:~Belated AN~:
Er- Hi there! Um... yes. Well. I'm not dead yet? I'll explain later. Please enjoy this for now.
Yes, yes... I think I'll explain later. From a safe distance. In a different dimension. Yeah. That'll work...
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Shelly let out a laugh as she caught the flustered expression of the trapped young psychic.
"So… you two do this often?"
Tears of mirth sprung up in her eyes as the boy's face turned a bright red and sputtered, pretty halfhearted she noticed, denials fell from his lips.
"BWAAAAHAAAAHAAA!"
Shelly closed her eyes as the obnoxious laughter rang through the settling debris.
"SHUT UP SEAN! WE'VE WORK TO DO! GET THE KIDS OFF THE ROOF AND LETS BOOK IT!"
The burly man laughed and fussed with his bandanna for a moment
"Ah… you take away all of my fun Captain. Hoy! You lot! Get yer arses ova here 'fore I toss ya off da roof myself!"
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"So, when… think… wake up?"
'Who's talking so loudly?'
"LOOK! Eyes… ment… sign?"
'Argh! Voices! Shut up! No one likes you, go away!'
"Hit… ead… pretty hard. Still….ould be up…now. Ah, …think she's f… up!"
'Gah, its so bright! What's with all of the white?'
Alexza let out a moan as her eyes slammed shut, not wanting to deal with the consequences that came with being conscious.
"Some one turn off the light…"
"ALEXZA!"
The trainer winced and grabbed her fuzzy feeling head at the shout. She winced again as she was dog piled by her concerned friends.
"OOF! …Ow. Now that I'm up, does anyone want to tell me what's going on?"
Zinita and Liza started talking at the same time, while Olivia made some large obscure gestures with her arms, hands and even leg. Tate was… pouting(?) on the edges of the room a small flush lingering on his cheeks and neck. Zaku had clambered into the hospital bed with her and was now sitting and holding her hand tightly as he passed Alexza her pokemon.
"What happened to that Magma Admin? Heck, where's Team Aqua?"
A mix of guilty, angry, and resigned looks answered Alexza's question. There were several beats of silence, and eventually it was Olivia who spoke up.
"He got away… pulled out an Aerodactyl outta nowhere and flew off. After that, Team Aqua left like they said they were going to… but they made off with the Rocket Fuel. Sean mentioned something about a high-powered Submarine from Lilycove and something else about Sootopolis…'
The blonde shot into a sitting poison, startling Zaku who fell off of the bed with a small yelp. She regretted it seconds later, as the vertigo caught up with her. She rested for a moment with her head in her hands before looking up through her fingers at the psychic twins.
"You knew this was going to happen."
It wasn't a question, but the two nodded their replies all the same.
"We knew the two teams were going to attack… we knew that someone was going to be in danger. We just didn't know enough of the details."
Liza looked down as Alexza's gaze turned harsh. The blonde opened her mouth, a scathing remark most likely balanced on her tongue, but was stopped by Tate.
"She told you that we didn't know! We're not Sabrina, Alexza! We're not that good yet!"
Alexza swallowed, a bitter expression on her face.
"Yeah. I don't think anyone is."
Another pause.
"Do you know where they're all headed? For certain, I mean."
The twins exchanged glances and nodded.
"They're going to Mt. Pyre, and then they're going to make their way to Sootopolis City. Lilycove is a day away by boat… Sootopolis is two days by water on pokemon and then you need to be able to dive under to reach the town."
Tate picked up where his sister left off, lifting up a large lavender sack as he spoke.
"…we packed you some supplies and have the Dive HM ready to lend to you. That was going to be the last stop on the tour… just in case none of this had happened."
The crushed hope in the young boy's voice was enough to tell everyone in the room which one of the twins had foreseen the recent events. Alexza gave the psychics a small smile, and thanked them before shooing everyone out of the room so that she could change. She wasn't going to discuss battle plans in the skimpy hospital gown!
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Alexza sat down on Tate's bed and spread her fingers through Static's fur. They had decided to meet at the twin's house for more privacy and better access to the media then they would have had at the pokemon center.
"So. What's the vote? Do we catch them at Sootopolis, or head them off at Lilycove?"
In retrospect, it was a stupid question. The twins had already announced that they couldn't leave their town alone while their biggest attraction was still smoking and falling apart.
And the Shironi siblings lived in Lilycove.
Their votes were obvious; they wanted to head back and protect their home.
Olivia had protested, wanting to move ahead and set a trap for the criminal teams with the assistance of Sootopolis' leader. In the end, Olivia was over ruled by two large pairs of puppy dog eyes and the vows of eternal hatred made by the two Shironi children should she not acquiesce.
Within less than an hour of announcing their decision, the twins had procured a captain and a ship willing to take them back across to Lilycove as fast as the ship could travel. It helped to have a pair of gym leaders backing your case.
Unfortuneatly the actuality of the trip had hit a small snag, as Alexza experienced a sudden childish streak of behavior.
"No. I'm not getting back onto that hellish thing."
"But… Alexza, we've got to catch up to Team Magma!"
The blonde trainer had made a sorrowful sound deep in her throat before turning pleading eyes back at the two gym leaders. Olivia had narrowed her eyes at the sound, and at the odd expression, or truly lack there of, on Alexza's face.
'Something's not right here…'
However, before Olivia could act, Tate caved and left with Alexza to fetch an alternate means of transport for the scared blonde.
As the two passed, the purple haired aide overheard the psychic mutter something about a leftover water sled from their family's last vacation in Altomare.
And so Alexza was sent ahead with a hyper Guardian tugging her through the sea.
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The twelve year old looked back and drank in the sight of her friends waving to her on the pier. Alexza smiled once, really and truly smiled, before turning her attention to the next large wave she was going to have to jump.
'It's twenty minutes to Lilycove… but I need to go past there!'
Alexza nodded to herself, adjusting her old pokegear so that Guardian could hear his favorite song as it came out over the speakers and through her backpack. Alexza was very glad that she had thought to record her pokemon's favorite tunes last year, as her little mudfish gave a happy chirp and picked up speed, humming along with the song as he swam.
She sighed as her green eyes took in the raging ocean, the waters were rougher than she remembered on her journey out… but that could just be the change in tides. Or it could have to do with her small, bobbing sled. Alexza really had no concrete idea. Never the less, it was a rather monotonous trip.
Blue, blue, blue, big wave, blue, flying seaweed, dodge, swerve, recover, blue, blue, blue.
Green eyes dulled, if you've seen one wave you've seen 'em all. In fact, if it wasn't for the now persisting ache in her arms, Alexza would have fallen asleep.
With a sigh, she glanced cautiously at one of the fishing rod racks. The small sled had been slightly modified for fishing… but still really wasn't made for ocean travel. She wasn't sure how putting the reins down would affect her course, and wasn't willing to risk it. On the other hand, she also wouldn't be able to do much if she arrived with heavily aching arms or without the ability to send out her pokemon.
Still, she had time to juggle her decision. The other coast was still well out of sight and Alexza hazed a guess that it would be another ten or so minutes before she would be able to catch a glimpse of her destination.
A sudden stabbing of fresh pain shot down her left arm as the sled crashed down the back of a large wave. Alexza huffed and jammed the triangle shaped bar down over three fishing rod holders and winced as the raft swung around. The small craft dipped around, water sloshed at Alexza's sneakers, and the metal gave a strained 'eeek' for all of half a minute before the sled righted itself and carried on. Granting Alexza a small reprieve.
While Alexza wasn't sure how long it would be wise to leave the sled this way, she knew that it was going to be her best bet. She'd take up the reins again once she was closer.
'Almost there. It's almost over.'
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The small sled dipped down as Alexza launched herself off of it and onto the decaying pier in front of her.
Guardian was out and had already doused one overly curious vulpix into submission. Alexza shook her head, threw the pokeball, and continued walking after she head the 'click'.
'Once a trainer, always a trainer. But today, I'm a trainer second… and a sister first.'
A sudden shout reached the young girl's ears in time for her move out of the way of the shadow that had formed on the ground. The shout turned into a scream as it became louder and drew closer, and the shadow took on a distinct shape.
With a loud THUD accompanied by the sickening sound of snapping bones and the meaty sound of impacted flesh, a body landed a few feet away from where Alexza was now standing.
Her green eyes grew wide in confusion and horror, before taking in the Magama uniform that the apparent grunt was clothed in, and she turned to look up the mountain.
And saw nothing.
No signs of battle, no shouts, no screams.
Nothing.
Just jagged rock and an unearthly swirling mist…
'Just how tall is Mt. Pyre?'
Alexza swallowed before gathering her nerve and taking off at a fast clip towards the fancy doors that were provide for those mourning the buried pokemon on the island.
She paid no mind the numerous tombs around her, only focusing on the squeak her shoes made as the tiles flew beneath her feet. The squeaking stopped as the trainer flew out the doors and her running shoes dug into the dewy grass, searching for traction. Guardian was hot on her heels, switching to run rather awkwardly on all fours in effort to keep up with the pace his trainer had set. Alexza rounded a corner and started up the first of many staircases.
A feeling of dread was curling in her gut, and it was growing stronger with every passing moment.
'Something's happening… and it's not good. Faster, faster… gotta move faster!'
Two stairs at a time, another set, a landing, another set. Grass again, round the corner, jump out of the way of the wild pokemon – No time for random battles! – keep moving, always moving!
'This is getting ridiculous! I've been running up these stairs for-freaking-ever!'
Alexza stopped at the base of yet another landing, the seventh one she's hit, and gasped for breath. She looked down at the now sweat covered pokeball in her hand, and winced as she pried her stiff fingers off of it. She had taken it out to recall Guardian when it became obvious he couldn't keep up. Flexing the fingers of that hand, the blonde juggled the pokeball from left to right a few times before locking her fingers around it again and taking off.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Lub-Dub. Lub-Dub. Lub-Dub. Lub-Dub.
Her heart and body fell into the four beat rhythm that her running had turned into. Two more long staircases later, Alexza spotted a strange glow through the mist in front of her.
She slowed her pace as she walked off of the last few steps, before quickly moving towards the light.
Green eyes widened and glowed as the unreal sight of a monstrous blue Protect barrier loomed ahead and above her. It was insanely massive, there must have been at least twenty or more Pokémon being used to maintain it – forget what she could see through it.
Inside of the barrier was a cacophony of red and blue that surged backwards and forwards in jagged and smooth intervals. The tempo changed between the rigorous shakes of an earthquake, and the writhing of the sea that surrounded them all. Team Magma and Team Aqua members battled with everything they had.
Guns were being fired.
Pokémon were sent out.
Fists were flying and legs were kicking and total anarchy seemed to reign supreme.
There were no rules, no set opponents. The teams seemed to be mindlessly hitting whomever they could reach as hard as they possibly could.
Alexza frowned and released Static. She exchanged looks with the luxio as the electric cat sized up the barrier. His tell-tale blue electricity began to crackle through his fur, but was stopped short of his attack by Alexza raising her left hand.
'Okay. It's massive, but that means there are going to be weak links in it. After all, that grunt had to fall from somewhere. Lets find where.'
Alexza and Static crept around the barrier's perimeter and were surprisingly ignored by the overly hostile teams as they focused on beating the ever living daylights out of their rival.
Balancing on top of the scattered graves was more than a little unsettling, especially when that Dusclops had leapt out and swiped for her ankle, but it was effective. Alexza quickly scaled a small cliff next to a growing crack in the barrier, which was, unsettlingly enough, stained with splashes of blood.
Static unleashed the previously stored energy in a quick Charge Beam through the crack at the resting Mightyena. The already tired pokemon fainted and Alexza and Static quickly rushed through into the fray.
The blonde and her lion ran through and between battles, trying not to get involved and hoping they wouldn't be noticed. They had to dodge several attacks, flying bodies, body parts, and Alexzas' shirt was ripped by a deflected bullet. Fortunately the shirt was their only casualty, and the two made it to yet another stair way.
Alexza paused for half a second to look up in disbelief at the ridicuosly large mountain. How was it possible that there were more stairs to climb? Still this wasn't the place to stop and muse on the mysteries of the world, so on that note the blonde scurried up the steps, using her hands as much as her feet to scramble up the stone stairs as quickly as possible.
As Alexza reached top of the stairs, she paused and took in the sights that hit her as she reached the landing. The first of which was the red clad body flying at her head, the blonde squeaked and hit the ground just in time for the unfortunate Team Magma member to go flying down the stairs and land with a sickening crunch as his face lost the battle with the hard ground beneath him, and caved in with a grotesque squelch.
Alexza turned her attention away from the fallen grunt, stomach rolling slightly at the grisly death, and back up towards the landing in front of her.
A group of both team Magma and Aqua grunts seemed to have found a common enemy, and had decided to focus solely on him or her. Behind the massive bundle of grunts was yet another staircase… but it seemed to be the last one she would have to climb.
Standing at the edge of the staircase above her was a man in a long, red cloak. His red hair was whipping wildly in the tails of the wind that appeared from the detonation of his pokemon's attacks, and his nicely pressed suit was now sullied and ripped. He moved away from the edge quickly, and within a few seconds Alexza was able to make out the figure of yet another distinguished man. The second had scruffy black facial hair and a familiar blue bandana tied tightly around his head.
'Maxi and Archie…'
Her breath caught in her throat as the screams of the battle behind her faded away beneath the pounding of her heart in her ears. Wide emerald eyes locked and narrowed with the man's cool black.
The growl was out into the air before she had even registered her feet charging forward.
"You!"
She had the great satisfaction of being able to trip the Aqua Leader down the flight of stairs as he got in her way, a heavy palm thrust to the chest left her pulling away with a spare serrated knife.
Maxi danced around her frenzied swings, frowning as the enraged blonde tore his coat up in the scuffle.
SWIPE
She rolled to a stop and leaned against a rock, panting for the breath her adrenaline had momentarily suppressed the need for, a grin on her face as she watched the blood roll down the blade's tip.
A hand slowly raised to Maxi's cheek.
She had almost gotten him. He had been looking for stabs and swipes, mainly at his chest where all of the blade's teeth had been reaching for earlier, and she had snapped up and barely missed slicing open his neck. She must feel so disappointed having missed.
'Clever little girl, aren't you?'
He tore a piece of his coat off and dabbed gently at the graze. He glanced back down at the child. She was still catching her breath.
'Little girl, you're far too young to keep up.'
Maxi didn't bother to waste words on the blonde,
'Such angry eyes... Her face is familiar, but those eyes… No. She simply looks like yet another of us. Who knew there were so very many monsters lurking around this little world?'
He let out a whistle and gave a small smile as he heard the pounding of feet race up the stairs. The man spared a glance at his rival, who had managed to hit his head on his impromptu trip down the stairs. The ocean-lover was still dazed, but managed to let out a returning 'Yalp!' to summon his own forces.
The stairs swarmed and churned with a mass of new blue and red bodies.
Maxi smirked and turned on his heel. He had what he had come for, sticking around and letting a child take pot-shots at him was not on the agenda.
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Alexza looked up, at a loss for the first time in what felt like forever, staring almost sightlessly at the mist covered path that the Magma leader had disappeared down.
Her gaze turned to the slowly growing mass of opponents before her.
She tongued her split lip, wondering idly when she had gotten it.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Someone screamed.
She was a little worried that it had been her.
'Too loud…'
Silver flashed, red spilled and flew and arced and was it supposed to be that pretty?
Had it always been this easy? Like breathing, she could breath.
Breath in, Breath out, In, Out.
Another fist flew towards her face. But it was OK, the hand wouldn't be there for long.
Another scream, why couldn't they be quiet? She was quiet and she was much more upset than they would ever be.
Silly people.
Stupid people.
Another one moved forward.
Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub
There was something on her face, pulling on her eyelashes and matting down her hair.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
"ALEXZA!"
Oh. That one sounded, different.
"Alexza… put it down."
Familiar. Not as pointless.
"You – No! Don't go towards her! You idiot!"
Oh, more black. Always with the black or the blue or the red. Truly those must be the colors of suffering. They were all she could see now, after all.
The red especially. There was a lot of red now.
Maybe it wasn't so bad… Oh. Another color. A newer color. Brown.
The blonde's head lolled curiously onto her shoulder, peering up into brown eyes without really seeing.
Manicured hands shook her gently, red running through the once clean fingers as they held on.
"Alexza… Look at me."
Emerald orbs slowly closed in a slow, deliberate, blink.
And again, and again, and again.
Faster and faster, until the water overflowed the dam and she saw Kassy Mitchell standing before her. The older trainer's pokemon were holding off the remaining grunts. The only creatures stupid enough to step over the bodies of their own in an attempt to get closer to what had terminated their existences.
"Kassy…"
Alexza snapped back into reality. She looked down, sickened and stricken, at the carved-up corpses around her.
Was that a hand on her sneaker?
She didn't look back down.
"Kassy…"
A hand ruffled her hair, after hesitating for a moment, but it quickly pulled back – the palm turned pink from the trapped and drying blood in the blonde's mane.
Alexza hiccupped and rubbed at her eyes, not looking down. Not acknowledging the death dealt around her. Probably by her, if the slick red knife in her hand meant anything.
Kassy moved slowly towards her, her hand covering Alexza's own. Easing the knife out of her loosened grip.
A grunt yelled and charged forward.
Kassy sheathed the steel in the man's thigh without a backwards glance.
Alexza looked down the path that her target had raced down. The younger trainer turned, torn between helping her friend and the man she had dedicated her short life to hunting.
Kassy tossed Alexza grin as her experienced Pokémon simply decimated the mass of the grunts in front of her.
"Go ahead kiddo, I've got it under control back here."
Alexza paused, eyeing the path again.
"But there are so many… and more are coming –"
"Pfft! Don't worry about me! These guys are nothing! Just trash taken up space and our time! Go get him Alexza! Leave these idiots to me!"
"Hey!" one insulted grunt shouted, "Don't talk about us like we're not here!"
The older girl frowned at the rude man before ordering her Shiftry to blow him into the ocean he was desperately trying to expand.
"Shut up you worthless zealot… Oh! Alexza!"
Alexza paused, half way down the path, Kassy barely insight.
"What?"
"You're not allowed to fight with the one called 'Blaze'! Ya hear me? Don't go near him! He's…"
Kassy paused remembering the dark smile that crossed the man's face as he grinned to his suppliers.
"This'll end that little bitch right from the start. I'll take down the biggest annoyance Team Magma has – and then I'll make him proud."
"He's all mine! You got that? The black haired crazy dude is mine!"
Alexza sent a shaky grin back to her along with a red-coated thumbs-up before running furiously up the dirt road.
Kassy ducked as a fist sailed past her face and threw another body off the cliff into the water.
"Good luck kiddo…"
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Faster, faster, come on! Come on!
There he was. A shock of red in the rolling grey mists, impossible to miss once you caught a glimpse.
Alexza released Static and charged forward without a sound,
Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat.
"Ah. The child has arrived."
…and dug her heals deep into dewy earth to come to a staggering stop in front of the shrine a few mere inches behind her Target's back.
(Because, apparently, the top of a several hundred layered mountain was the best place ever to put a shrine to the fallen.
Fuckers.)
The leader of Team Magma stood casually before the shrine, the gun in his left hand confidently resting inside of the old shrine keeper's mouth.
"Now, now, girl. Where are your manners? Did your parents neglect to teach you any? Tut tut. I was just telling Mrs. Phantom all about you're annoying little grudge against my people. We've reached the conclusion that it's time for you to go, little girl."
The elderly woman's brown eyes stared up at Alexza, overflowing with terror.
The young girl stared back, guilt churning up bile in her stomach, before narrowing her gaze upon the leader before her.
Guilt to Anger.
Denial to Rage.
An old and easy shift, greased by the cogs of time and practice.
'Interesting…'
The safety clicked off.
"Let's make a game of it, girl. As a child trainer you should still be fond of those, no?"
Alexza took a step forward. The old woman screamed around the frame of the gun.
"My son always was. Let's play his favorite game…"
He pulled a second gun from within his long jacket and pointed it between Alexza's eyes, stopping her advance cold.
A slash of a smile appeared on the man's face.
"It's called 'Pick the Victim'."
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