I felt...numb. Every part of me was cold, shaky, and I could barely feel myself as I looked down at the crumpled body that Zippo had created. Bones were poking out from his flesh in odd positions and I could count his ribs on the outside. His face was a battered mess of cartilage and blood. As I looked down at him, his eyes locked on mine. He was still alive.
As I watched, I saw his breathing slow bit by bit by bit and life drained from his eyes in equal amounts to the blood flowing out of his body and making a puddle on the floor. As his life faded I saw Octavia step forward and start to rummage around in his backpack. I wanted to tell her to stop and respect the dead but I couldn't find my voice. Her goal was pulled out a few moments later anyway. The 'goods' in a large black box that she struggled to lift and that was sealed with a palm-pad lock. I sighed to myself and forced myself to take it from her and cradle it under an arm. I nodded to her and she went back to work, pulling items out of his bag one at a time and setting them aside for me to look over.
A lantern, several pokeballs, some medical items, and drugs...I pocketed it all and made sure to put the drugs away from the rest of my items as Octavia tugged the pokeballs at his waist away and held them up to me. I took them slowly and gazed down in their depths...I could feel the shifting weights inside and knew that we had just orphaned some pokemon...that they were going to need to be released.
Zippo and Octavia moved through the rest of my team and seemed to be giving orders as they all spread out - Fluffy and Rover starting to dig a large hole together as Vishnu perched on the man's crumpled form to start 'feeding'...no one would ever recognize it as a human body once she was done. It was nothing but a mass of rags and bones and her body was stretched beyond belief around her exoskeleton, she could barely fly. Zippo hoisted the man up and over his shoulder and carried him to the hole that Fluffy and Rover had dug. Without any ceremony, he dropped him in and the two started filling it up with dirt once more. Zippo went to the side of the cave to get several large rocks each the size of my fist or larger and dropped them on top of the grave. Taking a deep breath, he blew a white hot flame over the stones and they melted bit by bit into a single layer that blended with the rest of the stone. No one would ever know he was here if they didn't dig in that one spot.
I felt something press against my leg and looked down. Octavia was there and gazing up at me with her deep red eyes while I felt something brush across my mind again...I could almost feel words start to form before she dropped her eyes and panted softly.
Octavia...she was trying to speak?
I shook my head and gathered my team up once they were done with their respective jobs and we stepped out of the cave as a group with everyone in their normal positions. I had to withdraw Vishnu though...she couldn't fly after her meal. As we left, a man in a construction outfit ran forward and asked what happened. I guess he worked there. I told him that the Aqua member escaped without thinking about it but he was out of the cave with no damage done. He sighed with relief and went in to survey the damage himself. I left the minute he was out of sight, I didn't wanna deal with anything right now. We made it back to the city in record time and that business guy stopped us.
He spied the case clutched beneath my arm and grinned wide as he took them from me. He thanked me again and again and shoved another great ball into my palm as thanks.
I followed without thinking and withdrew my team as we got further into the city. I saw our destination almost immediately, the towering Devon Corporation building in the western side of town. Smoke was still pluming from it, thick and black as it rose into the sky but there didn't seem to be much damage on the upper floors. As we got closer, I could see a massive crowd gathered at the base of the building held back only by the police force and their platoon of Houndooms. The man managed to get both of us in with some fast talking and a few phone calls on his pokegear and my breath was sapped away as I took a step into the building.
The room I walked into was wide and made into a massive circle and despite the blast damage scorching and damaging the front of it, it was truly beautiful. Polished golden tiles made the way to a central front desk, needing to split around a massive marble fountain in the center of the room. I looked at it and it was a sculpture of a man larger than life - in his belly and in his smile, holding a small wristband in his massive palm. The base of it had 'Creator of the Pokenav and Founder of Devon. Creator of smiles and convenience everywhere!' engraved onto it.
We bypassed the front desk and stepped into a clear glass elevator that was exposed to the world outside so all could look down and see the town. He pressed one of the buttons and we started to rise slowly - I thought he was doing it on purpose to look powerful...if he was, it was working. We stopped in the middle of the building and the door opened with a pleasing 'ding!' to a massive room filled with people messing with computers, small devices, pokemon, and almost anything else I could imagine.
This is our main research lab. Every product or technique we release to the world finds it's roots in this room right here.
He sounded boastful and led me around the room like a dog on a leash, showing me various work stations. Including one where they were cloning pokemon from fossils...they said it was nearly perfect now and that all they needed was a fossil to test it with. I shook my head after hearing that and didn't wanna hear anymore...I didn't even wanna think about what prehistoric pokemon were like.
He led me to the elevator again and took me up the rest of the way to the top floor. As he inserted a special key into the elevator panel to open the door I turned around and could see forever...I could see everywhere for miles, and I could even see Little Root. He beckoned me to follow we stepped into a massive room dominated by a dark oak table surrounded by thick plush chairs. It was layered in piles and piles of papers and ash trays. A heavy smell of cigarettes and cigars hung in the air from their constant and apparent use.
He smirked at me and led me over to the head of the table where the same man as the statue was sitting, going over some letters with a small frown. The man smiled at me as he looked up and gestured for me to take a seat. He looked older than he did in the statue, but he still had smile lines on his face and a healthy gut.
You must be Alison...I've heard about you, little miss. You've helped my employee here not once, but twice! The second time you even recovered stolen property...well, I could hardly ask for employees better myself. We'd like to ask you a favor, actually. We'd like you to head to Slateport and deliver those components that Team Aqua tried to steal. Before you answer though, do know, that we don't expect you to do this for free. We'll give you our latest model of PokeNav, and I'll personally give you some supplies for your journey.
I was silent for a little while as I thought it over...a PokeNav was expensive and really useful. Phone, radio, transciever, all that...it was the pokemon trainer's perfect tool. Most people never got to use one though thanks to how in demand they were, and how hard they were to come by...didn't take me long to accept. I was heading to Slateport anyway, right? Good show, Alison! So you know, there will be several others travelling ahead of and behind you to draw Team Aqua's attention away if they try this again. They'll expect the large groups or lone powerful trainers to have them, not little old you.
He smiled at me again and held out his hand. Nestled in his grip was a small light blue wristband that looked similar to a watch but with a square shaped face that took up most of your wrist. I took it gratefully and snapped it onto my right wrist. He then handed me a large pack, way bigger than mine that looked a lot more durable too. One of the employees standing at the wall came forward and helped me adjust it onto my back, but I insisted on sorting it myself. I didn't want them to see t he drugs.
He nodded a few times then looked down at the papers in front of him again before adding one last thing. Alison, could I ask you a personal favor? My son, Steven, is at Dewford island. If you could, could you deliver this letter to him as well? This isn't a job...just a favor from an old man who hasn't seen his boy in far too long.
I couldn't really say no, so I took the small neatly folded letter and stuck it in a slit in the large backpack that looked like it was made for papers and importand documents...guess this was one of the other Trainer MustHaves that Devon manufactured. He told me that was all and thanked me again before I turned to leave. He rose himself and personally escorted me down the elevator and through the front door, waving off the photographers and demanding that they didn't take my picture...I'm sure that some did though. He knelt down in front of me once we got a bit away and personally showed me all the functions on the little tool at my wrist, and even added his personal contact number to it. 'Just in case' he said...what did he mean 'just in case' for? 
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Topic: Nuzlocke Emerald. I'm on a Boat! (Read 22406 times)