Through the darkness of the auditorium, Sasha stared into Prince's walnut-brown eyes.
Prince showed no anger or hostility towards her. After grunting the words, "Sorry," to Joe, who he had knocked over, Prince ignored Sasha and walked down the auditorium steps.
(So that's it, then?) Sasha thought, her heart shattering with every step he took. (He won't even look at me anymore.)
Sasha watched as the children exchanged questions. Asking, 'who is this guy?', 'do you know him?', 'he's big', and the typical observations from the young mind of a child.
(Was what I did really that bad?) Sasha asked herself. (I did what was necessary for us to survive. Was it really that bad? Why won't he understand that?) She watched him carefully clutch Eva's hand.
He said something. What did he say? Sasha was too infuriated to care.
(Selfish!) Sasha thought bitterly. (He is so damn selfish.)
Eva smiled at him. Then, she said something to him.
(To hell with them!) Sasha thought. (I sacrificed everything for this world. I sacrificed it all to save him and he won't even speak to me. To hell with him!) She thought.
Sasha bit her lower-lip, turned away and marched out of the auditorium.
Joe gripped one of the chairs and pulled himself to his feet, "Boss?" He called but she was already gone.
The Peridot Tower group was still in the courtyard. They looked eachother in the eye, each questioning what kind a man they all were.
What kind of man would have no conscious about robbing a school of starving children?
Larrell stared at Moxley, once upon of time his favorite member of the Shield, the only man in the group who immediately backed Sasha's decision to transform the school into their own new haven or camp.
Carlito and Seth eyed eachother. Both men had dreamed of being soldiers at one point of their life. The reality of what came with being a soldier had never been shown to him. What Sasha was recommending was unbecoming of the image they'd been indoctrinated to. This wasn't the honorable and celebrated soldiers that he'd grown up seeing in the media. The men in impeccable uniforms that served and nearly died for freedom and returned with thousands of stories of faraway lands but only told a handful of positive tales with happy-endings when they had a bellyful of whiskey. What Sasha spoke of was savagery.
Then, the school's front doors opened and Ash stepped into the courtyard with two women no one had ever seen before.
Tessa Blanchard's eyes immediately locked onto Trey, "YOU!" She hissed.
"Oops." Trey squeaked, running to the nearby pool and locking the gate.
Tessa shook the rickety door before hitting it with a punch of frustration, "you've got to come out there sometime."
"Sorry, I didn't know." He sheepishly backed away, "I thought you were-"
"Whoa, whoa," Ash waved his arms and leapt between Tessa and the door, "You're sure he's the guy that kicked you?"
Tessa glared at Trey, "He did a lot more than that."
Ash turned to Trey, "What else did you do?"
"It was an accident," Trey shrugged, "I only touched the top of the breast."
Ash facepalmed, "You felt her up while she was unconscious?"
"It was an accident." Trey defended, "I was trying to turn her over to see who she was."
Ash scratched his chin, "Then why did you just leave her there?"
"I just woke up." Trey replied, "What's the first thing you do when you wake up? I had to go pee."
The group stared at Trey.
"What?" Trey innocently shrugged. "It's true."
Tessa pounded the door, "You're dead once you come out there, asshole."
"C'mon," Trey cowered, "Can't we just let bygones be bygones?"
"NO," Tessa hissed.
Ash turned to the group, "Hey guys, well, these are friends that I made on my way here. Tessa and Lacey," he introduced.
Tessa didn't say a word to anyone in the group. Her mind was still fogged with anger to care who anyone was.
Lacey, strutted forward and offered her gloved hand.
A few of the man seemed dumbfounded by her invitation with the chivalrous gesture. Lacey pouted her lips and gave each man a disapproving glance, "Neither of you has any manners." She crossed her arms and strutted back through the doors of the school.
"Chivalry's been dead a long time." Roman cleared his throat.
Ash looked at The Shield member. "It is?"
"Yeah," Roman nodded, "With how wacko women these days are acting, it's mission-impossible for a guy to be chivalrous."
"I don't know about that," Ash admitted, "I mean, we could still try our best to treat them like ladies right?"
Tessa's expression softened a bit upon hearing Ash's stance.
"I mean," Roman shrugged, "We can try but-"
Seth coughed, "What's wrong with a girl being a bit of a tomboy or just being herself if that's who she is?"
"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that." Roman mused. "But the way women are in this era, they don't know if they want to one of the boys or be your girl."
Tessa injected, "Or maybe it's you guys don't know whether you want your girl to be a woman or be just like one of your boys." Tessa took a glance at Trey, "Women are asked to be everything for a man in this era, his weight-lifting buddy, play videogames with him, cook for her, rub his back, make her own money plus be his sex toy," Tessa listed, "and yet women are expected to just appreciate getting some dick and an occasional date from the guy."
"Well," Roman cocked his head, "That's kinda true but-"
Tessa cut him off, "Unfair is more like what it is."
Ash chimed in, "Well, I mean all men aren't like that, Tessa."
Tessa rolled her eyes, "Here we go. Let's talk about the tiny percentage of men that 'aren't like that'." Tessa exhaled, "I wasn't talking about that small percentage, OBVIOUSLY!" She hissed, "But that small percentage probably has brains that are stuck in the stone-age. They want a woman to just cook, clean and suck their dicks before bed, right?"
Moxley chuckled, "Who hurt you?"
Tessa glared at him.
"You must have dated some pretty messed up guys to be this damaged." Moxley thought aloud.
Before Tessa could retort, a thickly-accented voice boomed through the courtyard, "Well, I'm afraid I've got a bit of BAD NEWS for the lot of you!"
Into the courtyard, a man with a tall greyhound-like physique, statuesque-face, sharp eyes, large ears, a Gaston-like jaw and slicked-back black hair strode. "Lord Sithis once saw fit to brand with the Greek name 'Giannis' which means 'God is gracious'. Well, I've got some more Bad News for everyone. I denounce the name 'Giannis'," the fallen general claimed, "and I am no longer a puppet or an instrument of Sithis."
Ash blinked, "Umm, who are you exactly?"
The traitorous northern empire general seemed taken aback by the question at first. He took a deep breathe, collected himself and introduced, "I'm Wade Barrett," pointing to his chest.
Behind the former Northern general, four others walked, two women both with chocolate skin and a young man with slicked back bleached blond hair wearing a cream-colored suit-and tie. The other was a large man with a thick beard and piercing eyes.
"The new world that he wants to create, I want no part of. I've walked this Earth for far too long. All I want is my eternal rest and to do that I must sever what tethers me to this Earth." Barrett explained, "Now," looking over the group, "Where is Sasha? She's all that keeps me chained to this existence."
Ash turned to Larrell and Carlito. "What does he want with Sasha?"
Larrell explained, "When the empires fell four top military officers, one in each empire had been bribed by The Forsaken. He was one of them. The Queen's used their pokemon and an ancient spell to bind them to walk this world for eternity devoid of any pleasure."
"That really had to suck." Ash realized.
Immediately, Roman, Seth and Moxley each summoned Entei, Suicune, Raikou and stepped forward to meet the threat.
Barrett chuckled, "Did you really think I wouldn't have predicted this."
Roman smiled, "I doubt you have enough to take us."
Barrett smiled, "Fool."
"Raikou, Thunder Fang," Moxley commanded.
Ash watched as the lightning-fast saber-toothed tiger pounced onto the Entei as its fangs slammed into the body of the mastiff-like beast, and an explosion of electric-energy engulfed the center of the courtyard.
"What-" The group gawked in awe.
"Suicune, Ice Fang," Seth ordered.
The mystical Qilin-like beast smoothly glided forward and as its teeth slammed into Entei, a sudden chill filled the air as a rush of ice and snow exploded into the air.
When the air cleared, Roman rushed forward his hands gripping a giant cube of ice. His Entei was trapped and frozen by the ambush of elements.
Then, the group watched as Moxley and his Raikou crossed the makeshift battlefield and stood alongside the man in the cream-colored suit.
Seth and his Suicune walked to the side of the large bearded man. The bearded man took one hard look at the Swords before turning away and leaving the courtyard.
Suicune didn't turn to give Larrell a final glance.
Moxley took one final glance at the pharaoh he once served. He said nothing to Carlito.
The man in the cream-colored suit fixed the collar of his jacket, took the hand of the petite chocolate woman by his side and led Moxley out of the courtyard and away from the group.
"Why?" Was the only word that Roman could utter as his Shield brothers vanished in the distance.
The chocolate woman at Barrett's side pulled on his arm, as if begging him to not continue with his plan.
Barrett ignored her silent plea, tore his arm from her grasp and smiled at the remaining, "Now that the first line of defense is down, I'll ask one last time," Holding out a pokeball, "Where is Sasha?"
Ash looked at the group. Did Carlito have anything to challenge Barrett? Did Larrell? Tessa? Trey? Did anyone?
(It's on me, I guess.) Ash realized. "We'll never tell you anything!" Ash snapped.
"HEY!" Ezal called from the window, "She's crying upstairs right now!"
Ash facepalmed, "Really?"
"JUST DON'T KILL ME!" Ezal innocently raised his hands.
Barrett chuckled, "You've got a deal, mate."
"YAY!" Ezal cheered running back into the school.
Ash exhaled, "Well, if you want Sasha you're going to have to go through me!" Ash turned to his companion, "Ready, Pikachu?"
"Pi-ka!" The mouse leapt onto the battlefield.
Roman rubbed the ice, "Entei."
Ash stared into Barrett's eyes, "Let's battle."
Barrett smiled, "Gladly."