Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Sound of Silence
Mark had always admired Koga, in a sense. After all, Koga had only poison-type pokémon, and yet he could appear and disappear as well as any teleporting psychic-type or ethereal ghost.
Yet as Mark and Tim teleported from room to room and building to building while feeling ahead with their minds for unoccupied places, Mark couldn't help but think that his was the way of the true ninja. After all, he knew exactly where everyone in the area was, and was able to bypass all of them without being seen by even the most vigilant sentry. It was a strange thought to have, especially considering the importance and the danger of what he was trying to do. As irrelevant as it was, however, it nonetheless invaded his mind and allowed a wry smile to flicker briefly onto his face before his thoughts once again turned to the task at hand.
"That next building is it, Tim," Mark said, terribly aware of the several other people moving groggily in a nearby break room in the small, office-filled section of the old factory he was in. Though the original equipment of the factory was no longer able to function – as was the case in many of the warehouses and manufacturing buildings in this area of Olivine City – Team Rocket had nonetheless been able to make use of this and others as small training facilities for new recruits and draftees.
At least, that's what all of the buildings appeared to be being used for at the moment. But if Koga's information was right, then the building up ahead held more than novice trainers and low-level military commanders.
"Can you feel much of anything there? It's still too far away for me to get much of a feel for anything but the very edge of it," Mark continued.
Tim didn't answer, of course; he understood his trainer perfectly, but like all pokémon was unable to devise a way to translate his answer into something a human would understand. Instead, he teleported himself and Mark to an abandoned nook behind some machines in the next warehouse.
Mark sensed around him, ignoring the shouts of trainers and pokémon who were training in the open space that began some twenty feet of machinery to his right. He immediately sensed something different about this place. The pokémon that were out and fighting were strong, and their trainers seemed more focused than the few lazy guards he had seen patrolling other nearby buildings. Plus, the fact that there were so many trainers up and active at this hour of the morning was significant. He could also sense a good number of pokéballs somewhere below them, in what seemed to be a basement filled with smaller, more numerous rooms.
Though already tense from the adrenaline pounding through his body, Mark now felt his heart begin to race. This was it, he was sure. He couldn't feel Eve yet, but his perception didn't have a wide enough span to reach through the entire building. She had to be here. The pokéballs, the strong trainers – it all pointed to Eve's presence.
His infiltration had been successful. Now, onto the next part of the plan. Lance had said to rescue Eve now, if he could manage it; but if she was too heavily guarded and even Tim's teleporting wouldn't be good enough to get them out, then he was to teleport back to Indigo Plateau, wait a day or two, then teleport back to here with several of the strongest trainers available.
"It's been two whole weeks since that battle for Goldenrod, Tim," Mark muttered. "And yet we weren't able to narrow Eve's location down to here until yesterday. Just shows how far they're going to keep her away from us. We'll need to move with extra caution from here on out. So can you feel her, Tim? Is there anywhere near her we can teleport, even if it's only for a moment?"
The abra simply dozed on his trainer's shoulders, doing nothing.
Mark scowled. Tim had heard him, he knew. So why wasn't Tim teleporting them? It didn't make sense, unless-
Suddenly, Mark felt a huge shift of activity in the area to his right. The large number of trainers – about twenty all told, not counting those emerging from other sections of the warehouse – had by some unspoken command all started rushing in one direction:
Straight for Tim and Mark.
Mark knew immediately that everything had gone wrong. "Tim, teleport! Get us as far away as possible!" He whispered urgently. Yet he could tell that Tim was already trying to do just that but that it wasn't working for some reason. Nothing like this had ever happened to Tim before, at least not so long as Mark had known him.
Mark started running away from the trainers attempting to swarm through the mess of conveyor belts and machine arms and scattered parts. He had an advantage over his pursuers in the sense that he could see every possible route and all the difficulties he'd have traversing them. In his mind's eye, the smallest, easiest to miss gap became an obvious escape route to a hard-to-reach area.
And as he ran, Mark felt around for a way out. There were two exits within his range of vision, but both were too heavily guarded for an escape by conventional means. As he sensed several of the faster, more nimble pokémon getting very close to finding him and attacking, he reached his hand down to his belt and grabbed the pokéball of Kiki, his ditto.
As he ducked underneath a large exposed pipe, Mark gasped out, "Tim, I'll hold them off for as long as I can, but you have to keep trying to teleport. I don't know what's-" But then he paused as he suddenly felt a couple pokémon apart from the rest, almost at the edge of his senses. He couldn't tell what they were from here, but he knew they were psychic types. And moreover, he could feel psychic energies coming from these and from other pokémon from elsewhere in the warehouse; and all these energies were focused on Tim.
Mark was shocked by this revelation. His unique vision had only ever allowed him to see physical things. He guessed it was the stress of this situation that was allowing him to see the insubstantial psychic waves, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. "Tim, I see what's wrong. You have to keep trying. Even if there are a lot of them, I know you can beat them."
As if his encouragement had done the trick, Mark suddenly found himself in an alleyway somewhere. Based on the look of the warehouses around him, he had to still be close to where they had been. He was about to ask Tim to get them farther away, but he quickly realized that his abra was on the very verge of fainting; whatever the psychic pokémon had been doing to prevent the teleportation, breaking through it had taken all of Tim's strength and concentration.
He clenched the pokéball that was in his hand, wondering what to do next. He couldn't stay where he was for long. He had sensed at least one houndour in the group of pokémon that had been chasing him; if Team Rocket had even the slightest guess that he might still be around and unable to leave, then the houndour's keen sense of smell would find him quickly. That is, if any nocturnal bird pokémon they had didn't find him first.
Mark released Kiki from her pokéball; if not for her pinkish color, the little blob of a pokémon might just have been another bit of gunk among the trash that surrounded them.
"Kiki, transform into Tim and get us as far away from here as possible. Out of the city, if you can manage it," Mark ordered, his ears and mind alert to any and every noise and movement for maybe an eighth of a mile in every direction. "The best way would be that way, if my memory serves." It was as dark as a murkrow's feathers outside, but in the direction he pointed the faintest of glow could be seen in the sky by his ditto; morning was coming, slowly but surely. Mark knew that if he didn't get out of Olivine by daylight and get Tim some rest, it would be extremely tough for him to find a way out of the city without getting caught.
The little pink pokémon felt the urgency in her trainer's voice and quickly transformed herself into an abra. To anyone except maybe Eve and other pokémon, she probably appeared to be a carbon copy of Tim. Even Mark couldn't tell the difference, except in the way that Kiki held herself.
In a moment, Mark found himself among some trees in the front yard of someone's house. He guessed that he was probably in a suburb, and therefore out of the worst of the danger. Based on spy reports, Team Rocket closely inspected only those who came and went from the city proper.
Mark looked down to Kiki, who was once again the pink blob of her usual self. Though physically she was fine, it had taken all of her concentration to teleport herself, Tim, and Mark this far, to the extent that she hadn't even been able to maintain the abra form.
He picked the ditto up in his arms and began walking down the street in front of him. "I can't risk returning you to your pokéball here, where someone might see the light," Mark murmured to her. "But as soon as you're able, I'll need you to teleport us away from here again. Once we're in the wooded area east of all the suburbs, we'll hopefully find a large bird pokémon or something for you to transform into. Until then… Stay alert, Kiki. With Tim too tired to do anything, you and Martin might be our only hope if it comes down to a battle." Martin was his kecleon, who was the third in line as far as toughness went on Mark's team.
Kiki sunk deeper into Mark's arms, welcoming the comfort of his grasp. But at the same time, she moved her beady eyes back and forth, ready to do whatever it would take to help her trainer.
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"So… she wasn't there," Lance said solemnly, his voice slightly hoarse from the many long nights of running the war. "And you think it was possibly a trap for you and anyone you might have brought with you?"
Mark nodded, his own eyes drooping with exhaustion. Mark had originally arrived in Olivine in the middle of the night, and the journey from Olivine back to the Indigo plateau had taken over five hours; these two circumstances together had left him very much fatigued. Not to mention, riding on a stantler-transformed Kiki while they slowly picked their way through the wilds of Johto was not the most restful of experiences, nor was riding a pidgeot from Goldenrod City to the Indigo Plateau very enjoyable when it was the middle of winter.
"As you know, psychic protection of very valuable things isn't unheard of," Mark said wearily. "Pyschic pokémon can sound an alert if someone teleports in or if a ghost-type pokémon is being used to scout ahead. I thought I'd be fine, due to the bustle of the trainers and pokémon I found upon arriving – many psychic pokémon don't have the ability to ignore all that activity and focus on what really matters.
"But the fact that they somehow managed to use their psychic-types to prevent Tim from teleporting concerns me. That, and the fact that the trainers who were up and about were so ready to rush me once some command had been given. Either they had inside information and knew I would be infiltrating – which is doubtful, since I trust both you and Koga, who should've been the only ones with knowledge of it – or they had set up that building as a trap all along. Considering Tim's ability and how closely I worked with Eve, it probably wasn't hard for them to guess that I'd come looking for Eve eventually, with or without your permission."
A strange emptiness could be heard in his voice even aside from the obvious exhaustion. And this emptiness was different from his politician's mask; whereas that was simply feigned emptiness, his voice now was truly devoid of emotion. The fact that he had been unable to even find Eve when he'd been so sure that she would be there… It was almost too much for his war-torn mind to bear.
Though tired as well, Lance's voice was nowhere near so lacking in emphasis. "I'll have a discussion with Koga to see if there is any chance he leaked word of the mission to one of his spies. I'll also have him take a good look at how loyal his spies are. In the meantime, you'll need to get some sleep. With Mahogany Town already retaken by the New Republic of Johto, and with Violet and Goldenrod Cities doing all they can to fortify their defenses against the increasing number of evolved pokémon, we'll be needing you as rested as possible so that you can aid in the defense."
Mark inclined his head slightly in assent, and left the room without saying a word.
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Eve had completely lost track of how long it had been since she'd been captured. She guessed it had been three weeks at least, but it also could've been as long as two months. When she didn't even know how long she was allowed to sleep or forced to stay awake, there was no possible way for her to judge time.
Still, things weren't as bad as they could have been. She would've been terribly bored, she supposed, had she not been evolving pokémon from the time she was awoken to the time she was too tired to stay awake. Her meals were still fine, and she'd even been upgraded to a somewhat larger room with an actual shower for her to use; that was a relief after a couple weeks of feeling dirty, though her mind had been so preoccupied with her situation that she'd hardly noticed her need to bathe.
And her pokémon were still safe. That was the main thing that made her captivity tolerable. So long as they were safe, she felt like she could go on.
But even with this assurance, Eve's mental state was less than sound. The only people she was around were the silent men who guarded her and who let out the pokémon for her to evolve. The only pokémon she was around were the ones she evolved, and very occasionally her own pokémon. This practical seclusion had put her in the habit of talking aloud to herself about the most inconsequential things; and while this was hardly damaging to her, she knew that it couldn't bode well for how she might be acting and thinking in another month or two.
She was also still grieving for Basil, which didn't help things. Sometimes, when she was talking to herself, she found that she would be trying to speak to Basil; it was only when he didn't reply that she remembered that he was dead. If Basil had died under regular circumstances, she might have been over it by now, though still sorrowful. In that sense, she was indeed very much a pokémon. Pokémon often became sad when those close to them died, yet long-term grief was something that was completely foreign to them. They treated death exactly as a human might treat the moving away of a friend – sad because it would be impossible for one to see the other, but insignificant other than that. Perhaps they had no solid concept of death. Or perhaps they had some insight into the true nature of death that every human – including Eve herself – simply couldn't understand.
Either way, this almost ignorance of death would have been the case with Eve, as well. But due to the stress put on her mind ever since Basil's death, part of her seemed unable to remember that he actually was gone.
Eve had just finished eating her mid-workday meal in her room when she heard the door open behind her. She murmured wearily to herself and got up, expecting this to be her guards ready to take her back to her job; but when she turned around and looked up, it was Brian standing there.
"I'd suggest you sit down again, Eve," Brian said dolefully as he looked back at Eve. "I'd rather this wasn't my job, but… I've got something that Team Rocket wants me to tell you." He took the other seat at the table she was at; this table and the two chairs next to it were other aspects of how Eve's conditions had improved slightly during her time here.
Now, she had the feeling that perhaps these new conditions would change. Whether the change would be for the better or the worse, she couldn't rightly say. But with Brian suddenly appearing once again, she had no doubt that some change was coming.
She sat down silently, her eyes trained grimly on Brian's downcast face. "What is it?" she asked, the fear in her voice obvious.
Brian let out a big breath of air, breathed in once more as if to steady himself, and then said, "What Team Rocket wants me to tell you is that… Well, up until now, they have guaranteed your pokémon's safety in return for your cooperation in evolving whatever pokémon they bring to you. And so long as you continue to cooperate in that, Team Rocket promises to continue to guarantee their safety, no matter what. However…"
He trailed off for a few moments, took another deep breath, and then continued, "However, they have said nothing of your own comfort and safety. They want to bring that to the betting table, as well."
Eve looked down at her hands, which were folded on top of the wooden table. Her palms were sweating, and she could see her fingers trembling. For a moment, she seemingly forgot Brian's presence in the room and said to herself, "I don't know how to deal with this… My fingers are trembling. I don't even know what he's going to ask. I don't even know that. Maybe it won't be so bad." Then she looked up and, once again realizing that Brian was just a couple feet in front of her, she said to him, "And what do they want me to do for them this time?"
"They want you to summon legends for them," Brian replied.
"And what if I can't?" Eve replied, actually somewhat relieved. Because the fact was, she couldn't. It was only chance – or fate, or something – that had brought the legendary beasts to her to begin with, and it was only with their help that she'd managed to get any other legends summoned. All she needed to do was make Team Rocket understand that. "I told Hope practically everything; she should've let you know that I can't just will them to come to me. Nothing will happen."
Brian dropped his gaze. Eve looked down at the table as well, and saw that his hands were clenched tightly. "I only wish that were true," he answered. "But apparently, there's something you've forgotten. Team Rocket was hoping that you'd do it yourself, but-"
"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, concerned. What could I have forgotten? What could I have done while so completely confined by Team Rocket?
"It's Suicune, Eve," Brian said, speaking as if ashamed for having to bring it up. "Hope said that you told her that you could summon Suicune simply by calling out her name. Team Rocket wants you to call her to you, so that they can capture her. And they want you to help them in whatever other similar ways you can. They want to take those feathers from your hair," he glanced up at the rainbow- and silver-colored feathers, "and run tests on them, to see if maybe you could summon either Ho-Oh or Lugia again by somehow using the powers in the feathers. And they have people looking into what the legendary beasts told you about the legends you can summon – they hope that maybe they can find the next one that you need to find, so that they can catch it for themselves if the Ho-Oh and Lugia plan doesn't work."
In spite of herself, her heart almost leaped up at this latter part of Team Rocket's plans. Her compulsion to find the other legends had not subsided at all during her captivity. But she quickly pushed that hope from her mind; she couldn't even begin to imagine the consequences of Team Rocket catching anything as strong as Ho-Oh and Lugia. And she had no doubt that they could do it. After all, if Jenna could manage to take down an enraged Ho-Oh all by herself, then it was likely that a large group of Team Rocket's forces would be able to do exactly the same thing.
And as for Suicune… How could I betray her like that? She risked everything she had for me. Even as bad as they were, Ho-Oh, Raikou and Entei were the only family she had. And they ended up disowning her because she helped me. And even the truth of these thoughts didn't halfway explain the instinctual disgust she had at the idea of calling Suicune into a trap. Something about the idea felt so intrinsically wrong that the thought of it nearly made Eve physically ill. Suicune was the very incarnation of the north wind, just as her brothers were incarnations of the wildest of fires and the strongest of lightning storms. Nothing could possibly justify their caging.
Eve had said nothing for a while, and so Brian once again began to speak. "Eve, I hope you'll just do as they ask. I don't want to see them do anything more to you than they already have. I think you're right, and that no matter what you do, you won't be able to just summon Ho-Oh or Lugia. And I doubt even an organization with resources like Team Rocket could possibly find things that have been nothing more than myths for centuries. If these guesses are true, then all you have to do is give up those feathers and summon Suicune. And Suicune isn't all that strong, when compared to the entire strength of both armies; it won't change the tides of the war at all."
"And what'll they do to me if I can't?" Eve asked, trembling once again. "Because I can't take the feathers out of my hair. I bet Team Rocket has already tried to pull them out or something, maybe when I was first captured and completely knocked out. And Suicune… I don't think I can betray her like that, regardless of whether or not she would be important in the war."
"But Eve, that's foolishness," Brian said urgently. "Other than perhaps when they first capture her, they aren't going to abuse Suicune or anything. They'll knock her out, put her in a pokéball, and then hopefully she'll listen to them. They'll do just enough to get her to obey their commands in battle. Based on what Hope said that you told her, they think that Suicune will do anything if they say that it'll keep you safer."
And on that matter, you're right. Eve thought guiltily. Even though I haven't seen her in however long its been since I summoned Ho-Oh, I got the feeling that I was all that she had left. She said that I reminded her of Yellow, after all, and Yellow was the last human she and her trainer were with before they all died. If I did summon her… maybe I could just convince her to go along with things, at least until we can find a way out of this mess.
But the very thought of it still made her gag audibly, no matter how well she might logically be able to excuse the action of saving herself by letting Suicune be captured. "Brian, I ask again… What will happen to me if I can't?"
"They'll torture you," Brian said, his voice dead serious. "They'll go about it gradually, probably, since even they don't like to resort to that kind of thing. They'll put you back in the room you were in at first, and keep you there for a long time without any contact with anyone and without any food. Or else they'll keep you evolving pokémon for as long as they can force you to stay awake. They've talked about both these options. I don't know exactly what else they'll do, but it'll get worse the longer you refuse what they ask. Eve, you don't deserve that kind of treatment. You'd be putting up with so much and doing so little to help either yourself or anyone else. Eventually, you'd given in and they'd make you call Suicune. You might as well just do it now, and get it out of the way."
Brian seemed to wholeheartedly believe that this was the best course of action, and part of Eve just wanted to give in to his judgment. She didn't trust him completely yet, of course, but he genuinely did seem to be on her side.
Even so, she just couldn't bring herself to consent to the action. At the very least, she couldn't bring herself to do so without even trying to do all that she could to resist it. After all, it was only her own safety at stake now if she refused Team Rocket's demands. And she knew they wouldn't kill her. She just had to see if she could last until… Well, she assumed until the New Republic of Johto was beaten or Lance somehow managed to find her and send in a rescue team.
As if sensing her thoughts, Brian said, "And you should know… Earlier today, your friend Mark attempted to break into one of Team Rocket's compounds. It was a place set up specifically to try to draw Lance's attention away from this place. It took them all this time to even find the fake place, and even then Mark only barely got away. They won't be able to find this place, nonetheless infiltrate it and save you and your pokémon. If you're just trying to hold out until they can find you, it's not going to work. I know enough about the lengths Team Rocket is going to hide you that there is no way anyone from the Old Johto will possibly find you. "
I'd guessed as much, Eve thought bitterly. But even so, I can't just give in without trying to keep Suicune safe.
"I still can't do what Team Rocket is asking of me," Eve said. "Regardless of what they'll do to me."
Brian pushed his chair out from beneath the table and stood up slowly. "I was hoping you'd listen to reason. But I'm sure your pokémon will agree with me; maybe they can convince you. It's the scheduled time for you to see one of them, anyway. The only one you haven't gotten to see yet is your dratini, right?"
Eve stood up and nodded, her excitement to see Pebble dampened by everything else Brian had just told her.
"All right, then follow me." Brian went out of the room; Eve followed, and the two guards at the door came after her. They took the usual path down to the large gym area, and there found someone waiting with Pebble's pokéball in hand. He released the dragon from his pokéball as soon as the door was closed.
But before Eve could say anything to Pebble and ask him for advice like she wanted to, Brian began to address the long blueish dragon. "Dratini, Eve doesn't want to summon Suicune and let her be captured. If she doesn't, then she's going to go through a lot of unnecessary pain. I don't want to see that. Please, just try and convince her otherwise."
Pebble turned his large, curious eyes from Brian back to Eve as she walked up to him, sat down right in front of him, then wrapped her arms around his long neck. Sensing that she needed comfort, Pebble slithered from her grasp and wrapped his long body around Eve as many times as he could manage, just as he had done when he and Eve had first met at the Lake of Rage. Though Eve was now completely encircled by Pebble, the near complete darkness around her hardly bothered her. In fact, she felt more comforted than she had since Basil's death.
Eve heard the guards panicking slightly at her disappearance beneath Pebble's coils, and then heard Brian's voice above theirs telling them not to panic, and that he was sure she was fine. Inwardly, she thanked him for that; she didn't want Pebble to be taken away from her any sooner than was necessary.
Once Eve heard the commotion cease, Pebble began to hum soothingly. ~Eve, what's going on?~ he asked, the pitches of his hum changing slightly as he spoke. ~What's happened to you?~
Eve moved her hand slightly within the coils, so that she could stroke the stretch of Pebble's body nearest to it. "Oh, Pebble… Basil's dead, and I'm being held captive by Team Rocket so that they can get me to evolve pokémon for them. I wouldn't do it, but they threatened you and Hannah and Aiden and Thistle if I didn't cooperate," Eve whispered, hoping that the guards wouldn't be able to hear her through Pebble's body and over his humming. "And now, you heard what Brian said. If I don't summon Suicune, then they'll pretty much torture me until I do."
~So why didn't you just agree?~ Pebble asked, in a way that was more curious than persuasive towards any action.
"It just doesn't seem right. I can barely even bear the thought of doing it," she answered. "But… I'm not a strong person. I don't think I'd be able to hold out for long."
Pebble hummed more loudly. ~Human right and wrong is different from pokémon right and wrong, you know. For pokémon, you could almost say it doesn't exist at times. After all, we can kill one another with no qualms whatsoever. But when we do feel that something is right or wrong – well, there's no fighting it. It's an instinct that overwhelms, to the point that a pokémon would kill itself rather than allow the wrong to be done. If you can't even think of betraying Suicune, then perhaps this is something like that.
~And you are strong, Eve. Perhaps not in the way that humans define strength, but in the pokémon way. Humans are strong if they can fight for honor and keep their pride and do what they think is right, even when they don't fully comprehend why it is right. That's noble in it's own way, I suppose. You have no pride or honor; otherwise, you would have sacrificed us four pokémon as well as your own well-being for the sake of the thousands of people fighting with Lance and Mark. But did you have any doubts on whether we or they were the more important?~
"Of course I did, I-"
~Not regrets, Eve. Doubts. Was there any doubt in your mind as to what you would do?~
Eve thought for a moment, then answered, "No, I suppose not. As soon as Brian told me the threat, I knew I had to do whatever Team Rocket ordered me. I suppose they probably didn't realize how automatic it was; otherwise, they'd have asked everything of me when threatening that first time."
~That was that instinct of right and wrong. You see, that's where the strengths of humans – their pride and cunning and logic – differ from the strengths of pokémon. The greatest strength that pokémon have is when their instincts are aroused. The pokémon who are truly strong will rely on those instincts when times get tough, and refuse to give in when there is a right to be done or a wrong to be avoided. This can apply to nearly everything a pokémon does: a marowak risking the life of herself and the lives of her children in order to save a human whom she had befriended… A pidgeotto allowing her rage to run wild at the sight of her empty nest… A growlithe willing to do anything for a human who showed him a bit of kindness in a dark alleyway… Or a legend fighting her only family in order to save a human who didn't deserve death.
~All of these are cases of instinct, of pokémon doing what they felt was right even when other options might have been smarter or more helpful to those they cared for. The question is, are you willing to rely on that same instinct to protect Suicune, no matter the cost?~
"Of course!" Eve replied, feeling like she finally understood why she so vehemently detested the idea of betraying Suicune. "But the problem is, I know that it will be all too easy for me to give in. I won't be able to avoid it. I'll call out to her for help in a moment of pain, and I'll regret it as soon as I say it, but I won't be able to take it back. I'm scared of pain, and scared of what Team Rocket will do to me."
The humming grew louder, so that Eve's ears were ringing with the sound. ~Then prepare yourself for the moment when you're at your weakest. From now on out, say nothing. If you can keep yourself from calling out now – from saying anything at all – before things become truly bad, then I know that you'll be strong enough when things are worse than you can possibly imagine.~
Pebble uncoiled his body and slithered back to just in front of Eve. ~Your instinct will help you. That much I know. If it is wrong for you to summon Suicune here, then every part of you will rebel against taking that action. And please, just remember… If it does come down to it and these people end up threatening the lives of me and the others despite their earlier promise, then you can know that there is no guarantee that they will keep, and therefore no reason to give into any of their demands. If that happens, be strong and know that our own instincts would drive us to death in order to do what you think is right.~
Pebble turned away from Eve and, before the man holding his pokéball quite realized what was happening, he touched his nose to the opening mechanism and returned to his pokéball.
And even though Eve knew it would bring her much pain, she now knew what she had to do. She stood up, and looked at Brian with an expression that she hadn't had since the crushing event of Basil's death. For now, her eyes once again possessed determination.
"So Eve, did he talk you into it?" Brian asked. "Will you summon Suicune?"
Eve remained silent.
Brian scowled slightly. "Eve, did you hear me? Will you do it, for your own sake?"
And still she didn't answer.
"Eve, what's wrong?" Brian asked, confusion and some either emotion mixed on his face. "Why won't you speak?"
But now, one of the guards – a tough-looking man with a not unkind-looking face – spoke up. "Brian, it's no use. I think she's made her choice. Perhaps she resents you for trying to force her into a decision she couldn't make. All that's left for us to do is bring her back to her room and wait for the higher-ups' decision on what to do with her."
Brian's scowl deepened as he looked to Eve. "Eve, if he's right… This is your last chance. Just say you'll do it – it doesn't even have to be now. Say you'll do it in a week, or a month, or if they let you see your pokémon more. They'd let you, if it could only get them Suicune or any other legend. Please, Eve, don't force this upon yourself. Do it now, or I'm sure they'll start whatever punishment they want to do right away."
But the sound of Eve's silence was the only reply the pleading man received.
Writing this chapter was so enjoyable... Not necessarily because the content was any more enjoyable, but it just formed itself into words so easily, for some reason. Anyway, I just want to say sorry for not getting out a chapter last week. I don't really have an excuse for it, except that I ended up being busier than I thought I'd be.
And by the way, my compliments go out to all of you who remembered that Suicune could still be called by Eve. ^_^ Eve's just been too stressed out until now to really think of it. And now... Well, will it happen? Or can she resist? I suppose you'll see...
Also, a couple of you have mentioned that you feel like the story is at it's climax. Um... not really. While the story shall *hopefully* be moving more quickly to its finale now that I don't have everything planned out, there's still quite a bit left. After all, three out of the five 'shards' still have to be found and obtained, and she doesn't have any clue where these might be... If I was a good writer and actually knew how to pace my stories, then yeah, I ought to be close to the ending; but I drag things out. Just look at this entire 200,000+ word story, or my other 200,000+ word story (which I forget if I mentioned that I just started writing in again, after a long delay)... My point is, my stories are rarely reasonable in length.
EDIT: Sorry, some really stupid mistakes in the first version of this chapter. Fixed now, hopefully. And the chapter title is as it should be now.