On Our Own
"This doesn't make any sense. Why would they just disappear? I don't like this," Avalonea said anxiously as she paced back and forth across the meeting room. The repetitive motion was making Gabrielle's stomach churn. Everyone around her was restless and worried at the moment— it made her feel queasy. She'd always been very in-tune to the emotions of her friends, but right now, she kind of regretted that capability.
After finding out that Florence and Adrienne had presumably gone missing three days ago, word had gotten around the house heads fast. Thankfully, however, the rest of the school was none the wiser. It was just them. Gabrielle couldn't imagine how everybody would react if they learned that two students had gone missing not long after the murder, seeing how the other heads were taking it. But her fear for her friends overpowered even those anxieties. Were they safe right now? Nobody had been able to get in contact with either of them... Gabrielle hadn't been particularly close with either of the girls, but even she'd joined everybody else in spam texting and calling the two once Wade had confirmed that something was up. He'd dropped a message in the group chat a couple hours ago confirming that neither of them had been in their dorms for days when he went to ask their roommates— which, by itself, wouldn't have been out of the ordinary. The two girls occasionally enjoyed weekends together on some trip— they were pretty much best friends— but right after going to visit Pink at the hospital? Not replying to any calls? Extremely concerning. Gabrielle had heard about Tyler's attempt to get Pink to open up, with the help of that new nervous little janitor, which had led to his hospital stay at all. It sounded like a mistake to her, but... it had already been done. About half of the house heads had met up to try and see if they could learn anything about the disappearances, but so far, they'd gotten nowhere, and their impromptu get-together had dissolved into quarreling and more accusations.
"We have to do something!" Ave finally shouted, her gaze fiery with determination, and Gabrielle startled from her thoughts. "Go out searching for them, involve the police, anything but just sitting here worrying about them!"
"Involve the police? Yeah, sure, and ruin any shot at finding them. They'd just make things worse. God knows they haven't done shit for Ansel's case," Audrey pointed out bitterly from her far off corner that she'd settled into. The lights in the meeting room were dim, and they shrouded her gloomy face in even gloomier shadows.
"This is all your fault anyways," Hugo snapped at her nearby. "You're the one who told them where to go in the first place... got them all excited. Fuckin' stalker. How did you even know that shit?"
"Get bent, asshole," she shot back. "I keep tabs on my friends... you know, because I actually like them."
"Will the two of you just stop?" Zephyr moaned, his head in his hands. Beside him on the ground, his crobat Sapphire peered up at him, looking a little sad herself. He'd been absentmindedly petting her earlier, probably to relieve anxiety, but even that didn't seem to be relaxing him much. "This isn't helping."
Gabrielle had to agree with the flying head there. She couldn't focus on anything with all of the bickering and nervous energy in the air. She was currently trying to read a book to calm herself, but her hands were shaking so bad that everything looked blurry, and she couldn't seem to focus on the words at all. After reading the exact same page over again for what felt like the tenth time, she finally gave up and closed the book, placing it dismally on the table. "Maybe the police is a bad idea, but I'm with Ave. Isn't there something else we can do?" she said softly.
The second year psychic head might have been a mystery to many people, but her calm and gentle demeanor quickly dispelled any grandiose rumors that students had developed of her when they met her. Some said that her psychic powers could flatten mountain ranges if she tried, but right now, it was all she could do to try and tune out the assailment of emotions blasting off of her friends that made her feel sick and dim her own senses a bit to try and stay relaxed. Some psychic powers she had. She was a short, petite young woman with blue eyes, chin-length walnut brown hair, and medium toned skin, and generally kept to herself around campus. She wasn't unfriendly— many people had actually described her as very approachable— but she often simply didn't feel like being the first to strike up a conversation. Books kept her company, and when they didn't, she had the house heads to socialize with. Not like any of them were in the mood for socializing right now— she wasn't really, either. She already missed Adrienne and Florence.
"Alastair is on the phone with his parents right now," Tyler told Gabrielle gently, coming over to lay a hand on her shoulder. The gesture was well-appreciated. "They may be royal assholes, but they do have Kalos totally under their thumb. Maybe they can lock down the island, send out a nation-wide alert... I dunno." She didn't sound very convinced in herself, though, which made the psychic head deflate a little bit. All they had at this point was a faint hope. She wanted to hide away in her dorm room right now and read away her troubles. But... that wasn't fair to everyone else. They were trying to come together over this, not apart, after all.
As if the universe itself were trying to bless them with depressing timing, Alastair shoved back through the meeting doors just moments after Tyler started moving away. Gabrielle opened her mouth to ask how it had gone, but the dark, angry expression on his face made her close it again right away. Shoot. Things didn't seem to have gone well. Everybody else looked up, and another wave of sadness rolled over the room all at once. Gabrielle had to flop down into her chair and try to work through it herself.
"They won't help us," he said after a long moment, his deep voice rolling with barely-contained anger. "Bastards are holding what happened with Pink over my head. They don't even care what happened— they're just saying that him being fucking hospitalized was bad publicity for them! If we want to find Adrienne and Florence, they won't be any help. They're done with me."
Gabrielle's gaze flicked nervously to Audrey, who had her eyes narrowed as she stared the dragon head down. Please don't start another argument... she silently hoped. She wasn't sure if she could take another outburst from Audrey. Thankfully, the fire head didn't. She just turned back to staring out of the window at the rain pelting against it, one leg crossed over the other, with her lips set in a thin line.
Personally, she herself didn't know what to make of the rumors surrounding Alastair, or even the murder in general. She wasn't used to such a high-stress environment as this, or such deep and concerning accusations being thrown around. Kidnappings were only things she'd read about in stories! Who would ever want to hurt the two sweet house heads anyhow? She hated seeing the people that she'd come to call her friends turn on each other like this, and it had made her withdraw deep back into the shell that she had just been starting to step out of in the last few months returning from summer break. She looked down at the ground as a new round of bickering started up.
"Well, this is just great," Zephyr mumbled. She looked over at him, and found herself scooting her chair closer to his. At least one other person here didn't like all the fighting either. "What are we going to do now?" he asked nobody in particular, staring out at the rain-spattered windows.
"Alastair's family seemed like they'd be our only shot," she agreed. Zephyr nodded, and that was all. She wasn't really sure where she'd been planning to take that line of thought, so she just trailed off, which the flying head didn't seem to mind. Zephyr sat in comfortable silence with her for a long moment before Sapphire nudged her trainer with her wing, and he looked down at her with a furrowed brow.
"I... I guess I should go. Sleep, I guess. We're not solving anything at this point. It's like the head meeting all over again," he told her, sighing.
"Tell me about it," she agreed glumly. "Maybe... maybe I could walk with you? I don't have anywhere else to be either."
Zephyr smiled a little, and Gabrielle abruptly realized that he had bright golden eyes that glittered a little in the low light. They were beautiful. "I'd like that," he said in a soft voice. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."
As the two of them starting gathering their things and Zephyr recalled his crobat to her pokéball, it seemed to set off everybody else to start packing up as well. Nobody was really sure what else they could do, after all. Trying to figure things out themselves last time had gone terribly, seeing as Pink was now missing from the hospital and probably dead, with two other house heads not far behind. Alastair had been in a terrible mood lately, and she couldn't blame him... even if she had her doubts that he was entirely innocent. The phone call to his parents had not helped matters at all, and he was currently white-knuckling the expensive device in his hands, staring at it as chaos raged around him like it owed him money. She gave him a wide berth as she and Zephyr headed out into the storm, the latter producing an umbrella to keep them both dry, which Gabrielle appreciated. She hadn't been expecting the storm to get this bad, and so she hadn't brought one. As the doors swung shut behind them, she caught Tyler saying something about calling the police. It was probably for the best. These sorts of things were best left to the professionals.
The storm lulled somewhat around them as Zephyr clung to the umbrella, but stray raindrops still pelted Gabrielle in the face, and the damp chill made her shiver intensely even with a coat. "I sure hope this thing is over by tomorrow. I can't imagine going to classes with both our friends currently missing and a stupid thunderstorm..." she remarked.
"Agreed. I'm slipping in all of my grades right now... I can't stop thinking about if they're okay or not," the flying head replied, and Gabrielle caught a flash of pain across his face before it disappeared. "Do you mind if I walk you back first, actually? We're not even supposed to be out this late as it is, and I'd hate for you to go home alone... without an umbrella, at that."
"I don't mind," she said with a soft smile. She and Zephyr had hung out a few times in the past, but, strangely enough, the murder had managed to bring them closer together instead of further apart. Out of all the house heads, she found him to be the gentlest. The others tended to be... intense... which wasn't really her style, but Zephyr's similar quiet personality had drawn her in quickly when she'd first met him. He'd only come to the school this year, but his arrival had been almost an immediate comfort when he'd won his spot among the house heads. In a sea of intensity, she appreciated his level head.
The storm continued as they wove through the cherry trees in the middle of campus, and the streetlights did little to alleviate the pressing darkness around them. The wind picked up and howled, and Gabrielle buried her head deep into the hood of her coat, shivering. She really wanted to be back in her warm dorm, with her team of pokémon around her... soon enough, the two of them were standing at the threshold to the psychic house entrance, and she turned to face Zephyr for a moment in the raging storm. "Thank you," she said in her usual voice, but the wind was so loud that her words were almost immediately swallowed up.
"What? I can't hear you!" he shouted, and Gabrielle giggled a little.
"I said thank you!" she managed to yell back at him— well, in a voice that at least counted as yelling to her, compared to her normal one. Zephyr quirked another tiny smile, and didn't reply as he hustled off into the rain and darkness. Had he just not wanted to keep shouting, or was there something more at play? She realized that she was blushing faintly, and was relieved for the darkness as she slipped inside of the sheltered lobby and headed up to her room.
Suddenly, though, she didn't feel all that cold anymore.
Chandler was in a fantastic mood.
Granted, the mood was dampened somewhat by the missing house heads, but otherwise, he felt great. This kind of weather was his favorite— chilly and overcast, where everybody holed up in their dorms and didn't come out for anything. It was amazingly quiet. He'd stayed up all night after coming home from the impromptu get-together over Adrienne and Florence, working on catch-up homework and hanging out with his pokémon as the storm howled outside. It had calmed somewhat by morning, leaving only damp sidewalks and a light drizzle of rain, but his mood hadn't left with the storm clouds. He was even smiling a little bit as he cuddled his snover on his lap in the early hours of the morning, who was delighted by all the attention, which was a rare occasion for him. His dormmates were still fast asleep— everybody's classes had been cancelled for the day. This was paradise.
That made the sudden email that came from his history professor all the more terrible when it popped up on his laptop.
Don't think that you lot can get out of homework because of a little bad weather! Attached to this email is an assignment on the history between dragon and fairy types, which I expect to take about three or four hours to complete. Classes will resume normally tomorrow, and I expect it to be finished!
The ice head groaned as he threw his head back, making his snover squeak in surprise. "You're kidding me. This has to be a method of torture."
Homework was homework, though, and Chandler wasn't planning to fail his classes if he could help it. So he got the assignment printed out— it was a big one— and started getting to work. The sun was up now, though, and before long, so were his roommates. The magic of being by himself surrounded only by the storm was gone. As they shuffled around the room and got to talking, Chandler's smile soon disappeared, and he recalled Snover back to her pokéball. The assignment seemed almost impossible to complete now, and he hunkered lower and lower in his seat as everybody got louder and louder.
This wasn't working. Chandler stood up abruptly, sending a pencil flying, and one of his roommates nearly spilled his coffee with wide eyes when he saw the assignment in front of the ice head. "Oh, shit! Is that monster due tomorrow?"
"Unfortunately. You can take the desk," he said with a heavy sigh as he started gathering his things.
He wasn't going to get anything done in his dorm now, so it was time to fall back on a classic and head to a deserted coffee shop. He knew one on the corner not far from campus that had absolutely atrocious coffee— nobody ever went there on purpose. He wasn't even sure how the place was still in business, frankly, but he wasn't complaining. Sometimes, he would be the only customer in there for half the day. But the place was chilly and nearly deserted, and as long as he bought a single small cup of the coffee, the baristas were delighted to let him use a corner table for hours. He wouldn't touch the drink, obviously. When he finished up for the day, he'd toss it on his way out. But it was his little secret place, and he enjoyed it all the same.
After throwing on his coat and nabbing his lapras' pokéball on the way out just in case, he was gone, with his backpack in tow. The campus was eerily quiet as he walked down the sidewalk towards the parking lot, which was nice, but also reminded him of his friends. Chandler's shoulders hunched a bit as he thought about Florence and Adrienne walking down these same pathways. He didn't know them very well, but it didn't mean he wished ill of them. He hoped they were okay. The police would figure things out, right? That was all he could really hope for. He wasn't the heroic type— he preferred to stay on the sidelines. He'd likely hurt instead of help any case to find them if he tried anything. Pink was gone, too, he'd heard, and whether the two incidents were related wasn't confirmed. He'd simply seemed to disappear from his hospital room in the middle of the night. He knew Pink a little bit more than the girls, which made that blow a bit heavier. They weren't really friends, so to speak, but they'd had plenty of pleasant encounters, and he'd even battled the guy once (and gotten his ass handed to him, but that didn't matter as much). He was a nice guy, really. Did charity work or something. It was a bit too uppity and social for Chandler's tastes, but he could respect the reasoning behind it.
Oh, come on. Chandler suddenly realized that he couldn't drive anywhere right now, and stopped in his tracks. He'd forgotten that a badly placed Ice Fang by his glaceon a few days ago had flattened one of his back tires, and he'd yet to start figuring out how to change it. Goddammit. Well, he wasn't in any mood to get under a car right now, and he still had this massive assignment to do. With another heavy sigh, he turned to start heading back. Maybe there was another place here on campus that he could get away from everybody in? It wasn't like anyone was bustling around right now, really. Most people were still inside, hiding from the rain.
Before long, the ice head found himself walking towards the main building of the school. Goldheart's campus was utterly massive, and at its heart stood its grandest building of all. It had to be the oldest one on the entire campus, and the most lavishly built— spiraling towers and elegant stained glass windows looked down at him as he pushed the doors open and headed inside. The main building was home to a lot of large rooms, but the ballroom was chief among them, which was where he decided to go. It was elegant and beautiful, and had once been used to host grand events for students back in the days when Goldheart was a school meant chiefly for ancient royalty. That was centuries ago, though, and now the events it tended to host most often were get-togethers for frat boys. Speaking of which... Ansel had died here, hadn't he? A little shiver ran down Chandler's spine as he wove down the halls to enter the ballroom. Right now, it would surely be empty. The silence was a little eerie even for him as he sat down at the biggest table in the room, but at the very least, it was quiet and empty. He'd just try to get this assignment done quickly.
As he researched on his laptop and wrote, his chin propped up on his elbow, he soon found his anxieties melting away somewhat. Homework sucked, but at least it kept his mind off of all of the drama going on. Eventually, he even started to hum a little bit as he worked.
Halfway through his assignment, a few hours later, something clicked beneath Chandler's elbow when he adjusted it, and everything went to hell.
Chandler's nose met the wooden table with a painful thud first, and he saw a few drops of blood hit the ground. He yelped in pain and surprise at that, leaning back up to hold his hand to his now aching nose, and was briefly preoccupied with trying to stop the bleeding. He wasn't that clumsy, was he? His question was answered as he looked down where his homework had been laying and saw it slowly disappearing into some sort of dark void.
Well, not technically. The table was what was moving— folding in on itself and sinking down into the floor at the same time, slowly disappearing into what Chandler realized with a jolt of horror was a passageway. Torches that had been doused out were anchored to the stone walls on either side of the passage, and an aging staircase led deep underground, beyond where the dim light of the ballroom could reach. His jaw dropped open as he watched the sides of the table finally lock into place on either side of the wall, and everything went clattering down the steps. The laptop was first to stop— it cracked against the steps not far from his feet and stayed there, where he was still sitting, dumbfounded, in his chair. The paper went sweeping down into the darkness and soon caught on one of the torches. His phone went the furthest— bouncing against the sides, slamming into the stairs, and finally stopped so far down that he couldn't even see it anymore. Chandler was half-convinced that it hadn't stopped bouncing, and was just gone so far down that he couldn't hear its descent anymore. He suddenly felt dizzy.
The rest of the house heads were really going to want to see this.
"Not to be dramatic or anything, but I think we're in way over our heads," Ave declared as she stared down into the gaping pit of a passageway. "We're reaching whole new levels of fucked up here."
"Uh-oh. When Ave says we're in over our heads, you know it's true," Zephyr said, eyes wide. "We're not... going down in there, are we?"
Jamie had his arms wrapped tightly around himself, and he couldn't help shaking with fear a bit. Things were getting worse and worse by the day. Ansel's murder had clearly just been the start of whatever was going on. His father had yet to discover what was up, but when he did? Jamie knew he'd be out of a job faster than he could blink... the gallade would make sure of it. And, honestly, he was starting to wonder if he was okay with that. Staring at this passageway now, surrounded by the house heads, he felt entirely out of his element. What would they possibly find down there, anyways? He wasn't brave and strong like most of them. The only pokémon to his name was Twobit, who was no experienced battler either. He didn't even know why he was here, really. He'd taken his lunch break early for this, which had not put him in good graces with the rest of the cleaning staff. The things blown over or destroyed by last night's storm were numerous, and it had been all hands on deck since he'd arrived at eight o'clock sharp. Maybe he should just get back to work. He'd be no help here.
"No. Nobody is going down there," Alastair said sharply, startling Jamie. "Whatever this is, it's serious. We have no idea who knows about it and who doesn't. How did you say you found this again, Chandler?"
The ice head looked shaken as he looked over at everyone else. "I don't know for sure, really, but I-I think I moved some... secret plate on the table or something with my elbow on accident. I dunno."
"And remind me again why we're listening to you, big guy? You're not exactly leadership material in my eyes anymore," Audrey said with a huff, but for once, everybody mostly ignored her. Any concerns they had about Alastair were utterly trumped by the secret evil passageway that was revealed by a secret evil table. Everybody murmured among themselves, and Jamie found himself nervously shuffling off to the side.
Alastair looked like he was fighting off an outburst of anger at the fire head, but he managed it, and took a deep breath. "Right. Either way, nobody else is going. We have no idea what's down there. I'll go— alone."
Alone? Jamie shuddered at the mere thought of going down into that oppressive darkness with nobody else by his side. How could anyone have a death wish like that? The dragon head had made up his mind, though. He stood in front of everyone else as they burst into protest, blocking the entrance with his huge body, but nobody tried to get past him. Frankly, even if they'd wanted to, Jamie was pretty sure that nobody here stood a chance against Alastair in combat. Well... nobody except for Wade. He hadn't known the fighting head long, but he certainly seemed strong enough to fold somebody in half if he so desired as well.
"Don't play hero, Alastair," Wade warned him gently, putting a hand on his shoulder as he faced him, eyes soft with concern. "You're no help to us if you get yourself killed."
Alastair shrugged the hand off of him, looking away. "I have to. I couldn't live with myself if anybody got hurt down there, and... and besides. Maybe whatever's in there has something to do with Pink and the girls." His voice had gone so quiet that Jamie and Wade were likely the only two that heard him. Everyone else was still complaining or voicing their concerns, and the clamor made Jamie feel all the more nervous. "I have the strongest team here, by far. In all of Kalos, maybe. I've been undefeated for years. I can handle any trainers or freaks down there. Why shouldn't it be me? We all know that taking this to the campus staff isn't a good idea."
Wade's face was unreadable for a long moment. He didn't seem very happy about it when he finally stepped aside, but he did, and let out a long breath. "At least let us stay? Keep guard, whatever you need. Maybe you can bring your phone down there and keep us updated up here. Let us help you, if we need it. You can't do everything alone... you'll fall apart."
"I'm... fine with that," the dragon head agreed reluctantly. He turned to face the house heads again. "I'll call Wade and have him put his phone on speaker... then I can keep you all updated. If everything seems safe, then you guys can come down too. If something tries to murder me... well. Then I'll try not to get murdered."
"Very comforting, Al," Ave remarked with a chuckle. Alastair evidently wasn't much for the nickname by the way he glared at the ghost head, but she only grinned back at him cheekily. "Don't die, okay? Seriously."
It wasn't long before Alastair had set himself up for what could very well be his end. He had called out his dragonair— an utterly gorgeous pokémon that Jamie couldn't help but gaze at admiringly from the back of the room— to accompany him, as the rest of his pokémon were apparently too big to fit into the narrow stairway. The elegant serpent reared back for a moment as they approached the stairway, cautious, and ended up sliding in front of Alastair to go down first. He didn't much mind. The house heads and Jamie all clustered around a different table (this one did not appear to have any passageway-revealing secret plates), Wade's phone laid down in the middle, with Alastair on the other end. Well... at least, somewhat. His voice was muffled, as he'd put his phone in his pocket.
"You should really hold that in your hand," Wade tried to warn him as Alastair tested the first few steps with a foot, trying to make sure that none would crumble under his weight. "We can barely hear you with your phone stuffed in your pocket."
"And be one hand short in the event that something bad happens? No thanks. You get poor audio or no audio," the dragon said a bit huffily. Jamie still couldn't believe that he was volunteering for something as crazy as this at all. He clung tightly to Twobit, who squeaked indignantly, but didn't try to escape. He seemed just as nervous as his trainer. If Alastair got hurt down there... who would come to save him? No one else seemed to be chomping at the bit to join him down there, even if they'd protested his going alone. That thought loomed in the back of his mind like a predator waiting to strike as Alastair finally started down the stairs after the dragonair.
For what felt like hours but was probably only a minute or so, there was no noise but Alastair's boots hitting each stone step as he descended further and further. Everyone crowded around the table, eyes wide, when he finally started speaking. "Nothing weird so far... just more stairs and torches. It's really dark down here, though. I'd use my phone flashlight, but... this is giving me the creeps. I need my hands."
Jamie's heart pounded in his throat, and it was so quiet that everybody could have heard a pin drop. "Hm... it's widening out now. That's good... it was pretty cramped. Dove seems to be doing alright, so it's likely that he doesn't sense any danger." A soft chirrup over the phone was presumably Dove confirming this. "Oh, I think that might be the end of the stairs not far up ahead." There was some faint rustling, and another chirp from his pokémon partner. "Hey... I found your phone, Chandler. It's pretty messed up. Does it still turn on...? Nope. That's no big deal. I'll buy you a new one, assuming I survive."
"Oh dear," Chandler said quietly with a sigh.
"It kind of looks like... some entirely separate building down here. So many hallways... here, Dove is lighting some of the torches so I can see." For a long moment, there was silence, and then Jamie nearly leapt out of his skin as a loud clank broke through the muffled sound of Alastair's voice. "Oh my god... I found them!"
"Found what? Who?" Wade asked, grabbing the phone and pulling it closer to himself with wide eyes. "What did you find, Alastair?"
"They're okay!" The relief in Alastair's voice was palpable, and it suddenly came out much clearer as he presumably removed his phone from his pocket. Jamie could hear someone else making noise in the background... was that Adrienne? "They're both okay! There's this... this cell, almost... hold on, you two, I'm coming. Holy shit. They're okay, they don't look hurt... Audrey, get down here, please. I don't know how to pick locks, and I'm afraid that Dove's power might blow the entire cell open if I let him try..." Jamie's heart stopped. They'd found Florence and Adrienne? Everyone exploded into amazement all at once.
Jamie had never been more relieved to see the grouchy expression leave Audrey's face than in that moment. "I'm on my way." In seconds she was up, pushing past everyone else to dart down the stairs, and Jamie was surprised to realize that he was suddenly following her down.
"Jamie, no, stay here—!" Wade tried to call out. But he was already at the fire head's heels, Twobit squeaking with fright, as she wound her way down the stairs with a single goal in mind. He wasn't even sure why he was following her, really. But he wanted to help, however he could, and suddenly, he wasn't all that afraid of getting hurt himself if it was for their sakes. Was this how Alastair felt when his friends were in danger too? He hopped off the final step and found himself in a massive stone chamber, with hallways branching off from it. A few recently lit torches flickered ominously, and he saw Audrey disappear around the bend of one in the torch light. He trailed after her, letting Twobit go so that he could scramble up to his shoulder freely, continuing to chirp his disagreement with them coming down here. He found Audrey working away at some kind of electronic keypad there, attached to what he soon realized was the door to some kind of cell. Inside, the bug and ground heads were huddled together in a corner, eyes wide, with duct tape over their mouths. Even in their fear, they looked immensely relieved, too. Alastair paced behind Audrey, and Dove guarded the entrance to the hallway with a serene gaze.
"They were here all this time?" Jamie asked, his voice weak. Alastair's gaze snapped to him, and his brow furrowed. He looked like he was going to say something, but at that moment, the keypad beeped agreeably, and Audrey grinned with pride.
"This is some amateur stuff for me... still pretty high-tech, though," she mused as the door swung open. Alastair turned to hurry inside instead, and dropped to his knees to remove the duct tape from their mouths and untie the rope around their wrists and ankles. "God, this place is fucked up... are you two okay?"
"How... how did you find us?" Adrienne stammered first, her eyes gigantic with shock. Her voice was a bit creaky. "I thought we'd be stuck down here forever!"
"Long story. Well, not that long, but that's not important right now. Are either of you hurt?" Alastair asked softly as he pulled both of them to their feet. They both shook their heads, and Adrienne threw herself into his arms for a massive hug. He stumbled back, surprised, but tentatively returned it for a moment before letting go.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought we were gonna die! You're our hero!" she squealed. Florence seemed a little less enthralled, but she still quirked a weak smile. Between the two of them, she looked far worse for wear.
"We're fine. I mean... as fine as we can be, I guess," Florence mumbled, pressing herself up against her friend with a nervous shiver. "We should get out of here, quickly."
"What else is down here? Do you know what this place is?" Audrey cut in as the dragon head led them both back out into the hallway. Dove purred as he nudged the two of them in turn, and Adrienne gently rubbed his nose for a moment, trying to distract herself. "To put it simply: what happened?"
The two of them exchanged glances, and they looked not-so-subtly at Alastair before Adrienne managed to speak. "It's... it's Pink."
"Somehow, I'm not surprised," he said in a pained voice, starting to herd them back towards the stairs leading out. "He did this to you? Is he... is he here? Now?"
Adrienne looked down the hallway and stopped petting Dove's snout, her eyes wide. "He is now."
Everyone spun around at once, and Audrey's hand immediately shot down to one of the pokéballs at her waist. Dove drew himself up to his full height, nearly touching the ceiling as he let out a low, dangerous hiss. The fairy head stood in the entrance to the hallway, blocking their escape route— which Jamie realized with a jolt of horror was closing back up. The unmistakable sounds of a pokémon battle were raging above them— what was happening with the other heads? Behind Pink stood an enormous charizard, growling low in its throat as it stared down Dove. He seemed petrified as he stared at Alastair himself.
"I can't let you go," he whispered, swaying on his feet a little. He somehow looked even worse now than he had not too long ago in his dorm room, not better. "I'm sorry, I can't. Please..."
"Scorch, use Flamethrower!" Audrey's voice was like a foghorn as Jamie flailed to the side and a rapidash suddenly came streaking past him. He screamed in terror as the hallway was basked in a sickly orange glow, and fire came streaking from the pokémon's mouth towards the fairy head. Pink didn't even move. The charizard behind him was faster, though— and Alastair seemed to realize what was going on before Audrey did. His eyes went wide.
"No! Call her back!" he bellowed. It was too late.
The charizard seemed to change shape before them, glowing and twisting, and the fire splashed harmlessly against the reformed body of none other than mewtwo.
The mythical pokémon shielded Pink with its body, eyes flashing dangerously before sending out a massive blast of its own light. Scorch's eyes went wide, and she shrieked as she tried to halt her charge, her legs coming out from under her in an attempt to rear as the wall of light threatened to swallow her. Jamie's ears were ringing. "Dove!" Alastair roared. At the last possible second, the serpent threw up a wall of green that he realized was the move Protect, and the attack fizzled out against the flickering shield. Scorch bounced heavily off of the other side of the shield, rolled over, and went very still. Audrey looked like she was going to be sick, rooted to the spot.
Pink still appeared terrified. He looked up at mewtwo helplessly. "Please... please don't hurt them," he begged the pokémon, who stared behind itself at the fairy head with a scornful glare.
You've already caused me enough trouble, mole. Get out of here and let me finish this, now.
Jamie truly thought he'd refuse... but clearly, he didn't know him well enough. Pink staggered back like he'd been slapped, stared at Jamie for the briefest of moments, and then stumbled away around the corner. Jamie couldn't hear the sound of a heart breaking, but one look at Alastair's face as his ex-boyfriend abandoned him again was enough for him to know what he was feeling. It was all the dragon head could do to push Florence and Adrienne behind him and watch the protection shield dissipate, leaving the five of them facing off against a pokémon thought to be extinct. Mewtwo hovered a few inches off the ground, looking furious, and his tail lashed violently.
This is what happens when your advice is ignored, clearly. I should have known Hyacinth was too pathetic to finish the job. The mythical creature's awful gaze turned on Alastair. So... you are the one who is supposed to be this school's only threat, hm? He landed on the ground with a cold look on his face.
Let's see if you're a threat to me, then.
A/N: Ha ha ha ha. ha. Um. Let's forget that I disappeared for literally the entire year okay? Justreadthedramaokay... - FuriousDedenne