Jello… I wish to say that Friday, July 16th, 2004 is a day of mourning, for my youngest plecko, Dave died. I have no idea how… only that he did. I think what happened was he sucked on the blue ick pill that I had put in there for Sheik (one of my red betas- he has ick right now) and it… killed him. ::sniffle:: I miss my Dave… Anyway, it was so sad!! When I had found Dave floating, Sheik was kinda poking at him (not eating him… I would've seen that) to make him move… Poor Sheik was devastated by Dave's death… he's still mourning for him, stopping whenever he comes to the corner of the tank where we got Dave out. We got another plecko, Joe, but I think Sheik still misses Dave, though he is doing better.

Dave is now resting in the backyard, a pile of stones for a gravemarker.

Disclaimer: I own the names of the pokemon, but not the actual pokemon, Shayla and… I think that's it.

Price for Freedom

Chapter 4

Reunited Yet Divided

I lunged and bit the ghost with all my might, hoping that the attack would get through all of the ribbons adorning the ghost's body. He fainted, and was withdrawn back into his poke ball.

The boy snarled some more. "Well, then I'll need to fight fire with fire! Cho! GO!!!"

I smiled and waited for the mightyena to materialize. But when he did, my heart stopped. The mightyena stopped in his tracks, staring straight back at me. My mouth fumbled over his name, and finally, my vocal chords worked.

"H… Hicha…"

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I stood there for an unknown period of time, staring at my friend. He was staring as well… but not with the expression that I figured. Instead of shocked and exhilarated, I saw shocked, yes, but also suspicion, and a forming... hostility in his eyes? What the heck?

"Hicha! It's me!" I practically shouted, slowly making my way to his side of the "field". As I approached, his lips drew back in an even bigger snarl.

"Stay back, filthy absol! I'm warning you!" he shouted, his teeth and gums now in full view. I stopped in my tracks, blinking in confusion. This was Hicha… wasn't it?

"Hicha, don't you remember me?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. I heard Tai shout something from behind me, but I didn't register the meaning. All of my attention was focused on the mightyena in front of me.

His response startled me. "Keh. Of course I do. You're the stinking absol that abandoned me and left me in the forest to die!!" With that, he lunged at me, sinking his sharp fangs into my flesh at the base of my neck. For one moment, I was blinded by pain, his bite attack having an unusual affect on me. In fact, I couldn't move afterwards. My stunned, bleeding body crumpled to the polished floor, apparently alarming my comrades.

"DEMI!!" Tai shouted as he raced back and forth on the sidelines. "Demi, GET UP!! Come on, you can beat this shmuck!! He's a no-good shmuck!! Beat him down into the ground!! Go Xena on his ass!! DO SOMETHING!!"

Hicha began to laugh humorlessly as I shakily got back to my feet. "A jolteon, huh? Is that the same one that you defeated? And the dragonair… is she the some one that used slam on me in order to get to you?" He looked at me, his black eyes full of bane and snarled. "Well are they?"

Tai spoke before I did. "What the hell is going on?! Demi, kick his ASS!!"

Again Hicha laughed. " 'Demi'? Is that your nickname? It figures, letting your new human name you. I always thought you were stronger than that, Ayako." (A/N: Doesn't Hicha have a nickname too?)

I flinched. My name…

Shayla growled from behind me. "Demi, get back to the others!! Tai! Go and fry that mightyena's butt!!"

Tai raced out in front of me, his fur bristling and blue sparks of electricity cackling in the air around him. Hicha snarled at Tai and growled, "So you have come to defend your comrade? Let me give you a word of advice: She'll turn on you."

Tai's snarl grew louder and more menacing. "Bastard!! NO ONE INSULTS MY TEAM AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!" At that moment, Shayla and Tai shouted the attack name simultaneously. "THUNDER!"

Tai's body lit up with electrical power and his eyes turned darker, as did the rest of the room. I backed away from his in a stunned manner so I wouldn't be hit with any stray bolts. I looked to Hicha, who in turn looked at me. I silently asked what had I done, why was he so vengeful, but he gave me nothing but cold hatred and began to move towards me.

"I AM YOUR OPPONENT, SCUM!" Tai screamed in a slightly lower voice. He shot his powerful bolt of lightning at Hicha, and almost immediately the mightyena fainted. He had no hope against Tai. My heart stuttered as Hicha went down in a charged veil of smoke, his burnt flesh and fur alerting my senses and searing the inside of my nose and throat, making me frantic. It was then that Hicha was returned to his poke ball, the other trainer not very happy about losing.

I stood numbly as Tai came towards me, panting ever so slightly. He poked me with his paw and asked, "Hey, Demi, did you suddenly become catatonic? I can't believe I had to save your butt back there…" Then in a lower, softer voice he asked, "Are you okay…?"

I didn't look at him. My gaze was on the polished mahogany wooden floor in front of me, and I intended to keep it there. My mouth began to form words, but they were lost before I could say them. I knew I must have looked like a magikarp out of water, but at the moment, I didn't really care. My only thoughts were of Hicha and why he had reacted to me like that. What did I do??

Tai poked me again and jerked me out of my chaotic reverie. "I asked you if you wanted to go outside," he said, a little perturbed at my daydreaming. I stumbled over words again and then resorted to nodding, following him as he walked to the outer decks. I didn't notice the looks that the eevee brothers gave each other, nor the worried expressions that the other pokemon gave me as I walked past. Shayla seemed to know what was going on, since she didn't hinder Tai or me in any way. When the trek to the outer decks was finished, Tai turned to me with an outraged, yet concerned expression.

"What was that back there?!" he shouted. "You could've gotten really hurt! And you know Shayla's short on supplies! Why did you freeze up!? Who was that mightyena anyway?!"

I walked past him to the white metal railing and looked out over the sea, the water dull and dark from the fading sun. Dusk was coming again, and I felt nostalgic for a moment. Then, Tai's question brought me out of my thoughts and I responded with, "Hicha… was a friend. I had met him in the forest when I first came…"

Tai scoffed. "Some friend you have -look at your fur! You have blood all over you! And what's worse is that it's YOURS! Made by his teeth! And you, standing there in a wonderful stupor, didn't even-"

"SHUT UP," I commanded, cutting Tai off. I still wasn't looking at him, for I kept my gaze averted. Right now, it was residing on my right forearm, where, as Tai indicated so tactfully, was a stream of dried blood trailing down the limb. I flexed my paws in vexation, and scowled when Tai sat down beside me, my grim mood reflecting on his face. For a moment, neither of us spoke for the tense silence would make any slightly stupid comment inappropriate. So, for the moment, we both watched dusk fall into night.

"…Ayako…Is that what he called you?" he asked softly. I nodded and he asked why.

"That's my real name," I responded dully, to which he didn't respond at first.

"…Well, I really think that you should be named something more appropriate." At this, he righted himself into a dignified position, sitting on his haunches and looking down at me haughtily. At his comment, my eyebrow raised and he smirked.

"Oh?" I asked, sitting up myself to look him straight in the eye. "And what would that be?"

He cocked his head and said, "I was thinking of something along the lines of Xena or Super Bitch, or even Amazonian Warrior Queen. Those other names suck."

I scoffed. "You seem pretty confident in the name department, Tai. What a strange name, 'Tai'… I wonder why Shayla wanted to name you Sea Bream, Thailand or Party? Maybe that's telling me something." To this, he frowned.

"That's not my full nickname, Amazonian Warrior Queen," he responded, a playful scowl on his yellow face. "My full nickname is 'Taioukami', 'Great Wolf'. Take that."

I chuckled. "Okay, so Thailand is you nick-nickname? Now I get it." I got up and began to walk away, towards the cabin where the others were awaiting our return. Apparently, Tai seemed against to this.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked, trotting after me. "I need to raid the food table!"

I looked over my good shoulder and made a face. "Well, then go alone. Unless you're afraid of the dark, oh mighty Great Wolf."

Tai frowned and raced up to me, his scowl disappearing suddenly and was replaced with a smirk. "No… I was just looking out for you, Xena. After all, even a savage like you can be afraid of the-"

Tai didn't get to finish his sentence, for I, the savage, threw him over board right then.

When Tai crashed into the water, I looked over the railing and with the moonlight's help, I saw Tai come back up to the surface of the water with a gasp. He wasn't too far away from the decks, but just enough to where he'd have to work to get back up. When he saw me, he frowned. "What was that for?!"

I chuckled. "This savage can take care of herself, thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'll raid the leftovers. I'm pretty sure they still have some apple cobbler…" With that, I turned and left Tai to struggle with the slippery body of the ferry, when I smelled a scent akin to wet dog. I turned, and a very wet Tai was struggling to get over the railing, a deep scowl on his face. "You shall not have the apple cobbler, Savage!!" he screamed.

I laughed and said, "Even if you somehow stopped me, the cooks would smell you a mile away."

Tai glared. "You saying I smell bad?"

"Only as bad as a wet dog in the summertime," I responded.

The jolteon rolled his eyes as he battled with the slick railing. "Oh, and you always smell like daisies when you're wet."

My head went up. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do."

Tai finally got over the railing and landed with a hard thump on the wooden deck. He shook, his fur becoming missheveled and giving him the appearance of a drowned dog, and walked over to me. "Well, let's find out, shall we?" He then took the scruff of my neck and, with a mighty heave, launched me overboard and into the water. I crashed into the water with only one thought.

"COLD!!" I shouted as I resurfaced, the chilly night air not making the lack of warmth any better. From on deck, Tai smiled and jumped back into the water, spraying me with the freezing liquid. When he came back up, a smirk was on his triumphant face.

"Don't smell so good now, huh?" he asked, spraying me with more water via his paw. I glared at him, and then launched at him, tackling him into the water. And so, our water war began.

Of course, I didn't notice Shayla standing by the railing in the shadows with a smile on her face, and then turned to leave, letting us fight by ourselves.

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Wow… I never thought I would get this done!! YAY!! Oh, shout-out to Princess Kitty1! Of course, go right ahead and use Demi! HUGE SMILE ARIGOTOU GIZAMASU TO EVERYONE WHO LOVES THIS STORY!!

WHEEEEEEEEE!!! It's 11:46 pm and I'm hyper!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

JA.