Book One: Wrath, Chapter Ten-
Rei bolted across a vast field through sheets of rain. Large boulders could been seen dotting the night shrouded terrain when thunder struck. The storm was getting very violent very fast, and her running further into it was not helping much, either. She knew she had surprised the Rockets and had a head start on getting away from them, but those facts did not slow her down the least. She knew that soon she would have to face them. Not long at all had passed since she attacked the warehouse, and already she could sense one coming upon her.
The earth she stood on began to falter as she was thrown off her feet. The land split before her as a magnificent creature rose. A silver mane and flowing hair were tossed in the stormy winds, and its crimson eyes shone like blood dipped rubies. The beast forced its way out from the chasm. The earth healed beneath it as it struck a valiant pose. Almost invisible, hidden in the night sky, was a dark shape riding its back, quickly recognized as the oldest of the higher ranking Rockets from the meeting. Rei tried franticly to escape, but before she could stand, the beast had surrounded them in a firewall.
"You must have a lot of guts," the man spoke in a low and haunting voice as he dismounted, "to have pulled off that stunt. Going into our base, and then destroying it along with our plans and weapons. Not to mention attracting a very large amount of officials to our whereabouts." He walked closer to Rei with every word. "And you caused it all. A single, frail, little girl. You ruined it all." His voice now contained a masked anger. His pet mimicked its master's emotions. "I should have known better then to have trusted you. You look so much like him, in fact." Rei's face was mixed with fear and confusion. The man smirked. "Believe me, I know more about you than you think. It could have been twenty years ago and I would remember it like yesterday. "
"You don't mean..." Rei started, but her words faded.
"Yes, I do. Seven years ago -"
"No," she blankly stated.
"- I encountered a man -"
"No."
"- who was my greatest opponent -"
"No!" she screamed. She was overcome by rage. The man smiled again.
"So I was correct," he said in an almost self-congratulatory voice. "You are his daughter. He spoke of you so fondly, asking us to spare him for your sake." He chuckled. "Needless to say, that only made our job more fun. Too bad he had to put up such a fight. His monster would have made a handsome addition to my collection. Eh, 'Mooky,' I believe he called it?" Rei clutched her pendant tight, wordless and motionless. "Oh, do you grow weary of this conversation?" An orb appeared in his hand as he stretched his arm outwards. With a smile, he added, "So do I." The sphere dropped to the ground. "You'll like to play with this one, I just got it after raiding a laboratory."
The Ninetales bounded forward as to its side appeared a stooping, armored hulk. Twin blades shimmered on its arms. Rei had cast out two of her own, Poppy and Wrath. The former of which ran and hid behind Rei upon seeing the foes. Wrath, however, eagerly went to meet its match. As the shellfish charged with scythes poised, the poison bee fired a single barb that hit a soft spot between armored plates. The act was enough to halt the fossils charge by sheer bewilderment and bought the insect enough time replace itself with a clone.
The Kabutops re-engaged its opponent, slicing its cutter clean through, as if it was not even there. Hearing the buzzing behind itself, it turned and gazed upon three spinning Beedrills. It knew this strategy itself and duplicated the action. Soon the many bladed tornadoes collided as one sought the true enemy and the others sought unguarded flesh.
The fox charged Rei and the Oddish while the Beedrill was distracted but became blocked by Cinder. It threw its body into mystic beast with all its might and barely budged it. Resorting to a new tactic, the Flareon let loose a thick, rancid fog. To escape the fumes, the Ninetales burrowed into the soil. With all still on its part of the battlefield, Cinder leapt to the side in time to dodge a sinkhole. Quick on its feet, it vaulted place to place as each location it landed was swallowed by the earth.
Thinking fast, the scarlet beast sprinted towards the battling bee and fossil as the ground behind it quickly buried itself. Cinder passed through the Kabutops legs moments before the crevasse reached it. The twirling body of the fossil aided its submersing into the ground, where it was stopped cold. The sudden stopping and the poison, which was just now beginning to take a noticeable toll, clouded the shellfish's mind and vision. It was a blurred figure before itself. Dizzy and furious, it launched an attack.
The Flareon was stuck by the subterranean fox. Injured, the hit monster lied in the mud on its side. The silver beast now stared Cinder down. With eerie eyes, a spectral beam was fired that began to distort reality. As the Rei's beast was moments from slipping away, the Ninetales was thrown overhead. Half underfoot, the dazed Kabutops had spared no effort in eliminating its foe. A river of water was propelled from its body, shattering Wrath's double, and the illusions as well, to pieces. What the bladed fossil did not see, however, was its comrade standing behind the poison bee.
More frenzied than ever, the prehistoric monster had a thirst for blood and labored to free itself from its early grave. Unexpectedly, it ceased its struggle and wailed in pain. Clashes of lightning gave light to its suffering as entwining roots covered its body. Rei looked down to see Poppy half in the ground itself, glowing with energy. The Kabutops collapsed and lied in the mud. Both trainers took this time to withdraw monsters. Cinder was badly beaten and Poppy stood no chance at winning. Only two remained: the Beedrill and the Ninetales.
"No loss," the man boasted. "I haven't trained that one much at all. On the other hand, Hellfire, here," he directed the name to the fox, "is my pride. It was with this monster that I was able to defeat Mooky." Quite wickedly, he added, "And your father." Rei could not find words to express her anger. She growled and sent Wrath at them. The Rocket only laughed. "Pathetic." Raising his arm and pointing, a jet of flame spewed from his pet's mouth. The insect was consumed in the fire, set aflame, and hurled aside. Rei's ire melted into fear. "And now, girl, it's your turn," the man said as his finger slide towards her.
The Ninetales lowered its head as if praying to some higher power. A line of fire stretched out across the ground from itself to Rei. Upon reaching her, the flame made a perfect circle encompassing her. She scampered out of the ring moments before it erupted into a towering inferno. The unnatural power awed her furthermore. Even though another blazing line was heading straight for her, she was petrified with terror and could not move. Thunder clapped again. In the blinding flash stood a hunched figure, scorched and weary, in the path of the flame. It was Wrath.
The streak stop short and encircled the Beedrill. It struggled just to keep standing yet never flinched in the face of impending doom. Fire engulfed the space and all in it in a massive explosion. With tears flowing from her eyes, Rei dashed behind a rock with the time bought. Wrath would rather sacrifice its own life than see its master harmed. She cowered as the storm grew worse yet.
As the rain fell form the pitch sky like a volley of bullets, the storm's winds tossed the girl's long hair. Despite being drenched and cold, she remained perfectly still, propping herself up against a large stone in the shadows out of view. The man called out.
"Well, child, where have you run to? Don't you want to finish our little match, or have you given up? I should have expected this much from you, girl" he shouted with his voice barely audible above the roaring winds. He began laughing. "You were an easy opponent. I just take down one of your 'mighty' beasts, and you run like a coward," the man called out, mocking her. The sky blazed with a streak of lightning. As she scrunched up tight in fear, the flash revealed a body laying on the ground in a crippled and burnt heap. Its dead eyes glaring at her. They pierced through her very soul just as when they first met.
"How did this happen to me," she thought to herself while she held her pendant tight. "How?" Slowly, she began to be filled with emotions, remembering the reason she had come this far in the first place. Overcoming her fear, she stood up, revealing her location, to face her challenger. The blasting rain and wind nearly knocked her down, but she would not let it. Her mind raced with a thousand thoughts and memories as she went to accept fate.
Flubit, her father, countless innocents, and now Wrath have fallen before him. She would not have it anymore. She charged him, fists clinched and screaming. The weather made her almost unnoticeable, and he did not know where she was until she had already had her arms around his neck. Annoyed, he threw her off with ease, but she came right back. He caught her with one hand and held her in the air. She beat him with her arms and legs to no avail.
"Well aren't you a scraper?" he venomously put. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking these," he said as took the Pokeballs from her coat. "And this one looks nice." He referenced the one around her neck. Rei screamed and disputed now more than before, and as he grabbed it, she managed shake herself free. She landed face down in the mud, but was kicked to her side. "Fine with me. These ones are more than enough. Hellfire, finish her." Still with tears flowing, Rei searched around her neck and found her amulet missing. With half opened eyes, a bolt from the sky showed it not too far from her.
"Father," she thought, "I have failed you. Please forgive me." She began to close her eyes, preparing for her destiny, as thunder struck again, illuminating her ornament. She stopped, not believing what she say, but the next thunderclap confirmed it. Her amulet sparkled in the intense light, but it laid open.
A maniacal laughter filled the air, drowning out the sound of the ripping wind and deafening thunder. The vile noise even frightened the Rocket, who was surveying the field for its source.
"W-who goes there?" he demanded. "Show yourself!" At his command, a pair of ungodly eyes appeared before his face. "W-w-what... are... you?" The floating eyes dashed backed a roaring laughter poured from a daemonic, white grin, which had suddenly appeared beneath them. The expression turned to one of pure malice as it seemed that the night grew darker yet. "Hellfire," the Rocket called out, "forget the girl, get that... thing." The silver fox sped towards the newly appeared enemy but was knocked back by a bolt of black energy. Regaining its footing, the Ninetales fired a current of flame. It passed unhampered through the point where the mysterious entity was seen. As the flames parted, nothing was there, but then more spine shattering laughs came from behind the fox.
As Hellfire turned, it was taken from the ground. Underneath it, rising through the earth, was the shadow holding the beast over its head. Floating high into the sky, it suddenly dropped, fading through the ground itself, but the same was not true of the Ninetales. The Rocket's knees rattled. Again, the face materialized. Faint sounds echoed about.
"Who... goes... there," resounded in the man's own voice, although raspier, though he spoke not a word. "What... are... you," resonated the man's voice once more. Another surge of energy struck the beast, but this one was different. It seemed to draw something rather then harm it. The specter turned to the Rocket and pointed its finger, parodying the man's action. The Rocket looked down but was too late. A ring of fire surrounded him, and in the middle was a shape he recognized. Unlike before, the copied voice boomed out loudly, "HELLFIRE!" At the word, lightning struck. A turret of holocaust arose from the circle, growing blindingly bright. Rei gazed at the shadow and saw it in the flash of thunder. Its true form seemed to be revealed: one of a horned dragon. The light consumed everything and turned all white.
Rei was awakened by the rising sun. She was lying in the middle of a vast field. There were no clefts, no bodies, and no scorch marks. No signs of a battle could even been seen. All but two of her Pokeballs were accounted for in her pockets. The other two laid before her, neatly side by side. Oddly, the chain on her pendant was fixed. Not asking questions, she adorned. As she got up and began to pocket the other, she studied the two closer. In her hand was Mooky's vessel and Wrath's was around her neck. She only gave it a seconds thought before she smile and walked on.
"I wish it were over," Rei spoke, almost to herself. "But there is still so much that must be done." She pulled her new amulet to her lips and softly spoke to it, "Your sacrifice will not be in vain." Once more, she cast a gaze out over her surroundings. "Vengeance shall be had." At that, she continued her trek, knowing no end in sight.
