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The sun had begun to set at Syzoth arrived it Petalburg City. Now that he had reached a populated area, he no longer felt as compelled to look over his shoulder as he paced the roads. The sooner he could find the nearest Pokemon Center, the sooner he could allow himself to breathe. He stopped to look down into his bag and fished for whatever money he had. A sigh of relief left him when he realized it would get him and his pokemon through the next few days.
After having reserved a room for himself at the local Pokemon Center, he sat at a booth against the wall and watched as his pokemon ate their food. They were a well behaved bunch, his Sceptile, Krokorok, Carnivine and Haxorus. The one exception was his newest addition, his Scraggy. Compared to the rest, who have all grown and matured with their trainer, Scraggy was still a baby, complete with the energy and curiousity that came with that. While the others all took their time to eat quietly and neatly, Scraggy had scarfed down its food in the hopes that one of the others would play with it.
"Let them rest, Scraggy," Syzoth said, his voice gentle. "It has been a while since we have been able to catch out breath." Scraggy conceded and sighed, then sat down. Syzoth watched his pokemon with sympathetic eyes and made a note to himself. He would have to take Scraggy to a pokemon park to play when possible.
The quiet wooshing of the automatic sliding door beckoned Syzoth's attention and he watched as a woman in white and gold, with long black hair and big, striking, dark eyes walked into the Pokemon Center. An Absol walked by her side as she approached the desk. Syzoth couldn't help but trace the delicate sillouhette of her face as she looked down into her bag to reach for five pokeballs. If he had been able to look away from her, he might have seen that his Scraggy had once again stood up. Its little hands held onto the pants-like layer of skin surrounding its hips and pulled it up to clutch to its chest as it waddled over to the Absol.
Syzoth looked down at it, mortified as it glared up at the Absol and gave a threatening growl. "Scraggy!" Syzoth whispered with a hiss. "Come back over here!" He felt himself grow warm as the white-and-gold-clad trainer glanced down at his pokemon as it harassed hers. Her Absol paid Scraggy no mind and stood still, as though Scraggy had never approached it to begin with. Syzoth watched his pokemon grow frustrated that it was being ignored and it raised its hands up to try and appear menacing as it attempted another growl. Its pants-like layer of skin fell back down to its hips, elliciting a small laugh from Absol's trainer as she watched on. Syzoth frowned and stood up, then walked over to pick his pokemon up. "Be nice," Syzoth chided. "That poor Absol hasn't done anything to you."
"It's quite alright," the woman said as she reached an idle hand down to pet her pokemon's head. Syzoth's gaze wandered from Scraggy to the woman's as he adjusted his hold to cradle Scraggy. Her eyes were large and inviting as she looked up at him. "Absol knows it was just playing." She looked from Syzoth to Scraggy with a smile. "You're rather exciteable, aren't you?" Happy to have attention now, Scraggy gave a delighted purr. The woman gave a small laugh and reached out to stroke its cheek, though not without glancing up at Syzoth. "Not to mention adorable." She once again met Syzoth's gaze. "Your Scraggy is very well cared for," she observed before smiling back down at it. "It loves you very much."
Syzoth raised his eyebrows. "You can tell that?" he asked. He looked down at the pokemon in his arms to see that it was looking up at him with an innocent curiosity.
"Call it intuition," the woman said. "My name is Ashrah. Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Ashrah," he responded, trying out her name. "I am Syzoth."
The world seemed to have stopped their gazes met once again. Syzoth wasn't sure if their shared pause lasted for one second or one hour before her gaze drifted to a spot behind him. "Most of your pokemon aren't native to this region. You must have traveled far to get here."
Syzoth grew cautious as he thought of a response. "Y-yes. We are just passing through," he said. "We have been traveling together for quite some time."
"I see," she said. Syzoth was relieved she didn't ask anything further.
"It was nice talking to you." He gave her a friendly smile before looking down at his Scraggy. "Let's leave Ashrah and her pokemon to see the nurse now."
"Wait," she said before he could turn away. "When we are done here, why don't the two of us have a friendly battle?"
"A battle...?" he echoed. Scraggy gave an enthusiastic chirp at the idea and clapped its hands. Syzoth looked down and gave it an uneasy look. "I...don't know..." Scraggy frowned and protested, lightly tapping Syzoth's arm. It wasn't hard for him to interpret what that was supposed to mean. "...are you sure? You have never battled before."
"Scraggy seemed very interested in battling Absol," Ashrah offered. "I promise nothing bad will happen to it."
Syzoth pressed his lips together in thought before sighing. "Alright then. We can battle."
Ashrah smiled. "Excellent. We can do it at my gym."
"Your...gym..." Syzoth's stomach dropped with the realization. She's a gymleader... "Uhm...yes, of course. We will see you there then." He gave a quick nod and a polite smile before turning away to rejoin his pokemon. Anxiety settled in his stomach as the thought of battling a gymleader now. His pokemon were strong but admittedly it has been a while since any of them have had any friendly battles. He really had no idea how they would fare.
The time for their battle had come and gone. The initial trepidation passed after they had begun, and Ashrah was a gracious host. She was good at making him feel comfortable, which in turn made him even more worried he would make a fool of himself. To his surprise though, his last pokemon, his Haxorus, was still standing. He had beaten her Absol, Rapidash, Honedge, and Swablu. If memory served, she still had one more pokemon left for him to fight. After having called back her defeated Swablu, a graceful smile spread on her face.
"It seems we have our winner," she announced as she placed the pokeball back in her bag. "Well done!"
Syzoth's stance relaxed and he exchanged a questioning look with his Haxorus before looking at her with confusion. What about the last one? he wondered to himself. "Um...thank you," he said. She rummaged for another moment through her bag before producing a small box. She then approached him with it and presented its contents.
"For defeating me here today, I bestow upon you the Seraph badge," she said as she opened the box. Inside was an enamel pin shaped like a pair of angel wings. They were colored pearlescent, with the feathers outlined in gold. "Wear it proudly."
Syzoth raised his eyebrows before looking up at Ashrah. "I'm honored," he began. "but I can't accept this. I'm not registered in the Pokemon League."
Ashrah shook her head and removed the badge from its box. "You don't have to be," she insisted as she removed the badge from the box. "You could just keep it for the memory." She stepped forward and met his gaze. "May I?" Syzoth glanced to the side and paused before nodding. He felt his face warm as Ashrah reached forward and gently fastened the badge to his vest. "There, perfect."
Syzoth sat on his bed and faced the window. In the moonlight from between the cracks in his blinds, he held out the badge he had earned from Ashrah and stared at it idly while lost in thought. Ever since he had escaped from Professor Shang Tsung's laboratory, he tried as hard as he could to keep a low profile. The less people who paid attention to him, the better. Being on the move constantly, never staying in one place, he often felt lonely.
Syzoth heard a small pop from afar, followed by the sounds of small feet waddling across the floor of his room. The blanket was taut beneath him as Scraggy climbed up to join him on the bed. The corners of Syzoth's lips pricked up into a smile as his pokemon sat in his lap, then taking the badge into its hands to look at. "Yes, it's quite beautiful, isn't it?" Syzoth said in a soft voice as he placed a gentle hand on its head. "You fought well today. I'm very proud of you."
Scraggy purred and looked up at Syzoth with wonder in its eyes in response to the praise. Syzoth loved all his pokemon dearly. Many of them have been with him ever since he first started raising pokemon. However, for reasons he couldn't place, he found that he had a level of fondness for Scraggy he didn't think he'd ever felt before. Perhaps it was because Scraggy was his youngest pokemon. Or perhaps it was because saving his Scraggy from the hardships that it faced before caused him to be even more protective of it than he was with his other pokemon.
Scraggy placed the badge back in Syzoth's hand. "She was very kind," Syzoth said as he looked at the badge again. "Apparently, they call her the Angel of Hoenn. It was just our luck that she would take interest in us of all people." Silence fell over them for a brief moment before Syzoth frowned at the shadows passing over his window from outside. He shifted closer and widened the gap in his blinds to get a better look. He saw Ashrah speed-walking toward the forest, her hand clutching her bag to her and her expression intense. Syzoth frowned as he saw her look over her shoulder before continuing on. Once she had disappeared from his view, Syzoth noticed two men in black uniforms who appeared to be following her from the shadows.
"That doesn't look good," Syzoth said before looking down at Scraggy. "She...might need our help," he said, his voice hesitant. On one hand, he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved. But on the other, what if she was in trouble? How could he forgive himself if she got hurt or worse when he could have done something to stop it? He pressed his lips together and thought for a moment before standing up, before he could convince himself otherwise. "Come on."
Syzoth slung his bag across his chest, pulled his hood over his head, and left his room with Scraggy sitting on his shoulder. Just as those two men stuck to the shadows, so, too, did Syzoth. He watched and followed as they tailed Ashrah into the forest, careful so as not to snap any branches that would give him away. Eventually, he stopped behind some bushes and watched. Ashrah stood with her back to him as the other two men stood opposite her. Syzoth's heart sunk as he took in their appearances. Though it took him a moment to realize it, one of them was Professor Shang Tsung. Syzoth and Scraggy exchanged uneasy looks and Scraggy gave a quiet, frightened whimper, its grip on Syzoth tightening. Syzoth gave it a look of sympathy and took it into his arms. "It's alright," he whispered. "I won't let him touch you."
"Neither of you can take a hint, it seems," Ashrah said with disdain, calling Syzoth's attention back to the scene. "Have you no shame, following a lone woman at night? Into a forest, no less."
"It seems that you should have prepared for trouble," Shang Tsung said.
"And make that double," the bald man beside him added. Ashrah stared at the two for a moment in silence. "Really, Ashrah?" he continued, his voice taunting. "Don't tell me you've forgotten me after all the years we've known each other."
So she's...one of them...? Syzoth wondered.
"...Quan Chi...?" she finally asked. A soft scoff passed through her nose and she put a hand on her hips. "I can't say that that henchman's uniform suits you."
"And whose fault is it that I am forced to wear it?" The bald man, Quan Chi, retorted. "I was demoted because of you and your meddling."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ashrah responded in an even tone.
"Oh, please," Quan Chi rolled his eyes as he reached for a pokeball on his belt. "You never were a good liar."
"Suicune disappears at the same time that you do, and you expect us to believe that was a coincidence?" Shang Tsung questioned with a disapproving frown on his face, reaching for his own pokeball. "How moronic do you think we are?"
...Suicune...? Syzoth felt lost as he listened to the conversation.
The two men tossed their pokeballs, causing a Dusknoir and an Arbok to appear before them. Syzoth's eyes widened at the sight before he furrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth. He reached down into his bag for his Haxorus's pokeball. "I will give you one chance to give me what I want," Quan Chi said.
"I can't give you what I don't have," Ashrah affirmed.
Deciding he had heard enough, Syzoth stepped out from behind the bush to join Ashrah, releasing his Haxorus. "Leave her alone," Syzoth commanded the two, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. Haxorus gave a threatening growl as it assumed a defensive stance.
"Syzoth?" Ashrah asked, her voice worried. "You shouldn't get involved. Leave, go now!" she urged.
Shang Tsung's eyebrows raised at the sight. "Oh, well isn't that serendipitous? Two traitors for the price of one." He looked at Quan Chi. "It looks like we are both going to get our old jobs back today."
"You know him?" she asked, her tone now incredulous.
"It's a long story," Syzoth responded.
"Enough of this," Quan Chi huffed. "Dusknoir, use bind on Ashrah," he commanded, his tone calm yet it sent chills down Syzoth's spine to hear. He looked back at her helplessly as the opposing Dusknoir's singular red eye began to glow. Ashrah gave a pained grunt. Though nothing was touching her, her arms appeared to be pinned to her sides, and an invisible force appeared to weigh down on her, forcing her down to her knees.
Syzoth once again grit his teeth and turned back around to face his opponents. "Haxorus, use-"
Before he could finish his command, a pop came out of Ashrah's bag. Syzoth could not believe his eyes as he watched the aforementioned Suicune appear before the two of them, its mane and tail flowing majestically as it stood defensively against Ashrah's assailants. "There you are. You were right," Quan Chi praised as he looked to Shang Tsung. "It wouldn't be able to resist coming to her aid."
"Sui-...cune...run!" Ashrah struggled to command it. If it heard her though, it did not listen. Instead, it growled before opening its mouth. A large ring of glowing water formed before it, then projected outward, pushing the Dusknoir back. With its concentration broken, Ashrah's arms were now free for her to catch herself as she collapsed forward to catch her breath.
"Haxorus, use dragon claw on Arbok," Syzoth commanded his pokemon, buying himself time to help Ashrah. He kneeled down beside her with knitted eyebrows, offering her his free hand.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Ashrah looked at him with exhaustion in her eyes, followed by appreciation. She took his hand and nodded. "Thank you."
Syzoth smiled as he helped her up, then looked back at the battlefield, his expression once again turning serious. With their combined efforts, it was not long before Quan Chi and Shang Tsung conceded, with neither of them having anymore pokemon to use.
"This isn't over," Quan Chi threatened. "Suicune will be ours, mark my words." Before Syzoth or Ashrah could say or do anything else, the two of them dashed away.
"Wait!" Syzoth called. He looked back at Ashrah. "We have to go to the police. We have to-"
"No," Ashrah said with a shake of her head. "They're everywhere, we could be putting ourselves and Suicune into their hands unknowingly if we involve anyone else." Syzoth fell silent as his mind raced, unsure of what steps to take next. He watched as Ashrah approached the legendary beast with concern in her eyes. "Are you alright?" Suicune only responded with a low gentle purr. She then hugged its neck. "That was very dangerous. They could have taken you."
Syzoth took a few cautious steps forward to get a better look. "I...never thought I would fight side by side with a legendary pokemon." Suicune looked up at Syzoth and met his gaze, its red eyes piercing as it stared him down. It was clear to him that it was very protective of Ashrah, just as Ashrah seemed to be of him. "Incredible..." Syzoth breathed. "But...how did you come by it?"
Ashrah was silent for a moment. "I...was once a part of Team Outworld. The same team that those two we just fought were from." she confessed. "My sisters and I were raised within the organization from a young age and for most of my life, that was all I knew. Somehow, they were able to capture Suicune and kept it locked away. What they intended to do with it, I don't know." She looked at Suicune and gently combed her fingers though its mane. "In a way, I felt it calling out to me. And I knew it in my heart that letting them keep Suicune would spell disaster, both for it and for the region. Perhaps even the world. So I helped it escape, and ran away with it. I keep it with me for now, to make sure that no one can hurt it or abuse it. At least...until Team Outworld stops being a problem." She sighed. "I had hoped to lead a new life, one where I could help strengthen the bond between people and their pokemon, and one where I could keep Suicune safe and hidden. I did not expect them to find me all the way out here."
Syzoth nodded as he listened to her story, then looked at Suicune again. "The legends say that Suicune bonds with a human who it deems to be worthy of its friendship. I don't think it calling out to you was an accident or a coincidence."
"Is that so?" Ashrah asked with awe in her voice. She smiled down at the legendary pokemon. "I'm honored." Her gaze moved back to Syzoth. "Now it's your turn," she said. "You knew one of those men. Why?"
"Professor Shang Tsung was the pokemon professor of Unova, and I was his assistant. I never suspected anything strange about him. He did what any professor would do, research and help young trainers start their journeys," he recounted. "That was until one day, I learned what was in a room in his lab that he never allowed me to see. Inside of it were all these pokemon stuck in cages stacked to the ceiling. They all appeared miserable, and when I read the notes in there I realized he was experimenting on them. So I broke them all out. That's how I met Scraggy, actually," he said as he looked down at his pokemon in his arms. "Scraggy was one of the pokemon in that room. During all the chaos of the pokemon trying to flee, it got trampled, and was too injured to survive on its own. So I took it in and nursed it back to health myself, and have been on the move ever since. I was never sure what someone as deranged as Shang Tsung would do when he found the person who put a stop to his experiments."
"I see," Ashrah said, her expression sympathetic. She fell silent and thought. "We're two of a kind, it seems."
Syzoth pressed his lips together and nodded. "It would appear that way." It was a bittersweet thought. His predicament was anything but ideal. The idea that someone else understood it firsthand, though, was oddly comforting. "...what are you going to do now that they know where you are?"
Ashrah sighed. "I suppose I have no choice but to leave." She stared in the direction of town with sadness in her eyes. "I'm going to miss it here."
Syzoth thought for a long moment. "What if..." he began, his voice unsure. She looked back at him as he spoke, causing him to feel nervous. "...if you want, I mean..." he began to ramble. "...we could...travel...together...?" he offered, then took a breath. "There's safety in numbers. And...I could help you protect Suicune from anyone who would want to cause it harm."
As Ashrah listened to him speak, her lips spread into a grateful smile. "I would like that." Her gaze met his and for a moment she became serious. "Are you sure though? It might become dangerous. We don't know what lengths they will go to get what they want."
Without hesitation, Syzoth nodded. "I understand. My offer still stands regardless."
She smiled once again and pulled out a pokeball to recall Suicune. "Thank you, Syzoth."
It had been a strange night, though now Syzoth grew excited at what was to come. Being that he would be on the move either way, he was glad now that he had a companion to travel with. It was even better that it was Ashrah.