Chapter 21:IX. Last Guardian: First move
"I don't know why are we guarding this place anyway. Nobody has set a foot here. Ever." said one man.
"What do you know. Maybe we are going to be the lucky ones and finally encounter someone." said the second man with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Both of these men were guarding some iron door in dark nearly unlit cave apart from one single lightbulb above the iron door.
"500 meters underground? Seriously doubt it." said the second man.
"You just doubt it? Then you are even dumber than I thought. This place hasn't been discovered by a single soul in two decades." said the annoyed second man.
"Like you are some genius. Tell me why are we here then. Why are we guarding an entrance when nobody has ever set a foot in here?!" replied angered the first man.
"How should I know? Just be glad that you get paid for doing nothing and can occasionally fuck some subject before they put them to those gruesome tests." said the second man.
"True. Speaking of the subjects. Who got that sexy gym leader? I would have killed for the opportunity to be in charge of her. No joke." said the first man seriously.
"I would have killed for that too, but I don't know who got her. Anyway, I think it was a pretty stupid decision to bring a gym leader here. It brings unnecessary attention in my opinion." said the second man.
"With all those thrashed apartments and kidnappings, I think that we brought the unnecessary attention to us already." said the first man.
"Possibly, but I..." tried to say the second man before he was disturbed by some light noise in the caverns. "Did you hear that?" said the second man when he registered the light, bearly hearable, noise.
"What?" said the first man. And as soon as he said that another noise was heard. But now it was much clearer. It was a light thump.
"That." said the second man.
After this, the two men prepared their pokeballs and released two Pokemon. Even though there was only one light source in the cavern, the lightbulb illuminated the area in front of the man revealing, that the Pokemon they released are Ninetails and Arcanine. When they released them, another thump was heard. Slowly but surely these thumps became more frequent and lounder. Both men could just wonder what could come to this place because not even Pokemon were spotted in this area. Eventually, the two vigilant men could finally see what was coming to them. It was a silhouette of a person. Pretty tall person. After measuring the man, they registered the source of those regular thumps. This man was holding a walking stick and was approaching them with slow, careful steps. Now, that he was illuminated slightly, they saw that he wore a cloak with a hood that covered his head and left the place where his face should be in shadows. This mystery man with a walking stick walked closer and closer until he was illuminated entirely, but even though they could see him clearly, his face was covered in shadows. His black long beard was the only noticeable feature on his face. And as soon as he was near the Ninetails and Arcanine, those two Pokemon growled at the mysterious man in the caverns.
"I don't know what you are doing here, but I would advise to turn around and go away, if you don't want to get yourself in troubles." said venomously the second man hiding his surprise that someone found this place.
But the man stood unfazed and was still standing there like nothing was happening. After a moment of awkward silence, the man nodded his head.
"Good. Now g..." said the first man but was caught by surprise when a yellow blur jumped out of the mysterious man's cloak and hit both Arcanine and Ninetails on the head. Both Pokemon stumbled and grunted in pain when the hit came. But both men guarding the entrance were looking at the blur that stopped in front of the mysterious man in a cloak, revealing a small yellow mouse Pokemon.
"A Pikachu?! This should be easy." said the first man eagerly awaiting the battle in this boring place.
"Don't get cocky Carl. You saw what the Pikachu did." said the second man observing Pikachu and the mystery man with watchful eyes.
"Beginners luck, John. And it's 2 vs. 1. We got this." said the Carl with confidence.
"Ninetails, Fire Spin and trap that rat!" yelled Carl.
"Arcanine, Flame Wheel!" yelled John.
And two Pokemon began their attacks. Ninetails released Fire Spin and aimed it around the mouse Pokemon to trap him in a vortex of flames. But neither of them expected Pikachu to jump high in the air avoiding the Fire Spin without a single command from his trainer. After this Arcanine aimed a Flame Wheel at the yellow rodent in the air and was approaching him at a fast rate. But then another surprise struck the duo guarding the door. Pikachu, again without a single command, enveloped himself in the coat of electricity and ramed himself in the Arcanine's Flame Wheel. Pikachu collided with Arcanine and sent Arcanine back to the ground. But Pikachu aimed his attack so smartly, that Arcanine collided with Ninetails instead of a rocky cavern grounds. The impact created a smoke of dust and loud crashing sound that could be heard all throughout the caverns. When the dust settled, both Arcanine and Ninetails had swirls in their eyes and Pikachu landed on the shoulder of this mysterious person and behaved like no battle took place here with a completely neutral look on his face.
"W... What?" asked Carl caught completely off guard by the events that took place few seconds ago.
"You just made a big mistake old man." said John when he recovered from the surprising win of Pikachu. He grinned evily and pointed his gun at the mysterious man in front of him. "This is what you get for getting on the naughty list of Team Rocket." said John and he pressed the trigger on the gun.
The mysterious man extended his right arm and held it still in front of him like he was trying to catch a bullet. When the gunshot was heared a loud ding sound was heared. The bullet that was shot from the gun stopped few centimeters from mysterious man's extended hand and dropped on the ground. Both, Carl and John, now could see that the man was enveloped in some kind of blue energy force field that blocked the bullet.
Carl out of desperation panicked, pulled his own gun and tried to shoot the man repeatedly. But it was to no avail. The shield stopped every single bullet that Carl's gun released.
"What the..." said John quietly trying to comprehend what was happening right now. He then pulled the trigger the second time and was patiently observing the man. And again, like with the previous shots, the bullet stopped few centimeters from the man's extended arm. The man than dissolved the force field with his right arm, and created a sphere with the same color that the force field around him had and threw it at the gun in John's hand destroying it as soon as the sphere collided with the gun, shattering the gun to several pieces.
Both Team Rocket grunts could only watch in awe what was this man doing. This sorcery. The cloaked man with Pikachu on his shoulder then slowly walked to the two grunts still thumping the ground with his stick and finally stop, when he was in the handshake distance, still not saying a single word.
Carl now consumed by anger and rage, because of what just happened, tried to punch the man in the face, but the man caught the hand with ease, and in a blink of an eye he twisted Carl's arm forcing him to look at the iron door behind him with his own hand on his own back. The man then kicked him in the butt, sending him to the door which whom he collided with. Humiliated by being beaten by some old man with a walking stick and with only one hand, Carl got even angrier.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, JOHN?! ATTACK!" yelled Carl and he attacked again. This time John joined the attack and tried to punch the man as well. But in two swift moves, the man grabbed his stick, ducked avoiding John's punch and swung his stick at John's legs causing John to trip and fall. The mysterious man them made a swift turn and pushed the tip of it's stick to the stomach of Carl, who was running back at the man, knocking the breath out of Carl. Not even a second after this, the mysterious man made a round kick and kicked Carl in the face with such force that it knocked him unconscious.
John on the ground could just watch as his co-worker got beat up. The man then slowly came to him and hit him with a stick on the head knocking John unconscious immediately.
"Were those gunshots?" asked one man in the hallway.
"I think so. We should check what is happening outside." said the second one. After their conversation, these two men, with 2 others, went to the metallic door at the end of the hallway. But before they could reach the door, the door flew out of their place and landed right in front of the surprised Team Rocket grunts. A man with a Pikachu on his shoulder then walked through the place where the door once stood and with his stick walked slowly to the Team Rocket grunts. When he was face-to-face with the four grunts the man picked a pokeball from his belt and released Metagross. When he did that, Metagross's eyes shined blue and the guns, that were on their belts, crumbled, leaving them without the option to shoot the guy and Pikachu then hoped of the man's shoulder and landed on top of Metagross's head.
Nobody has ever found this place, let alone attacked it. After a minute, the grunts finally recovered from the shock and threw their pokeballs in the air. The pokeballs they threw contained four very large and very angry Nidokings.
"You are angering the wrong people, old man." said one of the grunts calmly. "Call the backup!" yelled the second one. And as he said the third man picked a walkie-talkie and called for a backup. To this, the man responded by revealing his shining blue eyes within the shadows on his face from the hood.
Jasmine was finally waking up and she was finally opening her eyes. As she was slowly opening her eyes a cold water landed on top of her catching her by surprise waking her up instantly. She shivered when the cold water hit her face and drenched her clothes leaving her freezing and cold. She tried to put her hands around herself and warm herself by rubbing her hands against her body, but she couldn't. She tried again, but her hands still didn't move. She then realized that she couldn't move her legs either.
"You took your time I have to say." she heard someone say. She looked at the source of the voice and she saw a man with a red R on his shirt that was standing in front of her with a bucket in hand. She panicked and looked around. She was inside a small room with light blue tiles on the floor and on the walls. She then looked at her hands. Jasmine was pinned to the steel pole with not just her hands, but by her ankles too. She is tied to this pole with steel handles in an X position with her hands and legs apart. Now she remembered. She was walking home from the theater and when she reached the door, she was hit in the head, not remembering anything from that moment.
"W...Who a..are you?" said shivering Jasmine. Fear and her cold drenched clothes caused the stutter in her voice when she looked at the man wearing black and have a red R on his shirt.
"The lucky one." the man with a sleazy grin on his face which frightened Jasmine even more.
"L..lucky o...one?" asked fearfull Jasmine. By that sleazy grin and uncomfortable voice, she knew that this man wasn't one of the kind ones.
"Yeah. I mean look at you? My new plaything looks gorgeous. And you are a gym leader to top it all of." said the man in his now usual sleazy manner. Jasmine than looked at herself. The man in front of her could see basically everything. She was dressed in a simple silver dress that she wore the night she went to the theater. Now the drenched dress revealed her figure to the man before her. She looked back at the man and saw that disgusting grin on his face. Her eyes widened when she became aware of what he was implying.
"Ahhh. So you finally realized what is happening. Good." said the man. This man then put the bucket down and went to her, grabbed her dress where the cleavage is and tore them with one swift motion leaving Jasmine in her underwear.
"Please... No... I... I beg you." said Jasmine in a shaky voice. She tried to break free from the steel handles that hold her in place but they didn't move. They were holding her firmly in place with no way to escape. She looked back at the man and he had that uncomfortable smile on his face again.
"Yessssss. Beg. Cry. Scream. Resist. It is always more fun that way." said the man and walked to Jasmine at a slow pace.
Jasmine now could just only watch in horror as he went to her and groped one of her breasts and painfully squeezed it. She wanted to scream. But the voice just died in her throat and she began crying instead. There was no way someone could hear her anyway. She is a very smart trainer and she could tell. When she scanned the room she realized that this is no ordinary room. It is some kind of test room. There was a big machine near her and above her some kind of iron helmet with many wires attached to it that would undeniably be put to her head sooner or later. She let the tears drop to the tiled floor as the man squeezed the other of her breast just as painfully as the first one, if not more. Jasmine let out a small whimper when he squeezed her breast. After some time, which was an eternity in Jasmine's mind, he finally let go of her breasts.
"Wh... What's g...going to h...happen to m...me?" asked Jasmine. Her voice was shaky, every fiber of her body was trembling and the only thing she could do was let her tears roll down her cheeks and which eventually hit the floor.
"After I'm done with you we'll run a test on you and who knows, maybe you'll be the first one to survive." said the man to her.
Jasmine just looked at the man. He was still smiling at her and she could see it in his eyes that he is not joking. Those sinister eyes of a criminal that should rot in prison for the rest of his life. Tears come out of her eyes again. Is this how she'll end up? Being used by some sleazy ugly man and then die? She had so many goals in her life and now they are gone. With a snap of a finger, her future died. She didn't even notice when he grabbed her bra and tear her in the middle letting the white bra fall to the floor.
"Come on. Beg me to stop. Scream. I WANT to hear it." said the man in a quiet tone. But Jasmine didn't give him the pleasure. Even though her eyes were red and puffy from the crying, she refused to give into his desires. She knows what this kind of man enjoy and it sickens her. If she was an ordinary girl, she would probably scream, beg, shout and all the other stuff these monsters enjoy.
When the man realized that she won't be as the other subjects he slapped her across the face in hopes of achieving some resistance from her. But even then no reaction came from Jasmine. She was still only crying. When he didn't achieve what he wanted he forcefully kissed her on the lips. Jasmine resisted and then bit him on the lip with all the power she could find. He let out a scream of pain and pulled himself from Jasmine with his lower lip was now covered in blood.
"Ou Yeah. That's what I'm talking about." said the man as he smiled and licked his lips and pulled his black trousers down. But before anything else could happen a loud knock on the door was heard interrupting the man in his act. Jasmine could only thank Arceus that they were interrupted. She wasn't ready for this mentally and physically. The man frowned and pulled his trousers back on and went to the door. Another knock was heard before he even reached the door. Someone was in hurry.
"WHAT?! WHAT! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING!" yelled the angry man on the other man when he opened the door.
"Demon! The blue demon has come for us, Martin!" yelled the man that knocked on the door completely exhausted.
"What the fuck are you talking about, Rick!?" yelled Martin at his younger co-worker. He could see that Rick was running for some time. So he looked to the hallway what was happening. He saw a man making his way through his other co-workers beating them with an absolute ease. Swinging his stick like some monk and landing hits so powerful that his co-workers were flying left and right. Not to mention the battles between his Pokemon and theirs. Martin saw what the mysterious man left behind. So many Pokemon with swirls in their eyes, and knocked grunts that he couldn't even count, with bruises all over them. He pulled out his gun and tried to shoot the man, but the man saw him and extended his arm creating a blue shield and blocking every single bullet that was sent his way. After he released the last bullet in his gun, his gun shattered right in his hands.
"See?! A blue demon!" said Rick. But before he could continue his rambling, he was hit in the stomach by a blue ball of energy and sent to the other side of the hall. Frightened Martin then went back inside the room with Jasmine, locked the door and hoped that he wouldn't come for him.
Jasmine looked at the man and saw the look of absolute horror on his face. Whatever he saw behind those door had to be a truly terrifying sight. The man was leaning against the door like he was trying to push something back. He didn't even look at her naked body and was breathing hard and unevenly. Before Jasmine could think about it more, the door flew open pushing the man at the door away. Almost immediately after it another man jumped into the room and hit the man that was blocking the door in the head with a stick, sending him into unconsciousness.
The new man in the room looked at Jasmine. At least she thought he looked at her, his features were covered by his hood so there was no real telling if he was looking at her or not. At this moment she remembered that she was completely naked apart from her panties. She was terrified yet again. What if this man is even worse than the one who was here before? He doesn't look very friendly, covered in the hood with that big, thick black beard and a blood on his clothes. This bearded man then slowly walked to her with his walking stick still thumping the ground. After today's experience, she shivered. She just wants to get over this quickly. When he was near her she could sense that he was examining her. She couldn't see his eyes, but she knew that he was examining her like a piece of meat. Like some whore. Tears again appeared in her eyes and they were rolling down her cheeks again. This nightmare will never end.
"Please... No..." said Jasmine pleaded weakly dropping her head to the ground and praying to the god himself to just let her get out of here.
"Tile!" someone said. Jasmine lifted her head when she heard the growl and looked at the new source of this sound. It was a Sceptile and he was preparing his Leaf Blade attack. She widened her eyes and then closed them preparing to receive the beating from him. But the hit never came. She heard cracking of the steel. She opened her eyes again and saw that Sceptile was destroying the handles that hold her limbs in place. One by one the handles were cracked and she could move her limbs. But when the last handle was broken she fell and expected to hit the ground. But she was caught by the stranger. After he caught her she heard another voice.
"Pika!" someone said. And when she looked at the Pokemon she saw Pikachu holding a towel. She looked back at the stranger and the only thing he did was point to the towel with his finger. She looked back at Pikachu and he was offering her the towel and let out a small happy "Pika" before he gave it to her. She holds a towel for a moment and looks at Pikachu who jumped at the shoulder of the stranger. She wrapped the towel around her to cover herself to some extent with the strangers help and took a step forward her legs gave out and she fell straight into the stranger's chest. He caught her again.
In one swift motion, he threw his stick to Sceptile, grabbed her legs and picked her to his arms. When he did that she realized just how strong he is. He didn't have any problem lifting her from the ground or holding her in his arms like a bride. Not a single huff of effort left his mouth. Smiling Pikachu then hoped over his shoulder and landed on Jasmine's stomach, curled up and took a nap. When Pikachu jumped on her and looking so peaceful, she finally had no fears about this man. They then began walking out of this room. They were slowly walking through the corridors and she saw several men, like the one before with a red R on their chests, on the ground beaten to a pulp. And not just man, many Pokemon with swirls in their eyes were there too. But when they went through the hallway, she saw what was behind the several doors that were similar to the door, she had in the room they kept her in, and it was a gruesome sight. Dead naked woman covered in blood, bruises and cuts. And not just woman. The two men that she saw in these rooms weren't any different. Every single one of them was naked and the only thing they wore was the iron helmet she saw in her room above her. Her stomach turned upside down when she saw it. What kind of monster you have to be to do that?
When they finally reached the exit she swore that there were at least 60 Pokemon and grunts taken out by the stranger in the caverns. During the journey through corridors, several Pokemon joined them. There was a Garchomp, Metagross, Infernape, Feraligatr, and Toxicroak.
She guessed, that these are probably stranger's Pokemon along with Pikachu and Sceptile. After a few minutes of walking, they reached the iron door. They went through them and Jasmine now saw dark, nearly unlit caverns in front of her. She was a little scared how they'll find a way out of this place. Then. Jasmine took notice of strangers eyes there. They glowed in a blue color like two blue shining gems in the darkness in which was his face covered in. But before she could examine them further, he looked at her. Unfamiliar with the men she avoided his gaze and snuggled into his chest to not anger him. She didn't know if it was an appropriate reaction, but she didn't really care. She just wants to feel safe and get out of this place. She eventually got her wish and they did get out of the caverns. It took half an hour of walking in a darkness, but they were finally out.
When they were finally out of the caverns, it was already an evening. Just how long was she in those caverns? But then there was another thing. Few grunts were outside of these caverns too, tied by the roped and other ones were coming. She saw a Charizard in the skies carrying two grunts in his hands heading towards their direction. Then there was a Milotic with one grunt on his back. There were several other Pokemon coming from all directions carrying grunts and tieing them with ropes. "This man has a lot of Pokemon" Jasmine thought. A lot of Pokemon then went to the caverns with ropes as well. Was this some kind of one man army that the league sent here? To take care of this?
The stranger then went to the tree with her still in his arms and placed her gently on the ground, with her back leaning against the tree with Pikachu still lightly snoring in her lap. He then went with his Pokemon inside the caverns. She wanted to stop him, to tell him not to leave her alone after this traumatic event, but then she felt the light stir in her lap as Pikachu moved a little. That calmed her a little. She at least has a Pokemon here who helped her. She isn't alone.
It took 2 hours but the man and his Pokemon finally carried everyone out of the caverns and tied them up. The man with his Pokemon even carried out the dead and covered them with towels, they found inside the caverns. He then went to her yet again and for the first time, he actually spoke.
"Are you alright, m'lady?" asked a deep voice of a truly hardened man. She was spooked out a little by the deep voice but calmed herself pretty quickly. He saved her and is asking if she is OK after all. However, she still couldn't see his face which is angering her a little. But after today, she is not going to complain about something as trivial as this. Actually. She should be thankful that he saved her in time and not dwell on the face of her savior.
"Y...Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I... I owe you my life. This..." said surprised Jasmine, he actually talks and she thanked him, but she just couldn't finish her sentence, when she looked at those dead bodies. She eventually burst into tears again. One of those women lying there, covered in towels, bruised, cut, raped, could've been her if he didn't show up in time. There was at least 25 dead women with those two dead men she saw earlier. And every single one of those innocent people died to those bastards. And she survived by a sheer luck and perfect timing from this man. It wasn't fair to them.
The stranger then hugged her trying to comfort her after what she just saw. But she had a feeling, that he was baffled by this just as much as she was. He was breathing hard and his hands were shaking. Not like hers. Not by a long shot. But she could still feel it. Nevertheless, it helped and she felt better. A little better at least. When he broke the hug she was surprised that he was reaching for the hood.
He slowly pulled it down revealing his face for the first time. The first thing she registered was his eyes. They weren't... normal. The blue in them was something new entirely. They were just so... intense. So... blue. Jasmine couldn't describe them properly, it was something totally different. She never saw those type of eyes. But, other than that, he was pretty normal. Long black hair and snow pale skin just like hers, if not paler and a typical man features. Nothing unexpected in his features, except those beautiful saphire eyes.
"Here. I found this inside." said the man and reached inside his cloak. He pulled out a mobile phone and handed it to Jasmine. Jasmine took it reluctantly and looked at the phone.
"Call the police. Tell them you are 9 kilometers southwest of the Blackhorn city, near the caverns." said the man and then he stood up and was ready to go but Jasmine stopped him.
"Wait. Don't leave me here alone... Please." pleaded Jasmine.
"I have to go." said the man in his deep voice.
"Please..." pleaded Jasmine in a quiet desperate voice. Just a thought of being alone now is unimaginable to her.
"... Call them. As soon as I will hear the sirens I'm out." said the man.
"Thank you... Thank you..." said Jasmine grateful to her unnamed savior. As she was leaning against the tree and stroking Pikachu's fur, she began thinking. Where did he come from? Who is he? What else can he do? Why did he come to this place? How did he found it? She intended to ask him some of these questions but when she looked at him, he was meditating already. She then saw a Lucario coming to him and sit beside him. Now both of them were meditating. She just didn't have the courage to interrupt him from his meditation, so she just settled for petting Pikachu and trying not to think about what happened today.
They were sitting there for at least an hour and neither Lucario nor the stranger moved a single muscle. And when the second hour of their wait was starting she heard the sirens of police cars.
"We are leaving." said the man from his meditative state. He then opened his eyes and walked to Pikachu who was still sleeping in Jasmine's lap. When the man was near Pikachu, the yellow mouse opened his eyes slowly. After a little stretch, he hopped back on the stranger's shoulder. Sirens grew louder and Jasmine knew if she wants to say something else to him now is the time.
"Thank you yet again that you saved me from... you know what. You are a hero."
"..." he didn't answer. He just sadly looked at all those poor women he didn't save. It even seemed like he didn't want to be praised. But even though he didn't think he deserved the praise, she knew he did. He saved her after all. Jasmine realized that the police cars around the corner and so Jasmine quickly blurted out one last question.
"Who are you?"
"An Aura Guardian." replied the man. Shortly after his answer, his Pokemon lined up behind him and they literally disappeared from Jasmine's sight just before a police car could spot them.
"Sir. I have bad news." said the female through the telephone.
"Well. I'm listening." said the man in the orange suit in his simple office with his loyal cat Pokemon by his side. He was and still is sitting in his chair with his computer on when she called him.
"Johto base. It has fallen." said the female with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"What do you mean it has fallen?!" asked the man. He raised his voice a little.
"As I said. Someone destroyed the base and took the files of the next bases." said the female.
"How is that possible?" asked the man with a hint of anger in his voice, but still calmly.
"I do not know." answered the female.
"What about our people at the base?" asked the man recovering his calm nature.
"Behind bars. Every single one of them." said the female.
"What happened?" asked the man.
"Here. Take a look." said the woman and send something to the man. It was a link to a video in their database. So he clicked on the link and watched the video on his computer. He was watching a video, where 4 Nidokings were beaten easily by Metagross and Pikachu. He was watching how not even a reinforcement from Machamp, Nidoqueeen, Magmortar, and Rhyperior was nothing compared to the power that these Pokemon have.
But what caught his eye was the person in the middle of this all. When all his people failed to defeat the stranger's two Pokemon, his people attacked him themselves. But, even when it was 8 vs 1 and his people had a fighting training, they were no match for the stranger and his staff. He beat them all in a matter of minutes and went to another room for more. Now he could see, that the mysterious man in the video, even let some of Team Rocket grunts escape when he was occupied with the fight against Team Rocket men. But then he saw something he thought that he'll never see again. A blue sphere of energy was formed inside the stranger's hands and he threw it at some guy at the door. Another one of his men then tried to shoot him, but he somehow blocked all the projectiles. Even when he was watching his men butchered like that, it brought a smile to his face. The reason is, he knows exactly what the stranger is now.
"I want him." said the man.
"I'll arrange the searching and hunting party against this man" said the woman.
"No. Just a searching party. I want him alive." said the man.
"And why if I may ask?" asked the woman.
"Because. Experiments on the last Aura Guardian could bring very interesting results to us." said the man.
"OK. But what should we do now then? You don't want to lose more men to this person." said the woman.
"True. Just give each base more men, inform the other bases about this intruder and prepare some of our backup plans for the other bases. We will catch him off guard eventually." said the man with a grin on his face. The quest to obtain an Aura Guardian just began.