Hi there! So, now that we've hit the official climax of the 1st book of the Evoverse, I'm gonna be having fun with my writing! So, we left off at our heroes held captive under Fiona's whims. We'll see what happens in Chapter 24!
Chapter 24: A Serum
The words that Fiona spoke sent a shockwave down Ash's spine. She was really, truly insane. He opened his mouth to say something, but she continued speaking.
"Or," she said, and the single word raised the hairs on the back of Ash's neck.
"Or, why do I even need your puny little will? I could still use a few strong Pokemon to help me kill the others. But, since they will heed no one's words but yours, I need you! After all, as they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer!" she howled, and laughed again. Her blue eyes were fractured.
"Just so you know, what she's saying is currently being broadcast to the entire world," a jarringly familiar voice drawled. Speakshow stepped out of the shadows. Unlike Fiona, he didn't look mad in the least. He looked hungry for power. Power that sat in the woman next to him.
"I knew it!" Brock hissed, while Gary and Clemont exhaled sharply. Now all of Speakshow's honeyed words and strange tones of voice made perfect sense. He had been in league with Fiona all along.
"YOU!" Lucas gasped, staring in absolute horror at Speakshow. "You were with her all along!" Meera gasped, her hand firmly held by her twin's.
"Where there's power, there's victory, my dears. You should know that, being trainers of those infernal beings," Speakshow said.
"They're not infernal beings! They're our friends! They have as much of a right to live here as we do!" Ash yelled, his eyes blazing.
"What you say doesn't matter. You cannot defeat me. It is impossible!" Fiona said, her voice low and cold.
Suddenly, Clemont paled.
"The explosion!" he whispered.
Fiona's mouth began to curve into a smile.
"Ah, the blonde is smart. I could've just hit you in your necks, but you see, the little grenade I threw in the stadium contained a gas that would affect the drinkers of the serum. You see, if I spray another gas here, right now, your bodies will react, and you will see things that will force you to bend your will to mine. After that, you will do as I say, and if you dare disobey, it will be another round. Don't try to work your way around. The serum contains many drugs that induce hallucination. Legal drugs, mainly used for sedatives, but if mixed correctly, will have highly hallucinogenic properties. The only drug in it that is actually a drug is an extract of the Kineva plant. This clever little drug makes the user hallucinate, but the user is aware of the hallucination.
It was needed in trace amounts for you to be able to shake off your visions in the battle round," she finished.
By now, she looked really, truly insane. Every line if her face was contorted into a bruised, mangled version of a smile. Her eyes were wide, her pupils miniscule black dots. Her hands made clawlike gestures as she laughed, Speakshow applauding her.
Bonnie clung to Clemont, her eyes wide. Clemont wished for something, anything that would let her get out of here.
Almost as if the Fates wished to mock him, Fiona's crazed eyes landed on Bonnie.
"A little sister!" she said, giggling.
"Come here, little one," she drawled, and vines lashed around Bonnie and lifted her up to where Fiona stood, and the latter wrapped an arm around her. Bonnie began to cry.
"Let her go!" Clemont shouted, his voice raw.
"Only when I'm done!" she crowed.
"You're outta your mind!" Gary shouted.
"Impertinence! How dare you disrespect me!" Fiona yelled, her eyes blazing with icy fire. Her mood seemed to have shifted from euphoric to furious.
It was so long ago.
She still remembered the howls of Yveltal as it tore through the village, real, living, breathing people turning into lifeless stone statues, their faces frozen with fear, mouths open or closed, some even looking mildly surprised.
Everything was purple and gray. There was no life left. Even the brilliant stone staues had turned purple and gray. Gray stone turned grayer, all foliage turned purple, black, gray or stark white. She crouched behind a rock, hoping and praying that this embodiment of death wouldn't see her, wouldn't end her life with one purple death ray.
"Fiona?" Speakshow asked.
She turned to face him. "Yes?"
"Shoudn't we get started?" he asked, his eyes questioning.
"Oh!" she said.
Speakshow looked at her promptingly.
"Yes!" she said, shaking out her long, dark hair. "Now where was I?" she said with all the warmth and normalcy of someone discussing the weather over lunch, not someone who was about to kill off every Pokemon in existence.
The sheer weirdness of it made Serena want to laugh. But imagining Pokemon dead? It wiped the smile clean off her face.
Its eyes, crazed, turned towards her.
The stadium was in ruins. One of the walls was in shreds, decorating the rest of the stadium with shrapnel, wire and dust.
A huge crater was in the centre of the field, a smoking hole in the centre showing the bomb had fallen.
The Professors from Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Johto and Kanto stared in shock at the scenario, when a female voice spoke behind them.
"Excuse me,".
They turned to find Delia standing there, her eyes bright.
"They have taken my son captive, haven't they?" she whispered, her eyes unnaturally bright.
They could do nothing but nod.
"Oh, Fiona! What have you done?" she breathed, her face pale.
Ash stared at Fiona, his eyes wide. Killing off Pikachu and the others was horrible enough, but somehow, the fact that Serena was here terrified him to the point that it scared him.
Suddenly, Fiona smirked. A cannula shot up her nose, and she began to scream.
Author's Note: Things escalated fast now, didn't they! A warm welcome back, and a hopefully good climax! I tried to give a little of Fiona's history to you, and yes, Speakshow is a traitor. Come on, I dropped a zillion hints along the way. Now, then, I can't say much, except for the fact that there is a connection between Delia and Fiona.
Now, a big, fat thank you to all of my brilliant readers, and another huge thanks to Amourshiper35, Rajiv A. Rajaram, YellowFlashCannon, Strawhat Quilava and 1 guest was reviewing! You have no idea how happy I was to get so many reviews! Thank you!
Review and keep smiling,
Leaflame.