Chapter 7

Sooner or later

YAY this is a chapter to celabrate the new Eragon book coming out i cant wait to get my hands on it God knows when. Wow chapter 7 this story is going to be much longer then I thought. We are nowhere near the end. Well hope you enjoy it please R&R I do not own Pokémon. Not much happens in this chapter now that I think about it all well and I just realized they changed ash's hat! How can they do that! His hat was his Pride and joy what made Ash well ASH! This is why I like the originals more than the new episodes. Anyway on with the story thanks for reading.

I obeyed Lance and ran without thinking towards the edge of town. I saw two rocket grunts knocked out on the ground and I rushed past their bodies hearing them snoring gently reassured me they were ok. None of the other goons tried to stop me; they were all focused on Lance and my father. I raced towards the cave frantically eager to escape this. What have I gotten into! I thought as the cave entrance came into view. I looked back towards the village just as a giant explosion erupted and a blast of light appeared above the trees and flew upward into the heavens.

The wind from the blast hit me and sent my hair wiping at my face. Lance. I thought worried before I ran into the darkness of the cave. I couldn't see anything I pressed myself up against the wall beside the door and waited for either Lance or a Rocket goon to run through. Lance, please be ok. I prayed as I waited. It didn't take long before I heard footsteps approach rapidly.

I waited anxiously as they grew louder and louder. Suddenly a dark shadowy figure rushed past me into the cave with a burst of strength and adrenaline I jumped on them sending us both tumbling to the floor. We rolled before I landed on top and pinned the person down. I could tell the other person had strength to throw me and defeat me and I felt their strong hands wrap around my wrists in a tight grip ready to toss me across the room. I was shaky and didn't know what to do it was then I recognized the cloak the person was wearing.

"Lance?"I croaked out my voice sounding weak and throat feeling like sand paper.

"Claire?" a familiar voice asked as the grip loosened. We climbed to our feet and I stared at his dark outline for a moment feeling like a child. I saw how much larger it was then mine how much stronger and steadier. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug feeling relived he was alright.

"You- you're ok?" I asked shakily he nodded and we fell into a moment of silence. A moment later it was broken by the sound of many footsteps and they were coming quick.

"Let's go." He ordered me quietly as he took my hand and we headed deeper down into the cave. Figures appeared just as we disappeared into the eternal darkness of the room next to us. We were traveling faster than the Rockets and Lance seemed to know the way and I followed him trusting we wouldn't get lost. But no matter how far away we got I could still hear them, the calls and orders of the different rocket underlings but one voice rang out and followed me through all of the echoing noise.

"Find them don't let them get away!" my father called sounding a bit distraught.

"What do we do when we find them sir?" a goon asked. "Shall we eliminate them?" there was a sudden flash of light that traveled through the entire cave and I stumbled in shock and it quickly passed.

"No you fool! That's my daughter…" his voice trailed off and I was dazed blindly following Lance to the approaching light of the exit before us.

As soon as we were out Lance called upon his Charzard to fly us away and in no time we were out of sight and in cerulean city. We landed and without a word he called back Charzard and we went straight to the Pokémon center. I handed Nurse Joy all of my Pokémon while lance handed her a couple of his own. For a moment I was surprised. How strong is my father? I wondered if he can actually faint some of Lance's Pokémon. We sat in the waiting room waiting for Nurse Joy to come back with our Pokémon and we sat in complete silence. Questions buzzed through my head but I stayed quiet, until finally the words escaped my lips.

"What happened?" I asked Lance looked at me a bit startled as if he had forgotten I was there. I noticed he seemed a bit distracted, staring off into the distance as if he were deep in thought about something. He didn't make eye contact as he answered.

"Nothing,"

"Lance what's wrong?" I pressed fear and worry growing in me spreading through my being like the pelage.

"Nothing is wrong." He said refusing to look at me.

"Lance please." I begged. "You can trust me." he didn't respond. "Lance look at me." I demanded. He looked directly into my eyes his beautiful sapphire eyes were cold and hard as ice as they pierced through me as if they were scanning my soul trying to find out whether he really could trust me. He sighed and his eyes lost some of their cruelty as he answered.

"Nothing important happened, everything will be fine."

"Something happened Lance; I can see it in your eyes. What was that giant blast of light? What was that Pokémon?" He looked out the window and responded.

"That blast of light was a hyper beam from my Dragonite its attack against the Pokémon."

"So you won?" I asked hopefully.

"No." he answered flatly. My heart dropped and I couldn't imagine anything living through an attack like that. "I honestly don't know what Pokémon your father used. There are many Pokémon yet to be discovered and it is possible your father found a new species." I calmed a bit with the thought that there was an explanation that wasn't totally freaky.

"But…I have a feeling that's not the case." Lance said slowly as if thinking over every word.

"What- what do you mean?" I asked.

"This Pokémon was different. He had it wrapped in a type of armor and I can't really say but something was off about it. I wreaked of chemicals as if it spent a lot of time in a laboratory and there was just something about it that leads me to believe it's not natural."

"You think he created a Pokémon?" I asked confused the idea sounding ridiculous.

"I am not sure but it was strong. My hyper beam didn't even scratch it. On top of that he fainted both my Dragonite and my Gyarados. After that I made a smoke screen and got out of there." I was a shocked. Lance has always been so strong…I guess even he isn't invincible. After a while nurse Joy came back with our Pokémon all healed. We rented two of the guest rooms in the center and went to sleep for the night. The events of the day playing back in my mind. These thoughts pledged my dreams with nightmares.

In the dream I faced my father. He rejected me cast me off as a traitor and coldly turned his back on me sending every one of his soldiers after me. From there the dream restarted I faced my father and he couldn't bring himself to fight me. He was distraught and hurt by what I had done and felt abandoned completely crushing both his spirit, and my own. Have you ever seen your parents cry? Or someone you really look up to and respect? And know there is nothing you can do to help? It hurts to watch the person you look up to and respected the most break and that was how I felt in the dream. A sense of helplessness a sense of pain. Feeling as if I betrayed him instead of the other way around. Then again it restated only through his pain he fought me, without holding back and he destroyed me in battle, completely wiped me out in minutes with only a few Pokémon. Then in the last version he forgave me and understood. In this version he was the same father I had always known and stopped what he was doing because it upset me and Ruby.

That's when I awoke and I knew I had to do something. I knew sooner or later I would have to face him and any of those where a possibility of what could happen. I couldn't recall details but I felt like something was missing and I sat there for a long time curled in a ball on my bed thinking it over and over. The same words replaying in my mind.

Sooner or later

I looked out the window to see the rising sun paint the sky with shades of pink, red and orange starting a whole new day. I got dressed and went to wait in the lobby for Lance. When he finally came he seemed confused almost surprised to see I was awake before him.

"Moring." He greeted

"Morning." He must have seen how upset I was because he looked at me with concern but decided not to ask.

"Come on lets go get some breakfast." We walked to the nearest restaurant and once again he told me it was on him only this time I wasn't in the mood to argue it so I let him pay for the meal. We ate in silence for a few minutes Lance also seemed far away. His eyes were trained on something in the distance and he didn't speak. I had a feeling he was still thinking about that strange Pokémon.

"Lance." I started he looked at me still seeming far away, I took a breath before saying. "I am ready to face my father." His eyes widened in shock.

"No Claire you can't go!"

"Lance I have to face him sooner or later. I finally worked up the courage to do it please let me do it now."

"We don't even know where he is he wouldn't have gone back to his old hideout."

"Lance I know you know where I can find him." I said carefully looking into his eyes. He looked away but I put a hand on his shoulder forcing him to look back into my green eyes. "Lance please." With a sigh he told me.

"There is another team Rocket base nearby. A secret passage in Mt. Moon the cave we took to get here leads there. He might have gone there not wanting to go all the way back to your home town."

"Please take me." I pleaded. After a moment he nodded solemnly and stood and without a word led me back to Mt. Moon. This time though his Charzard led the way his tail fire illuminating the cave around us with a bright orange light. Once the exit came into view though he turned and walked into a dead end.

"I stormed this place once, back when it was only a minor storage base. Since then Security probably doubled and who knows what they do here now. So be prepared for whatever lies ahead." I nodded and he ran his hand along the wall. The entire cave was silent then suddenly there was a quite clicking sound that echoed down the hall and the entire wall began to move! A loud grinding sound of rock on rock rang out and I covered my ears from the nasty sound. Finally it stopped, the wall was gone revealing a long dimly lit tile hallway.