Lullaby
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.
Kanto North
Chapter 11: Lullaby
***
In the early hours of morning, Alexei made his way into the infirmary. Heading down a side hall, he reached Datan's room and made his way in. The farfetch'd was asleep, all of his crippled limbs cast up with his broken and burned chest bandaged heavily. A last feature being a large amount of gauze covering the ruined eye. He could hear his heart beat being monitored to one side.
The absol smirked. Sauntering over, he the sleeping duck a light pat on the chest. Immediately, Datan's one good eye opened up and he tried to jump up and the disaster pokemon could hear his heart rate jump on the monitor. "Good morning to you, Datan," Alexei greeted, leaning over the bed, eye-to-eye.
He licked over his muzzle. "You're looking really down," he casually remarked, watching that one eye narrow and hearing the EKG begin to beep a bit faster with his words. Alexei ran a claw tip over his broken horn. "Do you remember this one? Do you, Datan?"
He heard the heart rate jump a bit more, but the duck grudgingly nodded his head as much as he could. "Look at you now. I did a bit of reading when Sophia told me what the curse was. This is the price of accepting yours. I'm surprised you didn't revert back into a feral by this point."
He turned and began to pace back and forth beside the bed. "You're a real sick fuck. You're rabid and need to be put down before you hurt someone who's actually innocent."
He watched the duck begin to breathe a bit heavier, trying to get up a few times to wince in pain and give up, still hatefully glaring at the absol. "You know, maybe the curse isn't real. Maybe we're all just assholes who give up on civility and receive our reward for it."
A very faint whisper escaped the duck's bill, the absol leaning in close to hear. "Got me helpless..." he gave a slight cough, a searing pain filling his chest as he did, "Are you here...to kill me? Embrace your own curse..."
The absol just gave a nod to the question. "Only the first part. I'm going sing you a song, as a matter of fact." He opened his mouth and a sound began to fill the room. A deep, mournful tune which just continued to play as he closed his muzzle.
"That's right...embrace it, your blood lu...farfe...tch'd?" The duck began to take a golden glow about his body, blinding the absol for a few seconds as the song continued to play, the tempo slowing as its work on Datan was disrupted. As the glow faded, the song sped back up. He was turned back to a nonanthro farfetch'd, covered almost entirely in the bandages of his lager form, all four casts slumping to his sides. The duck was still as crippled as ever, heart starting to pound in his chest.
"About time that happened. You should know my anger is cold; I can use it. Your cruelty is hot, so it used you. There's nothing about the Primal Flaw that can't be resisted by a strong heart. Now...when this song ends, yours will give out."
(So will yours,) the feral farfetch'd managed to rasp out in pokemon speak, (killing yourself to kill me.)
"No." Alexei stood up and began to make his way to the door just as he felt his heart begin to beat faster. "Your life isn't worth mine. It's horrible to die alone, but I won't stay. Goodbye."
(Wait!) The absol was gone and the melody starting to go faster as he felt his heart begin to beat harder in his chest. (Please...help!) he quaked out as loud as he could, starting to feel a bit lightheaded as the irregular beat failed to bring blood to his brain. The monitor confirmed this, but no alerts were being triggered outside of the room.
(I don't want to die! Please...no...) His vision of the room grew darker and darker until the monster passed out and away; a flat line from the EKG followed in a few minutes.
***
"Inquisitor Theodore, I'll ask you again. Why did you assault Agent Datan?" asked Fractal, sitting across a metal table, under a single intense light in the interrogation room. The nidoking and Abby bound to their chairs, a pair of heavier handcuffs on the nidoking, tail locked as well. Cassandra and her guards blocked the exit of the room.
"Because he deserved it."
Fractal shook his head slowly, tapping a fingertip on the papers of the duck's profile. "That's not a real reason."
"Fine. I am the judge," the nidoking answered, "I'm the one with the authority over life and death. It is why I was sent here in the first place. If you have any issues with how much authority the Team likes to hand its judges, please send a complaint to Lady Grayquill."
"There we go."
"How I am being treated is also highly illegal and would demand an immediate military strike on this base for treason," the nidoking continued. "If you release me and reduce my guards to only Agent Cassandra, there won't be any forced changes of personnel in the future."
"You're powerless," the ampharos reminded him, unfazed by his ultimatum.
Theo shook his head. "You can't hold us forever. And if we are disappeared, it would also demand retribution. Remember, I'm a Grayquill, Agent Fractal."
The ampharos eyed the golduck and slowking. "You two go outside," he ordered. They did so and he craned his neck in a bit to the nido. "This is only for show," he explained, "I'm happy you did what you did. Everyone is. Please don't be getting upset."
Theo smiled at that. "I know. You'd be trying to break my fingers if this were a real interrogation."
"Not really," the ampharos said with a little giggle as he began to smile. "Thankfully, we're not going to be going there, anyway."
The thick, soundproof metal door opened unexpectedly, a smallish female eevee solider stepping in. "Sir, Agent Datan is dead." Everyone looked to her.
"What? How?" asked Fractal, standing up as he did.
"Suspected heart attack, sir. Doctor Grayquill stated she thinks it is unrelated to his injuries inflicted by Inquisitor Theodore," she answered, standing at attention in front of the door.
"That leaves me in command until Executive Edward gets back," Fractal mumbled to himself. "Thank you, Grunt Agent...what's your name, soldier?"
"I am Grunt Agent Melony, sir."
"Thank you, Melony. You may leave now," the ampharos said with a dismissive wave of a hand to the door, the eevee girl making her way out. As the door shut, Fractal shook his head and gave another, more rueful laugh as he sat back down. "Oh my-- funny how promotions work in the Team."
"You'll probably do fine," said Abby as she tried to shift her paws a bit, the metal cuffs binding them behind the chair starting to bite into her skin a bit. "Now that you're boss, could you please get these off of me?"
"Sure," said Fractal, pulling a set of keys from his pocket as he stepped behind the pair and undid the handcuffs, setting them on the table.
"Thanks," she said, rubbing over her wrists a bit, the fur a bit matted down, but they thankfully hadn't cut in.
Theo stood up after being released, stretching out a bit as he did. "So, about reducing our guards to only Cassie. Is that doable?"
"I suppose. Edward won't be happy about it when he gets back, but I'll do it for you. You performed a wonderful service for this division. Thank you."
***
Grayquill stood against the far wall of the meeting room in the Indigo Council Hall, in front of the large R tapestry with Gideon standing to her right side. Every other Executive stood at their seat, eyes on hers "And so we close this emergency summit," the nidoqueen opened, not sound even slightly different than normal. "All of your input and contributions to figuring out a solution to our problem in the north have been appreciated. However, I still need to plan and work with our general, Executive Gideon," she nodded to him. "I will be here for the next three to four months at the least, and may take up permanent office here should a war flare up. Now, I bid all of you good day and good luck in your mission to ensure peace and stability in our regions."
***
"Thank you for the tea," said Terra, sitting on a small mat on the floor across from the aged Faust, a warm cup in the alakazam's paws as she watched the ancient absol pour himself some from the kettle, the room lit by the crackling flame of his small fireplace.
"It's no thing," he said with wave of his paw as he sat down across from her. "You were saying you wanted to know a bit more about the Lords and how they betrayed The Creator, right?"
"You are the most knowledgeable about these things, yes."
"It's a long story, but I'm guessing you have the time."
"I do."
"Then let's start from the top." He took a couple of deep breaths and sampled his tea. "The Lords are funny creatures. They are glamorous, appearing perfect in every mortal eye. This is combined with an enchanting nature, able to ensnare the strongest of will and make them theirs. They are fantastic beings, able to to create fantasy. I would call them terrific."
"Terrific?"
"They're terrifying," he said with a smile. "And two of them are free-- I felt it up in the old horn when they woke. One about twenty and the other seven years back."
"Two are out and about?"
"That's what I said. The funniest thing is they are not children of The Creator, rather they are visitors from a neighboring universe-- composed of empty thought and concept. They're from the Unown Realm. Back in the ancient days, The Creator invited four diplomats into its world, each composed of millions of individual 'souls', if you can call them that, forming a single consciousness each. Also, at this time, there was another species besides us pokemon and common animals: the humans."
"Humans?"
"Yes. There was another intelligent species besides pokemon. Sadly, our ancestors found ourselves in conflict with them, mostly over living area and resources. The Creator stepped in and allowed the gap between the human and pokemon to be bridged: the unions begetting our species. In fact, it demanded it. We were to be their priests, bringing both closer to The Creator."
The alakazam woman looked down into her teacup, watching her reflection ripple. "What happened to the humans? Did we do something terrible?"
"No, our union was complete. Our wild cousins are also somewhat rare for that reason," he said, smile growing. "But I'm getting very off-track. The Unown diplomats had impressed The Creator so much with their own creativity and designs, it let them take positions as lords over us in the first four lands it created. Lords over us-- our masters. These concept and idea based creatures owned us. It had an effect on them and they began to emulate a few of the many components our souls: prudence, justice, restraint and courage. Our primary virtues, which they came to hold the reins on."
"How did this lead to the murder of The Creator?"
He raised a single claw after a sip of his tea. "I was about to get to that. They became rather extreme, taking negative vices like our lust and hubris along with our virtues as additional concepts to embody. Thus Justice judged that The Creator was not good enough, Courage wanted a good fight, Prudence felt it best to side with its siblings and Restraint felt that it needed to stop The Creator."
"And they killed it?"
"They won by convincing it to visit their own realm where they had infinite power. But its three children of space, time and inverses paused their own battle to save their mother from the Lords, narrowly escaping death themselves. They came before a single absol monk who lived in this very spot and she accepted the burden of bearing The Creator's wounded spirit, a keen sense of danger and being nullified to the psychic strings of fate being what is needed to evade the Regional Lords."
"I'm guessing it got worse after this."
"Did it get worse? Indeed it did," he said before chuckling a little. "With their victory, they became more petty and vile, committing acts of debauchery that would rend most mortal minds instantly. We grew weary of it. In each region, the minor deities raised armies. The birds in Kanto, the Beasts in Johto, The Golems in Hoenn and the Spirit gods took severe offense at their job being tread upon by the alien Lords. It was a long a brutal conflict, the Lords growing stronger from the virtues we drew upon to fight them, their worshipers forming opposing armies. Before the Lady of Johto was beaten and imprisoned, she managed to inflict a curse upon the spirits of all of our species."
She blinked a few times at the last sentence of his long speech. "I'm guessing that last thing is the Primal Curse?"
"Yes, the Primal Curse was a last effort of the Regional Lords to spite us and it has managed to poison every civilization we've formed since, hence why so many wars break out for few reasons. In particular, strong leaders go mad with their vices, eventually losing their civil forms and they have to be put down; that's not to say everyone else is safe from it, not at all. We live in a broken world."
"Is there anything more?"
"Oh yes. Lots. Being made of ideas and concepts: the Lords love a good story, tragedies in particular. Naturally, this means they desire those with painful pasts or futures."
***
Abby and Theo were back in their room by noon, the nidoking flipping through her profile with the zangoose sitting between his legs, nuzzling up at him a little bit. Cassie was at her post in the room as usual, minus the rifle and reading through a thin novel, glasses resting on her muzzle.
"So. I'm entirely exposed to you now, your honor. I have no secrets to you," said Abby.
"I'm not surprised by this," he said, shaking his head a bit before blowing softly over her ears. "What he trained you as, but why would a Reeducation Officer need an assassin?" He gave a shurg. "Thankfully neither of us will have to deal with him anymore-- but damn, I wish I could forget again." He tossed the papers onto the coffee table, folding his paws in her lap.
She let one of her own slide up to the side of Theo's muzzle, petting lightly over it. "It's okay, Theo. Uhm..." she looked to Cassie, "is there anyone he can see about this on base?"
The kadabra shook her head. "Sorry, we don't have any qualified therapists on staff at the moment."
"Really?" the zangoose raised an eye ridge at this, "One of our military bases has no one on staff for dealing with events like this?"
Again, Cassie shook her head. "No. We are understaffed at the moment, insufficient funds for more support staff."
"Great. And you mess with minds," Abby sighed, letting a claw trail up to scritch around one of Theo's ears, making it flick a few times.
"Enough," said the nidoking with a small smile. "I'll be fine. I'll be just fine." The nidoking lightly rubbed over her thigh. "Abby, is there any chance you've ever awoken your hidden power?" he asked in a change of pace.
"Hidden power? I have not. Why are you asking?"
He smiled a little, feeling her tail brush over his. "To work with me, you really need to know yourself," he explained. "Mine, for example, is psychic. It has been a signature of my family for generations; mine is also particularly potent for some reason."
"Interesting," she continued to run her claw around his ear, pressing up closer, "What would it take?"
"Just a good day long training session and a willingness to remember your past in detail," the nido said nuzzling her cheek. "It would also give us a chance to get familiar with eachothers fighting styles. You'd probably beat me bad, too."
"Why do you think that?" she asked with a slight giggle.
"You're an assassin that Datan assigned get close to and then kill me-- at least that's what I figure his motives were."
"Nonsense," she assured him, "He wouldn't have been able to predict you'd pick me up. He said he just wanted me keep a close eye on you."
He shook his head, wrapping his arms around above her waist. "You charmed me into it. Not that I regret it by this point, of course."
"I'm starting to feel the same way, Theo. I'm starting to."
Cassie looked up from her reading. "Shall I leave you two be for awhile?"
***
Gideon was sitting in his office, laptop at desk with a small camera clipped to the top of it. "Yes, yes. Most of your commanders should be en route back to base now," said the large nidoking, looking at seven faces on his monitor with an eighth spot blank in the video conferencing window. The faces consisted of a female umbreon, a gaunt-faced male hypno, a pair of red, glowing eyes that belonged to a gengar, a skarmory woman, a venusaur female, followed by a blastoise male with round glasses and a kangaskhan. "Where the hell is Datan?" he asked, raising a glass of brandy to his muzzle, "He was supposed to be here an hour ago."
"None of us know, my lord," answered the gengar in a very oily voice, "Could Edward have gotten an order to kill him out?"
The nido shook his head, lowering the glass. "No, any and all communications during the summit were monitored. I'll just have to chew his ass out next time I see him-- threatening my operation like this. Anyway, seven plus Head Justice Kriemhild is more than enough to browbeat the rest of the council into submission. We will have the majority of votes and military might."
"What of Lady Grayquill?" asked the kangaskhan, "House Grayquill could still try to pull a schism of the Team."
"Your former commander is wrapped around my claw tip, among other things," answered Gideon with a wry grin, "I don't want to off her...at least not until I can deal with the heiress Sophia. That will throw the Grayquill's into chaos and I'll do as I see fit."
"Understood, my lord," she said with a nod, "I'll inform my subordinates she is away and working with you, leaving me in charge. That should satisfy them until you go public with your command."
Gideon's perverse smirk became fanged. "I wish all of you luck with what must be done. If all goes well, the political fallout will be cleaned up in a few months and we'll start rolling troops into Hoenn."
"Why are we on Team Magma's side again?" questioned the skarmory, her voice having a bronze bell quality to it.
"Softening the opposing team and government. They are weak and rely on assistance from my soldiers bearing their emblem, but I'll take what I can get."
"We're sponsoring terrorists."
"They're more of a very misguided, ineffectual cult; they'll both be brought down once we take the region. Again, I wish all of you luck-- may your long knives strike true, spare not a single one of their relatives. And always remember: If I fall, Team leadership goes to the strongest. Goodbye, I'll speak to you all when the deed is done."
"Thank you, my lord," said the Gengar, his own massive grin broadening, "Looking forward to taking your rightful place?"
"I am." With that, he closed the window, turning in his chair to face the portraits on the wall while swishing his glass a bit. "I will make you proud, I'll right the wrong the Grayquill's committed in taking away our victory. Then, I shall conquer Hoenn and Sinnoh: Our fractured nation will be united under one banner once again."
***
Edward had just arrived back at headquarters that evening, a suitcase in each hand as he walked down the main entryway, the heavy blast doors closing in sequence behind him. Reaching the main door, he was just able to push it open. The electronic locks on it were still messed up from Theo's Inquisitorial Override card; he'd have to have Alexei fix that sometime. Making his way past the unfinished foyer, the tired alakazam made his way to his room. It was the same setup as Sophia and Theo's. He just dropped the suitcases beside the TV stand, hanging his greatcoat on a rack before making his way out again, heading to his office.
Unbelievable. He practically sold one of the few loves in his life to Gideon. Countermeasures would have to be taken, that much Edward knew. That man would certainly ruin the team. Was his second also a Bloodquill loyalist? If he's a Bloodquill loyalist, how much of his research had been leaked to Gideon? Gideon seemed sure there was a project afoot. Would House Bloodquill be more of a threat to his work than House Grayquill had been? Why did he always just...feel a need to be so secretive in the first place? The Alph excavation had full Team support, though they had no idea what he was looking for. Even now he wasn't sure himself *what* he was looking for, in particular what the Lords were. Theo must contain one, given his unnatural resistance to having those thoughts of his viewed. Maybe Cassie had figured out more by this point. The alakazam's normally focused mind was just scattered after the week.
He reached his office, right across from the double doors of the meeting room. Pulling his keys out, he unlocked the door and opened it. Pushing it open, he noticed a letter envelope had been pushed under his door. With a flick of his wrist, the alakazam telekinetically pulled it to his hand and made his way in, door closing behind him as he set down at his desk, pulling a letter opener out of a drawer and flicking it carefully to open the envelope.
Pulling the paper out, he unfolded it and skimmed over it, going a little pale for a second. "Good hell, seems Theo remembered," he said with a slow shake of his head before shrugging. He really couldn't blame the nido for doing what he did. It also meant Alexei was probably going to be working under Investigator Rhombus again. Which was annoying cost a few favors and earned Yeva's anger to get him under Datan and into his division in the first place.
Such a mess. Oh well, in a few months he'd have what he's looking for.
Kanto North
Chapter 11: Lullaby
***
In the early hours of morning, Alexei made his way into the infirmary. Heading down a side hall, he reached Datan's room and made his way in. The farfetch'd was asleep, all of his crippled limbs cast up with his broken and burned chest bandaged heavily. A last feature being a large amount of gauze covering the ruined eye. He could hear his heart beat being monitored to one side.
The absol smirked. Sauntering over, he the sleeping duck a light pat on the chest. Immediately, Datan's one good eye opened up and he tried to jump up and the disaster pokemon could hear his heart rate jump on the monitor. "Good morning to you, Datan," Alexei greeted, leaning over the bed, eye-to-eye.
He licked over his muzzle. "You're looking really down," he casually remarked, watching that one eye narrow and hearing the EKG begin to beep a bit faster with his words. Alexei ran a claw tip over his broken horn. "Do you remember this one? Do you, Datan?"
He heard the heart rate jump a bit more, but the duck grudgingly nodded his head as much as he could. "Look at you now. I did a bit of reading when Sophia told me what the curse was. This is the price of accepting yours. I'm surprised you didn't revert back into a feral by this point."
He turned and began to pace back and forth beside the bed. "You're a real sick fuck. You're rabid and need to be put down before you hurt someone who's actually innocent."
He watched the duck begin to breathe a bit heavier, trying to get up a few times to wince in pain and give up, still hatefully glaring at the absol. "You know, maybe the curse isn't real. Maybe we're all just assholes who give up on civility and receive our reward for it."
A very faint whisper escaped the duck's bill, the absol leaning in close to hear. "Got me helpless..." he gave a slight cough, a searing pain filling his chest as he did, "Are you here...to kill me? Embrace your own curse..."
The absol just gave a nod to the question. "Only the first part. I'm going sing you a song, as a matter of fact." He opened his mouth and a sound began to fill the room. A deep, mournful tune which just continued to play as he closed his muzzle.
"That's right...embrace it, your blood lu...farfe...tch'd?" The duck began to take a golden glow about his body, blinding the absol for a few seconds as the song continued to play, the tempo slowing as its work on Datan was disrupted. As the glow faded, the song sped back up. He was turned back to a nonanthro farfetch'd, covered almost entirely in the bandages of his lager form, all four casts slumping to his sides. The duck was still as crippled as ever, heart starting to pound in his chest.
"About time that happened. You should know my anger is cold; I can use it. Your cruelty is hot, so it used you. There's nothing about the Primal Flaw that can't be resisted by a strong heart. Now...when this song ends, yours will give out."
(So will yours,) the feral farfetch'd managed to rasp out in pokemon speak, (killing yourself to kill me.)
"No." Alexei stood up and began to make his way to the door just as he felt his heart begin to beat faster. "Your life isn't worth mine. It's horrible to die alone, but I won't stay. Goodbye."
(Wait!) The absol was gone and the melody starting to go faster as he felt his heart begin to beat harder in his chest. (Please...help!) he quaked out as loud as he could, starting to feel a bit lightheaded as the irregular beat failed to bring blood to his brain. The monitor confirmed this, but no alerts were being triggered outside of the room.
(I don't want to die! Please...no...) His vision of the room grew darker and darker until the monster passed out and away; a flat line from the EKG followed in a few minutes.
***
"Inquisitor Theodore, I'll ask you again. Why did you assault Agent Datan?" asked Fractal, sitting across a metal table, under a single intense light in the interrogation room. The nidoking and Abby bound to their chairs, a pair of heavier handcuffs on the nidoking, tail locked as well. Cassandra and her guards blocked the exit of the room.
"Because he deserved it."
Fractal shook his head slowly, tapping a fingertip on the papers of the duck's profile. "That's not a real reason."
"Fine. I am the judge," the nidoking answered, "I'm the one with the authority over life and death. It is why I was sent here in the first place. If you have any issues with how much authority the Team likes to hand its judges, please send a complaint to Lady Grayquill."
"There we go."
"How I am being treated is also highly illegal and would demand an immediate military strike on this base for treason," the nidoking continued. "If you release me and reduce my guards to only Agent Cassandra, there won't be any forced changes of personnel in the future."
"You're powerless," the ampharos reminded him, unfazed by his ultimatum.
Theo shook his head. "You can't hold us forever. And if we are disappeared, it would also demand retribution. Remember, I'm a Grayquill, Agent Fractal."
The ampharos eyed the golduck and slowking. "You two go outside," he ordered. They did so and he craned his neck in a bit to the nido. "This is only for show," he explained, "I'm happy you did what you did. Everyone is. Please don't be getting upset."
Theo smiled at that. "I know. You'd be trying to break my fingers if this were a real interrogation."
"Not really," the ampharos said with a little giggle as he began to smile. "Thankfully, we're not going to be going there, anyway."
The thick, soundproof metal door opened unexpectedly, a smallish female eevee solider stepping in. "Sir, Agent Datan is dead." Everyone looked to her.
"What? How?" asked Fractal, standing up as he did.
"Suspected heart attack, sir. Doctor Grayquill stated she thinks it is unrelated to his injuries inflicted by Inquisitor Theodore," she answered, standing at attention in front of the door.
"That leaves me in command until Executive Edward gets back," Fractal mumbled to himself. "Thank you, Grunt Agent...what's your name, soldier?"
"I am Grunt Agent Melony, sir."
"Thank you, Melony. You may leave now," the ampharos said with a dismissive wave of a hand to the door, the eevee girl making her way out. As the door shut, Fractal shook his head and gave another, more rueful laugh as he sat back down. "Oh my-- funny how promotions work in the Team."
"You'll probably do fine," said Abby as she tried to shift her paws a bit, the metal cuffs binding them behind the chair starting to bite into her skin a bit. "Now that you're boss, could you please get these off of me?"
"Sure," said Fractal, pulling a set of keys from his pocket as he stepped behind the pair and undid the handcuffs, setting them on the table.
"Thanks," she said, rubbing over her wrists a bit, the fur a bit matted down, but they thankfully hadn't cut in.
Theo stood up after being released, stretching out a bit as he did. "So, about reducing our guards to only Cassie. Is that doable?"
"I suppose. Edward won't be happy about it when he gets back, but I'll do it for you. You performed a wonderful service for this division. Thank you."
***
Grayquill stood against the far wall of the meeting room in the Indigo Council Hall, in front of the large R tapestry with Gideon standing to her right side. Every other Executive stood at their seat, eyes on hers "And so we close this emergency summit," the nidoqueen opened, not sound even slightly different than normal. "All of your input and contributions to figuring out a solution to our problem in the north have been appreciated. However, I still need to plan and work with our general, Executive Gideon," she nodded to him. "I will be here for the next three to four months at the least, and may take up permanent office here should a war flare up. Now, I bid all of you good day and good luck in your mission to ensure peace and stability in our regions."
***
"Thank you for the tea," said Terra, sitting on a small mat on the floor across from the aged Faust, a warm cup in the alakazam's paws as she watched the ancient absol pour himself some from the kettle, the room lit by the crackling flame of his small fireplace.
"It's no thing," he said with wave of his paw as he sat down across from her. "You were saying you wanted to know a bit more about the Lords and how they betrayed The Creator, right?"
"You are the most knowledgeable about these things, yes."
"It's a long story, but I'm guessing you have the time."
"I do."
"Then let's start from the top." He took a couple of deep breaths and sampled his tea. "The Lords are funny creatures. They are glamorous, appearing perfect in every mortal eye. This is combined with an enchanting nature, able to ensnare the strongest of will and make them theirs. They are fantastic beings, able to to create fantasy. I would call them terrific."
"Terrific?"
"They're terrifying," he said with a smile. "And two of them are free-- I felt it up in the old horn when they woke. One about twenty and the other seven years back."
"Two are out and about?"
"That's what I said. The funniest thing is they are not children of The Creator, rather they are visitors from a neighboring universe-- composed of empty thought and concept. They're from the Unown Realm. Back in the ancient days, The Creator invited four diplomats into its world, each composed of millions of individual 'souls', if you can call them that, forming a single consciousness each. Also, at this time, there was another species besides us pokemon and common animals: the humans."
"Humans?"
"Yes. There was another intelligent species besides pokemon. Sadly, our ancestors found ourselves in conflict with them, mostly over living area and resources. The Creator stepped in and allowed the gap between the human and pokemon to be bridged: the unions begetting our species. In fact, it demanded it. We were to be their priests, bringing both closer to The Creator."
The alakazam woman looked down into her teacup, watching her reflection ripple. "What happened to the humans? Did we do something terrible?"
"No, our union was complete. Our wild cousins are also somewhat rare for that reason," he said, smile growing. "But I'm getting very off-track. The Unown diplomats had impressed The Creator so much with their own creativity and designs, it let them take positions as lords over us in the first four lands it created. Lords over us-- our masters. These concept and idea based creatures owned us. It had an effect on them and they began to emulate a few of the many components our souls: prudence, justice, restraint and courage. Our primary virtues, which they came to hold the reins on."
"How did this lead to the murder of The Creator?"
He raised a single claw after a sip of his tea. "I was about to get to that. They became rather extreme, taking negative vices like our lust and hubris along with our virtues as additional concepts to embody. Thus Justice judged that The Creator was not good enough, Courage wanted a good fight, Prudence felt it best to side with its siblings and Restraint felt that it needed to stop The Creator."
"And they killed it?"
"They won by convincing it to visit their own realm where they had infinite power. But its three children of space, time and inverses paused their own battle to save their mother from the Lords, narrowly escaping death themselves. They came before a single absol monk who lived in this very spot and she accepted the burden of bearing The Creator's wounded spirit, a keen sense of danger and being nullified to the psychic strings of fate being what is needed to evade the Regional Lords."
"I'm guessing it got worse after this."
"Did it get worse? Indeed it did," he said before chuckling a little. "With their victory, they became more petty and vile, committing acts of debauchery that would rend most mortal minds instantly. We grew weary of it. In each region, the minor deities raised armies. The birds in Kanto, the Beasts in Johto, The Golems in Hoenn and the Spirit gods took severe offense at their job being tread upon by the alien Lords. It was a long a brutal conflict, the Lords growing stronger from the virtues we drew upon to fight them, their worshipers forming opposing armies. Before the Lady of Johto was beaten and imprisoned, she managed to inflict a curse upon the spirits of all of our species."
She blinked a few times at the last sentence of his long speech. "I'm guessing that last thing is the Primal Curse?"
"Yes, the Primal Curse was a last effort of the Regional Lords to spite us and it has managed to poison every civilization we've formed since, hence why so many wars break out for few reasons. In particular, strong leaders go mad with their vices, eventually losing their civil forms and they have to be put down; that's not to say everyone else is safe from it, not at all. We live in a broken world."
"Is there anything more?"
"Oh yes. Lots. Being made of ideas and concepts: the Lords love a good story, tragedies in particular. Naturally, this means they desire those with painful pasts or futures."
***
Abby and Theo were back in their room by noon, the nidoking flipping through her profile with the zangoose sitting between his legs, nuzzling up at him a little bit. Cassie was at her post in the room as usual, minus the rifle and reading through a thin novel, glasses resting on her muzzle.
"So. I'm entirely exposed to you now, your honor. I have no secrets to you," said Abby.
"I'm not surprised by this," he said, shaking his head a bit before blowing softly over her ears. "What he trained you as, but why would a Reeducation Officer need an assassin?" He gave a shurg. "Thankfully neither of us will have to deal with him anymore-- but damn, I wish I could forget again." He tossed the papers onto the coffee table, folding his paws in her lap.
She let one of her own slide up to the side of Theo's muzzle, petting lightly over it. "It's okay, Theo. Uhm..." she looked to Cassie, "is there anyone he can see about this on base?"
The kadabra shook her head. "Sorry, we don't have any qualified therapists on staff at the moment."
"Really?" the zangoose raised an eye ridge at this, "One of our military bases has no one on staff for dealing with events like this?"
Again, Cassie shook her head. "No. We are understaffed at the moment, insufficient funds for more support staff."
"Great. And you mess with minds," Abby sighed, letting a claw trail up to scritch around one of Theo's ears, making it flick a few times.
"Enough," said the nidoking with a small smile. "I'll be fine. I'll be just fine." The nidoking lightly rubbed over her thigh. "Abby, is there any chance you've ever awoken your hidden power?" he asked in a change of pace.
"Hidden power? I have not. Why are you asking?"
He smiled a little, feeling her tail brush over his. "To work with me, you really need to know yourself," he explained. "Mine, for example, is psychic. It has been a signature of my family for generations; mine is also particularly potent for some reason."
"Interesting," she continued to run her claw around his ear, pressing up closer, "What would it take?"
"Just a good day long training session and a willingness to remember your past in detail," the nido said nuzzling her cheek. "It would also give us a chance to get familiar with eachothers fighting styles. You'd probably beat me bad, too."
"Why do you think that?" she asked with a slight giggle.
"You're an assassin that Datan assigned get close to and then kill me-- at least that's what I figure his motives were."
"Nonsense," she assured him, "He wouldn't have been able to predict you'd pick me up. He said he just wanted me keep a close eye on you."
He shook his head, wrapping his arms around above her waist. "You charmed me into it. Not that I regret it by this point, of course."
"I'm starting to feel the same way, Theo. I'm starting to."
Cassie looked up from her reading. "Shall I leave you two be for awhile?"
***
Gideon was sitting in his office, laptop at desk with a small camera clipped to the top of it. "Yes, yes. Most of your commanders should be en route back to base now," said the large nidoking, looking at seven faces on his monitor with an eighth spot blank in the video conferencing window. The faces consisted of a female umbreon, a gaunt-faced male hypno, a pair of red, glowing eyes that belonged to a gengar, a skarmory woman, a venusaur female, followed by a blastoise male with round glasses and a kangaskhan. "Where the hell is Datan?" he asked, raising a glass of brandy to his muzzle, "He was supposed to be here an hour ago."
"None of us know, my lord," answered the gengar in a very oily voice, "Could Edward have gotten an order to kill him out?"
The nido shook his head, lowering the glass. "No, any and all communications during the summit were monitored. I'll just have to chew his ass out next time I see him-- threatening my operation like this. Anyway, seven plus Head Justice Kriemhild is more than enough to browbeat the rest of the council into submission. We will have the majority of votes and military might."
"What of Lady Grayquill?" asked the kangaskhan, "House Grayquill could still try to pull a schism of the Team."
"Your former commander is wrapped around my claw tip, among other things," answered Gideon with a wry grin, "I don't want to off her...at least not until I can deal with the heiress Sophia. That will throw the Grayquill's into chaos and I'll do as I see fit."
"Understood, my lord," she said with a nod, "I'll inform my subordinates she is away and working with you, leaving me in charge. That should satisfy them until you go public with your command."
Gideon's perverse smirk became fanged. "I wish all of you luck with what must be done. If all goes well, the political fallout will be cleaned up in a few months and we'll start rolling troops into Hoenn."
"Why are we on Team Magma's side again?" questioned the skarmory, her voice having a bronze bell quality to it.
"Softening the opposing team and government. They are weak and rely on assistance from my soldiers bearing their emblem, but I'll take what I can get."
"We're sponsoring terrorists."
"They're more of a very misguided, ineffectual cult; they'll both be brought down once we take the region. Again, I wish all of you luck-- may your long knives strike true, spare not a single one of their relatives. And always remember: If I fall, Team leadership goes to the strongest. Goodbye, I'll speak to you all when the deed is done."
"Thank you, my lord," said the Gengar, his own massive grin broadening, "Looking forward to taking your rightful place?"
"I am." With that, he closed the window, turning in his chair to face the portraits on the wall while swishing his glass a bit. "I will make you proud, I'll right the wrong the Grayquill's committed in taking away our victory. Then, I shall conquer Hoenn and Sinnoh: Our fractured nation will be united under one banner once again."
***
Edward had just arrived back at headquarters that evening, a suitcase in each hand as he walked down the main entryway, the heavy blast doors closing in sequence behind him. Reaching the main door, he was just able to push it open. The electronic locks on it were still messed up from Theo's Inquisitorial Override card; he'd have to have Alexei fix that sometime. Making his way past the unfinished foyer, the tired alakazam made his way to his room. It was the same setup as Sophia and Theo's. He just dropped the suitcases beside the TV stand, hanging his greatcoat on a rack before making his way out again, heading to his office.
Unbelievable. He practically sold one of the few loves in his life to Gideon. Countermeasures would have to be taken, that much Edward knew. That man would certainly ruin the team. Was his second also a Bloodquill loyalist? If he's a Bloodquill loyalist, how much of his research had been leaked to Gideon? Gideon seemed sure there was a project afoot. Would House Bloodquill be more of a threat to his work than House Grayquill had been? Why did he always just...feel a need to be so secretive in the first place? The Alph excavation had full Team support, though they had no idea what he was looking for. Even now he wasn't sure himself *what* he was looking for, in particular what the Lords were. Theo must contain one, given his unnatural resistance to having those thoughts of his viewed. Maybe Cassie had figured out more by this point. The alakazam's normally focused mind was just scattered after the week.
He reached his office, right across from the double doors of the meeting room. Pulling his keys out, he unlocked the door and opened it. Pushing it open, he noticed a letter envelope had been pushed under his door. With a flick of his wrist, the alakazam telekinetically pulled it to his hand and made his way in, door closing behind him as he set down at his desk, pulling a letter opener out of a drawer and flicking it carefully to open the envelope.
Pulling the paper out, he unfolded it and skimmed over it, going a little pale for a second. "Good hell, seems Theo remembered," he said with a slow shake of his head before shrugging. He really couldn't blame the nido for doing what he did. It also meant Alexei was probably going to be working under Investigator Rhombus again. Which was annoying cost a few favors and earned Yeva's anger to get him under Datan and into his division in the first place.
Such a mess. Oh well, in a few months he'd have what he's looking for.