Eddies

Chapter 21: Aftermath.

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Eddies 21

When luxio lids fluttered open, she woke to darkness.  A darkness illuminated only by the bright sparkles in her eyesight; a side effect of the pounding head she was being plagued by.  Bringing a paw to her face, she rubbed the fur over her eyes as her vision slowly came into focus, and the thoughts jumbled in her head began to form something coherent.

Then the scent hit her.

The scent of death.

Eyes wide, she glanced around, struggling upright on the soft bed beneath her, which moved unsteadily as she stood on wavering legs.

The scent intensified. 

It was coming from...

Down!  Beneath her!

With a soft cry, she leapt backwards, landing in an uncoordinated tangle of paws to the side of her friend's body, where it lay cold and unyielding beside her.  The blood coating the yellow fur had long since congealed, and she realised with a gasp that her fur, too, was thick with it.  Stepping forward tentatively, she kneaded its shoulder again, realising he was long gone, but hoping...  Well, hoping for a miracle.

It wasn't a night for miracles, it seemed.  He remained quite dead.

A shudder racked her frame as her thoughts returned to the earlier events.  The stench of stale sweat from the human that had attacked her.  The bleeding corpse of the jolteon beneath her claws.

Her trainer!  Arceus!  What about her trainer!

That they'd been attacked by an enemy was beyond doubt.  But if they'd silenced her as well as her jolteon friend, there would be more to it than simply eliminating a few pokemon!

She struggled to pick up speed as she returned to the camp site.  Her head spun dizzily and her body ached all over, sending waves of nausea through her body.  At one point she had to pause, retching miserably besides a tree.  Losing the contents of her lunch helped not at all, and the dizziness returned doubly; her vision unsteady as she finally staggered into the carnage at the camp site.

Her first thought was that there was too much blood; way too much!  The Ranger human's corpse lay sprawled on its back before her, glassy eyes staring beseechingly into the sky.  Stepping forward, she almost stepped in the large pool of sticky blood that had formed beneath him, nearly falling as she leapt sideways, before leaning over his face and sniffing him hesitantly.

He was dead, too.  She could not help him.

Her trainer's scent was less easy to detect, masked by the overwhelming stench of death in the clearing.  Wrinkling her nose, she staggered towards the tents, hoping to catch a glimpse of her human.

That was when she saw it; the portal cave was gone.

All that remained of their way home was an avalanche of loose boulders and scree, covering the place where the cave had stood.  As she approached, the scent of her human became stronger, disappearing into the rubble strewn before her.

He had been in that cave.  In, but not out again!

She was alone here!

Dropping to the ground, she buried her face into her paws, mournful yowl echoing quietly off the trees lost in the night above.  Misery overtook her, as she cried at the stars for her losses, and her loneliness.

It was a long time before she finally fell into an exhausted and hopeless sleep, and consciousness deserted her.

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Chris and Skyy approached Storm, where he sat bandaging Scott’s shoulder with skilful claws.  The shoulder and right side of the human Ranger's uniform was caked in blood, and Scott winced at the treatment he was receiving as the bandages were strapped tightly around the upper limb.

"Careful!  Need some circulation there!" he cursed, and the typhlosion froze, a look of fearful uncertainty briefly crossing his face.  As Scott noticed his partner's hesitation, he glanced up at the pokemon, irritation giving way to a sigh, and he reached out and stroked the typhlosion's shaking neck with his good arm.  As the red eyes closed for a moment, cheek resting on the human's palm, they reopened with a start having forgotten they were not alone, as Storm glanced around in embarrassment as he caught the look in Chris's face.

"Umm, yeah...” said the typhlosion, returning to the task, and leaving his human friend to deal with the youngsters.

As Chris and Skyy stared at Scott's injuries, Storm finished his work, giving the neatly tied bandage a cautious scrutiny.

"It'll hold, for the time being, but you'll need that stitched sooner.  Lucky the bullet missed bone, and went straight through." he said, coughing gruffly, as he unconsciously wiped bloody paws down his front, smearing even more mess onto his charred fur.

Nodding, Scott turned to the pair standing mutely before him, and said "They knew we were here.  We're not sure what happened on the other side, as the Ranger who came through is in a bad way.  Regardless, they weren't looking for hostages.  They were here to stop this operation, and silence us all".

Pointing a shaking hand at the portal remains, where the crater still smouldered, Chris stuttered "But the portal...  What...?"

Storm coughed, meeting Chris's gaze as the typhlosion looked at him.  "There were six of them.  I handled three, and another was down, before one did something to the detonators on the C-4 surrounding the portal.  For a moment, I thought they were trying to disarm the explosives, but it seems they had the opposite in mind.  Sent me flying, that blast did!"

Staring down at the mess on his front, the typhlosion winced, rubbing deep bruises from where he had been caught in the explosion.  "Luckily, I'm immune to flame to a degree, but that blast knocked the shit outa me.  At least my fur stopped most of the shrapnel..."

At Scott's sudden intent glance, the typhlosion shrugged and said to him "Nothing serious.  Few cuts and scrapes, but they'll heal OK.  Honest."

Nodding, the pair returned their attention to the young human, who had dropped to the ground in despair.  Skyy watched on anxiously, reaching down to stroke his fingers through Chris’s hair in an attempt to pacify him, but he barely registered the attention.

"How many are dead?" he whispered, missing the intent look the two Rangers’ exchanged.

"All six of the enemy.  On our end, we lost five Rangers, four pokemon, and...  Shit, Tim copped the full force of the blast."

"Will he make it?" said Chris in a whisper, but his voice petered off into silence as the typhlosion slowly shook his head.

"Shit!" Chris groaned, putting a grateful hand over Skyy's as the lucario gripped his shoulder in sympathy.  "How about J.B?"

"Fine" said Scott, as Storm nodded.

"So, what do we do now?"

Scott exchanged a loaded glance with Storm, turning to the pair and said "We regroup.  Then we respond."

Storm cracked his knuckles, an angry expression on his face as he nodded in confirmation.

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Luxio woke early, the warm morning sunlight streaming into the clearing at stark contrast to the desolate sight she woke to.  Gaining her feet somewhat unsteadily, she was thankful to realise her vision had cleared to some extent, although she felt a long way from her best.

Trying to avoid looking at the dead human, she moved to the makeshift kitchen, tearing through a plastic container full of stores for the pokemon food kept inside.  Her stomach was reluctant to hold down the necessary meal, but her system desperately needed the energy.  A paw exploring her scalp found the nasty cut in her skin, matted with filth and gore, but she had no way of cleaning it up.  It was something her trainer would do....

But he was gone, and she was all alone.

She dropped to the ground to consider her options.  Being in a strange land, on a strange world, she was smart enough to know her future was bleak if she didn't seek help.  Obviously, there was no going back to her own world, so that left her only one option.  She had to find the place the strange human trainer who had the lucario came from. 

Blinking, she made it back on all fours, and began the long, slow trek down the mountain towards Chris's family home, following the faint scent they'd left on their return journey.

Hopefully, she would find someone there who could help her. 

If she didn't, she shuddered to think of the alternative for her.

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The Ranger's camp was a sombre place, as those who were uninjured began packing up the remainder of the undamaged gear, and tending to their wounded colleagues.  They'd called for reinforcements immediately after the incident, but help was several hours away.  Of the eighteen Rangers who had accompanied them to the sight, five had died, one was still missing, presumed dead, on the opposite side of the portal, and six more had sustained injuries ranging from slight to severe.  On a more positive note, it seemed unlikely any further casualties would be suffered, although none of those who remained considered this a success by any means.  The list of dead and injured was simply too high.

However, they still had the masses of information on Sinnotech collected while at Chris's house, so the immediate goal was to get that forwarded immediately to Ranger H.Q for processing.  Hopefully, there was enough within the reams of pages that could help them nail the company once and for all.

Chris helped the Rangers with their chores listlessly, still pale and somewhat shaky from the experience.  Skyy watched over him in concern, aware of the young human's distress.  While they'd been originally instructed to keep out of the mopping up, thereby avoiding the gorier areas of the camp, Chris had shrugged off the advice almost angrily, insisting on performing his part in the clean up.  Skyy had helped where he could, but the cold glare he'd received from his close friend when he tried to help him a bit too hard had him wilting under the human's look, and he dropped back to other chores, still watching Chris with worried eyes.

Chris had hardened his reactions, stoically ploughing through the jobs with a single minded intensity.  It helped him tune out the horrific sights he'd seen, although his reaction had even himself confounded.  He hadn't felt sick; at least not that sick; at the sight of the remains littering the area, but had just bottled up the feelings inside.

There would be time for that later, he swore.

By midafternoon, the backup team had arrived, and the place suddenly swarmed with strange Rangers.  The original group had been ordered to retreat to a hastily erected mess tent set up at the clearing edge, and most had dropped to their chairs from a combination of exhaustion and mental anguish.

Chris sat on a long timber bench, resting his head on his arms crossed on the smooth table surface.  Thoughts churning, he froze as a warm arm wrapped itself across his shoulders, drawing him against the lucario's side.

"Are you alright?" Skyy said quietly. 

Chris shook his head, and said "No.  But not much we can do about that is there?"

Skyy shook his head in return, and said "No, not really."

Several minutes passed as the lucario comforted his friend, before the table rocked as Storm dropped to a bench opposite, leaning back to stretch,  cracking his spine with a growl.

Looking up, Chris said "How's Scott?" 

Receiving a toothy grin and typhlosion thumbs up, Chris nodded at the Ranger, who turned to point over his hairy shoulder at the Admin tent.  "He's in there coordinating with the brass.  I told him to get some rest, but he's a stubborn prick."

Chris didn't grin at the reply, simply rubbing his head tiredly.  "Are we staying much longer?" he asked, receiving a shook head in reply.

"No, we'll be heading back to base within the hour.  Reckon you'll make it?"

Chris nodded.  "I'll bloody make sure of it!  Will we be staying with the Rangers, or back at the gym?"

Storm pondered a moment, and said "Hmm, I assume Jasper will take care of you till we sort through this mess.  Where is he, anyway?"

Chris turned to Skyy suddenly, a frown wrinkling his brow.  "I haven't seen him since we returned.  He wasn't injured, was he?"

Storm shook his head, and said "No.  I haven't seen him since...."  The typhlosion petered off in mid sentence, eyes suddenly widening as he gripped the table with powerful paws, claws biting deep into the polished surface.

"Shit!" he cursed, standing suddenly and sending the bench flying backwards.  As the other Rangers looked at him in confusion, a steady stream of loud profanity ripped from his throat as he bolted to the tent entrance, a confused Chris and Skyy rising hurriedly to follow in his wake.

Racing across the clearing, the typhlosion wrenched apart the flaps to the entrance of the Admin tent.  The occupants inside frozen in shock as the loudly cursing pokemon strode to his partner, and said with a deep growl "Jasper!  When did you last see him?"

The exhausted Ranger looked up at his friend in confusion, before understanding slowly showed on his face.  "Not since this morning early.  You don't think....?"

Storm turned with a growl, smashing his clawed fist against the main tent upright, sending the canvas rattling.  Had it been in any other situation, the inventive profanities spewing from his mouth would have been amusing, but it began to dawn on Chris that things were quickly going from bad to worse.  Surely....surely it couldn't be true...?

Jasper was gone.  Their operation had been compromised.

Had they a traitor in their midst?

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Fuming, Chris kicked a clod of dirt on the trail before him as they trudged wearily back towards the vehicles, where their transport back to Ranger HQ awaited them.

"I fucking should have known!!  When that shit bag mentioned the profit that could be made from all this...  I should have suspected something!"

Skyy put a soft paw on his shoulder.  "Known what?  That he was looking to profit?  Or that he'd sell us all out to the enemy?  Chris, how could we have known?  He was our friend, for Arceus sake!"

Chris sighed, continuing to put each foot forward as he followed the hairy back of the typhlosion.  A grunt from ahead confirmed the pokemon Ranger had heard Skyy's reply, and his growling voice said "You're not the only one, kiddo.  He had me taken for a sucker too.  All of us.  If I ever catch the prick, I'm going to use him to sharpen my claws on, and then eat whatever's left!"

When the Rangers had checked the sleeping tent, all Jasper's gear was gone.  The rear of the tent had been unlaced far enough to shove a back pack through, and no one had noticed him slink off during the mornings activities.  Seemed he had a skill for making himself scarce, thought Chris, still having trouble believing the gym leader was a traitor.  They'd shared too much for that; he fumed, feeling like an idiot for trusting a stranger to such a degree.  Raikou had earlier followed the scent of the gym leader as far back as the roadway, but the trail went cold.  However, there was no mistaking the acrid odour of a strange vehicle which had been there to pick him up.  Clearly, someone had been waiting for him to arrive back on this side, and he was long gone. 

When the big legendary returned to the camp, Scott was unsurprised at the news.  The entire thing had been set up from the start, he cursed.  The Rangers had been played for fools.

Skyy watched Chris berate himself silently, simply offering his company in sympathy.  There really wasn't much else he could do, he thought glumly, as he and Chris trudged the long trek back to the roadway.  The new influx of officers had already helped the injured vacate back to the vehicles, as well as remove the bagged remains of those who hadn't made it, and with most of the gear now dismantled, they had little to do apart from ready themselves for the trek back. 

As a pokemon, his loyalty wasn't the same as his human friend.  He looked to the actions of an individual to justify his trust, rather than their personality.  In his mind, Jasper hadn't really done anything to earn more than his casual respect, although he'd deferred to Chris's judgement on the matter.  After all, he was human, and knew humans.  While the double cross was unpleasant, Skyy didn't see it as especially surprising.  In his years of travel, there were few human's he'd ever met he could really trust, and seeing one of them in such distress bothered him greatly.

Of the enemy soldiers, little remained to mark their existence.  The explosion had done as good a job of eliminating the evidence of their presence, as eliminating them.  A few small tattered remains of fabric and plastic from their equipment did little to clear up their identities, but Chris had advised the Rangers during their discussions that the presence of automatic weapons was highly unusual; their total ban back in his home country had been in place for many years, and they weren't something readily accessible to anyone without significant resources behind them.

The Rangers needed no guidance identifying their enemy.  Sinnotech was the obvious choice.

Turning to the rear of the column, Skyy spotted J.B trailing behind the rest of the group, smoking a cigarette as he followed the Rangers at a distance.  Nudging Chris, the human looked back to where he indicated, releasing a sigh before slowing his step.  Once the others had passed, they took up position next to the police officer, and Chris glanced at him briefly before dropping his gaze to the path ahead.

"I'm sorry about Tim" he said hesitantly, giving the officer another glance and meeting steely eyes in return.

J.B nodded, and sighed.  "So am I, kid.  While we didn't really know what to expect here, this wasn't it."

Chris looked away.  "I didn't mean to drag you into this, sir.  If I'd known..."

J.B looked at him again, before reaching out a hand to give him a clap on the shoulder.  "Not your fault.  Hell, in any other instance, this would have been the adventure of a lifetime.  Now, it's...  Well, it's what it is."

Chris nodded, exchanging a warm smile with Skyy as the lucario slipped his arm through his own companionably. Somewhat self conscious as he became aware of J.B eyeing them inscrutably, Chris tightened his arm through the lucario's, not willing to pander to anyone's opinion anymore.  He simply no longer gave a shit what they thought of him.

J.B nodded to himself, choosing not to comment.  He was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.  However, in his defence, his understanding on how things really worked here was changing rapidly, as was his ideas on a whole host of issues.  This wasn't Kansas, Toto, and he truly was a long way from home.

Each to their own, he thought dryly, looking back up the track towards the Ranger's in front of them.

"Life's a bitch, Chris." he said eventually; ready to throw the butt of his cigarette into the bushes, then hesitating as he started at it solemnly.  Instead, he pinched the ash from the end, and popped it into a shirt pocket.  Better not to offend the local wild life, when they can give you an earful of abuse in return, he thought wryly.  Patting the pocket absently, he continued.  "In my experience, people are no different wherever you go.  You get good, and you get bad.  In my line of work, we just see a hell of a lot of the bad.  But even that has levels.  At times like this, the bad is pretty bad, if you get my drift."

Chris nodded, and said quietly. "We've had a bit of that since I got here, so yeah."

Raising an eyebrow, J.B said "I can see that.  It's written all over you.  Both of you.  Want to tell me about it?"

Glancing at the policeman, Chris gave Skyy a quick look, before deciding he had nothing to lose.  "Yeah.  Well, it went like this..."

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Luxio staggered into the farm yard, exhausted.  Her head was throbbing, the dull ache in her forehead felt like her skull was going to explode, and she was having trouble coordinating her footsteps.  In the back of her mind, she knew she was still badly hurt, but as there wasn't much she could do about it, feline stubbornness kicked in and she managed to make the veranda before her will gave out.  Scratching at the door, she gave out a pitiful yowl, hoping someone inside might hear.

When the big, furred creature came running at her from around the veranda, barking furiously, she spun to meet the new attacker.  But her body couldn't handle this new threat, and her vision wavered as she passed out before him, collapsing in a pile of cold, matted fur on the doorstep.

Nanook watched the big cat collapse in doggy surprise, halting his barking to sniff it cautiously.  Tail wagging slowly, he let out another series of barks, only stopping at the yell from his human inside the house, telling him to can it.

When footsteps sounded down the timber hallway inside, he sat before the creature, watching it intently.  As Gwen opened the door cautiously, she saw the malamute guarding the odd creature lying there and put a hand to her mouth fearfully, calling off the dog, who ran down the steps into the yard happily, his job now over. 

Gwen leaned down over it, noting the odd markings and star shaped tail tip, and thought to herself it must be from the people with Chris.  Turning back to the open door, she yelled into the house "Paul!!  Come quickly!"

Reaching down, she scooped the heavy cat into her arms, its head hanging limp over her elbow.  Lifting it through the door as her husband came charging up, she said quietly "We have a problem, hon."

Staring down at the big cat wordlessly, Paul sighed, taking the heavy weight from her arms and heading with it into the depths of the house.  As they passed into the lounge, placing the cat gently onto the couch and staring with dismay at its injuries, the look they exchanged said it all...

Chris was in trouble, and they had no way to help him.