Chapter 34: Alicia de Renera

The sound of muttering woke her. It came from off to her right, and though the voice seemed familiar, she couldn't place where she heard it before. She strained her ears and listened.

"Honestly," he said, "The one part of me that stays the same is the one thing I never liked, that blasted ring around my eye. Two new bodies, and it's still there. And did it have to be white?"

Alicia pried her eyes open. The room around her was fuzzy, but she could see a black figure looming over her bed, peering into a mirror. Her vision gradually cleared, and she saw the figure in more and more detail. His claws were the first to come in focus, deep scarlet in color, long, and filed to smoothness. Her gaze crept up his arm to his face. A white circle surrounded his right eye, and he shuffled through the pale hairs with his left hand.

"Maybe I should have them trimmed. I wonder how long it would take to grow back."

Alicia took a deep breath, and her throat ached for water. She turned over and croaked, her tongue too stiff to form the word.

The zoroark turned around. "Ah, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Alicia tried to speak again, then she pointed at her throat.

"Oh. Got it." He drew a circle in the air and reached through the hole she made. Thirty feet away, at the sink across the room, his hand reached out and grabbed a glass of water. He pulled his hand back out and handed her the water. She took cautious sips until the life came back to her throat.

"Thank you. Um, who are you?"

"Your husband. Like the new body? I'm not too fond of it myself, but I guess I can't be picky."

Alicia blinked as the information sluggishly crawled through her brain. Then she put everything together and said, "Arkus, is that you?"

"Yes. So, what do you think?" He twirled around, his hair swaying with him as he revealed his new body. He had on a tight-fitting black suit and pants, and his hair flowing from the back of his head was bound with an ebony metal ring.

"I thought you said, you said—"

Arkus' smile waned into the barest upward curl as he said, "I didn't have any choice. Might as well make the best of it, right?"

"What happened?"

His smile descended into a slight frown. "Lots. Long story short, I'm a zoroark, hundreds of pokemon died, and all the humans turned into a monster I killed."

A slight creak came from the door, and Arkus glared at it. "I swear to god, open that door any further, and I'll make sure you two never leave this hospital.

The door slammed shut. Alicia leaned forward and shoved the pillow behind her back. "So, now what?" she asked.

"I don't know." Arkus sagged onto a bed and placed his head in his hands. "I don't know. I feel so tired of living. Do you have any idea what it was like, waking up and finding out everyone I knew was dead?" He leaned back and dryly chuckled. A tear danced across the scar on his cheek. "Everyone, ironically, except the one person I hated more than anyone else. And now, even he's gone. I'm so tired."

His words made an icy chill creep into her chest. She pushed herself out of bed with shaking arms, took a few hesitant steps, and fell onto his shoulders, wrapping him with a feeble hug. Arkus leaned forward and returned the hug. They sat there for an hour, holding each other, savoring the warmth building between them, listening to the other's heart beat. Then Alicia's stomach growled, and Arkus' grumbled in response.

"I hope you don't mind eating in the car," he said. "We should've been at the meeting half an hour ago."

"Meeting? What meeting?"

"Come on; let's get you on your feet." He stood, lifting Alicia with him. He placed his arm around her wedding dress, sliding his claws over the airy silk.

"Open the door, will you?" he called towards the door. The two zoroark on the other side opened the door and glared at him as he walked past. Arkus stopped and turned to the zoroark on the left.

"Get us something to eat, will you? It's been hours since either of us ate, and we shouldn't address the family on empty stomachs."

The zoroark grunted and ran off. A minute later, he returned with two trays, each with a plate of bacon, an apple, and a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with oran berries.

"Excellent, thank you. Let's go."

The zoroark grimaced at the load he had perched on his hands as they walked out the hospital. A long black car was parked in front of the hospital. The first zoroark held the door open and the second handed them their trays. The car lurched forward, and they drove towards the City Hall.

Alicia took a bite out of the apple, savoring the juices dripping down her throat. Then she scooped up the bacon with her fork and ground it into a greasy mash between her teeth before swallowing. She tried the oatmeal, but it was dry and clumpy, and it stuck to the sides of her throat. She washed it down with another bite of the apple.

The car screeched to a stop, and her bowl of oatmeal slid across the tray until it hit the edge. Her apple tumbled off onto the floor, and a drop of grease leapt onto the back of the seat. She glanced over at Arkus. The bacon and oatmeal were gone, and he held the apple as he opened his door. The zoroark opened her door and pulled her onto her feet. Her legs trembled, but she managed to walk up the stairs on her own, leaning against the railing and taking the steps one by one. Arkus walked a step ahead of her, watching her and offering a hand when she stumbled.

The city hall was silent, its reception areas and booth vacant. The two zoroark stood shoulder to shoulder behind them, glaring at Arkus as they descended the stairs to the meeting room.

The tables within the room were replaced with one long stone table. Hundreds of zoroark and their spouses filled its seats, yet it seemed unnaturally empty with the dozens of vacancies scattered across the hall. He and Alicia, beneath the sullen gazes of the other zoroark, sat at one end of the table. The other end, adorned with a high, intricately carved stone seat, remained empty.

"You're late," one zoroark near the head of the table said. "You're lucky Sorcen hasn't arrived yet or you would be punished further."

"Sorcen won't be joining us," Deryl said. He placed the green hat and gold-tipped cane on the table with a hollow thud that echoed in the chamber. "These were found in the hideout, along with a pile of ashes."

"Well, then why haven't you told us earlier? We need to pick the new leader!"

"Sorcen left us with a successor," Deryl said, taking the sealed envelope out of his coat pocket. "I felt it… appropriate to wait until everyone was here to open it."

"So, open it then!" The chorus rang across the table. Deryl sighed and looked down at the envelope before he opened it with deliberate slowness, letting each tear in the seal echo across the hall. The zoroark fell silent, breaths held, waiting for the envelope to open.

The seal hit the table with a gentle plop. In the room's silence, it had all the weight and violent cacophony of a boulder. The envelope opened with all the patience of defusing a bomb. The letter inside crawled out of the envelope, scratching and clawing its way into the open air. Deryl opened it, stared at the fine black print, read and reread it before voicing the words so quietly and so slowly the zoroark had to lean forward to hear him.

"Considering the current state of emergency, I have decided that a clear line of succession is necessary. I do not have the luxury of providing names, since any one of us could die at any moment. So, in the interest of preserving order, the strongest among us shall rule as Elder."

The room remained deathly silent as every pair of eyes fell on Arkus. He smiled and took a bite out of his apple. The crunching echoed across the hall with deafening clarity and smugness. He tossed the apple core behind him and snapped his fingers. The core burned away to nothingness before it hit the ground.

"You'll have to excuse me. I believe we are in the wrong seats."

Power rose from his shoulders like black fire, casting luminous shadows along the walls. He drew a circle in the air, and a gate opened up over him and Alicia. They were both drawn into the gate and lowered on the other side of the hall, Arkus into the ornate seat and Alicia into its empty counterpart to the right.

A zoroark in a white, furry coat stood and shouted, "I cannot allow you to defile the seat of our venerable Father! Sixty-seven of our brothers and sisters died because of you!"

Other zoroark stood and took up the cry, but they were far outnumbered by the zoroark sitting in their seats and staring down at the table.

"How many of you would have died if I never came here?"Arkus asked them. "I can assure you, none of you would be alive right now if it weren't for me."

"Nice try," the zoroark sneered, "but we know the human was your lackey."

"Do you really think Eck was responsible for everything that happened? Where do you think all those resources came from? You saw those machines yourselves. You know they're too sophisticated for any of us to make. Do you really think the humans built those themselves?"

The zoroark and their spouses muttered to each other, and some of the standing zoroark sat down. The white-coat zoroark looked around in panic and said "Lies! All of it! You supplied all those machines, didn't you?"

"Why would I? Those machines nearly killed me, and with me, all other pokemon. Don't be stupid.

"Then perhaps you could explain the situation," Deryl said.

Arkus stood and told them about Sinex. He told them about their plans and how he made them backfire. He spoke of Darkrai's formation, and the voice that spoke when it died. Once he was finished, he stared at each of the standing zoroark until they sat down. The white-coat was the last, taking his seat while hiding his grumbling behind his hand.

Deryl flipped through the papers in front of him. "Well, now that that's finished, the next topic is… oh. Um, the next topic is Alicia's child. Arkus, as you know, in light of what that child will become, many wish to perform an abortion—"

Arkus' response cut through the air like a knife. "Not happening."

"Yes Elder," Deryl hastily said. He shifted through the papers, dropping a few onto the floor. "The next topic, oh where is it?"

"All damages will be paid by the city, and we will begin rebuilding immediately. Monetary support will be given to the family members of the deceased. I believe that is everything, correct?"

"Yes Elder," Deryl said. He glanced around the room, and then he stood from his chair and knelt towards Arkus. Another zoroark followed suit, and within seconds the entire room knelt before him.

Alicia started to kneel, but Arkus held her in her seat. "You shouldn't," he whispered. Then he stood and said, "I will be honest with you. For six hundred years, I have hated each and every single one of you here. Given even the slightest chance, I would not have hesitated to kill all of you."

Arkus fell silent, and the whole room filled with a cold, heavy quiet like a blanket of snow. Then he continued speaking.

"However, that blood-stained past is behind us. We have new enemies, and we need to be ready to face them. And make no mistake; I will do everything in my power to assure the safety of everyone in this city. Including you. You are all dismissed."

Arkus sat down as everyone left the room. Once they were alone, Arkus said to Alicia, "Let's go home."

Alicia's hand crept towards his, and they intertwined their fingers as they walked out to the car.

Chapter 35: Beta Field Agent 14

The cold, dark walls of the Delta Complex sent a cold, tingling sensation through his back. With each footstep, he could hear the whispers of the dead.

He held out the scanner and waved it around. A solid green line swiveled around the monitor, but the scanner remained silent.

He turned down another corner, and suddenly, a blip appeared on the monitor. He raced towards it, his boots clanging on the metal floor. Once the blip crawled to the center of his monitor, he stopped and looked around. The green hat and cane sitting on a chair first caught his eye. He picked up the hat and found a pile of ash beneath it.

"Is that the source?" he asked himself. He held the scanner closer, but the dot moved away from the center. He sighed and scooped some of the ash into a glass container. He tightly screwed the cap on and placed it in the pouch on his black uniform.

He scanned the floor, and then his eyes turned towards the ceiling. A smile leapt across his face when he saw the small, pink, sticky piece of flesh dangling from the ceiling.

"Gotcha," he said, plucking the flesh and holding it in front of the scanner. The entire screen lit up, and the scanner made a rapid series of beeping noises. He screwed off the cap of another container and dropped the flesh inside. He shook the container, watching the flesh jiggle.

A sudden set of footsteps made him look up. He could hear them getting closer. He glanced one last time at the scanner before turning on his invisibility field and creeping out of the Delta Complex. He pressed a button on his sleeve and spoke into it.

"I collected a few samples. There wasn't much – most of the flesh was vaporized. However, I did find a living tissue sample."

"Excellent work Fourteen. We'll extract you in five seconds."

Fourteen turned towards the north and watched as a beam of red light split his atoms into a massless wavefunction and beamed him across miles of empty space.

To be continued in Part Three of the Sinex Conquest Saga: Through the Darkness