Hello there. I'd like to welcome you to another chapter of Fiery Sapphire.
I have nothing to say, only that this chapter is full of questions answered and questions asked, people found and people lost.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please drop by a review if not to busy. Oh, and I don't own a quote from Stephen King, and I don't own a lot of other things. But I do own my characters.
OoO
Fiery Sapphire 36
Cadence
"You met Giovanni."
Fredia Adler's eyes were bloodshot from shedding so many tears, and yet her eyes were set on the road, squinting down the narrow Pallet Town road with uncanny concentration.
Sitting in the front seat beside her, Ellen momentarily went through a spasm of panic, surprise, and curiosity; and all of those together certainly didn't mix well.
"No," the girl lied.
"Oh, don't play naive with me," Fredia snapped suddenly, flashing her daughter a seething glare which made even the huge Charizard cramped in the back wince. "I can already see it on your face. You're lying, and you're lying because you want to throw yourself back into another dangerous job, don't you?"
Ellen opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. Bull's-eye.
"So," the mother continued, taking her finger to dab neatly at the corner of her eye. "You met him. Boss of Team Rocket. Slaughterer. Fascist Pig!" She beat her fist on the steering wheel and blasted the horn at some idiot who maneuvered their car in front of them. Fredia shakily caught her daughter's arm with her hand and patted it reassuringly. "Sorry, sorry. I just can't imagine what happened to you during your mission…"
"We could tell you about it, if you'd like," Kyoshi mewed politely from the back seat, but Fredia smiled at her, only hearing a few small meows.
"Forget it," the girl growled to the Persian. Itching to have some questions answered, Ellen cleared her throat loudly and asked, "Um, mom. I think you were gonna tell me how you knew the Anti-Trainers. And since we're home…" the teen gestured to her house with its brick exterior and gray-slate roof, surrounded by a chain fence.
"I guess I should tell you a bit, huh?" Carefully, the woman terminated the car engine and placed her hands in her lap, spreading out her fingers and examining the rosy nail polish on her nails. "Well…I admit that I've lied to you a bit through the years…"
"So it would seem," Charles grunted.
"But Kaden and I just wanted to protect you, that's all," Fredia put in quickly, looking at her daughter with earnest concern.
Ellen stopped her suddenly, a sense of dread crawling up against her. "'Kaden and I'?"
"Yes. Kaden and I. I mean, your dad and me. Before you were born, we decided to not get you involved in this fight. Hon, that's why I was so, so worried when I found about you. We were Anti-Trainers. It's not a newfound thing, Ellen. I…just…it's dangerous, for God's sake. You could have died."
The ex-Anti-Trainer sunk a bit in her car seat. She wanted to vomit. The pounding inside her head, the despondent lead of her heart accumulated with the simple words of 'Kaden and I.' Her parents were Anti-Trainers?
Holy shit.
Fredia looked concerned for a moment at the state of her daughter- her bony form had grown even thinner from lack of nutrition on her journey, her eyes were a bit sunken, and for the first time the mother noticed the tiny pinkish scar near Ellen's scalp and the piece of bandage sticking out from beneath her shirt sleeve.
She fretted momentarily, her heart quickened when she noticed her 'baby' was injured. The mother swallowed, her head bobbing a bit. What could have happened to her? How a younger Fredia had imagined herself returning to the Anti-Trainer base looking like that. Of course, it never happened. Kaden had just been so protective!
"Ellen, I-," Fredia began, but the teenager shook her head and opened the car door, setting her feet to the ground.
"I don't feel so good," Ellen mumbled thickly. She beckoned her Pokémon to come with her. Charles and Kyoshi glanced at each other, concerned, while Feolan didn't seem to notice. Phil looked thoughtful.
"You'll need to the keys to the house," Fredia called, waving the keys about in her raised hand. She tossed them to the girl and she swiped them out of the air, not even stopping to blink. The mother looked taken aback. Her reflexes were amazing compared to what they were before.
The girl twisted her face into a pained frown, whisked through the small, cozy, foyer, and slunk up the steps, legs shaking. Her physical condition has decreased greatly in a small amount of time; it was as if the mention of 'Kaden' and the 'Anti-Trainers' together brought back all the scars and pains of the abuse she went through from The Game Corner to the Berry Forest.
"Well, I'll say that was sufficiently awkward," Charles said, earning a tired glare from Ellen. He shook his head and surveyed Ellen's bedroom. It was quite small; four walls closing in around them; a single window facing the neighbor's house. A bed stood in the corner, while an old, Macrohard computer rested on a desk. Various other furniture lay about.
"Well," he continued, "did you have any idea that both your parents were involved in the Anti-Trainers? I mean, this is shocking…this is…unbelievable. Think of it! And we didn't even know."
"I think I was better off without knowing," Ellen groaned, sitting cross-legged on her lumpy bed. The covers held a faint smell of rot. Ew. The girl propped her head into the crook of her knees and sighed, rapping her arms around her shins. The open window brought a soft chill into the room.
Kyoshi sighed and hopped up on the bed also, digging her claws into the soft comforter on the top. She circled the area a bit and finally curled up. "I just wish you could have listened longer, Ellen," she mumbled, looking up at her. "You couldn't just walk out like that."
"I…I just sorta had the feeling that…that…" she sighed. "I don't know; talking about my dad makes me sad."
The Marshtomp shook his head in his infant-like way and made a small tsk-tsk noise. "Don't go angsty on us!"
"There's a difference," she spat.
Feolan, checking behind him to see if anyone was listening besides the group, leaned forward and muttered, "We could try running away if you want…"
The ex-Anti-Trainer raised one of her thin eyebrows. "Huh?"
"I'd be pretty easy to get Charles to fly us to the Viridian City Gym. We could do it at night- no one would notice until the morning after…"
"Feolan!" The Persian stared at him, horrified, and whacked him with her paw. "Think about Fredia! She would be worried sick! We might as well stay here until we coax her to let us go."
"There's nothing stopping us," Feolan pointed out.
Kyoshi shot him 'the look.' "Besides curiosity."
"Curiosity killed the Meowth."
"Feolan!" the Persian cried, throwing her paws up in the air.
Charles creased his forehead with thought and swallowed, trying to change the subject. "We could…try and drag some answers out of Russell when he comes over."
"Like that would get us anywhere," the teenager sighed.
The group sat around for a bit, none of them feeling up to the challenge of doing anything, besides Ellen tidying herself up and changing into a camisole and a pair of jeans. Even though she felt much better to be clean again, she was still sick with thought. What had her parents done in the Anti-Trainer group? What about her dad? What did he have anything to do with it?
The topic of her father had always been a delicate, untouchable one, especially in Fuchsia City. When Kaden walked out the door and left one day, the city burst into a sense of hatred towards Fredia and Ellen, the working-class mother and her tiny little five-year old. What? A single mother with a little girl? Father walked out on them? Didn't want the responsibility…? Ah, yes. How pathetic.
The girl shut out the negative thoughts that plagued her and slammed a pillow over her face, groaning. Her father had loved her…right? They…wanted to have her, right? She wasn't a…mistake…Of course, they were married!
…Right?
'Stop screwing with yourself! Yeah, they were married! They had the freaking ring! Stop being paranoid.'
"Damn straight," she muttered under her breath; Charles cocking his eyebrow at her. The girl smiled. At least her Pokémon were on her side.
Moments later, there was a small knock on the door and a voice asking, "Ellen? Yeh there? It's Brendan!"
Ellen slowly rose from her lying position, frowning. Brendan…? The stout, pudgy teenager with his white hair and strangely vast knowledge? There was another knock, and the girl jumped off her bed and scuttled over to the door. When she opened it, she gasped.
Brendan was Brendan Birch, but it seemed that puberty had kicked in. Despite him being the exact same as he was in Silph Co, he was wearing an impeccable lab coat over a graphic tee-shirt with The Byrds written on it and a pair of jeans. What was most surprising about him was his chin. Little red hairs were sprouting from his chin, and from the looks of it he had been working on a small goatee for quite some time now. The combination of the white hair and slight red goatee was so strange that Feolan burst out laughing- he squirmed on the floor, cackling like mad.
"Long time no see," Brendan said in his feminine, slightly lisped voice, offering Ellen a friendly smirk. He leaned on the doorframe, smiling, and out of his pocket produced a thick batch of papers. Typed on the front was the plain text In Cold Blood. "Since your back, I just wan-"
"How did you know I was back?" Ellen asked suspiciously, close to grinning. Despite his annoying voice and habits, Brendan had always stuck beside her through thick and thin. Why, he worked for Team Rocket for a bit just to get the ex-Anti-Trainer up to the twelfth floor!
The white-haired boy looked guilty for a moment. "Um…I don't spy out my window!" He paused. "Okay…maybe I do. But I saw you in the car, so I wanted to see if you wanted to come over for dinner. You can read my manuscript, too! I finally found a plot for In Cold Blood. It's about this family called the Winstrates in Hoenn."
"And how they all got brutally murdered, right?" the teen questioned sarcastically, crossing her arms.
"Um, yeh. You're right! How did you know?"
"I'm Physic," she muttered, pushing past him. "But, yeah, I'll go to your house…" The Pokémon shuffled behind her, and the pudgy boy grinned provocatively at Charles and wiggled his white eyebrows.
"I'm ignoring you," the Charizard muttered, moving closer to Ellen.
The Anti-Trainers were in the living room when they reached downstairs.
Even when she entered the living room; the Anti-Trainers sitting on the couches had a certain gloomy air about them, and the teenager already felt another sense of depression creeping over her. Russell and Marylyn looked broken, staring at the girl with dreary eyes. Miguel was a bit cheerier; he offered her a small wave, while Samara nodded at her. Jack was nowhere to be found.
Brendan looked surprised when he saw the group and raised his eyebrows, bringing a hand to his mouth. "Whoa! Company! Guess I'll be going then…Sorry, Ellen…" He snapped his fingers and pointed at the ex-Anti-Trainer, grinning. The boy turned on his heel, orange Converses squeaking, and prepared to walk out the door.
The ex-Anti-Trainer took one look at the company and yelled, "Brendan! Wait! I wanna come to your house!" After speaking with Fredia she didn't want to undergo another sickening transgression of futility.
"Ellen! I thought we were going to ask Russell some questions," Charles hissed in her ear, his breath singing a bit of her hair. "This is how we're going to get all the answers! You can't run away from every little thing."
"Damn, Charles!" Ellen muttered back to him. "You know what? I'll ask them all something. I'll do it right now, and then we get the hell to Brendan's house."
Fredia opened her mouth to say something, but her daughter beat her to it. The teenager walked into the small sitting area and saddened a bit, seeing all the battles and journeys she had slaved over come down to this. Would it end with her trapped inside her own house, weak under her mother's dominant rule? Although she still had her doubts; this was a much better way to end if it ever ended. The latter, most likely, would be dieing under the hand of a Team Rocket member. It could come down to two things. She could be stuck in the general cadence of everyday, or she could be butchered and called a martyr. But martyrs were still dead.
She couldn't speak. The only thing that came out of her mouth was a quiet, weak question. "Why didn't you guys tell me about my dad?"
Marylyn spoke first. "You couldn't expect us to know!" she burst out desperately. "Please don't be angry. Really."
"You could have guessed," Ellen returned, crossing her arms defiantly. Her fervor was back. "You've got explaining to do."
"So do you," Fredia pointed out coldly, leaning back on the couch. "You need to tell me about your journey."
No! Fredia would die if she told her what happened! "Have them tell you about it." She jerked her head at the Anti-Trainers. "I'm going to Brendan's house."
Fredia frowned. "You're staying here and talking to me."
"I'm going to Brendan's," Ellen said coldly, and to emphasize yanked open the front door, Brendan inching out nervously. "Bye. I'll be back later." She turned on her heel, facing her back towards them.
A mistake.
It was then that Fredia understood the full blow of her daughter's fight against Team Rocket. It wasn't just child's play- Team Rocket was ready to do anything to destroy the Anti-Trainers. The cold-hearted bastards would do horrifying things to Anti-Trainers.
Ellen's back was full of splotches of bright, clean pink and white spread across her bones, spider-cracks of faint red crawled across her spine. Odd lumps and blisters punctured her skin, and the back of her camisole top was low enough to display scars visible on the middle of her spine.
The mother put her hand to her mouth and uttered a sharp intake of breath. "Oh, Mew, oh Mew…Ellen…what happened…?"
The girl whipped around, biting her lower lip. Stupid, stupid idea with the camisole! "Red'll tell you. He's on my side."
Fredia and Ellen both looked at Russell; the man sighed and looked down at his hands, thinking hard. He sat like that for a bit until he turned to the teenager, a miserable expression on his face. "Fier- Ellen. You're not on your own anymore. You need to do what your mother says. It for the best…really."
"Why? Why is it for the best? You know what? I'd rather be in the Team Rocket HQ than here."
"You can't SAY that," Russell shouted suddenly, leaning forward in his chair. His expression turned fervent, face in a frown. "Don't say that! You're going to do what Fredia tells you and stay the hell in the house!"
"Oh!" Ellen exclaimed sarcastically, raising her eyebrows. "Since you're, like, the Leader of the Anti-Trainers, you can tell me what to do now, huh? You're so high and mighty in your comfy position…I can't believe you're the head."
Something was strange about the collection of adults; odd and almost chilling. All of them were silent, expressions across their faces dead serious. Even Russell looked taken aback at the teenager's outburst, or so she thought. Ha! She must have been terrifying if it was enough to shut Russell up. She must have been terrifying…
Or…wait. Was it something else?
Red was staring at her, contemplating. With eyebrows raised in a sense of great knowing, he shook his head slightly.
Ellen had the same queasy feeling she had almost two hours ago. Her mind was working furiously, comprehending Russell's strange expression. She had an idea of what he was going to say, but the sinking feeling made her fight to disagree. She knew what he was going to say. She knew it. Don't tell me, she screamed inwardly, don't tell me!
"I might well tell you," Russell sighed. "Kaden…"
DON'T TELL ME!
The teenager's heart was beating like a hunted animal; she felt her face drain of color to a pasty white. Donttellmedonttellmedonttellme…
"Kaden-"
She'd rather have Giovanni and his Pokémon kill her brutally. She didn't need to hear this. Let Team Rocket butcher her. Impale her body on a bed of needles. She knew what Russell was going to say. From the very beginning, even when she found the necklace in the pile of woolen sweaters, she knew from the beginning that her father was DEAD. GONE. DISSAPEARED. She was never going to see him again, no matter how hard she looked. Ellen was close to tears. Russell was going to say that Kaden was dead. And then what would she do? Kill herself?
NO, YOU SHITHEAD! YOU LOUSY, STUPID, DUMBASS! SUICIDE IS FOR WEAK BASTARDS! DON'T THINK ABOUT SUICIDE!
"…began the Anti-Trainers. Kaden was the one who started the Anti-Trainers…we're sorry we didn't tell you earlier, but we didn't want to take any chances…and now we know…we don't want you to get hurt under Team Rocket's force…I mean, if they knew…if Giovanni knew, that would-" he stopped and frowned at Ellen. "…you look pale, Ellen. Are you alright?"
OoO
"Russell scared the hell out of me," Ellen rasped shakily. She kept her eyes focused on her plate of food and away from Brendan and Collin Birch, father and son. Brendan was contently spooning a heap of chili into his mouth, while the Professor looked a bit concerned.
"Uh, I know it might be different in your house hold, Ellen, but we prefer not to curse in this house," Collin said gently, giving her a small smile. His beard had grown a bit, and now his hair had reached just below his ears, but he still looked clean and well kept.
The girl looked up from her plate with blank eyes as her friend leaned over to her and whispered, "We're a good Christian family."
"Sorry," she mumbled. She pushed away her half-eaten chili and sighed. "I'm not that hungry."
"I'll take it!" With a swoop of his claw, Charles had the chili off the table in seconds and was gulping it down when Brendan also pushed his plate away and drained the last bit of his water.
"Okay, I'm finished too. Come on, Ellen. Let's go do something else."
Florescent lights filled Brendan's spacious bedroom, refracting against the bright white walls and waxed wood floors. If anything, the bedroom was the pinnacle of personality. Everything described him perfectly- the keyboard placed snugly next to the single bed, the black bookshelves mounted on the walls, filled with science textbooks and piles of manuscripts. A bright red couch sat in the middle of the room, paralleling the complete neutral tones of the room.
The first thing that Brendan did when they entered the room was snap his fingers, and immediately from off the bed came a terrifying behemoth; a forest green Pokémon with a gigantic bulb blooming from it's back.
"Barlow," the boy said, gesturing to the Venusaur, "Ellen, Charles, Feolan, Kyoshi, and Phil. Guys, Barlow."
"Lo," Barlow's gravely voice rumbled in his chest. "Make yourself at home."
Ellen did so and tentatively sat on the red couch. Barlow lumbered over to inspect her and her Pokémon, nodding when he concluded them 'acceptable.' "Glad to have some company," he grumbled, "Brendan isn't exactly the social type if yer catching my drift."
Brendan flopped into his desk chair. A relaxed smile crossed his face; he drummed his pudgy fingers on the arm of the chair and rubbed his mini-goatee, breaking into a grin.
"He must be so proud," Feolan muttered, rolling his eyes.
After a bit more goatee rubbing, the teenager folded his hands together on his lap, looked at Ellen, and said carefully, "Well, I need to tell you something. I admit that I'm a very nosy person. Very, very nosy. But there's an explanation for that. It's a writer's job to be nosy. A writer wouldn't get anywhere without being nosy. Why, Lance the Dragon Master would have never become a writer if he hadn't listened in on the conversation between Mr. Fuji and Blaine! And take Gabby Ri-"
"What's your point?" Ellen snapped finally, fed up with him.
"Who were the people back at your house? And what'd it have to do with your dad?"
"I don't want to talk about it," the girl returned as quickly as the question was asked.
Brendan regarded her with a cool stare and a rye smile. "Oh? Well, it's not like I don't want to talk about what really happened in Silph Co…"
Bony arms crossed, she smoldered for a bit. "You're not very nice."
"Neither are you," he pointed out.
She shrugged, silently agreeing. Barlow snorted and settled down on the ground. Phil yawned. Feolan curled up on the couch; a ball of white fur. General relaxation. "Okay…okay…" she sighed, and added quickly, "but I'm only telling you 'cause you helped out at Silph Co."
"Ellen," Brendan said tiredly, as if teaching a small child, "you need to understand the statistics of Silph Co…I didn't just help you…I practically saved your life…just remember that…" he yawned and wheeled his chair around, proceeding to kick up his feet on his desk. He made a motion with his hand. "Well, we're not getting any younger."
Resisting the urge to fire back a rude comment or ultimately leave the room, Ellen swallowed, cleared her throat, and began with Pallet Town. Brendan seemed pleased with her narrative, occasionally adding tidbits of commentary, such as, 'I didn't say that. I wasn't that mean,' and 'It wasn't raining when we got our Pokémon. The sky was a freaking azure.'
As the girl began to tell of Viridian City, Kyoshi suddenly cried out, "Eleven at night? Ellen, we need to get home! Fredia is probably worried."
"It's already eleven?" She peered up at the digital clock mounted on Brendan's wall, and true enough, it was late at night. Even more obvious was that the windows were pitch black, and the trees around Pallet Town were being whipped in the wind. "Crap!" the girl cried. "Listen, Brendan, I'll come over tomorrow and tell you some more. If I can get away from my mom…"
The boy saluted her as she and her Pokémon left the room. "Vertas Vos Liberabit!" he boomed in a dead language.
When she returned home, Fredia was already asleep.
The Anti-Trainers were gone.
OoO
At two in the morning, realization finally kicked in.
He dad had started the Anti-Trainers.
Holy shit.
'Is that all you can say?' she asked herself.
'Yeah,' she answered, pulling the covers back from her bed to toss them on the floor. The Pokémon were all asleep, save Feolan who was probably raiding the kitchen right about then.
Not only was she the 'heir to the Anti-Trainers' but she was suffering from a case of teenage insomnia. Great.
It was odd in a way, to be realizing this now. She had spent half her time listening to Russell when, frankly, she had power over him. She paused. No, wait. Kaden didn't want her to get involved in the Anti-Trainers. Therefore, when she was born he must have allowed Russell to become the leader…
The teenager couldn't imagine her parents in that sort of situation. Fredia certainly wasn't Anti-Trainer material, and Kaden- well, she couldn't remember all that much about her father. A five-year old only could comprehend so much in her mind, especially feral little girl that Ellen was. She could only remember blurry features- thick brown hair, smiling brown eyes, slightly pale skin, and very tall; (of course, everyone looked tall when Ellen was a child.) She could possibly see her father doing something extremely dangerous and oh-so Anti-Trainerish…but when she tried to imagine Kaden Adler and a random Team Rocket member, (possibly even Giovanni) inflicting horrible pain upon one another¸ all that came up was a very small Ellen with her dad in the park. Not exactly what she was looking for, but pleasant enough.
But pleasant wasn't exactly the thing she was looking for, and pleasant things can lead into pleasantly twisted things, such as pictures of Kaden being slaughtered by numerous Team Rocket members, flashing in Ellen's head over and over again until she wanted to be sick.
"Man, what happened to you?"
Ellen looked up from her pillow to see the lupine silhouette of Feolan sitting in the doorway, his paw gripping some large slices of ham. "Listen, if you're gonna sneak out, at least include me."
"For the last freaking time; I'm not sneaking out!" the girl hissed at him, putting a finger to her lips. "Shhh! My mom will wake up if you don't shut up!"
He shrugged and walked over to the blue shag rug on the floor, curling up on it. "Okay, okay, whatever. I'll chill here for a while and then snooze."
Wind beating against her window, and the girl sat in her bed, thinking. She crackled her knuckles. She bit her lip. She rubbed her sore arm, checking on her healing wound. She did anything she could to think, and when she had finally made a decision, shook Feolan awake.
The Mightyena brushed his paw across his eyes and mumbled something nonsensical, sounding like 'mmmm…mmm…Digimon…hhhuuuhhh?' He opened his red eyes, regarded Ellen with a grumpy growl, and stretched. "Hmmm…erg! Why the hell did you wake me up?"
The ex-Anti-Trainer frowned. "You wanna know the hell why? Because I made a decision. No matter how long I have to stay here, no matter how damn long I have to walk, I'm gonna find my dad."
"Congratulations," he mumbled, and went back to sleep.
Somehow, this Ellen thought as a good omen.
OoO
It wasn't.
And when I write 'it wasn't,' don't think that the text divider separates everything you read. But I refer to the phrase 'it wasn't' as in saying that it wasn't but a month that Ellen finally escaped her house.
I might be lying about something, though.
It wasn't but a month that Ellen finally escaped her house, but the month was long, as they usually are. The middle of October flashed by in a burst of pumpkins, dry leaves, and frigid winds, and suddenly November was upon Kanto; the disheartening month of trees like skeletons and biting cold days.
Ellen warped into a general cadence that month; she would wake up at unusual times, her sleep patterns distraught, and eat a small bowl of cereal until Fredia shuffled in. Surprisingly, they didn't speak of the past and often only exchanged small comments and niceties, until the Anti-Trainer would slink back to her room, bored. She would waste time until around six, and happily go off to have dinner at Brendan's house, every night. She was astounded that they didn't get annoyed with her at all, and after dinner Brendan and Barlow would sit and listen to another piece of Ellen's story.
Often times when she was telling the story, the girl would pause for a moment and imagine the Anti-Trainers of the past and she aligned. What were they like? What's more, was she as good as them? Was she living up to the name of the Anti-Trainers…?
On and on she'd continue, and eventually as the adventure began to wind down she would confide in Brendan the conflict not only with Team Rocket but with her family, the Anti-Trainers, and herself. And the tale would go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and-
Finally it was over.
"Bra-vo," Brendan said, clapping slowly. "I wish it could go on, though. And I sort of get the feeling that you do to."
The middle of November was almost upon them.
Ellen had begun to adapt to home again.
But two things made her leave.
OoO
"Hey…hey mom…"
Fredia lowered the newspaper from her face, blinked away the sleep in her eyes, and looked at her daughter. Although still very frail, Fredia had succeeded in giving her enough food to have a bit more color back in her skin, although the paleness was still hereditary. The mother rolled her eyes inwardly. Wonder where that came from.
"Hmm?" she answered, preoccupied.
"Umm…" Ellen looked down at her feet under the kitchen table, noticing the small blisters here and there. "Remember when had that conversation, ya know, about a month ago. The Anti-Trainers came over…and…we sort of had an argument, and…"
"What about it?" she asked.
"Uh…" Charles made a sort of grunting noise, and the girl shot him a desperate glance. "Do ya have any idea…I mean, why dad sort of went up and left?"
Fredia heaved a large sigh and put down her newspaper, flattening it out on the kitchen table. She took a prolonged sip of coffee, smiled a small smile, and said, "I've been waiting ten years for you to ask me that."
No one said anything.
"Well," she hummed in a soft, thoughtful voice, "frankly, I don't know myself. That's my answer. I have no idea where Kaden went, he simply got up for work, kissed us both goodbye like normal, and left. Just left." She cupped her hands around the cup of coffee, steam rising up from it and slightly obscuring her face. "I often think about it, certainly. I always fight with myself. One part of me says that he wasn't meant for family life and decided he was caged up. So he left. But…another says that he didn't mean leave. Another part of me says he's in a living hell right now, even."
"Don't say that," Kyoshi mumbled cautiously.
"But I don't know what to think. I remember reading a quote once…'I have to remind myself that some birds weren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knew it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But your world is just that much colder and emptier when they're gone.'"
"Thanks, mom," Ellen mumbled.
"You're welcome."
"I'm going upstairs now."
"Okay…are you alright? I love you."
"Yeah."
The group moved from the table to Ellen's room slowly, taking their time finishing off their cereal or toast. Once in the bedroom, the ex-Anti-Trainer's heart pounding, she booted up the dingy Macrohard computer, instructing Charles to close and lock the door.
"Are we doing something illegal?" Phil asked, crawling up onto Ellen's lap to get a better view of the computer screen. He placed his slimy paws on the keyboard and slammed the keys a bit, giggling. "Computers are fun. Computers, computers, comp- Oh! The DM website?"
"Shhh!" Feolan hissed, whacking Phil on the shoulder with his paw. The Marshtomp whined furiously. "Can't you see this is secret?"
Ellen turned back to face the Mightyena with extreme seriousness. "Feolan, you were right. I seriously need to get out of here. Charles, Kyoshi- I'm really sorry, but we're getting the hell out of here. I can't just sit here. You heard what my mom said; a living hell. Once I get the last badge and defeat the Elite Four, I can get Rayquaza. That's the answer to the question! He'll find my dad and scatter Team Rocket!" Ellen grinned at her Pokémon triumphantly.
"So, you're going on the Direct Messaging website?" Charles asked disbelievingly. "Wow. You've really outdone yourself this time, Ellen."
"No, I've seriously got a reason to be on this website. See, when I was talking to Jack and Miguel, Jack told me his DM address. And if I got in touch with him he could help me get out."
Charles looked at Kyoshi, whose calm attitude disappeared quickly as they both realized what was going to happen. But what could they say to her? 'No, you can't find your father?' or 'No you have to stay here?' Even though Charles and Kyoshi were the most mature of the group, they couldn't disagree with their ex-Anti-Trainer.
"But you'll get in trouble," Kyoshi added in a quiet, sing-song voice.
"Kyoshi, I basically daydream about going to the Last Gym and kicking some asses," the girl scoffed. "You know what my daydreams are like? Us completely destroying the last Gym Leader. That's what I'm talking about." Hunched over the keyboard, the girl turned to the computer and began typing.
"Reckless," Charles muttered.
"Dense," Kyoshi added.
"Funny," giggled Phil.
"Smart," Feolan snorted. "Smart for getting her ass out of here. She can't sit in her house all day, waiting for something to happen. So what if Fredia is worried? We're not doing anything dangerous."
The Pokémon turned back to the computer to find the internet directed onto the Direct Messaging homepage, and in the search bar was typed the word: 56Blackjack. Almost one hundred hits had come up.
Phil groaned.
"I should have written it down somewhere…" the ex-Anti-Trainer mumbled to herself. "So…we could call Miguel and ask."
"Ohh, yes," Charles retorted in an obnoxiously high voice. "We can call Miguel after the little argument we experienced. Oh, and why not call Giovanni? Oh, yes, let's do that. Crazy fun time!" Ellen grabbed a tissue box off of her desk and tossed in back at Charles, who caught it with a smug smile.
"We could DM every single Blackjack there," Kyoshi suggested quietly, slowly immersing herself into the plan. "I doubt that any of my physic powers will help with all this technology…"
Phil shrugged. "I dunno, Kyoshi. Actually, you could probably use your mental ability to enter the hard drive of the computer and hack into the system, reading the bios of all the Blackjacks there and therefore finding the one we want, or Jack."
Everyone stared at him blankly.
"I mean…duh," he said, slinking away.
"I'll pretend I never heard that and just DM all the Blackjacks on the page. I'll copy and paste: Emerald, it's Fiery Sapphire over and over again."
Feolan snickered. "I'm sure you'll get some kinky replies from that."
"Ha-ha," Ellen laughed.
OoO
A day later a small dinging noise rang through Ellen's room, followed by a dangerously pleasant voice reporting, 'New message, freak.'
Kyoshi looked taken aback by the little announcement. "How vicious. Wait…does that mean…?"
In the time span of a day, Ellen had received more than twenty replies to her message, most of them saying 'what?' or 'huh?' A few were a bit strange, and she quickly deleted those, but as she opened the newest message, something was very different from what she'd experienced from the others.
56Blackjack2250: ellen? whoa, it's jack. where are you? btw, nice usrname
Ellen quickly typed something back.
Hellell: help! i'm at my moms house in palet town and i'm stuck. she found out i was a antitrainer.
56Blackjack2250: bummer. i'm back at bro's apartment in Saffron i'm leaving for Jhoto in a week to see my parents. they thought I ran away, sorta lol.
Yeah, thought Ellen, sorta lol.
Hellell: srry, but you got to help me!!!!! and I have weird news. my mom told me about 5 weeks ago. my dad started the antitrainers.
Hellell: help get me outa here I need to go to the Last gym!
Jack didn't answer.
Hellell: heeeelllloooo? AFDN!
56Blackjack2250: serious? ur dad? okay, never mind. I believe you. I saw Russell about 2 weeks ago and he looked pretty gloomy. u really need to come back. if you're the heir-person…espesialy. how do you think you want to get out?
Hellell: Charles would fly me at night with everyon
"Hey," Charles sniffed, "I never agreed to that. And you spelled 'everyone' wrong." Ellen ignored him.
56Blackjack2250: r u crazy, woman!?!? you can't just fly out on a big fat Charizard. lol.
"WHAT!?" the dragon roared, infuriated. "I AM NOT FAT!"
56Blackjack2250: i'll help you. if i can get away for a hour or two, me and gwen can come over to your house. gwen knows how to make people invisible. maybe we could try with all of us, and then no one would figure out.
Hellell: I owe you!!!
56Blackjack2250: np.
Once the fellow ex-Anti-Trainers had gotten the plan all set for that night, eleven thirty exactly, they prayed the Gym would still be open. The group began to make all the necessary preparations for their outing, but only a bare minimum was needed as they didn't want to make much noise when sneaking out.
Ending up, Ellen was dressed in jeans, sneakers, a red tee-shirt, and her gray jacket. Her backpack was slouched in the corner of the room, still packed and patiently waiting. She wouldn't be taking it with her, though.
"You should at least unpack it," Kyoshi suggested, sitting down upon the bed. The Persian stared at the backpack for a moment, narrowing her eyes, and slowly the sack rolled over on the ground and stopped, going limp again. Kyoshi furrowed her feline eyebrows and sunk her head. "Darn. Not quite."
"Try smaller things first," Phil suggested in a surprisingly mature manner. "Like paper, or maybe even a tissue box."
On cue, a pencil whizzed past the Marshtomp and hit Feolan square on the muzzle, causing him to yelp and fall backwards onto the floor.
"KYOSHI!" boomed the Mightyena.
"Feolan!" Kyoshi returned.
Sensing an argument coming on, Phil quickly changed the subject. "Umm…who's up for a game of Monopoly?"
"Dibs on buying Silph Co," Feolan said with a mocking grin directed at Ellen.
A tissue box hit Feolan on the backside, and Kyoshi smiled contently.
OoO
It had turned out to be a very cold night, and Viridian City was silent, the few streetlamps dotting the gravel streets with light, illuminating the occasional Rattata that scurried down a grassy strip. The wind blew the trees with a faint rustle; a gale sweeping up against the brick houses. The only sound that was heard came from the front of the Viridian City Gym, where two figures were speaking to each other in casual conversation.
Jack greatly enjoyed the scenery, but he couldn't concentrate on picturesque views at that moment. He had to concentrate on staying afloat on Gwen. As ghosts aren't a physical presence, per say, the Haunter began to shift in and out of feasibility every so often, resulting in Jack plummeting to the ground below.
As the boy picked brambles from his hair and looked around to see his surroundings, his gaze shifted to the Last Gym. The great stone building, long in horizontal terms but vertically challenged, seemed to be devoid of any light or presence, save for the two figures outside. Worried that the Gym was closed for some reason, (besides the fact that it was an ungodly hour of the night,) he walked up to the two people speaking, a little intimidated once he saw them up-close.
It was a man and a woman, but in odd attire. The man was wearing gray pants and a gray jacket, a gray outline of a Pokéball emblazed on the back of the jacket. In one hand he held a sort of paddle with a red target on it, and the other a long, deadly whip reaching almost to the ground. The woman was clad in something entirely different; she wore the bare minimum of clothing except for an orange rap around shirt and small orange shorts. Rapped around her knuckles were cloth strips, and her hair was placed back in a scraggly ponytail.
"Um, e-excuse m-me?" Jack asked timidly, "B-but is the G-g-gym o-open?"
The woman's eyes glinted at him furiously, and she shook her head. "No. It's closed."
"Oh." The teen stuffed his hands in his pockets. "D-do you have any c-clue as t-to w-when it'll b-be o-open?"
"Never," the woman said bluntly.
"N-never?" Jack repeated.
The man leaned forward a bit as to make his presence and the whip clear. "Look. The goddamn Gym is closed, punk."
"A G-g-gym can't be c-closed f-forever."
"Huh." The Tamer resumed his original stance, looking at the boy with dismay, and exchanged looks with the Battle Girl he was chatting with. She nodded slightly at him. "Sorry, but this one can," he sneered. "Now, I'll give you three to get out of here."
"One…"
"The G-g-gym h-has t-to be o-open," Jack pressed.
Gwen tugged impatiently on Jack's shirt collar, her instincts telling her to leave very quickly. The teen didn't budge.
"Two…" Both trainers looked very hostile now, their faces twisted with ferocity.
The Haunter was making small wails of fear and was basically digging her ghostly claws into his shirt and trying to drag Jack away.
"THREE!"
Gwen suddenly gasped and disappeared Jack and herself, jerking violently away, just as the whip came flashing down to the ground in one simple sweep. The cracking of the whip echoed through Viridian City as Gwen and Jack hurriedly made for Pallet Town, dreading the news they would have to report to Ellen. They didn't even notice the Tamer screaming curses at them from behind.
Soon, the duo reached the Pallet Town suburbs and Jack instantly recognized Ellen's house; the only house with a huge, seemingly vicious Charizard sticking its head out of the second floor window, eyes wide open. When the Haunter floated into view, Charles grinned, showing a flash of sharp teeth and waved.
Okay, not so vicious.
Charles moved away from the window for a moment and came back with the rest of the group; Ellen appeared in the window and gave Jack a thumbs-up.
"Took you long enough," she half whispered, half yelled as Kyoshi skillfully jumped from the window. Charles flew the others down and shut the window behind them, making sure everything looked intact.
Jack's smile slowly dissipated as he realized he'd have to inform her about the Gym. "O-oh, uh…E-ellen, I s-sort of h-have s-some b-bad news." He carefully recounted the encounter with the two trainers at the front of the Gym door.
As predicted, Fiery Sapphire's fact turned into a look of confusion and disappointment. She glanced anxiously back at her house, weighing her options. She could silently sneak back in and pretend she never had a plan…and wait…and wait…or she could continue on and see if Jack was just overreacting. The second one sounded much more practical in her eyes.
"How about I see for myself." Smiling, the girl rose up into the air on her Charizard as Gwen and Jack had a wobbly little floating session and finally ended up next to Charles.
"So, you t-think y-you can d-do t-this?" Jack asked Gwen; the subject being invisibility.
Gwen nodded and blinked her large, watery eyes. "It's actually quite simple once you get the hang of it. But," she added to her trainer, "I don't want you getting hurt. Those people back there looked awfully dangerous, and I want you to know that I'll do anything to protect you."
Ellen didn't bother translating.
OoO
Pallet Town rushed by in a blur. The cold wind stung Ellen's face. Although she couldn't see Charles, she could tell that the dragon was annoyed by the cold weather they were having. Once they reached Viridian City, the Charizard jerked upwards suddenly, spreading his navy wings apart and narrowly avoiding a thin canopy of trees that had abruptly appeared.
"Thanks for warning me about the trees," she heard Charles growl.
"We can't help it," Phil put in. "Our eyesight is half as good as yours."
"Not really," the Charizard admitted.
"The G-g-gym's r-right h-here!" the heard Jack call to them, and Charles slowly began to descend through the maze of trees. He touched down onto the ground, landing with a thump. Jack and Gwen soon appeared.
Not only did Jack and Gwen appear beside them, but the two trainers as well, staring at the jumbled mass with awe. The Battle Girl glanced over at Jack and opened her mouth to say something, but the Tamer quickly interrupted.
"You again!" he snarled, jabbing his whip at Jack. "I told you to get your ass out of here! Do you want me to whip you?"
"Hey!" Ellen yelled hotly, standing up to brush her jeans off. She fumbled in her pocket before pulling out a small case of badges. "What's it to you? I've got all seven badges! See?"
"The Gym is closed." The Battle Girl crossed her arms.
"I'm not leaving until I get the Last Badge," the resurrected Anti-Trainer said simply.
"Y-yeah," Jack agreed.
"Fine," the Tamer scoffed, holding up the whip and smiling cruelly. "Let's see how long you last after I lash both of you."
The whip hit Jack across the arm first, who stumbled backwards with a cry as the thin line of blood already began to appear. The Battle Girl snorted with laughter and said something to the effect of, 'freak.'
The Tamer then advanced on Jack again, holding the whip high in the dark, frigid air. The Tamer's wrist had not moved more than an inch when there was a flash of purple. Suddenly, a furious Gwen sped forward and lunged at the man's throat, jerking the Tamer back against the Gym wall. His horrified scream was cut short when the Haunter punctured the jugular vain and began to rip his throat out, spewing blood to the ground.
The group, frozen with fear, now burst into a frenzied blur of action. The Battle Girl threw out a Pokéball; a Primape appearing. The giant pig-like creature tried to tear Gwen away from the mutilated body of the Tamer, but the ghost simply ignored the fighting-type's poor attempts at victory.
Jack looked horrified as he watched his protective Pokémon maim the trainer and suddenly ran forward, screaming, "G-GWEN, S-STOP!"
The inflamed Battle Girl caught Jack by the collar and aimed a punch at the face, when Feolan latched onto the fighter's leg and snarled, digging his teeth into her ankle as the woman shrieked with fear.
"G-GWEN, S-STOP," Jack repeated wildly, still in his place. The ghost wouldn't move, though, and suddenly Emerald realized the importance of this event. "E-ellen," he cried, looking around for the girl. "Ellen! G-get the b-badge! G-get in the G-g-gym!"
Ellen opened her mouth in surprise and disagreement, but Gwen suddenly turned from the trainer and spat out something gory. "No, go on. Really. I think we can handle ourselves quite well," she said in a polite, kind voice, as a piece of flesh slipped from her jaws and dribbled to the ground.
Charles wasn't about to refuse advice from a predatory ghost, and he picked up Ellen by her waist and simply opened the door, letting the other Pokémon file in first before closing the door behind him, shutting away the noise. Totally silent, totally devoid from the gory fight outside.
The Gym was simply a narrow hallway leading further into the bowels of the building, lit by dim, warm lighting. It was stuffy and humid in the Gym, and as the group traveled down the hallway, disturbed by all that just happened, they broke into a desperate sprint.
"WE'RE HERE FOR THE BADGE!" Ellen screamed as the hallway winded further and further. "WE'RE HERE FOR THE BADGE!"
"I can't believe it," Phil cried giddily, "we're at the last Gym!"
"I feel so experienced!" Charles roared.
"For once, I feel optimistic," Kyoshi intoned gloomily.
"At least someone listened to me," Feolan growled at the teenager.
Ellen's heart pounded furiously as Fiery Sapphire bounded down the hallways leading to her final step to victory¸ the final Gym that awaited her. She had survived through so many horrific experiences and shattering times that this all paid off; the final fight before continuing onto the Elite Four.
Kaden would be proud, yes, he would be so proud of her! To think that his strange, little PSD girl would have grown up to become a champion! Think of how much she'd tell Kaden when she would finally find him! Rayquaza would be glad to help her; that's what the scientific paper with all the funny words said! Once she acquired all the badges and became a Pokémon Champion, Rayquaza would do her bidding! Wow! What an honor! Did she really deserve it?
Don't kid yourself, Ellen said mentally, you're the daughter of the Head Anti-Trainer!
"I'm here for the badge!" Fiery Sapphire called again, slowing to a halt. From the arched doorway grew a huge, cavernous room, almost like a marble arena, with two stadium boxes for the trainers to stand in. The room was lit by multiple small lights on the walls, but the room was as dim as possible. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. No one was there, it seemed.
"Hello?" she asked hoarsely. "Hello? I'm sorry for…uh…intruding like this…but I'd really like to battle for the Last Badge…it's real important…" she paused, desperate, and tried to call one last time. "I'm here for the badge…please…I'm here fo-"
Suddenly, something caught the teen by the throat and jerked her back against the room wall, pounding her head against the dirty marble. Her head cracked into the stone, making her skull throb with a sharp pain. A wave of terror washed over her as two hands compressed around her neck and fingers dug into her throat, killing her gasps silently and quickly.
With a whimper of fear, Ellen could slowly decipher the viciously grinning face through the darkness, and with every second of lost life and every breath choked under the tightening grip, her life slowly crumbled apart and fell lower into the earth, where it would be torn up and devoured by her enemy.
Speaking as a writer, I hope you too can decipher the face through the darkness, and I certainly know that for any avid gamer that this was one of the pinnacle points of their Kanto experience. But nevertheless, as Fiery Sapphire's life dwindles on a thread and her heartbeat quickens and pounds so rapidly that it just might stop-
I would like you to know that the face through the darkness; the Last Gym Leader, was in fact, readers, Giovanni.
OoO
How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!
- Logan Pearsall Smith