Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 37
The days had trickled by so slowly that I had no idea whether three days had passed or three weeks. My main emotions fluctuated between terrifying panic, utter hopelessness, intense fear, and complete and total boredom. Right now, I was bored. There's only so much a person could do to entertain herself inside of a locked subway car. For example:
I ripped up all of the cushions looking for spare change, but I only found a few ticket stubs and the stick of a half-eaten lollipop.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to open the locked doors. That only resulted in giving me a few blisters and a sore butt because I fell one time.
I climbed up the pole to try and touch the roof, increasing my speed every time (my record was now four seconds).
I did sprints back and forth along the length of the subway car, but I immediately stopped when I lost my footing in one of my pivots and went into a full split on the floor. I really hoped that no one was watching me on the security camera then.
I found out that the bulletproof windows provided a solid thumping sound, so I engaged myself in a drum solo.
And finally, I learned how to whistle. It was a magical experience.
But now, I had run out of things to do, and even my superior whistling skills did little to diminish the boredom that hung around me like a cloud of thick air, choking the energy and imagination from my mind. Yet even now, when I couldn't move and there was no hope that I could ever leave, I endeavored to figure out where the Legendary Dragons could possibly be.
The last people that ever saw the Legendary Dragons were Touko and Mei, the two trainers that had defeated Team Plasma years before. While Touko had possession of Zekrom, Mei had possession of Reshiram, who she had received from the mysterious N. After Mei had Reshiram, she took the other dragon, Kyurem, and sent him into a deep slumber in a mysterious cave somewhere in Unova, but no one had been able to find him either after the cave had collapsed.
The Swords of Justice, Cobalion, Virizion, and Terrakion, had disappeared right before President Javan took over, so there was no way that they could ever help us. And no help could ever come from Thundurus or Tornadus: taming them would be like taming a thunderstorm or a tornado.
Impossible.
Our only hope lied with either Zekrom or Reshiram, but no one had seen them since President Javan took over. Mei and Touko had given up the Dragons in order to keep them out of the President's hands, and just like the Legendaries, they had disappeared into thin air. Yet we all knew that the Legendaries were still somewhere in Unova, forever stuck in their dormant form until they are found once more.
I sighed as I leaned my head back against the cool, bulletproof glass of the subway car. Finding the Legendary Dragons was hard enough, but trying to find them when you had no way of ever escaping prison was impossible. But life was always like that: full of impossible challenges and hopeless puzzles, but somehow, everything always seemed to work out.
If only things could work out for Unova right now.
Sighing, I closed my eyes and waited for Arconsy to show up with my dinner, or at least what I hoped was dinner time. Honestly, my perception of time was ruined, so I just waited for when he visited my cell, which could have been twice a day… I had started to take so many naps that I never knew if I was asleep for an hour or ten hours… My life was seriously messed up right now.
But the back of my mind always reminded me of all those rebels stuck at the Castle being tortured for information. By now, someone must have cracked and spilled all of our secrets. It was only a matter of time until Alain came into my cell to gloat over the destruction on the Rebellion.
My heart twisted in pain at the thought of Alain, but the feeling quickly faded as I heard the metallic, sliding sound of the door opening. I sat up as Arconsy walked into the room with a tray of food and some handcuffs.
"Relax," he said in a monotone when he saw the wary look I gave the handcuffs. He handed me the tray and sat on the opposite side of the subway car as he regarded me with vacant eyes. "These are only for when I escort you to take a shower."
"I can take a shower?" I asked, hopeful. Even the smell of the food couldn't compare to the happiness I felt when he told me I could finally take a shower. Once you've been locked up for awhile, you finally realize just how privileged you actually are. "I feel like I haven't bathed in two months."
He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That's repulsive."
I shrugged as I stuck my fork into a plate of spaghetti, twirling the noodles around and around. "Not my fault. You haven't let me take one since I've been here." After shoving a mouthful of the delicious, spicy food into my mouth, I said, whilst chewing, "How long have I been here, anyway?"
"Don't speak with your mouth full, you uncivilized human," Arconsy chastised, his skinny arms crossed over his chest. "And you've only been here for a week and a half."
"A week and a half?" I echoed, shocked. That seemed too short of a time and too long of a time altogether. So much could have happened, and I had no idea of anything that was going on.
"Just shut up and finish your food so you can finally bathe," he said, waving a hand at me. "I can smell you from over here." I would have replied, but I was too excited at the thought of taking a shower, so I inhaled my food while Arconsy stared on in disgust at my lack of manners.
Finally, I finished and allowed Arconsy to put the handcuffs on me. A wave of anxiety rushed through my system as I remembered the last time that I had worn handcuffs, but I tried to brush the feeling aside. Focusing on the thought of being clean for the first time in a while, I followed Arconsy out the subway and outside of the small room where the car was.
The only thing I could hear was the reverberations of our steps as we walked through the metal hallways, and I occasionally heard the fleeting sounds of conversation between Regulation Force officers. Even if I had tried to devote my mind to remembering the hallways that we took to get to the showers, it would have been impossible. The Battle Subway was a maze of halls and larger rooms, and if even tried to escape, I would become totally lost. So I resigned myself to following Arconsy mindlessly.
But before we reached the showers, I saw someone that I hadn't expected to see at all.
"Dylan?" I called out, catching a fleeting glimpse of the NatPol officer that I had met so long ago. He was walking out of a room that Arconsy was leading me toward. It had been so long since I had last seen him, but I recognized him from his strong, yet casual manner in which he walked.
His honey-colored eyes flashed with surprise when he heard me call his name, but one he saw me, they faded into hardness, clouding every emotion that could be seen in his eyes. He walked over to us rigidly, and I was shocked to see that he now wore the uniform of the Regulation Force. He and Arconsy saluted to each other, but then he turned his eyes toward me and glared with intensity.
"I was told that you were a prisoner here, but I didn't believe the rumors until now," he said harshly. "To think that I even trusted you once, only for you to be revealed as the Leader of that Rebellion scum."
"Officer Storm," said Arconsy, a hint of surprise in his voice, "I was never aware that you knew who Fallow was, nor that you had ever been associated with her before."
"A dark moment in my days as a National Police officer," he replied, his voice like ice as he glanced at Arconsy for a fleeting moment. "She was having a bit of trouble in Virbank City, and she seemed trustworthy at the time, so I helped her. No doubt, she was trying to contact all of her friends in the Rebellion."
Something didn't seem right about Dylan. When I first met him, he knew that I was a part of the Rebellion, but he never seemed the type to betray us to anyone. As a matter of fact, he seemed like he wanted to join the Rebellion.
"Well, I'd best be heading off, now," Dylan said, his entire body going strangely rigid. "Alain has ordered for me to assist Officer Sakei in Aspertia City." He saluted Arconsy one last time and pressed on past us, but he turned back around after he had gone a few paces. When I looked into his eyes, though, I saw some strange emotion flickering in his eyes as he addressed me one last time. "And make sure you use some soap, Fallow. You smell absolutely dreadful." And then he walked down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.
Confused, I turned back around as Arconsy led me to the room that Dylan had walked out of, which was apparently the showers. As we walked inside, I saw that there was a fairly large locker room about the size of the room where my subway car was. At the back of the room, though, was a tiny, tiled hallway that led to the showers.
Arconsy began to unlock the handcuffs from behind me. "Go down that hallway toward the showers and take off your clothes, and then toss them out to me. A towel should already be hanging in there, along with some soap and a spare change of clothes," he said in an almost-mechanical voice. "I'll be waiting out here while you shower so no incomes in and sees you."
I rubbed my wrists as I turned back towards him. "If you even dare to try and watch me, I'll castrate you quicker than you can scream for help."
To my surprise and pleasure, I hint of fear flashed in his eyes until his natural, sassy, spiteful emotion took over. "You have the body of a ten year old girl. Who would ever want to watch you in the shower?"
"Rude," I replied as I walked toward the hallway, excited from the change of scenery and the chance to bathe for the first time in so long. The first genuine smile that I had in a long time floated on to my face and I had to restrain myself from skipping down the hallway. Once I reached the shower, which was about half the size of the locker room, I immediately took off my grimy clothes and tossed them down the hallway toward Arconsy. I turned the shower head on and sighed at the warmth of the water sliding down my body.
All I did for the first few minutes was stand in the stream of water, enjoying the feeling of the water stream down, washing away almost two weeks' worth of dirt and mud. The steam that entered my lungs, although a tad suffocating, was a welcome relief compared to the stagnant air of the subway car. Finally, I reached toward the soap and began to wash myself off.
But when I grabbed the soap, I felt something strange on it. Glancing at the soap bar in my hand, I saw something scraped into the surface of it, and I had to squint and hold it at an angle toward the light in order to see it. When I saw what it was, I gasped and dropped it to the ground, my body frozen with shock. On the soap bar, I saw:
8:00. Be ready.
My mind immediately remembered Dylan's rigid posture and strange, cryptic words as he left Arconsy and I in the hallway:
Make sure you use some soap.
I didn't know what would happen tonight, if he was talking about tonight, but for the rest of my time in the shower, a galaxy of possibilities flashed through my mind as to what could happen later. But whatever it was, I prayed to Arceus that something amazing, something worthwhile would happen.
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Once Arconsy locked the door to my subway room after the shower, I started to pace the floor in agitated anxiety as I waited for eight o'clock to come. He said that it was about 7:40 now, so I had exactly forty-five minutes to stress about what was going to transpire later. But I could barely handle the intense, warring emotions inside of me as I considered every single possibility.
Maybe I could see Tyler tonight! He was probably terrified from being locked away for so long, and all I wanted to do was let him know that I would get us out somehow. I hoped that I could see Tyler tonight.
But then I wondered if Dylan just wanted to talk to me tonight. The thought of him just wanting to talk to me was a bit disheartening, but if that meant that I could talk to someone new besides Arconsy, I would welcome any company.
But what if there was going to be a rescue mission?
I shook my head and stopped my pacing at the very thought of a rescue mission. Trying to break into this place would require weeks of planning and an entire army of rebels in order to infiltrate the underground. Besides, I couldn't allow myself the hope of ever leaving this place. Surely by now, everyone in the Rebellion had seen what a poor Leader I was, so they would never waste the effort on rescuing me.
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the door to the subway car open, and it took all of the self-control inside of me not to scream and immediately attack the officer as he walked inside.
"Hello, sister," said Audun in a smooth, suave voice as he slid the door shut behind him. He held his hands together behind his back as he stood in a strong position, almost brimming with confidence. But in his grey eyes that matched my own, I saw uncertainty.
I crossed my arms over my chest and stood as tall and as proud as I possibly could. I inclined my head toward him as I replied. "Officer."
His broad shoulders drooped slightly. "Please don't be like that, Fallow. I've missed you so much." Inhaling, he took a step toward me, and I took one backwards. "Please talk to me."
"I really have no choice, considering that I am locked up in this cell and you have the keys right now," I said, putting as much venom and ice into my voice as possible. "What can I help you with this evening, Officer?"
"Don't talk like that," he whispered, hands dropping to his sides. "You're my sister—"
"No, I am not your sister!" I yelled, my emotions frayed from the very thought of talking to him now. "You stopped being my brother the moment that you left me alone with our parents seven years ago. We may share the same parents, but everything that tied us together was severed when you ran away and never came back."
He shook his head, the lights reflecting off of his blond hair that reminded me so much of my dad. "I left for you, Fallow. To make a better life for us."
By now, I had only a shred of composure left, and I began to speak with my hands, gesturing wildly. "You left for seven years and never contacted me to make a better life for us? Do you not realize how ridiculous that sounds?" I had always looked up to Audun, aspiring to be as wise and selfless as he was.
But no longer.
"You thought that you could make a better life for us by aligning yourself with President Javan? The very man that ruined Unova and took away everything we ever loved?" I yelled, the harsh burning of tears filling my eyes. "Do you not remember all of those times that I talked about how much I hated him and wanted him to pay for all of the pain that he caused?"
"Please, listen to me!" Audun begged, stepping toward me once more, but I refused to step back. I would stand strong against the one person that had betrayed me far more than anyone ever could.
"Go ahead. Explain yourself," I said, my voice hoarse as I crossed my arms again.
For a few seconds, his mouth moved around as he tried to find the right way to phrase things, but then he began to speak very slowly. "A few years before I left, I began to think of a way that we could be together, with no President to limit your freedom and no parents to hurt you. Finally, I realized the only way to do that was to align myself with the President at first, to climb the ranks until I held a strong enough position to bring him down." By now, Audun had grown confident in his explanation, and he began to speak animatedly with happiness shining in his eyes. I remembered that this was the face that he always had when he told me stories.
He continued on. "But Fallow, we never realized just how great the President's system is! He can ally with anyone that he chooses, and he can get rid of anyone that he wants to! It's like Unova is his own personal world to redesign and rule over." The way that Audun was talking now began to scare me. This wasn't the brother that I once loved. Still, he continued on, an almost crazed look in his eyes.
"I realized that if I could become powerful enough, then I could take over Unova one day and then we could rule it together, the same way that President Javan does! Can you just imagine it? We can get rid of everyone that ever made fun of you when you were younger, and we can get rid of our parents, too!" I tried to back away from Audun as he walked toward me once more, fear filling my veins as some feral emotion filled his eyes. "Just think of it: you could have all of the freedom in the world while everyone that ever looked down upon you is subjected to every whim of yours. You can do whatever you want." His smile relaxed a bit, but a foreign, sinister darkness seemed to have taken control of him. "I can do all of this for you. The only thing that I have to do is to kill the President, his son, and some other people and take the power for myself, and then I can take you to the Castle."
My heart was beating erratically in my chest as complete and utter fear filled every crack and crevice of my body. This person, no, this thing standing in front of me wasn't human.
"We could finally be together," Audun said, reaching a hand toward my face.
I hissed as I recoiled from his touch. "Are you absolutely insane?!"
He cocked his head to the side, genuine confusion entering his grey eyes that no longer resembled my own. They were almost demonic. "I don't understand what you mean."
I breathed heavily as my muscles pulsed with adrenaline. "All I wanted was freedom, not an entire Region to exploit whenever I felt like it! You can't just kill people because you want to, Audun! I don't care if I hate President Javan more than anyone, you cannot kill him. You ruined all chances of ever reconciling with me."
"B-but…" he trailed off as his shoulders drooped once more. He cocked his head to the side in confusion at my words. "But isn't this what you want?"
"Since when have I ever told you that I wanted to rule Unova? Or kill the President?" I said, trying to keep my voice under control. "Why should we have the right to decide whether a person deserves to live or die?"
"But, Fallow," said Audun, almost pleading with me, "think of how much freedom you would have! You could have the freedom to get rid of anyone that hurts you! The only way to get what you want is to exterminate anyone that would get in your way! What more could you want?"
I stepped back one more time, shock taking over my system. "All I ever wanted was to live with you in the wilderness somewhere. I could never want something so much that I would kill an actual human for it."
The confusion in his eyes now morphed into a sinister understanding. He leaned his head toward me as he narrowed his eyes and said in a whisper, "That Rebellion changed you." Leaning backwards, he lifted his chin up and clenched his jaw, forming a plan in his mind. "Your mind has been clouded by those vermin. The only way for you to come back to normality is if I get rid of everyone that's a part of that Rebellion—"
"Audun…" I said warningly, my body shaking with terror.
"—and once I kill all of them, I can kill the President and his son, and then you'll remember who you are. Then, we can be together." He smiled at me with a menacing darkness.
This was not my brother.
This was a psychopath.
But before he or I could say anything, the screeching, ear-shattering sound of alarms drowned everything out. Red lights flashed everywhere, and Audun immediately picked up the walkie talkie in his back pocket and tried to listen for any news. The alarms were so loud that he couldn't hear anything, but the door to the subway car opened up, and a female Regulation Force officer that seemed vaguely sprinted through the door.
"There's been an explosion in multiple tunnels!" she yelled over the alarms toward Audun. "All officers must report to the sites immediately!"
Something about the way she stood and how the uniform fit on her reminded me of someone I knew, but I was spared the energy of trying to figure out who she was as she took three steps toward Audun, grabbed his arm, and slammed his head into a pole to knock him out.
"What are you standing around for, Red?!" Themis yelled at me, ripping of the Regulation Force hat as she grabbed my arm with her other hand. "There's absolutely no time to stand around and gawk. Now, come on!"
Themis sprinted out of the subway car and into the nearest hallway, passing by frantic Regulation Force officers and numerous rebels along the way. If I wasn't completely terrified from the alarms and the intense adrenaline coursing through my veins, I would have hugged Themis and sobbed.
Because of my short stature and the amount of people that filled the cramped hallways, no one paid any attention to Themis or me as we sprinted off through the underground. I wanted to ask so many questions, but all of my energy was being spent on keeping up with Themis's longer, stronger legs. All around me I heard the sounds of battling Pokemon and the screeching of the alarms, but the pounding of my heart seemed to drown out everything else. The only thing that echoed through my mind was that I was being rescued.
I almost stumbled as Themis began to sprint up some steps, and through the alarms, I could hear her talking to me:
"When we get up to the main floor, everything will be in chaos, but you can't let that faze you," she yelled through quick breaths. "Once I let go of you, you will sprint to the entrance as fast as you can where some of the stronger rebels are holding off the Regulation Force officers. You'll slip by, and then you will escape to the Amusement Park, understood?"
I would have replied, but every single bit of energy was being used in order to keep up with Themis as she leaped up three steps at a time. My legs cried out for relief, but if I stopped now, then this entire mission would be a waste. I couldn't fail./p
"We're about to reach the top!" Themis yelled, and I focused everything in my mind to prepare to run for my life towards safety.
As the sounds of the alarms faded away, an entirely new sound filled my ears once we reached the top. I stumbled a bit as we entered the large, stony room and saw just how many people were battling in one area and how violent everything was, but Themis dragged me along and steered me toward the exit. There was no time to think on anything right now.
I saw the exit where the dark, night sky shone through the windows, but terror gripped me when I saw that Alain, Arconsy, and Officer Sakei from the Regulation Force were all standing in front of the exit, battling against Iris, Cheren, and Shauntal.
But there was no time to stop.
Themis let go of my hand and shoved me toward the exit, and I knew that I was on my own. Praying desperately to Arceus, I sprinted past exhausted Pokemon and bloody rebels and Regulation Force officers. I had never seen such carnage, and I felt the contents of my stomach rise up, but I pressed onwards toward the exit. Straight toward Alain.
But once I got close enough to see the battle that was in front of the exit, I screeched to a halt in my tracks:
There was Luxio. And he was battling against Alain's Haxorus.
The sight of my best friend caused tears to flow down my face, and my legs almost collapsed under the weight of my exhaustion and burdens. My best friend was here to save me.
I stumbled toward him, all thoughts of escaping gone from my mind, but then I heard a voice scream at me.
"Run, Fallow," screamed Shauntal almost hysterically. "Get out of here!"
And then I watched Alain turn around and look at me in complete surprise.
And then I sprinted to the exit, past him and past Luxio.
I didn't even look behind me as I burst through the doors and leapt down the stairs to the empty sidewalk. Veering to the left, I desperately tried to remember the way to the Amusement Park. Somehow, my legs were able to carry me the distance, but by the grace of Arceus, I kept going. But from behind me, I could hear the sound of someone in pursuit of me.
"Stop, Fallow!" Alain yelled as he began to catch up with me.
And in the midst of my fear, terror, and exhaustion, I began to cry. Every thought was wiped from my mind except for the drive to make it to the Amusement Park and the desire to give myself up to Alain. The heartbreak was too much, too painful to bear. I had already lost my brother, and now I was losing the first guy that I ever loved.
Too much. It was all too much.
But my legs kept going, and soon enough, the Amusement Park came into view, and to my immense relief, it was still covered in that intense fog. If I could just make it there, I would be alright. Everything would be okay.
Yet no matter how fast I was, Alain's legs were much longer, and he was so close to me. But I had to keep going. I had to do this for Themis and Luxio and everyone who ever believed in me. I couldn't let their sacrifice go to waste if I got caught by Alain.
My prayers to Arceus were answered, though, and I was able to stay out of Alain's reach. Passing the gates to the Park, I entered the fog and started to run in zigzagging directions in case he followed me inside. And I didn't stop. I continued to run blindly in the fog until I thought that I would die from utter exhaustion. Risking a glance behind me, I was flooded with intense relief when I saw only the presence of fog. I slowed my run down to a walk, and my legs immediately collapsed under me, tears streaming down my face as my lungs screamed for air.
I don't know how long I laid on the ground, but when I was finally able to bring my breathing back to a somewhat normal pace, my entire body was shaking. Sweat lined every inch of my body, and my face was splattered with tears. I was so close to falling asleep on the ground, but I heard something, a whisper, in the distance./p
Ignoring the feeble cries of my body, I sat up and strained my ears to listen to the whisper. It seemed to say my name, almost, but for some reason, I knew that it wasn't Alain or any other person. It sounded… almost ethereal, like an ancient whisper in a cave of lost souls.
My body reacted to it mechanically, and my legs stood me up despite all of my shaking. Then, I began to walk forward.
As I strained my ears, endeavoring to hear that whisper, my eyes darted around at the dense fog. From the corners of my eyes, I thought I saw a large shadow that was following me, but every time I turned my head, it seemed to disappear. But I still continued to walk, and a small sense of fear began to fill me.
Why was I following a strange whisper?
My mind was begging me to stop and rest, but my heart and body wouldn't listen. I just knew that something was calling out to me, and I wanted to find what it was. From the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow one more time, and I stepped toward.
All too late, I realized that I should have listened to my mind as I stepped off of a ledge and into a massive body of water. Terror flooded every nerve and my body flailed around as I tried to stay afloat, but a wave of water washed into my mouth and I swallowed it, feeling the liquid burn a trail through my lungs. As I choked on the water, I saw a what looked like a ripple in my surroundings flow in a circle around me. Darkness entered my mind, and I lost consciousness./p
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I actually updated. And it wasn't an absurdly long amount of time!
Gosh, guys, I have no idea what happened! It's like I just kept writing and writing and writing, and then all of a sudden, this chapter popped out! I'm sorry if it's a bit confusing at the end with all of the action that was going on, but I had no idea how to make anything seem clear. I mean, it's supposed to be crazy and confusing and sudden, so I wanted you all to experience everything the way that Fallow was, where you sorta have to peace things together. And if you haven't noticed, I kinda suck at describing action scenes…
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I probably won't be able to make another flash-update like this! This just came out of nowhere! I mean, I hope I get random inspiration again soon, but this chapter completely wiped me out. I just hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Unfortunately, being the lazy bum that I am, I won't be replying to reviews in this chapter, but I will next chapter!
I love you all immensely, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter!