The Eeveelution of Battle
Michael watched as his Eevee put his paw onto the green Thunder Stone. He smiled as electricity began to arc out of the stone, much like the Pixie Dust. The stone began to glow brightly as it released more electricity steadily, making his hair stand up like with static electricity. As more electricity poured out, the stone began to shrink until it vanished completely. The electricity began to swirl around Eevee before it began to fuse with his body, making him begin to glow with his evolution. He grew to about 2'07", and his formerly brown fur changed to yellow. His tail vanished and was replaced by spikes that looked like a jagged sideview of a lightning bolt. The fur around his neck turned white, with it became jagged like his tail. As the glowing faded, Michael noticed the slight scent of ozone coming from the newly evolved Jolteon.
Jolteon looked at Michael with his gleaming, black eyes that were narrower than before. Michael smiled at his friend, hugging him tightly, and noticing that the jagged fur was actually very soft. "Congrats, buddy. I'm so proud of you," he said.
"Hey, Michael, want to have a battle?" Liz asked.
"Wait, you actually want to have a battle? I thought you and Sylveon hated battles," Michael asked.
"We usually do, but I think we need to pass some time, and I actually really enjoy battling when you're my opponent," Liz said, trying to hide her blush. She didn't want Michael to think she just wanted to do something he loved with him.
"I guess I can't say no to that," Michael said, trying to ignore Jovi's giggling. He then turned to the sailor. "Thank you for your help, sir."
"It was my pleasure. By the way, if Perr is done fixing those rotating bridges, please let him know that I'm alone here."
"Will do," Liz said as they left, heading to an open area. Sylveon and Jolteon both walked onto the field as they prepared for the battle. Michael turned on his battle monitor, and Liz put her own monitor, which looked like a pair of cute, black sunglasses. They both took a second to check the attacks their newly evolved Pokémon had learned.
"Alright, let's go!" Liz said. "But I don't want to go till they faint. How about the first to the half-way mark loses the battle."
"Sounds good, and I have a couple Potions for after we finish. I'll start us off," he said with a smirk, seeing a small crowd gathering. "Thunder Shock!" Jolteon gave a sharp call as he fired a bolt of lightning at Sylveon.
"Dodge, and use Fairy Wind!" Liz said. The blue and white Pokémon leapt to the side, dodging the arc of electricity, while her ribbons glowed softly. Sylveon mewed as she gathered a small tornado of glittering pink wind. She threw the attack at Jolteon. It moved fast, but Jolteon was blindingly fast in his own regard.
In a flash that looked like lightning, Jolteon dodged the cyclone, then used another Thunder Shock. This time, he made contact. Sylveon gave a slight yelp before she extended the ribbons and wrapped around Jolteon. She then created a Fairy Wind attack around the Lightning Pokémon. It made Jolteon yelp. Michael looked at the health bars on his monitor, seeing that both Jolteon and Sylveon were at the three-quarter mark. "Bite!" Michael said. Jolteon ran forward, his teeth glowing dark before he jumped out of the tornado, getting free of the ribbons as well. He then ran forward and was about to bite Sylveon when Liz did something unexpected.
"Attract," Liz said, smirking. Sylveon gave Jolteon a wink, sending a sparkling heart toward her friend. The heart hit Jolteon in the face directly, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Jolteon was blushing slightly, looking at Sylveon, who seemed to be giving the Pokémon equivalent of the kissy-face. It was clear that Jolteon was too infatuated with the Sylveon now.
Liz smirked happily. "Use Tackle!" Sylveon charged forward, getting close before Jolteon shook himself out of his daze, and continued with his Bite. But…he wound up biting Sylveon on the ear, looking like it was more affectionate than combative. Michael and Liz both blushed and recoiled slightly at the sight of their Pokémon being publicly affectionate. Sylveon started blushing too, flinching at Jolteon's almost playful bite.
Then, as if to show happiness, Jolteon let loose with electricity zapping Sylveon almost excitedly. Three seconds later, both Michael and Liz saw that Sylveon was below her halfway point of her health.
"Well…seems that strategy backfired a little," Liz said as they ended the battle. Michael smiled and tossed her a Potion.
"A little, but I wasn't expecting that either," he said. "You've gotten really good since our last battle. And the way Sylveon grabbed Jolteon for Fairy Wind was impressive."
Liz blushed at the compliment. "Thank you for noticing," she said, hearing the small crowd applaud the brief battle. "Well, let's go find Perr, then check if those rumored Pokémon are Shadows. We don't want to keep the lab waiting."
Jolteon let go of Sylveon, but Michael noticed that his Pokémon was still looking at Sylveon in the same way as when he was under the effects Attract. He sighed and tossed a potion to Liz, and they got to work treating all of the relatively small injuries on their Pokémon. They both finished quickly, then recalled their Pokémon. "You know, when you get your second Pokémon, we may have to do a double battle," Michael said.
"Maybe, but it depends on how strong we both get," Liz said.
Michael smiled at her, then Jovi took his hand and pointed to the bridges leading to the light house. "I see somebody, big brother!" she said.
Michael looked in that direction, and saw a few things. First thing he noticed was a mass of storm clouds that oddly seemed to stay the same distance from the mainland. He then looked at Gateon Port's rotating bridges and saw none other than Perr, whose red beanie was clearly visible. Liz led the way to the bridges, seeing Perr walk onto a pressure plate that triggered the bridge's function. Both bridges rotated so the L-shaped bridge made one path connecting to the main walkway of the city, while the other end connected to the other bridge, which was just a straight line.
Perr sighed, as if he had been working a long time, then made his way toward where the trio was waiting. When he saw them, he smiled and waved, recognizing Michael and Liz from when they were in high school together. During the Shadow Crisis ten years ago, Perr had been a part of the Kid's Grid, which had eventually turned into the news station, ONBS. Perr, however, had decided to work with his grandfather as a mechanic instead. He and the rest of the members of the Kid's Grid had been about a year ahead of Michael at Orre High School, but they only had minimal involvement with extracurriculars other than writing the school newspaper. Michael had at least been acquaintances with all of them, but they were also all too busy with other things in life to spend time together outside of school.
Perr got to Michael, then gave another sigh of relief. "Finally done with that hellish bridge fix," he said, getting a slight laugh from Liz. "So, Orison and Hanz, what brings you two out to Gateon Port?"
"We came to pick up a part for the Chamber. The lab is really busy right now," Michael said.
"Oh, right. Gramps said that someone from the HQ Lab would be by later to pick up that part," Perr said. "But…wasn't Gramps there to help?"
"No," Liz said. "Apparently he went to Dr. Kaminko's to look at some inventions. There was only a sailor in the shop…but he gave us items to evolve our Eevees, so it wasn't too bad."
Perr groaned. "Gramps, what the hell?" he asked rhetorically. "You're lucky to have a grandson like me." He then turned to Michael. "I'll get that order completely ready for you. It'll take some time, since I need to pay that guy for his time working, then chew out Gramps as much as I can for leaving the shop like that, and then finalize the paperwork."
"Got it. We're going to check out some rumors about overly aggressive Pokémon nearby," Michael said.
Perr then noticed the Snag Machine. "No…" he said in slight disbelief. "Nett and Bitt called to tell me that Cipher might be back, but I wasn't sure if it was true."
"It…unfortunately is…" Michael said. "I snagged a shadow from one right before they took my uncle…"
Perr nodded. "I saw that report from ONBS about your Uncle, but I didn't want to bring it up. Are you all holding up alright?"
Michael nodded. "The lab is more motivated than ever to finish the chamber now…and now I'm motivated to stop Cipher," he said, getting a shocked look from Liz. This was news to her, and Michael never kept secrets from anybody.
"So, you're gonna try to follow in Wes's footsteps?" Perr asked, looking at Liz. "Michael and Liz…doesn't have the same ring to it as Wes and Rui, but that's still a duo I'll put my faith in. Plus, I think your Snag Machine is pretty damn cool. Almost cooler than Wes's. If you need any help that Gramps and I can provide in the future, please let me know."
"Thanks a lot," Michael said, shaking hands with Perr before the mechanic left for the shop. Michael led the way over the bridges, but Liz now had a question in her mind.
"When were you planning on telling me about wanting to take on Cipher?" Liz asked.
Michael thought for a moment as they got to the second bridge. "I wasn't…" he said, getting shocked looks from both Jovi and Liz. "I didn't want to make you worry…" Before Liz could say anything, they came to the end of the second bridge, and they saw a man in a grey sweat suit.
"Alright! More trainers here to challenge me," he said, sounding excited. "Which one of you will take me on?"
"I will," Michael said. Now that he had at least two Pokémon, according to Orre's unspoken rules, if his opponent also had two or more Pokémon, it would automatically be a double battle. So, he got ready to send out Jolteon, and Teddiursa together. This'll be my first time using Teddiursa…I just hope she can be controlled, he thought, seeming concerned.
"Jolteon, Teddiursa, come out," Michael said. The two Pokémon eyed each other, with Teddiursa looking a bit more malicious. Luckily, they didn't try to harm each other. Michael then turned on his battle monitor as the guy sent out his own two Pokémon. Both were at level 10, and one was a Taillow, while the other was the ladybug Pokémon, Ledyba. Michael heard the beeping that indicated a Shadow Pokémon, noticing the black aura around the Ledyba. Rumors confirmed…I'll get that Taillow out of the way first. What does Teddiursa know?
Michael looked through Teddiursa's summary, noticing a bar of purple below her stats where the experience bar should've been, but there was a white segment that expanded suddenly to just below a fifth. Additionally, under her attacks, he saw three options. I know Lick…but what the fuck are Shadow Blitz and Shadow Mist?
"Taillow, Quick Attack on Teddiursa; Ledyba, Shadow Blitz on Jolteon," the man said. Michael knew Quick Attack well, and Teddiursa was easily able to dodge the attack. Ledyba's attack, though, was another story. The bug-type's aura became fully visible, and it flew at Jolteon quickly. It hit hard, doing serious damage.
Shadow attacks have a type advantage? Is that for all types? Michael thought. "Jolteon, Thunder Shock on Taillow; Teddiursa, Shadow Blitz on Ledyba!" Jolteon was quick to respond, firing a bolt of lightning at the little bird Pokémon. It was a small target, but Jolteon had hit smaller opponents when he was an Eevee. The bolt hit Taillow easily, making her drop to the ground, her health hitting zero easily. Good, she's out of the battle. Now I can focus on snagging that Ledyba. He then watched as Teddiursa gathered her own shadowy aura, then sprinted at the bug. She leapt up to hit the flying creature, slamming into her target. Ledyba, however, seemed to be largely unaffected. The health bar showed that was the case as well. So, Shadow attacks aren't effective against other Shadow Pokémon. That makes sense now that I think about it.
"Shadow Blitz on Jolteon again!" the man said, smirking.
"Jolteon, Sand Attack to counter, then Teddiursa use Lick!" Michael said. Teddiursa gave Michael a bit of a dirty look as Jolteon kicked up a cloud of sand and dust, getting some into Ledyba's eyes. The bug type recoiled and missed with his Shadow Blitz. That was when Teddiursa ran forward and grabbed Ledyba, pulling him down and licking his face almost creepily. The ladybug began to shiver as some static electricity could be seen around his body. Michael looked on the battle monitor, seeing that there was a yellow lightning bolt beside Ledyba's picture and health bar. Perfect. Paralysis will make this an easy snag.
With slightly practiced ease, Michael programmed a snag while Ledyba was still shivering, and his opponent was getting a little angry. The Snag Machine began the sequence, as Michael held out his arm. The palm's emblem glowed as the ball materialized, then Michael threw the ball effortlessly. It opened in the air as the energy hand flew out and grabbed the paralyzed bug. Teddiursa got out of the way as the hand closed around Ledyba and brought it into the ball. When the Pokéball fell to the ground, it only did one long roll before snapping shut, stars spiraling out of the capsule. The battle ended there, and Michael looked at the man sympathetically as he recalled Jolteon and Teddiursa. He noticed, however that there was a maroon aura around the little bear. Not sure what that was, but I'll have to deal with that later. He then picked up the newly snagged Ledyba's Pokéball.
The man stepped forward with a P-DA out, getting ready to transfer the usual prize money to Michael. "Well, that was a fun match…but I'm not sure how it really ended. I thought for a second that you actually stole my Pokémon," he said with a laugh.
Michael, realizing that this probably wouldn't go over well, decided to be honest with the man. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I actually did. Whoever gave you that Pokémon conned you," he said.
The man looked confused. "Conned me? How?"
Michael sighed again. "It was a Shadow Pokémon. So, no matter how much you battled with him, your Ledyba would have never gotten any stronger. And he might have actually attacked people."
The man looked at Michael with disbelief, but Liz decided to step in. "Look, Orre might be in danger right now. Would you be willing to let us keep your Ledyba so he can help stop the problem?"
The man looked between the two teens. "Damn, you're serious," he said, giving it some thought. "If you think he can help the region, then you can keep him."
Michael nodded. "Thank you," he said. "And I'm sorry that it came to this."
The man shrugged. "It's my own fault for trusting that weird guy in a black cloak. But now I'm worried about the woman he gave that other Pokémon to. She's at the top of the lighthouse waiting for challengers too."
"Then we'll go check on her…and I might have to snag that other Pokémon too," Michael said as he led Liz and Jovi back over the straight bridge, going to the center so they could connect to the pier where the massive lighthouse stood. Michael felt…unclean now. It was one thing to snag from Cipher, who were known criminals and who were actively abusing these Pokémon. Snagging from normal people just seemed wrong. They were just as much victims as the Pokémon they were given.
"You okay?" Liz asked, deciding to wait till they got home to ask about his plans to take on Cipher.
"Yeah…I just hope this is the last normal person Cipher tricked. I don't want to feel like a thief," he said.
As he triggered the bridge's rotation, he felt Jovi's little hand grab his. "Big brother, I don't think you're being a thief," she said. "You're trying to help people, right?"
Michael looked down at Jovi's eyes. Her words seemed wise beyond her years, and she was right in a way. "Thank you, Jovi," he said, smiling at his sister as the bridge locked into place. The three of them went across the bridge, going toward the lighthouse entrance. To the right of the door, however, Michael saw what looked like three Pokéballs just sitting there. "Huh, I should probably restock on Pokéballs." he said, checking them briefly and finding that they were empty, and the capture matrices weren't registered to any trainers yet. It seemed these were just litter at the moment.
"Probably," Liz asked, silently curious how the Snag Machine worked when storing the Pokéballs. Michael tapped the balls against the node on his shoulder, letting the machine pull the Pokéballs inside instantly. "That was really cool," she said. "Makes me wish I had one of those…"
Michael looked at her sympathetically, but decided that arguing about it would be pointless. "Come on, let's find the woman with that Shadow Pokémon." Jovi led the way this time, opening the door for Liz and Michael with a smile. They all began to steadily ascend the tower, but they were in relative silence. Michael knew that Liz was angry about him not telling anybody that he intended to take on Cipher. He knew that she would probably stop him, but he also didn't want to put her in danger, and he had a strong feeling there would be danger as he worked to purify the Shadow Pokémon he caught.
They got to the top of the tower, and Jovi was breathing heavily. "Big brother," she said through gasps. "I hate stairs."
Michael and Liz both laughed, sympathetic to the little girl's exhaustion. "We'll take the elevator on the way down," Liz said. Jovi nodded and smiled. Michael, however, had noticed a very muscular, borderline Amazonian woman with short, dark hair. She was likely a bodybuilder, and she was massive for a woman. She was smirking toward them, particularly at Michael.
"Hello, you three. Let me guess. You heard the rumors about my strong Pokémon, and you want to challenge me, right?" she said
Michael nodded. "That's right," he said, deciding to use the two Shadow Pokémon he'd caught. During the climb, he'd looked at the gauges he'd seen with Teddiursa's summary, and he had begun to assume those gauges were indicating progress toward purification, likely due to feeling connected to their trainer, instead of being treated like a weapon. Therefore, battling would likely be the best method to really free them from Cipher's cruel experiments.
"Well, I got my own two Pokémon for this. You have three in total, right?" she asked.
"I do," Michael said, throwing the two Pokéballs out. "Come on out, Teddiursa and Ledyba!"
"Zubat, Poochyena, it's time for combat!" she called out. The small blue bat and grey puppy-like Pokémon came out at the same time as Teddiursa and Ledyba came out to battle. As Michael expected, the shadow monitor beeped and the screen extended, showing the Shadow Aura around Poochyena.
It seems the target is the Poochyena now, he thought before noticing Teddiursa's increasingly angered and pained expressions. Oh, that's…probably not good. He looked through Ledyba's summary quickly to see what attacks the bug-type could use.
"Teddiursa, Shadow Blitz on Poochyena; Ledyba, Shadow Blitz on Zubat!" Michael said.
"Zubat, use Leech Life on Teddiursa; Poochyena, Shadow Blitz on Ledyba!" the woman said. Both Teddiursa and Ledyba gathered their nearly black auras, and Ledyba flew at Zubat quickly. Teddiursa, however, had a menacing look as its aura shifted to blood red. She then turned and sprinted directly at Jovi.
"What are you doing?" Michael asked, concern clear in his voice. Jovi's eyes showed fear when the bear continued toward her, paying Michael no mind. "TEDDIURSA!" he called out. Suddenly, as if simply calling her name snapped her out of her rage, Teddiursa stopped and her expression softened. Her purification gauge also dropped significantly with the call as the red aura turned to purple, though it wasn't as dark as it usually was. As if some of Teddiursa's inner light was beginning to come through that veil of shadows.
Ledyba slammed into Zubat, who was quick to recover and bite Teddiursa to drain energy. Poochyena then took her own shot, slamming into Ledyba. Teddiursa grabbed Zubat, ripping him off her neck and slamming him onto the ground. She then turned to face Poochyena, grabbing the dark pup and licking her face the way she had with Ledyba earlier. Just like that time, Poochyena began to look dazed as her fur coursed with static.
"Ledyba, use Shadow Blitz to finish Zubat," Michael said as he started to program a snag targeting Poochyena. Ledyba moved fast, slamming into the bat just as he got off the ground again. Zubat's health dropped to zero, and he soon began to plummet to the ground. The woman quickly recalled the fainted Pokémon, but she was caught completely off guard when Michael went through the motions for a snag. As soon as the hand grabbed and pulled Poochyena inside the Pokéball, her face turned to slight anger. It almost went to blind fury when the sparks flew to indicate a capture.
Michael recalled Teddiursa and Ledyba, then turned to the fuming body builder. "Explanation. Now," she said. "I'm guessing you're with Team Snagem, or something like that."
"No," Michael said, remembering that the legendary Wes had actually once been Team Snagem's best Snagger. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but that Poochyena was a Shadow Pokémon. For your safety, and that of your future opponents, I couldn't let you keep it."
"A…Shadow Pokémon? Like from ten years ago?" she asked.
"Exactly," Liz said. "Team Snagem might still be clinging to life as a group for all we know, but Cipher is beginning to show more signs that it was just licking its wounds all this time."
And I'm stopping them this time, Michael said, trying to reaffirm his resolve. The bodybuilder sighed as she began to realize that she had been careless in accepting that Poochyena.
"Alright. Thank you for being honest with me. Please make sure she is safe," she said as Michael picked up Poochyena's Pokéball and clipped it to his own belt. He gave her a polite nod and led Jovi and Liz to the elevator in the center of the lighthouse.
Ten minutes later, the three of them arrived at the Parts Shop, seeing that Perr was just taking their order from the safe. "Perfect timing you three," he said. "I have the part ready for you."
"Oh, thank you," Michael said as he picked it up, seeing that it was the size of an American football, but it weighed about 30 pounds.
"By the way, back at the bridges you said Cipher might've been responsible for your Uncle's kidnapping, right?" Perr asked.
"At this point, I'm almost positive that Cipher was responsible for that…and they're making Shadow Pokémon again for sure," Michael said. "I just snagged two more."
"Well, damn," Perr said. Liz cleared her throat, nodding slightly to Jovi. "Oh, sorry kiddo. I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay," Jovi said sweetly, not really sure why Perr was apologizing, since she didn't know what 'damn' meant.
Perr then turned back to Michael. "You know, I may not be with the rest of the Kids Grid from The Under, but I can still help. Like I said earlier, any help you need, let me know. Anything to keep Orre safe," he said.
"Thanks," Michael said, shaking Perr's hand to make an informal deal. "Now, Mom has been waiting long enough for this part."
"Yeah, and the sun is setting now. We should be fine getting back, but it was still a long day," Liz said as they left the shop and went toward Michael's scooter. Before they took their seats, Michael lifted the back and placed the part inside. The girls were putting their goggles on for the ride, and as soon as they were ready, they were on the road.
When they got back to the HQ Lab, the sun had completely set. Michael pulled up to the garage, pulling into his spot and shutting off the motor. Liz got up, but she motioned for Michael to stay put. Michael felt Jovi's head against his back, and when Liz took their picture, he guessed that his sister had fallen asleep during the ride. Michael smiled and gently turned to pick her up, draping her arms over his shoulder so she could stay asleep as he stood up. Liz took the ordered part so Michael could focus on not dropping his sister while they walked inside.
Michael texted his mom quickly as they made their way inside the lab, letting her know they were home with the part, but Jovi was asleep, so they would be putting her in bed first. Luckily, they didn't have much to do. Once they got inside the residential area, they went immediately to Jovi's room and saw both Mimi and PluPlu curled up on Jovi's bed. They perked up when they smelled Jovi in the room, but stayed quiet when they saw her sleeping. Michael gently laid his sister down on her bed, then put her blankets over her. PluPlu and Mimi quickly moved up the bed and crawled under the covers with their friend, cuddling with the little girl cutely. Liz couldn't help but take another picture.
"Come on, let's get this part to the lab," Liz said, taking Michael's hand without really thinking about it. "Then we need to talk about today."
Michael knew what she wanted to discuss. "Alright…but please don't let Mom know."
"I won't," she said as they got to the elevator. "But you will tell her by tomorrow."
A few moments later, they got to Datan's office, seeing that Lily was still there, a coffee in her hands as she looked their way. "Hey, how was the trip?"
"It was…eventful," Michael said. "I can tell you more about it tomorrow morning, if you'd like."
Lily nodded. "I can't wait to hear it," she said with a smile. "How is Teddiursa's progress?"
"She's doing well, but she's no longer the only Shadow Pokémon I have now. I managed to snag both a Poochyena and a Ledyba from two random trainers. I don't think they were connected to Cipher," Michael said.
Lily looked intrigued when he said that. "That could be troubling, if Cipher is handing out Shadow Pokémon out randomly, then you'll need to snag from other people Cipher is using as pawns. It was the tactic they used during the last crisis. Although, I've had a theory for a while now: I think the Cipher of ten years ago was nothing more than a branch of the organization testing the waters in Orre. This time, though, I think they're far more organized, and…probably more lethal. It would make more sense if they were trying to keep the Shadow Pokémon for themselves." She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "But, for Teddiursa, I was really asking about her progress towards purification."
"Oh," Michael said as he used his monitor to scan the Pokéball. "It seems that she is about halfway through that gauge. But I really don't know how to go about purifying a Shadow Pokémon when they're ready."
Lily nodded. "I figured as much. Why don't you two get some rest tonight. I'll check with some old friends to see if they can help."
"Thank you, Mom," Michael said. Lily set her coffee down and stood up. She walked to Michael and did her best to kiss his forehead, despite him now being six feet tall, compared to her five-foot-seven.
"You two have a good night," she said as she went back to her seat. She paused briefly and turned to face them. "By the way, why are you two holding hands?"
Liz and Michael both blushed, letting go of the other quickly, making Lily giggle. "Umm…where did you want the part?" Michael asked, trying to change the subject
Lily smiled. "If you don't mind, could you take it down to the Chamber's room?" she asked.
"Sounds good," Liz said, handing the part to Michael. "Since you carried Jovi inside, I let you off the hook until now."
Michael playfully groaned as they walked to the lab side of the building. They moved quickly and got to the Purify Chamber's room easily. Liz's dad saw them coming in, and smiled. "Thank you both for getting that. Please place it on that table there," he said, pointing to a table littered with bolts and smaller parts. Michael set it down gently on the table.
"It was no trouble," he said. "But, even with the lab kicking into high gear, please don't stay up too late."
Dr. Hanz smiled. "Trust me, Michael, this is nothing. When we were in college, Richard, Samuel, and I all spent entire weekends on projects, functioning perfectly on just three hours of sleep a night."
"Wow, I can't imagine Mom was okay with that," Liz said.
Dr. Hanz chuckled. "Mary and Lily both called us nerdy idiots for doing that," he said. "Anyway, the Chamber's machinery is almost done, so we should keep focusing."
"Then we won't stick around and get in the way," Michael said, seeing that Liz wanted to talk sooner rather than later. Dr. Hanz waved as they left before going back to his own task. Liz led Michael outside, not wanting to wake up Jovi if the conversation got loud, and not wanting to disturb the workers by making a scene.
"So, want to tell my why you're planning to play the hero?" Liz asked bluntly once they were a good distance from the doors to the lab, which was being covered with a tarp until repairs could be made.
Michael thought for a moment. "It's because…according to Uncle Richard, Dad was planning to do this himself. As his son, I feel like it's my job to finish what he started."
A heavy silence filled the air for a moment as Liz processed what he said. "Mom was also a part of this…just as much as your dad. You don't see me trying to play the sacrificial hero," she said in a somber tone.
"I'm not trying to be sacrificial," Michael said.
"Then why go alone?" she asked, stunning Michael for a moment.
"Because of what happened today…" he said, letting Liz see his expression, which told her that he was seriously worried about all of this. "Jovi almost got attacked by a thug, then my Teddiursa went crazy and almost attacked her." Liz stayed quiet so Michael could continue. "Jovi almost got hurt twice and this was only a day trip to pick up a part order. So, what happens if it's more dangerous than that? What if I wind up going to one of Cipher's heavily guarded labs?" He sighed. "I won't put either you or her into that kind of danger…I can't lose you."
"Let me ask you the same thing," Liz said, her tone showed understanding, but disapproval. "What if you do go to some highly guarded lab under Cipher's control? What happens if you get captured while you're there alone?" Michael looked into her eyes, seeing a fiery determination mixed with fear. He also noticed tears in her eyes for the first time since her mother died. "Do you have any idea what it would do to me if I lost you like that?"
Michael wasn't sure what to say. He knew that Liz cared for him, but he'd never seen this side of her. "Liz…I–" he was cut off when she cupped her hands on his cheeks and pulled him closer, shocking him more when she kissed him for a second.
"No more arguing. I'm coming with you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," she said firmly as she pulled back from the brief kiss. She wiped her eyes quickly as she stood up, leaving a stunned Michael outside. "See you in the morning."
Hope you enjoyed that chapter. I'm personally enjoying writing at this pace. Hopefully the quality is still getting better.
Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, since they help me improve my writing.
By the way, I know I just used a punny version of one of the chapter titles in Brendan's Journey. But, it still fit.
Until next time ~ jmoul18