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Silverhurst City, Invictia - Fifteen Years Earlier
The little girl with red hair tied into a ponytail woke with a start as she felt a series of pinpricks dig into her room. Looking down to the floor and her arm hanging out of the bed she saw the pale yellow kitten Pokémon with green tufted ears and a thick tail batting at her hand in an attempt to wake her.
"Sallynx it's late, what's going..." She stopped as gunshots sounded from the streets outside coupled with explosives a few blocks away. Slipping out of bed, the girl pulled a cotton dressing gown over her pyjamas and a storm hood over that, because while it was still only August, the night time temperature still dipped fellow freezing two days out of every three. Silently she opened her door and padded down stairs, Sallynx winding round her feet as she descended. Opening the door to the kitchen just a fraction she felt a hand close it from the other side.
"What was that, you said there was nobody else here!" A muffled foreign sounding voice snapped.
"I swear there isn't sir." A female teenage voice replied, one the girl recognised as her cousin Nena. She was here babysitting as the girl’s mother, grandfather and uncle had left for a meeting of some kind.
"Is there anyone or anything in this house besides you girl?" A second, more sinister sounding voice asked, as the sound of a chair scraping across the flagstone floor sounded, followed by the sound of a fair sized book opening.
"No sir." Nena replied quietly.
"So you would be Naomi Clearwater aged seven then." The second interrogating voice stated as the sound of someone trying to resist being grabbed sounded for a few seconds. "I thought so, take her out back and make her a woman, then take her to the Basilica with all the other Class C prisoners." He ordered, as Nena screamed, the sound causing the little girl to walk away from the door and head for the passage under the stairs and the basement. As she did the door to the kitchen swung open as two men walked into the hall. The first wore a sleek blue uniform emblazoned with a star on the shoulder pads, his face clean shaven, lean and haggard and his eyes cold as steel. The second wore armour that covered his body and face and was armed with a long barrelled weapon connected to a tank on his back, a single blue flame flickering under the barrel.
"Another one?" The man in the armour asked in a muffled voice.
"Indeed." His compatriot stated as Sallynx hissed at him, the hackles on its back raised in equal parts fear and anger. "And it has a Pokémon, dispose of the creature, our job isn't to archive specimens but to pacify threats to the Expeditionary Force." He added as Sallynx sprang at the men, it claws outstretched ready to attack. Snorting behind his helmet the armed man opened fire with his weapon, a jet of flame incinerating the kitten Pokémon until nothing but ash remained of it. Screaming the little girl ran for the back door only to be faced by a vista of burning buildings, the fires kept alight by draconic Pokémon from the sky, their tails aflame with dancing fountains of fire.
"I've got her Inspector." The flamethrower wielding man stated as he grabbed the girl by the wrist.
"Good Corporal, now Miss Clearwater as an enemy of the Kalos Expeditionary Force you need to be punished." The Inspector stated as a female scream sounded from round the corner. "That will be your babysitter assuming her rightful place. Your kind is good only for labour and the pleasuring of others. What comes next will be a favour should you survive, Kalos will civilize your people and bring order to this land." He added as he removed a Poke Ball from his belt and released the monster inside. "Heatmor use Fire Lash on the child." He ordered in a cold even voice.
For a brief second Naomi saw her new assailant, a red and brown anteater like Pokémon, before she closed her eyes and screamed as the most painful sensation she'd ever felt slashed up her back. It took her almost twenty seconds to realise that whatever had touched her was no longer there and that did nothing to lessen the pain.
"Please stop!!" She screamed as the 'lash' struck again, with the tip flicking out and lapping her ear this time as well as striking her back.
"Not until you speak the truth." The Inspector stated coldly. "Take her to the camp, she’s now a Class B prisoner until I've dealt with her." He ordered, his commands somehow audible even over the screams and explosions around him.
**
Something warm on Naomi's chest woke her gradually. "Sallynx is that you?" Naomi said quietly as she opened her eyes briefly, the brightness of the early afternoon sun causing her to close then again.
"Uh Naomi that's Litten." A female voice stated, causing Naomi to bolt upwards, the tiny little firecat rolling onto her lap, its yellow eyes looking up at her in worry. Looking around with bleary eyes Naomi saw the relieved faces of her Pokémon, even Rotom although it quickly turned away to avoid anyone else recognising it, and the source of the voice Luna,
"Luna what happened here?" Naomi asked as she saw that she had somehow made it outside the Ruins of Conflict.
"I don't know everything that happened, but when I arrived you were clawing your way towards the entrance screaming in pain, Seismitoad helped me grab you and we got away just as..." She stopped and patted Mimikyu on the head, her hand trembling as she did so. "...I don't ever want to see anything like that again."
"Hau, Lillie and Professor Julian." Naomi guessed, as she spotted Seismitoad rocking Budew in its arms, the baby bud Pokémon hiccupping slightly. "What happened to them?"
"Let me answer that." Rotom buzzed as it turned to face the group, a projection of the talking Pokémon Naomi had seen seconds before she had fallen asleep. "This is Darkrai, a very rare Pokémon indeed, and also a very powerful one." It added, no hint of sarcasm or annoyance in its voice. "Some consider its power on par with the legendary Pokémon, I for one wouldn't disagree with them on that assumption. From the description Luna and Seismitoad provided it appears those trapped in the ruins were effected by Dark Void, an attack that drags those it is target at into the Nightmare Realm."
"Is that why..." Naomi asked before stopping and feeling her back and the sudden crisscross of painful welts on her back. "Can it be defeated?"
"I guess so. I think Tapu Koko has a type advantage against it, and these ruins are its home." Luna suggested, as Rotom turned the projection of Darkrai off and floated over to the seal it had found earlier. "Unless Darkrai kidnapped it too with Dark Void. I still don't understand why Darkrai would be hear though, if it is very rare shouldn't it be far away from people."
"The question is why it hasn’t followed us out here." Naomi whispered, her words causing everyone to look at the ruins with a mixture of surprise and dread. "And how do we save everyone?"
"We don't." Rotom buzzed. "If we go in there then we all get targeted. If we split up Darkrai hunts us down one by one, and as we fall, our nightmares become real. And while there are some moves that can wake a sleeping Pokémon I don't think any of us are skilled enough to have them, even me." It added, the words causing Seismitoad to scowl at him.
"What about giving everyone a Chesto Berry?" Luna asked quietly as she bent down and rummaged in her bag and removed a container holding three yellow berries with blue caps from within. "Problem is we don't have enough. I mean we could burn them to make incense but I don't even know if that would work, or how long it would last." She added.
"Hmm it's a plan." Rotom buzzed.
"Okay then." Naomi spluttered, as Luna emptied the Chesto Berries onto a box before sending out Rowlet and a toothy weasel like Pokémon. "Litten stay still." She ordered, as she put the berries on the fire cat's belly. Seconds later the fruit ignited into a jet of flame, one that was followed by a burst of gunfire causing Naomi to spin round and see a soldier dressed in an olive green hooded cape and black armour, a white death mask over their face. "Death Squad!" She yelled, as she got to her feet, only to trip over the box and land face-up into a pit full of charred bodies.
"Finish her off Rhapsody." A cold calculating voice ordered as the soldier aimed her weapon at Naomi, a look of dark pleasure on both the shooter and her preys face, before bullets rocked Naomi's body, her eyes flicking open as she sat bolt upright as Luna and Mimikyu shook her awake,
"You drifted off..." Luna sighed quietly. "The incense is still being prepared but should be ready soon."
"You'd have made a good test subject if that caring girl hadn't woken you up." Rotom grumbled, as the assorted Pokémon gathered round Litten, a bitter burning smell filled the air, one that made the eyes of all affected by it water. "I'd wish you well but ultimately I really don't care what happens to any of you either way." It lied, as Naomi, Luna and their Pokémon headed for the entrance to the ruins.
"Okay 'Detective'," Luna whispered to her weasel like Pokémon, "see if you can track Hau from the smell of the malasada's he has."
"Detective?" Rotom snickered, "That's a silly name for a Yungoos." It mumbled, only to be ignored by everyone.
"Seismitoad is anything moving in here but us?" Naomi asked, as the 'Detective' started sniffing the ground seconds before a quick vibrational pulse swept through the ruins and Seismitoad shook its head. Silently stalking along 'Detective' headed up to the alter and the idol representing Tapu Koko before lying down and gnashing its teeth slightly.
"Anyone think that thing is creepy?" Luna asked, as Rowlet flew back and forth overhead soundlessly as it searched for a sign of Darkrai or its hostages. Stroking the idol she suddenly got an electric shock and recoiled in surprise with a yelp. As she did the reflecting pool in the middle of the chamber rose up to reveal the entrance to a hidden passage underneath, wisps of dark mist leaking out of the opening. Hesitantly the Detective scuttled over, before stopping outside the opening, with Mimikyu joining it, the little Pokémon’s cloth head tilting as it tried to comprehend what it was seeing. "You think that's Darkrai's Dark Void down there?" Luna asked.
Naomi didn't answer, all she could focus on was a slight orb of light, one that came closer and closer to finally reveal itself as a syringe, one whose appearance caused a twinge in Naomi's arm.
"The venom extracted from Beedrill has an unusual side-effect on humans when mixed with a certain powder released by Tangela." The same cold calculating voice from earlier stated as a series of vines bound Naomi to a surgical chair, the syringe jabbing into the bound woman's arm. "It causes seemingly random firing of the pain receptors. Seemingly random..."
"Please just let me go!" Naomi screamed, her voice high and childlike, as she thrashed against her bonds.
"Not until you speak the truth." The Inspector stated as held up a picture of Hau, a biting pain shooting through Naomi's body. This sensation repeated every time a new image came out be it one of Luna, Lillie, Kukui or Hala, each one evoking a more painful response then tube last. As a new image of Mimikyu came out, the pain became so intense that Naomi blacked out for a second, her eyes opening only to see blackness before her.
"Are we going inside?" Luna asked, as 'the Detective' went to push Mimikyu into the void, only to phase through the ghost type Pokémon’s body and slip down the flight of stairs. Looking down Naomi felt her back burn for a painful three seconds.
"Yeah let's head downstairs." Naomi replied as Luna and the Pokémon looked at her in surprise before heading down into the bowels of the temple. Turning to look back Naomi smiled as a cold hand caressed her across the cheek.
"What is the truth?" The cold voice of the Kalosian Inspector asked.
"I was born as filth but shaped by my betters." Naomi droned as the Inspector's hand turned black and Darkrai looked at the young woman before it. "I will do anything for my betters, my duty is to serve."
"Since they refuse to join my chorus action is required." The Darkrai created image of the Inspector hissed. "Then must die…my precious Rhapsody."
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