THIEF! Chapter 14

See the Truth

"You're wrong!" Allyssa shouted. She took a pokeball from her pocket. "Show this girl how wrong she is!" She threw the pokeball, and as the pokemon took its form from the liquid light, Liana saw that it was a Rhyhorn. The pokemon stomped its foot, and charged towards Dragon, who leaped out of the way.

Liana sighed. Jenna had warned that this might happen, and she was prepared for it. But she had really hoped it wouldn't be necessary. Sadly, she pulled out her pokeball, and released Kirlia, who sank gracefully to the floor. "I don't want to fight you, Allyssa."

"But I want to fight you!" Allyssa screamed. She looked really out of control. "Rhyhorn, go get that stupid doll! Use Take Down!" Rhyhorn turned towards Kirlia, scraped its foot, and charged again.

Liana shook her head. Allyssa was so upset she wasn't thinking very well. "Double Team," she commanded softly. Kirlia split suddenly into many images of itself, in a loose ring around Rhyhorn. The charging pokemon ran straight through an illusory copy of Kirlia, then kept going, and crashed into a dresser, which fell over on top of it. Dragon winced sympathetically.

Allyssa looked horrified. "Rhyhorn, get up!" The pokemon slowly stood up, clearly unhurt though there was still a dresser on top of it. It gave a shove, and tossed the dresser against the wall, where it hit with a thud. "Now, use Megahorn!" Rhyhorn planted its feet firmly and seemed to pause for a moment. But then you could see its horn begin to glow softly. Once it had fully prepared its attack, the pokemon charged again, at one of the Kirlias.

Liana didn't know whether Rhyhorn was approaching the real Kirlia, or a copy. But she wasn't about to just do nothing, even if Megahorn might not hurt her pokemon. "Teleport." Each Kirlia began rapid-teleporting. Rhyhorn stopped its charge, extremely confused as to which target to pick now. It decided instead to attack Dragon, who had to leap out of the way again. The pokemon crashed into the wall, breaking a hole with its horn. As it backed away to turn around, pieces of plaster fell on the floor.

Allyssa was now desperate. She noticed that even though it was teleporting, all the Kirlias were still on the floor. So she commanded "Rhyhorn, use Earthquake!"

Dragon and Liana exchanged looks. "Is she serious?" the girl asked incredulously. "Using Earthquake inside?" But apparently it was very serious. Rhyhorn stomped its foot, and the room began to shake. The furniture began to shake too, and the walls creaked alarmingly, but that wasn't the biggest problem. There was a large overhead light on the ceiling, and the shaking caused the glass outer case to fall off, hurtling towards Allyssa's head. The girl was so bent on seeing Liana's defeat that she didn't even notice.

Quickly taking action, Liana shouted: "Kirlia, use Reflect!" A thin, translucent blue barrier formed above their heads, spanning the entire room like a bubble. But this bubble was anything but fragile. The cover hit the barrier's surface, and shattered into small pieces, which were spread out over the dome-shaped wall of protection. They were going to have trouble once the barrier went down. Now this was serious. Liana had to win quickly, or Kirlia would be too tired to keep Reflect in play. "Kirlia, finish it with Psychic!"

Without a pause in their teleportation, each of the Kirlias began to glow with psychic power. Rhyhorn began to glow too, as the crushing psychic pressure was directed to it. The pokemon seemed to shrink in on itself, from the pain of the attack. Then suddenly, Rhyhorn couldn't take it anymore, and fell to the floor with a dull thud. Liana sighed. "Now, we need to all get out of this room before I can have Kirlia let the Reflect go, because-"

"Umbreon!" Allyssa suddenly threw another pokeball, and the initial flash of light faded to reveal a strong-looking Umbreon. "Confuse Ray!" The pokemon's eyes glowed deep red, and a sphere of the same color quickly expanded from there. It reached Kirlia while it was still teleporting. As it became confused, the pokemon's teleports became wild and off balance, slamming illusions into each other, and destroying them. Then the real Kirlia teleported and slammed into a wall. It looked hurt, and was unable to maintain Reflect any longer. The girls all covered their heads as they were showered with broken glass. Their arms were covered in small slashes, bleeding from half-a-dozen cuts each.

"Kirlia is really hurt. In this condition, there's no way it can stand up to a Dark pokemon." She had to take care of her pokemon, and Reflect was already down anyway. But she couldn't let Allyssa just do this. "Kirlia, return." The pokemon a silhouette of red light, and was sucked back inside its spherical abode. Liana was still sad that this was necessary, but she had no choice. "Go, Flaafy. Use Thunder Wave."

The pink pokemon charged up with electricity, and sent it right at Umbreon, who tried unsuccessfully to dodge by leaping in the air. The jolt of paralyzing energy prevented Umbreon from landing properly, and it fell, still sparking faintly from the attack. It managed to get back up, however. Umbreon's Synchronize ability kicked in, sending an equal shock back at Flaafy. But the sheep merely meeped happily upon receiving more electric energy.

"Umbreon, use Screech!" Allyssa ordered desperately. Umbreon opened its mouth and let out an ear-splitting, keening scream, which instantly filled the room. The girls held their hands up to their ears, in an attempt to shut out the sound. The windows cracked, and the light bulb overhead shattered, spreading more broken glass throughout the room. No one noticed, though, they were all too preoccupied with the horrible noise, which was only magnified by being enclosed in a room. Rhyhorn, who had never been returned to its pokeball, shook its head and stomped its feet weakly, in rejection of the pain it felt. So the room now shook in resonance with Screech's power. Only Allyssa was oblivious to it all, so bent was she on defeating Liana and her stinging words.

Poor Flaafy didn't have the hands to cover its ears, and soon its cry of pain filled the air as well, adding to the cacophony. Unbidden, it unleashed a devastating Thunder attack towards Umbreon, frantically trying to stop the horrible shrieking. The pokemon's cry suddenly changed cadence, filling with anguish as well. But it was no less horrible than before, and the electric sheep continued shocking Umbreon, both their howling saturating the room. Allyssa tried to scream more commands to her pokemon, but they merely blended with and added to the noise, their meaning lost. Finally Umbreon couldn't take the prolonged attack any longer, and collapsed, unconscious. Flaafy stopped shocking and screaming itself a moment later and stood unsteadily, still drained from its harrowing experience. At much expense, Liana had won.

Allyssa's mouth dropped open. She fell to her knees, not even flinching from the broken glass that immediately cut into her legs. Her eyes were empty, expressionless; her face looked as blank as a broken doll. "No…." she whispered softly. Tears began to steam down her face. "It can't be. Not my uncle…" she trailed off, her mind unable to finish the taboo thought. "NOOO!" Allyssa suddenly screamed out. "No, no, no, no, no!" She beat her hands against the floor, until they were bruised and gauged by the glass. The salt in her tears flowed into her numerous cuts, and still the girl continued. Flaafy winced at the sound, thinking it was being attacked again, and shocked Allyssa. And still she continued, her breathing short from the effort, and her eyes wild through her tears.

Liana couldn't take it anymore. Allyssa's cries were so much worse than Umbreon's, for the sheer volume of anguish they carried, and they pierced her heart like fire. She quickly called Flaafy back to its pokeball, to save Allyssa from further suffering. Already she regretted ever having come here. "Allyssa," she said softly, sadly, "Did you really think the truth could be changed by the outcome of a pokemon battle? That if you could prove me weaker, it would automatically make my words lies?" Allyssa didn't respond. She was so much in her own sorrow that she probably hadn't heard. Liana turned to Dragon in hope of suggestions, and found that the little girl was crying silently in sympathy. Turning back, she took a deep breath and knelt down next to the girl. "Allyssa?" Still she gave no sign that she was even aware of anyone else.

Liana gently grabbed hold of Allyssa's wrists, to keep her from hurting herself any more. Suddenly those hands were pounding on her chest, and the girl was screaming hysterically in her face. "NO! It's not true! You liar! I hate you! I hate you!" Impulsively Liana put her arms around the sobbing girl, rocking slowly back and forth to soothe her. Dragon came over and hugged Allyssa as well, humming softly in her ear. The girl's struggles gradually weakened, until she was just crying and leaning on Liana and Dragon.

The three just stayed there for a time, the two giving their support to the one. Finally, Allyssa pulled away slowly, and scrubbed her eyes with her torn hands. Her face still held pain, but it also contained a sense of peace, and acceptance. "Thank you. I feel better now," she told them, smiling faintly. Then she looked around and laughed weakly. "My room is destroyed, isn't it?"

"But we'll help fix it, won't we, Dragon?" The girl nodded. Then Liana's face became gravely serious, and she held Allyssa by the shoulders. "I know you don't want to hear this, but that conversation you heard was real. That was your uncle speaking. And they are planning to kill that man now."

Allyssa sighed deeply closed her eyes, thinking. "Yes. I believe you." Then she sighed again and opened her eyes. "I never thought betrayal hurt so much."

"I didn't know we'd hurt you that much. Really." Allyssa nodded, accepting her statement. "Now, the police are going to be moving against him very soon. We have been working with them in this. But Allyssa, can we trust you to cooperate with us as well?" Liana stared into her eyes, seeking an answer to this crucial question.

Allyssa stared at the floor, at her hands, at her fallen pokemon, avoiding Liana's gaze until she had decided. She sighed one last time. "You know, even after learning this about my uncle, I still love him deeply, even if I can't trust his integrity anymore. But that doesn't mean I can let him do something so horrible. Yes. I will help you. You can depend on me."