An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Thirty-four: Saving Two Pokémon
Until she'd found them and told them what happened, Lydia had never heard Jesse swear before. He called Alicia a number of names that made Lydia reproach him as Jennie was trying, unsuccessfully, to get Seel to let her heal her. Seel was shrinking away from Jennie, the apparent fear in her eyes as Lydia walked over to her, drawing the baby into her lap and petting her gently.
"It's okay, Seel, nobody here is going to hurt you," she assured her, touching Seel's mind with her psyche and projecting warm feelings into her. At once, Lydia felt her calm slightly, but when Jennie tried to help her again, Seel shrank away.
"I'm sorry, Lydia, but I think you're going to have to do it," Jennie told her, handing over the supplies. "Seel seems to prefer your touch." Her voice was reproachful as she sat back down next to Cloyster.
"Just tell me what to do," Lydia said with a sigh as she took the potion and Jennie began instructing her on how to heal her properly. Lydia was gentle and careful, mindful of the injuries as she tried her best to heal them. It took awhile, but Seel was finally healed enough for her to pick her up. "I think we need to get her to a Pokémon Centre."
"Nearest one would be on Cianwood," Jesse said as he stood up, starting to head back the way that they had come through, back towards where the massacre was.
"Wait, Jess!" Lydia said sharply and he looked back at her. "We can't get back that way. You really don't want to see that and besides, it's caved in. We're gonna have to find another way out of here." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm really starting to think that caves and us equal bad. Something always seems to happen whenever we're in caves."
"All right, then, let's find another way out of here," Jesse said with a sigh, launching a Pokéball into the air. "Natu, can you find a way out of here?" he asked as the bird/psychic Pokémon flew into air. She gave a hoot of assurance as her eyes glowed and then she flew off into a different direction, leading them through the island.
"Easy, Seel," Lydia whispered as she held the Pokémon in her arms, cradling her gentle. The baby was whimpering slightly as she buried her head into Lydia's jacket. "You're okay, you're going to be okay."
"I don't think so, Talon," Alicia spoke up as she appeared from behind them, startling all three trainers, who turned. She was grinning maliciously as she stepped towards them, Flareon right next to her as she placed a hand on her hip. "Now, hand over the baby Seel and nobody gets hurt."
Lydia glared at her. "Right and on a scale of one to ten, how stupid exactly do you think I am?"
"Well, you did happen to fall right into my trap," Alicia said mockingly as she folded her arms across her chest. "That Pokémon is going to die, Talon, and there isn't anything you can do about it. I've got half a dozen of our members patrolling the islands, ready for my call if I need them. And all of them would be willing to tear you down. Are you going to risk a Pokémon's life on mere stubbornness? Because if that's true . . . you're more like me than I thought."
Lydia glared at her. "I'm nothing like you," she shot back. "I would never threaten an innocent Pokémon's life or slaughter their family, for that matter. You're not getting this Pokémon if I have anything to say about it." She tightened her grip on Seel. "Come and try to get her."
Alicia's eyes glittered dangerously and her smile turned dangerous. "Very well, then," she said lightly. "Have it your way. Flareon, take them down. But make sure that the Seel is unharmed. She's not going to be any use to us if she gets damaged any further." She placed her hand to her ear, revealing a small communication device in her ear. "All units, report to me. We need a little bit of damage control here."
"Damage control?" Lydia repeated, her eyes narrowed as Jesse and Jennie moved to back her up. If she had been less preoccupied, she would have sensed a familiar presence approaching nearby.
As it was, she was too focused on trying to save Seel to notice her brother's approach and looked down at Umbreon. "Ready for this, buddy?" she asked and he barked in affirmation as he moved forward to face Flareon. "Okay, quick attack!"
"Dodge it and use flame thrower!" Alicia shrieked, her eyes blazing as some more of her "friends" raced into the cave they were in, their Pokémon growling towards the three trainers forced into a tight circle. "Now, where we were? I believe you were about to hand over the Seel."
Lydia glared at her, glancing towards her friends. "Guys, I hate to say it, but we're a little bit outnumbered here."
"You think so?" Jennie raised her eyebrows as she surveyed the trainers surrounding them. "They're just twenty or so of them and three of us."
Jesse laughed anxiously. "Yeah, if we can take on about seven at one time, we're gonna have no problem," he said, forcing a smile. "So, how about it? I'll take the seven on the left there, Jennie, the ones on the right, and Lydia, you get the ones in the middle."
"You won't have time for that, Turner," Alicia said calmly. "Not unless you all can avoid about thirty flame throwers coming your way. Because that's what's about to happen."
"Hyper beam!"
Lydia glanced up as a bright light flashed through the cave, causing most of Alicia's colleagues to scream and flee in the opposite direction. "Hearts of lions, they've got," she commented before looking towards their rescuer and she froze in shock.
Because there was a Gyarados standing right behind them, his frightening face leering at them as she backed up, straight into Jesse. Jennie screamed when she saw it, ducking behind her brother and gripping his jacket tightly. Jesse moved in front of his sister and Lydia as a figure leaped off of Gyarados and landed on the ground.
"Hello, Alicia," Hayden said flatly, folding his arms across his chest. "Long time, no see."
"Old friend of yours?" Lydia inquired and her brother flashed her a smirk before looking at Alicia, who had her teeth barred at Hayden. Lydia glanced between the two of them, wondering what kind of history they'd had. Certainly, they'd met each other before; that much was obvious.
"And Hayden Talon shows up to rescue his baby sister," Alicia countered. "Who ever would have guessed?"
"I'd suggest that you leave now, before I have Gyarados work his wrath on you," Hayden said politely, but his eyes presented none of the civility. His blue eyes were trained on Alicia with a ferocity that Lydia had never seen in her brother.
Alicia scowled, but she seemed to have realised that there were only one or two of her associates left with her; the others had deserted them at the sight of Gyarados. "This isn't over yet," she warned them as she walked away from the trio, jerking her head towards her colleagues. "Come along, we'll have more fun with them another day. And believe me, Talon," she said, looking towards Lydia dangerously, "things are about to get very interesting."
No one spoke as they were left alone in the cave until Hayden recalled his Gyarados, placing the Pokéball in the pocket. "Why is it," he commented, "that whenever I leave you alone, you run into trouble?"
Lydia sighed as she looked down at Seel. "I don't know, but we need to get this Seel to a Pokémon Centre, she's pretty weak," she explained as Hayden crossed over to her, peering towards Seel. "Alicia's friends massacred her entire family and some other Pokémon back there," she explained, jerking her head towards where the slaughter had occurred.
Hayden muttered something under his breath that Lydia didn't catch, but it didn't sound too flattering. He jerked his head towards them. "Come on, let's go," he ordered. "There's a boat waiting just outside."
"The next boat to Cianwood doesn't arrive for another couple of hours!" Jennie protested as they hurried through the caves. Cloyster was trailing after them, sticking close to Jennie.
"The ferry boats, yeah," Hayden agreed as he led them out into the sunlight. "But we're not going on a ferry." He headed towards a small, private boat that held only an elderly sailor on it, waiting for them. "Rex! Let's pack everything up! We need to get to Cianwood straight away!" Hayden yelled towards him.
"Very good, Mr. Talon!" the sailor called back as he began getting everything ready while they climbed on board. The sailor glanced at the entourage that had gotten onto the boat. "And who might these youngsters be?"
"Rex Palmer," Hayden said as he placed his hands on Lydia's shoulders, "may I present to you my sister Lydia Talon." Rex's eyes widened in surprise and he shook her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Talon," he said enthusiastically. "Forgive me for not recognising you straightaway. You are the image of your mother Rosemary."
"And these are her friends, Jesse and Jennie Turner," Hayden added as he moved away from them, helping Rex to launch the boat. "And we're kind of on short notice. We've got an injured Pokémon here, there might be more still inside. I'm gonna make a call."
"William Talon's work?"
"Not this time, I don't think. It was Alicia Knightly, I believe," Hayden answered as he placed a cell phone to his ear, walking away from them and talking so quietly that Lydia couldn't even hear him.
--
Lydia paced back and forth as they waited in the lobby of the Pokémon Centre, her light brown hair swinging back and forth as she walked, waiting anxiously for Nurse Joy to return with Seel.
"Look, Lydia, I know that you're worried, but you're going to make a hole in the floor if you keep pacing like that," Jesse said, his tone light and teasing. She shot him a dirty look. "They're not going to come out any faster if you keep pacing. Might as well sit down."
With a sigh, Lydia sat down at the vacant seat, running her hand through her hair as she glanced towards the emergency ward. "What is taking so long?" she said anxiously.
"I wouldn't worry about it taking so long," Hayden said reassuringly. She stared at him in incredulity. "Well . . . if it wasn't taking so long, then I would probably worry more. That would mean that there wasn't a whole lot that they could do."
Lydia sighed, knowing he had a point as she leaned back against the plush chair. "Did any of your friends find anything back there?"
"They checked," Hayden confirmed. "And they didn't find any survivors. They're taking some of the stuff that killed them back to their lab, to find out what it was built for."
"Destroy Pokémon clans and watch them suffer and die?" Jennie said scathingly, but Lydia shook her head in denial.
"I don't think so, Jen," she said slowly. "Before I found Seel, one of Alicia's associates said that something went wrong with the machine, that it didn't do what it was supposed to do."
"Then what was it supposed to do?"
Lydia shook her head, not understanding any of this. "I don't know," she whispered as Nurse Joy came out of the emergency ward. She jumped to her feet and hurried over to her, her friends right behind her.
"Seel is going to be just fine," the nurse said reassuringly. "It's a good thing that you got her here when you did. All she needs is a good night's sleep." Lydia let out a slow breath as Nurse Joy turned to Jennie. "And I've taken a look a Cloyster. You did a good job healing him; there wasn't much more that I could have done. He'll be fine by morning."
"Thank goodness," Lydia said in relief as she leaned against Jesse, who hugged her and his sister as Hayden placed an arm around, holding her tightly. "Okay, guys, oxygen becoming an issue," she commented as Nurse Joy walked away to help another trainer with his Oddish.
Hayden chuckled as he stood up. "Well, I need to go check in with Rex, but I'll be around," he promised. Lydia nodded, hugging him tightly before he turned and left the Centre.
As she watched him go, Lydia headed towards the recovery, where Seel was lying asleep. Sitting down next to him, she looked towards the darkening sky, feeling furious at Alicia. She had disliked people before, had even hated a few of them, but she had never actually loathed anyone until today. Alicia Knightly had as good as killed those Pokémon and would've killed Seel today had it not been for Hayden.
"I'm gonna stop you, Alicia Knightly," she whispered, the promise made in her heart. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, I'm going to take you down."