Fight or Flight: Escape Continued

Small Shocks

The red-haired former champion didn't need to look behind to know who was following the two of them. He didn't need to see the occasional flicker of eyes from his Dragonite partner to know that a Pokémon was trailing them. He didn't need to hear the soft clacking of claws that were not quite fully retracted to know that they had gained a reluctant ally. He didn't have to remember the fiery eyes that he saw earlier to know that their owner wouldn't run away. Lance didn't need these things, but they helped to confirm what he strongly suspected; the Espeon had resolved itself to join his current endeavor. It was only natural, the former champion thought to himself.

What he didn't know was how to navigate the layout of the base he currently found himself in, much to his chagrin. Rounding a corner, Lance was unsurprised to see yet more long hallways with branching pathways. If he had the time, the dragon champion might have actually admired the architecture; he was always impressed to some degree or another at how effectively the illicit team managed to create elaborate hideouts in unsuspecting places. Instead the trainer let out a small sigh at what was becoming an all too familiar sight, and continued on regardless, paying close attention to the markings on the walls to guide him through.

As he took a step forward, he was stopped by his Dragonite putting a chubby paw on his shoulder. Turning his head to look at the Dragon Pokémon, Lance noticed that its eyes were turned away themselves, looking behind the two of them. Following his partner's gaze, he noticed that the Espeon was no longer trailing behind. The psychic Pokémon stood still, looking down into a hallway that he had passed a few moments before with an intense expression, tail flicking about restlessly.

With the speed of a Quick Attack, the Espeon dashed into the corridor and out of sight.

Lance blinked. Looking at his partner, he saw a confused expression on the dragon's face not dissimilar to his own. The trainer scratched at his chin in a thoughtful gesture, wracking his brain for reasons why the Eeveelution would run off, and whether or not he should follow behind. A moment passed before he shrugged and started to walk in the direction that the Sun Pokémon had disappeared off to. Just as he reached the opening of the corridor, however, it was his turn to stop the Dragonite from continuing onward.

The Dragon Pokémon stopped, but Lance was almost dragged forward when his partner kept walking until it actually noticed his hand was still placed on his shoulder. He blinked inquisitively at the trainer, letting out a questioning grunt from his maw. Lance quickly shushed the Pokémon, brazenly putting his finger to the dragon's mouth as he cupped his other hand around his ear. His partner seemed to get the message, putting their own paw up to their head where its ears might have been, mimicking Lance. The red-headed trainer wasn't sure if that actually helped, however; he could never tell if the species actually had ears, but he was sure they didn't hear through their antennae.

There was a moment of silence before…there!

It was distant, but the dragon champion was able to catch the sounds nonetheless. Sounds like water jets, the clanking of metal, and yelling of voices back at the entrance to the base. With an eyebrow raised, the red headed trainer stared down the passageway the noises were coming from. It was in the opposite direction of where the Espeon had ventured off to, and would be backtracking for Lance if he were to investigate them.

Now this is a dilemma, the former champion thought to himself. Years of being a trainer and countless battles fought told Lance that the commotion he was hearing was unmistakably a fight between trainers. While such sounds might not have been unusual for him, in the bowels of a Team Rocket base it was cause for interest. The sudden disappearance of the Espeon was equally of interest as well, but then there was also the matter of his mission to find the leader. Lance fought the urge to let out a frustrated sigh; the base was already complicated enough to navigate by itself without the addition of strange events.

Luckily, the previous Kanto champion didn't get so far in his personal career by being unable to think on his feet.

"Hey, Buddy." Lance said, breaking the silence and garnering an affirmative grunt in response from the Dragonite beside him, the Pokémon's curious expression now turned on him. "I need you to follow that Espeon, err, track it down and then follow it," the former champion continued, chuckling. "I'm going to go see what all the fuss is back there."

His partner, Buddy, didn't like that. Immediately the Dragonite shook Lance's hand from its shoulder and grabbed the human by his own. The dragon Pokémon shook his head, brows furrowed in concern, and let out noises of protest. The former champion grimaced, but did not make an effort to fight back against the hold, only putting his hands up in front of himself as a mock shield.

"Easy, easy there! It's alright, Buddy, trust me!" Lance interject, trying to placate the Pokémon. "You know I can handle myself, right?"

Immediately the red-headed human, who had entered the Rocket base specifically to cause trouble for the umpteenth time, was met with a disappointed, flat look from his partner. If Lance was willing to, he might have admitted that the look was not entirely unwarranted.

"...So I've landed in a few scrapes before, sure, but they were never anything I couldn't figure my way out of. And besides," the trainer started to say, moving an arm down to his belt and pulling a shrunken Poké Ball from it, bringing it back up and holding it in his hand. "I still have the rest of the team with me, so it's not like I'll really be alone, alright?"

Buddy's flat look furrowed as it was held against the former champion, causing him to sweat. Eventually the dragon seemed to relent, letting him go while letting out what Lance would best describe as a grunting sigh. Before he could actually get going however, the Pokémon stuck one of their paws out to him, clutching it in a fist.

Lance blinked at the gesture, a shallow smile growing on their face. "That's really not necessary, Buddy, I-"

The Dragon Pokémon snorted, interrupting him, and gestured the balled up claw in his direction again. Lance sighed before turning the cautious smile on his face into a full-on confident smirk and enthusiastically bumping his own fist against his partner's. "Right. I'll see you on the other side."

The Dragon Pokémon nodded and turned around to face the corridor the Espeon had darted down moments before. With two beats of their wings the Dragonite was already rushing down the hallway, following a trail Lance hadn't noticed it picked up yet. Or couldn't, not from his current position on the ground. Though he was certain he already made a note of it somewhere, the trainer resolved not to be knocked flat on his behind by remaining in the take off zone of a moving dragon Pokémon. Again. Pretty sure I already made a note of this, Lance thought to himself once more, racking his brain for the mental post-it he was sure he had.

Finding nothing, the former Kanto champion picked himself up from the ground and shrugged his shoulders, starting to dust himself off as he did so. Well, I guess I'll just have to make one later, the trainer thought. Now standing upright, Lance faced the hallway the earlier sounds of fighting had been coming from. It was quiet now; no longer did he hear the distant clashing of wills engaged in battle. The trainer wasn't sure if he was supposed to be worried about that or not. All the same, whatever compunctions he had against backtracking were now forgotten against his piqued curiosity.

No time like the present, and no time to waste. Lance took a step forward, beginning the walk to a fight he was already too late for.

There was an inconsistency to the metal space we crawled through, but I always unerringly shivered every time a part of me brushed up against the sheet metal that lined our improvised entryway. Sheet metal. Yet another term that sprung out of nowhere into my mind when I wondered what this passageway, this air vent, was made of. Part of me was finding it convenient, but another was finding it equally confounding that I was getting knowledge and couldn't place where it was coming from. Regardless, if I was having it difficult with fur, I could only imagine the trouble Elina faced as we crawled our way through, her bare skin having little buffers against the practically frigid metal.

"Ow!"

There was a distinct banging sound behind me that nearly made me jump, followed by grunts and hisses of pain from the human girl herself that caused me to wince.

That was the other thing about our makeshift passageway; it was definitely not made to be used the way we currently were. The air vent was spacious enough to accommodate me for the most part; there were only a few points where I had to crouch down in order to fit through. The same could not be said for Elina, as the poor girl was banging some body part or another into the walls just about every other minute. I was uncomfortably reminded of traveling in Alphonse's chest as he ran, being knocked around this way and that. I resolved not to use air vents as passageways in the future if I could help it.

At the sound of another sharp bang behind me I jumped, startled by the sudden noise. Another bang rang out, but this time I knew the source. It was my own head making immediate and painful contact with sheet metal.

"Owww." I heard Elina groan again; I echoed the sentiment. "Are we close to getting out of these vents yet, Tasha?" She asked me, voice hushed and quick.

I opened my mouth to say that I would check, but then I remembered she couldn't understand me and thought better of it, instead deciding to do it anyway. Looking ahead of us and further down the ventilation, I saw faint light up ahead. Just to be sure, I also sniffed at the air. The scents I received were much like before, a faint conglomerate of many different smells in a single stream. There was a flow to it, however, that I was able to track, and it lead right to where the light was. I smiled at that, glad to finally be reaching the end.

"We are! We're almost there!" I said back to Elina, hoping my cheerful tone would get the message across our language barrier. I imagined it sounded something like "Shinx! Shin shinx!"

"I'll take that as yes," The girl responded with a confident smile. "Let's get moving, these vents are getting really cramped."

I gave the young girl a nod and turned back around to continue moving down air vents. It was a small distance towards where the light was, and when we reached it there was a bend in the ventilation system that forced us to go right. I was eager to get out, the temptation to run on ahead difficult to ignore, but I forced myself to keep a slow pace so that Elina could continue to follow. The bend brought us down yet another long stretch of metal corridor with an opening on the bottom near the end. The light I saw was stronger in this part of the air vent and seemed to be coming from the opening. My feet padded on forwards, carrying me to the square shaped hole in the ground, and I looked down to see where it lead.

I furrowed my brow at what I saw. It was a sheer drop into another shaft below. The light was brightest at the bottom where there was a sharp curve leading out of sight. Sniffing at the air, the flow of air was coming out right at that spot. I couldn't deny it; the end of our makeshift passageway was there. But how to safely get to the bottom, I wondered?

"Hey, Tasha?" Elina quietly called out, her voice echoing from right behind me. Alarmed, I turned around to warn her of the drop before us. Unfortunately for the both of us, she was still making a brisk crawl towards me as I did so. "Why did you-"

I didn't get to hear the rest of what the young girl said. Just as I opened my mouth to warn her to wait her elbow smacked one of my front legs, and I lost my balance as result. Immediately I slipped trying to regain my footing, and fell backwards into the air vent opening. Seconds slowed to a crawl as I dropped, a horrified look on my face as it happened and an alarmed one quickly forming on Elina's. Her hand shot out to grab one of my outstretched paws but it was too late, as my body already fell past the edge of the opening and down into the chute.

"Tasha! Hold on, I'm coming for yoouuuuuuu-" Was what I heard next. Elina jumping after me and losing her own balance was what I saw next. The both of us tumbled down into the the vertical air vent, sliding along its walls like slick grass on a wet hill.

The exhilarating trip didn't last long. Before I knew it, we were already reaching the exit, another grate, with all the momentum of our fall. I barely heard Elina's screams of panic reaching my ear over my own frightened wails. I slammed first into the metal, face painfully meeting it as crisscrossed metal cut into my flesh. Elina came after, slamming into me and further pushing my comparatively smaller body into the metal barrier. The sudden weight forced against the barrier immediately popped it out and sent it flying across the area it was connected to, impacting against a wall directly across and spilling the both of us out onto the floor in the process.

I groaned, my body aching, then hissed, my face stinging at the shallow cuts. "Elina?" I called out, ignoring the pain for the moment. "Where are-"

I heard hoarse coughing and felt the ground beneath me shake violently up and down. I looked down at my feet and saw that I was standing on the young girl's chest, then immediately hopped off of her, feeling guilty. Elina started to get up after some of her coughing resolved as I apologized all the while.

"I'm okay. I'm…okay." She struggled to say in between remaining coughs, a strained smile on her scrunched face. "Let's just…no more air vents, alright?"

I nodded eagerly, the cuts on my face stinging from the motion. If I could avoid being squashed and crammed against tight metal spaces in the future, it would still be too soon. My heart was still racing, caught in a fight or flight response from almost being crushed by the young girl. The relief at being out in the open hallway and the freedom to stretch my legs was euphoric, enough to momentarily dull the light throbs of pain on my muzzle.

"You know, if that was supposed to be your sneaky way of getting back in here, I'd hate to see your public way."

Panic replaced the euphoria. I whirled around to face the voice at the same time that Elina launched herself from the floor into a protective stance. As I turned around to face the speaker I noticed we were once again in the corridor that Al had separated from us in, catching sight of transmuted doors found the speaker at the end of the hall. Looking upon the intruding person I tilted my head, my body relaxing from its earlier tenseness, and I squinted an incredulous stare at the sight before us.

On the other end of the hallway Elina and I had appeared in was a human man in black clothes clasped in stone hands that protruded from the wall, with an unconscious Floatzel bound in the same position right beside them. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole base heard the two of you before you fell in there." The grunt said with a sickly smug grin on his face, as if being bound in sculpted hands didn't bother him. "Hey, I have an idea. Why not help me down from here, and I'll help keep you from getting caught?"

Tip Tap. Tip Tap. Tip Tap.

She looked down at her lavender paws. The short but undeniably sharp claws, dilapidated but still deadly if she put them in the right spot, were fully extended. A small frown spread across her equally lavender muzzle. So focused was she on her current task that she had failed to realize they were still out. Bringing a paw up to her face, she focused on retracting the claws and noticed a subtle shaking to the limb. The frown on her face deepened. Ari didn't need to look within herself to determine why; the instincts screaming at her to flee this accursed place to never be seen again screeched from the bottom of her gut to the very tip of her mind.

But another instinct yelled louder, now that Ari finally listened to it.

It took longer than the Espeon would have liked to get her own body to cooperate with her, but eventually the claws obeyed and sheathed themselves. It had taken precious seconds to do so, however. Time that Ari did not have, but long enough to sear the image of their state into her head. Some were chipped, some were cracked, and some were crusted with dried blood. Ari did not know if it was her own, or that of human filth she had landed a swipe on in the past. The Espeon personally preferred the latter, but suspected it was the former. The Sun Pokémon disregarded the image as best she could, pushing herself forward.

She had sensed the freshly hatched mind of a newborn; she knew who it was.

Tip Tap. Tip Tap. Tip Tap.

Ari paused her stride when the tapping sound continued, the noise coming to an abrupt halt not long after. Looking at her paws with narrowed eyes, she found herself relieved that her claws were still retracted and had not slid back out against her own control. Confusion came soon after; she had so clearly heard the clicking of claws on hard floor only seconds before. Ari felt the tension building up in her form as her senses suddenly went to high alert. The Espeon took a cautious, testing step forward.

Tap.

Her eyes narrowed further, the fur on her back standing up on end. She took another step forward.

Tap.

Sure enough, the sound came again. Not only that, but Ari noticed that it only did so when she moved. A quick glance back at her paws confirmed that they had remained sheathed beneath her fur. The Espeon strained her ears and took another step forward.

Tap.

Behind her!

Eyes widened, Ari used her psychic senses around her surroundings and sniffed at the air, trying to catch any trace of her pursuer without giving herself away. The scent she got back was undoubtedly human, sweaty and greasy in its vomit-inducing musk, but it was faint against the stronger Pokémon smell of open air and scales that carried it. Ari shouldn't have been surprised that a Pokémon was following, but she nevertheless prepared a psychic attack in response. Or rather, she was about to when she caught the mental signature of a draconic mind as well, and an exhausted sigh escaped her.

"If you are attempting to hide," Ari started to say, choosing not to turn around to face her unwanted follower as she did so, "You would have better luck against a human…or if you weren't a Dragonite." Or if you weren't trying to sneak up on a psychic Pokémon, she thought to herself and the Pokémon hiding from her, using telepathy. She sensed the mind flinch from their hiding spot behind a previous turn in the hallway.

There was a moment of silence before the clicking of claws against hard floor resumed, and the Espeon turned around to face the Dragonite she knew would be there. She raised a brow when she saw him standing there sheepishly, tapping his clawed digits against each other like a child caught sneaking around. Ari supposed the comparison wasn'tinaccurate, given that was exactly what he was doing. That, and there was a distinctly childish nature to the Dragon Pokémon and their mind.

Anger, rational and irrational, simmered within her as the Sun Pokémon regarded the immature Dragonite. "Why aren't with your master?" Ari asked, getting straight to the point and not even bothering to hide her venom at the word. "Can't trust me by myself? Is that it?"

The Dragonite pouted and put their arms against their sides, as if offended by her words. Ari let out a loud sigh at the non-verbal response. That he didn't actually say "no" was telling. "So much for the trust humans place in Pokémon," She spat, bitterness catching at her soul.

The Dragonite narrowed his gaze at her, turning his expression into a pointed glare. Still sensing the Pokémon's mind, Ari felt a flare of anger and…disappointment?

She immediately wanted to tell the dragon off; what right did he have to feel disappointment at her? The Espeon even opened her mouth to do so, but closed it before a biting comment could escape, deciding against it. As much as she would rather cast away the human reminder, Ari did not consider herself a fool. Memories of shocking prods and brutal beatings during her more lively resistances were quick to resurface in her mind; the Dragonite would be a useful asset in ensuring the success of her mission.

"Fine then." She eventually huffed, turning back to the hallway and starting a brisk pace forward. "Do as you will. I couldn't care less of what your master thinks of me."

An annoyed grunt was the only response that Ari heard from the Dragon Pokémon, but the returning sound of claws clicking against the hard floor told her that he was following. Exasperation crept at the Espeon as the desire to rid herself of what she was sure was going to be another distraction settled in, but she did her best to quash it. She didn't need yet another reminder of human trainers; the entire subterranean building was practically a monument to their cruelty, and the Dragonite reeked of them.

…and because not all humans are bad.

Shaking the intrusive thoughts away, in their place came only more anxiety as her mind was brought instead to her egg and the realization of how much time this encounter had cost her. Urgency pushed her limbs forward and an instinctual maternal worry made ignoring the exhaustion and soreness that wracked her body all the more feasible. The Espeon cast her psychic senses about like a lure trying to catch any sign of the beaconing young mind she hoped to find.

So engrossed in the task was she that it took the steady sound of the Dragonite's clawed feet impacting against the floor transitioning into a more rapid pace for her to notice she had stopped her brisk walk in favor of an all-out run down the hallway. A quick glance with her eyes confirmed that the bland white walls and nondescript hallways were blurring together a bit too quickly for it to be her own disinterest. Just as quickly as the Espeon had noticed her frantic pace, it was immediately cast aside.

What did it matter that her search had become frantic? Time was against her, and still she was finding nothing!

Ari glanced down a corridor to the side, hoping for some sort of sign of where the humans would keep infant Pokémon. Nothing!

Ari sniffed at the air, trying to catch even the barest hint of the smell of her hatched egg, a smell like dawn on the new day, against the backdrop of human stench littered about. Nothing!

Ari stretched the limits of her telekinetic senses, desperately searching for the beacon of newborn innocence in a chasm of emptiness, and yet…Nothing!

No matter how she searched, or where she searched, the Espeon only found…nothing?

Where…

Where are the humans?

A chill seized at Ari's spine and she quickly came to an abrupt halt, the fur on her back standing on end in an instant. Now practically rooted to the spot, an unease filling her gut, the Espeon expanded her senses. With her eyes, she saw again that the halls she had frantically ran through were empty, but only now did the gravity of that absence reach her. With her nose though she still smelt humans, though the scent that came to her was no longer overbearing and omnipresent, now somewhat subdued and vacant. Using her psychic abilities to try to find any mind, the Sun Pokémon found to her confusion and dread that there was…nothing.

Ari opened her mouth to speak and closed it immediately. Something was wrong about this, she knew, but she couldn't place why or what. Even when her mind had been muted by one of those infernally annoying collars, and she had been shoved deep into various cages, there was always activity for her to be aware of. Except for now, with a silence thundering through the halls; to break it felt like she would trigger a deadly trap lurking just out of her sight.

Hey, Dragonite, Ari spoke with her mind to said Pokémon, who had come to a short stop as well behind her. The internal shout of surprise she got in response from the Dragon Pokémon as he jumped back in alarm might as well have been external; the Espeon resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the reaction. Calm yourself, I'm only speaking with my mind to yours.

To the Dragonite's credit, he did seem to calm down at her clarification. 'Seem' being the operative word. She couldn't actually see the orange Pokémon, though she could hear him trying to settle himself and his breathing. There was still a tenseness she could feel lingering from the Pokémon's mind. It couldn't be helped, she knew - most Pokémon don't like to have their mind invaded.

Did you notice? Ari asked, resuming the mental conversation and turning her head to look at the Dragon Pokémon. Did you notice that there is nobody here, besides us?

The Dragonite blinked and, alarmed, began frantically looking around with widened eyes. This time Ari did roll her eyes before giving him a mental reprimand to get his attention back. I already told you to calm yourself. Please do not make me repeat myself.

The large orange Pokémon gave her a quick glare in response, but otherwise nodded at her and complied with the request, stopping his frantic movements to fully regard her. He then put his paws against hips and raised a brow at the Espeon, a question formed in his mind.

You want to know what do we do next? That made Ari pause. The Sun Pokémon would normally be glad to see the absence of the humans, but to see them completely abandon the area with no indication of why left her unsettled. Was she walking into a trap, she wondered? What sort of trap required a complete lack of human presence? She had gotten this far just fine, but Ari couldn't continue further as hastily-

…

Ari whipped her head to the side, eyes wide and her heart suddenly pounding in ears. Finally, she had sensed something, however faint of a mind it was, but the signature she felt blindsided her nonetheless. A deep fear soon followed; was it a real, or was it a trick of her own mind born of her own desperation?

…

Ari bolted at the second chime she knew she had detected. It's soft, warm signature of newness and purity was undeniable, like the soft glow of sun rays peeking through the harsh cold of a lonely winter. Whether it was actually her hatched egg she sensed or something else, she would find out. Even if this silence is a trap, the Espeon started to think to herself, I will face it readily for you, my child.

Her muscles screamed at her as she pushed them to keep moving, aches rattling her body and her breath burning, a deep pain in her chest from multiple bruises threatening to immobilize her. She pushed past them regardless, focusing only on the direction of the mental signature that she had picked up. Behind her, Ari briefly heard the hard breaths and the beat of wings of her tag-a-long Dragonite, distress palpable from the brief scan of his mind when she noticed him. That too was pushed aside to continue her pursuit unabated.

...

There!

The beaconing mind flashed again and Ari knew without a doubt where it had come from. Turning one more corner and reaching the end of a hall, the Espeon found a final door with a large sign on a nearby window written in the human language. She paid it as much attention as she did the pangs of pain and hunger that rippled throughout her now violently shaking body. With little regard and hesitation, the Espeon mustered all of her power to a launch a Psychic attack at the metal door before her, peeling it off its hinges and tossing it carelessly behind her to the loud protest of her unwanted companion.

Ari paid no heed to the heated stomping and angry grumblings of the Dragonite, only at the room beyond her forced entryway. It was dark, but the light from the hallway that was cast inwards saved it from being pitch black. Not that she would have needed to see, as her mental senses, though now truly stretched thin and strained by the day's events, would be unable to miss the single mind of the child she felt inside. Many pedestal-like structures holding beds up in the air and protected by glass lined the walls within, but the only one that held the Espeon's attention was the one standing firmly in the center.

She felt tears in her eyes and euphoria swell in her heart at the sight before her. On that lone pedestal was the miniscule, sleeping form of an infant Buizel.

Ari took a single step forward and all at once the exhaustion and pain she had been desperately fighting and ignoring flooded back; darkness consumed her into unconsciousness.

Answers come and fear follows. Though a guide yet appears, a fight appears on the horizon. A brave soul faces the commanding dominator of a stalwart beast, and neither will give in until the other falls.

Next time: the Beast and the Armor

Even the strongest of wills waiver at an onslaught of stone.