Chapter 25: Battle Plans
(***)
Claire slept solidly through the night, and only regained consciousness sometime mid-morning of the day after.
I heard movement in the bedroom and scrambled off the couch and towards it as fast as I could. After opening the door with more force than intended—I was still getting used to this new body—I stepped inside the bedroom.
Claire yawned, raising her head.
"Noël?" she croaked, blinking sleepily.
'How do you feel?' I asked rushing to her side.
"Awful," she admitted.
'What can I get you?' I asked, taking a half-step towards the door.
"Food and water," she said with a groan, stretching her arms. I nodded, grabbing her empty mug and dashing back out to the kitchen and passing Drifloon on my way.
Hilton, who currently sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal, looked up in surprise.
'Claire's up!' I said, opening various cabinets in search of a cup. 'How are you feeling this morning, Hilton?' I asked with a yawn.
"I've got a few scrapes from the cave still, and I swear I can still taste that gross lake water," he said, with a quiet laugh. "Mostly tired and sore. How about you? I know you said you were down on psychic energy or whatever after the whole Ice Path thing, and then the whole lake thing happened," he said, taking another spoonful of cereal.
I shrugged, filling Claire's cup with water from the faucet. 'About the same, I guess.'
"How is she—" Hilton cut his sentence short. I turned around in curiosity, only to be confronted with the reason. Claire stood in the doorway, surveying the scene.
'Claire, you should still be in bed!' I cried, nearly dropping the ceramic mug.
She ignored my protest by taking unsteady steps towards the kitchen table, selecting the chair furthest from Hilton. He averted his eyes back to the cereal bowl. He'd noticed.
I felt a presence lurking outside of the kitchen. Directing my attention in its direction, I said, 'Lawrence, why don't you join us?' projecting it into everyone's heads, so they all could hear.
"You've become cockier since your evolution," he commented dryly, sidling into the room and taking a chair between Claire and Hilton.
'Growing three feet taller can do that,' I replied, handing the mug of water to Claire.
"When did you get back, Lawrence?" Hilton asked, trying to change the tone of the conversation. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Recently," was all he said. "We need to discuss our future plans," he said, making eye contact with Claire.
'Woah woah woah! You may be ready to go, but the three if us are still exhausted! We need time to heal!' I protested, taking the final seat at the table. Arceus, it was good not to have to crawl up onto chair anymore.
"Every moment we delay is another moment Reliance could be kidnapping and experimenting on humans and pokémon," Lawrence said, raising his voice in frustration.
"I agree," said a quiet voice from across the table. That it came from Claire surprised both me and Lawrence. She looked up at us. "I don't know what Reliance is planning with Dialga, but it's going to be big, and it's going to be soon," she said grimly.
'Claire, you can't be serious! You want to take on Reliance now? We just got you away from those maniacs!' I cried, throwing my hands into the air in disbelief.
"They still have the rest of our team, remember Noël?" she asked quietly, and my stomach twisted as their visages flashed through my brain. Of course I wanted to save them too, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack, except the haystack tried to eat you every time you got near it. We were more likely to get recaptured or even die in the process than actually succeed. "And with Dialga's power," Claire continued, "who knows what they can do…"
'Dialga can control time itself! Why can't he just help himself out? He's a god for Arceus's sake!' I said.
"Years ago Team Galactic proved controlling him was possible," Lawrence said.
"And they took the pieces of the red chain I had," Claire mumbled.
'So what if they can keep him from escaping. They can't force him to do anything!' I said. This was lunacy.
"Team Flare figured out how," Hilton mumbled, finally speaking. All eyes turned to him. "It's true," he said with a shrug. "They learned how to contain and use Yveltal and Xernea's power," he said.
'All their equipment was destroyed years ago,' I said, though by now I was only trying to convince myself that it couldn't be true.
"Remember when we found the admins?" Hilton said, "If they have Colress working for them, they'll probably figure it out soon enough. Besides, they might have some of the Flare scientists too."
I swallowed hard this wasn't good. Claire lifted her head in curiosity, still unable to look at Hilton. "You fought the admins?" she asked. "Who were they? What did they look like?"
Lawrence gave a cold laugh. "You should know."
Claire turned on him. "After I was captured, I knew they'd never release me, so instead of sitting around and waiting to be experimented on, I played the good soldier," she hissed. "I did whatever they asked me to because I thought I could learn some information that would help the League take them down. You see where that got me," she growled.
I felt my chest constrict at that. Okay, so she had joined Reliance, but it was as a spy. Still, how could she…? What did they make her do? Nameless fears swirled around in the pit of my stomach as I tried to swallow this new information.
Lawrence's only response to Claire's speech was an icy glare.
"So we did see you in Castelia. That wasn't a hallucination," Hilton murmured.
"You guys were in Castelia during the big fight?" she asked, looking at me with surprise.
I nodded. 'It's where we—Cenric, Hilton, and I—found the admin meeting. We fought with Saturn, and he beat us pretty bad,' I admitted, playing with my hands.
"But Noël evolved into a kirlia there!" Hilton chimed in.
'And Hilton helped us escape from Cyan's goons,' I added.
"Cyan?" Claire asked, going stiff.
"A friend of yours?" Lawrence sneered.
"She's the one who captured us originally," Claire said, frowning and gestured to Hilton and I. "I haven't really seen her since then. She's the leader of Reliance."
Hilton and I frowned at that.
'Are you sure about that?' I asked. 'I'm almost positive she takes orders from someone else,' I said.
Claire sighed. "It's possible. Shows how much they told me," she said bitterly.
"Surely, you must have some information," Lawrence pressed. "What were they doing in Castelia? In the Ice Path?"
"Same thing they always do. Kidnap people and experiment on them," she said, clenching her fist and looking away.
"But why? For what purpose?" Lawrence asked, leaning in.
Claire slammed her fist on the table, rattling the spoon in Hilton's bowl. "I told you, they wouldn't tell me! It was all 'lift that crate' or 'keep watch' or 'attack anyone who isn't wearing orange'. When they finally started to give me jobs involving the experiments, they asked me to hold someone down while they worked on him. I couldn't do it, they found out I was faking, and the rest is history," she said, laying her head on the table. I swallowed hard. That story sounded familiar.
"The guy who they asked you to experiment on…he didn't happen to have black hair and purple eyes, did he?" Hilton asked softly.
Claire looked up for a moment, locking eyes with him before quickly averting her gaze. "No. Why?"
Hilton sighed, running a hand through his hair. "At Castelia, Reliance recaptured a friend of ours. We—Noël saw him last night, but we couldn't save him then either…" he said trailing off.
"Cenric," she concluded, and Hilton nodded.
"He told us to meet him in Mahogany Town, but Lawrence can't find any trace of Reliance or Cenric," Hilton said bitterly. "And if Lawrence is right, and Mahogany Town is secretly run by Reliance agents…" he trailed off.
"We should at least try," Claire said, looking to me and Lawrence for confirmation.
Lawrence nodded, cracking one of his wicked grins. "Any opportunity to damage Reliance is fine by me."
'You're all insane!' I said, rubbing my temples. 'Claire, you need to let that leg heal, and Hilton, you promised me you'd go to the hospital if the mutation got too bad.'
Claire frowned and Hilton groaned. "I thought you were off that! I told you it was a one time thing. I was just cold and hungry, that's all," he protested. "Besides, Heal Pulse worked on me, remember?"
'After the third try,' I cried. 'Hilton, if we get into a fight and you pass out again, I won't be able to spend that much energy and time trying to heal you. Besides, what if it gets worse?' I said, trying to get reason inside this thick skull.
"It does sound like it would be for the best," Claire said softly, staring past Hilton at the wall behind.
Hilton brows crashed down onto his eyes, lips raising in a snarl that crinkled his nose. "I'm going to fight Reliance, and I am going to save Cenric, and if I don't go with you, I'll go by myself," he said, clenching his fists in frustration. I could feel how our comments had wounded him.
"The boy has a right to make his own decisions, and I will not force him to go to the hospital against his wishes," Lawrence said casually, relaxing back in his chair.
I glared in his direction. Of course Lawrence would care more about Reliance than Hilton's personal safety. 'Fine, let's say we storm Mahogany Town and save Cenric, what then? Find their headquarters and attack it with our five-man army?' I asked. 'It's ludicrous!'
"Do you know where their headquarters is?" Lawrence asked Claire, eyes lighting up. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Of course that's what he wanted to do.
Claire sighed, massaging her temples. "I just don't know. They said a lot about Hoenn, but I'm not sure if that's because that's where they're headquartered, or if they're shutting down bases there just like they are here in Johto."
'Oh, yeah! Let's just pop by Mahogany Town, beat up some Reliance grunts, then take a quick swim over to Hoenn to take down their headquarters. We'll be finished by lunch for sure!' I said with a forced laugh.
"In really isolated towns like Mahogany Town, Pokémon Centers sometimes lend out flying pokémon because the terrain is so rough," Claire said, tapping her fingers on the table as she began to formulate a plan. "We wouldn't have to swim…"
"When should we leave?" Hilton asked
"How about immediately?" Lawrence suggested with a too-eager smile,
'How about never?' I retorted, glaring at him. 'Stop encouraging them, Lawrence! They're going to get themselves killed.'
"You are not obligated to come with us, Noël," Lawrence said, maintaining his casual air, but the smile left his eyes. His stared at me, but I broke his gaze and looked to Claire.
"Noël," Claire said softly, looking up from the table, "I won't make you stay if you don't want to. I'm sure I can figure out a way to send you back to my parents' house…"
I scoffed at that. 'I just found you and you think you're going to get rid of me that easily?'
Claire smiled one of her first genuine smiles and relief flickered across her face. Had she actually thought I'd abandoned her? Well, I guess if she'd made that offer to me two weeks ago, I would've taken it, but now…now I was in too deep to turn back. For better or for worse.
"We never came to a decision," Hilton said, "when do we leave?"
"How about an hour from now?" Claire suggested, looking to Lawrence for confirmation.
'How about two days from now,' I grumbled. 'Claire, you still have trouble walking, and it's still raining outside.'
"Actually," Lawrence cut in, "it ceased shortly before I returned." Before I could growl at Lawrence for his tireless efforts to oppose me, Hilton jumped in again.
"How about we compromise and say three hours from now," he said, looking around at us hopefully.
Lawrence sighed, "I suppose it will have to do, but be warned, since we are at the Lake of Rage, the journey to Mahogany Town will be long and arduous."
'And you're the only one strong enough to make the trip right now,' I said. 'See, this is why I said wait a couple days.'
Hilton rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know you can't carry us together, but could you fly us there one by one?" he asked, pushing his slipping glasses back up his deformed nose.
Lawrence scowled at him in response. "I am a powerful psychic legendary, not a taxi service as you seem to believe."
"Come on, Lawrence," Hilton begged, "You said yourself it'd take us a couple days. Do you really want to wait that long?"
Lawrence contemplated his proposal, crossing his arms and tapping a finger against his upper arm. "Fine," he said at last, and I saw Hilton visibly relax in the corner of my eye. "But know this," Lawrence continued, assuming a more serious tone. "I will not be reduced to your transportation. I will do so solely because it benefits me also, understand?"
Hilton and I nodded obediently, but Claire looked like she'd just bitten into something sour. "Alright," said Claire clapping her hands together and pushing herself out of the chair, "The people who own this cabin, what did they say we could use?" she asked, asking Lawrence rather than Hilton.
Lawrence cracked a grin, and Hilton flushed. "Ummm…" he stated, suddenly appearing fascinated with his fingernails, "Well, they weren't using it so we figured—"
"Arceus, you broke in‽" Claire stammered, eyes wide. She looked to Hilton for a moment, but when he lifted his head to meet her gaze, she broke the contact, turning away and pacing around the room. "We could get arrested for this if the police find us," she murmured.
"If" Lawrence emphasized, still smiling and baring his pointed incisors in the process. "Besides, the police is far too preoccupied with Reliance to care about a minor inconvenience like this," he said brushing it off.
"Minor?" Claire sputtered, whirling around to face him. "It's breaking and entering!" she exclaimed, sinking back down onto her chair and laying her head on the table.
"Well, they might not plan on coming back, so—" Hilton started to suggested, but Claire cut him off without even looking up from the table.
"Use your brain for once Hilton. They left the water and the power on. They left food in the fridge and clothes in the bedroom," she said in exasperation. "You don't do that unless you plan on coming back sooner rather than later."
"Oh. Right." Hilton looked as embarrassed as I felt.
"Restocking our supplies would be harmless," Latios said with an irritated sigh. "If the humans can afford two homes, I sure they can afford to lose a few trivial possessions. If it truly means that much to you, leave them some of your currency," he said, standing to his feet.
"I-I can't," Claire admitted, finally raising her head to stare at him. "Reliance took all my possessions when they captured me," she confessed. "I'm not even sure what they did to my original clothes once they gave me the uniform to wear."
"I have a little cash," Hilton said, also standing up to go run for his pack. Claire opened her mouth, as if she wanted to stop him, but the words caught in her throat.
"While the two humans pack, I will take Noël to Mahogany Town," Lawrence said, glancing over in my direction with a bored expression. The first syllables of objection passed Claire's lips, but Lawrence silenced her with a wave of his hand. "He doesn't know how to pack, but he is also the only one besides myself who could stand his ground alone if attacked by Reliance grunts, therefore making him the obvious choice."
Claire nodded slowly, but still grimaced in distaste.
I started to object in her place, but Lawrence silenced me with a pointed glare. "Every moment we waste on sentimentality, something horrible could be happening to Cenric, can you accept that?"
'No…' I grumbled, looking down at my feet.
"Good," Lawrence said with a nod, "Then come with me."
##~~~Bonus Scene~~~##
Hilton bumbled around the bathroom, combing through the medicine cabinet for things they might need. They might need a lot of things, but unfortunately, Hilton was the only one with a bag. Maybe he could buy one for Claire in Mahogany Town? He thought back to his significantly emptier wallet now that a wad of cash lay on the coffee table with a note. Then again, maybe not.
Gathering an armful of would-be essentials, he carried them out to the living room, dumping them in the pile they'd amassed.
Drifloon watched blankly from the couch while Claire sat cross-legged on the rug with his backpack open and empty at her side. She was determined to cram as much into it as it physically would allow.
"Noël and Lawrence should be there by now, maybe he's already on the way back," Hilton commented, shuffling awkwardly. His voice came out all wrong. He'd developed a sort of faint lisp since the mutation, and his lungs rattled when he breathed. It sounded disconcerting at best.
Claire didn't respond to his speculation in any form, instead, she continued to sort the objects into several piles, probably by importance.
"Are you worried about him? Noël, I mean. Lawrence doesn't need anyone to worry about him," Hilton said, forcing a smile at his own lame attempt at a joke.
"No," Claire mumbled, never looking up.
Sighing, Hilton lowered himself to the floor, sitting himself across the pile from her. "Claire," he called.
She continued to sort, but managed a faint "yes?"
"Claire," Hilton called again, this time louder.
Claire paused, staring at the potion in her hand. "Yes Hilton, I hear you."
"Look at me," Hilton said quietly.
Claire closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before looking up. Her eyes flashed over his face, and he watched as she tried to keep her face even.
"I still jump when I look in the mirror sometimes," Hilton said, words spilling out before he even knew what he was saying. "When I see myself in a puddle of water or in a window, I jump and think there's a monster, but then I realize it's me." He paused, and Claire had the chance to stop him but stayed silent. Hilton didn't even look up to see what her face must've looked like now. Arceus, she hated him and for good reasons.
"I-I wear a mask in public, so people don't automatically freak out, you know?" Hilton continued, not sure where he was even going with this. "I see myself in the mirror, and I just want to quit. I want to give in like Noël says and go to the hospital. Maybe they could fix me, ya know?" he stammered. "But…" he twisted a burn heal in his hands, trying to find the words. "I'm afraid of being stuck like this forever, but I'm even more afraid they'll do it to my friends and family," he said, in a voice barely audible. "Thank Arceus we found you when we did, but they could be operating on Cenric right now, and what if they succeed? What if they start kidnapping ordinary people like my family? I-I can't let that happen…I can't let them do this to anyone else," he said.
When he finished, silence rang out. Anxiously, he peaked up over the rim of his glasses to gauge Claire's reaction. She made patterns in the rug with her fingers, wearing an inscrutable expression. "So…" she said slowly, breaking the heavy silence, "You're not coming along just to follow me anymore?" she asked in a mumble.
"No," was all that Hilton could manage.
(***)
A/N: There we go, that's most of the talking out of the way. Time for action again? Maybe? Also a couple more disagreements this chapter and we finally get to see more of Claire's personality come out. Is she what you thought she'd be? Do you think Lawrence's suspicion of her is justified? What about their decision to go to Mahogany Town even in their weakened states?