SHK 12: The End of the Beginning
A Hidden Threat
Dr. Bawek the Metagross and Nisix the Spinda walked out of the stadium after the impressive battle between Connie and Reika. "I think we finally found our target...but this will have a lot of baggage in this one. I do not want to leave TK to fend for himself. He won't last a day without Reika's continuing support..." said the metagross a bit disenchanted. "By the way, I have more pictures than you."
"Shut up, you steel-colored ogre," retorted the small pokemon. "It is only because you are taller than me and have a better view of the field." Bawek picked the fuming pokemon by his head. "Calm down, you almost drew attention to your abilities back at the stadium when you screwed around with Ms. Celia and when you thrashed that large vendor poke. I don't care if people insult you, hold it in." Of course, Bawek knew that through no fault of his own, Nisix exhibited one of those awful behaviors found in experimented pokemon. "Anyway, when is Sakura supposed to show up?" asked the metagross. "Wait what? I can't stand..."
At that moment, he saw a figure cloaked in shadows land on top of the metagross morph. You could see her eyes in the moonlight and a hint of her reddish body. "What's up Tiny Tim?" The spinda shook his fist and bounded up Bawek's body and proceeded to chase the figure around. Bawek grumbled a bit before snagging them by their arms. "Grow up..." Nisix was still huffing and puffing, cursing like a sailor while Sakura continued her jeering. "Worthless breloom, that's why you aren't a photographer; you can't work the cameras." The 5'9" red shiny breloom morph with B-cup breasts towered over the venting 4'9" spinda boy. "Well shrimp, from what I saw, you couldn't get any good photos. Bawek sent them to me via this doohickey, err...tool. Man human technology is complex. But the real reason I am here is that the boss ordered a meeting between us and Franz..."
The three walked down to the place they have come to know as the base of their rival group. Bawek was greeted with a smug look from the Hypno. "Take your seat, we have much to discuss." Franz smirked when Bawek opted out of taking a seat but his companions took a seat. "So, I hear you have pictures...pictures of one of the three targets, Project Kitsune. I take it that you will win good points with the boss, maybe it will help your team of trash have an inkling of dignity." Bawek glanced quickly at his two companions who were seething with embarrassment and anger. "Look, stop the insults and tell me what you needed to meet me for." Franz turned serious and pulled down a chart. Look here, these three experiments are important to our boss. The Kitsune and Perin projects are for personal reasons, but Project Boucher is needed for the sake of securing our plans." Bawek growled and walked out the door. "You just wanted to get my info. You wasted my time with stuff I already knew..." Franz smiled as he closed the door behind him.
Franz turned to his communications computer. "Arashi, Kafka Truffinski, come in." Two figures showed up on his computer. "Hello, hon, what are we after this time? Good pet..." said a southerner's voice. "Comrade...what is it you be needing? I crush village right now." The hypno smiled as he looked at some of Bawek's pictures. "We have a job of utmost importance. No more playing around with your toys and your villages."
*********************
Reika and Takeru
After the battle, Connie had to be carried off the field as she was unable to move after the Demon Will-o-Wisp that struck through the levels of her soul. Reika however was feeling just fine after winning the battle. However, she was wondering what just happened. She had seen behavior like hers recently in the other strong competitors. But her primary concern was with her love, struggling to stay alive as his soul perforated under the increased pressure to transform back. She made her way out of the colorful, excited mass of pokemon standing in line for the tickets to the final round.
It wasn't long before she reached the grounds of the Altaria Hospital where Takeru was staying. She passed by many of the nurse pokemon and many of the regular rooms before she entered the special area that was under Dr. Bawek's leadership. There was a room that separated the two parts of the hospital, meant for disinfecting everything. As soon as she got near Tk's room, she saw Bawek muttering to himself. "Dr. Bawek? Is he doing..." The metagross didn't even notice she was there. She waited for a few seconds before calling out to him only to meet silence again. Soon, he could feel her presence as the room started to heat up quickly. "Oh shi..." He flapped his papers in the air to get rid of a few embers that landed on them. "I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, but don't burn down this hospital." He led her down the winding maze of hallways, all looking the same, until he stopped at one that had a pinkish tag on it. Reika wondered what that meant but never asked. As customary, she waited outside the room, as TK had his checkup.
"K...pulse is a bit below average, systolic and diastolic are good though. You can still move your eyes. Your range of emotion is less then half of three days ago. It is time to tell her the truth...just in case..." TK wasn't too responsive as of late. His soul was down to about 20% and most of his identity was leaving with that. "You can come in Reika. I doubt he will be responsive." She placed her paw on his chest, tears in her eyes. "Please wake up, Takeru...please talk to me." Still nothing; his eyes were even closed. She turned to take a seat in the corner so that she could stay by his side until he talked. Hours passed and many of the lights were dimmed. "Reika...I have to tell you something important..." he suddenly said in the middle of the night. With that, the Croconaw's form dissolved into pink goo before reforming somewhat into a Ditto. "What the...why did you lie to me? I wouldn't have cared that much." The ditto inched jumped into her arms and snuggled her. "I am so sorry for all I've done. Now, you ended discovering your experiment status in your quest for revenge." Reika set him back down and looked down at the ground. "I will take care of that tomorrow before the battle. I am sure that Kudzco knows how to control it."
Dr. Bawek left the room at that point, pondering how he could snag her and bring TK along with her. He could not in good conscience just kidnap the ninetales and leave her love to die in the hospital. Even as he attended to other patients, he was concocting a plan to beat out Franz and get her to the boss. *It will be a peaceful sleep for those two tonight. Let nothing harm them.* Truth is, not everyone would be sleeping peacefully this night.
*******
Connie's Curse
"Where am I?" She looked around her environment and saw nothing but dark desert for miles around. "How did I get here?" She scratched the back of her head and decided to advance in some random direction. The desert was uncomfortably cold at night and made progress slow. The manyula wandered about looking for an end to the monotonous desert scene. Connie looked around once more and decided to fall asleep, tired of journeying... but then out of the sand came an oasis.
"Something pleasant for once," she muttered as she dragged her feet over to the grassy area. She jumped into the warm water and relaxed her body, unaware that she was not alone. It was then that the blue flame that had been a part of her nightmares since her defeat at the hands of the bitter ninetales appeared. "Please stop torturing me!" Connie shouted before diving into the depths of the water, but it was too late as the flames followed her into the water and shot into her mind, knocking her out.
Connie suddenly woke up in a field of ghosts, things that didn't worry her, but her mind told her to stay alert. Then the blue flame exited her mind, leaving her hold her pain in great pain. Soon, the blue flame took the form of a sneasel that looked like her back then. "Bonnie?" Connie said before recoiling. "My twin..." said the blue Sneasel in a warped girl's voice. "Why did you get me killed? Your idea got me killed!" Connie trembled and stumbled backwards over an invisible root.
Connie remembered the events almost automatically. She and her twin went out egg hunting and Connie wanted to go for a very rare egg that can last someone for weeks. Bonnie didn't want to do it but Connie insisted. They dug up a Larvitar egg and were ready to carry it off but the mom showed up. They took off with the raging Tyranitar close behind. Bonnie and Connie decided they would run faster without the egg and took off at lightning speed, but the Mom kept pursuing, launching attacks like crazy. Soon we ran out to a ledge totally stuck. They tried to climb down the cliff but the Tyranitar fired a hyper that stuck the twin and sent her falling to her death. Connie just stood there paralyzed in horror not noticing that the tyranitar had taken aim at her. She didn't care then...
The blue ghost kept on repeating that she killed her own twin. Connie started to weep uncontrollably. "It is over for you, Connie." The blue ghost stabbed through with her blue claws causing Connie to shriek in pain.
Connie woke up crying so much and wincing in pain. But she felt arms wrapped around her body, the tender embrace of her anthro absol lover. He was staying awake with her and trying to calm her down. He stroked through her head fur softly with a few dried tears in his eyes. "Connie, please go back to sleep... I will be here to keep you calm."
"Yin ..." said Connie almost in tears. This was so much for her as this was such a new feeling for her: Love. "Please go to sleep, Yin. You have a battle and all..." Yin grinned, his teeth visible in the dark room. Unlike his usual grins, there wasn't any sense of joking or malice in it. She looked to the door where she heard the footsteps that she recognized as Eevee. She came in carrying a kettle, cups, and tea bags. In her mind, she wondered how Yin who has problems keeping his anthro form while in battle can suddenly stay up the whole night in it. As she turned around to leave, Yin called out to her.
"Yes, sir?" she said in a groggy manner. Yin handed her a note. "Congratulations, you are getting a naming ceremony for this. I appreciate you; I hope you know this." Eevee nodded and exited the room.
She wasn't too concerned with the naming ceremony as the others were. Nothing really mattered to her except for helping Yin. "Maybe if he rejoins with Yang, he will love me more. Maybe if we explore these experiments, we can find out more about the people who did this...and save everyone from this darkness that dwells in them...maybe I'll get Yin after all of this." She said this unintelligibly as she walked down the hallway, a bit delirious from lack of sleep.
****
Sunrise at the Rockets
The low sun rose from the horizon, guided by its eternal path, slowly giving less time as fall drew closer to an end. It was a decent 65 degrees right now. The light shone brightly through the window of Menkaure's room. Her night with Allie had not been forgotten and her dreams were filled with that moment. But naturally, she woke up from her dreams slightly disappointed as the light hit her eyes. "Aww, poo. The night didn't last long enough." Menkaure looked around the house, noticing an awkward shadow. *Now that is something new.* She cutely wiggled her nose and made her way to the bathroom. Since she was in her natural form, she couldn't reach the mirror. The zangoose pushed the stool over and reached for her brush and other bathroom supplies. Once she finished cleaning herself, she pressed a button. *3...2...1...* She heard shouts of anger throughout the hallways.
The first intelligible thing Menkaure heard was Matilda falling off her perch and cawing at the sun. "What the hell was that for? Now I have an atrocious headache, Menkaure! An atroooooooocious headache!" The zangoose leaned against the grouchy murkrow's door smirking a bit. "Is everything ok in there?" As soon as she heard the British cursing, she left headed for Cacnea's room.
The door was ajar, so she crept in to see how he was doing. Cacnea's room was light in color, so those two beer bottles he had on his dresser stuck out even more. She saw the cactus boy brooding. "What's wrong, Cacnea? Did you take her to a bar and did she drink?" Cacnea spun around, holding some medicine in his hand. He didn't need to say a thing as it was painfully obvious. Menkaure leered at him and left the room. "I guess the light made your headache worse...sorry, but you are in trouble for taking her to a bar. One more thing, wake up Sandshrew because Ms. Celia will be here to pick him up." Menkaure continued to walk out but Cacnea stopped her. "Wait...can I talk to you about something?"
The zangoose nodded and sat down. "Yesterday was a rough night for me. I was rejected ten times. It seems no one loves me in the more than friendship thing." Menkaure hugged the prickly pokemon; however, his needles didn't even pierce her flesh. It was something special and rare...a hug was quite precious to him. "There, there...By the way, what name are you picking for the naming ceremony?" Cacnea thought for a moment before shrugging. "Well then, figure it out tomorrow...I don't want embarrassing moments at the naming ceremony in a few days." Soon, the sound of the doorbell roused everyone to full consciousness. "Guys, hurry and wake him up you two!" shouted Menkaure as she rushed down the stairs to open the door. "Hello, Ms. Celia." Ms. Celia smiled for a bit. "How are you doing today, Menkaure?"
The two made small chit-chat while waiting for Sandshrew to come down. Eventually, the issue of Sandshrew's absences came up. Celia was quite irritated by it. "He will not get nominated due to his continuous lateness unless he has a true valid excuse for going MIA." Menkaure scrambled to keep the hot-headed Clefable calm, but no avail. "It is my fault that he was late. You might want to sit down to hear this..."
Upstairs, the two surrounded Sandshrew wondering how he could have slept through the sudden influx of light and shouting. He didn't hear the British grumbling or the squishy sound of Cacnea as he drew closer. "Matilda, quit your grumbling and wake him up." The murkrow smiled and invaded his dreams with Night Shade. Sandshrew's face contorted and he began whimpering. It didn't take long for him to shout out in horror. Unfortunately, he lifted his head too fast, bumping his head up on the bunk, rolling in pain, and falling off the bed. "What were you doing? That was so gross!" The two dark types cracked up as the got him up and rubbed his head tenderly. Together, they headed down the steps to the door where Celia and Menkaure were standing. Celia walked up to the sandshrew and hugged him like a mother would. A bit shocked, he hugged her back and departed with her to the stadium.
"Ok you guys, know about the thing you have to do when I am gone?"
"Yes ma'am, we will certainly fulfill your project," said the murkrow.
"I will make sure of it," said Cacnea.
"Remember to watch the news for the thing," said Menkaure. She looked out the window, seemingly peering at someone outside. "You guys are to keep this thing secret, capisce?" They bowed as Menkaure dashed out the base headed for the stadium.
The figure that had been observing them for a while disappeared into the trees. Menkaure laughed to herself as her tail swished in the air. *Not today Eevee. No juicy bits for you, cutie.*
******
Yin's Episode
Sunlight wasn't as kind to others as it shone into the red eyes of Yin. He had stayed up the whole night taking care of Connie, rocking her to sleep. With his Sneasel lover sleeping relatively peacefully, his will to stay up quickly dwindle along with his ability to keep his anthro form. "I will just take a quick nap...*snore*"
He woke up on cold ground. The place didn't look familiar so he took in his surroundings. Thirst suddenly seized his strangely parched throat. He saw a bowl of clear liquid in the corner of the room and guzzled it all down without noting to sniff for an awkward scent. He cleaned his muzzle as he looked in the reflection of the little bit of water he wasn't able to drink up. He had white fur again and the ceiling was quite steely. "...Not this place...anything but this place...he looked at the ground as it transformed into steel and bars grew up from the floor and ceiling like stalagmites and stalactites merging together to create a cage just big enough for him to turn around and move about 4 feet in each direction. It was then he noticed that the water wasn't clear...probably something he didn't want to know. His stomach griped with searing hunger as he saw a scrap of day old meat in the corner of his cell. He swiftly gobbled it up and looked around for other signs of life.
He saw a familiar kadabra just sitting there, meditating. "Psstt... Alexandria?" he whispered from his cell. "What are you doing? Get us out of here!" he whispered in a harsh desperate voice. She turned herself about to face him. "Deus...you are awake?"
"Wait, Deus? What are you taking about? I am Yin," retorted the still confused Absol. "What did they do to you that you can't remember your own name?" He would have said something about that being only his experiment name, but she went on talking. "I thought I told you to feign being asleep before the scientists come back. And there isn't a way to break out of here. Just look at the guy below me. He has been dead for four hours now...it's awful because he was my sparring partner back at the school. Oh and Menkaure has been missing for days now. She could be dead" Yin glanced down at the hard-to-recognize electrocuted corpse in the cage. "Why don't you destroy the cage?" asked Yin, quite puzzled at Allie's nonchalant attitude. She was usually more caring than that. Allie didn't answer him though, or rather he couldn't hear her because his senses dulled out and he fell asleep.
He woke up feeling incredibly tired. His surroundings changed...no bars, no steely ground, no other pokemon, nothing at all. The wall, the ceiling, and the floor, all indiscernible to the canine's eyes, were all white and spotless. He couldn't find the strength to walk about and so leaned against the wall trying to construct the room properly in his mind. Soon an outline of a door caught his eye as it was opened and two creatures strolled in. One of them stood out as large and fuchsia where the other one was only noticeable by the red zigzag that was characteristic of its species. *It is Nido...and that is...* He looked a bit more closely at the zangoose...it bore a red collar. "Hello, I am Malachi, enforcer here. I heard you have problems not listening to the scientist. They are only trying to give you god powers. You could have been more obedient like this wench here. At my command, she will suckle on my cock for hours, enjoy the salty flavor, pleasure me till I cum and then drink it all down not spilling a spot." The weak absol tried to escape from the two pokemon, inching to apparently endless white room, finally bumping against the wall he couldn't see.
"Menkaure, fetch him. I want to enjoy his punishment." She quickly approached him and stepped on his tail. He yipped a bit and grabbed him by the scythe. Her eyes were grey and distant as if no one was home in her mind. "What did they do to you?" He felt his scythe digging into flesh and drips of blood making a trail across the ground. *Is she that far out of her mind that she can't feel the pain?* She dragged him across that floor 100 feet back to Malachi who was stroking his testicles. "Wrap yourself, Menkaure; I don't want your blood on it." He tossed her a bandage and proceeded to taunt the victim. "You pathetic scum..." He started crushing Yin's head underfoot. "You are lucky they don't want you dead yet, otherwise I'd fuck then kill your sorry excuse for shit." He stood up to face Menkaure who had just finished nursing her wound.
"Check this out, boy. She will slick up my cock in the most meticulous way. Menkaure...start prepping me." She walked up to him and licked the tip of his shaft with her catlike tongue. She moved from the slit to the length, leaving no place dry, covering his cock in her saliva. The nidoking moaned in pleasure and his venous cock received much pleasure. She parted her lips and allowed the member to slip into her mouth, easily filling it. He held her head and guided it down on his cock, but not too carefully as she gagged every once in a while. Finally she got off his cock, licking the length as she let it slip out. He murred and didn't respond for a bit, still wowed by her mouth. "Good...job my slave, now there is that creature that you need to slick up."
The absol just shuddered as Menkaure flipped him over onto his belly and began licking his pucker. His mind raced with a bit of pleasure and he unconsciously gripped her tongue...and yet there was so much terror in his heart, for he knew what this memory finally was. She slicked it up enough and sat on his skinny body so that she could aid in pinning him down. Soon, Malachi's paw could be felt just a little above his tailhole. He could hear the heavy breathing and panic filled his mind. He flailed about trying to escape, but all he did was cause his spine to accidentally rub against Menkaure's folds, triggering a slight emotional response. "You gave her pleasure? For that, this will pain you more than it would have been." He grabbed a metal band and told Menkaure to slip it onto Deus's cock. All Deus could do is cream as he felt Malachi's body weight shift and a very large thing penetrate his virgin tailhole.
Connie and Eevee were in the kitchen fixing up lunch when they heard clatter upstairs. "Yin!" shouted the two before giving each other looks. The two rushed up the stairs and saw the door of his room in many pieces on the ground and Yin huffing and puffing. He turned around to look at the rest of the damage he did to the room and left, bearing a very large symbol on his bank that he didn't bother to cover up until his two comrades tossed him the dye.
*******
Bawek's Plans
Sandshrew: Welcome to the final match of this tournament. It is a cool 55 degrees here and the winds gusts are at 15 mph. tickets are sold out as of 8 hours ago, so if you didn't buy them ahead of time, you are out of luck. At the discretion of the entertainment board surpassing a veto by Elliot read referee and chairman of the board, there is a triple threat match coming up.
Bawek, Sakura and Nisix were some of the first pokemon to get into the stadium. They each split up to cover different areas of the stadium. Each of them was wearing a communicator earpiece. "Come in Nisix, how close are you to the medic pavilion?" said Bawek as he took his seat near the fields.
Nisix crawled into the vents and placed DNA sensors everywhere. After Reika's visit the night before, Bawek swabbed her DNA off of the door handle and placed it in the vents before getting to his position. "For a destroyer civilization, they can certainly build stuff." He hopped out of the ducts right onto a nurse Jolteon. She instinctively electrocuted the little pokemon frying his earpiece. The Spinda rubbed his ear and turned to the nurse. "Stupid..." He approached "Nisix...Nisix...come in!" said Bawek before looking at the field seeing a small dust cloud. Bawek could hear babbling in the background that sounded as if the panda had put her in a daze. "...hmmm Jolteons make good receptors...Bawek, I am in my posi..."
"Don't hurt my nurses!" shouted Bawek, cutting him off. "Ok, Sakura, what are you up to? We need you to be an official on the field. You have the uniform...all you need is to replace one. And remember to take off that skull cap of yours. You know you already revealed your marks before and got yourself hunted down for a while." The female breloom made her way over to the ground floor, passing by the employees-only doors. *All I need is an official to replace and I will be in position.* She got lost easily in the labyrinth hallways as she lapped the restricted area several times. Eventually she ran into Elliot as she turned a familiar corner. "Hello, miss. You shouldn't be here. The seats are upstairs." Sakura smiled and turned around, swishing her tail about sensually as she draw a paw up her middle. "Well you fiery mouse, wanna take me there?" He turned around to lead her to the seats as they went back into the maze for a bit.
Soon though, Breloom stopped following him. "Elliot, I am tired of walking; I think I'll just get out of here myself. And I need to borrow your clothing." The typhlosion turned around to see the green heart of darkness symbol, but he wasn't fast enough to pull the alarm. "Amazon Uppercut!" as she used her great power to slam him into the ceiling with her fist, driving him in 3 feet, leaving him flattened on the ceiling. He barely was alive after the hit and the whole building still shook with the force of the attack. "You are too much of a horny guy. I really should just finish you off but I think you are cute. But since we can't be together...hmmm, still I am in a good mood so I will only put you asleep and wrap you in a leech seed." Elliot would have attacked if the sudden onset of sleep settled over his body. "Mission complete!' Bawek left his seat to relay the message of a substitute referee to the organizers of the game, knowing that his news wouldn't be so unusual. *Now we wait...*
******
Reika's Torment
Reika woke up feeling quite strange ever since Takeru told the truth. Although she didn't express anger back then...something awful visited her as she rose from bed. A hidden darkness swelled in her heart in sheer anger, but such harsh emotions were buried with the schedule of things to do in the morning. The ninetales was up and ready to start her day. She prepped her mind with more difficult memory exercises and took her bath with hot steam. But once she got out of the bathroom, see passed by the large mirror on the opposite door. She saw that mark of darkness on her forehead. *I really need to go to Kudzco's place after I take my love to the shaman that will fix him.* She moved her tails around as she examined herself in the mirror, suddenly piqued with a strange need to check her full body. Her eyes came across another one of those symbols, this one on her belly, and it burned her to have it. "What is going on!!!?!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes as pain flowed through her body. Soon, the feeling of dark heat splayed over her tails as symbols seemingly etched themselves into her tails. Her mind began to fade in the strange feeling of overpowering darkness. She didn't even take care to hide these symbols as she rushed into the crowd of people shouting for help.
Two figures heard the screams from down the road. "The people be running from monster, eh? Franz is excellent coordinator," said the taller gruff voice. "It was a lucky guess, hon, just a lucky guess," said the smaller southerner female. "Just wait though...we can't attack yet." Meanwhile, Reika turned the corner to see deserted streets. She was all alone now as everyone ran away from her. She saw a crowd that could not even be mistaken for friendly. It was the Pokemon Police Task Force, a team of many different species, designed to eliminate any threats to the society, in this case, her. Reika ran as fast as she could, looking for a welcoming place, an open door, anything to save her. All she found was an alleyway with not end. A squad of six enforcers landed in front of her, ready to attack, all of which were water types. She cried and hid her face, ready to die at that moment, waiting for that flood of water that never came.
*Why am I not dead yet?* She saw the assailants frozen solid before a rain of stars cut through them causing them to shatter into millions of dirty icy pieces. Reika looked above and saw the two figures as they peered at her below from their perch. She turned the corner to find a way to reach them, passing by many more shattered soldiers amongst some horribly charred one hanging from the posts of the buildings. She saw those two figures standing in a tree peering down at her. "Little girl, did you like popsicles I be making. Not the best flavor but it is fun to make," said the larger one as the smaller daintier one rolled her eyes.
Two pokemon in the tree stared at her, apparently looking at all her markings. The larger one was a golden piloswine morph who spoke with a Russian accent. His eyes were hidden from view and he was rather big, but not fat. His tusks protruded from the shaggy mass. Next to him was a beautiful pink delcatty wearing a mark of darkness on her chest that strangely drew Reika's interest. She had a gold collar on as well. "Meow...well we did sure freeze and smash those surly officers," said the feline as she sensually descended from her perch. The piloswine smiled and jumped out of the tree, causing a huge earthquake that could even be felt in the stadium. Obviously, his companion and Reika felt the worst effects as they stumbled on their feet. "Come on, big daddy...do you have to be so hulking? Be polite and greet her."
"Oh sorry...My name is Kafka Truffinski or just Kafka for short. I am sorry for earthquake I cause." The delcatty licked her paws daintily before she spoke. "I am Arashi...so you need help..." A devious smile crept across her face as she could see Reika just staring at her.
*****
False Cure, New Hope
Windslash: Woot! I am no longer Sandshrew the freshman. I am Windslash now. Congrats to other naming ceremony confirmands! We have a treat for you guys today as we introducing a guest referee, all the way from the Pokemon Moderation School: Sakura the Breloom. Menkaure the Zangoose, the interim leader of Team Rocket, who has shown stellar sportsmanship and killer skills, takes the field, waving the Rocket banner in the air.
Menkaure smiled into the camera waving the banner forcefully. Of course, that was the signal she was talking about and her underlings left the stadium. Following her was Yin who was unusually quiet as if he was focusing his energies. Sakura sat by the sidelines looking at Nisix and waiting for Reika to show up.
Windslash: Next up is the dangerous, berserker brawler of the field and leader of the esteemed Team Magma: Yin the Absol! Now last but not least is the rookie with style as she has soared in the ranks of her classmates, finishing first in her assessments and being the first rookie to ever make it to the finals of a tournament. Give it up for Reika the Ninetales.
The crowd cheered and whistled as Reika was supposed to enter the stadium. A minute passed and the crowd was still cheering. Bawek and his crew got nervous as their little plot hit a snag: she wasn't there. Windslash got very nervous in the booth as he could hear the murmurs of the crowd grow. "Shit, shit, shit!" He along with Windslash scrambled to find out what was going on. Soon, an official stepped in with a slip addressed to the community head. "Ok... we understand."
Celia: Attention, Reika has been disqualified for her lateness. We will still have our other two contestants who will give us a good show.
Celia wasn't one to kid as somebody pointed out something strange on the field. Yin was still very quiet as he moved to the platform, eyes looking devoid of warmth. He stayed very calm, so no one gave it a second thought. But Menkaure was grasping her chest, sweating profusely as Yin approached. They hadn't begun to fight, but something had already happened. She looked over her shoulder and saw those words that she was afraid of seeing, those words she had thought were gone just reappeared with the dark mode Yin. "Guess what, you aren't cured, Menkaure." Sakura looked a bit uneasy as her own symbol started to glow under her skull cap. *That absol is triggering my symbols...but how?*
Yin just laughed at the sight of Menkaure freaking out about the marks showing up plain as day, luckily, no one could see them from the stands. "You see, you can never be cured. This thing on my back cam as a result of my dreams...all the pain, all the anguish..."
"I was cured...I am cured!"
"...You aren't listening you retard. All you gave yourself a false sense of control. Conquering the demons inside you doesn't cure you. We have to live with this until we die. But that is where you are lucky; you get to leave this rock today for free." Yin grinned as he stood up to attack her without noticing she wasn't whining anymore. He could feel a wind blow past him as a white blur broadsided him, knocking him down to a ground; however, he quickly recovered his composure. Her eyes were grey, hollow, and distant looking again, just like in his memories. "It is that face that graced my dreams. I will destroy it!"
Menkaure was no longer talking or responding in any way to his comments. She went back into attack mode dashing in a slightly different pattern to try to throw Yin off, but Yin reached into her attack and seized her wrists. "Come in here, do it once: shame on you. Come in here, do it twice: shame on me!" The fem zangoose tried to wrestle out of his grip but Yin just held on tighter. He used his slash attack to cut across her chest and send her flying back onto her side of the field. She landed on her feet, as if nothing had happened to her, but the sanguine glitter on her chest told differently. Yin rubbed his scythe to smear the blood in his paws. "I struck first blood...now to make more."
He launched a hidden power attack at her, the brown orbs circulating his body before flying over to Menkaure that connected with such fury that a miniature cloud formed from the contact point. He was confident he beat her until the cloud cleared, revealing the zangoose in defensive position. Her claws were glowing. "Menkaure, you are quite resilient in battle, but that's probably that it hasn't dawned on you yet due to the loss of feeling." Menkaure didn't respond to him and didn't seem to care that he was rushing at her, blade extended. He attacked with a volley of slash attacks that Menkaure could only manage to block. The blood splattered a bit but Menkaure was stuck in her dark unconsciousness. She needed to wake up before he kills her.
Windslash: Where was her mind? Yin is crushing her with his many attacks and...blood...it reflects the...shrew
Celia looked with curiosity at the sandshrew who seemed stuck on the blood of the field...she looked at the audience, who seemed to just stare at the...
Where was Menkaure's mind? Her mind ran through the events of the facility where they got this evil power. *My cruelty...my idiocy...I hurt my friends and just made most of them enemies* She came back to reality and noticed her arms were bleeding. She flailed, breaking Yin's attack and sending him into a world of pain. She also collapsed on the ground as more blood dripped from her wounds. The run from her chest was dry and left her white fur a dirty red. All the pain her body had rejected flooded back at once. Sakura started the count, totally unaffected by the blood, "1, 2, 3, 4..." The two fighters jumped back up and the fight continued.
The crowd was into this fight, the miniature lakes of blood stirring the animal inside as feral noises filled the stadium. Bawek sighed and left the stadium. "Mission failed and if that blood isn't cleared up, we could be caught up in a riot. We don't want to reveal our identities." Nisix grumbled while Breloom had joined the crowd is talking feral even though the blood had no effect on her. "Stop being stupid mushroom head! Use your grass stuff on the crowd to calm them down," shouted Nisix. "Loom!'" she replied before swaying her arms, spreading a sweet scent across the field, calming everyone down. The metagross turned his communicator off and sighed. *We can use technology almost like humans and yet we behave like animals...we will never be able to advance past them.*
As for the absol and zangoose in the ring, they were rolling around on the field, slashing and clawing. Yin got the upper hand and slammed her head into the ground once, putting her out. He stepped backwards and got ready to unleash his Final Cutter attack. "I think its time to take you to meet your master Malachi in the depths of Hades. He descended on her, feeling victory was certain, but he stopped just inches from her. She was on her feet and her claws were fully extended. Her eyes were sad as she withdrew her claws, the sound of flesh ringing afterwards. Yin's eyes watered as he dropped to his knees, grasping his stomach, placing his paw over the gaping hole she made in him. "I'm sorry Yin," she said as she looked in the pained eyes of Yin and as his evil marks disappeared. "I'm so, so sorry. Just hang in there..." She stayed by him as Nisix came over with the stretcher. The crowd ignorantly cheered as Menkaure just sat on the field, looking at the sanguine puddles, the light red tint that covered her fur, tears welled in her eyes as she dashed off the field.
So ends the tournament...
But where is Reika?
Windslash: In today's news...Takeru the Ditto was kidnapped from his room in the Special Wing of the Altaria hospital. Witnesses reported seeing nothing unusual until they stepped into the room. "There was a psychic visual residue in the room... but there aren't any pokemon other than Grumpig that can manipulate what people see," said Dr. Bliss. We have an APB out on this pokemon. We think it may be related to the disappearance of Reika earlier today. The residue was seen yesterday on the main streets where Reika was last seen. Find my friends, please.