Arrival
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 6: Arrival
***
Slowly, Alexei began to wake up the next morning. Not quite sure where he was and not really caring for the moment, he fell back into his slumber a couple of times before he admitted defeat to the bright lights of the room he was in. Pulling the covers down a bit, he cracked his eyes open and slowly stood up, holding his head for a moment as he found the light nearly intolerable as his vision cleared. For a third time, he was in the infirmary , covered in a white hospital gown. After sitting there for a few minutes, he heard a door at the far end open, Sophia stepping in dressed in a lab coat and holding a clipboard.
"Good morning, Alexei," said the nidoqueen as she threw the board down on her desk before pacing over to his bed, her tail swishing slightly behind her.
"Urgh..." he blinked at her a couple of times before shutting his eyes again, rubbing his forehead, "Morning, Doctor Grayquill. How're you doing?" He managed to open his eyes again.
"Did Datan order you to drink so heavily last night?" asked the nidoqueen plainly, to which Alexei weakly nodded. "You were out and a total mess when the late night patrol found you in the training room. They woke me and promised they'd keep their mouths shut about this if you want them to. Any recordings of the incident are on your machines, so I'm sure you'll deal with them how you usually do."
"P-please," he hissed a bit as he managed to open his eyes entirely, Sophia's figure sharpening in his vision. "Please make sure they keep silent," he sat up, casting his head down slightly. "It's so undignified...entirely shameful, even-- where is my dignity? I mean...it just feels like my obligation to let him degrade me by this point." He could still smell the farfetch'd on him, so this gesture to save face meant would have meant little if he couldn't coop himself up in his office for the day.
"You still have your dignity; it's just maimed. But I can't patch that up," answered Sophia with a small smile, patting the absol on a shoulder. "Now...this is the second time in two days I've had to treat injuries caused by your boss."
"I know, I'm sorry. This would have happened anyway, but my actions aggravated it," said Alexei with a grumble.
She sighed while looking to the side, "You aggravated it in defiance. See?" She tilted her head a bit, "You have a sense of dignity, Alexei; I keep having to remind you of that."
"Enough motivational speaking. One thing he said actually worries me," the absol said as a slight change of topic, "It was something..." he shook his head a bit, finding the memory blurred, "I think about a curse and dominance, all I can remember beyond that is pain and humiliation."
Sophia just nodded at this, "It's the other side to that will of yours. We all have a primal flaw, after all."
"The regression you always warn me about is that?" asked Alexei curiously, "I'm worried that my boss may be right about it. When I was training with Fractal early yesterday morning, I felt a bit...overly enthusiastic about defeating him."
"The regression is the manifestation of it, threatening to remove your enlightened evolution form to leave a feral form like you had as a child. However, a revert lacks all of the wisdom and intelligence of our feral cousins-- a mindless beast," the nidoqueen imparted on the absol.
"What?" Alexei said with a bit more energy in his voice despite his hangover, "That does not make any sense. How can something like that happen?"
"I understand the physical mechanisms of it: it is the same as normal evolution, not really exciting," she said, one of her large ears flicking as she did. "What's really worrisome is no one knows why-- the religious claim its a product of a malign god and every study put into finding what puts the mechanisms into action has been inconclusive, just as we don't know how mood affects evolution while it seems to."
The absol gave a blank stare. "So...you're saying I could turn into a monster?"
Sophia nodded a few times. "You could. Any of us could. Has this happened any other time besides yesterday?"
Alexei glanced his eyes to the side for a few moments. "Uhm...well, yeah. Before that Fractal and I got a bit personal and the same thing happened."
He watched as the nidoqueen simply gave a shrug at that. "Now that is nothing to worry about there. That's the one place where it is actually safe to release as far as anyone can tell. You know, provided your flaw does not entail harming your partner."
"Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier?" asked the absol.
"You've never asked and its rather common knowledge," said the nidoqueen, her smile broadening. "On another topic, Theo is arriving today. I hope you didn't forget about that."
"Oh..." the absol began to slowly stand and yawned loudly before he continued, cringing for a moment at a somewhat sharp pain below his tail. "That's right."
"Yes. You've been wound up about it all week," commented Sophia. "Hangover or not, I'd like you to at least try make amends with my little brother this evening."
The absol took a couple of deep breaths at this. "Really can't get a break from it all, can I?"
"Come now," Sophia said with the same smile, "Deep in his heart, I don't think he's ever blamed you for his hand in life. So, I would like you to talk with him over dinner tonight at my place. Cassie will be there as well," her tail swished a bit, "it will almost be like old times."
Taking another pace to the center of the room, he gave a small groan of pain. "Fine, I'll do it," he said while looking around to spot his clothes neatly folded on a nearby shelf. "Would you say I'm fit to return to duty?"
"Not fully combat ready," she said while pacing over to her desk, "So please take a few days off of any sparring practice, but there's no reason you can't do the rest of your job."
"Yeah," Alexei said while starting to slip his slacks on under the gown, "That porygon assistant of mine isn't working out as well as I thought he--" the absol pondered that point while slipping the gown off to don his shirt. "It would. Its fast at finding what I want, but I'll never trust it with coding again." Throwing his coat over his shoulder, he gave a shrug while making his way out with the occasional wince, his steps a bit slower than usual.
"See you at dinner," said the nidoqueen with a wave.
***
Over in Edward's office, the Alakazam was sitting at his desk, having made sure to hide all the artifacts from earlier. The other three psychics were standing at attention in full battle dress, rifles slung over their shoulders. "Once again, good morning agents, feel free to relax for the moment-- pull up a seat," he offered, motioning to the chairs he kept in the corners.
"I'm going to assume you've all read over the papers I had our Chief Data Officer prepare for you yesterday." Watching the three of them seat themselves, Cassandra in the center, he continued after adjusting his lenses on his muzzle for a second. "He will be arriving within the next couple of hours and you will be waiting in the foyer for him to arrive. I will be accompanying you. Should he and whoever accompanies him put up any resistance, first use your abilities to restrain them and I'll authorize lethal force if required."
Cassie raised a paw. He gave a nod at this and the kadabra spoke her piece. "Executive, I worry that my personal bias may trouble our supervision of Inquisitor Theodore."
"It will not, Agent Cassandra," replied the Executive flatly, "You're one of the few agents on staff who I feel would be capable of facing him in single combat. This matter tears at my heart as well-- but I will not let my personal feelings compromise this division. Nor will you let yours."
"Understood, Executive," the kadabra answered back.
Watching the female golduck raise a paw herself, the alakazam acknowledged her with a turn of his head. She spoke in a rather soft a smooth tone of voice, "Executive, can I ask why you two feel that way?"
"No, you may not," answered Edward bluntly while threading his fingers. "An additional order on top of all of this is that the nidoking must not be allowed to enter the lowest level of the headquarters. This is where moonstone mining and current excavations are taking place. If he attempts to do so, you are to immediately kill him and then notify me so I can do political damage control."
The golduck blinked a couple of times at being blown off, hearing the additional orders. So harsh-- now she was a little bit curious why the Executive was being so paranoid over the lowest level. In fact, she could think of no one off the top of her head allowed on that level but a few special teams. "I understand, Executive. It was just if my superior Cassandra here is rendered incapable because of a problem, I would like to know why."
"I appreciate your curiosity, Agent," said Edward, his tone of voice becoming slightly harder. "But you know its poor etiquette to discuss ones experiences in the open."
"Yes, Executive," the golduck acknowledged, then went silent.
***
Those several hours passed quickly. Theo and Abby made their way down the central entry hall. It was a long and steel plated affair, lit by tube lighting. They heard a heavy blast door close behind them, then another and another every couple of yards, looking back each time to see them slam down with a hydraulic hiss. The zangoose shuddered a bit at the unease created by what was otherwise dead silence. In contrast, the nidoking seemed entirely unconcerned.
"No ceremony outside," she commented, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.
"Makes me happy," Theo responded calmly, not showing the slightest hint of happiness about him. "I would be rather upset if they did. The leaders will probably be waiting for us in the foyer up ahead."
"Why?" she asked him, tilting her head a little as she looked at him.
"My transfer needs to be a near seamless integration into their command structure," he answered, his voice continuing to remain calm and focused, though his voice picked up a bit as he continued, "But this place is under the command of someone who's been more of a father to me than my real one, so things should go smoothly."
Walking down the passage for a few minutes more, they eventually arrived at a pair of brushed steel double doors, each with a capital crimson R emblem, encircled with a band of woven brass. Finding a key card slot on the right side, the nidoking reached into a pocket of his slacks and produced his card, swiping it and watching a small LCD readout above flicker and bug out for a few moments before before it turned green.
Pushing the doors open, the pair found a completely dark room waiting for them. With the light outside only extending in a couple of yards on the metal floor, the nidoking let his ears swivel and flick a few times. He heard the slight sound of breath inside and what he figured was weapons being readied. All Abby heard was the nidoking give a growl, dropping his card as his spines flicked up. When she noticed the tips of his claws begin to crackle with static, her own retracted out a couple of inches at the sign of battle readiness from the nido. She peered harder into the dark room, but couldn't spot anything.
"What is the meaning of this?" boomed the nidoking, slapping his tail against one of the lower wall panels, causing it to crack and the bottom half to clatter on the floor. Not receiving a response, the nidoking gave a motion with his muzzle to Abby, hinting he wanted her to take cover on the right side of the door.
"Show yourselves," demanded the nidoking, "For attempting to intimidate an Inquisitorial Officer, I will attack if you do not reveal yourselves within the next five seconds."
As she pressed herself up against the right wall of the hallway, the nidoking took a pace into the room, crouching back a bit as he let the energy start to arc and snap brightly over his back spines and ears. The lights suddenly turned on full force and he found himself blinded for a second. With this came a low buzz which filled his head as every joint in his body tensed up.
Unable to unleash his thunder attack, the nidoking let the energy continue to flow around his body as his vision corrected to reveal a much larger, bland metal room with trio of Rocket soldiers near the opposite door. One of them was familiar with another familiar face standing behind the three at the far wall; the alakazam's eyes were glowing white and he was easily overpowering Theo with his psychic abilities. There would be another familiar face, but the nidoking failed to recognize the scruffy, smoking farfetch'd who was leaning back in the corner of the room.
"Stand down, Theo," warned Edward as he felt the nidoking attempting to break free. The golduck and slowking had their rifles trained on him, eyes taking a psychic glow as an additional warning to him. As he let the static fizzle out, Cassandra began to pace over to him, her father using his power to force the nidoking onto his knees, paws behind his head and tail simply immobilized. "Please search the Inquisitor," he told her.
"Yes, Executive," she said softly while circling around the nidoking, reaching into his shirt and pants pockets to toss his wallet and keys out, busting his phone into shards with a small burst of energy.
At that last violent stimulus, the zangoose rolled to the side, springing through the doorway in a quick attack. She pressed her claws forward, giving a hiss as she prepared to rip into the kadabra, closing the distance between them in an eye blink. Unfortunately for her, the zangoose found her momentum arrested in midair just after her claws cracked and shattered against a flashing blue hexagonal barrier that appeared in front of the kadabra. Cassie slowly turned her head from the nidoking, eyes flaring up blue as Abby was then smashed several times against the floor before being pinned by the psychic attack.
Cassandra watched as a small amount of blood appeared around the base of Abby's claws, which were unable to retract from the damage, spiderweb cracks covering what remained of them. The entirely winded zangoose tried to break the hold until she looked to the side for a second. She noticed the farfetch'd as he gave her a little wave. At that, she ceased to contest the kadabra's hold.
As this happened, the nidoking suddenly gave a new round of struggles with an echoing roar, even managing to bend his tail a bit before the other two psychics let their weapons slip to their sides in one paw while extending the other one. He attempted to charge a shadow ball, the baneful ghost energies sure to shatter the psionic bindings for only the needed second. He was furious, outrage boiling over at the sight of his new friend's wounds. The nidoking's reasoning began to slip away as he channeled ghostly power, his shadow turning pure black as it flowed up to his right paw.
For this, he was only rewarded by being slammed with the other two's own psychic attacks, kinetic blows loudly cracking his plates. Blood soaked into his white shirt as the shadow fled back to the floor and lightened up. One more strike to his muzzle from Edward made his head swing hard to the side, thankfully not breaking anything else as he joined his assistant on the floor. The nido was entirely out.
"Damn it," the alakazam shook his head a bit, "Guess it couldn't be helped. Get the nido and zangoose to the cells after having Doctor Grayquill and her staff treat them." He looked over to Datan, who was just leering at the zangoose. "You'll be in charge of getting this place back on his good side when we let him roam more freely," he spoke blandly to the farfetch'd, who only the let his eyes grudgingly move to the alakazam. "After this...I wish you the best of luck with it."
"You're the boss," he said with a small laugh, grinding out his cigarette against the metal wall before padding over to the zangoose, who Cassie just released as she set about to getting the medical staff. The kadabra showed no emotional expression throughout the whole half minute ordeal.
Datan almost smiled through his bill as she shot him a deadly gaze upwards. "You're working for him now, lady," he said impishly while pointing to the battered nidoking, "Or at least you need to continue to make it look like that. I'd love it if you actually figure out that secret he's keeping from the entire team." And with that, the duck turned and made his exit.
In a few more minutes, Sophia arrived with Cassie, the pair immediately followed by a chansey and male furret in full medical garb with a rolling metal stretcher between them. Sophia's head lowered a little bit as she spotted her younger brother's unconscious form face down on the floor. Shooting a glance to Cassie, the kadabra shook her head. "If it means anything to you, I didn't inflict those wounds," she answered, sounding much more apologetic than she would to anyone else.
***
Woken by a piercing pain in his head, Theo gave a growl as he managed to actually sit up. Looking around, he found himself in a way too familiar setting, though at least it was well lit and quite clean this time. He was in the holding area of Kanto North, a clean, heavily reinforced concrete hallway lined with cells, each having heavy bars designed to resist the most powerful of attempts to escape. An invisible, high intensity field was provided by a metal line of an antenna running down the hall, which could solidify ghosts and nullify psychic powers in the area. Most of all, the nidoking was glad to see it was well kept, but was somewhat chilled as he could see the door to what he figured was the interrogation room down the hall from him.
Blinking a few times, he tried to move and an additional pain shot through his chest. He looked down to find clean bandages covering the whole thing, plates being secured together somehow below it with his spines pressed back under the cloth. What he noticed after that was his assistant lying back on a bench on the other side of the cell, the zangoose's paws were bandaged up and she was asleep. Looked like she got the best of it-- unlike what happened to his last subordinate.
Managing to sit up with a loud groan, the nidoking swished his tail back and forth on the floor. So, he just sat in the silence for a moment, mulling over losing it back there. Edward allowing this...no, doing this to him? That was Edward restraining him back there and Cassie removing his stuff before she took down Abby. Lost it...he glanced over to Abigail. It was his fault she got injured, just brazenly stepping in there and she was trying to protect him. So frustrating, but the nidoking felt safe in assuming they would not risk seriously harming him. At the same time, he was not sure if the zangoose would receive the same luxury.
Well, at least the cell was clean this time. With that, he lied back on his mattress and began to doze off again.
***
A few hours after the incident, Alexei was making his way to Sophia's quarters, with Fractal at his side. "What a mess," commented the absol, still having a slight slowness in his steps, "She's not going to be happy about this. And she has done so much for me lately. I should just ask her how I can help." Of course, he already knew what she would want from him tonight if possible.
"Hope you can do something," the ampharos said with a small smile, tail glowing dully as he noted the slightly off pace of his friend.
Arriving at her door, the absol tapped his knuckles against it a couple of times. Hearing a click, they saw Cassie open the door, out of uniform for the first time that Alexei could remember while stationed here. "Hello, Alexei," she turned to her head to his companion and nodded, "and Fractal. Please, get inside." She stepped to the side and motioned for them to enter.
As they followed her in, the pair found themselves in one of the better housing situations in the headquarters. The living area was actually carpeted with the walls finished and textured. The coffee table was entirely covered in books, a couple of shelves on the wall holding even more and the TV cabinet had a few on the top of it. Against the far walls there were two short hallways, one leading to the kitchen and another leading to the nidoqueen's bedroom with the bath door opposite to it. Smelling something being prepared, the absol took a curious step towards the kitchen while Fractal took a seat next to Cassandra on the couch. The kadabra picked up a book and began to memorize it where she left off.
"Are you reading all of these?" the ampharos asked her in curiosity, picking up one of the books and flicking through a few pages.
"More or less," Cassie answered as she turned to the next page, being finished with it within a few seconds and immediately flipping to the next, "Memorization would be more accurate, I don't have time to process and comprehend what I'm reading yet."
"Wow," Fractal blinked a little bit at the pace she had, watching her continue to flip through the pages.
"You'll have enough time to eat," the two heard from the kitchen, Alexei watching as as the nidoqueen as she shook some seasoning into a pot of stew.
"Heard about what happened to Theo," the absol awkwardly brought up, the nidoqueen pretended to ignore it. "Also that Cassie took part in it."
"She did," responded Sophia while pulling a set of clay bowls out of an above cupboard, scooping the absol a bowl and handing it to him. "There's no dining room," the nidoqueen remarked, "But its one of the best living areas in the base-- beggars can't be choosers, you know."
The absol pulled out a spoon from a drawer and paced back out to the living room, picking up a hint that Sophia was not in the mood for such conversation, a slight narrowing of her eyes betrayed the nidos emotions. Setting himself down next to Fractal, he took a taste before setting the bowl down on the table. "It's good," he commented as he watched the nidoqueen step out to hand Cassie one, the kadabra setting her book aside as she took it in both paws.
"Thank you," responded the nido with a small nod as she got her own meal, Fractal stepping up after her to get his. "Certainly better than that tripe prepared for the rest of the staff," she said while standing next to the couch. It really had been awhile, last time she ever prepared anything for the absol being before he and Theodore were shipped away to the academy.
He decided to not to heed the bit of subtle warning he was given earlier. "It's too bad Theo is not up here with us," he said calmly, taking a sip of his meal.
"It really is," the nidoqueen in a somewhat down voice, "Security said I won't be able to see him until I tend to him and his companion tomorrow."
The ampharos piped up at this. "You're all aware I have access to the holding area, right?"
Alexei's eyes shifted to his friend. "No? I never knew you had that clearance. Though I'm not surprised because of how understaffed we are at the moment."
"One of my dozen or so duties is Interrogation Expert," the ampharos admitted with a bit of embarrassment. The nidoqueen's eyes narrowed a little more as they immediately locked onto him. "Thankfully this place being so new means I have little work in that department of my job."
Blinking a couple of times, the Absol seemed genuinely surprised by this. "I hope you don't have to take part in that ever." So that is what the ampharos meant by his methods not being too different from Datan's.
Fractal gave a small nod at that comment while remaining under Sophia's gaze. "Same. I could take you down there to see him if you'd like."
"It is what I arranged this whole dinner for in the first place," the nidoqueen said, softening the look she was giving Fractal a little bit. "I'd really like to visit him tonight as he will probably be upset when he wakes up." She turned her eyes to Alexei, "You too."
"If that's what you want," replied Alexei as he took a few spoonfuls of his stew, "But you know seeing my face will just make his day."
"It will," she said with a small nod. "Cassie," she said after sampling the food she prepared, "Are you going with or are you too busy?"
"I'm going to be seeing him all the time when he is let out," answered the kadabra.
Sophia gave a shrug to that. "All right, that's fair."
***
Hearing something bang against the bars of his cell, the nidoking's ears perked up and swiveled toward it before turning over onto his side to face the source. Opening his eyes slowly, he found it was his sister who woke him, Alexei and an ampharos standing to her side. "Hello," he said rather blandly as he watched his assistant starting to wake as well.
"Wanted to have a chat with you," Sophia said.
The nidoking nodded a little bit as he sat up again. Giving a yawn, he stretched out his tail by swishing it across the cold floor . "Sure, its not like I'm going anywhere for awhile."
Kanto North
Chapter 6: Arrival
***
Slowly, Alexei began to wake up the next morning. Not quite sure where he was and not really caring for the moment, he fell back into his slumber a couple of times before he admitted defeat to the bright lights of the room he was in. Pulling the covers down a bit, he cracked his eyes open and slowly stood up, holding his head for a moment as he found the light nearly intolerable as his vision cleared. For a third time, he was in the infirmary , covered in a white hospital gown. After sitting there for a few minutes, he heard a door at the far end open, Sophia stepping in dressed in a lab coat and holding a clipboard.
"Good morning, Alexei," said the nidoqueen as she threw the board down on her desk before pacing over to his bed, her tail swishing slightly behind her.
"Urgh..." he blinked at her a couple of times before shutting his eyes again, rubbing his forehead, "Morning, Doctor Grayquill. How're you doing?" He managed to open his eyes again.
"Did Datan order you to drink so heavily last night?" asked the nidoqueen plainly, to which Alexei weakly nodded. "You were out and a total mess when the late night patrol found you in the training room. They woke me and promised they'd keep their mouths shut about this if you want them to. Any recordings of the incident are on your machines, so I'm sure you'll deal with them how you usually do."
"P-please," he hissed a bit as he managed to open his eyes entirely, Sophia's figure sharpening in his vision. "Please make sure they keep silent," he sat up, casting his head down slightly. "It's so undignified...entirely shameful, even-- where is my dignity? I mean...it just feels like my obligation to let him degrade me by this point." He could still smell the farfetch'd on him, so this gesture to save face meant would have meant little if he couldn't coop himself up in his office for the day.
"You still have your dignity; it's just maimed. But I can't patch that up," answered Sophia with a small smile, patting the absol on a shoulder. "Now...this is the second time in two days I've had to treat injuries caused by your boss."
"I know, I'm sorry. This would have happened anyway, but my actions aggravated it," said Alexei with a grumble.
She sighed while looking to the side, "You aggravated it in defiance. See?" She tilted her head a bit, "You have a sense of dignity, Alexei; I keep having to remind you of that."
"Enough motivational speaking. One thing he said actually worries me," the absol said as a slight change of topic, "It was something..." he shook his head a bit, finding the memory blurred, "I think about a curse and dominance, all I can remember beyond that is pain and humiliation."
Sophia just nodded at this, "It's the other side to that will of yours. We all have a primal flaw, after all."
"The regression you always warn me about is that?" asked Alexei curiously, "I'm worried that my boss may be right about it. When I was training with Fractal early yesterday morning, I felt a bit...overly enthusiastic about defeating him."
"The regression is the manifestation of it, threatening to remove your enlightened evolution form to leave a feral form like you had as a child. However, a revert lacks all of the wisdom and intelligence of our feral cousins-- a mindless beast," the nidoqueen imparted on the absol.
"What?" Alexei said with a bit more energy in his voice despite his hangover, "That does not make any sense. How can something like that happen?"
"I understand the physical mechanisms of it: it is the same as normal evolution, not really exciting," she said, one of her large ears flicking as she did. "What's really worrisome is no one knows why-- the religious claim its a product of a malign god and every study put into finding what puts the mechanisms into action has been inconclusive, just as we don't know how mood affects evolution while it seems to."
The absol gave a blank stare. "So...you're saying I could turn into a monster?"
Sophia nodded a few times. "You could. Any of us could. Has this happened any other time besides yesterday?"
Alexei glanced his eyes to the side for a few moments. "Uhm...well, yeah. Before that Fractal and I got a bit personal and the same thing happened."
He watched as the nidoqueen simply gave a shrug at that. "Now that is nothing to worry about there. That's the one place where it is actually safe to release as far as anyone can tell. You know, provided your flaw does not entail harming your partner."
"Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier?" asked the absol.
"You've never asked and its rather common knowledge," said the nidoqueen, her smile broadening. "On another topic, Theo is arriving today. I hope you didn't forget about that."
"Oh..." the absol began to slowly stand and yawned loudly before he continued, cringing for a moment at a somewhat sharp pain below his tail. "That's right."
"Yes. You've been wound up about it all week," commented Sophia. "Hangover or not, I'd like you to at least try make amends with my little brother this evening."
The absol took a couple of deep breaths at this. "Really can't get a break from it all, can I?"
"Come now," Sophia said with the same smile, "Deep in his heart, I don't think he's ever blamed you for his hand in life. So, I would like you to talk with him over dinner tonight at my place. Cassie will be there as well," her tail swished a bit, "it will almost be like old times."
Taking another pace to the center of the room, he gave a small groan of pain. "Fine, I'll do it," he said while looking around to spot his clothes neatly folded on a nearby shelf. "Would you say I'm fit to return to duty?"
"Not fully combat ready," she said while pacing over to her desk, "So please take a few days off of any sparring practice, but there's no reason you can't do the rest of your job."
"Yeah," Alexei said while starting to slip his slacks on under the gown, "That porygon assistant of mine isn't working out as well as I thought he--" the absol pondered that point while slipping the gown off to don his shirt. "It would. Its fast at finding what I want, but I'll never trust it with coding again." Throwing his coat over his shoulder, he gave a shrug while making his way out with the occasional wince, his steps a bit slower than usual.
"See you at dinner," said the nidoqueen with a wave.
***
Over in Edward's office, the Alakazam was sitting at his desk, having made sure to hide all the artifacts from earlier. The other three psychics were standing at attention in full battle dress, rifles slung over their shoulders. "Once again, good morning agents, feel free to relax for the moment-- pull up a seat," he offered, motioning to the chairs he kept in the corners.
"I'm going to assume you've all read over the papers I had our Chief Data Officer prepare for you yesterday." Watching the three of them seat themselves, Cassandra in the center, he continued after adjusting his lenses on his muzzle for a second. "He will be arriving within the next couple of hours and you will be waiting in the foyer for him to arrive. I will be accompanying you. Should he and whoever accompanies him put up any resistance, first use your abilities to restrain them and I'll authorize lethal force if required."
Cassie raised a paw. He gave a nod at this and the kadabra spoke her piece. "Executive, I worry that my personal bias may trouble our supervision of Inquisitor Theodore."
"It will not, Agent Cassandra," replied the Executive flatly, "You're one of the few agents on staff who I feel would be capable of facing him in single combat. This matter tears at my heart as well-- but I will not let my personal feelings compromise this division. Nor will you let yours."
"Understood, Executive," the kadabra answered back.
Watching the female golduck raise a paw herself, the alakazam acknowledged her with a turn of his head. She spoke in a rather soft a smooth tone of voice, "Executive, can I ask why you two feel that way?"
"No, you may not," answered Edward bluntly while threading his fingers. "An additional order on top of all of this is that the nidoking must not be allowed to enter the lowest level of the headquarters. This is where moonstone mining and current excavations are taking place. If he attempts to do so, you are to immediately kill him and then notify me so I can do political damage control."
The golduck blinked a couple of times at being blown off, hearing the additional orders. So harsh-- now she was a little bit curious why the Executive was being so paranoid over the lowest level. In fact, she could think of no one off the top of her head allowed on that level but a few special teams. "I understand, Executive. It was just if my superior Cassandra here is rendered incapable because of a problem, I would like to know why."
"I appreciate your curiosity, Agent," said Edward, his tone of voice becoming slightly harder. "But you know its poor etiquette to discuss ones experiences in the open."
"Yes, Executive," the golduck acknowledged, then went silent.
***
Those several hours passed quickly. Theo and Abby made their way down the central entry hall. It was a long and steel plated affair, lit by tube lighting. They heard a heavy blast door close behind them, then another and another every couple of yards, looking back each time to see them slam down with a hydraulic hiss. The zangoose shuddered a bit at the unease created by what was otherwise dead silence. In contrast, the nidoking seemed entirely unconcerned.
"No ceremony outside," she commented, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.
"Makes me happy," Theo responded calmly, not showing the slightest hint of happiness about him. "I would be rather upset if they did. The leaders will probably be waiting for us in the foyer up ahead."
"Why?" she asked him, tilting her head a little as she looked at him.
"My transfer needs to be a near seamless integration into their command structure," he answered, his voice continuing to remain calm and focused, though his voice picked up a bit as he continued, "But this place is under the command of someone who's been more of a father to me than my real one, so things should go smoothly."
Walking down the passage for a few minutes more, they eventually arrived at a pair of brushed steel double doors, each with a capital crimson R emblem, encircled with a band of woven brass. Finding a key card slot on the right side, the nidoking reached into a pocket of his slacks and produced his card, swiping it and watching a small LCD readout above flicker and bug out for a few moments before before it turned green.
Pushing the doors open, the pair found a completely dark room waiting for them. With the light outside only extending in a couple of yards on the metal floor, the nidoking let his ears swivel and flick a few times. He heard the slight sound of breath inside and what he figured was weapons being readied. All Abby heard was the nidoking give a growl, dropping his card as his spines flicked up. When she noticed the tips of his claws begin to crackle with static, her own retracted out a couple of inches at the sign of battle readiness from the nido. She peered harder into the dark room, but couldn't spot anything.
"What is the meaning of this?" boomed the nidoking, slapping his tail against one of the lower wall panels, causing it to crack and the bottom half to clatter on the floor. Not receiving a response, the nidoking gave a motion with his muzzle to Abby, hinting he wanted her to take cover on the right side of the door.
"Show yourselves," demanded the nidoking, "For attempting to intimidate an Inquisitorial Officer, I will attack if you do not reveal yourselves within the next five seconds."
As she pressed herself up against the right wall of the hallway, the nidoking took a pace into the room, crouching back a bit as he let the energy start to arc and snap brightly over his back spines and ears. The lights suddenly turned on full force and he found himself blinded for a second. With this came a low buzz which filled his head as every joint in his body tensed up.
Unable to unleash his thunder attack, the nidoking let the energy continue to flow around his body as his vision corrected to reveal a much larger, bland metal room with trio of Rocket soldiers near the opposite door. One of them was familiar with another familiar face standing behind the three at the far wall; the alakazam's eyes were glowing white and he was easily overpowering Theo with his psychic abilities. There would be another familiar face, but the nidoking failed to recognize the scruffy, smoking farfetch'd who was leaning back in the corner of the room.
"Stand down, Theo," warned Edward as he felt the nidoking attempting to break free. The golduck and slowking had their rifles trained on him, eyes taking a psychic glow as an additional warning to him. As he let the static fizzle out, Cassandra began to pace over to him, her father using his power to force the nidoking onto his knees, paws behind his head and tail simply immobilized. "Please search the Inquisitor," he told her.
"Yes, Executive," she said softly while circling around the nidoking, reaching into his shirt and pants pockets to toss his wallet and keys out, busting his phone into shards with a small burst of energy.
At that last violent stimulus, the zangoose rolled to the side, springing through the doorway in a quick attack. She pressed her claws forward, giving a hiss as she prepared to rip into the kadabra, closing the distance between them in an eye blink. Unfortunately for her, the zangoose found her momentum arrested in midair just after her claws cracked and shattered against a flashing blue hexagonal barrier that appeared in front of the kadabra. Cassie slowly turned her head from the nidoking, eyes flaring up blue as Abby was then smashed several times against the floor before being pinned by the psychic attack.
Cassandra watched as a small amount of blood appeared around the base of Abby's claws, which were unable to retract from the damage, spiderweb cracks covering what remained of them. The entirely winded zangoose tried to break the hold until she looked to the side for a second. She noticed the farfetch'd as he gave her a little wave. At that, she ceased to contest the kadabra's hold.
As this happened, the nidoking suddenly gave a new round of struggles with an echoing roar, even managing to bend his tail a bit before the other two psychics let their weapons slip to their sides in one paw while extending the other one. He attempted to charge a shadow ball, the baneful ghost energies sure to shatter the psionic bindings for only the needed second. He was furious, outrage boiling over at the sight of his new friend's wounds. The nidoking's reasoning began to slip away as he channeled ghostly power, his shadow turning pure black as it flowed up to his right paw.
For this, he was only rewarded by being slammed with the other two's own psychic attacks, kinetic blows loudly cracking his plates. Blood soaked into his white shirt as the shadow fled back to the floor and lightened up. One more strike to his muzzle from Edward made his head swing hard to the side, thankfully not breaking anything else as he joined his assistant on the floor. The nido was entirely out.
"Damn it," the alakazam shook his head a bit, "Guess it couldn't be helped. Get the nido and zangoose to the cells after having Doctor Grayquill and her staff treat them." He looked over to Datan, who was just leering at the zangoose. "You'll be in charge of getting this place back on his good side when we let him roam more freely," he spoke blandly to the farfetch'd, who only the let his eyes grudgingly move to the alakazam. "After this...I wish you the best of luck with it."
"You're the boss," he said with a small laugh, grinding out his cigarette against the metal wall before padding over to the zangoose, who Cassie just released as she set about to getting the medical staff. The kadabra showed no emotional expression throughout the whole half minute ordeal.
Datan almost smiled through his bill as she shot him a deadly gaze upwards. "You're working for him now, lady," he said impishly while pointing to the battered nidoking, "Or at least you need to continue to make it look like that. I'd love it if you actually figure out that secret he's keeping from the entire team." And with that, the duck turned and made his exit.
In a few more minutes, Sophia arrived with Cassie, the pair immediately followed by a chansey and male furret in full medical garb with a rolling metal stretcher between them. Sophia's head lowered a little bit as she spotted her younger brother's unconscious form face down on the floor. Shooting a glance to Cassie, the kadabra shook her head. "If it means anything to you, I didn't inflict those wounds," she answered, sounding much more apologetic than she would to anyone else.
***
Woken by a piercing pain in his head, Theo gave a growl as he managed to actually sit up. Looking around, he found himself in a way too familiar setting, though at least it was well lit and quite clean this time. He was in the holding area of Kanto North, a clean, heavily reinforced concrete hallway lined with cells, each having heavy bars designed to resist the most powerful of attempts to escape. An invisible, high intensity field was provided by a metal line of an antenna running down the hall, which could solidify ghosts and nullify psychic powers in the area. Most of all, the nidoking was glad to see it was well kept, but was somewhat chilled as he could see the door to what he figured was the interrogation room down the hall from him.
Blinking a few times, he tried to move and an additional pain shot through his chest. He looked down to find clean bandages covering the whole thing, plates being secured together somehow below it with his spines pressed back under the cloth. What he noticed after that was his assistant lying back on a bench on the other side of the cell, the zangoose's paws were bandaged up and she was asleep. Looked like she got the best of it-- unlike what happened to his last subordinate.
Managing to sit up with a loud groan, the nidoking swished his tail back and forth on the floor. So, he just sat in the silence for a moment, mulling over losing it back there. Edward allowing this...no, doing this to him? That was Edward restraining him back there and Cassie removing his stuff before she took down Abby. Lost it...he glanced over to Abigail. It was his fault she got injured, just brazenly stepping in there and she was trying to protect him. So frustrating, but the nidoking felt safe in assuming they would not risk seriously harming him. At the same time, he was not sure if the zangoose would receive the same luxury.
Well, at least the cell was clean this time. With that, he lied back on his mattress and began to doze off again.
***
A few hours after the incident, Alexei was making his way to Sophia's quarters, with Fractal at his side. "What a mess," commented the absol, still having a slight slowness in his steps, "She's not going to be happy about this. And she has done so much for me lately. I should just ask her how I can help." Of course, he already knew what she would want from him tonight if possible.
"Hope you can do something," the ampharos said with a small smile, tail glowing dully as he noted the slightly off pace of his friend.
Arriving at her door, the absol tapped his knuckles against it a couple of times. Hearing a click, they saw Cassie open the door, out of uniform for the first time that Alexei could remember while stationed here. "Hello, Alexei," she turned to her head to his companion and nodded, "and Fractal. Please, get inside." She stepped to the side and motioned for them to enter.
As they followed her in, the pair found themselves in one of the better housing situations in the headquarters. The living area was actually carpeted with the walls finished and textured. The coffee table was entirely covered in books, a couple of shelves on the wall holding even more and the TV cabinet had a few on the top of it. Against the far walls there were two short hallways, one leading to the kitchen and another leading to the nidoqueen's bedroom with the bath door opposite to it. Smelling something being prepared, the absol took a curious step towards the kitchen while Fractal took a seat next to Cassandra on the couch. The kadabra picked up a book and began to memorize it where she left off.
"Are you reading all of these?" the ampharos asked her in curiosity, picking up one of the books and flicking through a few pages.
"More or less," Cassie answered as she turned to the next page, being finished with it within a few seconds and immediately flipping to the next, "Memorization would be more accurate, I don't have time to process and comprehend what I'm reading yet."
"Wow," Fractal blinked a little bit at the pace she had, watching her continue to flip through the pages.
"You'll have enough time to eat," the two heard from the kitchen, Alexei watching as as the nidoqueen as she shook some seasoning into a pot of stew.
"Heard about what happened to Theo," the absol awkwardly brought up, the nidoqueen pretended to ignore it. "Also that Cassie took part in it."
"She did," responded Sophia while pulling a set of clay bowls out of an above cupboard, scooping the absol a bowl and handing it to him. "There's no dining room," the nidoqueen remarked, "But its one of the best living areas in the base-- beggars can't be choosers, you know."
The absol pulled out a spoon from a drawer and paced back out to the living room, picking up a hint that Sophia was not in the mood for such conversation, a slight narrowing of her eyes betrayed the nidos emotions. Setting himself down next to Fractal, he took a taste before setting the bowl down on the table. "It's good," he commented as he watched the nidoqueen step out to hand Cassie one, the kadabra setting her book aside as she took it in both paws.
"Thank you," responded the nido with a small nod as she got her own meal, Fractal stepping up after her to get his. "Certainly better than that tripe prepared for the rest of the staff," she said while standing next to the couch. It really had been awhile, last time she ever prepared anything for the absol being before he and Theodore were shipped away to the academy.
He decided to not to heed the bit of subtle warning he was given earlier. "It's too bad Theo is not up here with us," he said calmly, taking a sip of his meal.
"It really is," the nidoqueen in a somewhat down voice, "Security said I won't be able to see him until I tend to him and his companion tomorrow."
The ampharos piped up at this. "You're all aware I have access to the holding area, right?"
Alexei's eyes shifted to his friend. "No? I never knew you had that clearance. Though I'm not surprised because of how understaffed we are at the moment."
"One of my dozen or so duties is Interrogation Expert," the ampharos admitted with a bit of embarrassment. The nidoqueen's eyes narrowed a little more as they immediately locked onto him. "Thankfully this place being so new means I have little work in that department of my job."
Blinking a couple of times, the Absol seemed genuinely surprised by this. "I hope you don't have to take part in that ever." So that is what the ampharos meant by his methods not being too different from Datan's.
Fractal gave a small nod at that comment while remaining under Sophia's gaze. "Same. I could take you down there to see him if you'd like."
"It is what I arranged this whole dinner for in the first place," the nidoqueen said, softening the look she was giving Fractal a little bit. "I'd really like to visit him tonight as he will probably be upset when he wakes up." She turned her eyes to Alexei, "You too."
"If that's what you want," replied Alexei as he took a few spoonfuls of his stew, "But you know seeing my face will just make his day."
"It will," she said with a small nod. "Cassie," she said after sampling the food she prepared, "Are you going with or are you too busy?"
"I'm going to be seeing him all the time when he is let out," answered the kadabra.
Sophia gave a shrug to that. "All right, that's fair."
***
Hearing something bang against the bars of his cell, the nidoking's ears perked up and swiveled toward it before turning over onto his side to face the source. Opening his eyes slowly, he found it was his sister who woke him, Alexei and an ampharos standing to her side. "Hello," he said rather blandly as he watched his assistant starting to wake as well.
"Wanted to have a chat with you," Sophia said.
The nidoking nodded a little bit as he sat up again. Giving a yawn, he stretched out his tail by swishing it across the cold floor . "Sure, its not like I'm going anywhere for awhile."