The air inside the cave was damp and foul, a mix of stale beer, sweat, and something metallic, like old blood.
Flickering bare bulbs strung along the ceiling cast long, dancing shadows, illuminating a sprawling makeshift camp. More bikers were scattered around, some sleeping on filthy mattresses, others playing cards or polishing their bikes. At least a dozen of them. In the center of it all, propped up on a pile of crates like makeshift thrones, were the two leaders: Chopper and Tyra.
Eliana's eyes glowed blue and she raised her hand toward the group in the cave, I only need to leave the two leaders alive for now, the rest of these grunts don't matter.
With a flick of her wrist she used her telekinesis and the heavy, wooden crate full of scrap metal that sat on a higher shelf on the cave wall was thrown across the room. It slammed into a group of bikers playing cards, instantly crushing them with a sickening crunch of wood and bone.
Chaos erupted in the small cave hideout. Panic spread through all the bikers, the feeling was so thick Eliana could almost taste it.
( •̀ ω •́ )✧, Ralts's body began to glow, a familiar prelude to destruction. He shot forward, a blur of blue and pink, and the Confusion hit the nearest biker with such force that his head snapped back at an unnatural angle, a silent scream frozen on his face before he crumpled. Ralts didn't stop, moving from one target to the next with deadly, balletic grace, a small reaper in a sea of terrified thugs.
Staryu, following its new leader's example, let loose a torrent of Psybeams. They were less precise than Ralts's attack, wild and powerful, carving glowing red paths through the dim cave. One shot took a biker's leg off at the knee.
Chopper and Tyra panicked releasing their Pokémon, a Golem and Cloyster respectively, but it didn't matter. Eliana grabbed all four of them with her telekinesis so tight that the Pokémon couldn't hope to get out a move.
"What kind of monster are you?" Chopper yelled at Eliana in rage.
Tyra screeched furiously that, "You'll pay for this you little brat!"
"Shut up!" Eliana chirped, tightening her grip on them, "Don't worry, you won't die until my poison finding off all of your grunts here."
"Go for the entrance you idiots," Tyra screamed at her panicking gang members.
Eliana rolled her eyes before waving her hand, the cave entrances was blocked with a glowing barrier.
"You bitch, how are you doing this?" Chopper gasped in disbelief.
Eliana gave them an unimpressed look, "Why exactly did you two think that would work?" Eliana turned away, no longer paying attention to the two leaders screaming at her, she was more focused on the battle between her Pokémon and the rest of the grunts.
She watched as a biker with a scarred face lunged at Ralts with a lead pipe. Ralts simply sidestepped, the pipe whistling past harmlessly, and tapped the man on the forehead with a glowing horn. The biker's eyes went blank, and he stood there, drooling, a mindless statue.
Staryu had found a rhythm. It would shoot a Psybeam, then use Harden, the light from its core intensifying as its skin took on a stony sheen. A clumsy tackle from a Machop glanced right off its reinforced body, and Staryu responded with an Icy Wind that left the fighting-type shivering, its movements slowing to a crawl. Before blasting the fighting Pokémon with a Psybeam.
The remaining grunts were desperate, their attacks wild and unfocused. They were no match for the cold, precise violence of Eliana's team. Within minutes, the cave was silent again, save for the whimpering of the two captured Pokémon and the ragged breaths of the leaders. Ralts and Staryu came to stand beside their trainer. And Eliana turned her attention back to them, her expression one of mild disappointment, as if they'd been a particularly boring puzzle.
"You gangs are pretty pathetic to be honest, I haven't had any trouble with you guys yet." Eliana huffed, voice filled with pure disappointment.
Tyra was on the verge of tears and Chopper's face was white with terror. They had never seen a child this violent before, they thought that there must be something wrong with her.
"So here's what's going to happen," Eliana said, her tone turning conversational, light and friendly. "I'm going to ask a question, and you're going to answer it. If I think you're lying, or if you hesitate… well, let's just say my Ralts here has been practicing a new trick."
She gestured to the drooling biker. "He's still alive, but I don't think he's all there."
She let the threat hang in the air for a moment, letting the fear wash over them. Then she smiled, a bright, innocent smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Who is your supplier? The one who gives you all this illegal modifications for your equipment."
Chopper and Tyra exchanged a terrified look. They knew they were dead either way, but defying the supplier meant their families would be dead, too.
"I… I can't," Chopper stammered. "He'll kill us. He'll kill our families."
Eliana's smile vanished. "Oh, that's the wrong answer."
Her eye flashed blue and she dove into their minds, the world dissolved for the leaders.
They weren't in a cave anymore. They were in a sunlit meadow, the grass soft beneath their feet. Then the sky turned a bruised purple. The sweet scent of flowers became the cloying stench of decay. The gentle warmth of the sun turned into an icy chill that seeped into their bones. They saw their families, their siblings, their parents, smiling and waving. Then their skin began to melt, dripping off their faces like wax, revealing grinning skulls beneath. Their screams turned into distorted, musical laughter that echoed in their minds.
Eliana pulled out after only a few seconds, but for them, it felt like an eternity of torment.
She didn't need to ask again.
"Silph Co.," Tyra sobbed, her words tumbling out in a rush. "A man, a scientist. He… he uses us to test unstable prototype enhancements."
Eliana's smile returned, small and satisfied. "See? That wasn't so hard. Now, what's his name?"
A name wasn't what come out, instead a desperate plea for it to be over. "We don't know!" Eliana frowned and the two leaders panicked, "We swear we don't know! His name is classified, he works for Team Rocket!
"Team Rocket," Eliana repeated, committing the name to memory. She knew them, or knew of them, the resident evil group of the Kanto region. Eliana distantly wondered if they have made Mewtwo yet, before getting back to the task at hand.
"Thanks for answering my question." Eliana said with a smile on her face.
"So you'll let us go now?" Tyra asked with a desperate smile on her face.
Eliana burst into giggles as the two leaders looked at her in terror, pulling herself together Eliana said, "When did I ever say that you'd get out of this alive?" Her eyes then glowed, Tyra and Chopper didn't even have the chance to scream before their bodies were crushed.
Eliana then turns her attention to the shaking Pokémon of the fallen leaders. She could take them out as well, would be simple to do so but… Instead she retuned Golem and Cloyster to their PokéBalls, then put them in her phone's storage system. Now that she knew Team Rocket was a thing, there were absolutely Black Markets that she would be able to sell these Pokémon too.
A deep rumble filled the air. Dust and small pebbles rained down from the ceiling. With a groan of tortured stone and a deafening crash, the entire cave face collapsed, burying the camp, the bodies, and all evidence of what had happened under tons of rock. The entrance to the Biker Bridge was now a seamless, solid wall of earth.
As the dust settled, Eliana calmly mounted her bike. She looked back at the pile of rubble once, a fleeting, calculating glance. Then she turned and pedaled away, her two Pokémon settled into the bike's basket, leaving nothing but silence in their wake.