Secrets Uncovered

"So. You two�ve heard of me? I�m flattered." Gary smirked and leaned back in his chair.

Cass started up again. "Why do you want us�? We�re just trainers!"

"Many reasons I�ve wanted to have this chat, Miss Silvers. To begin with, it�s those stones."

Dark shook with anger. "Kaumi," she said softly.

"He�s quite the little delinquent. An on-and-off worker, you might say. When he doesn�t have a specific job, he�s to be undercover stealing pokemon; like my pathetic duo of Myuka and Kain, only he does it with more class and smarts. Initially, when you met him, he was supposed to steal your pokemon. However, when you touched onto the stones, he was given orders to stand by and see if the three of you could get your hands on some. That, my friends, is why Kaumi will no longer need you."

Cass saw her cousin was too upset and shaken to speak, so instead, she took the floor. "Okay Mister Oak, why else are we here? You know we don�t have any of those stones on us."

He frowned, but the news didn�t seem to bother him too much. "Simple. I need to get rid of your memories or get rid of you, children."

Cass became confused. "Wha...?"

"I believe you have distant memories in your head that come as occasional flashbacks, am I correct? These flashbacks, they deal with a little child being thrown off a cliff, right?"

Cass remembered�back on Mt. Kamisama when she fell numb to all around her and saw that terrible picture. When everyone-

"�Gathered around you because you started screaming. Cass, is�is there something you need to say�?"

"They murdered her�The Shadow Gang is a bunch of murderers! She was so young!"

"Ah hah hah, now you can clearly recall. Want the full details�?" Cass didn�t respond. "Very well, I shall tell you anyway. It�s not as though you can do anything with the information�" Gary cleared his throat. "I believe you, Miss Silvers, you were only twelve years old; so it was just five years ago. Little Mizuki Dark, only at the age of ten, was on a hike in the mountains, when she suddenly was separated from her family. Silvers, you were with her. Shiki, you were with the rest of your family, and did not know the girl was missing.

"My men had been waiting for that moment, and as soon as they could, they seized the young Cass, who began crying out like crazy. One of my best elite members, Miss Miato, picked up the child Mizuki and hurled her over the cliff like that. You see, it was the perfect setup. Silvers was in shock, and surely her memory would fail her, but there was still a risk there. Anyway, we could make it appear that she had just slipped on the edge and tumbled down�Miato is always so cleaver at cover-ups."

This wouldn�t sink in for Dark. Why couldn�t she remember those events? She�d never really remembered doing much with her family, and she never recalled having a younger sister�How could she not know�? Most of her past was pretty much erased; it had taken her years to forget it�And on top of that, the murderer of her sister�was Roxy.

Cass leaned over the desk. "Why?! Why on earth would you kill a child?!"

Gary sighed with a strange smile on his face. "That, girls, I cannot say. I�ll leave it at this: that child knew something we�d wanted to know for ages. She was brave; she refused under every circumstance to reveal it to us. So you see, we took care of her so no one else would discover what she knew."

Dark gritted her teeth. What could be so vital to these people that they�d kill a little girl�? What had her sister been hiding?

"Now, if you�ll excuse me," he said, standing and turning to the wall behind him, "I have some business to attend to in another location. I rarely let my followers play with my prisoners, but they love it so; I�ve given them the order to do with you what they see fit. Good-bye, and good day." The wall slid open; apparently it had been a secret door. Gary left, and Shadows entered, hauling the girls off once again.

"When will this stop�?" Cass muttered. "Hey, where�re we goin� now?"

One of the young women accompanying them spoke coolly, "Miss Roxy wants to entertain you before you�re dealt with."

Not long after being dragged out of the meeting room, they were tossed into a new, smaller room, and locked in. From the floor, they looked up. They were lying on gray tile, contained in a room with matching walls�and then Dark noticed a Plexiglas window about two and a half feet off of the ground. She and Cass stood and stepped up to it, looking out.

On the other side, a room of the same décor proportions stood, only larger. There was a row of about fifteen Shadows standing across the back wall, and before them, Roxy� She had in her hand the strap of a tank top on a young man; it was Kaumi. He appeared to be unconscious; he was half on the floor and only held partially up by Roxy.

Dark gasped. "Cass�It�s-"

"I know."

"Look at him!" His hair was ruffled and he looked hurt, as though someone had beaten him up. He began to stir. Roxy noticed this, and threw him forward onto the ground.

"Welcome, ladies. I believe the Boss said I have the right to do whatever I want from here on out." Dark screamed at her from the other side of the window, but it was no use. "I can�t hear you, only you can hear me. That�s the way this room is made! I trust that you�d like to know what�s going on with this little brat, don�t you?" She smirked cruelly. "Well, for failing so terribly (I know the Boss discussed him with you) he had to be punished, so he received a beating from one of my �friends�. Now I�d like to entertain you with the rest of his punishment before you get yours. Perhaps this will make you reconsider hiding those stones from us."

Kaumi slid up, supporting himself on his elbows. He looked up and saw Cass and Dark through the window. Even though he was hurt from being beaten, he felt even worse about lying to Dark�How could he tell her now�?

He stood up all the way and faced Roxy in a somewhat defiant way. She smiled. "It seems you�re ready to continue, Kaumi." She slid a handgun out from a pocket on the front of her uniform. Kaumi grew nervous and frightened. "I see you�re scared. It�s okay, I�ve killed so many people." She let out a laugh.

"What, so you do the Boss�s dirty work?"

"You could say that. I do the crime; he cleans up for me. A mutual thing. It�s better than battling with pokemon the way most of the fools here do."

Her arm was outstretched with the gun in her hand. Dark hit the window with her open hands. "Damn you, Roxy!" she screamed. "Kaumi, do something!" She pounded the window once more, only lighter this time, and with her fists. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Kaumi heard the slamming, and turned halfway around. He ached to see her upset like that and only wished there was something he could do.

Roxy snarled. "Now you�ll die!"