Private/Closed Pokemon Twisted Beige: Kanto journey with a twist! (RP)

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

Beige and Leaf immediately went to the Vermillion City Grand Hotel-a new hotel that had been created by a rich businessman years before. The massive building stood in front of them. Being situated to the right of the city, just as one entered, there were still Machops at work helping build extensions to this growing facillity. The two trainers booked a room for a night and went to their seperate rooms. Outside of the window, Beige could see another public execution taking place. On the wooden stage stood a group of Enforcers in leather armour with a Scyther being the pokemon to execute three convicted criminals-two of which were Rocket grunts, the other looking like an ordinary citizen. Beige looked away as the Scyther's blade chopped off each of the men's heads and the crowd cheered in support of the Enforcers. On the stage, Stephan was there too. Beige wanted to tear the Enforcers to shreds and annihilate the Scyther, but he could not. Beige had to be careful now as the Enforcers could be onto him at any minute. On the news, Beige saw reports that the Vermillion City gym had been destroyed-an explosion, a report concluded, had completely erradicated the gym from existance. All that stood there was the support columns for the building and the base stone structure that was below the carpet. Lt.Surge lay there with a black Electrode in his hands. He had committed suicide-a self-destruct attack had killed him and destroyed the gym at the same time!

 

[Ry_Burst]

“In reality, I was raised in Dewford Town, in the Hoenn Region. My entire childhood was different, and think that it’s for the better. I didn’t know Red even existed. Dewford is an island town, and we don’t get new news often. The entire takeover of Kanto was knowledge we didn’t and couldn’t acquire.” Jax said, as they walked, feeling his feet crunch softly on the dirt floor. With the multitudes of Digletts who traversed through it, the once rocky earth was soft and broken apart.

“I was raised to think that Pokemon were my friends. That training Pokemon was an adventure, and was somewhat safe. This is something that isn’t really true Pokemon training. It’s nightmarish.” He added, as they walked along.

He kept his lips shut as they walked simply listening to his footsteps. “We should hurry up and get to Pewter. You said you only have one badge right? Then you might want to get a new one soon. Especially if you want to challenge the league.” He stopped and looked around. Getting a badge. This was one of the whole goals of all of thousands of trainers who existed before him hoped to acheive. He shook it off, and got ready for the trip the the gym.

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

Outside the cave, there were frequent whispers of the gym destruction, as large metal Zepplins displayed the news of the death of Lt.Surge-a suicide, probably promoted by his last challenger, who has now been identified as Beige, the boy who has assulted numerous civilians and Enforcers. The zepplins displayed the news in both Vermillion city and Pewter City.

Beige and Leaf exited their rooms in the hotel. They had had enough of Vermillion City. They wandered off into the grassy route 11 and then onto the bridges of route 12. There, they saw a large bear pokemon sleeping.

"A Snorlax. He's blocking our way." Leaf stated.

"There's an alternative path. We need to go back to Cerulean. To the east is Rock Tunnel."

And so they did. They took the long journey up north and then to the east, they stopped at a pokemon centre, before entering Rock Tunnel. They found the cave very dark and they got lost multiple times. They were able to find each other, though, more importantly. At the end of the cave, Leaf was waiting.

"We should have just gotten the HM Flash. I heard Professor Ash's aides gave it out back at one of the houses in route 2, but we would have needed to go through Diglett's Cave. I'm pretty sure I saw Hibiki go there." Leaf told Beige.

"Well...we just proved Professor Ash wrong. All we needed was a flashlight." Beige responded.

Going through the remnants of route 10, to the south lay Beige's hometown. "Finally, I'm home!" Beige looked at the small town. Nothing too obvious had changed. To the south-a mysterious purple tent. To the north, a large eerie tower-once the great pokemon tower, then a radio tower, now, just a pokemon tower once again. To the east lay a bunch of houses and one of them seemed to be a destroyed and worn out hut like tower.

"So this is your hometown?" Leaf asked. "It's kind of creepy."

 

[Pokemon Fanfiction Novels]

"Oh?" asked Hibiki, raising his eyebrow slightly. "We're going to Pewter? I figured you guys were just coming along for a Dugtrio, but-" He stopped and shrugged. "Never mind. It's been a while since I had companions for the Journey, so I'm glad for your company. Especially another non-native of Kanto."

He gave Jax a searching look. "I'm a bit surprised that you haven't heard about Red after all these years, even in your Hoenn island. I guess he's had less influence on the land than he's liked, which is why he's become more active now. Who knows how things will be like in another ten years?" He shook his head. "Eh, best not to dwell on it. Let's take things one day at a time."

***

The creak of the double-doors echoed through Pewter Gym, as Hibiki shouldered his way in. "I'm back, Petra!" he announced, hoping his confident facade masked his uncertainty. Last time he'd been here, the match had lasted less than two minutes. He could still see a slight imprint in the wall, where his Nidorina had been slammed against it by Aerodactyl.

"You're back?" came a young woman's voice. The junior gym trainers parted from the battle floor, and a blonde-haired girl looked on in slight confusion. It gave way to recognition, and her eyes brightened at Hibiki's walking stick. "Oh! It's you! You're that guy from a few days ago who . . . ahem . . ." Petra paused, and a familiar apologetic smile appeared on her face. "How's your Charmander? Is he okay now?"

"Yeah. Thanks for asking." Hibiki raised a pokeball. "So . . . do I still need to fight all four of your pokemon? I've only got three."

"Hmm." Petra thought for a moment, tapping her chin, then smiled as an idea seemed to strike her. "We could do that. Or, since we've already fought once, we could do a one-on-one winner-take-all. It should be okay if we each use our strongest pokemon, right?"

Hibiki nodded, secretly appreciating Petra's sense of fair play. She might be a new gym leader, but she was already developing into a wise one. "That second option sounds good."

"Alright then!" Petra threw, and from its ball emerged the winged demon that had sent Hibiki packing the first time. Lance's own team pick, Aerodactyl. He quickly considered his own options. Charmeleon had been with him the longest, but would suffer a type disadvantage, and likely get knocked out in one or two hits again. Nidoqueen was more adjusted to her bipedal body, but all she had against a partial Rock-type was Double Kick: a one-trick pony. Perhaps it was time for a new play.

Light flooded the field as Onix emerged from his pokeball, and as he solidified, Aerodactyl was eclipsed in his great shadow. Petra made a slight intake of breath, but her smile didn't fade. "So, you got one too, huh?" she asked brightly. "Sorry to say, but Aerodactyl here has some experience fighting Onix from my own family."

"Maybe. But not good experiences. That's what I'm counting on." Hibiki pointed, his voice filled with command. "Onix! Screech attack!"

"Aerodactyl! Supersonic!"

Anyone and everyone within the gym covered their heads as the two Rock-types let forth ear-shattering screams that might have cracked the very walls. Rather than cancel each other out, each attack achieved its desired effect: Aerodactyl's defense dropped drastically, and Onix swayed about drunkenly, confused out of his mind.

"Now!" Petra shouted. "Fly in and start biting it!"

"Onix! Focus on my voice!" Hibiki roared. "Use Rock Tomb to slow it down!"

The next three minutes was a test of solid endurance. Petra's strategy quickly became evident: Aerodactyl couldn't beat Onix in a head-to-head match, but by using a combination of confusion and flinch effects from bites, Onix was prevented from counterattacking with a supereffective blow. It was a valiant effort, and with enough grit and luck, it might have eventually worked. But Hibiki had chosen his pokemon well. Onix had little to offer besides size and defense, but what a defense it was. Without Special Attacks, Aerodactyl simply couldn't break through, and eventually, one of Onix's tail swipes landed. Like a fly struck mid-flight by a swatter, Aerodactyl shot backwards and smashed against the wall, replacing Nidorina's indent with its own. Onix roared a challenge, but the stone wyvern did not get back up. It was done.

Petra sighed, but her smile did not go away. "Yep," she said with good-natured cheer, "I figured it was inevitable. Come, take your BoulderBadge. It's been waiting for you."

"Thank you," Hibiki said, returning the smile as he reached out. "Not just for the rematch, but for letting me redeem my team against your Aerodactyl. It was worth the trip from Vermilion."

Petra's eyes widened in mild surprise. "You came here from Vermilion City? Does that mean you were able to get a badge from Surge before . . . you know . . ."

Hibiki looked at her strangely, puzzled. "No, I don't know. Know what?"

"Surge's gym is out of commission. It exploded with him still inside." Petra's voice carried no trace of sorrow, except perhaps for the inconvenience it would cause challengers. "Badge or no badge, I wouldn't go back there for a while if I were you. There's nothing waiting there but more smoldering buildings. It's like what happened here all over again."

Just like that, Hibiki's freshly-earned victory turned hollow. He groaned deep and long, pushing his palms into his eyes. "Gooooood . . . it's everywhere. Everywhere I go, everywhere I've been, someone or something's getting blown to hell! Where will it end?" Taking a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, Hibiki paused and considered his options.

"Well, then . . . I guess I still needed to return to Cerulean. So should I see if Mt. Moon proper is open again, or just pick up a schedule at the bus station?"

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"There would be no need to do that." A voice said, entering the gym. It came from a man in a black cape with red spikey hair.

"Lance?" Petra asked.

"Yes. I came to check up on you. How are you coping?"

"Alright."

Lance turned to Hibiki. "Young trainer. If you wish to keep up with the others, it would be wise to go straight to Lavender Town to get your next badge. There's supossedly a gym there. After all, there are more than 8 gyms, meaning you can pick and choose which 8 badges you want."

(Beige's perspective)

Beige and Leaf sat in one of the lounges of the pokemon centre. There had been a queue of trainers lining up to heal their pokemon-a feat Beige was suprised with. When it was their turn, Beige and Leaf had their pokemon healed up by a kind nurse and her Chansey. The nurse looked at Beige as she healed his pokemon.

"I'm afraid something's wrong with your Raticate." She said to Beige. She was refering to Ratbag.

"What is it?" Beige asked.

"Ratbag appears to have contracted a strange virus. It seems to be a form of the Pokerus, which actually damages the pokemon. Let me see it?"

Beige threw out his Raticate. Raticate's fur had black and red lines growing throughout it's body. "What? When did this happen?"

"You say you came from Rock Tunnel, correct? It must of caught the virus in the caves. You see, the darkness does that to certain pokemon, we've found. It's bad for them. Did you use the HM flash?"

"No." Beige said.

"Next time you're going into a dark cave, use this HM to light your way." She gave the HM to Beige.

Beige looked at the large Raticate in front of him. It's body desintigrated right before his own eyes.

"The virus...it seems to have a tendency to cause pokemon to faint." Beige put Raticate back up next to the nurse as she said this. "But the problem is...I can't heal him. He's not just fainted."

"Then what is he?" Leaf asked.

"He's dead." The nurse gave the grave news.

A dead pokemon. A special rarity, in any region. Beige gasped as his Raticate fell to the ground and there was nothing he could do. For the first time, Beige was very emotional about a pokemon being harmed. "I need to burry Ratbag..maybe in a graveyard...or maybe I should scatter his ashes in the Pokemon tower." He said to himself.

 

[Ry_Burst]

“Lance, the Dragon Master. There is talk of how he never was the same after Red beat him.” Jax said coldly upon the arrival of Lance. The boy had witness Petra and Hibiki’s battle and silently thanked his lucky stars that he had fought Billy instead. Aerodactyl would have ruined his entire plan for getting the gym badge. But the arrival of Lance shocked Jax. He knew that there was a connection between Lance and Petra, but he hadn’t expected the Elite Four member to be here now.

“Hibiki, we should probably head that way.” Jax stated in monotone, with his eyes not leaving Lance once. “We can pass through Cerulean and head through the Rock Tunnel. You would have trouble with Misty, as you have Ground and Fire Types.” Jax had already met Hibiki’s Charmeleon and Onix, who couldn’t hold much against Brooklyn. Unless he had some Grass or Electric type he had been hiding, he didn’t stand a chance. “Ghost Types should be easier to beat.” Jax’s voice was stern trying to alert Hibiki they should leave Pewter ASAP. Something seemed to be brewing in Jax’s eyes. “We can camp out outside of Mt. Moon, and go through early tomorrow. Then probably pass through Cerulean at about noon, if we hurry.”

Jax glanced at Hibiki quickly to try to reveal what he was thinking, that Lance was here for a not good reason. Maybe it was paranoia. Maybe Jax was purely nervous about being face to face with one of Red’s strongest trainers. Maybe he was intimidated. But it didn’t matter, as he wanted to leave.

(I’m set for the time skip. Fanfic can take control of Jax to get them asleep for the time skip)

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

The night seemed to start to consume Lavender Town as a deep mist appeared all over. Beige wandered around, seeing the new buildings and the old. He noticed the strange mystical tent and entered it.

"How are you doing my friend?" A voice asked. Beige looked up to see Will, but Beige had expected it.

"I am well. I have gotten my badge from Lt.Surge..."

"Yes I have heard the news. I did not believe it at first." The masked man said.

"What must I do. What must I do to achieve success in my journey?" Beige asked.

"First, you must unbury the past...then you must bury something in it's place." Will predicted.

"I think...I think I know what you're trying to say." Beige replied.

"Once you have found that is dear to you-be careful as the truth is clouded. The mist covers and there is a man...one that is connected to you somehow...who will be important to you..."

As Beige left, he saw Leaf at the enterence to the pokemon centre. "We have you been I was looking everywhere for you!"

"Nevermind. It's getting late. We need some rest." The two entered the Pokemon Centre and booked out a night in some of the rooms upstairs so that they could get some sleep before the next eventful day.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Sykes made his way through the caverns, man and ditto braving the depths of Diglett’s Cave together.

Rustling noises echoed through the dark, spoiling the serenity of the moments shared with Sketch.

“Be on guard,” Sykes whispered as a sudden silence fell.

Few creatures could hope to outrun the moles here. Any chance encounters would almost certainly end in battle.

Soon a pair of curious eyes sprouted from the ground, diglett’s rounded head listing in apparent fascination at Sykes’ umbrella.

“Quick Sketch – transform!”

The ditto offered what appeared to be a thumb’s up – bristling with overconfidence as it began to shapeshift into the creature. Soon, Sketch was a tiny mole with an impossibly wide smile.

The wild diglett glared at the copycat, confusion quickly turning to anger at the affront of seeing its own appearance stolen.

Sykes grimaced. “Uh…growl!”

Sketch blinked in disbelief, clearly expecting an order for some sort of attack. Instead, it mewed menacingly.

The wild diglett hesitated, unsure of what to make of this.

Silence fell again. And lasted.

Sykes studied the mole, hoping to see something he could order his ditto to emulate. But the wild diglett seemed more interested in claiming victory in a staring contest.

Ditto and diglett began to pace in circles, eyes locked as if in a Western standoff, each deigning the other to make a move to strike.

Sykes watched for a time, until his own patience thinned. Opening his satchel, he removed a recently purchased book from his pack. “Pokemon of the Kanto Region: An Idiot’s Guide.” Another thirty seconds, and he had skimmed through diglett’s entry.

“Scratch?” He muttered to himself in disbelief. “With what?”

Shaking his head, he turned to Sketch.

“Alright: Scratch!”

Ditto lunged forward, but the diglett was faster, diving deep into the ground. Ditto’s scratch swiped harmlessly through the air where diglett had been mere moments before.

“That's dig - lookout!”

Sketch’s unnatural eyes widened in surprise as the wild mole sprung up underneath it, knocking Sketch into the cavern wall so hard that it’s color briefly reverted to a bright pink.

Sykes winced. “Sketch….you alright?”

The ditto pulled itself back into form, eying Sykes with a glare.

“Ok then. Magnitude!”

Sketch grinned, eager to show off its strength as it drilled itself underground. The cavern began to shake, causing several stalactites to drop from the ceiling!

Diglett, ditto, and Sykes braced themselves, the battle forgotten as the stones fell around them. When the dust settled, the diglett was gone.

Sykes pulled a cloth from his vest, wiping his brow.

“Well done, Sketch….we’ll call it a draw.”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

A strange fog appeared in the caverns. It was strange, because fog only really appeared outside. The fog cleared as a shadow of a tall trainer in crimson and light red clothing appeared. His face was the last thing to appear. The man put his hand on his cap and stepped forwards. "Excellent! You are in shape!" The man shouted towards Sykes. Now the man could be seen fully and it was 100% obvious that this was Red, the one who had created the Enforcers in the first place. He smiled at Sykes before leaving the cave. Behind him, came a much shorter woman-a girl with golden/blond hair, which was now tied up in a bun. She wore a large rich flambuoyant dress. She smiled at Sykes.

"You there! You're an Enforcer are you? Would you please help escort me to Lavender Town? I know it's a long distance, but...I appear to be lost! You look like a strong Enforcer!"

The girl was Pixie, an elite four member. However, most Enforcers were not informed as to the appearance of the Elite Four members.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Sykes returned the woman's smile weakly, nervously hoping to make light of the situation now that Red was suddenly involved. He didn't know if the rumors about the man were true, but even if not Red had to be aware of some of the homicidal tendencies of upper management.

"Am I that obvious? What gave me away?"

He placed his weight on his umbrella for a moment.

"I'm not much of a battler, I'm afraid. But I'd be happy to accompany you to Lavender town. It's a place I frequent regularly in my line of work."

Sykes offered a hand to the lady.

"Enforcer Sykes, Forensics."

(Ready for time skip.)

 

[Sukoku]

Sukoku walked down the road, getting surprised by the sudden appearance of Seraphina, the elite 4 member.

"Ugh!? What?!!" Sukoku exclaimed before the woman said her name. After she said her name, Sukoku calmed down, looking up at her. "Oh! Hey!!! Thanks!!! My name is Sukoku and I'm from Saffron City!!! I love fire-type Pokémon and I want to beat the next GYM leader!!!" Sukoku exclaimed, giving Seraphina a cheerful grin.

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"I like fire type pokemon too!" The woman shouted, strutting away from Sukoku. She looked back at him instantly. "What gym leader do you plan to challenge?" Seraphina asked. "The other trainers seem to have more gym badges than you have. I could help you get stronger!" Seraphina looked around. "So long as you help me too. You see, there's been reports of a boy attacking multiple Enforcers. He has a number of allies, it's been reported. We need to get rid of them."

 

[Sukoku]

"I'm going to challenge Brooklyn! And that's good! Looks like I've found another good trainer!" Sukoku replied, turning back. "Oh!!!! Sure! I will help you!" Sukoku exclaimed, looking up at Seraphina. "Ok, first we need to know where that boy is... If you know where that boy is, I will try to beat him, but I won't promise anything, I'm still a rookie!!!" Sukoku exclaimed, looking up at Seraphina.

 

[SageNeb]

Chris nodded and replied,"It makes sense considering I haven't really been with anyone for that long in this journey. I'll go on your way to Diglett's Cave and I'll catch a ground type, as well. Well, probably-" Chris was interrupted by a sign he just saw being put up saying that the Vermillion Gym was closed forever. "Nevermind, see you later," he said. Chris began heading north, but quickly realized he need HM Flash. He followed the other two outside of Diglett's Cave, but he didn't catch anything there. He went to where someone is supposedly giving HM Flash. After obtaining it, he swiftly taught it to his Jigglypuff, seeing the Pokémon as just another one he catches in his journey. Then, he headed back towards Cerulean City, and nearly reached Rock Tunnel. However, before entering, Chris saw a yellow plug like thing before him.

Upon further inspection, Chris realized it was an Elekid! (I hope stuff like this is OK and is also Electivire OK? If not, I'll just change it to an Electabuzz) He pulled out his Pokédex, which told him Elekid was not native to Kanto and it evolves into an Electabuzz. Chris sent out his Farfetch'd, which he he decided to keep on him in order to catch Pokémon. He got it from trading a Spearow in Vermillion City. He doesn't usually use the Pokémon for trainer battles, however, which is why he doesn't give it a nickname.

Chris commanded his Farfetch'd to use False Swipe, which easily brought the weak un-evolved Pokémon nearly enough to faint it. Then, Chris switched his Farfetch'd for his Tangela, which he named Vinelord. This Pokémon was caught in Route 24, above Cerulean City. Apparently, Tangela are more commonly found south of Pallet Town. He thought that it was a rare Pokémon since there were none others in the area. Chris caught the Pokémon and realized it was quite decent. Because he thought it was a rare Grass-type, he chose it as one of his battling Pokémon. Now, he commanded Vinelord to use Sleep Powder, which caused Elekid to be even more easy to catch. Chris threw a Great Ball he bought in Vermillion and the Elekid was caught. Chris returned Vinelord and healed all his Pokémon at the nearby Pokémon Center.

The Elekid Chris had caught seemed to be less than average, but since Elekids aren't native and it evolves into an Electabuzz, which in his opinion, was a great Electric-type Pokémon, he decided to train it. Chris sent out his Elekid and inspected it. "I guess I'll keep you as a fighting Pokémon. Who knows, you may be more useful than I think. Anyways, do you wish to have a nickname?" he asked. The Elekid responded with a nod, but nothing else. "Doesn't seem that friendly, but maybe he's intelligent," Chris thought. "Alright then, I'll give you the nickname... Voltz," he told Elekid. The Pokémon raised and eyebrow and sighed as if in acceptance. "Well he seems more smart than the average Pokémon at least. I've never even seen a Pokémon who understands those gestures, yet this Pokémon can perform them as if he is a human. Strange, but fascinating. Yes, I must take great care for this Pokémon!" Chris thought excitedly. "OK, here's the deal. I like you, so when you evolve I'll give you something like... a birthday present," he told Voltz while testing it. Voltz smiled which surprised Chris, yet made him even more excited that he understood what he meant.

Chris returned Voltz and sent out his Jigglypuff. He commanded it to use flash, which let Chris navigate through Rock Tunnel efficiently. In less than an hour, Chris had reached Lavender Town. He was a bit sad that Voltz there, but he thought it was expected of a freshly caught Pokémon. He also thought that Voltz himself must've been even more disappointed. With a small chuckle Chris looked up at the time and was a bit surprised that it was pretty much dusk. Chris began heading towards the Pokémon Center, where he would rest for the night.

 

[Pokemon Fanfiction Novels]

*Time Skip. Fast-forward roughly 16 hours to Route 7*

The southern boundaries of Cerulean City grew smaller and more distant, as Hibiki pushed eastward, pumping the pedals of his bicycle. He had taken Jax's advice about camping at Mount Moon, still unwilling to spend a night in Pewter City. Then, when morning had come, they'd discovered that Mt. Moon Tunnel was open again, thanks to the ingenuity of the quarantine crews. Specifically, they had answered the Paras infestation with an overload of Grimer and Muk, setting the stinking pokemon as guards on a narrow path. Not only did their amorphous bodies resist fungal infections, but their absolute reek forced all aggressive wild pokemon back. Needless to say, the remnant of the hazmat crew made Hibiki and Jax wear temporary protective suits with masks all the way through, lest they faint and die from the noxious stench.

It was not a pleasant way to start the day.

By the time they had reached Cerulean City, the first odors of lunch were beginning to waft through the air from vendors- but it had an inverse effect upon the two trainers. They ended up skipping lunch- and the Cerulean Gym, to Hibiki's disappointment- and pedaling their bikes through the flat paths and meadows that made up Route 7. Technically, they could have taken the northeastern roundabout detour that was Rock Tunnel, but it would have been impractical. Travel here was fast and easy, and it gave Hibiki time to talk a little about the previous day's meeting.

"Hey man," he called to Jax over the wind whistling past, "remember yesterday, when the Dragon Master showed up in Pewter Gym to speak with us? You gave me this look like . . . I dunno, like you left the oven on or something. I didn't say anything at the time, because Lance kinda took my speech away, but why did you- oh, @#$&!"

His bike rolled over something thick and yellow with brown stripes, which had been sticking out of a patch of grass. Losing his focus, Hibiki pitched over the handlebars, crashing face-first into a growth of weeds. During the tumble, his backpack had somehow cushioned the fall, but his hands and knees were immediately skinned raw. He got up, spitting grass out of his mouth, only to be confronted by a very angry-looking fox pokemon with a bicycle tire track running across its tail.

He'd disturbed a wild Kadabra, and that was a BIG no-no when it came to Psychic-types. The pokemon wasted no time in lifting him off the ground in a telekinetic grip, its eyes glowing an icy blue. Flailing in panic, Hibiki managed to latch two fingers around one of the pokeballs on his belt and let it go. With a flash, Nidoqueen appeared in midair . . . just above the Kadabra. Down she came, squashing the psychic fox flat, and instantly breaking its line of concentration upon Hibiki. Released, he dropped down on all fours, and looked up just as she was getting off the paralyzed pokemon. In spite of his stinging pain, and the lingering fear from the sudden encounter, he let out a bark of relieved laughter.

"Wow . . . thanks, Nidoqueen. I don't know if what just happened was really good luck, or really bad luck." He considered the Kadabra with some pity, still twitching on the ground, its limbs splayed at odd angles after being crushed under Nidoqueen's butt. "Well. At any rate, I should probably take some responsibility for this. And . . ." He raised a pokeball, hesitated, then tossed it at Kadabra, sucking the creature in. "Ah, what the hell. The team could use a Psychic-type."

Kadabra was in no state to put up a genuine fight. The pokeball gave a couple of halfhearted shakes, then stilled. Hibiki lifted it, and turned back to the dirt path, looking at Jax. He stood there awkwardly. "Uh . . . please don't judge me for this."

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

The morning had been grim and misty in Lavender Town as Beige and Leaf seized the day. Leaf had insisted on training on route 8 and route 12. However, Beige ignored Leaf for the majority of the day, as he was trying to find the location of the old Enforcer outpost. He saw a small tower made of stone. It looked completely torn up and broken, with many cobwebs. This was it. So many memories flowed through Beige's head, his backstory prior to stealing the Pikachu at the lab, now coming back into existence. He entered the outpost, as the door was still in place, turning on his torch, cautiously. There was along hallway with large glass panes on each side. Beyond the glass pannels, seperate rooms-rooms which the Enforcers had preformed horrifying experiments on people and tortured them to death. Beige had seen it all, the last time he came. Most of the equipment in the rooms had been broken, the machines with burn marks on them and metal execution chairs and platforms left on their own. There were stains of blood, scattered everywhere. The boy could see another human crotching down in one of the torture rooms. Beige pointed his torch into it and opened the door to see Leaf. Beige dropped his torch.

"Wha..What are you doing here?" Beige asked Leaf, picking his torch up.

"I came here to find out what you were doing." Leaf replied. "There's something not quite right here. The Enforcers have been up to things."

"I know. I was here before. I saw them...I saw them torture innocent people...including my father...who worked for them."

Beige and Leaf left the chamber and continued moving. They opened a door at the end of the corridor to find another one. Here, the torture chambers and interrigation rooms were not as empty-there were corpses thrown about in the rooms. They looked like most of them were on the floor and Leaf realised most of these were Enforcers.

"What happened here?" Leaf asked. "What are you not telling me?"

As they approached the end of the corridor, they saw more and more corpses and white machines inside of the soundproof siderooms. They opened another door and the two saw pokemon inside of each of the interigation rooms-some looked like they had fainted, some looked like they were completely dead altogether. This was now the darkest part of the outpost. Suddenly, floating balls of gas appeared near them, inside of the chambers.

"Gastlys." Beige muttered. "They say they are the ghosts of dead people and pokemon..." The two of them became more and more horrified as the walked on.

They entered yet another corridor. This place was big considering it's outside size. At the end of the corridor, there was a big room. From the outside, they could see through the glass and there was a man with black hair and glasses sitting in a white lab coat on a wooden chair. He looked lifeless. He was dead. Beige's eyes watered as they entered the room. Additionally, the saw a woman in a jumper lying dead on the ground next to him.

A man in a black jacket and smart white suit and tie approached Beige and Leaf, from behind the dead man's chair. He took his brown hat off and stared at Beige. Beige looked depressed.

"Ah! I recognise you!" The man exclaimed. "We have met before...or prehaps...seen each other a number of times...but never interacted. This man...do you know him?"

"He is...he is..." Beige sniffed.

"He's your father!" The man roared.

"How did you...know?"

"James Twistman. What a man." The older man said. "He was a pioneer of modern day inventions! He invented many of the things the Enforcers use today! He created the armour, the look, everything." The man paced up and down the room, with his hands in his pockets. "The Enforcers really did use him well. But in fact! He created the most important thing to them...the mega weapon."

"The mega weapon?" Leaf asked. "What's that?"

"Decades ago...there were two wars...In the first Great War, we used the mega weapon to defeat our enemies. Do not believe what Red says...he claims the Great War was a fight against Johto...but it wasn't. It was to destroy his enemies. With one mighty blast, he destroyed the majority of his enemies." The man held up some blueprints for the weapon. The weapon showed a massive metal laser gun. "He fired this...and it destroyed so many people's lives...including many people I knew. My wife died to that terrible weapon. My son, abandoned me after believing I was dead. Then, he fled to Johto, never to see me again! I confronted Red myself...but I was unable to stop his cruel deeds. I managed to escape Silph Co that fateful day. We had met many times before...but this was only the second time we had been in Silph Co together. Your father, James risked his life to try and stop the Enforcers from activating the mega weapon once again. He died in the process, but he saved Kanto from utter destruction. The Enforcers did not know how to build the mega weapon again, as James had been tortured to death and he was the only one who knew how. And your mother...well she died by his side shortly afterwards, as you know. You've been here before, I can tell."

Leaf was speachless, as this stranger just recited Beige's backstory. Both of them knew that the man had been following Beige for some time now, and that he also knew of Beige's first time learning of his parents' death when going into the outpost.

"The Enforcers you see dead...I did it! I snuck in...and found my parents dead...well, my father at least...and then...I couldn't help myself...I needed to get revenge! I destroyed the whole outpost!"

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Lavender Town
After several hours of uneventful backtracking and amicable small talk, Sykes led Pixie through Diglett’s Cave, east on Route 11 past the guard station, and north on Route 12 to Lavender town.

“Not a single wild encounter. Not bad, Enforcer.” Pixe turned to the man. “If you should happen to see the boy in question, I trust you will deal with him immediately.”

Sykes sagged. “I will do my best to bring him in.”

Pixie hardened her expression. “You don’t understand the severity of the situation. You mentioned that you were in forensics. Go to the Pokemon Tower. Rumor has it that Red specifically instructed the enforcers to abandon the guardpost there, leaving it untouched as a testimony to the violent tendencies of separatists such as Beige. See for yourself, and I believe you’ll understand what must be done.”

Smiling wickedly, she turned towards Lavender Town, leaving Sykes alone at the gate.

Digging through his bag, he pulled out Sketch’s pokeball.

“You hear that, old friend?” He whispered as he released the Ditto from it’s ball.

“We’ve got work to do.”

Together, they made for the tower.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The body was completely undisturbed. Judging by the amount of insects present in his initial biopsy, the man had been dead for several weeks. A pokeball at the man’s belt suggested that the luckless Enforcer hadn’t even managed to call out his Pokemon in self-defense. The scorched armor was bashed in at the chest, indicating blunt force trauma as the cause of death.

Sykes sighed. He was thankful to be a plain-clothed officer for once, his specialty role in forensics allowing the force to save money by not purchasing expensive body armor for him. Apparently, the armor hadn’t helped this particular Enforcer in the slightest.

In the dead man’s wallet was a picture of a young woman, perhaps a lover or a family member of some kind. Sykes removed a credit card carefully, kneeling near the corpse.

“Brandon Korr.” He read from the card, then somberly sheathed the card and wallet into his bag. “I’ll see that this gets back to your family.”

He started to rise, when he noticed the dead man’s pokeball blinked.

Sykes’ eyes widened. It wasn’t unheard of for Pokemon who died due to neglect in their Pokeballs to haunt their Pokeball in death. Such Pokemon were known as Voltorb, and were extremely deadly, prone to self-destruct in explosions that caused themselves to faint in their undead state. Such detonations couldn’t bring the sorry Pokemon the release they craved and deserved, but were deadly to the living nonetheless.

The eyes of the pokeball shifted, glaring at Sykes. Electrical sparks flew as the Voltorb powered up, glowing ominously.

Sykes pushed himself off the body, rolling into a run.

“Take cover!” He yelled.

Sketch didn’t need to be told twice, flattening itself behind a body. Sykes dove for cover behind an overturned table, but the explosion still managed to rock him to the ground harshly. His ears rang loudly as he picked himself up, and as the dust settled, he saw a ghost.

A pained face floated in the mist above the fainted Voltorb. A gastly, perhaps there to snoop on Sykes as he probed the body, had unwittingly exposed itself to the brunt of the explosion. The ghost stuck out it’s tongue in revulsion.

Sykes bowed his head to the Pokemon in thanks for bearing the brunt of the blast, but the Gastly didn’t seem to understand. The world darkened unnaturally as Sykes’ vision suddenly tunneled, and he felt a chill run up his spine.

“Night’s Shade…Sketch-transform and copy the attack - break it's concentration!”

The Ditto complied, mirroring the move. Sykes vision began to clear a little. He crawled towards his bag, feeling for a pokeball through the haze. They had to break the Gastly's concentration somehow!

Sketch sagged, too weakened by the shock of the blast to maintain its own Night Shade for long. But it was enough - Sykes' hand closed about the Pokeball he was searching for. In a final act of desperation, Sykes chucked the ball at the ghost as hard as he could!

With a digital hiss, the Gastly was sucked into the ball. The device glowed for several seconds, until at last, there was silence.

Sykes slumped over. If there was anyone else here, they’d surely have heard that explosion. Gastly would likely be coming in great numbers to investigate. He should have moved, but the fight had drained him. He barely managed to scoop up the ball, holding it for a moment as he waited for whatever might show up to investigate the noise. To anyone that would arrive, he would have appeared as a normal individual, wearing a brown jacket and white shirt smeared with dust from the explosion, a green umbrella, blue bag, and mushed Ditto at his side as he rested against a wall to regain his strength.

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

Suddenly a loud crashing sound resenonated throughout the destroyed Enforcer outpost. "What was that?" Leaf asked.

"This place...it falls down quite easily from time to time...I know this because i've been here for a while." The smartly dressed man replied. "But I do think that last thudding sound came from an explosion. And with that-I must leave. I have business to attend to. But hear me on this-we will meet again." The man kicked open a fire exit, which seemed to be clumsilly screwed on, allowing the man exit quite easily.

"Who was he?" Leaf asked.

"We must leave now..." Beige looked up and saw the ceiling was about to fall down upon him. He grabbed his father's corpse. "Grab my mother..." He said to Leaf. The pair of them dragged the two corpses out of the building through the fire exit and the man was nowhere to be seen. Beige and Leaf looked up at the outpost, as the floors broke and crumbled in on each other, making the building look even more destroyed.

"What are we going to do with these two bodies...We'll get arrested if we're seen with them!" Leaf pointed out.

"We need to burn them. Here and now. Then we can take their ashes, and put them in some kind of ankh, or whatever those pot things are called."

"Then where do we go?"

"The Pokemon Tower. It's the only place where there is any true resting places for dead people." Beige whipped out a lighter. It failed to start.

"Do you need help my boy?" An old man asked. This sound came from an elderly man in his 70s or 80s, with a walking stick. "Beige! How are ya doing!"

"Mr Fuji?" Beige asked. It's been so long.

"Why yes, we haven't spoken since before you left Lavender Town! Why don't you come along to my little old pokemon nursery?"

"We'd love to but..."

"I see what you are doing." Fuji interupted. "You said before you left that you would come back one day to burn your parents' remains. I see you fufilled that promise!"

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"You can come with me. You'll be safe. Most of the Enforcers are gone in Lavender Town." Beige and Leaf lifted the corpses over towards Fuji and followed him. Fuji took them through a small passageway, which could not be seen. They finally arrived at the nusery, which, thankfully, was empty, apart from Fuji's social workers. They immediately saw Fuji was not in his bed and, grabbing him, attended to him.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Nearly two hours later, Sykes came to. The building was still abandoned, with the occasional sound of a falling object a reminder that the area was both haunted and falling apart. He rose slowly, ignoring the aches, but quickly fell back to the ground. His leg was asleep.

With a curse, Sykes recalled Sketch to his Pokeball, then fastened both Sketch’s ball and the captured gastly’s to his belt. He wanted to keep exploring, to get some form of identification from the remainder of the bodies here. But his party was destroyed, there were likely other ghosts about, and he had used his only free pokeball to catch the gastly.

Collecting himself as best he could, he soldiered off to the Pokemon center, battered and drained.

There was no right side. He thought to himself.

The lab in the tower showed evidence of unspeakable torture and evil. Perhaps it was what got the Enforcers stationed there killed in the first place.

He sighed. He would prefer to inform the dead Enforcer's family of what he'd found in person, and would have to lie about what the Enforcers were actually doing there. That knowledge would be a liability to them, potentially making them targets of both a state motivated to keep secrets and an unknown enemy likely motivated by revenge. And that meant tracking the family down here in Lavender. As soon as that was done, he could get as far away from this place and its reminder of how closely he toed the line between evil and impartial Enforcer as he could.

Tracking the boy down began to matter less and less. His partner had died, and deserved justice. But so did those who had lost loved ones to other Enforcers that acted against the law. Now, he found himself in the unusual position of having been requested to ‘get rid’ of a boy by an affiliate of Red himself. There was an implication that murder was expected, with no explicit evidence he could present in court. Even if he had such evidence, who would he present to?

He shook his head. One step at a time. He would arrest those he could, starting with the boy, then turn his attentions to cleaning up his own organization somehow. And before he could make that arrest, he needed to grow stronger. Perhaps to challenge the nearest gym, now in Saffron.

The nurse broke him out of his revelry. “Your Pokémon are ready. Do you have a place to spend the night?”

Sykes shook his head.

“All trainers are welcome to rest here. Beds are prepared daily for the public. Check in at the desk if you’re interested.”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

Fuji coughed loud several times as he lay in his bed like some kind of Slowpoke or Snorlax. Beige and Leaf could clearly see that his age was a severe impediment to his health. The young social workers who put Fuji to bed explained how he wasn't supposed to get out of bed much. They took the two trainers downstairs.

"As you can see...Mr Fuji isn't feeling so well..." One of the social workers explained. She was young with brown hair.

"How can you say that when he just helped us get to cover?" Beige asked, pointing to the dead bodies, that were now in coffins.

"It's very spontaneous." One of the young women responded. "It happens at random times."

"Why are you here? Why did Master Fuji allow you to come here with two dead bodies?" A man with darkened skin asked.

"They're my parents!" Beige shouted. "The Enforcers killed them...but I only came back for them now! I was afraid the Enforcers would come back and-"

"We understand..." One of the girls replied. "Here at the nursery, we try and confort anyone who have faced the wrath of the Enforcers."

"Might I ask, what is your element of trust with Fuji? You obviously know him?" The man asked.

"He's my great uncle." Beige stated. "He's my grandfather's brother. My grandfathers on both sides of my family died when I was born so...he naturally took their place. He knew my parents very well. We were good friends before I left here, that's for sure."

A loud coughing sound came from upstairs. "Guys!" One of the social workers shouted. "There's something wrong!" Immediately, all of the social workers that had been caring for the pokemon downstairs and talking to Beige ran upstairs. Beige and Leaf followed. They looked in and saw a social worker looking into Fuji's skin.

"He's been poisoned." The social worker said. "Right here, on the arms and belly. The spikes, they're toxic and they've penitrated further in."

"Someone must of stung him on the way with you two." Another social worker replied. "There are traces of a poison sting attack."

"Silent but deadly." A voice whispered. The voice came from a man who stood on the roof of the house. He teleported inside. He had black spikey hair and a black ninja outfit with a scarf which really stood out. The man looked experience in the matter of stealth and poison, shown by his efficiency to get into house and the wrinkles that covered his aging face.
"The man is a traitor." The voice whispered, very very quickly, like some kind of Japanese anime character. "He deserves to die. As do all of you, except the trainer." He pointed to Beige.

"And you would be?" Beige asked.

"Koga. That is my name. A name is a man's shelter. But there will be no shelter for you. I've finally found you. I was looking in the shadows. But I could not find you at exactly the same time." Koga tossed a poke ball and a Golbat appeared, looking threatening.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Sykes checked in at the counter, then made his way over to the Pokemon Center’s waiting area. Several blankets were being passed out to those who had decided to spend the night, along with throw rugs to use as mattresses. A series of office dividers on rollers could afford the visitors some privacy, though not much in the way of comfort. The central area, filled with rows of padded seats, was left alone to serve as a common area. There, two other nurses were passing out bottled water and bowls of plain rice to four or five other trainers, alongside a mulch of bok choy and watercress for their pokemon. A hint of local kimshi, albeit in a sorry, refrigerated state, was available for anyone looking to add all-too-much spice to the meal.

Sykes moved toward the central area, accepting the rug, blanket, and food before taking a seat on the floor. His hand moved to his belt, and both Pokeballs grew to fit his palm.

“Come on out, you two,” he invited as he dropped the balls to the floor.

Sketch appeared, looking healthy enough, bee-lining its way to the mulch of Pokemon food. But Gastly’s Pokeball opened to reveal….nothing.

Sykes looked around in alarm. Did the nurse just steal my Pokemon?

He picked up Gastly’s ball and started to rise, then felt an entire tongue rub against the back of his neck. An eerie laughter filled his mind.

“ACK!” He squealed. “Return!”

The Pokeball opened and closed, and the unnatural laughing ceased.

Sykes looked around. Several trainers looked at him in pity, assuming him to have some sort of deficiency or evidence of mental trauma.

He sighed, ignoring them and inspecting the Pokeball in his hand.

“You are quite the troublemaker….I’ll call you ‘Pokehauntus.’ If I let you out, I hope you’ll take the chance to eat.”

He let the Gastly out again, which this time appeared fully visible with a wide grin, slowly drifting its way over to the food. Some of the trainers watching nodded in understanding, then turned back to their own Pokemon or traveling companions.

“I take that Gastly to mean you visited the base.” A voice behind Sykes offered, causing him to jump.

Pixie was there, looking fresher than ever, a rug and blanked tucked under one arm.

How long has she been there?

“I did. Their families deserve to know what happened, if they haven’t already been informed. If the boy is responsible, then he needs to be brought to justice.”

Sykes shifted awkwardly.

“Who are you, really? Why would Red take such an interest in you?”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"Look...all I wanted to do was bury my parents in a safe place!!!" Beige yelled.

"Your parents...I've been informed are the ones who betrayed Red at the last minute? I am right am I not!? You too are a traitor, it seems. Poison fang!" The Golbat flew towards Fuji's bed as it tried to bite everyone. The social workers got hit as they could not escape the mighty jaws of the huge bat pokemon. They subsequently fell to the floor.

"Skull!" Beige roared. Skull jumped out of his poke ball and attempted to hit the Golbat with a bone club attack, but it did nothing, as Skull was unable to hit it. Then Von Karp jumped out of his poke ball and the whole house started to crumble. Von Karp strangled the Golbat to death, causing the Golbat to faint.

"Impressive." Koga stated. "But it's not over until I have you extracted for information!" A large Muk appeared behind Beige and grabbed him. Before Leaf could protect Beige with her pokemon, the Muk engulfed her too.

Koga jumped down with the Muk swiftly, from the house. A gigantic hole had been created in the house meaning the pair could make their escape.

"Hey!" A girl shouted. From the cliffs above Lavender stood a woman in the same sort of black ninja clothing Koga wore. This was Janine, the new gym leader of Fuscha City and Koga's daughter. Suddenly, the Muk was attacked from the side by a Nidorina. Then, the Muk started to hover in the air as a Venomoth fluttered by. It had used a confusion attack to lift the Muk in the air and it was super effective. The Muk spat out Leaf and Beige as it fainted.

"Don't you dare! Go away!" The girl roared.

"You won't get so lucky next time." Koga admitted, before running away.

"Thanks..." Leaf said to Janine.

"Name's Janine. I'm the gym leader of Fuscha City and, next time you get into trouble...just call me." She winked at them, before fleeing.

The two trainers panted as they raced back to check on Mr.Fuji. All the social workers were dead on the floor-Koga's poison techniques had left them in a state. Mr.Fuji coughed. "James would be proud." He said. He was on his last legs-the poison injected into him by Koga earlier was less deadly than the direct attacks injected into the social workers, so it took longer. But, Fuji's body was weak, despite him being a former champion back in the day prior to both Red and Blue's existance! He fought the disease well. "Burry the bodies next to the tower. Take the gravestones from my house...Then...bury me..." He coughed one final time, before closing his eyes.

 

[Pokemon Fanfiction Novels]

With a wounded Kadabra in need of tending, Hibiki wasted no time playing tourist. The moment he arrived at the outskirts of Lavender Town, he made a beeline for the Pokecenter and marched through the doors, straight to the nurse's desk. Instantly, he was stricken by deja vu, as the redheaded woman was wearing black mourning garb just like the one in Pewter City had. Hibiki hesitated, now feeling somewhat ashamed for walking up to her so boldly, but she took his pokemon for healing as naturally as any nurse.

"You're lucky to come when you did," she said sadly, placing the four pokeballs on the healing machine. "Another ten minutes, and the Center will be closed down until the Memorial Service is over."

Hibiki gave her an inquisitive look, afraid to ask for elaboration. Nevertheless, she picked up on his glance, and went on. "It's for our town elder, Mr. Fuji. He and a few other people were poisoned to death. By Koga of the Elite Four, no less." Her eyes narrowed, and the deep sadness was replaced with a look of burning hatred. "I'd renounce my Hippocratic oath to get even with him. Mr. Fuji was a good man- a nourisher and a caretaker of orphans."

This news stunned Hibiki. He didn't know of many people in the Kanto region, even the gym leaders, but he was perfectly aware of who Mr. Fuji was. The old man was a textbook example of a philanthropist, and yet one of Red's top men had assassinated him? It didn't make sense.

"There . . . there has to be some mistake," he stammered, as the nurse handed him his pokemon back. "Maybe- I dunno- maybe Koga was aiming for someone else, and he missed or something."

The nurse gave him a look that made clear that he could not have made a stupider remark. "Missed? The ninja master of the Elite Four?" She let out a bark of spiteful laughter. "Well, to be fair, he did let himself be seen by half the population in town. I suppose selling his soul to Red didn't just make him a lesser man, but a lesser ninja as well."

Hibiki clutched his forehead, as his temple had begun to throb painfully. "No. Koga wouldn't kill a helpless old man needlessly. There has to be more to this story that I'm not seeing."

She shrugged. "The only other thing I know is that his daughter drove him out of town. He was in the middle of kidnapping a boy and girl when Janine's Venomoth forced his pokemon into retreat."

Hibiki looked up at the nurse sharply, his suspicions suddenly aroused. "A boy and girl? What, like little kids or something?"

"No. About your age."

Hibiki's chest filled with rage. There was only one pair he was aware of, who seemed to invite death along wherever they visited. Goddammit, Beige, he fumed. You done @#$%ed up this time. In that moment, he couldn't decide who he hated more: Beige, for getting everyone around him killed as he continued eluding capture, or Koga, for being so unbelievably sloppy and incompetent for a supposed elite. One thing was for sure, though: he had finally found a real purpose for his Journey.

He would win eight badges. He would straighten out the Enforcers, morally and militarily. And he would take down Beige, if it was the last thing he ever did.

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

The memorial service was calm, serious and sombre. A group of men lifted the now dead Fuji's coffin into a grave. Leaf and Beige had told the authorities right away. Lavender Town was a town free from any true Enforcer control and it was a local village-everyone knew about each other. Beige's parents also had their coffins lifted. These three were burried in front of three gravestones to the right of the pokemon tower. Beige and Leaf were hiding in the crowd for the whole service. When the service ended, the crowd died down. Beige stepped forward next to his dad's grave.

"Seeee the truth..." A voice whispered. It sounded like it was coming from the grave. Suddenly, three white ghostly images appeared from the gravestones-one of Mr Fuji, and two of Beige's parents. They walked through the base of the Pokemon Tower. Beige tried to follow them into the foggy and ancient tower. He followed them through the metal coffin mazes and saw old women with candles walking around like zombies. Then the fog thickened as he followed them up a flight of stairs. The ghostly images of the humans dissappeared and only James was left. "Weeeeee have not beeeen at rest..." The ghostly image of his father said to Beige. "They have found a real tooommmmbbbb!!!" It was like a wailing sound. "Now...I must take my rest....but you....must find out the truth....that...I...am...not...your...fath-" The ghostly image of James seemed to get sucked into a huge golden coffin and his voice died down. He was trying to tell Beige, something, but Beige didn't quite get what he was trying to say. In the ghost's place, a strange ball of gas appeared. Beige realised that the ghostly image of his father had transformed into a pokemon-a Gastly.

Leaf stepped next to Beige. "What just happened?"

"I think the Mr Fuji and my parents...were just trying to get a proper burial place..." He said. "And...from what I can see...they've become true ghosts...pokemon..."

Then the Gastly jumped towards Beige and stuck it's tongue out. Beige looked around to see strange ghostly pokemon, but he could not see them. "How is it that I can see the Gastly but not the other ghost pokemon?" He asked.

"Maybe it's because you have a special bond with James..."

"So if this pokemon really is James as a pokemon...maybe I can..." Beige tossed a poke ball at the Gastly. The Gastly was pulled in and the poke ball wobbled three times.

"You just caught your dad." Leaf said. "Now i've seen everything."

"Yes. I think I'll nickname him James."

"Halt! Intruders, be gone!" A voice shouted. "You are disturbing the ancient resting place of people and pokemon!" A voice came from a young man from the other side of the room. Beige couldn't see him.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

The entire town had arrived for the memorial service. Mr. Fuji was well known throughout the region, and had been understanding in the past of the need to occasionally unearth the dead to provide the resolution that came with apprehending a loved one's murderer to the families they left behind.

This was why he had wanted to become an officer in the first place, before Red had come to power and reorganized everyone into the Enforcers.

People deserve answers, and justice.

Which was why, when he spotted a young boy pulling out a pokeball to catch one of the recently deceased spirits in its newborn state of confusion, he felt the need to intervene- even though he wasn’t in uniform.

….”You’re disturbing the rest of people and pokemon! This soon after the loss of Mr. Fuji, before even the floral arrangements can be moved from the recent memorial service, what makes you think it’s appropriate to catch the spirits of those so recently buried? That person's family is likely in attendance...how would you feel, if it were your own relative?”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"What? How did-" Beige was trying to answer two different calls from the sides of the room. One appeared to be coming from an Enforcer officer and the other, well Beige wasn't sure. The man who had first spoken stepped forward into the light coming from a window. He wore a long black scarf and a black hoodie. In some instances, he reminded Beige of himself, in others, of 'the man' that seemed to know a lot about him. But this was neither.

"An Enforcer? In Pokemon Tower?" The man asked. At first, Beige thought he was a ghost from his pale skin. "State you indentities, both of you. This is not a place for a trainer, nor is for an Enforcer."

"My name...it's...."

"I'm Leaf." Leaf barged in on the conversation. "That's Beige sir."

"I see...who would that be?"

"That's the kid the Enforcers were trying to go after because he's killed so many people and said nasty things about them!" Leaf shouted, clearly.

"What-what are you doing?!" Beige asked Leaf. "There's an Enforcer here who probably wants to arrest me and...you blow our cover..."

"Our cover?" Leaf giggled. "I'm getting out of here...before a get even more superstious about these ghosts and whatnot..." She ran out of the tower, like some kind of prankster.

The man looked at Sykes. "What are you called? Prehaps you could not come here in future?"

Suddenly a group of Enforcers appeared. They threw out their poke balls, yet, all the pokemon fainted instantly. This was the work of Skull, Beige's amazing Cubone. He wipped out his bone and hit them each with a bone club attack. He then continued and knocked out the Enforcers that had arrived, by bonking them on the head. This was all without Beige giving a single order. Skull gave a look towards Sykes.

"Skull. That's enough." Skull nodded and looked up towards Beige. He then looked around. The pokemon tower had been Cubone's home prior to Beige's father, James, catching him. Originally, the Cubones lived in Rock tunnel. Then, due to the activities of Red and Team Rocket, they were forced into the Pokemon Tower as the mother of the tribe of Cubones had been a Marowak Red and the Rockets killed. They arrived to greet the ghost of the Marowak when James caught the Cubone, just days after they had arrived from the Rock Tunnel.

There was something different about this new Enforcer Beige had met. He could tell a real drive to extract the truth was going on. To Beige, the Enforcer was not like the others. Beige put his hand up to Skull and returned the Cubone to it's poke ball, in a controlled manner. He did not want Skull to attack the other two men.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

Sykes cringed visibly as the cubone made short work of the other Enforcers. There would be no use fighting that kind of power. Neither of his pokemon had even won a battle yet. He kept his hands clearly at his side, away from his belt and his Pokeballs as he turned to stare at the bodies for a moment, letting the man’s question linger.

Blunt-force trauma. Just like at the Enforcer base.

“Officer Sykes, forensics.” He offered without turning his gaze from the bodies. His right hand slowly balled into a fist.

“These aren’t the only Enforcers you’ve killed. I recognized you from your description, back at Mr. Fuji's memorial. He was a good man who respected life....and less than an hour after his service ended, you have dishonored his memory by shedding blood on sacred ground. Even your friend seems to have noticed your homicidal tendencies have gotten out of hand.”

Sykes turned back to Beige.

“I’m tired of having to tell mothers that their daughter was murdered, wives why their husbands won’t be coming home. So save whatever excuses you might have. No matter how bad these people could have been, what makes you any different if you resort to killing indiscriminately?”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"It's it's..." Beige was about to announce the truth upon Sykes, but then gave up. What was the point. If these men and women had been brainwashed to think a certain way and never go against it, what was the point if they weren't willing to change? And Leaf wasn't there, a person he had always wanted to impress. Beige rustled his inflated bag and wipped out his dead Raticate. He placed it what seemed to be an empty coffin. He had searched in the pokemon tower for empty coffins beforehand, but found none were there. Luckily, there was one, for some reason. "I just wanted to burry my dead pokemon in peace...I didn't mean it." He said, softly.

"Officer please! This boy is distraught. I see it now. He's mourning over the loss of both his parents, Mr Fuji and his dead Raticate. I was there at the ceremony." He looked up at Beige. "At first, I thought you were one of those punks that keeps trashing the gravestones and coffins, disrepecting the dead...then I saw what the Enforcers were doing. Why are they trying to encircle you here of all places? Unless...they're trying to stop you from uncovering some truth."

"Who are you?" Beige asked, curiously.

"My name is Cade."

"I'm Beige. I cannot lie now."

Suddenly a ghostly image of a Marowak appeared behind them. It had red eyes and when looked at, showed complete sadness but it was angry sadness. It had appeared next to a flight of stairs, going to the next floor.

"The dead Marowak...have you heard the tale?" Cade asked.

"They say the Marowak was killed by Team Rocket and turned into a ghost. Well, that's a lie. My parents were there at the time and it was the Enforcers who did it." Beige explained. Then Skull came out of his poke ball again. "What is it Skull?" Beige asked the pokemon. It seemed to be attracted to the ghostly Marowak.

"We should follow it." Cade responded. Cubone have the ability to detect very abnormal things. "This Marowak...it may not be what it seems..."

 

[Ry_Burst]

“Well then. I’ve missed a lot. As usual.” Jax mumbled to himself during Fuji’s memorial service. Once Hibiki had caught his Kadabra, Jax had congratulated him and traveled with him for the rest of the way to Lavender. But while Hibiki headed towards the Pokemon Center, Jax decided to explore the sad sleepy town called Lavender. Only to discover there was a massive death funeral service.

Jax was silent during the duration of this whole thing. However near the end, he noticed a commotion between a man and a boy in a beige colored cap. "It must be That outlaw. Beige." Jax mumbled to himself as he followed them.

Keeping his distance, he followed Beige to the Pokemon Tower, which Jax knew was home to the Lavender Gym. Maybe the killer was challenging the gym.

But he seemed to be wrong, as so much more was begining to unravel. Beige killed multiple Enforcers and Jax noticed near him was that girl who had lost her egg in Vermillion City. Was Beige the friend she had mentioned? Was that girl getting Beige the reason the S.S. Anne had sunk? Staying low, Jax watched this, praying that he was caught. And then to add to the insanity, Cade the Gym Leader appeared. Jax held his breath as he waited for more info.

 

[SageNeb]

Chris woke up and stretched. He quickly left the Pokémon and began walking around the town. He saw a funeral taking place and went towards it. There he was surprised to find out it was for Mr. Fuji. "N-no way. He didn't cause any trouble. He abided by the rules. If I remember correctly, he helped Red! Why would he be dead," Chris thought. He saw Beige there, but didn't say anything. "It's him. The murderer and criminal. I've gotten stronger, and maybe I could beat him. That doesn't matter, though. Right now I want to know how Mr. Fuji died and that criminal I suspect murdered him." Chris saw Jax following Beige to the Pokémon Tower. "It's not worth it. I don't want to go against 2 people. Screw it, I'm done with this town." He began heading for the exit of Lavender Town, without even looking back.

Chris made it to the underground path connecting Lavender Town and Celadon City, and took it. When he reached Celadon City, he smiled and headed to a secret place he learned about. There were stairs leading to the top of the building, but they were behind the building. He finally reached the end and found the room he was looking for. There, he saw a Pokéball, and a man sleeping. Chris grabbed the Pokéball since he read it was for a trainer that abandoned the Pokémon. Once he reached the ground again, he let out the Pokémon inside. He smiled at the newly appeared Eevee, in front of him. "I remember, that there were more than three evolutions for you. One caught my interest. If you're fine with it, I'd like to name you Lunar," Chris told his new Pokémon. The Eevee simply nodded and then fell to sleep. Chris returned his Pokémon and went to the Pokémon Center.

Chris taught his Beedrill HM01 Cut. Then he headed towards the western exit of Celadon City, near the Cycling Road. Chris commanded Beedrill to use Cut on a tree, which opened up a new area. Chris headed western once more and saw a house. The person inside told him to tell nobody of it and in return gave Chris HM02 Fly. He learned about all this after completely reading a book based off Red's journey. In the Route he was currently in, Chris began training his Elekid. Then he remembered something and headed back to Celadon.

Chris went to the Celadon Department Store and headed up. Once he got to the third floor he went to the cashier and bought a Soothe Bell. He gave the item to his Eevee, and went back to the ground. He healed his Pokémon in the Center, and then headed for Gale's gym. "It's almost as if god gave me this gift as a reward for my hard work," Chris said to nobody while looking at one of his Pokéballs. He entered the gym and challenged Gale,"I request a gym match!"

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

The gym in Celadon city was a massive skyscraper building. But Gale was nowhere to be seen on the first floor.

A butler strolled over to Chris. "You require a gym match?" His voice was the distinct Kalos French accent. "You will have to take dis lift." He pointed towards a red door. "The lift will take you 8 floors up. Madame is on the top floor-the balcony area. That is where the battlegrounds are."

On the top floor, Gale paced up and down, waiting for her next oponnent. She wore rich clothes: a blue dress and a black and blue fluffy scarf thing that seemed to be made of pokemon fur or feathers. Next to her was her private helicopter from which she did her weekly news show. She was adored in Celadon City as both a gym leader, a news broadcaster and a movie star.

(Beige's perspective)

"There! There's the Marowak!" Cade shouted. Cade and Beige had ran up the stairs as soon as they saw the ghostly pokemon. They followed it up several flights of stairs, not even checking on Sykes to see if he was okay. They trapped the ghost into a dead end, but the ghost walked through the wall behind it.

"Ghosts...they don't exist...It's not possible..." Then the ghost appeared again. Skull jumped out of it's poke ball and went to try and hug the ghost. The Cubone ended up slipping through the Marowak, but it bumped it's head on the wall. All of a sudden, the wall collapsed and Beige realised that this part of the wall was fake.

"Oh my..." Cade said, gasping. Both of their eyes widened as they saw a white room with a long set of control pannels and a group of Enforcers manning them. One was pressing a button which created a lightening effect which darkened the room.

"Put the mist machine on!" One of the Enforcers who was commanding them roared. "Make sure the Marowak image we created leads them back up to the gym!" Then the man saw the hole in the wall and so did the others. The Enforcers readied their poke balls and stood up, all at once. They saw Beige and Cade. There was complete silence.

"What?" Cade asked. "What is going on here?"

"They've discovered us!" One of the Enforcers shouted.

"Discovered us? You guys were here the whole time?"

"Let me correct you on that." A voice spoke. From behind Beige and Cade, stood the leader of the Enforcers: Stephan.

"This unit of Enforcers have been here since the Pokemon Tower got revamped. Before then, it was a radio tower. Now, it is still the radio tower but...we had to monitor the activities of such a rebelious town. Thus, we set up a radio signal broadcasting the most supportive of radio signals. We also hired technicians to create the effect of ghosts, as to create fear." Stephan explained.

"You're telling me the ghosts never were here in the first place?" Cade asked. "My entire life here is a lie! I specifically set up a gym in order to protect the spririts of Lavender town! Even the Marowak thing is a lie!"

"Why, there are spirits here, pokemon spirits, yes. But we needed to control people using fear. Fear is what drives people to do what they do, you know that right?"

A Haunter appeared beside Cade from a pokeball. It gave a gigantic lick to destroy the control pannels creatings the lighting, images of the ghosts and the sound. The Enforcers jumped, terrified at the unexpected attack. They threw their poke balls out to show their pokemon.

"You have defied the will of the Enforcers. That makes you a traitor to Red." Stephan stated. "Even before now, you did so. Attack!"

 

[Ry_Burst]

“Things have just turned up a notch. Better play it safe.” Jax muttered to himself, behind a gravestone. He stuffed his hand in his jacket pocket, to pull put his black ski mask. In a sense, this was his defense, to keep his identity safe. He had to help people from people like the Enforcers, but keep his identity safe. If Red found out, he would be killed before he could defeat him.

“Hold up!” Jax shouted, jumping out from behind the gravestone, while trying to make his voice seem darker. “Rouge! Stand by for battle!” In an instant he sent out his Nidorino who appeared before the Enforcer’s Pokemon. “Now, Evolve!” He shouted tossing the Moon Stone he had pocketed long ago. It bounced off of Rouge’s back. The Poison Type began to glow, and it’s form began to change. He began to rose and quickly became bipedal.

“Nidoking!” Rouge roared with his new voice that seemed to echo with power. While Jax knew Rouge wouldn’t be the best controlling himself, his power is what Jax was going for.

“Hit us wiht your best shot!” Jax shouted waving his arm across. “I’ll help you,” he added facing Beige and Cade.

 

[Pokemon Fanfiction Novels]

After attending the Memorial Service for Mr. Fuji and his fallen companions, it was back to business for Hibiki. Jax had gone off somewhere while he was in the pokecenter, so he made it his next objective to check around likely places. His search led him to the most obvious landmark in Lavender Town: a five-or-six-story tall tower that loomed over all the households. It held the appearance of an ancient relic that had since been revamped and updated, and he passed through automatic double-doors to see a modernized lobby like a hotel might have.

"Hello there!" said a middle-aged man from behind the reception desk, adjusting his glasses as he looked at Hibiki. "Excuse me, but I must ask that all visitors remain on the ground floor for now, regardless of whether you're here for burial services or the gym."

Gym? thought Hibiki. Oh . . . so this is where Lance was talking about. "According to the times posted on the door, it's still a couple of hours before you guys close for the night," he protested, confused. "Are you undergoing renovations upstairs or something?"

The man pulled at his collar, looking uncomfortable. "Well, no, but . . . it's complicated. One of our town residents is under investigation upstairs, and while there are Enforcers conducting business in the building, we will give them room to work. We've found it's safer for all, that way. A couple passerby are already up there, but Cade's with 'em, so we're hoping it'll be okay."

Hibiki narrowed his eyes, fairly certain of who might be upstairs. "I get the feeling that the suspect won't come quietly," he said, spotting a couch in the lobby that faced the stairs. "And unless he jumps out the upper floor windows, he'll be escaping down these stairs." He sat himself upon the couch, then sent out Charmeleon in a burst of pokeball energy. "So until I get the all-clear to go upstairs for my gym challenge, I'll wait here. And if he comes down without Enforcer escorts holding him in handcuffs, we'll be ready."

The reception-man stared at Hibiki, his face breaking out in a sheen of cold sweat. "Okay, erm . . . how will you know if it's him?"

Hibiki smiled grimly. "He never disguises himself. Trust me, I'll know."


*(Hibiki is set to attack Beige, and only Beige.)

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"Who are you?" Beige asked Jax, whilst commanding his pokemon to attack the Enforcers' pokemon. But Skull was nowhere to be seen. Beige had recalled sending out all of his pokemon, including Skull.

"I thought the same." Cade replied, as his Haunter attacked several Enforcers.

"You chumps will ruin everything we have achieved here!" Stephan shouted. He looked back at Jax. "Here's a taste of your own medicine." Stephan tossed a poke ball furiously and a large Nidoking stepped out. The Nidoking charged for Jax's Nidoking. Then Stephan sent out another pokemon. This pokemon was native to Kanto, yet it evolved from a pokemon that loved the region. This orange bear like creature give an evil smile. He wore a rocky crown. It was a Slowking. The Slowking fired strange attacks at the groups of pokemon Beige had.

Skull wandered down a pathway, after seeing the ghost of Marowak once again. This time, the ghost of Marowak wasn't one of those fake lighting holograms the Enforcers had created. This was the real deal, and Skull could sense it. The Marowak used to be Skull's mother. The ghostly Marowak looked suprised to see Skull. Skull ran over to try and hug the creature.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

There was far too much happening for Sykes to process it all. Still in shock from the slew of revelations, he had rounded the stairs just in time to hear the local police confess to Enforcing the democratization of fear.

He took the opportunity to step back into the shadows, the others too absorbed with one another to pay him any mind. He needed to explore this base, to archive the signals collected and discover the truth for himself.

Avoiding the battle, he made his way over towards a side door. Before opening it, he unleashed Sketch from his Pokeball. The tiny ditto looked up at him curiously.

“Sketch – show me Red.”

The ditto transformed.

“Keep it up as long as you can, and keep quiet.”

"Ditto?" Sketch questioned, tilting his head. The pokemon was well trained to mimic victim descriptions of people, but had never had to hold the illusion for more than a few minutes.

"Don't doubt yourself. We'll be quick - and you'll hold out long enough."

With that, he opened the door and strode towards the first Enforcer he saw.

“"Saffron Forensics. This is an emergency. We need archives of the radio broadcasts immediately.”

“Pssh. I don’t know you, and I don’t care.” The man sneered. “Even if Red himself wanted those broadcasts, we ain’t that kind of-“

His face turned white as the image of Red himself rounded the corner behind Sykes.

“Quick and quiet, gentlemen.” Sykes offered, not wanting to give the Enforcers here a moment to recover. “With the activity here tonight, some insurance is naturally needed. Backup everything, lest you want to warm up a real battler before he snuffs out some punk downstairs.”

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

"Was that Red?" Cade asked.

"It sounds like him. Prehaps I should talk to him." Beige replied.

"It's unlike him to come here. I've never seen him around before." Cade whispered.

A man with a red cap walked in on them. He tapped Sykes on the back. "Blasphemy?" He asked.

The Enforcers looked around them, confused. There were now two Reds. "What?" Beige asked.

"It appears someone has tried to impersonate me." Red stated. "Ah! Beige, my child, we meet in the flesh, at last." A gigantic Venusaur plodded over to them and it's vines came out towards the fake Red, who was actually a Ditto.

"You ought to study me more in depth if you are going to impersonate me. Now which of you idiots did this?" Red asked. The Enforcers were silent.

"You have graced us with your presence. At the mere sight of you, we all stopped what we were doing." Stephan said, innocently.

"Enough. First, this guy breaks into the radio segement of the tower and discovers it...next, someone impersonates me. NEVER IMPERSONATE ME!!!" He roared. It suprised them all as Red never usually raised his voice. "Venusaur, pin down and kill the Enforcer that tried to do this. Stephan, eliminate the boys, especially that gym leader that's acting out of sync." Red ordered. He snapped his fingers and started to walk away.

 

[Ry_Burst]

“Mega Punch!” Jax was quick to bark and order through the chaos. He ignored Beige’s question as it didn’t matter. Names were not important. And of course he didn’t want Beige to even know he was receiving help from one of Red’s trainers.

But the arrival of Red, changed everything. As Stephan’s Nidoking stumbled back, Jax froze. The man whom he felt so much hatred for, suddenly appeared and attacked. He made commands for Venusaur to kill the enforcer who had tried to help them, while giving orders for Stephan and the Enforcers to kill him, Beige and Cade.

“God damn it! No one will die today. No Enforcer or person! I swear it! Megahorn!” At this point, Jax had lost his temper. He ad keep quiet long enough. TIme to blow off steam. Jax assumed that without Red, Venusaur would be less of a threat. Fighting on instinct and not skill. But the problem was Nidoking’s lack of grace and dexterity. It would be so hard to fight Red’s own Pokemon with a Pokemon who wasn’t as graceful, despite the possibility of Venusaur fighting on instinct. “Fury Stand by for Battle! Aerial Ace!” Jax as quick to send reinforcements for Nidoking. As Nidoking barreled forward with his main horn lowered and glowing green, Fury followed from the sky, draped in white streaks as they rushed towards Venusaur.

“Pika, provide support for the others!” Jax shouted sending out his Pikachu. “Thunderbolt, and aim for the nearest enforcer’s Pokemon. The Pikachu’s cheeks sparked with electricity and warped around her. Then it jetted forward racing towards the nearest opposing Pokémon.

 

[Gavin Sykes]

The sudden need for self-preservation wakened something in Sykes.

"Return," He whispered as the Ditto digitalized back into it's Pokeball. Venusaur's gaze moved to follow the red line for a moment.

"Confuse ray!"

He offered as he threw Pokehauntus's Pokeball. There was a massive difference in battling experience between the Gastly and the Venusaur. But Venusaur was a slow pokemon, and Ghost-types were a pain to fight regardless. The Venusaur had enough distractions with the multitude of Jax's Pokemon suddenly attacking it, and coupled with the sudden confusion could just as easily hurt itself or its allies as well as its targets.

This just might wor-

A massive vine threw Sykes backwards through the air with such force, he shattered a window and continued to fall the extra story out the tower and into the ocean on the tower's South-Eastern side.

Pokehauntus, finding itself without a trainer, would try to disengage and follow the rag-doll trajectory of Sykes out of the building.

 

[What Did You Do To Snoke?]

The Venusaur jumped into the air. It made a loud slam as it hit the floor. It ran out of the building to return to it's master, who was far far away from Lavender Town right now. Many of the Enforcers ran out shortly afterwards, They had been defeated. Cubone stepped into the ghostly image of the Marowak and it began to be filled with a strange green energy. The ghostly Marowak dissappeared and Skull started crying. Then, the energy began to improve Skull's powers. He threw his bone at Stephan's Nidoking, without being ordered to do so. The Nidoking did not see the attack coming and two hits to the face downed the large dinosaur like pokemon. The shape of Skull's body changed as it's body grew. It then downsized again. Skull was trying to evolve, but the process had failed. One more thing needed to trigger Skull's evolution other than the meeting with his mother.

"You may have won this time, but you will not win the war!" Stephan scowled, before running off with the rest of the Enforcers."Red is only sparing you so that you'll all learn your lessons!"

Beige looked around, only to see Jax, Sykes and Cade remaining.

 

[Pokemon Fanfiction Novels]

Down on the first floor, the walls trembled a bit as the sound of heavy shaking issued from overhead. Bits of dust crumbled from the ceiling, and the man at the desk looked nervously up, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh, dear. I do hope everything's all right."

Hibiki put down a magazine he had been reading, long enough to give the receptionist a sarcastic look. "Yeah. Sounds like everything's going swell up there."

The man wrung his hands nervously. "It's just . . . whatever the affairs of the living, it is most disrespectful to disrupt the rest of the dead."

"Dead?" asked Hibiki, with renewed skepticism. "Are you talking about the Gastly that live up there?"

The man nodded. "Around here, we believe that the dead often reincarnate in the form of a new Gastly."

Hibiki sighed and rolled up his magazine. "You guys really need to get with the century, you know that? If what you say is true, Gastly ought to outnumber every living creature on earth fourteen to one by now, or at the very least, be more common than Rattatas." He held up a finger. "Furthermore, are ghost pokemon even ghosts? They eat, they sleep, they lay eggs for crying out loud. If anything, they're planar entities that ground themselves in our dimension, not dead people."

The receptionist threw up his hands, looking quite taken aback. "Woah, easy now! No need to get on my ass about it."

Hibiki leaned back against the couch cushion, rubbing his temples. "Sorry. It's just that you guys own a radio tower here, and I'd hate to think that the truth is entrusted to broadcasters holding these kinds of superstitions. Same with the people who believe Arceus is a god."

The man stared hard at Hibiki, and even when the walls shook again, he ignored the distant impacts. "That's quite a brazen thing of you to say. Considering the numbers of people who believe in Arceus, you're bound to make enemies with that sort of talk."

Hibiki shrugged. "Truth matters more to me. I refuse to attribute deity to an animal with physical limitations, who can be caught in a human-made pokeball."

The man gave a shallow laugh. "Good luck finding an Arceus worshiper who thinks that."

"If they don't, then they should probably stop calling him a 'pocket monster'."

"Okay, seriously-" Yet another tremor in the building cut off the receptionist's speech, but he bulled ahead angrily as it passed. "I just got done burying my role model, and the police upstairs are doing something that's making the entire tower shake. I REALLY don't need any more agitation right now. How would you like it if I crapped all over your beliefs?"

This time, it was Hibiki who laughed bitterly. "You'll have to get in line. I believe that God is a 2,000-year-old Jewish guy who died for our sins. Please, feel free to remind me that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." He looked up at the ceiling, as more dust continued to fall. "Again, I'm sorry . . . I'm pretty on-edge myself. But I'm determined not to let my enemy escape this way, even if there is a danger of the place collapsing."