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[RP] Tides of Freelance ~ Nigh Ruin

strategiser24

Mewtwo is awesome!
Jared Darnell
Freelancer/Black Market
Abandoned Rail Tunnel Near Mt. Silver, Kanto


Thank God... Jared thought, relieved that the voice was a friendly. He would've never guessed a base would've been built under the mountain, and they must'vee been good if not even Jared's contacts knew about them. Finally, now they had some trustworthy allies. "Alex Morgan, my name is Jared Darnell: I'm part of an underground group that's been...Well, lets just say we're friends," Jared said into the radio, "You need information on anyone or anything, I'm the one to ask; trust me, there's people I know in high places...I appreciate the hospitality, but there's more important things we need to finish at the moment: I'm heading to Violet city through an old railway tunnel. It should be a safe way under the mountain...Either way, I'm not in the mood for talking for now...I...lost a friend, today...Give me your number or something, and I'll call you..."

Jared paused for a moment, realizing that Alex was bound to be confused at his refusal. "...Look, I can't explain much right now, and I don't know how much time we have left before...something bad happens...But I can promise I'll explain everything once I make to the En-...Uh, I mean, the entrance of Violet city...Jared out,"

Jared threw down the radio, worried about how Alex would react if he found out he was transporting EnDoG executives...even if they were on their side. "...Tell me we're almost there," Jared asked the pilot.

"We're here," the pilot reassured, "Its just down there,"

The chopper descended to the ground, sending sheets of snow into the air, blinding their friends on the ground. As they reached the ground, Jared couldsee on his friend's faces the shock they were in from the nuclear bomb, and Wagner being in the middle of it; hopping out of the chopper, Jaredand his four allies approachedthe men holding AK-47's. "Boss!" someone yelled, "You're not going to believe-"

"I know," Jared replied, grave, "...I just hope I didn't get Wagner angry before he diedwhen he found out I went with another plan..."

The whole group stayed quiet for several moments, some saying prayers, and others contemplating whether they should go on with Jared or not. "...Have you figured out the details," Jared asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, and we've looked ahead: there doesn't seem to be any cave-ins along the way. We should be able to drive through," a Lieutenant said, looking up.

Looking around, everyone was still unchanged. "...Are we gonna wait for another bomb, or are we going to get to safety?!...Get in the vans!" Jared ordered, almost shouting at the group.

Slowly, everyone hurried to the vans and climbed in. Getting in the passenger seat, Jared started the engine and waited for the driver to get in. In the back, the executives and the soldier climbed in as well, and sat on the benches on the sides of the van. Outside, everyone did the same, grabbing their weapons and Pokemon, and getting ready for the drive under the mountain. Eventually, the convoy started to move, and Jared's van slowly followed. Almost immediately, the van became dark, and the auto-lights turned on as they entered. AT this point, Jared could only hope everything would go as planned...but with his luck, he knew it won't.

**********

The drive through the tunnel was harrowing; darkness, fear, and anxiety encircled everyone as they continued to rumble through the old tunnel to the other side. It was difficult to see with just headlights, so another light hadto be mounted on the roof of one of the vans inr order for them to see ahead. The drive was only half an hour, but the first 15 minutes seemed like an eternity: Jared and his group had heard ghost stories of the tunnel, and even though they'd been in it a few times before, it never became easier to do it, and with the rumbling from the war raging above them, it was even more difficult to continue without fear clinging to your mind.

Just as the rumbling seemed to stop, Jared saw something up ahead; what seemed to be just dust turned out to be worse. "CAVE IN!" he yelled.

The driver slammed the brakes, throwing everyone in the van out of their seats. The rest of the convoy followed as they realized what was happening. The driver shoved the gear into reverse as he hit the gas and nearly tipped the van over. Struggling to hold on, the passengers in the back grabbed onto something attached to the floor and held onto it until the bolts began to get loose. Much of the convoy did the same, but one van didn't notice in time, and was quickly crushed underneath the rubble.

After what seemed like an eternity, the shaking stopped, and silence filled the tunnel again. Getting out of the van, Jared motioned for everyone to get out and gather around the light one of the vans was still casting. "Everyone alright? Anyone injured?" Jared asked, trying to get things back in order.

"I think we're ok...except for those guys under the cave in," someone responded, looking at the traumatized faces of his friends, "...I don't think we're going this way...And that was the only way under the mountain,"

Jared thought for a moment as chatter broke out. "...Its not technically true that the tunnel is the only way under Mt. Silver," Jared said.

The chatter suddenly stopped as Jared spoke. "...Well, yeah...but..." someone answered, breaking the silence.

"Are you out of your mind?!?" someone else objected, "We've been through that place once, and that's how we found out why it was sealed!"

"...Look, I don't like it anymore than you do," Jared explained, listening to the rumbling above them, "But the mine is the only way at this point,"

Everyone continued to stay quiet: There was an old mine that connected to the tunnel, but it had been sealed over a decade ago after ghost stories circulated about missing workers. It eventually was forgotten once the government decided that maintaining the condemning was too expensive. Jared's group had smuggled goods through the mine before, but the Pokemon that lived in the mine had taken a hatred for everything else once the government condemned and sealed the mine. "Alright," the Lieutenant said at last, "We'll do it, but YOU'RE leading the group Boss, got it? I've been there once, and I almost destroyed the vault code once I made it through...That goes for everyone too: We're going with plan-"

"Enough!" Caroline shouted, startling everyone, "We're not going anywhere until someone answers my questions!...Just who the hell are you guys? How do you know about this tunnel and now this 'mine?' And WHY are you helping us?!"

The tunnel fell dead as Caroline's shouting almost shook the tunnel again. "...I guess there's no point in hiding things at this point," Jared said, stepping forward.

"Boss! Are you ou-" someone interrupted.

"Don't worry about it," Jared said, trying calm everyone down, even though he was just as nervous, "My name is Jared Darnell, and I'm one of the three bosses who run a black market organization: We don't really have a name for us, and we tend to be pretty quiet as far as criminals go, but that all changed recently...We're the ones who masterminded the terrorist attacks on Hoenn, and now one of our best friends is dead: The guy who I talked to on the phone that was still in Saffron city...We're not proud of what we did, and everything that followed was never supposed to happen, and now we know that was a mistake. That should answer your question about how we know so much about this tunnel; we've used this place to smuggle merchandise across the border. It didn't mean much to us at first, especially since we've been around long before the Kanto military was blockading the border...Its probably too late to say this, now that you know, but we're NOT your enemies. We saved you from the nuclear bomb; if we wanted EnDoG gone, like we did before, then we would've just left you and went someplace else: Trust us, Hoenn didn't destroy our only safe house,"

Above, the rumbling continued, only heightening everyone's fear. While they were here fighting with each other, something worse could be happening somewhere on the surface.
 

gmoyes

Nerd and Proud of it
Alex Morgan
Registeel Freelancer
Mt. Silver

Glitch relayed Jared's reply through Alex's pokenav as he wrestled to untangle a couple electical cords. He swore under his breath when he found out that they weren't reinforcement like he hoped for. They were just on their was to Violet City and was using Mt. Silver as a way through. The men in the helecopter had met up with a group on the ground and proceeded to drive into the tunnels. While now that Liam was not needed to escort them to the base, he messaged his teammate and told him to keep following the group. While they probably knew the main routes through the mountain, they were probably unaware of the web of caverns that ran almost everywhere.

Just then his pokenav chimed and up popped a message from Mithal. He read through the letter and thought over it as he worked. He was glad there was no hard feelings between them, but still there was some sort of disconnect. They couldn't afford to lose this base and though ships that could transfer refugees would be useful, they would take too long to move and would be wide open to attack from Hoenn. An allied base in Altomare could be useful as a fallback position, though again they couldn't get there quick enough. This 'Operation Crystal' conserned him however. It was obviously a fail-safe program and it had to be electronic if a Porygon could trigger it. And even though Mithal said that Glitch's programing would prevent giving information, the only reason that Alex simply change that programing was that Glitch was needed to keep a digital eye on things and they would be blind with out it. Close to the end he caught himself blushing at the thought of meeting up with the agent again. He didn't want to think of it like a date but his mind kept circling back to it. That was one thing he was uninterested in. Shaking his head he typed back a responce.

To: Mithal Tales
From: Prof. Alex Morgan

I wish you luck in your quest to survive in Altomare
and to protect it. But I must tell you, we won't
budge from this base until there is no way we can
hold it. While those ships may take a long time
getting here and going back, every little thing
counts. Though I have to ask, what the heck is
'Operation Crystal' and why do you know it and
haven't I heard of it? I know it's probably classified
but why can't you trust me of all people? If you
really can't tell me, fine but if this thing triggers
something that we might regret later we might end
up even worse than what we've got now. We've
already caused way too much distruction in this war
and we need a way to end it. Until then, we've both
have our jobs to do. Good luck.

Alex

Right after the message was sent out, an alarm rang throughout the base as a video played on his screen. Two fighter jets that were identified as belonging to the Hoenn airforce were streaking from the south-east straight for Mt. Silver. Alex could only watch as each of them fired a missle, and the camera cut to one viewing the eastern entrance. Both of missles homed in onto the helecopter that Jared and company arrived in and the camera shook as the warheads exploded. Alex could hear a distant boom even from this deep inside the mountain. The camera cut back to the jets, showing that they had peeled off and headed back towards where they came from. He guessed they were sent to track doen the copter and distroy who ever was in it but he guessed that now that thet saw that it had landed, they would report that the people inside had vanished into the mountain. Alex swore, now Hoenn would send in troops to track them down and they would surely discover the base. The missels had another effect: the entrance to the caves was sealed off. They would never be able to get out that way. Just then the camera cut to the group of people making their way through the moutain. It looked like the explosion triggered a cave-in in the tunnel they were in and by the looks of it, one of the vehicles had been crushed underneath the rockpile. No one could have survived that. Just then, Glitch added the sound.

"-My name is Jared Darnell, and I'm one of the three bosses who run a black market organization." It was the man from the helecopter. It looked like he was the one in charge here. And from the sound of it, it looked like he was going through a great reveal.

"We don't really have a name for us, and we tend to be pretty quiet as far as criminals go, but that all changed recently...We're the ones who masterminded the terrorist attacks on Hoenn." Alex's eyes buldged at this line. Those were the guys behind the Mossdeep disaster. This changed a lot, Liam would deffinatly have to keep his eyes on them.

"Now one of our best friends is dead: The guy who I talked to on the phone that was still in Saffron city...We're not proud of what we did, and everything that followed was never supposed to happen, and now we know that was a mistake." We all might lose someone in this war but it's good to see that they learned thier lession. But still he wasn't quite sure if these guys could be trusted. They were the trigger for the war and now it appeared that they were running for it.

"That should answer your question about how we know so much about this tunnel; we've used this place to smuggle merchandise across the border. It didn't mean much to us at first, especially since we've been around long before the Kanto military was blockading the border...Its probably too late to say this, now that you know, but we're NOT your enemies. We saved you from the nuclear bomb; if we wanted EnDoG gone, like we did before, then we would've just left you and went someplace else: Trust us, Hoenn didn't destroy our only safe house." Alex gave a little smirk. He had know about about the smuggling operations that have been going on in the caves but the smugglers never came across the Freelancer base. Still, they were allies and they would need support. He typed up another message, this time to be sent to Jared.

To: Jared Darnell
From: Prof. Alex Morgan

A couple of Hoenn planes found your copter
and distroyed it along with the entrance you
guys came from. There is no doubt that they
will be back with troops to hunt you down.
If you guys need any assistance just send a
message back. We can provide you guys
with supplies and an exit route. I have a
Porygon that can give you an up to date
map of the caves. However if the soldiers
come we will need help. If any of your men
want to stay back and fight we will provide
a map to take them to our base. You may
be the spark that lit this war but we all
need a way to survive it. We will help you
out any way we can while you're in Mt.
Silver, but once you're out I can't cover
you. We'll be keeping an eye on you.

Alex paused to think for a second. If these guys were going to Johto they would get allies for them. If it came to a fight, they would need anyone they could get.

Once you're in Johto gather some allies
and supplies and come back to us. We
don't have enough weapons or men to
survive long in a fight. The dragon-
tamers of Blackthorn are your best bet.
They were against ENDoG as soon as
they could take away a pokemon's
powers but they're pacifists. We might
be able to make peace if we are able to
get them as allies. You might have
started this war but you can help end
it. I wish you luck on your mission.

Alex Morgan

Alex sighed as he sent it off. They were in for a fight for sure. Preperations had to be made. He sent a round of messages to Chris, Craig and Liam telling them to get ready for a fight. He told Chris and Craig to bring any vital supplies they had to the generator room. This would be their fallback position, guarded by Theta. Glitch would keep them updated on what was going on. Ursaring and Pupitar would only be used went met with a large group of soldiers and Wind would stay at his side and provide covering fire, though not as strong as any of his other pokemon. Liam would keep following Jared and his men, but would run back here as soon as there was trouble. He himself would finish with the power supply for his Magnezone and help fortify the area.

Carefully making sure the end of the cords was unplugged, he stuffed some bare copper wire into the end of the cord. With out it, the electricity wouldn't flow from the cord to Theta. The magnet pokemon could easily keep it on him with its magnetic power. Having done that, he helped Craig and Chris transfer needed supplies to the room. While odds of them winning were slim, he hope to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was all they could do.
 

Avenger Angel

Warrior of Heaven
Jonathan Bishop
Leader of ENDoG
Route 5, Kanto


"Why don't you just die already!?"

There were many that wanted me dead. I only had six shots in my pistol, as I had only expected to ever come face to face with one assassin... not an entire company of them.

The gunfire was exchanged between both sides, and from what I could see, no side seemed to be faring better than the other. One of the enemy soldiers had gotten close, and thought I would be an easy target. He never expected me to be carrying a weapon myself, and just as he leapt over the median I was hiding behind, I fired twice at him, causing him to stumble back. His vest had absorbed most of the damage, and just as he tried to recover, I shot him a final time, right in the mouth.

"Bishop, get the hell out of here, we'll handle this!" One of the escort guards told me.

While they provided covering fire, I dashed away, just narrowly avoiding gunshots that struck the ground around me. I ran as hard and as fast as I could, using the last of my bullets to lay down suppressing fire.

Anyone that was aiming at me was the first to go down. As I cleared distance, the helicopter and its crew were drifting further and further away. I did not know what happened to the rest of the escort, but they had given me the chance to escape. I then headed toward Cerulean City, checking my smartphone to see the update.

It was alarming how much had changed, but then I realized something critical. Cassandra Wood had replaced me as the leader of ENDoG, under the belief I was dead. This could not have been a coincidence. No, suddenly, I realized how the pieces were falling into place.

Cassandra Wood was responsible for this attempted assassination. It was the only way to explain Hoenn's reckless actions. The two of them, Wood and Quincy, were trying to overthrow ENDoG, and claim it for themselves. But why?

You already know why. They were waiting until you had all the legendaries. You were close, and they knew it. Quincy's actions were a bluff...

Was he expecting me to fight back? Was that the reason why the Kanto military was unresponsive? There was no way of telling, but right now, someone needed to stop Cassandra Wood, before she used ENDoG's power for the wrong intention.

As I followed the news, I saw Hoenn, blaming the Freelancers for the death of Peter Quincy, who they claimed was assassinated in his private jet after a lightning bolt struck it, an attack that Hoenn claimed was too well-timed and too powerful to have been coincidence. As a result, Hoenn would not rest until all of ENDoG and the Freelancers were eliminated.

It was then that I had gotten a phone call. I looked at the readout, and saw the number was unknown. I answered it, and right then and there was when my world fell apart.

"Bishop," the caller told me, using a voice alteration device, "we have your wife, Naomi. Hostage. If you do not comply, we will kill her."

"What... what is it that you want?" I asked the caller. "Leave Naomi out of this, she has nothing to do with you!"

"That's a lie," the caller replied in a stern voice. "We know she was helping you influence the media. I have already gotten word that you have escaped Wood's assassins. Bishop, we're watching your every step. You will either listen, or both you and Naomi will die. Understand?"

I could not help but look around, wondering just how and why they were tracking me. Somehow, I was being tracked and followed, but I did not know what the source of it was. I figured it was not coincidence that Wood had already assumed I was dead this early, although the nuclear strike on Saffron City was a cover-up.

"Just tell me what you want, but... please, don't hurt her..." I told the caller...
 

Wile E. Coyote

Roadrunner Wrangler
Marleena Feyr
ENDoG Assasin
Route 217, Sinnoh


The wind was picking up, and the edges and laces of ice attacks started coming through. We had to do something quickly before the rest of the attacks came through. A flying ice shard cut through my jacket, and partly cutting my arm. I winced as the pain set in quickly, but it wasn’t enough to elicit a better reaction. I put down the rifle a little, but everyone else kept their weapons up. I signaled my pokemon, and they let go of the offensive measures. This was stupid, it was beyond stupid. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and there was someone in our heads. There was someone who would be one step ahead of me all the time. I couldn’t stand for that. I whispered over to Hank, “Sarge, we can’t win this. Put the gun down.” He shook his head, and I scowled. Forcing the words through my teeth, I asked, “What do you mean NO!?!” He kept the gun up, until I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. “Listen, punk. This isn’t one of those Rambo-esque movies that you’ve sen before. We are outgunned, outmanneed, and pinned down in this gulley. Put. The gun. Down. Sargent.” The emphasis on the last word wasn’t quite enough to pull him out of his little show. I motioned to put a hand on the gun to force it down, until his hand clamped around mine halfway there. I twisted and struggled to get free, but he was much stronger than I was, his seemingly titanic grip keeping my hand away from the gun. I repeated myself firmly, adding an additional order that should have made him let me go. It didn’t work. I tore off my helmet, my hair suddenly whipping around my face. I think the sudden surprise of seeing my face got to him, he let go of my hand and I shoed the barrel of the machine gun down to the ground. He looked up at me, the lifeless snow goggles peering into my eyes. He said the next few words like they were hot water in his throat. “Ma’am, we can’t let all these damn monsters threaten us. We have a mission here, and we’re gonna fulfill it. Even if I personally have to blast away every damn pokemon that gets in our way.” I answered quickly, “Sarge, our mission details ALWAYS involve us staying alive and not committing GOD-DAMN SUICIDE!” I pulled out my pistol and held it to Hank’s head. “Listen Sarge, either you stop this right now, or I’m the only one who gets to report back to headquarters. And don’t even think for a moment that I haven’t had to kills a partner off before. If it gets me what I need, I’m not gonna hesitate to pull this f*cking trigger.” I pulled back the hammer and cocked the revolver, placing the cold steel barrel right up against the hood of his jacket.

He pulled up the machine gun and began unloading, screaming bloody murder as he did so.

I pulled my trigger. The bullet came through his head on the opposite side, and buried itself into the snowbank where a small blue figure had been floating.

Wait, what?

The small blue-ish form floated right up to me. I had no time to get the revolver raised into position, since I had now realized that this was the target we wanted to sedate. I quickly reached for my rifle, but then felt an invisible hand keep my arm from reaching the rifle. I struggled against the strange force that was keeping me from being able to sedate Uxie. I signaled with my free hand at Xin, “Xin, push my hand towards the rifle!” She pushed with as much psychic power as she could spare. However, it wasn’t enough to get my hand to the gun. I signaled for her to stop, and relaxed my arm entirely as it snapped to my side before being let go. I looked down at ex-Sargent Steele, whose body was still laying in the snow. The psychic voice started up at a normal volume again, <With what you have just done, you cannot expect to leave here alive. Or at least, not with the memories you had when you arrived.. Uxie’s eyes flashed, and that was the beginning of a very cold bloackout.



Marleena Feyr
ENDoG Assasin
???, Kanto
2 Days Later


I woke up and recognized the building around me, covered in ENDoG insignia from floor to ceiling. It was an ENDoG hospital, and someone, somehow had brought me back here. I looked around, and all my pokemon were waiting beside my bed patiently. I got up stiffly, sitting upright on the bed. I groaned as I felt multiple bruises on my body, as if they had all appeared at once. I was still in my basic uniform, though all signs of the wintery confrontation had almost vanished. A nurse walked in, and noted wuickly that I was trying to sit up. She placed a hand on my shoulder and pushed me down, firmly stating, "You need to rest. You're lucky to have survived the ordeal you did, and we're still not sure if you've recuperated from all the cold damage that you've taken. Rest at least a little while longer. You'll probably be pulled to the front lines as soon as you recover, so relax while you still can." I frowned. "Front lines? Last I heard was that Hoenn was only preparing to attack, did something change?" She jumped, startled and thrown off guard by my question. "You haven't heard? Oh my ... well let me just put it this way; there's rumors that Jonathan Bishop is either dead or in hiding, Hoenn has destroyed the southern half of Kanto with weapons of mass destruction, and Hoenn's president was killed by a freak lightning storm..." My eyes shot up the instant that I heard Bishop's name. "Bishop may be dead???" She nodded curtly, openly showing that she was also distressed about the shape of things to come. I spoke curtly, flipping open my ENDoG ID for her to see. "I need a phone." She nodded, and walked out for a moment, handing me a cell phone with a wireless encryption attachment on the bottom. I smiled, thanked her, and instantly dialed Bishops number. I was nervously chewing on my lip on the outside, praying on the inside ohpleaseohplease don't let anything have happened to him... The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And rang.

I sighed, and waited. Each ring was like the infamously tolled bell that called out to the dead. I kept waiting, formulating what I Was going to say when I finally did manage to get a hold of him.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And then a click, and the typical message that this number was privatized, please enter your passcode to this mailbox. I dialed the number hastily, a tear flowing a short distance from my eye.

Please leave a message after the tone. -BEEEEEP-

I spoke quickly, "Bishop, it's Feyr. Uxie got away, but from the sound of things, that may not be the largest of our problems at the moment. If you want a rendezvous, don't hesitate to call me. I'm in ..." I looked around, and realized that I had no idea where I was. I jumped off the bed, and winced as I walked the short distance to the window. I saw the eerie mist around the buildings. I saw the high, broken, sad looking tower that reigned in the background. I heard small bouts of chanting and shrieking. "I'm in Lavender Town, the ENDoG Barracks must have a hospital here, since that seems to be where I am. Let me know if you need me. Feyr out." I closed the flip phone and laid myself back down on my bed, one thought routinely and infinitely circling through my head.

If he's dead, what do I do now...?
 

Slipomatic

Eon Collector
Mithal Tales
Mew Ex-Freelancer
Altomare


Mithal was slightly confused at how Mew and both Latias and Latios was looking at her like she did something wrong, but she didn’t know what. She tried to shrug the stares off and tried to focus on the task at hand. She turned towards Gazel and asked, “Are there any boats in Altomare that would be able to reach Cherrygrove City within a week?”

Gazel nodded and said, “We have several that can easily do it within a week. Most of them are mid-size boats designed with ferrying trainers in mind. Unfortunately, most of the boats are inactive due to the fact most of the people that ran them were detained by ENDoG when they came to power. They wanted to make sure we weren’t providing services for trainers who were trying to hide.” He paused for a bit to think and then said, “However, I do know some people who are able to drive these boats and I’m sure they would gladly help out.”

Mithal smiled and said, “That’s great. See if we can get at least three boats sent over to Cherrygrove City.” She frowned as a thought occurred to her and she voiced it out. “I’m not sure if the Hoenn army has boats patrolling the seas, but if they are, it might make things tricky. I guess we could have the drivers say that they’re going to Cherrygrove City to pick up some families who were moving out of Violet City and that they called and arranged it.”

Gazel frowned when he heard the potential problem and said, “While that may happen, let’s just hope things go smoothly. I have a few people to talk to before the day ends.”

He was about to turn and leave before Mithal asked him, “Before you leave, can you tell me if the family that lives in the orange house on Sandy Street?”

Gazel paused in his tracks, frozen stiff before his body slumped and he said with a quiet, sad tone, “That family, the Tales, were taken into custody by ENDoG and were never heard from again. We assume that they were executed privately as the house keys were given to a house agency and told to sell the house. The house was never sold and the agency decided to give me the keys, saying they didn’t want a house that was cursed. The pokemon that belonged to the family are long dead as they openly resisted against ENDoG. While many people here think of them as being foolish, I respect the Tales’ family as they believed that such a foolish ideal that ENDoG had was detrimental to the life as both pokemon and humans relied on each other to better their lives. Such great people… Why did you ask stranger?”

While Gazel was explaining it, Mithal’s eyes became clouded with tears as she lamented the loss of her only family as she never learned if she had grandparents or not. When she heard the question, she found it hard to speak clearly and struggled to say without breaking down. “Because I wanted to see my parents, but with them gone now, I guess I won’t be seeing them.” She didn’t bother with the tears that poured now as she wept quietly. Mew, being somewhat linked to her due to marking her as her chosen, felt the deep pain of sadness that Mithal was feeling and quietly rubbed her paws on Mithal’s shoulder in sympathy.

Gazel’s eyes widened when he heard that and after the shock wore off, he averted his eyes from looking at Mithal and proceeded to say, “You have my sympathies Miss Tales, the house has been left unoccupied ever since they disappeared. Nothing has been removed from it so if you want to go there, I can give you the keys as it was once your home.” He began walking towards the museum and she slowly followed him.

Mithal remembered her parents always being cheerful and crazy about pokemon. They almost did everything with pokemon, whether it was cooking, or cleaning, everything was done with the help of pokemon. She was brought out of her memories when she felt her pokegear vibrate again and she sighed and took it off her belt to see why it had vibrated. She held back a look of annoyance as she saw who sent her a message and decided to reply back to him after reading his message.

To: Alex Morgan
From: Mithal Tales

I have talked with a few people and have managed to get a few boats that will shortly leave to pick up any refugees if they want to leave from Cherrgrove City. It will take around a week for them to arrive so it will give you plenty of time to get the refugees there. As for Operation Crystal, I do not know anything about it as my porygon-z had received notice of its existence from another freelancer. I have a few guesses as to what it could incorporate. The highest probability that I would assume would happen was a global attack against networks across the regions to shut down all communications, sort of like an jammer, but done by pokemon instead. The second guess I have would be that all of our pokemon, in the storage system would be released at a hidden location and the porygons would tell them something. All I’ve been told was that it was a last resort weapon and shouldn’t be used until all other options were exhausted. I highly recommend abandoning the base still, with what is going on between Hoenn and Kanto. I don’t know if Johto will be dragged into the war, but I’m pretty sure Sinnoh is going to be a safe place to run to. It might be possible to get transportation to the Sinnoh region more easily as Hoenn and Sinnoh have nothing against each other. If anything, I believe that Sinnoh has the upper hand with their Church of Arceus. Just don’t do anything stupid okay?


She shook her head and sent the message and continued on into the museum. It was time to see if her parents missed her or left any hidden plans in the house.
 

Avenger Angel

Warrior of Heaven
Jonathan Bishop
Leader of ENDoG
Route 5, Kanto


"We have your number..."

"If you speak to anyone, we will hear you."

"If you try and warn them, you and your wife will die."

"We have eyes on you at all times."


There was no escape. No running away. I did not know how this would all end, but already far too much damage had been done. They were watching from somewhere, and I had a feeling there was a microphone bug on me. Meanwhile, millions were dead, leaders destroyed, and entire nations left to pick up the pieces.

The line went dead, and my only instructions were to remain where I was. There was no way I could warn the informant, and I had the feeling they already knew where he was too, and was going to try and find him and eliminate him like they did was so many others. But why... why would Cassandra Wood do this? Kanto was broken, and there was almost nothing left to control. What did she and Quincy have to gain by turning so much of Kanto into dead rubble?

My phone rang, and rang, and rang, but I refused to pick it up. I saw it was operative Feyr, but I knew if I picked up the line and took the call, the kidnappers would know it was her. They would try to kill her too, if possible. It was only until she left a message did I listen to it.

"Bishop, it's Feyr. Uxie got away, but from the sound of things, that may not be the largest of our problems at the moment. If you want a rendezvous, don't hesitate to call me. I'm in ... I'm in Lavender Town, the ENDoG Barracks must have a hospital here, since that seems to be where I am. Let me know if you need me. Feyr out."

They were being hunted. All of them. And now they knew where Feyr was. Cassandra Wood betrayed us, and now she was removing any ENDoG operative member that had not agreed to comply with her internal uprising. And then I knew... this was the reason the Kanto military vanished. This was why Hoenn was able to hit Saffron City with a nuclear missile, and wipe a capital off the map. Someone was pulling the strings... not just with Hoenn, the Freelances, and ENDoG, but with everyone. Suddenly the whole world was believing a lie, and the situation was far worse than what they thought, which was already beyond reasonable suspicion.

They made it seem like we still had control this entire time...

...That was the illusion...

If I called Feyr, she would be in danger, and who knows what they would do to Naomi and myself. But if I did not, they would take me, remove me from the picture like they did with all the others. I trusted Feyr, she was the only one that could make the difference now. It all came down to her now. Naomi... she would not want me to drop this only chance.

Just one text. The terrorists could only see me and hear me, but they could not see what I was seeing. They would only be able to see it after it was sent. After it was too late, and they couldn't interrupt it.

FEYR, WE ARE BEING HUNTED. SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO BE CONTROLLING EVERYTHING FROM BEHIND THE SCENES. GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN AND STAY MOBILE.

With my trembling hands, I hit the send button, and for a moment, there was silence. I did not know how far Feyr would go... how much she would be able to find... if there was anything left.

I ran as hard and as fast as I could... not stopping for anything...
 

R.I. Saraibre

Draconis Deviantus
Cantus
Shadow Administrative
Prime HQ, Entralink, Unova



Cantus stood, overviewing the satellite radars in his communications room. Considering the location of the base, it was at the pinnacle of perfect satellite communications. Look-a-like ENDoG soldiers and techs maintained each and every screen, observing every slightest detail. Cantus’ face looked from each screen, as if he was waiting for something, or rather, waiting for something. His mind was on many things at once, one topic being his prisoners and that it was the important Giratina Freelancer that he needed for the master plan that he had kept for only himself.

“Sir we have a location on Bishop’s phone. He sent a text message but we can’t track it. We’re assuming it was to an associate. Should we follow through with the conditions?”

Cantus immediately walked over to there his employee was sitting, viewing a large, global map that was slowly pin pointing it’s way to Kanto. He stared at the screen, unblinkingly until it narrowed its way down to route five. The man in the grey suit only stared at the screen, seemingly thinking of something. All of the staff remained silent, as if waiting for an order from him. After a few minutes, he finally spoke, much to everyone’s surprise.

“No, have the SN Foxtrot Team go in for recovery of Bishop. Make sure his wife is kept in another facility alive.”

The entire staff within earshot seemed surprised. Cantus had just ordered for the elimination of Bishop, now he wanted him alive? Cantus looked at the staffs, who all were still staring. His eyes looked at each and every person until they all began moving again, returning to their own posts, shuffling about and muttering chatter to each other. The SN Foxtrot team was placed outside Cerulean, finding Bishop wasn’t going to be too much of an issue. Cantus walked back to the door, opening it and walking through the hallway. Guards positioned at the door remained silent and still, constantly alert in full armor. The identity thief walked towards one of the doors, both members standing at either side giving him a nod before letting him through. The door shut behind him before the lights came on, revealing a room with many papers littering the table, covering the walls in every inch, except for the space in the wall that was left for a monitor. One chair sat in the middle of the room, where Cantus decided to sit, putting his hands on both of the arms, breathing deeply.

“Soon…soon things will be all in place.”

Shay Miru/Jingka
Giratina Freelancer/???
Prime HQ Holding, Entralink, Unova


I sat in the room, trying to sit still, but without any of my Pokémon on me, I honestly felt empty and exposed. I didn’t pay mind to my ‘roommate’, as she was acting rather weird, staring at one of the small air vents in the corner while her arms were around her knees. Every so often she peered at one of the cameras, of which I knew was watching us at this very moment. Even now, after sleeping for so long I felt entirely sore. Getting beaten up by Mewtwo will do that to you. Though, that brought up a question.

“If what’s-his-face has Mewtwo under wraps, then does he have Genesect?”

“Yes, somewhere. Genesect however is harder to control than Mewtwo; less information on him.” Jingka answered, not removing herself from her spot. “I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Okay…”

I wasn’t sure who or what or why, but I wasn’t going to question it whatsoever. Instead I decided to change the subject, there were questioned I wanted answered.

“So this power thing…” I started. “How exactly did I get it? How does it all work and why am I getting it exactly?”

“You were chosen by Giratina to become the bearer of the life force that flows within the keeper of dimension. That means you obtain the ability similar to that of him. Why you were chosen, no one knows for sure what the legends think. Either way, the main reason I can be sure of, is that Giratina thinks you are trustworthy enough with it’s ability to try and right the imbalance that Cantus has created.”

“So basically…chosen one to save the world type deal.”

“Pretty much.” Jingka answered, still not removing herself from her spot. “Oh here she comes now.”

I was wondering what the hell this girl was talking about when a Sableye popped out of the vent and crawled onto Jingka’s shoulder. So the medium thing was starting to make a bit of sense now if she had a preference for ghost type Pokémon. The gem eater was carrying something in it’s claws, something that looked like a small bag. The girl finally turned towards me, gem eyes peering at me while she walked over closer to the table. She pulled out a few energy bars, some bags of jerky and a bottle of water. I wondered why she sent the imp thing for food when we were at least fed…but then I remembered her being careful of most things that were given, and had hidden them away somewhere beyond my ideas of hiding spaces.

“I believe this is yours.”

I looked up, starting to pay more attention when I found her holding up a Pokeball. I knew that ball like my own reflection, and couldn’t help but snatch it immediately, resisting all urge to open it up and let Asharas out. I hugged the thing so hard it was going to nearly crack, but I restrained what bit of my happiness I could.

“You sent…”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Jingka interrupted. “This is Kimberlite. I told you she was going to be getting your friends out. Unfortunately, Cantus knows how skilled of a trainer you are and kept the others under significant lock and key. That one was hard enough, but since it was said to be so secure, no one checks in often enough to know it’ll be missing before its too late.

“But wait, the camera…no doubt someone is going to see this.”

“Don’t worry too much about that. I have another little friend in the wires for us, making sure we’ve got the upperhand. You could say he’s a bit possessive when he wants to be.” She explained. “I’m a specialist in unorthodox methods when it comes to spirits.”

“So wait…” I believed I was piecing these things together. “You have a ghost Pokémon in there, making sure no one can see us right now?”

“Well, not us us, but us. He’s making sure that they see something that is us, but we can do whatever we’d like because it’s not actually recording right now. See how the light is pink, not red?”

I looked back up at the camera, and low and behold, it was pink. I thought about what she had said, and my only conclusion was that it was a Rotom in there.

‘Incredibly smart…as I would consider there being Pokémon scanners about just in case someone snuck something in, however with ghost Pokémon, not so much, they weren’t technically alive.’

“So then…random question but were you poking me awake before?”

“Oh no, that would have been Nocura. My Haunter is…not one for personal space…such as now.”

As she trailed off, I noticed she was staring down at my sweater. I looked and jumped at the sight of a large, purple claw going through my gut. I spun around and found a Haunter hovering behind me, looking rather displeased and unhappy.

“God dammit, I’m not someone to mess around with!” I snapped, wondering why she was bothering to do that at all. I didn’t even feel it and normally it would have sent a cold surge through me-

Wait…I didn’t feel anything.

“I suppose you’re coming to the conclusion as to why I specifically bought you here instead of another marked?”

I turned around, remembering being partially energized by Giratina now, the whole dragon ghost thing…so was I unaffected by spiritual passings? If a ghost passed through me, it wouldn’t matter? I was getting more confused the more I thought about it, and it must have been clear on my face for Jingka to continue talking about it.

“I theorized that you being affiliated with ghost typing, would be able to be, unofficially possessed by a ghost Pokémon and be able to walk around with it. Normally, even if a ghost does nothing to the mind, it’s mere presence affects human behaviour. With you, I would think not since you are now, somewhat apart of that kind of thing now.”

“I’m a superhuman Pokémon powered zombie?”

“Oh no, no unead. You just have a given gift now. I can have Nocura possess me, but more of her personality shows up rather than by own, her purposely doing it or not. You however, were unaffected, as Nocura was poking you from within while you slept.”

I glared at her, I didn’t like the idea of someone staring at me when I slept, never mind poking around my head as I was asleep. Still, I was more concerned for the fact I got Asharas within my hands, and felt so much better with just her. A bit empty without all of the family. I stared at the old thing, knowing I had owned it for as long as I could remember. I had sentimentality flow through my mind, feeling like I was in some kind of trance.

I only snapped awake when the Sableye on Jingka’s shoulder started talking to her quietly. I stared at her until she finished listening, intently, then sending the purple and gem crusted being back into the air vent it came from. She motioned to me to hide Asharas somewhere, and I did on my person, not allowing her to leave me again. I wondered what was going on, noticing the light was still pink on the camera.

“I’ve received some interesting news.” Jingka whispered in a somewhat worried tone. “Cantus changed his plans, and is trying to bring Bishop…here.”

I couldn’ believe that the second I heard it. Bishop was being brought here? I still had all the intent to punch him in the face and then some for starting this whole damn thing, but after knowing what was going on, was it really his fault? He was part of it, and I didn’t want to think Bishop had nothing to do with this, as he did. Being used however, was another thing. I had mixed thoughts, but if he was being brought here, wherever here was, he wasn’t really ENDoG anymore.

I didn’t know what to think, I would just have to wait and see what happened. In the mean time…

“So when are you thinking we should bust out?”

“You’ll know when, but for now, we need to figure out why Cantus changed his mind about wanting to kill Bishop.”
 

Agent Tectonic

From Ashes, I Come
OoC: dual short posts. Laziness and upcoming finals are a killer. . . Also, as it is late, I haven't proofread this, so if anything is wrong, I'll change it when able.

Nightshade: Zoroark
Over Goldenrod heading to Kanto


Bishop's response was worrisome and exciting to me as I was nearly sure I would be the first “Freelancer” to actually get face to face with the man. What others would have done to me in my position, but I wasn't going to kill him. Also, I wasn't exactly sure how safe it would be seeing that I did steal Kyurem from under his nose. I didn't want to meet him at first, but I figured it would take less time for Selene to confront the problem in Hoenn as she already was there while I see what Bishop had planned. So, I had Kyurem change course while I sent a message to Selene. I peered below me to see a rather huge city filled with bustling humans and cars. The major landmark I could see was some huge tower with an antenna and radio dish at the top.

I found myself incurious with the lives of these people and ended up turning my attention towards the ice dragon. I was hard to tell, but I was almost sure that he had been looking more fatigued the past few hours than before. Naturally, I would assume that it was from prolonged flight and lack of food, but I was beginning to suspect otherwise. I crawled up to ear to ask him if he was alright when I questioned about it earlier, but I got a rather abrupt growl, so I didn't press it any further. Though, it did leave me to a few options why: he was being drained of his powers either through a Freelancer he picked or because of the world in chaos or both.

- - -

A few hours more passed, and we were now over the divide between Kanto and Johto. Even from this height, I could see the sickening wasteland of many of Kanto's oceanic southern border. No matter how much I had thought ENDoG could be, they now looked like a minor problem compared to what Hoenn's government did. To kill so many people and Pokemon without a slight bit of remorse was outrageous. I couldn't help but revolve my thoughts towards the differences between Pokemon and human “cruelty.” Bishop had actively said that legendaries were cruel in their ways of being openly free to do whatever and that their powers caused to much grief to humans. But when I look at the destruction of human homes and Pokemon homes, the reality was too clear. Why were humans worth saving? They can cause more misery to the world than any legend ever could achieve by Bishop's standards. If humans had such little regard for the world, were they worth saving? I thought on this for most of the way to Cerulean. And the only answer I could come up with was that most humans weren't this oppressive. To which, my retort would have been this: if that was the case, why doesn't most of these humans stand up against the few who do cause this. Bishop and Hoenn's government were prime examples, yet only a small group of Freelancers like myself stood up against them. Quite frankly, I was beginning to question if I wanted to even be in this conflict any more. But, those are idle thoughts, I knew, as I was already to entrenched to ever dig myself out.

The city of Cerulean was within sight, but Kyurem had changed direction to the south of it. I was going to question why, but I saw the reason. There was a lot of out of placed carnage and a firefight going on. Reasoning that Bishop had emerged out of Saffron's ruins farther south, this would have been the path he would have taken, meaning he was now in danger.

- - -

Selene Dysis
Mauville City
Marked Freelancer: Reshiram

Again. spelled the words for the millionth time as I tried to focus my mind. Reshiram was nearly being my drill instructor in perfecting his move: Fusion Flare. While I had progressed in my ability to manipulate fire, I still was rather weak in doing his move. I could conjure it, but it wasn't anything impressive. I could get it to the size of a tennis ball which I thought was a huge improvement from when I started four hours earlier which is to say from nothing. However, Reshiram still wasn't pleased, so I was still in the training room hurling fiery tennis balls at him, and the results were always the same. He'd dispel the ball before it got even close to him, and to add insult to it all, he actually just left the “again” message in the air until he felt that I progressed enough.

It got to the point that I screeched, “I'm done for now; I need a break and some water. Give me a moment's rest, and I'll get back to it.”

The dragon pierced me with its sky blue eyes, and I cringed and regretted my outburst. However, it did let me rest. I left the room to find the fridge to get some water. On the way, I spotted Patrick and Ranaras staring out a window. Reshiram had also taught me to read body language and the mouth instead of relying on “hand language” as it called it, and it wasn't hard to deduce what they were looking at. I could tell it was something out of place, and by the look on their faces, it was also troubling. Thinking of various things that could be, it was either ENDoG or the weather. But the former made the most sense; however, ENDoG was kicked out of Hoenn thanks to the now ex-President which meant that something else was going on. There was also a hint of confusion in their eyes which led my thoughts back to ENDoG, but again, that was impossible. Meaning the only explanations left was that the weather somehow cleared up, or there were look alike ENDoG forces out there.

I continued my trip before either noticed I was there, got my drink of water and walked back to them. This time, I walked up to the window and startled both of them.

“Geez, Selene. Next time, tell us your behind us, “Patrick had hissed out. I could see how reading people's lips was helpful which made me think why I didn't try that in the first place. Ranaras, however, signed that there were ENDoG people combing the town for something, but it was unclear. I was right, then, that there were ENDoG forces out there, but there shouldn't be any reason to root us out. We were helping them, so I started realizing that my second theory was more right, a theory I didn't want to raise to the forefront. I only nodded in the way that showed that I understood and left to find Reshiram.
 

Wile E. Coyote

Roadrunner Wrangler
Marleena Feyr
ENDoG Assassin
Saffron City Airspace


As soon as I had gotten Bishop's text message, I discharged myself from the hospital and set out to find him. Skibi and I were now soaring over the Saffron City Airspace, her wings pushing and pouding against the air as we tried to make it as quickly as possible to Route 5. I had an old safe house there, a secret chamber in the entrance to the Underground Pathway. I had sent a message to Bishop to try and make it there if he could. I had shown him a map of all my safe houses within Kanto, should the situation arise, I could only hope that he would understand which one I meant know. The message I had sent read, "BISHOP, PROCEED TO 24K. WAIT THERE, WILL COME ASAP. DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE." I wished there had been another way to get in contact with him, as anything over the cellular network could be tracked, traced, and followed, though I had sent the message from an on-display cellphone in Lavender Town before I set out. Every sense in my body was humming as soon as I had heard that we were being hunted. I knew so many tricks in the book that our pursuers would probably use to get to us, and I was determined to throw them off our scent as quickly as possible. If they had tracked down the text that he had sent me... I might already be too late. Skibi screeched as she fought against the wind, unfortunately we were flying into the wind, a difficult exercise for any flying type pokemon, though my girl was doing the best she could. I made sure my rifle was still primed and ready to fire in case we were heading into a hot landing zone, but I had my doubts. I had specifically requested Bishop make the existence of these safe houses known ONLY to us; all the people who had worked on site had been killed afterwards to make sure the secrecy remained. All blueprints had been burned, erased from digital existence, and the buildings were labeled as unstable, enter at your own risk to keep pesky civvies out of the way.

If something only exists in your mind, and in your memories, does it really exist?

I tossed the question out of my head when I saw a small transport careening down the road that made up Route 5. ****. Must have been a pickup team to get a hold of Bishop. I directed Skibi to go fly down into the treeline, which she did silently, diving into the trees and then weaving and swerving to avoid tree branches as we shot ahead of the truck. I jumped off when we were over the concrete roof that was our rendezvous point. The truck had been forced to stop in order to clear some civilian traffic which had gotten in the way. Perfect. Just enough time to plan something... I threw two marked pokeballs to the ground. Noktuska, my trusty Cacturne, and Rache, my silent but powerful Garchomp stood up straight in the sunlight, awaiting orders. I spoke curtly, the soldier and hunter within me bristling to do this right. "Nok, you're with me on sniper duty. Rache, you're primary contact. On my signal, blast the truck, try and make as much chaos as possible so we can get good shots off. As soon as the trucks down and the men are out, bang out so we don't hit you and so you don't take heavy fire, chances are that they're armed. Understood?" Noktuska gave a smart salute before running with her leaping steps over to the side of the building, aiming her spiny arms towards the truck. Rache ran to the edge of the building closest to the forest, and jumped off, gliding calmly to the forest's edge and stalking off. I ran to Noktuska's side, locked and loaded my rifle, loading it with the human-specific ammunition, having to empty the heavier rounds from our pokemon hunt earlier. I thought back to the hunt for Uxie. It was only a few days ago, and yet it seemed like so many things had changed since then. In a period of only a few days, I had completely switched roles from destroyer to protector.

I aimed down the scope of the rifle, my free hand holding a small detonator shaped device. It was a remote that would send a signal to Rache's NEEM collar, which would just make a small noise to send my order. The truck continued up the road, and slowed as it was forced to make a wide turn. This is it.

I breathed in.

Breathed out.

And pressed the button.

I heard Rache's loud roar, and saw the explosion of a fully enraged Garchomp unleashing Bulldoze on the truck, running up to the truck, and in a quick motion, launched his entire body against it. It wasn't enough force to tip the transport over, but it had been enough to slide the wheels a few inches, causing the driver to lose control. Unleashing multiple attacks in a frenzy, Rache used everything from Dragon Claw to Giga Impact, the final blow to tip over the truck being the Giga Impact. He dropped to the ground, most likely tired from the heavy strain that those attacks had put on him. Gunfire quickly made him sober up and run back tot he treeline, and that was when I signaled to Noktuska to open fire. The triple burst of the Pin Missile attack, and the single exploding ping of my rifle answered the rifle fire that was chasing after Rache into the woods. Two men fell to the ground, one from Noktuska's poisonous pins, and the other from one of my well aimed shots in the stomach. The firefight raged, chaos ensued, and we took down 3 more men without problems. I gave another signal to Rache, who dashed back out of the forest, having had the minutes to recuperate from the exhaustion, dashing forward like a bat out of hell. He sliced one man cleanly in half, and then charged into the next. Out of the former squad of ten soldiers who had been deployed on this mission, only four were remaining. A few bullets were quickly aimed at Rache, though they only managed to hit his wings. It was still painful to see the red blood start flowing from his body, but we had all endured enough pain. I fired on a few men, and Noktuska kept her rounds firing. Rache's mouth snak into the neck of the last man, who had managed, in a heroic moment, to almost shred Rache's wings and get a few bullets in other non-vital areas of his body. Rache sank down on top of the man, the blood loss starting to take its toll. Noktuska looked to me, and I nodded. She stood back up and leaned against the small doorway that would lead down to the safe house. There was nothing she could do, it was up to Skibi and I.

I gave a loud whistle, and Skibi's hawk-like cry answered me, and she picked me up with her talons, quickly flying over and setting me down next to Rache. I sighed. Maybe his second attack wasn't necessary. His wings were almost shredded from bullet holes, and he was breathing slowly, his eyes the only true source of pain as they looked up to me in anguish. I returned him to his pokeball, knowing that the only option now was to remove all the bullets and close as many wounds as possible. I had the equipment I'd need inside, but I wasn't sure I had the know-how to do it. Returning him to his pokeball would keep him stable, and keep him from dying for a few days, but the bullets needed to come out, and the bleeding needed to be stopped. Soon. I checked the other men for anything useful, but only found their weapons and plenty of ammunition to go with it. I shouldered two automatic rifles, hoping that Bishop would be here soon with a plan. With any luck, he'd know how to hold and fire a gun, and maybe even be able to help me with Rache.

Oh gods, please help us...
 

strategiser24

Mewtwo is awesome!
OOC: Sorry for the pause, had a long and annoying project over the weekend that I was working on until Tuesday.

Jared Darnell
Freelancer/Other Party
Under Mt. Silver, Heading to Johto

Jared's guests were shocked to discover the truth about him and his friends. "That would explain...a lot," Caroline replied.

Gary was, surprisingly, not very angered upon hearing the truth. In fact, he was just as confused about the whole situation. "You know you're not just going to get away with all of thi-" he began.

"I know," Jared answered, cutting him off, "I never said we weren't guilty of anything, while everyone else was in this conflict,"

The third executive seemed unfazed by the revelation, and stepped in between Jared and Gary. "Look, he's right," he said quickly, "You can both argue about this when we get to Violet city. Right now, I'd rather not wait for another cave-in,"

Gary let out a deep sgh and rubbed his forehead, following the interruption. "...You always were one to ignore the fact that your friends are serial killers, Farris...but since it doesn't look like I'll walk away alive on this one, I'll play along," Gary muttered, stepping towards Jared, "Your bunch seems like a nice and honorable lot...for criminals...So what's Plan B again?"

Jared was about to begin explaining the new route they were taking, when his cell phone suddenly began to vibrate. Signaling for someone eolse to explain for him, Jared looked at the text message he'd received. It was from...Alex Morgan?

To: Jared Darnell
From: Prof. Alex Morgan

A couple of Hoenn planes found your copter
and destroyed it along with the entrance you
guys came from. There is no doubt that they
will be back with troops to hunt you down.
If you guys need any assistance just send a
message back. We can provide you guys
with supplies and an exit route. I have a
Porygon that can give you an up to date
map of the caves. However if the soldiers
come we will need help. If any of your men
want to stay back and fight we will provide
a map to take them to our base. You may
be the spark that lit this war but we all
need a way to survive it. We will help you
out any way we can while you're in Mt.
Silver, but once you're out I can't cover
you. We'll be keeping an eye on you.

Once you're in Johto gather some allies
and supplies and come back to us. We
don't have enough weapons or men to
survive long in a fight. The dragon-
tamers of Blackthorn are your best bet.
They were against ENDoG as soon as
they could take away a pokemon's
powers but they're pacifists. We might
be able to make peace if we are able to
get them as allies. You might have
started this war but you can help end
it. I wish you luck on your mission.

Alex Morgan


How on... Jared began to think, ...I could learn a few things about intelligence from these guys...

Replying to Alex and turning to the rest of the group, Jared quickly explained what was happening.


To: Alex Morgan
From: Jared Darnell

Credit where its due, you did a good job of keeping an eye on both the army and getting my number...

I know what you're saying. We're the ones who made the mistake of setting things into motion, and we're not going to just walk away from our mistake, but there's a bigger problem we have to worry about now; we're in such a hurry to reach Violet City because of the fact that there's about to be a pandemic that no one is going to see coming or notice until things get dire.

The NEEM Collars, they're using some sort of compound to suppress a Pokemon's abilities, and that's controlled by a radioactive chemical that is accessed over EnDoG's network. The problem is, it would be better if they were active, at this point, then out of the control of EnDoG: That chemical compound, its corrosive to organic tissue when its not controlled or surpressed by anything. The 'pandemic' I'm talking about are the effects that that is going to have on Pokemon...Lethal effects...and this includes every Pokemon that's ever had a NEEM Collar, along with the Legendaries

Thankfully, my late friend in Saffron city came up with a plan before we lost his signal. He sent us a Worm virus that he thinks can stop the Collar's chemical from corroding the Pokemon that its in, by planting the Worm in one of their Network computers. After that, the Worm should be able to replicate itself on EnDDoG's network fairly quickly: We're in a hurry because we don't know how much time we have, and the fact the virus is still in the Beta stage. Our best guess is that symptom might start showing up, at the earliest, in a few days, and at the latest, in a few months.

Well, I know this isn't much of a plan, but still, its better than waiting for the Apocalypse. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears; I've been having a hard time thinking with the headaches I've been having lately, that refuse to go away...Well, you get the point. Either way, we've got a route planned to get past the cave-in...You probably don't want to follow us in there if you don't believe in ghosts.

Thanks for the info. friend,

Jared Darnell


Sending the message, Jared rubbed his forehead once again: Whether it was just stress or something poking around in his head, it seemed to just refuse to leave him alone.
 
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Avenger Angel

Warrior of Heaven
Jonathan Bishop
Leader of ENDoG
Route 5, Kanto


I had nothing left to fight with. But in the end, I was not even sure I still could. I was not even sure... I still wanted to.

And then, there were voices.

"Bishop!" One of them shouted from the distance. "Stop or we'll shoot!"

I was tired of running, and there was no escape either. It was not long until I was surrounded. Another armed company of soldiers... ones only pretending to be ENDoG. Because they were ashamed to show their true nature. Ashamed to admit and be open about their betrayal.

And all that was left was to put my hands in the air. And soon enough, I was surrounded. Armed operatives and a few of their Pokémon, no longer with NEEM collars. Clearly... the intention I had set out to achieve had been rejected. One of them wearing a scowl on his face searched me, and found the emptied pistol. He threw it on the ground, and then took my phone. I saw that Operative Feyr had sent a response, but before I could see it, the operative had taken the phone, threw it on the ground, and smashed it with his booted foot. At least now... they wouldn't find her.

And then, there was a sudden explosion in the distance, overwhelming what appeared to be a truck. I could see a flash of fire and sudden commotion, but most of the view was obstructed by another building and several trees. All I could tell was fighting suddenly broke out.

"What the hell!?" One of the operatives exclaimed.

"Nathan's team is under fire, get him the hell outta here!" One of the operatives shouted, angerily pointing to an APC while getting his automatic rifle ready.

They seized me and forcefully pulled me toward one of three APCs, waiting to take me away. After putting my hands behind my back and putting them in restraints, I tried to take another look, hearing gunfire in the distance. But before I could even catch a moment's glance, I was thrown into the back of the APC with several other operatives who then shut the back door.

They wasted no time, and it was not long before the armored convoy was on the move. Where they were taking me, I did not know, but there were far greater things to be concerned about than my personal welfare at that moment...

--------------------------------

John Larkin
ENDoG Tactics Advisor
En Route to Johto


After hitching a ride on a helicopter, I could see from the skies just how twisted and f*cked-up Kanto had become. Saffron City in the distance, bathed with a hellish glow, while Vermillion to the south was a smoking ruins. In the meantime, it seemed like that b*tch Cassandra Wood had won. I tried to follow the live podcast, since looking at Saffron City right now was enough to make anyone sick.

"We are looking at the beginning of what promises to be a new ENDoG," Wood told the public with a hint of confidence in her tone. "One that will rise above the failures and corruption that the old ENDoG consisted of. One that won't result in an entire nation taking the fall for one organization's folly and greed."

Psh, she had the whole thing wrong.

"For the greater good of the people, we will continue our campaign against the Freelancers, who have proven themselves to be anarchical terrorists and assassins," Wood continued. "Hoenn has allowed for war to spawn, and did nothing to stop Quincy in his disillusioned campaign of madness. They idly stood by while the order to erase millions of lives and destroy entire cities was carried out. Those who made this atrocity possible will be punished to the maximum extent of the law."

In other words, make sure sh*t keeps getting fed into the fan. It really made me wonder, just how the hell did this dumb broad get to be in control of ENDoG anyway? Last time I checked, Gerald Harrison was the one directly under Bishop. Shouldn't he have been the one to take over? Or was he one of those "corrupted officials" Wood kept on honking about?

"This whole thing is botched," One of the other ENDoG soldiers in the chopper told me. "This is not the way Bishop intended it to be. The whole damn thing has to be a conspiracy."

"The real ENDoG wasn't about this," I told him, agreeing with that. "Someone was pulling strings while Bishop wasn't looking. It can't be Wood, but she's a puppet. She's acting on someone else's behalf."

"Yeah, but who?" He asked, not really able to believe that entirely. "There's no one that could have masterminded this entire thing. What, influence Hoenn, ENDoG, and the rest of the world? Engineer this entire war? Does someone really have that kind of power to do all that on their own?"

Decisions were made without Bishop's knowledge. There was a civil war that Bishop was not aware about until the whole thing had gone apesh*t. And now the divide was becoming apparent. The "old ENDoG" was everyone that tried to listen to Bishop and carry out his intentions. But the "new ENDoG," the one that had betrayed the rest of us... they were the ones coming into power now. They were the ones that were being lead by Cassandra Wood. Someone hijacked Bishop's train and now the whole thing was taking a different course.

This wasn't ENDoG getting a second wind. This was ENDoG dying and getting turned into a blood-craving zombie. Someone had to shut this sh*t down before things got worse...
 

R.I. Saraibre

Draconis Deviantus
OOC: Can't think of much for Shay...so transition post r go.

Cantus
Shadow Administrative
Entralink, Unova


“We have retrieved Bishop. Returning to base.”

Cantus was called back into the Communications room, looking a bit unhappy. One of the communications officers ran up to him, ready with a report on the situation. He looked at her immediately, giving her another piercing glance. She hesitated a moment, before speaking with no sense of fear in her voice.

“Sir the team has recovered Bishop, however there was an interruption in the process sir. We believe it’s whoever Bishop contacted but there is no way of knowing for sure.”

Cantus thought for a moment, knowing capturing Bishop would no doubt have a hiccup such as this one.

“Wear them down and capture them too. If you can’t have the team do that, then remove him from the picture.”

“Yes sir.”


SN Foxtrot Team
Specialized ENDoG Operative Team
Route 5 En Route to Entralink, Unova


One of the squad members, armored more elaborately than the rest, checked up on every squad member as they moved hastily through the route to make it back to base. The old Underground Tunnel had been renovated for ENDoG purposes only, and those ENDoG officers were those who were meant for special operations. This, was one of those special operations. The woman was tall, shoulder length dirty blonde hair, green and black armor mostly in camouflage patterns all where it wasn’t heavy bulletproof material. Her green eyes were as strong has her presence, only to be amplified by the presence of her looming Sigilyph that was seemingly staring into space, but in Bishop’s general direction.

“Make sure we stay on track. As far as com has said, no one else knows, but we didn’t make it this far on assumptions.” She explained in an authoritarian tone of voice.

“Yes Commander Aile.”

Aile then stood with her hand on one of the holds hanging from the roof of the vehicle, despite the fact there was a seat for her available. She turned and looked at Bishop for a moment, then turned o resume looking at the other side of the vehicle.

“Aren’t you special Bishop. First you’re wanted dead, now you’re wanted alive. The girl was right, you really can change people’s minds.” She commented, still not looking at him.

“I’ll give you what I know to tell you now, and what I’m allowed to tell you now. It goes like this: you sit down and have a talk, no crap no BS, those petty terrorists that Wood hired go bye-bye, your wife goes free. If something goes on that I don’t like, those who are holding your wife hostage are free to do whatever it is those terrorists do, to their discretion. We’ve been given specific orders not to bind you any more than you are, hell been told to uncuff you just before we get there.”

“Commander we are nearing the docking point.”

“Alright.” Aile sat down strapping herself to the seat. “Buckle up everyone, you know how rough these aquatic transfers are.”

The vehicle was moving through an unregistered, and as far as anyone would tell you, non-existent detour of the tunnel. It went far underground, towards the west coast under the old Power Plant. There the vehicle would be transferred to a small, stealth submarine and taken the majority of the way to Unova. Once in the channel after going under Marvelous Bridge, they would return to land near Lostlorn Forest, and through there, it was all a special trip to the Entralink. No one was sure how Cantus managed it, but somehow he discovered a way for a passage, created on frequencies and the mental waves of Psychic Pokémon, to the Entralink to be possible.

It was only a matter of time before there arrived.
 

strategiser24

Mewtwo is awesome!
OOC: Don't flame me, I got permission to do this.

Jared Darnell
Freelancer/Other Party
Under Mt. Silver, Heading to Johto


"Alright, let's move," Jared ordered.

Leaving the vans behind, the group walked through the dark tunnel towards the service door that led to the mine tunnel. With only flashlights to guide their way, everyone stayed together. "We figured out a plan while you were on the phone Jared," Farris told Jared, "Two of your guys are going to go meet Professor Alex Morgan so we can, hopefully, figure out how we're actually going to go from here. Three guys are also going to stay back to bring the vans around and to watch the entrance to the mine to make sure no one we don't want follows us. The rest of us will be going in the tunnel to Violet city,"

"Sounds good..." Jared replied, thinking about what he just said, "Wait a minute, how did you know the guy I was talking to was Alex Morgan? I didn't say his name,"

"Someone mentioned him to me on the drive here," Farris answered.

Jared stared at Farris, confused, before someone announced that they found the door. The words Condemned Mining Area: KEEP OUT were written on the door; as if Kanto believed that a sign and a rusted lock would convince everyone to stay out. That answer was prepared...why is he so eager to trust us too? Jared said to himself, ...Probably nothing,

Stepping into the narrow shaft, the group split up, as planned, as Jared's section continued on into the mine. The cavern was just as dark as the tunnel, especially with unsupported, misshaped walls all around them that could easily collapse. It was clear that no one had been down here for a long time, except for them on the rare occasions. The fact that the cavern was growing larger as they advanced comforted them, but the sounds of wild Pokemon, water, and rocks being kicked along the floor kept them on edge. The flashlights they had been using seemed to be less effective as the space they were walking in become larger and larger, dispersing the light into the darkness.

Ghost stories had been circulated about this place, and most of them were about miners, wanderers, ad even running criminals, that had gotten lost in the maze of tunnels. Some of them were about ghosts that could 'devour' the light that someone had with them, causing them to be in total darkness, and some even talked about the ghosts of the lost being able to change the tunnels on whoever entered. One was about a Pokemon that had once been owned by a trainer that was psychotic, but when his trainer died, he hid in these caverns and had the power to drive people insane. It was said that he, or she, could put voices and thoughts in someone's mind. Though the victim mostly ignored them at the beginning, they were rumored to eventually give in to them and attack their friends that were with them: Many of whom, had been experience similar feelings. But, Jared's group wasn't too worried about getting lost, considering they'd nearly memorized the route after having been through a few times; although, the fear and anxiety they'd experienced never changed no matter how long they were in the dark.

As the group pressed on, Jared's headache persisted. The aspirin he'd taken before they left the van didn't seem to help at all, and with the darkness of the tunnel to keep him nervous, it only got worse. Then suddenly, one of the ghost stories, which he'd convinced himself wasn't real, quickly came to life as he began to hear a faint voice in his head. You...human..., it said.

Jared ignored it, at first, thinking it was just his imagination, and continued to focus on navigating the tunnels. ...I know you can hear me Freelancer, it continued.

What do you want ghost? Jared said, trying to humor himself.

...Ghost?...Not yet... it answered, laughing, But both you and I will be if you don't listen...Someone wants you captured...alive.

Jared slowed and almost stopped upon hearing the voice's reply. What are you talking about? Jared asked, ...Well, there's plenty of people, I'm sure, who want me arrested, so wh-

Its not what you think: These people want you for something other than crimes, the voice persisted, continuing to confuse Jared, ...I've watched you for some time, and even I don't what they want...They want something that's in you, something that no one else has, something they've said they've already used...What are they talking about?!

I don't know! Jared screamed in his head, I'm the one asking the questions!...Who are you talking about?!

I don't...know, the voice answered, sounding just as confused, I've been captured once, and they drained me of most of my strength, and now someone else has captured me from them...and now I'm somewhere underground, where I'm struggling to recover..but they still are keeping me suppressed: I strain even now to talk with you...

Well how do you know they're after me?! Jared continued to question, feeling the presence get weaker.

...I need to rest...My captors will let me do that...for now...We will speak again, Freelancer, the voice replied, withdrawing from Jared's mind.

"Hey, I think we found it," someone said, passing their flashlight over a distant fuse box.

Getting his thoughts back together, Jared walked to the box and reached for the breaker switch, yanking the handle out of its rusted position. After some time, a generator, hidden in the darkness, started, and the makeshift lights they'd set up months before, in case they came back, flickered on, revealing the giant vault door blocking further access to the cavern. At opposite sides of the vault were two booths; as the lights turned on, an array of Pokemon ranging from Zubats to Crobats scattered, from inside, into the darkness. "...So, what now?" Caroline asked in the silence.

"Well, the power is still working, so we don't need to worry about that," Jared explained, "...The vault is controlled by the two computers in those booths. Each one has to have a password put into it at the same time in order to override the lock, but thankfwully, Kanto has long stopped maintaining this place, so they've stopped changing the codes, giving us plenty of time to hack them and change them...That means you, guys,"

Stepping out from the group, two men stepped onto the catwalks and slowly made their way to the control rooms at the other end of the cavern. Everyone waited patiently as the two shouted instructions to each other across the cavern. "Have you been doing alright Jared?" Farris asked, looking concerned.

"I'm...fine," Jared said, thinking about the strange voice he heard, "I think I just heard a ghost whispering to me about...something,"

Farris looked anxious upon hearing Jared's response. "What did it say? Did it tell you to watch everyone closely, or something?"

What kind of ghost asks that? Jared said to himself, looking at Farris. "No, I think it was just...trying to help me or something," Jared explaned, "...I think it might have been talking about EnDoG or something...I wouldn't think to hard about it,"

The conversation was quickly interrupted by the sound of an alarm sounding in the cavern, and a strobe light turning on. The two guys in the control rooms made their way back to the group as the old vault door slowly unhinged itself and lifted itself open. The noise was tremendous, as the door creaked having not been opened in years. Eventually, small traces of light could be seen on the other side, as a 'warehouse' was revealed on the other side. "This should be the underground storage the mine used before the goods were hauled to the surface," someone explained, motioning for people to press on, "...After you,"

Stepping into the concrete floored building, the lights continued to flicker as the generator in the cavern struggled to power them. Sighting a service elevator on the other side of the warehouse, Jared led the group towards it. "Please tell me this still works," Jared said, pushing the call button.

The metal gate creaked open, shaking the rust from the bars, as the machine sprung to life. Everyone stepped onto the 14 x 15 yard giant of an elevator, as Jared pressed the button for the surface. The elevator jerked itself up as the elevator began to rise to the faint light at the top of the shaft. Lucily, they only had to do one trip since the elevator was meant to carry cargo, in the tons, to the surface. The group was mostly quiet as relief seeped into them as they crept at a snail pace our from underground. "So where should we emerge on surface by?" someone asked.

"This place used to be run by government in Violet city, so we should come up close to the Route leading to it," Jared answered.

Finally, the elevator reached its destination asthe metal gate, once again, creaked open and everyone stepped out. The tarnished, old sign over a nearby door read 'EXIT,' as everyone rushed outside into the morning sunlight. They'd, apparently, spent the entire night underground, but their efforts paid off, as they made their way to the main road, a sign read Route 31: Violet City -->. Thankfully, the walk to the city was relatively short, as the skyline could be seen faintly from where they stood. In the city, things seemed much quieter than in Kanto, though the fear of an attack coming here was all to real. Following the Executives through the streets to the EnDoG building, Jared called Harris on his cell phone. "Harris, its Jared. Just wanted to let you know we m-" he began to say.

"Jared! I want to know what the hell's wrong with you!" Harris interrupted, "Why on Earth would you EVER decide to help EnDoG Executives?!?"

"Relax Harris, they're friends," Jared explained calmly, "I would've left them in Kanto if I didn't trust them,"

"Well I don't!...So because Wagner died, you just decide to do whatever you want without letting us know?!?" Harris shouted over the phone.

"Look, Harris, I don't have time to debate this with you," Jared replied, annoyed at his angry response, "...Just think of what EnDoG has done for the world...not all of it is necessarily bad,"

Jared hung up the phone, not allowing for Harris to even respond.

The group finally arrived at the EnDoG building and stepped into the lobby. Inside, people rose to greet the Executives, relieved they'd survived the nuclear attack. "I appreciate your concern," Farris answered them, "But right now, there's work we all need to do; I've got a new project that we need to start immediately, I'll explain that in a few minutes. For now, I want everyone in the conference room so Caroline can explain what's happened,"

The crowd quickly obeyed, and made their way to the elevators to head to the conference room. "You've all been a tremendous help, especially you Jared," Farris said turning to Jared's friends, "There's a break room on the second floor you can rest in for now, until I find somewhere else for you to stay: I'll let you know when I've made pro-"

"I'll do it!" Gary volunteered, interrupting him, "I don't need a break right now anyways...Just go and do...whatever you guys do,"

Everyone turned their heads towards Gary as Farris thought of an answer. "...Alright, fair enough," he continued, "Gary will work on the virus while you guys take a break..."

Everyone slowly walked towards the stairs as Farris went in a different direction. Jared approached Gary, confused as to what has made him so enthusiastic. "Are you...ok?" Jared asked.

"Me? Oh I;m fine," Gary replied, watching Farriswalk away, "I just don't want HIM touching the virus,"

"What?" Jared asked, puzzled.

"Nothing, nothing...Let's just say I think he might...program it wrong," Gary answered, walking to the elevators quickly.

Shrugging off the scene he'd just witnessed, Jared sat down in a nearby chair and waited; he still wasn't sure what or who that voice was that he'd heard in the mine.
 

Avenger Angel

Warrior of Heaven
Jonathan Bishop
Leader of ENDoG
Prime HQ, Entralink, Unova


They had taken me through the old Underground Tunnels, although I was not sure what was driving them, why they were doing this, and what they were expecting to receive at the end of the road. Safety? Monetary reward? I could not even tell by the look in their eyes.

I’ll give you what I know to tell you now, and what I’m allowed to tell you now. It goes like this: you sit down and have a talk, no crap no BS, those petty terrorists that Wood hired go bye-bye, your wife goes free. If something goes on that I don’t like, those who are holding your wife hostage are free to do whatever it is those terrorists do, to their discretion. We’ve been given specific orders not to bind you any more than you are, hell been told to uncuff you just before we get there.

Those words were on my mind the entire time. I was not sure what Cassandra Wood had done, and the whole nature of the scheme had still alluded me. Regardless, after we headed inside a small stealth submarine, the only thing on my mind right now was Naomi. Whatever was being done to her, she did not deserve, and I would have gladly taken any pain and suffering she incurred instead. Anything to keep her safe.

I did not know what route the submarine had taken to arrive at Entralink, a place so concealed that there were some that believed it did not even exist. The journey had taken a long time, and I knew it was hopeless for me to have any chance to discern what route or path they had taken. Regardless, even though we were now in a faraway place, I could not help but wonder why I had been taken here, and what I had to offer that no one else could provide.

The base they had taken me to was massive, making me truly wonder how it could have ever been constructed in such secrecy in a place like this. Even if we were ever found in this place, any kind of rescue would be near to impossible. I had the feeling that whoever had been behind all this would get want they wanted after all.

But what that was... I did not know. However, I did not show fear, even though there was the nagging question behind it all. There was still time for things to get better, even in the face of all this...

--------------------------------

John Larkin
ENDoG Tactics Advisor
ENDoG Compound, Violet City, Johto


We landed in Violet City, as if Johto was the last sane place to be in right now. Citizens were frantic, and thankfully, very few of them actually trusted and approved of Cassandra Wood coming into power to replace ENDoG. Loyalty was questioned, and inside men were turning up everywhere. I had to keep operating behind the scenes and stay out of sight out of the "New ENDoG" that was really just a load of bullsh*t with a fresh coat of liar's paint.

"Someone get me Gerald Harrison on the line for the love of god," I told the officers and employees around me, hoping one of these people knew where he was. "I don't know who Wood thinks she is, but she's got her head way up her ass."

And then, they looked at me strangely. The hell? Was I suddenly growing a second head or something?

"You... haven't heard?" One of them asked me. "Harrison... committed suicide. The report said he hung himself shortly after hearing the nuke was dropped on Saffron City..."

BULLSH*T. That was way, way too convenient for Wood and whoever was pulling her strings. Plus I knew Harrison, he was a war vet and quite the unemotional hardass. Even the nuke wouldn't have caused him to lose his head over this thing. Hell, he had a more rational head than even I did.

"Who the f*ck wrote that report?" I asked them, wondering if a formal investigation was even done. "One of Wood's jockeys? Who found him and where the hell are they now?"

"Listen, John, I know what you might be thinking, but it's only adding more fuel to the fire, something we really don't need right now," Hamlin urged me. "Listen, we don't even know if Bishop is alive or not, and we're running out of time. Wood... forget about her for the moment. She's playing a game and most of us know how to look past it. The others... they're either in on the plan or they're too stupid to figure it out on their own. This goes much deeper than we can imagine, and right now, we just don't have the means to continue down that hole to get to the bottom of this quite yet."

Then how the hell would we? Sitting our asses here and doing nothing about it wasn't going to fix the f*ck-up that was going on right now. What we needed was for people with rational heads to stop going apesh*t for a minute and start working together rather than waste time trying to get away from Wood and her mission to clean house. We needed to get inside and find out what was really going on. Heck, through torture and interrogation if necessary. We didn't have time to play nice right now. Heck, no one had any clue what was going on in Hoenn right now. For all we knew, they could have been getting another nuke, or possibly something even worse to unleash against Kanto.

I had to contact the Freelancers. Screw the god-forsaken plan Bishop tried to conjure, if that even was his plan and not someone else's. That was over. We needed someone that wasn't in ENDoG's playbooks, someone that possibly had some inkling that ENDoG was falling apart and now was the time to fix it or let it rot. But letting it recover under Wood... we sure as sh*t couldn't let that happen.
 

R.I. Saraibre

Draconis Deviantus
Shay Miru/Jingka
Giratina Freelancer/???
Prime HQ Holding, Entralink, Unova


“Good, now again.”

I had been at this all day, working on training myself with this power with Jingka. She seemed to know a lot about ghostly abilities, and it was a distraction to the fact I didn’t have any of my other Pokémon on me. Cantus had sniffed out all my caches I had left for the other Freelancers, hiding all my Pokémon like Easter eggs all over the place. Luckily I had my Galvantula running about causing some mishaps to prevent any sort of detection. Running around with that Sableye of hers anyway. I felt a bit worn out, but I was getting used to passing through mirrors and using Shadow Force.

“How long are we doing this for…?” That question had been running through my mind for the past hour or so.

“For as long as you can take it, and I know that could be for the next five hours.” She responded, almost as if she was smug about it.

Personal profile reader or not, she was giving me some concerns with her ability to actually determine characteristics of a person accurately. I was aware she knew this, but she got my Charizard back to me, and was working on getting the rest of mine and hers from this tiny room. Her Rotom and his tricks were working almost too well, but she seemed too smart for her own good.

“I can probably go on for a few more hours, but there is the fact we’re trying to get out of here.” I told her. “I know you’re working on it, but you’ve barely been able to fill me in on this plan of yours.”

“Since circumstances are constantly changing, the plan is. Especially with the change in plans with Bishop. I’ll explain it to both of you.”

“He’s not even here.” I shot at her. “Sorry but I don’t plan on staying here forever until it’s the right tim-”

“He is here.”

I stopped for a second. “He’s here?”

“Bishop just arrived.” Jingka said again.

“How do you know he’s here?”

“My Rotom has extensive knowledge of all the electrical systems in here, he sensed the convoy come in, the only one that went out was to get Bishop.”

I gave her a skeptical look. I went and sat down on my bed, still staring at her. Jingka then suddenly sat on her bed, as if someone was coming to the door and if they saw her near it, she was going to get scolded. I was giving her an odd look as she seemed to signal the camera I the corner of our room. I tried not to look at it, but I couldn’t help but notice the light change back to a bright red, and no more than two minutes after that, one of the armored guards that I couldn’t see the face of, opened the door, and walked in with another behind him.

“Cantus wants you in his board room. Same with you analyst.”

I growled at the guard, getting up of my own accord, shaking off his hand as he tried to get me into cuffs again. These ones were different though, they made my entire body feel heavy, and made me feel exhausted…wait, did I growl? A legitimate growl? I saw Jingka being led out behind me while I had a firm grip against my wrists. Wherever this board room was, I was being taken to it, and for whatever reason, I was about to find out.

Prime HQ, Entralink, Unova
Bishop's Retrieval Team

Commander Aile walked out of the deployment bay, Bishop behind her in tow with her second in command, taking the restraint’s off of the ex-government employee’s wrist. Aile issued her team to their daily tasks while she kept her own eye on Bishop, knowing he wasn’t going to pull anything funny for the sake of Naomi. Silently, she instructed him to follow her up the stairs and into the expensive looking hallways of the headquarters to where her boss was going. Her Sigilyph followed directly behind Bishop, almost staring through him through to the floor.

It was about a three minute walk before they all hit the boardroom. Aile made sure Bishop was seen and that the door was shut behind them. Cantus stood up from his chair, the large wide room with framed parchments from ages dating in various eras, some even longer than what history could date. Aile stood just behind Bishop, almost as if she were his new body guard. Cantus looked at his captor, with a slight smile almost. He came around his desk and stood a short distance from him.

“It’s nice to finally meet you in person Bishop. I’ve heard so much about you.” He began. “You’ve been proven to be a very capable man. Few change my mind as you have Bishop. Even past the expectations of my employee scout. As such those employees who show promise of course, get-”



Cantus
Shadow Administrative
Shay's POV

I was shoved through the door, and all I saw was a wide room with the walls covered in frames, a large desk with a chair tucked under it, and then Cantus speaking to…Bishop. All I could do was stare at him the entire time, my urge to put a dent in his face with my own fist after all this time. It was his fault that my father had been missing for years, he helped this entire scenario and all I wanted to do to him was knock him around. Cantus however, soon took my attention when I felt him staring at me, looking unamused. I could feel another growl well up in my throat and it came out pretty clear. He scoffed at me, having the soldier that was leading Jingka in take one of my shoulders again to make sure I didn’t pull another Shadow Force on their asses. I was waiting…for the right moment…and for my energy to come back.

“Yes, I do hope you found your new bedroom quaint?”

“Shut up Cantus. The hell do you want and why am I stuck here in the same room as Bishop? Do you want me to blow apart the room again, because you don’t have your little Mewtwo lackey to hit me again from behind like the sorry bastard you are.”

“Yes I am getting to that, if you’d be so kind as to, as you said, ‘shut up’.” He countered rather coldly, only making me glower at him with deadly intent.

“As I was saying Bishop, as all of my employee’s show promise and aptitude beyond my prediction, they are given the opportunity for a promotion.”

What the hell opportunity was he talking about? Jingka looked a bit nervous around Cantus, and I wasn’t sure why. I just had a bad feeling about this, and whatever it was, I was going to find out.

“You have proven yourself to be extremely capable of defying the odds, and those are particular people I am starting to look for. You’ve even surpassed the expectations of my expert analyst here.” He motioned towards Jingka, who I swear almost flinched. “In time the world will undergo it’s cycle to flawlessness. By then I will hold within my grasp, the power to appoint new overseers of the world. Those you were quarantining have abandoned us, and are making their way to destroy Hoenn as we speak. Soon their powers will die out and become a new form, those who have the ability and will to remain, as you’ve displayed, will be given a chance to hold that power. It is the offer I’m making you now Bishop.”

I was point blank raging now. “You’re going to kill off the legendaries and just than out their powers to other people?! You can’t do that you daft freak of nature thinking bastard! They won’t give them to you and you have no way of getting them like that! You’re insane!”

“On the contrary, I do have them. At least one of them right now, soon to have the rest. Also, I’m not killing the legendary Pokémon, they’re already on their own way to their own death thanks to Bishop’s mastery of distribution and gaining support of the public.” Cantus corrected. “You are here, and even though your father has done well to erase your identity, we will find it soon enough, and when we do, your friends will soon follow.”

Then it clicked in my head. The legendary Pokémon were giving us their powers. If Cantus gathered us up, then he had them, but how was he going to get them out of us? If we died, did the abilities we were given go to another source? We didn’t have all of their power though, where was the other part? Whatever he had in mind, I was going to fight it until it was either gone or I was dead.

“You won’t get anywhere near anyone…you’ll be dead before you can harm anyone I know.”

“You well concealed protective nature of others…yes Giratina’s choice in you is quite obvious now, sharing the same traits as he.” Cantus commented, turning to Bishop. “Yes, this young woman here is one of those Freelancers; One of the special ones who are granted the chance to attempt to stop my plan of rebalancing the world’s essence of nature, ultimately to no avail. Your decision Bishop, determines where this path in the road goes.”

For once, I actually knew Bishop wasn’t that stupid to agree with this insane lunatic. Then again, he helped with the damned collars in the first place. I wasn’t sure what to think of this, or how these other people who worked for this man weren’t trying to stop him as well. My glare went between Bishop and Cantus, and I swear if Bishop accepted the offer, I was going to kill him myself.
 

Avenger Angel

Warrior of Heaven
Jonathan Bishop
Leader of ENDoG
Prime HQ, Entralink, Unova


Cantus... I could not discern the man's motives.

In time the world will undergo it’s cycle to flawlessness. By then I will hold within my grasp, the power to appoint new overseers of the world. Those you were quarantining have abandoned us, and are making their way to destroy Hoenn as we speak. Soon their powers will die out and become a new form, those who have the ability and will to remain, as you’ve displayed, will be given a chance to hold that power. It is the offer I’m making you now Bishop.

At first, I could not grasp just exactly how this could even be done. But given all this technology, and this power that Cantus had... could I really even ask such a question?

He made it clear the legendaries were dying, unable to hold onto their powers. Hence, the reason for the Freelancers. But now, Cantus was going to erase them and redistribute the power. Instead of the legendaries choosing their successors, it would be Cantus. And he gave me the option of being one of those holders.

To kill a Freelancer and give their power to myself...

"Yes, this young woman here is one of those Freelancers;" Cantus told me, referring to one of the young women he had dragged into the room. "One of the special ones who are granted the chance to attempt to stop my plan of rebalancing the world’s essence of nature, ultimately to no avail. Your decision Bishop, determines where this path in the road goes."

But did I really have the decision? Cantus did not bring me here because he trusted me. Everything I was doing now was being watched. Agree with Cantus, and the world would know all about it, and it would become the path for the new ENDoG. Refuse, and nothing about the situation would change. Cantus would still win, as he now had all the pieces in place. Cassandra Wood would reform ENDoG, and it would become something only Cantus allowed to win.

And Naomi... what would she have me do? In truth, no one was meant to have these powers. Did Cantus really have the right to decide what shall be?

"Have you decided?" He asked me.

And then, only a moment of silence. I... was not going to be Cantus's puppet...

"She would hate me if I did," I told him. "Cantus, what you suggest is madness. You alone cannot rebalance what you describe as the world's essence of nature. The legendaries are still alive, albeit weakened and in dire need of help. Although my team and I have tried to remedy their ailments, we cannot give up now. Whatever energy and power you have here should be focused on that goal. We were wrong, the legendaries cannot be stripped of their power. But you, Cantus, would make the same dire mistake we did. Instead, help us undo the damage. We cannot give up hope."

Those words may have meant nothing to Cantus, but they meant something to me. If it cost me everything, then there was no other choice. But I would not let Cantus take me down a dark path that would only become more wretched than anything I could ever imagine. Cantus... would not use this power for the intention of rebalancing anything. He would only use it to benefit himself. Agreeing with his outrageous plan undermined everything I intended to do. I was not going to surrender my soul to him.

"There's still time..." I told him, trying one last time to get him to reconsider his actions. "We cannot waste the one chance we may still have..."
 

strategiser24

Mewtwo is awesome!
Jared Darnell
Freelancer
EnDoG Headquarters, Johto Branch, Violet City


Jared sat in the break room by himself, after almost two days passed, and desperately tried to think of how they would put phase 2 of their plan into motion. EnDoG had no control network whatsoever, so just asking Farris to put the virus in place wasn't an option. The only options left would be to set up a new network, or find some other network to act as a replacement. Clearly, both of them would be difficult to accomplish with the current situation, with the latter being impossible; Jared was sure that no one could've set up a network like EnDoG's.

On the news, stories were coming in by the hour, with news of disappearances, attacks, and now, a 'black spot' appearing on the limbs of baby Pokemon that were in custody of EnDoG, that doctors are unable to identify. Its happening sooner than we thought it would, Jared thought, in horror, ...The 'spot' must be from the NEEM Collar Compound's corrosion of the organ. From the way they're describing it, it sounds like internal bleeding from broken blood vessels: It must be affecting the weaker, younger Pokemon first...We're running out of time; if the fighting continues, we're going to be on our own. People won't realize what's happening until the damage has been done.

Gary or Harris had better have figured out how to solve our dilemma.


Jared continued to brainstorm when a scientist bursted into the break room, interrupting the coverage on the war. "Gary?" Jared asked, "Why are you-"

"There's no time Jared! We have to go!" Gary ordered, his face red and sweating.

"Go?" Jared asked, puzzled as he watched Gary look over his shoulder, "WHat about the virus? What's made you so-"

"Look, I know you've got questions, but we need to leave! NOW!" Gary answered, beginning to shout, "I've saved the virus on a secure server and sent the finished product to Harris. Its safe, and I've already told the rest of your friends to meet us in Julbilife City in Sinnoh, but for us, we need to leave Violet city now! Just follow me!"

Bolting out the door, Gary made a break for the fire stairs, running up towards the roof. Jared quickly followed, though he had no idea why Gary had suddenly lost his mind. "Remember how I said I don't trust Farris? Well, I hate it when I'm right," Gary shouted as they continued to run, "He's been working with someone else, sending them information on you, me, and our plans: I think he's about to make a move on us now!"

"Are you sure?!?" Jared questioned, still believing that Gary had gone insane, "This all sounds a little unlikely to me, and I'm the one who's worked with people that lie all the time!"

"If you don't believe me, I followed Farris down the street a half hour ago, and I saw him meeting with a bunch of shady guys that look even less friendly than Bishop! They saw me spying on them, and I had to run back here and tell your friends to leave while securing the virus program! Listen, either way, we're going to head to Jubilife city and find out who the guys are that are working with Farris: I've got a helicopter that will take me and you out of the city. There's something that these guys want about you Jared...and me, for the record! But anyways, for the moment, run!"

That 'ghost' I heard under Mt. Silver. He was right...but what's so special about me?!

Still skeptical about Gary's 'discovery,' Jared continued to follow him up the stairs to the roof. On the roof, a chopper was waiting with the engine already at full power. Yanking the passenger door open, Gary froze still: In the back, sat Farris and Caroline with a soldier watching her closely. "What's the hurry Gary?" Farris asked with a grin on his face.

"Its a trap! RUN!" Caroline shouted, followed by a blow to the head from the soldier.

The sounds of rifles could be heard from behind as men with automatic weapons emerged from the corners of the rooftop. With them, were Electric-type Pokemon that were prepared to fire Thunder Waves to paralyze the two of them. "Do you think I'm lying now?!?" Gary asked, frantically looking for a way out.

Thinking quickly, Jared grabbed Gary by the suit and dragged him in front of him as he pulled out his pistol. "Back off guys!" Jared ordered, pointing the gun straight at them, "You let me go, or he's dead!"

The soldiers lowered their rifles and looked at each other, seemingly unimpressed. "Go ahead and shoot," Farris taunted, "Its YOU we want. Gary and Caroline are just a bonus,"

Jared watched in shock as the soldiers released the safety on their rifles and pointed straight at him again. Gary, still being held hostage by Jared, quickly rose his hands as Jared continued to stand firm. "You'll thank me later!" Gary shouted.

Without warning, Gary threw a punch to Jared's stomach, forcing him to drop the pistol. Moving swiftly, Gary grabbed the dropped handgun and made a break for the edge of the roof. The soldiers opened fire, but it was too late. Gary had jumped off the 30th floor roof and fell with a dissipating scream. Turning their attention to Jared, the soldiers aimed at the now defenseless man. With his last ally and only pistol gone, Jared quickly surrendered to the men as they surrounded him. "It really sucks to be right sometimes, doesn't it?" Farris said, letting out a laugh.

The soldiers forced Jared into the waiting chopper, as Caroline began to mourn his friend's death, and the other's betrayal. "What's so special about me?!?" Jared questioned, being held back by the man keeping a close eye on him, "My bank account disappeared with Saffron city! Everyone's got more money than me now!"

"Oh you'll see sir. There's something that you have that no other human has on Earth: We're thankful to you, after all. Now that we have you, you've saved us months of research," Farris replied, motioning to the soldier next to him, "But you look tired, and we don't need you until we get there, so why don't you take a nap?"

Jared felt a shock go through his body as the soldier's Linoone struck him with a clean blow to the head. Fatigue fell upon him , as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness. Eying the symbol on the soldier's uniform, the word Shadow was written on his shoulder pad. "Cantus, we've got the Freelancer and are heading back to base. We'll make sure we take care of his associates as well," Farris said into his phone, watching Jared fall asleep.
 
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