Pokémon
Okay, first of all I sincerely apologize that it has been over two months for this update, but I'm sure you all know how busy the end of the school year can be. I spent 1 month crying about the provincial math 12 ADVANCED exam (thinking why the hell did I take ADVANCED?) and all the other exams and then I just went took a break and did nothing for a few weeks. XP
But now, I am back! And I'm on VACATION! (Yayy!) So I hope you like since it was a long time coming. And I hope people are still reading after all this time... Thanks to all that still are reading, anyway!
Chapter #37 – Not Your Typical Hero
Last time on Off to Sinnoh!:
After following a ghostly noise singing through the darkness of the night, Alex found herself deep in a cave. Separated from Paul and all of her pokemon, she found misdreavus, an old friend, who had led her there so she could protect the missing Adaptability Nucleofuser. From who? A ghostly boy named Gabriel and his haunter. But now, she finds herself being kidnapped by the individuals, along with the machine and forced to leave her unconscious ghost behind, helpless to resist.
With a battered shoe on the side of the dark vehicle, Alex's mind was rushing with ideas of how she could escape. It was pointless, for there was no way she could single handedly break away from them. She rather felt like one of those ditzy girls you would see in a horror film who goes running after some creepy noise with no weapon or anything to protect them; the ones you want to scream at and say, "You stupid ditz, run away!"
Yeah, she was pretty much that girl.
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, now trying to stall for as much time as she could.
"To our hideout, of course. There are a lot of people who want to meet you." Gabriel chuckled as he felt her shiver.
Well, since she was the damsel in distress, she might as well say the old cliché line. "You'll never get away with this!"
"Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me?"
BOOM!
The far end of the small cavern was abruptly demolished in a gust of smoke and dust. It quickly dissipated through the gaping mouth along the side of the cliffs and left everybody's visibility momentarily disabled. As the haze cleared, a shaggy-haired figure showed through, staring at a miniature creature holding an outstretched palm.
"Paul! Aura!" Alex shouted gratefully, barely getting it out before she was shoved into the hovercraft in front of her. "Pffft," she spluttered, head smushed against the leather of the drivers seat. The rest of her body was half on the passenger side and half outside the aircraft. "Goddammit!" she huffed, feeling the weight of another body added on her.
"Haunter, take care of the brat until we get away," demanded the ghost trainer, shifting the vehicle into gear, which dug into Alex's ribs uncomfortably. "Be a dear and hit the gas, would you?"
The brunette lashed out with her only non-constrained limbs, her legs, in hopes of kicking her purple-haired kidnapper in the head. "How about no! Now get your ass of my ass!"
"My, my, you're not a very polite little girl," he sang mockingly, slipping over into the drivers seat and violently sending them into motion in the process. Alex had barely moved her head out of the way before he plopped down on the seat and was flung none-too-gently into the passenger door.
The girl struggled to sit up on the slippery material as well as keep all of her part parts inside. "Paul, get me the hell out of here!"
"Shut up and sit down!" barked driver, sliding around a large pillar of rock.
"Make me," Alex retorted, slapping at the hands holding the steering wheel.
Bad idea.
By now, they were in an open area created by the ocean-side cliffs standing in a crescent-shaped formation. There were tall, mini island-like rock towers standing high above the water line, nearly level with the tops of the cliffs. They were hardly big enough to stand on let alone land a vehicle on. The swishing of the silver moon-lined waves crashed at least a hundred feet below, throwing themselves on the dark, lower rocks and curling back in raining droplets.
So now, having been jostled from her seat as Gabriel attempted to regain control by brisky stomping on the brake and sending them into a dangerous tilt, Alex hung from the side of the humming machine by the bend of her fingers, feet running on air and hair slipping from her bun, making it difficult to see. "Shit," she cursed, looking at the vast distance between her and the ocean. She knew she likely wouldn't survive a drop. A hand slapped onto one of her wrists, wrapping around the limb
"You know, I'm starting to think you're more trouble then you're worth. I can see why the Master didn't bother bringing you with him," growled Gabriel. His luminescent orbs glanced rapidly between adjusting to straighten the vehicle and what portion of the brunette he could see.
"Riiii!" The small black and blue pokemon had gotten past the battling magmortar and hounter to find his trainer. His ruby eyes welled with fright at the sight of the brown-haired girl dangling dangerously in the air. He hurriedly closed his eyes, letting out an intense cry that echoed from the cave.
Alex struggled. Her fingers were beginning to burn and though the boy had a hold of one of her arms, she didn't feel very secure…
Especially as the car harshly lashed back in the other direction without warning, nearly ripping her hands away from the door. After a momentary incline the car reeled back in a drop and settled in an even deeper tilt on her side. With a few shaky breaths, she allowed here gaze to wander down, and what she saw didn't ensure her very much.
The strain on the cables due to the awkward angle the vehicle had fallen into was too much, and the two that were pulled upward by the slant gave way. Now all of its weight was pulling on her side of the vehicle, making it droop significantly more.
"What the hell was that?" Gabriel demanded to the girl, whom he could see nearly in full now thanks to the vehicle being increasingly closer to having its sides completely vertical.
"Well," Alex pursed her lips and lifted her eyes from the remaining two wires. She wasn't given a chance to answer, however, as the other two supports cracked. The aircraft snapped in the other direction, ripping Alex's grip away from the side.
"Not Ag-AINNN," Alex screamed, feeling her heart drop to her gut, her stomach in her throat and the wind cutting past her. She couldn't keep her eyes open and bolted them closed, trying not to think about the impending landing. However, it was short lived.
But it wasn't because she landed.
The brunette felt soft fur against her face and a pair of arms tucking under her waist and knees. Her hair settled around her as the air calmed. Her brown eyes fluttered open, immediately being drawn to the brilliant, transparent cobalt sphere that was encased around her, then up to two dark red eyes. She barely realized they had landed as the creature set her down on an outcropping near water level.
Now standing about chest-height to the girl was a bipedal, jackal-like pokemon with blue and black fur, aside from a pale yellow torso. It resembled her riolu, though its ears had grown and there were now two black appendages under each ear instead of one, which settled back around its face as the blue bubble degenerated. The metal on its now black hands had extended into short spikes, along with a third emerging on its chest.
"Aura? Is that you?" she asked hesitantly.
'Yes, it is I.'
Alex jumped with fright, almost whirling around to see who else was there. She laughed immediately afterwards. "I nearly forgot your evolved form allows you to use telepathic power, doesn't it."
'That is correct.' His tail twitched as he shifted his attention to the quickly fleeing black aircraft. 'When I witnessed you in such distress, it caused me to evolve into a form that would grant me power to aide you.'
The brunette blinked at the pokemon, who blinked back. A smile twitched on her lips and she instantly threw her arms around him, careful of the spike. "Thank you, Aura. I didn't mean to worry you."
Lucario slowly hugged back, glad his trainer was okay and he was able to make her proud.
"Now," the girl stated, stepping back, "You wouldn't happen to grow wings in this form, would you? We seem to be stranded," she laughed.
'…No, I do not. I apologize,' he retorted dejectedly, eyes downcast.
"Haha, I was only kidding!" Alex giggled until she caught the subtle beat of flapping wings. It was hard to distinguish in the dismal light of the early morning, but as it came closer it was revealed to be Paul's honchkrow.
'She says she saw what happened, and she'll fly us both back up,' lucario stated as the navy, red and white-feathered bird landed next to them.
"Awesome, thanks honchkrow!" Alex eagerly climbed on the fluffy bird's back, followed by her pokemon and began their gradual ascent to the campsite. After letting them off, honchkrow flew off once again, likely in search of Paul.
Lucario and Alex were met by the rest of the pokemon rushing towards them. Paul's two remaining pokemon stood slightly off, but still looked appreciatively onward. And charizard, of course, huffed in annoyance that he couldn't help.
"Hn, so you're alive after all."
The brunette whipped around, facing a frowning purplette as he slid off of his bird. "Paul, you're alright!" she said with relief. She then realized what she had forgotten in her shock. "Oh my gosh, what happened to misdreavus and the Kendrick's machine?"
Paul sighed. "The ghost disappeared sometime while I was battling the haunter. As for the stupid machine, it's probably at the bottom of the ocean somewhere."
"Hmm," Alex hummed disappointedly, "I wish I was able to save it. I guess Missy's okay, though. Wonder who she went to haunt now."
As if just remembering she had gotten about 4 hours of good sleep over the span of 48 hours, it hit the brunette like a dump truck and forced out a yawn, which in turn caused the purplette to yawn. "Damn, can I go to sleep now?"
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
"Eh?" Alex stared incredulously at the spiky-haired brunette boy just waking up and watching the group with bleary curiosity, rubbing at the red-blotched cloth on his head. "Gary! Your head's bleeding again! We have to get you to a hospital!"
"Grrr-uff!" Arcanine bent down with his crème-colored belly to the ground beside his trainer, though the boy didn't seem to notice. His eyes instead wandered to his bloodstained hands with rapt, yet unfocused interest.
Alex rushed over to the puzzled boy and lugged him unsteadily to his feet. "Alright there, buddy. You're going ahead." She flung him over the large, fluffy dog's back sideways. She wished she could go with him to keep him secure in his place, but she couldn't leave Paul to clean up all of their camping equipment and carry their packs and look after the pokemon.
"Arcanine, be careful and try to keep him as stable as you can. Take him straight to the Pokemon Center, okay?" Her fingers stroked his snout as he let out a sound of understanding, and she watched him canter into the trees.
With a sigh, the brunette looked at the mess of food, blankets and bags. All of Paul's pokemon had been called back into their pokeballs, and the boy himself was beginning to roll up his sleeping bag. Her eyes switched to her clump of pokemon, who were huddled around the newly evolved lucario.
Except for eevee.
"Hey, what's your eevee think she's glaring at?"
"Hm?" Alex turned to the purplette. An amused smile broke onto her face, seeing her small fox sitting at the end of Paul's sleeping bag, usually bight, wide brown eyes narrowed and bushy tail flicking with annoyance. "I think she's mad you didn't take her with you when you noticed I was gone," she chuckled, though froze as two sets of hardened eyes snapped on her.
"Hey, I didn't plan to fall into a creepy cave all by myself with no way out!" she huffed, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her arms. "You two are mean."
'They only worry for your safety,' Aura responded in her head, placing a paw on his trainer's shoulder in comfort.
"Hmf," she returned childishly with a pout. "Whatever, let's finish cleaning up so we can check on Gary."
"You're pokemon seem to have taken care of the rest of the food," Paul stated dully, gingerly picking the tiny fluff-ball off of his sleeping bag with arms fully outstretched as though she would spontaneously turn rabid and tear his face off. And sure enough, behind him where there was once a heap of food, stood nothing but her pokemon with berry stains and crumbs on their mouths.
'And I have taken care of the boy's belongings.'
"Oh," Alex blinked, looking down at her own sleeping bag. Soft, cozy, warm sleeping bag. How nice it would be to take a long, relaxing, restful nap right about now…
"Are you going to pack up or just stare at it?" demanded the purplette, hooking his arms around his backpack.
The girl sighed sadly. "Fine, fine." She bent down and clumsily rolled it and tied it to her pack. Staring drowsily through half-lidded orbs, she said, "There, happy?"
"Ecstatic," said Paul, sounding anything but. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking down the all too familiar path. "I swear if I ever end up here again I'm going to torch the whole forest to the ground."
With a snort at the boy's comment, Alex called back most of her pokemon, but observed her cranky fox, who remained unmoving from the place where Paul had transferred her to. Her fingers felt for the cold metal zipper on the bottom part of her backpack and slid it across, removing the container within. "Isis," she cooed, holding out a pretty pink, sweet tasting, small, disk-shaped treat between her fingers. "I have a poffin for you."
"Eeeeie!" the little creature chirped, climbing onto the girl's shoulder companionably to receive the sweet. Her tail now swished cheerfully as she crunched away while her trainer held it out for her, following Paul so as not to get lost.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." She shook her head at the sweet-loving fox, scratching the scruff of brown fur on the pokemon's forehead as she finished eating. "Can't stay mad at me for long, can ya?" Her eevee responded by sticking out her tongue.
Alex caught up to Paul, who was walking swiftly away from their campsite with eyes set straight ahead. He appeared bored as always, as well as irritated. She fell into step with him, her feet occasionally faltering on the uneven ground, though Paul only seemed focused on getting out of there as fast as possible. She bit her lip and let her gaze fall to the dark forest bed.
"Paul, I'm sorry for dragging you into this." She heard no response for a few steps and continued. "I…I'll probably stay here with Gary until his head heals enough for him to go home, since I'm sort of the one that caused it. Even though our brothers told us to travel together, I don't want to hold you back. I'll understand if you decide to go back on your own." Still, she heard nothing from the boy.
'I guess he's so mad he won't even talk to me,' Alex thought sadly.
It wasn't too long with the pace that Paul set to reach the town. As soon as her foot touched the cement walkways of Canalave City, she briskly made her way to the eastern part of the city and to the blinking pink Pokemon Center that was looking good as new after the robbery. She assumed Paul wouldn't be following her and made no attempt to wait for him.
"Ah, Alex, there you are!" greeted Nurse Joy. Her lips pulled into the brightest smile that still looked genuine that the girl was nearly dazed. "I'm so happy to see you're alright. When you and Paul didn't return last night, and Mr. Oak went looking for you then came back injured, I thought something terrible might have happened."
The brunette grimaced back at the pink-haired woman. "Well, it was quite a night. How's Gary and arcanine?"
"Gary's fine, it's just a slight concussion but he lost quite a bit of blood and though we're not really equipped for this sort of thing being a Pokemon Center, I think we can help him. Arcanine refuses to leave his side."
"Thank goodness," Alex breathed in relief with a hand over her chest. "If arcanine becomes too much to handle, just let me know and I'll take him off your hands."
The bubbly nurse beamed and nodded. "I will. I'm just going to check on him now, so please excuse me. Oh, nice to see you're fine as well, Paul."
"Thank you."
"Paul?" the girl exclaimed, spinning around. Her eyes locked with the bored, coal ones of the purplette boy as he leaned beside the sliding glass door, arms crossed. She quickly looked away. "I thought you were leaving."
"Tch, idiot. Did you foget it's an island? The first blimb doesn't leave until 6:30." Paul's lip twitched as Alex gazed down almost disappointedly. "Besides, if I left you and him alone, one of you would end up killing the other," he added, though not sounding convincingly annoyed.
The corner of the brunette's lips tugged upward and her brown orb met his once again. "So, you're staying?" she asked hopefully. Truthfully, it was nice to have an actual human to talk to, even if he wasn't always the most pleasant person in the room.
"I suppose I have no choice," Paul shrugged, a small smirk on his face. "You should really clean up if I'm going to have to hang around you. You look like you fell off a cliff."
Alex scrunched her nose up, glowering at the boy's back as he sauntered back to their room. "Paul, you jerk!" Though, she still couldn't help a smile breaking on her face.
Even though he probably wouldn't admit it, the journey that had started off a bit begrudgingly for the two solo-travelers, slowly brought them together. She had a knack for finding trouble, and he still stuck around though it would have been easier to just forget about her. He was cold and had a knack for insulting others, but she ignored his sometimes harsh comments and found he really wasn't all that bad. And though he didn't act like it, if she was the damsel in distress, he was her knight in shining armor.
"Thank you, Paul, for not abandoning me," Alex whispered, a smile almost as wide as Nurse Joy's adorning her face as she watched her companion saunter down the hall to their room.
"Idiot, are you going to stand there like an eyesore all day?"
And with that, I am fini for today. Now, I have to go babysit a couple of brats for a few hours, so cross your fingers that I come back alive.
...No seriously. They fight like a couple of miniature wrestlers.
Again, I hope it isn't another two months before I see you all again. I don't plan on dying today -.-' Send me a message, drop a line in the review page, I love hearing from you :D It makes me so happy to see that people are reading...There are people reading, right?
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