Interim
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Graying Blood
Chapter 1: Interim
***
One evening in south western Kanto, Gideon was standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. The sun was setting on the horizon, bathing everything in a pinkish orange light. With him was a tall noctowl woman looking to be in her 40's with a silver urn in her taloned hands and a younger one, probably in her mid teens. The pair were dressed in drab black dresses and the nidoking was wearing a matching suit, a leek in the breast pocket of it. The three had left a funeral ceremony a few hours earlier to scatter the Datan's ashes.
"He said we was going to visit before Mallory left for Mt. Silver," the older noctowl said in a somber tone, but devoid of any tears.
Gideon also had a down look on his face, spines flat with his ears folded down slightly. "I am sorry for your loss. Datan was a good friend of mine. I arranged for you and Mallory to receive his salary in the form of a stipend, if that counts as any consolation."
"It doesn't. I always knew Datan...with his line of work being what it is..." she looked down at the urn in her hands. "That something like this could happen to him."
The nidoking scooted up a little closer to the noctowl. "His murder is still inexcusable, however," he said in a stronger tone of voice, "I will do what can in my power to find those responsible." He looked to Mallory, "You are still going into the Team, right?"
"Yes, Lord Bloodquill," answered the teenage noctowl.
"And you'd be interested in taking revenge for his murder, right?"
She gave a short, very serious nod. "I would, Lord Bloodquill."
Gideon looked to her mother again. "You've raised a great successor to him," the nidoking said proudly with a very slight and , for once, genuinely warm smile. "May she be the one to bid Datan our final farewell?"
"Of course," her mother answered as she handed the urn to Mallory. The younger noctowl girl took it. Feeling a breeze blow in from behind her, she opened the urn and thrust if forward, the farfetch'd ashes catching on the wind. As they drifted away, Gideon walked up next to the girl, pulling the leek from his pocket.
"Goodbye, Datan," he whispered softly before throwing it. He then turned around as the last few motes of ash drifted off, leaning his muzzle in close to the side of the older noctowl's head. "If you're ever feeling lonely, I encourage you to call me. I can always spare a day or two for a friend's mate," he whispered to her in a gentle tone.
The onion splashed into the water, floating along until the sun set and it was claimed by the ocean.
***
Alexei was over in Goldenrod, Johto at the local Enforcement center where Rhombus' office was located. It was dimly lit in a bland yellow tint by sunlight filtering through a set of beige blinds on the window, the furniture and walls also a somewhat washed-out, grayish look to them.
The absol was standing across the Rocket Investigator's desk, watching the large arcanine woman reach into a drawer. "I've been waiting to give you these for a year, kid. Too bad that Datan guy picked you up," she said before pulling out a small black wallet-shaped badge case and a pistol strongly resembling a MP-443 Grach, placing both along with the guns empty magazine on the table. "Here is your badge and sidearm, Agent Alexei."
"Thank you, ma'am," he said taking both, flipping the case open to show a dark red metal star on a black background, a brass-edged, equally dark red R emblem over it with a photograph of Alexei, his name and all his various Team registration numbers on an ID card on the opposite fold of the case.
"There's one minor change to that, though," Rhombus said. "Actually, a major one. Since Theo is reported dead, that makes you the Inquisitor of our group. You're now a judge of the Team, Alexei."
The absol blinked a few times. "That's a quick promotion."
The arcanine cracked a small smile at the comment. "Question is, Alexei. Can I trust you with those responsibilities? Don't forget, I'm monitoring your progress at becoming an acceptable agent again. You did something to Datan; I'm damn sure of it, kid."
"What if I did?"
The smile broadened. "Then I would congratulate you on removing that stain from one of the branches I represent. There's still too many; the Reeducation Branch is, unsurprisingly, a haven for the Team's most troublesome, abusive agents. It also means, in my eyes, you have exhibited adequate judgment by Team standards and so get to keep your promotion. With this, your military rank also goes up to Captain. You'll have more stuff on your hands if you find your way back into there again." She moved a paw to pat Alexei on the shoulder. "You've done something good, kid. Keep it up."
He pocketed his badge while nodding a little bit. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll do my best to uphold any standards that Theo set. But, when is his funeral?"
"There isn't going to be one as there is no body when there should be. That's why I said he was only reported deceased."
Alexei didn't seem surprised by this revelation at all. "I figured as much. Think our new leader Gideon has him?"
Her smile faded a little as he said that. "If there is someone worse than a corrupt Reeducation Agent, it's a noble who thinks they can do no wrong. I thought when the coup happened, there would be no more nobles, being the plague which ruined our nation in the first place. I think I ground that sense of entitlement out of you and Theo pretty good back at the Academy."
"You did, ma'am. So, I'm taking what you've said as a 'yes'?"
The big arcanine's smile was gone. "Mm-hmm. Because it's one of my duties to find agents who have disappeared, so we are going to be finding Theodore and Lilith Grayquill. And maybe that new friend of his, Abigail, if we're lucky."
The absol gave her a surprised look. "Rhombus, ma'am. With all respect, we know where they probably are already."
"Yes, we're going to be finding and rescuing them. I'm sure House Grayquill will back us as much as they can, which should allow us to avoid the assassin's scope despite our branch being compromised."
Alexei still seemed astonished. "You're very brave, didn't imagine you'd be willing to break from team policies."
"No. I am doing my job. I suspect Theodore is just missing, so I intend to find him. I am also going to show Gideon why he shouldn't mess with those under my command. On another note, do you have anyplace to live yet?"
"I have been staying at a hotel for a couple days," the absol answered with a shake of his head.
"You can take Theo's room at my house; he was living with Slate and I before he left to inspect the Northern Kanto Division's headquarters."
The absol was taking a moment to look over his new piece, the gun having a very dark finish over its surface. "Thank you again, ma'am. I'll do my best in this operation." The absol indeed would. Still, this task seemed to border on the impossible. Rhombus wanted to get Theo out from the most secure place in either Kanto or Johto. But if this worked out, he would be able to forgive himself for breaking under torture and telling where Theo had fled to after their assignment at Alph. The absol wouldn't deny himself this opportunity.
***
That evening, the Alexei arrived at Rhombus' house. It was on the edge of Goldenrod, a good ways from other residences. It was a two story, fair-sized dwelling painted in a very subtle blue. Rhombus was guiding him up stairs and down a short hall, passing a few doors before they reached Theo's. "You'll need to change the sheets," the arcanine commented as she opened the door for the absol. "Everything that was his in there is yours until we get him back."
It was the smaller of the house's two bedrooms, though still spacious. It also was clean and organized. The sheets, despite being implied to have been unchanged, were neatly tucked in on the double size bed. There were several stacks of ironed white shirts on top of the nidoking's dresser, the black slacks that go with them on the other side. There was a desk in a corner by the window with a small metal filing cabinet with a desktop computer to the side of it. The chair was neatly pushed in and the absol could see every folder on the desk stacked and carefully aligned to form perfectly square edges.
Alexei was now living in the domain of an opposite to himself. The absol didn't even bother to organize his office for his replacement before he left. He found it so strange to be so tightly wound in one's privacy. He heard Rhombus walk off, closing the door behind her. The absol approached a set of wood bifold closet doors, opening them to reveal a few officer coats on the rack with several sets of replacement sheets on a shelf above. Looking down, he could also see several rows of empty liquor bottles. How pitiful. He pulled some sheets down, not bothering to close the door. As he turned, Alexei noticed a framed photo on the nidoking's nightstand, a few more pictures face down beside it.
The one in the frame was of him, Theo as a nidorino and Slate as a sandshrew in front of a Team flag in full dress uniform at attention.
This was taken a few days before we headed off to Alph by Rhombus. Head Justice Thaddeus Grayquill didn't approve of giving us our titles yet; he felt we were not ready. He was right, we were not ready for anything. They shipped us off to Mt. Silver Military Academy when we were around 12 when entrance was normally around 16 or 17 at minimum. Thaddeus had misgivings about having us there so young, though he bowed to pressures from his mate and Edward.
The absol picked up the other two. The next was of a male nidoran and absol, both of them looking a little roughed up in someone's living room with a nidorina swabbing out a cut on the nidoran's arm. The edge of the absol's scythe looked red.
Edward took that one. This was shortly after we had our enlightened evolution and gained our bipedal forms. He was basically our father, raising us until we went to Mt. Silver. There was nothing normal about it, though. In retrospect, it was all indoctrination and training. He treated his actual daughter, Cassie, in much the same way. Forcing the abra to study and hone her psychic powers almost every waking hour. I've always seen those two as siblings of mine, despite the distance that's grown between us.
He had us try to spar, but we both found our new bipedal forms very awkward at that point. Theo stumbled and got himself cut on my now missing scythe by accident. Thankfully, it wasn't deep. Sophia was with us as well, but she has about 10 years on the both of us. It was lucky she was there, normally she was buried in her own studies.
The last one was the three of them again standing in front of a Rocket flag, only Theo was now a nidoking, Slate was a sandslash and Alexei was missing his head scythe.
This one. It was also taken by Rhombus, just after Theo and I were released from Correctional Facility Five. I was to work under her originally, but it seemed that Agent Datan was transferred to the new Northern Kanto Headquarters and needed a subordinate with network administration skills, much of which I already picked on the side at Mt. Silver. I was curious what the hell that professional torturer was doing in a high military position, but all I learned was that Gideon Bloodquill assigned him there. He said he chose me over Theo because he found me a to be a challenge. There had to be other reasons, but I don't know. And oh...Theo, he broke you so thoroughly. It made me smile to hear you had the conviction to beat him down, but I was disappointed you couldn't actually finish the job. You made me do it, and I liked it *too* much for comfort.
Still, this doesn't feel important. Why do I dwell on it? There are bigger things afoot in the world.
On that thought, he saw his reflection in the glass of the frame ripple a little, warping into another's again. It was a perversion of his own form. Its fur was solid hide, a few spikes protruding from the sides of its neck, a pair of pointed ears on its head and no base of his missing scythe. The absol just stared at the reflection as it looked to him, its green eyes locked with his red.
Who are you? Every time I look in the mirror since I ended Datan, I see you. How can you invade my mind? Psychics can't, and most ghosts cannot either.
The reflection just stared blankly at him, mocking the absol.
Damn you. I know you can speak! You've done it before. Answer me, invader! What are you doing to me?
The reflection rippled and twisted, becoming his own again. Alexei shook his head. "I might actually be crazy," he muttered to himself, pushing the frame down on its face before he actually went about changing the bed's sheets for his use.
***
"Are we really going to be finding Theo, dear?" asked Slate the sandslash. He was on his knees behind the arcanine, only in his boxers as he carefully massaged her shoulders. Rhombus was sitting on the edge of the bed, just in a set of plain white underwear. The room was only dimly lit by a lamp on the sandmouse's nightstand.
The arcanine female churred a little bit as his paws kneaded at her back, Slate being careful not to prick her with his claw tips. "Ahh...yeah. Not much of a search," she groaned in pleasure, looking back with half-lidded eyes to her mate. "He vanished after Gideon won the fight. It's no mystery what happened. Ahh! A little lower, please."
The sandslash obeyed her, letting his paws slide down a few inches, carefully rubbing and pressing over her upper back, harder and softer whenever he needed to. He heard the arcanine woman start to pant a little bit at the treatment. "Mmm...maybe it's best not to focus on it at the moment. Think we could get Alexei in here with us?" He chuckled a little bit at the possibility.
The big fire dog's eyes drifted back to his again. "Probably. Not tonight, though. Let him settle in a bit first. Ooh...that's nice, hon. I've taught you well on many things." She felt one of the paws slip to the center of her back, the claw tips deftly unhooking her bra and letting it fall into her lap before both paws wrapped around to cup her breasts, the edges of his inner claws lightly rubbing at her nipples.
He rested his chin on her right shoulder, nosing his muzzle up against her's softly as he continued to gently squeeze and massage over her mounds. While Slate gave the side of her muzzle a small lick, Rhombus brought her right paw up to his cheek, a pair of claws playfully flicking around one of Slate's ears, making the sandslash male twitch for a moment with his claws giving a harder squeeze over her breasts in surprise.
Rhombus gave a lustful growl at this at his, panting a little before before she pulled out of Slate's grip to stand. Flashing a lewd smile back to him, she slipped her panties down with a claw, kicking them off to the side while swishing that large, busy tail of hers a bit as she turned around slowly. "On your back," she ordered, motioning with a paw.
He did so, his grayish, brown quills folding down flat as he did. A visible bulge formed in his boxers as his larger mate climbed back onto the mattress and over him. One of her paws trailed down his chest and yanked his underwear down roughly to reveal the sandmouse's dark-pink, tapered shaft, the arcanine playfully jerking it at with her paw while tilting her head a bit. "You want it so much right now, don't you?" He gave a small nod, the quills on his head bristling as he felt the paw slide down further to playfully squeeze at his sizable rodent sac.
The large arcanine female's paw left his crotch as she shifted up further, moving into a squat over Slate's muzzle. "Then as always, show me you are good enough," she said, looking into the sandslash's eyes as she spoke down to him in a much more dominant voice. As she did, Rhombus pressed down, grinding her sex lips over his nose as he just stared up into her now flint-like gaze, shuddering a bit at the strong female scent.
She normally wasn't this dominant over him; it was a game she would normally save for Theo. The mouse lidded his eyes, sliding his paws up to lightly rub over her firm ass while he lapped his pointed tongue over the arcanine's opening, her arousal growing to reveal a pink ribbon of lust for the sandshrew. He traced along the edges, teasing around and over the fire dog's clit as she pressed down on him a little harder, smearing his muzzle's tip in her glistening juices.
She managed to retain a cool composure and expression as she stared down at Slate, her tail teasingly flicking over his cock and sac as he darted his tongue in and out of her pussy, taking a few moments to wiggle it around inside. "Arca," she growled in wild pokespeak, "You're acceptable. Arc." She pushed down hard, almost smothering the sandmouse against her sex for a few moments, winking at him.
As she pulled off, the rodent gasped loudly before licking around his muzzle to get a last taste of her as she shifted herself down his body. Pushing his cock upward with a paw, she hovered her opening over it for a minute, teasing the flesh with the occasional squat to take in the tip, smirking as she watched her mate start to become impatient with all of her teasing, wiggling under her and letting out a low whine.
She giggled a little bit before sliding down on him, easily hilting the smaller male's length inside of her while leaning forward to plant her paws on his shoulders. The arcanine gave a few small licks to his nose as she began to thrust herself upon him, her breath rolling over his face.
By this point, his thoughts were mostly focused on the sensation of her hot folds over his shaft, added to by her bushy tail lightly rubbing over his sac. His cock throbbed and pulsed under her assault while his toe claws starting to curl as he felt her paws clamp down harder. It was almost to the point of pain, certain to leave a mark. Though he didn't care and only grit his teeth with a low hiss as he felt her claws start to press into his shoulders.
As she sensed Slate approaching his edge in a few minutes, Rhombus began to give a low growl, nipping along the side of his neck gently; it was a strange contrast to the roughness of her claws starting to lightly press into his skin. She felt the shaft twitch hard in her as the sandslash surrendered his seed to her. As he did, she let her claws pierce his skin, making the smaller male groan in a mix of pleasure and pain. The arcanine looked down at him with a sense of satisfaction, pulling her claws out as she felt the rodent's climax end.
She nosed up to one of his very lightly bleeding shoulders, licking over it in a much more affectionate manner. She did her best to speak coherently, trying to avoid more wild pokespeak despite falling into her base instincts while mating. "You are not done pleasing me yet, dear," she cooed, "Arcani...er...I mean, I'll give you a reprieve to take care of what I've done, though."
Slate smiled a little bit as she said that. "Yes, dear."
***
At Indigo Division's headquarters, Theodore had found himself locked up in the infirmary. Gideon ordered one of the Team's anti-psychic/anti-ghosting generators be set up in the base after the smaller nidoking's demonstration of his abnormal skills. Theo would consider that a prudent precaution, if he wasn't almost constantly awash with painkillers when awake and very much confined to his bed from a pair of very deep wounds in his chest plates, with another wrapping around from the upper right of his belly to his lower back. They were an exact match of the ones on Gideon. The older nidoking had made sure of that.
He woke up in this room after apparently a few days had passed. The drugs made the bland white ceiling a little less boring to look at, or at least they made him not care as much. Abby visited often, but apparently Gideon was putting her skills to use. So she was gone most of the time. His most common visitor was the Executive himself, mostly just gloating or making a few comments about what he was going to do once Theo could stand again. The bedridden nidoking's ears perked up as he heard the door open. Speak of the devil. Oh well, the morphine made him able to stand Gideon for awhile.
"Feeling any better?" the larger nidoking asked smugly as he pulled a chair from the corner to sit by Theo's bed.
"What do you think?" the smaller nidoking rasped back.
Gideon chuckled a little bit. "I told you not to fight me, Theo. That's something I've noticed about you. You rush in. That is a horrible way to go about anything and now it has been your downfall. Especially when you are so ineffective at everything you have attempted. Mt. Silver? You were initially rejected and you didn't want to wait. So you eagerly took a simple guard duty assignment that was offered to you."
He noticed the small quills on Theo's ears start to rise up. "Not only did you fail that and run, but you are infested with a monster for going there. Then you failed again and got caught. You then broke like a good little bitch under my friend Datan. At least until you evolved and were released. Then you spent a year dicking around. Didn't you pick up a subordinate of your own once before that zangoose? What happened to him?" That's right. You lost your temper and charged in on a mission. He followed and got a bullet in his head for trying to help you."
"Fuck you, Bloodquill," Theo coughed out, sounding a bit spacy in spite of his anger.
The older nido shook his head at that. "Oh no, the opposite of that will happen in time. I promise." His smirk became fanged. "So. You get an assignment to inspect the new North Kanto headquarters. That's easy enough. Of course, you stuffed that up as well. Datan said to me you got provoked by Edward and charged in again and not only got beaten yourself, but made the zangoose woman try to save your ass. Then you get distracted from your real duty there to play some sort of delusional hero and go after me. And now you're here."
He watched Theo begin to grit his teeth a bit before he continued. "The worse part of this is how you get other people hurt while you think you think you're doing them good. Do you think your mother is happy to see you like this, do you think your sister is not saddened by your needless 'death'? You were trying to defend them and have only succeeded in wounding them more than anyone else possibly can. And do you think your woman Abigail really likes going out and putting down those I tell her to? She only does it because she cares about your well being. You're probably the closest thing to a friend or lover she has ever had. These things are your fault. In your attempted heroism, you've only caused needless pain to those closest to you. You're also smart enough to foresee the consequences of your failures before they happen. I'll admit that I am fucked up. But you, Theo...you are outright evil."
Gideon sat up. "Don't worry. I won't let you hurt anyone else. In fact, you will be bringing pleasure. To me. Now, I should probably let you get some sleep. Also remember, I'm the one who saved you. I donated the blood to replace that you lost foolishly fighting me. You are mine." With that, the Executive of Indigo Division made his way out, tail swishing slowly behind him as he did.
Graying Blood
Chapter 1: Interim
***
One evening in south western Kanto, Gideon was standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. The sun was setting on the horizon, bathing everything in a pinkish orange light. With him was a tall noctowl woman looking to be in her 40's with a silver urn in her taloned hands and a younger one, probably in her mid teens. The pair were dressed in drab black dresses and the nidoking was wearing a matching suit, a leek in the breast pocket of it. The three had left a funeral ceremony a few hours earlier to scatter the Datan's ashes.
"He said we was going to visit before Mallory left for Mt. Silver," the older noctowl said in a somber tone, but devoid of any tears.
Gideon also had a down look on his face, spines flat with his ears folded down slightly. "I am sorry for your loss. Datan was a good friend of mine. I arranged for you and Mallory to receive his salary in the form of a stipend, if that counts as any consolation."
"It doesn't. I always knew Datan...with his line of work being what it is..." she looked down at the urn in her hands. "That something like this could happen to him."
The nidoking scooted up a little closer to the noctowl. "His murder is still inexcusable, however," he said in a stronger tone of voice, "I will do what can in my power to find those responsible." He looked to Mallory, "You are still going into the Team, right?"
"Yes, Lord Bloodquill," answered the teenage noctowl.
"And you'd be interested in taking revenge for his murder, right?"
She gave a short, very serious nod. "I would, Lord Bloodquill."
Gideon looked to her mother again. "You've raised a great successor to him," the nidoking said proudly with a very slight and , for once, genuinely warm smile. "May she be the one to bid Datan our final farewell?"
"Of course," her mother answered as she handed the urn to Mallory. The younger noctowl girl took it. Feeling a breeze blow in from behind her, she opened the urn and thrust if forward, the farfetch'd ashes catching on the wind. As they drifted away, Gideon walked up next to the girl, pulling the leek from his pocket.
"Goodbye, Datan," he whispered softly before throwing it. He then turned around as the last few motes of ash drifted off, leaning his muzzle in close to the side of the older noctowl's head. "If you're ever feeling lonely, I encourage you to call me. I can always spare a day or two for a friend's mate," he whispered to her in a gentle tone.
The onion splashed into the water, floating along until the sun set and it was claimed by the ocean.
***
Alexei was over in Goldenrod, Johto at the local Enforcement center where Rhombus' office was located. It was dimly lit in a bland yellow tint by sunlight filtering through a set of beige blinds on the window, the furniture and walls also a somewhat washed-out, grayish look to them.
The absol was standing across the Rocket Investigator's desk, watching the large arcanine woman reach into a drawer. "I've been waiting to give you these for a year, kid. Too bad that Datan guy picked you up," she said before pulling out a small black wallet-shaped badge case and a pistol strongly resembling a MP-443 Grach, placing both along with the guns empty magazine on the table. "Here is your badge and sidearm, Agent Alexei."
"Thank you, ma'am," he said taking both, flipping the case open to show a dark red metal star on a black background, a brass-edged, equally dark red R emblem over it with a photograph of Alexei, his name and all his various Team registration numbers on an ID card on the opposite fold of the case.
"There's one minor change to that, though," Rhombus said. "Actually, a major one. Since Theo is reported dead, that makes you the Inquisitor of our group. You're now a judge of the Team, Alexei."
The absol blinked a few times. "That's a quick promotion."
The arcanine cracked a small smile at the comment. "Question is, Alexei. Can I trust you with those responsibilities? Don't forget, I'm monitoring your progress at becoming an acceptable agent again. You did something to Datan; I'm damn sure of it, kid."
"What if I did?"
The smile broadened. "Then I would congratulate you on removing that stain from one of the branches I represent. There's still too many; the Reeducation Branch is, unsurprisingly, a haven for the Team's most troublesome, abusive agents. It also means, in my eyes, you have exhibited adequate judgment by Team standards and so get to keep your promotion. With this, your military rank also goes up to Captain. You'll have more stuff on your hands if you find your way back into there again." She moved a paw to pat Alexei on the shoulder. "You've done something good, kid. Keep it up."
He pocketed his badge while nodding a little bit. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll do my best to uphold any standards that Theo set. But, when is his funeral?"
"There isn't going to be one as there is no body when there should be. That's why I said he was only reported deceased."
Alexei didn't seem surprised by this revelation at all. "I figured as much. Think our new leader Gideon has him?"
Her smile faded a little as he said that. "If there is someone worse than a corrupt Reeducation Agent, it's a noble who thinks they can do no wrong. I thought when the coup happened, there would be no more nobles, being the plague which ruined our nation in the first place. I think I ground that sense of entitlement out of you and Theo pretty good back at the Academy."
"You did, ma'am. So, I'm taking what you've said as a 'yes'?"
The big arcanine's smile was gone. "Mm-hmm. Because it's one of my duties to find agents who have disappeared, so we are going to be finding Theodore and Lilith Grayquill. And maybe that new friend of his, Abigail, if we're lucky."
The absol gave her a surprised look. "Rhombus, ma'am. With all respect, we know where they probably are already."
"Yes, we're going to be finding and rescuing them. I'm sure House Grayquill will back us as much as they can, which should allow us to avoid the assassin's scope despite our branch being compromised."
Alexei still seemed astonished. "You're very brave, didn't imagine you'd be willing to break from team policies."
"No. I am doing my job. I suspect Theodore is just missing, so I intend to find him. I am also going to show Gideon why he shouldn't mess with those under my command. On another note, do you have anyplace to live yet?"
"I have been staying at a hotel for a couple days," the absol answered with a shake of his head.
"You can take Theo's room at my house; he was living with Slate and I before he left to inspect the Northern Kanto Division's headquarters."
The absol was taking a moment to look over his new piece, the gun having a very dark finish over its surface. "Thank you again, ma'am. I'll do my best in this operation." The absol indeed would. Still, this task seemed to border on the impossible. Rhombus wanted to get Theo out from the most secure place in either Kanto or Johto. But if this worked out, he would be able to forgive himself for breaking under torture and telling where Theo had fled to after their assignment at Alph. The absol wouldn't deny himself this opportunity.
***
That evening, the Alexei arrived at Rhombus' house. It was on the edge of Goldenrod, a good ways from other residences. It was a two story, fair-sized dwelling painted in a very subtle blue. Rhombus was guiding him up stairs and down a short hall, passing a few doors before they reached Theo's. "You'll need to change the sheets," the arcanine commented as she opened the door for the absol. "Everything that was his in there is yours until we get him back."
It was the smaller of the house's two bedrooms, though still spacious. It also was clean and organized. The sheets, despite being implied to have been unchanged, were neatly tucked in on the double size bed. There were several stacks of ironed white shirts on top of the nidoking's dresser, the black slacks that go with them on the other side. There was a desk in a corner by the window with a small metal filing cabinet with a desktop computer to the side of it. The chair was neatly pushed in and the absol could see every folder on the desk stacked and carefully aligned to form perfectly square edges.
Alexei was now living in the domain of an opposite to himself. The absol didn't even bother to organize his office for his replacement before he left. He found it so strange to be so tightly wound in one's privacy. He heard Rhombus walk off, closing the door behind her. The absol approached a set of wood bifold closet doors, opening them to reveal a few officer coats on the rack with several sets of replacement sheets on a shelf above. Looking down, he could also see several rows of empty liquor bottles. How pitiful. He pulled some sheets down, not bothering to close the door. As he turned, Alexei noticed a framed photo on the nidoking's nightstand, a few more pictures face down beside it.
The one in the frame was of him, Theo as a nidorino and Slate as a sandshrew in front of a Team flag in full dress uniform at attention.
This was taken a few days before we headed off to Alph by Rhombus. Head Justice Thaddeus Grayquill didn't approve of giving us our titles yet; he felt we were not ready. He was right, we were not ready for anything. They shipped us off to Mt. Silver Military Academy when we were around 12 when entrance was normally around 16 or 17 at minimum. Thaddeus had misgivings about having us there so young, though he bowed to pressures from his mate and Edward.
The absol picked up the other two. The next was of a male nidoran and absol, both of them looking a little roughed up in someone's living room with a nidorina swabbing out a cut on the nidoran's arm. The edge of the absol's scythe looked red.
Edward took that one. This was shortly after we had our enlightened evolution and gained our bipedal forms. He was basically our father, raising us until we went to Mt. Silver. There was nothing normal about it, though. In retrospect, it was all indoctrination and training. He treated his actual daughter, Cassie, in much the same way. Forcing the abra to study and hone her psychic powers almost every waking hour. I've always seen those two as siblings of mine, despite the distance that's grown between us.
He had us try to spar, but we both found our new bipedal forms very awkward at that point. Theo stumbled and got himself cut on my now missing scythe by accident. Thankfully, it wasn't deep. Sophia was with us as well, but she has about 10 years on the both of us. It was lucky she was there, normally she was buried in her own studies.
The last one was the three of them again standing in front of a Rocket flag, only Theo was now a nidoking, Slate was a sandslash and Alexei was missing his head scythe.
This one. It was also taken by Rhombus, just after Theo and I were released from Correctional Facility Five. I was to work under her originally, but it seemed that Agent Datan was transferred to the new Northern Kanto Headquarters and needed a subordinate with network administration skills, much of which I already picked on the side at Mt. Silver. I was curious what the hell that professional torturer was doing in a high military position, but all I learned was that Gideon Bloodquill assigned him there. He said he chose me over Theo because he found me a to be a challenge. There had to be other reasons, but I don't know. And oh...Theo, he broke you so thoroughly. It made me smile to hear you had the conviction to beat him down, but I was disappointed you couldn't actually finish the job. You made me do it, and I liked it *too* much for comfort.
Still, this doesn't feel important. Why do I dwell on it? There are bigger things afoot in the world.
On that thought, he saw his reflection in the glass of the frame ripple a little, warping into another's again. It was a perversion of his own form. Its fur was solid hide, a few spikes protruding from the sides of its neck, a pair of pointed ears on its head and no base of his missing scythe. The absol just stared at the reflection as it looked to him, its green eyes locked with his red.
Who are you? Every time I look in the mirror since I ended Datan, I see you. How can you invade my mind? Psychics can't, and most ghosts cannot either.
The reflection just stared blankly at him, mocking the absol.
Damn you. I know you can speak! You've done it before. Answer me, invader! What are you doing to me?
The reflection rippled and twisted, becoming his own again. Alexei shook his head. "I might actually be crazy," he muttered to himself, pushing the frame down on its face before he actually went about changing the bed's sheets for his use.
***
"Are we really going to be finding Theo, dear?" asked Slate the sandslash. He was on his knees behind the arcanine, only in his boxers as he carefully massaged her shoulders. Rhombus was sitting on the edge of the bed, just in a set of plain white underwear. The room was only dimly lit by a lamp on the sandmouse's nightstand.
The arcanine female churred a little bit as his paws kneaded at her back, Slate being careful not to prick her with his claw tips. "Ahh...yeah. Not much of a search," she groaned in pleasure, looking back with half-lidded eyes to her mate. "He vanished after Gideon won the fight. It's no mystery what happened. Ahh! A little lower, please."
The sandslash obeyed her, letting his paws slide down a few inches, carefully rubbing and pressing over her upper back, harder and softer whenever he needed to. He heard the arcanine woman start to pant a little bit at the treatment. "Mmm...maybe it's best not to focus on it at the moment. Think we could get Alexei in here with us?" He chuckled a little bit at the possibility.
The big fire dog's eyes drifted back to his again. "Probably. Not tonight, though. Let him settle in a bit first. Ooh...that's nice, hon. I've taught you well on many things." She felt one of the paws slip to the center of her back, the claw tips deftly unhooking her bra and letting it fall into her lap before both paws wrapped around to cup her breasts, the edges of his inner claws lightly rubbing at her nipples.
He rested his chin on her right shoulder, nosing his muzzle up against her's softly as he continued to gently squeeze and massage over her mounds. While Slate gave the side of her muzzle a small lick, Rhombus brought her right paw up to his cheek, a pair of claws playfully flicking around one of Slate's ears, making the sandslash male twitch for a moment with his claws giving a harder squeeze over her breasts in surprise.
Rhombus gave a lustful growl at this at his, panting a little before before she pulled out of Slate's grip to stand. Flashing a lewd smile back to him, she slipped her panties down with a claw, kicking them off to the side while swishing that large, busy tail of hers a bit as she turned around slowly. "On your back," she ordered, motioning with a paw.
He did so, his grayish, brown quills folding down flat as he did. A visible bulge formed in his boxers as his larger mate climbed back onto the mattress and over him. One of her paws trailed down his chest and yanked his underwear down roughly to reveal the sandmouse's dark-pink, tapered shaft, the arcanine playfully jerking it at with her paw while tilting her head a bit. "You want it so much right now, don't you?" He gave a small nod, the quills on his head bristling as he felt the paw slide down further to playfully squeeze at his sizable rodent sac.
The large arcanine female's paw left his crotch as she shifted up further, moving into a squat over Slate's muzzle. "Then as always, show me you are good enough," she said, looking into the sandslash's eyes as she spoke down to him in a much more dominant voice. As she did, Rhombus pressed down, grinding her sex lips over his nose as he just stared up into her now flint-like gaze, shuddering a bit at the strong female scent.
She normally wasn't this dominant over him; it was a game she would normally save for Theo. The mouse lidded his eyes, sliding his paws up to lightly rub over her firm ass while he lapped his pointed tongue over the arcanine's opening, her arousal growing to reveal a pink ribbon of lust for the sandshrew. He traced along the edges, teasing around and over the fire dog's clit as she pressed down on him a little harder, smearing his muzzle's tip in her glistening juices.
She managed to retain a cool composure and expression as she stared down at Slate, her tail teasingly flicking over his cock and sac as he darted his tongue in and out of her pussy, taking a few moments to wiggle it around inside. "Arca," she growled in wild pokespeak, "You're acceptable. Arc." She pushed down hard, almost smothering the sandmouse against her sex for a few moments, winking at him.
As she pulled off, the rodent gasped loudly before licking around his muzzle to get a last taste of her as she shifted herself down his body. Pushing his cock upward with a paw, she hovered her opening over it for a minute, teasing the flesh with the occasional squat to take in the tip, smirking as she watched her mate start to become impatient with all of her teasing, wiggling under her and letting out a low whine.
She giggled a little bit before sliding down on him, easily hilting the smaller male's length inside of her while leaning forward to plant her paws on his shoulders. The arcanine gave a few small licks to his nose as she began to thrust herself upon him, her breath rolling over his face.
By this point, his thoughts were mostly focused on the sensation of her hot folds over his shaft, added to by her bushy tail lightly rubbing over his sac. His cock throbbed and pulsed under her assault while his toe claws starting to curl as he felt her paws clamp down harder. It was almost to the point of pain, certain to leave a mark. Though he didn't care and only grit his teeth with a low hiss as he felt her claws start to press into his shoulders.
As she sensed Slate approaching his edge in a few minutes, Rhombus began to give a low growl, nipping along the side of his neck gently; it was a strange contrast to the roughness of her claws starting to lightly press into his skin. She felt the shaft twitch hard in her as the sandslash surrendered his seed to her. As he did, she let her claws pierce his skin, making the smaller male groan in a mix of pleasure and pain. The arcanine looked down at him with a sense of satisfaction, pulling her claws out as she felt the rodent's climax end.
She nosed up to one of his very lightly bleeding shoulders, licking over it in a much more affectionate manner. She did her best to speak coherently, trying to avoid more wild pokespeak despite falling into her base instincts while mating. "You are not done pleasing me yet, dear," she cooed, "Arcani...er...I mean, I'll give you a reprieve to take care of what I've done, though."
Slate smiled a little bit as she said that. "Yes, dear."
***
At Indigo Division's headquarters, Theodore had found himself locked up in the infirmary. Gideon ordered one of the Team's anti-psychic/anti-ghosting generators be set up in the base after the smaller nidoking's demonstration of his abnormal skills. Theo would consider that a prudent precaution, if he wasn't almost constantly awash with painkillers when awake and very much confined to his bed from a pair of very deep wounds in his chest plates, with another wrapping around from the upper right of his belly to his lower back. They were an exact match of the ones on Gideon. The older nidoking had made sure of that.
He woke up in this room after apparently a few days had passed. The drugs made the bland white ceiling a little less boring to look at, or at least they made him not care as much. Abby visited often, but apparently Gideon was putting her skills to use. So she was gone most of the time. His most common visitor was the Executive himself, mostly just gloating or making a few comments about what he was going to do once Theo could stand again. The bedridden nidoking's ears perked up as he heard the door open. Speak of the devil. Oh well, the morphine made him able to stand Gideon for awhile.
"Feeling any better?" the larger nidoking asked smugly as he pulled a chair from the corner to sit by Theo's bed.
"What do you think?" the smaller nidoking rasped back.
Gideon chuckled a little bit. "I told you not to fight me, Theo. That's something I've noticed about you. You rush in. That is a horrible way to go about anything and now it has been your downfall. Especially when you are so ineffective at everything you have attempted. Mt. Silver? You were initially rejected and you didn't want to wait. So you eagerly took a simple guard duty assignment that was offered to you."
He noticed the small quills on Theo's ears start to rise up. "Not only did you fail that and run, but you are infested with a monster for going there. Then you failed again and got caught. You then broke like a good little bitch under my friend Datan. At least until you evolved and were released. Then you spent a year dicking around. Didn't you pick up a subordinate of your own once before that zangoose? What happened to him?" That's right. You lost your temper and charged in on a mission. He followed and got a bullet in his head for trying to help you."
"Fuck you, Bloodquill," Theo coughed out, sounding a bit spacy in spite of his anger.
The older nido shook his head at that. "Oh no, the opposite of that will happen in time. I promise." His smirk became fanged. "So. You get an assignment to inspect the new North Kanto headquarters. That's easy enough. Of course, you stuffed that up as well. Datan said to me you got provoked by Edward and charged in again and not only got beaten yourself, but made the zangoose woman try to save your ass. Then you get distracted from your real duty there to play some sort of delusional hero and go after me. And now you're here."
He watched Theo begin to grit his teeth a bit before he continued. "The worse part of this is how you get other people hurt while you think you think you're doing them good. Do you think your mother is happy to see you like this, do you think your sister is not saddened by your needless 'death'? You were trying to defend them and have only succeeded in wounding them more than anyone else possibly can. And do you think your woman Abigail really likes going out and putting down those I tell her to? She only does it because she cares about your well being. You're probably the closest thing to a friend or lover she has ever had. These things are your fault. In your attempted heroism, you've only caused needless pain to those closest to you. You're also smart enough to foresee the consequences of your failures before they happen. I'll admit that I am fucked up. But you, Theo...you are outright evil."
Gideon sat up. "Don't worry. I won't let you hurt anyone else. In fact, you will be bringing pleasure. To me. Now, I should probably let you get some sleep. Also remember, I'm the one who saved you. I donated the blood to replace that you lost foolishly fighting me. You are mine." With that, the Executive of Indigo Division made his way out, tail swishing slowly behind him as he did.