Chapter 11: *(Caution graphic content below)
"Quickly, get down," Billy whispered to the others and ducked behind a nearby rock.
Drago and his pokemon ran over and ducked down too, poking their heads out feeling safe in the semi-darkness. The voices got closer and finally they saw outlines of people coming close.
Three men in red were sprinting towards them and the blonde boy moved like he was going to make a break for it but Billy grabbed his arm and held him down. They looked at each other and Billy put a finger to his lips, "Shh," they watched as the men were coming closer but a flash of gold appeared behind one of them and a lightning bolt flew through his chest and kept going illuminating the entire cave as it soared and slammed into another wall.
The Zubats on the roof went nuts and started flying around screeching all over the place. "Hue!" one of the remaining two people, who turned out to be women in red, spun seeing the man on her right get zapped.
"Don't stop!" the other shouted and kept running towards the kids. When the cave lit up she could have sworn she saw two heads duck down behind a rock but she ignored it as a scared hallucination and kept running. She looked back to see if her other comrade was following but let out a small gasp when she saw her friend spiraling towards her.
Billy recognized a Stantler, a huge deer pokemon with large antlers. It slammed straight into the woman kneeling over the dead man's body and sent her flying straight into the other woman who was running away, knocking her down.
The one who was knocked down opened her eyes to see her friend's bloodied face right above her own. "Ollie," she shook her friend off her and shouted.
"Stantler, use take down again," a voice shouted out and the deer ran forwards with its head out.
"I'm sorry Ollie," the woman in red said to her friend who she assumed was dead already and lifted her up in front of the Stantler, making her take the brunt of the attack.
This is horrible, Billy couldn't watch anymore but he also couldn't look away.
"Please, you already killed my pokemon and my friends, just let me go," the woman fell to her knees in front of the Stantler.
Another figure was running towards them from the same direction she had come from and Billy and Drago finally got to see who was chasing the Solar soldiers. Drago gasped as he saw that the ones chasing them were none other than other Solars, all wearing red but these were all wearing masks. Billy wasn't even fazed and was half-expecting it to be betrayal, but this was the first time the blonde boy had seen anything like it. There were six of them in all and one pat his Magnemite on one of its two heads as he walked up so the group was in a semicircle around the quivering woman. "I'm sorry Trish, we can't do that."
The woman who had her head bent and was crying stopped instantly and looked up slowly as one of the figures pulled their mask off and shook her head, letting long blonde hair flow out behind her. "Jess," she said shocked, "but why?" the others all pulled their masks off one by one and Drago looked in disgust as looks of recognition spread across the woman's face.
The last person took their mask off slowly and Trish seemed devastated by this one, "Tommy," even the man behind the mask seemed hurt this time and wouldn't make eye contact with the woman on her knees.
"You asked why," the blonde chick asked and cackled up in the air. "What do you think ever happened to all the criminals once this war started? You think a huge war takes most of the strong civilians out of their towns yet no criminals start ruling? Ha!" Trish looked so sad and confused but the boys knew they couldn't do anything, they had no idea how powerful these fighters before them were. "So where do you think the most powerful groups went? Why they would disappear right as the war started? You ever wonder that?"
"That's enough Jess," the man called Tommy stated and the short bald man next to him elbowed him in the gut real hard.
"Don't talk back, unless," he looked at the girl on the floor, "don't tell me you actually felt something for the pathetic girl?" they all looked to Tommy for an answer.
He scoffed and smirked, "Of course not," however he still wouldn't make eye contact with her.
"So what, you're a part of team Magma that hid itself in the Solars? Great for you," Trish taunted. She knew it was the end but there was no need to give them the satisfaction of her amazement.
"Actually team Aqua, at least I was," she pointed at another member of the group, "he was Magma, but you see we're all working together now. All I have to do is put on a black uniform and a red wig and I can walk into any Nimbus city in the region. They'll salute me as one of Maxie's personal guard and soldiers." She pointed down at her own shirt and smirked at the girl before her, "Then again I can put on this red uniform and you'll all call me Commander and listen to whatever orders I tell you, straight from my true boss, Archie."
"Archie's a good man, he wouldn't…" Trish was shouting but Jess kicked her in the face and she fell backwards.
"We're on a tight schedule," one of the women next to her reminded Jess and she nodded.
"You're right," the blonde said while watching Trish who was punching her fists on the ground over and over, she couldn't believe they were all being fooled, and that she couldn't do anything about it. Jess continued, "Stantler," Trish turned around as the deer moved up. Drago ducked back down behind the rock, he didn't want to watch this. Billy kept staring ahead though, he needed it in his mind, he needed it to fuel his rage. "Use stomp," the deer stepped forwards and reared up before slamming one of its hooves right on Trish's temple. The blonde woman got some blood on her face and looked around, "Masks back on, let's head out. We've wasted enough time as it is."
The group put on their masks and jumped down onto the slippery ledge, sliding down with their legs spread before jumping down to the next one and continuing to slide.
After a few minutes had passed, Billy nodded to his friend and they stepped out of the cover and walked forwards so they were standing right above Trish's body. "You should've looked away man," Drago said taking one glance and knowing that Billy had watched what made the girl look so mangled.
"I needed to see," the blonde boy looked at Billy who started walking the direction the Solars had come from. "I will never," he stated loudly as he marched away. Plusle and Minun grabbed hold of each other and trembled at the sound of Billy's terrifyingly angry voice. "Ever!" the boy started jogging and Drago started moving as to not lose sight of his friend, calling back his pokemon as he did. "Sit back and watch as another innocent person gets killed by this war."
"What are you going to do?" Drago asked as he caught up to the boy and they sprinted up a flight of rock steps together. At the top of the stairs a bridge went over the top of a river that led up to the waterfall Billy had seen on his way into the cave.
"I'm going to train," he growled and at the other side of the river they saw light flowing in from an exit close by. "There's no point in getting to Fallarbor right now when we can't even step up to save a single person."
"Where will we train before we reach Fallarbor?" the other boy asked as they charged straight at the cave's exit. His question was answered as soon as they were outside. Billy even stopped his sprint of rage and took in the scenery with surprise.
Compared to the dark dank cave, it was so beautiful outside, the air was so crisp and fresh. They walked up some steps away from the cave mouth to get a better view of that side of the mountain and stared amazed at what they saw. Between two smaller mountains that continued the range, was a lush green valley with a house in it they could see from there.
All around the valley, pokemon were flying and they could see pokemon battles going on down below. Not life or death battles, but people fighting each other for fun and for training. Billy looked farther in the distance since the mountainside gave him a good view. He got as far as the shore of what must've be a lake and the start of a very wide bridge, but like the one before Rustboro, it was covered in fog and he couldn't see the other side.
"This is amazing," Drago said astonished by the landscape around him.
Yeah it is, Billy smiled and watched a few small blue pokemon with wings that looked like clouds fly around in circles getting closer to him as they did. His smile faded fast and he turned around, looking on the trail down the mountain into the valley for something. There, he rushed away from Drago who turned and watched his friend run to a burly man with a large backpack on. "Fight me," Billy demanded and the man started laughing at the young boy's determined look.
"Of course I'll battle you young lad," the man laughed again heartily and Billy's demeanor changed to match the man he was versing. Don't forget about them, but don't let them control you. Mom wouldn't have wanted me to be sad, he chinned up and tossed a pokeball into the air.
"Nidorino, show him what you're made of." The purple pokemon shook itself and turned to look at Billy with a questioning look. "What?" his friend snorted and looked back at the hiker who tossed a ball up in the air. "Hey," Billy called to his friend and Nidorino turned around again, "I'm sorry I haven't called you out in a while. This is your time to shine okay?"
"Nido," it agreed and spun back to face the red light that was forming into a pokemon.
Amazing, the kid knew exactly why his pokemon was upset with him. The hiker gulped and shouted, "Nosepass, rock tomb."
The other twelve year old boy came over to watch the fight but saw a guy juggling fire sticks by himself down another level of the mountain path and ran over. "Hey, you a trainer?" the man questioned excitedly as Drago ran over.
"Yeah, you ready to battle?" the blonde boy reached for his pokeballs.
"I always am," the man dropped his fire sticks on the rocks below and pulled out a pokeball, "Numel go!"
"Go Pikachu," both balls flew up in the air and released their pokemon at the same time, then they bounced back to their trainers…
For the remainder of the day, Billy and Drago fought hard against many trainers as they made their way down into the valley. The people in the area had pokemon that were a slightly lower level than theirs were, but that didn't mean they weren't strong. Most of those trainers were also more experienced.
Billy had used both of his remaining revives within the first couple hours of training and when the two of them finally reached the bottom of the mountain the battles were getting tiresome. Drago saw a girl kicking a target she had painted on a tree right at the bottom of the mountain path and ran up to her but right before he could open his mouth the other twelve year old stepped in front of him and said, "Hi, want to battle?"
"Sure," the girl responded and the blonde boy fumed. That was totally my battle, he knows he stole it too. Rrr, he was down to his Pikachu since both Plusle and Minun had fainted earlier on. "You know the whole valley is talking about you guys?" she said as she walked to a small distance away from Billy and wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Huh?" the two kids responded at once.
She laughed at their synchronism, "A hiker came down the mountain a few hours ago and said there were two strong young trainers around your age challenging everyone on the path and never losing. I'm guessing that's you guys right?"
Drago opened his mouth but Billy started talking first, "Yep, I'm Billy, what's your name?"
"And I'm Drago," the blonde boy growled at Billy for not introducing him as well.
"Haha, well my names Lucy. Let's fight," she tossed a pokeball up in the air and yelled, "Hitmonlee come out!"
Nidorino is almost down after that last fight and I don't think Pidgeotto can move an inch after that battle with that Manectric. Here goes, "Croconaw, your up again," he held up the pokeball and his blue and yellow pokemon emerged, panting already and smirking, ready for another thrilling battle.
He pulled out his pokedex that he had in his back pocket instead of his bag, because he had it out so often there was no need to put it away. Both level twenty eight, good. Croconaw's down to half health already, probably should've used that potion. Besides being out of revives, he had used up all his paralyze heals and awakenings, he only had one antidote and one potion left as well.
She looked to be a few years older than he and Drago were. Drago, who was now leaning up against the tree Lucy was using for kicking practice, was checking out the girl. Her hair wasn't too long but it wasn't considered short and it was a natural red, mixed with brown. She only had one pokeball and it was the one she released Hitmonlee with.
"You ready?" Billy called out but the girl frowned and returned her pokemon.
"No," she scowled at him. "I mean yes, but you're not," she ran a hand through her hair and walked over to the boy, grabbing him by the hand. Immediately the blonde haired boy felt jealous and ran over to see what she was talking about. "Your pokemon looks one step from falling down, come with me."
"Where are we going?" Drago asked her as he walked up to the other side of Lucy. She let go of Billy's forearm and the kid reached for it with his other hand rubbing it softly, her grip is so strong! Already the skin was turning red where her hand was wrapped around.
"Lanette's," she responded and Lucy walked around another tree so the boys could see what was behind it.
"That's the house we saw from the entrance to the mountain," Drago stated recognizing it.
"In it lives a very nice woman who's renowned throughout the region as being a highly intelligent scientist." Lucy bowed her head as she walked towards the door, "Before the war everyone used a system that was somewhat like a bank, it held the excess pokemon people had and could transport them to any city in an instant."
"Whoa," Billy said imagining the possibilities.
"It truly was amazing I've been told," she frowned, "I became a trainer after the war started so I never got to use the PC's."
Before the boys could ask why, the door opened in front of them and a middle-aged woman with long black curls stepped out. "Because people misused my system," she looked at the two boys she didn't recognize and smiled, "So you must be the ones everyone's been talking about." The twelve year olds looked at each other surprised that word was actually spreading.
When they got inside they understood what she was talking about though, "Heyyy!" a hiker threw his arms up in the air and greeted the boys he had a double battle with earlier with one of his buddies. "Look who it is guys," the two kids turned to their right and dropped their lower lips.
"Hey."
"What's up?"
"So someone finally beat you guys?" a bug catcher from halfway down the trail asked.
Lucy was the one who responded, "No, I thought they just needed some rest before I gave this one a real challenge," she nudged Billy with her elbow and he grabbed his left arm feeling a bruise already forming.
"Lucy you really have to watch yourself," Lanette scolded the girl after watching Billy's reaction. "You're getting too strong to go around hitting little boys like that."
Drago started snickering and Billy spoke up, "I'm not some little kid."
"Oh sorry," Lanette apologized with a smile and some of the others in the room laughed and after a few seconds Billy joined in. "So I want you boys to know now," she started and both kids turned to make eye contact with her, "no matter how long you stay in this valley, my home is your home."
"Yeah!" all the various trainers sitting up on cots and bunk beds cheered in unison. "Lanette's the greatest," one of them called out and only received words of agreement from the others.
The fighter girl who brought them to the house started talking to the new kids as well, "Lanette creates her own medicine which is even more effective than revives on the market right now. The difference is that hers takes a couple of hours so you have to wait. When your pokemon need to get healed just come back here and hand them off. While they're healing you can rest up and then when you awake up they'll be all better and you can get back to your training."
As Lucy finished Lanette added in her own sentiment, "That starts right now since you boys and your pokemon definitely need a nice long rest. From the looks of your clothes, you've been on a long journey, so find yourselves some empty beds and lie down. When you wake up your pokemon will be as good as new."
"That sounds great," this is perfect, before we head into Fallabor I'll catch some more pokemon and maybe evolve the others. Billy smiled warmly at the woman and Drago nodded politely to her before turning around and running into the room to grab the nicest open bed. "Hey not fair, you got a head start," Billy complained following him, the adults in the room smiled, glad to see the playfulness of some children for a change.
One of the female trainers signaled to Lanette with a nod of her head and Lanette followed the direction the woman nodded to. All she saw was the door shutting and Lucy's back as she walked back out of the door, she sighed, at least some children can still enjoy themselves.
A/n Hope you enjoyed… or at least liked it if it was hard to enjoy the grim chapter. Tell me what you thought or if you have a question ;). I'll get up another chapter tomorrow!