A Tale Told in Winter

A Tale Told in Winter
By TheKnightWhoSays Ni
Part 1

The first part is an weird point of view, but then it goes into normal



It was a cold day, but it was sunny. The sun’s rays reflected off of the soft layer of snow that blanketed the ground, making the day one of the brightest of the year. Yes, it was bitterly cold, around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but one might have looked out the window at the day and started off with a positive outlook on things. Then the wind picked up.

Lying in the middle of snowblown Fallarbor Farms was a huge pile of burnt wood and ashes. Spray-painted around the pile were big red R’s. It was like grafitti, only the writing wasn’t on property. It was just on a bunch of pieces of cedar and charcoal, nothing the authorities had to worry about. The authorities only had to worry about how it had gotten there.

Naoko sat down in the snow, staring at the huge pile. She did not move, not even a muscle. She had no reason to, there wasn’t anywhere to go. Shikuku sat with her, looking up at her with his strange spiraling eyes. His master was extremely sad, he could tell that much. Although he wasn’t the brightest, he was a great friend. He sat with his partner, staring into her eyes.

She heard the sirens, yet she didn’t move. The police were coming to finally investigate, despite her desperate calls on her cell phone the night before. They had said they were on a much more pressing matter at the moment. She figured it was tracking the most wanted criminal band in all of Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto alike. Too bad. If they had listened to her they might have caught them. Her light brown hair spiraled down her back, coming to an end about halfway down. Her freckeled face complimented her sea blue eyes. She shivered in a red winter coat, warm long pants, and brown winter boots. Her hands held each other inside of their black leather gloves. The 14 year old also had a Spinda, Shikuku, sitting in her lap. It wasn’t until they spoke to her that she looked up.

“Ma’am,” a policeman asked her dully, “Are you Naoko Jaoku?”

The girl did not answer. She just sat there, incredibly angry and filled with hatred. Her Spinda saw her anger, but did not understand why she didn’t tell these policemen her name. Shikuku tapped the officer and pointed to Naoko. It nodded and made an affirmative chirp. “Little girl, I have no time for games. Are you Naoko Jaoku?” The policeman asked again.

“I have no time for games. I’m giving you a chance to leave. How about 10 seconds,” a man in black suggested. No, it wasn’t happening. “Just go!” her mother had screamed. This time she replied, “Guess so.”

The officer jotted that down on his notepad. He had found the right farm. He guessed Fallarbor Farms was bigger than it sought out to be. He remembered the commands he had gotten from Sergeant Kaozu. He went ahead with the routine. “So,” he mumbled, “What happened? Tell me in your own words.”

Naoko cocked her head to one side. If she was ever going to get revenge on Team Rocket, she was going to have to do this first. She could humiliate the police later. “Well, for one, my house was burned down.”

‘Well I guess this is a start,’ the officer thought to himself. She was being difficult. He didn’t exactly know why. “Do you have a clue of the people who burned down your house?” The officer questioned Naoko again.

Naoko answered right away in a snide tone, “Well, I thought that you would be able to tell by the gigantic red R’s drawn on the ashes of the house, but if you want me to point out the obvious, it was Team Rocket.”

The officer was thrown off for a second. Being an investigative officer, he wasn’t really involved in the huge Team Rocket streak breaking out in all 3 continents. Team Magma and Team Aqua used to be the big bad wolves on Hoenn, but Team Rocket seemed to have conquered the criminal world at the moment. He felt a pang of guilt. They hadn’t answered her calls because they were tracking what they thought to be a clue to Team Rocket headquarters. The clue lead to a dead end, and here was this girl who claimed to have been face-to-face with Team Rocket and had called for help, the police force’s chance to capture Rocket Grunts or even Executives. But who said that she was right. “All right,” the investigative officer said after some time, “How did they burn down your house?.”

Naoko knew he felt a pang of guilt once she told him the culprit. She read his nametag for the first time. She didn’t feel like giving him the story in full detail. “So, Kazami,” she said to the policeman, “It went like this. It was mid-evening, sun was about set, and I was with Mom in the kitchen. This weird guy shows up, and announces he’s from Team Rocket. He releases a Venemoth and a Magmar, and threatens to burn the house down. Mom tries to take him down with her Gloom and her Tangela, but he had double type advantage. Then, he does put the house on fire. I escape, and then come back at daylight to find this rubbish. I don’t find Mom, or the grass Pokemon anywhere, and figure they’re dead. There’s your story. You want an epilogue?” She ended off in an agitated tone.

“Well,” Kazami responded in a calm tone, “I’ll need all the information I can get. Tell me the epilogue.”

Naoko grinned, “So, Shikuku and I come back, we had called the police several times during our escape, and then we get a call on my cell. This guy named Kaozu says he’s sending over a policeman. So I sit and wait for about 2 hours, probably your breakfast, which is obviously more important than me. Then this idiot comes and asks me some questions.”

It took Kazami a couple of seconds to realize that he was the idiot in the story. He’d dealt with criminals bound to chairs in a solitary blank room. He could take a few insults, although this girl was giving him a hell of a hard time. He thanked Naoko, and released a Houndour, the new Pokemon for sniffing out clues. Growlithe were more for tracking criminals, Houdour were useful for helping find the clues for Growlithe in the first place. “All right, Juno,” he said to his Houndour. Naoko laughed at the name. The officer continued, “Sniff!”

Juno immediately started to nose through the pile of rubble. He managed to pull out completely burnt clothes, that Naoko confirmed to be her mom’s. That was all he was able to sniff out. “All right, come back,” Kazami commanded.

“What’s with the ‘All right’s. It’s really getting on my nerves,” Naoko said coolly. The policeman wrote in his notepad that the girl wasn’t cooperative, and left the girl to sit in the snow. And that’s just what the girl did.

The sun’s light danced on the snow, as if it was trying to cheer Naoko up. The sun’s attempts failed. Naoko’s boxed up rage was not showing, but this lack of rage made her incredibly solemn. She didn’t know exactly what was better. She would go up and destroy Team Rocket if she could. But she couldn’t. So instead she stood up and left. And Shikuku follwed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kazami~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Officer Kazami hurried back to the police station, so as to stay out of the cold. His past encounters had never left him so frozen. Not even the brutal weather matched the feeling he felt inside. That girl hated him so much, and he could tell it was like nothing he had felt before. It was specifically towards him, not so much the police. He didn’t know why she’d hated him. It was Kaozu’s fault for putting it off anyway.

He arrived at the headquarters at the edge of Mt.Chimney. It was still a long walk from the cable car, so he was shivering. Onami, the secretary, greeted him cheerfully, “Hey, Hiino, what’s up?” She called him by his first name. That made him shiver again.

“Not much,” he lied. And he lied horribly at that.

“No really. What’s wrong?” Onami asked.

This time the annoyed officer didn’t reply, but instead entered the warm elevator. The hot air caressed his body, warming him up and taking him out of his frosts. He decided to tell Kaozu about the whole Team Rocket thing, although he knew that Kaozu would refuse to admit it was true. Kazami even had his doubts. That never happened. He pressed the 26th floor button. That was the 3rd highest floor on the building, where the higher ranked officers waited. The higher the floor, the more powerful the person working on it. Even Kaozu wasn’t the boss. The 27th floor was all scientists, and the 28th floor held only two people, and a Pokemon. There was Lieutenant Bakira, his secretary, and his Growlithe, Fireheart, who was amazingly faithful to him.

After many dings and corny elevator music, the elevator slowed to a stop at the 19th floor. A couple of interns, according to their nametags, entered the elevator. They pushed button 22. ‘If they’re only going up 3 floors, then why not take the stairs? Why the hell are they slowing me down?’ Kazami thought to himself. They laughed and joked during their short ride, and then got off at 22. Kazami was especially irritated, and wasn’t in the mood for Kaozu’s criticizm now. But, it was his job to report what he found to his boss, and that was Kaozu. Whatever. He would have to do it at some point.

The elevator finally found its way to the 26th floor, and it opened. He let a woman officer in, and walked out into the small room that contained 4 elevators, 2 on each side. It had an eerie yellow glow, and it looked out on the gloomy and snowy mountainside. As always, the snow fell in sheets, covering the ground in freezing fluffy crystals. Kazami didn’t take the time to notice it. He had something to report.

He pushed the glass doors into a busy hallway, full of investigative officers such as himself running around with huge piles of papers to read. Probably all client notices. The investigative officers always had huge loads of work. They weren’t really appreciated by fellow policemen or the media, even though they did most of the work to get the others in their shining positions. It was kind of like Houndour to Growlithe. Kind of.

He turned left, looking down at the patterned floor. Red diamonds containing spotted blue felt. He looked up just in time to avoid a rushing officer. And then he was there. Right in front of Kaozu’s huge cubicle. There was a line of about 3 officers. ‘Shoot,’ Kazami thought to himself, ‘This might be a long wait.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Grunt Venemoth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venemoth’s alarm clock beeped. Although he was used to a very tight schedule, he was allowed to sleep in today. He had started Phase I, so the Boss was allowing him only an 11:00 conference, and then the rest of the day off. He opened his eyes, and the sun scared the living daylights out of him. He was used to waking up in the dark, and the sun signified that he was late. Normally.

He glanced over at the clock. It read 10:18 in big red numbers. Good. He had a lot of time to get ready. His alarm clock was normally set at 4:20, and he had to be in the commons at 4:40 for the start of the day. He had to remember to reset the alarm clock. Why not do it now? He had enough time.

After setting the clock, he went down the hallway and into the bathrooms. It was deserted. His roomate had obviously left without bothering to wake him up. That was good. Grunt Golbat, his roomate, was very nice compared to other Rockets. The others would have probably made him wet his pants, or something like that.

He took a nice slow hot shower. It was soothing. He liked having a break. After showering, getting dressed, and brushing his teeth, and all of that, he went down to the Conference Rooms. ‘Which one was it,’ he thought to himself. ‘That’s it, #3.’

There could be many reasons the Boss wanted to speak with him. He was a 5th level Grunt, at the moment, and in 2 more promotions, he would be a 1st level Executive, which meant you were elite. There were 6 Grunt levels, having about all of the same number in each level. There were about 10 1st level Execs, around 5 or 6 2nd level Execs, about 5 or 6 3rd level Execs, and only 2 4th level Execs. Maybe he would become a 6th level now.

Venemoth knocked. Always show courtesy to the Boss. “Come in,” the Boss called from inside the room. Venemoth opened the door slowly. When he saw that there were no traps, he walked in and bowed. “Sit down, Venemoth,” the Boss almost commanded him. He sat.

He had another name than Venemoth, but depending on your Pokemon, you had a name. If you had a Venemoth, you were called Grunt or Executive Venemoth. There was only one Pokemon on each level, which means if there was a 6th level Venemoth when 5th level Venemoth was promoted, he would be called the name of his 2nd Pokemon, which could be any type. There were 3 Team Rocket groups, the Poison, Normal, and Dark groups. You were automatically promoted from 3rd level Grunt when your Pokemon evolved, and got a new one. Then, if it was possible, when it evolved again, you were promoted wherever you were. Unless it was from 6th level to 1st level.

“Boss, oh highly exalted master, what did you ask me to come for?” Venemoth asked nervously.

“I’m very glad you asked,” the Boss replied with a malicious chuckle, “It is true you eliminated enemy one, correct?”

“Yes, your highness,” Venemoth answered.

“So, 2 more and the phase is complete. You will participate in all phases except for #4, so I will give you your next mission. When you complete this mission and the next 2 you will be assigned, you will be promoted to 6th level Grunt.”

Venemoth was incredibly anxious. The tension was palpable, and it hung in the air like wet clothes on a clothes line. If he was being given his mission privately, then it must have been important. He then noticed that the Boss was staring at him. No, more like glaring at him. “Listen closely. Your mission is to sabotage the Amazing Point,” the Boss told him. They were using codenames. It had to be important. “We have tried in the past, and failed, but this will be different,” the Boss said.

Venemoth leaned in, as if looking at something far away. He was so uneasy that there was sweat running down his forehead. “Your mission will start in 3 days. The day after the mission, you will come again to Conference Room #3 at 11:00. and then have the rest of the day off,” the Boss told him, as if making him edgy on purpose.

There was a long pause.

Then, after a good long 5 minutes, the Boss spoke. The Boss said, “Here is what you must do.”