Silence……………only disturbed by the sound of gentle footsteps on marble flooring. Glass showcases fill the long halls and rooms. Red carpet smack in the middle as far as can see. It looks more like a museum than a house but that is what it is. A mansion of mansions. The high ceilings are highlighted by carvings and classy chandeliers. The lights that normally grace the halls however are not to be found and darkness has taken over except for flashing of light from the group of twelve. The footsteps come to a halt. The leader of the group has his hand upwards and palm facing forward gesturing for the rest to halt. “He is here somewhere, we have to be careful,” he says. Then he turns around to see the others. The sight is ten men with machine guns and flashlights surrounding one. All in different color shirts and pants but the one in the middle has very expensive ones. He seems to be very important. “Don’t worry gustav,” the leader begins once again while looking at the man in the middle. “We are going to get you out of here and everything will be fi..” his head jerks forward and his eyes are wide. The rest look at him to see what’s wrong when they see a circular spot of red in the middle of his forehead. The liquid drips down as the man hits the floor. The rest is confusing. Three more fall now and the group gets restless. They are shouting to the dark and to each other. “Where is he!??” and “Let’s get out of here.” After a minute only three stood again. They look nervously at the bodies on the floor and at the ceiling for any sign of movement. Their fingers more than ready to shoot anything that moves even if it is a curtain. Gustav backs onto the wall while the two guards are right in front of him. Still scared and searching frantically they move sideways trying to reach the door at the end of the hall. Clang!!! They all gasped and looked forward to the source of the noise. Searching for anything. Gustav looks around the ceiling and does not see anything at first. Then he sees something but doesn’t know what. He frowns and squints his eyes to try and make out what it is as the ceiling looks so black. It looked as though part of the ceiling moved. Like it was moving towards them. His eyes widened in fear. “LOOKOUT!!!” he shouted, but it was too late. By the time the guards spun around they were both kicked in the face by a figure dressed in black. Even the face was covered. They tried getting back up but the figure was too quick. It kicked away one guard’s hand from the gun and picked it up. In the same motion it roundhouse kicked the other guard while taking out the clip of the weapon and tossing it aside which landed close to Gustav. Gustav watched the useless weapon before focusing his attention to what was going on. The two disarmed guards were now standing in fighting stances while the figure did the same. The first one let out a fighting yell before he rushed in with a right hand . The figure caught it and twisted it behind his back while the second one rushed in and received a kick to the face. Letting go the man’s arm the figure put its right hand on his chin and left hand behind his head and snapped his neck. Seeing the second guard getting up it rushed into him, pulling him by the shirt while slipping a knife out of its side and slit the man’s neck with incredible speed. When the man hit the floor the figure followed up with a stab to the heart. The black masked person took a few seconds to recuperate until it saw a shadow looming over. The same time it looked around was the same time the butt of the unloaded gun hit the figure square in the face. The figure let out a high pitch yelp and rolled away. Slowly it tried to get back to its feet. Gustav dropped the gun he was holding and went close to the figure. He proceeded to kick the figure many times in the stomach while shouting things like “You think you can kill Gustav” and “I’m more powerful than the president.” The figure was wincing while it still tried to get up. Gustav waited until it was on its knees and hands and let loose a kick to face but the figure caught it. It took his leg and put his calf on its left shoulder while it used its left hand to straighten Gustav’s knee. Then in one swift blow the figure’s right elbow smashed into the kneecap while pushing its left shoulder up causing the leg to bend the other way and some agonizing screams from Gustav. Gustav fell to the floor crying in pain. The figure slowly rose while watching the decapitated man cower in fear. “wh-wh- who sent you?” he asked. “Why did they send you?!” again he got no answer. The figure slowly raised its hand and took off its mask. Gustav watched as the mask came off to reveal something he would never expect. A woman. A beautiful but cold faced woman with flaming red hair. How could she defeat all those men and be a merciless killer. Then it hit Gustav. He knew who she was. “You are the angel of death aren’t you. The one that the head of CIA says will claim the lives of criminals if the law doesn’t. I always thought it was just a saying.” The figure nodded before pulling a gun from its backpack. “Gustav Grandier. You are guilty of drug trafficking and murder. You have been judged by your peers outside of court. You now have the right to remain silent……..” she drew the gun to his head. His eyes widened……. “forever.” His head jerked back as well as the gun. He fell to the floor and a pool of blood soon surrounded his head. There was silence again until faint sirens could be heard. The woman sighed. “time to get out of here.” With that she sprinted to a pillar and pushed her legs off to send her through a window. The revving of a motor cycle could be heard but soon it too was gone and all that was left was sirens and a bloody massacre. “In our top story today, known drug lord Gustav Grandier was killed along with eleven of his bodyguards. The killers left no evidence of their identity but the police believe it was drug related. Grandier was acquitted on charges just last week when he said the police could not touch him. We go to the scene where mic….” The screen goes black as it switched off. In the room there is a nicely finished table with three people on it. One has glasses and black hair. He wears a business suit and sits with a high degree of dignity. The other is a strong looking man in a brown suit with a remote in his hand. He has brown spiky hair and squinty eyes. “I guess that is why you are the best, rain,” he says to the third one. The third one is a slender woman, with red hair, and curved in all the right places. She has on a working blouse with a jacket over it and a skirt. All are dark blue. “Thank you sir,” she says although her cold features do not change and her aqua eyes give the feeling it could freeze the sun. “hmmm,” the spiky haired man nodded. “Tracey, you are dismissed. I’d like to talk to Rain alone,” he says to the first man with glasses. Tracey nods at his two friends and leaves the room. “Is this another mission briefing sir?” rain says with her features non-emotional. The older man chuckles. “Twenty-four years old and you can hide your emotions better than any of us. Yes this is a mission briefing but I’d prefer we kept it on a casual bases Misty.” Rain/Misty looks at the man and nods. “Ok Brock.” Brock smiles and tells her to come to him. She does as he says and stands next to him while looking at the screen. He uses the remote and the picture comes up again. A man is shown and immediately one can see in Misty’s eyes the sadness and rage of a thousand nuclear bombs. Her facial expressions however do not change until she speaks. “Please say I get to kill him Brock,” she squeezes through gritted teeth so fierce that even Brock shivers. He turns to her with a soft look and speak softly but sternly. “Yes he is your target Misty. But I am wondering if to give you this assignment. I think that lately you actually believe that killing is normal. That you have forgotten we only do it to protect others.” Misty looked at him. She knew not what to say as she knew he was telling the truth. Brock spoke again. “I know you want to kill A.J. after what he did to Erika.” She closed her eyes upon hear that but the cold features remained. Brock continued. “but she was my friend too and I have not lost sight of what we do. I’ll only give you this mission if you promise me something.” Misty looking at the screen asked him absentmindedly what it was. He replied, “Only if you promise to quit being a CIA agent after this.” Misty turned to face Brock and he could almost see her lips turning into a smile but she stopped that immediately. Looking into her eyes however he saw the love and admiration she had for him. He was her unofficial big brother after all. “Thanks for caring Brock.” He nodded while putting his hand on her shoulder. She responded by putting hers on his. Brock was the only Misty would open up to besides Gary. Gary was her brother-in-law as well as a teammate in the CIA. They were the only ones that could actually make her laugh although not often. “There is a catch to this mission though Misty,” Brock said. Misty turned towards him. “Figures. What is it this time.” Brock sighed deeply before saying, “You’re going to need a partner.” He saw her mouth tremble until she couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. “You really need to get a life Brock. Is that it?” Brock just shrugged his shoulders. After a while Misty was back to no emotions and said, “I’ll take Gary with me.” Brock started being a little fidgety, “Errrr….. he is already going with you but for support via radio contact. You have already been assigned to a partner by L.A. It is his target but I knew you wanted the hit so I asked that you two be partnered. That was before I found out who he was.” Misty dismissed all that Brock was saying as being not important. “Whatever. Once he stays out of my way it does not matter who he is. Is he experienced?” “Yes. He is more experienced than either one of us.” Misty cocked her head curiously. “What is his codename?” Brock again sighed deeply. There was a long pause before he finally the word slipped out. “Snake.” Misty’s mouth hung open and Brock read her eyes once more. Pain. Sadness. Fear. He hit the remote for the next slide. And the profile of Snake came up. Misty slowly turned her head from Brock to the screen hoping she would be wrong. Her hand covered her mouth when she saw the picture and realized she wasn’t. Codename: Snake Real name: Ashura Satoshi Ketchum Age: 23 Speciality: Sniping, Demolition, Close Quarters Combat (CQC) Mission Pokemon Favorites: Pikachu(lv ???), Charizard(lv 92), Bulbasaur(lv 86), Blastoise(lv 94), Pidgeot(lv 100), Alakazam(lv 90) Years in Agency: 6 Missions: Total 246 Completed 240 Injuries while on Missions: Fractured rib, skull, arm, leg, several concussions, broken jaw, multiple bullet wounds. Comments: Inducted because he won all leagues and declared Pokemon Master. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Misty looked at the profile. She couldn’t believe it. Why him. He was the most successful agent but anybody else would have been better. She closed her eyes and swallowed. She reopened them and looked at Brock and saw his sympathetic gaze. “It is about time you two end this nonsense Misty.” Misty now couldn’t suppress her emotions anymore and became furious while tears threatened to spill. “What!!! Brock, Daisy is dead because of him!!! He killed my sister!! He-e-he….” She couldn’t continue as she knelt on the ground and her body was racked with sobs. She covered her face in her hands while Brock massaged her back. He then pressed a knob on his line to the secretary and asked for Gary. By the time Gary had arrived Misty had passed out on the couch. Noticing the tear marks on her face Gary decided to pose the question. “What happened to her Brock?” Brock squeezed the bridge of his nose and replied, “She’s been partnered with Snake by the Agency to kill A.J.” Gary stepped back. “Snake??? As in our best friend Ash Ketchum???” Brock nodded, “The one and only.” Gary stepped over to the couch and sat beside Misty’s head while stroking her hair. He sighed “Poor Misty. First she finds out her target is the man who killed her best friend then she has to be partnered with the love of her life whom she still blames for the death of her sister.” Brock nodded and spoke up, “That and the fact that she has hardly been letting out any emotions at all even around us. She is liable for a nervous breakdown. Especially since she will have to tell Ash soon.” Gary rose his head from Misty to Brock wide eyed. “You don’t really think she will tell him….that…..that Ashley is his.” “ I don’t know Gary. But if Ash found out her name he would know. He is not stupid you know. Well. Not anymore that is. In any case you are to accompany Misty to L.A. where you will then head to the Dolinvodno forest in Russia and you shall give her support from a fixed location.” “Ok boss. But I have a question. Do you think Misty is right? I mean Daisy was on her vacation when Ash convinced her to go with him in Zimbabwe.” Brock stayed quiet for a while not caring for the topic too much but then decided they had stayed quiet long enough. “In my professional opinion throwing aside my friendship with Ash I do not think it was is fault. Daisy was the best at deciphering codes and I understood Ash wanted the best. Giovanni was no easy person to overcome and Ash wanted to make sure all went well. He could not have known there was a mole in the agency and therefore could not have known there would be an ambush. It has also been four years and I think Misty should realize he was not to blame and that Daisy went along willingly. She should also forgive him because she still loves him and if not for her sake then for Ashley’s.” Gary nodded. “I agree Brock.” He looked one more time at his sister before proposing Brock and himself go and he could debrief him further on the mission while Misty rested a bit. They both left the room not noticing Misty’s eyes opened and fresh tears coming out of them. In her mind she only said one thing, “it was his fault Brock. It was.” And the onslaught of tears started once again.