Day Care of Domino 3: - Shadow Thief (Written by Ray Venn Hakubi)
The King of Thieves smiled to himself as he loitered in the shadows of an alleyway, gently tossing a small red-and-white ball into the air and catching it again. The Flygon within was stored as pure energy, it had no sense of the inertia or changes in momentum its' orblike prison was undergoing. Momentarily, Bakura wondered what it felt like to be held in that state. The Pokemon didn't object, so it couldn't be as unpleasant as living in the Darkness, but they always looked... regretful when it was time to return to their pokeballs.
Perhaps it was something akin to the feeling he got when Ryou was in control of their shared body. He'd never bothered to reveal himself to the poor boy, knowing that it would do more damage than good to associate with his own light half, and so when he was a passenger it always felt somewhat... floaty. Bakura fully recognised his own evil, and perhaps that was why he felt no compunction against caring for his host. He truly hoped that Ryou would have a fulfilling and enjoyable after-life once Bakura had gotten what he wanted... had wanted. He wasn't so sure he desired it any more, what had once seemed like a perfect route to revenge was starting to seem petty and self-defeating... but everything was in motion now, and he could no more stop it than señor bandanna could play cards. He had put his soul into Zorc's destiny as fully as Yugi had embraced the cards, or Devlan his dice.
Or Jamelia her pokemon, for that matter. Bakura scowled at the thought of the foreign woman, not because of any dislike but simply because she was... inconvenient. She was supposed to be a useful ally, perhaps even a pet, but to his consternation, Bakura King of Thieves was starting to realise he would feel more than passing regret when she left. Following her was completely out of the question – it would mean taking Zorc's power into her world, and while it was certainly well populated with heroes, there was no Millennial power to counter the dark one's might. It would throw both worlds into chaos and imbalance, this having too much Light, and the other being steeped in Darkness.
Footsteps behind him broke Bakura from his reverie, and he stepped into deeper darkness, cloaking himself in Shadow to hide his host's unnaturally pale skin and white hair. Looking back, he saw two of the foreigners who were chasing Jamie bickering, their ridiculous silver uniforms standing out in the darkness like red robes on a white cliff. One of them, a man in his late twenties, had backed his junior up against a wall and was lecturing her harshly. The girl was barely a child, younger than Jamelia – twelve, perhaps thirteen. Fourteen at a stretch.
She looked like she was about to cry.
"Give it to me, before the boss finds out!" The man was saying. "I can't believe you hid something like this from us! Such a powerful Pokemon is only supposed to be given to Commanders, and Mercury will have both our heads if she finds out you hid a Ninetales from her!"
"But... she's mine, from before! I... I was told I could keep the pokemon I came with..." The girl replied, stammering.
"Just hand it over. Trust me, it's better this way. I'll get her replaced from the stores with something befitting your rank, Grunt Miko." He snatched the pokeball away from her and clipped it to his own belt. The girl sniffled, but nodded, wiping her eyes on the back of her uniform sleeve. "It'll all be fine. I'll see if I can get you something special, maybe a Zubat or something, to replace it."
"Th.. thank you, sempai..." She replied, swallowing her tears. In the shadows, Bakura scowled. The girl was with Team Galactic, but she was really cut up over losing that Pokemon. She must care about it a lot. He knew that Ninetails was a pretty rare Pokemon, the sort that would normally only be given to higher-tier members of the Team, but it seemed like the higher you rose in the organisation, the crueller and less attached to your pokemon you were.
Well, he wasn't going to try and convince her to spy for them with her superior there, but at least he could make sure that her Ninetails got well looked after.
"We'd better get back to regional HQ and make a report. Come on, you know I can't let you get lost." The senior member turned away, letting the girl, Miko, stand up away from the wall to follow him. Bakura ghosted forwards, smiling to himself at the challenge the pair presented. Five Pokemon on two trainers, walking one behind the other, without either one noticing the heist?
Figuring he had about three minutes until the two Galactics reached a main thoroughfare, he quickly worked out a plan. Getting ahead of them was no problem as he simply shadow-walked around them, before tossing a drinks can under-arm at a pile of fence planks leaning against a wall. They fell to the ground with a clatter, attracting both Galactic's attention, reinforced when he shaped his voice and threw it to a large wheelie-bin beside the planks.
"Pika!" The sound made both Galactics jump, then look at each other. The senior gave an avaricious grin before running in that direction, grabbing a pokeball from his belt. While they were seperated, Bakura moved silently to stand behind Miko and deftly removed the three pokeballs from her belt, melting back into the darkness before her partner turned round and demanded her help with the bin.
"Ah, coming..." Miko stammered, hurrying over. He directed her to grab the other end and heave. Perfect. They made this almost too easy... He simply walked up behind the man and, upon noticing the style of belt he wore, cut the ball case away with a knife. Vanishing into the darkness once more, Bakura made his way to the Daycare Centre.
Part Two:
Jamelia Francis hummed to herself as she worked, which would have been rather disturbing to anyone who had walked in at that exact moment, since she was doing it about ten feet under water. Not that anyone was likely to walk in, since it was long past closing time. Still, the Dragonair Bakura had brought her two days ago was in serious need of some grooming, and flat-out refused to come out from under the water unless she was going to curl up around one of the roofing spars. If Jamie didn't know better, she'd think it missed its trainer, but since it was one of the Pokemon Bakura had brought her, it was almost certainly a Galactic acquisition. That group had been something of a surprise – Scyther, Dragonair and Ninetails all held in Dusk balls, along with a more normal set of three Great balls holding two Bidoofs and a Chatot.
Still, now that the sky dragon had deigned to permit her to groom it, it wasn't shy of enjoying itself, rubbing up against the wire brush and rumbling deep in its throat. She'd never seen a Dragonair with ticks before, but when she'd tried to remove the small biting insects, the Pokemon itself had stopped her, communicating that she should leave them be. Sure enough, the bugs had dropped off a few hours later.
Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the water, which a moment later Jamie managed to translate into angry shouting and someone breaking the door down. The Dragonair froze, becoming completely still before swimming rapidly upwards, not stopping when it reached the surface but swimming into the air. Jamie kicked up a moment later, hauling herself out of the water and rushing towards the door.
"Hiryu! Hiryu, oh, thank Darkrai, you're okay." The girl who was apparently the cause of the commotion was standing just inside the entrance. The Daycare was quiet at this time of night, a small mercy, since the invading teen appeared to be a member of Team Galactic. She was also clutching the Dragonair's neck closely, while the Pokemon rubbed against her cheek.
"Excuse me, we're closed." Jamie felt compelled to say, although it was obvious this person wasn't a customer. She was small, compactly built and barely on the cusp of womanhood at twelve, maybe thirteen years of age. Her straight, black hair hung loose in a pageboy style, and apart from her uniform she looked to be local, or possibly from Johto, but her eyes were hidden behind tinted glasses.
"I don't care. You think I care? I'm from the In... I mean, Team Galactic goes where it will!" The girl glared at Jamie. "You stole from the Team, and I, Po... Galactic Grunt Miko, have been chosen to teach you a lesson! Hiryu! Dragon Pulse!" She pointed, but the Dragonair bumped her on the cheek admonishingly and let go, hovering near the ceiling instead of doing as ordered. "Hiryu?" Miko blinked, looking up at the dragon.
"I've been looking after her, so she won't attack me." Jamie told her. "If you think we've wronged you, I'm sorry, but your boss is trying to destroy the world!"
"I don't care about that, I just want my... our Pokemon back!" Miko told her.
"Why don't you battle, with the Pokemon as the prize?" Bakura stepped out of the shadows, smirking slightly to himself. "It's a tradition here..." He told them, his voice dark.
"'Kura..." Jamie's tone held a note of warning, but he continued.
"After all, if you're not willing to fight for them... you deserve them to get stolen." He continued. "Or don't you have any left to challenge with?" He finished, his voice saccharine with confidence. Jamie realised what he was doing – trying to scare the Grunt off before this got dangerous.
"I..." Miko stammered, wrong-footed. "I have Pokemon. I'll do it. Jamelia Frances, I ch-challenge you to a three Pokemon battle, with the Team Galactic Pokemon as the prize!" She pulled a Dusk Ball out of her pocket and primed it, pointing it at the Daycare leader. For all her stance, though, she didn't look very confident. There was something strange about her, and not just her verbal slips.
"Alright. Then I, Jamelia Frances, formerly of Littleroot Town, Aspiring Champion, accept your challenge! Go, Aisu!" Jamie called forth her Glaceon, knowing that she already had what was probably the Grunt's only Fire type, the Ninetails.
"Kiman, fulfil my trust!" Miko summoned her first Pokemon, and both Jamie and Bakura did a double-take at the Butterfree that came forth. It looked so... weak, fluttering its wings. "Poisonpowder!" The Butterfree rose up a little, fluttering its wings until it kicked up a cloud of dust.
"Aisu, Icy Wind, then Ice Shard!" Jamie commanded, and the ice-type obeyed, blowing the dust away and sending the flying bug tumbling through the air.
"Kiman, Confusion and Swift!" Miko ordered, and her Pokemon obeyed, the complex patterns on its wings swirling and drawing Aisu's gaze until the Glaceon's eyes started swirling.
"Aisu, resist it! Blizzard!" The Glaceon shook itself down, eyes flashing as it called on snow to start filling the atrium. It started to fade from view, but Kiman was there too fast, its physical attack striking the ice squirrel-fox squarely on the nose. "Aisu, Ice Fang!"
"Kiman, back off!" Miko warned, but it was too late, and the Glaceon struck, its needle fangs coated in ice that forced Miko to recall her injured Pokemon. "Damn it... Kithila, step up the game with White-out!" She tossed out her next Pokemon, another surprise that caught Jamie off guard. An albino Glaceon stood on the field, shrugging off the pelting blizzard even as the winds throwing the ice around started to backflow, the snow replaced quickly with a thick fog.
"What the? But no Pokemon can..." Jamie stammered as she realised what was happening.
"My Kithila is special. A Glaceon, born under a crescent moon while the snow is fresh on the ground, her pure-white coat is unique, and makes her very good at hiding in the mist!" Miko boasted. "Even your Glaceon's heat-sensitive eyes won't find her." The fog muffled all sound, and the Galactic trainer could have been anywhere in the room.
"They won't have to! Aisu, Icy Wind!" Jamie tried to blow the fog away like she had the Butterfree's poisonpowder, but it didn't work as more thick fog just replaced that which was displaced.
"Kithila, Swift!" Miko called the deadly second part of Kithila's combination attack. White-out made it almost impossible to find or strike at the albino, while Swift never missed, the attack manifesting as a flurry of razor-sharp ice stars that lashed out. Jamie felt one of them flash past her cheek, and a section of her hair fell away even as she heard Aisu's yelp of pain. Above them, Hiryu growled.
"Aisu, return!" Jamie called, the ball's power finding her Pokemon as surely as Kithila's attack. "Iblis, I choose you!" She decided to go for broke and stop pussy-footing around. "Flamethrower!"
The Charizard roared, even its massive form indistinct in the fog, as it reared back to unleash the blanket flame attack. There was an animal cry of pain, and Kithila became visible again as the attack burned the fog away and incapacitated the Ice pokemon.
"Kithila..." Miko muttered, darkly, as she recalled her Pokemon. If Hiryu and April wouldn't fight for her, she was limited in her options against the Fire type... the two Pokemon she had left were both Bug types, doubly vulnerable to the Charizard's attacks. "I guess I have no choice... Fuujin! Forgive me!" She called out, tossing her third and final Pokemon for the battle out.
"Scyther..." Fuujin growled, glaring up at the giant dragon. "Scy..." Its angry vocalisations made the draconic Fire-Flyer rumble deep in its chest, a dark laugh.
"Fuujin, Double Team, then Tailwind!" Miko commanded, and the Mantis Pokemon rose into the air, dashing from point to point almost as fast as its wings were beating until it appeared that there were six of them, dancing around in the breeze that kicked up.
"Charizard, attack with Fire Blast!" Jamie commanded, and Iblis obeyed, the dragon's whole body glowing red before it hurled the massive attack at the centre of the grouping of illusionary bugs.
"Air Cutter!" Miko ordered, and Iblis yelped in shock as crescent blades of wind struck its back from above. "Silver Wind!"
"Iblis, Submission!" Jamie countered when she realised that this Scyther, Fuujin, was focussed on Special attacks rather than the more traditional physical ones. Even as Iblis shrugged off the glittering rain of insect-scales, charged and attempted to grapple his opponent, the Scyther seemed to speed up even more and dodged over its head. "Ember!"
"Double-team!" Miko countered, and Fuujin evaded the second attack as well.
Bakura watched from the side-lines, and couldn't help but be impressed. From his experience, none of the other Galactic members had been this skilled... nor had they given their Pokemon names, as this Miko had. This... He checked the card he'd swiped from her trainer belt as she broke the door down... this Nanoha was far more than just a Grunt, even though according to her ID card she was only thirteen years old. It was a little out of date, though, as far as he could tell, glancing up in time to see Fuujin evade a second Fire Blast. It identified her as 'Nanoha Miko, Research Assistant', and as an employee of the Goldenrod Institute of PokeBiology as well as listing her as a member of the Goldenrod Pokemon Gym and an honorary Game Park Ranger.
Which made Bakura wonder what a Pokemon Researcher was doing with Team Galactic, and why she still had this ID card if she'd given up that life.
"What do we get if you lose?" He said, suddenly, appearing behind Miko. To her credit, she didn't let him break her concentration, blurting out an increasingly panicked command before replying.
"Wh... what do you mean?" She asked, glancing away from the battle.
"If you win, you take our Pokemon. What are you going to give us if you lose, Nanoha?" He asked, taking her hand and putting the ID card in it, closing her fingers over the plastic. She bit her lip, looking shocked, and then turned her attention back to the battle.
"Double-team, then Air Cutter." She ordered again, even though the wind blades were doing little more than annoy her opponent. "I... I'll explain everything, if I lose." She told him, and he nodded, apparently satisfied.
"Iblis, Flash!" Jamelia called out, finally, and the flame on the end of the Charizard's tail burst into a raging fury for a split-second, making Miko cry out in pain and cover her eyes. Fuujin tumbled away, shielding its own eyes with the blade of one forearm and giving Iblis the chance to finally close its jaws around the bug's body. Iblis held, however, just holding Fuujin without seriously injuring him, then lowered his head to Miko's level, giving her a level look.
"I..." Miko made a strangled noise, on the verge of tears. "I concede." She fell to her knees, staring at the floor. "I concede," she whispered again. "please, don't kill him..."
"I'm not going to kill him." Jamie frowned at her. "You've lost, why would I go that far? Now, did I hear you say something about explaining..?" As she spoke, Iblis released the Scyther, which shook itself off, realising it wasn't badly injured and moved to comfort its trainer.
"I... y-yeah..." Miko nodded and hugged her Pokemon close, closing her eyes before hauling herself to her feet, not releasing Fuujin. "Can we... sit down somewhere..?" She looked between Jamie and Bakura, and eventually the trainer nodded.
"I'll make some tea." Bakura added, vanishing into the kitchen without another sound.
Part 3:
Miko stared at the brushed steel surface of the table in the Daycare's small kitchenette. A moment later, a cup of green tea appeared in her vision. It was strange, Bakura hadn't seemed like the type to make the tea.
"So. Would you like to explain?" Jamie asked, from where she was sitting opposite, a second cup of tea already cooling in front of her.
"Not really..." Miko mumbled, before lifting her head. "My name is Nanoha Miko, I'm from Goldenrod City in Johto. I'm... an intern, I guess, at the Institute for PokeBiology. It's not really official, but I'm Professor Itoshiki's assistant... or I was."
"What happened?"
"Team Galactic moved into the area. They set up a base and started buying out all our researchers. Those they couldn't buy, they threatened or blackmailed into leaving. It was obvious they were up to not good, but... none of us was strong enough to face them, and Gold has vanished." She picked up her mug and took a sip, hiding her mouth behind her mug. "They came for me two weeks ago, they didn't think I was worth the effort of bribing. They just tried to take my Demise from me... she was amazing, she defeated three of them before SubCommander Phobos showed up... Phobos is so strong, I couldn't face her. So I took my chances and... I thought, maybe, if I could make myself important enough, I could sabotage Team Galactic somehow... but then Mercury came here and Phobos had to give up some of her grunts."
"So you were assigned to this Mercury's command? What are they working on?" Bakura asked, from where he'd decided to lean against the counter, his long, white hair pooling slightly atop it.
"I... I don't know any details, I'm only a Grunt, but... they're doing something with Palkia and this world, and... they want you." She looked at Jamie as she said this. "They've got something big planned, and they want you out of the way before they do it."
"What will happen to you now you've failed?" Jamie asked, slightly concerned.
"I... if I'm careful, nothing..." Miko shook her head. "I... I just game to get Demise, Hanako and Hiryu back... they don't know I'm here..."
"You came here to challenge me alone?" Jamie sounded almost impressed. "You must have known you couldn't hope to defeat me with those kinds of Pokemon. I'm League material, I could probably lead a gym if I wanted to."
"I had to try... Raven would never forgive me if I let something happen to Demise..." Miko sighed. "And Hanako and Hiryu... they trusted me... I can't betray that..."
"Raven? Is that Itoshiki-sensei?" Jamie asked.
"No... Raven is Demise' mother..." Miko smiled, a little tiredly. "She told Demise to protect me, but... " She trailed off. "Where is she? You had Hiryu, but..."
"Demise is the Scyther?" Bakura asked. Miko nodded.
"I had to confine her to her PokeBall, she was tearing the place up." Jamie told her. "I don't know where your Ninetails is."
"I do." Miko smiled again. "Demise was probably trying to get back to me... she's so loyal it scares me sometimes... the thought of what she might do..." She shuddered. "Fuujin is less worrisome, her scythes are blunt, but..."
"Wait, your Scyther's blades are blunt?" Jamie asked. "Your Dragonair had ticks, too. You're not looking after them very well." She looked a little angry.
"Fuujin was born that way." Miko gave her a dark look. "If his mother hadn't brought him to me, he would have died, there's no way he can hunt with blunt scythes, but I've trained him to get around that. As for Hiryu's ticks, they can't hurt him. They just feed for a couple of days and drop off, it's just their nature. It would be like putting your Charizard down because his tail is on fire. Don't tell me about looking after Pokemon!"
"Oh, so you do have a backbone." Bakura smirked. "I was wondering after that display with your 'sempai' outside earlier."
Miko slumped again. "I... I'm not strong. I can't go against him directly, and if I refuse him then he'll just tell Commander Mercury and I'll lose everyone..."
"Talking about losing Pokemon, where did you hide those three?" Bakura asked, frowning slightly.
"Um..." Miko blinked, then blushed. "Kiman lives in my pocket... Fuujin is here normally..." She pulled a pendant out from under her shirt. It was a large piece of jade in a silver setting, but when she turned it over, Jamie and Bakura could see that it was actually a locket. Miko popped the catch and took what appeared to be half a miniature pokeball out and put it on the table before pressing the button. It expanded, popping into shape. "Bill-sensei made it for me... I'm friends with his cousin, kind of."
"Oh, wow. That's amazing. Do you think you could get him to make me one?" Jamie asked, eagerly, leaning forward to look.
"Um... well... that is..." Miko stammered, leaning back, looking somewhat intimidated. "It's.. not really..."
"Ah... oh, yeah." Jamie blinked, and sighed. "No way back to the old world, so no way to talk to Bill. Sorry."
"It... it's okay." Miko mumbled. "The other two..." She started, then lifted her leg and dropped her hand to fiddle with her sock for a moment, before taking a leather strap from her ankle. "I wear these... each one holds a single pokeball." She paused. "Blast. I shouldn't have told you that..." She put her head in her hands.
"Don't worry, we're not really Pokemon thieves. Bakura is just... well, he has his own way of doing the right thing." Jamie smiled, reaching over and tapping under the younger girl's chin to make her look up. Bakura, for his part, looked distinctly uncomfortable to have someone singing his praises.
"What will you do now?" He deflected the attention skillfully.
"Go back to the base... sneak in. I'll keep working at finding out what's going on." Miko smiled, a bit weakly. "Do what I can. I'll... try and let you know what I find out, but.."
"Don't worry." Jamie smiled. "If you get caught, we'll come and bail you out."
Perhaps it was something akin to the feeling he got when Ryou was in control of their shared body. He'd never bothered to reveal himself to the poor boy, knowing that it would do more damage than good to associate with his own light half, and so when he was a passenger it always felt somewhat... floaty. Bakura fully recognised his own evil, and perhaps that was why he felt no compunction against caring for his host. He truly hoped that Ryou would have a fulfilling and enjoyable after-life once Bakura had gotten what he wanted... had wanted. He wasn't so sure he desired it any more, what had once seemed like a perfect route to revenge was starting to seem petty and self-defeating... but everything was in motion now, and he could no more stop it than señor bandanna could play cards. He had put his soul into Zorc's destiny as fully as Yugi had embraced the cards, or Devlan his dice.
Or Jamelia her pokemon, for that matter. Bakura scowled at the thought of the foreign woman, not because of any dislike but simply because she was... inconvenient. She was supposed to be a useful ally, perhaps even a pet, but to his consternation, Bakura King of Thieves was starting to realise he would feel more than passing regret when she left. Following her was completely out of the question – it would mean taking Zorc's power into her world, and while it was certainly well populated with heroes, there was no Millennial power to counter the dark one's might. It would throw both worlds into chaos and imbalance, this having too much Light, and the other being steeped in Darkness.
Footsteps behind him broke Bakura from his reverie, and he stepped into deeper darkness, cloaking himself in Shadow to hide his host's unnaturally pale skin and white hair. Looking back, he saw two of the foreigners who were chasing Jamie bickering, their ridiculous silver uniforms standing out in the darkness like red robes on a white cliff. One of them, a man in his late twenties, had backed his junior up against a wall and was lecturing her harshly. The girl was barely a child, younger than Jamelia – twelve, perhaps thirteen. Fourteen at a stretch.
She looked like she was about to cry.
"Give it to me, before the boss finds out!" The man was saying. "I can't believe you hid something like this from us! Such a powerful Pokemon is only supposed to be given to Commanders, and Mercury will have both our heads if she finds out you hid a Ninetales from her!"
"But... she's mine, from before! I... I was told I could keep the pokemon I came with..." The girl replied, stammering.
"Just hand it over. Trust me, it's better this way. I'll get her replaced from the stores with something befitting your rank, Grunt Miko." He snatched the pokeball away from her and clipped it to his own belt. The girl sniffled, but nodded, wiping her eyes on the back of her uniform sleeve. "It'll all be fine. I'll see if I can get you something special, maybe a Zubat or something, to replace it."
"Th.. thank you, sempai..." She replied, swallowing her tears. In the shadows, Bakura scowled. The girl was with Team Galactic, but she was really cut up over losing that Pokemon. She must care about it a lot. He knew that Ninetails was a pretty rare Pokemon, the sort that would normally only be given to higher-tier members of the Team, but it seemed like the higher you rose in the organisation, the crueller and less attached to your pokemon you were.
Well, he wasn't going to try and convince her to spy for them with her superior there, but at least he could make sure that her Ninetails got well looked after.
"We'd better get back to regional HQ and make a report. Come on, you know I can't let you get lost." The senior member turned away, letting the girl, Miko, stand up away from the wall to follow him. Bakura ghosted forwards, smiling to himself at the challenge the pair presented. Five Pokemon on two trainers, walking one behind the other, without either one noticing the heist?
Figuring he had about three minutes until the two Galactics reached a main thoroughfare, he quickly worked out a plan. Getting ahead of them was no problem as he simply shadow-walked around them, before tossing a drinks can under-arm at a pile of fence planks leaning against a wall. They fell to the ground with a clatter, attracting both Galactic's attention, reinforced when he shaped his voice and threw it to a large wheelie-bin beside the planks.
"Pika!" The sound made both Galactics jump, then look at each other. The senior gave an avaricious grin before running in that direction, grabbing a pokeball from his belt. While they were seperated, Bakura moved silently to stand behind Miko and deftly removed the three pokeballs from her belt, melting back into the darkness before her partner turned round and demanded her help with the bin.
"Ah, coming..." Miko stammered, hurrying over. He directed her to grab the other end and heave. Perfect. They made this almost too easy... He simply walked up behind the man and, upon noticing the style of belt he wore, cut the ball case away with a knife. Vanishing into the darkness once more, Bakura made his way to the Daycare Centre.
Part Two:
Jamelia Francis hummed to herself as she worked, which would have been rather disturbing to anyone who had walked in at that exact moment, since she was doing it about ten feet under water. Not that anyone was likely to walk in, since it was long past closing time. Still, the Dragonair Bakura had brought her two days ago was in serious need of some grooming, and flat-out refused to come out from under the water unless she was going to curl up around one of the roofing spars. If Jamie didn't know better, she'd think it missed its trainer, but since it was one of the Pokemon Bakura had brought her, it was almost certainly a Galactic acquisition. That group had been something of a surprise – Scyther, Dragonair and Ninetails all held in Dusk balls, along with a more normal set of three Great balls holding two Bidoofs and a Chatot.
Still, now that the sky dragon had deigned to permit her to groom it, it wasn't shy of enjoying itself, rubbing up against the wire brush and rumbling deep in its throat. She'd never seen a Dragonair with ticks before, but when she'd tried to remove the small biting insects, the Pokemon itself had stopped her, communicating that she should leave them be. Sure enough, the bugs had dropped off a few hours later.
Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the water, which a moment later Jamie managed to translate into angry shouting and someone breaking the door down. The Dragonair froze, becoming completely still before swimming rapidly upwards, not stopping when it reached the surface but swimming into the air. Jamie kicked up a moment later, hauling herself out of the water and rushing towards the door.
"Hiryu! Hiryu, oh, thank Darkrai, you're okay." The girl who was apparently the cause of the commotion was standing just inside the entrance. The Daycare was quiet at this time of night, a small mercy, since the invading teen appeared to be a member of Team Galactic. She was also clutching the Dragonair's neck closely, while the Pokemon rubbed against her cheek.
"Excuse me, we're closed." Jamie felt compelled to say, although it was obvious this person wasn't a customer. She was small, compactly built and barely on the cusp of womanhood at twelve, maybe thirteen years of age. Her straight, black hair hung loose in a pageboy style, and apart from her uniform she looked to be local, or possibly from Johto, but her eyes were hidden behind tinted glasses.
"I don't care. You think I care? I'm from the In... I mean, Team Galactic goes where it will!" The girl glared at Jamie. "You stole from the Team, and I, Po... Galactic Grunt Miko, have been chosen to teach you a lesson! Hiryu! Dragon Pulse!" She pointed, but the Dragonair bumped her on the cheek admonishingly and let go, hovering near the ceiling instead of doing as ordered. "Hiryu?" Miko blinked, looking up at the dragon.
"I've been looking after her, so she won't attack me." Jamie told her. "If you think we've wronged you, I'm sorry, but your boss is trying to destroy the world!"
"I don't care about that, I just want my... our Pokemon back!" Miko told her.
"Why don't you battle, with the Pokemon as the prize?" Bakura stepped out of the shadows, smirking slightly to himself. "It's a tradition here..." He told them, his voice dark.
"'Kura..." Jamie's tone held a note of warning, but he continued.
"After all, if you're not willing to fight for them... you deserve them to get stolen." He continued. "Or don't you have any left to challenge with?" He finished, his voice saccharine with confidence. Jamie realised what he was doing – trying to scare the Grunt off before this got dangerous.
"I..." Miko stammered, wrong-footed. "I have Pokemon. I'll do it. Jamelia Frances, I ch-challenge you to a three Pokemon battle, with the Team Galactic Pokemon as the prize!" She pulled a Dusk Ball out of her pocket and primed it, pointing it at the Daycare leader. For all her stance, though, she didn't look very confident. There was something strange about her, and not just her verbal slips.
"Alright. Then I, Jamelia Frances, formerly of Littleroot Town, Aspiring Champion, accept your challenge! Go, Aisu!" Jamie called forth her Glaceon, knowing that she already had what was probably the Grunt's only Fire type, the Ninetails.
"Kiman, fulfil my trust!" Miko summoned her first Pokemon, and both Jamie and Bakura did a double-take at the Butterfree that came forth. It looked so... weak, fluttering its wings. "Poisonpowder!" The Butterfree rose up a little, fluttering its wings until it kicked up a cloud of dust.
"Aisu, Icy Wind, then Ice Shard!" Jamie commanded, and the ice-type obeyed, blowing the dust away and sending the flying bug tumbling through the air.
"Kiman, Confusion and Swift!" Miko ordered, and her Pokemon obeyed, the complex patterns on its wings swirling and drawing Aisu's gaze until the Glaceon's eyes started swirling.
"Aisu, resist it! Blizzard!" The Glaceon shook itself down, eyes flashing as it called on snow to start filling the atrium. It started to fade from view, but Kiman was there too fast, its physical attack striking the ice squirrel-fox squarely on the nose. "Aisu, Ice Fang!"
"Kiman, back off!" Miko warned, but it was too late, and the Glaceon struck, its needle fangs coated in ice that forced Miko to recall her injured Pokemon. "Damn it... Kithila, step up the game with White-out!" She tossed out her next Pokemon, another surprise that caught Jamie off guard. An albino Glaceon stood on the field, shrugging off the pelting blizzard even as the winds throwing the ice around started to backflow, the snow replaced quickly with a thick fog.
"What the? But no Pokemon can..." Jamie stammered as she realised what was happening.
"My Kithila is special. A Glaceon, born under a crescent moon while the snow is fresh on the ground, her pure-white coat is unique, and makes her very good at hiding in the mist!" Miko boasted. "Even your Glaceon's heat-sensitive eyes won't find her." The fog muffled all sound, and the Galactic trainer could have been anywhere in the room.
"They won't have to! Aisu, Icy Wind!" Jamie tried to blow the fog away like she had the Butterfree's poisonpowder, but it didn't work as more thick fog just replaced that which was displaced.
"Kithila, Swift!" Miko called the deadly second part of Kithila's combination attack. White-out made it almost impossible to find or strike at the albino, while Swift never missed, the attack manifesting as a flurry of razor-sharp ice stars that lashed out. Jamie felt one of them flash past her cheek, and a section of her hair fell away even as she heard Aisu's yelp of pain. Above them, Hiryu growled.
"Aisu, return!" Jamie called, the ball's power finding her Pokemon as surely as Kithila's attack. "Iblis, I choose you!" She decided to go for broke and stop pussy-footing around. "Flamethrower!"
The Charizard roared, even its massive form indistinct in the fog, as it reared back to unleash the blanket flame attack. There was an animal cry of pain, and Kithila became visible again as the attack burned the fog away and incapacitated the Ice pokemon.
"Kithila..." Miko muttered, darkly, as she recalled her Pokemon. If Hiryu and April wouldn't fight for her, she was limited in her options against the Fire type... the two Pokemon she had left were both Bug types, doubly vulnerable to the Charizard's attacks. "I guess I have no choice... Fuujin! Forgive me!" She called out, tossing her third and final Pokemon for the battle out.
"Scyther..." Fuujin growled, glaring up at the giant dragon. "Scy..." Its angry vocalisations made the draconic Fire-Flyer rumble deep in its chest, a dark laugh.
"Fuujin, Double Team, then Tailwind!" Miko commanded, and the Mantis Pokemon rose into the air, dashing from point to point almost as fast as its wings were beating until it appeared that there were six of them, dancing around in the breeze that kicked up.
"Charizard, attack with Fire Blast!" Jamie commanded, and Iblis obeyed, the dragon's whole body glowing red before it hurled the massive attack at the centre of the grouping of illusionary bugs.
"Air Cutter!" Miko ordered, and Iblis yelped in shock as crescent blades of wind struck its back from above. "Silver Wind!"
"Iblis, Submission!" Jamie countered when she realised that this Scyther, Fuujin, was focussed on Special attacks rather than the more traditional physical ones. Even as Iblis shrugged off the glittering rain of insect-scales, charged and attempted to grapple his opponent, the Scyther seemed to speed up even more and dodged over its head. "Ember!"
"Double-team!" Miko countered, and Fuujin evaded the second attack as well.
Bakura watched from the side-lines, and couldn't help but be impressed. From his experience, none of the other Galactic members had been this skilled... nor had they given their Pokemon names, as this Miko had. This... He checked the card he'd swiped from her trainer belt as she broke the door down... this Nanoha was far more than just a Grunt, even though according to her ID card she was only thirteen years old. It was a little out of date, though, as far as he could tell, glancing up in time to see Fuujin evade a second Fire Blast. It identified her as 'Nanoha Miko, Research Assistant', and as an employee of the Goldenrod Institute of PokeBiology as well as listing her as a member of the Goldenrod Pokemon Gym and an honorary Game Park Ranger.
Which made Bakura wonder what a Pokemon Researcher was doing with Team Galactic, and why she still had this ID card if she'd given up that life.
"What do we get if you lose?" He said, suddenly, appearing behind Miko. To her credit, she didn't let him break her concentration, blurting out an increasingly panicked command before replying.
"Wh... what do you mean?" She asked, glancing away from the battle.
"If you win, you take our Pokemon. What are you going to give us if you lose, Nanoha?" He asked, taking her hand and putting the ID card in it, closing her fingers over the plastic. She bit her lip, looking shocked, and then turned her attention back to the battle.
"Double-team, then Air Cutter." She ordered again, even though the wind blades were doing little more than annoy her opponent. "I... I'll explain everything, if I lose." She told him, and he nodded, apparently satisfied.
"Iblis, Flash!" Jamelia called out, finally, and the flame on the end of the Charizard's tail burst into a raging fury for a split-second, making Miko cry out in pain and cover her eyes. Fuujin tumbled away, shielding its own eyes with the blade of one forearm and giving Iblis the chance to finally close its jaws around the bug's body. Iblis held, however, just holding Fuujin without seriously injuring him, then lowered his head to Miko's level, giving her a level look.
"I..." Miko made a strangled noise, on the verge of tears. "I concede." She fell to her knees, staring at the floor. "I concede," she whispered again. "please, don't kill him..."
"I'm not going to kill him." Jamie frowned at her. "You've lost, why would I go that far? Now, did I hear you say something about explaining..?" As she spoke, Iblis released the Scyther, which shook itself off, realising it wasn't badly injured and moved to comfort its trainer.
"I... y-yeah..." Miko nodded and hugged her Pokemon close, closing her eyes before hauling herself to her feet, not releasing Fuujin. "Can we... sit down somewhere..?" She looked between Jamie and Bakura, and eventually the trainer nodded.
"I'll make some tea." Bakura added, vanishing into the kitchen without another sound.
Part 3:
Miko stared at the brushed steel surface of the table in the Daycare's small kitchenette. A moment later, a cup of green tea appeared in her vision. It was strange, Bakura hadn't seemed like the type to make the tea.
"So. Would you like to explain?" Jamie asked, from where she was sitting opposite, a second cup of tea already cooling in front of her.
"Not really..." Miko mumbled, before lifting her head. "My name is Nanoha Miko, I'm from Goldenrod City in Johto. I'm... an intern, I guess, at the Institute for PokeBiology. It's not really official, but I'm Professor Itoshiki's assistant... or I was."
"What happened?"
"Team Galactic moved into the area. They set up a base and started buying out all our researchers. Those they couldn't buy, they threatened or blackmailed into leaving. It was obvious they were up to not good, but... none of us was strong enough to face them, and Gold has vanished." She picked up her mug and took a sip, hiding her mouth behind her mug. "They came for me two weeks ago, they didn't think I was worth the effort of bribing. They just tried to take my Demise from me... she was amazing, she defeated three of them before SubCommander Phobos showed up... Phobos is so strong, I couldn't face her. So I took my chances and... I thought, maybe, if I could make myself important enough, I could sabotage Team Galactic somehow... but then Mercury came here and Phobos had to give up some of her grunts."
"So you were assigned to this Mercury's command? What are they working on?" Bakura asked, from where he'd decided to lean against the counter, his long, white hair pooling slightly atop it.
"I... I don't know any details, I'm only a Grunt, but... they're doing something with Palkia and this world, and... they want you." She looked at Jamie as she said this. "They've got something big planned, and they want you out of the way before they do it."
"What will happen to you now you've failed?" Jamie asked, slightly concerned.
"I... if I'm careful, nothing..." Miko shook her head. "I... I just game to get Demise, Hanako and Hiryu back... they don't know I'm here..."
"You came here to challenge me alone?" Jamie sounded almost impressed. "You must have known you couldn't hope to defeat me with those kinds of Pokemon. I'm League material, I could probably lead a gym if I wanted to."
"I had to try... Raven would never forgive me if I let something happen to Demise..." Miko sighed. "And Hanako and Hiryu... they trusted me... I can't betray that..."
"Raven? Is that Itoshiki-sensei?" Jamie asked.
"No... Raven is Demise' mother..." Miko smiled, a little tiredly. "She told Demise to protect me, but... " She trailed off. "Where is she? You had Hiryu, but..."
"Demise is the Scyther?" Bakura asked. Miko nodded.
"I had to confine her to her PokeBall, she was tearing the place up." Jamie told her. "I don't know where your Ninetails is."
"I do." Miko smiled again. "Demise was probably trying to get back to me... she's so loyal it scares me sometimes... the thought of what she might do..." She shuddered. "Fuujin is less worrisome, her scythes are blunt, but..."
"Wait, your Scyther's blades are blunt?" Jamie asked. "Your Dragonair had ticks, too. You're not looking after them very well." She looked a little angry.
"Fuujin was born that way." Miko gave her a dark look. "If his mother hadn't brought him to me, he would have died, there's no way he can hunt with blunt scythes, but I've trained him to get around that. As for Hiryu's ticks, they can't hurt him. They just feed for a couple of days and drop off, it's just their nature. It would be like putting your Charizard down because his tail is on fire. Don't tell me about looking after Pokemon!"
"Oh, so you do have a backbone." Bakura smirked. "I was wondering after that display with your 'sempai' outside earlier."
Miko slumped again. "I... I'm not strong. I can't go against him directly, and if I refuse him then he'll just tell Commander Mercury and I'll lose everyone..."
"Talking about losing Pokemon, where did you hide those three?" Bakura asked, frowning slightly.
"Um..." Miko blinked, then blushed. "Kiman lives in my pocket... Fuujin is here normally..." She pulled a pendant out from under her shirt. It was a large piece of jade in a silver setting, but when she turned it over, Jamie and Bakura could see that it was actually a locket. Miko popped the catch and took what appeared to be half a miniature pokeball out and put it on the table before pressing the button. It expanded, popping into shape. "Bill-sensei made it for me... I'm friends with his cousin, kind of."
"Oh, wow. That's amazing. Do you think you could get him to make me one?" Jamie asked, eagerly, leaning forward to look.
"Um... well... that is..." Miko stammered, leaning back, looking somewhat intimidated. "It's.. not really..."
"Ah... oh, yeah." Jamie blinked, and sighed. "No way back to the old world, so no way to talk to Bill. Sorry."
"It... it's okay." Miko mumbled. "The other two..." She started, then lifted her leg and dropped her hand to fiddle with her sock for a moment, before taking a leather strap from her ankle. "I wear these... each one holds a single pokeball." She paused. "Blast. I shouldn't have told you that..." She put her head in her hands.
"Don't worry, we're not really Pokemon thieves. Bakura is just... well, he has his own way of doing the right thing." Jamie smiled, reaching over and tapping under the younger girl's chin to make her look up. Bakura, for his part, looked distinctly uncomfortable to have someone singing his praises.
"What will you do now?" He deflected the attention skillfully.
"Go back to the base... sneak in. I'll keep working at finding out what's going on." Miko smiled, a bit weakly. "Do what I can. I'll... try and let you know what I find out, but.."
"Don't worry." Jamie smiled. "If you get caught, we'll come and bail you out."