Chapter Twenty-Three
Seven smiled as the wind, laden with the smells of a bakery and an Italian restaurant, ruffled the hair on her face. It tugged at her mane, but her coat kept it pinned in place.
Earlier that morning, as she paced back and forth through her room, she felt an irrepressible urge to get out and see the sky again. She had asked Giovanni for permission, saying she would like to scope out the prison.
As a woman with long graying hair and stark cheekbones, Seven sat at a park bench. A gray jacket, plain blue t-shirt, jeans, and black tennis shoes completed her disguise. All around her, people crossed across the tree-lined gravel path, walking Pokémon, licking ice cream cones, and calling to children halfway up the branches.
The silhouette of Stonebough prison lurked behind a thirty foot concrete fence. Her heart fluttered in her chest, her lips twitched, and she reached for a pokéball at her waist. She had taken to carrying around her Pokémon, since so much of her mission depended on their obedience. Running her finger over the pokéball, she felt the gold print, which read "Magneton." She shivered as she remembered the night Seamus died, but she didn't pull her fingers away.
A young man, with windswept white hair, comely green eyes, and an easy smile, did a double take when he saw all the pokéballs on her belt. He stopped in his tracks, walked over to Seven, and gave a quick, polite wave.
"Hey, are you a serious trainer? I couldn't help but notice you've got quite a few."
Seven glanced down at her belt. All five pokéballs sparkled in the sun. She thought for a moment, then shrugged and said, "I like to think I have some skill."
"How about we test it then?" The young man shifted his stance, revealing a full belt. "Three on three?"
"Sure. Where would you like to battle?"
"Here in the park should be fine, right?" He glanced over at an open clearing in one corner of the park. Another battle was winding down as a Machoke had a Mightyena in a headlock. Long scratches furrowed the Machoke's arms and chest, but it didn't loosen its stranglehold. "Unless you're packing even more heat than I think?"
Seven blinked at the question. Then she realized that having her Torkoal use eruption in the middle of a city park would cause too much commotion. She considered her roster for a moment and decided that all her other Pokémon would be subtle enough.
"It will do," she answered. Her words were punctuated with a loud yelp as the Machoke brought its hand down on the back of the Mightyena's head. It fell slack in the burly Pokémon's arms.
"Great! My name's Kenny, by the way. Let's get over there before someone else takes it."
The young man sprinted over there without waiting for her name. Seven walked over at a more leisurely pace, thinking how she should conduct the battle. She considered drawing out the battle, so she could spend more time handling her Pokémon, but decided not to teach them any idleness.
"Hey, hurry up! I think I see someone coming!"
Seven glanced over and saw a pair of trainers, two girls in their younger twenties, eyeing the clearing, but they didn't rise from their park bench. Seven trailed her fingers along the pokéballs, recalling the name of each Pokémon as she tapped its ball.
"Alright, since I challenged you, I'll call out first," Kenny said in a rush. His weight shifted from foot to foot as if he had springs in his legs. His hand snapped to his belt, and with a flick of his fingers, he sent the ball spinning.
"Go, Shredder!"
Seven recognized the hulking metal behemoth that came out of the pokéball. Though it stood on four legs instead of two and lacked horns, it had the same metal armor and stony flesh as Fisher's vicious tank. She tried to find its weaknesses and couldn't think of anything that could break through its bulletproof hide. So, she would have to make it hurt itself.
"Go, Set!" Her pokéball didn't spin, but it flew in a straight arc. It clacked against the cobblestone walkways and spat out a grinning Haunter. It glanced back at her, mimicked a bow with one hand, and stared at its opponent.
"Odd choice," Kenny said with a frown as he scratched at his dyed white hair. "Shredder, use iron head!"
The Lairon slammed its legs into the ground and barreled forward, head lowered like a battering ram. In a panic, Seven shouted the first command she could remember, one she was counting on for her prison raid.
"Hypnosis!"
The Haunter chuckled and spread out its hands. Its eyes flickered with pale purple lights that danced like will-o-wisps. Entranced by the light, the Lairon slowed, then stopped, and stared into the haunter's eyes. Its legs wobbled, and its eyelids drooped. Within moments, it was sound asleep.
"No, Shredder, wake up!" Kenny shouted loud enough to wake the dead, but not loud enough to get through Shredder's thick skull. Its snore rumbled like steel girders and granite boulders grating together.
"Dream Eater!"
Admin Colson drilled that combo into her head during their efficiency lessons. Immobilize, then administer the finishing blow. The Lairon thrashed as tiny purple orbs fluttered out of its ears and into Set's gaping ghostly maw.
But before Set had finished eating, Shredder's eyes snapped open. Its eyes glared daggers at the giggling ghost. With a joyous shout of "Yes!" Kenny ordered another iron head, with its eyes closed this time. Though Set had an easy time floating out of Shredder's path, it couldn't hypnotize without direct eye contact. Seven paused for a moment, letting the haunter dodge on its own while she came up with a plan.
"Confuse ray!"
The pulsing orange sphere slammed right into the Lairon's skull. It bellowed in anger and thrashed everything around it. The ground trembled as it left deep footprints and cracked stones, and it snapped a low-hanging branch off one tree.
The rampage lasted for another minute while Seven thought over possible strategies. Set laughed and mimed eating popcorn as it settled into the crook of a tree. Before she had any ideas, Shredder regained its senses. It glared up at the tree and pawed at its trunk.
"Could you get your Haunter down?" Kenny asked. "We're not supposed to damage any trees."
"Set, get down here," Seven said in reply. The Haunter swung around and around from a branch with one hand, flew off, did a loop, and landed in front of Seven.
Shredder charged again, eyes closed. Left with only one option, Seven said, "Destiny bond."
Set gave her another bow, much deeper this time, and cackled maniacally. Black sparks shot out of the Haunter and plunged into Shredder's shadow. Kenny shouted "Stop!" but the order came too late. Shredder slammed head-first into Set. With a high-pitched snap, the haunter flew apart into a hundred black pieces, settling onto the ground like a shredded funeral shroud.
As Set's body broke apart, Shredder's shadow writhed. Black chains wound out of the ground, wrapped themselves around Shredder, and pulled. The Lairon fell to the ground with a thud and struggled to rise, but the chains kept pulling. Shredder gasped for breath. It pawed at the ground, looked back at its trainer, and slumped into the dirt.
Kenny called back his Pokémon with a perplexed frown. "Weird strategy," he said, "But it worked, I guess." He threw another pokéball, making this one bounce off his chest, roll down his right leg, and flicked it up with his foot. The pokéball cracked open in midair, and an enormous bird glided to the nearest tree. The Staraptor gazed down at the bare earth with piercing orange eyes, and it tossed the red plumage over its brow like a tuft of hair.
Seven thought about calling out her Noctowl, but she didn't like its odds against the bigger bird. Her hand next went to the Porygon, but the computer program didn't seem suitable for battle.
And that left the Magneton. Its eyes snapped first onto the opposing trainer, and then the bird in the tree. Seven heard a gentle purr of circuits processing.
Kenny grimaced. "Damn, good choice. Come on Skywalker, use the force and close combat!"
Seven wasn't sure if he was referencing Star Wars or giving a command with that whole use-the-force part, but she saw that the name Skywalker did the Staraptor poor justice. It flitted through the air without effort and rapidly closed on her Magneton. She almost called for a discharge, but that would likely knock out the wires overhead. Instead, she said, "thunder wave!"
A pulse of electricity rippled through the air, but Skywalker darted aside. It slammed into the Magneton, and it flew apart into three heads. Two heads wobbled as they rose, but the third struggled to rise.
"Discharge, and make it a small one!" The two heads obeyed, emitting a small crackling sphere. Skywalker shot into the air like a spear and soared high overhead. Using the opportunity the extra distance gave them, the two heads sent pulses of electricity into the third. With an effort, it rose to join the other two and reformed their trinity.
"Get ready to finish it," Kenny shouted, cupping his hands towards the Staraptor. "Sky attack, and put everything into it!"
"Lock on," Seven told her Magneton, "And wait for it to get close."
She looked up and saw Skywalker twinkling like a star in the sunlit sky. Then the star turned into a comet, rushing towards her Magneton with unbelievable speed.
Seven waited for a loud click from her Magneton. Then she shouted, "Thunderbolt!"
"Detect!" Kenny shouted at the same time.
An arc of electricity, bunched up into a ball at the front, soared towards Skywalker and followed its movement, but at the last second, the Staraptor whirled aside. The bolt crackled past, and though the neon current turned to pursue, it wasn't fast enough to catch the bird. Seven only had a split second before the blow would land.
"Self destruct!"
The Staraptor was close enough to tickle the Magneton with its crest feathers when the magnetic Pokémon exploded. Arcs of thunder rippled out of the core, and with a thunderous boom, the heads split apart. Air ignited, flashing red and white, and a shockwave echoed like the gong of a bell.
Seven's Magneton lay in three smoldering pieces, one dangling from a tree branch, a second propped against a tree trunk, and a third close enough for her to turn it over with her foot. Ash covered its chrome body, and its eye stared feebly up at her.
The Staraptor wobbled on its feet, smoke rising from its feathers. It gave a muffled squawk and toppled over. Kenny shook his head as he called it back.
"I hope we're not going to draw. That would be boring."
Kenny's hand jerked over his belt. He mumbled something about type coverage, glanced at Seven's belt, and then clamped his hand around the first ball on his belt. A green lizard came out of this one, and the moment it came out, it darted straight for the nearest tree. Except for its orange belly, it nearly vanished in the leaves.
Seven felt really tempted to call out her Torkoal, but an image of trees burning like torches made her grab the Noctowl. She was pleasantly surprised when Kenny swore to himself.
"Flying," he growled. "Thought you'd have a water type. Well, I still have a chance. Gex, thunderpunch!"
Seven looked at the tree where it had been, but the Grovyle leapt from the other direction. Before she could puzzle out how it snuck around her, she shouted "aerial ace!"
The Noctowl vanished in a brown blur, and Gex's eyes widened as its hand, crackling with sparks, passed through empty air. Just as quickly, the Noctowl darted forward and slammed into Gex's side. The lizard fell to the ground, clutching its side. It staggered to its feet, panting, almost ready to fall over. But Kenny's smile widened.
"Giga drain!"
Before Seven could blink, tiny vines snaked out of Grovyle's wrists and wrapped themselves around her Noctowl.
"No, Horus, get out of there!"
The Noctowl flapped fiercely against its prison, but the vines held fast. They dug into Horus' skin, and green light pulsed down their length into Gex. Its leaf perked up, and its breathing deepened while Horus started panting and resisted less.
"Now, drag it in and finish it with Thunderpunch!"
"Horus, confuse ray!"
The Noctowl twisted in the vines and fired a glowing orange sphere at Gex, but it danced nimbly aside and yanked down. Horus landed with a thud, and before it could flap its wings, Gex pounced and landed a powerful, crackling blow on top of Horus' head. Its flapping stopped.
"Sweet!" Kenny shouted. "I thought you had me there for a moment."
Seven looked down at her dazed, stunned Noctowl. A flicker of fear darted through her. If she couldn't beat one kid, how would she fare against a whole prison full of trained security?
She walked forward and accepted Kenny's outstretched hand. His palms were sweaty, and his arm trembled. He gave her a warm smile as she handed him his prize money and offered to battle again sometime.
Seven returned to the bench and fingered her knife as she studied Stonebough prison.
Changelog
10/4/18 - minor edits