181 Order's Defense

It was as if nothing bad had ever happened in the town.

Water still ran in the canals, foaming at the banks. The alleys were packed with Pokemon Trainers. Some Pokemon were walking with their trainers, admiring the taste of the town with deep sniffs.

To Kai, it felt like just yesterday he had spread the despair, putting a never-ending terror in the locals' hearts.

'20 days seemed to be enough for the people to forget about me,' Kai mused himself.

People indeed had forgotten about him, but the town remembered.

The walls, the water, and the air remembered him and the hope he had snatched out of them.

All over the town, there were posters of a black-hooded, wraith-like figure. Some were glued to the wall, the canals' current carried with them a few, and some even found themselves flying, clutched in the claws of a stray gust of air.

Unknown Pokemon - Inform Officer Jenny at the sight. DO NOT CONFRONT.

Kai looked at the poster in his hands, and the bold letters. He choked on a laugh. At the bottom, they had mentioned that the Pokemon might be related to the elusive attempts at the revenge of the infamous Team Rocket. There was more information under that, too. Rows, describing the victims of evil Pokemon. The bottommost row told of town favorite Ross, who was the last known victim, and the worst case among all.

'Oh!' Kai exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. 'Lost the will to talk, it says. He only mentioned the picture of this dark, hooded Pokemon with white hair, who resembles a Darkrai.'

'Darkrai?!' Kai repeated the name. 'A Pokemon?'

Now curious, he took out his Pokedex to check the data but found no such Pokemon.

'A Pokemon from some foreign region,' Kai concluded. Yet, to even compare his deeds to a Pokemon meant this Pokemon was extraordinary.

Kai's throat felt dry, and he suddenly paused.

It was his instinct.

An instinct that had never failed him, and had accompanied him across space, time, and unknown dimensions to help him in these strange worlds.

That Instinct made his heart race just now.

'I want it!' Kai decided there and then, without knowing who this Pokemon was, or what it could even do.

Seldom, Kai had decided on things like that. But when he did, it meant he was serious about them. As serious as one could ever be in one's life.

Kai would have made Petyr ask about the Pokemon from someone else if he wasn't walking alone right now. The place he was headed to, needed him to be alone. He was wearing a loose pink shirt, patterned with rising waves, and white pants over brown shoes. Overall, it gave him a funny, touristy appeal.

But when all were going to see the Water-Chariot Race, Kai was going in the other direction.

His goal was a warehouse.

Yes, the same warehouse from the movie where the Museum-curator, Lorenzo, had his Gondola workshop. The same warehouse that had the hidden entrance to the Secret Garden; the place where the legendary Pokemon lived. The same Secret Garden that also had the precious Soul Dew, said to contain the dead Latios' soul (-current Latias' brother from the movie-) as well as the power to destroy Alto Mare, housed in a pool of pure water.

'If Order has sent Contestants to save the city, then their first line of defense must be around the warehouse, monitoring all activities around it.' Kai, Petyr, and Item-M had concluded. But only Kai had mentioned that there might be a 4th-floor Contestant among them, as anyone lower than that wouldn't make sense against him.

Item-M had struggled to agree with Kai but had reluctantly nodded when Kai told her he would check it out.

Kai crumpled the wanted poster and threw it away in a dustbin. Then, he took out a leaflet. It was about the Water-Chariot Race. Time passed, and soon Kai found himself near the Warehouse, just a hundred meter away.

He stopped.

Kai closed his eyes, and for the first time, focused on all his Abilities, simultaneously.

Using the Cold suppression, he felt the air density around him. He used the Emotions Manipulation to find any hidden Contestant nearby. Spiritual currents within 10 meters around him let Kai know of all movements.

Then he felt them.

It was the tiniest, prickling sensation. But he felt them, nonetheless.

Steel-like wires had surrounded the warehouse, like a meticulously woven web. He could feel the cool air around him getting cut from a hundred directions, telling him of their vast numbers. Only when he opened his eyes and saw the nearest, almost invisible, wires shining silver under the morning sun that he realized they weren't wires at all.

Hair. They were hair.

Sharper, more flexible and resilient than steel, hair was used to make an intricate castle around the warehouse. Kai looked back and noticed that this castle was stretched to over 300 meters around the warehouse.

He was already standing in the thick of it.

He was like a fly who had been caught in the web, before knowing of it himself.

'So,' Kai amusingly thought. 'Where is the spider, then?'

"Hello," a sweet, inquiring voice reached him. "How may I help you?"

Kai looked to his left, toward the water canal. On the bank stood a girl, wearing the white volunteer t-shirt, which had images of the Eon Pokemon, over blue denim shorts. Her long black boots were reaching her knees, and behind them dangled the ends of her long black hair. Kai followed them up and saw that there was a yellow Pikachu-ear plush headband on her head, keeping her hair away from her round face.

And her eyes were two blue pearls.

"Aa… aaa!" Kai let out two quick noises, pointing at his mouth, and then at the leaflet in his hands.

The girl smiled. "It's OK," she told him. "I understand. You just turn around and walk straight to the T-Point at the end of this alley, OK? There you will find the board which will show you the way to the race."

Kai smiled. He nodded, bowed, and did as was told to him.

With every step, the surrounding hair made way to let him pass. This he didn't need to feel to know. He would have never left the place if the hair hadn't moved away. It was a plain fact.

When Kai reached the T-Point, he looked back. The girl was nowhere to be seen.

The smile on his face vanished, and his heart thumped.

'What the hell was that creature?' Kai asked himself incredulously.

Dementor's Blood Essence had made Kai susceptible to the changes in spiritual energy around him. The girl had been standing near enough for him to examine hers by stimulating his Glitch.

And there lay the problem.

For the first time, Kai failed to find a single drop of Spiritual Energy from someone.

Only one kind of beings in Kai's perspective didn't have any spirituality. He knew them like the back of his hands because he made them. Or that's how his victims ended up after Kai sucked out their souls.

So he asked himself again.

'What the hell was that Soulless Creature?'

********

AN: Please Vote PS to support the work. Thank you!

Spiritual Energy, Chakra, and Breath (SP) are all same. These terms (and a few which I have yet to mention) will be used interchangeably, but would mean the same thing. - Related to Soul.

Similarly, Mana, Magical Energy, and Intelligence (MP) are all same. (In this too, I have yet to add more terms). - Related to Mind.

Life Force, Natural Energy, and Stamina (HP) are all same. - Related to Body.

You got the gist, I think.

--- 1 more chapter today.