Star in the Storm, Chapter 18
Roary- "Conviction"
"One, two, three, go!"
An earth-shattering crash shook the room as Lody's Tyranitar, followed closely by her Arcanine, slammed head-on into the locked door. Bruised and battered, they bounced back, crumpling to the ground in an ungainly pile.
"C'mon, you guys!" I yelled, clenching my fists. "Get back up already!"
"Roary, don't," Lody said from where she was standing in the corner by Amulet. Shaking her head, she pulled out her PokéCaps and recalled both of her Pokémon. "Roary," she said tetchily. "I don't think this is going to work."
"We can do this!" I shouted, leaping forward and throwing myself in the direction of the door. "We're gonna get out of here!" Feeling like I'd nearly dislocated my shoulder, I readied myself for another run. But just as I was about to lunge again, Lody grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Both of us slid on the smooth cement floor, falling back and collapsing against a prison cell.
"What was that for?" I demanded, swerving on her and wrenching away. "Do you wanna get out of here or not, Chimera?"
As she untangled her arms from the bars of the cell, Lody's eyes flashed themselves into a chaotic brown and green storm. She sure was a sorry sight, hair a knotted mess and knees streaked with dirt all over. Her hands, I noticed as she stood, were riddled with cuts and caked with dried blood.
Too defiant to be revolted, I stared straight back at her, not caring what insults Lody Chimera was prepared to throw my way. But to my surprise, the words that came forth were nothing of the sort.
"I want to escape as much as you do, Roary," Lody said in the silky-steel voice she always saves for when she gets mega-furious. "But this isn't going to help. You're going to kill yourself, Roary Ketchum, if you don't quit it right now."
"Oh yeah, Lody Chimera? Well, I think…hey!" Stepping back, I fell against the wall open-mouthed and certain that I had hit my head a bit harder than I should have. "You're worried about me?"
By now, Lody's glare was severe enough to burn the door down just by staring. "I don't exactly want to see you beat yourself to a bloody pulp!" she retorted sharply through gritted teeth.
"Pi, pi!" Picassy wailed, bounding up to my leg and tugging on my jeans. "Pichu, oo!" it cried, climbing onto my shoulder and shaking its head from side to side.
Still dazed, whether it was from Lody's words or the crash I wasn't sure, I pulled myself back to my feet and gave the other girl a funny look. "Been drinking anything suspicious lately, Chimera?" I said, keeping one hand against the wall to brace myself from falling again. " 'Cause last time I looked, you hated my guts."
"You think I'd like them any better splattered all over that door?!"
"Can't both of you just cut it out!" Shane yelled, led forward by a limping Gauntal. The Umbreon, I saw, was in pretty bad condition. One eye had been swollen shut and there were pronounced gashes around its neck and sides. Shane's face had grown paler than chalk dust, save for the black-and-blue beginnings of a large bruise.
I had forgotten they were even standing there! Now, seeing Shane with that beat-up face and tight-lipped look, I was even more surprised when he started roaring in a very un-Shane like way.
"None of this bickering will help us one bit, you understand!" Shane shouted, fists tight around Gauntal's leash. Forcing his voice to soften, he began again, this time in his usual composed, rational tone. "This is the door to a prison cell! We can't break it down, nor could thirty Machamp if they tried. There has to be another way out."
"Hey, you're the Team Rocket mastermind, not us!" I shot back at him. "They'll let you out 'cause you're one of them! Stealing poor Eevee and kidnapping Lody, what you're even doing in here is beyond me! You don't belong here, you belong in some high-security prison ward! Tell him, Lody!"
And then the strangest thing happened. Stranger even than what Lody had done before to keep me from running at the door. Instead of giving Shane the old death-glare and letting him have the full harangue, Lody averted her eyes, concentrating instead on stroking Amulet's head.
"Lody!" I yelled. "What's the matter with you, Chimera?"
Taking a deep, slow breath, Lody shook her head from side to side. "Roary," she said in a tired voice. "Roary, maybe not everybody on Team Rocket's so bad after all. They…they let me join them, so I didn't have to be a captive."
Breath coming in quick, rushed gasps, I backed away against the wall. Lody just kept on stroking Amulet like nothing had happened.
"Is this true, Lody?" Amulet whispered, craning her head about to face her trainer.
Lody sighed softly, then nodded.
"You're crazy, Chimera!" I shouted, eyes bulging and voice pitched just a tone higher than necessary. "Crazy, I tell you! Do you know what they're gonna do to you when they find out? And your parents, Lody, what are they gonna say?"
"Pichu, pi!" Picassy moaned miserably, hugging the top of my head and staring at Lody like she was some reincarnation of evil Mewtwo itself.
Lody, absorbed in rearranging the necklace around Amulet's neck, did not answer. "This is pretty, Ami," she said softly, admiring the golden charm that dangled from the necklace chain. "I haven't seen you with this on in a long time."
Amulet had worn that old necklace for luck, when we had left to rescue Lody.
Luck, however, did not seem to be on our side.
"This situation does seem to have become quite tangled," Amulet said, pulling away from Lody and setting her necklace a-jangle. "Why did you join Neo Team Rocket, Lody? Did they force you to?"
"Even if they did, you should've fought them off!" I roared in Lody's face. "No self-respectin' trainer would've let Neon Team Grocket force them! They…they would've died first!"
Oops, used the "d" word again.
"They didn't force me, Roary!" Lody yelled back, eyes seething. This was the Lody I knew, with her piercing glare and hateful snarl. "It doesn't matter anymore, anyway!"
"You kidding, Chimera? It makes all the difference in the world! Are you a pathetic sniveling coward or a low-down dirty traitor?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, Roary Ketchum," Lody said, voice lowering to a dangerously menacing tone. "I had no intention of betraying our side, only theirs!"
My mouth must've dropped to my knees. Lody was a double-agent wannabe?
In the corner, Shane buried his face in his hands, sighing almost inaudibly.
"But I can't now!" Something wet was trickling down the side of Lody's dirt-streaked face, leaving dark, smeared trails. "I don't have it in me anymore," she said, before breaking down into a fit of silent tears.
Licking the salty water from her trainer's face, Amulet placed a paw on Lody's knee. "Don't have what in you anymore, Lody?" she asked gently.
"Conviction," Lody mumbled, burying her wet face in Amulet's fur. "Before, everything was so clear. Not now. Not anymore." As she sat there with her face hidden against Amulet's side, several new tears trickled out, making dark splotches on the gray cement floor.
With my face sweaty in exertion and Picassy hanging off my head, I'm sure I made a comical sight standing there in the middle of the room. But all of us, especially me, failed to see any humor in our situation.
"Well, fine then!" I announced hotly. "Fine! Sit there and cry and complain, if that's what you want! I don't need either of you, Lody or Shane. Just stay outta my way from now on! When my dad and the others get here, you're all gonna get it!" Pulling Picassy off my head and placing it on the floor nearby, I raced forward, slamming my shoulder into the door again.
"Roary, you can't let them hurt Team Rocket!" Lody cried, head jerking up. Hastily, she swiped at her tears, smearing her grimy face even more. "Roary!" she yelled when I didn't answer. "Listen to me! Some of them don't deserve it."
"You, Lody Chimera," I spat, "deserve it most of all. Just try and stop me, Team Wocket! I'm ready to take all of you down!"
Lody's voice rose up again. "Roary, please! There are kids at Team Rocket, kids just like us. There's Dissembler, who's always so bright and cheerful; everything's just a game to her. And Reb, all he wants to do is play with his machines. Chip and Ruki, they've been trying forever to stay together and make a life for themselves. None of them thinks Team Rocket is evil. None of them would as lucky as they are now without Team Rocket." With every word, her voice grew more and more shaky.
I ignored Lody, bracing myself for another run.
Lody's voice, still wavering, came up at me from behind. "Roary, there's a little Espeon girl living with Team Rocket," she began in an even more pleading voice. "Her name is Silver Star. If Team Rocket is attacked, what will happen to her?
The name Silver Star was what did the trick. A million bonging bells went off in my head all at once, forcing me to pause and look Lody in the face. "Silver Star?" I asked breathlessly, mental bells still reverberating. "The Espeon Merger Silver Star?"
Shane's brow wrinkled. "How did you know about…?" A sudden look of understanding dawned upon his face. If he had been anyone besides Shane, I think he would've groaned and slapped his forehead in disgust.
"I told you I didn't take your files!" Lody couldn't help but retort.
"Well, then this is urgent!" I announced. "We have to rescue Lody and Silver Star right away! Just as soon as I…finish breaking down...this…door…ow!"
Brow furrowing, Amulet stood up on her hind legs and pawed at my arms. "You say this Silver Star is part Espeon?" she asked curiously, long ears perking up.
"This isn't the time to meet another playmate, Amulet!" I said impatiently, eying first the door and then the Espeon. "Can't you use your Psychic powers or something to bend that door down, Amulet?"
Ears twitching, Amulet shook her head absentmindedly in musing. "I'm not strong enough to bend down this door," she began, "but maybe I can contact Silver Star's Espeon portion with my mind."
"So?" I demanded, smashing into the door again. On the ground, Picassy whimpered.
"So Silver Star will know where we are," Amulet continued. "And let us out."
I stared at the Espeon, aghast. "If Silver Star pulled a stunt like that, Team Rocket would hurt her for sure!" I protested. "There's no way we can put her in that kind of danger!"
"So noble," Lody remarked icily, folding her arms. The tears had dried by now, and her glare proved to be just as strong as ever. "Noble, but thoroughly misguided. Roary, Team Rocket wouldn't hurt Silver Star."
"What, is she that valuable?"
Stepping forward, Shane shook his head. "Silver Star has friends among Team Rocket," he said simply. "And we would never let anything happen to her. Amulet, do it. See if you can contact Silver Star."
"I'll try my best." Bracing her slender legs against the floor, Amulet bowed her head, squeezing her eyes shut in concentration. After only a brief moment, the red marking on her forehead began to pulsate, emitting a ruby-red light into the Rocket prison room.
"Is she reaching Silver Star?" I questioned Lody anxiously. Forehead pressed into a frown, Lody shrugged her shoulders and remained silent.
Amulet's body began to sway gently back and forth, sending a flickering red light to wash over the walls of the room. Her charm necklace swung in the air as she swayed, not unlike a golden hypnosis pendulum. What seemed like an eternity later, Amulet's dark purple eyes shot back open, unfocused. "I think she heard me," the Espeon told us in a faint voice.
"Is someone coming, then?" Shane asked softly.
"I don't know," Amulet whispered in reply. "We have to wait."
The three of us kids, plus the Pokémon, sat there silently for a while, biding our time. Lody planted her gaze so firmly on the door that I was sure she was gonna melt it down into a steaming pile of reinforced metal. In the corner, Shane buried his forehead in his palms, Gauntal curling up at his feet. Taking Picassy in my arms, I fidgeted uncomfortably with a strand of my hair, then with Picassy's pigtail. I was in the middle of unclipping and redoing it when a knock came at the door.
"Shane, Lody, you in there?" a rough, feminine voice demanded. "Silver Star said something about you guys, so I decided to check it out."
Getting to his feet, Shane called back, "Ruki! Can you get the door open?"
The voice on the other side sighed in exasperation. "I hope so. I'm going to try to…shoot! The blasted thing's not accepting my hand signature!" A loud, resonating kick followed, shaking the very frame of the door.
"You can't override the system!" Shane called back. "Ruki, try to see if you can get somebody down at security to open the door!"
"Ha, that'll look real good on our track record! TRC leader locks himself in prison ward, gimme a break! Darn it, I hate this stupid thing!" A long string of curse words followed, as well as another frame-shaking pummel.
"Ruki, it's not going to help!" Shane began, just as a clawed glove ripped through the metal door. With a little scream, Lody and I fell backwards onto the cold cement floor.
The ripping continued until the entire door had been cleaved into several neat portions. They clattered to the ground, rattling metallically. Scrambling to my feet, I caught a glimpse of a teenage girl with long auburn hair, staring suspiciously at her gloved hands.
I barely stopped myself from screaming again. This girl was the one who had tied me up during the Charicific Valley attack! And, I realized with a pang, the same girl who had caught me sneaking into the Rocket HQ and taken away all my PokéBalls. My arm still ached from the way she had twisted it behind my back.
But the gloves…I hadn't managed to pick out that particular acquisition before. Too busy screaming and biting to pay attention to my captor's metal-slicing accessories. Gulping, I saw that said gloves were tipped in razor-sharp silver claws.
"What in the region were you doing in there?" the girl demanded, hands akimbo. Purple-steel eyes roving about and settling on me, she gave a little shout of exasperation. "Shane, no!" she groaned. "Don't tell me you're freeing prisoners! When the Leader finds out…"
Brushing off his jacket, Shane answered, "I cannot get any lower with the Leader than I am right now, Ruki. What did you do to the…oh, this is no time for questions!" Moving away from the remains of the door, Shane continued briskly. "We have to leave Neo Team Rocket, all of the TRC, as soon as possible!"
"But, Shane…"
He held up a hand, cutting the girl off. "Leader Darkshine has disbanded the TRC," he explained quickly. "He plans to relocate all of the Castaways to another Rocket base, to test the newest Merging theories. On us."
The girl, Ruki, shook her head so hard that her hair went flying into her eyes. "The Leader can't do that!" she protested hotly.
"Yes, he can, Ruki. We have to get moving."
"Shane, you don't get it!" Ruki snapped, eyes blazing. "It's Silver Star! We can't leave her, especially not now! She had this horrible spasm attack when we got word about the intruder…Shane, she's so weak they think she might die!"
I froze as Ruki's eyes swerved to meet my own. "This is all your fault, Ketchum!" she spat, glaring venomously into my face. "Don't think I forgot about Charicific Valley!" she stormed on, my clueless expression just seeming to infuriate her even more. "If you hadn't come here, none of this would have happened!" Without a second glance, she turned tail and raced down the long hallway, Shane and Lody close behind her.
"Pichi, oo'pi!" Picassy squeaked nervously as the others left, peeking out from under my ponytail.
What had I gotten myself into now? Silver Star was an innocent, a captive of Team Rocket. Why had I hurt her instead of them? Mind reeling in guilt and confusion, I dashed after Lody, Shane, and their Pokémon, who were just disappearing around a corner.
When we finally reached Silver Star's room, I was totally wiped-out. Same went for Lody, who was leaning against the wall to catch her breath, but Shane and steel-eyes Ruki headed straight inside without a moment's rest.
A large bed had been set up on the side of the room, complete with a fluorescent light and rattling heater. Assembled around the edges of the room were several very worried-looking kids. One of them, the golden-haired Junior Trainer I remembered as Dissembler, bolted to her feet as soon as she saw us coming.
"Shane, where were you?" she cried, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the figure lying on the bed. "Things are getting worse and worse! Nurse Hope left when she heard what happened at Mahogany; she was so scared that she'd be caught and taken to jail for helping Team Rocket! And after she left, Silver Star…oh, Silvie! It's okay now, Shane's here!"
The blankets stirred, revealing a small, purple-skinned girl with large dark eyes, plus an Espeon's paws, ears, and tail. I must have been staring pretty badly, 'cause the girl saw me and giggled deliriously. Reaching out a paw, she beckoned me closer, dark eyes glazed and unfocused.
"I knew you were here, Roary," she whispered in a strange, lilting voice. "And Ami, you came and talked to the other me." She gestured towards Amulet, who stepped forward and nuzzled the Espeon girl with her wet nose. "You told the other me where to find you," Silver Star whispered, words slurring.
"Thank you," Amulet whispered gently, not seeming at all surprised Silver Star had used her nickname. "We would have been trapped if it weren't for you."
The Espeon girl giggled again, a sound that was high and almost eerie in the small room. "It wasn't any trouble," she insisted, voice fading away drowsily. Her last few words were drowned out by the drone of the nearby heater. "No trouble....at all."
"Are you okay, Silvie?" asked a concerned little boy with Ruki's auburn hair and an Eevee nestled in his lap.
"Do you want a milkshake?" probed a dark-haired boy sitting in a nearby wheelchair. "We can make plenty of milkshakes, that's for sure."
The assembled Rocket kids forced a weak laugh.
I could hardly keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. These worried kids were members of Team Rocket?! Like what Lody had insisted before, they all seemed about as evil as Picassy on a sugar-high. Scary, yes, misunderstood, yes, but dangerous...you kidding me?
Giving out a wheezing, gurgling laugh, Silver Star curled her little body into a tight ball. "Roary," she said suddenly, as an afterthought. "There's something that belongs to you on the table. Back by…" She broke into a coughing fit, and was quickly shushed by Shane.
To my surprise, all my confiscated PokéBalls were lying there on the table. Feeling dizzy with my sudden turn of luck, I scooped them up and stuffed them back into my pocket. No one made a move to stop me. The majority of the Rocket kids, I guess, were too tired and too worried about Silver Star to care.
"What about this?" Ruki asked, holding up my small red PokéGear, which she had also taken after catching me. To my surprise, it was beeping electronically, indicating an incoming call.
"Who'd be calling me at a time like this?" I wondered out loud, snatching up the PokéGear. The ringing stopped momentarily, and my father's voice came in.
"Roary?" he said, voice partially distorted by static. "Roary, are you there?"
"Yeah, Dad," I hissed, glancing furtively at the suspicious Team Rocket members who surrounded me. "But this isn't the best time to…"
"Look, Roary," my father went on. "There's been a change in plans. Instead of invading the Team Rocket HQ as intended, we'll be arriving in less than an hour. The police insisted, Roary. We didn't have a choice. You, Lody, and that Silver Star girl have to get yourselves out of that place now, you hear me?"
Lody, who had overheard my father's words, shook her head vigorously, pantomiming a cut to the neck. "Please, Roary," she whispered desperately. "You can't let them do this."
Looking around the room, I saw every single one of those Team Rocket kids staring at me. Steely-eyed Ruki fixing her gloves and setting her mouth in a grim line. That little boy with the Eevee, gazing wide-eyed in my direction. Dissembler and the kid in the wheelchair, hovering by Silver Star. And there was no way I could ignore Shane. Pale-faced, but with his jaw set, Shane was waiting silently for my answer.
"Dad," I said finally. "Is there any way you can spare several Team Rocket members? Or maybe go easier on them than you're planning to?"
My father's voice was incredulous. "Roary, those people are hardened criminals!" he exclaimed. "They don't deserve our mercy."
"But Dad, maybe…" Eyes drifting over to Lody, I faltered. Chimera's shining eyes and quick thumbs-up sign made me force myself to continue. "Dad, maybe some people in Team Rocket aren't all that bad, you know? Some of them are just kids, kids like me."
"There will be no pity towards evildoers in my family!" my father snapped, voice growing hard and bitter. "Have you lost your head, Aurora? This is no time to go all sentimental! If I had known that twenty years ago, Team Rocket wouldn't have had a chance to return!"
"But Dad, if you're going to destroy Team Rocket, you're gonna have to…" My eyes strayed towards Lody, standing tensely only a few feet away. Abruptly, my words fell out from under me.
"There are no 'buts' in war!" my father proclaimed. "And this, you realize, Roary, has become an all-out war. Any daughter of mine should be able to feel the approaching storm rising in her bones, Roary Ketchum. Have you forgotten everything you've learned as a Pokémon trainer? It is the duty of any trainer to uphold the good of the world and stamp out the evil before it has found a chance to root itself! I failed in this duty long ago, Roary. I'll not fail again."
Though my father's strong dedication to this goal had sparked a sense of pride in me earlier, all I felt now was a sickening shiver of dread. "But Dad, what if you're wrong?" I whispered. "What if Team Rocket isn't really all that evil? And even if they are, it can't be right to hurt them like this!"
"I've had about enough of this argument!" my father barked, rage amplified by the roar of static that backed his words. "Just do what I've told you, Roary. Don't ask these kinds of questions."
"Dad!" I cried out, forgetting that Lody, Shane, and all the Team Rocket kids were watching me. "Why are you acting like this? Please, just listen to what I have to say!"
But my only answer was the screech of the dial tone.
"Well, if it's a fight they want," Ruki said into the uneasy silence that followed, flexing her fingers," they'll be sure to get it."
"Pichu!" Picassy said, burying its head in my hair.
Dropping my PokéGear to the ground like a hot potato, I hugged my knees to my chest, feeling something hot prickling at the back of my eyes. "I don't understand why he didn't listen to me," I whispered to myself.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I was shocked to see Lody standing there, face bowed and eyes looking truly sad. "It's harder, sometimes, to change your beliefs when you get older," she said simply. "You can't blame him, Roary. That's just the way he is, I guess."
"Why don't you crawl back under the rock you came from, Chimera!" I yelled angrily. "You don't know a thing about my father…and….and…"
Something inside me snapped, and next thing I knew, I was falling against the heater and breaking up into hysterical laughter. Realizing everybody in the room was giving me funny looks, I wiped my face, straightened up, and forced my guffaws to tone down into giggles.
"And yet you're absolutely right about him," I finished, smiling lopsidedly at Lody. "When Dad gets a notion into his head, it stays there for good. It's just that…lately he's been getting kind of scary about it. Almost paranoid. Look, I'm real sorry about this, you guys. You don't have much time to get out before the police arrive."
"Get out?" Dissembler exclaimed. "Who said a word about getting out?"
Around her, the other Team Rocket members were nodding in agreement.
"Look at Silver Star," Dissembler pointed out. "She's in no condition to travel, and there's no way we're leaving her behind!"
"Plus, there's this little thing called team loyalty," the boy in the wheelchair said sarcastically. "I didn't know it existed, but there you go."
"We can't leave Team Rocket!" the little auburn-haired boy cried, hands clenching into stubborn fists. "It's our home! Ruki, make those bad people go away! Miss Roary, can't you make 'em go away?"
"Roary's not going to do anything for us, Chip," Ruki answered grimly. "Look, you guys, forget about team loyalty and whatever. Get the TRC-16 ready to make a run for it. I'll stand guard outside the building. If anyone tries to get in, they're going to be in serious trouble." She swiped at the air with her clawed gloves to demonstrate.
"The TRC-16?" The wheelchair boy looked stricken. "Ruki, Leader Darkshine had it commandeered while we were gone!"
"I…with Lody's help, will take care of that," Shane volunteered quickly, taking the hint from Gauntal's tug and adding Lody's name. "With any luck, we'll be able to negotiate the copter back. And, if we're lucky, our freedom as well. In the meantime, you guys sit tight and watch over Silver Star. We'll be back in a Flash attack!"
As Shane, Lody, and their Pokémon disappeared down the hall, Ruki placed a hand on Chip's shoulder. "Look, squirt," she said. "I'm going to make sure no baddies try to break in from outside. Just wait here with Reb and Dissembler and take care of Silver Star for me. Okay?"
The boy hugged his Eevee closer to his body. "Come back soon, Ruki," he told her plaintively. The Eevee echoed Chip's plea with a small, mournful mew.
With a smile, Ruki ruffled the little boy's hair before dashing out the door.
Leaving me and Picassy behind with three totally unfamiliar Rocket kids and one very sick Espeon Merger.
"No time to throw a tea party, eh Cass?" I whispered to my Pokémon, trying my best to make light of the situation.
"People shouldn't get hurt, but a lot of them are going to in the future, aren't they?" I had asked my Pichu what seemed so long ago. But I had never realized the true weight of my words.
Until now.