Chapter 13
Pain
Aura walked around the table and tightened the straps around the woman's wrists. She didn't really look all that dangerous. "Ben, do we really need to keep her tied down? Won't that pulse thing be enough?"
He attached a band to Sarah's forehead. "The pulse will just keep her from morphing. We can't just let her get up and walk around."
The girl simply nodded her head. The more they did, the more wrong this felt. But she had to listen to her cousin. He knew what he was doing. She glanced back and eyed the blue pokeball. "Can we at least let Ella out? You did say we could."
He just gave a shrug. "Sure. Whatever."
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Ella felt a quick and sudden rush, like her mind was being thrown in one direction. The next instant, she was standing close to the edge of the infirmary. The lights were on, and there were three others with her: a man, a teenage girl, and a strange blue Pokemon. They were gathered around a table that held… "Mom!" She quickly rushed up, pushing the others aside and nearly falling over the woman on the table. "Mom, what are you doing here?" She didn't answer. Ella looked across the table, seeing the bands around Sarah's wrists and ankles. "What's going on?"
"Ok, that's enough family time." Ben grabbed Ella's arm and threw her back. "You can leave."
Ella stopped herself and spun back to them. "What are you doing to my mother?" She started to walk back.
"Ah-ah." The man pulled out a pistol and held it down to Sarah's head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Everyone froze, even Aura. That wasn't part of the plan. "Ben, what are you doing?"
"Gaining leverage. Lucario, start." The Pokemon stood on the spot. Aura could sense that he was getting close to breaking. "I said…" He turned the pistol and pointed it at Aura. "…to start."
Aura took a step back, completely confused. "Ben? What…"
"Shut it, Aura. Lucario, if you please."
Lucario glared at the man, but reluctantly placed his hands together and focused. His body, along with Sarah's and Ben's, began to glow blue.
"Ok, will someone please explain what is going on?" Ella asked.
Aura projected her mind. "Lucario's moving part of her aura to Ben!"
Ella's eyes moved between her mother and the man standing just in front of her before they locked on her mother's sleeping face. As she watched, her face seemed to melt. Wrinkles appeared all over and the skin became long and dull. It looked almost like she was aging at an incredible rate. But even worse, Ella could tell she was dying. "You stop this!"
She moved at Ben, but he moved the pistol back to Ella. "Don't take another step. This will only take a few more moments."
Aura was caught. She hadn't planned on this. They were simply supposed to get Shaiya, use her abilities, and leave. Ben had tricked her. But he would still help her, right?
She looked at Ella. She could sense the struggle that was raging inside her body. She wanted to tear the man to shreds. But under that was pain. She was being forced to watch her own mother die. Aura knew that pain, the torment it caused.
Her mind went back to her own mother. She would have done anything to have her back. But…taking another's mother so that she could have hers was just…wrong. She couldn't cause someone else to go through that. "No!" She quickly rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Ben's shoulders. "That's enough!"
A dozen things seemed to happen at once. Lucario's focused slipped and the blue lights faded. Ben threw Aura into the wall. Ella used the moment to rush in, her body changing even as she did. Her punch struck home and Ben was thrown through the window and out into the arena.
Ella followed with a powerful leap. Every part of her brain was focused on that man now. Nothing else registered in her head. Her body changed with her new will, her arms lengthening and becoming tightly muscled. Her nose and mouth lengthened, creating a sort of snout. White fur sprouted up all over her body. In the time it took her to make the jump, she had become a massive, angry werewolf creature.
She landed hard on the steel over the man and sent him another punch. The metal buckled below him, but Ella didn't give him time to recover. She sent punch after punch into his stomach even after she'd nearly punched her way clean through his body. She didn't stop until her paws and front were deep red and sticky, her breath heavy and ragged.
"Ella!" a voice called from back in the infirmary.
Her head shot back over, her human eyes looked back to where she'd come. Aura was waving at her from the window. She quickly rushed over, the muscles and fur vanishing but leaving the sticky red liquid all over her chest and hands.
When she got back in the room, she saw that her mother was stirring gently. She rushed over, pushing Aura out of the way as she did, and gently held her up, not even noticing that Aura had already removed the straps. "Mom? Can you hear me?"
The woman's eyes twitched and slowly opened. They focused on her. "Ella." Sarah's voice was rough and low. "What's going on? I feel weak."
"It's ok, Mom. Just…it's ok." What else could she say? Some guy tried to steal your powers and I couldn't stop him. "Oh, why did you have to come back for me?"
"We're family. It's what we do." Sarah reached up and brushed a tear from Ella's cheek that she hadn't even realized was there. "No matter what we do, we're always there for each other."
Ella shook her head, the tears coming more heavily. With her hands, she could feel her mother's pulse get weaker. "You're crazy, you know that?"
Sarah laughed weakly. "Maybe I am. But if that's what I have to do to protect my daughter, then so be it." She closed her eyes and her breath faltered for a moment.
Ella shook her awake. "Stay with me, Mom. You can't go to sleep yet."
"Listen, Ella." Ella had to lean in to hear her voice. "Whatever you choose to do, do it with all your heart, regardless of what others say. I may not have liked the path you chose, but you stuck through it." Her lips curled in a smile. "For that, I'm proud of you." Her lids began to fall.
"Hold on, Mom." Sarah went limp in Ella's arms. "Mom?" She let her arms go, and the body fell back onto the bed. "Oh, mom." Ella fell over the bed, once again shutting out the rest of the world. For the next several minutes, all there was was she, her mother, and her tears.