Unova Academy! Where Opportunities Await!
Chapter 11: Making a Break for a Stone or Breaking Some Bones?
Recap:
"Good job you three," A familiar figure was leaning against a tree atop a hill, not too far away from the beach behind Unova Academy's large walls.
A Mismagius floated beside the figure, a satisfied smirk on it's face while a Gurrdurr stood beside the figure, playing with a rock. A Gliscor was perched on top of a branch above it's trainer, snickering.
The figure looked up at the Ground- and Flying-type, a smirk on his face. "I take it you provoked the Ursaring enough to send it chasing after those Virizion fools?"
The Gliscor nodded, hopping up and down on the branch. "Gliscor, Gli!"
The Mismagius however glared at the Gliscor, unhappy he took all the credit. Her trainer didn't forget about her, of course.
"Mismagius.., you successfully placed that Terrakion boy somewhere in the cave, far away from his partner, correct?"
Happy to get some recognition, she nodded, floating closer to her trainer before the Gurrdurr took notice, nonchalantly tossing the rock up and knocking Gliscor off of the branch before his trainer spoke to him.
"Gurrdurr, you made the hole and one of them fell into it, right?" Was the trainer's final question to their Pokémon.
Gurrdurr nodded, smirking behind his trainer's back when Gliscor sent him a pissed off look.
"Good," The figure stopped leaning on the tree, dusting their coat off before yawning. They stretched their arms, turning around to head back to the academy. "I'll call it a night, then. Those idiots won't know what'll hit them when they find the stones..,"
Christopher glanced behind him one last time as the sun set far below the horizon, smirking one last time before continuing down the path, his Pokémon following.
"They're taking an awfully long time..," complained Adam as he sat down next to Rosalie, in a small group of four – now five, since he sat down - consisting of Alexis, Rosalie, Riley and Daniel. It was late evening – almost 8 o'clock – and the teams hadn't even shown signs of being back.
Daniel, who was leaning on his palms in the sand, glanced at the Terrakion dorm member. "Well, it does seem like a hard challenge. Headmaster said it could take a few more hours. A day, at most,"
"What if we were to go check out the caves..? Because, I don't think we're the only ones getting a little unsettled..," said Alexis, speaking up. Her soft voice was a tad hard to pick up, but Riley heard.
She let out a long sigh, folding her hands on her lap. "That'd totally be against the school rules. It wouldn't be good, since we're starting out,"
Rosalie, who was sitting next to Alexis, raised her eyebrows in protest. "Well, it wouldn't be against school rules if we were to see if our friends were safe, right? That's a good enough reason,"
"I have to agree with Rosalie. I mean, we could keep sitting around here, do nothing and freeze to death on a beach while our friends are injured, or we could go help them," Daniel was brushing his hands off as he talked, now sitting cross-legged. He also lowered his voice, to keep from anyone else hearing.
Riley 'hmph'ed, crossing her arms. "Well, fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go see if they're doing fine or not..," Truth be told, she was only "sort of" agreeing because a.) Daniel had said so and b.) she actually was getting bored by sitting on a beach for five hours.
Alexis was sitting next to Riley as she continued to speak, just drawing little shapes in the sand. Unfortunately, she'd be reading if the sun hadn't set and destroyed her chances of finding any solar light available.., or any light for that matter.
That wouldn't happen anytime soon, either, considering the fact that Headmaster Juniper along with Maikee and Dougan had gone back to the academy building to search for some matches to make a few bonfires. Since Archer was the last dorm leader, he was basically in charge of everyone. He had prayed to Arceus that nobody tried throwing him into the cold ocean waters before the head of the academy as well as the other two dorm leaders left.
Speaking of Archer, he was actually on his way to do a check of the students when he happened to walk by the group Alexis was in. With a curious expression on his face, he walked over, clipboard in hand. "Hey!"
"HOLY ARCEUS OF ABOVE," Due to the fact everyone was speaking so hushed, along with their backs being turned, Adam hadn't noticed Archer come up until he was practically standing behind him. Plus, with such a loud voice, who wouldn't be scared?
The Melendez boy turned around, hand to his heart as Rosalie break out into a fit of giggles. "W-what the heck, Archer? Didn't you know it's not cool to sneak up on unsuspecting students?"
"Oh? I didn't know it was a law, sorry," said Archer, a teasing smile on his face before lifting his clipboard to read off of it. "I'm just checking to see if everyone's here, that's all." It only took a few seconds before the clipboard as at his side again. "And it seems like everyone's accounted for!"
"How can you be so happy?" Daniel looked at Archer with a curious eye. "I mean.., aren't you worried about the people in the other dorms who're in the caves right now?"
The smile on his face faltered to a frown. "Well, of course I do. But I need to stay optimistic because I know they're going to come back safe, as well as needing to put on a confident face for the other students," He gestured behind him to the groups of Unova Academy students that were already asleep, as well as a handful of worried looking students. Others were happily energetic.
"Why the sudden question?" Archer raised an eyebrow, eyes locking onto everyone in the group as they froze, before Alexis gave a calm answer.
"We were just curious as to why you were so happy-go-lucky when some of us were worried.., that's all." Said the ravenette, not bothering to mention the fact that they were going to try to find the others later.
Archer shrugged his tan shoulders, brushing his dark brown hair out of his eyes before walking off. But prior to doing that, he glanced over his shoulder one more time, a sly grin on his face. "If I find any of you missing – any of you at all -, whether it be tonight or tomorrow morning.., if I find you guys, I'm having your heads," with one last smile, the Cobalion dorm leader walked off, leaving the group of students either blinking in confusion or gaping with terror.
"He may be cute, but he's a devil in disguise..," muttered Riley, to which Daniel glanced at her before shaking his head and standing up. Daniel brushed his swim trunks off and turned around to face the group – dear Arceus, he was looking like Archer now..,
"Alright. "Operation S.T.D" will be set in motion, okay?" He was grinning, despite the fact everyone gave him a disgusted look.
".., Daniel, why is our game plan called "Operation S.T.D"?" Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him, her mallet clutched in her hand, though he hadn't noticed.
Daniel grinned, his index finger up, as if explaining a topic to a student. "That, dear Rosalie, is a simple question. It's shortened for "save the dudes". Duh. What were you thinking?" Such an innocent mind..,
Rosalie shook her head, sighing out of relief. "Just.., nothing, Daniel. Next time, we're letting Alexis pick the operation titles."
Though none of them had known each other for more than day or two, they all had bonded to a good amount. All of them considered each other "friends", if not companions or dorm members, as well as acquaintances. That being said, friends don't leave other friends behind.
Riley stood up next to Daniel, a smile on her confident face. She almost wanted to hug his arm, but held back. They were only friends after all.., for now. "I guess that settles it. Operation S.T.D, in motion, I guess,"
Rosalie groaned at the name, standing up just as Adam and Alexis did. "Oh, kill me now.., the name isn't catchy in the slightest,"
Adam nudged Rosalie, smirking as he stepped sideways to avoid being swung at by the mallet. "Lighten up, will you? It's funny!" He stretched his arms behind his head before walking off with the now departing group, Rosalie in tow as she tried to restrain herself from decking him in the stomach with her mallet. Alexis also followed the group, quietly.
Unbeknownst to them, a certain tanned Dorm leader was in hot pursuit of them, casually walking with his hands in his pockets. Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed the two other students following further behind him..,
"HOLY FREAKING ARCEUS," Chase glance over his shoulder, just in time to see the raging Ursaring still chasing after them. "IT'S STILL FOLLOWING US?"
"WHAT'D YOU EXPECT? A FLUFFY TEDDY BEAR WHO WON'T RIP YOUR GUYS OUT?" Melissa hadn't even run out of breath yet, running like no tomorrow. Her Houndoom was sprinting with her, sending occasional Embers behind them to ward off the bear, but to no avail.
Gengore was nowhere to be seen, probably floating ahead to safety.
"HECK NO! THESE THINGS ARE TERRIFYING!" Maybe the yelling wasn't helping too much, because not only was an Ursaring after them, but also a horde of Golbats, Zubats and Woobats.
.., Definitely not a good idea – don't learn from them.
It was only a mere half an hour since they'd been running, but the Pokémon hadn't decreased in speed at all. In fact, it was as if they were speeding up rather than slowing down, which scared Chase even more as they suddenly ended up at a dead end.
".., Shitty shit," Mel cursed under her breath, turning around to see the horde of Pokémon a few ways away from them, hand clutching Chase's wrist tightly. She could feel his pulse quickening, his skin going clammy.
Chase swallowed a lump in his throat, his other hand clutching onto her's. "M-Mel.., if we die here.., I want you to know something..,"
"What?" Even at time like these, she'd end up being annoyed with him, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought you were very pretty when I sat next to you on the bus.., a-" he would've finished his sentence if he didn't shriek in a most "manly" manner when he spotted the large bear-like Normal-type.
Mel glanced around them, to see if there was anyway out of it. It was a shame they had dropped their flashlights earlier, or else they might've at least found a slim chance of hope.
Her eyes locked onto Chase's trembling ones before she spoke. "One thing if we actually do die..,"
"H-huh?"
".., I never really minded your nicknames for me."
"R-really?" He looked more.., happy than scared, eyes practically shining with glee as his female partner sighed. The annoyed look was back.
She waved him off, just as the Pokémon in front of them were slowing to a stop. "Screw what I said – I'll see you in Heaven."
"W-w-wh-" Chase spluttered, his words directed at Mel, but his eyes locked onto the Ursaring's as it narrowed it's eyes dangerously at him.
The Ursaring practically towered over both trainers as it growled lowly, it's stomps shaking the ground beneath them as it stalked forward. A Golbat behind it snickered, flapping it's wings, as if it was waving a "good-bye" to the two trainers.
Melissa glared at the mocking Golbat, not really caring, but she couldn't really stand anything stuck up. "Oh, shut it, you,"
Apparently the fuming bear only a mere feet away assumed the comment was directed at him, which only added fuel to the fire. With a loud roar, it swiped a large paw at the both of them.
Seeing as it'd be a good time to do so, Mel's Houndoom acted fast. He tackled both his trainer and her friend into an almost unnoticeable alcove to their left, tumbling in after them as the Ursaring's paw hit the rock wall that they were standing in front of moments before.
The last thing Mel remembered before blacking out was a loud roar and an also unconscious Chase rolling on top and over her.
"So, Collin, see anything yet?" Briana's brown eyes glanced at an unusually quiet Collin, who shook his head but smiled widely.
Briana just smiled back, an uneasy feeling ticking in the back of her mind, though. It was unlike Collin to be so quiet, but maybe he was just getting tired? She mentally shook her head, clearing her thoughts when they hit another path leading into lower levels of the cave, Collin walking close behind her with the two Fire-types walking in front of both of them.
Flare, Collin's Fire-type, was a little wary of his trainer. There was just something off about him.., he couldn't really place his paw on it, but it was just out of place and out of the ordinary for Collin not to talk. So, Flare decided to do something unexpected.
Letting out a small cry of "Meleon!", he waddled backwards, to Collin at the back of the line and tugged on his swim trunks.
Collin blinked, looking down at his Charmeleon and once again smiled.
Then, without warning, Flare lowered his head, sinking his teeth into Collin's shin, earning a high pitched howl from the green haired teen, that didn't.., sound like him at all.
Briana whirled around, her face etched with shock as she witnessed Collin trying to pry Flare's fangs out of his now bleeding shin. "C-Collin! Are you okay?" She rushed over to help, trying to coax Flare off, but he wouldn't budge.
"Come.., on.., Flare..," The brunette grunted, trying to get Flare's claws off of Collin's shin, which were deeply imbedded into his skin as he kept hissing. "He's.., your trainer.., what's gotten.., into.., you..?"
Upon hearing the "he's your trainer" sentence, Flare immediately let go, a narrowed glare shot at Briana. He stomped his foot once, balling up his paws and let out a hiss of disagreement. "Meleon, char! Charmeleon!" He pointed one of his claws at Collin, who was wincing in pain and trying to wipe off the trickles of blood from his ankle, but only smearing it on his leg in a clumsy manner.
Briana's eyebrows creased in confusion as Flare continued throwing a tantrum, flicks of his flames coming from his nostrils as her Quilava stared. Of course, Quilava understood what Flare was saying. He just couldn't believe what Flare was insisting, though.
But just as fast as he got injured, Collin recovered quickly, wiping his hand on his swim trunks, then smiling calmly at the Pokémon and Briana. A murderous glint was in his eyes as he glanced at the glaring Kanto Pokémon, unseen by the two others.
"I.., guess since you're okay now, we can keep going?" Briana suggested, sounding uncertain. She was slightly unsure what to do since Collin's ankle was still bleeding.
A calm smile was enough for her to assume they could continue. With one last glance behind her, Briana turned around, walking down the path once more. Her Quilava decided to walk in front of her like before, to light the way.
Collin watched as the trainer and her Pokémon walked quite a few ways away before grabbing Flare by the tail, making the lizard hiss in surprise. An inhuman snicker erupted from the boy's mouth, sounding all too like a Ghost-type as he held the lizard up by his tail, swinging him slowly, back and forth like a pendulum.
"This goes on forever..," complained Black as he walked down the fifth tunnel he'd been through that day, Blow Torch still on his back as they walked.
It had been at least forty-five minutes since they were separated from Sammy, and so far they haven't found any way to get down to where she had fallen, though they tried. Beads of sweat trailed down both Pokémon and trainer from the endless walking.
"Char..," whimpered Blow Torch, poking Black in the shoulder. He was starting to sound weaker. Not only that, he was feeling weaker as well.
Black glanced over his shoulder at his partner, noticing the flame on his tail flickering dangerously. "Buddy, you wanna take a rest?"
The Charmander nodded with little strength, closing his eyes as Black bent down to let Blow Torch off. Once done, he picked up the little lizard in his arms and perched himself on a large rock.
He let out a sigh as Blow Torch's breathing grew slower, indicating he had tired himself out into a slumber as Black patted his stomach for a moment. Truth be told, he was worried about the girl he had known only a few hours before and learned a little bit more about her, since she was his partner in the challenge, but that didn't shake the thought from his brain that something had gone wrong with her – 'No, Black, snap out of it. She'll be fine,' he shook his head, shaking the thought from his brain.
Though, Black shaking his head wasn't what snapped him out of his wandering thoughts. A loud "thump" that sounded distant in the tunnel did.
Black stood up, his swim trunks wrinkling slightly as he did, Blow Torch still in his arms as he walked towards the sound, slowly and quietly. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't see squat since his flashlight had long lost it's battery, as well as Blow Torch being asleep, which providing him no light besides the ones from the Illumise and Volbeats buzzing outside. Sadly, they were too far away to provide light that would help him see that far.
From what he could see, though, as he gradually got farther down the tunnel, was a medium sized figure moving aside rocks and debris – wait, what? Who would be doing that in a cave at this time of night?
"What the heck..?" muttered Black as he blinked his brown eyes, squinting try and get a better look at the stranger.
What he spotted wasn't a person, but a Pokémon. But not just any Pokémon.., what would a Gurrdurr be doing in a cave this far away from where they could be found? Black lived in Nuvema Town before coming to Unova Academy, so he had his fair share of where some species of Pokémon were found, and Gurrdurr were definitely not found in caves on beaches.
"I'm probably hallucinating," Using one of his hands and cradling his Charmander in one hand, he rubbed his brown eyes before blinking then. "What the..? .., heh, I probably was hallucinating,"
When he had finished rubbing his eyes, he noticed whatever he had seen had disappeared out of thin air, which left a slight uneasy feeling in his stomach as he began walking back to the rock he had sat on earlier. It surprised him to see that the rock had disappeared.., was he lost?
He turned around, trying to see some sort of landmark – anything to prove he was where he was before, but to no avail. "Awh, crap. This isn't good..,"
To sum up his situation, he was potentially lost with barely any light to him help, he lost his partner and he had no way of knowing where to go next.
"This sucks nuggets..," Black was irritated to the extreme, just walking down the path with no other choice. What was a guy supposed to do with no way to know where to go? What made this damp situation worse was when he happened to come across three paths.
"Are you freaking kidding me?.., Oh, screw it," muttering a profanity under his breath, he decided to head straight to the middle path, not really caring where he went as long as he could find the stone and get out of there.
Too bad for him, the moment he stepped into the entrance of a path, he tripped on a thinly placed wire, falling onto his stomach but quick to shield Blow Torch from harm as he scraped his left arm. The wire apparently triggered a sudden block for the path, since rocks of all sorts of sizes covered the entrance and exit of the middle path, to Black's discomfort.
"Shit!"
"I've decided we should split up," declared Adam, stopping in front of the entrance to the Western Cave.
"And why would we do that? What if something really did happen to them?" Rosalie was using logic, an eyebrow raised in mock curiosity as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Pft," He waved her off with his right hand, ready to provide an explanation. "Because we'd cover more ground. Plus, I've got our pairs figured out,"
Alexis raised her hand calmly, an uneasy look on her face. "Um.., Not to burst your bubble or the sort, Adam, but there are five of us..,-"
"Not quite!" An almost too calm voice spoke out, making the group spin around in surprise. Adam was the most shocked out of the group of five, sputtering as he witnessed Archer walk over, a smirk lighting up his face.
"Thought you guys could get away, huh? Not really," He walked over, his hands in his swim trunk pockets as Daniel raised his eyebrows at him, along with Riley.
"What're you doing here, Archer? I thought you were heading back to the academy?" Riley asked with slight suspicion as his smirk grew into a smile.
Archer crossed his arms, easily answering her question without hesitation. "Nope. I just waited 'till I saw you guys leave before leaving Dougan in charge when he came back with Maikee and just followed you guys here."
"But-..,"
"He wasn't alone, though. Even our dorm leader can't tell if he has Cobalion kids following him or not, sheesh..," an amused Kenneth laughed with Evelyn trailing beside him as Archer turned around, blinking in slight surprise.
"Hiya!" Evelyn waved, her smile growing as she noticed her friends. "We didn't want to be left out of the party, so we decided to join!"
"It was her idea," Kenneth pointed to his left, where Evelyn was giggling.
Archer crossed his arms, a frown replacing his smile quickly. "And what makes you think I won't tell Headmaster Juniper and get you both suspended," He then pointed at Adam's group. "and all of you as well?"
"Easy!" Evelyn piped up. "Because no one likes a tattle-tail!"
The ensued a facepalm from Rosalie and Daniel before Archer spoke, sighing in defeat. "I suppose so.., whatever. I'll let it slip this time. Next time it's dorm cleanups for all of you. And I mean all of you." He smiled once more when disagreeing groans came from everyone else besides happy Evelyn. "And I'll be deciding the pairs, sorry Adam."
"Meh," He shrugged, not really caring.
"Alright! Daniel and Riley, you two are paired up and going to head to the Western Cave," Archer pointed to the pair, to spot out of the corner of his eye Riley, who hugged Daniel's arm out of glee.., not that he minded.
"Next up, Adam and Rosalie are going to the Southern Cave, since I trust you two will get along.., right?" A calm smile took over his face as Rosalie 'tch'ed, glaring at Adam who laughed nervously.
Archer nodded before pointing his thumb at Alexis, who was on his left. "And last but not least, I'll be going with Alexis, Kenneth and Evelyn to the Eastern Cave to search for my dorm members. Agreed?"
"Yes, 'boss'," muttered Rosalie under her breath, not too happy with being paired with the energetic mechanic. Oh well, at least she'd have her Honchkrow with her to peck out his brains if anything were the happen.
"What was that Rosalie? You're offering to clean up the lunch hall after the first week of school?" Archer heard her crystal clear, but put his hand behind his ear in an attempt to "hear her better", grinning.
"Uh, no..," She shrunk back meekly, not liking the mental image of her having to scrub up the lunch hall after a food fight or something.., not that she was one to back off of something like that or to someone like Archer. She just didn't want to do something she didn't deserve.
Adam noticed her sudden withdrawal from Archer and snickered under his breath while she shot him a glare that would've knocked anyone dead. Now it was his turn to retreat.
"Alright, since it's agreed," Archer smiled, giving everyone a (cheesy) thumbs up. "Let's get going,"
Everyone let out an "okay!" before splitting up.., until Archer stopped them one last time.
"And, guys, if anything happens, don't be afraid to let out your Pokémon to call for help or scream like sissies.., that's all," He waved over his shoulder, leaving towards the Western cave as Rosalie shot Archer a glare behind his back. She stalked off ahead of Adam, irritated. Guess he'd have to catch up on his own..,
Chase had woken up long before Melissa, a throbbing pain in the side of his head as he surveyed the area around them. Her Houndoom was already awake, keeping guard over the two as he glared at the entrance to the alcove. Luckily, it was too small for any of the Pokémon before to enter, so they were safe.., for the time being.
Though, when Chase woke up right away, he hadn't noticed he had been sleeping on Mel, his head resting on the nape of her neck before blinking a few times. It took him a few minutes after looking around to actually comprehend what he had done a few minutes ago. "Wha-.., OH GOD," He scrambled off of her, face burning red as Mel's Houndoom shot him an unamused look.
Gengore, who had floated back to the group after exploring the cave, had snickered upon seeing his trainer's flushed expression. In return, Chase narrowed his eyes at his Ghost-type before turning to check on Mel.
He grabbed both of her shoulders, shaking her with gentle ease. "Mel.., pst, Melly-Mel! Wake up!..," That didn't quite work, though. There was some dried blood flecked across her forehead, which Chase took notice to.
He looked around for some source of water, but not finding any (and prayed to Arceus she wouldn't not kill him for what he was about to do), licked his thumb and rubbed the dried blood off, trying not to hurt her. She didn't stir, like before, which worried him slightly.
What worried him more was the possibility she could keep bleeding, so he did what he could think of: ripping half of the left side of his swim trunks and wrapping it around her forehead as a makeshift bandage.
Houndoom trotted over, setting himself down next to Chase as he watched what he was doing to his trainer. He cocked his head to the side once the teenager finished tying it tightly, dusting his hands off as he criss-crossed his legs. He glanced to the side, seeing the Houndoom.
Chase patted Houndoom on the head, to which Houndoom blinked in confusion. "I know you're worried, but don't worry! She's going to be fine," He grinned down at Houndoom, who seemed to relax a bit before nuzzling Chase's hand once.
"Glad you trust me now!" He smiled gently, patting him on the head once more before turning to his Ghastly. "So, Gengore, did you find anything yet?"
The ball of gas shook his head, frowning. He floated in a circle, probably indicating he went around the whole cave, but found nothing. Chase nodded, understanding Gengore's gesture. He stood up, brushing off what was left of his swim trunks, but had to duck because of the low ceiling in the alcove.
Chase glanced up, almost getting poked in the eye with a stumpy stalagmite, deciding it was better to sit back down. "Jeez, this is a lovely place, isn't it?" He mused, squinting his eyes towards the back of the cave. He noticed something.., shiny?
"No freaking way!" he exclaimed under his breath, so has to not wake Mel. Crawling his way past Houndoom, his right hand reached out to dig into a small mound of dirt, closing itself around a solid, almost crystal-like object.
"Yes! Yes!" He couldn't resist the urge to cry out when he pulled a Fire Stone from the mound, wiping the dirt off of it and grinning widely. "We found the stone!"
A groan behind him turned his attention away from the prize. Melissa had woken up, her hand to her forehead as she slowly sat up.
It took her a few moments to finally be able to see, but she seemed like her old self nonetheless. ".., Don't tell me. You found the st-"
"Wah! Mel! You're not supposed to be up!" Chase flailed his arms, crawling back over to her to gently lay her back down onto the ground, which she wasn't too pleased about.
An annoyed look crossed her face once again, but she winced, holding her forehead. "Dear Arceus, my forehead hurts..,"
"That's because you hit your head when we tumbled in here," he answered for her simply, then pointed at his torn swim trunks. "I also made you a makeshift bandage!"
The disgusted look on her face was enough to make Chase chuckle and then grin. "Don't worry. They're clean. Other than that, I'm pretty sure you stopped bleeding, Melly-kins!"
".., Please, no more nicknames before my brain explodes with a migraine."
"Sure~"
".., That was a lie, wasn't it?"
"Maybe."
Resisting the urge to facepalm once more, Mel held up her hand. "Hey, c'mere.., I wanna see the stone,"
"Sure! No problem!" He scooted over with ease, handing the stone to Mel, which she held in her hand for a bit before giving it back to Chase. ".., I can't believe we went through all this trouble to find that stupid thing..,"
"I'll have to agree with you, but, look at it this way!" He hummed to himself cheerfully, grinning at her.
"What is "this way"?"
"We get to be alone with each other – minus our Pokémon – for at least half a day!"
".., Shoot me now. Please."
Every now and then, Briana had requested a rest. She was surprised Collin was getting along fine, with an injured ankle. Even her Quilava was growing tired, needing to take a small nap as his trainer and her friend sat down.
"Are you seriously not tired yet, Collin?" Briana was currently stroking Quilava's fur as she talked, her legs feeling wobbly even though she was sitting down.
Once again, Collin didn't say a word, just shaking his head and smiling.
"Oh.., wait, where's Flare?" She came to a sudden realization, probably being too tired to full notice earlier.., it was strange for the Charmeleon to be separated from his trainer, though. Everything seemed odd to Briana since an hour ago.
Collin gave a shrug, a signal that he had no clue. Briana found that even odder, since Collin usually would worry about what happened to his trusted Pokémon. Why would he not care right now? She figured something was up..,
"Hey, Collin?"
Collin cocked his head in her direction, blinking.
"Does your throat hurt? Is that why you aren't talking?"
He paused, taking a moment to think before nodding energetically, smiling.
"Ah.., I see..," She decided it'd be best to leave the conversation at that. Though, it was really off to see someone so.., happy about losing their voice or their throat hurting.
Everything was quiet for a matter of ten minutes. Collin was just glancing around, not really looking Briana in the eye. Briana, on the other hand, was staring at him intently before gently picking up her Quilava and standing up.
"Guess we should keep going," She was already walking ahead of Collin before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blinking, Briana turned around to see her friend shaking his head.
"Huh? Why not?" Now she was completely confused.
Collin pointed to his ankle, to which he made a face of pain. Guess his ankle was hurting.
"Oh.., okay.., maybe a few more minutes," Briana sat back down, the feeling still not shaking from her gut as Collin gently rubbed his wound – wait.., did it get smaller from the last time she saw it? What the heck?
"Um.., Collin..?" Her voice was shaking – quivering, almost, out of some fear.
He blinked, looking up to see Briana pointed at his ankle. "Did.., did the wound get smaller from before?"
He shrugged, smiling gently. Collin looked as if he was trying to reassure her, stretching his hand to pat her's across from him.
Briana found herself smiling a bit. Maybe his throat hurting was the case.., nothing to worry about. So, after another five minutes, she got up again. "Now it's time to get going,"
Collin nodded, following her silently – almost like a ghost.
Like before, she was walking in front of Collin, which meant she couldn't see anything that was going on behind her. Her Quilava was sound asleep in her arms, totally unaware of anything that was happening.
Little did the brunette know, though, was Collin was glaring at the back of her head. Why? No one other than silent Collin would know, but his glare seemed almost.., blood thirsty. It didn't take him long for his right hand to slowly reach for the back of her neck, almost enclosing itself around it before she happened to turn around. They were at two different paths again.
With speed, Collin interlaced his fingers behind his back and smiled, trying to seem innocent as Briana asked a question. "Left or right tunnel?"
He stepped forward to get a better look at the tunnels, taking a second or two before actually pointing at the right path. Then, he ushered her forward, still smiling.
Briana found herself laughing at how much he was rushing. "Okay, okay. We're going," Turning around, she started down the path with Collin falling in step.
But, quite unfortunately, it gave him a perfect and 100% to grab her throat this time, squeezing. She let out a sharp gasp, her Quilava falling out of her arms and landing on the cave floor with a "thump". Briana's hands flew to the strangely strong grip that was holding her throat. She knew Collin had arm strength, but this much was.., too super human.
"C-Collin?" she choked out, her voice slightly rasped as he slowly raised her off of the ground, inch by inch. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him grinning – wait, why were his eyes yellow and not the usual blue..?
His grip seemed to tighten as she tried to talk again, cutting off air she could get as her vision slowly faded to black. Collin's arm seemed to blowing an ominous pink color by then, though Briana couldn't see it – not from where she was standing.., or hanging.
Before blacking out, she remembered hearing a snicker or laugh of sorts – one that belonged to a.., Ghost-type?
"A.., Mis..," She had blacked out before finishing her sentence, the world blurring and growing dark. Ever so dark..,
Ombra was currently nuding his nuzzle against Sammy's leg, urging her to walk faster. He was easily growing bored with the scenery never transitioning, always staying bland with dark cave walls and rocks.
"Alright, alright, calm down! We're getting there, silly." Sammy held up her hands, a smile on her face as Ombra stopped, blinking up at her.
"See? There's even a path leading up towards here.., I think." Actually, she couldn't really see. Sammy had unfortunately lost her glasses earlier, a few minutes after she fell down the hole. It was a pain in a butt for her to squint every time she tried to see something. Ombra pushing her was just his way of trying to help her.., sort of. That and he just wanted to play.
Though, there really was a path up ahead – just not one leading upwards. This path was actually leading downwards. What was odd about it was that it didn't seem to be a naturally dug path. It had .., concrete stairs leading lower and lower into the cave. The path, from a close up look, would've seemed as though it was made at least during that day – no sooner, no later.
Ombra didn't seem too pleased with her choice of walking forward and down, though. Unfortunately for the both of them, he made the mistake of nudging her a bit too far.
"Oh, cr-" Sammy couldn't even finish her sentence before taking a tumble down the long flight of stairs, Ombra staring as she went down before bounding after her. And might I say taking a fall down stairs it not something you'd want to do in a cave, let alone without being able to see anything.
It didn't take her too long before she ended up on solid ground, though, letting out a groan of pain. What she fell on was unusual, though. Was it.., carpet?
Blinking her caramel colored eyes, Sammy let her hands grip onto the material of what did turn out to be carpet, sitting up when Ombra knocked her back down with a bark.
"Ow.., yeah, thanks buddy,"
"Yena!"
Sammy twitched, moving Ombra off of her to sit up again. "Woah..," What she saw surprised her. It wasn't a cave, but a room of sorts. Torches lit up the room on each side, while a large, almost throne-like chair centered the room across from her. She looked down to see a long carpet, leading towards the chair like a red carpet, inviting the person who walked on it down a road of authority to the chair.
That's what freaked her out, but intrigued her at the same time. "This is.., weird," Sammy stood up, brushing her bikini bottom off before walking over slowly towards the chair. She outstretched her hand, letting her fingers brush over the material of it – velvet.
"This feels like dad's chair at home..," she mused with curiosity, about to sit down before tensing up at the feeling of two arms wrapping around her waist, dragging her away from the chair.
"Haven't you learned before, Sammy, that touching things that aren't yours is bad? Against the rules?" A deep chuckle came from the figure that was leaning against her back, their head resting on her shoulder as she slowly turned around to glance at the figure.
".., Ch-.., Christopher?"
"Hello, my rabbit. Long time no see, isn't it? – Oh.., you still have these?" His gloved hand trailed over her back, earning a shiver as he touched almost nonexistent scars.
"Well, no shit! You gave them to me!"
DUNDUNDUN.
What have I done? XD I WENT OVER 6,000 WORDS. THAT'S WHAT. [/feels so accomplished]. I'm so, so sorry for such a late update! Feel free to impale me with sporks or the like.
Well, many unanswered questions.., sort of.
How does Sammy know Chris? How did he give her those scars? What's going to happen to Briana? Where'd Flare go? Will Mel die of annoyance before Daniel and Riley get there?
All shall be answered in the next chapter~
Though, I'm taking character abuse a tad far, no? xD And no! No one's going to die.., yet. Ohoho. [/shot]