"What... what do you mean?" Dawn whimpered from her Togekiss.
"Volkner, is there anyway we can crash at your gym?" Paul interrupted. "I think they've got more to tell us than they can over flying Pokemon.
Volkner nodded. "I'll call ahead for the trainees to clear out- it tends to happen during renovations of I'm training. They won't think anything different."
Paul nodded. "Good." He replied as Volkner put his PokeTech to his face and radioed his gym. Gary looked down at the girl in front of him. She finally had stopped shaking.
"Are you okay?" He murmured to her as he leaned closer. She leaned back into him, his arms holding her tighter, pulling her closer. For some odd reason, she felt safer with Gary.
"I've been better." She said with a weak laugh. "This stuff may happen to you guys regularly, but not for me, that's for sure." She said as she glanced down. "We would've been screwed if Espeon and Alakazam didn't flip out."
Gary nodded. "We would have."
Misty nudged Ash and pointed towards Gary and Rae on top of the Salamence. He grinned and pulled Misty back into his arms. "They're cute, aren't they?" He whispered into her ear.
"They really are," She frowned. "Something bad must had to have happened if they're that comfortable with each other now..." She broke off as she studied the two of them. Volkner hung up his call.
"They promised they'll be out of there." Volkner told the group. His eyes rested on Rae and Gary, Rae asleep in his arms. He locked eyes with Gary and watched as the brunette brought his lips up in a smirk. He quickly diverted his eyes and looked ahead to Sunnyshore City. "There will be food and everything there, we can hear Gary and Rae out and decide what your next move is from there."
"Our next move." Drew said from his Flygon. "Most likely they'll be after you too, now. You were with us as we escaped. They're probably already suspecting we're going to the Gym." He remarked, flicking his hair out of his face. "We need to get out of there by tomorrow morning, at latest."
Paul nodded. "Their priorities would be you and Rae, right Gary?"
"Not... exactly." Gary answered, looking at Rae.
"We'll talk when we get there." May said soothingly as she sent Gary a look of pity.
Volkner nodded. "We're landing now, anyways."
The ten of them were sprawled across the Gym's battle arena supplied with a couple twelve packs of highly caffeinated soda. Misty was laying with her head in Ash's lap, Drew had his arm around May's waist, pulling her closer to him as she turned bright red. Paul and Dawn were sitting together, close to touching, but not quite there. Brock laid with his head on his bag, his body pointing outwards of the crude circle everyone had made.
Rae, however was sitting between Gary and Volkner. Gary had lain down on his back, but watched the girl with one eye. She was locked in conversation with Volkner, who was petting his Luxray. Amongst the teens, other various Pokemon mingled about, keeping watch over their trainers. Ash's Pikachu and Buizel were both out, playing with Misty's Psyduck. Vaporeon, Glaceon, Espeon and Umbreon were all sitting amongst the trainers, keeping watch with their trained ears. Alakazam had his eyes closed, trying to focus on what was outside. Piplup sat in Dawn's lap as Absol, Frosslass and Haunter kept roaming the perimeter of the inside of the building.
"Alright." Paul said as he got everyone's attention. "Start from where Drake grabbed both your arms."
Gary sat up, looking at Rae. She took this as her go-ahead. "Well... Drake came up to Gary and I and asked to have a word with us. I didn't have any idea about your guy's... mission. yet. I thought at first he was just meaning something about a paper or something."
"He had grabbed both our arms. Rae tried to pull away from him, as did I. The harder we pulled, the stronger his grip went on both of us." Gary interrupted. "He led us to the Pokemon Center and ordered us to heal our team, but to not change them out. He briefly let go of us... but not before..." He paused looking down at the ground.
"Before?" Dawn prodded on.
"Before telling me that if I ran off to get you guys, Rae was as good as gone. He said it soft enough that Rae didn't hear him, and I complied. He grabbed back onto our arms as soon as we left the Pokemon Center."
"He dragged us through the door he forbade anyone from going into." Rae spoke up quietly. "He told me that some people wanted to meet us. That they wanted to see us in person before we were sent out." Espeon, feeling her trainer's distress, came and sat in her lap. She absentmindedly petted her purple eeveelution. "He led us down a hall and took a sharp left. He let go of Gary briefly to swipe a key card through a slide and to open the door. He then grabbed Gary's arm again and pushed him and I through the door."
"The room had four others in it, all dressed in black pants, a yellow tee with a black jacket over them. They saluted Drake as he walked into the room with us. He forced me down into a chair and bent down in front of me, telling me the rule still applies. He then took Rae and had her sit on the opposite side of the room. He glanced at all four of them and cackled." Green said as he took Rae's hand. "He said, 'We've finally got who we've been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen, the star of our show, the Daughter of Gardenia.'"
"He then stopped in front of me and grabbed for my Pokemon. I hit his hand away from them, not realizing what exactly I was doing." Rae jumped in. "He knelt in front of me and..." She broke off for a moment.
"Slapped her." Gary said, gritting his teeth together. Ash looked at him sympathetically as Drew squeezed May's hand. "That's what did it for me. I jumped out of my seat and onto the table and tackled Drake away from her. The four Commanders must have been prepared for that, because they had grabbed her away from me before I could jump up and grab her.
"The middle one cackled. She told me that if I didn't put this hat on that she held, she was going to... off Rae." Gary momentarily paused, shuddering as he watched the four in front of him hold onto Rae, mouth covered by one of their filthy hands, her hands pulled behind her, her blue eyes full of fear as he realized he was backed against a wall, with Drake behind him.
"Gary reached for the hat as I tried to shake them off me. He shook his head and told me to stop. Espeon and Alakazam, being Psychic Pokemon, must have figured something was wrong with the hat or something and popped out of their Pokeballs without Gary or I asking them. Espeon quickly turned on the woman who was holding me and bit her, which caused her to throw me accidentally into the table."
Gary absentmindedly started massaging her hand. "Chaos ensued. Rae hit the back of her head on the table, but not before she could release Haunter to get in between me, and Drake who was about ready to grab me. Her and I were surrounded by our Pokemon on three sides. I released Umbreon out of his Pokeball as I bent down to pick Rae off the ground. I held onto her, ready to scoop her up as soon as I had the chance to run.
"Then the weirdest thing happened. Drake started laughing. Full on, knee slap laughing. He wiped the tears from his eyes as I and the Pokemon looked at him warily. He just grinned at the unconscious at the time, Rae. He remarked. 'Isn't she amazing?' And reached out to touch her. Alakazam blocked his arm with one of his spoons before I had the chance too. He stood there grinning like an idiot."
"'She's going to be the one to wake Arceus.' He murmured as he looked at her with sick glee. I almost dropped her and decked him in the face. He went on, grabbing towards Haunter, who recoiled back and shot a Dark Pulse at the man. He promptly collapsed, giving me the opportunity to run. Alakazam picked up Rae while Espeon, Umbreon and Haunter distracted the four commanders long enough to give Alakazam and I a head start." Gary said as he looked around the room. All of them were hanging onto his and Rae's every word. Dawn's hand was covered by Paul's, who had a look of hatred on his face. Drew and Ash were both watching May and Misty with concerned looks on their faces. Volkner had his eyes raised, watching Rae's every movement.
"How did Rae wake up though?" Brock asked with his eyebrows furrowed.
Gary paled, but Rae spoke up. "Because Team Thunder shot an electric attack at Alakazam, and instead of having me take the hit with him, he dropped me and jumped in front. I woke up on impact and called Ampharos out to suck up all the electricity and to protect the other Pokemon as we made our way back out of the hallway. Our two Eeveelutions and Haunter following while Alakazam and Ampharos blocking the attacks.
"We quickly recalled our Pokemon as we reached the door out of that retched hall. A grunt had caught up with us as we did, however, and grabbed onto my arm, pulling me down with him." She paused as she looked at Gary. "Gary full on decked him and pulled me out of his grasp and back onto my feet, dragging me through everything."
"And then we found you guys and yelled at you to get out there... and here we are." Gary ended as he looked around the room. "They're going to come after Rae, and possibly use any leverage they have against us to draw us and her out."
"The Professor..." Misty said as her eyes got wide. "Volkner! Is there any way you can get the Gym Leaders together and protect Rae and stop them?"
Gary scoffed. "What do you think I've been trying to do?" He said as he let go of Rae's hand.
Volkner ignored him, and nodded at Misty. "She's Gardenia's daughter. That'll put some power to our request. But..."
"You're the most powerful Gym Leader in the Region." Rae said as she grabbed Volkner's hand. "They'll listen."
Absol stopped its pacing and looked at Drew. "What's wrong?" Drew asked as he walked over and knelt in front of his Pokemon. Absol looked at him for a moment, then Drew nodded.
Volkner's Luxray and Rae's Espeon suddenly jumped off their trainers, teeth bared. Alakazam opened its eyes and ran back to Gary. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder as Buizel stood protectively in front of Misty. Drew and Absol ran and stopped in front of May, one arm out in front of her, watching the door.
Rae felt herself being pulled backwards by a pair of strong arms. She looked in front of her to see Gary completely blocking her with Alakazam on his left and Umbreon and Espeon on his right; he held another Pokeball in his hand.
Paul had picked Dawn up off the floor and put himself between her and the door. Misty stood at Ash's side, ready for anything.
Rae listened closely, hearing voices and steps outside the door. She reached for Salamence's Pokeball. Gary reached for her hand from behind him and squeezed it reassuringly. "I won't let them take you." He murmured.
"Flame Wheel." She heard a voice say and watched as the door became red-hot. She felt Gary turn and grab her in his arms, right as she threw Salamence's Pokeball in front of everyone and yelled.
"Protect!" She was lucky the room was about 100 yards long, and about twenty feet high, or Salamence wouldn't have been able to block the molten door from hitting everyone. As the smoke cleared, she felt Gary let go of her and went back to his position in front of her. She glanced around the side of him and saw that three Gym Leaders stood in between them, and the door.
"Thank Arceus!" Dawn said as she stepped forward. Paul put his hand on her shoulder, keeping her from going any closer. Gary relaxed a little bit and felt Rae trying to peak her way around him. He lifted up his arm and put it around her shoulders.
"Fantina, Bryon, Roark." Volkner addressed as he stepped in front of the nine of them. "This is unexpected. You know you could have called instead of blowing down my door..." He broke off while studying the three. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
Fantina, the one in the middle, smiled. "I think you know what we're after, Volkner. Hand her over and join us, you'll get unbelievable power." She called out as she took a step towards them. Gary took a step back, keeping the same amount between them and Fantina. Salamence lowered its hand and roared at the trio, Bryon sent out his Bastidon.
"Call off your Pokemon, and we'll do the same for ours, and talk this out as adults. We understand you kids are worried, upset, and scared even. You've been fed lies." Roark said as he stepped up. "We can get you back to the school."
Drew, shaking his head, laughed. "You really think we're supposed to believe you?" He asked, looking at everyone else. "There are 10 of us and only three of you. The odds don't seem to go in your favor."
Fantina smirked. "Are you saying you want to even out the odds?" She asked, looking at him. "Three on three battle, three of you against us three."
"Rae, Gary, are you ready?" Ash asked, stepping forward. "We can each take one of them." He stated as Rae moved to take her place beside Ash, but Gary caught her arm.
"Let Volkner..." He murmured, his hands cupping her face.
She shook her head. "I can't." She watched him nod as they took their places on the left and right of Ash.
Fantina laughed. "You let the one we're after fight? You've got some guts, kid." Bryon said looking across at Rae. "Kind of admirable."
"Back. Off." Gary spoke through his teeth.
Laughing, Bryon came forward, closing the gap between him and Rae, then he stopped. "You and I are up first, kiddo."
She nodded and looked at Salamence. "C'mon back, Salamence. You're tired from flying." She said as she recalled her Pokemon. She grabbed Charizard's Pokeball. "Go, Charizard!" She threw the Pokeball, and caught it in her left hand. "Take to the skies."
Bryon smirked. "Ancient Power, Bastidon. Let's go!"
Rocks from around Bastidon glowed a dark purple and lifted into the air, being thrown one at a time at her Charizard. "Charizard, use Flamethrower to block, hit Bastidon!" She yelled, giving out the command. This grew on for about five minutes until Charizard landed its second direct attack of Flamethrower on the Bastidon, burning him and making him faint.
Bryon recalled his Pokmon, looking Rae up and down. "Suiting, the trainer is a good one, and a hot one at that." As he said it, Ash appeared in front of her.
"C'mon, Sceptile, let's make quick work of Roark!" Ash yelled as he sent out his Sceptile. Roark cursed as he sent out his Onix. In no time, Ash had made it faint with only a few Leaf Blades, he recalled his Pokemon and stepped out of the way for Gary.
"C'mon Electivire!" Gary yelled as Fantina sent out her Drifblim. Gary's Thunderbolt made quick work of the Drifblim, making the three Gym leaders, defeated.
"Boss was right..." Fantina muttered as she stared at the three of them. "No matter! There has been plenty of time made for this plan to come together. It won't matter if we waited another day." She remarked as she walked up to Gary. She ran her hand down his cheek. He could feel Rae tense up. "Watch out, Gary Oak, because as soon as you screw up, Rae will be ours." And with those parting words, she and the other two Gym Leaders walked through the charred door.