"Indiana Jones would be ashamed!"

"You'd be ready for a nuclear holocaust if you were given two seconds warning."

Protector of Silence

Chapter Thirty-Seven - A mean right-hook

Kellyn swore Keith was the most manipulative person he ever had the misfortune of being close to! Except for Rhythmi. And Liam. And occasionally Kate. Come to think of it, he gets manipulated a lot.

...He should probably start rethinking who he calls his friends now.

"You nearly got it?" Keith asked. Kellyn shrugged. "What d'ya mean you don't know?!"

'Blindfold' Kellyn wanted to tell him, but he had no way of doing so and he needed to focus fully on the ropes he was trying to psychically force to snap around their wrists whilst avoiding giving the two of them rope-burn. That was why he against this idea.

"...Are you nearly done yet?"

Kellyn clenched his teeth. 'For the sixth time, NO KEITH!'

No sooner had he thought this, the ropes around his left wrist snapped, came lose and slipped to the floor.

"FINALLY!" Keith gasped with relief, snatching his now freed right hand and diving for the other set of ropes around their other wrists. Kellyn meanwhile went for his blindfold, pulling it down so it hung around his neck like a scarf. Blinking open his eyes, he quickly realised why he'd been the only one blindfolded - he wasn't staring at the door. Instead, he was facing a multitude of Pokémon statues. Unlike the statues Kate had found, these did not have a glass dome and therefore no known way of purifying them. But thankfully Kellyn didn't know this yet.

"FREEDOM!" Keith bellowed, managing to free their other wrists. Now free to move both wrists, it was only a few more seconds before Kellyn managed to force the rope tying them together around their middles to snap, falling to the floor. Immediately the two jumped to their feet and as far away from each other as they could in one bound.

"Aren't I a genius?! " Keith grinned smugly. Kellyn rolled his eyes. He decided not to remind Keith the only reason he had agreed to that potentially dangerous plan was to escape Keith passing the time telling Kellyn some of his life stories (which for those of you who don't know are as interesting as Kincaid's grammar lessons and about as true as The Chronicles Of Narnia).

In an attempt to ignore the egotistical ginger, the psychic being walked over to the statues. Near the front of the 'crowd' of statues, was one Kellyn recognised.

'Sparks!' he called out, hoping the captured Luxray could hear him. There was no response.

"Hey Kel! I'm gonna look for a way outta here!" Keith announced somewhere behind him, but Kellyn wasn't really listening. He instead walked over to Sparks and got down on one knee, resting his palm on the statue's forehead.

'Sparks, I'm so sorry' Kellyn bowed his head, thinking of the Shinx Sparks he saw being captured by Hunter J all those months ago. 'I dragged you into this. Please forgive me.'

Kellyn quickly retracted his hand as he began to feel the statue beneath his palm grow warm. He startled as he saw a palm-shaped indigo handprint on Sparks' forehead - the gold had seemingly melted away.

'I wonder...can I?' Kellyn pressed his palm against the top of Sparks' head now, where the gold was still, holding it there even when the warmth in his palm returned. Slowly, the colour began to lick back onto Sparks' fur - flooding from head to paw. When all the gold melted away, Sparks' eyes returned to their normal green colour with a blink. With that blink, the former statue's muscles seemed to flop back into action and he fell forwards, Kellyn catching him before he hit the ground.

"Ugh! What...happened?" Sparks croaked out, not quite able to move. Kellyn carefully set him down on the floor.

'Stay here, I just figured something out' he told the Luxray 'I can free everyone. Just watch.' He moved on to the next statue: a Lotad. He placed his hand on top of the statue's head and imagined the colours a Lotad would normally be, his palm heating up with a gentle warmth as he did so. He closed his eyes, and after a few seconds he felt something stir beneath his palm. He slowly opened his eyes again, blinking to adjust to the dim light, and found himself staring at a perfectly fine Lotad.

'I knew it!' he celebrated in his head 'I can free them! I can free all of the prisoners!' The Lotad seemed to ignore his little celebration and instead asked him the same groggy question Sparks had. Kellyn patted the top of it's head. 'It's okay. Everything's gonna be just fine. Stay with Sparks for now, I have to free the others.'

The Lotad just blinked sleepily up at Kellyn, so the psychic being turned it to face Sparks. Immediately the Pokémon's eyes went wide and it went back to staring at Kellyn, furiously shaking it's head.

"Are you insane?!" was the gist of what Kellyn could understand. He'd never listened to a Lotad before, so he had had no previous warning that their voices were unbelievably muffled and squeaky.

'Don't worry' Kellyn would've chuckled if he could've. He gently pushed the Lotad towards the Luxray. 'He won't bite...you. Besides, it won't be for long. Just a few minutes, okay?'

And with that, Kellyn made his way along the line of Pokémon, making sure every single one of them was relieved of their cruel golden prisons. Some, like the Lotad, took only a few seconds; others, like a Bibarel, took a little longer. There was even an Infernape that Kellyn had to devote a lot of energy to, and had had to stop halfway through for fear he might collapse from exhaustion - which would not be a great idea right now. It was just as he was finishing up on the last Pokémon - a Glameow - when he heard a loud grating noise from behind him and Keith's voice bellow:

"KEL! I FOUND A SECRET ENTRANCE!"

Without any warning, there was a stampede. Kellyn found himself suddenly swarmed with Pokémon and thrown to the ground. They stood on him, kicked him and one may have actually bitten him in their haste to reach the exit. Kellyn curled himself up into a little ball, arms covering his head to protect himself the best he could. Then, he heard the grating noise again and the stampede stopped.

"OH COME ON!" Keith was complained and it sounded like he was hitting something with something "For the first time, the hero actually finds a secret exit, and the Pokémon steal it! You've gotta be kidding me! Indiana Jones would be ashamed!"

Kellyn groaned and held his pounding noggin as he sat up. He saw Keith at the back wall, furiously banging a metal panel with his fist - apparently trying to reopen his secret entrance. Well, all the Pokémon were gone, so something must have opened at some point. Either that or they all teleported. Which was highly unlikely.

"You okay?" Well, at least Sparks stayed behind.

'Ugh...yeah' Kellyn groggily agreed, slowly getting to his feet. Keith meanwhile let out a final yowl and kicked the wall. Nothing happened.

"Well Kellyn," the ginger announced, turning to face his cellmate "I've just decided: I hate secret entrances."

'You won't be saying that when one saves your life' Kellyn rolled his eyes. Keith though, oblivious to Kellyn's thoughts, walked over to the main door.

"Well, looks like we're gonna have to get out this way" he announced, placing his palm on the ridiculously thick metal. It wouldn't be easy to take out now all the Pokémon had scidadled off. "Hey, Kel? Think you can work some magic on this door?"

Kellyn's head was still pounding after releasing 30+ Pokémon and being trampled by a stampede - but he knew if he said no, Keith would put the escape on temporary hold and resume telling his life stories. Between that and the risk of fainting, Kellyn chose fainting.

With a gasp of relief and exhaustion, Kellyn sat back on the floor, heaving for breath. It had taken five minutes and way more entry than Kellyn had ever intended on devoting to one thing other than punishing Keith, but finally the three mechanical locks had unbolted and Kellyn was completely mentally drained. Now the door had slid away sideways and the only thing standing between them and freedom was a swinging door. Unless J had put a third door in, but Kellyn doubted she wasthat desperate.

"Good job" Sparks congratulated him in the modest and sensibile way he did everything. Keith was less subtle. He squealed (yes, you read that right) and tackle-hugged Kellyn into the metal floor.

"You did it Kel! You know what, you're such a good friend that if we were on a sinking ship together and there was only one life jacket, I'd miss you heaps and think of you often!"

Kellyn rolled his eyes. 'Of course you would. Thanks for the consideration Keith.'

Still grinning, Keith pushed the second door open, and then froze. Kellyn and Sparks, just behind him, also stopped.

Sparks sighed. "He really didn't think this through, did he?"

'No, he didn't' Kellyn sweatdropped 'When does he?'

Standing in front of their now open door was two rather burly looking grunts. And they didn't look exactly friendly.

"And where do you think you're going?" the grunt on the right inquired. Keith looked at Kellyn and gave him a knowing wink.

'He's up to something' Kellyn told Sparks in a groaning tone 'I know he's up to something.'

"And I take it that's not a good thing?" Sparks asked.

'No. No it isn't.'

"How about the bathroom?" Keith tried.

"How about no" the grunt of the left stated.

"But what if we've gotta go?" Keith inquired - to Kellyn it was hard to tell if he was acting "In the words of Annie: 'If you've gotta go, you've gotta go'."

"Well you're just going to have to the patient" the first grunt snorted.

"Me?! Patient?!" Keith looked horrified "Who are you to tell me to defy my awesomeness?!"

'No patience equals awesomeness?' Kellyn tried to put the puzzle together, but it was making his head spin with confusion.

"We're Pokémon-hunters-in-training!" the grunt on the left stated.

"And that mumbo jumbo means?" Keith inquired.

The other goon rolled his eyes. "In other words, we're the bad guys."

"Ohhhhh! Really?" Keith was either a really good actor, or a moron. It was probably the latter. "Because I thought bad guys are supposed to be more like 'Graaahhhh!' and 'I'm going to KEEL you!'"

"Is that so?" the grunt on the right...grunted "We have been instructed only to kill you under extreme circumstances."

"Like, how extreme a circumstances are we talking here?" Keith just went on with his rambling "As in KOing-you-both extreme or threatening-you-with-the-equivalent-of-an-atom-bom b extreme? Because we can do both." He patted Kellyn on the shoulder with that, despite the fact the brunet wasn't keen on the idea of self-destructing himself to bring this airship down.

"Get this straight!" the goon on the left yelled in their faces "The only way you're leaving is in a statue or a body bag!"

"Okay! Okay!" Keith waved his hands in mock-surrender "Geez! The price of freedom is real steep these days!" Kellyn tried to keep his breathing under control so it didn't look like he was laughing.

"Back in the room!" grunt Número Dos pointed behind them into the prison they'd just escaped from.

"Alright, alright!" Keith complained "But first, I wanna show you what my dad said to do if I was ever cornered by a group of thugs."

Before anyone could process what he had just said, Keith's foot went flying through the air and connected with the underside of the grunt's chin. The grunt went flying through the air and landed in an unceremonious heap on the floor. Kellyn didn't get the opportunity to see if the grunt ever recovered from this hit, because he was immediately knocked to the floor by a cracking punch to the jaw from said grunt's companion. Just after scrambling to his knees, Kellyn was shoved down again by someone, presumably Keith. He guessed this because at that exact moment the ginger hollered:

"HIT THE DECK!"

And not a second later, a bright flash and a bang echoed above their heads. The brunet once again got to his knees, coughing out some blood that had accumulated in his mouth from the sheer force of the punch. He tenderly prodded the right side of his jaw and winced at the slight pain. That was going to leave a nasty mark.

'That's gonna be hard to explain to Kate' he thought.

"Whoa Sparks!" Keith cheered somewhere to his left "Nice Thunder Charge!" Sparks said nothing, but Kellyn felt the Luxray press his shoulder against the psychic's beings, trying to nudge him to his feet.

"You didn't loose a couple of fangs, did you?" Sparks inquired.

'Teeth - I'm not vampire' Kellyn corrected him 'But no, I'm fine.'

"Hey, you doing okay Kel?" Kellyn looked up to see Keith extending a hand towards him. Kellyn took it and let the ginger pull him to his feet, nodding to answer the question.

"Yikes, that's one mean right-hook he gave you there!" Keith remarked, looking at the yellowing bruise on Kellyn's jaw "Kate's gonna blow her top!" mostly ignoring Keith, Kellyn bent down, reached into the pocket of one of the now unconscious grunts and removed a scrap of paper and a pen that was clipped onto the inside.

Let's go before someone finds us

"Yeah" Keith nodded "Let's find Kate, kick Hunter J's butt and scidadle outta here!" Kellyn's smile faded.

We'll have to confront J, won't we?

"Probably" Keith nodded, looking pensive for a rare brief moment "And, not to stress you out or anything, but if we do see her, you're kinda our only hope." Kellyn hung his head and gave a small nod. He was already aware of this - but it didn't make it any easier.

I just wish I was ready

"Kel, you'd be ready for a nuclear holocaust if you were given two seconds warning" Keith elbowed him with a smile "You're a psychic being, remember. It's in ya blood. Stop stressin' out! You're ready to face Hunter J, the Go Rock Squad or whoever else finds time in their diary to ruin or day!" He then checked his watch and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, our night anyway." A small smile crept onto Kellyn's face.

Thanks Keith

"Ya welcome!" The ginger gave an over-dramatic bow.

"If whatcha-call-him is all done fooling around, can we leave now before someone else finds us?" Sparks sighed in exasperation.

'Yeah, let's go' Kellyn thought with a nod, writing that down for Keith's benefit.

"Alrighty then!" Grinning, Keith spun around dramatically on one foot, walking comically with his arms swinging ridiculously and eyes closed with a grin plastered on his face. And of course, this could only lead to one outcome...

"Ow! Me snoz!"

Keith had just smooshed his face into a wall and was now holding his nose with his eyes scrunched shut. If Kellyn could laugh, he'd been ROFL-ing.

"Jerk!" Keith grumbled very nasally, clutching his nose "Me nose's bleedin'! Ya gotta 'andkerchief?"

Meanwhile, in a place far far away, Lind understood how Keith was feeling exactly.

"Hold still!" Lark hissed, clamping her hand onto the top of Lind's head to hold it still whilst she shoved the handkerchief into his nose again. The action made Lind sneeze, a spray of blood hitting the handkerchief and just missing Lind's purple trousers.

"Careful!" Lark immediately scolded him "We don't have a washing machine here!"

Lind said something, but it was so nasal due to the nosebleed that Lark couldn't make it out. Really it went something along the lines of: "And hence springs the gift of magically changing your clothes. Unfortunately they only ever come in one colour."

"Don't even think about blaming me for this!" Lark said in response, sure whatever Lind had attempted to say was probably an accusation. "It's not my fault you slipped through one of Rafe's portals and whacked your nose off of the council table!" That was indeed the table Lind was currently sat on whilst Lark attempted to fix his nose.

"It's not my fault either, you jerk!" Lind tried to say, but it came out more like: "Z mot my fau ei'er, mu murk!" Lind unfortunately was not accustomed to speaking without use of his nose, unlike Keith who had crashed into a fair few objects in his time.

With a sigh and eye-roll of exasperation, Lark looked over her shoulder towards one of the walkways that connected to the platform the 'grand' table that had stood there for millennia and was currently being used as a doctor's chair.

"Lunick, have you got a bandage or a strip of cloth or something?" she sighed "Or even a piece of Sellotape so Li—" She stopped as she finally realised something was wrong. "Lunick?" The former Ringtown ranger was shivering as if angry, his teeth locked together and a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"How dare she..." he growled under his breath.

"Who?" Lark asked, her priority no longer Lind who hastily portal-ed out of the vicinity.

"She thought she could lay a finger on her and get away with it..." Lunick seethed, not making sense to Lark. "That's the final straw! Enough's enough!"

"What do you–" Lark started, but she never finished.

Before Lark could stop him, Lunick took a few steps back, then raced forward and threw himself off of the walkway, vanishing into the darkness below.

A small white hand failed in the darkness, the arm it was attached to stretching out as much was possible in an attempt to escape the dark mass. There was desperation in its actions, but also tiredness, exhausted from spending so long trying to get free. Not for the first time, a voice whimpered from just beneath the surface of the darkness:

"...Lunick..."

And into the darkness, there came light. Just as the pale hand looked like it was finally giving up its fight to remain free of the darkness, a second hand dove into the depths and seized it. The two hands remained interlocked, light spreading out throughout the darkness - bringing hope to the imprisoned.

"Don't worry. I'm here."