Okay, so it's a little short… sorry! I tried! I promise next chapter will be longer!
And this is important; introduces an element or two that I'm going to have fun with later on…
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Seven: Escape
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Mental note. Never piss off a psychic type.
Minta's fierce mental pressure knocked the door clean out of its sockets. Pokémorphs, it seemed, still retained a lot of power in their human forms. I myself had opted to stay Absol: it was strangely comfortable, despite having to limp very badly to keep my broken wrist – no, foreleg – off the ground.
"You sure you're alright down there?" Iridium asked for the fifth time.
"I'm fine," I said flatly, also for the fifth time, as we bolted down the corridors much faster than you would expect me to be able to go.
What can I say? Absol are very agile Pokémon.
We were running at complete random. No one knew where to go: we just wanted to escape, and somehow, thinking wasn't coming into it. Kiesha half-paused at one crossroad and suddenly jerked her head. "That way," she insisted. "That way, that way, that way!" Not wanting to argue with someone who could turn into a Scyther and cut our heads off, we went her way, and suddenly I found myself sensing something very important, very faintly, as if from far away.
I immediately took off, forcing the others to follow me, but I knew where I was going. A hidden instinct stopped me from taking the wrong turns and I even managed to steer us around a patrol of Rockets who were obviously unaware of our escape. Good news.
I turned a corner and kicked off from the floor, slamming the guard who'd been about to come past in the chin. He was knocked to the floor and knocked unconscious in the space of a few seconds. I grabbed the keys from his belt and yanked them repeatedly until the cloth they were on came loose, then took off running again.
The others came too, swearing over my speed, but I had keys and a sense. An important one.
I slowed to a trot and began to limp badly, but only noticed the pain on a subliminal level. It was being overridden by something much more important, much more significant.
I found the door I knew I was looking for and gave a panting Iridium the key-ring I'd snitched. "Open the door," I said quickly. "Come on, open the door! Hurry up!"
As he fumbled with the keys, finding the right one, I spoke up. "Pokémon, people and Pokémorphs, brace yourselves. This isn't going to be pretty."
I definitely got some funny looks for that, but the smell I was now getting did not smell good at all. And it was so important. I couldn't just ignore it.
Finally the door swung open and I bounded inside, grabbing the keys from Iridium again, the others peering in more cautiously.
Cages. Hundreds and hundreds of cages lined the walls, dark metal. I was already moving along the rows, flinching at the sight of every Pokémon inside them. So few were empty.
"This," I said flatly, around the jangling keyring, "is an example of the atrocities Team Rocket commits on a daily basis. Were any of you Trainers before you were captured?" There was a chorus of affirmative or negative grunts from behind me; I couldn't tell who was who. "Find your Pokémon. They'll be in here somewhere. Me and Minta are going to spring the cages, so be ready."
There were soft curses from nearby: I didn't look up from a triple-bolted and padlocked door that held a dark-eyed Kirlia. As I cut the bolts free with my ever-sharp head blade it glared at me suspiciously, but I instead moved on to the next cage that I knew Minta would have trouble managing.
As I lopped a padlock off another cage, I said, "Minta, find the hinges of all the doors with your power, and destroy them."
She squeaked. "I… I don't know how!"
"Just feel it. Close your eyes and imagine the hinges disappearing, the doors falling to the ground, imagine the clatter, imagine the echoes," I said, my eyes still on the aggressive fire-type Magby in the cage in front of me as I sawed through a particularly stubborn lock and she tried to scratch me. My voice painted the picture for her, and Minta's power spread out, attacking the metal and eating through it like acid through paper.
Hundreds of cage doors fell to the floor, followed by exclamations of shock, both from the Pokémorphs and the newly freed Pokémon. I nodded, smiling and backing away as the Magby darted out of her cage, looking shocked. She looked at me and tilted her head. "Alright, maybe you're not so bad," she said, frowning. I didn't respond.
"Right, everyone!" Titan called, bringing them all back under order. "Follow us. Kiesha knows the way out, although you can thank the Absol for getting you out of the cages." I glared at him.
"Shut up, Titan, we're not out yet," I growled, stalking past. The Magby trotted beside me and all of the other Pokémon did too, more willing to trust random strangers than hang around any longer. They clogged the door somewhat trying to get out, many limping or sporting bruises. There were some I didn't even want to think about what had happened. I felt anger rising in my chest at the sight of the injuries, but I held it back. Anger was dangerous. Emotion was dangerous. Emotion clouded my judgement. I should know that by now.
I had known the Pokémon were there, known some of my comrades had probably been Trainers, known these Pokémon didn't deserve to be here, and letting them escape with us was as easy as anything. I couldn't leave them behind. Pokémon were just as human as us.
Maybe more so.
So our only real hurdle was the door itself.
I saw the door and I knew it was our only escape route, the only way out. There were three snoozing security guards and one who was half awake. He came fully awake with his eyes twice the normal size when three bruised and still-bleeding teenagers, a young man, a determined kid, and several hundred Pokémon came pelting around the corner, led by a very battered and very vicious Absol. He reached for his radio, no doubt to call for backup (and lots of it) but I was quicker, headbutting his stomach and making him drop the mike with a clatter as he doubled over, winded. I smacked the side of his head with the flat of my blade, effectively knocking him out.
"Move it!" I hissed, hoping we hadn't made too much noise, and the others leaped into action, trying to wrench the door open. The Pokémon helped too: those with hands or claws grabbed and pulled, vines tried to batter it down, and those who could do neither threw themselves at it.
I rolled my eyes, watching the other three guards anxiously as they began to stir. "Oh, for Celebi's sake, Minta, you're a psychic! Stop using your hands and use your head!"
Suddenly the door flew open, startling everyone. Minta coughed slightly and blushed. "Um… oops?"
I rolled my eyes again.
The Pokémon we had rescued flooded out the door, making altogether too much noise, but somehow, the remaining guards didn't even twitch now. I was starting to wonder if they had been drugged, and if they had, why. But us Pokémorphs followed the creatures out, darting into the forest that had been just beyond the building all along.
Now it was just a mad dash, putting as much distance between us and that horrible place as possible. I sprinted along, putting no weight on my broken leg even though it was still not hurting – I figured the pain'd come back soon enough so I'd best not damage it too much now.
Finally we slowed and stopped in a little clearing and I listened to Titan speaking. "Alright, guys, head on out. Try to find your Trainers again, and if you can't, head to the nearest police station – they'll be able to help you. Good luck, all of you."
I sat and watched the Pokémon melting into the shrubbery, listening mostly for signs of distress from the base. We were still too close for comfort. Eventually we were left with a Manectric, a Chikorita and a Piplup.
"The Manectric was mine," said Iridium softly, kneeling down and rubbing the dog-like electric type. "The Chikorita is Titan's, and the Piplup must belong to…"
"Me," Zircon said firmly, picking her up. "I was worried about you," he told her.
"What should we do now?" Kiesha asked, regarding both me and Iridium in her calm stare. I frowned slightly with surprise. She was looking at us as the leaders! I was the youngest here, aside from Minta, and I was a leader? I could have laughed.
Iridium shrugged slowly, face blank with repressed pain – I recognised the signs. "I don't know. Atlanta?" He turned to look at me tiredly.
What?! When was I voted leader?! Iridium was older, smarter, less injured! I was in serious pain, and now that I stopped to think about it, totally exhausted. But I tried. These people, for reasons beyond me, were relying on me. "I…" I was shaking. Suddenly the enormity of everything that had happened was hitting me, and I was not taking it well. I'd been existing on borrowed time, and the loan was up.
Suddenly my mind opened up and I flattened my ears in surprise, before feeling pain washing over me.
Shoot… this wasn't my pain. This was Iridium's: I felt phantom pain in my arms where his cuts and blade notches were, the bruises, the gashes. And Titan's bruises and dents, Zircon's wounds and Minta's whip-cuts, all in layers. I felt all of it.
My friends were suddenly stretching, exclaiming over the lack of pain, but I could barely stay conscious. How did… how did they stand this? Pain… How could they have felt all this but kept running?
Blackness was rushing in on me, and I accepted it. Blackness was good. It hid me from enemies… It took away the pain… pain that wasn't even mine… I could hide in the darkness and no one would ever find me… darkness was friendly; the shadows were my friends… darkness was safety…
But the pain refused to go away even as I collapsed yet again.
