"Haha!" Northman bellowed. "That's it? Come with me, slut! I will be gentle with you."
Meg rushed to help the Pokemon stand up. "Cyndaquil! Are you OK?" she asked concernedly. "Come back. You did great."
A blue ray of light hit the magical beast from the empty Pokeball, and it vanished to its security.
Meg snapped her head toward Northman. "Never!" she said spitefully.
"Oh! You still have some fire left in you?" Northman jested, licking his lips. "Maybe after seeing this, you won't refuse me."
The moment Northman finished, a cloudy, vacant look took over his eyes, and he sat down. Seviper, who was hissing wildly before, suddenly looked conscious of things more than a magical beast should have.
Some 300 meters in the air, Kai observed these changes.
The real Meg hovered beside him on her huge paper wings.
"A Skinchanger!" she exclaimed. "He must be from a powerful organization to know this Multiverse Interdependency."
Fortunately, Kai wasn't clueless about these terms anymore.
Skinchanger was an Ability one could get in the Game of Thrones Random World. These Contestants could enter the mind of a beast and control its actions.
As he recalled this info, he saw Seviper's slithering becoming deliberate, and an evil intent filling its hisses.
It's almost like a cheap copy of my Slither Steps and Elementary Snake Language, Kai concluded.
The conclusion brought out his anger and disgust.
As Seviper wrapped itself around the paper Meg on the ground, its tail tearing at her clothes, Kai plunged in a dive toward the Pokemon. The paper Meg couldn't resist for a second and crumpled instantly.
Seviper/Northman hissed confusingly, his hisses maddening with every passing moment.
It was then Kai landed in between the Pokemon and Northman's true body.
A mass of silver mist burst out of him, solidifying into Selene.
-How dare you taint the name of serpents?- Kai hissed furiously, sucking out Pokemon's happiness with every breath. -How dare you let a human take over your consciousness?-
-Unworthy beast!- Selene snapped, agreeing with an angry hiss of her own.
Seviper hissed in denial, thrashing its tail and head here and there. Kai could feel Northman losing control over the beast at that moment, horrified, hearing the language coming out of Kai's mouth.
-Know what you are!- Kai hissed sharply, gliding towards the Pokemon. -Remember. Remember!-
-Or die!- Selene's hiss had an edge sharper than Kai's.
Seviper gave out the last struggle and fell, the Skinchanger within its mind bombarding against the walls of the beast's consciousness.
-I…- Seviper hissed, looking up at the dark tattered robe of Kai, billowing behind him. -I remember. They caught me, made me their slave, forcing me to do their bidding. I… I have fallen.-
Kai's shriveled, skeletal hand reached for the Pokemon's head and rubbed its black scales. -Worry not,- he hissed, spreading despair to the Pokemon's bones. -I will free you from all these worldly desires. I will redeem you.-
-I am Redemption!- Selene hissed, lunging at the Pokemon.
Behind them, Northman screamed, shouting out words that sounded like incomprehensible hideous hisses.
*
*
Early morning, June 28th
Pokemon Center
Alto Mare
Kai was standing naked in the room.
Meg was hopping all around him, touching him now and then, and taking measures using her fingers. She was every bit professional about it.
Kai's thoughts wandered to the time of his meeting with the Northman.
Not counting the Contestant's soul, Kai had got 1.2 Soul Points from Seviper. The status of his Poacher Title had increased by 1 as well, becoming 9. Now he needed to kill 1 more good Pokemon to get the Title.
Kai hadn't gambled on his enhanced Luck, either. Mission Credits were becoming his priority, now that he was approaching the Main Mission's completion. So Kai had exchanged his rewards for 1550 Mission Credits.
But the most rewarding was not something immaterial but Seviper's corpse, which Kai had reserved entirely for Selene. She had already eaten half of it and was now sleeping noiselessly within him.
The least interesting part had been destroying Jimmy's house. If it weren't for completing the Side Mission and its reward of 250 Mission Credits, Kai wouldn't have even returned there after killing Northman. He hadn't stayed there to count the bodies, but from the screams that had woken up the entire neighborhood, he could tell that at least someone had died.
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5 more to go, Kai reflected, thinking about his Kill Count.
"I am done," Meg said, making Kai open his eyes. "With this, now I know all your forms, master. But knowing your bodies won't be convincing enough by itself. We don't have time for more than that."
-/It would suffice,/- Kai told her, putting on clothes. -/With the Water-Chariot Race going on, I am sure the adult Latias and the young pair of Latios and Latias will also be there, roaming around the canal-pathways in their invisible forms like in the movie. It gives me the perfect opportunity to begin our plan./-
"So, it's time," Meg whispered. "It's happening tonight."
-/It is,/- Kai grinned, devilishly. -/The town of Alto Mare will remember this night. Let them all know happiness now./-
Meg nodded. She took the Pokeball, containing Totodile, from Kai and walked out of the room.
Kai looked out through the window and observed the smiling faces and cheery calls.
Let them get drunk on happiness, he sneered. The more the joy, the more drastic will be their fear. Haha!
*
*
It was as if nothing bad had ever happened in the town.
Water still ran in the canals, foaming at the banks. The alleys were packed with Pokemon Trainers. Some Pokemon were walking with their trainers, admiring the taste of the town with deep sniffs.
To Kai, it felt like just yesterday he had spread the despair, putting a never-ending terror in the locals' hearts.
20 days seemed to be enough for the people to forget about me, he mused himself.
People indeed had forgotten about him, but the town remembered.
The walls, the water, and the air remembered him and the hope he had snatched out of them.
All over the town, there were posters of a black-hooded, wraith-like figure. Some were glued to the wall, the canals' current carried with them a few, and some even found themselves flying, clutched in the claws of a stray gust of air.
…
Unknown Pokemon - Inform Officer Jenny at the sight. DO NOT CONFRONT.
…
Kai looked at the poster in his hands, and the bold letters, through the sunglasses.
He choked on a laugh. At the bottom, they had mentioned that the Pokemon might be related to the elusive attempts at the revenge of the infamous Team Rocket. There was more information under that, too. Rows, describing the victims of evil Pokemon. The bottommost row told of town favorite Ross, who was the last known victim, and the worst case among all.
Oh! Kai exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. Lost the will to talk, it says. He only mentioned the picture of this dark, hooded Pokemon with white hair, who resembles a Darkrai.
Darkrai?! Kai repeated the name. A Pokemon?
Now curious, he took out his Pokedex to check the data but found no such Pokemon.
A Pokemon from some foreign region, Kai concluded. Yet, to even compare his deeds to a Pokemon meant this Pokemon was extraordinary.
He would have made Petyr ask about the Pokemon from someone else if he wasn't walking alone right now. The place he was headed to, needed him to be alone. He was wearing a loose pink shirt, patterned with rising waves, and white pants over brown shoes. Overall, it gave him a funny, touristy appeal.
But when all were going to see the Water-Chariot Race, Kai was going in the other direction.
His goal was a warehouse.
Yes, the same warehouse from the movie where the Museum-curator, Lorenzo, had his Gondola workshop. The same warehouse that had the hidden entrance to the Secret Garden; the place where the legendary Pokemon lived. The same Secret Garden that also had the precious Soul Dew, said to contain the dead Latios' soul (-current Latias' brother from the movie-) as well as the power to destroy Alto Mare, housed in a pool of pure water.
If Order has sent Contestants to save the city, then their first line of defense must be around the warehouse, monitoring all activities around it, Kai, Petyr, and Meg had concluded. But only Kai had mentioned that there might be a 4th-floor Contestant among them, as anyone lower than that wouldn't make sense against him.
Kai crumpled the wanted poster and threw it away in a dustbin.
Then, he took out a leaflet. It was about the Water-Chariot Race. Time passed, and soon Kai found himself near the Warehouse, just a hundred meters away.
He stopped.
Kai closed his eyes, and for the first time, focused on all his Abilities, simultaneously.
Emotions Manipulation, Telekinesis, Instincts; all were churning furiously, trying to pick up on any presence nearby.
Then he felt them.
Steel-like wires had surrounded the warehouse, like a meticulously woven web.
He could feel the cool air around him getting cut from a hundred directions, telling him of their vast numbers. Only when he opened his eyes and saw the nearest, almost invisible, wires shining silver under the morning sun that he realize they weren't wires at all.
Hair. They were hair.
Sharp, flexible, and resilient than steel hair was used to make an intricate castle around the warehouse. Kai looked back and noticed that this castle was stretched to over 300 meters around the warehouse.
He was already standing in the thick of it.
He was like a fly who had been caught in the web, before knowing of it himself.
So, Kai amusingly thought. Where is the spider, then?
"Hello," a sweet, inquiring voice reached him. "How may I help you?"
Kai looked to his left, toward the water canal.
On the bank stood a girl, wearing the white volunteer t-shirt, which had images of the Eon Pokemon, over blue denim shorts. Her long black boots were reaching her knees, and behind them dangled the ends of her long black hair. Kai followed them up and saw that there was a yellow Pikachu-ear plush headband on her head, keeping her hair away from her round face.
Her eyes were two blue pearls.
"Aa… aaa!" Kai let out two quick noises, pretending to be mute. He pointed at his mouth, and then at the leaflet in his hands.
The girl smiled. "It's OK," she told him. "I understand. You just turn around and walk straight to the T-Point at the end of this alley, OK? There you will find the board which will show you the way to the race."
Kai smiled. He nodded, bowed, and did as was told to him.
With every step, the surrounding hair made way to let him pass. This he didn't need to feel to know. He would have never left the place if the hair hadn't moved away. It was a plain fact.
When Kai reached the T-Point, he looked back. The girl was nowhere to be seen.
The smile on his face vanished, and his heart thumped.
What the hell was that creature? Kai asked himself incredulously.
Dementor's Blood Essence had made him susceptible to the changes in spiritual energy around him. The girl had been standing near enough for him to examine hers by stimulating his Glitch.
There lay the problem.
For the first time, Kai failed to find a single drop of Spiritual Energy from someone.
Only one kind of beings in Kai's perspective didn't have any spirituality. He knew them like the back of his hands because he made them. Or that's how his victims ended up after Kai sucked out their souls.
So he asked himself again.
What the hell was that Soulless Creature?!