~Pokeball Factory~
~Lower Levels~
With every passing moment the rescue mission deep below the Kalos surface was getting stronger and stronger. They weren't very far along in the process yet, but with every freed victim they gained an extra pair of hands to help them. They had already gotten to Miette, Ritchie, Paul, Jessie, and James. Bonnie had just been dispatched by Molly to grab Trip from just across the way. She walked on looking to her side, watching for the blonde-haired ace, though she did wonder for how much he bragged, how it was he was captured. Behind her strode Squishy in his 20% form. She really wished she could've revived Dedenne but it was just more practical to use Squishy instead.
They continued on until they spotted a pod ahead that held the desired boy inside, sleeping like there was nothing going on. She ran up and skid to a stop right in front of the tube. "Okay, Squishy! You know the drill!" She said pointing to the metal casing in front of her. "Let's free Trip!" Squishy nodded. The pokemon put one paw forward and it glowed a brilliant green, his nails spiked in growth and he slashed at the metal before him.
Bonnie, seeing that she would be of no help at the moment looked around at the other captives. Eventually Bonnie's eyes landed on a single girl. She shook her head quick to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She turned back to Squishy just in time to see him slash the black wire in two. She also noticed Max, Tory, and Professor Sycamore examining another victim not too far from her. "Professor! You might want to come here!" She called.
Sycamore turned to the two boys beside him. Max just shrugged and rushed off to Bonnie with Grovyle with Tory quickly behind him. Sycamore took the hint and he and Garchomp headed off in the same direction. Once the three had joined her she simply pointed to the pod in front of her and everyone followed her hand to find a sleeping brunette inside. One they all recognized immediately from her signature hairstyle and bandana. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she slept inside her prison.
"May!" Max exclaimed. "I...don't understand. She was fine before I left for my flight here!"
"I by fine you mean an uncaring-"
"Shut up, Bonnie!" Max interrupted. "We gotta get her out of there, right now! Grovyle..." He said turning to his partner. Grovyle nodded once and forced the grass blade on his right arm grow in size and sharpness.
"Now wait a minute." Bonnie said. "Who says we free her?" She asked. "My vote goes to leaving her here." She scowled. "That's why I called you over here, to let you know not to open this one."
"We aren't voting on my sister's life. You don't have to like it but I'm getting her out of there. She may have hurt Ash but I still love her!" He argued.
"And you wanted to convince Ash you'd changed." Bonnie scoffed.
"If I can interrupt," Tory said timidly. "I vote we let her out too." He said. "I don't know what your problem with her is, Bonnie, but I wouldn't feel right leaving her there."
"So that's two votes for and two against." Bonnie summarized. "In the event of a tie, we leave her there, right Professor." She asked without looking at the older man.
"Actually, I must concur with young Max on this. It just wouldn't be ethical to her there, no matter what she's done. Grovyle, do your thing." Sycamore ordered. Grovyle launched his arm towards the pod slashing the bulk of metal in half.
"But-"
"You wanted to vote." Professor Sycamore reminded her. "I'm not telling you to kiss and make up, but we came here to rescue everyone." He said sternly. "And that's what we're going to do." He turned back to Tory. "You can go back to doing what you were, we'll let her out, I promise."
"Thanks, Professor!" Tory said. "We'll go find that Latias girl!" He promised running off with his two buddies.
"If you guys are done arguing, we've got another traitor over here!" Paul called from directly behind them. Professor Sycamore snapped around and rushed to Paul. Inside the tube in front of Paul was the green-haired connoisseur himself Cilan. "What do we do with him once we get him out?" Paul asked.
Sycamore rubbed his chin, then sighed. "We don't 'do' anything with him. He can help us or he can leave." Sycamore advised. "But if Cilan and May are here, I would venture to guess Iris and Misty are too, so we may need to just learn to tolerate each other for a bit."
"I hate playing nice." Paul told him. "But if it's the only way...Absol cut through that garbage with Razor Wind." Absol's crescent horn glowed white and the disaster pokemon jumped backwards snapping his head forward and shooting a glowing blade from his horn. It collided with the metal cutting it in half, causing both pieces to the floor. Once both pieces were out of the way it revealed the attack had gone right through the metal and already severed the wire.
The fluids immediately began to disappear from the tubes and Cilan's eyes slowly opened. Paul reached forward and pulled the door to the stasis pod open causing Cilan to flop out weakly. Paul groaned loudly and, against his true wishes, caught Cilan before he hit the ground.
Cilan's eyes shot all the way open and he let out a loud gasp. He turned his head up to meet Paul's eyes glaring down at him. "Paul?" He said groggily. "Paul! Where's Iris?!"
"Why do I care?" Paul said coldly.
Clian grabbed Paul by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Paul some madman's going after Ash! He wanted me and Iris out of the way because we knew the truth! You gotta warn Ash!" Cilan said in a panicked voice.
"Oh, wow. Let me just call up Ash and tell him. Thanks for telling us in a timely matter. We'll be sure to avoid a kidnapping phenomenon now, all thanks to you! All's well that ends well, huh?" Paul responded sarcastically. "Dipstick." Paul scoffed. "You're awake. I'm done helping you." He shoved Cilan away from him onto the ground. Cilan fell on his rear and looked back up as Paul turned his back and gestured for Absol to follow.
"I know you won't believe me when I tell you this but that betrayal wasn't my fault!" Cilan yelled. "I don't know Oak did it, but he manipulated me! It was like I was someone completely different. I'd never hurt Ash! Iris too! Those types of intentions are much too bitter for us!"
Paul turned to look over his shoulder. "You're right. I don't believe you. Just go see the Professor. He'll show you what to do. Pull your weight or leave." He turned his head back to face forward and found Max helping his sister stand up. He quickly wrapped an arm around his shoulder and lifted her to her feet.
"Is he okay?" Max called to Paul. Paul looked back to Cilan to see he hadn't gotten back up yet, in fact he looked like he had faded back into a somewhat unconscious state.
"Yeah sure, why not?" Paul said. He knew he was sounding very ingenuous but that's because he was. He couldn't care less for Cilan. All he truly cared about at the moment was freeing the rest of the hostages, finding Dawn, and taking down whoever it was that locked him away in that infernal machine.
"May seems to be more out of it than most of the others!" Max informed him. "She can barely stand even with my help. I'm gonna stay with her." He said.
"You do that." Paul said not really listening. "Keep a close eye on the moss-head too. I don't trust him." He finished walking away. He approached the good Professor who was currently helping someone else out of their pod. Someone Paul immediately recognized as the Battle Frontier Pike Queen Lucy. "Professor, searching every pod only for people we know is taking too long. We need to start releasing the masses." Paul said.
"Yes, I suppose you're right, my boy." Sycamore agreed. He grabbed Lucy's hand and helped her to gain her footing, "But I shudder to think what's happening to poor Ash and Serena right now. Hopefully Anabel and Kidd have found them."
"Well considering we haven't found any of them down here, they can't be doing any rougher than us, I would say." Paul said.
"I suppose."
"Hey, look who we found over by Alain's pod!" The three heard Ritchie call. Ritchie and Trip were both helping Brock walk towards the group. Brock had his left arm around Ritchie and his right around Trip and both had one hand on his chest for extra support.
"Brock! You're okay!" Lucy exclaimed clasping her hands together. "When you disappeared from the search group, I got so worried."
"Yeah. I don't know about okay, but I'm definitely alive." He said weakly. "I feel like my legs are made of jello. My head is so cloudy too."
"Me too. I can't remember anything past a couple days after your disappearing act." Lucy said.
"Perhaps it means you've been in those machines longer. Most of us couldn't have been captured for more than a couple hours." Sycamore suggested. "We have no idea how long you've been here. But I'm guessing it's more than a couple hours. It's normal to feel these things when awaking from an abnormally long period of unconsciousness."
"Maybe. All I remember is some lady attacking me and Sudowoodo talking about 'the Chosen One'. After that it's all white."
~Main Floor~
Meowth and Clemont were standing outside a set of sliding doors with their escorter. Both had been ripped away from the others just after they had been brought into the building. Neither had wanted to separate but with their new bonds, there wasn't much they could do.
The grunt reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key. He kneeled down and stuck the key inside the little lock located on the front of Clemont's cuffs, then did the same for Meowth. The cuffs opened up and dropped to the ground.
"This is where the two of you will be working from now on." The grunt told them. "Clemont you are to be a researcher. Your priorities will to invent new technology for us and find weaknesses in our enemies. Meowth will be our lab rattata."
"Who you callin' a Rattata, jerk?" Meowth yelled. "I oughta scratch your eyes out!"
"We'll run multiple tests, some painless, some not so painless, hoping to find what it is inside you that allows you to talk outside your native tongue."
"Determination. That's all it takes." Meowth said crossing his arms smugly. "You humans always underestimate us and what we're capable of."
"We've been ordered to look for a scientific anomaly in your system that contrasts that with a regular Meowth." The grunt argued. "You'll give daily blood, saliva, and urine samples for examination by are researchers."
"Gross." Clemont cringed. "I'm not doing that."
"I'm not doing anything!" Meowth exclaimed. "You can't make me!"
"You're correct. But your friends will be the ones who pay the price for any insolence you exhibit. The same goes for your little sister." He said addressing Clemont this time." Meowth's face fell but Clemont just glared at the man.
"My sister's smarter than your average 8-year-old. She could've easily gotten away." Clemont argued.
"Maybe, but is that really a chance you're willing to take? If I had a little sister I certainly wouldn't gamble with her life."
"You win." The two boys said in unison. "We'll do your stupid tasks." Clemont continued.
"Good." The grunt smirked. "Now if you'll follow me, I'll show you around your new home away from home." He took a step forward and the sliding doors split open. Just inside was a Mr. Mime standing still with its back turned to them. "What the-" He was interrupted by the pokemon falling backwards flat onto the floor. He looked down to find swirls in its eyes and drool coming from its mouth.
"Yeah!" The grunt glared as a blue haired girl high fived with a blond girl who looked to be the same age. In front of them stood a much shorter girl, a Piplup and a Chespin and behind them, standing tall, was a Charizard who met the grunts glare with his own.
"Serena! Dawn! Mairin! You guys are here?!" Clemont yelled rushing forward.
"Never been so happy to see a bunch of twerps!" Meowth said running after him.
"Friends of yours?" The grunt asked. When he didn't get an answer, he took a look at his surroundings. All around him laid fainted pokemon and scientists. Burn marks were all over their state-of-the-art machinery and the floor. All the security cameras lay smashed to pieces on the floor. There had definitely been a battle here. And he was clearly outgunned.
"Why would you do all this?" The grunt asked. "You guys knocked out all those people and pokemon?"
"Hey, I always ask nicely first." Dawn said. "All they had to do was tell me where they were holding Paul. But they said that was top secret, so we tried beating it out of them. So how about this, You tell me where Paul is, and I'll let you leave unharmed. Sound good?" Dawn asked.
"Alright." He shrugged. He saw the losing battle he'd be fighting. "Whoever this Paul is, he's probably one of the captives being held in the lower levels. But I wouldn't go down there if I were you, you're much safer here." He advised.
"Well, good thing you're not me then, huh?" Dawn said rushing past him. "See ya later Serena, Mairin. C'mon Piplup!"
Piplup began his trek after his trainer giving out a little "Lup." at every stride. Meowth quickly ran after him.
"Wait for me twerp! I'm coming pals!" He cried.
As soon as they had all left the room. The grunt watched as Clemont rejoiced with the two intruders. It was time to cut his losses. Even with one less person, he was still immensely outgunned. He turned around and strutted out of the lab.
As the sliding doors closed behind him, he quickly activated the comm located in his ear and tuned it to his desired channel feed. "Newbie's gone rogue." He reported.
Inside the other three were just happy to be together without a distracting royal going on. "Well I guess I shoulda seen that coming." Serena sighed. "But who would have thought Meowth would choose to go with them?"
"He only has two friends in the whole world and at the moment he's at risk of losing them." Clemont reminded her.
"I guess, but I've never seen him care so much." Serena said. "It's kinda surreal."
"That's not what's most important at the moment." Clemont interrupted. "Where's Ash? We sent Anabel, Kidd, and Ritchie to find you and Ash."
"Anabel, who, and who?" Serena tilted her head. "They don't all have a thing for him do they?! Are you trying to sabotage me?!" She yelled.
Mairin chuckled. "You're funny when you're jealous." Mairin joked.
"Okay," Clemont sighed. "One, Ritchie's a guy, so even if he does, Ash wouldn't go for it, two, only Anabel could've found Ash in this frickin labyrinth, seriously all its missing is a bunch of dancing goblin puppets, and three, really? Right now? We need to find Ash. You know where he is?" Clemont asked.
"Yeah, but where's Bonnie?" Serena said.
"She was taken to the same place as Paul and Team Rocket." Clemont answered.
"Don't you want to go get her? You can just meet up with us later." Mairin said. She truly wanted to go find Alain too but she feared she'd just get in the way of Dawn and Meowth.
In response to her question Clemont gave a few chuckles. "I know Bonnie. If they think they can get her to stay still for one second if she doesn't want to, they're wrong. Stasis or not she'll do what she wants and only that." He said proudly. "She's probably already started her rebellion."
"Sounds like Bonnie." Serena agreed. "Come on, we gotta save Ash, right Charizard." The dragon behind her blew a small amount of fire out of his mouth and up into the air. "Good." She nodded. "Because Ash needs your strength." She said rubbing his stomach.
~The Heart~
Ash and Aaron had reached a standstill. As far as Ash knew Bonnie and Molly had just been added to the list of his many friends that were currently locked up away in some basement in stasis pods ready to have the very life sucked out of them at any moment. Serena could be down there too, who knows? And before him stood a possible chance to heal Pikachu and bring back his partner in battle. All he had to do was go against everything he ever knew.
At the same time, Aaron has recognized that Ash poses a real threat to his plans. Everything banks on Ash joining him. And as long as he kept his friends hostage or as long as he held that impaired aura, he'd always have something to dangle over Ash's head.
"No one in the world has the power I have." Aaron said. "So, I'll say it one more time. Join me, and your friends will be spared."
"I don't need your charity!" Anabel said. "I was part of the Battle Frontier. You couldn't capture me if you tried!"
"So easily you forget that I have three Frontier Brains in my custody and they were captured by my underlings. I didn't even have to lift a finger, just sit back and watch the show." He gloated. "Now I'm quite tired of waiting so I'll need your answer now Ash, join me and ensure their safety, or face me and run the risk of losing it all. What is your choice?"
"Before I choose answer me one more question. How do I know you aren't lying about the aura's healing power?" Ash asked. "The answer will make my choice for me."
"You've felt aura running through you. You've seen it do what you thought was the impossible before. But most importantly you've done it before. Remember when I asked you what previous experiences you had with aura before coming here?"
"I said I helped Lucario heal Mew at the Tree of Beginnings." Ash finished. "Alright you win, but I swear to Arceus if you hurt a single one of my friends-"
"Your friends will be fine." Aaron promised. Ash nodded and joined Aaron on the far side of the room. "Granted they stay out of my way." He added. He stuck out his hand in a gesture of good intentions but Ash just glared back at him. He pulled his hand back and smirked. "All right, no handshake required."
"Pikaaa. Pika. Chuu." Pikachu muttered.
"I know this isn't something you'd want for me buddy, this is my decision alone. I've weighed my options. This isn't all about healing you buddy, he's got our friends. But I won't blame you if you want to stay with Anabel and Kidd." He said sadly scratching behind his ear.
"Pikaachuu." The little mouse responded shaking his head. "Pika."
"Thanks buddy. You're the best friend I could ever ask for." Ash said. "At least I won't be alone."
"You know this makes both of you our enemies, right?" Anabel asked. "I can't forgive what he's done to Greta. And if you're with him-"
"I hate it, too, Anabel. I hate it more than you do. But you didn't see how helpless they are. I don't have a choice."
"We all have a choice, Ash." Kidd said. "You always have a choice and you're choosing to let him win. You're choosing to sell your soul. I understand your position more than most. I do this stuff for a living. I've grown close to colleagues then lost them on the field. The important thing is to carry on for them. Would Brock want you to throw away your dignity just because things look bleak?"
"No." Ash admitted.
"Then why are you doing it!?" Anabel yelled. "The Ash I fell in love with is a fighter! He doesn't let anyone stop him. Not Team Flare, Not Team Rocket, and not this man."
"Have you really changed that much since we last saw each other." Kidd said crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Maybe I misjudged you."
"I haven't changed! But it was those same friends that he's threatening that gave me the strength to fight! Without them, I'm nothing." He said looking to his feet.
"But you still have us." Anabel pleaded. "You still have Pikachu, and you still have them."
"Them?" Ash asked. This whole time Anabel had a duffle bag slung around her shoulders, Ash's favorite duffle bag actually, he had many in the event of him ever traveling again, but that one would be the one he used if he did because it was the same one Gary gave him on that fateful day. She unloaded it off her shoulder and tossed it at him. Beside Ash Aaron smirked. Ash easily caught the bag and tore open the zipper to find an entourage of pokeballs.
"A rescue mission wouldn't be complete without the ones who've fought beside you the most. Inside there is every one of your most loyal subjects who insisted on coming with." Anabel said.
"I have now heard enough mushy-feelings junk to last me the next century. Perhaps you need to be reminded of just how powerful I am." He raised a single hand in the air and snapped his fingers.
~Lower Levels~
Abel was in the middle of helping Alain out of his prison when a loud whirring sound overtook the entire room. Everybody watched as a hole opened up in the ceiling.
"What's going on?!" Professor Sycamore yelled while covering his ears. The sound of whatever machine was working at the moment was so loud and distracting it was difficult to even remember what they were supposed to be doing.
"The boss must be summoning a pod to his throne room!" Silver answered. He and Bill had found their lost siblings and were now fully on board with helping get everyone out. He was currently holding the hand of his black-haired little sister who couldn't have been more than 6 years old. She was also holding a little plushie of a Mew in her arm. "Everybody steer clear of the pods while the process is going on!" He yelled.
A large force began sucking air into the hole opened from the ceiling and began having an effect on the pod below it. Not just any pod, the pod Brock was being held in before he was let out. The pod rose off of the ground and flew through the hole in the ceiling. Just moments later the hole clamped shut and the loud noises ceased from all around.
"Ha! He took an empty pod!" Abel observed. "What a fool!"
"Don't count your blessings yet, idiot. You should be wishing someone was in that pod." Silver said in a dismissive tone. "That's a bad omen if I've ever seen one. We've been lucky to get this far without anyone noticing but as soon as sees that pod-"
"He'll know what we're up to." Max finished. May had since regained enough consciousness to stand on her own, so he had rejoined the escapade. "Then we may have to consider leaving behind anyone not already rescued, at least for now. We're only about a third of the way done." He observed all the many strangers they had managed to get to. People of all shapes and sizes. "We should get who we have out of here while we can."
"I'm staying." Sycamore said. "I recognize quite a few of these people. People whose careers I started. I feel an obligation to save them while I can."
"But-"
"Well we're out of here!" Jessie exclaimed. "I need to find Meowth." The room was soon filled with agreements from the people that had already been freed. Sycamore looked to Paul who nodded in return.
"Alright. Listen up!" Paul yelled in a demanding voice. "We're going to compromise here!" Sycamore was right to have Paul do the talking. There was something about his voice that was so demanding of both attention and respect. "I'm taking anyone who wants to split out of here! My friends, and Max I guess, will stay here and continue to free the people! Good?!"
"No!" The voice of May called. "I'm staying too!"
"So am I!" Cilan joined in. "I will not allow people to stay in a place that has an aroma stinking of-"
"Look I really don't have time for you or really care all that much." Paul interrupted. "If you two traitors want to stay here, fine! Let's go people!" He said gesturing to the door.
~The Heart~
As the targeted pod began to rise into the room from below, Ash held his head in his hands. Why couldn't he have just gone quietly. He had to agree with what they were saying. Now one of his friends was going to pay the price because everyone couldn't keep their mouths shut. It was probably going to be Brock or Paul too. Aaron obviously wanted to cement his power over Ash.
The pod was still rising when a new group ran through the busted door and the first of them came to a stop next to Anabel and Kidd. "Who busted the door?" Clemont asked. "you could've just opened it."
"I thought I ordered for you to be put to work." Aaron observed. "Did they really let you out of their sights that fast?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Idiots."
Serena ran in next. "Ash! Get away from him! He's an evil psycho! I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but the scumbag took my Braxien!"
"And you. I should've locked you up, not your Braxien. You've been nothing but a pain since you got here. What a waste of such a pretty face." He scowled. "But now that you're all together, I can put on a show for all of you. All of you will see that fighting me is useless!"
Mairin, with Chespie in her arms, carefully stepped around the debris of the door and calmly took her place by Serena. "What's he screaming about? I'm not sure I understand. Is he talking about that weird magic trick he did before?"
"It's not magic little girl." Aaron said sternly. "It's the glory of aura." By now the pod was clearly visible to everyone in the room. Kidd was the first to take note of it though. Everybody else was busy with their fight with Aaron.
"Well I hope you're planning on stealing the tube's life force." Kidd remarked. "Cause there's nothing else for you to steal." She pointed at the tube behind him.
Aaron turned around to face the pod that was labeled on the top as Brock Victor Stone. "What blasphemy is this?!" He yelled. He grabbed Ash's wrist and stomped over to his computer, dragging the boy with him the whole way.
"What is Ash doing?" Serena asked. "Why isn't he fighting him?"
"Because Aaron's promised him our safety." Anabel said sourly. "He's joined forces with the enemy, and if it comes to it, we'll fight him too."
"Have a little faith." Kidd said smiling. "Look at that look of relief on his face. He's had it since he saw the empty pod. I have a feeling he won't be on Aaron's side much longer."
"Butler, what is going on, here! I want an immediate situation report or it's going to be you who's next in line for the podding process!"
'Sir, we've tried to reach you but you turned your comm off.' Butler replied. 'After Silver and Bill took those captives to the collection, they went off the grid, their locators aren't working and they won't answer their comms. As soon as we lost their signals, Pod C7 went offline followed by several others.'
"Traitors! How many pods are offline?"
'A little over a third of all pods have been deactivated.' Butler responded. 'Including most of your 'insurance' pods.'
"Put the whole factory on lockdown! No one leaves, no employees, no guests, no pokemon! Do I make myself clear, Butler?"
'Yes, my liege.' Butler responded. 'Initiating lockdown procedure in t minus two minutes.'
"You've got one." Aaron ordered. He turned around a face a very smug looking group of teens.
"Looks like our friends aren't in as much trouble as you thought they were, huh?" Anabel smiled. "You didn't honestly think we didn't have a plan for our captured friends, did you? All we needed was for one of us to be captured and let your employees lead us right to your 'collection' as you call it."
Aaron took a deep breath. "You must think you're very clever. I must admit I did underestimate you and your plan. I thought I had eyes on all of you, but clearly, I missed a few rats. But enjoy that small victory because it's the last one you'll have. Once this place locks down, no one leaves unless I say so."
"Maybe, but as of right now, you seem to be losing control. And you've lost enough that Ash doesn't have to comply anymore, right Ash?" Anabel asked. "Brock's fine. Dawn's probably found Paul by now, and we're all here. You already acknowledged that Pikachu doesn't want you to throw away your life for him, right?"
"Yeah." He said turning to his best friend. He scratched behind the little mouse's ear. "I know."
"Go ahead, Ash." Aaron said shooing him away. "Join them."
"What?" Ash asked snapping his head towards Aaron. "Really?"
"Of course, but know as soon as I recapture your friends, you'll rejoin me again. We can play this game as long as you want, kids. I've got all the time in the world. But do you?" He smiled. He walked back to his computer and sat down.
"Is it normal for him to have such abnormal mood swings?" Kidd asked. "He went from insane, to confident, to angry, to calm, in like ten minutes."
"Maybe his old age is getting to him." Serena said. "He had to be, like, a hundred before he stole Greta's youth."
"Or maybe he's just nuts." Clemont added.
"Boys and girls, I'm much older than one hundred, and I'm certainly not 'nuts'." He said from his computer. "Butler, I want those pods repaired immediately."
'Sir, some of your employees have rebelled. Including your mechanics.' Butler reported. 'The intruders have also overtaken the collection room. There's a little blonde girl and a Zygarde guarding the door and blasting anyone who gets close.'
"Told ya they wouldn't keep her down." Clemont said. "No one's ever been able to control her!"
"Hmm...that's to be expected, I suppose." Aaron said. "They want to buy themselves enough time to save all the hostages. The more hostages they release, the more power I lose. This is getting rather annoying. Continue to try to break the barrier. Taking down Zygarde is your number one priority. He's to be defeated by any means necessary. And have the scientists ready my failsafe. Do not fail me, Butler."
'Yes sir. Before I go, it seems most of your ex-captives have been dispatched, and are looking for a way out. They are one their way to the main floor as we speak.'
"Well then catch them! Do I have to spell everything out?" He slammed his fist down onto his keyboard ending the call. He swiveled his chair around to face the group of defiant teens. "Do not think you've won. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. I haven't even hit my failsafe yet. I've been looking for the perfect partner for over a thousand years! And I'm not about to lose him because of a bunch of brats!"
"Did he say over one thousand years?" Mairin asked.
XXXXX
Paul, with the help of Bill, had successfully led the victims all the way up to the main floor with no interference at all. He and Bill were leading everyone else along a turn. There pack was at least a couple hundred strong so even accounting for all the people who would no longer listen to Aaron without the needs of a loved one being held over their heads and the people preoccupied with Sycamore's group, Paul guessed the chances of getting out of there without at least some resistance was still very low. And everybody else had been having similar thoughts too.
"It sounded like he put us in emergency lockdown back there." Bill said. "Can't be sure until we get to an exit or a window, though. "Right turn ahead, everybody!" He called back over his shoulder.
Bill and Paul turned the corner just for Bill to be shoved to the side and Paul tackled at lightning speed. "Paul!" The assaulter yelled. He fell onto his back causing some to take a step back and give him room.
"It's a grunt!" One person yelled.
"Don't let her get away!" Another cried.
"No guys." Paul said. On closer inspection, though you would notice that this wasn't an attacking type tackle, but more of an affectionate one. She was currently enveloping his body in a giant bone crushing hug, smiling the whole time. "She's cool." He said hugging her back. She planted a quick peck on his lips, then pulled away and got herself to her feet quickly before offering a hand to Paul. He took it happily and she began pulling him up. Halfway to his feet, she let go of his hand causing him to fall back onto his back slamming his head on the floor. "Ow, Damn it! What was that for?!"
Piplup quickly turned the corner as well, panting heavily. He took his place at Dawn's side just as Paul hoisted himself up on his own this time, and began dusting his sleeves off. Beside Piplup, Dawn crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "You left me and Piplup in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a contest, with no way to contact you."
"What?!" Paul's eyes shot open as he yelled. "I saved you! Did you hit your head while I was gone?!"
"I'm not some damsel! I don't need you to be 'my hero'." She scoffed. "And I don't need to be saved!"
"You lost the battle!" Paul argued pointing at her. "He was going to take you! So, I did the right thing and let myself go in your place! I repeat, I saved you!"
"I. Didn't. Need. Saving!" Dawn yelled back leaning forward and glaring.
"Yes. You. Did! Don't you have any gratitude?!" Paul snapped leaning forward and meeting her glare. The two just stood there for a moment.
During the silence Meowth finally rounded the corner, Head down, arms drooping and legs wobbly. "You guys run way too fast. Would it kill you to wait for the people with shorter legs?" He asked looking up.
"Meowth!" Both Jessie and James yelled pushing various people in the crowd. "You're okay!" They ran and picked the little scratch cat off the ground and pulled him into a group hug.
"Good to see you too, buddies! Let's never play the hero again! It never ends well!" Meowth cried. Meowth noticed the two teens glaring at each other. "What's with them? Trouble in paradise?"
Dawn glare softened and she started to chuckle. Paul soon followed suit and for a moment they were just chuckling but it quickly evolved to full laughter. Everybody eyed they two carefully.
Dawn backed away and wiped a tear of laughter out of her eye. "I missed arguing with you." She said happily.
"I know." Paul acknowledged. "Never a dull moment. That's what I love about you." He smiled.
"So great to see the two of you are having a good time," Jessie said sarcastically. "but we still need to get out of this hellhole!" She yelled. "You've got a group of hundreds waiting for you two to end your love fest!"
"Well, what do you think?" Paul asked offering his hand. "Do you want to get out of this place, now?"
Dawn nodded and grabbed his hand. "The sooner, the better."