Mission 5.2 Page 3 (Finished)

After leaving the castle, Melnik gave his weapons and gear to Lizz who put his equipment in a bag, and then put him in chains before making him row the canoe back to the ship which then sailed to one of Gailamir's largest port cities.

As the two disembarked, Melnik remained in chains as part of Lissandra's plan. He felt naked and vulnerable, like a real criminal that killed many Pokemon, and the Pokemon at this coastal town treated him as such since pretty much everyone there had heard of the false rumors about him. The king had placed the blame of the dead villagers on him, and he was therefore deemed a mass murderer in the Kingdom of Gailamir. As he and Lissandra walked through the town, the citizens threw things at him, primarily rotten berries, as they shouted insults at him.

So this is how it feels to be a real criminal, Melnik thought. It was a horrible feeling, and he hated it, but there was no going back now, and with the heavy chains on him, he could not fight back so he was forced to endure the insults and rotten berries that were thrown at him. Along with the chains, the Sharpedo tooth necklace around his neck also started to feel like an actual chain. 

They continued through the streets, undeterred by the harassing townspeople. The treatment intensified as they went deeper into the town: along with insults like "Murderer!" and "Monster!" and "Freak!" a few of the citizens even threw stones at him, which caused bruises and a few cuts to decorate the Leafeon's body. Still, Melnik did nothing but face forward and walk on with his Zangoose friend leading him.

The walk continued, as did the citizens' treatment, until Melnik told Lissandra to enter a tavern that he had pointed out. After passing the guards there, the two entered. The Pokemon in the tavern simply looked at them when they arrived, but eventually went back to what they were doing.

"What...? Why aren't any of them angry at you?" asked Lissandra, surprised at the fact that the Pokemon here did not shout insults or throw things at the Leafeon. Melnik simply tugged at his chains. 

"You can take these off of me now," he said. "This tavern is a hub for all types of low-life criminals."

Lissandra did as she was told, and Melnik took from her the bag that had his gear. After quickly reequipping himself, he led her to a table and ordered two tankards of rum. 

"No offense, Lizz, but I don't like your idea already. We should do it my way from here on out," he said, and drank down the rum the instant the waiter set the tankards down. "I know you tried, though, but its just not a good idea. I'm an experienced assassin, so it would be better if I simply disguised myself and walk with you." With that, he looked around the room for something that he could disguise himself with.

After a while, his eyes settled on a mask that was hanging on the wall. The strange mask was made of iron and was painted to resemble a skull. Melnik walked over to the bartender and pointed at the mask before asking, "How much you want for that mask?" 

The Typhlosion growled and crossed his arms before his chest. 

The Typhlosion growled and crossed his arms across his chest. "I doubt that you're able to pay for it, Melnik Artemis," the Fire type replied angrily.

 Melnik responded with a sly smile as he pulled a piece of paper out of his bag and sat it down in front of the Typhlosion. "Write down your price," he said, "and I'll pay it."

The Typhlosion scowled at him, but wrote down the number 20,000. 

The Leafeon chuckled as he pulled out a smaller bag from his larger bag. "20,000? That's a bit much, but I'll pay," he said as he sat it down in front of the Typhlosion. The small sack made a jingling sound when it fell onto the table, indicating that it was full of crescents. 

Reluctantly and slow the Typhlosion then went to get him the mask and handed it over to him. 

Reluctantly, the Typhlosion slowly went over to the mask and took it down before walking back over to Melnik and handed the iron mask to him. "You probably know this already," the Typhlosion whispered to him, "but there's a lot of bounty hunters here, and they all know about the price on your head, Melnik. You'd best be careful." With that, the bartender took the cressents and went off to serve his other customers.

"So that's your plan? A mask to conceal your face? But everyone already saw us!" Lissandra hissed at him, but the Leafeon shook his head and put on the mask.

"That doesn't matter," replied Melnik. "I am one of Aether's best assassins, so I can handle a few bounty hunters. And since only the bounty hunters here know about my new disguise, it'll be easier to escape the capital and get to the forest since they'll be the only ones hunting me down." He stood up after finishing his explanation and left a few cressents on the table for the drinks. "We should go. The faster we get out of here, the faster we get rid of this thing," he said excitedly as if they were going on a vacation.

Lissandra followed him, but a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that trouble was bound to find them very soon. Yet, she still followed because she had given her word that she would help Melnik get rid of his curse, and she always followed through with her promises.

Once the two left the bar and walked past the guards, Melnik led Lissandra into a narrow alleyway. As the Zangoose followed, her ears twitched as she caught the faint sound of footsteps behind them, and she instantly knew that the bounty hunters were following them as they went from alleyway to alleyway. Melnik had also heard the noises and quickened his pace. He was unsure of exactly how many hostiles were following him, but he had one hand on his crossbow and planned to give the pursuers a fury of bolts whenever he got the chance.

They quickly turned down another alleyway, but unfortunately for them, the narrow street ended in a dead end. They looked around for any other way out of the dead end, but the three solid walls around them offered no means of escape. Suddenly, the footsteps that were following them came to a halt, and Melnik and Lissandra heard someone speaking behind them.

"Melnik Artemis. Did you really think that a simple mask would hide you from me?" 

Melnik turned around and faced the Pokemon that had spoken. It was a male Krookodile, and around him was about a dozen other Pokemon. All of them, save for the Krookodile, had their weapons drawn and were ready to engage in combat. 

Melnik smirked as he observed the aggressors, and his paw reached for something underneath his cloak. "Heh...kinda figured that you'd be able to see through my disguise," he said. "Anyways, it might be best if you'd step aside. I have no time to pick unnecessary fights with scum like you."

The Krookodile ignored Melnik's suggestion and grinned, showing off his rows of white teeth. "Melnik Artemis. Artiphron's Demon. Mad Chemist. Host of Evil. You've got many names, but when it all boils down, you are just an ordinary assassin, nothing more." With that, he drew his weapon, but at that exact same moment, Melnik pulled something that looked like a crystal out from underneath his cloak.

He threw the object right in front of the enemies with all his might. The crystal-like object crashed into the ground and exploded, sending up a large cloud of smoke which blinded the bounty hunters. Immediately after the smoke bomb started to take effect, Melnik grabbed Lissandra's paw with his left paw and his Shadow Scale with his right. The scale activated and the duo became invisible, but the assassin knew that the scale would not be able to keep them out of sight for long, so he and Lissandra ran as fast as they could past the coughing enemies. However, just as soon as they passed them, the Shadow Scale had used the last of its power, and in an instant, Melnik and Lissandra were once again visible.

"Run!" shouted Melnik as he used Agility to speed up his and Lissandra's movements. They both sprinted down the alleyway, and even though Lissandra was benefiting from the speed boost that Melnik's Agility gave her, she still had a little trouble keeping up with the speedy assassin. The two eventually turned onto a large street which was lined with merchant stalls and shops. 

Quickly, Melnik jumped onto one of the stalls and then leaped onto the roof of a nearby building, and Lizz did the same, albeit a bit slower. Melnik's cloak was flapping wildly behind him as he and his comrade ran from roof to roof. They now did not have to worry about the dense civilian traffic in the markets below, but this also made them an easier target for the bounty hunters that were taking advantage of the situation and firing arrows and crossbow bolts at them.

Since Melnik was ahead he fell back and orderrd her to run ahead, since he had a plan how to get rid of the enemies.

A sudden idea came into Melnik's head, and he slowed down and ordered Lissandra to run ahead of him. The Zangoose had probably caught on to his plan because she obeyed without hesitation. She sped off ahead and reached the edge of the roof before jumping over a wide gap and landing on the opposite roof. Melnik followed suit, but instead of simply leaping over the gap, he turned around as he jumped. At the same time, he brought up his crossbow and fired off three shots before hitting the other roof, rolling, and then leaping back up to his feet before sprinting after Lissandra.

The first two shots found their marks and killed two of the bounty hunters instantly, but the third shot was off by a few inches and it hit the Krookodile square in the shoulder, causing him to come to a dead stop after getting hit. Looking down at the bolt, he grabbed it and slowly pulled it out of his shoulder, despite the fact that he probably did more damage to himself thanks to the bolt's barbed head.

The Krookodile raised a hand which caused all of the other bounty hunters to cease their pursuit. "Stop," he ordered. "Fall back for now. He'll be back soon, and then both him and his bitch will be dead meat." He leaned against a stone chimney and slowly slid down to a seated position. "Now get me a damn healer."