//------------------------------// // Side Chapter" Raziel // Story: A New World, A New Conflict // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// Waiting isn’t really for everyone. Sure, most everyone had a bit of patience. It isn’t considered a virtue for nothing, after all. However, there are a few people who can’t stand waiting. They hate it. Sitting in one place for any bit of time was a killer. One of said people was- “Lily Evans?” A bored, secretary called over from his desk. He was rather annoyed by the girl. She was a psychic and those never sat well with him. He knew reading minds and all that wasn’t in her bio, but still. Did she really have to constantly teleport around? The answer was yes as she teleported in front of him. She was a rather slim young woman, perhaps in her late teens/early twenties. He forgot the age, “That’s me, luv.” She had a bit of a cockney accent. “Dr. Jacob Raziel is willing to see you now,” he rolled his eyes. If only that ‘great purge’ hadn’t happened. Then he could easily get a replacement and go on his much needed vacation, but no. Everyone had to disappear. “Thanks,” she winked at him and the door opened. The moment it did, she teleported inside and it closed behind her. “Right on cue, Mister Raziel.” Before her was a rather plain office and desk. At the very back of the room was a large window that took up a third of the wall’s space. In front of it was a man she knew all so well. His blond hair was combed and his suit was styled to perfection, “Great to have you.” His germanic accent was an undercurrent theme in his voice. “So what’s this now,” Lily sat down for a bit. While she hated waiting, she could stand being in one place for Raziel. He was almost like a father figure with how he cared of the orphanage nearby. Of course, given her skills and talents, he helped her realize her true worth: being a top sniper. Raziel chuckled, “I think I finally know what happened.” “Ooh, ooh, ooh,” Lily started hop/teleporting around the room. “Where are they? Is my little Charry Warry alright?” Her trusty sniper rifle teleported into her hands. “Do I have to kill somebody?” “Che, che, che,” Raziel gave his typical chuckled. “Not yet, my kleine freundin.” He turned around, staring at her with his deep blue eyes. “I think our good ol’ gods have a thing to do with it.” Lily’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Yes, let’s just say, I have my sources.” He scowled. “Arceus has escaped his prison.” “The bloke escaped?” Lily blinked in confusion. “Blimey, didn’t see that one coming.” “Well who else could pull off this kind of feat?” Raziel snorted. “Who else could hold such contempt for man that he’d rip it apart?” Che, che, che, for a god he is so predictable.” Lily quirked an eyebrow, “Ya knew he was gonna do this, boss?” Raziel nodded, “Do you know why we’re the dominant species on this planet, Lily.” “‘Cause Arceus is stupid?” Lily tilted her head. “He wasn’t stupid,” Raziel held up a finger. “He was naive to trust humans.” He turned back to the window. “We’re the dominant species on the planet because we always want more. We want new machines. New everything. We’re never content with what we have. Pokemon are. They don’t care. They just enjoy what they have and make the most of it. “A content person won’t overreach themselves. We’re far from a content people. Arceus was a fool to trust us.” His fist clenched. “He was an utter fool. If he had kept a closer eye on us, none of this would have happened. None of this would have come to pass. My family would be alive if he just didn’t blindly trust the most asshole species in the entire universe!” Blue aura flared around him like hellish fire. Lily gulped and teleported behind her chair, “Er, boss? Luv, ya doin’ it again.” The aura died away and Raziel chuckled, “Che, che, che. My emotions got the better of me.” He started walking out of the room, motioning Lily to join him. “I could forgive him for taking them all away, even a great number of pokemon. It makes my research that much harder without so many test subjects and replacements, but I can live with that. What I can’t stand is that he took away my nemesis. Sev is my opposite. The yin to my yang. How am I supposed to function without him?” He pulled out a pamphlet. “I even designed an auto cannon that can fire rotten cheese, Lily. ROTTEN CHEESE! I have it all ready to go and now who am I supposed to fire it at? One of the gangs?” “Well that’s a bit of a bummer,” Lily said. It was no secret that Sev and Raziel liked to try and ‘outwit’, if you wanted to call it that, each other with such crazy inventions. How Hoenn was still standing after all of it was a mystery. “Exactly,” Raziel grumbled. “It even had cup holders.” He frowned as his shoulders slumped, “I… I just don’t know what to do, Lily. He’s always been there, from the very start. We’ve been doing this for so long…” He growled. “I will fix this.” He took out a picture, which was of him and a Liepard beside him and a little Zorua in his arms. “Oh yes, I will fix this.” “My commander!” A bubbly voice called out. Looking over, stashing his picture away in his pocket, he saw a rather well endowed ‘Indian’ woman wearing bright red clothing hopping over to him. Beside her was another woman who looked almost identical, if not for the icey blue of her clothes and makeup. “I have such passionate news.” “It’s not that passionate,” the more mellow twin snorted. Raziel practically squealed, “Yes. What is it?” “This ‘Devon Corporation,” the fiery girl, Flare, said. “Had some useful intel.” “Pretty much told us everything we needed to know,” Chill said, folding her arms. “I can’t wait to get back into the fight. I owe Char a few blows.” “Excellent,” Raziel grinned, playing his fingers together. “Now I just need to rouse the troops.” ____________________________________________________________________ “My love,” a beautiful Liepard stood before him, behind a curtain. She spoke in their germanic native language. “The troops are ready.” “Very good,” Raziel nodded, bending down to pick her up and kiss her deeply. Pulling back, he gave her a smile. “Wish me luck.” “You always made your own luck,” the Liepard, Parda, giggled as she nuzzled him. “Now get to it. The quicker you do, the sooner we can have fun.” “And no pesky Rangers to stop it,” Raziel gave a wicked grin as he reluctantly let her go. Walking out, he came to look over his army. Or at least, part of it. They were all wearing the standard uniform of his army, with a ‘swastika’ badge on their arms. “My brothers and sisters of the dark,” Raziel grinned. “I have good news. Our sisters Flare and Chill have found some information that could lead us to the missing PLA.” A resounding cheer came about until Raziel raised his hand. “Not only that, we believe that the missing humans and Arceus himself is there. Arceus, who has denied us our one true goal. Arceus, who took away so many people on this world.” Raziel laughed. “Why should we care, many of you may think. We are the master race, are we not? Those who follow the ways of the Dark. Those who wish to show humanity a better way. “We should care, my brothers and sisters. If humanity is to die, it is not going to be by someone elses hands. There is one thing I have learned in all my time on this planet, it’s this.” He grinned. “Humans are stagnant. They never change. They never,” he hummed in thought. “Evolve. We are that step in evolution. Yet, that step is for not. Our world is dying. How can proper humans survive and thrive?” He laughed. “Oh we can, because we’re humans. Humans are stubborn like that, but we are better then them. We aren’t human. We are more than human. We are the Dark Empire!” Another resounding cheer broke out. “We all know that this day would come. When Arceus would seek his revenge. Good riddance, but I hate to see it happen. We are more than human, but we are still human. If there is one thing that humans do best, it is war. “War will not die out, my brothers and sisters. War will continue. War will ravage this new home and we shall reclaim humanity's future.” He splayed his arms out wide. “We shall not just wage any war. We shall wage a Dark War. A blazing war to remind our ‘taken’ and ‘good’ fellows of humanity’s true self. We will remind them that humans are assholes and that will never change. “We are the Dark Empire, masters of war unlike any other. The humans here are weak as they fight each other. We shall reclaim our world. The humans of the other world think they are safe. We will remind them of true war. We will show the heavens that the Dark will not fall silent. “My brothers and sisters, glory to the dark! Glory to new victories and the further evolution of a now debunk species. Glory to the Dark Empire and let our new reign stain the ground with blood.” The soldiers cheered, “Sieg Heil. Sieg Heil.” The Devon Corporation Building. Once home of the number one technology manufacturer in Hoenn, now an abandoned piece of concrete that didn’t have long before falling apart. It was evident what the constant earthquakes that had hit that side of the region did to the once stunning establishment. It was miserable, barely a shadow of what it once used to be. Raziel boldly walked along with his arms folded behind his back as he lead his troops towards the building. There was Chill, Flare, Lily and his beloved wife with him, so he wasn’t in danger. The hundred infantry, twelve tanks, three helicopters, and six walking battle mechs were just a bonus. “Finally, our ticket to my war.” “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Parda nuzzled him. As they made their way inside, they were greeted by the sound of broken circuits, failing mechanisms, and a faint robotic voice that greeted them to Devon Corporation. The receptionist desk was empty, and the path to the right was seemingly   blocked by fallen debris, and on the only path that was left, a door that read ‘Authorized Personnel Only”, protected by a locked door that was as broken as everything else.   Raziel’s aura surged as he looked around. He nodded for them to follow and walked left and down the stairs. It was a long, excruciatingly long way down, the seemingly endless spiral staircase becoming even more obnoxious as fallen debris made it difficult to keep going, yet not impossible. After several minutes, they finally got to the bottom, being greeted by a long hallway that ended in a simple, metallic door, a security panel preventing them from simply entering. “We appear to be met with a conundrum,” Raziel hummed and stroked his chin. “Luckily for you,” Parda smirked and walked over to the panel. “I can-” “Can’t wait,” he cut her off and used a surge of aura to blow up the panel. He shrugged at her glare. “I’m not going to wait another minute.” They made their way in, and the sight in front of them would leave any normal person shocked in awe. It was as if they had entered another world, massive monitors showing all sorts of statistics of different kinds, dozens of gadgets and devices scattered around, a blinding amount of lights coming from beeping machines and screens that flashed a strong red. “Who be there!?” Came a nervous shout from the other side of the underground facility, “Me no scared of you! Me have gun and me shoot anyone who gets close!” Hiding behind a couple of tables-turned-barricade, stood an elderly bald man with a banana in his hand. Raziel clapped his hands, “The mighty banana. I haven’t been threatened by one in years. No one really takes them seriously anymore.” “Ya! But this be no normal banana!” He gripped the fruit tighter, “This be rotten banana! So get out of laboratory or I use it!” Raziel rolled his eyes, “Not until I get what I came here for.” “You wish to see laboratory, you ask Mister Stone first!” He grit his teeth, his hand shaking as he obviously had no idea he was the only living creature in the building. “He’s not here,” Raziel stated and started to move closer. “He hasn’t been here for days and I’m not waiting.” “Then… then…” The old scientist began panicking, not knowing what to do. “I has to protect research!” He let out a pitiful battlecry before tossing the banana at Raziel, yet having so little strength that it barely traveled a few feet splashing on the floor. The scientist scratched his head, confused that it didn't work, “I am out of bananas. Oh well.” He shrugged, before doing a clumsy reverence, “Dominik Gerz to serve you! Me have been working in this facility since Mister Stone hired me. What can me help ya with, mister… what be your name?” Raziel bowed, “Dr. Jacob Raziel, at your service.” “Oh!” Dominick grinned, “You doctor? Me have a rash in back that won't go away, what should me do?” Raziel quickly raised a hand, “Not that kind of Doctor. I work with genetics and machines.” “Ohh…” Dominick nodded, “I see now. You be new replacement for me missing comrades? With region on shambles and da strange burst of power several days ago, me working like madman all da time.” Raziel nodded, “You can say that. I wanted to find out more about this ‘strange burst of power’ and all that.” Dominick began laughing, pressing several buttons in a panel before pointing at a huge screen in one of the lab's walls,“Look! This be day before me comrades disappeared, we has satellite that keeps an eye for energy levels in planet in case Megalith appears again. These be normal levels,” The diagram in screen showed weird-looking waves calmly increasing and decreasing, “Now this be moment when comrades left!” with the push of a button, the diagram changed, showing massive waves reaching the screen's limits, the numbers around the waves being several digits long, everything  indicating that something big had happened, “And then, boom.” The screen changed, and the waves were gone. There was nothing. “See?” Raziel rubbed his chin, “I see. I see.” “But that not fun part,” The scientist giggled like a child, “I know what happened! Yes, we has seen this before, multiple times, in smaller quantities but it has happened. We know, I know! We has done it before!” Raziel turned to him, “How?” The scientists turned to the panels, and pulled a lever, “Our biggest project, yes!” A hatch opened from the roof, and slowly, a platform descended, carrying a strange machine akin to a laser cannon, yet at the same time,  it was obvious it was far more than that, “We managed to discover ways to jump, ya. Jump between worlds, dimensions, parallel universes! This be our treasure, da Link Cable!” Raziel grinned like a kid on Christmas morning, “To other worlds, you say? Can it really be done?” “It has been done.” Dominick grinned as well, “In smaller quantities, dah. We sent letter to other universe, we received reply from that universe, universe similar, but different. But with enough power!” He anxiously pointed at the energy readings, “We can replicate dat, we can follow whatever did the jump, ya!” Raziel clapped his hands in glee, “Che, che, che. Splendid. We’ll need to do it as quickly as possible.” “There is problem though…” Dominick sighed. “Huh?” Raziel quirked an eyebrow. “We need Pokemon Energy, ya. Eh… can you please click button behind you?” Dominick asked as he began searching his bag. One of the soldiers clicked it.  And just as he did, the screens turned red. And then the sound of a charged gun. Dominick’s expression changed into a smirk as he pointed at Raziel with a revolver, the beeping sound of the building's alarm accompanying the sound of gears and mechanisms coming back to life. “Warning, intruders. Activating advanced security system.” Came a robotic voice as several turrets came from the ceiling, “Do not move or you shall be harmed.” “Sorry doctor.” Dominick shook his head, “But these are hard times. A man has to do what he's got to do. Tell your men to get on the floor, or I will blow your brains off.” Raziel snorted, “Do you really think one gun is going to scare me? Che, che, che, I fight pokemon for a living. How about you put down the gun and we can talk?” “No can do, Doctor. I am afraid that there is no much to talk about. You are my ticket to my salvation, you see.” With his free hand, he pointed at the turrets, “These are designed to pierce through an Aggron's plating, and they are all pointing at your soldiers. We do not want to take risks, now do we? Just get on your knees, and if you behave, I may consider saving you as well.” “I have thousands more,” Raziel stated. “I am an Empire unto one man. What possible reason would you have of me?” “I blow the head of the leader off, and your so called ‘empire’ falls. Not like it matters anyways, in a few days… we'll all be dead.” Slowly, Dominick made his way towards Raziel, “I will not die, doctor, I just… I am not ready. There is so much I want to do.” Dominick pointed at the Link Cable with a grin, “This is my ticket out. I found the door, yet you have the key, and I am decided to get it from you.” “And what do I get out of this venture?” Raziel quirked an eyebrow. “If you cooperate, your survival, as well as the survival of some of your troops… some of them.” Dominick answered calmly. Raziel twiddled his fingers, “That’s a tempting offer, Herr Dominick.” “I am glad we are getting to an agreement,” Dominick nodded, “Now the only thing I need is for you to give me all the Pokemon in your troops, every single one. The machine needs fuel, after all.” “I would like to give a counter offer,” Raziel said. “Give me what I want and you won’t die.” Dominick laughed at that, “I have an entire, high-tech building protecting me. I doubt you can do anything to me and get away with it. But…” He hummed, “Let us pretend I accept. What is it exactly that you want?” Raziel’s grin turned bloodthirsty, “I want war, Herr Dominick. I want a good, satisfying war. A war so grand and terrible that even the gods are brought to their knees. I want a war that will end all wars.” “And pray tell,” The scientist quirked an eyebrow, “How can my machine help you with that?’ “With it I can build my army,” Raziel stated. “With it, I can have my world war and find the cowards who escaped my anger. I will find my nemesis and we will have our war again.” Dominick couldn't keep his face straight, “Wait… you want to follow them?” He chuckled as he shook his head, “And you claim to be a doctor. Did you not see the readings? Even if we collected every remaining Pokemon in this planet we wouldn't even have half the power needed to reach them! Face it doctor, they are gone, and they are gone for good!” Raziel raised a finger, “Do not underestimate the Dark.” “I am telling you!” Dominick rolled his eyes, “We can not reach them! You want a war? I can offer you a war, but not the one you want. If you let me drain all your Pokemon's energy, we can reach a new world, you can start your war there if you wish. But reaching this ‘nemesis’ of yours is impossible!” He pointed at Raziel's head with his gun, “Now, will you cooperate? Or shall I take them by force?”   Raziel looked at his fingernails like they were more important, “Why don’t you ask my little Lily?” Dominick tilted his head in confusion, “Who?” The young lady behind him pulled him back, knocking the weapon away, held her own pistol to his head. “Cheers, luv. Lily’s here.” Dominick groaned as he tried to break free, “Fools. As soon as you shoot, the security system will go off and you will all be dead. But I know better, you need me alive, you need me to activate the Link Cable. Guess what, it is not going to happen.” Raziel advanced on him, his aura flaring. “You want to live, correct Herr Dominick? That’s why you’re doing all of this.” “Yes, what is your point?” He asked, not trusting Raziel one bit. “You’ll get to live, Herr Dominick, if you play along.” Raziel said. “That is not a good offer, considering that what you want is impossible.” Dominick grunted as he kept on trying to break free from Lily's grasp. “I live on the impossible,” Raziel smirked. “Rayquaza himself taught me that much.” Dominick looked at Raziel, thinking on his chances, his possibilities. Defeated, he nodded, “Alright. I shall start the Link Cable. I will do my best to get us to where you want to go. But no promises. Deal?” Raziel nodded and gestured to Lily, who teleported with the rest and Dominick’s weapons. The scientist narrowed his eyes as he walked over to the main pad. With nimble speed and expertise, he activated and   deactivated one mechanism after the other. He finally took a deep breath, and sighed, before pressing one final button. “Code verified,” Came the computer's voice, “Initiating Self-destruct sequence. Countdown, T minus 10 seconds.” “Sorry Doctor. But you should have listened to me when you had the chance. I will not stay here to see this world collapse on itself. I'd rather die here.” Dominick sighed as he simply sat down, closing his eyes while huming a song from his homeland. Raziel huffed, “Really? Self-destruct?” “What can I say?” Dominick chuckled, “Installed it myself in case everything else failed. Yet I know the type of person you are. You'll get out unharmed. So… good luck, doctor. Maybe you will somehow meet with your nemesis again, maybe not. I honestly could not care less.” “T minus 5 seconds.” “If you want to die, so be it. I wish you the best in the next life, Dominick. I mean that.” Raziel shrugged and patted his shoulder. He then snapped his fingers. The psychics in the group teleported them out of the base. “T minus two seconds. T minus one second.” “I am coming back home, momma.” And then, silence. Dominick opened his eyes and looked around, everything was untouched. “Huh… I guess I programmed it wro-” And then, it happened, the explosion that completely consumed the entirety of Devon Corporation, turning the magnificent building into nothing but flames and dust. Gone in the blink of an eye. Raziel saluted, “Goodbye random crazy scientist. You might have actually done some good for your fellow man.” He shrugged. “Guess I’ll just find another way. To the Distortion Realm.” He announced dramatically and started off.