The Fateful Encounter

The Port of Exquisite Sunsets was named perfectly. The title suited the spectacular city and upon witnessing the sunset and Vermilion, the spectators could see how the title it has been given is well deserved and justified. The pretty rays of the Sun fell perfectly onto the port city and her magnificence was greatly magnified. Beautiful ships were docked at the harbor and the famed S.S. Anne and the S.S. Aqua were anchored there. The grand S.S. Anne traveled all over the world and visits her home city only once a year, and she was right there next to the S.S. Aqua whose crew made regular voyages to Johto. The city was free of all sorts of pollution and one could see how responsible the citizens were. The calming sight of the clean blue tides would have been a beautiful sight for any spectator. At the time of Sunset, the sea appeared particularly wonderful.

"Tch. So bright..." A complaint from an ungrateful teenager would break the silence. In the face of eternal beauty, only this particular individual could see the behind of an ugly TRUBBISH. Although he was capable of recognizing beauty, he always found faults in everything and was never content with anything for what it was. As one would imagine, he wasn't very pleasant to be around. Covering his eyes as the Sun lit upon his face, he turned down to look away as he continued walking. The once a year sight of the S.S. Anne meant nothing to him although he was informed of her voyages and purpose. The Port of Exquisite Sunsets was an overstatement, he thought. Grunting and murmuring away, he muttered under his breath and kept talking to himself, complaining. Wrapped around his leg, being dragged by him as he walked was a baby Pokemon who looked to be quite inexperienced. Dazzled by the scenery, the female Nidoran yanked harder at his leg and begged him to stop walking. Beside him, a serpentine Pokemon slithered, walking alongside him as equals. It was his Dragonair who had evolved only recently. Finally, hovering behind him was the ghost type Pokemon Misdreavus who served minimally in his latest battle. The trainer had decided to make his Pokemon walk with him as he did not want to endure the long journey all by himself, with the new trainers and collectors challenging him oh so frequently.

The city had numerous places of interest such as the Pokemon Fan Club and the aforementioned ships who were docked in the harbor which in itself was another popular place one would visit if one wanted to go sightseeing in Vermilion. None of these places were of interest to the person who just arrived on foot, having traveled a long way from Cerulean. He only had one thing to accomplish, a sole challenge he had to make, in this city. He was headed for the Vermilion Gym where he had expected to beat Lt. Surge and secure the third gym badge. Hoping to beat the first three obstacles consecutively without losing his charisma. Although Brock and Misty were the toughest individuals Tsubasa had had the opportunity to battle with, he expected Lt.Surge to be better than the both of them combined. The battles with them had greatly affected his take on the Indigo League and he had no intention of taking his next battle lightly.

In spite of the fact that they had only just arrived, and the Sun was already going down, Tsubasa decided that he was going to beat the third gym before he rests for the day. All he thought about doing on his journey to the city was beating the next obstacle and he simply lacked the patience to wait until the next day. For some reason he had decided to conquer Kanto by beating her league first. The details of his ultimate aspiration of world domination can be saved for some other time. Looking down at the whiny Nidoran, Tsu shook his leg violently. "I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!" The Nidoran had hatched from her egg right in front of Tsubasa a few days ago and had misunderstood him for her mother. She was overly attached to the trainer and Tsu was getting tired of her behavior. The mischievous Misdreavus would chuckle behind his back and agitate him but the Dragonair hissed and scowled, silencing the ghost type.

At just that moment, the trainer had a feeling that he was being followed, he felt the presence of a different person nearby. The feeling, although it was only instinctive, left him curious as he stopped yelling and observed his surrounding.

The aspiring trainer scanned his surroundings curiously. As soon as he heard footsteps, Tsu turned to face the direction from which he heard them. An individual with a female physique approached the teen and his party. Each of his three Pokemon would react uniquely. The Nidoran immediately hid behind him and trembled frightfully whereas the Misdreavus approached the figure with curiosity and floated around. The Dragonair hissed and slithered slowly towards the newcomer, feeling intimidated and threatened by the unfamiliar presence. Tsubasa and his party were not accustomed to being approached and greeted and therefore reacted in disharmony to the unfamiliar situation. They looked on as the person with the messy green hair approach them, clueless as to how to react.

Upon closer inspection, Tsubasa noticed that the face seemed like one he had seen somewhere before. Although he wasn't quite sure where, he was affirmative that this particular individual was one who he has seen at some point in his life. This intrigued him so much more and his curiosity multiplied. Waiting impatiently for the person to speak, he faced them and stared directly at them with an expressionless face. He rudely let his beasts do whatever they wanted to do and did not bother to stop them from possibly offending the person with their reactions. The Dragonair continued to slither and hiss as if something peculiar was disturbing the serpentine more so than it did the Nidoran and the Misdreavus whose confusion can also be seen on their faces. "Hmm.." The trainer wondered if their presence had something to do with the commotion. His beasts did not get that irritated when clueless trainers challenged him on his way to this city.

As the newcomer spoke, Tsubasa confirmed his own suspicions and successfully recalled their face. This person resided in Opelucid City back when Tsu himself lived there. Although he does not recall approaching them or directly interacting with them at any point, he was somewhat glad to see a face from Opelucid. He recalled seeing them around here and there but their presence then did not particularly interest him. However, seeing them again so far out in Kanto, he was compelled to communicate with or at least respond to their attempt at making a conversation with him. In the years in which he resided in Opelucid City, he familiarized himself with many faces there but did not have many friends and the speaking individual was not one of them.

The days he spent in Opelucid City taught him many things. His Dragonair had been born there and was acquired by him in that very city as a Dratini. Tsu also grew fond of Dragon type Pokemon during his stay there but so far only his main man Dragonair made the cut as a dragon type in his team. Its beauty mesmerized Tsubasa and he thinks of the Pokemon as a flawless beast. As someone who was unimpressed by the sight of sunset in Vermilion city, calling the Dragonair beautiful meant something. As someone with a desire to take over the world, his bond with his Pokemon and his compassion for the art and technique of raising Pokemon was quite impressive. However, he was not a sentimental person and often does find flaws with his own Pokemon, his Dragonair aside. As such he had already kicked Nidoran away, disallowing it to seek shelter behind him.

He did not overly enjoy his stay at Opelucid City either and it reminded him of his weaknesses. Having started out there, recalling the city brings back memories of the times when he was an amateur. Aside from providing him with his first Pokemon and encouraging him to pursue the path in which he embarked, he considered the city to be a mere stepping stone. He detested the people there and despised their lack of purpose. Even though they encouraged and promoted the art of Pokemon battle, their talented trainers only ever battled for entertainment and while that was an admirable quality, their lack of a bigger aspiration disappointed the overly ambitious Tsubasa who regarded the city to be a waste of potential.

He did not let that stop him from responding to the person from Opelucid who reached out to him in conversation. Trainers from Opelucid were well polished and their skills were sure to challenge Tsubasa, who looked for something different and more challenging than the monotonous and worthless trainers he had to battle on his treacherous journey from Cerulean. Then again, he had to take into consideration that he was already tired and was on his way to the Electric Type gym where no favor will be done for him by the leader. As reckless as he was, he knew more than to blindly charge into battle and instead chose to return all three of his Pokemon to their Pokeballs abruptly. Any kind of ambush from the newcomer would have caught his Pokemon by surprise and perhaps nullify them for his next battle and therefore he had taken precautionary measures.

The person in front of him did not look like a seasoned Pokemon Trainer. He expected them to have developed into a more intimidating individual over the years in which he has not seen their face. Was this person the presence he had felt a while ago? He was unsure. Nevertheless he did not notice the cloaked figure wrapped in bandage who was out of his view. However, as he was sure that he remembered their face from Opelucid, he had to expect them to be capable of handling themselves quite well in a battle should the situation call for one.

Only then had he noticed the second figure directly behind the first one. Perhaps it was this figure that had been disturbing his Pokemon. The sun had blinded him and he cursed the city more for fooling him. He looked at the cloaked figure with much interest and was under the impression that they seemed much more dangerous and much more of a polished Pokemon trainer than the person who spoke. Something did seem off about the second 'individual' but not having seen a Zorua in quite some time, Tsubasa was utterly clueless as to who or what the figure was or why they were so heavily covered. The black patches on the eyes were obviously cloth but Tsu was sure that there was more to this 'person' that what meets the eye.

"You remember my name." He stated in reply as a grin emerged on his face, "I see my time in Opelucid was not entirely wasted," He bluffed and paused abruptly trying to recall the name of this person. "I am afraid I do not recall yours. May I ask the purpose of your visit to this hideous city?" He addressed the person who spoke although he looked over their shoulder at the cloaked individual who seemed to be about as tall as the person who spoke. Suspicious, Tsu kept looking at them as he spoke.

A Zorua..? I should have known... Tsubasa thought to himself as he grunted, eyeing the Zorua who transformed into an image of Tsubasa himself and remained in the tree. He followed Josie all the way and the sudden turn of events left him bedazzled and confused. All this talk about a business proposal and how they know his ambitions so well when he had never spoken to her before. How could they be such an avid fan when back then he was only a boy with nothing but a desire? The strong feelings he felt back then were only that; feelings. Until recently he had not taken any steps towards fulfilling his wishes but as soon as he did, this mysterious person had showed up and claimed to understand his deepest desires much better than anyone else.

Tsubasa himself did not fully understand his own desires. All that he saw around him was disharmony and chaos and he desired to end the mobocracy by establishing a dictatorship. As simple as it sounded, the desires tend to get mixed with his feelings of hatred and despise towards the useless and unskillful trainers who practice and partake in the art of Pokemon Battling. Furthermore, he strove for peace when he himself is chaotic and tends to be quite violent. To be quite frank, he was a complex person and despite being capable of displaying exceptional intellectual capabilities, he was a bit of a psychotic  tyrant. How someone he just met could understand him better than himself was quite intriguing.

Tsubasa listened carefully to each word being spoken by Josie and maintained an expressionless face as they undressed and transitioned into Naze. He noticed the change in posture and after putting enough thought into it, he realized that the two personalities were alter egos of one biological entity who identified as a non-binary. This one has it worse than I.. He thought to himself as he listened impatiently, fidgeting. Hmm.. He waited for Naze to finish what they had to say and completely quiet down before he opened his mouth in response. "Correct me if I am wrong, but I take it that you are an Aura Trainer?" He took a calculated guess. Only an aura trainer could understand a life form by reading into its feelings and desires. He walked to a side with his hands behind his back as he continued to speak.

"Business..?" He spoke, "Offer me your loyalty? Your skills? Help me achieve my desires?" He asked in a demeaning tone, quoting the bandaged person. A Zorua, Sableye and a Drifloon was part of their arsenal. What else did they possess that could be fruitful to Tsubasa? Was this some crazy lunatic or a dangerous person who could really lend a hand in attaining his ultimate goals? So many questions.. "How can I trust that you understand my desires when I myself cannot? That cheery smile you had on your face, I don't believe you see with your eyes the world in the same light I do with mine!" How dare this person with their amiable attitude come up to Tsukino Tsubasa and claim to understand his deepest desires and then offer themselves to help him?! "Observe that hideous sight you call the sunset and tell me what you see." He pointed behind Naze where the sun had almost gone down and the harbor was still as beautiful.

Quieting down, he added abruptly,"What can you do that will help me? And why should I trust you to begin with?" An annoyed frown on his face, he gave judgmental looks at the cloaked person. The mute 'Naze' beside the real one no longer bothered Tsubasa who ignored its presence. Having walked all over the place he stationed himself in front of Naze, expecting answers.

Hmm.. They read me quite well.. Tsubasa tried to hide how impressed he was by their interpretation of Tsubasa's ideals. "Your description of the sunset was much better than mine.." Tsu muttered. He took a deep breath and realized how clueless he was as to how he would attain his desires. As much as it pained him to admit the fact, he  was in need of serious help. Not the kind of help one would receive when one visits a shrink but more like the kind of help one would expect when gathering resources for world domination. The person before him seemed worthy enough to be associated with him. Their passion and desire for the same aspiration as his did not fail to serve as an unexpected source of inspiration for the grumpy trainer. Humans bring out the best in each other. Or better yet, worthy humans bring out the best in each other. He thought to himself as he considered the generous offer. He did not have much to say against them and quite frankly, there was no reason for him to decline such a gracious offering. He sighed abruptly before extending his arm to shake Naze's hand in acceptance.

"You shall be my wings." He stated in a gentle tone to the cloaked individual. Whether or not his handshake was accepted by them, he would continue. He would continue to explain to them the situation in which he had found himself, "I am completely lost," He began, "I have spent a majority of my life studying about everything around me and as you already know, all I see in them is imperfection.. In order to correct nature's own mistakes and those of humanity, there must be a sole entity who is immune to all weaknesses of mankind including betrayal." He did not wait for a response before adding, "But to establish such a dictatorship.. is going to be the hardest thing I shall ever successfully attempt."

"I officially declare you my second in command. You will pay heed to no one but myself. You shall not be criticized by anyone but myself and should anyone fail to refrain from judging you in anyway, their actions will be considered unforgivable." He stated with a straight face, declaring her to be one of his kin. As unreasonable as it would seem for someone he just met to immediately become one of his kin, he saw in their eyes the dissatisfaction and they shared his motives. Without a doubt, the two dangerous individuals were on the same page. The destruction that could be caused by the duo was imminent. On their own, the two were capable of committing all sorts of crimes but in unity, much more would prove to be possible. As they say, no good can come from bringing together two evils. However, the two shared a different opinion on what was good and in their case, the newly formed team was quite beneficial for both parties involved.

Tsubasa admired their ability to read into people with the utilization of aura. Their skill in the field was evident and he believed that they were going to play vital roles in his future. They had just met and the trainer was awestruck by their capabilities. He wondered what else they had up their sleeve, and how they could catalyze his quest.

Tsubasa listened carefully to the advice given to him by them and agreed with their every word. The man was unperturbed by the excessive amount of respect shown to him by his new subordinate. After all being treated like royalty is something he was going to acquaint himself with if he intended to be a dictator. However, he did not acknowledge her physical actions, paying attention only to her verbal advice. He had to be feared and respected. Was his quest at conquering the Indigo League not one that would grant him both those qualities? Perhaps do some more on the way. Naze claimed to have contacts of their own who could accommodate him or otherwise aid in his cause. A tight inner circle might not be too easy to form as Tsubasa did not know many individuals who shared his aspirations save for the one he just had the pleasure of declaring his second in command.

Although he did not desire for all of his subordinates and associates to completely surrender themselves to him and treat him like a holy figure, he did want to be feared and respected in addition to being accepted as the absolute to the extent where he is recognized as the boss figure. He did indeed want them to submit to him and acknowledge him to annihilate any possibility of mutiny. That being said, the unity of like-minded individuals striving for a common goal would not leave much room for mutiny in the first place and he anticipated co-operation and loyalty half as faithful as that of Naze from their contacts. Nevertheless, the man would gain neither respect nor authority by sitting idly. In order to be feared he would have to give his subordinates a reason to pay heed to him. His next stop was Lavender Town which housed a cemetery and perhaps he could ask Naze to arrange for the first official meeting of the society there.

"Your suggestions seem logical. Let us not waste time speculating, Naze." Tsubasa spoke in a declarative tone, "Beating the Indigo League should earn me enough respect and I feel it is something I must do. However, that is just a side quest for me and I shall not let the challenge hold us back from our ultimate purpose." He turned away from the kneeling subordinate and gestured with his arms as he began to walk away, the hood of his large coat bouncing with each step. He was headed to the Vermilion gym to take care of his business in the city. "I shall be in Lavender Town in three days time and I shall be expecting you at the top of the Pokemon Tower. Also, I expect you to assemble a team and bring them along." He paused for an abrupt moment as he stopped his movement for a few seconds. With a smug grin on his face, he added, "There is a lot one can do at a cemetery to incite fear in a person.. "

Although he expected his third gym battle to be challenging, Tsubasa had something up his sleeve that might make his next challenge a walk in the park. His battling skills had only improved with the experience he had gained as a trainer in his first two gym battles. Tsu wanted a day to bring improvements to his arsenal and two to travel from Vermilion City to Lavender Town, perhaps training a bit on the way. The chances of him running into an individual with similar aspirations as himself and his new subordinate were slim and therefore he relied on Naze to make out calls to their contacts.