Claire: Hey all! I am alive! Sadly I spent my long weekend on a family trip and thusly had my precious laptop confiscated. So, I am starting this chapter on the airplane ride back home. The last chapter was obviously not my best work and I apologize for putting you all through reading that. If you have any questions on how that scene played out, feel free to PM me as my email is devious and not to be trusted. Without further ado, I bring you chapter ten. –update to this long note- Ello again! This chapter was originally going to be another gym match, but after realizing that 1) You don't want to read or sift through filler / basic trainer life and I really don't find much joy in writing it, we both win with the fact that the plot picks up---NOW!
Alexza looked straight ahead as the large sliding doors opened into the Petalburg gym.
Her hands continuously shifting from clenched fists to clinging fingers that scrabbled loosely for purchase against her dark jeans.
A low rumble came from the dark form of the luxio that gently pressed it's weight against Alexza's legs, Static offering up the only form of comfort he could to his mistress without making either appear weak in a place that valued strength above all other elements.
Alexza absently allowed her left hand to weave through the gravity defying mane of her starter Pokémon as she slowly calmed her frantic nerves.
The two walked into the building, their forms distorting as the tinted doors slid shut behind them, and locked the pair within the gym.
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The two startled at the ominous echo that the loud lock made, and both whirled around to look at the doors in stark disbelief, leaving their backs to the real danger.
"What's going on here…" Alexza's voice was trembling slightly, the pitch black of the domed gym sending her imagination spiraling out of proportion.
A low rumble drew the preteen from her thoughts as the smooth thud of footsteps reached her human ears. Alexza's green eyes flickered frantically in the direction from which she thought she heard the sound, but her eyes failed her and the echoes merely ricocheted off the curved walls further confusing the young girl.
She could see Static's golden eyes and large ears attempting to do the same, both human and Pokémon cursing for the ill timing and poor planning on each of their parts.
Shit. This isn't good. Static's got good eyesight, sure he's a predator they all have decent night vision, but he's only a Luxio, not a Luxray! Not to mention shadows and shade like this can't be considered normal.
Light laughter flitted through the air space, raising the hairs of the back of Alexza's neck. A small little titter that grew louder and more malevolent with each passing second. Only one person laughed like that, there was no doubt as to the identity. No, the question was; what did she want?
And how the hell did she find me so quickly! I thought for sure she had left town… after all it's not their style to stick around after they do a job.
"Awww is the poor wittle 'leki afwaid?"
More insane laughter sounded through the air as the speaker laughed uproariously at her own joke.
"Well, this isn't any fun now is it? After all… I wanna see your eyes when you watch them fall!"
The lights came on suddenly and the glare alone was more than enough to send Alexza and Static stumbling backwards clenching their eyes shut as their pupils contracted far too quickly.
As Alexza lowered an arm she didn't remember raising. She was able to make out the condition of the gym between her eyelashes as she blinked the multiple colored spots out of her vision.
Holes littered the walls and ground. Scorch marks and frozen hunks of ice added even more to the wrecked look of the place, but it was the muddy brown splatters on the torn up ground that had Alexza holding her breath as her weakened eyes scanned the same room once more, this time looking for a survivor. A sharp whistle drew her eyes away from the carnage that remained of the once proud gym as she whirled about, instinctively looking for cause of the noise.
"Oi! Kitten! Yoo-who~ You really should be paying more attention to lil ole me over here than the husk of a creature… lying over there!"
Alexza jerked sharply as a pair of hands grabbed her. One at the base of her neck, the other on top of her head. The girl struggled futility for a few moments, attempting to turn her face away from where the strong grip was slowly forcing her to look.
A warning pressure on her neck caused the trapped girl to slowly turn, look, and nearly loose her stomach.
Lying there, in far corner of the gym, was the very beast she had worried and fretted about besting for days. It's lidded eyes stared back at her, now empty and devoid of any life. Huge hunks were torn from it's hide and what remained of the thick pelt had been shaved off and riddled with thick slashes. It's left hand was gone, where it was she did not want to know, and only a bloody, mutilated stump was left. Bruises of varying shades and hues littered it's un-torn flesh.
This was what the proud Slaking had been reduced to.
But, the most hideous outrage of them all was the mere sight of a smaller figure suspended several feet above and behind the great beast. Bound, gagged, and swaying from the domed ceiling was Norman. His eyes almost as void as his Pokémon's as he hung staring down at the corpse of the creature he had raised through adulthood.
Another sharp rap on her neck brought Alexza's attention back to more important matters, such as the psychopath standing behind her with a fierce grip on her neck.
"What do you want?"
She had meant for that demand to come out sounding strong, but she had the feeling that her captor could feel the hesitant vibrations through her vocal cords and sense the slight trembling of her knees.
More laughter echoed back to her in reply.
"C'mon now Kitty-Cat, you should know that any sensible villain never reveals their secrets! 'Specially not this early on!"
"…I thought that was magicians."
Alexza could almost feel the frown being aimed at the back of her head.
"Tch. So like ya to be makin' jokes even if your humor sucks. Feh, well Ms. Meow, I've got lots to do so lets make this short neh? Same rules, same stakes. And, here, I'll even throw in the bland man and his badge!"
The pressure was released from her neck and she could hear the light taps on the ground as her assailant flipped gracefully across the battle ground.
The young blond turned and locked her determined green eyes with insane golden-amber.
"Deal."
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Alexza reached and quickly drew off one of the pokeballs hanging from her belts. As she prepared to summon her Pokémon she was interrupted by her ever annoying foe.
"Ah ah ah! I want the oath… Don't give me that look! You call on it all the time ya goodie two shoes wimp!"
A sharp sigh killed the tension as Alexza began the ridiculous oath (how it was created and agreed upon in the first place was beyond her)
"I, Alexza Salamis Namigaii, trainer from Saffron City of Kanto originating from Sunnyshore City of Sinnoh, first daughter of Simantikos Namigaii, make the Shade's Oath TM upon this time and situation. 突貫(1)."(2)
The other girl smirked and Alexza swore she could see the shadow's on the ground twisting savagely as the last foreign syllables fell from her lips. She knew not what she was saying, just that it was right.
"I, Akumu Kenki Fukumen, mercenary assassin of the Shaded Blades, second child of a blotted out family, make the Shade's Oath upon this time and situation. 悪因(3).
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Alexza didn't know what Akumu was saying, but never the less the last words had come out almost as a hiss and the feeling of ice sliding down her spine returned as she fought off the violent shivers that the odd words induced. She wouldn't ever let the other girl know how disturbed she was able to make her with a few simple words.
The sound of a pokeball enlarging snapped her out of her thoughts quickly and a grin threatened to appear on her face as she saw Akumu call out her Pokémon.
The grin wavered and slowly fell into a scowl as, instead of the Sneasel she had expected to see, a large, striped, feral looking Charizard glared down at the young trainer with a glint in it's eyes that matched the insanity held by it's mistress.
"…crud. You're not playing around are you Akumu? What's going on here, what's so big that you'd have to get serious with 'a kid like me'?"
A scowl marred Akumu's face, the serious expression sent alarms ringing throughout all of Alexza's 'fight or flight' reactions. The furrowing of the purple haired girl's brow combined with one of her fiercest Pokémon hovering behind her forcefully reminded Alexza exactly who she was dealing with.
'I think I liked her better when she was grinning…'
Not that the 'Cheshire Cat' grin that Akumu was always wearing was comforting by any definition of the word.
But it was a far cry better than this.
Akumu shook her head in response, dark bangs feathering across her face, her golden eyes clear and serious.
"Choose."
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Alexza licked her dry lips for a moment, right hand hovering anxiously over her belt, knowing that she was lucky to be allowed the chance to fight back but unwilling to send out one of her team to a near certain defeat.
'Not Static.'
Her first thought revolving around her starter reminded and prompted her to imprison the electric lion in his pokeball before he could attack on his own.
Her left hand fell from where it had rested near her neck, where it had gripped Static's pokeball, to hang uselessly at her side, clenching and unclenching into a fist. Her right hand danced along her line up once more, fingertips just grazing the surface of her Pokémon's homes.
'Defiantly not Marik! Scree…could hold his own for a while at least. Guardian, would have type advantage but he's outmatched in this power struggle. Salazar… no! he's just a youngling. Scree it is then…'
She gripped the pokeball tightly as she enlarged it, wasting precious moments as she stared at it's surface with remorse in her eyes, before throwing the ball and calling out her small dragonfly Pokémon into the battle of it's life.
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Scree, Alexza decided, was suicidal.
The thought came to her as she watched her three foot dragonfly dive bomb the two hundred pound red beast once again, Scree's thin wings a mere blur of green as it narrowly avoided yet another Dragon Pulse and turned back around to unleash it's own stream of Dragon Breath on the battle tough hide of Akumu's Charizard.
The larger dragon roared in irritation, for the flames still licking at it's hide were a mere tickle to the old monster, and it opened it's maw to unleash a stream of angry flames larger than it's target.
"Scree! Sandstorm now!!"
Alexza screamed out the command desperately, panic lacing through her being as the heat from the attack reached her spot on the ground far below.
But the vibrava was steps ahead of his trainer and had already unleashed a tornado of sand at the oncoming flames, smothering them as they came close. The wild winds ripped up the debris from the destroyed gym even taking and adding the littered hunks of sharp ice.
The one tornado dispersed after it blocked the flames and began coiling around the vibrava in a sphere, sand rushing from one area to another to stave off the increadible attacks launched off relentlessly by the opposing Charizard. The swirling sands began to condense, looking more and more like a self opposing Sand Tomb than anything else, when suddenly a great roar was heard and the Charizard was sent crashing to the ground.
'Faint attack…' Alexza thought in awe 'Scree used it to sneak up on her Charizard while it attacked an empty fortress. But what the heck did he hit it with to make it go down! Scree can't weigh much more than thirty pounds… what did he do?'
"Rizaadon! Stop playing around and get up already."
The monotone order shocked Alexza back into registering Akumu's presence, and back into realizing her serious mood.
The other girl turned her unusually serious eyes to meet her own wide ones.
"They don't seem to need our help, and you'd only get in your Pokémon's way if you tried to help him at this point. So," She paused and brought out an ultra ball "Were gonna fight down here too!"
An Espeon leapt out of the light, it's claws poised to rake down Alexza's face, and she panicked.
Reeling backwards to avoid the blow, she threw the first pokeball she reached, and prayed.
A sharp meow of pain met her ears and her green eyes snapped open to see Akumu's Espeon fly into a nearby wall. Her savior barely came up to her shin and his rough green hide confirmed her fears.
Salazar
But the Espeon was coming around now, and she had not thought to retrieve her instinctually thrown pokeball. The little one had no escape. The purple cat drew closer, and received a stream of Dragon Breath to her face for her attempt.
Alexza sat on the ground staring as her baby Pokémon calmly held his own against the larger cat.
"Anatha use Psybeam!"
The rainbow beam blew it's way across the field towards Alexza and Salazar.
"Salazar, counter it now with Dragon Breath!"
With a small roar of excitement the little Pokémon opened it's mouth and unleashed a torrent of swirling purple-yellow flames.
The two attacks met, struggled, and finally exploded with a burst of heavy black smoke. A small form burst through the cloud of smog, the speedy creature creating a trail of smoke behind it as it sped off in a green blur. The much larger pair of wings following it nearly blew down all four of the flightless on lookers as the Charizard swooped past after his prey.
"Gaaah! Salazar use the tailwinds to your advantage, Zen Headbutt, go!"
The little green one dived into the remaining air current like a bullet, his forehead sparking with blue energy.
"Don't let it hit you Anatha!" Akumu's voice was barely coherent over the still blowing winds and the fierce roars above. "Use swift, then Psybeam again!"
Alexza grit her teeth as she saw her youngest Pokémon take a swift attack head on, wincing as one of the many stars made it past her Pokémon and into her shoulder, the power behind his attack thankfully enough to nullify the damage, but he was still too far away. The psybeam would make contact with both of them before he could make it.
A small cry came from the bagon as it held out it's stubby little arms and suddenly picked up speed, a tell-tale white stream in his wake.
N-no way! That's an Ariel Ace!!
Alexza felt her jaw drop as her little bagon slammed it's steely head against the espeon's gem, just before the beam was released.
Another explosion and a flash of light illuminated the field, completely obscuring both human's view.
When the smoke cleared Alexza's jaw crashed to the floor in amazement.
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Standing there proudly over it's defeated foe was a large, armored, sickly looking soccer ball.
At least, that's what it looked like at first glance. A second look revealed two pairs of green legs with red under stripes, and stark yellow eyes peering out triumphantly from a dark abyss.
"Salazar…" Alexza whispered breathlessly. "You...evolved!"
"Shellllgon!"
The now not so runt-ish shelgon replied happily as he tottered over to his where Alexza still sat on the ground in shock.
Her happiness was short lived when moments later Scree tumbled from the roof like a comet, the end of his long tail on fire.
"Scree!" the young trainer ran towards her injured Pokémon, but was stopped when she was knocked across the room, just as an enraged Charizard swooped down through the air where she had previously been ready to end his fallen prey.
The large dragon unleashed a stream of fire from his maw open once more, the flames bright and hungry, and both Scree and Salazar were completely enveloped.
But as the flames flickered out, a blue shield could be seen surrounding the two Pokémon.
Protect… Salazar what else have you learned?
The yellow eyes narrowed as the protect flickered out, and Scree, his tail no longer on fire after beating it in the dirt while he was being shielded, flitted to stand on top of Salazar's shell. Both middle-stage dragons letting loose twin Dragon Breaths at their startled foe.
With a roar, the Charizard pushed through the flames and sent the younger dragons diving to the side to avoid being swept away.
The two turned, both sets of eyes narrowed, and it was apparent that the two had a plan.
A sudden screeching sound, like ripping metal, tore through the air causing Akumu and Alexza to fall to the ground holding their ears and the Charizard to loose balance mid flight.
What are they doing? She wondered angrily No matter how low his defense gets, no special attack is going to make it through that thick hide!
And then it happened. An echoing 'snap' rang through the gym and one of the Chariszard's wings caved in on itself and it plummeted to the ground.
That was no normal screech… Scree combined it with a Sonic Boom!
A guttural roar was the only warning anyone received before Salazar buried a Zen Headbutt deep into the Charizard's stomach drawing a pitiful sound of pain from the massive creature.
Alexza turned to see Akumu looking as shocked as she felt. Or perhaps they both looked equally shocked for when Akumu turned to meet her gaze a smile pricked at the corners of her lips.
"Well. That was unexpected." Her hands went out and called each of her Pokémon back, muttered praises were heard and Alexza safely walked over to her two Pokémon with no concern for Akumu's.
Akumu might have been cruel to the world, but she protected what belonged to her, or, Alexza thought with her eyebrow twitching, what she perceived to be hers(4).
A smile grew over her face as she stroked Salazar's hard neon shell, shaking her head at the odd coloring.
No wonder I've never heard of any green Salamence sightings, they must all be killed in the wild when they grow these glow in the dark shells!
"You two were so amazing… Take a nice long rest while I work on getting you to the 'center."
Alexza turned to face Akumu, only to find no one in the building behind her.
A pathetic moan reached her ears. Well, almost no one. She turned once more and was helpless but to giggle at sight of a slightly charred Norman tied up like a Christmas goose. Obviously the dragons had 'danced' around him during their fight, at least he was back on the ground.
She walked over and began pulling on the ropes, trying to get the adult free. After several minutes of struggling on both of their parts, Norman was eventually freed.
He stood up, not sparing Alexza a glance and threw something back at the young girl.
She stared at the Balance badge that gleamed up at her from the ground.
"Take it."
The command was stiff and toneless, but Norman's voice was rough and breathless.
"Take it, and leave. I never want you to return to this town ever again. Not after what you put our people through, not after what you put me through, not after what you put my pokemo—" his voice broke and he said no more.
Alexza swallowed heavily and quietly walked and picked the badge out of the dust before turning and walking out of the curiously unlocked doors.
She had been right the day before. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
(1)突貫 = Lighting Attack
(2)The Shade's Oath is originally a binding promise between the lawless. This oath adapts to situations and has no true rules but sticks more to guide lines. Often used in competitions or spars. This is mine so no sticky fingers.
(3)悪因 = Root of Evil
(4)Alexza would never forget seeing Akumu take out an assassin who had been after her in Johto. She had kicked him out a twenty story window and followed him down proclaiming that Alexza was her target and no one else had the right to stake a claim on the girl's life but her.