A/N: Hey everyone! I'm planning on pushing out three chapters this coming week (including this one) instead of the usual two, and then a couple more next week before I go out of town for a couple of weeks. My last semester of college is heading into the home stretch, and coincidentally, the story is too!
TWENTY-SIX
There wasn't much for Serena to do inside her prison cell, rather than sit and mope or pace back and forth across the space. She found herself doing the latter more often than the former, if only because sitting still was becoming unbearable. Yet now that she had allowed herself a moment to cry and be blindly angry at Augustine and the whole situation he led her into, she began brainstorming her escape. She would probably have to wait until the first time they tried to have her Mega Evolve Charizard for energy extraction – an already strong Fire-type made even more powerful, they would be sorry they ever messed with her . . . .
Posted outside of her cell was one Flare grunt with two Pokeballs on his belt. While Serena sat on her sleeping mat, leaning against the wall, the grunt rocked back and forth on his feet as he looked down both ends of the cell block. He whistled briefly, then glanced back towards her.
"How are you doing?" Serena asked the guard casually.
The grunt hesitated before speaking. "Honestly, I'm a little bored right now."
"I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, I'm plotting my escape right now," joked Serena. There was a beat of awkward silence.
"But standing guard outside my cell. That's got to be a pretty big honor for you," she added.
The grunt chortled. "Oui, je suppose . . . why are you talking to me? You totally hate Team Flare."
"I'm bored too," said Serena, slightly taken aback by his statement. "And to clarify, I don't hate the people in your group. I hate your boss, and I hate what Team Flare stands for."
"Things are different now than they were back then," the grunt said defensively.
"Are they? You're all still out to make a more 'beautiful world' and doing so by killing innocent people and Pokemon. The only difference I see is that the killing isn't happening in Kalos."
"Do you want to know something, Serena? Lysandre's beautiful world was for the rich and powerful. I was an orphan boy from Shalour City with no future or prospects, and what he was proposing sounded pretty nice – but his ticket to the future cost five million Pokedollars, and to someone who would be lucky to have five hundred . . . well, you can imagine how it felt. I was as relieved as the next person when Team Flare fell the first time, but it felt hollow for me because I was still in the same place, living on the streets with nothing but my Skitty. Right when things looked their bleakest, Alexandre Teleurac reached out to me. Of course I was horrified when I learned that he was the new boss of Team Flare, but then he explained to me his vision of a brighter future, which was much more inclusive, where even people like me had a chance to thrive . . . . Governor Teleurac's world is for anyone and everyone who will accept it."
Serena nodded slowly. "You know what they're doing to Pokemon, right? In order to make this all happen?"
"I do," said the grunt morosely. "So much is happening that I don't agree with, but Team Flare's my life. My livelihood. I have nothing else."
"Your Skitty?"
He tapped one of the Pokeballs on his belt, and smiled sadly at it. "She's a Delcatty now. Happy, healthy, strong . . . . Well, now that you know my sob story, you surely hate me a little less?"
"I never hated you," replied Serena defensively. "Just . . . wow. Right when I was thinking that Team Flare only attracted rich foolish clowns with bloodlust and bad hairdos."
The grunt laughed. "This is a wig," he said, pointing to his red hair. "But I've seen Bryony throw a tantrum when she couldn't find the hair dye that was her specific shade of green. And Aliana's not a natural redhead – whoops, she'd kill me if she knew I told you that."
Serena snickered. "What's your name?" she asked. It didn't seem right that she knew this grunt's backstory but not his name.
"Raoul," he replied.
She nodded. "Nice to meet you, Raoul. Now that we're properly acquainted, do you think there's a chance you'll let me out of here?"
"Keep dreaming," said Raoul.
"Eh, it was worth a shot," she muttered.
Hours must have gone by, indicated by Raoul delivering her a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, but she still had no idea what time it was. The strike against Castelia may have already happened, and she would not have known about it.
She soon settled down for a brief nap, using her rolled-up jacket as a pillow. Outside her cell, Serena heard several sets of footsteps. Raoul asked something to people outside, speaking in Kalosian, and the other party responded in Kalosian. Only a few words made sense to her: "What are you" spoken by Raoul, and "we have it" from the other party. She turned her head to the side to see Raoul reluctantly glance back at her before walking away, and a few seconds later a group of three Team Flare grunts and one prison guard approached the cell. They were all whispering amongst themselves, and the lone female grunt fidgeted with her wig before grabbing her Holo Caster out of her pocket.
"What do you want?" Serena asked lazily.
"You're being transferred," said one of the male grunts as he pulled a set of handcuffs out of his pocket. He then turned to the female grunt. "Open it."
Serena sprang to her feet and threw on her jacket as the female grunt approached the control panel outside her cell and pressed the Holo Caster against it. She looked over the group assembled outside; the security guard was the tallest, with a rotund figure that she found familiar. The third grunt, who had been silent the whole time, was a head shorter than the female grunt.
"You're awfully short to be a member of Team Flare," she said to the short, silent grunt. The guard snickered. With a crackle and a pop, the force field vanished, and Serena leaped for the exit, only to be grabbed by the guard and the grunt holding the handcuffs.
"Serena, you need to play along," the one grunt whispered in her ear as he cuffed her hands together. While keeping one hand gripped tight around her arm, he used the other hand to lower his red sunglasses, and she found herself looking into Calem's eyes.
"Where am I being transferred?" she asked as Calem marched her down the hall, past other cells filled with other prisoners and a few that were empty. The female grunt – who lowered her sunglasses to reveal herself as Shauna and wink knowingly at her friend – walked alongside Serena on her other side. The security guard (who Serena assumed was Tierno) walked in front of the group with a self-important swagger, and the shortest grunt (presumably Trevor) brought up the rear. No other guards or Flare grunts were present in this cell block, which intrigued Serena but also worried her slightly.
"A facility in Lumiose. Governor Teleurac wants to keep you closer to him for security purposes," said Trevor.
Serena glanced at Shauna, who looked straight ahead with her head tilted upward slightly. In her hand she held her Holo Caster – or what was left of it. The underside of the device had some suction cups and clamps sticking out of it, which were now torn up or bent out of shape. Holo Casters usually didn't have those attachments – unless a certain Gym Leader who liked to tinker with technology had modified it for Shauna's use.
Once the five of them entered a stairwell at the end of the hall, Serena spoke.
"What the hell do you guys think you're doing?" she asked them. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for their attempt to free her, but if her meeting with Augustine went horribly wrong, anything could.
"We're trying to get out of here before someone notices three Team Flare grunts and a security guard unconscious and tied up in a janitor's closet wearing nothing but their underwear," said Shauna.
"Which got me thinking," Tierno piped up as he bounced down the stairs in front of everyone else. "There are three Flying-types among the four of us that got us out here all right, but that's only because Altaria can fly two people while Aerodactyl and Talonflame can only carry one person each. I don't think Altaria could carry three people."
"He can't," agreed Calem. "I mean, if Professor Sycamore wasn't on his way to Geosenge, then –"
"No." Serena snapped. Shauna gave her a puzzled look.
"That man is the reason I'm in prison in the first place. He practically handed me over to them," Serena continued.
Tierno gasped and looked over his shoulder at her. Trevor didn't say anything. Calem groaned and muttered "He wouldn't."
"But – but – why?" Shauna sputtered through pouting lips.
"He's a no-good coward, Shauna."
What followed was a brief, tense silence, save for the sounds of their feet pounding hastily on stairs as they continued their descent.
"Well, at least now you know who your real friends are," remarked Calem when the group reached the ground floor after descending four flights of stairs. At that moment, an alarm started to go off: loud, high-pitched, screeching, and repetitive. There were three doors, one on each wall: one led out to another cell block and the main lobby, one led down to the basement, and another led to the prison garage. Everyone exchanged glances with one another, then unanimously bolted for the door that would take them into the garage.
Calem undid Serena's handcuffs once they were in the garage, which was a large roofed space with two long rows of cars: sedans, SUVs, trucks, police vehicles. As the others surveyed the space and noticed that the doors leading out into the world were shut, Calem sent out his Chesnaught and Shauna sent out her Delphox to stand by the door back into the stairwell. On the ceiling, a yellow light was flashing in time with the pulses of the alarm. Serena left her friends' side to dart around the walls of the garage, which were covered with flyers and notices, until she found a bulletin board with nails driven into it . . . and car keys hanging from those nails. She swiped a set of keys off a nail, noting how the initials "B8" were written on a sticker.
"Anyone want to go for a drive?" she called to her friends as she dashed down the lines of parked cars, noticing how each space was labeled "A1," "A2," and so on. She half-expected some Flare grunts to swoop in at any minute and stop them. Almost like the universe could read her mind, the stairwell door burst open, and several Pokemon emerged, followed by their Flare grunts: Houndour, Mightyena, Scrafty, and Swalot. Trevor and Tierno sent out Crawdaunt and Florges, respectively, to help Calem and Shauna do battle. Serena located parking space "B8," occupied by a sleek black SUV, and made a mental note of where it was before approaching the garage door, looking it over to see if there was an easy way to open it. There was a panel with numbers on the adjacent wall, but the display screen scrolled a message that read "PRISON UNDER LOCKDOWN – ACCESS DENIED." Would Shauna's device work on this? Serena glanced back at the battle, in time for Delphox to unleash a brilliant display of Mystical Fire at its opponent.
Soon, all four of the Flare grunts' Pokemon fainted, and one of them used his Holo Caster to call for backup. Calem recalled Chesnaught and sent out his Clefable, studying the closed garage door as he did. "Moonblast!" he cried, pointing at the door, and Serena dove to the side as the bright white beam of light shot from Clefable to the door, hitting it with a loud boom and explosion of light and metal and leaving a hole in the door that showed the darkening night sky.
Serena sprinted back to parking space "B8" and used the keys to unlock the SUV. In the background, Clefable kept shooting Moonblast after Moonblast at the door while the others stared down the Team Flare grunts who were waiting for backup. The last time she drove a car was back when she lived in Kanto, but she remembered the basic gist of what to do. She turned it on and put the car in reverse, and backed out slowly, slamming her foot on the brake and stopping with a jerk when one last Moonblast sailed by. Now, there was a hole in the door big enough for a car to drive through.
She rolled down her window and shouted "Come on!" at her friends. Each of them recalled their Pokemon and made a break for the car, just as another bout of Flare grunts were entering the garage from the stairwell. Trevor hopped in the front passenger seat, while the other three sat in the back. Once everyone was in, Serena locked the doors, backed out some more, and put the car in drive. She slammed her foot onto the gas pedal, accelerating quickly as she saw more Pokemon emerge from the Flare grunts' Pokeballs. At first, she feared that the top of the hole Clefable had created was too low, but it was just the right height, with only an inch to spare, and she zoomed through with no problem.
The driveway she found herself on was barely lit, so she fumbled around with switches by the steering wheel until she found the one that turned on the car's headlights. She drove out from the driveway onto a dirt road that connected the prison to the main highway. Stars were out, like beads on a dark blue tapestry, contrasted against the looming silhouettes of the Lumiose Badlands. Serena looked at the clock on the dashboard: six-thirty. Only an hour and a half remained before the cannon fired; upon realizing that, she pressed her foot down harder on the gas pedal.
She turned onto the highway, going south towards Lumiose, and saw the posted speed limit as sixty-five kilometers per hours. Her speedometer read one hundred and five kilometers per hour. The speed felt reckless and dangerous, as if she was barely in control of the car, but there was a small thrill to it as well.
"Are we being followed?" she asked. Calem, Shauna, and Tierno looked behind them, seeing flashing lights of police cars, and they all said "Yes."
"Of course," she muttered, but she didn't feel too worried about trying to shake them off her tail. "Oh, and guys . . . thank you. You're the best friends anyone has ever had."