Chapter 51

After our bad experience of being kidnapped, we escaped and travelled to Pico. Now, we all sat together in a hotel room, cleaning wounds and wallowing sadly. I brought a cold wash rag to my nose, which had started bleeding again. It was sunset and we were all exhausted.

Kokoa hissed angrily as she cleaned out a cut on her elbow. Takuya didn't have any cuts, but there were a few bruises along his left arm. Akako had a cut along his cheek. We'd all gotten a bit beaten up. I wasn't worried about us though. I was worried about Professor Pine. We'd left her behind when we'd made our grand escape. Who knows what had happened to her now.

"That sucked," I whined and hissed at the same time. "We just left her there."

"I know," growled Kokoa. "I don't like it either. We'll have to call the police or someone to get her back."

"The police won't help!" I snapped at her. "I saw a whole squad of policemen caged back at the lair! They won't help at all!"

"What do you think we should do then?!" Kokoa shouted. "We can't go back there! It's too dangerous!"

"Since when has danger stopped us before?!" I retorted. "I...I won't just leave the Professor there to just die! Or help Millnnium! Or whatever it is they've done with her!"

"ENOUGH!" Akako screamed, breaking us up. "We all just need to calm down and just think! We won't leave Pine there, okay?"

I nodded, but still didn't feel convinced. I sighed, hugging my knees to my chest, trying to think of what to do. Akako stared at me sadly, scooching closer and wrapping his arm around me. I laid my head on his shoulder, trying to calm myself down. Just then, the silent Takuya came up with something.

"What if we stuck back in disguised as Millennium grunts like we did when we broke Angel out?"

"You're a genius!" I shouted.

Kokoa nodded. "Yeah. Actually, I kept the outfits in case of an emergency..."

"We should wait though," Akako said. "We all need rest. Besides, I don't think just the four of us should go alone. Pine said Miku and Kohaku were here, right? It would be nice to build a bigger team..."

"But we don't have enough outfits," I mentioned.

Kokoa looked to Takuya and they nodded at each other. "We'll give our outfits to them and the two of us can distract Millennium while you free Pine. That is, if they agree to it."

"Right," Akako sighed. "Let's worry about that tomorrow though. I for one, am barely keeping my eyes open."

"Yeah," agreed Kokoa. "We should rest up for now. I mean it. I'm talking to you, Ichigo. Stop worrying nd sleep otherwise our whole mission will be worthless. We can't have you falling asleep on the job."

"Alright," I sighed. "You do have a point."

Everyone nodded. Then, Akako unwrapped himself from me and got up, following Takuya out the door and into their room.

"See you tomorrow," Akako said, waving at me.

"Bye!" I returned.

Once both guys were out the door, I yawned and grabbed the pink nightgown from my bag, changing into it. Once I was in it, I crawled into bed, suddenly feeling very tired. I closed my eyes, thinking happy thoughts instead of worrying. And I fell asleep quickly.

XXX

I woke up as Kokoa shook me, getting me up quickly. "Come on, Ichigo. Takuya found out that Miku and Kohaku are staying in the hotel too. Hurry up! We're going to go and talk to them."

I moaned and sprang out of bed, hurrying into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth and hait. Once I was ready, I rushed out, grabbing my bag and catching a Millennium lab coat that Kokoa threw at me.

We then rushed out the door, joining up with Akako and Takuya in the hall.

"Room 15," said Takuya, telling us which room they were staying in.

I nodded, smiling when I remembered our room number. Room 12. We'd been closer to them than I'd realized. We walked a few feet until we reached room 15. Kokoa knocked loudly on the door, hoping that they were awake.

Kohaku answered the door, glasses off and rubbing his eyes tiredly. It looked like he was just waking up. He squinted at us.

"Oh hey guys! Come in!" he greeted, gesturing for us to enter.

We entered one by one, finding Miku asleep on the table. I laughed, then realized something. These two were sharing a room.

Realizing what I was thinking, Kohaku blushed. "Ichigo, it isn't like that!"

I blushed. "S-Sorry. I shouldn't be thinking that. This isn't a lemon anyway."

Kohaku nodded, laughing nervously. "Miku! Wake up!"

Miku groaned, lifting her head from the table and pushing her purple hair out of her face.

"Oh hi!" she greeted us. "What are you doing here?"

"We need your help," Kokoa replied.

"With what?" Kohaku asked, putting his glasses on.

"Professor Pine was kidnapped by Team Millennium," I growled. "We need your help to bust her out."

"The Prof. was kidnapped?!" Miku questioned.

Kokoa nodded. "We need you two to dress up as grunts and help us free Pine."

Kohaku looked unsure. "Shouldn't we leave something like that up to the police?"

"That won't work," I sighed. "Team Millennium...well...let's just say cops can't help."

"Isn't this dangerous?" asked Miku.

"Duh!" snapped Kokoa. "But we can't leave her with Millennium! Who knows what they'll do, or what they've done with her. Please help us! Takuya and I are even actng as a distraction."

"I'm not so sure," Kohaku sighed. "But Prof. Pine was the one who gave us our Pokémon in the first place. I...I guess we owe her this."

"If Kohaku's in, so am I," sighed Miku.

"Thank you!" I burst out, growing more worried the longer we had to wait.

"Alright," smiled Kokoa, handing out the Millennium lab coats. "Put these on. Since Millennium knows what all of us look like, try to change your hair and scowl more."

Miku nodded, pulling her hair up into a bun, throwing on the lab coat. Kohaku removed his glasses again, sticking them in the lab coat's pocket. Akako then threw his on, messing up his hair a bit. I parted my hair differently, putting on the coat. Then, we were ready.

"Alright," smiled Kokoa. "Let's go and free Pine!"

I could tell that everyone was nervous, but I'm sure it would all work out in the end. It always did for us. And even if it turned out Pine was...I can't say it, but if she was, we'd still bring back her...body. I had a feeling she was alive though and we'd free her. Even if we got hurt in the process.