*Hello readers! ^^ Welcome to Chapter 7! XD I've been working on a Nuzlocke comic, and progress is getting done slower than a snail... But enough about that! Here's the chapter!*
Chapter 7
Sapphire heard the footsteps first, approaching from the smoking remains of what was once a glorious fair, her sharp ears detecting seven different people coming towards them. The swirling smoke made it hard to see their faces, but at the sound of their voices, she felt tremendous relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Over here!" she called, gently laying Ruby down, making sure he wouldn't be hurt, waving her hands to signal to the figures. "Guys, over here!"
"I saw something fly away," started Silver as soon as he was in earshot distance, not wasting any time at all. " What was it? It looked like a Salamence to me, am I right?"
"It belonged to the person who started the fire," replied Emerald, tending to his injured Pokemon as well as Sapphire's, for the girl was too busy trying to revive Ruby, who was lost in fever and unconsciousness. "But there isn't time to talk right now."
"We need ta get Ruby ta da hospital right now!" said Sapphire fiercely, easily lifting him off the ground with a little effort. "He's runnin' a bad fever 'coz of that sun and rain. Do any of ya have any fast Pokemon that can carry him left? All of mine are knocked out, and Ruby's Zuzu and Mimi are too tired."
"Use Charizard," offered Green as Red said, "Use Aerodactyl."
"Mine's faster," they argued at the same time, causing Blue to roll her eyes at hit them both in the shoulder.
"Let's stop this before it gets out of hand. Just use Charizard-" she said as Red protested her. "Look, our kohai could be dying right now for all we know, and Charizard is more capable of taking heavy loads. After all, Sapphire wants to go with him, don't you?"
Blue wasn't that annoying after all, and Sapphire was thankful. She had to stay next to Ruby, to know he was all right. Even being a second behind in knowing his condition made her feel panicked, and what Blue said, though she completely blocked out one particularly frightening part, was true. Ruby's not dying. Not today, not tommorow, not while I'm here.
"I'm goin' with him no matter what!" she confirmed as Green released his Charizard, the fire lizard spreading its turquoise wings and bending down so Sapphire could climb on. "Thank ya, Green!"
Green simply nodded, as usual, not adding even a single word to his answer. Words were saved for arguing and insulting others. And for commanding Pokemon. And occasionally having a conversation. The last option happened approximately once in a blue moon. But in a crisis, it became as normal as breathing.
"Emerald," said Green, staring at the quickly disappearing form of his Charizard. "What happened? There was a battle, wasn't there?"
"He beat us. And he said he wanted Ruby," informed Emerald, eyes cast towards the ground. "He easily beat every one of our Pokemon- and he wasn't even trying."
"Why did he want Ruby?" piped up Yellow, her brown eyes filled with worry. "What did he do?"
"He said he needs Ruby in order to control two of his Pokemon, because Ruby's controlled them before." Green stiffened, instantly realizing the meaning behind the words. "Which probably means-"
"The two Pokemon he wants controlled are the legendary Pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre," Green finished for him, deep in thought, eyes closed, "which could lead to obvious disaster, and also explains the storm a few days ago and the sudden intense sunlight we had just now."
"He also has Latias and Latios," said Emerald angrily. "He's using them to achieve his goals! Latias and Latios! My friends!"
"If he has that many legendary Pokemon, it could stand to reason that those four aren't the only ones he has, right?" said Silver, steely gaze hard and cold. "For all we know, he could have several others as well, couldn't he?"
"Emerald, do you remember anything about him? Anything at all?" pressed Crystal, regretting her decision to find Gold. If she had stayed behind, perhaps she could have done something. "How he looks? What he was wearing?"
"He was wearing a big cloak that covered his face, and I only got to see his eyes for a little bit. They're gray, kind of like Silver's, but a lot darker," said Emerald, trying to remember any other of the few traits he managed to pick up. "From his voice, he's male, but I couldn't really pick up an age. I know two other of his Pokemon though. Salamence and Gengar."
""If we run into him again, we'll need to have our strongest Pokemon with us for sure, and we can't depend on the Triple Finishes if he possesses so many powerful Pokemon. They'll probably be able to avoid it," speculated Green, thinking about his previous battles with Gengar and what he knew about Salamence, a Polemon that simply didn't live in Kanto. He thought of it as a faster, but slightly less defense-based Dragonite for planning purposes. "For Salamence, we should focus on Ice Beam and Blizzard, and if he uses Groudon, Latias, or Latios as well, those two moves should be able to inflict significant amounts of battle."
"Turtly knows Blizzard," offered Blue, pointing out her Blastoise, which was still out of its Pokeball after the extinguishing of the fire.
"Omasuke knows Ice Beam!" added Yellow, patting the spiky snail-like Pokemon.
"I could teach them to Feraligatr," said Silver, looking back towards the blue reptilian Pokemon. "Except it'd be better for me to teach him Ice Punch, wouldn't it?"
"Salamence isn't our only opponent, and we have to presume this man has counters to Ice-types seeing they're Salamence's major weakness," said Green, mentally calculating what kind of moves the Salamence and its battle partner, Gengar, could possess. "Emerald, what moves did the Pokemon know?"
"Salamence knew Fly, but I'm not sure what else because I was battling Gengar. The Gengar knows Psychic, Sludge Bomb, and Focus Blast as far as I've seen," recalled Emerald. "I don't think Sapphire would know Salamence's attacks because she was trying to care of Ruby."
"Green, we can figure it out as we come to it," said Red, eyes glinting with confidence. "There's no way he'd be able to beat the ten of us at once. And we'll be prepared, not taken by surprise either."
"I suppose so," conceded Green, opening his viridian eyes.
"Right now, we have to go back and help," said Gold, the sound of ambulance and police sirens chiming through the air. "There were probably a lot of people injured in that fire that we didn't see."
"We'll have to go and see Ruby and Sapphire later then," said Blue, climbing onto her Blastoise. "Okay, Turtly! Time to go back!"
Sapphire would be forever eternally grateful that the hospital was far enough from the actual festival to not be caught in the devastating flames. It was like a white beacon calling out to her, unscathed and undamaged, and leaning forward, keeping Ruby balanced in her arms, Charizard started its fast descent, landing with a thus on the ground, lowering its long orange neck so Sapphire could easily jump off its back.
She burst through the doors like a raging Rhyhorn, looking around for someone, as the building was eerily quiet. It was creepy, no footsteps, no chatter, just absolute silence. She tensed, feeling as if something was about to jump her at any moment.
Why would it be so empty in here? she wondered, desperately trying to hear for sounds of other people. There has ta be someone!
The sound of ambulances outside and the crowd of white-clad people she had seen earlier in her flight reminded her of the reason.
Most of the staff must be trying ta help da people injured in da fire! she realized, panicking as she tried to find someone, anyone, but finding no one. This is bad! There's only one option left! I'll have ta make-do with what I have!
She took a big whiff of air, trying to detect even the slightest scent of berries. Even though this is a hospital for people, they should have berries just in case there's a severely injured Pokemon! she thought, taking another sniff. While berries might not be as effective as medicine, it'll do da trick for da time being. I smell berries... Over here!
She raced down an empty hall, kicking open a storage room door to reveal container upon container of every berry she knew and some she didn't. Iapapa, Sitrus, Cheri... She scanned the shelf for the one she needed, setting Ruby down as she climbed upwards, scouting for the berries she needed. Bluk, Razz... Here it is!
Jumping down, she took a handful of the healing berries, squishing them in her hand, and opened Ruby's mouth to put in the sticky pulp, making sure at least some of the juice got down his throat. With her hand placed on his forehead, she waited for a temperature change, and felt relieved as it slowly, but steadily dropped to a much less dangerous level.
Now all he needs is some rest... She lifted him up again, now walking instead of running down the hall to where she knew his room to be, opening the door, relieved and happy that he was now fine.
"I knew you'd come here." Sapphire froze as she looked inside the room, eyes widening in horror as she realized who was standing in the room, a now all too-familiar ghost Pokemon at his side. "I had Gengar remove all the people from this hospital and dump them somewhere less... noticeable. That way, no one would be able to interfere with me."
A cornered Pokemon does one of three things, thought Sapphire wildly. It either attacks, runs, or plays dead. Well I'm gonna attack!
"Go, Toro!" She released her Blaziken as she started running, the fire-type guarding her back as she struggled to make her way back to where Charizard probably still was, where it had to be to give her even a chance of getting away. "Use Blaze Kick!"
She didn't look back to see the ensuing battle, she just kept running and running, wishing Ruby hadn't grown so much in the past five years so he would be easier to carry. She was starting to feel his weight, like lead in her arms, slowing her down and tiring her out.
Toro's shriek of pain forced her to gaze back though, snarling at the man, who now wore a smirk on his face, though it wasn't visible in the shadow if his cloak. Blaziken dropped to the ground, fainted, at Gengar's feet.
"Running will do you no good," said the man, his Gengar smiling maliciously as it prepared an attack. "This is the last chance you get. Hand him over willingly or I'll take him by force."
"Take me!" replied Sapphire, fangs bared in a hiss. "I've controlled powerful Pokemon before as well; you don't need Ruby's help!"
"You've controlled a powerful Pokemon before," he corrected, almost gently, sounding like a critical judge. "I have two Pokemon that need controlling, and another one that I could possibly use him to tame. He was also the last one to hold control over the two, and will stay that way until I can take that power from him. You don't have the power I need. Now be a good, smart girl, Sapphire, and hand him over before it's too late for you."
He released another Pokemon, a sharp-bladed Gallade, having it rest its sword-like arms right next to Sapphire's neck, ready to slice through in the blink of an eye. She eyed it warily, wondering if there was any way out now.
"There is no escape now," said the man, answering her mental question. "And in the impossible chance that you do escape, it'll only take me minutes, perhaps seconds to hunt you down, and Gallade won't bother with threatening you. If you value your life at all, you will give me Ruby. Even if you value him higher, I'll kill you here and take him anyway. Being righteous and noble doesn't get you anywhere. Just be aware you're testing my patience. I don't even know why I'm being so generous."
Sapphire usually prided herself on the ability to make good choices. Perhaps not choices that would technically be considered 'smart', but things she considered 'right', like helping others even if it cost her injury and saving Pokemon no matter what the circumstance. But getting herself killed wouldn't help Ruby and giving him away was unthinkable. There was no right choice. There were no options at all.
*So what's going to happen? Take a guess. :3 XD Sorry for the boring first part... No inspiration whatsoever. What's your opinion on my evil OC? :3 Isn't he awesome (where's strikethrough when you need it?), I mean, evil? Time for review replies!
Kimiko Heroux: Glad to know you approve of the way the plot is going. :3 I have plans. Big, evil plans! :D Thanks for the review!
FighterGirl14: Sorry, no Sinnoh Trio. They've never really met, so... I didn't feel like trying to imagine how it would work out. Not to mention I'm trying to make it Hoenn myth-centric. Adding in them means I'd probably make this a whole lot more complicated than it has to be. XD Thanks!
See you all next week! Bye! :3*