Book Two: Vengeance, Chapter Three-
Standing in a boundless plain of shadows, whispers and moans where the only thing that accompanied Rei. The world was completely barren.
"Hello," she cried out, her voice faltering. The plea fell silent. The voices driveled on in incoherent speech. "Who are you?" The gibbering ensued, drowning out her words. She was growing quite impatient. She screamed, "Why have you brought me here?" With sharp hisses the tongues fell silent. An eerie chill ran down her spine amidst the dead quiet. In the distance, a roaring thunder could be heard. Absent before, a breeze began to pick up. The ever growing gale carried with it a thousand wails.
"... truth... Truth. ... truth. Truth, truth, truth! Truth!" The force was like a typhoon. Rei could hardly hold her brace against the powerful wind as it dragged her heel through the ground. Along with her, like a black mist, the gloom was torn away by the blasting might. Slowly, a landscape unfolded from beneath the dusk. Nothing seemed familiar about it, for it appeared to be a simple field out in the middle of nowhere.
Yelling out once more, she questioned, "What is this place?" The sky let out a great bellow, turning the pitch black sky to stark white. As the flash faded, the clear heavens were replaced by ominous clouds, and the dry dirt blanketed with water. Things had looked as though it had been storming for hours. Even Rei was utterly drenched. Clueless, she gazed about, only to find an expanse of rumbles and flashes. "I don't understand," she cried out. "What does this mean?" The heavens split and spoke to her.
"This is the truth," the voice boomed. "The truth you never have come to accept, but have always wanted to know." Startled by a thunderclap behind herself, the recessing light unveiled a presence. "Now it will be known to you," it spoke to her. Lightning stuck again, illuminating the figure. Its black round body and spiky protrusions grimly contrasted with the blazing glare while the flaming crimson eyes and devilish smile stayed visible even after the luminescence parted. The form hung in the air, entirely still and staring at Rei. She maintained her stance despite being consumed with fear. In its first action, the haunting specter's eyes shifted focus from Rei to over her shoulder. Petrified, she could not make herself turn around until she heard an all too familiar voice beckon out.
"Mooky!" Rei immediately turned about. It was her father standing by himself facing out into nothing. She checked behind herself with words on her tongue, but they became silence when she saw that the ghost had departed. Puzzled by its sudden disappearance, she faced back to her father, who was no longer alone. Standing in front of him stood the blazing dragon and further still a band of men in black adorned with scarlet letters surrounded by their horde of beasts. "Mooky," he called out again, "are you alright?" Both of them bore their share of wounds, but the Charizard seemed covered in blood. Rei cried out as the made her way towards them; however, it had become obvious that she was invisible to them all. She had also realized, since she was now closer, that her father and his beast were not harmed as much as she once thought, for it was not their blood for the most part. Mooky's talons and maw dripped gore while the blade her father wielded was stained red.
"Ready to give up?" one of the shaded men inquired. "You can't take much more of this," the man threatened. Two clusters of metallic orbs, lighting the battlefield, departed from him. The two hovered in wide circles around her father.
"You expect me to surrender?" he scoffed. "I'd think that the odds are in my favor," he pointed out with a smile. A heavenly radiance lit the terrain, strewn with burnt corpses and hacked bodies. "Ouch, twenty four to," he chuckled, "zero, is it?" The Rocket was not pleased. "Why, you don't even know who I am, do you?" he queried as the splattered blood was washed from his glasses by the rain.
"You're a fool," another of them spoke up. "Soon to be a dead fool." Wings spread out from behind him as a long beaked avian took flight. "Just give us what we want, and maybe we'll give you a quick death, Jack." His eyes gleamed.
"Aye, so you have heard of me," he cheerfully responded with smirk. The throng jumped back in astonishment, or was it fear, not expecting such a revelation. "You must be pretty smart boys to know about me, but, then again, you must not to think me a fool, which I assure you I am not. And I doubt I will dying by the likes of you tonight."
"He's- he's bluffing," one of them choked out. "He's just trying to scare us. Don't let him get to you." All throughout this time, Jack cackled. Then, lifting his unarmed hand, he snapped his fingers. Mooky opened its wings and lingered above the earth before propelling itself through the clouds. "Don't let it get away, Fucho," ordered the panicked Rocket, and his Fearow obeyed, following the dragon in furious pursuit. "Dumb move," he mocked, "now we have you right where we want you." The two Magneton drew closer as Jack smiled back.
"I could say the same." Earsplitting shrieks and deafening roars exploded from the heavens as fiery light shone through the thick layer of clouds. The squawking and clamor continued swelling until it oddly and abruptly halted. A body crashed off in a distant location with a force that shook the ground as a descending flutter grew louder. A feathered figure finally emerged through the haze.
"Hah!" The Rockets cheered, laughed, and taunted. In spite of all this, their opponent still stood unmoved by all the events. As their celebration quelled, Jack responded to them with a simply raised eyebrow. While the confusion settled in, their returning champion's flapping grew louder, but, as it did so, they began to realize its irregularity in pattern. They saw it twitch and spasm until one noticed what was missing from it besides grace and direction. Its head. Finally making a steep plummet back to earth, the Rockets could only stare in horror as vital fluids poured from out its opened neck.
"So that really does happen," commented Jack, rolling with laughter.
"That's enough," the largest of the Rocket's cried out. "Numbers One and Two, atta-" His words fell short. Everything seemed to stop. He stared blankly as only a sole point of light spun around their foe. "What happened to Number One?" Unexpectedly, the earth beneath the remaining Magneton split open as a flurry of fang and claw pulled it under. The mud spilled over to seamlessly cover up the existence of the tunnel. Darkness and silence followed until the ground erupted once more with Mooky. Haughtily, coughed up to pieces of mangled metal which hollowly bounced to the feet of their owner.
"Twenty-seven," insultingly stated Jack, "and counting."
"Cwn Annwn, get him," angrily ruled a Rocket as a black hellhound bounded out into the field. Mooky made a lunge for it but, in its exhausted state, was too slow. The skeletal dog rolled right past the Charizard and made a leap for Jack, fangs reared. In a metallic flash, the Houndoom frozen in midair as he stood to its side with his dagger plunged deep into the base of its skull. Lifeless, it slid off the blade.
"Mooky," he said, "you've done enough. Come back now." Too tired to fly, it plodded back to its master, but was stopped by a wall of flame. The dragon howled as it spun around in pain, a silver fox latched on to its back.
"Hellfire," a painfully familiar voice called out. "Don't let it escape!" It was none other than the Rocket leader whom killed Rei's father. A dark colored venom seeped from the Ninetales mouth and soaked into the Charizard's body. Jumping back before it was crushed beneath the rampaging reptile, its mysterious eyes induced a delirium upon the beast. Knowing that he was in serious trouble, Jack stopped playing by the rules. He emptied the contents of his sack out onto the ground and foraged for his needed materials. First, a mess of tendrils spilt into the mud and advanced into battle along with a pink creampuff. Then, he tied a heavy, locked orb between a poison moth and bee. "That's it! Stop those from getting away! No matter what!"
"Go, now!" Jack was harsh in his command. "They must not get it. Do you understand, Wrath? Ate?" The two took flight. Four of the Rockets sped after them. One was crushed under an inflated Wigglytuff, two were sweep away in crashing waves, and the last tangled in the Tentacruel's stinging tentacle. This was not the end of them, for ,hidden in the shadows, a long legged arachnid emerged, spinning its sticky thread. With dead accuracy, its web sailed through the air. The line was severed, however, as Jack hurled his blade. With blinding speed, it scurried back into darkness. "As long as you never get your hands on it, I have served my purpose," he asserted.
"Ah, yes," the leader retorted, "a noble remark from a stupid man. We'll still find it, just as soon as we finish you. And remember, get them alive, if possible." The firewall had faded, but Mooky was still trapped in an illusionary world. The jellyfish and balloon faced off the silver fox. Taking the initiative, the Wigglytuff leapt high into the air, but, with arcane eyes, the fox stared it down so that it struck the ground in a deep slumber. The Tentacruel attempted to attack while its foe was distracted but was held back by an unseen force. Gradually, it was consumed in a silk-like cocoon by the sneaky Ariados. Bound and tied, it, too, was mystified by the wicked eyes of the Ninetales.
"Mooky," he desperately cried out, "you must... pull it... togeth..." His grand beast could barely support itself anymore. Its breathing was deep, and its skin had turned. He could not bear to see it die and regretfully reclaimed it. Mooky's Pokeball shook only a short while after it returned. Too short. Struck with such grief, he barely noticed the jet of flame that knocked the globe from his hand, not to mention severely burning its flesh. A stony giant rose among the ranks of the Rockets, and it sprinted in full charge towards Jack, trampling the dropped orb. With no hope of surviving, the memory of what he had left behind gave him strength. His mournful eyes were set ablaze with rage. A swift kick slung mud into the Rhydon's eyes. Following through with his movement, he scooped up the disembodied head of Fucho with his good hand and plunged the beak through the unshielded eye socket while stepping out of the way of the charge.
In an angered voice, he asked, "Do you think I'm done yet?" The sudden resilience was a shock to all. "Far from it." Flipping the club of a Marowak up with his foot, he grasped the tool and savagely beat the Rhydon's waterlogged hide in an attempt to get it to face him. When it finally did, a well placed blow to the Fearow's head drove it in deeper. The behemoth tottered but finally collapsed. "Huh? Is that what you wanted? I can take whatever you throw at me. Why don't you come after me yourself, coward?"
Being the only one of the five left standing, he responded to the suggestion, "Fisticuffs is so beneath me, you know." He stood in thought a moment. "Yes, I do believe I'll stick with my way." The Ninetales and Ariados appeared to his sides. "Hellfire, Kumo." With a nod, the two dashed out to their adversary, and he the same. The spider's webs wrapped tight around Jack's arm, but he proved stronger and flung the arachnid towards him on its own line. As it whirled towards him, he batted it towards the Ninetales, where it was caught in a stream of fire. Protecting himself with one of the many corpses, he cast the searing cadaver thereby buying him enough time to crack a few of its ribs with the club. Panting, he continued his march towards the smirking Rocket commander.
"You have nothing else to hide behind," Jack professed. "Now you face me." He tossed the club at the Ninetales. "Man to man." The man still laughed profusely.
"Might I give you a bit of advise," the man questioned, "before we start?" His eyes quickly peered over Jack's shoulder. "Make sure you finish what you start." At that, he bound backward. The whirling of the Rhydon's drill was too close for Jack to get out of its way.
