(2,668 words) This could be much better but it did what it needed and that's what counts. Plus I'm not surprised that it is not as good as could be, I was writing the last chapter of another story at the same time, sixteen thousand words, six weeks to write. I went mad.
Enjoy
Laughing at Thunder
Chapter 11: What was that?
Lola's eyes slowly fluttered open. All she could see above her was darkness; at first she was confused, before realising she was staring up at the sky. She wondered for a moment what just happened, why she was on the ground in the first place. It came to her in parts, how she was helping some weird girl called Kalisity-Charise find her Pikachu whom she'd named for whatever reason 'Princess'. And when they'd found her, she was with Sparky who had apparently gotten out somehow or another. But to make things worse, a feraligator was after them, and unfortunately it'd scared Char off fighting it. Just when they thought things were hopeless this weird Pokémon showed up and dealt with the problem. Only it appeared that this weird Pokémon was with Alex…
With a sudden movement, she jumped up. When she was standing she noticed that she'd scared the people around her. Alex and that Kalisity woman were still there, it was possible they'd been talking before, but right now their eyes were directed her way. She spotted Char and Sparky down the hill with Princess clinging to the other pikachu's side. The weird pokemon was still down there, Char was inspecting him, seeing if he was friendly or not. The Charmeleon was calm enough, so that told Lola that nothing was wrong. But something had to be wrong, Alex's amulet had faded like hers had when she'd summoned Zapdos, meaning that whatever that thing was it was a Kyoudo pokemon. But since when did Alex know how to handle one? The only way to find that out was to ask.
She turned her head to Alex, who jumped; she'd stayed in the exact same spot for long enough that he no longer expected movement from her.
"What was that?" Lola screamed at Alex, pointing an accusing finger at him. She hadn't meant to be so loud, but anger had risen in her faster than she'd cared to notice. She was jealous she reckoned, that he'd beaten her. And it annoyed her so, that he hadn't said anything, and instead had chosen to remain silent.
"I'm sorry, I knew I should have at least said something, but it occurred to me that if this was something out of your abilities you'd hate me for surpassing you. So I kept my tongue. I know thinking back on it that it was a bad idea, but I couldn't help but go through with it." He did appear to be wholly apologetic, but another thing bothered her more than just him being able to control that thing down the hill.
"You knew what the crystals were from the get-go, didn't you? You knew about the Kyoudo Pokémon all along and you said nothing. Why?" Lola's anger did not subside.
"Someone told me about them years ago. But I didn't believe them, especially since they said they believed they were hidden somewhere in Lumi forest. But when I saw what was in that cave, I knew it wasn't a lie, I knew they were the Kyoudo Pokémon that people said only existed in stories. I didn't want it to harm me, so in secret after you and Char fell asleep I trained. I would have said something but then it occurred to me that there was no way you'd ever control it. You're too nice when it comes to Pokémon. You'd try to befriend it, and if you kept it up you'd probably die. I decided it was best you didn't try. I don't want you to get hurt."
Lola glared deeply at him, she did not lighten up, but then again, he didn't expect her to. It was one of the worst aspects of her personality, but she couldn't stand to be beaten, it'd make her feel worthless. And to make it all worse, he'd lied to her to. She had no reason not to be angry with him. She stepped closer to him, and without a word, slapped him on the cheek as hard as she could. She stepped around the two people on the ground and called out to the Pokémon down the hill.
"Oi, Char, Sparky. Come." It was an order. Though sparky didn't notice and tried to continue bugging the strange new arrival. Char understood Lola's sour mood and dragged him away with him. The remaining Pikachu tried to follow them but Kalisity grabbed her and set her down on her lap instead.
When Lola was gone Alex returned his pokemon to the amulet. Chains of gold the colour of the sun and red the colour of a flame burst out of the dulled crystal. They wrapped around Entei and formed into a fiery ball which was brown in the middle. It shrunk until it was the size of a poke-ball and returned to the amulet which in turn returned to its original colours.
A moment of silence passed until Kalisity burst out with, "You know I have no idea what I just walked in on, but it certainly seems interesting."
She finished as Alex stood up. "It's better that you don't tell anyone what just happened. Who's to say the world has changed since the Kyoudo were last free. I'd rather no one knows about us. So please, keep your mouth shut or I'll make you regret it." His tone was as cold as ice, and it made the girl shiver. It was the last thing she'd expected of the kid. His bagon climbed up onto him shoulder and together they left.
Lola sat down and grumbled, with her knees pulled close to her chest. In her anger she'd stormed off, stupidly, in an area she was unfamiliar with, and to make it worse in almost complete darkness. She'd stumbled a fair number of times. She'd run some distance into the field next to the town, the specific area she was in was on the outskirts of it and was dotted with a fair number of trees. She sat with her back against a large rock, smaller ones littered the area. Char and Sparky followed at a distance, in consideration of her anger. She was not nice when she was in such a mood, Char knew this better than anyone for he was the one who would calm her down, the only other who'd ever dared was her older brother Muhro. Sparky had spent most of the time in his poke-ball since Lola and Alex had left Acacia town, but from the times Lola and Char visited him when they were all younger he'd long since learnt how unreasonable she was in a bad mood.
"I can't believe him. Not only did he not say anything, but he didn't even hint anything, same with Bagon. They've never lied about something so big to me before, why now? How for that matter? I know they're not good when it comes to lying, what the hell's up with the sudden talent for it?"
Sparky shrugged his shoulders as he climbed up upon a large rock by Lola's shoulder. She patted him on his head, thanking him for the company. She turned to Char then, who'd sat down on the ground opposite her.
"Char, is it just me? Did you think anything was up, notice anything at all?" She questioned; her voice desperate and pleading. She wanted it to have just been her, she wanted there to have been signs, a lot of them. Because if that was so, then it meant that he was having trouble lying to them all. If there were no signs, then it meant it didn't bother him as much as it should've, or she was thinking too deeply in.
The Charmeleon shook his head, even he, the smartest in the group, hadn't picked up on anything wrong in Alex's behaviour, and Bagon's too. But Bagon wasn't really a concern, he was eternally loyal to Alex, he'd do anything for him even if it made him sad. Even Char did not have that ability, he cared for Lola with all his heart, but if she was wrong she was wrong, he would make the correct decision, not the one she chose for him.
"Well isn't this just fun? Alex beat me, and it's not that I suck it's that I can't do it at all. That's a first. I wish he'd said something at least. Then maybe I wouldn't feel so bad." She smiled sadly, it was a little funny, this was something he'd always go out of his way to avoid. Her expression begun to alter in the coming minutes, till soon enough it was a determined one. Char's eyes narrowed with suspicion fuelled by his worry.
"I should try it the way Akai said. It can't be a friend or companion or anything like that, if I have to be its master I'll be its master. It'll make me sad to begin with, but maybe I'll get used to it and then I won't care."
Char and Sparky glanced sideways at each other, thinking of the same thing. 'No way in hell is she trying that again'. The Zapdos was out of her control, that was something she had to come to accept, but being Lola, that acceptance wasn't going to come easily. They should've expected this they realised, that the moment Alex or any of the others achieved control over a Kyoudo, the want to do the same will fill her. Before Lola even noticed what either were doing, Sparky jumped up onto her shoulder, took hold of the necklace with his mouth, removed it from around her neck and jumped off the other shoulder. The weight of the amulet left him unsteady on his feet for a second but as soon as he adjusted he threw it up to Char and both Pokemon made a run for it.
It was after all of this, that what just happened registered with Lola. She stared slack-jawed at the escaping duo. "The hell? They just stole the crystal…." It was a minute after the words left her lips that the idea to go after them occurred to her and she begun with the chase.
Lola chased them across the midnight black field they had ended up in, but not so long after the chase had begun did her speed slow and her feet hit the ground unsteadily. She had exhausted herself earlier from storming off as she had. Though it annoyed her greatly, the two had been smart and took complete advantage of this fact. It didn't take long for them to be out of sight and her no longer able to follow. She fell to the ground when her legs couldn't take it anymore. Groaning, she pulled herself into a sitting position and tried to catch her breath. Her chest ached something terrible and just moving was a pain. She'd managed to calm down a little after storming off, but now she felt just as bad as she had earlier. Deciding that staying here and relaxing would calm her down the quickest, she did just that. She'd find them later anyway, what did it matter?
Of course her plan to relax didn't work very well either as not even five minutes in, a voice she'd quickly became familiar with called out, "Ooi, Lola? You here? Loola!?" Edging her head to the left to change her line of sight, she spotted Kalisity-Charise not far off. Seeing no real point in hiding, Lola sat up and the girl found her near immediately thanks to their close proximity.
"Oh, there you are. Me and Alex were looking for you, those relatives of his forced him to stay inside after a while though so I'm the only one looking now. "
"That's fine I guess." Lola said as she stood up. Kalisity walked over to her and stood by her side. She didn't have her Pikachu with her, and was completely alone.
"You should hurry up and go back, you're not too angry I hope."
"No, I'm alright. Loosing Char and Sparky didn't help but I'm still more or less fine." She wasn't fine, but making her sound fine would hopefully cause Kalisity to say less.
"You lost them did you? That's fine, since I saw them when I was coming over here. They should be with Alex by now judging from the direction they were heading in. They had something on them too, but I don't know what." Kalisity turned silent as she thought, wondering what it could be that they had.
"They stole my amulet and ran off. Smart, but it's annoying. Didn't help my mood, I can tell you that."
"That does sound annoying." Kalisity agreed, nodding. They both went silent for a moment before the older girl said with a troubled tone of voice, "I won't say anything about what I saw. Frankly I guess I shouldn't say anything about seeing you two at all, that'll make it easier."
"Oh, you don't have to if it's too much of a both-" Lola begun to say but was stopped by Kalisity saying.
"No, Alex told me not to." Her lips were drawn to a thin line. "He said if I don't he'll make me regret it and then he left. I went looking for you after that and he did too, I saw him. It wouldn't be a bother to make sure I say nothing about meeting you, what bothers me is the tone he used with me." She tilted her head downwards the slightest bit to look Lola directly in the eyes. "It was cold, so very cold. I think he meant it."
Lola stared at her like she was crazy for a full minute, and then burst into a fit of laughter. "What? You sure you weren't hearing things? Alex wouldn't do that. He's not that kind of person. He's a good guy." She shook her head, just claiming he could say something mean like that was crazy. Kalisity really was mad.
"No rea-"
"Don't." Lola commanded. She wasn't angry; she just found it funny, and pointless. "I've known him all my life; I know what type of person he is. So don't lie to me; that just ain't right." she turned and left in the direction Kalisity had come from, predicting it to be the way back to the town.
"Hey," Kalisity-Charise called out before she was too far away to be heard. "You'll be leaving soon enough right?
"Yes, we'll stay for another day and then we're off. We're going to get the second badge. No point in sticking around here anyway."
"That's good. I wish you luck." Kalisity's tone was joyful; she'd purposely erased the sad tone she'd used before. She didn't want to leave on a bad note. She ran past Lola who was walking thanks to her exhaustion. "I hope we can meet again Lola."
"Same." She didn't mean it, but didn't want to needlessly upset the weird girl. She didn't want to see her again, not after that silly little lie she'd told about Alex. What type of person did Kalisity think she was?
When she got back to town she ran into Alex, who'd snuck out to try and find her, she told him that she was fine and not to worry. He didn't take her seriously, but if she was being reasonable enough he was content with waiting for her to calm down and be happy again. At the house they were staying at she found Sparky and Char, who unsurprisingly had hidden her amulet somewhere in the house. When she asked Char, he gave her a rare grin, when she asked Sparky he pointed to his open mouth, which she took to be him saying he ate it. She quickly realised that questioning was useless so she decided to wait for them to reveal its location themselves. They'd have to soon enough, since they weren't staying here forever.
Hoped you enjoyed, not much but the next should be longer.
Reviews shall be much appreciated.
~Serah Villiers Valentine
