Chapter 11: A heart guarded by fire
Shaking and speechless, Hailey backed further into the wall, never taking her eyes from Storm.
"Master Storm, should we shoot her down now, or take her back to Crown City first?" One of the Shadow Triad asked.
Lilly growled at his words, stepping defensively in front of her trainer.
Storm shook his head, "she's made it this far, it'd be wrong to end her before my father has the chance to see her. Besides, she may know of some of the other escaped citizens' whereabouts."
Hailey's heart sank. Eric. She thought, her world quickly crumbling around her. No matter what happens, I'll never sell him out. Hailey vowed silently.
The three nodded in unison. "Tie her up and load her onto our submarine. But first," Storm began, pulling out the practically destroyed poke ball that Hailey had found Lilly in all those years ago.
Lilly's eyes widened in alarm, using ice beam to put up a defensive wall in front of herself and Hailey.
Storm sighed, "my friend-"
"Gla!" She snapped.
Storm flinched at her comment. "You may not think we're friends right now, but believe me, once I liberate you you'll get the life you deserve."
Hailey wanted to scream at him. He killed her first trainer, and now he's about to take her away from me, then kill me afterwards. Of course she's going to hate him. Hailey thought to herself, not daring to speak aloud. If she lived long enough, she'd tell Storm eventually of her thoughts.
"Now, please don't make this harder than it must. Glaceon, please, take that wall down and let me give you a better life." Storm pleaded, readying the poke ball.
She felt Hart's poke ball begin to tremble in rage. Hailey placed a hand over his poke ball, fearing that if he let himself out he'd attack the triad and then get shot. He's about to do it to Hart too. Hailey realized. I must speak up, not for me, but for all my Pokémon.
She cleared her throat. "You really e-expect her to just willingly go with you? You killed her first trainer, and you're about to do the same to me. Same with the Stoutland that I have. He was Lenora's Pokémon. Then you nuked the city that he lived in…" She said quietly, staring at the ground.
Hurt flashed in Storm's eyes, he lowered the poke ball. "Yes," he admitted. "But, it happened during the cleansing-"
"How is killing basically all of Unova cleansing?" She countered bravely, unable to hold it back.
"It stopped the Pokémon battles."
"It also made all those Pokémon who's trainers died during your little 'cleansing' hate you."
"Silence, Hailey." He commanded.
Hailey's mouth snapped shut, shrinking down. Lilly began reinforcing the wall to the thickness were only the blurry outlines of the Plasma members were visible.
"Break the ice, Glaceon." Storm said, not as a friendly suggestion, but as a command.
What Hailey had said clearly affected him; and not in a good way. Lilly held her ground, glaring through the ice. Perhaps she could see clearly through the wall because she was an ice type?
"I will get Crobat to melt the ice in a moment if you won't." He warned.
"Gla." She said stubbornly, turning to the rock wall that she'd blocked them next to; beginning to charge up a hyper beam to blow a hole into the solid rock.
"Lilly, what are you doing?" Hailey asked through her teeth. She didn't respond, unleashing the hyper beam. Hailey gasped in surprise, the sudden burst of energy blowing her straight back into the ice barrier; black specks clouding her vision and judgment. She then heard the ping from a poke ball.
"Fire fang."
Hailey stared at the flames through the ice, she would've found it cool looking if she wasn't in this situation.
"Gla!" Lilly cried, ushering Hailey into the colossal hole that she'd made.
Hailey sighed, "I know I'm going to regret this." She crawled inside.
Lilly then blocked it off with ice and dug straight down into the dirt, easily plowing though the soft surface. The sizzling noise that the fire against the ice made stopped.
Silence.
"Glaceon!" Storm bellowed.
Hailey shuddered, not wanting to deal with him in this state. He wasn't just angry anymore, he was infuriated.
"Ceon." Lilly grunted, telling her to jump into the deeper pit.
"Oh well, either way I'm going to die." She muttered, jumping down the pit.
She then sealed the entrance with more ice, cutting off the little light that the small hole had. Lilly then went back to digging. Hailey winced as she heard more cursing when he melted his way through the second barrier.
"Hey, Lill, before we both you know, die, I just want you to know that these last seven years I spent with you were by far the best in my life." Hailey said, knowing that Lilly wouldn't have enough time to create another wall.
She knew that she had little time left.
Lilly nodded in agreement, "gla…"
"When I'm gone… make their lives hell, okay? Rebel against them twenty four seven, make messes everywhere and be as rude as you can. Forget your table manners."
Lilly nodded, digging faster. She didn't have to wait for Lilly's cue, she went into the next small section. Lilly began freezing up another wall, only to have fire melt it as she put it up. Her heart began to thump faster.
This is it. Hailey gulped, closing her eyes and bracing for impact. The Crobat quickly overpowered Lilly.
She heard Lilly begin to charge up an ice fang attack, "no, stop, Lilly. This is hopeless."
Lilly looked sadly at Hailey, budding tears forming in her eyes.
"Gla glace?" She whimpered.
Hailey pushed past Lilly. "You stay here, okay? It's me they want. Lara's coming back today. Go live with her."
Lilly gaped at her, stunned.
"It's my birthday, Lilly. Please, just do it for me."
Lilly shook her head in despair. "Gla!"
Hailey forced herself to remain stone-faced and ignore her pleas. Almost immediately, Storm gripped both her wrists and yanked her out of the hole Lilly had dug, he looked pissed. He roughly shoved her into the Shadow Triad, who promptly tied her arms in an arm lock behind her back; pulling her poke ball belt off her waist, stuffing gauze in her mouth, blind folding her, and injecting a vile of anesthetics into her blood stream.
"GLA!" Hailey stiffened when she heard her cry from her tunnels.
I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Hailey thought solemnly.
The anesthetics were working faster than Hailey thought that they would as she was already finding it difficult to stand. She imagined that if she weren't blind folded that her vision would be failing as well. She heard footsteps grow louder and clearer as Storm neared her and the Triad.
Then the words, "Let's go."
XXX
Hailey groaned as she began to come to. She was still blind folded, but the gauze in her mouth was gone, much to her relief. Hailey licked her dry lips as she took in what had happened. She knew that she was laying on her side, her legs now tied as well.
Sheesh, they didn't have to Tepig-tie me too! Hailey thought miserably, using momentum to sit up.
She had issues balancing, as whatever she was kept rocking back and forth. Her hands were still tied behind her back. She instinctively used her fingers to graze over where her poke ball belt usually hung; despair sinking in when she felt no belt. Hailey was Pokémon-less.
I hope everyone's alright… Especially Hart and Lilly… they seemed especially upset. She thought, giving a sigh of defeat and teetering right back onto the ground, wincing as her cheek hit concrete.
Her body immediately stiffened when she heard footsteps walk by her, pausing for a moment, then continuing once more.
Where in the hell am I?
XXX
Storm's POV
Storm sat in the control room, steering the submarine through the slim passage that Team Plasma had built from the Lake of Rage out to sea. Typically, he'd just let the Triad take the citizens back to Crown city and he'd stay behind, but with Hailey… he wanted to see how his father would react to her.
She was a special case, after all. Not only had she escaped to Johto, but she'd managed to keep away from scouts, become a gym trainer, and her Pokémon fought for her without any commands.
I saw one of the pokeballs on her belt trembling, but she made sure it didn't come out. He recalled, remembering the worried expression on her face deepen when what he assumed to be the Stoutland's poke ball shaking with a grief-stricken rage.
His gaze automatically flickered to the counter where all four- wait, there was only three!
His eyes widened in shock, setting the submarine on autopilot and approaching the pokeballs. He peered into the tops: Dragonair… check. Glaceon… check. Stoutland… check. Arcanine… absent.
Where's Arcanine?
XXX
Hailey's POV
"Karp, magik!"
Hailey heard the glubbing of what sounded like a school of Magikarp.
Wholly Arceus am I underwater? She gasped, remembering a fatal detail that she'd overlooked before she was captured: "Tie her up and load her onto our submarine."
"I'm in a… submarine?" She whispered, giving a yelp in surprise when the submarine took a sharp turn, causing Hailey to quickly roll onto her other side. She gritted her teeth when she felt something dig into her thigh.
Is there something in my pocket? She wondered, rolling until she was against a wall. Her fingers stretched to her pocket, there was definitely something there, she just couldn't reach it. Hailey bit her lip.
What is it? This was seriously going to be the death of her if she couldn't find out what was in her pocket.
"Whoa!" She cried as the submarine took another sharp turn, sending her rolling right into iron bars.
"Right in the noggin too, that's just great. Best birthday ever." She muttered, her head pulsating from the second blow.
THUMP!
The submarine got caught in a current, tossing Hailey around the cell even more. After getting past the currents, Hailey had come to the conclusion that whoever was steering this thing didn't know how to pilot a submarine. But, the currents had done Hailey one favor: her blind fold had come loose. It now draped over Hailey's mouth, making it easy for her to bite it and slowly pull it down until it reached her chin.
Her blue eyes could now see her surroundings: a cold, dark, steel cell with what looked to be a small bullet-proof window near the top of her cell secured to the wall with fastened iron bolts. She looked at what bound her arms and feet together. It was only rope.
At least it isn't steel bindings or anything like that… Bah, why should I even try? There's no way I could get out of here without any-
Almost on cue, the object fell out of Hailey's pocket. Her eyes widened.
"Goblet!" She cried, unable to believe what good luck she had.
Hailey inched closer to the Arcanine's poke ball, feeling like a Caterpie as she moved. She took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to do was going to hurt. Hailey rammed her nose into the small button on Goblet's poke ball, enlarging it.
She didn't have to do anything else, Goblet popped out on his own, immediately chewing through the ropes before licking her face.
"Goblet! Good boy!" She giggled, hugging his thick warm neck as she got to her feet.
Without hesitation, Hailey climbed onto Goblet's back.
"Use flame thrower to melt through the bars." She instructed.
"Arc!" Goblet barked, shooting a stream of flames at the iron, smelting the bars with ease.
Hailey grinned. "Now we just have to find Lilly and the others and get control of the helm somehow… then just resurface this baby and then I fly away on Blue and we all live happily ever after."
Goblet gave a bark of approval, stepping carefully over the still smoldering bars, not wanting Hailey to burn her head on the way out. As soon as Goblet placed a paw on the ground, sirens wailed and red lights flashed.
"Prison breach! Prison breach! Sector four!" A robotic voice screamed.
"Oh just my fudging luck." Hailey muttered, squeezing Goblet's sides as though he were a Rapidash, urging him to get a move on.
But Goblet stopped, howling along with the sirens; he'd always liked music.
"Goblet! Now is not the time!" Hailey snapped, squeezing harder.
Goblet reluctantly stopped singing along and ran down a hall of empty cells until reaching an iron door; which he easily knocked off its hinges with a simple take down. He gave a yowl of triumph, trampling a pair of grunts that were about to open the door that he'd blown off its hinges.
"Yeah, that'a boy, Goblet! Show 'em no mercy, just like Clair taught us!" Hailey cheered, hanging onto Goblet's mane with one hand and doing a fist pump with the other.
"Hydro pump!" A grunt commanded from behind.
Hailey's eyes widened with surprise, quickly shouting, "Goblet, quickly, turn around and use dragon pulse!"
"Nine!" Goblet snarled, blowing the powerful water type-attack back with his own powerful dragon move.
The Pokémon flew backwards, slamming into its own trainer. Hailey couldn't help but smirk, it felt nice to be in control… for once.
XXX
Back in Blackthorn…
Clair drew in one final breath as she walked outside. She knew that she overreacted… again… about losing a battle and now she should apologize to Hailey.
"HAILEY! HEY, HAILEY!" Clair cringed as saw Lara stumbling out of the airport, unable to see due to the big present in her hands.
Her Arbok, Hisser, followed her out with an irritated look on its face.
"Clair! Clair? Is that you?" Lara asked as she stumbled closer to her.
"Who else would I be, Lara?"
"Do ya know where Hailey is? I bought her this awesome present while I was away and-"
"I don't know where she is, I'm looking for her as well."
Lara stopped, looking crestfallen. "Where'd ya see her last?"
"Right here, we had a battle and I…lost… and she won and I got bitter so I left for a while and now I don't know where she is." Clair explained.
Lara laughed, "yup, that sounds 'bout right! Now, rather than wasting our time look'n for her, I'll just have my new Pokémon track her for us!" Lara shoved the present into Clair's arms and plucked a poke ball from her belt, tossing it wildly into the air.
PING!
"Stun!" Stunky cried, looking expectantly at Lara.
Clair blinked. "Another poison type? Don't you already have two?"
Lara looked stung. "It's not my fault that my daddy's Koga!"
"What? I-I mean I've heard that he had a child, but you?"
"I'm impressed… my daddy never tells anyone about me… I got to see him a little bit during my vacation… he gave me Stunky. That's why I have Nidoqueen and Hisser too. I could either have his Grimer or his Stunky and Grimer kinda creep me out, so I picked Stunky; and boy oh boy am I glad! Stunky here has a great nose! With Stunky look'n, we'll find Hailey in ten minutes flat!" Lara cried, the smile on her face portraying itself more as an awkward grimace, making it look forced.
Clair felt guilt creep into her gut, but Koga never told Clair of his child, and she, never liking children very much, never asked about her. Clair shook her head, no, stop thinking about stupid Lara and Koga and start thinking about Hailey!
"Okay, kid, lead the way." Lara nodded stiffly, taking the gift back into her arms.
"Alrighty, Stunky we're looking for Hailey, I told ya a lot 'bout her so…. go find her!"
Clair sweat dropped as she watched Lara and Stunky run aimlessly around the town.
"You might want to give Stunky one of Hailey's things so he actually knows what he's looking for." Clair said dryly, walking back into the gym.
Why am I even looking for her? She'll turn up by dinner time, it is after all her birthday. And if I know Hailey, she'd never miss an opportunity to eat cake.
XXX
Hailey's POV
Goblet was running out of steam. There were too many of them.
What in the hell was I thinking?! Defeat an army of Plasma grunts with just Goblet?! Stupid currents... I hit my head too hard… Hailey thought, gritting her teeth as she steered the fire type through the narrow halls.
The sirens were still screaming in her ears even after fifteen minutes had passed, making it tough for Hailey to keep focus and for Goblet not to stop and start howling along to the 'song.'
"Keep focused, buddy you're doing great." Hailey said, a forced grin upon her face.
Goblet nodded, shooting another stream of flames at the next line of Plasma Pokémon. Goblet still looked energized, but Hailey knew he was tired.
"Come on, Gob we just have to find the control room- actually all we need to do is find the rest of the team and the hatch. Then I put you away, get Blue out here, open the hatch, swim out, and we're home free! We're so close!" Hailey assured.
Goblet let out a yelp of alarm, skidding to a halt.
"Why'd you stop… oh dear Arceus we're screwed."
XXX
Storm's POV
"No, no, no! She still has the Arcanine?" Storm realized as soon as the sirens went off.
How did he know? For one thing, it was physically impossible to for one thing escape the cells. But total give-away was the fact that proved his suspicions was the fact that Hailey had remained uncaptured in a submarine chock full of grunts for fifteen full minutes.
"Hey, hey, hey boss!" Moku barked, in his normal Zoroark form.
"Yes?" Storm grunted, struggling to find a way to subdue Hailey without harming her.
"Can I pleeeease please play with the Glaceon pleeeease?"
"What? N-No! We're in the middle of a crisis! Besides, right now Glaceon hates us!"
"Um, correction, Glaceon hates YOU, not me."
"Moku…"
"What? I speak the truth."
"The answer is no, and it will always be no!" Storm snapped, typing in the passwords and codes so he could view the surveillance cameras.
PING!
"HAILEY!"
Storm's head snapped back at Moku to see that the Glaceon was out beside him. "Moku! What did I just tell you?! Put Glaceon away right now!"
"Psh, good luck with that one. I ain't sticking around to be put in that dingy little poke ball while my Hailey's in danger, and these guys aren't either!" Lilly snapped, hopping onto the counter and grabbing Hailey's poke ball belt; hopping back down with the belt in her jaws, shouldering her way past Moku, and using iron tail to take out the door, running out into the surrounding halls.
Storm glared at Moku. "What… have you done?"
Moku laughed nervously. "I can fix it!"
Storm rose an eyebrow, "and how might you do that?"
"Just watch me, boss." Moku assured, trotting out the door.
XXX
Hailey's POV
They'd run right into a dead end. Hailey's nerves quickly crept back into her brain. Hailey directed Goblet to turn around, only to see that at least ten grunts with six Pokémon each had blocked their only exit.
"Hey fellas… hehe nice seeing you guys… What a coincidence, am I right, or am I right?" Hailey giggled nervously.
"Game over princess." One smirked, her Liepard inching closer to Hailey.
Hailey smirked right back, "actually, I think this round's not over yet."
She rose an eyebrow. "What would make you think that?"
"Roar!" Hailey commanded, bracing herself for the loud cry.
Arcanine barked his agreement, screaming even louder than Suicune had done to her all those years ago back in the Burnt Tower. The grunts and their Pokémon, completely unprepared, were blown backwards.
"Now, plow through them with flame charge!"
"Arc!" Goblet snarled, coating himself and Hailey in flames, trampling the grunts and their Pokémon.
"That's right, make way for Blackthorn's own Hailey Coburn!" Hailey cheered as Goblet quickly advanced through the halls; the security was much thicker in this section of the submarine.
Must be getting closer to command central… and my Pokémon… Hailey thought, longing to get her other three Pokémon and back to Blackthorn- no.
She couldn't go back to Blackthorn, probably not ever again. It'd be too obvious. Hailey had to go straight to Hoenn and warn Eric to be on guard and live in a big city until this whole Plasma thing blew over, which wasn't about to happen anytime soon. Goblet's breathing became heavier, his tongue hanging out his mouth as he ran; his eyes glazed over.
Hailey gritted her teeth. Where is the stupid control room? Goblet's not gonna last much longer!
Goblet let out a yelp of surprise, snapping Hailey back into reality. A Tyranitar stood in their path, and it didn't look pleased. Hailey gulped, the Tyranitar's stare paralyzing her thoughts. Luckily, Goblet wasn't scared easily, shooting a flamethrower straight at the Tyranitar's face, hitting it dead on.
"Zor!" It screeched, it's form warping into a smaller Pokémon: Zoroark.
Hailey blinked in surprise. "Zoroark? What the-"
SMACK!
Hailey's eyes rolled into the back of her head, falling limply off Goblet's back, hitting the ground with a thud. Goblet whirled around, snarling at what knocked his trainer out. A big well muscled Team Plasma member stood behind him, cracking his knuckles. Flames coated Goblet's fangs, a growl in his throat. Then, much like Hailey, Goblet fell, barely missing Hailey as he fell.
The Zoroark sat behind Goblet, a satisfied look on its face.
"Gla…" Lilly growled, racing down the hall right at Zoroark. She flung the belt of pokeballs on the ground, watching as it slid into Hailey, opening Hart's poke ball unintentionally.
"Stout!" Hart snapped, fury blazing in his eyes when he saw the situation. His fur began to crackle with electricity, electrocuting the Zoroark.
"Ark!" He yelped, falling to the ground; his limbs paralyzed.
"Ceon!" Lilly cried, launching an ice beam at the man behind Goblet and Hailey, freezing him solid.
Lilly and Hart exchanged satisfied glances.
XXX
Storm's POV
Storm had decided to follow Moku to see what exactly he would do to redeem himself. He'd lost his Zoroark for a while, but when Storm did find Moku, he wasn't too happy about what he saw. On the way to his Pokémon, plenty of scorched and trampled grunts and Pokémon laying limply on the floor; some giving an occasional moan.
And when he finally found Moku, he was nearly KOed and was laying paralyzed of the floor. One of his strongest grunts was frozen solid, and Hailey's Glaceon and Stoutland were out of their pokeballs. It seemed that Glaceon had let Stoutland out.
The only thing that went Storm's way was the fact that the Arcanine and Hailey were laying unconscious on the ground.
It looked wrong though.
Hailey was a strong person. She'd survived seven whole years without his father to guide her through life, and she was all alone for those seven years as well. She had to gain a gym leader's respect in order to survive in Blackthorn. In a way, it was like she joined another monarchy, with the gym leader being Queen Clair, and Hailey being her loyal soldier, willing to do whatever Clair wished in order to save her own skin. It made Storm respect her in a way. Hailey was an adapter; a survivor.
And now she was lying defenselessly on the ground.
"You two should really be getting back into your pokeballs and stay there until we reach Unova." Storm said, watching as the two Pokémon yelped in surprise, their surprise quickly turning into a defensive anger.
"As if! You're going to hurt Hailey!" Glaceon growled, baring her teeth in defiance.
"First… you kill Lenora… then, you hurt the girl who brought me back to life… and you expect me to just back down and obey you after all the grief you've made me suffer through? Not a chance!" Stoutland snarled, his fangs crackling with electricity.
Storm sighed, "alright, I didn't want to do this, but if you two aren't going to cooperate, then I will use brute force to free you from this senseless girl's grasp."
Storm sent out one of the Pokémon that he'd met on his journey through Johto: Entei.
"Tei!" Entei cried, towering over Glaceon and looking at Stoutland dead in the eye.
"Entei, subdue them." Storm commanded.
Entei nodded, until he saw Glaceon.
"Whoa! Entei is that really you?" She beamed.
Entei looked just as surprised as Glaceon did.
"Hey… you evolved. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Entei grumbled, grinning at the ice type.
Glaceon nodded, "yup! Hailey took me into the Icy Path near Blackthorn and evolved me! Isn't it great!"
"Yeah, you look more… grown up." Entei responded, choosing his words carefully.
Stoutland turned to Glaceon. "You know him?"
"Of course! When Hailey took me into the Burnt Tower, Team Rocket captured Entei, Suicune, and Raikou along with Hailey and I. You remember right? You were there! In fact, I think you were the one that freed Entei!"
Stoutland looked thoughtfully at the legendary Pokémon.
"You know, I think I do recognize you now that I think about it. What are you doing with a scum-bag like him though? You could do so much better." Stoutland growled, flattening his ears aggressively.
Entei looked torn for a moment.
"He's… he's okay once you get to know him. Storm means well, honest. He really believes that liberating you from Hailey is the right thing to do. He's already told me that he's going to liberate me as well." Entei growled sadly.
"Well Hailey's my best friend and I know for a fact that it's not going to help anyone if we're taken away from Hailey. It won't be good for her either." Glaceon snapped, glaring at Storm.
"Please, I wish only to help you." Storm promised, stepping towards Hailey.
Stoutland wasn't having it.
"No!" He barked, leaping in front of Hailey.
XXX
Hailey's POV
Hailey's vision was dotted with black as she woke up, her head pounding. She could feel Goblet breathing down her neck.
"Stout! Stoutland!" Hailey heard Hart barking, and he didn't seem happy.
"Wha…?" Hailey muttered, blinking a couple times to get the dots to disappear.
"Gla!" Lilly cried, nuzzling her trainer's arm.
"Lilly? Why, how… how did you get here? What happened?" She asked.
"See? Now look what you've done. Now I can't safely transport her." Hailey heard Storm snap.
Hailey was wide awake now, quickly sitting up at the sound of his voice. It wasn't safe here. Arcanine was still knocked out, his chest rising and falling slowly, his paws twitching as though he was dreaming. Hailey smiled as soon as she saw her belt, dragging it close to her as Storm continued to fight with Hart. Hailey pulled Goblet's poke ball out of her pocket, returning the worn out fire type.
"Thank you." Hailey whispered, shaking as she put his poke ball on the belt and pulled Blue's and Hart's pokeballs off the belt.
She returned Hart mid-argument and released Blue, sitting atop the dragon type and grabbing Lilly by the scruff, heaving her on her lap.
"Go, Blue!" Hailey screeched, in a panic to get away from Storm.
She didn't even notice Entei as Blue flew towards the nearest window, shattering the tough glass with a dragon pulse attack and swimming through. The glass cut Hailey and her pokemon as Blue swam through the small opening.
Hailey held back an "Ow!" in fear that she'd take in too much water. She hung onto Lilly and Blue for dear life as Blue fought his way to the surface.
They were running out of air.