PokeContestIkari: "S" is for Slaughter

Chapter 1: A is for Accomplished Assassins

The setting is an old storage room, abundant with cardboard boxes and dust. In it, a young man is seen sorting the boxes by ship date, bobbing his head back and forth to the song that faintly reverberated throughout the room.

Unbeknownst to him, three young men lingered behind the boxes, stalking him as if he was their prey; in some ways though, he was.

"Sickhead to Bloodlust, come in Bloodlust." A raven-haired teen with a Pikachu by his side whispered into the microphone in his ear.

"Bloodlust here, what do you want?" A cold voice snapped.

"Jeez…Psycho Slash is moving in on the target, I repeat, Psycho Slash is—"

"This isn't the frickin' Korean War Sickhead, I've GOT IT."

Click.

"Thanks for the sunshine…" Sickhead mumbled to himself, switching off the microphone like his brother did.

"Pika…" Pikachu mumbled, a tad annoyed.

Sickhead and Bloodlust eyed a flash of green slowly creep behind a brown-haired man who was lazily sorting packages. Psycho Slash slowly took his signature switchblade knife out of its pocket, his lips in a thin harsh line. Engraved on the ebony handle was a bleeding rose cut in half; he had done it himself. With it firmly in hand, he began creeping closer and closer. The man was completely unaware that Psycho Slash was right behind him, towering over him.

The kill was fast. Psycho Slash sliced the man's neck from behind, creating a long thin line of blood to form. The red liquid spilled over the cut, running down his chest at an alarming rate. The man fell to the ground, blood gurgling his last groans of life. Psycho Slash stood there, fists clenched, looking down at his victim.

Pikachu covered its eyes as this happened.

Now the only sound in the room was the faint echo of the song "Hit the Floor" by Bullet for my Valentine. He sure did hit the floor, now didn't he?

"Hey, I love that song!" Sickhead expressed, listening into the song. Pikachu grinned wide, listening to the song also.

Bloodlust slapped his dense brother upside the head for making such a "stupid" comment.

"Who cares about the song? Let's split before anyone catches us!" Bloodlust uttered in his rough voice.

"Yeah, I could use a little free time." Psycho Slash admitted, crossing his arms.

"No, we need to report back to Boss." Bloodlust said, walking out of the warehouse in between his brothers.

"Come on dude, Boss has us working 25/8. Can't we just take the rest of the night off? I could REALLY use it." Psycho Slash groaned.

"Yeah man, I'm STARVING!"

The assassin that made that comment is named Satoshi, cleverly disguised with his code name "Sickhead". His "partner-in-crime", Pikachu, was his best friend in the whole world, even though it was a Pokémon. His trademark spiked black hair grew to shoulder-length, lightly highlighted with red streaks. Pikachu had the same red streak on the black part of its ears. Satoshi is twenty-three years of age, being the youngest of the three brothers. Although this young man seemed to keep a cool, mature mind on missions, he is well known amongst the business they work in to be dense, and quite absent-minded. His brothers find it impossible to discover why Satoshi is able to shoot a target right between the eyes from a faraway distance, but still find it possible to discuss why he thinks girls sit down when they pee. Perhaps, that's a mystery that shouldn't be solved, but observed with some humor. Pikachu being there also provided some sort of enjoyment in missions for him.

The second assassin is named Shuu, or known as "Psycho Slash" in the business he works in. His emerald green hair now elongated past his shoulders in layers. Shuu is twenty-four years of age, and is said to be as arrogant and self-assured as one human could possibly get. Shuu was always there to complete the mission under the team leader's command, never letting his arrogance get the best of him, but outside of the job, he was the man with a confident swagger. Besides that, Shuu sure knows what he's doing when he's dealing with members of the opposite sex. Anytime there was a mission involving a girl, Shuu was personally called to accomplish the task. No one really knows why girls love him so much, but they were glad they had him as an asset, and he would never become attached to them; he was almost like a cheat code.

Then there's the team leader for this team of elite assassins, Shinji, or "Bloodlust". His plum-colored hair grew down to the top of his pectorals, being the longest of the groups. Shinji is twenty-five years of age, and is said to have absolutely no heart. Barely any sort of emotion would come across his face, with the "subtle" exception of anger or annoyance. He always found his brothers, hell, anyone he worked with a nuisance, but always kept it quiet, or every now and then, responded with a grunt to the "inhumane stupidity" they show. Don't get me wrong though, Shinji is actually the most intelligent of the three, which is one of the reasons why he managed to be elected as team leader. He always knew the right way to complete missions, fast and simple. The toughest jobs always came to Shinji, especially involving a strong emotion such as love or friendship. It didn't matter to Shinji; nothing mattered to him. Nothing.

Each assassin had a symbol to label them instead of their real names. Satoshi's was a devilish smile in the depths of hell. Shuu's was a black skull with a red rose held securely in its mouth. Shinji's was a simple skull, except the expression on it read pure evil, and blood seeped out of its head, eyes, and mouth; a very detailed blood splatter lie behind this symbol. Their symbol was tattooed on their right bicep, and on the back of their black sweatshirts.

All stood over six feet tall, ripped with muscle, and had a threatening look to them.

With a leader like Shinji, a charmer like Shuu, and a crowd-pleaser like Satoshi, they formed the ultimate group of young assassins.

S is for Slaughter.

"I could really care less about what you're feeling right now. We NEED to report back to boss." Shinji replied, putting his hands in his pockets.

Shuu turned to his brother. "Okay, I know you're the leader and everything, but you're really starting to get on my nerves with this, 'only work' attitude."

Shinji stopped walking, and fully-faced his green-haired brother.

"How in God's name did my parents manage to have a green-haired kid, a purple-haired kid, and a black-haired kid?" Satoshi suddenly thought to himself.

Shinji slowly lifted up his phone, which displayed a message from someone entitled "BOSS".

"It clearly says here that the Boss wants to see us, so don't bitch me about being work-obsessed."

Shuu slightly grunted at Shinji's harsh words, but they continued walking until they reached their destination. A beat-down shack with broken windows and no door. The three walked in with no fear of what could possibly be lurking in there, until they reached a small box disguised as a fire alarm. Shinji flicked it open with one finger to reveal a keypad with numbers 1-9 written in a 3 x 3 box. Pressing the buttons at lightning fast speed, he managed to unlock the secret hallway where all assassins and chairmen worked.

The hallways were dimly lit, and made of dark grey steel. There wasn't any sort of decoration on the walls, ceiling, or floor. Shinji could've cared less, Shuu would've liked something to be on the walls, while Satoshi was too involved thinking about what he was going to eat when they got home. After the long, mute walk to the end of the hallway, the four finally faced a plain, black desk. Behind it was a padded swivel chair faced away from them.

The Boss solemnly swore he would never show his face to anyone, not even the people he worked with. Then again, no one really seemed to care about the Boss's choice, only his orders.

"Job well done boys." A voice from behind the chair said in a low, menacing voice.

None of them responded verbally. Instead, Satoshi and Shuu simultaneously nodded while Shinji just put hung his head and closed his eyes. Pikachu climbed onto Satoshi's shoulder, observing the strange man who just spoke to them.

"You always know how to get the job done the best way." The voice continued.

"Well, that mostly goes to Shinji." Shuu admitted.

No one responded to Shuu's generous comment. The Boss tried his best to ignore it, whereas Shinji just didn't care.

"Yes, well, I've got yet another mission for you three to complete. I feel as though your team is the only one capable of completing this mission."

"Boss, can't we have a break just ONCE?" Satoshi asked.

"I'm afraid that's not your choice…you should be happy I'm giving you these kind of compliments."

Shinji, Shuu, and Satoshi mentally agreed with that statement, Shuu slightly rolling his eyes.

"Now, this mission may not seem so important, but it is. It's very important. It's so important, that if you don't complete it efficiently, you will be removed from The Assassins. Permanently." Boss threatened.

"Just get on with it." Shinji purposely commented.

Shuu, Satoshi, and Pikachu heard Boss slightly growl, but thankfully he didn't lose his temper.

"Your mission is to kill three girls."

In front of Boss's desk was a screen that covered the whole wall. On it, pictures of three girls appeared, one redhead, one brunette, and one with blue hair.

"That doesn't sound so—"

"What did I just say? I said it DIDN'T SOUND HARD, but it IS." Boss interrupted Satoshi.

Satoshi made no comment while a look of fright passed over Pikachu's face.

"You might want to take out a notebook or something; these girls have some info worth noticing, and I certainly won't remind you."

The three were handed small notebooks and a black pen by butlers that randomly appeared.

"The redhead is referred to as Kasumi Mist. Age: twenty-two, works at a public pool as a lifeguard, which sort of explains why she's a water Pokémon trainer. Who's going to take care of her?"

No one responded.

"Fine. Sickhead will." Boss flatly stated.

"What?" Satoshi replied, confused, but then realized what just happened. "Aww…"

"Pikachuuu…" Pikachu said in the same disappointed tone as its master.

A tall butler walked over to Satoshi and handed him two sheets of paper, containing all of this "Kasumi Mist's" information. Satoshi just glanced at it, as did Pikachu, not exactly being exuberant. His Pokémon wouldn't friendly with water types.

"Whose the brunette?" Shuu asked, breaking the short silence.

"She's Haruka Spring. Age: twenty-three, works at a lucrative family fashion industry as manager, apparently the mom's sick or something."

Shuu looked over at Shinji, a look of disappointment on his face.

"I guess I'll take her then." Shuu said.

"All right, and the last one's name is Hikari Light, who I presume Bloodlust will be eliminating. Age: twenty-two, works in a restaurant as a waitress…let me tell you something Bloodlust, this isn't the ideal job a girl wants."

"What, is it McDonald's or something?" Shinji asked.

"No, more like a strip bar."

Shinji's lips transitioned from its usual thin harsh line to a menacing scowl hearing this info on his target.

"Hn." Shinji murmured as he accepted the biography on his target from the same butler.

"So what makes this mission so terrible and arduous?" Shuu somewhat sarcastically asked.

Boss took a deep breath before speaking. "One of these girls informed the world about this organization."

Shuu's jaw dropped, Satoshi gasped; even Shinji's eyes popped open upon hearing that.

"Pika?"

"You can't be serious." Shinji grimly stated.

"I'm sorry to say I am." Boss replied.

"Well, which one was it?"

"We don't know, but we definitely know it was one of them."

"How could they possibly gain knowledge of this organization? I DEMAND to know!" Shinji angrily said.

"One of our assassins went in to complete a mission when they were in school, and they met this girl. Apparently they fell in love, God help us, and he told her about the assassins, and why he was there. Of course, being a girl, she betrayed him, and told the whole school about it. Needless to say, we eliminated that assassin immediately, but we have to remove this girl before she threatens the organization again." Boss thoroughly explained.

"Well, did the police find out and try to shut us down?" Satoshi asked.

"Thankfully the stupid jury dismissed the case, saying that this girl was simply crying wolf over something that happened to her."

Shuu sighed with relief, along with Satoshi, while Shinji kept quiet, eager to hear more about this case.

The three assassins eyed each girl carefully during a pause, trying to find out which one could've possibly done this. All three of them looked pretty innocent, but Shinji had a very bad feeling about the blue-haired one, along with Shuu. Satoshi, on the other hand, was eying the redhead, something about her screaming, "betrayer". They all looked pretty innocent, but you never knew what to expect about your targets.

"Listen to me carefully." Boss said, breaking the three from their thoughts. "You must complete this mission as quickly as possible, but you need to be on your guard. Always. You'll be entering this neighborhood as completely different individuals. You'll keep your regular names, but you won't be from the same family, friends, school, nothing. You three will not be related, and you won't know each other at all. That won't be hard though, considering that you look nothing alike."

Satoshi smirked.

"Tonight you'll be heading to the house on Spring Avenue; uptown. You'll all have one house a few blocks from their apartments, but you must enter and stay hidden after and before their shifts. Got it?"

"Yes." They responded.

"Good, now get out."

The three turned and swiftly walked out of the office, leaving their enigmatic boss to linger in the dark hallways.

"So we won't know each other AT ALL?" Shuu questioned as they walked out of the abandoned shack into the dangerous streets.

"Nope." Satoshi replied. "I guess we can only communicate by earpiece."

They all placed the earpieces they received, disguised as a piercing, in place and switched them on.

"It looks like that on the earpiece, you can choose a certain person to talk with." Shuu observed.

"Wait, then what's the switch that says '3' on it for?" Satoshi wondered aloud.

"What do you think? Three-way communication idiot…" Shinji mumbled.

"Oh yeah!" Satoshi beamed a crooked grin while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

The rest of the walk was silent, considering they had reached the busy part of the town, which meant many witnesses could hear their plans to eliminated the three main sources for threatening their business.

Which one was it though?

The house was pretty decent, but the three could really care less. There was a living room with two couches that faced each other from opposite sides of the room, a plasma screen in the midst. The kitchen had all the essentials, including a fridge, sink, cabinets, dishwasher, and a table. The upstairs had three rooms that were next to each other, each one with its own separate bathroom. They made sure all the curtains were closed, and every door and window was locked.

"Well, boss was pretty nice to us this time." Shuu observed.

"I want the top bunk!" Satoshi declared, as if they were at summer camp.

"Dude, there are three separate rooms, y'know." Shuu said whereas Shinji just ignored them.

"Oh…" Satoshi looked at all three rooms, and found one with a bunk bed.

"MINE!" Satoshi ran into the room and spread his arms out, as if protecting the room from oncoming intruders. Pikachu was nearly knocked off Satoshi's shoulder when he performed this move.

Shuu stood there, a little embarrassed by his younger brother's immature ways.

"Psh, whatever." He said, claiming the room next to Satoshi's.

Satoshi's room had navy walls, a small black loveseat, a small closet, the bathroom, and of course, the bunk bed. Satoshi closed and locked the windows immediately, sliding the curtains over it. He situated himself on the ground next to Pikachu and started going over the biography of his target.

NAME—Kasumi Mist

AGE—Twenty-two

OCCUPATION—Lifeguard at public pool/beach

ADDRESS: 125 Cerulean Street

POKÉMON: Corsola, Gyradoas, Staryu, Starmie, Golduck, and Togepi.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

-Sort of tall.

-Red hair (usually in a side ponytail).

-Kind-hearted yet irritable

-Knew of the assassin who was half-responsible for telling the world about the business

-Hates bugs

"Too bad I released Butterfree, right buddy?" Satoshi said, smirking.

Pikachu simply grinned.

"Since she's a water/ice Pokémon, everyone else might not be too fond of her, will they?"

"Pikachuuu…" Pikachu's tone read disappointment.

Satoshi got the rest of his Pokeballs from his waistband, and let everyone out of their Pokeballs.

Charizard, Sceptile, Staraptor, Gliscor, and Torkoal.

"This is our target, Kasumi Mist."

Satoshi showed them the picture of the lovely redhead, Satoshi being the only one who really didn't seem to notice.

"Although she isn't someone that you'll all be too fond of." Satoshi informed. "She's a water Pokémon trainer."

All of his Pokémon's reactions were surprised, angry, and a tad annoyed. Charizard looked ready to burn the house down, considering the irate countenance it had on its face.

Satoshi put his hands up, as if trying to stop them from killing him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really get a choice in deciding who was my target. But we can use that rage to terminate her easier, right?" Satoshi encouraged.

Everyone cheered in a sick sort of way, considering they were talking about killing someone.

"So it says here that the pool is just south of the mall where Shuu's target works, so we should be able to communicate easier. Shinji will probably just be hanging out here, considering that he'll be out at night probably."

"?" All of his Pokémon tilted their heads to the side, confused.

Satoshi smirked.

"I don't think you wanna know."

Shuu's room had hunter green walls, a king-sized bed with matching green sheets, a desk with a leather chair, and a black loveseat. Instead of rooms, Shuu's room had a balcony, so he had to cover the two glass doors that led out to the small ledge. Thankfully, the door had curtains on them, making his life a little bit easier.

Now sitting in the loveseat, he started looking over his target's information, gathering up as much as he could to complete the job just the way Boss wanted them to.

NAME—Haruka Spring

AGE—Twenty-two

OCCUPATION—Manager in mother's fashion business

ADDRESS—56 Belle Street

POKÉMON—Beautifly, Glaceon, Venosaur, Wartortle, Blaziken, and Skitty.

ADDITIONAL INFO—

-Works alone in business because mother is dying, dad is a gym leader, and little brother is off on his journey to be a Pokémon master.

-Short

-Long brown hair w/some sort of head accessory

-LOVES to eat

-Irritable

-Knew of the assassin who was half-responsible for telling the world about the business

-Easily flattered

Shuu smirked evilly at the last one.

"This is gonna be EASY."

Wanting his Pokémon to know about the new mission, he let all of them out. Roserade bowed before him, Masquerain happily chirped, Flygon stood in is majestic glory, Absol was silent, and Butterfree looked a bit tired.

"Our target is Haruka Spring, this chick right here." He showed them the profile picture of the target. She had ditched the dog-ear like look and let her hair grow down, a small green headband in the midst of her hair. What intrigued his Pokémon the most, especially Roserade, were her dazzling sapphire eyes. It was an unusual touch to her appearance, considering, of course, she was a brunette, and didn't really accentuate the color blue on her outfit.

"She should be pretty easy, considering that it says here she's 'easily flattered'."

"Absollll…" Absol muttered, a bit ticked at its trainer's cocky attitude.

Shuu ignored this, continuing on.

"She works at a fashion industry because her mom is dying or something like that, which means that the best way to get through this is to NOT mention the mom unless she brings it up, considering how easily angered girls are nowadays…oh…and she loves to eat, eh? Sounds like a perfect match for Satoshi, doesn't it?"

All of his Pokémon nodded in agreement.

"Well then…maybe he and I should switch…we already confirmed it with Boss though…"

Roserade stepped forward, and shook its head in disagreement. Shuu shrugged, giving into the thorn Pokémon's wish, and continued talking over the target.

Shinji remained downstairs, carefully analyzing this Hikari Light's profile with beer in hand.

NAME—Hikari Light

AGE—Twenty-two

OCCUPATION—Dancer/stripper at local club

ADDRESS—398 Friendship Lane (Shinji groaned at this)

POKÉMON—Lopunny, Piplup, Pachirisu, and Cyndaquil

ADDITIONAL INFO—

-Obsesses over her hair constantly

-Short with long blue hair

-Dresses up as one of her Pokémon at the club every night

-A tad ditzy, but irritable like the others

-Knew of the assassin whom was half-responsible for telling the world about the business.

Shinji scowled at the last line. He knew that this was the girl who purposely misled that unknowing assassin into a dark fate. He'd avenge that assassin in this mission, with a slow, horrible death.

However, the only discomfort he had in this particular mission would be his presence in a strip club. It wasn't at all that he was immature, and point at the girls yelling, "BOOBIES!"

No, he believed he was too mature for places such as those. He also knew that in order for him to gain knowledge of his target, he would have to fit in with the crowd, which meant he had to do things he would soon regret for life. Perhaps just standing in the back with Honchkrow or Gliscor by his side would scare those stupid whores away; worth a shot.

"Sometimes this job is too much for me to tolerate…" He thought to himself, slightly sipping his beer.

Well, being an assassin isn't exactly like walking through a rose garden, now is it?

Shinji didn't sleep at all that night, Shuu soon dozed off after going over every single detail of this "Haruka's" profile, and Satoshi fell asleep about a minute after his prep talk to his Pokémon.

Tomorrow they would officially be on the case.