Hey guy! So I'm finally back with another chapter for this story! And before you guys rage at me over Serena, please read this chapter before doing anything rash, ok? Thank you!
So yeah, Chapter 3!
Chapter 3
Pain. Unimaginable pain. It hurts, it burns so bad…
Everywhere is racked with pain and I feel like I'm on fire. I try to scream but nothing comes out.
I can't move. Something is holding me down, and no matter how hard I try, I can't break free.
I try to open my eyes, but it's too bright, and I can't keep them open for too long.
And then I hear them. At first distant, then slowly getting closer.
Voices.
-
"She's going to be fine. Her body is recuperating remarkably well, considering what she went through."
"But how long till she wakes up?"
"Well, that we can't say for certain. But since she's already recuperating fast, she shouldn't take anymore than a week to wake up."
I nod in appreciation. "Ok, thanks doc. And you too, Blissey." I thank the medical staff and the pink Pokemon.
"Blissey Bliss!" Blissey cried cheerfully.
"I'll leave you to your work, Doc." I stand up and leave the ward.
I've been trying to keep my face as stoic as possible—don't want to show weakness to anyone here—but as soon as I leave the ward, I heave a sigh of relief. My worst fears weren't realized.
"What'd the doc say?" Yang asked. She and her team, plus Bonnie and Clemont, are all waiting outside the ward, and they lean forward to hear what I have to say.
"The doctor said she'll be fine. She's recuperating really fast, according to the doc. She'll wake up in up to a week." I report to them.
Everyone breathes a sigh a relief, except Weiss, who looks disinterested.
"That's a relief. I wouldn't want to have spied on her for nothing." She huffs out.
"Weiss, be nice. Serena seems nice enough. There isn't a reason why you should hate her." Ruby tuts. Weiss scoffs and turns away.
"I'm just glad she's safe." Bonnie sighs.
"On the subject of Serena, what did happen on the road? How'd she get injured?" I asked.
Bonnie and Clemont looked down, their faces darkening.
"It's a long story." Clemont warns, before continuing.
"We're all running towards the base, thinking we were home-free. After all, you, Yang and Ruby managed to hold back that Admin, and most of the Grunts were in the city, so we assumed we were safe."
"So it was really surprising when a large cruiser came out of nowhere and blocked us. Apparently there was another group of grunts outside the city, hoping to pick up stragglers. When they saw us, they attacked."
"Luckily, most of us had Pokemon, so we began to fight back. But most of the grunts had tough Pokemon, like Houndoom and Sandslash (A/N: I don't care if they aren't good in the meta. I like them, and I find them tough.) so we began to lose ground."
"Bonnie and I were battling against a group of maybe 6 grunts. We had a tough fight on our hands, and we were—we still are—really tired from the attack. I almost collapsed, and in an instant, a Houndoom and a Crobat came towards me."
"I didn't have any Pokemon on me left, and even if I did, I couldn't react in time. Then Crobat used Glare on me, and I literally couldn't move. I could only watch as those Pokemon came at me."
"Serena…Serena saved me. She came out of nowhere, just shoved me aside, right at the moment when both Pokemon launched their attacks; Houndoom using Flamethrower and Crobat with Poison Fang."
Clemont fell silent, obviously trying to suppress those memories.
"She got the Flamethrower right through her back, and the Poison Fang hit her in the back too. She screamed…oh Arceus, that scream…"
"Clemont, stop." I order him, partly because I couldn't bear to hear any more, and partly because Clemont looked about to pass out. "Clemont, it's not your fault Serena got hurt. Don't blame yourself for it."
"I'm sorry, Ash. It's just…it really is my fault. If I hadn't gotten paralyzed, I might have been able to fight back." Clemont stared down at his feet as tears welled in his eyes. "It…"
"Stop blaming yourself, Clemont!" Bonnie exclaimed suddenly, glaring at her brother. "Serena chose to help you! It wasn't your fault! You didn't force her to leap in front of you to save you!"
"Ugh, will you guys just pipe down? Obviously he's still going to knock himself up over it, so there's no point telling him not to." Weiss suddenly pipes up, earning a hard glare from everyone except Clemont and Bonnie.
"Weiss, stop it. Don't make him feel any worse than he already feels." Blake replies angrily.
"I'm just saying, there's no point-"
"Can it, Weiss." Yang growls menacingly at Weiss, and Weiss glares back at her.
"Alright, alright. Everyone back to your dorms before this becomes into a brawl." I order, my voice cutting through everyone else's. Weiss turns to argue, but I glare at her until she thinks better of it. Reluctantly, everyone gets up, Bonnie supporting Clemont and they file out of the corridor.
"Ruby, tell Diantha I'm not going to be at the meeting tomorrow." I call out to the red-hooded girl.
"You're not coming with us?" She asks. I shake my head, "I'm staying with Serena."
Ruby doesn't walk away. Instead, she turns to face me, and walks towards me.
"Ash, Diantha needs you tomorrow." Her voice is now hushed, like she's keeping a secret. "You know Siebold gonna tear her apart if you don't show."
"Ruby…I can't leave her. Even though I know she's in good hands, I just can't." I explain, turning to look inside the ward at the resting girl's face, that beautiful face, belonging to a girl that I loved.
"You really love her, don't you?" Ruby asks, turning to follow my eyes. "She's nice, from what I know about her. Real pretty too." There's no jealousy or malice in her voice, only kindness and sincerity.
"I love her more than anything in this world, Ruby. Well, with the exception of Pokemon, but I would anything for her. I can't bear to see her like this." I confess. That was one thing I liked about Ruby: she was incredibly perceptive for her age, and though that perception is intermixed with a child-like naivety of the world, she was still someone who you could talk to without a fear of a biased opinion.
"Then you need to be at that meeting tomorrow." Ruby's words catch me off guard, and I turn to her, mystified as to how she managed to come to that conclusion.
"Look, we're discussing what are we going to do about Kalos and the Lumiose survivors. Evidently, Siebold's gonna go for the option where only the best of the survivors—those who can battle and what not—come through into the alliance. Lysandre's a dark horse; we have no idea where he's going to go, but let's say he does support Siebold. That leaves me and Diantha who want to save everyone. If you're not there, the vote goes to a deadlock, and it will go to the populace here. We're low on space, and we have quite a lot of survivors here—almost the entire population of Lumiose. You think the populace is going to let them in, just like that? And if he supports us, you can help reinforce the vote. Regardless, you're needed here."
I muse through what Ruby tells me, while also trying to keep a lid on my emotions. Siebold's been playing power games since he lost the vote for leadership. If the vote went the way Ruby said it would, Siebold's view would probably triumph. If that happened, there would have to be tryouts to determine who could stay and who would be kicked out.
Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but Kalos just got invaded. Sending people out of here would be akin to a death sentence.
"So I've got to be there to ensure the vote goes our way." I conclude, before asking, "And what does this have to do with Serena?"
"Be truthful to yourself, Ash. Serena's a Pokemon Performer. A semi-decent battler, but mostly a Performer. Do you honestly think that she could make it through a tryout? Plus, if Siebold gets wind of your feelings for her, he'll do whatever he can to discredit you by saying you're too emotional to be a decent leader. At this stage, division is not what we need." Ruby tells me.
I sigh, "Damn politics. Wonder why I didn't just give the role to someone else."
"The people love you, Ash. They respect you. True, their own leaders are worthy of respect, but you're a legend here. They chose you to represent them on the council."
I sigh inwardly. Ruby's right.
"Alright." I've made up my mind. Turning to face Serena, I bid a silent goodbye, "I'll be there at that meeting. Now come on, let's get to bed."
And we walk out of the hospital.
I arrive at the conference room early, as is my normal routine whenever it comes to council meetings. I need to soothe my nerves before they get frayed—as they usually do—during the meeting.
Ruby and Diantha, as usual, are already there. The three of us are an odd alliance. Even though I had beaten her in the Kalos Pokemon League, she was still much loved by the people, so much so that she was voted as one of the leaders of the Kalosian rebel cell with the highest popularity vote. Since I was a foreigner, though I had won the hearts of many (apparently), I wasn't considered local enough to know Kalosian cultures. So it surprised everyone when Diantha picked me as her second-in-command.
Choosing Ruby had been easy. I met her after winning the Kalos league, and we hit it off as really good friends. Even then, her perception and view of the world wasn't any different than what it was currently. That made her an easy pick for the council. She got along really well with Diantha, and the three of us formed a sort-of alliance.
"Morning, guys." I call out.
"Good morning, Ash. I'm sorry about Serena, and I truly wish her a speedy recovery. Do you know when she's waking up?" Diantha asks, and I smile at my friend's concern for Serena.
"Thanks, Diantha. The doctors say she should wake up in no more than a week's time." I reply.
"That's good to hear."
"Ah, look. Everyone is already here."
I grit my teeth together as one of my least favourite people in Kalos came into the room.
Where do I begin with Siebold? I guess it was his attitude. When I met him for the first time, in the chambers of the Pokemon League, he had asked me if I saw battling as an art. Baffled, I had answered with the first thing that came to my mind, "Not really."
Immediately, his entire attitude changed. He berated me for apparently not sharing his opinion. His sudden change in attitude caught me completely off guard, and I immediately gained a dislike for him. I fought him with everything I had, and completely swept his team, even his Mega Blastoise. Since then, we never were the best of friends.
When he was voted into council, I thought that things were going to get ugly, and I was right. Siebold and I got into a lot of arguments within the council. He had become a kind of elitist, believing that only the strongest trainers were worthy of being in the rebellion. I was vehemently against that.
Behind Siebold was a man in fiery red hair that poked out in a star-shape. Lysandre, the former leader of Team Flare, was also on our council. I didn't actually have many problems with Lysandre, because he had switched out his views that humanity didn't deserve to live. That didn't mean I trusted him, though.
"Well then, how about we get started?" Siebold and Lysandre find their seats, and Diantha calls for the meeting to start.
"No, absolutely not. We are not going to do it like this." Diantha stands her ground.
"Diantha, you need to see reason here. Almost the entire population of Lumiose is in here. We barely have enough space, and since Lilycove was destroyed, our food supplies are dwindling. We cannot support so many people." Siebold sighs exasperatedly as he explains his logic again.
"You know, food wouldn't be an issue if you hadn't voted to try to remove the crops in here and focus on training the rebels for battle." Ruby snipes.
"Think, child. If we kept the crops in here, we would have had to expand our base even more. That requires more resources spent there, and ultimately, we need the resources for training. Considering that Team Rocket has already invaded, wouldn't you say we should focus on preparing for war with them?" Siebold questions mockingly.
"Hungry soldiers don't make for good soldiers, Siebold." I bring up, pissed off at how cold Siebold is. "Besides, now that Team Rocket have invaded, what do you think would happen if we send these people out? You think Team Rocket's gonna let them go?"
"Better a few thousand peasants get sacrificed than allowing everyone to stay and drag down training. Look at these people. Some of them have never battled, some haven't battled in a long time. They're a waste of resources to train." Siebold argues back.
"Enough. Siebold, Ash, lay off each other." Diantha orders, flashing me an apologetic frown, before turning to Lysandre, "What say you, Lysandre?"
"I think Siebold's wrong." Lysandre replies, without hesitation.
The council room goes silent. Even though we all knew Lysandre had to vote, we didn't expect him to be so quick about it.
"You remember I was from Team Flare once. We all shared one goal: to wipe humanity off the face of the earth. I chose this goal because I only saw the bad in humanity. Calem's victory over me made me change my outlook on that, but some things just never change." He says, before turning to Siebold.
"You, Siebold, you represent everything about humanity I disliked. You're selfish, elitist and too self-centred. You believe that only purists like you deserve to live, and you treat the rest like filth. I am not standing by this view, no matter what you do to me."
Siebold's face is a mask of anger, "You will regret this, Lysandre."
"I regret many things, Siebold, but this is not one of them." Lysandre replies.
The room is silent for a while, before Diantha speaks, "Does anyone else want to speak?" When no one replies, she calls for a vote.
"Those in favour raise your hands." Diantha, Ruby, Lysandre and I raise our hands. "That's 4 to 1, Siebold. The Lumiose citizens stay."
Siebold looks furious, but takes a deep breath and looks away. "Very well. Do not come crying to me when this backfires on you."
With that, Diantha closes the meeting. As everyone gets up to leave, she calls out to me, "Ash, could you stay for a bit?"
Once everyone leaves, she sits back in her chair and takes a deep breath.
"This was not what I signed up for."
"Siebold's a total pain, I know. Trust me, none of us thought it would be like this." I say as I pour a cup of coffee for her.
"I couldn't agree more." She accepts the cup gratefully with a "Thanks", and takes a long sip of it.
"To business." She sets her cup down, before continuing, "Ash, there is a major crisis going on inside the base. Someone has been leaking information outside."
I pause, completely stunned. A security leak? This was the worst thing that could happen to us.
"How do we know this?"
"About an hour after you and Team RWBY left for Lumiose, our communications were compromised. Earlier, we intercepted a transmission from a Team Rocket cruiser. According to them, Team Rocket thought the city was an easy target to take over, and it wouldn't require additional squads."
"When Clemont and Bonnie returned to base with the Lumiose citizens, one of our agents captured a Grunt. After interrogation, we found that during our comms blackout, someone had contacted them, telling them that a small squad of rebels was coming into the city."
"That would explain why it was so hard getting out of there." I recall.
"A mole within is the last thing we need at this stage. So I need some backup. I plan to investigate this, but that would mean travelling to Camphrier Town and visiting Cassius for help. So, I'm installing you as emergency leader of the Kalosian rebel cell in my absence."
If Diantha said anything else, it didn't register in my head, because my brain just shut down. Leader of the rebels? Even if it was temporary, that was still some really huge responsibility.
"Diantha, I'm honoured. But I don't think I'm suited for this—"
"Ash, I've thought long and hard about this. You're the prime candidate for my choice. The people love you, and you're a hero to them. The Lumiose citizens look up to you, and you have charisma. You always do things the right way, and you know how to navigate Siebold." She smiles at my reaction, then continues, "You're the perfect candidate for the role."
"But who would take the last spot on the council?" I ask.
"I'll leave that to you, but I would recommend someone who wouldn't mind standing in for a short time. Perhaps that Weiss character Ruby keeps talking about?"
I blanch. "Weiss? She wouldn't even show up for half these meetings if she wanted to. She's almost as self-centred as Siebold."
"Really? Ruby tells me a slightly different story. Regardless, it's your choice." Diantha replies, before adding, "This is an order, by the way."
I sigh, and smile, "Guess I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"Not really. Relax, you'll be a great leader." Diantha encourages.
"Then I accept this responsibility."
Diantha claps her hands in delight, "Merveilleuse!" When I stare blankly at her, she blushes, "Sorry, that meant wonderful. It's an old Kalosian dialect."
"Is that all?" I ask.
"One last thing. Watch out for Siebold. He's definitely not happy with the result. I wouldn't put it past him doing something ridiculous." She warns, before leaving the room, leaving me to ponder about her words—and what I was going to do as leader.
-
The pain is gone.
Not fully, but it's mainly gone. I still feel the burning sensation on me, but it's not so painful now. In fact, it seems insignificant.
I'm still immobilized, and I still feel like I can't open my eyes, because I fear that blinding light. But I hope to get there someday. Somehow, I know that light is a good thing, but my subconscious tells me to avoid it.
The blissful silence is interrupted and I hear a voice that pounds through my head.
"Hey."
I try to reply but can't open my mouth to speak. My instincts tell me to run and hide but something tells me…to stay and hear that voice.
That voice is friendly. I don't know how I can tell.
"I don't know if you can hear me…"
That voice. It's so familiar. Where is it from? I want to look upon the person this voice belongs to, but I fear the light.
'Come on, Serena! Don't fear it!' A voice sounds, reverberating around me.
"I really hope you wake up soon."
Wake up! The voice yells, and it reverberates around me, pumping through my head, until all I hear is that voice.
Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!
'Alright, shut up!' If I could say something, that would probably be what I'd say.
Gathering my courage, I open my eyes, ready to face the blinding light…
Cliff-hanger! So as you guys can see, Serena's fine. Anyways, not much to say about this chapter, except I had a lot of fun writing it. Sorry if there's not a lot of action, that comes in the next two chapters. So please be patient!
Hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you all in the next chapter! RWBYSanctum, OUT!
