Chapter 35
Concealment and Deception
Sita's power was quite remarkable. She definitely had some kind of clairvoyance ability, hence how it managed to help her keep out of sight. It almost seemed like she was some kind of magician or wizard, casting divination and clairvoyance spells with her hands, creating soft, white glows in the process.
Rescuing Axzen and Blitz wasn't too difficult either. I wasn't even sure which prison cell was theirs, but after a little farseeing on Sita's behalf, she managed to find the exact cell. She even knew which of the keys on the ring was the exact one.
"Man, you're a handy one with those magic tricks," Blazewing smiled, impressed with Sita's White Oracle abilities.
"Yeah, I kind of abuse them," Sita giggled as she put the key in the lock. "Helps me figure out what happened to the other sock when only one comes out of the washing machine."
After unlocking the crude, metal cell door and swinging it open, I saw Blitz and Axzen for the first time in many, many months. They were totally shocked, but incredibly thankful.
"Oh my god, tell me you're here to finally bust us out of this craphole," Axzen gawked as the smoky-colored fox admired seeing the outside hall for the first time in a long time.
"Uh huh," Sita smiled. "Hey, the name's Sita by the way."
"Can I just call you 'lovely?'" Blitz asked with an admirable smile.
"Your friends are hilarious, Juno," Sita smiled, winking at me. "But we'd better scramble. Sinis has been plotting this thing out for a long time, and we really only have one shot at it."
As we headed out of the prison, Blitz couldn't help but want to know more.
"Sinis?" Blitz asked as we quietly and carefully headed down the metallic halls and started down a poorly-lit, metal stairwell. "The grumpy Zangoose?"
"He's a serious and stubborn guy, but he knows when things have gone rotten," Sita told him as we made our way down the rickety, metal stairs. "Long story short, today is Operation Apex day. Overthrown the corrupted Silver Rebellion government, or at least give it our best shot."
"You're an Oracle though," Blazewing told her as she floated overhead. "Can't you foresee if the operation is successful?"
"We can only see bits and pieces of the future," Sita told her as she descended down the stairs, wishing it was more than just that. "And an Oracle needs to be in a comatose state to get those kinds of visions. When we had the whole guild working at it, we were able to get enough pieces of the puzzle, hence how the Divine Prophecy was written. Now that it's pretty much just me who's left without a whole lot of time for vision naps, it's kind of limited. And I'm good at it, but... yeah, there were guys who were better at soothsaying and divination than me."
Without any trouble, we managed to get out of the prison with relative ease. Once we stepped outside, we were shocked.
Symarix had definitely been attacked. And from the looks of things, repairs were slow. Main of the metallic buildings now had blast marks, and a few of them had been completely blasted out and reduced to burnt, metallic husks. Somehow, the city had survived the attack, but from the looks of things, just barely. I had a bad feeling about it. If the Crimson Stars were able to pull off that kind of damage on the Silver Rebellion capital, they already had a good idea of how the city's defenses were like, and the next time around, they could be more prepared. If something wasn't done soon, the city would fall, and I didn't want to see what the Crimson Stars would do with an entire city of Pokémon to abuse.
I could help but wonder about Sinis's plan and who else was involved. I only had a slice of the details from what Sita told me, but from the sounds of it, it was a intricate undertaking that he had planned, and I was hoping it would work. For the time being, it was probably best to lie low and not appear openly in public. I was pretty sure if news got around that the two of us had been freed from prison, it would cause quite a bit of suspicion.
"Where should we hide?" I asked Sita, knowing we needed to take cover to allow Sinis carry out Apex. "I don't know all the steps that are involved in Sinis's plans, but I highly doubt us getting spotted by Jamac's cronies will help it along."
"We got you guys covered," Sita told us as she ushered us around a hidden alleyway not too far away from the prison. "Blaze, I know you're good with cloaking yourself, right?"
Blazewing nodded, and in only a few seconds, managed to turn herself almost completely invisible by reflecting her down so it wouldn't absorb light. It was almost impossible to see her, and only a very, very faint outline of her could be seen if she stayed still.
"I charge five hundred Poké an hour to haunt houses," Blazewing giggled.
"Sheesh, you sure ain't cheap!" Sita laughed.
Well, at least we had her covered well. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, though. Even though a Pikachu was a pretty common Pokémon, Jamac and Kamax would likely still recognize me. There were, after all, a few differences between Juno and an everyday Pikachu. Every time I looked in a mirror, I couldn't help but feel myself as Juno, born out of dreams, did seem noticeably more heroic and charismatic.
Before I got to think about it more, that was when we were approached by a Dragonite, dressed in a gray and white Silver Rebellion military uniform. He seemed a bit more steadfast for a Dragonite, as the orange and cream-colored dragon with the rounded belly and small bat wings definitely looked like he had seen some pretty grizzly things in his age. Besides the heavy Flamelance machine gun he also carried, he seemed to be carrying with him a black duffle bag of sorts.
"Ah, right on time," Sita smiled.
"Name's Vexcel," The Dragonite quickly introduced himself to the rest of us in a firm and determined voice. "I take it you've been briefed on Apex?"
"Bits and pieces," I told him. "I don't know all the details, but I know what the goal is."
"Good, because there's a lot going on at the moment behind the scenes, but I'll give you the rundown," Vexcel informed me. "For the last few months, the Apex operation has been seeking to overthrow Jamac and his cronies, as you know. Poor leadership, locking you up for no justifiable reason, political corruption, and military crimes are the core reasons behind this. Sinis, as the Chancellor, and two of Kamax's Generals, one being myself, the other being Tamant the Pangoro, has been double-agents, performing recon on everything Apex needs to know about Jamac, Kamax, and their operations. We've seen enough of their sick bureaucratic antics, even though we've been concealing our hatred of it for quite a while now. Today happens to be Honor Consignment Day. Kamax is getting yet another undeserved Serious Declaration of Honor Star and is naming two new Generals out of the High Guard. Everyone we need eliminated will be there at the ceremony."
The irony couldn't have been deeper, and the thought of Kamax giving himself awards was just stupid at the same time. Still, between horrible leadership, destroying the White Oracles, locking me up, and doing god-knows what else to these people, it had to end, or it was going to end up killing us all.
"So, he imprisons us for killing Vorox, and he's rewarding himself for killing innocent White Oracles," I muttered, casting a glance at Sita and wondering why they'd be after Pokémon like her that meant no harm.
"They've done way more than just that," Vexcel growled at the thought of it. "He's been sending Pokémon that don't agree with him on suicide missions and denying them evac or reinforcements. Defecting means facing treason charges, which include execution. He's also killed civilians recklessly and doesn't even listen to terms of surrender. And Jamac... he's lost his mind when it comes to the sheer, political and propaganda nightmare he's unleashed."
I nodded, not crazy at all to be hearing this, but I wasn't surprised either. In fact, I was beginning to think Blazewing and I had been lucky that they hadn't decided to just drag us out of prison to be executed for whatever stupid made up reason.
"We needed this crap ended months ago," I agreed with the Dragonite.
"Amen to that, but timing was the only thing holding us back," Vexcel agreed with a nod. "The entire chain of command that Jamac and Kamax have needs to be uprooted all at once. Kamax has far too much pride in himself to not show off to anyone with a name for themselves how great he thinks he is."
"I want in, but it's impossible," I told Vexcel, knowing I wanted to help but couldn't because I'd be recognized. "If anyone sees us out of prison, they'll suspect something's up and they'll likely be alerted. Blazewing can cloak herself, but I'm out of luck."
"You're going in disguise," Vexcel told me, sliding the black duffle bag to me. "At least until we're about to pull the trigger."
I nodded, figuring that was probably the best approach. I approached the duffle bag, separated the line of buttons, and then discovered it was seemingly stuffed with what looked to be a whole lot of beige-colored cotton. To say the least, I was pretty confused.
"The heck...?" I asked Vexcel, wondering what exactly this disguise entailed. "What kind of disguise is this?"
"They want you going as a Whimsicott," Vexcel me in the suspicious tone of voice that definitely make it clear this wasn't his idea. "It'll conceal your identity, and it allows us to hide the explosive charges."
"Explosives?" I asked, blinking twice.
What kind of crazy plan was this? Everyone else seemed a little surprised, save for Sita, who seemed like she had already been aware of this.
"Yeah, sounds crazy, doesn't it?" Sita told me, almost laughing. "Believe it or not, Sinis hates that place. He thinks it's gaudy and he believes political leaders shouldn't be plastered with ritzy crapola. Hey, I just like a good boom every now and then, you know?"
I saw where Sinis was going with this. It was in stark contrast to what Jamac and Kamax had done. Maybe it was extreme, but it was a vivid and very memorable approach that the public would admire him for humbling himself before them since of just taking the throne on for himself. Truthfully, the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was a good idea. Sometimes, when things got so bad, filthy, and corrupted, you had to gut it all out, clear it away, and just start over.
I decided to dig out everything in the bag. Seriously, there was a ridiculous amount of cotton fluff in there and it felt like there was no end to it, but it was convincingly close to a Whimsicott. Attached to it was a brown jumpsuit that served as the body while the green curled horns were simply made of some hard synthetic material. I shrugged and figured I'd try it out and strap it on. It wasn't too hard to get into and it effectively hid my Pikachu ears and tail very effectively. Still, the amount of cotton fluff behind me made it absolutely impossible to see what was going on to my rear and most of my sides.
"This... feels ridiculous," I sighed, trying to keep the cotton fluff on my chin from unintentionally going into my mouth. "Who's idea was this anyway?"
"It's only for a short while," Vexcel assured me. "We also need to you wear the uniform on top of that. We need Kamax to think we're just attending his ceremony."
I nodded, and figured they prepared for that too. I strapped on the extra uniform in the bag, and while it felt a little cumbersome and warmer than I would have liked, it did the job. As for the explosive charges, they were using three of them, each of them looking like black bricks. Vexcel managed to stuff them pretty deep inside the gigantic cotton ball that was strapped to my head and back, and after that, I figured we were all set.
"What about the rest of us?" Blitz asked Vexcel, wondering if he was going to have a part in this also.
"Depends," Vexcel told him. "Jamac and Kamax may recognize you if you appear in the throne room, which can compromise the situation. However, if you take a position on one of the rooftop buildings surrounding the spire, we can give you a sniper rifle to ensure none of them escape."
"Hell yes, we're doing that!" Axzen agreed, grinning at the thought of that. "The view of the explosion from there will be awesome!"
Well, I figured there was a good reason he became a Zorua.
"Now remember," Sita told me, almost giggling, "Almost every Whimsicott is mischievous, impish, and naughty. You've got to be like that too if you want people to believe it!"
I never was much for any serious level of acting, but I figured I could play along with this. I took a curious look at Sita, squirting for a moment, and tried to put on a look of concern.
"Hold on, is your mouth bleeding?" I asked her, looking worried at it.
Sita was a bit surprised, but she run her small yellow finger around the inside of her mouth, but it didn't come up with anything besides wet spit.
"Did I miss it?" She asked, wondering what I was seeing that she couldn't. "Where do you see it?"
"Here, let me take a closer look," I told her, stepping closer as she kept her mouth open as I pretended to be examining her tongue and teeth..
I then took a handful of the cotton fluff, and just stuffed it in her mouth and stepped back. I then tried to hold back laughing, but utterly failed. She looked absolutely comical and ridiculous with a big wad of fluff in her mouth like that. It didn't take her long at all to realize she had been completely fooled.
"Oh, you stinker!" Sita exclaimed, quickly spitting it out.
"Ah, that's golden," Blitz snickered. "Well played, sir, well played."
Everyone else couldn't help but chuckle either. Even Vexcel the overly serious Dragonite couldn't help but smirk and eventually snicker at it.
"Good, keep that kind of nonsense up," Vexcel told me. "They'll never suspect the real you. But don't even think of doing that kind of thing to me."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," I told him in a sweetly cynical voice.
He then gave me that evil eye look.
Bookmarks