Being woken up in the middle of sleeping is something all twelve Arcana have gotten used to.
Way too used to.
"I was waiting for the other shoe to drop," Gary says, chewing on a snack. He doesn't even seem bothered.
"Who dropped their shoe?" Ash mumbles, still half-asleep.
Gary sighs. "You would have thought he –" Gary jerks his head towards Ash " – would have grown accustomed to our predicament by now."
"Yeah, we're homeless vagrants, I'll admit that," May grouses as she pulls on her boots. "But I don't know, I just feel like we're so pathetic!"
"Glad you realized that," Paul comments dryly. "Because we are."
Cilan has just wrapped up his conversation with Volkner, and he tramps in.
"So? What's the verdict?" Alain asks, looking the most awake. He hasn't slept a wink, expecting something like this to unfold. He hates that he's right most of the time.
"Volkner wants us out. He didn't explain why, but he seemed urgent." Cilan just looks bone-tired. "Pack up, everyone."
"We haven't even had a chance to unpack." Dawn comments. She glances at the sofa where an inebriated Flint has passed out.
"And he's no help at all. Though at least our van is fixed," Dawn tries to say cheerfully. Even she is having some difficulty summoning her usual zeal.
Paul slings his bag over his shoulders. "At this rate, we're never going to Mt. Coronet."
"It's not like you're helping matters. All you do is grumble under your breath." Dawn snaps.
"I'm just saying that haven't you guys realized chaos seems to follow us wherever we go?" Paul adjusts the straps on his bag.
"What do you mean?" Dawn asks slowly.
"Cynthia said we were targeted." Paul reminds them. "Perhaps Volkner thinks we'll destroy his house as well." He shrugs uncaringly.
Dawn blinks, horrified. "You're right! Surprisingly. No, the real surprise is how have we not reduced Volkner's house to ashes yet?"
The others look less convinced by Paul's logic. They think it's likelier he's just messing with Dawn's mind – because let's face it, the bluenette isn't the brightest light in the harbor.
Regardless, eviction is eviction, and their large group swiftly removes themselves from Volkner's house, most of them harboring resentment towards the older guy.
At least their van is in pristine condition, unlike that time where it was hit by a strange beam in their last encounter with the "hand thing". They haven't thought of a new name for it, much to Mairin's chagrin.
Considering that Alain had driven them the last time, Misty thus takes up the mantle and volunteers to drive. She cracks her knuckles, looking fired up.
Ash is nervous at the idea since he knows her bold driving skills firsthand. "Er, Mist, are you sure?"
She has already hopped into the driver's seat, though.
As Gary took shotgun the previous time, he very graciously allows Cilan, arguably the hardest working member of their group, to take the seat this time. No one objects.
"There's a silver lining in all this, though," Cilan tries to raise the group's morale.
"Which is?" Dawn asks curiously.
"We can avoid the morning traffic. The lockdown on Sinnoh will end tomorrow and while only some services and industries will resume activities, the highways are likely to get more congested."
"Great. Couldn't our van have broken down tomorrow instead?" Gary complains, thinking of the car repair service.
"Phew. I was wondering when things would return to normal." Dawn says.
"I'm not sure how normal things can be, given the Blight's existence." Drew points out.
"Yeah, but all those deserted streets in Sunyshore were really starting to get under my skin. Creepy vibes," Serena shudders. "I called Mom earlier. Apparently, the Blight has extended to Kalos." She bites her lips.
Mairin glances at her sympathetically. As an orphan, she has no family, so in a way, that's good for her as she doesn't need to worry about them. But sometimes she finds herself envying the bonds between her newfound friends and their families – being just a bit, or maybe a lot, jealous of how they obviously care so much for each other.
Which is twisted, since she's in a way feeling desirous of the tragedies that have struck their families.
Yet she can't stop herself from engaging in what-ifs scenarios. What if her parents are still alive somewhere? What if she weren't abandoned by them for whatever reason? What if she finds them one day?
What if, what if, what if…
"While you guys were talking to Cynthia on the phone, we planned out the path to Mt. Coronet." Alain begins. "After a lot of analyzing, we decided that we should drive through routes 222, 214, stop at Veilstone City for a short break, and then continue through routes 215, 210, cross through Celestic City into route 211 which leads straight to the base of Mt. Coronet." He surmises.
"I don't know half of those routes but I'm down!" Ash calls from the back.
"Thank you for your unhelpful input," Drew says sardonically.
Serena is studying the map of Sinnoh intensely, tracing out the routes. "I think it looks alright on paper, and is hopefully fine in reality as well. I've always wanted to visit Lake Valor so I'm excited!"
"Lake Valor, huh?" Ash says interestedly.
"Uh-huh, it's one of the three renowned lakes of Sinnoh!"
"I'm just glad that we don't have to pass by Jubilife City." Dawn says with a relieved smile.
"Is it because that's where you live?" May asks, her years of being Dawn's fan paying off.
The bluenette nods emphatically. Her mother had them moved to Jubilife City from Twinleaf Town for her job.
Her heart twinges when she thinks of Lucas.
She wonders how he's faring without her. As much as he panders to their mother, he is still her brother. Her twin. Her other half, who has shared everything with her except for her pain and hatred of Johanna.
She forces all thoughts of Lucas out of her mind.
Right, a distraction. She needs a distraction.
"Paul, where do you live?"
The teenager is silently looking outside the window. He grunts something out.
"What was that?"
" … stone city."
Dawn's eyes widen. "Veilstone City? Aren't we passing by there? Great, you can visit your family! Do you live with your parents?"
"I have no parents," he snaps back harshly.
Silence.
Dawn recoils from the callousness in his tone, and fumbles, not sure what to say.
"I'm sorry." She gnaws on her bottom lip.
"… I live with my older brother." Paul says brusquely, but his savage tone has softened somewhat.
Dawn relaxes. She thinks he has forgiven her, though it's hard to tell with Paul.
May, meanwhile, is thinking of her own parents. She misses them so much. The pain has numbed, but it remains. It's constantly in the back of her mind, chasing her footsteps, following her every waking and dreaming moment…
Drew, guessing what she's thinking, leans over and whispers, "we'll get your parents back, safe and sound."
Rather than her usual caustic replies, May only whispers back, "that's a promise, Grasshead."
The group seems to have found their rhythm, because there are actual moments of sweet peace, where everyone is comfortable just reclining in their seats, either dozing off, staring outside the window or starting the occasional conversation.
"Not to freak anyone out," Alain begins, his voice rousing a few of the others, "but has that car been tailing us for a while or am I imagining things?"
"You're not." Misty says tightly. "I've noticed them for a while, too. Should I shrug them off?"
Ash, sitting at the backmost seat, turns behind him. Indeed a single car is trailing behind them, the headlights off as if to reduce its conspicuousness, yet just makes it look more suspicious.
"Yeah." Alain says.
"Alright. Hang on, guys." Misty says.
And then their van suddenly spurts forward, nearly flinging everyone who isn't wearing a seatbelt out of their seats.
"What the hell, Misty?" Gary growls, having been rudely awoken from his nap.
Misty hoots as the van speeds up, and they start zooming by landscapes at a pace that has many clutching onto the seat handles for dear life. "Yeah, baby, this is what I'm talking about!"
"I vastly prefer Alain's driving…!" Mairin screams as she's flattened to the side when Misty performs a sharp turn.
"Oh, shut up!" Misty yells back, but she's in high spirits.
Ash risks his life to glance behind him, and his face gets slammed into his headrest.
"Ouch." He rubs his face. "I think our pursuers aren't giving up, though."
Indeed, the car is persistently following them behind.
Cilan smiles strainedly. "Er, Misty, I think a few people are starting to look green in the back."
Iris is one of those people. She's unused to vehicular transport, as it is, and this crazy speed has her stomach doing backflips, and not in a good way, either.
"Plastic bag!" Ash shouts, seeing that Iris is about to throw up. "Who has a plastic bag? Wait, never mind, I do!"
He throws one to Iris, and not a moment too soon as the nauseous girl immediately starts throwing up into the bag.
Dawn, who is sitting beside Iris, cringes, curling her body against the window.
"I'm so sorry, Iris, and everyone else, but seeing Iris retching makes me want to vomit, too!" She suppresses the urge to gag.
Paul glares at her. "Then don't look at her!"
"You know what?" Dawn turns to the side, just about plastering her face to the window. "That's a really fantastic idea!"
"Bleugh…!" Iris heaves into the bag, and Ash leans over, thumping her back gently.
He has experienced throwing up in a vehicle before, so he understands the girl.
Dawn reaches into her bag and procures napkins that she, er, permanently borrowed from the Sunyshore Cafe.
"Here," she hands them to Iris without looking at her.
The girl takes them. "Tha – bleugh!"
Drew pinches his nose. "That's never a peaceful moment here, is there?"
Misty yanks the steering wheel and he's thrown into May, who yelps and shoves him away on instinct. Of course, Misty, goddamn her, swivels the other way roughly, and May crashes back into Drew, nearly knowing the wind out of him.
All the while the contents of Iris's bag which should never see the light of day jiggle wildly.
"Eugh," Drew groans. "May, ever consider going on a diet?"
She elbows him nastily, sending him the other way.
"Mmf," Mairin dry-heaves at the back.
Serena glances at her in alarm. "Does anyone have another plastic bag?"
Ash tosses one at her. "Guys, that's my last one! SO STOP THROWING UP!"
"You say it like we can control it," Gary mutters, a little bit pale himself. He regrets eating all those sandwiches now. They're churning around in his stomach, like clothes in a washing machine.
Mairin's face is forcibly dunked into the plastic bag by a frantic Serena, even though the redhead tries to tell her that she doesn't actually have anything to vomit out since she fortunately had a light dinner.
"Mairin was right," May wails. "Alain, I want you to drive from now on."
Misty growls. "Stop. Complaining."
Alain's lips quirk into a smile. "So I'm the certified group driver?"
"Yeah, yeah, you are, and you know what, once this is over I'll even give you a medal, so stop gloating about it." Paul grinds out, annoyed by the absurdity of the situation. Hearing people barf isn't how he wanted to start the day.
"Misty, I think there's no outrunning the car behind us, so why don't we stop for now and just confront them directly?" Cilan entreats, gasping as he clings onto the grab handle on the car door.
"Eh? Should I stop?" Misty asks puzzledly.
"YES!" Everyone roars back at her.
She brakes so hard that they are all sent forward once again – including Iris's plastic bag, which luckily hasn't burst or dropped, and the van grinds to a halt.
Gary grapples at the door handle, opens it, stumbles out and hurls up his guts.
Misty alights, along with most of the others who are all fighting their dizziness. Iris has to squeeze to the side to let those behind her clamber out.
At least she has finally stopped puking. Iris lifts her pallid face and dabs at her mouth with the napkins. She throws the tissues in, ties up the bag securely and blinks around sluggishly, "where are we?"
Cilan gently wipes her forehead with another napkin. "Are you feeling better?"
She nods mutely. He reaches over to the driver's seat and rolls down the windows. Iris breathes in the heavenly scent of fresh air.
"Rest here. I can help you throw that away," he jerks his head at Iris's plastic bag.
"No, that's just gross!" She shakes her head fervently. "I can do that."
Cilan frowns. "I can see your legs trembling like a newborn fawn, you know. You'll fall over if you try to walk in your condition."
"But…!" Iris argues, heat creeping up her neck.
While the two are arguing over who gets the honor of tossing away Iris's plastic bag, a commotion is taking place right outside their doors.
"We'll need you to come back with us, right now," a totally suspicious man decked out in black, with matching black mask and gloves, is saying.
His voice is directed at Dawn.
She clenches her fists. "Is it my mother?"
There are three other men all dressed similarly, of the same bulky builds and one of them reaches into their pocket, whipping out a taser.
"We can do this the hard way, or the easy way." He says. "We just need you to come along with us. Your little friends can be on their way, no problem."
Drew narrows his lips into a thin line.
This is bad.
Paul and Alain are pretty buff themselves, and definitely stronger than the average teen, but these four men are adults. Their clothes do nothing to conceal their bulgings muscles or towering figures.
And from the looks of it, they carry tasers.
How unfair is that?
"How does my mother know where I am?" Dawn asks, trying to stall for time.
"We received a tip-off regarding your location."
Dawn's brows furrow.
"Wait." May holds up a hand, digging into her memories. "The half a million dollars thing?" She questions, recalling the first day when a broadcast had declared Dawn as missing and offered a considerable reward for any information about her.
Serena frowns. "But we didn't encounter anyone on our way to Sunyshore City, and we left after our van was repaired…" Her voice fades. "No way."
Paul's face darkens. "Yes way. No wonder he agreed to help us fix our van, and even let us stay over. He was just trying to delay us."
Drew snaps his fingers. "And didn't Cynthia say he needed funding for the new tower? Half a million would be enough to make him talk."
Dawn cocks her head. She wasn't present when they were having the conversation. She's also having trouble adjusting to their train of thoughts when her mind is wholly occupied by disturbing visions of her mother finding her, grabbing her, locking her up…
"Who?"
Paul sighs. "Arceus, how dumb can you be?"
His tone is murderous as he says, "Volkner sold us out."
It's impossible to tell the time just by looking at the sky, which remains the same unnatural black perpetually.
The Sunyshore City Gym Leader glances at the crackling sky overhead. He can't fall asleep.
Flint stirs in his sleep, and then sits up on the sofa groggily.
"Volkner, where are the kids?" He mumbles. He was already buzzed when Volkner informed the children of their rooms.
Volkner can lie. He can say they're sleeping, and avoid the inquisition from Flint for at least half a day more. He can avoid the inevitable conversation that he just knows is coming. He can avoid giving himself a tough time now.
He can avoid reality.
But he does none of that.
He merely remains silent.
"Volkner. Where are they?" Flint hisses, sober now, though his head is still pounding like a bitch.
"… They're gone." He says measuredly.
"Gone? Gone where?" Flint tosses off the duvet that Volkner has covered him with. "I swear to Arceus –"
"I called Johanna."
Not anyone can get their hands on the private number of Sinnoh's wealthiest individual. But Volkner isn't just anyone. He's had enough dealings with Johanna to know she's a real crafty fox, and a narcissist as well. A genius one. She doesn't make any deal that isn't favorable to her.
Flint freezes. He shakes his head in denial. "No. No, you didn't. Tell me you didn't."
"Half a million, Flint." Volkner glances outside, not seeing anything at all. "It's enough for me to refurbish the new tower, and then some."
"Were you always such a golddigger? Were you someone who succumbed to bribes? What happened to the 'Shining, Shocking Star' that I knew?" Flint roars.
Volkner doesn't even flinch.
"That's why I told the kids to scram." Volkner counters calmly, though inwardly he is anything but. "I gave them a chance to outrun whoever Johanna was going to dispatch after them."
Flint is trembling in anger. "That doesn't mean shit. It doesn't excuse your actions."
Volkner drinks from his cup. Bitter wine flows down his throat.
"I know." He says simply. "I wasn't trying to defend myself either."
Flint grabs his cardigan and makes to stomp out the door.
"You'll never catch up to them." Volkner calls. He doesn't know why he's trying to deter Flint. He should be glad to get rid of him – he has always been a thorn in his pursuits. And strictly speaking, his statement isn't true as the kids have only set out half an hour ago.
"And drunk driving is against the law." Volkner warns.
Flint glares at him. Those eyes are burning like charcoal.
He struggles, and finally, reluctantly accepts. If he drives in his current condition, regardless of the fact that there's likely no pedestrians or other vehicles, he may still cause a major accident.
One time he drove without the influence of alcohol and still managed to ram straight into a hundred pound steel pillar.
"Fine. And you know what? After hearing about the stunt that you just pulled, Cynthia may really kick you out of your Gym Leader position. You've just jeopardized the whole of Parelle. And this time, I can't say I'd defend your sorry ass." Flint spits out.
Where are you going? Volkner wants to ask, but he stops himself. It's none of his business. He doesn't care, he tells himself. He doesn't care at all about Flint, or where he's going in the middle of the night with only the clothes on his back and no open hotels nearby. He doesn't care that Flint may get attacked by the Blight or he may collapse somewhere in his drunken state.
He doesn't care. There is no hole in his heart that Flint's presence has filled. And that same heart isn't burning in agony.
Flint slams the door.
And now Volkner is truly alone.
How strange that it's the first time he has ever felt this way.
Is loneliness such an empty emotion?
He continues drinking.
Dawn is livid.
She had trusted Volkner, and he had backstabbed all of them.
And there's a pit in her stomach, containing all the feelings she has for dragging the others into this mess.
"Now, Ms Berlitz, if you will follow us…" One of the men gestured towards their car.
"No." The rejection comes from May's lips. She steps forward, linking arms with Dawn. "You're not going to take her away from us."
Misty blocks the path to the pair with her hand, and says to the goons, "so get lost."
The man sighs. "The hard way, then." He whispers something into his wrist.
Another car pulls up from the opposite direction, and four other similarly dressed men spill out.
They're surrounded.
Gary staggers over. His eyes widen at their new company. "Shit. What did I miss?"
Ash brings him up to speed with all the bleak details. In any other time, Serena would have admired his storytelling aptitude.
All twelve of them are assembled now, wearing various shades of colors on their face – some are red in anger, others are paler than a ghost, and some still have a greenish hue.
Cilan, who is usually smiley, gentle and kind, now dons a rather fierce scowl on his face. He glares at the men dressed in black.
"Please leave. Under Parelle's laws, you lot are bordering on kidnapping right now, accosting a young and defenseless lady without her consent."
"We're just rescuing Ms Berlitz. It wouldn't be wrong to say that she has been kidnapped by a most unscrupulous group, aided by the incorrigible Parelle League."
"What?" Dawn snarls. "Oh, I get it, is that how Mother will twist the truth? She'll pin the blame onto the league and say that I was involuntarily dragged here. Using that to her leverage, she'll force them to let me return to her side, return to my life as a pretty, dangling accessory and nothing else!"
She smiles coldly. "But you see, Mother, in all her calculations, seems to have forgotten a rather big detail. I am here, and I can very well testify that she was the one trying to abduct me. Isn't that a ridiculous story? Sure, it is. But people will wonder. They will gossip. They will speculate if there's any truth in my words. So go and tell her. Tell my mother that I won't go down alone."
And Dawn means every word she has just uttered.
She has had enough of being her mother's pet.
And she might as well have been talking to a wall for all the emotions – or lack thereof – that the men show.
The leader of the would-be kidnappers, the one who had spoken first, cocks his head, a silent signal.
Several things happen at once.
Two men throw themselves forward, and both Paul and Alain move. Apparently, they've been having a silent conversation as well, and there's a clash that sends the four of them stumbling back.
At the same time, May grabs Dawn and runs the other way, and Misty sends a flying kick towards the nearest man, clearing a path for them at her own expense; her leg is swiftly caught by the man.
"Run!" She screams at Dawn and May.
And then a portal rips open above their heads, a familiar grotesque hand emerging.
Serena screams. "Arceus, it's the hand thing again!"
Drew laughs. "Hell, yes!"
"Why are you so happy? We're gonna die!" Serena shrieks, terrifying memories of their last encounter with the thing running through their mind.
"No, Drew is right," Gary hollers, sounding delighted, "we can use this to our advantage. Look at them."
Indeed, the men surrounding them have broken their formation, glancing at the sky in horror, their legs quaking, screams stuck in their throats.
"They've never seen that before, remember?" Gary says wickedly.
And to a first-timer, such a gruesome sight is enough to make them crap their pants.
In that moment, the twelve Arcana somehow manage to exchange a group eye contact.
Paul and Alain grab the men whom they've just confronted and fling them towards the portal, the element of surprise on their side catching the men off-guard.
Misty leaps away just as a hand pounds down on where she was standing a moment earlier, slamming straight into the guy who has caught her leg. Ash follows through with kneeing the guy, and the two high-five, having practiced this maneuver numerous times in gym class.
Arceus, Ash kind of misses high school right now, as terrible as it was.
Iris resists fiercely when her hair is grabbed, and she thrashes wildly. Cilan slams a frying pan on top of her assailant, and yanks Iris out of the clear, avoiding the hand that comes flying down. The two land on top of each other like pancakes.
"This is like whack-a-mole!" May squeals, both her and Dawn neatly ducking out of the way with their small frames. The brawny man beside them isn't as lucky. Even if he tries to dodge, a hand still ends up slapping him into the roadside.
Golden orbs merge into one and the resultant writhing sphere is tossed at them as the hand thing growls a monstrous sound in apparent frustration.
Alain runs, scaling up a wall and doing a backflip, narrowly missing the golden sphere, and then lands on the ground neatly. The ball slams into a man standing behind him.
Mairin, the only one who witnessed the moment, gawks at the impressive display. She vaguely wonders where he learned such acrobatic movements, and then realizes she can think about that later when the shadow of a hand descends on her.
Someone shoves her out of the way, turning them in the mid-air so her savior ends up cushioning the fall.
"Alain!" She gasps. That guy just moves so freakishly fast! "Are you alright?"
He's clutching his shoulder, where a bruise is rapidly forming. He grunts in pain.
One of those men stumbles towards them. His eyes are glazed over, like two empty husks. A strange purplish glow surrounds his body.
He's the one who was hit by the golden orb.
Mairin swallows. He looks inhumane.
But Alain is injured, and she'll be damned if she doesn't do something to save them. Fumbling at the ground, trying to find some sort of weapon, she ends up grasping at something irregularly shaped and hard.
It's a taser that one of the men has dropped. In fact, many of the men have dropped their tasers in their haste to escape the creatures.
Mairin glances at the approaching man.
With her hands trembling, she pulls the trigger, and two strings of wire are fired, embedding into the man's body. His body convulses and crumples. She releases the trigger and the gun tumbles from her grip.
A firm grip wraps around her shaking wrist.
Alain tugs at her. "Let's go," he rasps.
The others are all slowly but surely inching towards the van.
Mairin and Alain follow their actions, backing towards the van, their pace slowed by how the former keeps tripping and the latter is out of sorts from his fall.
"Take this," Iris growls, hurling a bag at those who haven't given up and are still trying to pursue them.
The bag explodes, and splatters them with… Iris's puke.
Dawn turns the other watch and retches, but thank Arceus only air comes out.
The men have collapsed into a dead faint.
Gary laughs. "Now that's what I call going out with a bang."
They haul ass, not letting the opportunity slip by while their attackers are otherwise undisposed, and Serena pants as she scrambles in, "I never thought a day would come when I feel happy to see the hand thing!"
"If you told me that yesterday…" Drew begins, being the first to climb in – into the much sought after shotgun seat, "… I would have believed it. Anything that can possibly happen to us, will happen – at this point, I've just about suspended reality."
Alain climbs into the driver's seat, the others all filtering into the van in a mad rush. The engine whirrs to life and the van lurches forward, speeding away in a storm of gravel.
There's a moment for everyone just catching their breath as they're grappling with the idea of what just happened.
Gary bursts into laughter. "That was fucking exhilirating! And damn, did you see that guy's face with Iris's dinner covered all over it?"
Drew snorts. "You have a very twisted idea of what constitutes fun." But his lips are tugged upwards, albeit reluctantly.
Dawn brushes a hand through her unruly locks, her eyes shining. "Oh come on, don't be a party pooper. That was a blast."
"Should I find it disturbing or relieved that we have adapted to all these mishaps?" Cilan ponders aloud.
"When every moment is a matter of life and death," Mairin shrugs, "we have no choice but to suck it up and get used to it."
Ash grins at her. "Now that's the kind of motto I can get behind."
Misty gazes out of the window sorrowfully. "Driving the van was fun while it lasted," she sighs.
Iris shudders. "Fun for you, maybe, but it was hell for the rest of us."
"I tried to tell y'all it was a bad idea," Ash says.
"Let's agree to never let Misty drive again," Gary proposes.
The rest of them all nod solemnly.
And thus, the self-proclaimed group of homeless vagrants manages to come to their second unanimous decision, barring Misty's opinion, of course.
A/N:
See what I did there? "That's a promise" (shameless self-promotion :D)
Also early Wednesday upload! Even though no one guessed the reason behind why our Arcana were kicked out, I felt bad for publishing another multi-chapter story despite saying I wouldn't sometime back so here is my apology gift. *bows*
The throwing-up-in-the-van scene was inspired by yours truly. I vomited in a cab, in a plastic bag, and the driver was nice enough to give me tissues. Shout-out to her? Whoever she was LOL
Thanks for the kudos/reviews! And as always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment/reviews, even if they're negative.
WyldClaw: Thank you so much, I really appreciate your support!
See you all next time ~