Hope

What happened?

I don't remember. I kind of remember falling. Did I fall? What did I fall into?

Why is it so dark? Am I in a ditch?

My arms won't move. My legs feel numb. Do they even exist?

Is this what it's like to be dead?

Bright light filled her vision all of a sudden, temporarily blinding her. Somebody had pulled a mask off. The shapes in front of her stayed blurry for what felt like forever.

"How much did you see?"

Her mouth was too dry. The words could not find their way out.

"I think she needs eh some water."

That voice. She had heard it before.

My head hurts so much. I can't even think straight. Where's Ralts? He didn't come with me right? No no no. He was asleep. Too hot for him. It was too hot outside for him.

The shapes started coming into focus. Two men. She could only see below their necks. She looked up. Before her brain could register the faces, she fell back into unconsciousness.

Ice cold water hit her face. She felt her head explode. Whatever drug had paralyzed her was starting to wear off. Her arms and legs were sore and burning because of something tight. Rope.

"Well? Answer me!" a thick voice demanded.

She weakly mouthed "water." They stuck a bottle in her mouth, forcing her to gulp down quickly. They laughed, as if they had done something perverted.

The water bottle was pulled out of her mouth. The man repeated his question.

"I don't know," she mustered, "what you are talking about?"

"Lying bitch."

She could not bring herself to look up. Her eyes focused on the ground. Sand. Flip flops. A tanned leg. There was a tattoo. "Rabel" it read. She found herself grinning weakly.

I remember someone got a tattoo against their mom's wishes at the Academy. They wanted it to read Rebel but the cheapest tattoo artist they could afford was so bad. They never got it removed though, it was too expensive.

Oh.

It was Damien.

She looked up, her eyes were wide, and there he was. He was grimacing at her. She felt queasy.

"Ella," he said calmly. "What did you see?"

"Damien, what are you doing?" she asked weakly. "What's going on?"

"We suspect you've seen too much…on that little 'jog on the beach'," he replied coldly. "I should've figured. You and your ass-faced friend were asking some suspicious questions about the gym leader."

"What does the gym leader have to do with any of this!?" she cried.

The bulky man next to him was heavily tattooed. He picked her up like a bag of wheat and carried her away.

"Don't worry sweetie," he said. "You're 'bout to meet her."

Next thing she knew, she was thrown into a cell. Something smelt rancid. It was awfully humid. A body twitched next to hers.

"Is someone there?" another weak voice asked. "Hello?"

The cell was much darker in contrast. There was some light though, and Ella could make out the face of a girl. Her eyes were orange. Her hair was a deep red. She was pale, in contrast to all the people she had seen in Malina. Heavy bags under her eyes. Her lips were white. There were bruises on her arm.

"Who is this?" Ella asked in response.

"Gym Leader Sola."

So this is where she was, she thought.

"Where are we?"

"They're…doing," her voice was husky. "Drug deals. It's a m-mafia. Thousands of dollars-worth of heroin every…day…smuggling…"

"How long have you been here?"

"Thr-ee weeks…"

"What did they do to you?"

"Don't eat…the…food," she tried to move. Her eyes rolled behind her head for a few seconds. "They're trying…to poison…slowly"

Ella breathed slowly. What did she get stuck in?

"Are we going to die here?"

Sola shook her head. "We won't…we won't."

"Noone's looking for you." Tears were forming in her eyes by now. "Nobody is going to look for me."

It looked like Sola's spirit dimmed for a second. She shook her head. Slowly, she reached her hand out and put it on Ella's. "Always have…hope. Don't d-d-d-die…before d-death."

She could not stop the tears now. They flowed freely. Sola tried to slap her, but it came off as a weak pat.

"No. No crying." She coughed. "Don't be a victim."

"I literally am one," her face was touching the dirty floor. Was that pee?

"No."

Sola rolled away slowly. Silence. It was like that for ages.

"Ladies," Damien was sitting on the floor opposite the cell. "How about some food?"

"Damien, let us go."

Damien shook his head, a smirk darkening his face. "Oh Elle, I would've been more forgiving of you. If only you hadn't insulted me at the beach that day. For what? That angry prick? I was only trying to protect you."

"That has nothing to do with this," she struggled to sit up. "Please. This isn't you."

"Ayy how 'bout some water?" he offered her a small plastic water bottle.

"Is it poisoned?"

He took a sip of it. He rolled it over to her.

She grabbed at it desperately. With everything in her, she lifted it and took a sip. He left.

She dragged herself to Sola slowly and turned her over.

"Sola, water."

The girl's eyes slowly opened and her lips parted. She slowly gave her sips of the water. Sola smiled gratefully, and turned over again.

Hope, Ella told herself. How long does it sustain you?

She no longer had a concept of time. She felt hungry and thirsty to the very core. Her stomach growled so loud it scared her at times.

All she could do was wait. Her body did not have enough strength to move. She thought about her parents and Ralts and Wurmple and Chris.

Why did I run? So what, if they did it? Chris is just my travelling partner. Am I being jealous? No it's wrong that he was bumping uglies with my cousin, who is ten years older than him. That's it. I'm not jealous.

Ralts. Can you hear me? I remember when I met you. Professor Uma said you'd separated from your pack, and she found you wandering around the lab as if you belonged there. It took her everything to give you away. She said you needed to get out of your shell. She trusted me with you. I'm sorry your first trainer couldn't even care for herself. Let alone, for you.

Mom, dad, I'm sorry I let him take over me. I'm sorry I was who I was for that year. I was wrong. I should've listened. I should've known. I know you say it wasn't my fault, but it was. I'm sorry. Elliot I thought I was your little sister, why-

There was an explosion nearby. The Earth shook beneath them. Ella fell her head push against the wall. A part of her knew she would die here, but not this soon. She held her breath.

There were no screams. A weird static noise surrounded them.

"What's going on"- Sola coughed alarmingly louder – "Hey…"

Damien and the tall guy came flying. They were pushed onto the bars. They screamed and fell unconscious. By now, her heart was thumping loud enough for her to hear outside her body.

"What's going on!?" she cried.

The goons flew up again, pushed against the bars once more.

Something was controlling them.

Ella's hands were on the bars now. She looked outside, letting out a yelp.

"Ralts!"

Ralts spotted her. Instantly, he molded the bars so that there was enough space for her to walk out. Her legs would not let her.

Chris came running into the room, followed by two police officers and a pale blue-haired boy.

"Ella!"

He pushed aside the bars further. "Come on."

He waited for her to move.

"I can't-can't move."

He looked at her, stunned. He then leaned down, and lifted her up in his arms.

"Chris, the gym leader…she's here too…" she whispered. "She's not okay, please get +her to a hospital."

He looked into the cell for a second and nodded. The blue-haired boy ran to Sola. He put a towel around her. He was about to help her up. Ella did not know what happened next, because by that time, she had fallen unconscious again.

This time, she woke up in a hospital. There was a drip attached to her arm. Machines beeped in the background.

He was sitting at the edge of her bed. Ralts was lying next to her.

"Is she okay?" was her first question.

He nodded. "She was severely dehydrated. Some toxins in her blood too. They had to pump her stomach, but she'll be okay in a week or two."

She nodded, closing her eyes again. Red shapes flashed in the dark.

"Cuz."

A hand gripped hers. She opened her eyes again to see Mia standing there.

"Cuz," there were tears in her green eyes. "I'm sorry. This is all because of me."

Chris looked at her, confused.

"I didn't sleep with Chris," she clarified, wiping away the tears as they came. Chris had a giant sweat drop on his forehead. "Like yeah, I did sleep with A Chris, but not like THE Chris. The one I did sleep with is a coworker at the massage parlour. We met at the party and…like I would never do that to you okay?"

"That's not why-." Ella tried to clarify, clearly flustered. "It was just gross hearing-."

"Uh sure Jan," Mia replied, going back to her actual self. "The second I heard that door slam, I knew wh-…"

Beep beep beep.

Her heart rate monitor started beeping. A nurse came rushing in.

"Please don't overwhelm the patient," she requested, giving Mia a subtle glare. Mia shrugged and grimaced back at her.

"I'm off anyways," Mia rolled her eyes. "I have appointments! I'll come back to ya, cuz, in like a few hours."

Ella nodded. She smiled gratefully at the nurse.

The blue-haired boy walked in. He took Ella's hand immediately.

"Ah sweet Ella," he said dramatically. He kissed it, maneuvering his mouth away from the cannula. "You and your Pokemon, your darling Ralts, I would not have found my sister if you had not gotten lost and captured."

The kiss had made her awkward. She tried to say something, but could not form a sentence.

"When your boyfriend, Christian came to the Police Station to file a missing person's report, I was right there," he continued. "The police, they didn't pay heed to me. 'Your sister never belonged here' they would say. They said she probably up and left the city. Christian and I, we had a long chat, I told him about my dear sister and he told me about you."

"Number one, my name is Chris," Chris interrupted, annoyed. "Number two, I'm not her boyfriend."

The boy ignored this. He went on.

"We had been tracing your steps for a week. He said the last time he saw you was running across the deserted part of the darned beach, and I remembered that's where I last saw my sister and ugh, your darling Ralts, the star of the show! He went with us to where you ran off, sniffed you out with his brain like snap. They've been using an abandoned, practically invisible police station as a hostage cell. Ah my sister, I have never seen her so weak. I'll make sure these cursed crooks get a taste of my wrath. Ah I shall make sure."

He snapped his fingers. Ella was still confused, but she did not have enough strength to question this.

"How can I repay you?" he had still not let her hand go. His eyes shone like stars. "Ahhh yes, Christian told me you wanted to challenge my sister? Badge, yes?"

"I want to fight for it," she replied quickly.

"Of course, my sister would never haha," he brushed her off. "It'll take her two weeks to be back in tip top shape, until then, why don't you stay at our gym?"

She was a bit struck by the offer. She contemplated it. Living in a gym sounded pretty great. She looked at Chris, he was slightly uncomfortable at the suggestion.

"That's very kind," she smiled. "I'm staying with my cousin, she'd be heartbroken if I left."

"Tell you what!" he clapped his hands in delight. "Why don't you take part in the Malina Contest? I'll be a judge, I'd love to see your darling Ralts be appreciated."

"A contest?" she murmured. "But I'm a trainer?"

"But dear," he shut her down immediately. His eyes were shining brighter now. He was looking far off, as if envisioning something beautiful. "Have you ever tried? It's an addictive taste. Contests. Cooking. The patterns. The detail. I'm giddy thinking about it. Do come, I'm already getting your pass made as we speak. Yes, that's what I'm doing. Toodles for now then!"

With that, he ran off.

"Are you going to do the contest?" Chris asked, once he was gone.

"Huh? How? He can't exactly make me," she replied. "Anyways, I can't just get a pass. He needs my trainer ID for that."

Chris scratched the back of his head. "About that…"

Her eyes widened.

"I had to for the police search!" he exclaimed. "You left it in the room."

She sighed. "It's okay. It'll just be an experience, I guess."

He nodded. She shifted to her side, hugging Ralts with one arm.

Chris watched her, and smiled.

Hey guys!

Hope you liked this chapter. Be sure to leave a review if you want more. Thank you so much for reading this. Love you guys!

Love,

Rosewood Thorns