Judging by the dirt on him, the grunt had just climbed up from the "basement" level. That would explain why she and Kayla hadn't seen them. She whispered to Hellery, "Sneak up behind him and knock him back down. I'll throw a PokeBall and catch her. Then we hightail it out of here." Hellery slipped into the darkness while Amy went through her pack looking for a ball. After finding one she stood slowly and watched silently, waiting. When Hellery struck she tossed not just the ball but a dart. Tipped with an undetectable poison, it ensured that he would die and because of the blood on his shoe it would look like an accident. He slipped, fell and died is what his colleagues would believe. They hit at the same time, red light filling the cavern accompanied by a yell of pain and fear. Hellery pulled the dart out as the grunt fell. Tossing it into the air and blasting it with fire ensured it would never be found.
She grabbed the ball and ran straight into the Azalea Center and to a Chansey. Her "family" caught up and they spent an hour waiting. Amy and Hellery nearly wore a trench in the floor from pacing. Finally Nurse Joy came out. "She's going to make a full recovery girls. But how did this happen?" "Rockets" came the reply from all of them. Joy shook her head gently and sighed. "By the way, one of you will have to take her. She's no more than a week old, poor thing." "I'll take her." Kayla whipped her head around to stare at her cousin in shock. "But you don't LIKE water OR ice types! Why would you want a Pokémon who's BOTH of those?" "She saw me throw the ball and picked her head up enough to look me in the eye. I couldn't leave here without her. It's just not right."
She had been staring at the gym, eyes hard, jaw set, determined to help the tiny, turtle-like hatchling. She spun on her heel and stalked into the back, where the little Lapras slept on a cot. A remnant of one deep cut was all the visible remains of her ordeal. Yet for a lifetime she would bear mental scars. Amy put a hand on the still-soft shell and whispered to the sleeping victim, "Never again. I'll always watch over you and heaven help anyone who causes you harm." She straightened up and walked away, unaware that greyish hazel eyes watched her go.
Amy had found an old backpack the day before. A Water Pulse TM was in it. According to the PokeDex Lapras could learn it. Amy walked out of town after telling Kayla to wait for them outside the gym. Slipping into the tallest grass she knelt and called Lapras out. She showed her the text and asked her if she wanted to learn it. The little creature thought long and hard. "Yes. I want to. By the way, my name is Umi. Mama told me it means sea. Then that bad man stole me in the night." Amy's eyes clouded over with tears. She lifted Umi's head up and told her, "I'll do my best to help you find your mother. Then she can see how tough you are." Umi smiled slightly at her trainer and when Amy checked her to make sure the TM had worked she was told she was level 7. Amy smiled gently, "I can't use you against Bugsy but in the forest we can stop by the water and train ok?" Umi nodded and Amy scooped her up, leaped into the air, landed in a tree and ran to the gym.
With two fire-types and Dove she quickly defeated the green-haired bug user. He gave her 2000 yen and a Hive Badge. Kayla used brute force to beat him and received the same. They stopped by Kurt's house to drop off bags of blue and green Apricorns, taken from trees in the backyard over the last three years. They would return after getting the Fog Badge from Gym Leader Morty of Ecruteak. With that taken care of the young demonesses and their teams headed into Ilex Forest, the last big obstacle before Goldenrod City.
