Dastardly Desires (Chapter 13) (Patreon)

Wind ruffles my hair as I float in the sky, arms crossed over my chest, down below I can see numerous elemental attacks arcing across the beach. 

Dragon girl is... running for her life, it appears. But there's no way out of the lagoon so it's all for naught. 

She's doing surprisingly well, actually. 

With just two pokemon she is fighting against an expansive crew of pokemon. 

There are... perhaps sixteen of the smugglers still alive. The crazed dragon girl making quick work of five of them. 

Pangoro, Drowzee, Houndoom, there's even a Pansage. 

Those are among the more impressive ones. 

For every mildly impressive pokemon, there's three others which are rather pathetic, such as a Fletchling, Poochyena, or Rattata. 

Flash 

The Drowzee teleports behind the girl, she turns in surprise recoiling back as it begins to wave its fingers in front of its face. 

"Ngh-" Zinnia grunts, trying to cover her face to avoid the hypnosis attack. 

If I had a nickel for every time I met a mentally unstable girl from Pokemon Omega Ruby... i'd have two nickels... which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, huh? 

Regardless, the Hypnosis abruptly ends as the Drowzee is now finding itself very dead thanks to a large set of blade-like ghost type energy claws that had just slashed through its neck, nearly decapitating it entirely. 

It flops to the ground as Loki sits there in his Jolteon form, purple eyes gazing at the red eyed girl. 

He sinks into the earth, a shadow, almost completely invisible in this darkness, and only barely revealed by the light of the full moon overhead, snakes throughout the Lagoon. 

Birds are snatched from the air, large bipedal pandas light up the night as they are struck with tremendous bolts of electricity, dropping to its knees, eyes hollow and entire body smoking. 

It is a massacre. 

Shadow balls, swift stars, entire fucking limbs go flying everywhere. 

One of the men let out a shout of terror as he rushes towards the edge of the boat, preparing to dive off into the water. 

A large hand made of ghost type energy snags his leg, slamming him on the side of the boat with a brutal crunch and a spray of blood. 

The black-haired girl has brought her pokemon back, the twin dragon types floating around her protectively. 

Loki dismantles the pokemon in mere minutes. Taking full advantage of the darkness and hit-and run tactics. 

And now... 

All is quiet... 

"So. Who are you?" I call out, gazing down at the girl. 

Her head snaps up as I drift down, landing on the beach with a gentle crunch. 

"Wh- a- a Psychic?!" The girl mutters. 

Her eyes stray to the bloody Jolteon that forms beside me, then back to my face. 

"Who are you?" She shoots back. 

"Xander Welsh." I reply evenly. 

"Welsh?!" The girl gasps, eyes widening. "You mean you're part of the Welsh tribe?!" 

She brings a hand to her chest, seemingly much more trusting now. "I am Zinnia Draconid!" 

"Hm... Let me tell you one thing... I'm no part of any tribe... I've been an orphan for as long as I remember... but, I suppose that is a lead... I thank your for that at least." I shrug idly. 

'does my body have a deeper history than what I was given? That is... unusual...' 

I look down to my Jolteon. "You. Go take a dip in the ocean. You're not coming back inside until you wash up a bit." 

"Jol-tee." He cheers as he prances off, diving head-first into the water. 

I let out a small huff of amusement as he disappears under the water's surface. 

"You... are an orphan?" The girl whispers, face falling sightly. "I... see..." 

"She is disappointed, wanting to seek out this 'clan' for... something..." 

Merlin is getting surprisingly good at communicating telepathically. 

I walk forwards slowly, only to pause as the Shelgon begins snarling. 

"Shhh, Shelly, calm down. He helped us." The girl begins to shush the dragon type, gently petting it. 

"So, Draconid?" I ask as I pause a short ten feet away. "If I remember correctly, you're a... nomadic tribe from Hoenn? You're pretty far from home. What are you doing all the way out here in the Decolore islands?" 

"I... am looking for additions for my team." 

"That isn't the full truth." 

"I see. Trying to get to Unova?" I ask. 

"Yes." She nods once. 

"Truth." 

My eyes trail down her leg to the spiral of metal around her ankle. 

Some sort of anklet coil in the vague shape of the legendary pokemon Rayquaza in its head, is a little rainbow gem. 

"A keystone, huh." I hum, causing the girl to stiffen slightly. "But judging how you didn't use it despite the circumstances... you must not have an Altariaite..." 

"She is on guard. Preparing to attack you should you try and take it from her." 

My eyes stray to her Shelgon. "A Salamenceite, then?" 

"Eh, doesn't really matter to me." I shrug. 

"Yes. She has it." 

"Wait- how- how much do you know?!" 

"About Mega evolution? I know of quite a few pokemon capable of it." I begin slowly.  

"I see." She notes before letting out a long sigh. "Well, you did sort of save me there, so I guess I can cast aside a lot of my suspicion." 

"Mildly truthful. She is still wary of you but isn't going to be seriously interrogating you." 

"We both killed people tonight. If I go down, you go down, sound fair?" I shrug. 

"Yeah yeah." She waves off. "It was self defense." 

"You're pretty cold hearted, hm?" I hum. 

"Are you really one to talk?" She raises an eyebrow. "You sent that damned... thing at them." 

"Well, to be fair, I don't really care for criminals on my lawn... more specifically the ones that plan to rape some random stowaway girl and then human traffic her. I don't really care about crime, but that is genuinely just distasteful." 

"Mhn?" The girl hums with a half-lidded stare. 

"So... is this your island?" She asks. 

"The Lagoon is... and considering that it is the only way to get up to the island itself beyond a flying type... yes, I'd say that this is my island." 

"Would you be fine with me looking around for a bit?" 

"She searches for possible dragon type pokemon." 

"There's no dragon type pokemon here, sadly. I've already checked." I shake my head. "The closest you'd probably get would be the Nidokings up near the north side. I don't mind if you look around but temper your expectations a bit." 

"Hm..." The girl hums. 

"If you're looking to get to Unova, though. I can take you there." 

"You can?" She questions. 

"Yeah. I'm going to be heading that way in a couple of hours. I've got a pokemon that could teleport us over in an instant. And if you help me move the bodies, I'll let you stay at my place for the night." 

"Let me stay at your place, huuuh, do I have to worry about myself while I'm there? Perhaps you are leading me into a false sense of security so I let my guard down and you can enact all your dark fantasies on my HOT body?" 

"She is flirting." 

'yes, that's fucking obvious'. 

"But isn't being serious. She is using it to get a better read on your personality" 

"I am going to destroy that statement with facts and logic... one. There are no police here. No people besides us. If I really wanted to do something to you, after watching what my Jolteon did, do you really think you could stop him? Next. If I wanted to, don't you think I would have one: waited until you were knocked out by all of these guys to take you, or two: waiting until your pokemon were more battle damaged?" 

"She thinks those points are fair, just a little weird to bring up like that... she is attributing it to you being alone out here." 

"Though, I will admit, you are fairly attractive. But rape is disgusting." I flatly deadpan. 

"F-Fairly attractive?! I am AT LEAST an eight out of ten!" 

"She is slightly offended." 

"Oh sure. Definitely." I nod slowly. "But I know literally nothing about you and you did sort of say 'Now I won't feel bad about this' before you murdered that guy, implying that you have murdered people before and have felt bad about it. Frankly, I'm being far more trusting than I should in this scenario." 

"She is mildly embarrassed." 

"Then why are you?" The girl questions. 

"Huh. Good question." I hum. "Well, there's a few reasons. You are a dragon trainer from the Draconid clan, a clan that is basically the blackthorn clan of Hoenn, being in your good graces would probably have a whole host of benefits, not to mention you have a keystone and seemingly know how to use it, making you part of a very exclusive group. Next. I lack friends." 

"You lack friends." The girl repeats. 

"She is noting that her earlier assumptions are correct." 

"Yep. I've only got one person that I vaguely trust... and considered we just committed around a dozen counts of Homicide together, perhaps I could trust you." 

"That's Hilariously Naive." 

"She is telling the truth. I do not believe her to be a danger to your life. She wants to repay the favor in saving her." 

"Yes. But you strike me as one of those 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few' type of girl." I watch her stiffen again, hands clenching slightly, her face becoming guarded. "So... what actually brings you to Unova, Zinnia Draconid?" 

"A life-ending meteor is going to strike Hoenn sometime soon and I am looking through hoenn for potential team members which I could use to impress the legendary pokemon Rayquaza." She frowns. 

"..." 

"..." 

"Truth..." 

"FUCK." I curse. 

I hoped I was wrong, clinging to the very slim chance that I was mistaken... but I wasn't. 

"You believe me just like that?" She raises an eyebrow. 

"Well, I've had a Psychic type reading your surface thoughts this entire time and telling me whenever you lied." 

She flinches back. "What?! That's a horrible breach of my privacy!" 

"We're on an island... in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to wake up being shivved by some psycho bitch I let into my home because she was mildly attractive." 

"..." 

"Her thoughts are guarded." 

"That is... fair... also don't call me a psycho bitch." 

"Oh, no. I was generalizing." I shrug idly. "Regardless, I believe I am going to take part in my favorite pass time... looting. Can you help me get all the bodies onto one of the boats?" 

"Fine." She relents. 

~~Linebreak~~

My shoes thud on the metal deck of the ship as I gaze around slowly. 

"Drugs. Illegal and dangerous Medicine. Numerous sealed containers of Rage Powder. Methinks that this was going to an underground pokemon fighting ring. Why those would even be a thing, when pokemon tournaments are both a staple of society and televised frequently, I don't know." 

"These are likely fights to the death..." Zinnia frowns, gazing past me at the boxes upon boxes of rage powder. "Some sick freaks want the thrill of watching the life leave a pokemon's eyes..." 

"If I had my way, I'd be having the thrill of watching the life leave their eyes." I scoff. 

"Honestly, same. But I don't have time to seek out each and every little underground fighting ring to dish out vigilante justice." The girl scoffs. "I'll leave that till after I save the world like a damned hero!" 

"Haah. Fuck." I lowly curse. "I guess I should help out with that since I like being alive. So, like, what are your plans exactly?" 

"I will get pokemon strong enough for Rayquaza to acknowledge me." She declares. 

"I don't even know where to begin with that..." I sigh. "You think a legendary pokemon will respect you because you have like... what... a Salamence?" 

"Well what would YOU do?" 

"Well, there's two possible options. The First option is that I would first get something attainable. Mega Salamence is a good start, sure, but you need to think. Legendary pokemon bend reality itself. Psychic types can use their psychic powers on dark types. Plus they can just sometimes flat out ignore attacks from pokemon strong enough to be a champion's ace pokemon." 

I turn. "You see, there are tiers to Legendary pokemon. For every Rayquaza, there's a Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. For every Lugia, there's Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres. There's several 'tiers' to legendary pokemon. Rayquaza is the strongest out of a trio of pokemon that dominate the land, sea, and air. Thus, he is pretty high up there. So. The first thing you should consider doing... would be to try and track down a weaker legendary pokemon and work your way up." 

"..." 

"What is option two?" The girl frowns. 

"Ah. That's the thing... what's your opinion on genetic alteration?" I question. 

"..." 

"What?" She blinks. 

"Genetically altering pokemon. What's your opinion on that?" I ask. 

"It is... wrong?" 

"Why?" 

"To decide each and every aspect of a pokemon before it is born... that- that is playing god..." 

"Let me ask you this, then. How is this any different than Porygon... the digital pokemon." I smirk. 

"That is- it can't reproduce normally. It's not a real pokemon. Just... a really convincing fake." She decides after a moment of consideration. 

"Then what about pokemon breeding?" I ask. 

"W-What? How is that in any way related to genetic alteration." 

"Because they are LITERALLY the exact same concept. One just takes longer and is far more complicated! You breed two pokemon together repeatedly until you find a child with good traits you wish to pass on. Then you breed it with another specially chosen pokemon who has good traits until you get a pokemon with both of said traits. Then, you take that pokemon and breed it with another until you get even more traits and so on." 

"On one side, you have dozens upon dozens of pokemon bred, sold, and probably even killed. And on the other, you have one successful pokemon with the traits you want... genetic alteration is less cruel than breeding." 

The girl stares at the floor for a long moment. 

"Genetically altered pokemon are unstable... they tend to have disabilities and genetic defects." 

"Oh please. You know as well as I do that the only reason they'd have genetic defects is if the person doing the cloning is a fucking moron. And it's not like pokemon aren't born with defects. Blindness, deafness, some might even have a disabled leg. You just don't really hear about it, because I assume the ones that are born that way are taken out back with a rusty hatchet and buried."  

"You- You are making it sound like you want to pursue genetically modifying pokemon." The girl observes. 

"And so what if I do? Do you have time to breed a perfect Salamence? Do you have time to find a breed pair of dragon types to create your perfect pokemon to impress Rayquaza?" 

"..." 

"I see your point." The girl sighs. "I take it that you are studying the genetics of pokemon?" 

"I know enough." I reply evenly. 

"..." 

"You also appear to know quite a bit about legendary pokemon... what would you recommend?" 

"Honestly?" I begin quietly. "You have two real options. First, find a Latios or Latias. There are several of each. Plus, they are among one of the only legendary pokemon that can Mega Evolve." 

"Okay? And the second?" 

"In Unova... there's a tale of two brothers... the two brothers had an incredibly powerful pokemon... but, they had a disagreement-" 

"Oh! The dragon of Truth and Ideals! I remember! Grannie used to tell me that story all the time!" The girl exclaims. 

She ponders for a moment. "So the twin dragon's exist, hm?" 

"Three." 

"Huh?" 

"It's three dragons." I repeat. 

"..." 

"The original dragon broke, becoming white and black... complete pokemon... but, there is a third... the remains... the grey. A pokemon that ceaselessly hungers, searching for its missing pieces so it might one day assume its perfect form once again." 

"Assume... its perfect form, you say?" Zinnia grins, a slightly mad glint appearing in her eye. 

"If you plan to go after Kyurem... I won't stop you. But you are going to fucking die... it is a dragon-ice type and it is by far the most power of the three. The most violent as well. It's mind was utterly shattered. Torn asunder. Half going to one part, half going to the other. It is nothing more than a primal and violent pokemon that lacks any form of remorse, empathy, or emotion at all. It just... hungers." 

"But... If I can get it it's missing pieces..." The girl begins slowly. "It'll regain it's mind, right?" 

"Or it could say forever shattered and you just made it vastly more powerful." 

"Hmmm." The girl hums to herself. "This little search got a lot more in-ter-est-ing~" 

"You can't seriously expect to tame it, right?" 

"Don't need to." The girl shakes her head, a near feral grin appearing on her face. "After all... I have you. I just need to make them BLEED, then you can combine them, then cook up a clone, yeah?" 

"Ah... sure?" I shrug. "But first... can you tell me about... the Welsh tribe?" 

She looks over me, a frown appearing on her lips. "Huh... I can do that." 

THUD 

She turns, gazing over her shoulder, eyes widening. 

"That... would be my third pokemon. Don't worry." 

"Sir." His modular voice echoes out as his loud heavy footsteps trail down the stairs. "I have taken a look at the navigation data of the ships... the cargo originates from the Hoenn city of Slateport and is set for transfer to the Unovan city of Driftveil." 

"What the fresh hell is THAT?!" The girl hisses. 

"Unova, huh?" I hum before turning to Zinnia. "And to answer your question... it is a Rotom controlling a robotic suit of armor. 

"Additionally, I have collected whatever identification that I am able. Five of the twelve wallets I have recovered reveal that the targets are a notable part of the pokemon rights group Team Plasma." Jarvis informs. 

A frown tugs at my lips. "So... it's rather safe to assume that this is a result of team plasma." 

"Team plasma?" Zinnia echoes. 

"Oh, they're a pokemon rights organization that absolutely 'abhors the abusing nature in which we bind our pokemon into pokeballs and force them to fight for our amusement'!" I mockingly cry. 

"Yet... they are funding illegal battling rings?" She frowns. 

"Well, I mean, obviously. You don't think they actually mean what they are saying, do you? It's just a 'righteous cause people can get behind!' They are 'freedom fighters displaying their love for pokemon!' And, well, people are a lot keener on supporting a group combatting injustices if said injustices are actually happening." 

"My main thought..." I continue. "Is if they are doing all this... surely they must have a deeper goal. It would be utterly pointless to cause problems only for your organization to immediately solve them... there's a deeper meaning to their actions. I just need to figure out what." 

"Jarvis, can you scan the surroundings and see if there's anything useful?" I question. 

"Yes. Give me a moment, sir... and I have prepared the explosives." 

"Explosives?" Zinnia mutters. 

"I plan to grab what I want from these corpse-filled ships, then send it off into open water, at which point a timed explosive will send everything down to the bottom of the sea." 

"..." 

"Huh. That's convenient." She admits after a moment of silence. 

~~Linebreak~~

Pov: elsewhere. 

A black haired girl looks over a boy with whitish blue hair as he sits on a couch. 

"So, like, they were a nomadic clan like the Draconids of Hoenn?" 

"Apparently a few hundred years ago, the clans were quite close." She continues. "But they weren't specialists like the Draconids. More generalists." 

She is... unsure if this guy is a real Welsh or not. It's possible... it's certainly possible. 

But even if he isn't... he's alone... 

Just like her... 

And unlike her, he was given no secret training techniques. No starter pokemon. No support growing up. 

"Was... was there any location that they tended to stay at?" 

"I'm afraid that I don't know." She shakes her head. 

This is a little sad, in a way. He's looking for a family he never had... 

Normally, with boys like this, she could just flutter her eyelashes a bit and they'd be putty in her hands. 

She'd never put out. Hell, not even kiss someone. She's waiting for 'the one she's fated to be with' y'know... plus, at the moment, she doesn't really have time to date. With the world at stake and all. Buut... even if she was, he seems a bit too smart for that to even work... 

Plus, he genuinely doesn't deserve it. He saved her life and she respects the hell out of that. He might have called her out with that 'needs of the many' line, but she's not going to just going to steal from toss aside someone who saved her life. That'd ruin her pride as a dragon trainer! 

Plus, unlike those muscle brained idiots who take one look at her body and get distracted... he's actually useful. He may not be the Lorekeeper for the Welsh tribe, but with how much knowledge is in his head, he might as well be. 

"I see." He whispers. 

The last Draconid... and the potential last Welsh... teaming up to put a stop to the grand meteor... it's sort of poetic in a way. 

Genetic alteration... 

He has a point with it, honestly. 

With the way people treat pokemon like Lechonk, Tauros, and Ducklet in the food industry. Is genetic alteration really such an issue? 

Reasonably, a lot of the problems with that industry could be solved with one little tweak... make the pokemon bigger! 

Now, she's not one of those plant munching types, meat is a very important and enjoyable aspect of her diet. But there's no reason for multiple pokemon to suffer if one would be enough." 

At least through coming here she got a clearer idea for a plan going forwards instead of just 'Get strong. Do thing. Impress Rayquaza.' 

The dragon of Ideals, Truth, and the one left behind, huh? 

Yeah. That'll be a good start. 

Maybe even find a Latios or Latias as they can apparently mega evolve. 

First she just needs to craft a decent team... then she punches up at the dragons of truth and ideals enough to get them to bleed a little... then collect said blood and come back here. 

She doesn't know how long she has until the meteor strikes. It could be a year, it could be several decades. She just... doesn't know. 

"Sir." The wall itself seems to speak, a small face appearing on the surface of a nearby Tv. 

A rotom is an... interesting pokemon. 

To take over technology like that... she can see why it's such a valuable pokemon. Plus, it can learn to speak human speech. That makes it quite unique. 

"Yes, Jarvis?" The strange teen turns. 

"I have located the data you were looking for." It informs. 

"Oh yeah? Already?" He questions. 

"Indeed. There are two groups of asteroid which will pass by the planet, visible by the region of hoenn... with a meteor that could very well destroy all life on the planet, that is... the first... will pass in five minutes." 

"..." 

"The next, the 'grand meteor delta' you spoke of... shall be at its closest point to the planet in seven years... at which point it shall continue off into space... after that, it is a further one hundred years before any asteroid of sufficient size" 

The black haired girl turns to look at the greyish haired boy. He turns to look at her. 

"Huh..." He hums. "So. Two real possible outcomes... the first, we feel a tremendous shockwave any minute now at which point, it's likely we won't exactly die immediately." 

"Or, its the later one." The girl sighs, rubbing her temples. "Seven years... that- that isn't that much time. I-I don't know if it'll be enough." 

"It'll be enough." The teen nods slowly. "I'll need to advance a few plans and experiment a bit, but I should be able to accomplish everything." 

"Well. That is. If it isn't the one in five minutes." He shrugs. "Speaking on that... if the sky does turn red and get full of ash... want to fuck?" 

"..." 

"I'd be down. It'll probably be the last thing I ever do and eh, if I came here during my last days, I guess we were fated to die together." The girl shrugs. 

"..." 

The seconds tick along as the girl taps her fingers on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. 

Eventually minutes pass. 

"Well. We didn't die. I'm going to bed. You can sleep wherever, though." Xander announces as he rises to his feet. 

"I'll be here on the couch." Zinnia states, wrapping herself up in her cloak and flopping to the side. 

"I... see... Good night, then." The boy replies as he turns and walks out of the room. 

~~Linebreak~~

Well, Patreon is doing something fucking annoying now. it made literally every word in this chapter that I copied from my documents bolded.