CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was a beautiful day, the sun bright, the sky clear, and they were heading to Slateport. Keri watched out the window, as Madison drove, looking at the sea. She made a point of not looking down on the deck, where he had been training for hours.

Keri was terrified. She had no clue what she had done to him, but apparently he hadn't said a word to anyone else since last night. All he'd been doing was training, and the glance she couldn't help every now and then told her that the Poochyena was exhausted, but she couldn't tell if it was Silver or the puppy that wouldn't give up.

"We're almost to Slateport, are you sure you're okay?"

"No, but I'll live. At least until Team Rocket decides to kill me. I'll just stay in the boat for a little while after we dock, I want to be alone for a little while, get in a shower and take a break."

Madison nodded. Telling Silver had been a lot worse for her than she'd thought it would be. For a while the girl had been a little hysterical, but had eventually settled down into sleep. Keris head still hurt, her stomach was twisted. Telling him earlier hadn't been an option, not while they were being trailed. Part of her was glad Dominic had shown up, the other part still felt sick.

Telling the truth wasn't supposed to hurt this bad… she put her head down on desk she was sitting at, curling her arms around her head. Silver was going to end up dead, and it was all her fault. If the plan had gone too far it wouldn't matter what she did anyway. Those two weeks were just a short delay of the inevitable.

Silver ground his teeth. "Again, work with all the muscles in your body, not just the ones in your legs! Crobat, Tackle!"

The bat charged, and the puppy growled and leapt to the left… only to be clipped by its wing. The Poochyena snarled and jumped at Crobat, ending up smashing head first into the deck. It got up again, blood dripping from where his fangs had sliced into the bottom jaw. It glared at the Pokemon, snarling, vibrating with the anger.

The Crobat flapped around, deliberately turning its back on the new Dark type.

Silver shouted instructions, but the Pokemon was too far gone to hear. It crouched, and jumped at the Pokemon. Crobat turned to slash at him with his wings, quickly dodging the attack…

Poochyena gripped the bottom wing, slamming the Pokemon down onto the deck. It pinned its paws on the bats wings, snarling at it. The Pokemon struggled, and he snapped at it… no killing it. That's what his master said, no killing unless ordered to…

The puppy felt something lifting him. Crobat hissed angrily, flapping around the deck. Silver held his Pokemon at arms length, looking at it. He sighed, and sat down on the deck, setting the creature in his lap. "What are we going to do? You managed to catch Crobat, but you disobeyed an order. I don't know weather to be mad at you or be amazed."

He frowned at the Pokemon, who was wagging his tail and had a stupidly happy expression on its face.

He'd decided that he would talk to Keri tonight, at one of the hotels the city was supposed to have. He had to figure out what was going on in his head. There were too many things she'd left out, and Silver had a feeling that that was all she'd been able to say before completely falling apart. It had been easier to think in the shower last night, just the hot water running down his body. The cast had remained dry, although his entire leg ached. He'd managed to use one crutch in the shower and wash himself. Michael called it stupidly independent. He called it determined not to be bathed by a half crazy nurse he hardly knew.

"I should probably eat something. You've done well enough for now, come on." He managed to get to his foot using the crutches, and returned Crobat, then Poochyena.

.~.~.~.~.~

The Dragonite had a bandage on her arm, but that wasn't enough. Somehow that girl had managed to convince them that she couldn't use it, and was still no threat. Which was true, even if she did move her arm, the spikes around her shoulder would rip into her anyway. All she could do was lift it to see it, and it wasn't looking good.

The girl came back, looking nervous. She had a ring of keys. "I'm letting you out… I need you to take me with you."

Hannah could see her properly, it wasn't dark in the room anymore, lights on. It was the girl who had helped catch her, why would she help now? Hannah let out a short growl, suspicious. Viox sighed. "I'll explain… but right now we have to go."

She unlocked the rest of the chains, carefully removing the spiked ones. The dragon type had red welts all over her body. "I know this is a bad time, but can you fly?"

Hannah glared down at her, experimentally stretching her wings. The dragon nodded, and Viox barely had any time to open her mouth before the dragon grabbed her and smashed through a wall, using a hyper beam.

"Jack, I'm coming."

"Hurry…"

Fear spiked in the Dragonites mind as the word faded away, too carefully made and spoken in her consciousness. He was fading, too much energy… she knew he hadn't slept in days, and now he still wouldn't let go to give himself rest…

"Jack! You're being stupid! Break the connection, break it! I can find you, I know where you are. The ocean is as familiar to me as you are!"

"I can't."

Hannah almost stopped flying. "Yes you can… you have to…"

"Hannah…" It was almost a sigh of frustration, but it wasn't strong enough for that.

She began to panic, flying faster. The girl in her arms squirmed slightly, trying to get a little more comfortable. "He's dying isn't he?"

Hannah just let out a low growl, flying even faster… as fast as she could without harming the woman she was holding. How could he be dying? They had been fine yesterday!

"You two have an interesting connection… he's been taking your pain. It's killing him… isn't it?"

All the Dragon could do was nod, a small movement that Viox couldn't see. Yes, he had been taking her pain, blocking her still from taking it back… she was killing him. Wasn't that what he had said? He'd die before he left her?

He was killing himself to keep her alive.

.~.~.~.~.~

The boat was docked. Silver stepped down onto the pier. Under any other circumstances, he would have been planning on staying at the cities Pokécenter, and moving on. Instead he'd been looking at a map of the city, scouting out a couple of hotels. Pokécenters let you stay for days, up to a week, and were well built, but the walls were thin, and probably bugged. He hadn't bothered to take his backpack, he would leave it on the boat for now and get it when he'd found a place to stay.

Everyone else was busy getting an ambulance to the beach and getting Kat out of the boat, so that she could get to a real hospital. He'd told them that he'd find everyone a hotel. Keri hadn't come down to lunch. Part of him was angry at her, another part confused, but mostly he was just worried.

"You know, nothing good ever happens when you two are apart." The words were out of Michaels mouth before he could stop them.

Silver just glared at him, and moved away, the crutches being a pain in the sand. Soon he hit the sidewalk though, a small strip of cement that was covered in a thin, but permanent, layer of soft yellow sand. The sidewalk had been worn smooth by it, the sand sliding off like the surface was glass. No. Nothing good ever happened when they were apart.

"He's worried about you, you know," Madison said, handing Keri the mug of Cider. "He has to be, or else he would just be leaving. You're the only one here that really means anything to him."

Keri nodded. She still couldn't face him though, afraid. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of, if Silver was mad at her, she would know it. All that had happened was that he'd seemed stunned. She knew that something inside of both of them had changed, but for the better or worse was still to be decided. "I'm scared… I hurt him."

Madison sighed. "I honestly don't think anything short of cutting off his leg would keep him down for more than a couple hours. He's smart, you told him you were trying to get out of Team Rocket, it's not like he can be mad at you for trying to get out of an organization that he hates."

"No, it's the fact that I was in it. Madison, I killed someone. I know how to shoot a moving target from almost any distance if I have the right gun! And now I find out that they're going to KILL me! They probably would have anyway, but now I know that they were going to before I even met him!"

"I know. And your best bet of staying alive is sticking with him. I have to go buy supplies, are you sure you want to stay here?"

Keri took a drink. "Yes. I need to just think over things myself. I'll be fine. No one would come looking for me anyway, not until they have him."

Madison got up and walked up the stairs, glancing at her worriedly. Keri walked around the small space, just taking in everything. Her backpack was left untouched, hanging above her hammock. She took a couple deep breaths. The boat was peaceful. She grabbed the pack and pulled out the antidote case, and the phone.

One missed call. She flipped it open, and read through the message. Her heart skipped beat, then kicked up double time. She snapped it shut, and ran up to the control room, slamming open desk drawers until she found what she was looking for, a notebook and a couple pens. She shot back down the stairs.

She was crying again. She should have known that this would all end badly, she should have known better!

She wrote quickly, making sure her handwriting was legible, then shut the book and set the phone on top, grinding her teeth as she threw a few canned things and a box of granola bars into her backpack.

Keri glanced around the room, quickly spotting what she was looking for. She stripped and put on Dominic's uniform… it didn't fit quite right, but it was good enough. No time no time no time!

She grabbed her pack and tore the bottom off, a grinding sound as the Velcro ripped away. She quickly snapped on the belt and shoved the gun into it, no time to mess with hiding it.

She ran into the bathroom, forcing herself to calm down. The boys hat was sitting on the sink. She grabbed it, looking in the mirror. She frowned… she didn't have time for this…

She ran out into the room and searched around… It was a boat for Pete's sake! She finally found the scissors.

She glared at herself as she made a quick job of chopping off her hair. It wasn't the best job, but it was decent. She ground her teeth, back straight, one hand on her gun, the other quickly pulling on her hat, and pulling it down. She smiled, the hats shadow hiding her eyes, her brown hair spiking out just slightly in the back. She grabbed her pack, slipping out a pair of binoculars from a side pocket, and running up the stairs.

She threw the Pokéball out over the water, making a big show of it, and jumped down over the side of the boat. Her Wailmer hummed happily as she landed. "Go along the shore, when I tap you twice, I need you to go along the rout to the east as fast as you can, no stopping, okay girl?"

The Pokemon made a small noise, and swam parallel to the beach, not too slow, but slow enough that people eventually noticed the Team Rocket member scouting out the area. A couple of fishermen that seemed to have been watching her ran off after a second, towards a small hut… just a little longer…

"Get out a little further."

The Pokemon obeyed, going out into the waves. Keri crouched down on its back more, carefully watching through the pair of binoculars. She finally saw a pair of people in blue uniforms… closer… closer… Finally! They began shouting, throwing out a set of Pokéballs. Keri tapped her Wailmers back twice, shoved the binoculars into her belt, and crouched on the Pokemons back.

Keri hoped that her Wailmer could out swim them, hoped that the currents on the rout had adjusted for the summer, hoped that Wailmer could make it through them. She turned her head, watching the officers behind her… one of them had a Wailmer, that didn't seem to be trained, and the other was on the back of a Blastoise… shitshitshit!

He was catching up fast… soon he would be right on her tail, then he would be next to her… The Pokemon was faster than she thought. The officer pulled up with her, neck and neck. He stood at a slight crouch, baton in his hand. "Stop now!"

Keri had her head held just so he couldn't see her eyes… she slid the gun out of its case and fired a shot, barely clipping the mans ear. It was enough, he stumbled and fell off the Pokemon, shouting. Keri shoved it back, crouching low as they went into the current, smashing through the water. The man had to get back on his Blastiose…

Keri reached back and unzipped a pocket in her pack, snatching the item and zipping it back up. "Dive."

Keri held on tight as the Pokemon shot underwater, she looked around for something to hold onto, if she couldn't find anything she would be torn away by the current, and ripped to shreds. Finally she spotted a large rock, and steered her Pokemon in its direction, latching her arms and legs around it, she returned the Wailmer.

She took a couple deep breaths through the Gills, a device created by the rangers, and stolen by the rockets. She wasn't sure what the Rangers called them, but everyone at the bases had called them Gills. Her heart was pounding.

She had fired at an officer… hadn't even thought about it. Keri waited a couple minuites for her heart to calm down. She'd known she wouldn't hit him. It was too easy, she'd hit moving targets from further away, the man had practically been standing still. He was lucky she'd been aiming to miss, although clipping his ear was unfortunate, she would have to work-

She softly hit her head on the rock. No more thinking like that! She sighed through the Gills. The police in that area would be on the look out for Team Rocket, and they wouldn't be able to use her… she shut her eyes, breathing deeply through the item. The air in the water seemed cleaner, fresher somehow. She would have given almost anything for it to be Silvers mouth against hers, instead of that stupid device.

XOX

You know, I love the transformation with Keri here, it shows you that she can really be a badass team rocket member, not just the overemotional girl who has a hard time figuring out what's going on. Actually, she has her mind very made up, it's just been difficult to get her to this point.

Detective Rain… arg. I know what I want to do there! It's just been really hard to get to it.

Sorry that this chapter is so short, just eight pages. I really did want to make it longer, but I couldn't. Where it ends is where I needed it to end, it just felt right. Of course, you know that the next chapter will be up in just a couple days.

What Keri is holding onto underwater is a petrified tree… just thought you should know, since it probably won't come up in the story. I've also changed it so that you can use dive just about anywhere, because if you're that far into the water, then it's probably deep enough for you to dive under it.

I did buy Soul Silver, I haven't been playing non stop, but I have been playing. The poke walker is amazing, I walk through school, and my Pokemon gains a level, so I've been switching out and going for walks on nice days. I just beat Whitney(who is a SPAZZ) and checked out the pokeatholon thing. I also entered the bug catching competition, and captured a Scyther. Unfortunately, I won't be using it on my team this time. I have Quilava, Fearow, Flaafy, and Skiploom so far. I plan on getting a Sneasel, and I've been using the poke radar so I can get a Psyduck. I can't believe that they've only been out for a week.

Dang, okay, this message is getting long. I need complete maps of the Fiore and Almia regions. I know on Serebii you can get information on the Pokemon and there are screen shots, but I'm talking an actual map that has the places, buildings, the layout. PM me if you have a website where I can find this. It's important for my next fic, and I need them before I start it.

Please tell me if you find any waffle mustards sitting out with fish stick syrups they're holding my brother hostage and I need to pay them. Oh, and something about grammar.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, Nine, and Ten.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.