Blade of Destiny Chapter 2 “Oh boy,” was the last thing Ash said before diving behind a nearby wall. Immediately, gunshots rang out, pelting the wall Ash was hiding behind. He could hear and feel the bullets whizzing by his head as the top of the wall shuddered under the hail of gunfire. Diving to the right, he pointed his shotgun towards the ceiling and pulled the trigger. As the glass ceiling shattered, the remaining shards sparkled like diamonds in the night sky as they clattered towards the floor. The rain from outside began to pour in, quickly soaking the once dry combatants inside the museum. Ash dashed to the exit door, firing off two shots at agents on his left and banged against the door, which didn’t budge. “Son of a-“Ash swore as he ducked to avoid a gunshot from another agent behind him. Spinning around, he fired again taking the agent by surprise and shooting him in the chest. Frantically, he wiped the water from his eyes and desperately searched for another exit. Spotting one, he dropped to floor, and pushed off of the nearby wall, the water causing him to slide across the massive room. The whole world seemed to move in slow motion as he squeezed off four more shells from his shotgun, taking three agents in the legs. Sharp pain raced into his head as slammed against the wall, the sword sliding out from his sheath across the floor several feet away from him. Ash swore and dove to grab it, but a well placed shot from the left said different. He looked up and a saw a young man, about the same age as him, pointing an MP5 submachine gun at his face, his brown hair matted to his face from the falling rain. His thin, yet athletic frame bent over to pick up the sword, keeping his emerald green eyes locked onto him. Slowly and carefully, he grabbed the sword’s hilt and picked it up. Ash thought desperately to think of a plan to get his prize back. There was no way in hell he was gonna lose this thing now after he put so much effort into trying get claim it in the first place. Suddenly, an idea came to him as he opened his mouth and yelled, “Dexter, activate grappling hook!” He was hoping to catch his opponent off guard, and then take him out with a shotgun blast. The young man raised the sword to block the small hook that fired out of Ash’s wrist, and the weapon was knocked away, leaving him off balance. Ash raised his shotgun and fired, but the man ducked at the last second, and the buckshot zipped past his face. The sword dropped from his hand and slid away, lying several feet in front of them. Both men looked at each other and rushed to get it, jumping at the last second in an attempt to retrieve it. The sliver streak inside the sword glowed brightly and ebbed with power before a bright flash blinded them and knocked them both to the ground. Ash shook his head, trying to knock the spots out of his eyes, and spotted his opponent writhing on the floor, screaming in agony until he fell unconscious. Ash stared for a second, bewildered at what had just occurred, before a rain of bullets swooped over his head, snapping him back to reality, realizing he was still in a room with about thirteen heavily armed agents. He ducked, grabbed the sword and slid it back into its sheath, the colors of silver, yellow and green glowing brightly in the crystal blade. Leaning back against a case carrying some stone tablets, he activated Dexter and waited for him to boot up, shielding himself from the glass encasement that just shattered over his head. “Yes, sir? What seems to be the problem?” the computer asked. “Dexter, get me a link with Brock, and do it fast, there’s not a lot of time left!” Ash screamed over the gunfire. The screen flickered and an image of Brock’s tanned face appeared. “Ash, they’ve locked down the whole damn building!!” Brock exclaimed. “No shit, Brock!! I need you to find me a way outta here now, or I’m dead!!” “Well, it looks the only way out is the ceiling, it’s the only part of the building that’s not locked down.” “Are you insane!? I’ll get shot down before I get three feet high with Pidgeot!?” “Hey, don’t bite my head off!! Think of something to distract them...shit, I’m losing the conne-“ he was cut off as the screen went blank and displayed the words “Connection Lost”. Ash swore and hurriedly tried to think of a plan to distract the agents and make it out safely. His lips curled up into a smile as he thought of the perfect plan. Grabbing a pokeball latched onto his suit, he tapped the button on its face, causing it to swell up from the size of a marble to a baseball. “Pidgeot, go!!” he yelled as he tossed the ball. The small sphere cracked open and a massive surge of white energy emerged, morphing into a large majestic bird. “Pidgeot, use Whirlwind now!!” The massive bird began flapping its wings and summoned a huge wind, knocking all of the agents against the wall. Grinning, he hopped onto Pidgeot and yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here, Pidgeot. Agility, now!!” The bird took off into the air, leaving another large gust of wind that knocked the agents back, and in seconds, they were out of sight. One of the agents slowly got up and pulled out walkie-talkie from his pocket. “Jenkins here. The suspect escaped, and took the sword with him.” He looked around and analyzed the situation around him. “Repeat, the suspect has escaped with the sword and we have at least nine men down. Request immediate medical team, over.” A female voice crackled over the receiver and swore loudly. “Perfect. Did anyone get an id?” “Nope. I think Gary got a good look at him, but he’s outta commission.” The receiver shook as her voice came screaming through the speaker. “What do you mean outta commission!? Is he dead!?” Jenkins walked over to Gary’s body and checked for his pulse. “Nah, he’s just out cold. The others have gunshot wounds though, so I don’t know how they’re doing.” “Alright, a medical team is on the way. Just stay put and take care of the injured until we get there. Misty out.” The receiver clicked off, and Jenkins put the walkie-talkie away. “I’m gonna take a look around, see if anyone is still here, and if they are, see if they saw the guy before we got here.” The other agents nodded and he began to stroll around the museum. Damn it, he thought to himself. This is the fifth object stolen this month. Three tablets, a shield, and now this sword. The only things that seemed to be worth stealing were the sword and shield because of all the gems and precious metals they were made of, but the tablets didn’t seem to fit in at all. There must be a connection we’re not seeing here, Jenkins thought before he was cut off by the sound of someone groaning. He searched for the source of the sound, and found it to be an older man lying on the ground, wearing security guard’s outfit. He tried to help him up, but the man screamed as he rose. “It’s my damn leg. I think the bastard broke it.” The man groaned. “You saw the guy who broke in here?” Jenkins asked. “Yeah, I saw him. Think I even heard his name.” Jenkins fumbled through his pocket and yanked out the walkie-talkie and pressed the button. “Uh Misty, I think we just got an id on the suspect.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wind rushed past as Pidgeot flew towards their home. Ash pulled his prize out of its sheath and inspected it closely. He sighed deeply when he saw it wasn’t damaged. Don’t even wanna think about how much she would have taken off if it was damaged, Ash thought. Still, this sword is weird. First the electrical current that hit me when I saw it, but that old man just said it was their new security system. Then there was that flash, and then that guy was just screaming on the floor. Shrugging his shoulders, he placed the sword back in its sheath. Oh well, not gonna be my problem in a few days. Roxanne’s gonna pay us good money for this, and I won’t have to worry about it anymore. Pidgeot descended and Ash spotted his home in Pewter City. The bird landed and began cooing loudly. Ash hopped off and looked at the pokemon with a playful look in his eye. “Okay, you can go out. But if you’re not back by tomorrow, you won’t be going on any assignments with me for a week, got it?” The bird shook its head and cooed again. “Alright, get the hell outta here.” Pidgeot took off, the wind it created knocking Ash down. Picking himself up and dusting himself off, he opened the door of his house only to be met by a young man pointing at him. “What did you do to Dexter!? The connection cut off in the middle of the transmission!!” the tall, lanky young man said. “You must have smashed him against the wall or something. I swear, you can’t go on one assignment without wrecking our equipment!! This shit is not cheap to repair or make, Ash!!” Ash ripped open the pocket on his sleeve that held the mini-computer Dexter and tossed the small device to him. “I didn’t do anything. Dexter failed on its own, so that means there’s a design flaw, Max. It’s ok though, it was time for him to be upgraded anyway. “ Max grumbled as he placed the computer on the counter of the kitchen, and gestured for Ash to follow him. “Come on, May and Brock are waiting for you in the office.” As Ash walked into the office, he was promptly smacked in the back of the head. He whirled around and found himself looking into the angriest brown eyes he had ever seen. The beauty’s brown hair fell over her face as she pushed Ash into the wall. “What the hell is your problem!? Why didn’t you radio back after the connection was lost? We thought you were dead, especially me!! You broke Dexter again didn’t you!? I swear, if you would take better care of our equipment, you wouldn’t always be in the messes you get into!!” Ash raised his hands defensively as he desperately tried to fend her off. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault; it was your brother’s! He malfunctioned in the middle of the transmission, and I couldn’t get it to work anymore. Come on May, at least I’m okay, right?” “You won’t be after I’m done with you, Ashura Satoshi Ketchum!!” And with that she plopped into a nearby chair. Ash leaned against the wall and grinned. “That’s ok, cause I’ll be able to pay for all the medical bills after this job is over.” Brock leaned back in his seat and tousled his hair. “I suppose you got the sword?” Ash pulled the sword out its sheath and tossed it onto the table. “Of course, other wise I wouldn’t even be here right now. I’d be out there busting my ass to get it.” The others leaned in to get a closer look at the sword when the sword began vibrating loudly, and another flash filled the room. Everyone screamed and as quickly as it came, it was gone. Ash slowly got up and saw that everyone in the room was unconscious except for him. “Okay, now something is really wrong here.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The sounds of the hospital slowly drifted into Gary’s ears as he woke up in the bed. His eyes scanned the room and rested on the lump of blankets that was moving slowly in the chair across the room. “Misty? Is that you?” The lump of blankets stirred, and a flash of red peeked out over the top of the covers. As she slowly awoke, she realized Gary had finally regained consciousness. “Gary!? Oh thank God, you’re ok. I thought you were seriously hurt!” Misty exclaimed as she hugged Gary tightly. “No, I just got a small headache, but I’m okay.” Like a flash of lightning, memories from the previous night filled his head. “Did you catch the guy in the museum?” Misty straightened her track suit and pulled a chair up to the bed. “No, unfortunately, we didn’t. He made away with the sword, and he managed to seriously hurt Mannings and Coughlin. We do have an eyewitness though; we’re just waiting for him to wake up. He said he even heard his name, so we do have a lead.” “I got a good look at him. He was good, as good as me, as good as you; hell, he would have beaten our top agents. I would’ve had him though, if I hadn’t hit my head. Don’t worry, we’ll get him. Who do you think is behind all these?” Misty sighed and scratched her head. “We don’t know. Team Rocket, Team Aqua, and Team Magma all disbanded four years ago when we shut them down. But the way the robberies were done, it couldn’t have been them anyway. They always operate in groups. This guy worked alone. We’ll find out soon, though, and I’m gonna take him down.” Jenkins strolled into the room and spotted Gary. “Oh man, you’re finally awake. You doin’ okay? You were out for quite a while. You don’t have a concussion or anything, do you?” Gary chuckled and slowly crawled out of the bed. “Nah, you know me. I’m the best you got, so all I got is a little headache. No problem.” “Good to hear it. I came to tell Misty that the witness is awake, but since you’re awake, you might want to come and hear his statement.” Gary stretched and grabbed a robe from the nearby closet. “Let’s go. I’m anxious find out who’s behind this.” They walked out of the room and walked the halls, engaging in a conversation about the case when Jenkins stopped them. “Room 1642. Yup, this is it. Come on in.” Grabbing the handle and opening the door, the group walked in and saw an older man lying in a hospital bed, with a cast placed over his right leg. “Guys, this is Mr. Gerald Trivita. He’s a security guard at the Saffron Museum and was attacked by the burglar last night also. Mr. Trivita, this is Agents Gary Oak and Misty Waterflower. From what we’ve heard, you know the guy’s name that did this.” The man sat up and propped himself against a pillow. “Damn straight I did. His name and the name of a guy who was helping him.” Jenkins pulled out a small notebook and pen from his pocket and prepared to write the names down. “The bastard who did this to me, and stole that sword last night was some guy named Ash. The S.O.B. who was helping him is named Brock. I heard it clear as day over his headset that was in his ear.” Gary and Misty stared open mouthed at the old man. Gary was the first to speak. “Are you sure you heard those names right?” “Son, I might be old, but I got hearing like a dog, and I know what I heard. It was Ash and Brock, hands down.” Misty cleared her throat and spoke. “Thank you very much Mr. Trivita. We’ll leave you alone to recover now.” The group left out of the room and stood next to the door outside. “Ash and Brock? No way, can’t be. Ketchum’s a loser, but he’d never resort to crime. ” Gary said in shock. “Ash and Brock are pretty unique names, Gary, you know that. I don’t wanna believe it either, but we haven’t seen them in eight years, so we don’t know what they’re into now. “ Jenkins stood there bewildered. “Uh, I’m lost. Are you trying to say that you know these guys?” “We grew up with them, Jenkins. But I don’t believe it. Ash and Brock were very good people. They’d give their lives up for someone, even someone they barely knew. He’s got the wrong names, I’m telling you.” Misty shook her head and sat down also. “I don’t think they did it either, but gotta make sure. Jenkins, pull up the files on Ashura Satoshi Ketchum and Brock Slate. Relay any info you find, got it? Gary, you say you’re feeling better, so get dressed. We’re going to headquarters.” Jenkins nodded and walked off, while Gary stood and began following Misty back to his room. “Why are we going to headquarters?” Misty stopped and turned around with a grim look on her face. “We’re going to get a search warrant.”