Noelle cut down on the tree, slicing it in two. She wiped her forehead, panting heavily. She looked back at Keqing. "How many did you fish up?" She asked.
"20." Keqing said, looking down at a nest full of Magikarps. "We're going to need a bag for all these Magikarps. How's the boat coming along?"
"We need rope." She said.
"Here." Keqing tossed Noelle rope she borrowed. The maid grabbed it, and began to go to work.
"I'm sorry we can't do much. We just need to leave Kalos as quickly as we can." Keqing said.
"I know. I know." Noelle just let out.
The maid just wanted this to be a normal day. Not one where the professor died and now she's running away. And Lysandre is free somewhere, that'll be a problem for her and Keqing soon.
Another problem is her Vision itself. Due to the S.S Anne and what happened in Hoenn, she's 'dangerous' to the people. Which isn't true, in the slightest. And now, dealing with the whole 'criminal' situation isn't a good thing either.
But at least she can confirmed that she's not alone. Diluc, Diona and Barbara are here too. Issue is she doesn't know where. They could be scattered, or worst case, dead.
"NOELLE!"
Noelle snaped back to life, turning her head slightly. "Yes?"
"Did you hear what I said?!" Keqing asks, her voice shouting.
"I'm sorry, no. Could you please repeat what you said for me?" She kindly asks.
"We need to go. NOW!" She demands, standing up.
Noelle finishes up the last part of the boat, enough for it to stand together for a day or two. She doesn't know what's happening, but she can tell it isn't good. Keqing rushes over to her side, placing the net full of Magikarps.
"We need to push it into the water!" Keqing said, looking elsewhere. Noelle also looks in that direction and she could see a blur of orange and white. Growlithes.
"I'll do it! Just hold off the Pokemon for me just in case!" Noelle said, Keqing nods her head before summoning her sword.
Keqing settles down the stack of paper, letting out an sigh as she sat down on a chair. All dead ends, she thought to herself. The Kalos' private library was large, but no leads for her apparently.
Hoopa, presumably trapped inside a bottle or locked in somewhere unknown.
Palkia, this is Kalos, not Sinnoh. There's no possible way to even summon it, besides Red Chains, but she wouldn't risk that like that Cyrus man who disappeared…
"Keqing, you seem stressed this morning. Is something wrong?" Diantha asks her, her Gardevoir next to her.
"Nothing's wrong, Ms. Diantha." She automatically said. She didn't even notice Diantha had entered the library.
"No, no! I insist really! And I really preferred if you just called me Diantha. There's no need for serious talk, if you wanted serious talk, you'd head right over to Siebold!" Diantha chuckles a little at that.
"Right. Sorry, Ms-…Diantha." Keqing catches herself, before finishes herself. "I've been very focused recently. I found someone that could help me." She explained.
"Help you get home?"
"Yes."
Keqing leans back on her chair, deep in thought. How long has it been since she was trapped here? A week? Months? Even a year? Okay, a year was exaggerating, but her point still stood.
"Keqing, maybe you should work for a little. Everything shouldn't always be about business!" Diantha suggested, with her Gardevoir nodding her head.
"I appreciate your advice, but no thanks. I'll go and find them again in Lumiose City and we'll see. Have the incidents been coming down recently?" Keqing asked her, looking at her.
"Not yet, I'm afraid. Especially with the recent incident in Lumiose City this morning…" She sighed.
Keqing stopped leaning back, suddenly worried. "…What incident?" She asked.
"The incident with Professor Sycamore. It's…brutal to say the least." She said. "An incident revolving a maid called Noelle…Apparently she murdered him, but-"
Keqing stands up from her chair, and walks out. Diantha and Gardevior look at her, confused. "Keqing, what's the matter-"
"I need to go, I'll be away for a long time." Keqing said, summoning her sword.
Diantha tries to follow Keqing, but her Gardevior stops her. The Pokemon shakes their head, promoting their trainer to not follow her.
Noelle keeps her body moving, despite the obvious injuries and tear scars in her dress. Her Vision is shining brightly through the cave, as she navigates.
"Find any trace of her!"
She hears an familiar voice echoing. It's Venin, that detective who interviewed her last night. Now they're chasing her through this cave, under suspicion she killed Sycamore and tried killing Sino and Dexio.
She keeps on running, seeing a bright light ahead. That motivates her to keep on going. Something's wrong, and she pushes herself to the left, barely missing an Thunder Wave.
"Restrain her!" Venin commands the other police officers, with his Smeargle next to him. They're also carrying Pokemon with them too.
Noelle starts running again, nearly tripping but running ahead. She reaches her hands forward, to reach the light, when an leg suddenly aches in pain. "AAAAAHHHHHH!" She lets out, falling down to the ground, getting her dress and face wet.
Looking down at it, there's a bard on it, Poison Sting. One of those police officers had a Pokemon on them with that attack. But adrenaline is running through her vines, she must leave.
"I…" She starts to say, barely struggling to run, only limping. The footsteps are getting closer to her. Her claymore is to the side, she grasps it. "I DIDN'T KILL PROFESSOR SYCAMORE!"
She swings her claymore, at the ceiling. The rocks tingling, come down, causing a chain reaction, causing more rocks to fall down. The path's completely blocked, but she knows it won't last forever. And the police aren't listening to her either.
She turns back to the light.
'Please…' She thinks to herself. "I'm so tired." She reaches her hand. She's escaped the cave, a smile forming on her face.
"I know."
Someone takes hold of her arm.
"KEQING! THE BOAT!" Noelle yells, jumping onto the makeshift boat. "JUST JUMP!" She shouts again.
Keqing looks back at her, before jumping and dodging another attempt of an String Shot for her legs. She lets out an sigh, before rushing towards the water, towards the boat.
"They're getting away!" One of the officers shouts. "Destroy the boat, don't let them get away!" He shouts.
The Pokemon ignore Keqing, instead aiming for the boat entirely. Noelle summons up her claymore, swatting away an Flame Wheel.
Keqing jumps, as Noelle grabs her arm and pulls her to the boat. "NOW!" Keqing shouts after her.
Noelle immediately kicks the log keeping the boat in place.
It starts to drift off. The land start to become blurs in the distance.
"Hey. Are you alright?" Noelle asks Keqing.
She looks at herself. She has a few injuries, but she'll heal. "I'm fine. We can never go back to Kalos now, do you understand?" Keqing sits down.
"I understand." Noelle said. "But where to now? The police force is going to searching for me everywhere now." She said.
"…Alola. We're heading to Alola." Keqing decides, crossing her arms together. "If that doesn't work, Galar. Just somewhere away that isn't Kalos."
Noelle nods her head, before sitting down.
Keqing notices that she's been so out of it. "You can rest. Today's been a bit stressful for you, huh?"
"Yes. If I had known this would all happen, maybe I would have tried harder to-"
Before Noelle can finish, Keqing interrupts her. "You didn't know this would happen. Don't blame yourself for something out of your control. Just rest for now."
"He's not going to pick up, Swirls."
Venin hangs up the phone, Looker's a no show apparently. His partner Pokemon, Swirls the Smeargle, tilts his head.
"Sme? Smea! Argle!" It shouts out loud.
"Hey, don't get upset. We'll find that maid and bring her in. We'll do it, for the International Police." Venin pats Swirls' head.
From inside the police office away from Venin, the chief sits there, with an satisfying smile. "Yes sir. I managed to get in, we didn't need to worry about the old chief. Hardly anyone noticed I took his place." He said into the phone.
"As for the other police branches, I've alerted them about this incident. No one knows about Lysandre at all. They brought the story of 'Noelle went berserk and killed Sycamore." He continued saying.
The speaker keeps talking over the phone, eventually stopping.
"Yes. The International Police Detective here, Venin, doesn't expect anything. They believed every word I said. As for Noelle, I've gotten word they haven't captured her. That'll lead to problems for sure."
A bit more silence.
"Of course. I'll do it for Team Rainbow Rocket. We're heading into a new era. Goodbye, Giovanni sir." He ended the call and looked towards the jail cell.
"So that just leaves the question now, what should I do with you two?"
Sina just let a groan, while Dexio gave the fake chief a glare.
"So, that's it huh? Working for this 'Rainbow Rocket'? Trapping us and making Noelle to be the killer? Someone will find out, and when they do, they will come for you." Sina scoffed.
"Indeed. Noelle's strong. She isn't going to fall easily." Dexio nodded his head in agreement with Sina.
"And? That isn't going to be my issue to handle. The admins and boss will deal with that. I'm just in charge to keep everyone from thinking those 'Vision Holders' are walking criminals. Well, at least for Kalos!" They laughed a tad bit.
Sina slammed herself against the bars, in frustration. "Someone's going to see we're missing! You can't keep running this through! Noelle will get this through! RAINBOW ROCKET ISN'T GOING TO WIN!" She yelled.
"Yeah. We'll see about it!" The chief laughed, before leaving the room.
Now it was silent. Sina dropped to the ground, silently sobbing. Dexio walked over to her, trying his best to comfort her while he was handcuffed.
"…They can't win…Whatever they're planning, they can't win…" She let out.
"I know." He said, letting out a sigh of regret. He just prayed Noelle got away.
