Another Initiation - Part 2

            For three days Axis trained with Sierra and Vexus, adding their repertoire of experience and skills to her own.  In the time spent away from the married couple the Glaceon would prowl the town, stalking her would-be prey for information regarding his habits, typical paths and strength.  Regrettably the Abomasnow looked as powerful as she expected him to be, which wasn’t in her favor at all.  She failed to rise to even a third of this Pokemon’s height, and equaled even less in regard to his total size.  It would be impossible to take this creature down by sheer force alone.

            With this knowledge  at the front of her mind, Axis spent her spare time and those hours before sleep thinking of how to kill this “Artek”.  She would have to be clever if she didn’t want to be arrested or killed−very clever−and not only did she have to find some way of taking him down, but she also had to do it in secret.  Perhaps she should not have jumped into this mission so quickly after all…

            “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”  A small Snorunt asked as he pulled himself up onto the rocky ledge on which Axis now perched, legs kicking wildly as they tried to find footing.  Axis glanced down and watched him struggle, but she did nothing to help him.

            “A problem I have,” she told him, having no interest in talking to a child about her job.  The kid decided to roll over rather than try and step up, and his cone-body bumped into Axis’ paw in the process, making her sidestep slightly away.  When he came to a stop the Snorunt simply sat up, shifting around on his rump until he was comfortable.  If this had been a normal encounter, Axis would have walked away by now in not wanting to be disturbed.  But this little one was the son of her employers, and so she sat still.

            The boy, Tito, had been returned in the late hours the day after Axis’ arrival to Cemetrial.  Whether it was a Rescuer, Medic or Treasure Hunter who had returned Vexus and Sierra’s son she did not know nor cared to.  She had been warned immediately after his return to not mention a word to him about the mercenary clan nor the task she had been assigned with.  This had been harder to do than she initially thought; for with being in virtually the same living space as he, Axis couldn’t get away without a question or two being thrown in her direction.

            “What problem?”  Tito squeaked, continuing the conversation much to Axis’ dismay.

            “An adult problem,” Axis stated, causing the Snorunt to tilt his head, his whole body leaning with the gesture.

            “You’re an adult?”  Axis sighed.

            “No.”

            “So why do you have an adult problem?”

            “Because I’m special.”

            It was amazing how quickly this kid dropped conversations−not that Axis minded of course.  With the onset of silence Axis continued on in peace watching the daily progression of the town.  Many members of both her faction and others had been hard at work for days now, clearing out as much ice and snow as they could while daylight was still available.  Fire types in particular were doing their fair share of work as simply walking past a snow drift made it shrink significantly.  This inevitably began to turn the entire village into a terrible mud pit of course, but they were working on mending that too.

            Axis didn’t care to lift a paw to help in any way−not only because she didn’t find the removal of the ice and snow all that grand an endeavor given her ideal choice of habitat, but the less people who saw her here the better.  She had absolutely no desire to run into a familiar face and risk blowing her tourist’s cover.

            When Artek appeared in the streets, his hail beginning to bury what progress the cleanup crew had made, Axis stood.  “Best get back to your mother and father,” Axis told the Snowrunt, and she jumped down from her rocky ledge before he could reply.

            Slinking through foliage Axis kept a watchful eye on the Abomasnow in hopes of finding something, anything, that she could use to her advantage.  The man held himself with a powerful air of authority, which of course just made him all the more intimidating.  She had seen him speak before and he was gruff in conversation; to the point and fully expecting people to mind whatever it was he said.  She could only imagine that he wasn’t the best person to talk to even if he wasn’t on duty.  But then again, a town’s warden was probably never someone to hold a lighthearted conversation.

            “He takes his job seriously,” Axis thought, watching as Rescuers and the like began to clear the hail the Abomasnow had brought, grumbling at the extra work.  “I bet I can use that…But to what purpose if I’ve no way of taking him down for good?”  She sighed to herself and walked behind some trees, keeping out of sight.

            With a straight forward attack completely out of the question, Axis let her mind wander back to those not so distant, less civilized times in her life.  She had brought down larger opponents back then−true that none of them had been quite this size, but they had gone down just the same.  And maybe that is where her answer lied:  back in those wild, feral times.  It’s not like assassination was a civilized task after all.  In fact, it harbored on the edge of savagery.  It required it.

            “So then I take this task as far away from civilization as possible,” Axis concluded.  “My advantage lies within the wilderness, and so there I will make my strike.  Perhaps being feral is the only thing that will guarantee my success this time.”

            Turning away from the town the Glaceon made off into the nearby woods at a sprint.  She only had a few hours before nightfall and wanted to find anything she could use before then.  Her attack would not take place this night; there wasn’t enough time to prepare.  Tomorrow though, in the cover of darkness, she would finally lay this task to rest.

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            The Sabri Central factions had been doing an amazing job at fixing up Cemetrial Town:  the docks had been built, lost children were returned and the town itself had been successfully unburied.  Even the old coot of a Stantler Levi had been appeased in his array of odd alchemy fiddlings.  The town had finally begun to get back to normal and because of this, many of the visitors had already resigned to head back to Sabri City.  All that was left to do now was a little more clean up, which Artek would see to personally.

            But for now the Abomasnow just sat at his desk, checking how much of the town’s treasury had been used up to pay for all of this out-of-town service.  Usually this would have been Elder Siber’s job, but the Beartic had been setting up trading routes with a Swampert named Sailor all day, and so had no time to check the financial records.  Artek would have pawned the task off on that shady Weavile Vexus, but even he had been out working alongside the hired help, and the Abomasnow didn’t trust him with the town’s money anyway.

            Artek scribbled down another few numbers, doing calculations as the night pressed on.  It was already so late−passed midnight if he guessed correctly−and he was thinking about putting off this job until tomorrow.  It would cut into his usual schedule of patrolling around town, but it surely wouldn’t harm anyone if he did so.

            Grabbing up the paperwork he held them in a pile and tapped them against his desk, straightening them before putting them aside.  He next reached behind his head and stretched, a yawn escaping him in the effort.  Now it was time to call it a night.

            The Abomasnow reached over and doused the flame of the light above before sidling around his desk and making for the door.  The window let in the blue light of the night, which allowed him see well enough to avoid tripping over some ill-placed boxes.  He glanced out the window one more time before leaving the room, happy to see the town finally emerging from the harsh winter snows despite his home remaining buried from his own Snow Warning hail.

            Just as Artek made to leave however, the hail-fall outside his window increased in its vigor and drew the warden’s attention.  This was certainly a curious sight, for Artek had not consciously caused his hailstorm to thicken.  Usually only his anger would make the snow fall faster, and currently he was as calm as calm could be.

            Growing evermore suspicious Artek backtracked a few steps over to the window and peered out into the night.  He squinted, trying to see through the thick downpour of ice, and barely managed to spot a figure in the dark of the streets.  He almost couldn’t see them at all as their blue fur matched the night’s glow and camouflaged them almost perfectly, but there was definitely someone there.

            For the life of him Artek couldn’t figure out why a lone figure was walking through the streets of town at an hour like this.  But as he watched the answer became clear, for a brilliant flash of blue and white tore through the darkness and froze over the front of a house that had been thawed out earlier that day.  Icicles now hung from the eaves like bars of a cage and the stranger moved down the street to the next residence, burying the road they walked on with frost and freezing the house before them solid.

            So quickly all the work of the Sabri Central factions was being undone.  All because of one delinquent ice type.  Artek would not stand for this.  He couldn’t, for he was the town’s warden.  He could feel the strength of his Snow Warning intensify as he raced outside to confront this criminal.  How dare they freeze over what the entire town was trying to unbury!

            “You!”  Artek yelled as he threw open his front door.  “Stop where you are!”  He could see the figure clearly now:  a Glaceon, female by the look of it.  Despite the order the girl hardly gave the Abomasnow a glance before she just trotted further down the road, continuing to make a frozen mess of the town.  Artek growled to himself and then stepped out into the street.  “I said STOP!”  He bellowed.

            “Make me,” the Glaceon called back apathetically, shooting her Ice Beam into the Abomasnow’s chest.  An ice type himself, Artek just brushed the blast off, but being unhurt did not mean that he was not angry.  As the warden, this attack had been an attack on the law, and Artek would not let this ne’er-do-well get away with doing as she pleased with his town.

            The hail of Snow Warning intensified to reflect the Abomasnow’s growing rage, and to put a stop to the trouble Artek lumbered quickly down the street after the Glaceon.  The girl was well aware that the Abomasnow had given chase as the ground beneath her paws quivered at each step Artek took, and she quickly sprinted away before the frost tree Pokemon could catch her.  She was faster than Artek was, and with all the twists and turns of Cemetrial’s alleys, she eventually lost her pursuer.

            Artek stopped to catch his breath when the fresh snow creature evaded him.  Had this been a wide open area there would have been a better chance for him to have caught the stranger.  But as it was, he was at a disadvantage.  Still, disadvantage or no, for the sake of his job and reputation Artek had to keep going.

            But while the Abomasnow stood still, trying to figure out what to do, the Glaceon had already clambered atop the building beside him.  She watched him for a moment before dropping onto his head with a silent pounce.  The sudden slam caused Artek to stumble back, though not much given how much smaller the Glaceon was than him.

            “Are you giving up?”  The girl taunted.  “I’m okay with that if you are.  The town looked so much better covered in ice after all, don’t you agree?”  Growling, Artek lunged for the Glaceon, but fell flat on his stomach and missed the would-be body slam as the girl jumped away.  “Close, but not quite.  Better try again.”

            She took off toward the scar of woodlands just outside the village; the only section of trees for miles in this frozen wasteland.  Artek followed her into these trees, a grin coming to his face now that he was out of town.  Without civilians and buildings about, the Abomasnow was free to attack however he chose.  The Glaceon had just brought about her own doom.

            The dark of night coupled with the unnaturally thick hail and snow was making Artek’s visibility almost zero.  It must have been the Glaceon; she must have been summoning hail as he was.  He had nearly slammed headfirst into multiple trees because of his clouded vision, and the Glaceon herself was lost to him.  The only clue he had to go on was the girl’s pawprints in the snow, but even they were quickly being covered up by the harsh weather.  Inevitably the trail disappeared altogether and with nothing to go on the Abomasnow stopped.

            “Where are you?”  Artek muttered as he looked around as best he could in the darkness and ice.  He saw an outline in the trees and concentrated on it.  An orb of flame from his Hidden Power forming around him before shooting off toward the shape.  There was a crash and a sizzle of steam as the form faded.  “Must’ve been a snow drift…”

            Slowly Artek proceeded forward, another figure becoming vaguely visible in the darkness. With his Hidden Power he attacked it too, but obtained the same result as before.  This repeated again and again, but every time it was the same and Artek still found nothing.

            Artek rebuked himself silently.  “Control yourself.  Don’t attack at shadows.”  Breathing deep he calmed his mind and waited, knowing the Glaceon was out there somewhere.  For some time the night was naught but silent with only the falling snow as its companion.  Yet still Artek waited patiently for the Glaceon to show herself, storing up power all the while.

            When finally the girl sprung, her appearance came as a searing pain to the Abomasnow’s left arm; fangs driving into flesh from a dangerous Bite attack.  In reaction to the pain a floodgate within Artek opened, releasing all of the energy he had been storing. All at once his fur thickened and grew longer, and icicles sprouted from his back, covered in frozen fur as well.

            He had successfully accessed his Mega Evolution, and in doing so Artek pulled back his free arm to return the Glaceon’s attack.  A blue ball of energy formed at his palm, and with this Focus Blast he struck the Glaceon in the right side of her face.  The fresh snow Pokemon yelped in pain as she was sent spiraling back into the hail and snow, and for a short time she didn’t move−having been knocked dizzy.  Whimpering the girl stood up and pawed at her injury, keeping her eye closed as blood streamed down around it.

            A fighting type move, and an extremely powerful one at that, had clearly not been what the Glaceon was expecting.  Artek had known this would happen though:  that using the girl’s weakness would be her ultimate undoing, especially now that he was in his mega state.  He only wished that he had been able to adequately charge his attack before releasing it.  Had he done so, the Glaceon may not have gotten up at all.

            Now badly hurt the Glaceon ran for it, but this time moved a lot slower than before.  Artek could keep up now−there was no doubt about that−and he charged after her, kicking up snow with each step.  He knew just what move would put this criminal down, and his arm began glowing a brilliant blue at the thought.

            Clearing the trees and running on, the Glaceon tripped and slid on her face to a stop in the snow.  Here was Artek’s chance.  His Wood Hammer ready, the Abomasnow leapt up in attack, bringing his fist down on the girl.  She bolted back under him though, missing the blow by inches, and Artek’s attack crashed through the ground.

            In a thunderous array of shattering cracks the entire ground gave way beneath the warden, the thin layer of ice that was holding him up failing to shoulder his sudden weight.  Artek’s stomach lurched into his chest as he fell, and a great fear gripped his heart.  In mere seconds the darkness consumed him, and the white fur of the frost tree Pokemon disappeared into the black below.

            Axis waited on the bank of the chasm, listening for when the Abomasnow hit bottom.  It took quite some time for the sickening thud to echo up from the unseen crags, but when it did she walked over to the mouth in the ground and slammed on the ice canopy with her paws, breaking the rest of the trap open.

            “That worked better than I had hoped,” Axis said aloud as she began making her way down into the pit.  “Could have done without the punch to the face though…I’m not going to be able to see straight for a week or more.”  A few feet down a lantern sat stuffed into an alcove of rock, taken from the mercenary’s training facility.  Axis grabbed it with a paw and pulled it too her, taking two pieces of stone from its side and tilting the glass back, striking up a spark on the oil-drenched wick.  The string was quick to ignite, burning the ice type’s remaining good eye with the light.  Instinctively Axis flinched away and blindly stuck the stones back where they belonged.

            When her eye finally adjusted to the firelight, the Glaceon took up the lantern in her mouth and carried it with her to light her path into the deep.  It took ages to get to the bottom of this break in the land, but having grown up in the high mountains, traversing the chasm proved to be the easiest task she had undertaken all night.

            Upon reaching ground level the smell of blood guided her the rest of the way through the rocks, and she came upon the Abomasnow’s lifeless body within minutes.  Putting the lantern aside Axis walked up to the corpse, poking at it from various angles just to make sure it didn’t move.  She laid her ear along Artek’s back, but there came no heartbeat or breathing.

            Axis exhaled deeply, relieved.  “He died in the fall.  That works for me.  Now I just have to return to Vexus.”  Blood still running down her face she grabbed up the lantern again and began skyward.  The last few hours of night were still her cover as she pulled herself back out onto the snow.  In the climb the blood on her face had dried enough that it didn’t drips so much, but even still Axis summoned hail to hide whatever trail her blood would leave, burying Artek’s tracks in the process.

            She walked back into Cemetrial in the early hours of morning while it was still dark, dousing her light so that she wouldn’t draw attention.  She crept her way into the back of the inn and then down into the training hall.  While still on the path however, she stopped.  A thick scent laid in the air, one that made every nerve in her body scream danger.  It was the smell of blood−though with this powerful a scent, the cause must have been nothing short of a massacre.

            Her feral sense told her to turn and run−to save her own tail and flee.  She turned to do so, but someone further into the cave spoke and made her hesitate.  There was a laugh, a hearty one, and it spurred her to move forward into the main cavern rather than let her retreat.  Here the smell settled like a haze−the source now all too clear.

            Piled up on one side of the room were a large number of corpses; all bloody, beaten and torn.  The Pokemon here were of all varieties:  a Scyther, a Linoone and a Jynx among others.  The cavern floor was painted with dried blood, as too were some of the walls.  Standing next to the jumble of bodies was Vexus, a vile smile on his face, with Sierra floating next to him.

            “We should hold tournaments like this more often!”  The Weavile boomed as he waved his claw over the battlefield.  His wife chuckled.

            “I must admit, it has been too long since I have witnessed the thrill of such battle.”

            “And the carnage!  That Cubone’s technique was like that of a savage.  He’d be a perfect addition to the Kunai Clan.”

            “If he kills Artek that is.”

            “Even if he doesn’t, I may be willing to make an exception.”  The Weavile grinned and stroked the scar on his face.  “I see a lot of myself in him.”

            A tournament where participants fought to the death; this is not what Axis had expected to walk in on.  She had only been gone for a day and a half, setting up her trap for Artek’s downfall.  How had such a change happened in only a single day’s time?  She didn’t wish to find out, nor would she ever have any desire to take part.  Fighting to the death for survival, that she could deal with.  But fighting like this for sport?  This held no appeal to her.

            Axis cleared her throat as she approached the clan leaders’, both of them being unaware of her return.  Upon seeing the Glaceon both looked surprised.

            “You came back?”  The Weavile asked as he and his wife turned to face her.  “I thought for sure you had given up.”

            “Hardly,” Axis replied, dropping the lantern at her feet.  “I have completed my task:  Artek is dead.  If you wish for proof, his body lay broken in a chasm beyond the southern forest.”  Both of the mercenaries remained silent, examining the Glaceon−trying to determine if she spoke truth.

            Axis’ expression didn’t waver beneath the scrutinizing eyes of the two ice types.  What had she to fear?  She had done what was asked of her, and she had almost lost half her face in doing so.

            “Your injury,” Sierra began, gesturing to the blood on Axis’ face, “from Artek?”

            “Yes.  A Focus Blast.  I had to let him hit me lest he fail to follow me into the trap.  It was necessary for success.”

            “A Focus Blast to the face?”  Vexus questioned.  I’m surprised you got back up.”

            “It seems I surprise you a lot,” Axis replied.  “But that is to be expected as you continue to underestimate me simply because of my size.”

            “There’s that mouth again…” Vexus growled.  Sierra laughed−albeit slightly−yet still received a harsh side glance from her husband.  This she promptly ignored.  “Fine.  You’ve completed the task and have permanently removed our clan’s biggest threat.”  His former frown shifted into a smile.  “Congrats, kid.  You’re now a full-fledged member of the Kunai Clan!”

            “You have our deepest gratitude,” Sierra added with a wry smile of her own.

            “Thank you,” Axis replied plainly.  Her face still pained her, and she was also still wary of all the bloodshed.  “If you have nothing else for me, then I wish to collect my payment and leave.”

            “Guess I did promise a monetary reward,” Vexus began.  “It’s on my desk.  You can grab it on your way out.”  Axis gave a nod and then turned.

            “I will be on my way then.  I have a long journey ahead of me.”

            “Do keep an ear out, Axis,” Sierra said smugly as the Glaceon began walking away.  “We may have need of your service again.”  Axis stopped and glanced back, nodding her reply before leaving the bloodied arena.

            Just as Vexus had said, a sack of silver lay waiting for the rogue’s retrieval.  She grabbed it in her teeth and then walked out, doing her best to avoid those Pokemon who had finally started rising to the day.  With everyone now stirring she wanted to get out of Cemetrial as quickly as possible−already looking suspicious because of her bloody injury.  She would leave the same way she came in:  by foot.  It would take days to get back to Sabri Central in her current state, and the trek was going to be arduous at best because of it.

            As Axis passed near the city outskirts a familiar scent caught in her nose and she stopped.  For a moment she was concerned, for the smell was that of Artek.  But instead of an Abomasnow all the Glaceon saw was a small Snover as he walked through the morning streets.

            “Must be his son or something,” Axis thought off-handedly, thinking nothing of it.  She continued on casually for several steps before coming to an abrupt halt upon realizing what it was she had just assumed.  “Wait…does that mean I just orphaned a kid?”  She glanced back to the Snover as he rounded the corner and disappeared.

            “Curse it all!”  She hisseded quietly, the bag in her mouth muffling her words.  “I never meant to−I didn’t−”  It didn’t matter what she had meant to do nor what she hadn’t known at the time; it was far too late to undo what she had done.  She clenched her teeth into a snarl, a pain welling up in her chest and neck.  Had Vexus and Sierra known about this?  And if they had, is that why they had charged the mission to someone outside of their order:  to avoid guilt?  No, the duo with their love of battle and wanton death would not have cared for the guilt of murder−even if it left a child abandoned.  Was it a test then, to see just how cruel someone could be to accomplish a given task?  That sounded like a much more reasonable answer.

            Axis’ gait transformed into the hunched walk of a prowl, and her claws tapped against the ground with each step.  “I am not a monster…” she growled as the fur on her back bristled in rage, “yet THAT is what you have turned me into.  Be warned, Kunai Clan, for if things continue down this road, I shall show you just how monstrous I can be…”

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Axis is NOT a happy camper...but after being fooled like this, if indeed that was the purpose of this task, who could blame her?

Anyway, this is the last part of this side mission.  It contains a shout out to GabladeRunner's story with his team (Ike the Cubone's part in particular).
(I swear, people are going to hate me for mentioning them when I have pic-descriptions that are freakishly long like this...)

Enjoy!

Part 1

Axis (c) me
The rest are just NPCs of the group