Chapter 28
"I'm so glad that's over with…" Meri breathed a sigh of relief, only for a sharp intake a second later with what Hunter said.
"Me too. Now you can explain why the hell we're actually here," he said pointedly. Meri could feel his eyes on the back of her head.
Trying to figure out how to respond wasn't easy. When she'd said she would explain later, Meri didn't expect that later to have come so soon. So, what else could she do besides push it back? "Now isn't the time. It's hard to explain, I need time." Meri began walking toward the necklace, unconscious of her movement and of the bell coming back into her head.
"Where do you think you're…ing?" Hunter's words barely slipped into Meri's ears, despite that he was now standing directly in front of her.
"Just let me grab the necklace, and I'll try to explain," Meri told him gruffly. Or at least that's what felt like had come out of her mouth, but with Hunter's expression, she couldn't be too sure. Disregarding him, Meri stepped past him and walked quickly so that he wouldn't get in the way again.
Instead though, something else stepped in her way. It wasn't nearly as tall as Hunter, or even her, but it was still much more imposing. Mainly because it was point its huge claws right at Meri and snarling. Eevee had been taken by surprise by the Pokémon's sudden appearance, but immediately ran in front of Meri. It began growling back, but in comparison to the Sneasel, she wasn't all that intimidating.
This was a lot like how Meri had come across Eevee, actually. But instead of protecting a piece of jewelry in a wall, it was her guardian now. Clearly, this Sneasel served the same purpose for this new piece. For some reason, it hadn't approached Carriana. Maybe she hadn't been as close as Meri now was.
"Take Down!" Meri ordered to start the battle. To her disappointment, but not surprise, the Sneasel easily moved out of the way and retaliated by bringing one of the claws, shining brilliant silver, down on Eevee, crushing it to the floor, and very audibly forcing all the air out of the little puppy-like Pokémon's lungs.
This isn't good. Sneasel was naturally a more powerful Pokémon than Eevee. "Sand-Attack," Meri said, not entirely sure how her Pokémon would pull it off.
Apparently having let its guard down some, the Sneasel had eased the pressure on Eevee. It gave Eevee the chance to kick up with her hind legs and launch the Sharp Claw Pokémon a couple feet backs. From there, Eevee spun around and the second Sneasel began picking itself up, kicked dirt right into its eyes.
The sudden earth in its eyes caused it to moan in pain. Sneasel turned around while retracting its claws to try and clear its eyes. "Now use Covet!" Meri ordered, excited she'd gotten the advantage so quickly.
Again, however, Eevee's attack missed when Sneasel jumped out of the way. Goddamn, that thing's fast! Fortunately, this time, Sneasel wasn't nearly as graceful, tripping over its awkwardly placed feet upon landing. The distraction of its burning was getting to it. "Now, Quick Attack!" It was close, but Eevee managed to catch her opponent in the legs as it was standing up urgently. Sneasel went rolling around the floor after being flipped by Eevee's attack. Even though the attack had hurt it, it was still more focused on cleaning out its eyes.
"Nice shot, Eevee!" Meri encouraged her Pokémon as their enemy stood up finally to glare at them. Its eyes were quite red now. Kinda looks like he's a stoner. Meri let herself relax for just a moment, but quickly returned her focus to the task at hand when she saw Sneasel tensing its muscles. "Get ready to dodge," she warned.
Eevee did what it was told, bracing itself to get a good jump. Sneasel came down a second later with the intention of slamming another claw onto Eevee, but she managed to jump out of the way this time, but ended up being caught in a white wind blown by Sneasel's mouth. that Meri could tell was really cold even though she was standing a ways away from the battle now. Eevee was shivering heavily as it turned around to face the source of the blast.
It proved not be as effective as it first looked when Eevee rolled out of the way when Sneasel came quickly with fists at the ready. "Take Down!" Meri did her best to take advantage of the opening. To her surprise, it landed, causing the necklace-protecting Pokémon to reel back before falling down. "Yes!" Meri tossed a Great Ball at the downed Pokémon. She wasn't sure it was down for the count yet, but she figured it was probably worth a shot to try and catch it. It was a case of 'the sooner it's over, the better' with this battle.
One shake…two shakes…then nothing. Meri went to go pick it up. As she bent down, it shook again. "Ahh!" she jumped back, scared by the unexpected movement. But then the red light in the center glowed for a second, and she knew it wouldn't move anymore. Meri took a couple seconds just to stare at her newest Pokémon in its ball and to let her heart slow down a little. When she was breathing normally again, Meri crawled over and picked up the ball, shrunk it, and clipped it to her belt. There was just one thing left to do in here.
The room was practically lit up now. Everything beckoned to her: the light shining into her eyes, the soft echo of words in her mind, and the very air itself pulling her body off the floor and her legs forward. She could hear the words so clearly, but somehow, it was like they were in a different language. This must be what being hypnotized is like.
Meri grabbed the golden necklace. What she hadn't noticed before was that it was wrapped around it in an odd way that she realized made it impossible to untie it. The lever was in a double-prong like shape that met in the middle and jutted out in a single arm. It was wrapped several times around both of the prongs. It wasn't a thin chain, but it certainly wasn't thick enough that she was willing to try to yank the jewelry off.
Instead, Meri was going to have to pull the lever off. It looked like this might be even harder than the first time when she pulled the bracelet out of the wall. Meri wrapped her hands around each of the handles where the gold chain wasn't, and began pulling. It clicked a few times and moved a little, but stopped right after that and didn't budge anymore. Goddammit…just fall off or something already! From there, Meri let her frustrations out on it by driving her right foot into it as hard as she could, hoping that maybe its integrity was weaker in that direction. But all that happened was that the side she was kicking looked a little less pristine. It was kind of weird that it looked so nice in the first place, based on how utterly deteriorated everything else in the place had become.
A sigh escaped from Meri's throat. "Can you help me, Serenity?"
"Uh, sure," she uncomfortably glanced at Hunter before walking over to her embarrassed best friend.
"Just do it like last time; wrap your arms around my waist and pull," instructed Meri as she again put her hands around the nearer side of the prongs, made a wide base with her feet on the side of the machine, being careful to avoid placing them on any of the other levers or buttons that could cause her to slip off. "Now!"
The two of them pulled as hard as they could. Meri feel Serenity's arms moving up her midsection to the softer parts and closer to her ribs, causing Meri to run out of oxygen faster. There was some creaking and moaning coming from inside the machine, but still, the movement was minimal. "Stop stop stop!" Meri yelled starting to feel a sharp and unusual pain in her shoulders. She jumped onto the ground and stretched her shoulders some. "Do you think you could have Combusken help us out?"
"Great idea!" Serenity agreed, re-letting out her starter Pokémon. "Hey, girl, I need you to help me out again. All you need to do is grab my waist and pull when Meri tells us to."
Combusken nodded, having no problem with the easy order. Meri prepared herself and climbed back into position, taking a few deep breaths to get herself ready. "Now!"
All at once the fell backwards, taking the lever with them. Meri could feel a blast of air and hear a big grunt from Serenity, followed by her own, as the strength of Combusken's arms had been underestimated by both of the girls, causing them to have the wind knocked out of them in the process. Combusken looked down at them and put her arm on her coughing trainer in concern.
"Well, at least it's out," Meri spluttered, having hurt her chest and the broken, torn, and bent metal lever rested on her chest, jabbing one of her lower ribs just a little. What she'd tricked her way to get to was finally in her possession. Still wrapped around the metal prongs, but after carefully unwinding it, she held it up in front of her face. The chain was really long, probably all the way down to her stomach if she were to just let it hang. Not that Meri planned on wearing it. Right now, these pieces of jewelry were things that she kind of preferred to keep out of sight and out of mind, lest they not be what they seemed.
"Can we get out of here?" Hunter asked, several emotions spiking his voice. Meri's initial reaction was annoyance, but she pulled it back when she realized how unfair it was of her. He had been standing there the whole time, probably doing nothing but shifting his weight back and forth, watching the spectacle of the girls and Combusken putting more and more effort into trying to pull off the lever to the object stuck on it.
Meri nodded. "Yeah," it was the only word she spoke to him. "Need help?" she turned her attention to Serenity, who was still on the ground, but at least breathing normally.
"Yeahhh," Serenity wheezed it out.
"I'll give you a few seconds," Meri spoke softly to her and apologetically for having her inability to get the object out of the machine causing her to be hurt. "Okay," she grabbed Serenity's left hand while Combusken grabbed her right. "One, two, three!"
The girl and the Pokémon picked up the girl on the ground in a single swift motion. "Whoa!" Serenity had been taken by surprise and took a moment to solidify her footing. Meri brushed her back off in that time. "Thanks, guys! Oh, wait a second!"
"What is it?" Meri asked, anxious to leave.
"Um…your ankle…" Serenity pointed down at Meri's lower left leg.
"What about it? Aw, shit!" Meri was quick to answer her own question by looking down at it to see that blood was dripping down the side from some scratches. "Goddamn rusted machines… Sorry, guys, looks like we're gonna be here a little longer."
Hunter shrugged, but Meri thought she could see concern in his eyes when he spoke. "That's fine. Taking care of it now is better than letting it get infected."
Meri slung her backpack off of her shoulder and opened it up to the pocket where the medical supplies were held as well as her water-container. First she poured a little water on the shallow wounds, which didn't bother her. What did hurt, though, was the disinfectant. Owww…that really stings, but for some reason it isn't that bad, she could feel her face cringe as the spray covered and soaked into her wound, driving out the pathogens that could have been in this place. Meri suddenly remembered: Oh yeah, I got kicked in the face! She checked where her head had started throbbing again, but there was no blood. Just a rough patch of skin and what was going to be a bruise for a few days at least. Then she slapped a large band-aid on to cover the three scratches, packed the supplies back into her bag, and stood up.
After that, the three of them made their way up and out of the formerly-secret Team Magma hideout. The silence that accompanied the trek was beyond painful; Serenity's attempts to open up dialogue were almost even worse. I think I might actually miss hearing shit in my head right now… The words almost came out of Meri's mouth, maybe because the silence was bothering her as much as it was her best friend, but she forced herself to keep the thought inside.
When they exited out of the tunnel that led them down there in the first place, they realized the sun was beginning to set, also sending the realization that quite a bit of time had been spent in there, or at least more than any had noticed in the excitement.
Hunter spent a lot of time in silent, or at least a lot more than the girls did. When Meri asked him about it while travelling on Mt. Chimney, he said "I can't help but think constantly and sometimes I get lost in my head."
This probably wasn't one of those occasions, both Meri and even Serenity knew that. It was a silence Meri wouldn't dare take him out of. Not yet, anyways. I still have no idea what I can say to him… Why can't I just speed up time past all of this so don't actually have to deal with any of it?
Finally, on the way down the Jagged Pass, Hunter spoke after a short cough, curtly, but it still cut just a little bit of the tension. "The first thing we should do is go to the police."
He didn't speak after those words, but he was right, so the girls agreed without any complaint. This had gone way too far. Even when back in the desert after finding out Carriana had redirected them and soon after pulled out a taser, Meri hadn't taken any of it seriously. As far as she was concerned, Carriana was just a spoiled rich girl, who was mostly innocent and too dainty to do much harm. Yet, there they were, not that long ago, bound and helpless on the floor, literally being kicked while they were down. Meri wasn't as bright as Hunter, but not as dim as Serenity, so she could see the pattern of escalation from each time they encountered Carriana. The implications of next time sent a shudder through Meri's core. Maybe I should apologize next time. And make Serenity do it too.
"We were attacked by some people today," Hunter had marched right up to the front desk at the police station. The girls hung back, but nodded when the bald, dark-skinned man at the front looked at them for confirmation. "We were tied up and almost had our Pokémon stolen by three people. This isn't the first time their leader has attacked, either."
"Okay, come with me. You can tell me more in my office," the man, wearing a white, pin-striped shirt, and a tie, said. The four of them walked to a room around a couple halls. There was one big chair behind a small desk plus two other chairs in the room, one in front of the desk, and the other one backed up against the wall. Meri decided she was standing, urging the others to sit, even though her legs were killing her right now from walking non-stop for a few hours now. The man put on a pair of small, thin glasses and pulled out a pad of paper with a pen before he spoke again. "So, tell me, in as much detail as you can remember, what happened."
The man wrote quickly, nodding every few seconds as Hunter explained, with Meri or Serenity occasionally threw in a detail or two he might've left out for one reason or another. Meri was impressed with how this man was able to keep up with what they said so effortlessly. Sometimes he'd punctuate Hunter's monologue as well, asking some questions. They explained how they had gotten there, all of the machines and other industrial creations, as well as the big M on the wall that led them to believe that it used to be the hideout of Team Magma. Throughout the whole explanation, the officer taking their statement kept a neutral tone and expression. "Could you tell me this girl's name?"
The three looked at each other. Her name is longer than our story… The three of the talked amongst each other to try and figure it out. "Carriana Felicia Alistair Montgomery Kensington," Hunter was again the one to speak.
Meri couldn't blame the guy when he looked up at them in doubt, considering how long and ridiculous her name was. "I need to make a phone call…" He stood up and left the room.
There were several seconds of quiet before Meri spoke up. "Do you think they've heard about her before? Since he left right after we mentioned her name?"
Nodding, Hunter agreed. "It would make sense."
"I hope he gets back here soon so we can leave. I'm so hungry…" Serenity complained, her statement being backed up by her stomach's noises.
It was actually a pretty good point. Meri couldn't remember eating anything since breakfast. Her stomach began harmonizing with Serenity's while Hunter grimaced at the same realization Meri was having. He coughed again in an apparent attempt to cover up the noises his gut was making now too. "I think it goes without saying that the first thing we're doing after this is getting something to eat."
"Yayyy!" Serenity squealed while Hunter just grunted.
Just as Serenity's high-pitched noise was dying out, the door opened, cutting short any of the sound that hadn't yet escaped. The man looked at them, still not much of an expression, and cleared his throat before speaking. "I'm going to have to ask the three of you to leave and to stop making false reports."
There was some silence, as though it registered just as slowly for the other two in her group as it did for Meri. "What?!" Hunter's voice was as angry as the color of his hair.
"Yeah, why would we come here and lie?" Meri chimed in, then pointed to her temple, where she'd received a kick from Carriana. "Do you see this? Does this look fake to you?!"
The officer waited until they were silent. "Please, calmly leave right now, or I will have to arrest you for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report."
They were all stunned. "But - but - we - I-" Meri stuttered the words out. The man began reaching toward the radio in his shirt pocket and opening his mouth like he was about to speak. "Okay, okay, we'll leave."
As they were walking out, Serenity asked in the most confused and scared tone, "What just happened, Meri?"
Meri just shook her head. "I wish I knew," she said softly. That had gone far from what she had expected. She was just as confused as Serenity. "What do we do now?"
"I don't know," Hunter nearly cut her off, still walking and not even looking at her. The seriousness of what they were in now was starting to hit the girls. It had dawned upon Hunter much longer before them, and with the added stress of not just being turned away by the cops, but being threatened by them, as well.
Whether it was the stress of today or something else, the day just kept getting worse for Meri. If Serenity was still in any sort of mood to have some sexy fun, there was no way Meri would be able to now. Her period was here again to destroy her fun and just generally make everything suck even more. I can't believe I didn't notice that it was coming. Her and Serenity kept exchanging hushed chatter while Hunter walked just ahead as the three of them headed towards the Pokémon Center. The thought of food wasn't there anymore, the shock of what had just happened at the police station spoiling their appetites.
The first thing Meri did was go to the bathroom and get everything set. The instant she stepped out it seemed, more like as she was about to go to her bed, she came face-to-face with a glaring Hunter. Shit, I don't think I can push it back this time.
"So, tell me, why did we really go there? For some necklace?" That was how Hunter started. But Meri knew there were a lot worse things waiting to be said to her on this matter once she said something.
"Yeah, for the necklace…" began Meri, unsure of where to go from there, not that she was given the chance to finish.
"Why did you lie about it? We all could have died or lost our Pokémon in there!" Hunter scolded her.
"Look, I didn't think anything would happen. I thought it would be better if I just grabbed it like it was nothing and we got out of there…" her last several words really hushed. "It's not like I knew we were going to get attacked!" Meri tried to defend herself.
"After you were told your room had been bugged before! Did you think something as valuable as that," Hunter pointed to Meri's backpack, where the golden necklace still was, "wouldn't get us attacked by that crazy girl when she seems to take any excuse to get to you? Were you just not thinking at all?"
Meri was left in silence, taken aback by the words, knowing they were all true. Still, Serenity jumped to her defense. "Hey, our room wasn't bugged this time! And everything was okay in the end!"
"Yeah, because we got lucky! We were taken completely by surprise," Hunter's glare and voice burned into Meri as he spoke. "You're just as much to blame for this! You had the chance to tell me, you know. But you're right, the room wasn't bugged this time. None of us thought to check any of the back backpacks."
The sudden awareness that came with Hunter's statement made the three of them stop and dump out their backpacks. Meri did it a little bit out of view, making sure her secret items were out of sight of the other two. She still hadn't gotten the opportunity to use the vibrator with Serenity and wouldn't for at least a little while, and the weed would remain a secret to both of her companions, even if secrets were what was getting her in trouble right now. "Nothing in mine," Meri said after scouring each pocket and opening every container she had. Hunter reported the same.
"I can't find one either," Serenity informed them, making them all feel concerned since she was the one who supposedly had been bugged. "I don't remember when I got this stuffed Torchic, but it's really cute."
The Pokédoll was a little bit bigger than Meri's hand. Both her's and Hunter's eyes met, clearly thinking the same thing. "Let me see it!" Meri stuck her hand out.
"Uh, okay, sure," Serenity said in confusion. Meri began squishing it, causing Serenity to protest. "Hey, be nice!" She tried taking it back, but Meri stood up and walked away, still squishing it, with Serenity giving chase. Meri was about to run it to the bathroom when she suddenly stopped, making Serenity fall over in her attempts to not crash into the girl with her Pokédoll. The girl who had chosen Torchic watched as the doll of the same Pokémon was ripped in half, spilling cotton all over the floor. Tears began welling up in her eyes as one of her favorite Pokémon had been cruelly destroyed at her best friend's hands. She moaned pitifully. "No…"
Meri reached into its body, and after pushing through the stuffing, she gripped onto something small and plastic with her thumb and index finger. It was a little box with a blinking light and a small circle of fabric in the middle which was probably the microphone. "Found it!"
"My Torchic…" the heartbreak in Serenity's voice actually lightened Meri's own heart a little.
Meri walked over to Hunter and stuck out her hand with the listening device. "You do the honors."
The oldest of their group took it from the youngest and proceeded to kneel close to the ground. "Listen to this," he growled into the microphone before setting it down and released Manectric. He leaned down and whispered something into his Pokémon's ear. A second later, he released a Howl right into the bug. After that, he stomped on it with his heel. The sound made it clear that it was in numerous pieces and probably wouldn't be working anymore, but Hunter gave it a couple more stomps for good measure.
That was actually kinda badass… I hope it calms him down some. The sooner they moved on, the better. "I'm sorry," said Meri, doing her best to look at him when she said it.
Hunter sighed, still looking down at his shoe, then nodded. "Don't leave me in the dark next time, or Carriana is going to be the last person you have to worry about," He looked at Meri with still-intense eyes. "Okay?"
"Okay!" Meri was quick to respond. It made her feel like a soldier responding to her superior officer. Yes, sir!
"Good…" He took a deep breath and stepped off of the debris beneath his foot, he bent down to pick it up, when Meri stopped him.
"I'll get it!" she rushed over and began picking up the many pieces on and embedded in the floor.
Hunter stood back up to his full height, which was accentuated by how low Meri was. "Thanks. Now, if I recall, we were going to get food. How does that sound?"
Meri chimed in that it was a great idea before looking to Serenity since she hadn't responded. The poor, sniffling girl was trying to put the stuffing back into the decapitated doll. On the way to walking over to Serenity, Meri tossed the remains of the spying device into the trash, and when she finally got back to the bathroom, Meri knelt over. "I'll buy you a new one okay?" Serenity nodded and pressed her head into Meri's chest.
Notes: This is probably my last post for a while. Something unexpected has happened and I have to put the time I'd normally put into this story and stuff, into more urgent things for a while, maybe 2-3 weeks before I start writing again, its hard to say right now, but I will be back, I promise; there's still a lot of story left to tell. New note: I will begin posting this to as well soon.
