Excerpt Thingy

[♫~Leap~♫]

NOTE;; The following is an excerpt from a story called... Erm... I don't know. WORK IN PROGRESS FIC, WEEE. Don't ask me why I wrote it. I just plotted up the scene and thought, OI, LET'S WRITE IT. So I did. And it was fun. I guess I like beating up Crystal. Well, beating up characters in general. Next, I'mma go beat up Gold in writing format. IT'LL BE FUN. To avoid confusion, I'll post a bit of back story for you all. :3 Enjoy~! Once I finish chapter one, you all should be able to read it on my fanfiction account, so... Yeah. If you want to see it all put together...

BACKSTORY;; Yeah, so, like, Sil's kidnapped by Team Rocket and they're all, "BE OUR LEADER 'CAUSE YOUR DAD'S ON VACATION OR SOMETHING." So Sil's all, "OKAY, THEN." for some reason, I don't even know yet. So he goes missing and yeah. Gold and Crys are goin' out 'cause I love me some MangaQuest when - LE GASP! Gold goes missing, too! (Which, was like, a year, two... maybe three after Sil disappeared.) He was kidnapped by Team Rocket's very own Leader... SILVER. I guess Team Rocket's up to something that I don't know, yet, so, to protect the golden-eyed boy, Sil had to keep 'im close or something, I don't even know. And care at this point. I'll plot this all out when I go to sleep. But! To make sure that his cover is not blown, Silver basically "breaks" Gold by tormenting him ins some... peculiar ways. It works. And we all turn Gold from a hot headed, courageous trainer to a whimpering coward who is being watched by the person who now scares him the most (Silver! D' 24/7. More like 12/7, but that sounds weird. So... yeah. 'Tis the major plot of the story. Crystal stumbles upon the base while looking for the boy who's been missing for a good three to six months and accidently stumbles upon Team Rocket's underground base (woah, how'd she do that?) While trying to slip through the base - probably to get information to relay to the other Dex Holders or something - she finds a very, very beat up Gold. She tries to convince him to escape with her when... LE GASP AGAIN! Silver appears with a bunch of Team Rocket Grunts that knock the poor girl out! And, thus, I leave you here...

YEAH, LIKE, THE STORY. WOOT.

The sound of terrible screams peircing the air was what awoke Crystal from her slumber. The repeated wails of bloody murder, a horrific voice begging for mercy, apologizing more times than she could count. It was enough to send shivers down any person's spine, to say the very least, and loud enough to wake even a light sleeping Snorlax of all things. By the sounds of it, the repeatitice noises were quite a distance away from her, meaning that they would have been as loud had she been a few rooms over, and the idea of that person being so close to her, yet her being powerless to save them was not as great. At least, now, she knew that she would be unable to navigate through the labryth that Team Rocket had probably created, slapping the title "secret base" onto it to make it their headquarters. She'd get lost, captured, and suffer the same fate. But there was something that made sitting down all the more heartbreaking for her.

It was Gold.

She would have known that voice anywhere. They had traveled around together for some time in the past. They'd become the equivalent of normal friends afterwards, and then they dated for some time. If she was ever to remember a voice other than her own, it would be his, even if it was crying out in unbareable pain. She had to save him. Somehow. She just had to. He must have been suffering since the day he disappeared; how could she have turned her head away and refused to search for him? He could have been spared if only she had pursued, found, and rescued him, surely. However, thinking about what could have been would not save eithers lives. No. Instead, she would have to find a way to save herself, and then rescue the shattered boy.

It was dark in the room the blue-haired woman was in. So dark, in fact, she could hardly see a thing. It took some time before her eyes adjusted to the light and, even then, it was a tad bit difficult to distinguish one thing from another. Beneath her was a bed. OR, at least, a pathetic excuse for one. No wonder her back was killing her - the uncovered mattress was one of the most uncomfortable things she'd ever sat herself on. There was a small table stuffed into the corner of the room with what appeared to be a book on it, but that was really it. The walls were a monotone color - a pale gray, if she had to guess - and the floor beneath her was covered in a dirty, worn carpet of a similar color. When she set her bare feet on it, she found it less soft than she had imagined - even then, she hadn't expected it to be as soft as, say, her Arcanine's fur - and recoiled immediately. there was a foul odor in the air, as well, causing vomit to raise in the back of her thoat. But she couldn't truly expell the vile things rising in her stomache. It would be a sign of weakness and these Team Rocket grunts would ear her alive the moment they pin pointed any of her flaws.

Her usual attire must have been stripped from her, guessing as she was now garbed in nothing but a plane, ratty dress that hardly even fit her. A growl erupted from her stomache, indicating hunger. Her throat was sore. How long had she been out?

At the door she hadn't noticed yet creaked open, flourescient lighting flodoed the room. For a moment, the female covered her eyes, blinking rapidly to avoid being blinded by the extreme contrast between dark and light. She'd hardly the time to recover when large hands, strong, strong hands shoved her against the walls, successfully knocking the air out of her lungs. Biting down hard on her tongue to surpress the scream that wanted to escape her lips, she tried to prosess what was going on arround her. Two men, most likely members of Team Rocket of some sort were standing before her, pinning her arms against the wall and grabbing her chin so hard is hurt to force her to look into their eyes. Through the light that came through the door, she could see some of their features. However, dark shaddows covered the majority of their faces and prevented her from getting a good view of who she was up against.

"The boss is really mad at you, you know?" One of the two growled - the one holding her down. To emphisize the severity of the situation, his grip on her upper arms tightenned to a point she swore her bones were shattering. She didn't say nything, only making a tiny noise of a pain; the rest of her wails of agony were locked up to let them think she was not breaking under them. It was easier said than done by far. "You trying making off with his toy? I'm surprised he hasn't sent us here to kill you, you worthless little bug!" His toy? They must have meant Gold. Did that mean that the continue howls of pain that echoed throughout the building - they were far less loud, however... was he falling unconcious? Or were they letting him off easy because i twasn't entirely his fault? - were because she had tried to escape with him and he almost left the grip Team Rocket had on him? In that case, her punishment should have been far more worse. Was that what the came here to do? To torture her for hours on end until she broke, too? And, what, exactly, had they done to break him? Gold was one of the most strong, persistant person she'd ever known. How on Earth had gone from that to a whimpering coward who was to afraid to stand up for himself in the face of their former best friend?

Hmph. Former best friend. That sounded about right.

"What are you going to do with me, then, if you're not going to kill me?" she dared to ask, only to be meet with an angry fist in her face. Ouch. That was certainly a blow that would leave a mark in the morning.

"I'd watch that mouth of your's, brat," said the other, rancid breath hot on her face as he leaned in closer. "You should know by now that you don't talk unless spoken to."

Perhaps then would have been a good time to speak up. A good "bite me" and a bit of saliva in his face would have been perfect right then. But... she was scared, quite honestly. Very scared. Whatever she did at that moment would impact her latter and, if asking a simple question left her with a black eye, something as daring as that would probably lead to her death. Of course, she remembered, hadn't they mentioned that they were keeping her alive? Than what could they do other than kill her off then and there? The answer came sooner than expected.

"You're coming with us. The boss himself wants to see you." By now, Crystal was fairly certain that, by boss, they meant Silver. So. After all these times, ripping Team Rocket down with the assistance of others, even claiming himself that he hated the organization and would never take part in it, he succumbed to his weaknesses and took his place as their leader in his father's absense? Something didn't seem quite right. However, before she had any time to lament on that, she was yanked away from her bed and forced towards the light with much vehemence. Walking into the source of the stream of light forced her to adjust to the change in lighting once more, blinking rapidly and pausing for a moment, only to be shoved forwards once again. Without a word, the two lead her down various halls, shoved her into yet another dark room, and slammed the door behind her.

The screaming in the background stopped.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence - was there even anyone else there? It was so dark, it'd be hard to tell. - the capture professional finally dared to open her mouth once more. Anything would be better than th ebone chillying quiet placed before her. "They told me you wanted to see me," she declared matter-of-factly. With the silence that followed, she pondered if she was talking to thin air and that there really wasn't anyone around. However, this idea was abandoned as swiftly as it was concieved as a familiar voice from across the room spoke up. The lights did not turn on. Everything remained dark.

"You'd be correct, Crystal. Funny. I wouldn't have imagined someone like you venturing that deep into the base of the enemy. Especially without someone else to assisst you in your endevour." There was no mistaking it. That was Silver's voice. That, or a very, very skilled impersonation if it.

"I'm not scared of the enemy," she stated.

"Than why are you shaking?"

Biting her lip, Crystal realized that she was, in fact, shaking. That she was scared and that it was her former best friend threatening her and that she probably wasn't going to get out of there alive. Or, at least, she wouldn't be leaving any time soon. She was scared that Gold was dead and that they would torment her in a similar fashion. She was scared that team Rocket had come back stronger than ever and, with some of the most powerful of the Dex Holders missing, that they'd actually be able to achieve world domination. But, most of all... she was scared of Silver.

"... What do you want?"

"What do I want?" he repeated, a laughing - no, that was no laugh. It sounded more like he was gasping for air, chocking as his life slowly bleed out of him - at the comment. "What do you think I want?"

She said truthfully, "I don't know. You've changed. How should I know what goes on in your sick mind?" Another gasping, chocking laugh.

"But you've changed, too, haven't you? You used to be so quiet. So refined. Your mouth is as big as Gold's. ... Or, at least, as big as his used to be." Ouch. Was he fully aware how badly that blow hurt? Most likely. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said it in the first place.

"You're not exactly the "I rarely open my mouth" type anymore, either, are you? You sound like the typical villan in all of those childrens' books."

"Well, perhaps. With great power comes great responsibilty, they say, and rarely speaking doesn't exactly send the message of overlord very well, does it? And I'm not the villan, I'll have you know. The idea of the good guys beating up the bad guys is far to black and white for the situation we've been thrown into."

"Not the villan, huh? I'd say that every person in this world reveres Team Rocket as the villans. I'd assume that being it's leader would instantly make you fit the bill, yourself."

"Who's to say that Team Rocket isn't working towards world peace?"

"World peace?" That was her turn to laugh that time. "You kidnapped one of your closest friends and turned him into... into that. You kidnapped me, and who knows what you're going to do with me now that you have another play thing." It hurt, calling herself that. But, in his eyes, she was probably just that. A "play thing". Oh, how much she wanted to curl into herself and cry.

"I'm protecting you," he said, all confidence draining from his tone of voice to be replaced by what sounded like anger.

"I guess screaming in pain sounds like protection to you, then."

The sound of something crashing caused her to flinch visably. A lamp in the corner of the room - an office, she noted - illuminated the area, allowing her to see the down right rage in his monochrome eyes. For a short while, throwing comments back and forth, the woman's courage had begun to build itself back up. She'd felt as though she'd had the upperhand for a while. Of course, she was thrown back to square one with a simple look. This was not Silver. This couldn't be Silver. What happened to the red-haired boy who'd rescued her in the sea when her boat had been destroyed by Lugia? Who held her hand in the Crack in Time when Gold gifted them the two feathers and went onff on his own? Who partnered up with her to take down the reforming Team Rocket in Johto all those years ago? this wasn't him. It couldn't be him. For all the hatred he'd mustered in his eyes over the years, it could have never ammounted to this.

She told herself that those weren't tears streaming down her face.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again! Ever! Do you hear me?" She didn't respond. She couldn't respond. She was scared to death. "I said, do you hear me?" She tried to say something, openned her mouth to talk, but there was a net in the back of her throat, catching all her worlds and tossing them back down to where they came. Fury pulsed off of the silver-eyed man, so strong she could feel it and, in a matter of moments, her head exploded. She tasted blood. He'd hit her. Trambling violently, she nodded instead, trying to say something, anything but found her vocal cords wouldn't allow her. A twisted grin erupted on his face, his expression so deformed that she had to take a step back and he grabbed her wrists to a point that she knew there would be bruises in the morning. "You're my servant, now. You'll do everything that I say, no matter what it is. Call me Master from now on. Do you understand?"

Not wanting to risk her words refusing to leave her mouth again, she nodded instantly. As his grip loosened to a point that he let go, leaving her to collapse on the ground in a painned, scared, and confused heap, the red-haired male made his way towards the door. He openned it, beginning to exit, before pausing and turning around abruptly.

"Oh, and one last thing. You are to answer to Marina from now on, and only Marina. I've always hated the name Crystal."