No, no, no, the counter is lying. I don't have over 50 reviews for this story. Nope. There's no way. It's not possible. There is no way that so many people are actually enjoying this. Nope, I refuse to believe it. Real or fake, though, I just want to say thank you for bearing with me.

After this story is done, I do plan on going back to edit it again (this is all self edited, so there are bound to be loads of errors). Thanks for sticking with me and my horrid spelling and grammar. This story isn't even close to done, I don't even think we're half way there yet, we might be close though. At the end of this I think it might end up being over 30 chapters... I'm not quite sure yet. It may take a year or two, but I want to finish this. I need to prove to myself I can finish a multichapter story.

School is now over! YAY! I an start working on this more often now, woo! Okay... I'm sorry, school has been over for about a week now, but I've been really busy. The next two weeks don't expect anything from me because I'm going to be away. However I'll try to work on this story while I'm gone, when I can.

RangerTakara: I'm sure it was hard to go through, I thank God everyday that I still have my family. Team Rocket, might actually come into play a little more in this story, but they won't be brought up that much, mainly because there isn't much of a reason to have them around.

Pokefangirl: Wow... I'm flattered, really I am. I'm not that good, but thank you. I hope you go through with your story ideas, I'd love to read them someday. As for the man with the ninetails living on Mt. Sorbet, I could swear there was a shack on Mt. Faldera as well, I might be mistaken. I'll have to play the game again when I have time to check that. I can change it later if I find out I'm wrong.

A Random Human: Ya, it was pretty long, but I didn't want to make it separate chapters, it just wouldn't have worked that well of I did.

Ranger Belle: It is pretty bad... I only just realised how mean I was being a few days ago... oops. She probably should call Ben... but, I don't think I'm going to spoil anything by saying this, she doesn't... for now at least.

AquaBluey: Yup, she knew Ash. I sort of had to do it, if she lived in Pallet Town, the place is so small you have to know everyone. I figured it would make sense.

Faliara: Ya... I know if I kill Summer people will rage, but if I'll actually do it or not... well, let's just wait and see, shall we? As for the relationships, I've never been one to ship anything so I'm trying to write it as though they care for each other like siblings... I don't think it's turning out to well though. As for all your questions... I'd answer them, but some of the answers contain spoilers so I can't... sorry... I'm glad you like the story, but you have to wait for the answers to your questions, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, I swear!

Word Count: 3,762 words

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Chapter 14

Empty Threats

As we descended I could feel the air curl around us as though it was trying to cover Latias and I like a cool, clear blanket. It whistled in my ear like a song that had no tune or rhythm, even so it was the sweetest music me; able to amaze and calm me. My brown eyes closed and a smile played across my face. Just barely above the wind was the silent sound of voices, joyful but harsh voices. I couldn't tell how many voices there were, but I knew they existed… unless I was going crazy… which is always possible. After all, everyone is crazy in their own way; some are just crazier than others.

But if they were real it made me question why? Why would anyone even be on the small island? It held nothing useful anymore. The guardian sign was collected, so that wouldn't help whoever it is. Shaking my head I sighed, why was I looking so deep into this if I didn't even know if the voices were real or not, there was no point to it. At least, that's what I thought until the sound of iron against stone reached my ears. To anyone who hadn't heard the sound before or weren't paying attention it would seem like an out-of-tune iron bell, when truly it was more of a clinking sound. Latias seemed to tense under me and mew anxiously.

Placing my right hand on her neck, I pat her softly, trying to get her to calm down, whispering sweat things in her ear in the attempt. The ground wasn't too far away now, specks of black and uneven ground now visible. I never noticed how high up she always took me, but looking at the ground so far away, it almost amazed me how high we would go. When the rocky earth was only a few feet below me I found it hard to believe that I hadn't been seen on the way down. How hard is it to miss a bright red and white legendary pokémon that is flying through the sky and notice that it's coming towards you? Really, it cannot be that hard, but… I wasn't going to complain. They were still talking when I lowered myself to the ground trying not to aggravate my bad leg, what they were talking about was really none of my business. From what I heard it was things about family and friends back in their home regions.

Turning to them, I was almost shocked to see that none of them noticed me. Were they extremely near-sighted or something? I mean, come on! Here I was, standing right in front of them while they chatted and dug their holes and they didn't notice me. That was when it started again, that weird pulse… it was different this time. Before it had always been a constant almost tapping feeling, but now it seemed like there wasn't a time when that tap wasn't present. It wasn't unpleasant, it felt natural, like it was meant to happen, and I knew it wasn't a figment of my imagination. It felt too real to be imagined. With some difficulty I pushed the odd feeling to the back of my mind where I could hopefully ignore it until the goons were dealt with.

Looking at Latias, I nodded at her, a signal for her to fly away and that I'd take care of everything. The red legend nodded and flew away, as soon as she was out of sight I looked at the goons, some of whom had just started to realize I was there, but they didn't seem too worried about it for some reason... probably the fact I had a bandage on my right leg and another wrapped around my head… ya… it more likely than not made me look like some hurt kid dressed up in the ranger uniform than an actual ranger.

Though that wouldn't be anything new to me, when I first started that's what people thought. I was younger than most of the other kids who were in the school building (most of them being around fourteen, I was twelve and Ben was thirteen). Since I was younger, I was also shorter than most other rangers (Ben was the closest to me in height, sometimes I had teased for that, but I stopped that a while ago). Not to mention I didn't talk to many people and I usually had some bandage on me because I was a klutz. Long story short, I hardly ever looked like a true ranger or a true ranger-to-be.

"Hey!" I hollered, and, as if by magic, they all started to look at me, the ones who had noticed e earlier seeming to look straight into my eyes, as though they were trying to read my soul. In total, there were maybe ten of the grunts (four girls and six boys, all of them from what I could see looked about nineteen years old). Two of them were still in their holes, obviously choosing to keep digging over trying to climb out to confront me. If I were in their position, I'd do the same thing.

The goons mostly wore the same thing, the girls had a black tank top and black shorts, while the boys had black muscle shirts and black jeans, near the left sleeve was the letters WE (obviously standing for World's End). One of the boys smirked, he had pale tannish skin, storm cloud gray eyes and short blonde hair that fell over his left eye. "Well, well, well, look what we've got here." His voice was sly and low tenor, almost as though he were mocking me, which he probably was. "You've come a long way from home little girl, now why don't you just head back home." He laughed, eyes closed while I glared at him. "Oh wait, are you a ranger or something?" Another laugh came out of his mouth and I felt myself growl. Just because I was used to the idea of people not thinking I was a ranger doesn't mean I liked it.

"A pretty one brownish blue eyed one too." Another boy piped up, my first thought was one simple word "Pervert." His eyes were the color of hay, a dusty brown gold, his hair was brown the stripes on the back of a pikachu and his skin was an orangy peach color. As much as his statement freaked me out and made me walk away, I stood my ground. However… it did confuse me… I have brown eyes, not brownish blue… was the guy imagining it or something? Mentally I shrugged it off, placing the blame on the lighting or the fact the guy might have an eye problem. "That's not a mix of colors you see every day."

Taking a deep breath, I continued my glare and demanded "Stop digging and get off this island or else!" The threat was technically empty; I never have been able to threaten people that efficiently. Ben always said that I just wasn't the type of person who could make a decent threat and have it work.

There was a chuckle, it sounded feminine. Quickly, my eyes scanned the small crowd in front of me for its source. My gaze landed on a girl, her hand in front of her mouth as though trying to make the sound quieter. She had short ginger hair that framed her face, vivid green eyes that looked like small emeralds, and her skin was tanned by the sun. "Or else what?" She kidded "What are going to do if we don't leave? After all, it's one little girl against ten of us. Besides, you don't look like the type to go picking fights." The girl eyed the nails on her left hand, as though she were looking for any imperfections. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I didn't have an immediate answer. Scouring my mind for solutions, I just barely found one to say before she could open her mouth to brag.

"If you don't leave I'll call Latias and Suicune who will make you leave!" There was a silence, tension ran through the air and the wind blew picking up dust and tossing it into the vast ocean around us. I had lied, somewhat based on truth… I couldn't call on both of them at the same time. At least, I didn't think I could, I had never tried it before because there was never a reason to. Eventually a response did come, though it wasn't the one I was expected. It was a laugh, and soon the rest of the grunts joined in.

When one of them spoke the voice came from one of the many holes in the ground. I could only make out the persons navy blue hair, but the voice was a low tenor's so I knew it was a boy. He sounded amused, as though he were having trouble not laughing as he spoke "As if you could do that!" Somehow, I could tell he was smiling in his hole holding his pick or his shovel in his hands as he continued "No one can call the legendary pokémon and have them come! It's impossible!"

I could hear footsteps behind me and I turned to see a boy with ebony eyes, bronze hair and peach colored skin. He was smiling, teeth showing in a grin that seemed to say that everything would be alright if I just went to him. At the same time, though, it was a look that seemed to promise pain. The boy took a step towards me, and I took one back.

I shouldn't have stepped back.

There was a large amount of pressure placed on my injured right leg, pressure I had caused my stepping back. It caused me to almost fall to the ground, I say almost because I managed to regain my balance before it happened. A hiss of pain escaped my lips as a sharp flare of pain ran up and down my leg. Somehow, I knew the wound would reopen if I did that again. Without warning, a hand was placed on my left shoulder and I twirled out from under it using my left as the one to take the most weight to try and avoid using my right too much more than I had, and took a short step away from the blonde haired, violet eyed boy with peachy tan skin that the hand belonged to.

With my firmest voice I declared "I'm not joking!" But, my efforts had failed. My voice sounding instead like that of a scared, but determined child, and I hated myself for sounding that way.

"Oh you" A girl's voice emerged from the group as the eight of them who were not in their hole began to surround me. Her voice was a metzo-soprano and sounded mockingly confident. "Why not prove it?" She paused for a second before continuing "Oh, wait. That's right, you can't." I smirked, slowly moving my hand towards the stylist on my wrist as I imagined what their faces would look like when I called one of them with their guardian signs.

That was, until another girl grabbed my moving hand firmly by the wrist. Her black hair covering one of her piercing gold eyes and her dark caramel skin, she smirked "Nah, uh uh" She taunted wagging a finger in front of my face before bringing her free hand towards my stylist. "No cheating." I moved my free hand that held the stylist away from her and tried to pull my left hand free of her grasp, but her grip held firm. "Now, now" She said almost sweetly "don't be so difficult."

Another pair of arms wrapped around my elbows and pulled slightly. Just like that, the girl released my hand and I felt myself start to fall back as the arms around my arm joints pulled me back, only to catch myself and be quickly pulled back so that my back was almost touching the chest of the one who held me. A growl rose up from my throat. I was sick and tired of being pushed around and these goons were starting to get on my nerves. Struggling against whoever was holding seemed to do no good, the grip would not let up and I couldn't seem to slip my arms through it. Instead, I felt something (most likely a foot) collide with my bad leg, hitting the injury almost directly, a painful burning sensation shot through my body and I tried not to scream. Telling myself over and over again that I had dealt with worse, it wasn't the best pep talk, but it worked… for me at least. Though… I think I screamed anyway, and I hated myself for that being a possibility.

Another growl came out of my throat once again, and I could see some stray hairs fall in front of my eyes. Craning my neck I glared at the boy holding me; his navy blue eyes were indifferent and his black hair was messy, stray hairs sticking up and poking out uncontrollably, shading his coppery skinned face. I could hear the clinking of metal against rock, and I felt the pulsing become more erratic to the point where I had a hard time trying to ignore it, eight pairs of eyes stared at me and I could tell they were all smirking.

But it was my turn to smile evilly as an idea came to my mind. I raised my good leg, fully aware that my right was going to send out messages of disagreement at the thought of being the main center of pressure, and kicked him in the crotch. The expected reaction was instant, he let go of me and his hands moved to his crotch in an attempt to keep it from happening again. He glared at me, but I just gave him a smug grin in return, satisfied with the small victory. The sound of feet beating against the ground came up behind me and I held my position until the last possible second before quickly stepping to the side. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of a girl yelled some sort of battle cry and began to run at me. When it came to be the perfect time, I twirled out of the way, accidently putting my weight on my right, before hitting her in the back with my foot. Pain flared up my leg again, and I felt the bandage get wet… just my luck, I had reopened the wound.

I ignored it as much as possible and reached for my stylist again, this time reaching it. The disk came out in a burst of light and I tried to make Latias' guardian sign as fast as I could. By the time I was halfway done I felt someone tackle me from behind in an attempt to stop me. And I'm ashamed to say that it worked. I felt the person's knees on my back and I felt their hands hold mine to the ground, and I struggled to get out, kicking and squirming in the attempt to get free. The person yelled "Someone get her feet!" Female, high alto, her voice was urgent, but commanding. Two pairs of hands came down on my legs, one pair on my left and one pair on my right (one hand directly on the bandaged that was probably stained crimson by now).

That didn't stop my struggles, but it made it a lot more difficult. Each of them had a good hold, and the hand on my bandage was deliberately harder than the one off of it to try and discourage me from using that leg at all. The knees seemed to dig into my back and I felt their figure nails almost claw into my skin. Ashamed, and with no other option seemingly available, I screamed "HELP!" Even though I had a good feeling no one would come. After all, why would they? I was a jerk, and… I deserved this for snapping at Ben and the others and going off on my own. This was what I deserved. It was my fault, it was all my fault, and I knew that.

Even so, that didn't making me stop yelling at the top of my lungs for help, I only stopped when I felt a piece of cloth be showed in my mouth and a voice (male, low tenor, one of the boys who had spoken before) hiss in my ear "Shut the hell up, girl." The cloth tasted funny, but, it was a piece of fabric, what was it supposed to taste like?

I felt the knees on my back let up only a few short seconds after, only to feel my hands to roughly pulled behind my back and tied there with another piece of cloth. It was the same with my legs, the hands eased up on me only for them to be replaced with fabric bonds. When they got off of me and sat me up I saw the girl who might have been sitting on me grin. Her brown eyes sparkled mischievously, her wavy brown hair blew in the wind and her coco skin gleamed slightly "Not so tough now are you, ranger?" By her side were the other two who probably held me down, the boy with storm gray eyes and the boy with ebony eyes. I glared at them and tried to growl. She pet my head and smiled even more as her hand went under my chin and forced me to look at her, it was like she was amused at my antics, and she probably was. "Silly, girl." She kidded.

"Alright everyone, back to work!" One of them yelled, I couldn't identify who it was, and I didn't care. Instead, I focused on scolding myself for being so stupid. It was my stupidity that got me into this predicament, and it was my fault for not having called for any backup earlier. "Why are you such an idiot, Minami? I bet your father never got into situations like this." The mere thought of my dad struck me sadly, and I could feel my eyes want to well up. "Aw, are you going to cry? Only babies cry. I thought you were over his death already. Did you have a change of heart or something?" Taking as deep breath through my nose I closed my eyes and tried to steal myself. I was better than this.

I turned my head towards the sea… it would be a drop off the edge… but if I could land in the water the bonds could become looser and I could slip my hands out. My styler wouldn't be too much of a problem, Nema had made it water proof after the last time, but it wouldn't be that easy to get the hand with it one my wrist through the bonds. Not to mention the bandages on me would probably end up coming off. Taking another deep breath, I sighed through my nose and closed my eyes. It was the only way.

Lying flat on the ground I began to roll on my side toward the edge, wining every so often when a rock hit my head and leg. Occasionally I'd stop and make sure none of the goons were watching me, they weren't, but the pulsing in my head was getting to chaotic, like it was a plea for help. But I could deal with that once I was free myself. When I was close to the edge I braced myself for what was soon to come. Taking in as deep of a breath as I could, I rolled and felt myself fall into the ocean. The water wrapping around me in a thick blanket.

That was when I forgot to realize, I couldn't get the breathing apparatus on, not with my hands tied behind me, and I couldn't exactly swim with both of my arms and legs tied. If this didn't work… I was going to die. The thought made me want to panic, but I knew I couldn't, if I did that would waste more air. Instead, I tried to calm down, not an easy feat, but it seemed to work.

After ten seconds of being under I could feel myself want to release the breath I took, but I knew I couldn't. Testing the bonds around my wrists I found they had become slacker, just like I expected. When I tried to pull my hand without the styler on the wrist through it, I found that it came out. Thank, goodness. Quickly I tried swimming up to the surface, I had suck during the time I waited and the breaking point of the water seemed far away. My lunges were starting to burn for new air, I had to get up there, and fast.

When my head breached the surface, I immediately raised a hand and grabbed the cloth that was in my mouth and tugged it out, sucking in deep breaths to try and regain lost air. Air, I never thought it could taste so sweet. Unfortunately, I had to go back under and untie my legs. Though, it was not nearly as bad as my first descent. After freeing myself I swam to the closest rock and called Latias. The pulsing in the back of my head had stopped, both of them had. But I couldn't hear anything that explained why… though it didn't take me to long to put two and two together.

They'd gotten them while I was under the water. I failed… but I was alive, so that was always good. While I waited for the female legend to get me I decided to look at my reflection in the water. The first thing I noticed was that my short hair clung to my skin, and I looked downright tired. The bandage on my head was slacking and my cheeks seemed to be flushed. But one thing caught my attention the most, it was my eyes….

My eyes were blue.

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I'll see you guys soon, and to all my fellow Americans reading this, Happy belated Independence Day!

Ember