Pokémon Mars

Chapter 53: Undercover

Zorua seized the remaining balm in its fangs. It spat it out and whacked it with its tail. It hit Zoroark in the forehead.

The pain receded. The light dimmed. Zoroark collapsed onto its back; breathless, confused and hurt.

Callerya was curled up in a ball on the sidewalk. She didn't dare look up. She couldn't take that illusion anymore. Alec stepped over the unconscious security forces to run to Zoroark's side. Nyx was already there. She sprayed a cloth with Full Restore and gently wiped it over Zoroark's wounds. Her own Zoroark squeezed its paw. Zorua looked up at it and beamed. Its smile was reflected in Nyx's eyes as she stroked Zoroark's forehead.

'There, now. Everything'll be OK.'

Zoroark looked weakly around at the destruction it caused. It despised everything but Joshua, his kids and their friends, so it didn't care about the unconscious security forces, but it knew it hurt its own friends in its frenzy; yet even when Callerya crawled over, she smiled. Alec tugged at its arm. Zoroark pulled him into a hug.

'It's not your fault,' Nyx said, gently running her fingers through its tangled mane, 'Rudolph let Team Genesis open that space-time rift that got you.'

Callerya nodded. 'You only hurt some absolute helmets who probably deserved it. Buildings don't have feelings. It's OK.'

'And first and foremost,' Nyx continued, 'Whoever killed Joshua is to blame for you getting so wound up.'

Though Alec never stopped smiling at Zoroark while it rampaged, his eyes overflowed when he peered out of its embrace then. Zoroark looked Nyx in the eyes.

'Nessie.'

The chill of that revelation seeped deeper into their bones than Bitter Malice.

'Oh, Alec... Zoroark... I'm so sorry...'

Callerya wiped Alec's damp cheeks with her sleeve.

'You knew, didn't you?'

'Yeah... I knew that light was Zoroark... I knew it was Daddy's friend... and he told me... he told me Mommy did it... that's why he came to scare her...'

'But why? Why? What did Joshua do to deserve this...?'

Thalassa was choked up as she translated for Zoroark. She defended Nessie. How couldn't she see that she was a heartless murderer?

'When he came back for his hat, he found her forcing Megara to make those creepy dolls while they video called her mom, Leucosia... Alec was trapped in a cupboard... and Joshua realised the truth right away. So Nessie stabbed him. Then she killed his Pokémon. I was dead by then... but Megara saw it... she said Nessie called someone and they took us all away on a rover. She threatened Megara so she never told the truth. That's why she won't talk anymore...'

Tears spilled from Zoroark's eyes onto Alec's tangled hair.

'When I went to the apartment as a ghost, I found out that she's a Cipher Admin. That's who she called. Cipher. She came to Mars to make XD-series Shadow Pokémon. She never loved Joshua. She wanted to find her boyfriend, that Banks Belville guy... but it turned out that he wasn't hiding in a Cipher lab somewhere. Someone killed him. Later, I heard Nessie talking to Rudolph on the phone. I think he's in Cipher. Cipher are the gang ruling Ironville... and I think Cipher killed Firmino's mom and Seiza...'

Nyx never cried in public. It was one of her greatest fears. She couldn't help it then.

'I guess we should've known... it's got Cipher written all over it...'

Firmino stared down at the splattered blood on the sidewalk.

'Ebony was right... we should've known... we knew Luke was a bastard, but I never would've thought he was in Cipher... I thought Rudolph was just an idiot with power...'