Jak's Story

The rain in the mornin' sky made my flight in the air pretty difficult. The winds pickin' up on my wings did help slightly, but there was no lazy flyin' today. I was lookin' for new members, being cautious as to who I choose. I didn't no wimp off the street. What we have is fine and dandy right now, but my group and I won't be able to take hits for long. We had to get some muscle. And that Mightyena down below me caught my eye. His determined scowl with his body mass: excellent material.

After circling for a couple seconds, I dove down and landed right next to the wolf-like pokemon and pulled out a cigar from my inner suit pocket. It took my while to get my lighter started 'cause of the shower, but I eventually got my fresh cigar lit and going. I breathed in and puffed out the smoke, walkin' next to the guy and askin', "Do ya smoke?" After recievin' his answer, I continued pressing the cigar in between my lips and goin' on. The rain didn't let out, but I wasn't gonna let it put out my smoke. I said to the Mightyena, "Name's Jak. What's yours?"

The weather in Johto was rainy but it didn't bother him so much. He had lived in the forest his childhood after all. He was wondering where to head, he had never been in this area before, when he saw Murkrow circling above him. Black-fang growled and flattened his body for warning, one wrong move and he would attack. But either the Murkrow didn't hear or didn't care since he landed right next to him.

"Do ya smoke?" the bird asked with a weird accent and Mightyena looked at it. It was looking weird in its suit and tie but somehow that outfit suited him. "Never tried." Black-fang answered relaxing his body, but only slightly. He wouldn't let some bird to cheat him.

"Name's Jak. What's yours?" "Black-fang they call me. And what are you doing out here in this rainy day?" he asked suspicious look in his narrowed eyes.

Surprisingly, the Mightyena was being quite on the offensive side. "Whoa, relax, Black-Fang. Nice name by the way.", I chuckled, raising both of my wings out in disbelief. I took in a puff of smoke and stated, "I'm not the one who's without guidence. Right now, my friend, it seems that you are wonderin' around at the time." It took me a while to think about it, but I realized this was a mightyena without his leader. Without his trainer. I looked around to see no human in the vicinity of us and I said, "Ah! So, your trainer isn't with you is it?" I walked with my cigar until we got into the woods of the city. We continued on from the port city and I continued with discussion. It seemed that this boy was going without a purpose.

"Y'know...", I eventually said, droppin' the cigar in front of me and puttin' it out with my talon, "I gotta place a few miles ahead. If you don't got a place to go, which I'm guessin' you don't, I'll take you there." I flew into the tree ahead of me and perched up on the branch, the shadow of the brush and the rain pattering on my beak. I stood on the tip of the branch softly, my red eyes staring at the pokemon and I asked, "What do ya say?"

As I was in the middle of the conversation of Black-Fang's, along came a hot-head Blaziken and a scruffy lookin' Zigzagoon. I was honestly impatient with all the disturbances going on with the rain and my group and everythin'. I stood there, my smile still but less as bright as before. "My trainer has gone missing, and I'm looking for answers. Have your trainers gone missing too?" Were the words that came out of this birds mouth. I completely lost my smile and it went to a small scowl. These people were lookin' for answers that I didn't have and made it even more difficult for me to work in life.

I flew down to the ground, sayin', "Listen here, winged-brother, you might want to skedaddle outta here. You be mettlin' in business that you don't want to be a part of." At this point, the taller stance of the man was much more than mine, but a this time I didn't care. Suddenly, in the middle of the rain, a bright red-eyed Umbreon came from the bushes and shouted, "Boss, boss." She noticed the three pokemon she was also getting the attention of. I broke the silence and muttered, "What? What is it? Can't you see I'm givin' directions." I looked at the Umbreon and she said, "Well, boss, there's this group headed for Hoenn-" I cut her off groanin', "Give me somethin' I can use, Starla!" She stuttered nervously, "W-well... They went off lookin' for the humans boss and well... They got our stash of food in Unova." My eyes didn't widen at her in anger, but I was rather calm.

"Oh... is that all?" I asked, walkin' close to her staring her down. She looked down at the ground, tryin' not to make I contact with me. I gently brushed her chin up with my wing, raising my brow for an answer. "Y-Yes...?" She stuttered. I grasped her neck with my right talon and whispered loudly to her as she choked. "No. That's not all. You lost our lost stock in Unova! Now why don't you head on home... I deal wit' ya later." She gasped for air as I threw her to the ground, banging her head against the dirt. She wimpered and sprinted off back to the woods, frantically yelpin'. I gazed back at the Blaziken and stated normally, "Now, you can go on ahead back from where you came from... heck, you can even go with that group who stole my supplies. But, whatever ya do, don't bother us again. We don't got the answers you're lookin' for." I turned back to the road and continued walkin' with Black-Fang.

I turned around, quite annoyed at the persistent Fire-type and I squinted my eyes at him as he talked about my trainer mockingly. "Listen... You don't know nothin' about my human... or at least what he used to be." I muttered staring at him flying forward again. I was facing him fully, as he continued on with his ranting. Riot and Swindler have great skills don't get me wrong. The way that the Zigzaroon took one of my cigars without me noticing was sure as enough shocking. And to beat the Elite Four alone... That took a lot of strength. Strength that my team needed, unlike that Umbreon.

I glared at the Blaziken seriously and put a cigar in my mouth. I lit it, took in a puff of smoke and breathed the cloud onto him, sayin', "You got a lot of nerve." I chuckled as I turned around and kept smokin'. "I like it." I stated simply, flickin' the ashes off the cigar. "Come on wit' us." I said, motioning my hand for Black-Fang to come along too. The Mightyena cocked his head up and eventually followed. I flew up into the air and we kept our pace until we had reached the distant ruins. There was a bit of fog, but nothin' to worry about. We could still see at the bottom. I got towards the entrance, knockin' on the stone door and a slot slid open, dark eyes starin' at the unknown members behind me. "What's the pass-" The gruff voice muttered behind the door but I shouted, "Oh shut it, Clarence! It's your boss; open up! I got recruits." The stone door slid open and it revealed a Gengar wearing black shades. "Sorry, boss. Just being secure like you asked me too." The Gengar stated softly.

We entered the stone ruins revealing a wide canopy of a faded red ceiling, the columns of the area lined with red velvet banners with spade symbols on them. In the center of the dim room, scattered with candles, there was a Weavile sharpening his claws with an emery board, an Ekans wrapped around a table with one scratched out eye and an Absol sifting through a map. The temperature was rather cold and the slow leaking from the rain coming from the roof didn't make it any better. They all caught there eyes on me and greeted me. "Hey, boss... who'd you bring with you?" The Weavile asked, tilting his head. The ekans rattled his tail in caution and the Absol looked at them as well. "Settle down guys. These are the new members of our family." I explained, holding my cigar in my beak. "Riot, Black-Fang. The Ekans is Eddie. The Weavile is Scratch and the Absol is Silver." I greeted, pointing to the corresponding pokemon. Scratch waved once and everyone else got back to their business. "Oh, and this is Pete!" I stated, almost forgetting about our doorman. Pete went into one of the rooms and brought out an Umbreon, the one that met us in the forest earlier. She was restrained, her feet tied to each other and her mouth wrapped around with a bandana.

"I found Monica blazing in through her and had her restrained" Pete explained, holding her up, "What do you want me do with her, boss?" I stared at her with my full red eyes and I said, "Put her in the center of the den. I need to make an example." Pete waltzed over to the den and dropped Monica on the ground, frowning a little. I stared down at her as she struggled in her bondage. "Tsk, tsk, Monica, tsk tsk." I chuckled, walking around her. She struggled to get the bandages off her mouth, but she finally did. "What do ya want, Jak? I did all that I could!" She shouted, flailing around and stared to get angry. I paused for a few short moment and stated, "You've been at this for too long, doll... With far too little success." I took in a bit of my cigar in the pausing moment. "I don't need a ball and chain in this operation, Monica. I don't need you anymore." I said, flying upward and I prepared my talon. "Weavile, throw me gun." I commanded, looking up at him. He didn't hesitate, tossing me the silver barreled glock and I caught it. "Wait.... You're gonna shoot me?!" She cried, her eyes widening as she flailed about even more. "No, I'm not gonna shoot you." I explained, turning around and handing the weapon to Blaziken, "He is."

I looked at Riot and muttered, "Now, if you're gonna prove somethin' to me... Take her life." The Umbreon whined and shouted on the floor, "No! No!!! Please don't do what he says!!" She was in shock, her heart racing at the current situation. "You got what ya came for. If you don't shoot, then we gotta chase ya down anyways, now shoot!" I shouted to him, waiting for his response and staring at Monica. "No!" She cried, her eyes flooding with tears. "Do it!!" I commanded, raising my voice in response to the screaming. At this point, the group was staring at me and Riot, waiting to see what was to become of this.

The gunfire was shot and Silver had jumped slightly, most likely thinking that Riot wouldn't really do it. Eddie slithered up onto the table beside me and hissed in appreciation, almost like it was applause for the commitment of Riot's actions. Scratch kept filing away at his nails, making them sharp and then testing them on the mirror he was beside. "Well done, Riot." I said, still flying and I flapped my way up to the stone beams connected to the columns.

As the Blaziken and his small friend built the fire, I stated, "Thanks for makin' the fire." I dove down towards the flames and landed next to the inferno, drying my wings. Scratched sneered and continuing to examine his claws. "So, what are we gonna do about that other group, boss?" Pete asked, walkin' up to me. I turned to him and then smiled slyly. "Well, they're goin' after the same thing we're goin' after: the humans. They are heading to Hoenn... so, why don't we pay them a visit?" I suggested, lookin' at everyone. Scratch stated with his scratchy voice, "Sure thing... just one question. Who says they're gonna be there once we're there?" "And if they are there... who ssayss they are a threat, bossss?" Eddie questioned, snaking around the room and staring at me.

I scratched the tip of my beak with my wing and then got an idea. I set off a few high-pitched tweets and a zubat come from the shadows near the top of the ceiling. "Yes boss?" His whiny and whispery voice came from his lips. I said simply, "Go to Hoenn and look for this group of pokemon that are travelin' together. Figure out what they're up to and report back to me." "Yes boss." He hissed back, flying swiftly at one of the open cracks in the ruins.

I flapped my wings slightly as my feathers bristled in the heat. Soon enough, they smoothed and I got back to Riot. Riot talked to me about Swindler's condition. "Well that makes communication an issue with him." I muttered looking at everyone. Scratch glared at me and hissed, "What makes you say these guys are worth something to us?" "'Ey! These two are sure enough to do better than Monica did. She got too emotional with her work and kept askin' too many questions! She wouldn't take orders; you know that." I said back, my eyes squinting at him. He stared at me for a few more moments and then went back to his mirror.

Pete cleared his throat and asked, "Boss?" "What?" I mocked back, irritated at the Gengar's timidity. "Should we give them some sort of uniform?" He chuckled back. I stared at him and then nodded softly. Pete went back into the room that he got Monica from and came out with a black fedora with a white stripe with a Spade's Symbol on the strip. In his other hand, he had a white tie for the little one. He tossed these towards the two and nodded at them.

"Sso, what to do now bossss?" Eddie hissed from one of the column, his rattle signalling us that he was anxious to leave the ruins to do some work. "Well, with all the humans gone... we got nothin' to do. We gonna have to search for 'em." I stated simply, perching on a stone pillar. "Where are they gonna be boss?" Silver asked. "Sevii! The Sevii Islands! That's where they should be." A whispering voice shouted from outside before a zubat came back through the open crack and returning to the shadows once again. "Alright... now all we need is transportation." Pete said simply.

Blank-fang had stayed in his own corner looking around him, observing the situation. When Riot lit up fire he growled a bit. Darkness had been far more better than light. Of course it kept everyone dry and warm but he didn't care about them. Living in woods had taught him thing or too.

He listened their conversation then stepping up and coughed to get their attention. ”I came here from Hoenn. I used Lapras as my drive. She's still probably around the coach. I doubt she can carry all of us at once. Maybe maximum five at time.” He said bluntly.

Louie was not a very happy camper at the moment. Which was unusual because he loved the rain. Especially storms. On the plus side there was a certain sense of freedom. If Ricky was here, we would have a ball... But Louie didn't need to think about that right now. Surely he would turn up, after all humans were pretty sluggish creatures, he couldn't have gone far. Then again, there was not a single other human in sight. What on earth was going to happen now?

Louie hated to admit it, but he was really starting to miss his trainer. He hated being alone... Well, in a certain sense anyway... He hated the thought of there not being anyone to return. He would have to make due... Now that was something he was used to. Ricky would hate it if he came back and Louie didn't take advantage of this kind of opportunity. They always made the best of their situations, this would be no different. And he would track down his trainer in the process.

The brash jolteon was trying to tear his way into a garbage can. He didn't know what was inside it, but by god it smelled great. And he was hungry. However, a harsh sound broke the silence... He had thought it was thunder at first, but no that was most definately a gunshot. That meant there was a gun! And most likely a human behind it! Quick as a flash, Louie sprinted in the direction of the sound. As he drew nearer he slowed to a stop, wondering if he passed it. He could hear some voices though, see the glow of a fire nearby.

In the midst of my perchin' up on the circular rafters on the ceilin', I heard more than the patter of the rain outside. There we're the stompin' of a curious four-legged pokemon in the forest. Damn... I knew we shouldn't have shot the gun it the ruins. They echo sound like an alleyway. I flew to the door and opened it quickly, Scratch quickly pouncin' over to the door as well. We reached the doorway and in the precipitation, I could see the ears of a curious Jolteon peeking through the bushes.

Scratch let his claws sink through his fingers and I patted him with my wing, signalling him to back down. "'Ey! You over there! Scram, we got nothing that you gonna need buddy!", I shouted, tilting my head as I saw the hat on his head. It was severly simliar that of my headpiece. Eddie had sithered out a little further in front of us, his tail whipping around and making a rattling sound.

Louie narrowed his eyes at the place. More accurately, he was narrowing his eyes at the ones who were there to greet them. He couldn't smell any human. Gunpowder but no human... So someone was playing around with human stuff. These guys most likely, didn't seem to be any one else around. He bared his teeth in an amused snarl when the murkow shouted at him."Surely you ain't talkin' to me, little birdy. And what I be needing ain't none of your business." He said, as his eyes went to the murkrow's counterparts... It was a real shame that Louie wasn't looking for a fight, because it would probably feel really good right now to tear into someone.

However good it might feel, there did not seem to be just the two enforcers he could see. He smelled more than just them, probably inside. No sense in rattling the hive. "You do be lucky there ain't nothin' I be needing around here. You can call your pets off. I ain't sticking around for you to need 'em." He said, watching for a few more moments before backing away. Ricky certainly wasn't here.

Seeing that the Jolteon was walkin' off, i sighed in frustration before Pete went up to the doorway and he shouted, "If you're looking for the humans, there's a group of pokemon in Hoenn who are looking for them!" I widened my and squawked at Pete angrily. His face dropped in its dumbness and he made a sharp turn to the left, avoiding my talon heading for his eyes. "Those are the ones who crossed me, you dumbass! We don't need more of 'em!" I hissed loudly, trying not to let the Jolteon hear of the conditions. Though, before I could spot my eyes on him, he was gone in the trees.

Scratch furrowed his brow and muttered, "What do you wanna do now, boss?" I sighed softly and kicked a nearby pile of rocks from their orderly stack. "I don't know. But, we can't stay here any longer. We have to get to that other group. Besides, that Jolteon isn't even a threat." I stated simply, noticing the rain starting to slow. "What do ya mean, bossss?" Eddie questioned, twirling his head at me. "He can't get to Hoenn if he doesn't have a way across the water. And even if he did, I highly doubt he could drive a boat." I chuckled going into the interior of the ruins.

Varney didn't want to be alone anymore... and now he wasn't. Well not technically anyway. He still didn't fit in though... everyone seemed so tough. Everyone seemed kind of strange too. Especially Jak. Varney felt a little creeped out by him. That didn't matter, though, because he wasn't alone anymore. He would have to try really hard so that Jak would not want to get rid of him. Well he hoped that Jak wasn't like that...

The zubat was out of breath, clinging onto the rafters in the shadows... It didn't help he was hungry, but he wasn't about to ask for it. Monica... she didn't seem so bad. And it scared him that she was dead. But surely it was for good reason. Varney had already told them about the Sevii islands, and how those others were heading there. He had heard Pete ask about transportation, and Varney thought about it as he found the strength to flitter down from the rafters, landing on the floor where Monica had met her demise... That blood was just a little too enticing to ignore any longer. He had to get something to eat if he wanted to keep his strength up to stay useful.

"What about a boat?" Came the high pitched whisper of Varney, as he made a suggestion. Grasping at straws to be useful. Crawling onto Monica's still warm body he continued,"Those wood and metal things humans float on. Even if we don't know how to turn it on, maybe the lapras could push or pull the boat while we ride in it?" And with that he sank his tiny little fangs into the body to feed.

Scratch
With the cognitive process going through my mind, I knew that the Jolteon heading for the forest was going to the group that was apparently threatening to Jak. There's always a way to get places. The Jolteon will find that way. The Jolteon will find that group. The Jolteon will tell the group about us... and our cover is blown. Or maybe... Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this is a way to get my freedom. Jak will be coming after me that's for sure, but this'll buy me some time out of his hair for a while. At least he will stay away for a day.

I turned to my side, crossing my arms, complaining, "Why did you let him go?" Jak snapped back and said, "Hey! I make the rules around here, I can choose what I want to happen." I rolled my eyes and rasped out, "But he knows about the other group now. And he know about us. What's makes you saw that he won't tell the other group about us?" Jak furrowed his brow as if he was thinking for a few moments before crowing out, "Alright, you can go after him. But if you aren't back by sunrise, I'm after your ass." I nodded my head and immediately ran through the forest, jumping passed the brush and trees before making contact with the Jolteon with my eyes. I stopped with the rustling knowing that I was making a lot of noise. I came from the trees and rasped out, "Need company?" I held onto the tree, waiting to see what the Jolteon would do. Whether to gun or run...