The Gifted
Hey, so I've never really posted in the fanfic boards, but I've had this idea swirling in my head for a few years now and finally decided to jot it down.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"Annie, report now," a voice buzzed in Annie's ear.
Annie sighed, blowing away the locks of blonde hair that fell over the left side of her face and covered one of her hazel eyes. Within seconds, the hair fell right back into place. In a smooth motion, she combed the locks behind her ear and casually touched the earpiece tucked inside her ear.
"I'm bored," Annie replied through the earpiece. "No sign of our target yet-"
A sudden beeping sound from a device hanging loosely from her utility belt cut her off. She pulled it from her belt and read its monitor. A small grin appeared on her face.
"Hold on, Oakley. I just got a reading on something approaching me. It's headed north from Route 6." She peaked her head out of the foliage skirting the main path of Route 6 and looked to her right. The path remained empty. She ducked back down and looked back to her scanner.
"The scanner picked up the reading of a Bug type. I think we finally found him." Annie typed into the device and a photo of a young man with dark, spiked hair displayed on the monitor. "He's cute, too," Annie giggled to herself.
"Report back when you have a positive ID on the target," Oakley replied through the earpiece. "But do not engage! I'm still in Saffron, but I'm on my way. ETA, 5 minutes."
Annie turned to her left, looking back at the cityscape of Saffron and then looked to her right at the still empty path of Route 6. Her lips curled in a sneer. "Oh please. I'll be done with him by the time you get here."
"Annie," Oakley said sternly, "the report said he was at least equal to our level. Maintain your position until I arrive. That's an order!"
The scanner in Annie's hands beeped again. Annie's eyes darted back to the path where she spotted the silhouette of a lone, approaching figure. Annie squinted. With the sun in her eyes, she couldn't make out any of its features.
She let the figure continue its approach as it angled away from the sun and came closer to her concealed position. After several paces, the figure walked directly in front of her and with the sun out of her eyes, Annie could better see some of its features – most noticeably the feminine curve of its hips. It was a woman.
"Annie, do you have a visual?" Oakley's voice again buzzed in Annie's ear. At that moment, the feminine figure stopped. She quickly turned her head, her blue eyes looking directly at Annie even in her concealed position. It was as if the woman had heard Oakley's voice from the earpiece, but that was impossible. The hearing radius was only a few inches.
The woman dropped a basket of herbs she held and immediately broke into a frantic run down the path towards Saffron City. Annie cursed to no one in general as she leaped onto the path in pursuit.
"Someone spotted me! Female. I'm going after her!" Annie said. She touched her earpiece one more time to turn off the mic as she broke into a sprint.
Annie looked ahead at the retreating figure. She first noticed the coattails of the woman's white labcoat, flapping wildly as she ran, and then her pink ponytail, bobbing up and down uncontrollably.
Within seconds, Annie was already just a few yards away from the pink-haired woman, but she did not try to get any closer. Instead, the Rocket agent reached out with her right hand in a grabbing motion, and her hand emitted a bright, pink glow. The retreating woman shrieked in surprise as she found herself surrounded in the same bright, pink glow and frozen in place. Annie raised her hand slightly, levitating the trapped woman two feet above the ground. Annie rotated her wrist, rotating her prisoner until she faced her.
In a swift motion, Annie spread her fingers as wide as possible and forced the young woman into a spread-eagled position, causing her to yelp in surprise. The glow from Annie's hands winked out, and she walked towards the captured young woman to get a better look.
"Well, this isn't good," Annie sighed, crossing her arms over her buxom chest. "You're definitely not him." She looked up at her captive. The pink-haired woman grunted as she struggled to move her body, unable to budge even an inch. Underneath the glasses she wore, her blue eyes squeezed shut, and her pretty face cringed and twisted as she strained to escape.
'Be brave!' the echo of an unfamiliar, female voice resounded somewhere in the back of Annie's head. 'Don't show her you're scared!'
Annie didn't hear the voice through her earpiece. She heard it from a place she could never explain, but eventually learned to accept. Somehow, she had developed the ability to hear the thoughts of a nearby person. She could never control when or how long she could do it; the thoughts always came sporadically in short bursts of thought.
"Let me go now!" Annie heard the same voice again, except this time it was spoken by the young woman. Ignoring her, Annie pulled out her scanner in one hand and typed on it with the other.
"So, she's the Bug type that set off my scanner. I hate false alarms." Annie thought out loud, while her victim continued to squirm. The captured woman yelled back.
"Look, you're gonna regret this!" she cried, attempting to sound strong, but Annie could detect the slight crack in her voice.
"Wow, her level is pathetic." Annie continued to think out loud.
The woman spoke again. "Let me go, Rocket pig!"
Annie looked up at her startled. "How did you know I was a member of Team-" Annie peered down at her chest, grinning bashfully when she noticed the bright red 'R' across her shirt, clashing with the black of the rest of her tight-fitting, sleeveless top.
Annie twiddled her fingers as she spoke. "Right... well I usually don't wear this uniform." She then subconsciously placed a hand over her taut stomach, and scowled at the young woman. "And I'm not a pig."
Annie then noticed the logo of Silph Co near the front pocket of the woman's labcoat and an ID badge clipped nearby. Annie leaned in as she peered at the badge closely.
"Hmm... Joy, huh? You're Saffron City's Nurse Joy? You look a lot younger than usual," Annie pondered aloud. "I've never heard of a Nurse Joy that was a Bug type..." Annie frowned as she looked at Joy's glasses. "... or one that wears hideous glasses."
"No, Saffron's Nurse Joy is my older second cousin," Joy protested, but Annie didn't seem to hear her.
"Oakley, I've apprehended the runner." Annie said as she touched a finger to her ear. "I think we should hold her for now." Annie quickened the pace of her words. "She works for Silph Co so she can be helpful to us later on when we have to-"
"Kill her now and get back to your original position," Oakley curtly cut her off. Joy gasped audibly, eyes growing wide. Annie looked first at Joy, and then to her scanner.
"Hold on," Annie spoke even faster. "She's a Gifted. A Bug type. If we brought her back to Giovanni-"
"Annie!" Oakley cut her off again. "I don't want to have this conversation every time this comes up. I'll be there in one minute, and if she's not dead by then I'll kill her myself. Got it?"
Annie snorted in disgust before turning off her earpiece. She looked back up to Joy, who had turned pale in the face.
'She's going to kill me!" Joy's thoughts echoed loudly inside Annie's skull.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you," Annie assured her, but Joy wasn't listening. Her muscles clenched and twisted as she again attempted to escape, but under Annie's psychic hold, she could barely move her body at all.
"Will you hold still? I promise I won't hurt you," Annie said.
She extended two of her fingers which began to emit a pink glow. Joy stopped struggling and looked with wide eyes at Annie's glowing fingers.
“What are you doing?” Joy asked, her voice now a cracked whisper.
Annie didn't reply. Wordlessly, Annie raised her glowing fingertips to Joy's forehead, and the pink glow began to intensify. Joy shut her eyes, realizing she couldn't escape.
"Put her down now." A male voice from behind caused Annie to stop.
The glow from Annie's fingertips winked out, and slowly, she turned around to find a young man standing behind her.
She first saw his eyes - golden, glowing orbs staring back at her. Involuntarily, her body tensed and she took a step backward, immediately breaking eye contact. Her eyes focused away from his face and on to the white t-shirt that fit tightly to his lean but muscled frame. When Annie chanced a glance back at his face, she noticed his dark, spiked hair.
“Hey... hold on a sec,” Annie said as she pulled out her scanner. She typed in a few keys, and it beeped rapidly.
"A Bug type huh?" Annie said with a nod. She typed in a few more keys, and again, the picture of a young man's face appeared on the device's monitor. It was him. She smiled. "I thought I recognized that cute face. "
"Let her go," the young man spoke louder this time. "I won't let you do to her, what you Rocket scum did to me."
Annie raised an eyebrow. "What we did to you? Look I don't know what you're talking about, but you're co-"
The young man's body moved in blur, his glowing eyes leaving a trail of golden light. He leaped towards Annie, throwing a punch at her feet just as she jumped away. The ground shattered instantly underneath his golden, glowing fist, throwing dirt and grass in the air.
The attack broke Annie's concentration, causing her to release her Psychic hold. Joy yelped as she felt herself fall from the air. In an instant, the young man jumped beneath her, catching her and cradling her in his arms.
"Hey I was still talking!" Annie yelled as she landed several yards away in a crouched position. She looked back at her assailant, but he wasn't paying attention to her. Still holding Joy in his arms, the young man gently set her on her feet. The golden glow of his eyes winked out, and he touched his fingertips to her arm.
"Are you okay?" he asked. A reassuring smile slowly spread across his face.
"Yeah... I think I'm okay," Joy said as she returned his smile, her face slightly turning the color of her hair.
"Good. Now get back and hide. It's not safe here," he instructed. Joy nodded and backed away from the path, retreating into the bushes. The young man's eyes flashed into golden orbs again, and he directed his attention back to Annie.
"The next punch I throw won't be aimed at your feet," he warned, clenching his fist.
Annie didn't waste her time with a verbal reply. She raised a glowing hand, and the young man looked wide-eyed at his body as it also began to glow a pink hue.
"That's because you can't throw any when you can't move!" Annie said with a mischievous grin. Her grin faded when the young man, still surrounded by her pink aura, charged at her.
"Hey!" Annie cried, eyes wide. "You're not supposed to be able to-" She ducked under a punch aimed at her face, then jumped away as he attacked with a low sweep. She flipped backwards several times before gracefully landing on her feet.
“Hmm, that was easier to dodge,” Annie remarked.
The young man relentlessly pursued, again dashing towards her and throwing a kick. Annie easily stepped around the direct attack and found herself at his back. Seeing an opening, she kicked at the small of his vulnerable back, but to her surprise, the young man rolled under her leg with a low somersault and quickly got back to his feet.
"Good guess," Annie said, maintaining her fighting stance. "But your movements are slower than before. You're not completely immune to my Psychic attack, just resisting it... a lot."
"You're right," her opponent admitted. "You can't completely control me with Psy-" He suddenly tumbled away just as a beam of dark energy came from behind and exploded where he was a second before. He landed facing the direction of the attack and saw a blue-haired woman wearing a Team Rocket uniform matching Annie's.
"That's interesting," the blue-haired woman said, looking at Annie. "He just dodged an attack from behind while he was distracted."
Annie replied, unfazed by the woman's sudden appearance, "He's pretty good, Oakley. That's the second time he's dodged an attack from his blindside."
"So this is the guy we're looking for?” Oakley asked, as she executed a flip, landing next to Annie.
Annie nodded to her. “Yup, that's the guy we're looking for. We've found Ace.”
The young man, Ace, looked back and forth at the two women in surprise. “Team Rocket is looking for me?” His eyes narrowed and their golden glow intensified. “I'm not letting you take me back.”
“Stop acting like we've done something to you before,” Annie rolled her eyes. “And of course we're after you! What the heck would we want with your pink-haired... wait, where'd she-” Annie looked to her left and to her right before finding Joy hiding beneath the brush. She then noticed Joy holding a small blinking device in her hand. An emergency signal. Annie cursed.
Oakley followed Annie's line of sight and spotted Joy. “You didn't kill the girl!?” Oakley cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “She's already activated a Pokémon League emergency signal, too. Some idiots from the League are gonna be here any-” The sound of approaching police sirens from Saffron City cut her off. Oakley glared at Annie.
“Sorry,” Annie said, smiling sweetly at her partner.
“We have to get out of here, now!” Oakley ordered as she grabbed Annie's arm and started to break into a run. In a flash, Ace appeared in front of the pair, arms crossed and eyes flaring brightly.
“Like I'd let you. I want payback,” he seethed. A flash of black energy erupted between Oakley's hands and formed into into a solid, black staff with pointed ends. She slashed at Ace's face, but he stepped backwards out of the weapon's range, then jumped forward again, drawing back his glowing, right fist.
“Reflect!” Annie yelled as she held out both arms in front of her. In an instant, a protective, pink sphere of energy formed around the two Rocket agents.
“Brick Break!” Ace roared, thrusting his fist with a twisting motion into the Psychic forcefield. Just as quickly as the forcefield formed, it shattered into several wisps of pink energy that dissipated into nothing. The two Rocket agents tumbled backwards from the force of the blow before backflipping to a standing position.
“His brute force is insane!” Oakley cried. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Joy to her right, slowly and quietly retreating towards Saffron. Oakley turned back to Ace and grinned.
“You want to play, hero?” She asked Ace, pivoting on one foot to face Joy, and drawing back her weapon like a throwing spear.
Ace's eyes widened, and Annie cried out. “Oakley, no!”
Joy turned at the sound of Annie's voice. Her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped when she realized what was about to happen.
“Then go save the girl!” Oakley roared as she hurled her weapon at Joy. Ace's body disappeared in a blur, and Annie reached out a glowing hand, forming pink energy around her friend's Dark weapon. She tried to mentally pull the weapon off course, but the Psychic energy merely sizzled and evaporated when it made direct contact with the spear formed from Dark energy.
“Let's go!” Oakley yelled, pulling Annie's arm and breaking into a run. Annie looked back helplessly as Oakley pulled her away, the Dark spear still speeding towards Joy's chest.
With the spear just a yard away from Joy's chest, Ace appeared in a flash next to her, shoving her out of the weapon's way. The momentum from his jump kept his body flying forward, straight into the path of the spear.
“No!” Joy screamed as she saw the blade draw closer to his chest. Ace twisted his body at an odd angle, and the blade impaled him through his upper body. The impact jerked his body into an even more twisted position, and he landed with a sound that was sickeningly both wet and dull as his body crashed into the dirt. His impaled body came to a sliding halt, leaving a long trail of red blood.
As Oakley pulled Annie away from the scene with a long, powerful leap, Annie turned her head back to give one final look. She saw Joy kneeling over Ace's body with her hands alight in a white, ethereal flame held over his wound, and the flashing red lights of emergency vehicles just arriving from Saffron City.
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Originally Posted by Crystalmaster Mike
Hehe, there goes a romantic moment. Um, and I hate to sound like a noob, but is there a way for me to edit the title of this thread whenever I add a new chapter.
