Super short chapter, sorry guys! This will probably be my last update with this particular story before I get back from vacation, on August 1st, but never fear, I'll try and update as soon as possible.

Apparently Steven as temper issues, who knew?

As always, read, review, and most importantly, ENJOY!

I don't know how long it was, it could have been seconds, minutes, hours, or days. All I knew was little by little I regained some amount of self-control and my tears began to dry. I wiped my eyes on my shoulders. It was pointless to cry, my tears were wasted. Tears could not erase the past or cleanse my body. Tears can not take away the impurities and dirt that Archie and his admins had forced upon me. The filth that stained my heart.

I breathed in deeply, trying to calm my racing pulse.

I should have been more careful, I should have listened to Steven's instructions. He told me not to be a hero, to comply. Being the hotheaded idiot I was, I tried to put up a fight, and paid for it dearly. But that didn't matter now, all that mattered was that I had to figure out how to get out of this godforsaken room.

Perhaps being violated had come as a blessing in disguise. A very good disguise at that. At least my hands and legs were freed from the rope that had previously binded them. I craved company, being alone was not an option for me right now. I needed a source of comfort.

I quickly detached a Pokeball at random from my belt and hit the release button with my finger. I smiled with weak relief as Grovyle appeared, kicking up a butt load of dust. I coughed weakly, horrified that blood was mixed into the debris.

"Vyle," Grovyle screeched in obvious anger, directed towards whomever had left me in this state.

"Good to see you too," I murmured as he watched me with a baleful eye. I coughed weakly again.

"Don't be like that," I sighed as I pushed myself to a standing position once again. "And help me look for a Pokeball, it has to be here somewhere." I refused to believe that Poochyena had been taken by Archie, so I set myself to digging through the piles and piles of memorabilia and trinkets.

"Samantha! Are you in there?" Reason left me as I heard a the man's voice, my brain wasn't comprehending that it was Steven. I let out a terrified whimpered. "Sam, thank god," he replied, I could detect traces of fear in his voice. " I need you to step away from the door, I'm going to break it down! Return your Pokemon, and get to cover."

The voice was making sense, so I obeyed. I retreated to a corner and recalled Grovyle. I threw my hands over my head and shut my eyes.

"AGGRON NO!" I heard the man yell in dismay. "Stand down, the building will collapse. Let me-ugg," he grunted as I heard the door splinter down. I opened my eyes and saw Steven, rubbing his shoulder and grimacing, his face pale. But I didn't see Steven, I saw another enemy, someone who wanted to hurt me. Immediately I released Grovyle once more, and screamed in a mixture of fury and fear, "FURY CUTTER!" My Pokemon looked at me horrified, looking between Steven and I, and bluntly refused too.

Why was everybody abandoning me? I dropped Grovyle's Pokeball numbly and took a step towards the door. There was only one thing for me to do. I had to escape. Steven realized my intentions just a moment to late, and he made a startled lunge for the door, trying to block my entrance... so I wouldn't be able to escape.

So I ran. I sprinted around Steven, through the now opened door, and down the collapsing stairs of the museum. I didn't look at the damage that had been done to the lower floor, and I didn't notice the blood that was splattered on the floor. I just ran.

Out the doors I went, only to have my progress immediately halted by a swarm of reporters, police, and medics who immediately swarmed me.

"Leave me alone," I cried as microphones were pushed at me from all directions. "Go away..."

"Miss are you hurt?"

"What happened in there?"

"Miss, Miss! Over here!"

Cameras, cameras everywhere. And flashes. Pictures, no no no! Why would they take pictures of me? When I was like this, when I was broken? They might get out, what if my family saw them? Saw me like that...

I pushed through the crowd, avoiding the police where were busy at keeping civilians away from the wreckage of the building, and started running again, unaware the tears were streaming down my cheeks.

I heard shouts of confusion and commotion, but I didn't look back. To risky, I would lose time. The sounds of pursuit only encouraged me to increase the speed of my run.

It was ten minutes before I slowed down, I had reached the outskirts of town, and the beginning of a route. I slumped into the grass and buried my head into my hands, trying to breathe.

In. Out. In. Out. It helped a little bit.

"Samantha!" I didn't look up, it was the voice of a man. But I was tired of running. If he wanted to hurt me, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear in my eyes. "Sam," the voice said more quietly this time, I could hear the man approaching me slowly, feet crunching the half dead grass.

"Don't come near me!" I hissed under my breath. He halted his approach.

"Sam" he breathed, surveying me with shock. "It's me, Steven. Samantha. Please let me help you..."

Steven? Yes, it was Steven, he could be trusted, for now. "St-Steven?" I half sobbed in recognition.

"It's alright," he murmured as he approached me as one might approach a skittish dear. He sat next to me and pulled me into a light hug. Against my will, I leaned into his light embrace. I couldn't help it, Steven Stone felt safe. And that scared me. We sat in silence like this for who knows how long.

" Sam," he whispered again as he embraced me and allowed my salt water tears to stain his shirt. He didn't seem to mind, he kept whispering to me that it would be alright, that he wouldn't let anybody else hurt me, and I believed him. With Steven holding me, I felt protected from the world and all its inhabitants. He was rocking me back and forth and stroking my back soothingly. Steven Stone scared me, but he was my only comfort.

"St-st-steven," I sobbed into his chest.

"Shhh, shh, it's alright Samantha, I need to get you out of here."

I started to cry harder as I remembered what that Archie creep had told me. "They took Po-Poch-"

"Shhhh, it's alright, now, what did they take?" He said calmly. I looked up, my eyes still brimming with tears, into his grey orbs.

"Poochyena" I whispered before I collapsed onto him.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry." His voice was tight, and I was scared. I had never heard Steven's voice take on the rough quality of anger. My fingers tightened on his shirt and I whimpered. "Samantha, what happened?" He said, pulling back and looked at me.

I felt a lump in my throat and shook my head back and forth morosely, trying in vain to dry my tears on my shirt. "A man and a woman cornered Ca-captain Stern an I-I-I. I trie-tried to battle th-the-the m-man, but Poochyena f-f-fainted... and I-" my voice was shaking uncontrollably. It sounded foreign. I cut off and took a shallow breath, beating away the second wave of tears that I felt forming.

"What did you do Samantha," he whispered into my ear.

"I threw my icecream at his face."

Steven was obviously wrestling with the childish urge to snicker despite the situation, and I didn't know if I was upset by this or not. It was in these rare moments that I got a glimpse of his youth, that he took the step down from his high and mighty title. I sniffed softly.

"Yo-you threw icecream at his face?"

"Yes," I murmured. "Then they took me to Archie-" Steven's breath caught. "-and he-"

"He what," Steven said in an agonized whisper.

"He hurt me.." I whispered. I couldn't meet his pleading eyes, I was to ashamed.

"Sam, I need to know. Please,"

"He hit me," I said in shock.

Steven seemed to relax slightly, but continued to look at me forcefully. "And that's when the building started to fall." My throat constricted and I began to gasp for air. Damn, I was hyperventilating. Steven stroked my hair until I calmed down slightly. "Samantha."

"His admins..." I closed my eyes, trying to block out the images and feelings that were rushing back. I was failing too.

Silence met this statement. "I'm getting you out of here," he said before hugging me again, resting his chin on my hair. After a few seconds he broke the contact and helped me to my feet. I relaxed slightly when I was up, I didn't feel so vulnerable. He hovered next to me as we walked slowly back towards town, but I didn't mind, it felt good to be cared for. He would protect me.

As soon as we got near the Pokemon Center the pair of us were converged upon by reporters and camera men, pushing microphones down our throats. Steven bristled angrily at their reappearance. I buried my head into his shirt to hide my face. Police men were trying to control the crowds, but were being shoved aside. I swayed slightly, almost collapsing. I would have if Steven's hand hadn't steadied my shoulder.

"Mr. Stone, what the hell happened in there? The man you h-"

"Are you hurt?" another reporter butted in.

"Whose the girl Steven,"

"No comment," Steven said, obviously just barely holding onto his dwindling temper.

"Mr. Stone-"

"Get out of our way," Steven said impatiently, leading me through the crowd, rebuffing any noisy reporters.

"Mr. Stone! What can you say for yourself after your outb-"

"Move," he growled, drawing an arm around me protectively.

We made it the Pokemon Center, and were intercepted by police. Why couldn't everyone just go away, I thought helplessly. "Leave them to me Samantha," Steven said forcefully, hurrying me up the stairs of the center, placing a pair of keys in my hands. After extracting a promise from me that I would go to the room and make myself comfortable, he left to explain the situation.

My escape instincts kicked in, and I had to wrestle with them. That became harder once I opened the door to the room. There were two beds in the main room. It was a double. My mind screamed at me to leave at once, but I couldn't. I sunk onto one of the bed and buried my face in the comforter.

Steven's POV

Officer Jenny pursed her lips in a thin line as she flipped her notebook closed, eyes sparkling in fury, as I knew mine were. "I'll leave you to it Steven, I trust that you shall look after this," she glanced down at her notes, "Samantha Shepherd, and insure that she does not go into shock. We're pulling out," she yelled to her team, and they exited the Pokemon Center.

I unclenched my fists for the first time that I had left Sam upstairs, my finger nails had dug into my skin, drawing blood.

I couldn't believe this was happening, how was it possible that Samantha, one of my only companions, could fall into the hands of Archie and the rest of the Team Aqua bastards. If I couldn't protect somebody I was travelling with, then how could I expect ot protect the rest of the citizens of Hoenn. She was my friend. Truly, she was now considered to be one of my few friends. And then this...

Archie had laid his filthy hands on her, and his admins had done who knows what...

I didn't realize it, but my legs were swiftly acceding the stairs, taking two at a time, and quickly, I found myself in the room I had left Samantha,.

"Sam?"

There was no reply. I looked around in confusion. Her bag was still there, everything was were I had last seen it only minutes ago. Only she was gone.

"Samantha!" I said again, my voice rising in panic.

She was gone, it couldn't be. I unlocked my Pokenav and clicked the 'one' button, I had put her on speed dial, and lifted it to my ear.

It rang

Once,

Twice,

Three times.

No answer.

I sat down on the bed, gripping my hair, intertwining the strands around my fingers, Samantha Shepherd was gone forever.

A soft sobbing noise from behind a closed door reached my ears.

"Samantha!" I cried in relief, springing to my feet and rushing to the bathroom door. She was definitly in there. I reached for the doorknob and tried to open it, but it was bolted shut. "Sam, are you alright?"

"No!" she shrieked. Taken a back I looked blankly at the door.

"What's wrong."

"I'm. Sleeping. In. Here. Tonight. Leave me alone."

She can't be serious.

Come now Samantha, let me help you, I thought desperately. "Sam..."

The sobbing started again. I didn't know what to do, so I went back to my bed where I had slung my bag down and sat there, waiting for her to come out. It hurt me to see her in this state, and I would give anything to see her smile right now. If I ever got my hands on those bastards...

Minutes turned into hours and eventually her soft crying tampered off into sleep. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to follow her example. Right before I succumbed to sleep, my Nav rang.

Luckily I looked at the Caller ID before picking up, saving my friend from a torrent of cursing that I was fully prepared to release, if only to let of steam. "What do you want Wallace."

"Steven," he said solemnly, not at all his flamboyant self. "Are you ok?" I sighed. I began pacing, something I did when agitated. Apparently Wallace knew that as well. "Steven, sit your arse down, and lets talkt his through. I asked if you were ok."

A serious Wallace? Something must be bad, perhaps worse than he had thought. "I've been better."

"The girl?"

"A friend." Wait, how did Wallace know about Samantha? I'm sure I hadn't mentioned it before.

"Keeping that temper in check?"

"Wallace," I said warningly.

"Turn on the Telly." Frowning, I took the control and clicked the power button. "Chanel two," he instructed.

"Bullocks," I muttered, almost dropping the phone. I was staring at myself, on the telly. I sank to the bed and watched, eyes transfixed, even though I knew what was coming next. A reporter, holding a recorder was addressing me.

"Steven, who is the girl? What happened in there?"

"Please let me through, I need to go after her.

"Why? What is she too you?" My blood boiled just as readily as it had then. Purposely trying to dig into my personal life, when there was a fucking building collapsing and injured personal who had not yet been attended. More importantly to him personally, there was a girl hurt and crying, who needed to be found. What the hell was wrong with them?

I winced as I watched myself pull back and punch the reporter squarely in the jaw. Aww fuck. "You didn't have to hit him idiot," Wallace chided, obviously watching the news as well.

"Yes I did," I muttered.

"Never fear, daddy and the league are doing damage control, so there will be no reprocutions."

"What are they saying?"

I could hear, or rather not hear Wallace hesitate on the other end. "Stress induced incidents." I closed my eyes. "Nobody would contest that after... what I mean is after what happened last year-"

"You don't need to explain yourself, thanks Wallace." This was too much. Just as everybody was beginning to forget, he had to lose his temper and pull this little stunt. Those newsreporter fuckers.

"Just needed to make sure you knew." Wallace might be an irresponsible flirt most of the time, but he was a good friend.

"Good night Wallace,"

"Night Steven."