Inferno, Chapter 11
Okay, gang, EmeraldDragon1 is back with another chapter. And since my popularity is on the rise, I've decided I can take things another step, with galladefenrir44 as my guide. For the time being, I don't have any, but in the near future, I'm going to start doing spotlights, which means I will recommend a story by a certain author, likely one of the authors that reads a certain story, or short of that, a story that I have found interest in. I will also be showing the ratings of this story (on this one only) in order of greatest to least. In short, it will look like this after the author's notes; Story spotlight; N/A at this time. Ratings; 1st) US, 2nd) Australia, 3rd) UK, 4th) Mexico, 5th) Barbados.
The Beginnings Of A Scheme
It was halfway between morning and noon. Blaze's arm was fully healed now, and Nicholai had managed to undermine the system (Arceus knows how) and send a more-or-less official passport for Blaze. For the time, he would be assuming the name Joe Ramirez. Now all they had to do was perfect his disguise, then wait for the next plane to Unova.
Loki had gone to the Johto region, more specifically the Goldenrod Department store, where he could hopefully find clothes in the right size that would serve to cover up Blaze effectively. Luckily, it was around winter, so a hooded sweatshirt was not out of the question. Loki had tried to be compromising, asking if there was a specific color he would like, but he hadn't been forthcoming. So Loki told him he would just go with a simple black, to which Blaze just shrugged and responded
"Whatever." The memory still frustrated Loki, but now was not the time to reflect on that. It was imperative he get this done, and quickly too. When he arrived, he aimed directly for the massive building, aiming at the men's clothing aisle. In due time, he found a plain black, hooded sweatshirt with one large front pocket. This would do well to cover his hands, which would also be bound in trainer's tape to conceal his claws. String he already had, but he either had to gain Blaze's trust or have Lora do it. Figuring the former would be near impossible, he opted for the latter and left the string behind with them.
Next he searched for pants, and he soon found a passable size set of jeans. Figuring nothing else was necessary, he soon went to the counter and made his purchase with little trouble. He walked back to the train station, keeping his senses vigilant. When he got back on the train, he relaxed, knowing it would only be a matter of hours before everything came together.
Cinnabar Island
Lora was having a difficult time getting the string around Blaze's head. Part of it was winding it behind his horns; most of the problem, however, came from Blaze himself.
"Dammit, I don't like that! It clinches too tightly around my head, and that makes me dizzy!"
"Well maybe if you would stop struggling so much, I wouldn't have to tighten it so hard!"
Blaze could only growl in frustration as he attempted to hold still, just to give Lora the benefit of the doubt. At long last, the string was tied around Blaze's head, just behind his horns, making it look like they could have been an odd trinket. And while Blaze's actual age was acceptable, to an extent, for things like this, his deceptive size made him seem more like a young adult, which made the practice rather odd. Nevertheless, the horns couldn't have been removed, and if they had done nothing it would only attract unwanted attention.
"There, how does that feel?" Lora asked him, taking a step back. He turned to her and shrugged, saying
"I guess it's okay. How does it look?" Lora brought out a small mirror she had found lying around a while back during their travels and gave it to him to inspect for himself.
"It's rather convincing, I think." Blaze checked the placement of the string, and after having looked at it from several angles, he snorted and said
"It's not in the wrong place, but people still won't buy it. I just know there will be spies at the airports, no matter where we go. We would do so much better stealth-wise if we went with a boat."
"But like I said before, we'll be trapped if we get spotted on a ship. They can't do anything on a plane, especially not a small one We won't be going first-class you know." Blaze snorted and asked
"Is that something you learned from the human?" Lora frowned and replied
"He has a name, you know, and it would be more considerate to use it." Blaze retaliated
"And since when has courtesy to humans been a priority for me?"
"You weren't this rude to Marie and June."
"They weren't stalking us to find out what we were up to, or trying to sell us out to Team Rocket." Lora hesitated, then said softly
"I know you have a low opinion of humans, but can't you try to make peace with Loki? For me?" Blaze crossed his arms for a minute, looking disgruntled. Then he huffed and uncrossed them again, and when he responded, he said
"Fine, for you, I'll try to get along with him." Lora felt relieved as she said
"Thank you, Blaze." The hybrid grunted, then said threateningly
"But make no mistake; if he makes one move backwards, his life is forfeit." Lora gulped, then said shakily
"Alright, I'll explain that to him." Blaze just nodded, then went to untie the string, which was still uncomfortable to him. About half an hour later, Loki arrived on his Gliscor, carrying a large bag with the words "Goldenrod Dept. Store", which Lora, to her delight, could read, though with some difficulty. Loki approached and said
"All right, I've got the clothes you'll need Blaze. You should try them on and make sure they fit." Blaze walked up to him, taking the bag gently, hesitating for a moment, then said to Loki directly
"Thanks." Loki's eyebrows rose in surprise, but after a moment's hesitation, he replied
"You're welcome." Blaze went to his and Lora's tent to change, and Loki addressed Lora silently, asking
"What got into him?" Lora giggled briefly before saying
"I did. I managed to convince him to give you a chance, but you need to tread lightly. He said if you make one move backwards, your life is forfeit." Loki shivered at the significance of the threat, and he asked
"He wouldn't really do that, would he?" Lora hesitated, then sighed and said
"I'm not sure anymore. Since that tragic night I left him for a week and he killed a Rocket grunt in self-defense, he hasn't been the same. The problem is, he refuses to believe he needs help. But please don't mention that I told you this." Loki made a zipping motion over his lips with his hand, then said
"Your secret's safe with me."
After about half a minute, Blaze walked out of the tent, asking
"How do I look?" In the sweatshirt and Jeans, which appeared to be slightly swollen, he didn't look anything like the hybrid Team Rocket was hunting down, with the exception of his claws and horns. Loki observed him, then said
"Stick your hands into the pocket on the front." Blaze complied, and Loki clapped his hands, saying
"Perfect! Now the only giveaway is your horns. Did you guys manage to fix that problem?" Lora smirked and replied
"After he stopped struggling, yes." Blaze said nothing in response, but Loki had no doubt he was a bit irritated. Loki paused a moment, then asked
"What happened to those jeans? I thought I got them in the right size." Blaze hesitated, then said
"Well, if push came to shove, I wanted to be able to use my fire moves without turning out naked, so I'm keeping my clothes on under these." Loki frowned, then shrugged and said
"Well, if that's what's comfortable for you, then far be it from me to tell you otherwise. Ideally, though, you won't be using your moves to avoid suspicion, even if we're interrogated." Blaze nodded and replied
"I know; they're just a last resort. So, where do we go from here?" Loki frowned, then placed a hand to his chin in thought.
"Well, we first need to go to Vermillion City and catch a ride to the islands where the Kanto Airport is located." Blaze frowned and asked
"Will this require another set of passports?" Loki shook his head and told him
"No, just yours will suffice. Lora told me she has a pokeball so she could avoid capture while you both traveled. For the design of her safety, and ours as well, she needs to be in it until we get to Unova." Blaze frowned and Loki cut him off before he could complain.
"I know, I know, but we don't have any other choice. On your own you already raise some flags, but if a Gardevoir is traveling outside of her ball, while Team Rocket is searching for both of you, that puts us in direct jeopardy. With you disguised, they can't directly point fingers. Further, if Lora is out of sight, then they lose their only other direct link to you. If nothing else, you can claim you're a beginning trainer and have good friends." Blaze considered the position for a moment, then grunted and turned to Lora, saying
"I'm sorry, but I can't argue with him." Lora shook her head and told him
"No need to apologize; I was expecting something like that anyway. Thanks to some of the research I was able to get accomplished now that I can read to an extent, I learned that pokemon aren't really accepted on commercial travels anyway. So I would have had to return to the pokeball regardless."
Blaze sighed in resignation, then turned to Loki and asked
"Alright, when do we leave?" Loki considered this for a few moments, then said
"Well, I don't know about you, but I think we've hung out here long enough. Any longer and chances are Team Rocket will find you two again. With me so far?" Blaze and Lora nodded their heads, and Loki brought out a map. During the course of teaching Lora, and to an extent Blaze, how to read English, he'd also gotten into how to properly read a map. The map was of Kanto, and he placed a finger on Cinnabar Island, their current location.
"We're here, and we want to go-" he moved his finger up and over until it hovered over the port city, Vermillion, "here. Think we can make the trip in one jump?" Lora looked over the map herself, trying to accurately measure out the distance. Then she placed a hand to her chin in thought, finally saying
"If we want to avoid all forms of suspicion, and I think we do, we want to teleport somewhere inconspicuous. For a journey of this magnitude, I would normally have to combine the energy from the crystal and my own power to get there. But, if I can expand the energy storing properties of the crystal, Blaze can return me to my pokeball and make the jump himself, then have me healed in the Pokemon Center. That would save time in terms of my recovery and how long it would take to revitalize the crystal for emergency purposes. From there it should be smooth sailing."
Blaze seemed uneasy and asked
"Are you sure about this plan?" Lora turned to him and responded
"Yes. It will take a while to expand the power of the crystal, but once I do it will be able to hold more energy, which will make for larger distances. It also means I can draw from it and get more out of it if necessary." Blaze nodded and surrendered the teleportation crystal, asking
"How long will this take?" Lora hesitated, then said
"Well, under normal circumstances, it would take me about two weeks to double the potential of it, but if we accept to use the Pokemon Center available on this island, my guess is about three days." Loki's eyebrows rose and he said
"That's quite a difference. I say we go with it. If it helps us get out of here sooner, then we should accept the short-term risks." Blaze hesitated for a moment, then said to Lora
"Just don't hurt yourself, okay?" Lora smiled and promised, then went back to the tent to begin. Loki and Blaze sat there for a short while in uncomfortable silence, until eventually Blaze took out the pokeball and began to polish it; he wouldn't curse Lora to be trapped in this thing and have it dirty. While he did so, Loki tried to strike up a conversation.
"So… things turning out for you so far?" Blaze hesitated. In reality, he wanted to make a cutting remark, but he promised Lora he would give Loki a chance. He took a deep breath, then responded
"I've felt better." Loki frowned, then asked
"Want to get it off your chest?" Blaze didn't hesitate this time as he said, as politely as he could manage,
"Sorry, but it's none of your business." Loki tried to keep his offense back; he really wanted to help, and it was obvious that he needed it. But he refused ostentatiously to get any.
"Look, I know you don't trust me, at all, and I can understand why, but-"
"No," Blaze cut him off "you couldn't hope to understand what I've been through. But it's nobody's business but mine. I'm sorry, but that's how it is." Loki smirked, then said
"No, you're not." Blaze looked at him in confusion and asked
"Sorry?" Loki continued to smirk as he said
"When it comes to something people dislike talking about, and they say they're sorry, nine times out of ten they really aren't." Blaze appeared shocked for a moment, then he himself smirked and said
"Hmph, you're not as gullible as I first took you to be. So tell me, why are you so interested in helping me and Lora? What do you gain from it?" Loki thought for a moment about his answer, then grinned and said
"Nothing but the satisfaction gained from selflessly helping someone out, asking nothing in return." Blaze paused in his act of polishing, and he pointed at Loki and said
"That seems real stupid of you. What if they ask you to do something that goes against your character?" Loki shrugged and replied
"I respectfully decline. I have no wish to aid someone in a crime, no matter what happens to me. If my life is threatened, then I use it to fight until the gruesome end. Hasn't happened yet, the gruesome end, I mean, but it probably will." Blaze smirked and asked
"So you're actually willing to sacrifice your life to help others, just for the satisfaction of the act?" Loki shrugged and said
"That's pretty much it in a nutshell." Blaze paused for a moment, then asked shrewdly
"What if you decide to turn evil?" Loki didn't hesitate as he replied
"I would never do that." Then Blaze asked further
"What if you had no choice?" Loki raised an eyebrow, then said
"We all have a choice; that's what makes us the individuals we are, by making choices and standing by them. My choice was to help others because no one would help me. I had some… issues I had to move past, and although I asked for it, no one would help me. After I managed to get past my problems, I vowed that if anybody needed help, as long as it wasn't illegal or immoral, I would do it." Blaze eyed him intently, then asked, somewhat accusingly
"And you've stood by that ever since? Nothing has challenged your morals or values?"
"Of course it has. But I stridently work to keep both of them in line with my desire. After a couple bumps in the road during the first few months, I managed to straighten it out, and it's worked ever since."
Blaze grunted and returned to polishing the pokeball Lora would be trapped in. He growled as the thought went by, and Loki asked
"What's wrong?" Blaze didn't answer immediately, but eventually he said
"I hate trapping Lora in this damn thing. It makes me wish that pokeballs never existed in the first place." Loki shook his head sadly, then said
"You know, it's not as bad as you think." Blaze snorted in disbelief, and Loki persisted.
"No, I'm serious. The pokemon inside is put in a more or less state of stasis. And while that may not seem too desirable to you, it can potentially save a pokemon's life." Blaze eyed Loki disbelievingly and asked
"How?"
"Well, if a pokemon faints, it is automatically returned to its pokeball. It also cannot be called out while it's fainted. The reason for this is because the potential for greater harm is high, and since no proper trainer wants their pokemon to be subjected to further harm, the rule of thumb for pokeballs is the pokemon its registered for cannot be brought back out if the risk of its health would be compromised by doing so." He paused to give Blaze a moment to think this over. Then he continued
"Further, if a pokemon is harmed outside of battle, for whatever reason, the pokemon can be safely withdrawn into the pokeball and kept in stasis for however long it takes to get to a Pokemon Center to get them healed. The nurses really know what they're doing." Blaze scrunched up his face in dislike, and Loki chuckled, then asked
"Don't care too much for the nurses, I take it?" Blaze shook his head and replied
"Well, they seem to want pokemon to get hurt. I mean, what's up with that line 'We hope to see you again'? It just makes no sense to me." Loki paused, then shrugged and said
"I know what you mean; I just try to not let it bother me. Otherwise I'll never get the issue out of my head."
Blaze grunted and kept polishing the pokeball. Loki thought for a moment, then said
"You know, there are a variety of pokeballs out there, some of which offer what some people might consider better accommodations than others." Blaze raised an eyebrow and asked
"Oh? Like what?" Loki thought again, and after a moment he replied
"Well, there's the most prominent of them, the Luxury Ball. It's actually pretty weak, but if it works, the pokemon will become friendlier toward its trainer. It's said to have a more luxurious feel to it than most other pokeballs, hence the name." Blaze looked down at the one he held, then held it up and asked
"What kind do I have Lora in?" Loki quickly looked it over, then said
"You've got a standard pokeball there. The most basic of 'em all, and cheap as far as pokeballs go. Some of them go for 1000. But that's because they have special effects that usually are a boon to certain kinds of trainers." Blaze frowned and asked
"Like what?"
"Well, there's the Quick Ball. It's designed to catch a pokemon at the start of a battle. The sooner you toss it, the higher the likelihood it will work. In contrast to that, there's the Timer Ball. It was designed to grow in strength the longer a pokemon battle dragged on. So if, for example, you were up against a particularly strong pokemon, you could wear its health down bit by bit, and once it's down to a manageable level, you toss out a Timer Ball. If your battle took you something like half an hour, then it's almost like a guaranteed catch."
"Are there guaranteed catches?"
"Well, only by one pokeball ever made, which can't be bought on the market. It's called the Master Ball, said to be able to capture legendaries. But of course, both the legendaries and Master Balls are extremely rare, so that's never really been put to the test." Blaze didn't respond.
He and Loki just sat there for another short while, but the silence was interrupted when Lora came out of the tent, looking very tired indeed. Blaze stood up and walked to her, asking
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Lora smiled teasingly and asked with her hands on her hips
"What, think I can't do anything for myself?" Blaze flustered for a moment before Lora laughed and pressed the crystal back into his hand, saying
"Don't worry, I'm only kidding. I've done what I can so far, but I really need a break right now. Is there any food left?" Loki nodded and reached back to hand her some. It was beginning to get dark, so Blaze lit up a fire in the pit. The three sat around it, Lora eating ravenously, Blaze still polishing the pokeball, and Loki observing the two of them. After Lora was finished, she suppressed a belch, then said
"Excuse me. Anyway, I'm ready to go back inside the pokeball, Blaze. Have Loki take me to the Pokemon Center first thing tomorrow morning, and when I get back I'll get back to work on the crystal." Blaze hesitated for a minute, then held up the ball hesitantly, saying
"Return." The red beam shot out and hit Lora, turning her the same shade of red. Then she was sucked back into the ball, and Blaze sat there, hating himself for doing that to her. Loki came up and laid a hand on his shoulder, telling him
"Don't worry, she's fine. And when I get back tomorrow, you can let her right out." Blaze nodded and surrendered the pokeball, saying tiredly
"Just make sure nothing happens to her." Loki nodded and shrank the ball, saying
"You have my word." Blaze just nodded, then rose and walked to the tent to retire for the night. Loki looked down at Lora's pokeball and said
"He's been through a lot, hasn't he? But hopefully you can make things more livable for him." He attached the ball to his belt and went to his own tent.
Okay, that should do the trick. Again, I'm sorry I don't have a story spotlight for you this chapter, but the next chapter will. For any of you who are interested, I have a poll up pertaining to my other story, A Deal With A God. For those of you who haven't read it yet, I encourage you to check it out! For those of you who are avid readers, check out my profile page and check out the poll. The end date is actually later than what I originally set it for, but it's difficult to change right now. At any rate, send in those reviews and check out my new poll!