Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 8: The Caged Bird
The hours at the Pokemon Center in Stardust Falls passed by slowly as Bolt and the gang waited for Officer Jenny to assemble a proper team to raid Team Rocket's base. Stardust Falls was a small town, and Officer Jenny was forced to ask for assistance from the police departments of the surrounding towns in order to get a large enough team put together. Meanwhile, Bolt couldn't help but worry about what Richter might do to Christine now that she was back in his clutches. Bolt tried to distract himself by preparing a strategy to defeat Richter in battle, but the idea of battling Richter again was almost as troubling. Richter was one of the few opponents Bolt had gone up against who could easily defeat him, and with the stakes as high as they were the blonde rock star knew that he couldn't afford to lose.
At that moment Bolt was sitting on the couch trying to clear his thoughts when Quinton walked up to him. "Hey man. How ya holding up?"
Bolt let out a heavy sigh. "I guess I'm doing okay, considering… You sure that tracker you planted on Christine is working?"
"I'm picking her up loud and clear." Quinton assured him as he held up the small electronic device that was giving a steady beep. "There's no way we'll lose her."
"We better not. I don't think I could handle losing Christine again." Bolt admitted. "Especially not like this."
Quinton sat down next to Bolt on the couch. "You're really shaken up. I guess there's no question that you're still in love with Christine."
"I just… I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to get her back." Bolt told him. "I mean this is Richter that I'm up against! I mean I've gone up against other Ground Pokemon users before and I've done okay against them… but Richter's on a whole other level."
"You've beaten Richter before." Quinton pointed out. "That Earth Badge from the Viridian Gym that you earned is proof of that."
"Yeah, but that was like a lifetime ago man!" Bolt reminded him. "I probably can't beat him using that same old strategy. Besides… this won't be a friendly match where the first trainer to have three Pokemon knocked out is done. This'll be an all out brawl where the winner is the last guy standing."
"I get that." Quinton told him. "But I know that you'll still find some way to beat Richter. You're fighting to get back the woman you love, and I know that it'll take something more than a simple type advantage to stop you."
"Yeah… I'll figure out something." Bolt agreed after a moment. "I just hope that Richter doesn't hurt Christine before I finally do."
Christine awoke after an uncertain amount of time to find that she was lying on a steel cot in what was essentially a jail cell. The room itself was a small rectangular chamber with battleship grey walls and a blue tiles floor. Only a few feet in front of Christine was a wall of bars made of an odd gold-colored metal. Christine's head throbbed as she slowly sat up. After a moment, the songstress remembered how she had been watching Bolt's battle with Richter when suddenly something struck her on the back of her head. The next thing Christine knew, everything had gone dark.
Panic began to come over Christine as she realized that she had been captured by Richter's version of Team Rocket. As she fully sat up on the cot, which was really more like a bench built into the wall, she began to really look at her surroundings. The crutches Christine had been using to get around were leaning against the wall to her right. She then felt around the pockets of the black leather jacket that Quinton had given her to wear before the gang had left to deal with the zombies and was relieved to find that all of her pokeballs were still there. It would've killed Christine if Team Rocket had confiscated her Pokemon to sell on the black market or worse.
Suddenly the thick metal door at the other side of the room beyond the bars opened up. Richter walked in and gently shut the door behind him. Christine's panic started to intensify.
"Good. You're awake." Richter observed. "Before you get any cute ideas, those bars are specially designed to withstand any kind of Pokemon attack. Even a Dragon-type move couldn't break them down. Of course I know your Pokemon aren't really much of a threat. The ones you have are just cute pets that you keep around for company."
"What do you want Richter?" Christine asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Richter responded. "Our wedding is still on, Christine. It may have been delayed by this whole incident with Jirachi, but it's still going to go on as planned."
"I am not marrying you!" Christine declared. "And you can't force me to! Not anymore. Not now that may father's dead!"
"Your father's death doesn't change anything." Richter told her as he came closer to the bars of her cell. "I may not have the same leverage over you that I did once, but our marriage will happen. Who knows? Perhaps once I get ahold of Jirachi I can figure out a wish that will make you more… cooperative."
"No matter what kind of wish you make to Jirachi, it still won't change anything." Christien told him. "I don't love you, Richter. I never did. I may have liked you a little when we first met, but our marriage was never something that I agreed to."
Richter punched the bars of Christine's bars, causing her to gasp. "Dammit Christine! When the hell are you going to realize that you belong to me? From the moment I first saw you I realized that the two of us were made for each other! Maybe you think that you can live without me, but I know that I cannot live without you."
"Richter… if you really do love me like you say you do… than you wouldn't be trying to control me like this!" Christine told him. "That isn't love, Richter! I'm… I'm sorry that I don't feel the same way about you, but if you really love me like you claim, you'll let me live my own life and be happy for me."
Richter stepped away from the bars and paced around the room in silence for a few moments in an attempt to compose himself. "I really wish you didn't always have to be so difficult, Christine. But I know that I can get you to come around eventually. I got you to cooperate before ten years ago and I'll do it again. In the end you won't have any choice but to be with me. And do you know why that is, Christine? Because all you are is a caged bird. From almost the moment you were born, you father has groomed you for a single role: the role of my wife. You can cry out and thrash around your cage all you want, you can even fly away for a bit whenever someone forgets to close the door to your cage, but in the end you will never have the strength to fly free on your own. You will always belong to me."
With that, Richter turned on his heel and walked back trough the heavy metal door. Once he was gone, Christine sighed heavily and buried her face in her hands. She realized that to a certain extent, Richter was right. Christine had never truly been able to stand up him or father. Hell, if she hadn't encountered Jirachi that night, she would've been on her wretched honeymoon with Richter at that moment. And while it was true that the main reason Christine had abandoned Bolt ten years ago was because of the leverage that Richter and her father had on her biological mother, the fact was that Christine never really had the guts to stand up to Richter or her father. Christine found that she was disgusted by that fact. Perhaps if she had been stronger, things between her and Bolt would've turned out much better than they did ten years ago.
At that moment, Christine lied back down on the uncomfortable metal bench and curled up into a fetal position. She began to wish desperately for Bolt to come and rescue her.
Dusk had fallen on the town and Bolt was practically chewing the walls as he and the others waited for Officer Jenny to finish assembling her taskforce. By the time the sun had almost completely set, an army of a hundred officers had assembled outside the Pokemon Center. Two other members of the Officer Jenny clan had also arrived to help the Officer Jenny of Stardust Falls lead the operation. Once the taskforce had finally been assembled, the Officer Jenny of Stardust Falls came to get Bolt and the rest of the gang.
"Are we finally ready to do this thing?" Ross asked Officer Jenny as she arrived. "I'm getting tired of just sitting on my ass like this. And I know Bolt's more than ready to get going."
"We've just finished briefing the rest of the team." Officer Jenny replied. "Since you know the location of the base, we'll let you people lead the way. I only ask though that you let us handle the apprehension of the Team Rocket members we find there. I know you can handle yourselves pretty well against them, but this is still an official police matter."
"No problem with us. We're just going in to rescue Christine and that's it." Quinton told her.
"Though if any of those Team Rocket jerks get in our way, we're not gonna hesitate to bust their skulls." Ross added.
"What about Jirachi?" Lorain suddenly asked. "What if it starts causing mischief while we're out fighting Richter and Team Rocket?"
"We'll have to worry about Jirachi later." Bolt told her. "Right now getting back Christine is more important."
"Plus we need to stop this new faction of Team Rocket before they get their hands on such a Pokemon." Officer Jenny added. "If that happens, who knows what damage they could cause? Now let's move out!"
With that, Bolt and the rest of the gang joined Officer Jenny's taskforce outside the Pokemon Center and followed the signal to Richter's base. As the small army left, Jirachi watched them silently as he hovered above the roof of the Pokemon Center. Keeping his eyes on Bolt, Jirachi followed the army silently from the air as they went off to battle.
As Christine remained curled up on the bench of her cell, the room's metal door opened and a male Team Rocket grunt entered carrying a tray of food in his hands. The Rocket agent unlocked the door to Christine's cell and walked inside.
"Hey! The boss wants you taken care of, so I came and brought you dinner." The Rocket agent informed her. "Now take it and eat up."
Suddenly Christine sat back up on the bench and threw a pokeball from her pocket in a single swift motion. Meloetta burst out of the thrown ball, starling the Team Rocket grunt and causing him the drop the tray of food.
"What the hell?" the Team Rocket agent exclaimed as he reached for one of the pokeballs hanging from his belt. "I don't know how you got a Pokemon like that, but I'm taking it off your hands!"
"Meloetta! Use Psychic!" Christine commanded.
Meloetta's eyes glowed blue, and suddenly the Team Rocket grunt was lifted off the air by an invisible force and hurled back through the open door the cell and into the heavy metal door outside. The male agent was out cold as his body slid to the floor. Being careful not to put any weight on her still injured ankle, Christine got up off the bench and hopped over to get her crutches. With the crutches giving her the support that she needed, Christine exited the cell with Meloetta. Meloetta then used her psychic abilities to move the fallen Team Rocket agent aside so they could get through the door. In moments Christine and Meloetta were out of the room and heading up a small flight if stairs.
"I'm through living in your cage, Richter." Christine spoke. "This time I'm really standing up to you."
Author's Note: That last scene where Christine escaped her cell actually isn't something I had originally planned. If fact I just sort of tacked it on because when I finished that third scene the chapter was still just a tad too short. Actually this whole story has been going differently than how I had originally planned.
Please review and let me know what you think.
