Part XV: Riot in the Hallways!
My heart was slamming against my ribcage as I tried to think of a plan. I've been held hostage before. I can do this. That disgusting man trained me how to escape these situations with ease. I can handle this. I forced my breathing to slow from its frantic rush before I pushed myself into a sitting position with my feet. First things first, find a sharp surface. That shouldn't be too hard, seeing as I'm currently being held inside of a closet.
Just as I was about to push myself backwards, I heard a sound that made my blood freeze.
A high-pitched scream of pain rang out, echoing through the small space and sending my heart into a storm of thuds. No, I fought to remain calm as the sound seemed to last an eternity and shake the small chamber until it threatened to collapse. That can't be. That couldn't have been—
My thoughts were interrupted by someone unlocking the closet door. I snapped my head up and found the larger brute standing before me with a grim expression. My eyes grew wide with horror as I found a stiff form held in his grasp, bound at the wrists with clouded eyes.
"Man, I hate this part." The man let out a few mutters before moving the motionless frame backwards. Her small frame was then spun around as to face the closet fully before he let out a sigh. "Well, hope you don't bust your head open or something."
I fought to escape as the man lurched her form backwards and then hurled her like a log inside of the closet. What little breath I had was forced out of me as the stiff body slammed into my chest, sending my head crashing backwards with the impact. Before I could fight for a breath, the man slammed the door and locked me in once again.
Darkness consumed my vision as I struggled to adjust to the lack of light once again. After a few blinks here and a groan of pain there from the heavy weight that was now resting on my abdomen, I managed to readjust to the lack of light. It was only after I had found a bit of air that my attention snapped to the newest captive.
"Mmph!" I mentally cursed myself for even so much as trying to talk to her at this point. For starters, I was gagged to the point that I felt like a Ponyata in a brindle. Second point, but the most important one was a bit more complicated than my current restrictions.
I had no idea if she was still alive.
Please don't let her be dead. A few agonizing seconds ticked by with no movement besides the labored rise and fall of my chest, sending me into a panic. Please, let this be like the time she fell off of Ho-Oh. Please let her just look dead but actually be alive. Please let her live!
"Nngh," My heart stopped as a slight sound rang in my ears. At once, I snapped my attention down to my chest and found a slight movement registering in my vision. Sure enough, my rival's cheek was resting against my chest as her nose twitched. I held my breath as she started to gasp for air, opening her mouth and gulping it down as if it was the only chance she had.
A sharp pain in the corners of my mouth reminded me that smiling while gagged wasn't the best idea. Either way, I watched on as she slowly lifted her head and looked around with wide eyes.
"..Crap." I watched as she glared over her shoulder, lifting herself into a sit. "That was a terrible idea. Now how am I supposed to..." Her voice died off as horror slipped across her face.
"My Pokémon! Oh, what have I done?" I narrowed my eyes with slight annoyance as she started to gasp for air again. "They've stolen my Pokémon! Oh, I'm such an idiot! Now they could do anything to them, and I'm stuck inside of a stupid closet! I'm such an idiot!"
I decided that now was a good time as any to interrupt her soliloquy.
"Mpph! Mmmph!" I purposely shouted through the gag, which of course made nothing but strange grunts and hisses beyond this thick fabric. My rival froze in place as she suddenly realized that she wasn't alone. Her eyes locked on mine and for a fraction of a second, a bit of relief and joy flashed through those powerful orbs.
"Silver!" She immediately leaned towards me with a beaming grin on her face. "Am I glad to see you! I was so worried about you!" I stopped struggling as she kept on talking. "I thought that those disgusting monsters might have hurt you or...worse." Her expression fell for a moment before returning to eager relief. "But I'm so glad that you're here!"
Wait...she was...worried about me? A strange warmth rose in my chest as she smiled down at me. My rival...was worried about me? She's glad to see me? I shook my head and tried to push those thoughts aside. Now was not the time for mushy crap. I had Pokémon to rescue.
"Ah," She paused as she finally noticed the fact that I was basically silent. "They gagged you. Here, I'll get rid of that." I mentally grinned as I closed my eyes and waited for her to untie me. A few seconds later and a sharp tug on the fabric told me that she was already at work.
However, the memory of seeing her hands tied snapped my attention away from a pleasant escape.
I opened my eyes to find to my horror...no...my absolute disgust that she was tugging on my gag with her mouth like some kind of Pokémon. Heat rose to my face like never before as she gave the fabric another sharp yank. The gag flew off of my mouth with one last yank, leaving me sitting there with embarrassed terror as my rival grinned with triumph.
A few seconds of silence stretched between us before I let out a growl of anger. "Just what were you thinking?!" I relished at the sound of my own voice as my rival flinched. She spat out the gag with a frown as I glared at this strange rival of mine. "You don't ungag someone with your mouth, idiot! What if you accidentally—" I stopped as I found myself shuddering at the mental image of what could have happened.
"Relax, redhead." My rival apparently wasn't even upset with this. "I did what I had to do. You were bound and gagged, I was bound but not gagged. Therefore, I used the one thing I had left to free your pesky mouth." I opened said mouth to spit out another insult when I became painfully aware of another problem.
"Uh...Lyra?" The girl tilted her head with dignity and serious eyes as I just gulped down horror and disgust. "...Do you know what you're sitting on?"
She stopped for a moment before giving me an odd look. I just rolled my eyes with bright cheeks before motioning with my head towards the object of my embarrassment. The girl glared at me before giving the area a passing glance. Lyra Soul didn't even bat an eye as she snapped her attention back up to me with a raised eyebrow.
Once her brain processed the problem, she did a frantic double-take.
She once again lifted her head towards me, this time with vibrant cheeks and an open mouth. She sputtered on her words for a minute before she turned her head away and fell to the floor. Once the undesired—I swear it—weight on my gut was removed, I sat up proudly and gave her a glare.
"Took you long enough to realize that you were basically str—"
"Don't even say it!" I couldn't help but grin at the flustered sounds that escaped her as she tried to remain calm. "It was an honest to Ho-Oh accident, and I don't need you to rub it in! I swear on Ho-Oh's tail feathers, I did not mean to do that under any circumstances!"
I just tilted my head up with a grin as an angry huff escaped her. "Well, seems to me that you were awfully comfortable there, little rival." I glanced out of the corner of my eye to find her hiding her face in her hands and fighting to breathe. "In fact, I have a feeling that you wouldn't have moved unless I told you about it."
"Sh-Shut up! Stop being a pain!"
I just shook my head and narrowed my eyes as I continued to tease her. "Says the girl who ungagged me in the first place."
She shot me one of her practiced glares, the one that meant 'shut-up-or-I'll-shut-you-up-myself'. At that point, I decided that if I wanted to get out of this closet alive, I might as well save this for later. But I was definitely going to taunt her about her choice in seating later.
"Well," Her voice was a flustered huff, making me grin. "I'm going to need you to get me out of this mess and get rid of these wrist restraints." I slowly turned my head to face her as I found her lifting her chin with silent pride. I just blinked at her for a few moments before taking upon myself to remind her of a crucial fact.
"Woman, in case you suddenly turned blind, I've got wrist restraints too!"
"I know that, idiot." I gave her a growl as she just stood up and walked back to my feet. My jaw dropped open as she sat on the top of my shoes and glared at me. "However, your mouth is certainly free at the present moment."
"Bu-But..." I fought to find words as she simply stared at me. "Why aren't you all tied up?!"
She just let out a snort and shook her head. "The guy who bound me up only had a really frayed handkerchief in his pockets, so he used that to keep my hands tied together. He apparently didn't have enough rope after tying you up." She took a moment to scan my situation before chuckling. "I wouldn't be surprised if he used a whole box of 'em on you."
"Genius," I glared at her as she continued to wait there as if it were perfectly acceptable to sit on your friends—er, rivals. "In case you've forgotten, my wrists are just as tied as yours are." My rival gave me a long stare before simply laughing the facts off as if they were nothing.
"I'm not expecting you to use your hands." It was only a heartbeat before she scooted closer to me and stuck her hands out expectantly. "In case you've forgotten, your mouth is very free right now."
I felt heat rising to my face at the suggestion, mostly due to the fact that it was plain weird. "Lyra Soul!" My rival just tilted her head from side-to-side as I tried to hold on to my dignity. "How the heck do you expect me to get you out of that mess—"
"Look here, redhead." She silenced me with a harsh glare, making me rue the day she ever grew some confidence. "You have quite the sharp canine tooth on your right side there. Trust me, you've bitten me hard enough to remember that bad boy of yours." I gave her a growl as she just shook her head, shaking some of her loosened chocolate locks over her shoulder.
"The fabric he used is quite weak. I could just rip it off, but I'm afraid doing so will just rub my wrists raw." She closed her vibrant eyes for a minute with a sigh before looking at me with a pleading look. "So, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. You bite through this ragged old thing, and I'll untie the rest of you."
"You idiot!" I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs to see if that would get the point across, however I had to remain slightly quieter than that if I were to escape this closet undetected. "How am I supposed to bit through some nasty old rag? You've got to be kidding me!"
Lyra rolled her eyes before giving me another glare. "Simply lean forward, I'll lean backwards, and then you can gnaw through them. It's that simple." She paused for a moment before giving me a sly grin. "If you can't reach me from here, I guess I'll just have to come a bit closer..."
I cut her off right there by snapping myself forward and grabbing the cloth with my mouth. I mentally cringed and outwardly shuddered as I found the fabrics to taste like sweat. I prayed to Lugia that said sweat was from my rival and not from that Rocket grunt...not that the owner of the sweat made any difference.
"Ah," Lyra stopped to let out a chuckle of triumph. "Thank you very much, redhead. I'll be sure to get us out of here, just wait and see." I simply rolled my eyes and focused on not hurling over the fact that I was chewing through the faded cloth as if I was a Rattata.
Focus, Silver. You'll be out of here soon enough. I gulped down a bit of excess saliva and tried to keep myself from just giving up. You'll get her back for this. Once you're free, you can rescue your Pokémon and get the heck out of here! Then, you can devise some form of payback for this little stunt.
I almost let out a whoop of joy once the rag dropped from her wrists and landed on my lap. My rival however spared no sound and automatically let out a sigh of relief. "Finally! I thought that I would be stuck sitting here forever!" She quickly jumped to her feet and gave me a beaming grin. "Thank you so much, Silver! Honestly, I was starting to worry about my circulation!"
"That's very nice." I nodded my head with a fake smile before snapping back to the more important matters. "Now get me untied!"
The brunette stopped her little cheering and slowly turned her attention towards me. She stared at me for a minute before shrugging her shoulders and folding her arms. "Actually, I think I prefer you all held back like that. It makes you much more tolerable."
"Get me out of here!"
Lyra simply shot me a glare before getting down on her knees and started pulling on the ropes. "I was only kidding, Silv. Try not to get your boxers in a bunch." An overwhelming heat rose to my face at her words, making me struggle to remain calm. After a few heartbeats, I realized that such things were impossible.
"S-Shut up! Don't talk about my underwear!"
Lyra just rolled her eyes and tried to find the knots holding this mess together. "Again, only joking." She let out a few mutters that sounded suspiciously like 'besides-it's-not-like-I-know-what-they-look-like-or-anything' before finally locating the main knot. Lyra then narrowed her eyes in concentration and got to work in loosening the bonds.
I tried to remain calm as the seconds ticked away. It felt like she would never get that thing untied! It was times like this that I missed my old pocketknife. Too bad I left it in my bag, which was currently stashed under the bed in our—I mean my—room in the Pokémon Center. In other words, it was utterly useless to me right about now.
"Got it!" Lyra let out a grin as the ropes dropped limply to the hard floor. "Dang, those thugs know how to tie a knot far better than the ones I've met in Azalea."
I slowly stood up with a sigh and smiled with relief. "Yeah," I rolled out my shoulders to free myself from stiff muscles as my rival rose to her feet to get rid of the remaining hand restraints. "They must have learned from those Rockets back in Mahogany instead."
At the mention of the old Rocket base, Lyra let out a rabid growl and gave the cloth around my wrists a hard tug. I cringed in pain as she then violently tried to remove the last of the restraints. It was then that I recalled that the base was a very sore subject for my rival.
Hey, how was I supposed to know that she hated bringing up the time when Team Rocket actually captured her and threw her into a jail cell? ...Wait, that's a pretty obvious thing once you think about it. Well, at least she got out thanks to a handsome stranger with red hair and a strong Pokémon.
Just between you and me, it wasn't some cape-wearing zero.
"There." I snapped my attention back to my rival as the cloth fell to the floor. "That's the last of them." I felt a slight discomfort rise in the back of my throat as I found her usually cheerful or arrogant tone replaced with a serious chill. "Now, it's high time we taught those crooks a lesson." She took a few steps towards the door before abruptly stopping in front of me. I tilted my head in confusion before standing beside her.
"Luckily," She reached up towards her chest and frowned. "I happened to prepare for such a situation." It was then that my rival did something unthinkable. She did something so terrible, so horrifying, that I cannot even bear to speak of it. I ended up hiding my face in my hands and praying that I could erase that memory from my mind permanently.
Unfortunately for me and anyone else who has ever wished for such a thing, it was impossible.
When I removed my hands from my face, my rival was holding two Pokéballs in her hands and glaring at the door. "Those fools think they can steal my Pokémon? Well, they have another thing coming!" She hurled the capsules down beside her and released a familiar duo.
The Ice Demon and Petalsaurus let out proud roars of determination as my rival held her left hand near her chest before snapping it shut with a hiss. Yet again, the strange mark seemed to glow in the low light. I narrowed my eyes as my rival took a few steps back before glaring at the door once again.
"You better watch your back, Team Rocket, because Lyra Soul is here to send you right back to the ashes you came from!"
It was then that my rival ran shoulder-first towards the closet door and burst through it as if it were nothing. I let out a small sound of shock as her beloved Pokémon simply let out a happy roar and raced after their Trainer. Muttering a few curses under my breath, I raced after them with squeaking sneakers.
By the time I had caught up with them, Lyra had found the two men once again. The girl let out a harsh sound that reminded me of an angry Pokémon before inching closer to the duo. Hackles raised, her Glaceon stalked forwards with a loud growl of warning. Her Meganium did the same, not a single moment of anxiety or hesitation as he readied a pair of vines to lash out against his foes. The two grunts just stood there, shivering with fear.
"It's time for you to pay for your sins, you disgusting scourges!" I was taken aback by the sound of my rival's voice. Instead of the usual tone or even the cold hatred she had shown in the closet, a deadly sound dripped out of her mouth. "I, the chosen one of Ho-Oh and his loyal servant, shall send you back to the ashes whence you came!" I jolted in horror as I found her voice to continue to change with every step she took, sounding nothing like my cocky, proud and joyful rival.
"It is time for you to burn in the flames of judgement!" I gasped as she suddenly lunged for the two men as if it were nothing. Her Pokémon stopped their approach and started calling out with frantic roars and howls, but their Trainer paid no heed. In fact, it was almost as if she couldn't hear them.
I watched on in frozen terror as my rival pounded the men with powerful punches and furious kicks, her hands and feet seemingly glowing as if they were surrounded in fire. Lyra Soul raced up to the thicker grunt before slipping into a handspring and soaring into the air with a harsh yell. The man didn't have a single second before the girl raced past his head and delivered a powerful aerial frontflip-kick in between his shoulder-blades. The man fell to the floor like a boulder before my brunette rival slowly turned her attention to the leader.
The man stood there for a minute before letting out a high-pitched scream and running away. My rival didn't even so much as flinch. She simply watched him run off a little ways before lifting a hand straight out towards him and closing her eyes. Suddenly, a harsh orange light engulfed her hand only seconds before a blast of flame exploded from her palm and raced towards the grunt.
I shook my head in disbelief before rubbing my eyes. Am I imagining things?! I opened my eyes wide just in time to see the flames crash into his back and force him to the floor. An inhuman scream escaped him as his head hit the floor. A sickening twist in my stomach arose when he didn't move. This can't be happening.
I gulped down horror and nausea and instead lifted my chin up high. I wasn't about to look weak, even when my rival was doing some freaky crap that seemed absolutely impossible. "Lyra Soul!" I tried to keep my voice steady as the brunette simply stood there with her back towards me. "What are you doing?! What's up with you and the freaky tricks? It's starting to get really weird."
Then, my rival turned on me.
Author's Note: Silver: "I think I just peed myself!" Alright, back to some dignity here. It seems this is both an insanely fluffy chapter and a very scary ending. Well, this can't be good. Let's start with the closet, shall we?
I'm going to be honest and say that I had far too much fun writing this scene. I mean, you can really tell how they feel about each other when they're taking the time to tease and taunt each other when they're bound and gagged. Really, it's pretty interesting how they prioritize. However, their little bickering makes this easier to survive. They're kinda funny like that. Silver really had his chance to be the taunter/teaser in this chapter, which healed his ego for the time being. (Plus, you guys get a cool HeartGoldHeacanon!Fact about the Rocket Base. That's always nice.)
As for the hallway...yikes. That was a little scary considering the whole flames thing. Lyra Soul is one scary little girl. I mean, it was bad enough when she was pounding on them before the whole scary voice thing. Now...I'm starting to wonder if everything as it seems. Silver may or may not have a big problem on his hands with this one. At least we have the loyal Glace and Gani out and about!
[In case you guys are confused, Silver got embarrassed about the earlier-mentioned 'secret technique' of his rival, Lyra Soul. Here's a few hints. First off, Lyra held two Pokéballs before she went into the hallway and in a few seconds, she held none. However, when her belt was stolen, she was able to conjure up two of her most powerful Pokémon with no difficulty. There's only one way that this could happen...Lyra Soul has magical power!]
[...I'm kidding. The truth is...she hid them in a 'secret compartment' known only to women. ...In other words...a certain something comes in handy when it comes to infiltration and hiding your Pokémon.]