Hello! Happy new year everyone! I hope none of you ended up like my sister… Passed out beside the toilet because she drank eight cans of keystone… ::shakes head:: Anyway, I finally unlocked Mewtwo on my Super Smash Bros. Melee game. ::jumps for joy:: I'm so happy! And I finally found the stupid cloth in Kingdom Hearts. Now I need to find some coconuts.

I'm surprised no one asked of who Kaiyou was referring when he told Shayla that he couldn't be captured. (No way in Hell. You keep that thing away from me. I can't be captured. If I am, then he'll be pissed at me. I can't. No. You keep that ultra ball away from me.)

Oh well. Thank you for all of your kind words and such! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own all the things I said I did in the last chapter. And I don't own all of the things I said I didn't. Yes.

Price for Freedom

Chapter 12

A Short Interlude

After Shayla had captured Kaiyou, we raced to the Sootopolis Poke Center, the cage of baby darks in Shayla's hands. The Nurse Joy had asked us about it, but Shayla didn't pay any heed to her as she darted for the PC. She had told us that she had to get Kaiyou out of the storage before Professor Oak found him.

By this time, Tai and Kazu were awake. As Shayla furiously typed in commands at the computer, Tai limped up to my side. I frowned slightly; he wasn't acting like himself since he woke up. He was very… tranquil.

"What's she doing?" he asked softly. "Did she catch something?"

I nodded. He looked at me and then asked, "Well? What did she get?"

A small frown formed on my face. "Kaiyou."

"Oh… okay…" At first, he didn't seem to understand what I said. But then he did a double take. "WHAT!? KAIYOU?!"

I sighed. "Yes, while you were still passed out. Shayla wanted to help him because he was hurt so bad, but he wouldn't cooperate. So… she caught him."

Tai was about to say something when I heard a strange sound come from the PC. I looked up and saw an old man in the monitor. Apparently, that was the world-famous Professor Oak. I chuckled. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Shayla," he half-cried, "What in the world have you sent me?!"

"Uh…" Shayla's voice was small and meek. Not at all what her normal voice sounded like. "Well… I really don't know what to tell you… but I need him transferred over to me. I'm sending Kazu over to you." She then turned to us and temporarily ignored the Professor's cries of panic. "Kazu, come on."

Kazu, who had been standing behind me, stepped forward. I was sad; Kazu was now a good friend. I hated to see him leave. But now he'll be able to see his mom again, so I guess it works out, I thought. It made sense, though. Kazu was still a little weak from his injuries, and Shayla didn't want to risk more injuries.

"Well, see ya, guys," he said. He waved good-bye with his tail and then disappeared in red light as he retreated into his poke ball. My focus went back to the PC, where the professor was still in hysterics. Shayla picked up Kazu's poke ball and set it down on a grooved steel counter.

"I'm sending him over to you, Professor," she said calmly. "Now, will you send me the one I just caught?"

"Send him to you?" asked the professor. "No! He must be examined! I've never seen one like this before! Why, he looks a bit like a mutated umbreon, but I have to investigate! And he's so strong -how did you catch him!? He's stronger than any other pokemon I've ever run across, that's for sure!"

Shayla's eye twitched and her voice went from meek to deadly. "Professor…"

Professor Oak sighed. "Oh alright. But you have to let me study him further later on. Alright?"

Shayla rolled her eyes. "Fine. Just send him to me."

The professor heaved a deep sigh and then began to klack at his keyboard. The PC made some strange noises, and then Kazu's poke ball disappeared. In a second, a new one, an ultra ball appeared. I looked in the monitor and saw Kazu's poke ball arrive in Pallet town.

"Well, gotta go, Professor! Lots of things to do! Take care of Kazu!" Shayla picked up Kaiyou's ultra ball and shut the monitor off as Professor Oak waved good bye. Then she turned to us. "I need all of you to get in your poke balls… I need Nurse Joy to heal you."

She took out our poke balls and we retreated back into the red light until she called for us again.

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It was nighttime when we got back out. I felt refreshed like never before -that Nurse Joy really knew how to get a pokemon better. I looked around at my new surroundings -we were now in a forest. Shoko must have flown us here, I thought. I took a sniff, and then was struck with de ja vu. I pushed the feeling aside as I stretched out and purred a little. I felt great. Unfortunately, Tai heard me purr.

"Wow, the Mighty Xena purrs?" he asked from his food bowl. "That's just simply amazing -I never thought she could do anything other than kick people's asses."

I glared. So much for my good mood. "What's this? Tai, having more than three brain cells? I thought the only thing he could do was eat and be annoying."

Tai shrugged. "Hey, at least I can do more than one thing."

I sighed deeply and allowed Tai to win that particular battle. Shayla handed me my own bowl of food, and then went to a tree. A figure was lounging amidst the limbs, and I guessed who it could have been.

"Kaiyou," Shayla said, "You really need to eat. You were healed a bit from the Poke Center, but you're still weak. You can't stress your body while it's trying to heal."

I saw a glint in his human eyes as he glared down at my trainer from his perch on the tree. "I know. But I'm not going to lower myself to the level of eating 'food' that's processed from cardboard. Isn't that also straining myself -eating shit like that?"

Tai growled. "She makes it herself, moron. And she doesn't use cardboard."

Kaiyou's glare turned to the jolteon. "Oh? And how would she know what real food is supposed to taste like? What if I don't want to be served? What if I want to hunt? What does she know about anything? Tell me, jolteon, did you like the food she set before you when you first tried it, or did you have to lower your standard for food so you could eat it?"

Tai growled again, and I noticed his fur became like spikes. "You know, you are really pissing me off! Why don't you get off that high horse of yours and eat?! She makes due with what she has!"

Kaiyou sighed and leaned back. "No need to get angry, jolteon. I'm just asking some questions."

Amburna, who had been sitting near Shayla's spot near the fire, looked back at Tai and scowled. "Yes. He's just trying to rile you up. Don't get angry, that's just going along with him -you're doing what he wants you to do."

Tai growled again and then spit a lugie near Kaiyou's tree. Then, he began to eat again, although he kept his fur in spikes. I looked up to Kaiyou, who then smiled slightly and then turned away. Shayla sighed and then sat back down.

"Well, I have some meat rations if you want them, Kaiyou. If not, then you can go ahead and hunt. Just try to stay around here, I don't want anyone to see you. That might be a problem…?"

Kaiyou had transformed into his true form and was eating Shayla's food. She stared at him blankly, and then asked, "What… What are you doing? I thought…"

He looked up from his bowl. (What? I'm hungry. You really don't expect me to pass up food when I don't even have to work for it, do you?) Saji snickered -I guessed he got the joke. Tai didn't though.

"Then why the hell were you telling us all that crap earlier, huh?! Why didn't you just come down and eat and made it easier for all of us?!" Kaiyou looked over to the jolteon.

Then, I saw a slight smirk cross his face. (Why, to piss you off. It worked wonderfully. Now if you don't mind, I would like to finish my meal.) And with an air of calmness, he went back to eating. Tai was furious for the rest of the night. Of course, that just made me snicker all the more.

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It was now morning. After Shoko did a scout around the area, Shayla decided to leave us all out of our poke balls. Tai was still mad about the night before, but Kaiyou didn't seem to recall any of it. He was acting completely different than what I expected him to when I first met him. I thought he was going to be quite the rebellious Legendary, but he surprised me by being a gentleman, other than the night before, of course. I supposed he got over his loathing of being captured and was now "going with the flow", so to speak.

He was walking ahead of the main bulk of the group in his true form. In the daylight, I could really see the damage that had been done to him. He was still limping a bit, but it was so subtle that I couldn't really tell which leg was hurting him. His coat wasn't as shiny and glossy as I remembered it the first time I saw him, because it was matted with dry blood and marred with wounds. Seeing him like that made me feel… sad…

Tai came up behind me and smiled. "Aww… does Xena have a crush?"

I blinked. Had he… just… "What?"

Tai smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I can see it. You keep on staring at him like if you stop, you'll die. I know what that means. You're in lo-ove."

My mouth agape, my eyes wide, I stopped in my tracks and stared incredulously into Tai's face. "With who, exactly?" I asked, a little perturbed that he suggest such a ludicrous thing like me being in love.

"With the Legendary, of course," Tai said casually. "Or… is it someone else?"

I shook my head. "You know when I said you had three brain cells?"

Tai blinked. "Yes."

"Well, I've demoted you to negative twelve. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard -me, having a crush! That's so… so…"

"True!" Tai shouted. "I know it! I can see it in your eyes!"

"In my eyes?" I nearly shouted. "No, what you're seeing in my eyes right now is annoyance. Shut up, will you? You're giving me a headache."

Tai pranced around me happily. "Demi's in lo-ove! Demi's in lo-ove!"

"Shut up, will you!?" I cried. "I am NOT in love! And if you say that I am one more time, I'll beat your annoying ass into the ground!"

He stopped his prancing and came face to face with me. "You'd like that would you? 'Cause then you get to see my sexy ass."

I stared at him for a while. "You sick freak."

Kaiyou, who had apparently been listening, chimed in. (Jolteon, she's not in love.) He looked over his shoulder, and then smirked in a way that made me feel a little uncomfortable. (At least not with me.)

Tai's smile grew wider, if that was physically possible. "What's this?! Now this is a wonderful twist! So who is it, Demi? Kazu? Shoko? ….Amburna?"

"NO!" I shouted. "NO! NOT ANYONE!"

Tai's smirk twisted into an evil grin. "I know who it is."

I sighed deeply and glared at him. "Who?" I asked through clenched teeth.

He leaned in close. "It's me, isn't it?"

My face formed a scowl. For some reason, when he said that, my heart gave a jolt. Instead of showing it, I rolled my eyes and said without much enthusiasm, "Am I really that transparent? I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby." With that said, I brushed past him and Kaiyou and furiously stomped into the forest. I had never been so pissed off in my life.

Behind me, I could hear Tai and Kaiyou chuckling.

Stupid boys…

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Whee! That was a bunch of fun! Now, see? Kaiyou DOESN'T have a stick up his arse! He's actually a fun-loving guy. I love him. ::huggles Kaiyou:: I was really looking forward to writing this chapter. It really was a bunch of fun.

Well, school is now… two days away. ::shudders:: Hate. I'll try to keep writing as much as I can. Until next time…

Ja ne!