We walk up to the ruins of a large building, everything black and burnt except for a golden statue in the plaza. I notice tears in Shauntal's violet eyes.
"This was the Elite Four building where I was almost burnt alive," She says, eyes moist with tears, "Let me show you around." She says softly.
We, not wanting to make her burst into tears, consent and she shows us around. She leads us to a charred staircase that presumably was made out of marble, before telling us about the building.
"This was Marshall's staircase. The challengers who came here used to have to defeat us four before challenging the champion. The one on the far left was my room, then over here next to Marshall's was Caitlin's, and here was-" Shauntal begins, before she is cut of by a round of tears, "Grimsley's room. I remember when Team Plasma set this place on fire, I was trapped in my room. Grimsley came to help free me, and when we were halfway down the stairwell, he pushes me into a hole in the wall and yell 'Go, run. I need to make sure the others are safe.' Those were the last words I heard him say. Caitlin and Marshall came out, but I didn't see Grimsley emerge. I don't know what happened." She burst out, before she begins to sob too hard to speak. "He could be dead, and I wouldn't even know."
I crack my knuckles, and grit my teeth in frustration. How many innocent people were slaughtered in the vile name of Team Plasma. How many more will have to die to win us our freedom? Skyla pats Shauntal on her back, and cradles her in her arms whispering,
"Shh. Shh. It's gonna be all right baby. Everything's going to be okay."
"Well," Shauntal begins, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand, "The castle surrounds the Pokemon League, so we have to get there first, and I can let us in." She walks up to the statue, and gasps in horror.
There, on the pedestal of the statue, is the Team Plasma crest. Shauntal goes berserk, trying to rip it off, and then, when that fails, smashing it in with a stone. She dents the base of the statue terribly, and is murmuring the whole time
"Get Team Plasma out of this place," until the base is dented, and the logo so disfigured, it's illegible.
She then pulls us all onto the circular plot of land around the statue, whispers something inaudible to it, and it creaks, and descends through the floor. I scream, and Skyla grabs my hands.
"Touko what happened?" She asks, concerned.
"Fear of hights." I mutter, shutting my eyes the whole descent.
We arrive in a vast chamber with a set of steps. We climb it, and then must climb another set. We crawl into a line of bushes and sneak up in the brush by the Team Plasma Castle.
"Kay, what now?" Touya asks me as we army crawl through a large unruly bush.
"I dunno, I thought you were planning!" I hiss, and then wince.
My long curly mane is poking out of my cap, and just broke a twig. There are twigs and leaves wrapped in its numerous folds. Crap. That's going to take some serious brushing to get out. We belly crawl through the bush, and I hear Bianca complaining about her hair as well.
"Shh! Bianca!" I hiss. "If I can hear you, the grunts can hear you too."
We reach the edge of the bushes, and they open into a tiny marble platform that two aggressive-looking grunts are guarding. We hide under the fringe of the undergrowth, and we plan what to do.
"I think we should mug the grunts." Shantaul suggests.
"Ooh! Yes!" Skyla agrees. "I have a tree branch."
"I have some glass shards." Touya chimes in, opening his bag.
"No, Touya. No maiming!" I shout.
I see the grunt nearest too us turn. Fuck!
"Who's there?" He asks, striding towards us.
"You know what? You may need to use those." I tell him, before pulling my hair free and grabbing my pepper spray.
The grunt reaches the bush, and parts it, seeing me. As he does that, I let loose my pepper spray. "Take that you thieving assholes!" I shout.
I jump out of the bush, and dash to the castle door. I see Touya and Shantaul taking care of the other grunt. The grunt tries to punch Shantaul, who ducks, and Touya stabs him in the thigh. The grunt pulls out the glass, and blood pours from the wound. It gushes all over Shantaul, who screeches louder than I thought possible, and begins to cry.
"Fuck. Fuck. Get it off of me. Get it off!" Shantaul screams in a abnormally high pitched voice.
"What's wrong with her?" I ask Skyla.
"Shantaul has a phobia of blood." Skyla cries, running over.
Skyla attempts to wipe the blood off Shantaul using her shirt as a sponge. The result is that they are both covered in blood, and Shantaul begins to hyperventilate. I walk over to the unconscious grunt, turn him face up with my boot. I notice the not-so-small wound in his leg. I turn towards Touya, and tell him,
"See? Touya? This is why I said no maiming. He's probably going to die now. That is on you." I tell him.
"Why don't we just drag him into the castle?" Touya asks.
I do a facepalm. "Touya what do you think the Team Plasma people are going to think if they see us with a bloody passed-out man?" I ask him in a measured tone.
"What do you think they're gonna think when they see Skyla and Shauntal with blood on them, and a dead man outside?" He returns.
"Touche." I tell him. "Okay, guys, grab the man and bring him into the door of the castle. That's all we can do. Shauntal, don't touch anything," I tell everyone before I turn to Skyla and inquire, "How long before her panic attack stops?"
"I dunno. I've never seen her have one before." Is Skyla's reply.
"Great. Super helpful." I remark sarcastically before going over to Shauntal. "Honey," I ask, "Lets go now."
Shauntal, purple eyes closed, is hyperventilating so loudly I can hardly make out her answer of, "Won't move."
I pick her up in my arms, bridal style, getting covered in thick, wet blood as well, and realize that this isn't going to work. I set Shauntal back down, and Touya come over to ask me the most stupid question I've ever heard.
"Does she need an Epipen?"
"No, you idiot." I tell him. "You have a water type right?"
"Yeah." is his response.
"Then tell your Pokemon to wash her off!" I cry.
Touya pulls Samurott's Pokeball out, and he uses Surf to clean Shauntal, who now clean, ceases to hyperventilate, and acts like nothing just happened. I turn her around, keeping her face away from the dead man and us, and lead her into the castle.