Chapter 24:XII. Last Guardian: Dance with the Devil
"Glad we could all meet today. A lot of things happened in the past few weeks and I have a lot of important news for you." Charles explained. Champions and the guest were in a familiar room, where all their monthly meetings took place. But, to the surprise of the others, there was an empty seat.
"Charles? Where is Steven?" Tobias questioned Charles first in his as per usual, calm and collected voice.
"Glad you asked. I guess we'll start with that. As you all know, we got a report from the villages near Mount Coronet that there were slight tremors surrounding the mountain. I asked Steven to go there and investigate what the cause of those tremors is. Steven took the offer and he, with the group of climbers went to the mountain yesterday." said Charles.
"How long will he be gone?" asked Lance dressed in his usual cape. Lance was glaring at Tobias. He doesn't know what it is, but something about Tobias just creeps him out. Always acting so mysterious with that red cape of his and half-covered face.
"That depends on what he finds there. It could range from a few days, to a month. He'll be giving me constant updates on his situation, so we should be well-informed of what is going on there." replied Charles.
"Do you have any idea what could be the cause of this situation?" asked Cynthia. She was a little disappointed when Charles chose Steven for the job. She too, is an adventurer like Steven. But I guess it was fair. She went on an expedition the last time, so now it's Steven's turn.
"Unfortunately no. We can only hope that Steven find some answers." answered Charles. The only answer that he could toy with was an earthquake. But Mount Coronet never showed any signs of tectonic activity. So his only theory was aptly thrown out the window.
"Anyway. Onto another news. Since Steven is gone for Arceus knows how long, I have decided that it will be his Elite Four that will go to the Kalos Region and initiate the first steps to build the Kalos conference. Hoenn Elites are already on a plane on their way there. So that's finally taken care of." informed Charles.
"Now onto the bigger things. There are 2 bits of news I have to share with you. The first is an announcement. Scott and I are working on a very big project. We would be very glad if all of you would help us." said Charles. Unfortunately this is Scott's project. So the Champions, if they so choose, could decline the offer to participate. We can only hope that this garners enough interest in the project that they will just decide to participate anyways.
Charles then told them in great detail what he and Scott are planning. How they had already hired the workers to build the stadiums on the Chrysanthemum Island. How they had already partnered with the island for the event.
The reactions to this were mixed. Lance was eager to fight in the championship. Cynthia was a little skeptical about the whole ordeal but still excited at the prospect. Tobias was dead quiet, with the occasional question here and there. Then there was quiet Caitlin from Unova, her quiet nature doesn't garner too much attention, now that everyone knows of her powers.
After the initial shock, most of the Champions understandably, asked a range of questions. And to some of those questions, even Charles didn't have the answers to. At least not yet. Unfortunately, Scott doesn't share everything with him.
"So. Can I count on your help? This isn't gonna easy task to accomplish. And I need every hand I can find." asked Charles after the little interrogation he went through.
"Of course." replied Lance first.
"Count me in." said Cynthia.
"It would be a pleasure." said Tobias.
"I'll gladly help you, Mr. Goodshow." said Caitlin. Even though Unova has no present champion, Caitlin, along with the Elite Four of the Unova region can very well help with the Omega Championship. Any registered trainer, no matter the region can compete.
"Thank you. With you all, I'm certain that we can pull this off and create the biggest tournament in all of reality!" said Charles enthusiastically.
"And then there is another thing. The people that were constantly disappearing during those 4 years. Police force found some of them." said Charles quietly.
"Really?" asked Lance.
"Yes..." Charles answered quietly yet again.
"Charles... are they okay?" asked Caitlin who clasped her hands together and finally joined the conversation. She knew that this conversation will be serious from now on. Charles manner of talking gave it away clearly.
"No... most of them are dead... with a few exceptions... and those who survived are traumatised..." replied quietly Charles.
"What happened?" asked concerned Caitlin.
"Team Rocket happened. They captured, tortured, raped and experimented on the people that disappeared. And those who went through their experiments are no longer on this earth... I saw the bodies... Let me tell you. Nothing can describe what I saw. And I have seen a lot of things in my long life. But this...I only hope that those poor souls reach heavens and paradise. And even then I don't think it would be a compensation for what they went through..." said Charles.
The room fell into a complete silence for a moment. Most of them knew that those who were lost will never be found again. But to hear what happened to them. It's a lot to take in. The first one who said something after this was Lance.
"Wait. We haven't heard about Team Rocket for a long time. What happened?" asked Lance.
"That's the interesting thing…" Charles started. But was interrupted.
"Charles?" said, someone.
It was Cynthia in her chair. But something was different with her. Everyone noticed that something wasn't right when they saw her.
Then suddenly a short blue line shined through her turquoise blouse. The line was placed on her right shoulder. And it was shining brightly. The line disappeared as quickly as it appeared, but the people in the room caught the glimpse of it. And before they could ask what was going on, another bright blue line was seen. This time the line was longer. And it was on her forearm. Now that the people could see the line on the skin, it looked like a weird blue cut. And again, the blue glowing cut disappeared and a new one appeared. Much larger. This time it went form Cynthia's left shoulder just under her right boob.
"What is going on?" asked Lance.
"I... don't know." said Cynthia. She herself was surprised. She felt a slight tingle in her arm and on her chest. Now she knew what was tingling her. Well. Not really. What the hell do those blue lines mean?
Caitlin immediately shot from the chair and went to her friend to check her condition. It was... weird. She didn't have a fever. She didn't sweat. She looked completely normal. Apart from the blue lines that were drawn on her. And when she came to Cynthia, another blue light shone through her clothes. This time it was on the top side of her left boob. It wasn't a line though. It was a ... stain? At least it looked like a stain. And right after that another blue shining long line on her back appeared.
"Cynthia. Are you OK?" asked very concerned Caitlin when she reached her friend and took her hand.
"Help... please somebody... help me... please... I don't know how long I can handle this... please... I don't want to... it hurts... it hurts so much... Lucario... Mewtwo... somebody... anybody... please... save me...I am not strong enouAAAAAAAARGGGHHHHH."
"Did you hear that? " asked Cynthia.
"What? What should we hear. And what is happening?!" Exclaimed Lance.
"Someone... someone is in pain... You didn't hear it?" asked Cynthia.
"No. Sorry, dear. We got a little distracted by your shining body." replied Charles.
"And nobody said anything." said Lance who watched Cynthia carefully.
"...I think we should get her to the doctor." said Caitlin who was kneeling beside Cynthia examining her carefully.
"I'm fine. It's nothing. And look. The lines are gone." said Cynthia reassuringly.
"Check-up will do no harm. Meeting is over for now. Let's get Cynthia to the doctor. This... is not normal." said Charles sternly and the meeting for today was over. Blue energy. Charles saw it one time in his entire life. Now he is seeing it again. But. Aura was always a power of that only men could control. What is it doing on Cynthia? This is a truly vexing situation. He will have to talk with her about this in private after her visit to the doctor.
"Now. I will ask again and you better answer me. Who are you related to and are there other Aura Guardians?" asked the blonde haired woman in a Team Rocket outfit. She was holding a bloody knife in one hand, and a burning ember with pincers in the second. In front of her was Ash.
Already he was chained and stripped of all of his clothes leaving him as naked as the day he was born. With almost as much blood. Maybe even more. Both of his hands were tied up with some type of chain and he was hanging there from the ceiling. With only his tied hands keeping him from the ground.
In his right shoulder is a shiv of some kind. The handle sticking out of his bruised shoulder. Then there was the cut on his forearm. Not large but the blood was still oozing from there. The largest cuts were from his shoulder across the chest and on his back. With a nasty burn mark on his left breast.
"No... There are not... And... my whole family... is dead." replied weak Ash. Ash managed to lift his head up to look at Domino. However, he didn't see much of her. His long hair were in a way.
"Sweetheart. You are a terrible liar. Tell me and I will be much kinder to you... Or just drop that Psychic barrier in your head and let Alakazam inside your head. If you are telling the truth then you have nothing to worry about..." said Domino trying to sound as sweet as possible.
"Well... I'm a big pervert... I guarantee you... You don't want to know what is going on inside my head..." responded Ash in pain trying to somehow get out of this situation.
"Even you have to admit this was a weak excuse. Tell me and your suffering will end." replied Domino as she rolled her eyes while still holding her torture tools.
"...If you think that I would tell you anything about my family and my closest ones, when I know what you are doing to the innocent people that cross your path even in a slightest of fashion, you are truly dumber than you look." said Ash trying to sound as confident as ever. But deep down, Ash knew this was just an act. He can't take this forever. He is not strong enough. That was the worst part. He is acting like they can't break him. But in reality. They already did. He just hopes that Mewtwo and his Pokemon will show up. And trust them. Till then. He will just have to pull through. And hope they will come. No matter how long it takes. He can't let his mom go through this. He could not live with himself if he would have done that. That's the person that will keep him going. On who he will be thinking this whole time. On who, he cannot put this torture through. Mom.
When the blade of a knife was cutting its way from his shoulder to the breast, it was indescribable. She made sure that the blade was deep enough for him to feel the pain. And to make it even worse, her cuts weren't fast and harsh. They were slow. Precise. Painfully precise. She was even twisting the blade every few centimeters just to make him cry out of pain. It's clear that she has tortured several people in the past.
And that ember she pressed against his breast. He was struggling, shifting and shouting out of his lungs, but to no avail. She pressed the ember harder against his skin when he yelled. The ember burnt through his skin, revealing raw meat under his skin.
She even came to him and twist the shiv in his shoulder from time to time. Ash doesn't even know how he is managing to stay conscious through all of this. It would be much better if he fell unconscious. The kind of pain this evil woman can inflict is gruesome. She has been only for a half hour with him, but it already felt like a lifetime.
"You asked for it..." said Domino.
When Domino was preparing her knife again, the door of this room opened. The room was a little different from all the others Ash encountered. No iron helmet was above him. Just a chain. And nothing else. Except for the stool with various tools covered in dried blood. On the side of the stool was a furnace with dozens of burning embers inside. White was the color that was covering the tiled floor with only Ash's blood ruining it's perfectly clean image with light blue walls on sides. Nothing else. A room meant for torture.
The door opened and revealed a man in an orange suit. The same man Ash saw on the picture in the Team rocket offices. The leader of this organization. Ash couldn't see him clearly, because his hair was in the way, but he was a good meter away from him when he began talking.
"Ahhhh... We finally meet... my thorn in a shoe... my silent nemesis...Did he tell you who he is or his relations?" said the man. His voice was surprisingly calm. Even reassuring it would seem.
Domino then just shook her head. It was frustrating trying to force the Aura Guardian to talk. They need to know if there are more of them. Aura Guardians are the only ones who can stand against Team Rocket and their plan. And if this one is alive, his father is most likely alive too. And that would mean another Aura Guardian alive and another problem for Team Rocket. Knowing the family of this Aura Guardian, and eradicating all of the family members would be the last nail in the coffin and a certain victory for Team Rocket.
"You are not very talkative are you?" asked the man Ash again.
"Well... What can you do... Domino... Put this around his neck. I don't want him to contact anyone outside." said the man and he give Domino some kind of collar.
Domino just nodded and placed the collar around Ash's neck. And even though Ash was struggling, the collar was put on his neck eventually. And immediately after the collar was put around his neck, a large shock of electricity ran through his body which resulted in a large cry of pain from Ash.
"Are you sure it'll work, Giovanni?" asked Domino.
"Yes. Aura Guardians have to focus to contact someone with their abilities. This keeps him busy every 30 seconds. Besides. You are here too. I'm sure that he won't contact anyone with you to keep him a company." said the man.
"You trust that book?" asked Domino.
"Yes." was Giovanni's simple reply.
"W...Why..." that was the only word Ash could form.
"So you do talk. Huh." said the man.
"W...hy….are...you... do...ing... this…?." asked Ash who was slowly recovering from the shock he received.
"Simple. You are useless to us." said Giovanni.
"He is?" asked surprised Domino. She was a little surprised when Giovanni gave her a precious Aura Guardian which could be useful. Now it makes sense.
"Unfortunately." replied the man as he began a conversation with Domino.
"How... Why Giovanni?" asked Domino.
"Well. The short version is his powers don't manifest anywhere in his body, unlike we initially thought. So we can't create people like him. We will stick to creation of our own brain programmed Psychics. It's more efficient. By the time we would figure out something about his powers, we will have our own Psychic user if our calculations are correct."
"Then why catch him?!" Domino asked angrily, as she pointed with a bloody knife at Ash.
"Watch your tongue. We didn't know he would be useless. He is the first one we caught. Besides, he would be the only obstacle in the way of our Psychic army. He is the only one who can resist their telepathic attacks. We would have to capture him sooner or later regardless." said Giovanni as another cry of pain from Ash brought their attention back to him. Seems like the collar works.
"I apologize for my behavior, sir... So. does that mean I can do whatever I want with him?" asked Domino in a sinister voice.
"If you want to play with him I won't stop you. Just keep trying to find who he is related to and finish him by the end of the week. He already occupied this room for 3 days and we need this room for useful subjects." said the man.
„3... d...days?..." thought Ash. So that's how long he was unconscious?
"And before I go. I want you to call grunts from the field back here to the HQ so I can rearrange them. We are short of people and I need them at various bases right now... And even build one." said Giovanni with the slightest hint of anger in his last statement. But it was there.
"All of them? Even THAT trio?" asked Domino sceptically.
"Yes. Even though they are basically useless, they are fast workers and good builders. They'll be useful enough." replied Giovanni and he disappeared from the room.
Somewhere between time and space, A certain group of 4 Pokemon were watching the events that are unfolding right now. Between white marble pillars in what looked like space, one Pokemon had enough of this. She already saw the torture of others. But now. When the Chosen one was captured, and will be killed in a week, someone has to step in and do something. But as she was preparing to go there, she was stopped by her brother.
"Don't do it, Palkia." said the Temporal Pokemon.
"WHY NOT! Look at HIM! The hope of the world is chained and tortured to death! Somebody has to do something!" yelled Palkia.
"As much as I hate to agree with Palkia. She is right. Somebody has to step in." The third member of the creation trio, the Renegade Pokemon. Giratina.
"We can't." said Dialga calmly.
"Dialga. Tell us more." said Arceus, who was watching the events with his children. He knew Dialga isn't telling them the whole truth.
"I saw the future, father. Hundreds. Thousand. Millions of outcomes already. If we are going to intervene, Team Rocket will rise again. And Chosen One will fail regardless of what we do now." said Dialga.
"But Mewtwo can't find him. Lucario can't find him. How in the father's name can he get out of there? How can he SURVIVE?" asked Giratina.
"In the same fashion he always does. With good decisions and a great amount of luck." said Dialga.
"That's it? Just watch the poor kid suffer and he'll come out of it eventually?" said Palkia angrily.
"Maybe. Maybe not. His future is uncertain. And if you think that he suffered already, don't watch further. His suffering is just beginning." replied Dialga sadly.
And with that, the trio just watched their Chosen One being tortured with sad looks. And one of them had even watery eyes. The god Pokemon himself.
When he sent Ash on this mission, he didn't know this would happen. He promised himself that he, as a god, would make sure he will not have any troubles. And that after the mission will be over, Ash will have a happy life. A normal life. Finally going back home to hang out with old friends. Find new friends. Become the champion. To be the very best like no one ever was. Find love, and maybe even marry. Have some kids. To live an ordinary life. But things don't go how we would wish. Instead of a happy life, he received 3 years of isolation and training, that resulted in this. A painful torture.
"It seems like the harshest lives wait for the kindest souls." thought Arceus sadly.
"This will be fun." said Domino to chained Ash. Right after she finished the sentence, the color turned on and Ash was again electrocuted.
Domino smiled at the sight before her. Her toys don't last long. But this is an Aura Guardian. They are rumored to have a better metabolism. Organs with longer lifespans than regular humans. And faster regeneration. They are the male line of perfect humans according to the book.
"Well. Let's test that." she thought.
She then went to Ash and grabbed the shiv inside his shoulder. She then leaned next to his left ear and whispered quietly.
"Okay. Let's make a deal. What do you say?" Domino whispered into Ash's ear and she twisted the shiv in the shoulder slightly, just to make Ash groan a little.
"Tell me who you are. Tell me where are you from. And I will end this quickly. I will give you a quick death... Even to your loved ones." she said in what seemed like a seducing tone.
"Or you could resist. I have a lot of things that I want to test on you. And they are not pretty. Not from your point of view anyway." she whispered again. When she didn't hear any reply, she twisted the knife in Ash's shoulder for full 90 degrees, to which Ash screamed again. However, Ash had no time to relax. When his scream ended the collar turned on again.
Domino then examined the man before her further. And she knew what next step she'll make. The best part on torturing someone is to scare them for life. And she knew what to do to scare a man. She had a lot of practice in that regard.
She took the bloody knife and pressed it against the man's chin. The disappointing part was that the man didn't react. Again. Well, this was not meant to scare him. But still. His self-control is admirable to say at least. She then went from Ash's chin to the torso and lower until she came across the precious thing between his legs.
"Well. Well. Well. What do we have here... I have to say. I'm impressed... Such a stud... Wouldn't it be a shame if you would... lose it?" Domino said sleazily. But again. The man didn't do anything just look at her through the mess of a black hair he had.
It was getting on her nerves by this time. Not even this scares him? She took the knife and angrily stabbed the man in front of her right in the stomach. And again the collar turned on amplifying the pain that the Aura Guardian has to go through. Cries of pain turned to roars and the deep voice of the man turned even deeper. It was like torturing a beast.
"COME ON! BE AFRAID!" she yelled at him.
After the man in front of her finished his scream of pain, caught up some blood, he looked at her with those piercing magic blue eyes. And with a raspy voice, he slowly responded.
"Look... I know... that I am... going to die...in...a...week... So... I ask you... What purpose... does my... weiner have... when I'll... soon die?" said the man shakingly in a raspy voice. It took whole 30 seconds for him to say this sentence. So when he finished, he received another round of electricity.
"I have ...nothing to lose." said the man in a raspy voice. Domino could swear that she heard the man mumble under his beard 'I failed', but she wasn't 100% certain.
"You are a smart one... That's rare." said Domino.
She kinda admired his logic. Most men shrink in terror when she suggest putting the knife to their members. But that didn't work on this guy. And the tools she brought with her will make little difference in that regard. She'll have to ask some scientist here if they can make her something that would make this guy suffer much more than her ordinary tools. Aura Guardians are truly not ordinary people. He will be a tough egg to crack open. However, everyone has its boiling point. And she was gonna make sure that water would start boiling soon.