruce shouted out of the smashed out window before throwing his fist into the car door in anger.
"Fucking bitch!" He shouted out again as he sat back in his seat while Louis, Reaper and Tera looked down to his hand which bled lightly around his knuckles.
Richard was down by the side of the river, and he found what he was looking for, a flower. It looked like a rose except its petals were blue and its color changed to black in the center.
He remembered seeing it back when he stayed in this city for a brief time, when his shift at the shop was finished; he decided to rest by the river because at the time, he didn't even have a hotel room. He stumbled upon these flowers and wondered if they were rare or worth something.
Richard had no idea why he remembered it so well, but he always thought that if he ever came back here with Tera, he would give one of these flowers to her. He wondered why this particular flower stuck in his mind, maybe it was the similarities between the flower and Tera, blue and black, grew in the mountains, and from what he heard about the flower from the locals, not very fond of the cold.
Richard carefully plucked it from the ground and stood up, right before he saw a familiar face.
Richard saw Kiara sprinting over his way as she shouted, "Hey, Richard!"
"What's wrong, why aren't you in the car?" Richard asked as he immediately thought the worst.
"Err; well Bruce is kind of annoyed at me right now." Kiara told him.
Richard let out a sigh and asked, "What did you do to piss him off this time?"
"Well I might have said something about him sucking on his bottle like a baby." Kiara stated with a smirk.
"Oh, I can't possibly imagine that going down badly." Richard said sarcastically. "I'm guessing he didn't take that well." Richard added.
"He didn't, he jumped at me and I ran out of the car. I also heard him shouting something at me but I was to busy laughing at the idiot to hear what he was saying." Kiara finished with a giggle.
"Why do you want to annoy him so much?" Richard inquired.
Kiara stopped to think about her answer for a few seconds before she replied, "There was a reason, but I forgot. Maybe it's just because its fun to see that stupid drunken human so annoyed."
"You should stop pissing him off like that; I think we can all imagine you both ripping each other apart." Richard told her.
"Can you also imagine me freezing the stupid man solid while I toss all of his drinks off a cliff? I can." Kiara daydreamed with a big smile.
"I know you don't like him, but would it be so hard to just try to not piss him off?" Richard asked.
"Fine, I'll try to be nice to him." Kiara said before she sighed and frowned.
Richard smiled as he looked at the frowning Glaceon. "Hey, I'm not asking you to kiss and make up, just try to avoid killing each other." Richard added with a chuckle.
"I'll try... Wait, what's that you've got?" Kiara questioned as she looked over to the blue flower in Richard's right hand.
"This? Oh, it's just a flower. I picked it for Tera; I just wanted to do something nice for her." Richard quietly stated.
Kiara smiled and replied, "I'm sure she'll like it."
"I hope so, she's been feeling a little down since we got shot at back in Vermillion." Richard said as he remembered the previous nights when she cuddled up to him and sobbed as she told him how much she means to her, and how much she worried for him.
Kiara had noticed Tera feeling a little down since then too, but she never really said anything about it. "I noticed, but she'll be back to her normal cheery self when this mission is over and everybody can go home." Kiara optimistically said.
Richard smiled; he enjoyed the thought of finishing the mission and coming back home heroes. Even if nearly nobody knew what they when through to bring down Silas, they would know, and they would still have each other and in the end, that's all that would matter.
"I hope we get home soon." Richard whispered to himself as he began walking back to the car. "Lets go, we don't want to keep the others waiting do we?" Richard asked with a smile.
"What about Bruce? I really pissed him off and I bet he's going to try something." Kiara told him.
"You should have thought about that before you pissed him off, but if he tries anything serious, I'll help you." Richard reassured her as he continued walking back the way he came from.
"Thanks." Kiara responded, as the two walked away.
Owen had finished gassing up the car and he was about to get into the car, before he glanced into the back through the smashed out window and saw that his team leader Richard and the Glaceon was missing. He also noticed that Bruce was holding his right hand. "Where is Richard and the Glaceon?" Owen asked, the question directed at Tera.
Tera looked out of the window and said, "Right there."
Owen looked over to see Richard and Kiara running over, he also noticed a blue rose-like flower in Richard's hand, but he had a good idea as to why he had it. Owen said no more, he just walked back over to the drivers side door, opened it, climbed in and closed it behind him.
Richard opened the door for Kiara and she jumped into her usual seat, and watched Bruce who was staring at her like he was trying to stare into her soul.
Bruce wanted to stay angry at her, if it were anyone else saying or doing these things then he would have knocked them out by now. But he couldn't stay angry at her, it just seemed hard to hate something so cute, besides, he was starting to like her style. "Bitch." Bruce whispered in an attempt to provoke her.
"Drunk." Kiara sharply replied. After that being said, they just sat and quietly stared at each other, trying to look as intimidating as possible.
Richard sat in his usual seat again, next to Tera. He smiled as he handed the strange blue flower to her and said, "Here, I picked this for you."
Tera's eyes went wide as she looked at the beautiful sweetly scented flower in her paws. "Its beautiful Richard, thank you." She said before she gave him a hug.
"I'm glad you like it." Richard whispered as the smiling Lucario stroked his back.
1 hour later...
Louis and Reaper were still chatting, Bruce and Kiara were still glaring at each other, Richard and Tera were still sitting quietly as they stroked and held each other and Owen was still driving the car through Johto.
Richard couldn't help but smile when Tera held the flower to her snout and breathed in it's sweet scent, she had done that a few times and every time she did, her smile seemed to get bigger and brighter.
Owen was driving the car when he heard Rhea's voice in his ear again.
"Owen, what's your current position?" Rhea asked.
Owen used one hand to steer the car and the other to press the button on his earpiece, a hard thing to do when one hand is wrapped in bandages and can't move properly. "We've made it into Johto, we're currently at route 46. Do you have our next recruit's location?" Owen responded.
"Yes, your next recruit is stationed at a military base just outside of Olivine City." Rhea said.
"Okay, heading there now but with terrain like this, I doubt we're going to make it today." Owen told her.
"That's fine, your recruit isn't heading anywhere anytime soon anyway. I'll give you an update if anything important comes up, good luck." Rhea said before her voice crackled out again.
Bruce looked over to Owen and shouted over, "Hey, where are we going?"
"Olivine City." Owen replied.
"Olivine City? It would have to be fucking Olivine City wouldn't it? Shit." Bruce angrily swore to himself. 'I knew I shouldn't have just fucking agreed to go along with this mission.' Bruce thought as he looked out of the window, he felt like punching himself for returning here.
Kiara looked at Bruce and and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Don't ask." Bruce said as he thought about what he was going to do, he wanted to stay away from Olivine City as far as possible, but at the same time, he wanted to go back there and live there. He still wasn't sure if moving away from Olivine City was a life saving move, or possibly the worst move of his life, or both. Bruce was about to reach down for another drink, he sure felt like he needed one but he stopped himself from actually grabbing one. '... Shit!... If I'm going to face them, I need to be sober.' Bruce thought to himself as he took his hand off the backpack and sat back in his seat again.
Kiara couldn't believe her eyes, she was certain that Bruce was going to pull out another drink yet he just sat back down in his seat. "You're not drinking... Are you dying?" Kiara asked with a smirk. Richard let out a sigh in response, he knew that one of them was going to try to provoke the other at some point, they all knew.
Bruce shot her another angry look before saying, "Shut up ice queen before I decide to become a pyromaniac and melt your icy ass down into ice cubes."
"Blah, blah, blah, same old crap from the same old drunk." Kiara taunted.
"Blah, blah, blah, go fuck yourself!" Bruce shouted back at her.
Kiara couldn't help but smile at the angry human, she enjoyed seeing him so worked up.
Richard could see Kiara thinking up something worse to say to Bruce, he figured that he should step in before they rip each other apart. "Why don't you two save your anger for the people who are trying to kill us all?" Richard asked them.
Kiara looked back over to Richard and said, "Pff, fine, I'll leave the drunken ass alone."
Bruce still stared at Kiara as he said, "And I'll leave the frozen bitch alone... For now."
That wasn't exactly what Richard was hoping to hear but he knew it was the best he was going to get. Richard rested his head on Tera's head, he knew that this day was going to be a long one, just like all the others since the mission started.