"I'm gonna fight 'em off; a seven nation army couldn't hold me back. They're gonna rip it off, taking their time right behind my back. And I'm talking to myself at night, because I can't forget, back and forth through my mind behind a cigarette" - The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army"

31 Wrath

We were right outside the cave entrance, trembling with fear, when Max pushed me.

I stared down at him in shock. He had run at me, full sprint, and given me the best shove he had. And it'd hurt. "What?" I said.

Max glared up at me, furious tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. Without a word, he rammed me again.

Everyone was watching us curiously, unnerved by the fighting but certainly open to the alternative of entering Yacaeli's lair. I looked at Drew accusingly, but he looked as clueless as I felt.

"What's the matter?" I cried, confused.

"You," spat the boy.

I blinked. "Me?"

Max raised his hands and gave me a rough push. "Yes, you! Have you noticed that everything bad happens to us because of you? When we were in Johto, we were perfectly safe! And now… now May's dead and you're just leading the rest of us into the slaughterhouse!"

My jaw dropped. "I never said you had to come," I snapped.

"But I did," Max replied shortly. "We ALL did. Do you have any concerns for our safety at all? You expect to follow you into that cave like a bunch of puppies and then sacrifice ourselves to keep you safe?" He stamped his foot. "Not anymore, Ash."

"I don't expect anything like that!" I exclaimed. "Where are you getting these ideas? I would never intentionally put you guys in danger!"

Max narrowed his eyes. "Really, Ash? Are you sure you're above that? You just killed another human being."

"That was an accident!" My heart was pounding. Was Yacaeli controlling him? Oh, I was going to kill that cat. My eyes traveled down to the incriminating whip still glued to my wrist. The bile rose in my throat just looking at it. I swallowed it down and met Max's stare challengingly. "An accident," I said firmly.

Max snorted. "Yes, okay, so that's… three 'accidents' so far? Or do we preemptively count Brock?"

"Brock will not die," I hissed. I was shaking with fury. Why? Why had he suddenly turned on me?

He laughed hollowly, peering around me into the cave. "I give him a minute," he stated.

I whipped around, panic once again in my chest. I saw Brock on Yacaeli's back, looking infinitely dwarfed next to the Sky Cat. He had latched his fingers into her feathers and fur, causing her to howl and roar in fury and pain. He then snaked his arms around her neck and locked them, determined to hold on to the flailing cat.

My stomach dropped when she crashed into the wall. Brock seemed to slide off her, and landed helplessly on the ground. Suddenly she was standing over him like a lion over its prey. "Human," she snarled. "Do not meddle in a fight amongst family members."

"Number four," Max said dangerously.

No, I thought, clenching my hands into fists. Not him too. Instinctively I unwound the whip from around my wrist. It had killed one cat, and it was going to at least do damage to another.

With a yell of fury that took even me by surprise, I ran into the cave. Yacaeli twisted her head around to see me, a quizzical look on her face. When I thought I was close enough, I hurled the whip handle as hard as I could.

Unfortunately, I misjudged the distance. The handle fell to the ground with an anticlimactic thunk. I exchanged a glance with Yacaeli before she lunged.

Pikachu showed me true loyalty then. He was so fast I didn't even see him slide in front of me. I did, however, see the blinding flash of lightning as he electrocuted Yacaeli. "Pika!" he cried. The great cat trembled with the force of electricity now pulsing through her. I felt myself tearing up at Pikachu's faithfulness.

"And counting," Max said from behind.

My tears dried instantly. That stupid little kid; why was he pushing me? I was just getting angrier and angrier. Yacaeli had to be controlling him. If I hurt her enough, he would stop. I guessed.

A vicious growl cut through my thoughts. I blinked and saw Yacaeli sparking with the remnants of electricity, her fur crackling and alive. "Foolish rat," she hissed at Pikachu. "You will regret this."

With a scowl, I stepped forward and cracked the whip. Yacaeli jumped as it grazed her shoulder. Suddenly her attention was on me. Instead of feeling panicked and scared, I only bared my teeth in rage.

She seemed to grin. Then she looked at Pikachu. "Pikachu," she said seductively, "thy master wishes you harm."

I was staring at the cat with a most quizzical look on my face, because did she really just say thy? But I was shocked when Pikachu took a defensive pose and spat back her persuasion with a vicious "Pika!"

Yacaeli looked furious. "What?" she snarled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two figures from earlier. They came flying towards me, and instinctively I cracked the whip. The two dodged with a hiss.

"What the Hall, I'm trying to help!"

I blinked, confused. Yacaeli saw this and, forgetting all about Pikachu, jumped at me.

Leaf was the one who came to save me. She had been slinking around us while we argued, getting to where she was behind Yacaeli. The instant the cat lunged, she latched onto her tail.

Yacaeli roared and whipped around, Leaf still attached to her rear. The girl was waved through the air with a startled yelp, until her hands slipped. She fell to the ground and rolled, managing to stay safe.

A pink floating person appeared in front of me. They enveloped themselves in a bubble. Hurriedly, I tried to bring the whip back to me, but it wouldn't move. I looked over and saw, much to my surprise, Shaymin dragging an unconscious Suicune across the whip. It was then I realized my protector was Mew.

The bracelet was getting warm, though, and I was distracted.

Misty was yelling something about Drew, and next thing I knew, someone had grabbed me and forced me to roll in the dirt. I was going to bite his head off until I saw the scorched piece of ground I had been standing on; one of Pikachu's attacks gone awry.

Drew sneezed from the dirt in his nose and helped me to my feet. I saw Dawn and Misty working hurriedly at the cave entrance, fashioning some sort of slingshot from Dawn's extra bandages.

Suicune had been successfully dragged off of the whip, allowing me to regain use of my arm. I launched myself into the battle that was going on between Mew, Yacaeli, and Pikachu, whip first.

The whip handle, by some divine interference, crashed into Yacaeli's skull. She howled in pain, but unfortunately, the whip handle had hit her hard enough to break away from the leather rope. It bounced away and rolled out the second entrance.

"Yah!" was the battle cry, and a stone landed hard right in front of Yacaeli. Misty and Dawn had succeeded in making their slingshot. They high-fived their achievement and readied the weapon with another rock.

Yacaeli hissed in annoyance and waved her tail. Before my very eyes, she drew water out of the air. The stream followed her tasseled tail, growing as it did. While she did this, Yacaeli drew her claws across the dirt, leaving long, threatening markings in the floor of her cave.

The bracelet continued to heat up, so much so that I found myself jumping at its intensity. In fact, the whole whip was starting to heat up, and I smelled smoke.

The whip was going to catch on fire.

"Ash!" Dawn cried. I spun around just in time to avoid the knife flying at my face. "Cut it!"

I looked around to see where the dagger had landed, and found it glinting in the dirt. Without another thought, I threw myself at it.

I never hit the ground. Something had come rocketing into the cave and run right underneath me. The timing had been too perfect; whatever it was, I was now going for a joyride on its back.

Whatever I was riding on was running pell-mell towards Yacaeli, head down like a Taurus. I was bouncing up and down, dragging what was left of the whip behind us.

"Absol!" my ride cried, and it rammed right into the Sky Cat. She gave a furious screech, and the water from her tail dissolved.

The force of the hit caused me to bounce off the creature and slam into the ground. The wind went out of my lungs in an oof! and I found myself gasping like a fish.

The Absol jumped back, growling, and the horn on its head began to glow. "Psycho Cut!" I screamed in warning, and ducked. However, I wasn't the monster's target.

The attack hit Yacaeli, cutting deeply into her fur and skin. She gave an angry roar and lunged at the Absol. With it in her mouth, she tossed it to the side and jumped at me.

I held up the bracelet defensively. The whip had all but incinerated, and the cat had to roll to avoid the jet of flames that the bracelet spat out. I remained on the ground, spewing fire, as I tried to plan my next move. It was ridiculously hard to think with a lion attacking me and fire flying out of my wrist.

The fire wasn't something I could control, and now that the whip had burned away, I didn't have any sort of weapon that I could direct. Except for—

I kicked my legs over my head and spun around, winding up on my knees. There! Dawn's knife glinted in the light created by my flames. The fire seemed to die away as I dashed towards the dagger. And then it was in my hands, the gorgeous hilt gleaming and warm, and the cave was rapidly getting colder and the darkness was settling in, without the flames to light the cave, and then…

With a victorious yelp, I turned to where I was certain Yacaeli was, my eyes still adjusting to the gloom. The knife was cooling fast in my hand, and wasn't feeling as miraculous as it had just moments ago.

In an instant, I was able to see clearly, and in that same instant I found myself wishing I couldn't.

Yacaeli had tossed Dawn across the cave, where she lay clutching her bad arm. Brock was attempting to crawl over to her, but the fallen Absol was in his way. Mew and Shaymin were still standing protectively around Suicune. Drew and Leaf were on the other side of the cave, on their feet and ready to fight with the weapons of a metal water bottle and a pocket knife, yet not moving. Their eyes were wide with terror and transfixed on the Sky Cat. Yacaeli herself had a glint in her moonlike eyes that told me she had won, and under her massive claws she held Misty, too scared to squirm or fight.

"Now," she hissed, tensing her claws, "you will see."

My heart pounded in my throat as I watched Yacaeli glare down at my beloved, baring her teeth in a Cheshire smile. Misty glared right back, though her shaking betrayed her fear. In a desperate attempt at defiance, Misty gave a violent kick to the Sky Cat's underside. Yacaeli's smirk went to a grimace as Misty's leg made contact, and she pinned her down harder.

"You are fierce," hissed the cat, "and yet, you can be calm. Like the water." Yacaeli's eyes lit up. "Yes," she purred. "Like the water."

Misty bared her teeth as Yacaeli leaned down and breathed on her face. She shivered as if her breath were freezing.

Then the strangest, most awful thing happened.

It looked, at first, as if Misty were sweating. Perspiration formed on every bit of skin I could see, and those that I couldn't I saw the water soaking through her clothes. She tried to speak, but it came out as a gurgle. I stared in confusion as Misty became transparent, dripping water as if she were being turned into the stuff.

I didn't realize until it was too late that that was exactly what was happening.

Misty was gasping for air, but her breaths sounded wet and strange. And then, in one swooping moment, she was no longer there. Water whooshed and spread out as water does, allowing the ground to soak it up.

Yacaeli paws were wet, but she didn't seem to care. "And now you are," she said to the soaking patch of ground before her.

My eyes would not blink. I held the dagger before me, unconsciously shaking. It wasn't until someone made a strangled sound of fear that I was brought back to earth with a jolt. Misty was dead. I had just seen Misty be changed into water. Which meant she was dead. D-E-A-D. Gone. Forever.

I would never.

Ever.

See her.

Again.

"No," I whispered, and that word held more pain than I had or would ever, ever feel. "No!"

The bracelet seemed to explode into flames, but I hardly noticed. Hot, angry tears rolled down my cheeks as I panted with rage. Yacaeli would die the most horrible death I was capable of.

Distantly, I heard my friends screaming, felt Pikachu cling to my shoulder, but none of it registered. I had eyes and ears only for the monster that was the Sky Cat.

Frightened by the flames, Yacaeli bolted. I chased her blindly, rushing after her through the second entrance of the cave. She dove into a pool of water, and I followed. The fire was not extinguished, nor was my rage.

Down, down, I dove, into the depths of the strange pool. The fire still roared by my hand, but it didn't matter. It was entirely in my control. I don't know how I knew that, but I did. Dawn's knife was still clutched in my fingers, tighter than I was aware of, but it didn't matter and I didn't notice anyways. Pikachu's claws dug into my shoulder, begging for air, but I ignored him. I couldn't lose the retreating tail of Yacaeli.

There was light at the bottom of the pool, and as I made my way towards it, I started to feel wet, like I was no longer in water. I realized that I was sopping wet, and that I was swimming in… air, it seemed.

In the next moment, I stopped swimming altogether and started falling. Falling, falling, falling, down to the ground that was so far away I couldn't see it, with Pikachu screaming in my ear. I hardly cared that I was falling. At the end, I would be dead, and with Misty gone and the idea that Yacaeli would probably fall too, that would be perfectly fine.

*************************************************************Swim meet tomorrow!********************************************************

Tenebri grabbed Absol by his scruff, determined to wake him. The humans were panicking, and the noise irritated her delicate ears. "Wake up!" she hissed at him. "Your enemy is escaping while you lie here like a Snorlax. What would Father Arceus say if he saw this? Do you want to disappoint him?

That did it. Absol groaned and rose unsteadily to his feet. "Where did she go?" he growled.

"Into the water," Tenebri told him. "Go! After her!"

Absol snarled with fury and ran off, growling curses to the Sky Cat with the Genesis Stone glinting around his neck.

Never was there such a smug Umbreon.

*********************************************************Gonna do really well, I hope*******************************************************

Max stumbled from around into the cave, unable to believe what his eyes had seen. Misty was dead. Ash was mad. May's plan had been accomplished, though not in the way Max had anticipated. He had never meant for one of their number to fall again.

Was this his fault? No, it couldn't be! He hadn't done anything, except for fail to make Ash angry…

The guilt set in like the night, heavy and blinding. If he had only gotten Ash furious sooner, perhaps Ash would have been able to prevent Misty's death from occurring.

Perhaps.

Max sank to the ground, his guilt overwhelming him. The tears were coming. Humiliating, incriminating tears, fleeing his eyes and running down his cheeks.

Through his blurred vision, Max saw the lights. Well, he thought, no one will want me here anyways when they find out it was my fault. He shuddered as he remembered how he and Drew had treated Paul. Might as well follow it.

So Max got to his shaky, trembling feet and following the light through the cave, until he came upon a pond. The light dove right into the water, and without thinking of the consequences, Max dove straight into the pool.

*AN: Well, wasn't that exciting? I'm going to be at a swim meet the next three days, whoop dee do. Sorry this update took a while. I hit a bit of a roadblock while writing it. Hopefully things will go better next chapter. Mmkay, folks, be sure to review. Gonna go... bake cookies! Bye!*