Chapter 6 - Now what?
WARNING: IF YOU'RE UNDER 18, OFFENDED BY ADULT LANGUAGE, LEWD OR DEPRAVED BEHAVIOUR, OR JUST LIKE TO FIND SOMETHING TO BITCH ABOUT. GO JUMP OFF A CLIFF AND DON'T READ THIS STORY!
Notice: Partly to do with my long standing within several Online RPG's all telepathic communications will be noted with a ~ instead of normal quotation marks. This seems to make things easier to understand for some people.
Introduction: This is part six of "Who are we?". Previously in episode 5, we ended with Seb, Kaela, and Zoe walking from Mahogany town with Zoe badly under dressed, after an attack on the Pokécentre by Team Rocket after rare Pokémon. We begin on the road outside Mahogany town.
Who Are We (Part 6)?
by Silencer
"Now what?"
"Look why did I have to come with you?"
"We couldn't leave you behind after you knew the truth about Kaela. Or at the Pokécentre, Team Rocket wouldn't have treated you at all well."
"I wish I'd grabbed my bag. Not just my belt."
"Kaela?"
"I'm on it."
She disappeared, and before long returned the same way. She was carrying a backpack I recognised as belonging to Zoe.
"The police have arrived, but the Rockets are long gone."
"No matter, let's just find a place to sleep for the moment."
"Thank you. I need to get dressed better, it's freezing out here."
"Here take my jacket for now. I am sorry that you've become involved in this. The Rocket's weren't after us in particular, but that'll change before long once Giovanni realises we've given him the slip."
"Giovanni? But who are you?"
"If I knew I still couldn't afford to tell you. Giovanni though is the leader of Team Rocket, Kaela and I were to be his perfect field operatives. We had other ideas on what to do with ourselves."
"Ok. So you're some sort of soldier?"
"I think I was a mercenary, but yes I am a soldier, regardless of anything else you might think from my appearance. Kaela, I heard something just then, I'm going to go check it out."
"Understood. Be careful, there is a cave not far ahead, it's not much but it will do for shelter overnight. This time though, there aren't any Zubat."
"Thank the lord for that. Set up for the night, then prepare to barricade and obscure the entrance."
I left them then and slipped away into the darkness, to hunt for the thing that had made the noise I'd heard. Before long I'd found it, and looked carefully from a hiding place in the bushes as I engaged my armor.
"We need somewhere to hide out for a while, you say there is a cave nearby, Ray?"
"Yeah, no Pokémon in it, but not very big either, pool of water near the back to drink from though."
~ You listening Kaela? ~
~ As always. We're in the cave, I'll scout out the water, it's possible it leads to another chamber. ~
~ Understood. I'll be there after I distract them for a while. ~
I threw a small flash bang over their heads and turned away from the blast. The 3 men were stunned, whilst the 2 women with them were only briefly disorientated, quickly recovering from the effects. While they tried to help the men I ran towards the cave quickly and quietly through the underbrush. When I reached the cave neither of the girls were visible. Then the surface of the water at the back broke, and I recognised Kaela's face.
"Come on. There is a lot more to this cave than we'd ever have thought."
I dived into the water in my armor and swam after the athletic female in front of me, I didn't pay attention to the fact she was nude. That was to be expected. Shortly we breached the surface of the water, in a largish cavern, with an exit off to the side. Kaela led me through it and Zoe was tending a small fire there.
"Who'd have thought there was such a large network of caves here? You probably didn't spot the other exits from the cavern."
"It's just as well nobody ever checked the water supply for a passage. Or this area probably wouldn't be safe. Kaela, we'd better hide the entrance to this chamber anyway. They're on the run, so I wouldn't put it past them to check like we did."
We worked quickly to construct a blind that appeared to be part of the wall in the main chamber and then worked on a second at our end of the tunnel to block any light or sound from travelling through to the main chamber. I finally disengaged my armor, and sat down in front of the fire and built it up a bit. Whatever else they'd done to me, they hadn't removed my perception of the temperature, and I was freezing.
"Cold?"
"Very much so Zoe. I am still mostly Human, and I do feel the cold like any other Human."
"What do you mean mostly Human?"
"He's like me, we're both partially cybernetic. The difference is his implants are predominantly offensive, and information gathering. Mine are slave control systems, so that Giovanni could control me. They aren't very effective though."
"You might as well pull out your sleeping bags, and get some sleep girls. I'll put my armor back on and go see what is happening with our guests."
I reengaged my armor and returned to the main chamber, and dived into the water. Shortly I was watching the first chamber, and it's inhabitants from the shadowy wall, my head only just enough out of the water to resupply my oxygen. They were all asleep together near their fire, I slipped back under the surface and returned to our chamber quickly. I got into my sleeping bag after disengaging my armor and drew close to the sleeping girls, it was too cold here, even with the fire to do anything else.
When I woke up in the morning, I saw Zoe first, and then Kaela looking at me worriedly.
"What's up?"
"You're as cold as ice to touch, and the cave is quite warm now. Something is wrong with you. We need to get moving quickly. Zoe get everything cleaned up, I'll teleport us all outside."
I knew what she was saying was true, the air around me was registering as a nice warm 29 degrees centigrade, on my info display. I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag, and rolled it up before putting it away. Suddenly we were all outside. We simply kept on moving. My body didn't warm up at all though during the next hour.
"Let's stop. I'm going to strip, I want you to look me over Kaela, something is definitely wrong when I can't warm up at all."
I pulled off my jumpsuit and carefully turned around as Kaela looked me over for any visible signs of what was wrong.
"Seb, there is some sort of gas leaking from your right shoulder."
I tried to look over my shoulder and barely managed to spot the leak, that Kaela had spotted. Zoe went to put her finger on it, and I spun around shoved her away from it.
"Don't it's my coolant system, I must have been damaged somehow. We'll have to hurry to Blackthorn. I'll need to be cut open to fix the leak. For now, Kaela cover it over with a bandage, it should stop it from lowering my external temperature anymore than it already has."
Kaela quickly applied a bandage, and I began to feel warmer though I was still colder than I should have been, the coolant system was for my cybernetics, why my internal diagnostics hadn't noticed the damage was beyond me. I put back on my jumpsuit and we kept on moving. Zoe was looking extremely uncomfortable, she'd pretty much seen me at my worst. The problem with the leak though was that the coolant was cold enough to freeze flesh, I shuddered to think how badly frozen parts of my body were thanks to the leak.
"Sorry Zoe. But the coolant is cold enough to freeze your skin, if you'd touched the leak, you'd have a bad case of frost bite if you were lucky. Why it hasn't totally frozen my skin where it's escaping is beyond me. I'd sooner not have anyone else injured because of me."
"Our relationship has been rather rocky, hasn't it? One disaster after another. Especially it seems involving the cold. Any idea how you got damaged though?"
"None, it's possible I got hit while I was diverting the rockets about, but I've no idea really. Why my diagnostics didn't detect and repair the leak automatically is beyond me as well. Lets just keep moving though, the quicker we reach Blackthorn, the quicker I can be laid up and cut open. We can't do it out here because it's simply not safe to waste time here."
We kept on walking, even when it grew dark we kept going. My coolant reserve would probably be getting low by tomorrow so if we didn't hurry, I'd be unable to operate any of my cybernetics safely. Thankfully the moon was out and bright, so we had plenty of light to travel by. We finally reached Blackthorn, though the city was dark.
"First stop a hotel, we need to sleep. And I need you to cut me open Kaela. I hope you'll be able to stop the leak."
"I can't, I don't know anything about repairing damage, either mechanical or biological."
"I do though. Seb, I can repair it, along with getting to it. Provided I've got access to a scapel. Though it'd be better for you to go to a hospital."
"Too hard to explain. Remember I'm a Cyborg, we aren't exactly a common sight. Giovanni would know exactly where I was as soon as a surgeon looked at me. No, straight to a hotel and to the floor, there is a scapel in the medical kit."
"Fair enough. I hope you can block the pain, and that Kaela can take the sight of blood and body parts."
"If I can't I'll leave the room. Unless you need my help, and then I won't go anywhere, I'll just have to stomach it in that case."
"Thanks girls. Well, let's find that hotel and get to work."
I wasn't looking forward to being cut open, but it needed to be done, and the quicker the better.
End of part 6.
Notice: Partly to do with my long standing within several Online RPG's all telepathic communications will be noted with a ~ instead of normal quotation marks. This seems to make things easier to understand for some people.
Introduction: This is part six of "Who are we?". Previously in episode 5, we ended with Seb, Kaela, and Zoe walking from Mahogany town with Zoe badly under dressed, after an attack on the Pokécentre by Team Rocket after rare Pokémon. We begin on the road outside Mahogany town.
Who Are We (Part 6)?
by Silencer
"Now what?"
"Look why did I have to come with you?"
"We couldn't leave you behind after you knew the truth about Kaela. Or at the Pokécentre, Team Rocket wouldn't have treated you at all well."
"I wish I'd grabbed my bag. Not just my belt."
"Kaela?"
"I'm on it."
She disappeared, and before long returned the same way. She was carrying a backpack I recognised as belonging to Zoe.
"The police have arrived, but the Rockets are long gone."
"No matter, let's just find a place to sleep for the moment."
"Thank you. I need to get dressed better, it's freezing out here."
"Here take my jacket for now. I am sorry that you've become involved in this. The Rocket's weren't after us in particular, but that'll change before long once Giovanni realises we've given him the slip."
"Giovanni? But who are you?"
"If I knew I still couldn't afford to tell you. Giovanni though is the leader of Team Rocket, Kaela and I were to be his perfect field operatives. We had other ideas on what to do with ourselves."
"Ok. So you're some sort of soldier?"
"I think I was a mercenary, but yes I am a soldier, regardless of anything else you might think from my appearance. Kaela, I heard something just then, I'm going to go check it out."
"Understood. Be careful, there is a cave not far ahead, it's not much but it will do for shelter overnight. This time though, there aren't any Zubat."
"Thank the lord for that. Set up for the night, then prepare to barricade and obscure the entrance."
I left them then and slipped away into the darkness, to hunt for the thing that had made the noise I'd heard. Before long I'd found it, and looked carefully from a hiding place in the bushes as I engaged my armor.
"We need somewhere to hide out for a while, you say there is a cave nearby, Ray?"
"Yeah, no Pokémon in it, but not very big either, pool of water near the back to drink from though."
~ You listening Kaela? ~
~ As always. We're in the cave, I'll scout out the water, it's possible it leads to another chamber. ~
~ Understood. I'll be there after I distract them for a while. ~
I threw a small flash bang over their heads and turned away from the blast. The 3 men were stunned, whilst the 2 women with them were only briefly disorientated, quickly recovering from the effects. While they tried to help the men I ran towards the cave quickly and quietly through the underbrush. When I reached the cave neither of the girls were visible. Then the surface of the water at the back broke, and I recognised Kaela's face.
"Come on. There is a lot more to this cave than we'd ever have thought."
I dived into the water in my armor and swam after the athletic female in front of me, I didn't pay attention to the fact she was nude. That was to be expected. Shortly we breached the surface of the water, in a largish cavern, with an exit off to the side. Kaela led me through it and Zoe was tending a small fire there.
"Who'd have thought there was such a large network of caves here? You probably didn't spot the other exits from the cavern."
"It's just as well nobody ever checked the water supply for a passage. Or this area probably wouldn't be safe. Kaela, we'd better hide the entrance to this chamber anyway. They're on the run, so I wouldn't put it past them to check like we did."
We worked quickly to construct a blind that appeared to be part of the wall in the main chamber and then worked on a second at our end of the tunnel to block any light or sound from travelling through to the main chamber. I finally disengaged my armor, and sat down in front of the fire and built it up a bit. Whatever else they'd done to me, they hadn't removed my perception of the temperature, and I was freezing.
"Cold?"
"Very much so Zoe. I am still mostly Human, and I do feel the cold like any other Human."
"What do you mean mostly Human?"
"He's like me, we're both partially cybernetic. The difference is his implants are predominantly offensive, and information gathering. Mine are slave control systems, so that Giovanni could control me. They aren't very effective though."
"You might as well pull out your sleeping bags, and get some sleep girls. I'll put my armor back on and go see what is happening with our guests."
I reengaged my armor and returned to the main chamber, and dived into the water. Shortly I was watching the first chamber, and it's inhabitants from the shadowy wall, my head only just enough out of the water to resupply my oxygen. They were all asleep together near their fire, I slipped back under the surface and returned to our chamber quickly. I got into my sleeping bag after disengaging my armor and drew close to the sleeping girls, it was too cold here, even with the fire to do anything else.
When I woke up in the morning, I saw Zoe first, and then Kaela looking at me worriedly.
"What's up?"
"You're as cold as ice to touch, and the cave is quite warm now. Something is wrong with you. We need to get moving quickly. Zoe get everything cleaned up, I'll teleport us all outside."
I knew what she was saying was true, the air around me was registering as a nice warm 29 degrees centigrade, on my info display. I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag, and rolled it up before putting it away. Suddenly we were all outside. We simply kept on moving. My body didn't warm up at all though during the next hour.
"Let's stop. I'm going to strip, I want you to look me over Kaela, something is definitely wrong when I can't warm up at all."
I pulled off my jumpsuit and carefully turned around as Kaela looked me over for any visible signs of what was wrong.
"Seb, there is some sort of gas leaking from your right shoulder."
I tried to look over my shoulder and barely managed to spot the leak, that Kaela had spotted. Zoe went to put her finger on it, and I spun around shoved her away from it.
"Don't it's my coolant system, I must have been damaged somehow. We'll have to hurry to Blackthorn. I'll need to be cut open to fix the leak. For now, Kaela cover it over with a bandage, it should stop it from lowering my external temperature anymore than it already has."
Kaela quickly applied a bandage, and I began to feel warmer though I was still colder than I should have been, the coolant system was for my cybernetics, why my internal diagnostics hadn't noticed the damage was beyond me. I put back on my jumpsuit and we kept on moving. Zoe was looking extremely uncomfortable, she'd pretty much seen me at my worst. The problem with the leak though was that the coolant was cold enough to freeze flesh, I shuddered to think how badly frozen parts of my body were thanks to the leak.
"Sorry Zoe. But the coolant is cold enough to freeze your skin, if you'd touched the leak, you'd have a bad case of frost bite if you were lucky. Why it hasn't totally frozen my skin where it's escaping is beyond me. I'd sooner not have anyone else injured because of me."
"Our relationship has been rather rocky, hasn't it? One disaster after another. Especially it seems involving the cold. Any idea how you got damaged though?"
"None, it's possible I got hit while I was diverting the rockets about, but I've no idea really. Why my diagnostics didn't detect and repair the leak automatically is beyond me as well. Lets just keep moving though, the quicker we reach Blackthorn, the quicker I can be laid up and cut open. We can't do it out here because it's simply not safe to waste time here."
We kept on walking, even when it grew dark we kept going. My coolant reserve would probably be getting low by tomorrow so if we didn't hurry, I'd be unable to operate any of my cybernetics safely. Thankfully the moon was out and bright, so we had plenty of light to travel by. We finally reached Blackthorn, though the city was dark.
"First stop a hotel, we need to sleep. And I need you to cut me open Kaela. I hope you'll be able to stop the leak."
"I can't, I don't know anything about repairing damage, either mechanical or biological."
"I do though. Seb, I can repair it, along with getting to it. Provided I've got access to a scapel. Though it'd be better for you to go to a hospital."
"Too hard to explain. Remember I'm a Cyborg, we aren't exactly a common sight. Giovanni would know exactly where I was as soon as a surgeon looked at me. No, straight to a hotel and to the floor, there is a scapel in the medical kit."
"Fair enough. I hope you can block the pain, and that Kaela can take the sight of blood and body parts."
"If I can't I'll leave the room. Unless you need my help, and then I won't go anywhere, I'll just have to stomach it in that case."
"Thanks girls. Well, let's find that hotel and get to work."
I wasn't looking forward to being cut open, but it needed to be done, and the quicker the better.
End of part 6.