Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Fear the Quintet ❯ The Umbran ( Chapter 14 )

In which Kitty meets a Hunbyss. Or maybe a Goretail. Actually yeah, that one sounds better.

*

Kitty woke up in the middle of the night and felt gloriously at peace for the first time since she found the note. She looked around at Charlie and Elliot, asleep still with their mouths slightly open. Charlie was a terrible snorer, but they had been friends since before she could remember and she was used to it by now. His was the only snoring that didn't keep her up at night.

Elliot, however, was the perfect sleep buddy. He made no noise, hardly moved at all and had the cutest little asleep face.

She wondered for a moment what it had been that woke her up. Charlie answered this thought with an almighty snort and Elliot twitched ever so slightly but she shook her head. It wasn't him. The wind blew, the breeze rolling off the waves of the sea and causing the shutters to bang on the frame, but it wasn't that either. She didn't recall having had a bad dream.

She stood up and looked around the room, poking things softly and wondering, for what could possibly have been the first time, what things were like back at home.

Was her father worried? She assumed so. Was her mother depressed? Oh, God, she could even have been suicidal. Imagine having your husband reveal to you that your only child had disappeared through a highly unstable portal into an unexplored dimension and hadn't been heard from since. She went immediately to the plastic bag that contained the dress she had been transported in. In a pocket was the BlackBerry thing that her father had given her.

Did it even work?

She turned it over and over until she found a button, pressed it, and watched as the small screen flicked to life.

Gambari!

The name appeared and then disappeared and then there was nothing except a tiny icon in the middle of the touch screen that depicted a crude little man looking angry and perhaps tearing out his hair. Or those could have just been anger lines. She frowned at it and then tapped it with her finger.

Gambari!

The brand name flashed at her again and she waited patiently. A small bar that resembled one showing reception appeared at the bottom. One bar lit up, then two, then three… but the fourth remained unlit and soon they went out one after the other. When the homepage appeared again there were a few other icons with equally cryptic sketches on them. She shrugged and stuffed it back into the dress pocket.

The wind blew again and the curtain shuddered above her. She stood up straight and pulled it back, looking out at the obsidian sea and the little diamond stars, and the occasional flick of a Wailord tail in the horizon… and she rubbed her eyes angrily with the back of her hand.

“I'm going out,” she whispered to the two boys. She wondered for a moment whether they had been stationed in her room to ensure that exactly this did not happen, but when another unearthly snort ripped from Charlie's nostrils she smiled and stepped over him. The bed was a double, and they slept beside her on the floor without a single complaint.

She loved them all so much.

But they weren't Scott.

As soon as the door was unlocked, she attempted to open it without a sound, but that soon proved impossible as the keys fell with a loud clack to the floor and the door groaned open. She winced, and waited for confrontation, but instead another, louder, snuffle from Charlie indicated that she was in the clear.

“Vee.”

Or not. Two little sleepy Eevee sat up. Sandie's ears were drooping all the way down and she yawned widely, showing off her little white fangs.

“Sshhh,” she said to Rocky, putting her finger over her lips. He bounded over to her gracefully, and Sandie waddled behind. “Ok, you can come,” she whispered. “But don't tell anyone.”

“Eevee,” Rocky said happily, and disappeared out the door.

“I guess I'll take you too,” Kitty said, and picked up the shiny pink egg from its bowl on her bedside table and clutched it carefully. “Bye, guys,” she whispered to Charlie and Elliot, and shut the door with a tiny `clink'.

Outside it was refreshingly cool in Parum Town. She breathed in the cold night air gratefully and clutched the egg closer so that she could feel her heartbeat thrum against its thick shell. Not for the first time, she wondered what was inside it. What could Matthew have guessed that she wanted? She rubbed it absently for a while as she walked, as if a genie would appear in a puff of smoke and help her if she wished hard enough.

She ended up at the Gym, and stood looking up at its impressive structure. She sighed. If she had thought that Rocky could take on three or four Gym opponents, she would have entered the challenge herself.

Looking at him as he capered back and forth, trying to make Sandie smile, she wondered if he was up to winning the challenge alone after all, but she shook her head. It would be a boring battle no matter what, and she only had the lamest attacks for him.

It was starting to rain. She wondered if Scott had noticed the rain too. She didn't shiver, or hug herself, or go back inside, but instead she stayed staring at the Gym building and thinking about water. If the rain didn't let up for tomorrow's challenge, Sandie's pokemon would be more powerful.

She looked at Sandie the Eevee as she thought about Sandie the Gym leader. The Eevee yawned widely, again showing off pointed fangs.

“How many babies do you normally have?” Kitty asked her. Sandie lay down on the floor and then rolled onto her back like a cat that wanted to be scratched. Kitty sat down next to her and very gently rubbed her swollen belly. Rocky climbed into her lap and rested his head on her knee, one ear bent slightly. “And how long does it take?”

“Children shouldn't be out at night.”

Kitty looked up, frightened, and Rocky sat up too. “Excuse me?” she asked.

A man stood in front of her, dressed all in black so that it was difficult to see him. Or it would have been if he didn't have an ashen face and a very strange pokemon floating in the air next to him.

“It's dangerous out here,” he said. “There are all sorts of… nasty… people out here.” He smiled.

“I recognise your uniform,” she told him. “I'm not afraid of you.”

The Umbra man sighed, putting his hands in his pocket. “I'm not one of them anymore, as of a few hours ago. I-“ he said, with an air of pride, “-am an exile.”

“Why?” Kitty asked. The man looked confused. Maybe he was used to people being afraid of him.

“Because I didn't let them use Hunter as a labrattata.”

“Who as a what?”

“Hunter.” He gestured to the weird thing next to him. It looked like a cross between a Huntail and a Gorebyss. It had jagged scales and was bright candy pink. “They wanted to experiment on him.”

“Oh,” Kitty said with a slight frown, and stood up to get a better look at the thing. “It looks like they already have.”

“Nah, he evolved like this. They want to know why, but that involves looking at his brain and putting him through all sorts of stupid things.” He sighed. “So I said no, and they kicked me out of the company. Policy is that you get a week's headstart, and if any other Umbra members find you, they can kill you and get a reward.”

“What the hell?” Kitty asked, wrinkling her nose.

“It's just to ensure that you leave the country or change your appearance,” he said. “So I have six days to do one or the other.”

“Though it'll be hard hiding that,” Kitty pointed out, referring to the creature.

He laughed. “I guess.” His eyes lingered on her two Eevee and she got ready for whatever tricks he may have had up his sleeve. Maybe he wasn't an exile at all; maybe he had been sent there to find her.

Nah, that was stupid.

“You've only got two Eevees?”

She shook her head indignantly, but then a blush rose to her cheeks. “I only have one.”

“Oh.” He paused, looking into the distance for a while. “Do you want to battle? I have hours to kill before the shops open and I can get a change of clothes.”

Kitty laughed and shook her head. “No way,” she said. “That thing looks strong.”

He looked proud. “He is.” He looked around again, then leant in a little closer. “Do you want to do me a tiny favour?”

Kitty shrugged. “Depends.”

“Break into the Gym for me, and take the CD that's on the reception desk.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“The alarm only goes off for things human-height, and Hunter's too big to fit through that window.” He gestured to a window just above her head.

Kitty thought about it, then shrugged. “Alright.” Gym Leaders were always loaded anyway, and she was in a bad mood, especially with those who were having a good time in their lives recently.

She carefully picked up Rocky, and the man took him and placed him on Hunter's back. He looked down at the thing in confusion, but sat down and started to groom himself as he was lifted up to the window.

“Go through,” Kitty told him. He blinked at her, and then `vee'd softly at Sandie and jumped through the window, landing noiselessly on the floor underneath.

“Look through the window here,” the man said, and took her around the corner where she could see Rocky through a huge transparent wall beside the reception desk, looking around.

“The desk,” Kitty mouthed at him, pointing to it. He hopped gracefully onto it, his tail curling slightly. She gestured at a CD, which he took in his little jaw, eyes not leaving her. She beckoned for him to come back, and he leapt from the desk to a filing cabinet, and back to the small window, where Hunter helped lower him down to the ground again. “Good job!” Kitty cried, about to hug him but remembering that she was clutching onto an egg.

“Yeah, nicely done,” the man said, looking at them boredly. He held his hand out, and Kitty handed over CD. “Right, your payment,” he said, and gave it back to her. She frowned at him.

“Um, what… is it?” she asked uncertainly, spinning it around. It was shiny silver in colour.

“Iron Tail,” he said simply.

“Oh, it's a TM!” Kitty cried. “Amazing.”

“Yup, just touch it to his head and he'll learn the move, but you'll need to practise it for a long time before he'll be able to pull it off well. It's a difficult one to get used to.”

“What was the point in all that, then?”

The man shrugged slowly, and then sighed. He started to turn and walk away, but stopped. “Congratulations,” he said. Kitty was still standing looking confused in the same spot. “You're a criminal now.” He walked away, Hunter trailing happily behind him.

Kitty managed to find her voice. “Wait,” she called after him. He stopped and turned back to her with an eyebrow raised. “Can…” She swallowed hard. “Can I come with you?” Her voice cracked on the last word.

“Why?” he asked. She couldn't properly make out his face in the darkness.

Kitty shut her eyes for a second and then opened them, looking at the ground, still tightly holding onto her egg. “There's nothing here for me,” she said quietly.

“No,” he said, and shook his head. “But cheer up.” He took a step towards her. “Now you know…” He paused to smile bitterly and shake his head again. “While it's true that nothing in this life is free, money isn't the only way to pay.”

She turned the CD over in her hands. “What else, then?”

He laughed softly. “Innocence,” he said. “Dignity.” He looked at her closely. “Safety.”

She set her jaw. “Where are you going?”

“Let's just say I have a lifelong debt to pay off.” He smirked. “The universe always balances itself out somehow.”

“What?”

“If something's bad, something else must be good.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Karma, I guess. You need bad to show what good is, you know?”

“I know, but why are you saying it?”

He shrugged. “My life in Umbra sucked, but in a way, I know that it was the best time of my life. The rest is what I make of it.” He frowned deeply. “You're just a kid; you have all the power in the world over your life. I suppose I'm jealous of you.”

Kitty looked at him quizzically. “My life was good,” she said. “Really good.”

“Too good?” he asked. “Something happen to make you realise how fragile and delicate everything you hold dear really is?”

“What? Yeah, how did… how did you know?”

“You have the look of someone who just joined the world of true pain. Was it that bad?”

She surprised herself by shaking her head. “No, it wasn't. So many far worse things have happened to me. I just didn't really think anything bad could happen here.”

“Here?”

Kitty's eyes widened. “Aerei. Just seems like such a great place.”

“Oh.” The guy shrugged and scratched his head. “Aerei's a hellhole when you've lived here for as long as I have.”

“It's so beautiful, though,” Kitty pointed out.

“Beauty means nothing when it's this corrupt.”

Kitty frowned but said nothing. The man was obviously going through something.

“What's your name?” she asked him.

“You can call me Blake,” he said with a ghost of a smile. “But I should go now. Tick tock.”

“Yeah,” Kitty said distractedly. “You're from Umbra?”

“Was,” he corrected.

“What do you… know about Morbidark?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Everything,” he said. “We were all taught everything about him. Even the myths.”

“It's that important that you capture him?”

“Umbra is the world's biggest scientific research facility, and they will do absolutely anything to uncover all the secrets of the planet, if it's the last thing we humans do. Which, if they carry on, I fear it will be.”

“You didn't answer my question,” Kitty interjected.

“Morbidark is the most terrifying creature conceivable. So much so that it had to be sealed away. The bloodbaths in the legends were just sickening, and I have a relatively strong stomach. We want to study him. Or they do, anyway. I just wanted a decent wage. They pay very well.”

“Fair enough,” Kitty shrugged.

“Currently they're on a mission to find him that's not going so well,” he said, looking at the stars above her.

“I can imagine,” she mumbled.

“Sorry?”

“Why isn't it going well?” she said louder.

“This sounds stupid but,” he laughed, “they're looking for some interdimensional explorers, because they think he was pulled through a portal to another world, and some people came through from the other side.”

“Oh,” Kitty said. Then she had an idea and her heart hurt for a moment. She rubbed her chest briefly, and then asked, very slowly, “What's the reward for finding one of these… explorers?”

“Oh, it would be around a million AD by now. The Boss is going crazy. Plus we'd be allowed to do anything we wanted with them to get information. A huge bonus for some of the really freaky Grunts. I swear, some are scarily messed up.”

Kitty's heart stopped, and her mouth went dry. She swallowed a few times. “Have they caught anyone yet?”

“I doubt it,” Blake said, then looked at her with the slightest hint of suspicion. “Why do you care?”

“We've all got our reasons,” she said bitterly. “Could they have anyone yet?”

“Well, unless they were stupid enough to say they were from another dimension to someone from, or associated with, Umbra, I'd say it would be impossible to find them.” He laughed.

“Let me register you,” Kitty said quickly. He looked confused for a moment but took her trainer console thing and entered his information.

“You're lucky I'd get killed if I went within ten feet of an Umbra base,” he warned her as she started to back away. “You're very suspicious.” But he was smiling. She nodded at him and ran all the way back to the hotel, with her Eevee following at her heels.

What if one of the boys had told someone that they were from another world and they had been in Umbra? She would go back and ask them right now, she decided.

Because, although it was a long shot, what if Umbra had taken Scott?

… And left her?

And given him enough time to write her a note?

And pack up his stuff?

She shook her head as she stood outside the hotel room, key poised to open the lock. It was possible, she told herself. It was the only lead she had, and she had decided already.

She would find Scott, no matter what it took.

Even if he didn't want to be found.

*

She had called a meeting in her room, and was surrounded by half a dozen bleary teenage boys, blinking sleep out of their eyes and looking at her with weary confusion. She had explained, in part, her theory, and they had all looked as interested as was possible at three in the morning.

“So have any of you told anyone who we are or where we're from?” she asked, looking pointedly around at all the boys.

They seemed to think about it for a while, but then one by one they all shook their heads.

“Nobody.”

“Nope.”

“Sorry.”

She sighed and rubbed her eyelids with her fingertips, trying to think of any way that Umbra could have found out who they were. The only person she knew that had anything to do with them was Cordelia, and she didn't know their secret. Did she? She struggled to remember. But no, she hated them. She wouldn't have had anything to do with any of…

For the second time that night, Kitty's heart, she was sure, skipped several beats.

Giselle.

“Oh my God,” she said loudly, waking Adam and Elliot up again. They all looked at her. “It was me,” she whispered. “I'm the one who told.”

“What?” Charlie mumbled.

“And she was always looking at him as well. I said… I said he was…” A trickle of laughter bubbled up to her mouth but got stuck at the back of her throat like a yawn that wouldn't come out. How could she have been so stupid? And forgotten? “I said he was mine,” she finished stupidly. “But… I told her who we were.”

“You told who?”

“You talking about that fugly freak?”

“She wasn't a double agent at all, she was still working for Umbra.” Kitty shook her head. “She was a… a triple agent, and it's all my fault that Scott was taken.” She felt the tingle of the start of tears but she squeezed her eyes shut. “What if he's being hurt?”

“Wait, you told that hyena woman where we were from and you think she told Umbra?” Charlie asked.

“Yes.”

Fred stifled a yawn. “And you think she kidnapped Scott to tell them how to get back to our world and find that big horse thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Well let's go get him then,” Matt said simply. Kitty looked at him. He hadn't spoken yet. He was looking at her with a strange apathy that made her uncomfortable.

“Yes,” Kitty said. “Let's.”

“If you're sure that's where he is.”

“It makes sense.”

“Even though he had time to write you a note, and he didn't tell you or any of us where he was going, or leave us any clues. He just left us, most importantly you, to worry.”

Kitty frowned at him. “Maybe he had, like, a gun to his head or something. Maybe they said they'd kill him, or us.”

“That's a whole lot of maybes,” Matt muttered.

Kitty looked pointedly at the floor. It's the only lead she had, and she was sticking to it right until the end. She would find Scott. No matter what it took.

Even if he didn't want to be found.

*

“Don't you look handsome!”

“I look gay.”

“Oh now, stop that.” She giggled and traced a finger up to his neck and then fixed his collar carefully. “You look devastatingly sexy,” she murmured.

“We're gonna be one of those couples that wears matching outfits? That's really sad.”

She laughed again. “I love it when you're mad.”

“You haven't seen anything yet.” He laughed loudly. “The darkest point of the night…” He pointed out the window, then his eyes widened and he put a hand on his head to rub it hard. “Is in five… four…”

She raised an eyebrow, and picked up a syringe from the table next to her, drawing it up carefully in her hand.

“Three… two…”

“Yes, baby,” she said with a sigh, and stuck it into his neck. He gasped.

“One,” he said through clenched teeth, as the silvery liquid slowly disappeared into his bloodstream.

“Now,” she said, holding out her arm, “shall we go?”

“Sure,” he said, moving to open the door for her. She winked at him as she stepped into the crisp night and shivered. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

“Thank you, baby,” she said, then grinned naughtily at him, eyes glinting. “Though you look just a little bit gay.”