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Vines of Deceit	By : Manifest Destiny Category: Pokemon > General Views: 14167 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is copy write by GameFreak, INC. and Nintendo. I make no money from this story, nor do I seek any.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
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Chapter 11: Internal Affairs
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An aging man sat in a luxurious arm chair, holding a video screen. After his lieutenant had told him what the video supposedly contained, he silently hoped he would just reprimand his underling for reporting misinformation. When the subject in question finally came on the screen, Ghetsis Harmonia clenched his left hand until the screen shook.
The video was recorded from a cell phone’s camera from a fair distance away, but it was exactly how his underling described it; a massive clawed arm burst through the doorway to the lighthouse, tearing away stone and wood to let the beast’s large body through. The black dragon let loose a torrent of flames from its maw as it chased a man clad in gray to a submarine off the coast of the island. After the vehicle sank beneath the waves, the Zekrom on the screen flew up and into the cloudy skies. The video ended and began playing again. Ghetsis sat watching it in silence for a few moments longer before speaking.
“Where is it now?” he asked, looking up to the Team Plasma administrator. He stared into the nervous man’s gaze with his one, left eye. “Surely, after failing to complete your primary objective, you spared no effort in tracking down the new target, did you not?”
“I—I apologize, it is with great regret that I must say…” the man in the gray suit averted his gaze. He couldn’t stand to look his lord in the eye any longer. “Our efforts were unsuccessful in locating the Dragon of Ideals.”
Ghetsis sighed through his nose, shaking his head.
The Sage of Plasma got up from his chair, leaving the tablet on the arm of his seat, and began to pace the room. He stopped his shuffling movements and looked out the window of the high-rise building and surveyed Castelia City as it lay out before him. The late hour of the night did not mean the city slept. Lights from businesses, cars, and people’s homes fought back the darkness, creating an unnatural glow that met his eye.
Has one of them been active all this time? Right under our nose? My nose? Impossible.
“This footage,” he said, still staring out over the city, “who did you say recorded it?”
“We do not know, my lord. There were many tourists on that island that day,” the man said, shakily. “But I will do my very best to find as many people who might have seen it firsthand.”
“No,” Ghetsis said, lowering his head. “You won’t.”
With a snap of his fingers, three shadowy figures appeared in the room, surrounding the soon-to-be-former Team Plasma member. The four of them were gone without a sound, leaving Ghetsis alone for a moment. The Shadow Triad reappeared and knelt before their High Priest, their dark deed had gone unseen.
“It—”
“—is—”
“—done,” the three said, talking in turns.
“I have tasks that need to be completed,” Ghetsis turned around and addressed his loyal vassals, speaking in a loud, authoritative tone. “First; this footage of Zekrom needs to be removed from the public eye. No copies, no trace. Second; any persons who may have been on that island need to be found, and interrogated. I won’t tolerate any information being lost due to incompetence.” He took a breath, gathering his thoughts before committing to his third order. “And last, alert our King to Zekrom’s appearance. He has failed in finding the Dragon of Truth first, and his unknown opponent now has an advantage. Our King cannot fail.”
“For our King.”
“For our cause.”
“For our lives.”
The Shadow Triad each disappeared from the room in the blink of an eye.
Ghetsis Harmonia stared at his left hand, trying to calm his shaking fingers.
We cannot fail. I will not.
—————
Pounding on his hotel room’s door broke Tristan out of his long-needed slumber. He slowly untangled himself from Draya’s arms, finding he was still in the clothes that he wore the day before.
Yesterday was… something.
All at once, the events of the Lighthouse of Liberty Garden Island replayed in his mind. Tristan half-wondered if any of it was real; meeting a real Legendary Pokémon, Team Plasma and the freak storm that followed them, the Relmsteads, Draya conjuring the visage of another legend. Zekrom; the beast that leapt right out of a story book occupied Tristan’s dreams that night. The shine of the scales, its shape and form, all of it stuck in Tristan’s mind the way nothing else had before.
Another set of knocks snapped him back to the present. “Tristan! You need to get up!”
Cheren’s voice always seemed even more pressing and urgent early in the morning. Tristan glanced at his XTransceiver’s clock—ignoring the many missed calls he had—as he walked to the door, it was nearly seven o’clock in the morning.
He paused as he reached the door, just shy of turning the knob. Draya was still exposed; her true self lying fast asleep on the single bed in the room.
“Hold on, Cheren,” he said through the door in a tired voice. He threw off his t-shirt and opened the door a crack, “What’s going on? I’m getting dressed still.”
“I’ve called you ten times! We’re wanted for questioning by the International Police!” Cheren said.
“What?” asked Tristan, now fully awake.
“Just hurry up and meet us in the lobby, just in case this is actually happening.”
Cheren hurried off down the hallway, leaving Tristan alone and without much of an idea what was happening. He shut the door, and quickly ran into the bathroom to take a quick shower. He found Draya now awake as he reentered the room lying on her stomach, grinning widely at his undressed self.
“What a lovely view to wake up to. You really should have woken me up, I would’ve loved to join you,” she said, rolling over. She patted the empty space on the bed next to her, longing in her eyes. “How about some ‘exercise’ before breakfast?”
“Of all the times, right now absolutely isn’t the time for this kind of talk,” Tristan said, ignoring her advances. He rooted though his luggage for a clean outfit, hastily combing his hair. “We need to go meet Cheren, Bianca, and apparently the police downstairs, so please, we need to get moving.”
“Alright,” she conceded, sitting upright. “But we really should stop getting pulled around like this. I’m almost at my limit on your stalling, you know. You promised.”
Tristan sighed, walking over to his Zoroark on the hotel bed. “It’s been a crazy few days and it looks like it’s not letting up. But you’re right,” he lifted her chin up to look him in the eyes. Tristan gave his Zoroark, who had him set in her sights as her ideal mate, his warmest and most sincere smile. “I did promise. Later on today, I’ll make time for ‘us’. Whatever ‘we’ are.”
Draya grinned, “You better.”
—————
Safely covered in her disguise as a Servine, and clinging to her trainer’s shoulder, Draya watched passersby as Tristan walked down to the Pokémon center’s main lobby. Here there were many humans doing many different things. She could see some eating food alone, while others did in groups.
Humans are voluntary pack animals; some choose to be near others, but some don’t. I don’t know how anyone chooses to be alone.
Some humans, who Draya assumed to be trainers, had Pokémon with them. They were either talking to them, or talking about them to other humans. She even watched two trainers exchange Pokémon with each other. She pondered how they came to agree on such a trade when she picked up the annoying droning sound Cheren’s voice.
Cheren and Bianca were seated on a section of benches along the wall in the corner of the lobby. Draya noticed a human she hadn’t met before talking to them; she was younger, had dark skin and long, purple hair. She leaned forward with her hands on her hips as she talked to Cheren. Bianca sat back, avoiding the argument they were having.
“You just need to be patient, he’ll be here,” the girl said as she crossed her arms.
“Who, are you waiting on me?” Tristan asked, catching the attention if the three of them.
“We were,” Cheren said, pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. “But now we’re waiting for the police to arrive.”
“He’ll be here!” Iris insisted. “He told me to get ahold of you guys for him because—”
“That’s another thing; he’s asking a child to do his work for him.” Cheren asked. “Are you sure he’s InterPol?”
“Yes! And don’t call me a child!”
Bianca waved Tristan down to an open seat near her, leaning over to him. “They’ve been at it like this all morning. Please help.”
Draya spoke quietly, unsure of this new human. “Those two seem like they’re having fun. So, why do the police want to talk to us?”
“Well, Talking Servine, I should hope that answer is obvious.”
“If it was, I wouldn’t have asked—” Draya jumped, hiding behind Tristan’s other shoulder. A new human was now sitting in the seat next to Tristan, catching the four humans and hidden Zoroark by surprise.
“Sorry! I took a bit longer at my earlier job than I anticipated.” He stood up to take center stage of the small group. “You lot can call me ‘Looker’. I’m a member of the International Police,” he said, showing off his identification badge. He had short brown hair, spiked up a bit in front. This “Looker” was a skinny man, tall with long legs. He was wearing a brown pinstripe suit, brown tie and large brown coat to match. He smiled down at the children, waiting for their greeting. “What?” he asked finally.
“How long were you sitting there?” Cheren asked, already clearly annoyed with him.
“Well… you two were having a nice conversation, I didn’t want to interrupt it.” He turned and looked down at Draya, eyes bright. “Now you, beauty. How’d you learn to speak?” he leaned forward, childlike wonder in his eyes. Looker held his chin in his hand as he stared intently at her.
“Did you train her?” Looker asked Tristan.
“Your Servine can talk?! Really?” Iris jumped in and joined Looker in his excitement. “Can you teach my Fraxure?”
“She taught herself, actually,” Tristan said, sitting upright. “She’s doesn’t do well with attention from strangers, so please don’t hover over her.”
Draya felt warmth in her chest rise as Tristan defended her. She stuck a forked tongue out at the two humans who slowly backed away from her.
“Oh, sorry. Really didn’t mean to cause a fuss.” Looker stood upright again, fixing his overcoat. “So, shall we?”
“Shall we what!?” Cheren barked, standing. “What did you call us together for?”
“Yeah, and what took you so long?” Iris asked, turning on Looker.
“I was investigating a reported suicide,” Looker said.
“Why would the International Police care about a suicide in this city?” Cheren asked.
“Because it was reported as suicide.” Looker held up a finger, “And it just so happens that our ‘suicide’ was a suspected high-ranking official in an organization known as ‘Team Plasma’.” Looker nodded at the group’s collective surprised expressions. “Right! So, you three—and Iris—and talking Servine—need to come with me down to my temporary office for some questions I have regarding yesterday’s… events. If you don’t mind.”
After a few insisted questioning on Cheren’s part, the group left the Pokémon Center and walked a short distance up the road to Castelia City’s police station. Once inside, they made their way to a small, secluded office that was filled mostly with filing cabinets that served as Looker’s temporary base of operations. The operative explained because his job takes him all over the world, he never needs much space to work in, and having a more permanent location would be very inefficient.
With the five of them all in the tiny room—plus Draya’s hidden self—Looker shut the door and locked it behind them. He sat on top of the cluttered desk and crossed his arms. “Sorry, no room for chairs. This place looked bigger on the outside when I requested it. But, it’s out of the way, and we probably won’t be overheard. So, there’s that.”
Draya’s true form continued to take up the same space it always did, regardless of what form she took. This left very little room for her to stand comfortably, so she clung to Tristan as closely as she could manage without nudging the other humans. She felt a little disappointed that her illusions fooled even Tristan’s sense of touch, leaving him unaware of the closeness the two were sharing.
“It’s fine!” Bianca said, forcing a smile. It was clear that she was trying her best not to show her unease being closer to her friends than she felt comfortable. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, to be brief, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your individual interactions with Team Plasma yesterday.” Looker pulled out a small notepad and a pencil, ready to write down the answers he sought. “I don’t want a narrative, just a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will work, but feel free to elaborate if you feel something is important. Now, Iris here tells me that she ran into you, Cheren, coming out of a suspected Team Plasma hideout, of sorts. Did you find anything of interest there?”
“Yes,” Cheren said. “I found a mostly empty storage warehouse; whatever they had in there was already shipped out before I could find out what. But as I left, I was ambushed by these three assassins. They called themselves the ‘Shadow’ of Team Plasma.” He held up his right arm, wrapped in a cast. “The Shadow Triad are very dangerous. One of them broke my wrist with his bare hands. They can move in the blink of an eye. Definitely not normal. Superhuman.”
“They let you go?” asked Looker. “Not very assassin-y.”
“They threatened my friends and I,” Cheren said, looking at Tristan and Bianca. “They told me that we should stop interfering with their plans, or…”
“‘Or’ indeed,” Looker said. “So, here is where Iris found you, alone and beaten. Did this Shadow Triad of yours cause any other grief for you?”
“Yes!” Bianca spoke up. “O-Or maybe? I was walking around near Central Plaza, waiting for the Plasma rally to start—I tried stopping it, but—anyway, my Pignite disappeared from my side. He didn’t even know how he got to where we found him, which was blocks away. If these Shadow people can teleport, they can probably steal people and Pokémon away too!”
“Very good,” Looker agreed. “Bad for us maybe, but good guess, Bianca.”
“We already know all of that,” Cheren said bitterly. “We know that Plasma used Bianca and her Pignite just to make them a public spectacle. Ghetsis did nothing and the crowd cheered him on like he found her Pokémon himself.”
“I said I was sorry!” Bianca said. “Are you still blaming me for what happened?”
“I’m not angry at you, but it is still your fault for letting your own Pokémon get taken from you in broad daylight,” Cheren said. “You just need to be more careful.”
“You weren’t there!” Bianca shouted, causing everyone to back away. “He was just gone! There wasn’t anything I could have done, and you can’t blame me for not being ready for something I didn’t know was coming! You got beat by the Shadow Triad too!”
Cheren met Bianca’s teary-eyed stare with a blank expression, then averted his gaze when he didn’t have any comment to follow up with.
“Okay,” Looker broke the silence. “That ties up most of my blank pages,” he wrote a few quick notes before looking up at Tristan. “Which brings me to act three of our play; Liberty Garden Island.”
Draya felt Tristan’s shoulders tense. She looked around the room; everyone now focused on the two of them.
“Servine, feel free to speak up if you’re up to it,” Looker added. “Now, most eye-witness accounts about what went on yesterday are the same. ‘A huge storm came out of nowhere, we were taking shelter in the visitor’s center, and then the storm went away.’” Looker cleared his throat. “I’ve gotten very few bits of information past that, even word of a video recording of a large black dragon seen fleeing the scene, but unfortunately, no one has been able to find the footage since I was told about it.”
“I saw it!” Iris perked up, grabbing the attention of the room. “Not the footage, the real thing! A black dragon flew over the city yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t see it for very long. It came from the island?”
“I’d love to find that out for sure. So, Tristan,” Looker turned back, “what happened there? Did a large dragon really ‘burst out of the lighthouse and fly away’?”
“Yes,” Tristan said, firmly. “But I—”
“Okay, thank you all for your time,” Looker said, folding up his notepad and placing it in his coat. “I believe I have everything I need to continue my investigation for some time, but I do hope you will all consider working with me again if I should ask it of you.”
“Wait,” Tristan said. “There’s more to what happened than just that, though.”
“Oh I already know what happened on the island, down in its basement, and what may or may not have left that island with a certain married couple,” Looker said, smiling. “I only needed to know whether or not a ‘large, black, dragon-like figure’ was seen fleeing the island.” He stood up from the desk and shook Tristan’s hand. “Innocent people have gone missing. People that I believe saw what happened on the island. I’m glad I managed to find you before the same happened to you.”
“What about—?”
Looker cut him off, “They’re safe. Don’t worry.”
The disguised Zoroark assumed Tristan was asking about the Relmsteads, and their precious cargo. “Then what’s happening to these people?” she asked, delighting the detective.
“Now there’s a question I’ll have to answer for myself. It would appear, on the surface, that Team Plasma may be attempting to cover up the ‘incident’ on Liberty Garden Island as best they can, for reasons I can’t quite guess. They don’t want anything about what happened making too much of a public impact.”
“What did happen?” Cheren asked, insistent. “We’re all in this together, and we need as much information on what Team Plasma is after as we can.”
Looker crossed his arms, leaning back on the edge of the desk, “Well, Tristan? Want to bring the rest of the group up to speed?”
Draya could feel Tristan take a big breath, “Alright, but bear with me. This could take a while.”
—————
“…and then the ground beneath us began shaking, the floor cracked, and it came roaring from the basement of the lighthouse.” Bianca, Cheren, and Iris all waited on baited breath for Tristan to continue his recollection of the events on Liberty Garden Island. During his tale, he would notice that Looker would sneak a knowing smile at his direction, and jot down a small note in his notepad every time Tristan lied about what really happened. He felt it necessary to omit anything that would reveal Victini, or Draya’s true identity as a Zoroark and her illusion casting abilities. How Looker seemed to know the truth, Tristan couldn’t know.
He felt conflicted about lying to his trusted friends about what the three of them could consider their shared crusade against Team Plasma. Tristan couldn’t imagine they were any risk of leaking the information to anyone, or that they would be a danger if they knew, but he felt that Victini’s mission—whatever it may be—needed to stay secret.
“So, that big dragon was lying asleep beneath the lighthouse,” Iris said. “Team Plasma must’ve been hunting it for some reason.”
“Any idea what it might’ve been?” Bianca asked Iris.
“What Tristan described—large, black, big claws, breathes fire—it doesn’t really match up with anything I can remember right now. I can’t think of what it might’ve been. That lighthouse was built over two-hundred years ago…” Iris drifted off.
Tristan caught Looker’s eye, who seemed to understand his concern.
“Well then, I think we’ve all spent enough time crammed in here for a few lifetimes,” Looker said, pushing open the door to the tiny office. “You all should do you your best to be careful if you run into Team Plasma again.”
“Are you sure we can’t help anymore Mr. Looker?” Bianca asked.
“You’ve helped plenty, Bianca,” Looker said, walking the four teenagers and disguised Zoroark out of the police station. “I’ll contact you if we need to partner up again!” Looker waved them off, turned around, and walked back into the police station.
Tristan sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. He looked over to his group of friends, and one new acquaintance. He felt a strange absence from them. The three immediately began throwing questions around each other about the past day’s events, as well as the false story he had to tell them.
“What happened to that dragon, I wonder?” Cheren pondered, as he started walking down the street. “Team Plasma was obviously looking for something powerful to use as a weapon. But a dragon?”
“I’ll have to go home and ask my Master about what it could’ve been. He’d know in a second!” Iris said eagerly.
Tristan followed a short ways behind the group, letting them have their conversation without him.
“What’s the matter?” Draya whispered in his ear.
“A part of me feels bad about lying to them about yesterday, but I know I had to,” he said. “They would’ve overreacted about Victini. Wondering where he was now, and well,” Tristan reached up with his right hand and stroked the scaly head of the false Servine on his shoulder. “We don’t want them to know about you yet, right?”
“Definitely not,” she said, rubbing her head against his cheek.
Tristan silently wondered what her real body had done underneath her illusory cloak.
“Cheren, what are you doing? The Pokémon Center is down this road.”
Bianca and Iris were standing at a corner of the sidewalk, Cheren was turned away and intending to walk the opposite way. A surprisingly tense silence filled the late morning air as Cheren held his back to his friends.
“I checked out of the Center before we left, Bianca,” said Cheren, finally turning around. “I’m going to go on my own for a little while.” His voice was calm and plain. At Bianca’s blank stare, he continued, “Look, it’s time we face the facts. I am not strong enough to beat the Shadow Triad. I need to get stronger. I can’t do that if I’m—”
“If you’re what? Being dragged down by me?” Bianca said, walking up to him. “Go on, say it. You think I’m holding you back, right? Is that how you feel about me?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think or feel, you are holding me back. You and Tristan both. I’m always waiting on the two of you to be ready to move when I need you to. I can’t be strong enough to stop Team Plasma if I have to account for the two of you.”
Bianca began to tear up, but shook her head. She shoved Cheren back a few steps, yelling through her tears. “You know what? Just go! Go and get stronger! I don’t need you holding my hand!” She ran off down the road toward the Pokémon center.
“Bianca, wait up!” Iris ran after her. “You’re an idiot Cheren!”
Tristan and Cheren stood on the street corner watching the two girls slowly fade from their vision. They looked at each other for a tense moment before anything broke the silence.
“You gigantic ass,” Draya hissed.
“Oh you be quiet,” Cheren spat back. “I don’t need to hear anything you have to say.”
“Well maybe you should start listening!” Tristan said, walking up to his friend, grabbing his shirt in his fists. “What the hell is your problem all of a sudden!? How could you say those things to Bianca?”
“How can you not face the truth about this?” Cheren said, pushing Tristan away from him. “She isn’t a strong battler; she needs extensive training, and a lot of it. I cannot spend the time coddling her, and you shouldn’t either.” He righted his posture and fixed his glasses. “I could wipe the sidewalk with your whole team right now, you know. You need to get stronger too, and you won’t if you don’t stop wasting your time and effort like you have been.”
“When did you get so cruel?” Tristan asked. “How are we supposed beat Plasma if we’re at each other’s throats? We’re supposed to be friends.”
“Is that so? Sorry, I seemed to have missed that part when you sat in that office back there and lied to our faces about what happened to you yesterday,” said Cheren, glaring through his glasses. “Go ahead and deny it, but I can tell. We’ve known each other for years. When you lie to someone you can’t keep eye contact. Like you’re doing right now.”
Tristan fought to keep his gaze on his friend’s, but lost his resolve. He hung his head, staring at the ground between the two of them.
“I don’t know how much of yesterday you’re keeping secret, but right now I don’t care.” Cheren turned around, and started walking up the road away from Tristan. “You should go challenge Burgh at the gym before you leave, but I wouldn’t stay in the city too long. Plasma is targeting civilians after all. They’re probably looking for us too. Bianca should be fine… if she sticks with Iris.”
Tristan stared down at the sidewalk and listened to his friend’s footsteps grow further away. He clenched his fists, unable to move. It wasn’t until a purple line of sparkling light circled him, and Draya’s true form appeared in front of him, that he looked away from his feet.
They didn’t say anything to each other. The look in her eyes showed her concern for him. Tristan wrapped his arms around her back, burrowing his face in the fur on her chest. The two of them held one another in an embrace unseen by the other humans and Pokémon passing by.
After a few minutes passed, Tristan’s mind seemed to switch back to the present. He lifted his head up and looked to Draya, “Wait, who did Cheren say the Gym Leader was?”
—————
To Be Continued…
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- 10
- 11
- 12
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Vines of Deceit