Whee!! You like Kaiyou! I feel loved… :) Oh… And I think you'll be pleasantly surprised about Kazu… hee hee hee….
Disclaimer: I own the names and personas, Kaiyou, Shayla and evil trainer man. Don't sue me, for it will not be worth the trouble.
Price for Freedom
Chapter 9
Mossdeep Gym
We had gotten onto the ground of Mossdeep safely, and transported Kazu to the pokemon center fairly easily. And, just as Kaiyou predicted, Kazu was alive and well in a couple of hours. By that time, he was even sitting up and cracking jokes at Tai's expense. Of course, Tai would get him right back.
The nurse in charge told us that we would have to leave Kazu overnight, just in case they had missed something, so we went ahead and made arrangements to spend the night in the pokemon center. Niether Shayla, Tai, or anyone wanted to leave the espeon by himself.
Shayla had asked Nurse Joy if Tai could sleep with Kazu, but the nurse wouldn't allow it. So in light of that, Tai stole her keys and locked himself in with his brother, much to the nurse's dismay, since the jolteon had stolen all of the keys in the facility. When Nurse Joy found out, I could hear the eevee brothers laughing from inside of their "fortress" as Tai had called it. After banging her fists on the door and demanding her keys back for an hour, she gave up and stormed back to her desk.
It was now dark and everyone -save for me, of course, was asleep. Shayla was on the top bunk, Saji on the bottom bunk, and the rest of us were on the floor, resting on futons. I knew that it was well past midnight, because I began to hear the faint cries of the dark pokemon feeding and calling to each other. And, because of the absence of sleep, my mind began to wander.
Kaiyou was the first thing that came to my mind. Was he dead now? Had Team Magma decided to let their fighting pokemon beat the Dark Legendary to death? I sincerely hoped not. Maybe they were going to try and domesticate him… From the way my former trainer talked about him, Kaiyou seemed too important and powerful to just dispose of so carelessly. I really hoped he could get away and live like he should -out in the wild like a true Legendary.
The thought of Kaiyou then made my mind turn to Eclipse and his prophecy. I wasn't too stupid to simply discard all that Eclipse said, not like Tai did. There was still the possibility that Kazu was one of the "lines" involved, but I doubted Shayla would be so stupid as to risk Kazu's health so early after recovering. But…Now that I think about it, there weren't two lives in danger when Kaiyou awoke. At least not anything fatal. Only Kazu was really threatened. So… that couldn't have been what Eclipse warned me about. This thought unnerved me. I didn't like the thought that someone else might die. Not that I wanted Kazu to die… I just…
I didn't want Tai to die.
I stared at the ceiling for a moment. Why had I just thought that? Why did Tai's name come up? Why wasn't it Amburna or Shoko or Saji or Kazu? It was true, I didn't want any of them to die, but why had Tai's name popped into my head…?
I shook my head free of the train of thought. I didn't want to get into that. Trying to decipher one's own feelings is like trying to make Team Magma and Aqua drinking buddies. It wasn't possible, and if attempted, it would cause a lot of bodily harm.
I sighed and forced my mind to think of the two eevee brothers. It must have been hard on them to see their father's dead body and then to look up and see a fellow eevee-form with their father's blood on his lips. Even more so to leave their mother all alone without even her mate to keep her company.
I sighed and my mind went back to earlier this afternoon, when Kazu was announced as "healthy". I remembered how Tai's face lit up, and he then started running around the room, singing some strange song that I had never heard before. And… I was happy for Tai. He had thought that his brother was going to die, only to find out that the espeon in question would be himself in just a few hours. The fact that Tai was happy for Kazu, somehow, made me happy in itself. I don't know why -I had rarely concerned myself with the fates of others beforehand. But somehow, seeing the jolteon worry himself almost to insanity like he had on the plane… As the thought came to my head, Tai's emotionless face and Kazu's broken and bloody body appeared in my mind and I shuddered. I couldn't stand to see either of them like that again.
And as I lied down on my soft futon next to the sleeping Amburna, I berated myself. What was wrong with me? Was I getting soft? Why would I care about an annoying jolteon's mental health, or an espeon's physical health? Why would I care? I was an absol, a darkling. I shouldn't care about anyone. Only myself and my family.
I rolled over on my back and frowned in the dark. It disturbed me to no end that I would concern myself over the two eevee brothers. And not only them, I had gotten fond of Saji, Shoko and Amburna. What was happening to me…? This hadn't happened before, with my former trainer. No, the only one I remotely got along with was the nidoking. I wasn't on speaking terms with the others.
I sighed and looked to my right, where Amburna was sleeping soundly. For no real reason, I took in everything I could about her -her scent, her look, her heartbeat, everything. I hadn't noticed it before, but I could tell she was close to evolving. That was wonderful news, but I couldn't quite see beautiful Amburna as a dragonite. I paused in my thoughts for a moment. I then realized that my mind was wandering. I growled to myself to try and calm myself down.
I rolled onto my left side and looked out the window, which presented a wonderful, glowing moon. Suddenly, I became homesick. Right now, if none of this had ever happened, I would be hunting for rattata with Hicha by my side. I would crack a joke, and then he would sulk. I sighed again and sat up. I missed him so much…
But, what if this had never happened? What if I got the chance to go back, to go along a different path that night? Would I trade all of this -my friends, an actual loving trainer, the ability to travel- for a sense of normality? I succinctly remembered being bored most of my time in the forest. But still… was this right for me? After all, I was a darkling…
I growled again. There's that damn wall again, I thought. Why did my element have to play such a big role in my everyday life? Why do so many people and pokemon alike shun Darks? Why do I do it myself…?
I moaned and plopped back down on my pillow. I pushed all of my worries and cares to the back of my mind and began to dream about kicking all of the machamp in the world into a pit of lava.
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The next day, we all ate (the eevee brothers still locked up in the room; they had somehow gotten food) and, after Shayla apologized about a million times to the nurse, we left and set out into the city.
I took a deep breath of fresh air. It was an unusually beautiful morning, and now that I had gotten used to a different sleeping pattern, I was finally refreshed. I looked over to my comrades, who were all enjoying the beautiful morning. I smiled without any reason, and took a look at the new city.
It really was a pretty little town. There were trees planted in choice areas, and their green foliage went perfect with the sea's light blue. The houses were small, cozy, and not too abrasive to the eye. The only thing that really jutted into the sky was the space center, but it's window-covered exterior reflected the sky's hue, so it was a pretty sight in itself.
I looked up and saw Shayla with an unusual determined grin on her face. Confused, I trotted over to the charizard and asked why she was like this. He merely laughed.
"You realize where we are, right?" he asked, looking down at me to lock eyes. "We're in Mossdeep, where Shayla needs to get her next badge. You should come in handy -I hear that the gym here is psychic."
My face fell and my opinion of the town fell. I hated gyms. I looked around my team, analyzing which ones Shayla would use. Maybe Saji -he knew faint attack, me, of course, Tai knew bite, Amburna had pure power on her side, Shoko would have to sit out if there was any threat of water or rock… My gaze fell to Kazu, who was limping slightly beside his older brother.
I sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to battle so soon after a close call like that. "What about Kazu?" I asked. "He isn't going to fight, is he?"
Shoko scoffed. "Of course not. Shayla's not that cruel or stupid. Kazu's going to be on the sidelines, cheering everyone else on." He looked ahead of us, and a gleam of light entered his eyes. "Ah hah! Here's the gym." He then pointed and I glared at the building. I had always hated gyms…
It was a rather large gym, one of the bigger ones. Like most gyms, it was white on the outside. I perked my ears in the direction of the gym and heard sounds of battle raging inside. So some other poor bastard had come before us…?
Shayla smiled and motioned us all inside. Shoko, Tai and Saji were getting themselves into a battle frenzy -a state of mind where a pokemon is so hyped up about battling, that their attack and special attack gets raised a little. From what I remembered of Tai's thunder, he wouldn't need much hype to cause a lot of damage.
We entered the gym, and I almost gaped. The ceiling was high above us, where the many spotlights were placed. They illuminated the gym well -brightening the light blue tile underneath my feet. There were a few trainers scattered about, lurking in the shadows of the gym. My eyes went to the Gym Leader -or I should say Leaders- standing proudly on a purple-carpeted podium. Shayla saw them and then went towards them.
One of the trainers in the shadows rushed out. Shoko knew that Shayla didn't like to be bothered with little punks trying to show off, so he turned in the direction of the incoming trainer and growled. He showed his own sharp fangs and began to blow little tongues of flame from his snarling mouth. The trainer stopped dead in his tracks and ran the other way.
I nearly laughed. No other trainer dared come to challenge Shayla. By the time we reached the Gym Leaders, they both wore an expression of amusement.
The boy spoke first. "Welcome Challenger. This is-"
"Mossdeep Gym," the girl finished. I rolled my eyes. I hate these kinds of people. "You must pretty confident to-"
"-show off your pokemon so freely." The two twins then took a look at all of us and then back to Shayla. The boy spoke first again.
"My name is Tate and-"
"-I am Liza. You do know we use psychic types here?"
Shayla nodded. "Of course. You really think I would be so dense as to walk in a gym not knowing what I'm doing?"
The twins smiled simultaneously. "Very well," Tate said. "We shall-"
"-begin our match now."
The twins then lead the way to the center of the gym, where the battlefield was placed. They took their places and Shayla took hers. We took to the sidelines. A judge walked out, and then called out the rules. "Each trainer may use two pokemon in a two on two battle. Niether the challenger or the gym leaders may substitute pokemon. No time limit. Begin!!"
He rose his green flag into the air, and the twins let their poke balls fly. Shayla turned to us and shouted, "Demi! Amburna! You're up!"
We looked at each other and then rushed out on the field right when a solrock and lunatone materialized from their poke balls. I stared for a little bit -I hadn't seen either pokemon in real life before. I looked to Amburna and she looked to me -this would be an easy match.
Apparently, the twins figured that on their own as well. They were shocked at the sight of both of us, but then they settled into their battle faces. They began to shout orders at the same time. "Solrock, solarbeam the dragonair! Lunatone, calm mind!!"
I turned to look at Amburna, who wore a bored expression. Both of us knew she could take these two out on her own -I wasn't needed at all. Shayla knew this too, and commanded Amburna to use surf and me to use crunch in case Amburna missed.
Amburna began to glow a bluish hue and then a roar began to sound from outside the gym. The roof began to leak for a few seconds, and I moved back a couple of spaces. The twins had no idea what a surf attack inside a gym would look like. Suddenly, the roof caved and thousands of gallons of water poured in, and were pushed in the direction of the twins' pokemon by Amburna's power. The two pokemon were swept away by the powerful force, and landed against the wall of the gym, putting nice dents into said wall. Then, the water began to settle, and with another flash of Amburna's blue aura, the water vanished.
The twins were in shock and awe. They had been totally wiped out in one, decimating blast. They both looked up at Shayla, and held out her newly won badge.
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Well, I've got the next chapter almost ready. Christmas break be almost here!!
Ja!
