Chapter 7
Not this. Not you.

Reaching the next estination took a couple days. After departing Canalave, Laresa passed through Jubilife en route to Oreburgh. From Oreburgh, it was north to Wayward Cave. Eterna was close by, but she saw no reason to visit that city. If she had a need to go there, she would, but otherwise, it would be straight back to Rustboro after taking care of business in Wayward Cave.

Laresa proceeded into the cave the same way she had at Iron Island, with her flashlight on and Luxray out just in case. Although trainers did visit Wayward Cave, it wasn't nearly as popular a spot as Iron Island, and Laresa didn't see a single other trainer as she headed into the cave.

As before, the object eventually began glowing as Laresa proceeded deeper in. Wayward Cave had a much less straightforward layout than Iron Island, but by using the object's glow as a guide, Laresa was able to locate her destination without much trouble.

Like at Iron Island, there was a glow from the wall, and the sunburst symbol appeared when Laresa held the object up to it. As before, Laresa pressed the object against the symbol on the wall. But from there, things were different.

Both glows vanished, but then the symbol on the wall began flashing rapidly. And then there was a... well, Laresa wasn't sure what it was, but some sort of strange visual effect. And then the symbol's flashing became a stead glow. But there was no more wall; the symbol was just hanging in the air. And eventually, it faded away, leaving a new passage, one lit in the same unnatural manner as the cavern on Iron Island.

Okay, Laresa thought, that's interesting. Different from Iron Island. Well, what I'm looking for is likely through here. She headed into the passage.

The passage was... strange. Distorted. Do the focus points attract distortive effects, too? But no, there wasn't any- well, that was a stupid thought. There was plenty of weirdness there. The whole battle with Illusion was full of it. I don't think that was the location, though. I think it had more to do with Illusion. Anyways, why then is this tunnel distorted like this? Well, actually, it is different from the previous focus point. That one just took me to the cavern. This one's different. Maybe-well, it doesn't really matter, does it- "Gah!"

Laresa took a step back and looked around. Nothing. Guess I ran into something that's not actually here. She moved forward, only to run right into something again. "Gah!"

She looked around again. Still nothing in sight. But... She moved forward carefully, arm outstretched. And she came into contact with... something. I guess there is something here. I just can't see it. Well, I guess I should've expected invisible walls to turn up at some point. I just need to find a- there we go, an opening. She stepped carefully through, then looked behind to make sure Luxray got through as well. Then something occurred to her. "Luxray, could you see anything there?"

Luxray shook his head. "No, huh? Well, I guess there's no easy way to check for any more, the-ah!" She smacked into another one. "Dammit, another one." She felt for an opening again, but this time it was more complicated. Damn, seems like I'm dealing with an invisible maze type of thing here. Tunnel's more than wide enough for that sort of thing. Well, this makes things tricky. I should recall Luxray, though. It'll be hard enough to get myself through. I don't want to have to worry about getting him through, too.

With Luxray recalled, Laresa moved forward through the maze, feeling her way along the unseen walls. Just keep following the wall, girl. With a maze like this one, with the exit obviously at the far end, all you need to do is start as far to one side as you can and follow the wall, and you'll get through eventually. But is this another distortion effect? It seems too... stable for that. Too constant. It's more likely something put here. But why? It's nothing more than an annoyance, certainly not a major obstacle to passage. So what's the purpose? Or is it a distortion that's somehow stabilized by the focus point?

Eventually, the maze seemed to end. Laresa couldn't locate any more invisible walls. Okay, so then am I done with- She saw something out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, there was nothing there. As she turned back to continue on, she briefly saw... someone. Some odd-looking girl with a horn on her head and what looked like some sort of wine glass or something in her hand. Then she was gone. Okay, now I saw a girl with a horn. Another one of these... what was the term I heard in Oreburgh? 'Unnatural phenomena', that's it. Another unnatural phenomenon. A good term for this stuff, really.

Laresa continued to catch glimpses of random things as she continued through the passage. Then she started hearing noises. And then she saw something in front of her. Approaching her. A person, it looks like. A man. And not just a quick glimpse like I've been seeing. This is a solid image approaching, and-

He was close enough now for Laresa to get a good look at him. She stopped dead in her tracks. No. No no no no. Not this. Not you. But it was. "Hi there," he said.

No no no no no no no no no. The images flashed before her. The memories. The night in Goldenrod. The alley. The man. Approaching.

"You don't seem too glad to see me," the man said.

This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real. You're just seeing things. It's not real.

"What's the matter?" the man said. "Surprised to see me?"

Push it out of your head. "You're not real. You're not real!"

"Oh? Why would you say something like that?"

It's all in your head. It's all in your head. "You're not real! You're dead!"

"Am I now? What makes you say that?"

Don't think about it. But she couldn't help it. He was right there, even though..."You're dead! I killed you! I know you're dead!"

And the memories surfaced.

Goldenrod at night. Laresa walked through the empty streets, heading for the Pokemon Center. It was late, but Pokemon Centers were always open. Laresa had only just arrived in Goldenrod; she usually stopped earlier and set up camp for the night, but she'd been close enough to Goldenrod that she'd decided to press on.

The man lunged out just as Laresa passed the alley way he'd been concealed in. He grabbed Laresa and pulled her into the alley, shoving her against a wall. Before she could let out a cry, the man had a scarf wrapped around her head, covering her mouth. What the- oh, fuck, is he- He held Laresa against the wall with one hand while unbuckling her belt with the other. He yanked the belt away and tossed it aside, putting Laresa's Pokemon beyond her reach. Fuck, he just- not good, he has to be-

Laresa resisted, but the man slammed her back against the wall with both hands. "I wouldn't struggle if I were you. You're not getting away, so it'll only make things worse for you." Okay, focus. You have a plan for this. Focus. Okay, struggle. He'll expect it. Laresa struggled against the man anyways, which he responded to by slamming her into the wall again. "I told you not to struggle. Jesus, you women are all dumb shits. All I want is a little fun, then I'll let you go. Shit, you'd think you bitches would enjoy it just as much as I do."

The man let go with one hand and pulled his pants down, then took Laresa's shorts and pulled them down around her legs. That settles it. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh- damn it, focus! He put both hands on Laresa again, pinning her arms to her side, and came closer, and closer. Laresa continued to struggle. Keep it up. He still expects it.

"Damn it, woman," the man said, "what the hell is wrong with you? You could've enjoyed this just as much as me. But you have to go and resist. You fight back, and because you fight back, everything falls apart. You could've walked away unharmed. And you still might, if you stop fighting back. Which you should; it's not doing you any good, now, is it?"

Laresa stopped struggling, keeping up the appearance of being terrified as the man came in-which wasn't hard, as despite having a plan, she actually was terrified. But she did have a plan. Wait for it... wait for it... wait for-now!

The obvious moves were a knee to the groin or a headbutt, so Laresa did neither; the man would be ready for them. She twisted her arm, taking the man by surprise and loosening his grip. She immediately went for a gut punch, but the man reacted quickly, releasing Laresa and jumping back to avoid it. "Oh, now you've done it," he said. "Now I'm going to have to force you down. You're not going to come away unhurt, bitch. And when this is done, remember that your injuries are your fault."

The man was clearly very experienced at this. From the start, everything he did was done quickly and with the clear intention of removing any means Laresa had to fight back. And she could tell from his posture that he had experience in hand-to-hand combat. Laresa's posture should tell him that she, too, knew what she was doing in a fight. But the man still clearly thought he could take her, and since Laresa didn't know his exact level of skill, she didn't know whether or not he was right. But it didn't matter, as the man had made a mistake. He thought that Laresa was disarmed.

The man came at her.

She quickly reached behind her back and took hold of her knife, which she kept clipped on underneath her belt, precisely so that she'd have it, unknown to and unexpected by any assailant who removed her belt.

She drew the knife just as the man was coming to within her reach.

The weapon's sudden appearance startled the man, giving Laresa an opening.

She took the knife.

She slashed across the man's neck.

Momentum carried the man directly into Laresa, and she fell to the ground, the man coming down on top of her, blood spurting onto her face. And then-

And then she felt his penis come to rest against the skin of her bare leg.

She rolled over and shoved herself away from the man, collapsing on the ground next to him, breathing heavily. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god....

Laresa didn't notice the approaching person until he but his hands on her shoulders. She looked pu, saw him, and immediately let out a cry while pushing him away. "Stay back! Stay the hell away from me!"

The man backed off and left Laresa on the ground. He stepped over to the would-be rapist's body, shining a flashlight on it.

Laresa jerked in shock as the man began to speak. "Yeah, I've got a situation here. A dead body and a girl. Yeah, girl's terrified. Scared out of her mind. She's got a knife, too. Yeah, has to be rape. Her shorts are down, and the dead man's pants are down. Cause of death? That's easy. His throat's been cut. Yeah, I think the girl did it, too. Yeah, get a woman over here. You have my location? Oh, that close? Okay, got it. Out."

The man continued to examine the body as Laresa lay on the ground in hysterics. Before long, someone else was approaching. She looked up. It was a woman. A cop. And then she noticed for the first time, as the newcomer's light hit him, that the man was also a cop. She came to a halt next to him and looked at the body. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Looks like it to me," the male cop said. "Recovery's on the way. You see to the girl. I don't think she's ready for a man yet."

The woman knelt down in front of Laresa. "It's okay. It's okay. Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you. Do you know who I am?"

Laresa found that she could barely speak "A- a- you're a cop," she finally got out.

"Yes, I'm a cop. Don't worry, you're safe. Please, come with me. We'll make sure you're taken care of." She reached in and grabbed Laresa by the shoulders. Laresa initially jerked away instinctively, but she then let the woman pull her to her feet. She took a step forward and almost fell to the ground again, but the woman came in to support her. "Don't worry, I've got you."

The examiner pronounced the rapist dead almost immediately after the examination began upon the body's arrival at the station. The female officer-Jennifer, she'd said her name was-brought the news to Laresa, who was sitting in a room by herself. "He's dead, of course," she said. "How are you holding up?"

"How the fuck do you think I'm holding up?"

"No need to swear. But yeah, you're right. Still, I had to ask. Listen, Laresa. We've got a positive ID on the body. The man was Taylor Athis, a known rapist. We've been after him for some time now."

"And then he went for me, and I killed him. I killed him, I fucking-"

"Calm down," Jennifer said. "It's over. Yes, you killed him, but he attacked you. He wanted to rape you. Nobody can blame you for fighting back."

"He would."

"Yes," Jennifer said, "I suppose he would. We've spoken to past victims of his. They all report that he blamed anything he did on them fighting back. That he'd say they should be enjoying it, too. But you're not taking anything he said seriously, are you? He was just trying to justify his actions. He was wrong, you hear me? Wrong. Everything he was doing was wrong, and you did nothing wrong by fighting back, even killing him."

"Yeah? Then what are you going to do with me?"

"Nothing," Jennifer said. "We have no reason to doubt anything you told us. Like I said, we've been after Taylor for a while. We don't need anything more to believe you. Nobody can charge you with anything. We won't even hold you here, although I do recommend that you spend the night. Unless, do you have family in the area?"

"No."

"Then yeah, I'd definitely say you should spend the night. Oh, and here." Jennifer produced Laresa's belt, with all six Pokeballs attached, and handed it to her. "They told me to give this back to you," she continued as Laresa put the belt on. "I can't return your knife, though. You can get it back when you leave."

And she had done so upon leaving the following morning. She'd immediately put it in the quick-access pocked; she didn't want to see it, didn't want to be reminded of what had happened, but she also wanted it available in case she truly needed it. She'd left Goldenrod immediately, wandering south, in the direction of Azalea, not really paying attention. Even a couple sightings of Pokemon not found in the area barely registered. And then, in Ilex Forest, she was suddenly in the cavern, found the object, and had the initial encounter with Ho-oh. Which led to where she was now, face-to-face with the very man she killed.

"Do I look dead to you?" Taylor said as he continued to approach. "Do I? Because I don't look dead to myself."

Go away, go away, go away, goawaygoawaygoaway- "Get the fuck out of my head!" Laresa screamed as she charged Taylor, aiming for a punch to the gut.

She struck nothing and lost her balance, nearly falling over. She steadied herself and looked around. Taylor was nowhere to be seen. It was all in your head. It was all in your head. It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It- okay, girl, focus. Fucking focus. It was fake. Not real. Damn it, girl, focus! Okay, just keep going. Keep going. Find the focus point. Activate it. Yes. Okay. Okay. Focus on that. Okay. Okay, then, get moving.

The rest was uneventful. Nothing more awaited Laresa as she located and activated the focus point. As at the Iron Island point, there were numerous drawings on the walls, but also as with that focus point, only some could still be made out. And not ones that gave Laresa any new information. So she left, proceeding back through the tunnel. Nothing happened this time; even the invisible walls were gone. And as soon as Laresa exited the passage, it vanished, leaving only the plain cave wall in its place.

Laresa made her way out of Wayward Cave and started back towards Oreburgh. Her part was done. Now she just had to wait for Cain to arrive. But she had to assume that Cain had seen enough from wall drawings at his focus points to figure out that the objects were used to break the seal, not make it. And she had to assume that because of this, Cain would refuse to continue on to the conclusion, and he would also likely refuse to surrender his object so that Laresa could do it alone. Fortunately, there was a simple way to ensure that Cain showed up at the Spear Pillar.

Upon reaching Rustboro, Laresa immediately went to the Pokemon center. She had the nurse run the standard treatment even tough her team didn't need it, and also had her recharge her pack's batteries while she was there.

"And one more thing," Laresa said as the nurse returned her balls. "I'd like to leave a message for someone."

"Okay. What's the name?"

"His name's Cain," Laresa said, "I've got him registered. Here." She pulled up his registration on her Pokedex and handed it to the nurse.

The nurse transferred the info from the Pokedex, then returned it to Laresa. "Okal, record your message starting... now."

"I've gone ahead to get things started," Laresa said. "Catch up with me." She nodded at the nurse, who stopped the recorder.

"I'll go ahead and assume he'll know what you're talking about," the nurse said.

"Correct."

"Well, will there be anything else?"

"No," Laresa said. "Thanks."

Laresa left the Pokemon Center and proceeded east out of Oreburgh, towards Mt. Coronet. Her plan was simple: make her way up to the Spear Pillar and wait for Cain there. Her message would ensure that Cain followed, if only with the intent to stop her. But she'd be ready for him.

But Laresa was doing this, acting out this chain of events, solely as a distraction. But the distraction wouldn't last forever. And then what?

What would happen once the distraction was gone?