"Why do you need to know about the Hallowed Church?" Sycamore asked Amber. She had called him right after Sapphire left.
"A friend of ours was attacked and-" Amber started.
Sycamore paled. "Your friend was attacked? And your sure it was them?"
"She seemed sure." Braedon said.
"Where is she now?" Sycamore asked urgently.
"Why, Professor?" Argent asked. "What is wrong?"
"You must find her immeadiately!" Sycamore cried. "She is in danger!"
Amber felt her heart accelerate. "What?" Amber asked.
"The Hallowed Church has a reputation." Sycamore said. "They leave no survivors. If she escaped them..."
"Then they'll be after her." Argent finished. "Professor, we have to go."
Amber hung up and turned to her friends. "I don't have her number!" she cried. "But the Hotel she's staying at isn't that far away. Especially if we take a cab."
Rios didn't want to make this call. He especially didn't want to make it in a place as dark and putrid as the place they were in.
"Why do I have to do it?" he whined, holding his nose.
Scarlett rolled her eyes lazily. She was filing her nails with a glare, as if they had personally offended her. "Because I don't want to." she didn't seem affected by the smell at all. Not to mention she was filing her nails in the dark.
He snorted. "As long as it's fair..."
Rios dialed the number. Andreas picked up automatically.
"Yes? Did you fix your screw up?" he asked before he could say anything.
"Hello to you too." Rios muttered.
"Don't sass me, Rios." Andreas chided. "Did you find her?"
"Yes, we got the girl who escaped." Rios said. "But that's not why I'm calling."
"Then why?" Andreas asked.
"Well, while we were surveying the girl, we saw her with three certain individuals." Rios said.
"You mean those Fairy brats who took down Masa? Gale told us to just leave them alone." Andreas said.
"No, not them." Rios said. This is why he was so hesitant to call. Andreas was always looking for a reason to berate them. "The three trainers who Sycamore entrusted with the Pokedexes. The ones who took down Mulan."
"Oh, them. Gale hates them." Andreas said, his interest piqued. "What are they odds that they would be here? Gale was just about to send another operative after them. But if our team can bring the Pokedexes in and save Gale the trouble..."
"Just what I was thinking." Rios said eagerly. "So, are you giving us the green light?"
"Yes. I will call Gale and tell her." Andreas said. Then, in a louder voice, he said: "And Scarlett is in charge."
"Do I have to?" Scarlett said boredly, inspecting her nails.
"Yes, Scarlett." Andreas said. "I don't want this screwed up."
"Then why is Rios here?" Scarlett asked, showing amusement only in her eyes. She didn't smile.
"Haha. Funny." Rios glowered at her. "Almost as funny as the thought of me listening to you."
"Behave, you two." Andreas said before he hung up.
"Alright." Scarlett said. "My first order of business as leader... Is to put you in charge. Do whatever."
Rios clapped his hands together. "Yay! We're going to have so much fun with these children!"
Scarlett almost smiled at that.
"You're sure you haven't seen that girl?" Amber asked the receptionist again.
"Look," she said. "According to my computer, a Sapphire Anderson never checked in. Sorry."
Amber turned back to her friends, moving out of the way as she did so, so the people behind her in line could talk to the receptionist.
"Any luck?" Amber asked Braedon.
He shook his head. "Nope. She's not picking up het Holo."
"Soshe never checked in last night," Argent said, "and she isn't picking up her Holo. That makes the chances of her being in danger high. We should call the police now."
Braedon nodded, then started dialing. But then he stopped as his ring started to play. "She's calling!" he gasped.
"Answer it!" Amber said urgently.
Braedon gave her a look. "No Amber, I think I'm just gonna hang up- of course I'm answering it!"
He put the phone to his ear. "Sapphire? Where are you? I know we're not friends ir anything but you could at least pick up when I call-" he stopped, and the blood drained from his face.
"What is wrong?" Amber asked.
He hung up the phone.
"Braedon, what is it?" Argent asked. "Is she okay?"
Braedon shook his head. "No. And neither are we."
"What?" Amber asked.
"The person on the phone..." Braedon started. "Wasn't Sapphire. It was her kidnapper. He says that he wants us to meet him with our Pokedexes or he'll kill Sapphire. And if we call the police, she dies."
A/N: Will they be able to save Sapphire? And what are Rios and Scarlett planning? Read and review to find out!"
A/N 2: Sorry about such a short chapter. Originally it was twice as long, but then I reread the latter half of the chapter (the start of the battle) and hated it. So I'm reposting it as a new chapter later on this week. Sorry guys. It's just I really wanted to post as many chapters as possible before school starts, and now I think I'm barely going to post any. Grr.