Chapter Ten: The Escape

Larissa awoke in darkness, a dull headache throbbing right above her left eye. She sat up, and dispelled the inky black around her by letting the flames on her head and back ignite softly. They shed very little light, but just enough to make out her surroundings. She was in a dark, stone room about three by three metres in size, with some stairs leading up to a hatch in the wooden roof. A bunch of stuff was piled up in one corner, but Larissa didn't care for it: in the other corner a thin figure lay on her back, her hair spread out over the ground like a mop.

"Sofe!" Larissa's voice echoed unpleasantly as she stood over Sofia and shook her awake, experiencing a dreadful moment where she thought the Kirlia might be dead. "Wake up! Wake up!"

Two big green eyes reflected her flames. "Hi," Sofia smiled, obliviously jolly. "Where are we?"

Larissa let go of her, trying to hide her relief. "I don't know. I only just awoke myself."

Sofia sat up and looked around. "Well, it looks like a dark, stony room to me."

"Really? That clears it up." Larissa moved closer to Sofia and whispered in her ear: "I think we ought to talk as quietly as we can; the walls could have ears."

Sofia nodded. "Good point, good point."

Larissa tried opening the hatch. "We're locked in, surprisingly." She sighed and sat down right in front of Sofia again so their faces were only a little bit apart, allowing them to talk in hushed tones that would be impossible for anyone to overhear. "Anyway, thanks for saving my life back there. That was some quick thinking."

Sofia grinned modestly. "They probably only b-believed it because of your little impersonation."

"I guess." Larissa's brow furrowed. "It was just something you made up, right?"

Sofia chuckled. "Yeah, don't worry; there's no psychic bond between us. Even if that was a real thing, I couldn't do it with my psychic powers being what they are."

"That's what I figured..." Larissa looked about a little, and was enveloped by a sunken feeling of how badly she had messed up. It was difficult to keep her flames going, so the darkness deepened. "Ugh, your story might have saved my life, but I'm not sure being locked up here is all that much better..."

"Well-"

Larissa sighed. "And what's worse, I'm the reason we're here in the first place."

Sofia blinked in surprise. "It wasn't your fault."

"Sure it was," Larissa muttered. "We could've just stayed in Praeclara, if I hadn't wanted to go with Boreas and Aqua so much. I expected I'd bring the Shadow to justice, that I would just fix the world, or at least make a difference. To make it worse, you came along – and don't even pretend you would've come without me too. My arrogance got you captured."

Sofia began to say something, but Larissa continued. "Who'd I think I was? I'm barely an adult; what was I playing at, thinking I'd solve everyone's problems just like that? I must be the biggest idiot in Fournaria."

Sofia put a caring hand to her shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself," she said warmly. "You've been doing the best you can for everyone's sake. That's not being an idiot, but being a brave and good person... And perhaps a stubborn one as well. Anyway, being imprisoned here isn't all that bad, you know."

Larissa looked at her incredulously. "How is it not all that bad?"

"Well, you're imprisoned with me!" Sofia's smile glittered in the darkness.

"Um, right, I suppose if I'm going to be imprisoned, being with you at least means the company is pleasant."

Sofia giggled. "That's true, though not what I meant. I mean I'm going to get us out of here."

Larissa raised her eyebrows. "How?"

She grinned slyly. "They emptied my pockets, but didn't realise this thing has a couple of pockets on the inside too. I've got a few tools on me they didn't find!"

"Ssh," Larissa said, as Sofia had got a little louder with enthusiasm. "That's great, Sofe. How'd they miss them, though?"

Sofia shrugged. "They probably didn't think about it; most pokémon don't know much about either clothes or pockets."

Sofia began opening the zip at the front of her jumpsuit, and Larissa felt herself blush involuntarily and looked away with a strange shame by proxy. Yet an almost irresistible curiosity urged her to look back.

"You don't have to look away, you know; I'm wearing clothes underneath this too," came Sofia's amused voice.

"Oh." Larissa looked back with an odd twinge of disappointment. "Um, just didn't want you to feel ashamed."

"Thanks. Now, let's see what I've got... Well, here's a screwdriver, that alone should get us through the hatch."

"Perfect! Then let's go."

Sofia lifted a finger. "Not yet. We'll only get one chance at this, so we'd better be ready. There's no point in escaping if they'll just recapture us – and search me properly this time. Let's be prepared for anything and everything."

"Smart thinking," Larissa admitted with a cock of the head.

"Could you have a look at the stuff in the corner? I've got some ideas, but I'll need to see what we've got first."

Larissa did so as Sofia fished a surprising amount of tools and other objects from her inside pockets. "It's some wood, a few old toys, dishes, and some other junk. I think we're locked in a cellar somewhere in the village..."

Sofia grinned and got up, sorting through the stuff. "Perfect! I'll b-be able to make us some handy devices. Give me a hand."

Larissa laid out the various items on the ground as Sofia started tinkering right away, softly talking to herself. Larissa staid close, both to give her light and to watch her work. It was quite entertaining to see her so absorbed with cobbling together strange inventions. Larissa chuckled at an amusing thought.

Sofia looked up. "Hmm?"

"I was just thinking," Larissa smirked. "Look at you: you're locked up, so you invent some gadgets to escape."

"Yes?"

"Well, it's like you're some sort of secret agent."

Sofia laughed a little nervously.

Larissa talked into her paw, imitating a walkie-talkie. "Kgggg – Agent QTπ, agent QTπ, this is control. Agent QTπ, have you obtained the micro-film?"

Sofia giggled and a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Agent QTπ?"

Larissa shrugged and smirked. "It's the code-name I'd give you."

"Cutie pie?"

Larissa stuck out her tongue. "Yeah, well, you are a cutie pie."

Sofia was overcome with a fit of giggles. "Oh, shut up, I'm not."

"Sure you are," Larissa laughed. "You look the part, but more importantly, your passion and enthusiasm make you a total cutie pie."

"Hihihi, oh shush," Sofia gave her a playful push.

"What a cute little push, cutie pie," Larissa teased.

Sofia squinted, put her tools down calmly, and then suddenly pounced. Larissa had no desire to dodge and let herself be knocked to the ground. Sofia grinned victoriously. "What about that one? Still cute?"

"Yep. I don't think you're capable of not being cute." Larissa smirked up at Sofia, her heart pounding rapidly in anticipation of... What? Now that she thought about it, she had no idea what she expected her friend to do next.

Sofia's brow furrowed, yet she couldn't help grin. "Why, I should..." However, she didn't seem sure what she should do either. Larissa just lay there, suddenly feeling rather awkward and wishing Sofia would get off her. "I should get b-back to work."

"Yeah," said Larissa. "Yeah, I guess we shouldn't be wasting time."

Sofia got off her, and Larissa sat up. "Right. It was your fault though, teasing me like that."

Larissa chuckled. "Sorry."

Sofia grinned. "Just don't do it again. Not right now, at any rate. …Now, where was I?"

Larissa giggled.

"No, really," she said thoughtfully. "I-I forgot what I was making. What was I doing?"

–

Boreas stared at Obnard with profound scepticism. "So you expect me – us to believe there's a dozen of your lot in this town looking for us, when all we've seen is a whole lot of corpses?"

"Yeah, I am." The Krokorok's reply was annoyed and snappy. "And if they find me with you, we're all dead, so let's stop-"

"And, according to you, they've already got Larissa and Sofia?"

"Yeah! When we arrived, we saw those two girls being all cuddly with each other on the cliff edge-"

Bores rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sounds like them."

"-So we split the group in two, one of them got the girls, while my group went into town to catch you two. And I split off to warn you, so-"

"Why didn't you warn the girls?"

"Because A: I couldn't do so without giving away the game, and B: you're the ones the Shadow wants, so you're the ones I should keep out of his hands. Far as I know, he hasn't said anything about Quilavas or Kirlias, so they can look out for themselves."

"Heart of a lion," Aqua said waspishly.

"Yeah, well, I'd rather keep it beating. Anyway, here's my plan: you two stay hidden in this house. I'll go back to my squad and claim I've already searched here, and you sneak away when we're looking elsewhere."

Boreas smirked. "You really think we're going to let you go back to warn your lot where we are?"

"If I wanted to betray you, I could've just warned them the moment I saw the lady."

"Good point," Boreas conceded. "Anyway, I've got a better idea. First of all, where are they keeping the girls?"

Obnard scratched his neck nervously. "They probably just chucked them off the cliffs."

"Are you sure?" Aqua asked. "You said they captured them."

"It doesn't matter what I said! We don't have time! I'll go back to-"

"No," Aqua said sharply. "You're going to tell me exactly where they are."

"I told you," the Krokorok said, as loudly as he dared, "we don't have time for this. They'll wonder where I am soon!"

Boreas was about to argue further, but an idea formed in his mind. "I agree with you, Obnard. Your plan is sound; we'll wait here for you to lead your colleagues away, alright?"

"Perfect," the Krokorok said, exasperated. "At least someone here is sensible."

As he left, Aqua raised an eyebrow at Boreas. "You're planning to follow him."

"I'm planning to follow him." Boreas smirked. "What better way to find out where they're keeping Larissa and Sofia?"

–

"Wwll, uw'm mmnmmw gwmm; mmn wmmgmm mmm hmmnmm-"

Larissa habitually held her paw up. "Screwdriver."

Sofia opened her mouth, letting Larissa catch the screwdriver as it fell out. "Right. So what I was saying was, I'm nearly done. Just need to-" As Sofia reached for the knife, she took the spanner she was holding into her mouth. "-Gmm wmmn mmn'wmm mm-"

"Spanner."

Larissa caught the spanner as Sofia dropped it too. "...And now I just do this and we're done!" She grinned with maniacal pride, examining the stack of devices.

"What does it do?" Larissa asked.

Sofia proudly held the newest device, a vaguely lobster-shaped two-pronged object with several wires hanging out of it. "Well, I shove these prongs against someone, which shorts out the current between them, electrocuting the person. I expect it will come as quite a shock to them."

Larissa groaned.

"I'm so sorry."

"Why were you carrying that battery around anyway?"

"To make science with, of course! This thingie here is an improvised bola; you throw it at someone's legs and it trips them and ties them up by itself! This shoots a mix of ink, tea, and sand into their eyes, hopefully blinding them temporarily. We can drop these wooden spikes behind us if we're being followed. And perhaps the most useful of all: I attached a strap and a breathing tube to this little wooden Ducklett, so one of us can put it on our head and both hide and b-breathe underwater!"

"...Do you think we're likely to need that?"

Sofia continued. "This steel wire will act as a personal lightning rod; hold on, let me attach it to you." She attached it with a thin rope to Larissa's left shoulder, making one end of the wire drag over the ground, while the other protruded in front of her face and made her look like she was wearing a particularly low quality unicorn costume. Sofia held up a strange thing involving a plate, some cutlery, and a cone. "You wiggle these thingies, making the forks scrape over the plate, andandand the sound gets amplified and focussed on someone by the acoustics of this cone."

"...I hope, for the world's sake, you never get bored, Sofe. So how were you planning to take all this with us?"

Sofia lifted up a hand, smiling, as if about to give a simple and obvious answer, but then frowned. "I hadn't thought of that yet."

Larissa rolled her eyes. "Genius at work."

"Well, if we each take a few, it would-"

"Be impossible for me to walk? I'm a quadruped, remember?"

"Hmm. Right, right, right. Well, then I'll have to take them all. Shame they took my backpack."

"Not sure that's such a good-"

"B-but first, I'll get this hatch open." Working with the screwdriver in the lock, there was a click within a minute. "Woo! Brilliant tinkering Kirlia 1 – Stupid wooden hatch 0!" She jumped down off the stairs. "Give me a hand with all these thingies."

Larissa goggled in amazement as Sofia actually picked up all her inventions and managed to hold them in both hands, barely able to see over the vast mount of junk in her arms. "Um, don't you think you should leave a few behind?"

"Nonononono, we might need them. Oh, I know what I can do to lighten the load!" She put everything down and put the wooden Ducklett on her head, tightening the strap under her chin so it sat solidly like a hat. She grinned as if she had just become the coolest person in the world. "How do I look?"

Larissa tried to subdue her laughter. "Unique."

"Fantastic; now let's get out of here!" She picked up the stack again, the wooden Ducklett riding proudly on her scalp like it was swimming through a wild green sea. Larissa climbed up the stairs, letting her head- and backflames peter out and making darkness fill their prison once again. She opened the hatch very gently. Then, when no-one cried out in alarm, she slowly stood up on her hind legs and peered out. Out there was another dark room, although this time some light entered through an open door. There were soft voices, but they came from elsewhere. The room itself was empty.

She got back on all fours and told this to Sofia in whispers. "Excellent," said the Kirlia. "I'll go first, so we've got our weapons ready up there."

"Okay, but be very quiet," Larissa said emphatically.

Sofia rolled her eyes and grinned. "Obviously. Why would I be noisy?"

"I mean: don't drop anything."

"What would I do that for?"

"Well, you- oh, never mind, just get up there. And leave the weapons down here for now, you'll never get through the hatch holding them. I'll hand them to you."

Sofia walked up to the hatch, and it was instantly obvious there was a problem. Larissa realised only now she was quite a bit taller than her friend when she stood on her hindlegs. Sofia's head didn't even get to the hatch, so she had to reach up and try to pull herself up. She squirmed with her legs in the air, unable to pull herself through the trapdoor. "I think I need a little help..."

"Hold on, try using my shoulders as a foothold." Sofia nearly kicked her in the face by accident, but at least she got up further once her feet were on Larissa's shoulders. She pulled herself up halfway through the hole but lacked the strength to climb the rest of the way through, her legs flailing in the air again. Larissa got up on two legs, put her front paws on Sofia's rear, felt herself blush, and gave a hard push.

"Got there!" came Sofia's voice from above.

"Shh!"

"Sorry. Hand me my inventions."

Once she had handed the weapons to the Ducklett-wearing Kirlia above her, Larissa too climbed through, with a bit more ease than Sofia now that the cast was off her leg, but still needing her help to pull her up. "Now what?"

"Now we-"

"What the- what are you doing outside?!" a Scraggy standing in the open doorway exclaimed.

"Uh..." Sofia struck a pose. "Tadaa!"

Larissa pounced the lizard while he was surprised. "Prisoner escape! Prisoner escape! Priso- Argh!"

She knocked his head against the doorpost. "Quiet, you!"

"Woo!" Sofia clapped.

"And as for you, you silly ditz:" Larissa said, "don't pose for our enemies!"

The voices in the other room were now raised and approaching. "They heard us!" Sofia squeaked.

"Then run!" They sprinted through the door into a corridor. To the right, a group of angry pokémon, including the Blastoise, was running towards them. Sofia twirled around, turning a full 270 degrees as they went left. They ran into more darkness, around a corner and into a room ravaged by fire, the charcoal crisping under their feet. There was a Scyther, who looked surprised to see them, but even more surprised when Sofia thrust the lobster-like device into its thorax and a powerful flash and an "oooom!" sound knocked it clean out.

"It works! It works! I didn't even get shocked myself!" Sofia cheered as they burst through a carbonised door into a corridor full of burnt remnants of paintings. Sofia dropped the wooden pins behind her in this narrow corridor.

"Was that likely to happen?"

"Nah, only like 40% chance of it!"

The next door was closed, but so badly burnt Larissa launched herself at it to ram it open and burst straight through. A second later the roof followed and came crumbling down. Larissa and Sofia darted to one side of the room each, disappearing from each other's view behind the rain of debris. "Sofe!" Larissa screamed.

"I'm alright!" came a muffled voice. "This stuff's in the way, though..."

The debris had piled up in the centre of the room, separating them from each other. The only way to Sofia was back through the corridor, but the voices were close now. "Sofe, keep running! Go through the other door; I'll find you later!" Larissa herself clambered onto the debris, trying to get up on the roof.

"Get 'er!" A powerful gust nearly blew Larissa back, and something impacted the rubble next to her, causing a small landslide that dragged her down with it. She scrambled up the debris, but a strong hand groped behind her; she barely got her leg away from it when it grabbed solidly onto her hip. "Gotcha! I got her, I got- WAAARGH!"

Larissa's backflames blazed, and the grilled hand's grip on her hips was immediately gone. "Don't let her go, you cretin! It's just a bit of fire! Lubyanka'll do worse to you!"

Larissa shot up the rubble, leapt, and caught the roof's edge. It buckled and creaked dangerously as she pulled herself up, and a sharp pain shot up her leg. Ignoring it, she got up and darted off over the slightly inclined roof. For a second, her main concern was with finding Sofia, but more of the burnt roof collapsed and nearly took her down with it, putting that out of her mind. She couldn't afford being distracted up here.

There was a woosh behind her coming closer like a lightning bolt, so she dropped flat onto the roof. As such, the Fearow's gleaming claws only made a shallow cut in her back rather than slicing her to pieces. She rolled onto her back, a sharp piece of wood under her stabbing, and spit fire at her airborne assailant. It was far too fast to hit, however, circled around above her.

Larissa's instincts made her want to flee away, preferably underground, away from the deadly silhouette in the sky. But she knew if she ran she would be too easy to catch; her fire was her only useful weapon. The Fearow fell from the sky like a meteor, its razor-sharp talons primed for her exposed stomach. In the half-second she had, Larissa realised fire nor speed would save her.

She grasped Sofia's lightning rod, bending it so the long steel wire was between her and the Fearow, which saw the danger too late. It tried to steer away at the last moment, but its own momentum still made the wire pierce its eye and bury itself deep within its skull. At the same moment, Larissa felt a slicing pain as the claws of the dying Fearow still sliced into her sides, though its last moment correction saved her from having her guts ripped out.

–

Obnard hastened his pace as shouts and sounds of battle came from the building he was headed for, a large, single floor building that looked like some kind of town hall partially ravaged by fire. He found himself surprised when Aqua blasted a wave of water onto the door and Boreas froze it to create a wall of ice blocking it.

He turned around in shock and fury. "You idiots! What are you doing?! You were supposed to stay back there! You'll ruin-"

"I- We had a better plan," Boreas simply said.

"Is this where you're keeping the girls?" asked Aqua

"I'm not keeping them anywhere, I told you!" Obnard stamped his foot in anger.

"It was a plural you."

"I told you, they're probably dead!"

"Dead?" Aqua asked, her ears twitching. "Must be a pretty wild party your friends are having in there, then."

Boreas smirked. "We're going to do a little hostage exchange."

"It'll never work!" Obnard protested. "They'll tell you to kill me and be done with it. The Shadow won't allow-"

"Good thing you're not our only hostage, then. Come along."

They rushed around the building, sealing off the other exits while Obnard protested. When they got to the final one, Boreas could have sworn he saw a lithe, green-haired shape with a duck on its head disappear around the corner. But they had no time to go after Sofia, as the moment they blocked the door there was a great deal of noise behind it as a dozen pokémon crashed into it and each other.

"Ow!"

"Get off me, you cretin!"

"Open the door, in the name of Latios' flaccid-"

"It's blocked by something! Quit pushing!"

"If we don't catch her, Lubyanka will-"

Boreas spoke loudly at the door: "Minions of the Shadow, listen to me! I am Boreas the Glaceon!"

"And I'm Aqua. You probably heard of us; we wiped out most of Lubyanka's army in Diamarina!"

"With just the two of us, I might add. This time, however, we've got allies! Allies that are ready to kill you all if you don't surrender unconditionally!"

From the chatter behind the door, one question stood out: "How?"

"Quite simple, really:" Boreas spoke dramatically. "The cliffs this town rests on are unstable and have a deep fault line in them. The Kirlia you captured might've talked about it, she fancies herself a scientist. My allies are ready to give that fault line the final push and plunge this entire town into the ocean!"

"Killing you as well," said a gruff voice.

"I don't think so," Aqua replied. "I'm a Vaporeon, and I'm on the outside. I can save myself and my husband. You lot, on the other hand, are in for a trip to the sea floor."

A lot of muttering again, most of it sceptical. Boreas turned to Obnard and whispered: "Now's your chance to prove you weren't lying. A small earthquake the moment I ask for one." In louder voice, he continued: "Hand us your prisoners and your surrender, or you become Kyogre's dinner!"

"You can't do anything; the girls'll drown with us!"

"I'm sorry to hear that's your attitude. Very well, it seems I have no choice. Aqua, signal our allies to begin!"

Boreas expected Obnard to speak up and tell his colleagues it was all a bluff; but instead, he made the ground shake lightly. There were cries of terror and pleas for mercy from within the town hall.

"MERCY?! I GAVE YOU YOUR CHANCE! SURRENDER NOW, AND MAYBE WE CAN STILL STOP IT!"

"We surrender! Please!"

"They escaped! You've got to believe us!"

Boreas grinned and gestured Obnard to stop. "Come to the first window to your left one by one. Climb through it alone. We will knock you out – only knock you out, provided you offer no resistance."

"Pretty good," Aqua admitted. "A bit hammy, but it did the job."

"Thank you, love. Now, Obnard, how many of you would still be outside?"

"Three or four. But you'll have drawn them here with the shouting..."

"We can handle them. It's Lubyanka that worries me..."

–

Larissa, gasping in agony, threw the dead Fearow off her, doing her best not to look at the steel wire as she extracted it. She was bleeding badly from her stab wounds, but had no time to worry about it. She ran over the roof, jumping off it to street level. She looked about: no-one around. Then her main concern was finding Sofia. The thought of her friend fighting a pokémon like that on her own was horrifying to say the least.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LARISSAAAAAAAA!"

Larissa's heart made a happy jump as Sofia came running around the corner, the Ducklett still on her head like a strange hat. She felt something quite different when Lubyanka followed her, moments after. She sped towards the Kirlia and the Luxray, her head- and backflames burning furiously and her lungs filling with more fire. Her own pain was forgotten as there was a bright flash and Sofia fell to the ground, convulsing.

Lubyanka stopped running and just stood there, smugly awaiting Larissa, who was nearly close enough to pounce. Another mighty flash of electricity, but whether by pure rage or the lightning rod, all Larissa felt was a little spark. To Lubyanka's shock, she didn't even flinch and kept advancing. She pounced the surprised Luxray, breathing fire and biting where she could, trying to kill her. Unfortunately, the Luxray was stronger than her. A few painful slashes, one of which removed the wire, and a shock, and Larissa was thrown off her enemy, landing hard on her side. Before she could recover, another mighty shock, and yet another, left her screeching in pain.

"Getting tricky with lightning rods?" Lubyanka, bleeding a bit after Larissa's attack, shocked her again. "It won't save you this time, brat!"

"How's the ear?" Larissa spat defiantly, her fur and flesh smoking.

Lubyanka growled. "I-I let you do that on purpose, so I'd be closer to the- Oh, shut up, I'm going to kill both of you!"

"Andand how will you do that if you can't even see?" A small, dark packet flew right into Lubyanka's face, covering it with a dark muck. Two more followed, and the Luxray was left rubbing her eyes, trying to clean them. Sofia rushed over to Larissa and helped her up. "D-did she hurt you?"

"No time," Larissa said sharply, though she touched her friend's hand gratefully. "We need to – AAAH!"

Both of them were shocked, though Lubyanka was still rubbing her eyes: she was firing thunderbolts on sound and luck alone. Larissa blew a ring of fire at her, burning more of her fur. If she weren't so out of breath, she would have gladly incinerated the horrible creature.

Lubyanka threw a wide web of electricity towards Larissa; not to hurt her much, but rather to hit her for sure and immobilise her. It worked: the strands of electricity wrapped about Larissa and shocked her continuously, preventing her from even standing up as her legs convulsed uncontrollably. Lubyanka began to move towards her when there was suddenly the most awful cacophony, which was thankfully drowned out by Lubyanka screaming and clutching her ears. Sofia was pointing her sonic weapon at her, giving her the amplified and focussed sound of cutlery on plates. Yet after a moment of recovery, Lubyanka continued to run right for Larissa; having decided to focus on a single opponent instead of letting herself be distracted. Sofia threw her last few wooden spikes between them, and the Luxray howled in pain and fell over, clutching her feet.

"Gotcha!" Sofia whooped. "I'm not letting you hurt Larissa, you smelly creature."

"Smelly?" Lubyanka seemed more surprised than angry as she got back up, a little unsteady on her wounded feet. She looked between her two enemies, and Larissa walked around a bit so Lubyanka was right between them, to make it harder for her to fight both of them. Larissa thought she was ready both to defend herself and to attack Lubyanka if she went for Sofia.

Lubyanka made a surprising, feinting movement that made Larissa's fire miss; then she was knocked off her feet by another shock. Lubyanka spun around in an instant and sprinted for Sofia, who had her bola ready. She spun the two stones on the rope around rapidly as the Luxray came closer. The bola flew right for her feet... And bounced off ineffectively. Sofia looked dismayed, before she was knocked down again. There was a flash and a scream, giving Larissa all the energy she needed to overcome her own pain. She leapt onto Lubyanka's back, her claws digging into the Luxray's flesh and her teeth grasping for her neck. Lubyanka screamed and wrestled against her for a moment before falling over flat onto her back, her great weight falling on top of Larissa and sending a dull pain up her spine.

Lubyanka jumped up with the speed of light, and Larissa lost her grip. The next moments were pure pain as electricity, claws, and punches impacted her all at once. She was only vaguely aware of Sofia grabbing on to Lubyanka and trying to wrestle her down, but getting effortlessly beaten. They were both thrown on the ground on their backs, lying next to each other with Lubyanka standing on top of them a front paw on each of their chests and a lethal look in her ink-dripping eyes.

Larissa was about to spit fire, but Lubyanka force-fed a handful of dirt into her mouth. "You've been quite the trouble to me, brats! But now, you will die. Let's start with some shocks, shall we?"

Sofia's hand found Larissa's left front paw and squeezed it hard as they received shock after shock after shock, every cell burning. Larissa's jaws clamped down hard on the dirt in her mouth, making her choke on it, while Sofia screamed in the agony. The pain seemed unending and the scent of burnt fur, flesh, and fabric hung heavy in the air.

At last, Lubyanka relented for a few seconds, her victims still in agony and the closest thing to comfort the almost bone-breakingly strong force they held each others hands with. "Now then, pretty," she said to Sofia. "Last time, I was going to stab out your eyes, and I don't see any reason not to..." Her voice trailed off and she stared curiously at the top of Sofia's head. "Why is there a wooden Ducklett on your head?"

As Sofia began stammering a reply, Larissa realised what her right front paw was on: the bola was lying right next to her! She wasted no time, begged her twitching muscles to comply, grabbed it, swinging it around in a circle so the other stone made a large, rapid curve. It made a delightful clunk hitting Lubyanka's skull. The Luxray went cross-eyed and fell right on top of her and Sofia.

Sofia, still wheezing with fear,s grasped Larissa tightly. "You d-did it!" she squeaked. "You-you got her!"

Larissa had to catch her own breath, but at least a feeling of triumph made it easier to get over the pain. "We got her," she corrected warmly. "We make quite a team, Sofe."

"Hihi, I guess we do." She let go of Larissa, and they crawled out underneath Lubyanka. "Now, what do we do with her?"

Larissa furrowed her brow. She had waited for this moment. "We kill her. Or rather, I kill her."

Sofia was visibly disturbed. "I-I don't think you should..."

"She destroyed Diamarina. She's responsible for my parents and who knows how many more dying. She's a horrible, cruel sadist who tortured us and tried to stab your eyes out. She deserves to die."

"P-probably," Sofia squeaked, "but you don't deserve to be a murderer... Th-think about having to live with the knowledge you killed someone..."

"I'd be proud," Larissa snapped. "Proud to have rid the world of Lubyanka. And... I'd get some revenge."

"D-don't do it," Sofia begged. "You're a good person, you'll regret it a thousand times... I know she destroyed your world, b-but revenge is wrong... I-I don't want you to become someone horrible..."

"I'm afraid Sofia is right," said a smooth voice. The two girls startled, and found Boreas had appeared behind them. "Revenge may seem satisfying, but it's not really all it's cracked up to be."

"And here he is," Larissa spat, "the great know-it-all. As usual, knowing what's best for everyone else."

"In this case, I do. I swore revenge against someone once, you know. And I got it too, in the end. It was a Zoroark called Diego, and I swore to kill him when I was even younger than you are. He had hung me from a Ferris wheel by my tail, you see, and left me there for the night."

"That's mean!" Sofia exclaimed.

"Is that what happened to your tail?"

A flash of grief came over Boreas' face. "No, that happened later. I might have lost it that night, though, if I hadn't met a very good friend. Anyway, later on he convinced Aqua to join his side and backstabbed her, nearly killing both of us. He impersonated my long-dead brother to spy on us. He defeated and nearly killed me four times. Then we fought a fifth time, during a great battle. And well, I finally won, though I nearly died in the process. Revenge didn't make me feel any better. It didn't change anything he'd done. It really isn't worth it."

"Um," said Larissa, feeling a new like for Boreas after his candid words. "I see. Maybe we should just deliver her to jail, I guess..."

Boreas nodded and scraped his throat. "Anyway, we tricked most of the idiots hunting for us into surrendering, and took down the rest. Good work on Lubyanka, I had no idea you had it in you."

Aqua and a Krokorok came around the corner, joining them. "Reshiram's fur shaft!" The Krokorok said. "You took down Lubyanka?"

"I can't claim the credit, for once," said Boreas. "Larissa and Sofia got her. Oh, introductions. This is Obnard, a dubiously trustworthy defector from the Shadow's troops."

"Oy!" Obnard snapped. "I backed you up, didn't I?"

"Obnard?" Sofia said, blinking slowly.

"Sure," said Aqua. "And that's the only reason we place any trust in you at all. But don't expect to be free of suspicion right away."

Larissa could feel nothing but contempt for the crocodile. "So, Obnard," she said icily, "you're saying you worked for the Shadow?"

"Only until he ordered me to kill everyone in Capinha!"

Sofia, who had been frowning and mouthing the two syllables of the Krokorok's name silently, said: "Your name is Obnard?"

"Yeah, it is."

"But before that," Larissa bit, "you were a happy little minion?"

"If you must know, yeah, I was. The Shadow told us we were fighting to change Fournaria; told us he wanted to bring back the good old days when talent and power were rewarded and no-one was forced to take care of the weak and the lazy."

"I see," Larissa said waspily. "So you're just a garden-variety egotist; still enough good left in you to disapprove of mass murder?"

"It must be terrible for you to find out not everyone shares your opinions," Obnard snapped. "I'm so sorry to have to burst through your safe bubble, princess."

"Obnard is a name?" asked Sofia.

"Duckletts are hats?" Obnard imitated her with a high-pitched voice.

Larissa drew a furious breath. "Don't you-"

A soft touch to her shoulder. "Don't be angry, 'Rissa. I want to ask you something, Ob-nard."

The Krokorok rolled his eyes, and Larissa could barely keep herself from shouting at him again. "This should be good."

"I've noticed," Sofia explained, "that all the pokémon in this town were psychic types. And your colleagues were intent to capture, not kill me, while they had no problem killing Larissa. Is that because the Shadow ordered you to capture psychic-types alive?"

Obnard looked surprised. "Yeah, he did! Don't ask me why, I've got no clue! So your mind isn't completely bent after all..."

Larissa growled. "If you talk about-"

Aqua interrupted. "Larissa, you're wounded. Sofia, you too. I'll heal both of you, but you have to stop arguing with our new... Friend."

Larissa couldn't even protest before she was enclosed in a bubble of healing water. She crossed her front paws and glared at Obnard, while Sofia spun and somersaulted around in her own bubble. She could hear Boreas, Aqua, and Obnard talk through the water, though their voices were distorted. They discussed what to do next, and settled on tying up Obnard along with the captives, to prevent cluing them in that he had betrayed them, and letting him escape at some point. This way he wouldn't just remain an effective spy, but he would also be able to keep an eye on Lubyanka and prevent her from escaping again.

Aqua and Boreas told the girls to get some rest, promising they'd watch over the prisoners for the night and would figure out a good way to take all of them back to Praeclara. Larissa and Sofia decided to get away from the grim, dead town and took a walk over the cliffs, finally sitting down about a kilometre away. Larissa's good mood was returning to her, the joy of having beaten Lubyanka winning over her dislike and distrust of Obnard. Curiously, Sofia was a bit less elated now, looking morosely into a pocket mirror.

"What's wrong?" Larissa asked.

"Well, look at my hair," Sofia sighed, getting out a little comb and beginning to try to apply it to her great mass of hair, clearly unsure where to start.

"I see what you mean." Sofia's hair truly was a mess, all tangled up and wet and quite dirty, still partially standing on end from the shocks. Once again, the comparison to a feather duster was easy to make, and the wooden Ducklett didn't improve matters. Larissa gently took the comb from her friend. "Why don't you sit down and relax? I'll comb it for you."

Sofia giggled, clearly a lot happier with that plan. "Sure, if you're careful. Hey, I'll sit over here, that'll give you a place to sit too!" she sat at the foot of a little ridge.

"Let's start by taking off the duck." Larissa reached around with a smile and unbuckled the belt gently from under Sofia's chin.

"Aww," Sofia said. "Such a shame I didn't end up needing it. I was sure I would. In fact, I wanted to make another one for you, but there was only a single toy Ducklett."

As Larissa took the duck off Sofia's head, she found her hair stayed in the same shape, with two big swaths of it to the left and right and a duck-shaped depression in the middle. Both of them laughed at the sight. "Don't worry, I don't think I could pull off a duck hat the way you can."

Larissa gently inserted the comb into the great tangled mass of hair and began combing, careful to follow the weave as much as possible. Whenever she encountered stubborn knots, she would not use the comb, but carefully untangle them with her paws, as she had no desire to either hurt Sofia or damage her hair. She soon encountered Sofia's small red horns, hidden under her hair, but they didn't get in the way much. After a while she noticed Sofia was making silly faces in the mirror.

"What are you doing, Sofe?" Larissa chuckled.

"If you're going to be staring at your own face for a while," Sofia explained, her lower jaw thrust forth and her nose pulled up, "you might as well make the sight interesting, the way I see it."

"Makes sense." Larissa found she enjoyed the combing quite a bit. It certainly was more work than brushing her own fur had ever been, but she relished it. She had plenty of time to chat with Sofia, as well as simply to enjoy her proximity. But there was more to it than that. The more time passed, the more she admired the fall of every curly green hair, looked at the way they caught the setting Sun and gleamed in it. While combing, she frequently ran her free paw through Sofia's hair, feeling its silky texture and how the curls gently tickled. It even had a slight, almost honey-like scent that Larissa found very appealing. The longer, the more she had the impulse to hug Sofia and bury her face in her lovely hair, but she managed to resist it.

At some point she became aware that she had actually finished combing a while ago, Sofia's haircut once again in its proper state, but had been continuing to comb and pet her hair anyway. Sofia didn't seem to mind, though; in fact, now that Larissa thought about it, she had been holding her hindpaws for a while, gently rubbing and caressing them with a peaceful smile on her face, relieving Larissa's tired feet a bit. It was a perfect moment, but the realisation that they were perhaps being a little too friendly with each other rather spoilt it for Larissa.

"Um, I'm done combing." Her voice sounded unnaturally loud and awkwardly flat, as if someone was forcing her to say it with a deadly weapon pointed at her head.

Sofia jumped a little and let go of her paws, coming to the same realisation in that instant. "R-right, thank you!" she squeaked. "S-sorry, I-I was just idling away with my hands and your p-paws happened to be in reach and I didn't really think about it and-"

"No problem," said Larissa, her voice still too loud and forced. "Um. It felt pretty nice. Your hair is done."

Sofia got up a bit too fast, running a hand through her hair and blushing brightly. "Thank you, thank you. I-I'm hungry, I'll go get some food. See you later."

"See you." Larissa looked after her friend, even her walk having a slight forcedness to it. She left Larissa feeling warm with affection for her, the mere thought of her friend making her happy, almost weightless in the afterglow of the lovely moment they had shared. Sofia's hair glossed beautifully in the setting Sun and Larissa longed to go after her, to somehow return to that perfect moment while at the same time wishing they could stop having these awkward moments.

–

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm back from vacation in Austria! And, of course, that means I can start posting the chapters I wrote there (well, mainly in the train there and back). I got up to chapter 13, so we've got some catching up to do. Still, I'm not just posting the chapters at once, both because I still have to edit them, and because I suspect they would get fewer comments that way. I really do depend on comments for feedback and such, so I think I will post each chapter after I've received a few.

Q&A: A Krokorok? Interesting development... naturally, this defector is far more suspicious that Sofia was. I'm very interested in seeing how this will unroll. Speaking of which, she's pretty clever.

A: Sofia is indeed a clever one. I've got her in the description as a brainy Kirlia after all.

Q: man i just love ur stories keep them coming they're very interesting

A: Thanks!

Q: Only two chapters in and I'm already hooked. It's great to see Boreas and Aqua again, although not so much to hear (read?) about their marriage problems. Larissa is a great character, and I can't wait to see what you do with her. Incidentally, Cyndaquil was my starter in Pokemon Gold.

A: Glad to see you reading this one, and enjoying it so far. Cyndaquil was my very first starter pokémon too, back in Silver.

Q: Very sad to see that you won't return to the Approaching Storm, but you have to write where your passion lies. Did you ever play DKCTF? Best DKC game since DKC2, in my opinion.

A: I don't have a Wii or a Wii U so I haven't played any of the new Donkey Kong games, sadly. They do look great, though (other than the lack of Kremlings).