Chapter 29
BREACH
Crashing waves come to swallow us
Wallow and drown in it
Shadows wait to devour us
It hurts to surrender
Leeches lie in wait, but you're blind to it
But you're blind to it
A void that you create, you give life to it
It hurts to surrender
- ERRA
I
"Glenn," Emily called out behind Seth, pushing past him and throwing herself at Glenn, wrapping her hands around him tightly. All his colleagues began to lift to their feet and gathered towards the doorway.
"What's happening?" Glenn asked, pushing her back to look at her face. "We heard an explosion, and then Team Rocket started yelling at us to lock down."
"Us and others are attacking Team Rocket. You guys need to escape; the fire is starting to consume the building," she said, holding his hand and arm, thankful that he had stood up before Seth obliterated them.
"Is Brian here too? I can't believe he would agree to this," Glenn asked, trying to look past the doorway behind Seth and Ninetales.
Emily and Seth couldn't meet his pleading gaze; they simply looked at their feet, desperate to not reveal the truth. But their faces, in the dim light, revealed everything.
"Oh. I see," Glenn muttered, not really knowing what else to say. "Did..."
"Is Ava here?" Seth yelled out behind Emily, cutting him off.
"No, Darkrai is watching her at home, but now that the sun has gone down, he is most likely back in his ball. Team Rocket has been growing their presence more and more, making us work longer and longer hours on this project," Glenn answered. "Where is Erin?"
Seth and Emily didn't answer, and a long, silent pause consumed the room until another shake moved the building, causing more employees to begin gasping.
"I'm fine, Daddy," Erin's pale face let out shortly behind Glenn's body.
"Go," Seth answered, pointing to the door. "Get out now." Smoke was beginning to line the ceiling very faintly as the red from the emergency lights struggled to penetrate through. Glenn and all his coworkers filed out of the room, passing by Emily, Seth, Ninetales, Aggron, and all the Pokémon.
"Wait, Emily, Seth," Glenn turned, facing them promptly. "I—look, when you're sure no one can track you back to my place, here's my address." He reached for a piece of paper on a nearby desk and scribbled upon it with a pencil from his front left pocket.
"Okay," Seth took the paper from Glenn's hands. “Torterra is on the first floor attacking any Team Rocket member escaping, I would go first and let him see your face.”
"I'm sorry, Seth," Glenn said, turning his sympathetic face away from them and rushing down the stairs after his colleagues.
II
As Seth and Emily ascended the increasingly dark and smoke-filled staircase, the atmosphere grew more oppressive. Their vision was hindered as the thick smoke stung their eyes and made each breath a struggle. The encroaching darkness added an eerie edge to their ascent.
On the way to the top floor, Seth abandoned any pretense of checking for hidden enemies. The impending fire would likely take care of them. The ninth and tenth floors passed in a blur, and they finally reached the eleventh and highest level of the building.
Another violent tremor shook the structure while their Pokémon gathered behind Emily and Seth. In front of them, a long corridor stretched down to their left, shrouded in darkness save for the red emergency lights. To their right, a peculiar door with no markings or handle appeared slightly ajar, spilling dim light and echoing with ominous banging from behind.
"Open the damn door!" A commanding voice reverberated from the dark hallway.
"Boss!" another voice thundered in response.
Seth didn't know how many were in the hidden passage and quite frankly he didn’t care. Suddenly, a flash of blinding white light illuminated the entire eleventh floor, only to vanish with a resounding clap of thunder. Rain began to splatter against the window to their left.
"Emily," Rhydon and Aggron panted as they finally reached the rooftop. "What do you think about Ninetales surprising them with a Flamethrower attack?"
"You've already scorched this entire fucking building with her," Ninetales growled quietly, sounding offended.
"Alright, then. Aggron, Metang, and Rhydon up front to play defense. Fraxure, Primeape, Ampharos, Vaporeon, Ninetales, and Cureledge, look for openings as we push our way—" He stopped, coughing on the smoke that thickened with each passing moment.
Another flash of light illuminated the room, and just before the thunder roared, Seth caught a glimpse of Primeape's massive form entering the hallway without waiting for orders.
"Primeape!" Seth yelled in hushed tones, getting only a brief view of the growing purple glow through the partially open door.
"What the he—"
"Wait, no, stop!"
"Golurk, use—"
Seth turned the corner, chasing after Primeape, to find him shielding himself from an oncoming Ice Beam with the body of a Golurk. He then collided his fist into the Golurk's chest five times until it evaporated into nothingness, leaving behind three fallen Team Rocket grunts and four bronze rings Golurk had been wearing. Primeape roared loudly, his eyes glowing pure white. He proceeded to pummel a Cryogonal, causing it to shatter into tiny shards that fell to the floor. Primeape crashed to his knees, one hand sitting firm on the wall until his whole body slammed on the broken pieces of Cryogonal.
“Primeape!” Seth screamed out. He couldn't lose him too. Not after Erin, Primeape has been a constant in Seth's entire life. the only constant that he had ever known. Losing Primeape was an impossible reality to ever comprehend. Crawdaunt took a few steps and its evil aura began to infest the entire hallway.
A purplish steam began to envelop Primeape's collapsed form. Two jets of water soared from Crawdaunt's claws, but they only added to the expanding steam that took moments to begin to disappear. Annihilape's long grey arms twisted as a shrieking cry roared from him. Then, with a force that dented and cracked the tile floor beneath him, he ran towards Crawdaunt. Annihilape flung his arms up and delivered a Cross Chop to its neck, decapitating it instantly, while the lifeless body slumped to the side, revealing the last cowering Team Rocket member.
"Please, I'll leave!" he screamed as Annihilape's hand gripped his neck and hurled him out of the nearby window.
"Annihilape," Seth said, placing a hand on his gray body. The fluctuating fur appeared to be more like smoke than fur as it danced on top of his body, revealing and concealing the scar over his left red eye.
"Ready," Seth asked Emily, who was inspecting Annihilape more closely.
"Yeah," she muttered back. "Aggron, please open the door."
III
Aggron once more crashed his iron head into the door, finally causing it to give way. With a snap at its hinges, it fell with a loud thud, revealing the remnants of the Silph Co. President's office. The room, once a symbol of calm and order, now lay in shambles. To the right of the doorway, evidence of an explosion of immense force was apparent, obliterating the wall. Jagged remnants of brick and debris jutted outward, forming a menacing, gaping hole. Scorch marks and blackened smudges outlined the edges of the destruction.
The room's interior was exposed to the elements, with the remains of the demolished wall allowing the outside world to seep in. Debris and shattered glass littered the area surrounding the impact zone, creating a treacherous landscape. lightning filtered into the room, casting eerie, irregular patterns on the burnt carpet.
The furniture near the blast site had been torn apart, with splintered wood and broken fragments of what might have been chairs and tables scattered in all directions. A stone Pokéball statue, much like the ones in the fountains downstairs but significantly smaller, lay broken at the feet of the motionless boy Seth and Brian had encountered months ago in the underground tunnels of Celadon City Casino.
One of the boy's shoes was missing, his jeans frayed at the ends and ripped in several places on his legs. His Pokéball belt, adorned with six regular Pokéballs, glittered in the moonlight. His red jacket bore singe marks in several areas. Blood dripped from his nose, forming a thin line that was similar to the blood trickling beneath his red hat. His head rested on his also motionless Charizard's tail, which flickered with a faint, dwindling flame.
"Ah, so we meet again. You're the one who used Ditto against Misty, are you not?" Giovanni, impeccably dressed in a pristine black suit with a red "R" on the front left pocket, stood before them. Unlike the unconscious kid on the floor, there wasn't a single speck or smudge disrupting the organized manner in which he dressed himself, even amidst all the chaos. Next to him, an older man, severely beaten with his once-nice clothes now torn and tattered in almost every inch, lay collapsed at Giovanni's feet. Sarah's body was near the older man, completely engulfed in blue flames that failed to create any light or shadows.
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Behind Giovanni, a Gliscor hovered a foot above Erin's lifeless form on the ground. Its black wings blocked out part of the moon, casting an eerie, elongated shadow of its carnivorous form on the office floor. The purple tail dangled back and forth as its unblinking yellow eyes remained fixed on Seth and Emily, who had just entered the office.
"I could not ask previously, however, I imagine I have you to thank for releasing Mew and the other Dittos in my lab in Celadon," Giovanni continued.
A piercing cry erupted from Ninetales as every one of her blue-tipped gray tails stood up, reaching the remaining ceiling that loomed in the office. Flames rushed out of her mouth, scorching the remaining carpet as they rocketed toward Giovanni. The fiery assault crashed and split, sending two plumes shooting out of the building and into the night sky.
Gliscor shook its wings, attempting to rid itself of the blue flames that clung to its back like an annoying pest. It then turned and swiftly returned to its original position before moving with lightning speed to protect its master. The old man's body was now entirely consumed by flames, matching Sarah's fiery form. "You couldn't save him," a whispered voice emanated from the roaring fire.
"Hmm, unfortunate," Giovanni began in a quiet and composed demeanor, as if nothing unusual had occurred, while he gazed down at the smoldering remains of the old man. "I still had a use for the president of Silph Co. Now, before you and your Pokémon, who are clearly untrained, embarrass yourselves further, let me show you my hand." Seth struggled to say anything, engulfed in a whirlwind of rage and anger, feeling rooted to the ground, his mouth seemingly glued shut. Emily, kneeling down and checking for a faint pulse on the unconscious teen, observed Giovanni's authoritative presence. Giovanni released a Pokémon from his belt, the red light emanating on the floor before him. It briefly outshone the still-burning body as it solidified into an Electrode, approximately half Giovanni's height.
"Do you think I give a damn about my life?" Seth muttered quietly as Annihilape, Ninetales, and Metang took up positions around him, ready to defend him and avenge Erin.
"No, I don't. But I'm willing to bet you care enough about her life or the boy's life not to throw it away in a senseless suicide." Seth looked at Emily, who stared at Team Rocket's leader with intense anger filling her eyes. He honestly contemplated whether a slim chance to kill Giovanni was worth risking their lives. "I will be out of the blast radius of Electrode here, and even if you manage to stop this one from exploding, every floor of this building has one, waiting for the signal to go off."
A heavy silence enveloped the room as both Emily and Seth struggled to control their desire to attack and, instead, focused on the hope of surviving for a better opportunity.
"Recall your Pokémon now, or be buried in this building," Giovanni continued in his monotone commands. "Also, Miss, if you would be so kind as to recall that boy's Charizard, I believe he called it out of the first Pokéball on his belt."
Red light radiated throughout the room, reclaiming all of their Pokémon. In an instant, the already crumbling office space transformed into an eerie emptiness, leaving only Seth, Emily, the unconscious boy, and Ninetales.
"Your Ninetales too," Giovanni demanded, still softly but with unmistakable callousness in his voice.
"Ninetales, I promise I will be okay." Seth requested, the fiery glow of Ninetales' breath dancing in his eyes. "He will pay, trust me." The red light enveloped her, and for a moment, Seth thought she might defy the command, but then she, too, disappeared.
"Better. Now, tell me, who are you working for? It's not a coincidence that you and this boy have, on two occasions, attempted to foil my plans," Giovanni asked politely, in contrast to the tense moment.
"You—" Finally, Seth said, standing up and walking slowly but deliberately towards the man who represented everything wrong in his life. "You are the reason they are dead!"
"Who, your family? Please—" Giovanni started.
"You are the reason my son—" Seth screamed over him.
"I'm the reason you had the opportunity to have a son," Giovanni continued, as if uninterrupted. "Now, you insolent child, who sent you?" He began to walk up to Seth, closing the distance with Gliscor hovering over him closely, its yellow eyes darting back and forth between him and Emily. He walked up inches from Seth, so close he could smell his cologne, noticing the cleanness of his suit as if it hadn't just escaped a fiery inferno from Ninetales.
"Fuck you," Seth said, closing the distance even more between them, not daring to blink. A moment of aversion would be seen as cowardice. Anger flooded his veins, completely taking over all his senses. He was no longer in control. Without his own autonomy, Seth's right hook came flying towards Giovanni's face and crushed into the side of Gliscor's hard, purple pincer. Seth first heard the crack of two of his fingers breaking, then the pain rushed up his arm as he clutched his hand.
"Pathetic," Giovanni responded, fixing the collar of his suit to ensure it was symmetric with the other side. "Fine, maybe she will be more sensible.”
"Noivern," Seth muttered, barely even audible to himself in the ruined office.
“It can’t be someone I haven't heard of, the rural parts of Kanto are far too broken and unorganized. Oak was the only possible person who could achieve this level of resistance without any official power." He began explaining to himself like he was solving an incredibly interesting puzzle. “No, it has to be a Gym Leader. But Who?”
Giovanni's footsteps crackled over the glass shards walking up to Emily. "Who sent you here?" His serious eyes were fixed on hers. She had never felt rage like this before and tried everything to suppress her desire to strangle the life from him. "You fucking invite Johto in to rape and murder our people, and you have the fucking audacity—" She spat on his clean suit jacket, the splotch glistening in the dim room.
"Ah, so you know," he said, removing a handkerchief from his back pocket to tend to his nearly spotless suit, a smirk gracing his face. He turned away from her and strolled to the open area of the room, overlooking Saffron City. "I didn't think it was Erika. She managed to overthrow me for a time, but she is far too stupid to organize this, especially after her expulsion of the city. And Sabrina's treason is far too recent. So it was Lt. Surge," he mused more to himself than to Emily and Seth.
He climbed onto Gliscor with ease, hooking one arm around Gliscor's neck and planting his sleek black shoes on the creature's feet, its tail securing him in place. "Regrettable, he is the only Kantonian who knows the truth that I have continued to stay in power. No matter, though, my plan is so close to being complete." Gliscor took to the sky, hovering just outside the building, a few feet from the broken floor. In his hand, Giovanni held a Pokéball that Seth and Emily had never seen before. The fire below illuminated the white bottom half of the ball, while the flashes of lighting reflected off the deep purple top half, two pink protrusions bubbling out, and an unmistakable white “M” gleamed in the light. "Thank you for your help. It's a quick death. Electrode, expl—"
"Noivern, Dragon Pulse!" Seth roared.
“What—” Giovanni's voice was full of confusion as the sound of shattering glass overcame the opening from which he floated above. Gliscor had just enough time to cover Giovanni with its wing as a devastatingly powerful purple energy surged up the building, hitting the bottom of Gliscor’s wing to the top, letting out a shriek of pain. Just behind Seth, he noticed a red light, but he was too transfixed to see if the blow had hit Giovanni.
His hopes were immediately crushed as Gliscor’s wings lifted, and Giovanni’s voice filtered out. “Explosion!” A white glow began to emanate from Electrode. Seth turned around to find Emily lifting the kid onto Fearow..
“Noivern, to me!” The light was now growing bright, almost blinding, as Noivern's claws pressed firmly on Seth’s shoulder, following Fearow toward the gaping hole on the eleventh floor of Silph Co. They were only a few dozen yards away from the building, when Seth turned his head to see every single floor, except the first and fifth, had a blinding light escaping from every possible window.
In a heartbeat, a deafening roar filled the air as the entire building was enveloped in an infernal explosion. The blast surged outward in all directions, a cacophony of intense, roaring flames and booming shockwaves that shattered what was left of the windows and sent shards of glass flying through the darkened night sky.
A searing ball of orange and red flames erupted from every conceivable opening and crevice within the building, like a monstrous, fiery flower blooming against the black canvas of Saffron. The building's façade, once imposing and unyielding, fractured into countless fragments, crumbling into the flames below. Smoke billowed upwards in a thick, ashy plume, mingling with the roaring flames and casting an ominous shadow across the cityscape.
The fiery plume reached upwards, clawing at the heavens, and at its core, the building itself seemed to disintegrate into a tempest of flames and debris. A rain of scorched paper and ash spiraled down, carried by the relentless force of the explosion's aftermath. The flames lashed out in wild tendrils, hungrily consuming the remnants of the structure that had once been Silph Co.
IV
Rain poured heavily upon Seth and Noivern, quelling the residual heat from the recent explosion. Gritting his teeth, he clutched his injured hand, each throbbing pulse shooting painful reminders up his arm.
In the midst of the downpour, he let out a desperate cry, "Giovanni!" His voice was lost in the tempest, but he continued his frantic search, directing Noivern through the tumultuous night with a wild, sweeping gaze, scouring the dark void for any sign of his target.
Unbeknownst to him, Emily flew alongside him on Fearow, the unconscious teenager still in her care. She called out, her voice filled with concern, "Seth, are you okay?" But her words went unheard, lost in the maelstrom of Seth's fixation on that elusive figure he sought.
Moments passed, and Emily's attempts to bring him back to the present were in vain. It wasn't her voice but the burning silhouette of Silph Co.'s ruined edifice that finally shattered his tunnel vision.
"Torterra," he murmured, his voice breaking through the haze of obsession. With a determined command, he guided Noivern towards the ground, leaving Emily to follow his reckless descent. The searing heat of the fire, the acrid smoke, and the misty drizzle that clung to the debris stung his eyes as they plunged into the heart of the chaos.
Seth found himself standing amidst the desolation of what had once been Silph Co.'s towering headquarters. The remnants of the building's frame still reached skyward, stripped bare of its walls and floors, leaving an exposed web of steel girders. Each beam bore the scars of the explosion, with scorched and blistered surfaces as evidence of the ferocious heat that had consumed everything within.
Rooms and hallways, now mere echoes of their former existence, were reduced to voids between the skeletal framework. The floors, once solid underfoot, had become a charred wasteland of ash and remnants. The flames had devoured wood, fabric, and metal, transforming the stable foundations into warped, blackened surfaces.
Items of furniture, once part of the daily business, lay as charred outlines, no longer serving any purpose. Here, in the place where they once stood, were only their ghostly imprints.
The one important imprint that remained elusive was Torterra's. A mountain of debris, piled on top of each other, stood defiantly against the rain. Despite the blaze and the smoldering rubble, Torterra's cheerful nature and unwavering devotion were buried beneath the chaos, unable to shine through.
"Seth," Emily called from above, gesturing for assistance in bringing down the teenager who was beginning to stir. Onlookers and concerned citizens were gradually arriving at the scene. Noivern hissed, but Seth quickly hushed it, trying to blend into the chaos and remain unnoticed.
"Hey," Emily said as she dismounted from Fearow and knelt beside the kid. His eyes, under a red hat, squinted as he examined her. He rose to his hands, looked around, and, with a sudden realization, lowered his hands to his belt where his Pokéballs rested securely. "It's okay; your Charizard is safe, injured but safe. Lt. Surge sent us."
The teenager got to his feet, one shoe still missing, with his foot soaking in the growing puddles surrounding the smoldering pile of rubble. He turned back to Seth and Emily, and the pain and distress were evident on his face. Although common in Kanto, these emotions remained unmistakable. His facial features tightened again, and he raised a finger, wagging it back and forth, then lifted both hands, forming imaginary horns that bent up and down.
"What?" Seth asked, his confusion apparent.
"What do you need?" Emily asked more compassionately but still puzzled.
The teenager seemed to grow frustrated, reaching into his back pocket and retrieving a notepad. He scribbled the words "Where's Giovanni?"
"Can you speak?" Seth inquired.
The teenager shook his head and began to stab the paper, punctuating his words.
"Can you hear us?" Emily probed further.
Displaying annoyance in his posture, he nodded vigorously and jabbed at the notepad much harder this time, the ink smearing as the rain soaked the paper.
"He got away," Seth answered, his voice filled with self-reproach. They had been so close, but Giovanni consistently held the upper hand.
Ending the interaction, the teenager turned, and a red light illuminated in front of the Silph Co. remains. Charizard, with its tail still faintly burning, materialized before them. As the teenager and his Pokémon touched their foreheads together, sharing a moment of relief, both Emily and Seth noticed a smile forming on the teenager's face, complete with deep dimples that bore a striking resemblance to Erin's smile. It was as if, in that moment, holding his Pokémon, he attempted not only to reflect Erin's aura but to replicate his exact likeness. Seth's heart sank, a heavy stone in his chest.
Perched on Charizard's back, the teenager offered a friendly wave. His long black hair peeked out from under the red hat, covering his warm eyes, and then, in an instant, he vanished into the darkened sky.
"Alright, the crowd is getting larger. Let's go and follow him back to Vermilion," Emily suggested as she took a few steps toward Fearow.
"We can't," Seth replied, and a red light emitted as Noivern disappeared from view.
"What do you mean?" Emily inquired, confused but mirroring Seth in recalling her Pokémon.
"We have to figure this out before going back to Lt. Surge," Seth explained, holding up a piece of paper. Glenn's address faced him, while the schematics of the Pokéball with an "M" etched on the front faced Emily.