Chapter 9: Inferno

12:47:03 PM, Vaniville Town, Kalos

Collin ran down the hill towards the burning wreck that used to be Vaniville Town. He drew his crowbar and moved towards Serena's house.

Collin broke open one of the windows, because the missile had turned the front door into an impassable blaze. He climbed in, searching for Grace.

Collin repeatedly yelled her name as the house fell to pieces. He was no expert on structures, but he could tell that this house wouldn't stand much longer.

Collin's screams became more and more urgent as time went on. He had to find Grace, either for Serena or for his own conscience. Just as Collin was losing hope, he heard a faint voice.

Collin followed his ears to the sound, which was emanating from the top floor of the house. Collin started to search the floor, starting with the closest bedroom to the stairs.

Collin opened the door, and saw the source of the noise: Grace, pinned under a section of the ceiling. He started to pry the debris off of the woman, and after some force, Grace was free.

''Can you walk?'' Collin asked, feeling the surge of adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream.

''I think my leg's broken….'' Grace replied, pointing to a twisted section of her leg. The sight of the broken limb made Collin feel like vomiting.

Collin put his feelings aside and helped Grace up, supporting her with his shoulder. The two made their way towards the stairwell, when a huge chunk of the roof fell directly in their path. They were trapped.

Collin considered his options, and only one really stood out: jump from the window.

''Sorry Grace…but it looks like we're going to have to jump.''

Collin pulled his friend's mother along, into the next bedroom, which clearly was Serena's, judging from the pink bedroom set and stuffed Pokémon dolls. He broke the window, and grabbed the sheets off of the bed. He tied one end of the sheets to the window, and told Grace to grab the improvised rope.

Grace was reluctant to risk breaking her other leg, but she knew that there weren't any other options that made sense. She grabbed the sheets and slowly made her way down to ground level. Collin was about to follow when the rope broke.

''Oh, great,'' Collin said, coming to terms with the fact that he was probably going to burn to death. He ran down the hallway towards another door, when flames shot out of the wall and caught his jacket, igniting it. He panicked and pulled the burning article of clothing off his body.

Collin continued to another door, which led to what appeared to be a spare room. He then busted out the window in this room, and was about to jump out when he heard what sounded like a bird. He looked over and saw a Fletchling, with one of its wings bent at an odd angle.

Feeling sorry for the poor thing, Collin picked it up and vaulted out of the window.

Collin woke to the small bird creature pecking at his face. He looked up saw what appeared to be police and firefighters surrounding the house. Calem was nowhere in sight, but Collin guessed that he was at his house.

He picked himself up off of the ground, immediately feeling sharp pains in his arms and torso. Years of playing MMOs and watching Pokémon don't really prepare a person to save people from burning buildings. His face and hands were bruised, and blood dripped from a gruesome-looking cut that ran over his shoulder and down his arm. Despite his pain, Collin was able to pick himself up and walk toward the nearest group of authorities.

After coughing quite a few times and speaking with one of the firefighters, Collin was given an oxygen mask and had his injuries treated. Just as he was looking around, Collin saw Serena running in his direction.

Collin was about to say something when Fletchling hopped over to him.

''Fletchling!'' Serena exclaimed while cradling the small Flying-type. She then looked over to Collin as fresh tears accumulated in her eyes,

''Collin…I….I don't know what to say,'' Serena said. Collin was about to respond with a generic remark when Serena leaned over and hugged him tightly. Collin wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation, but he went with his intuition and squeezed Serena back.

The two hugged until Grace came over to thank Collin for what he did.

''Uh, it wasn't a problem,'' Collin said, trying to hide the fact that he considered having to run into a collapsing building a big problem. After getting another hug, this time from Grace, Collin was called over by a group of police. After a tedious interrogation, Collin was finally free to go. He was walking back over to Serena when he overheard a conversation that made him freeze in his tracks.

''…they apparently traced the attackers to somewhere around Laverre City….''

Hearing those words made Collin's blood boil. He wanted revenge, and now he had a location.

''Come on Serena, we need to go.'' Collin said to his friend.

''But Collin…Mom probably needs my company,'' Serena said with concern.

Collin pulled Serena aside.

''Serena, what if I told you that I know where the attackers are? Would you come with me?'' Collin said.

Serena felt rage build up inside of her. She looked at Grace, then turned back to Collin.

''Let's go.''

Hello readers, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I know I am enjoying writing it :)

Anyways, I will be going out of town for the next two weeks, so I'm not sure if I will be able to post a new chapter or not.

Once again, leave a review with your thoughts on the writing. I could use the feedback.