Angel dips her feet in Lake Valor's glassy water. A ripple skims over the surface before settling again. Her pokemon demolish what's left of her preserved pokemon food and Angel herself finishes off one of her last snack bars. She yawns and rubs her eyes to rid them of their drowsiness. The sun barely peeks through the trees surrounding the lake and the wind creates a field of goosebumps on her shoulders.
The child had wanted to see Azelf, but the pokemon was either ignoring her or out of lake. Either way, Angel was stuck. The platinum haven't the foggiest idea on where to go next. Major cities were a no and smaller resting places an even bigger no. She at least has a chance amongst a mass of people and buildings, put her in a two house town and she'd be under lock and key back at the League in a heartbeat, and she doubted that Cynthia would allow her out of the sight range of those gray eyes ever again.
The ear wrenching crinkle of a crushing tin makes the girl jump and turn around to see Diadem chewing on the food container from boredom. Mystic was using his food bowl as a frisbee, the disc spinning up before twisting down and getting locked into one of his many jaws. Destin finds his way under his master's arm and Calamity stretches in the small amount of sunbeam invading the area. Angel turns when she sees her absol jump up. The green eyes stare expectantly at the entrance and she stands with a huff. Violet orbs meet the jade ones.
"What do you mean someone's coming?" Angel whisper-shouts, paranoid as she shuffles around and gathers her items. Her hand barely misses Diadem's surprised teeth as she grabs the container littered with puncture wounds and her tiny hands snatch the dish being shaken my Mystic's main head. "We've got to go." Calamity barks harshly, but quietly. "Scratch that, we have to hide." The four pokemon are covered in red beams before merging with the light and disappearing into their capsules. Angel forces the items into her travel bag. She digs through one of its many side pockets and pulls out a bag of powder. She tears the package and throws it behind her, the brown specks falling into place among the grass. A Galactic innovation that messes with a pokemon's sense of smell.
The white haired girl ducks behind the tree line and holds her palms to her mouth to prevent her laboured breathing from being heard. The sound of two anthropomorphic (a large, convoluted word that Flint had told her meant bipedal and Lucian declared the statement only partly true) entered the field. Angel moved one hand to her chest, as if forcing pressure would keep her breathing from accelerating when Cynthia and her lucario enter the lake front.
Guilt lacerated the six-year-old's heart when she saw the bags beneath the champion's eyes and the robotic way she moved. Her joints seemed to only bend at two angles and her legs were stiff and lunged forward awkwardly, like she was on some sort of misshapen stilts. Lucario walked stoically at her side, ready to support the champion who had been eating less than usual and was undoubtedly overexerting herself.
"Lucario?"
The blue canine raises a snout to the air and his nostrils flare as he takes in the air. He looks at his trainer and shakes his head sadly.
The blonde lowers her head and her eyes dim as she stares at the dirt. Angel's fingers twitch as she resisted the urge to do something, anything. She felt like a skuntank and her just got locked together in the same room with a garbodor and everyone had a fight where she got the short end of the stick. The foliage around her shifts as she twists her body around so she faced the champion. Lucario's ears twitched at the sound and he turns an eye. The platinum freezes, knowing she's been caught, and silently pleads through her eyes for Lucario to think his next action over carefully. Not that Angel knew what she wanted that action to be. The blue pokemon decided and remained mute, but delivered a hard glare at Angel that drove home a painful message.
Calamity makes Angel's decision for her when the shiny creature explodes from her pokeball and makes enough disturbance for the champion to spare a glance at the forest. Unfortunately for Angel, crimson red and snow white are hard colors to miss amongst bland greens and muddy browns. The response is immediate, and Angel can positively say she has never seen an adult run so fast. There was no point in running or in flying. Lucario could outspeed her anyday and, even if she managed to wrangle herself onto Mystic, Garchomp would have her on the ground in no time flat.
The blonde's arms wrap around the child and forcibly, but gently, brings her to her chest. Angel's arms act as a barrier and prevents her from being fully enveloped by the champion and her violet eyes stare blankly at the ground as she is brought to her knees as Cynthia falls to her own.
"Baby Girl, you're okay. You have no idea how worried I was. Have you gotten enough sleep? Have you eaten properly? You didn't have your sleeping bag either." The questions continue to bombard Angel as Cynthia pulls back to push the knotty bangs away from the child's face. "Look at your hair; it's a mess. That can be easily fixed. Warm shower, proper meal, a new set of clothes, a hair brush. We should get your pokemon examined by Nurse Joy."
"Cynthia… Cynthia!" Angel calls the second time when the adult keeps yammering on. The little girl continues when the gray eyes refocus on her own and away from her roughed up appearance. "I'm not coming with you." Angel ignores the pained look and focuses on the trees behind Cynthia's head. "You're just going to send me back to the League, and I ain't just gonna sit around and wait for someone else to figure out what I've been trying to tell everyone from the beginning!" Angel pushes away from the champion, "You don't get to tell me what to do."
"I'm doing what's best for you," Cynthia asserts gently as she tries to grab the child again.
"Just because I'mma kid doesn't mean you can just boss me around!" Angel hisses; she ignores the warnings and pleas falling off Calamity's lips. Lucario shakes his head in the background.
"I'm your legal guardian. I can tell you what to do and you are going to obey it," Cynthia grinds out; the pent up anxiety finally rearing its head.
"Then give me back to Sycamore! Who'd wants a broken kid anyway? It's not like you probably care regardless!"
Angel bites her lip as the silence stretches out between the two. The small distance keeping her from Cynthia seemed to manifest and taunt her. Her heart twisting itself as the silence continued.
"Fine. I'll contact Sycamore, but until then, you're staying at the League."
…
Calamity watches anxiously as her trainer throws a myriad of items into a traveling bag. Clothes, new and old, unfurl from their folded positions after being shoved in so mindlessly.
"I told you it wouldn't last. It never does. People don't get it," Angel vents. "They think it's weird how I desire to help pokemon more than humans, but pokemon… Pokemon never hurt me. They never called me names or laughed at me." The violet eyes blur with tears and her voice quivers. "They don't think I'm broken. They actually want me around. Human don't."
Four sets of eyes stare around the corner at their champion silently crying outside the youngest recruit's door. The angered words were air horned out, but the tear jerkers never reached their ears. Bertha sighs and wipes her face with her hands, feeling slightly guilty and responsible. Flint and Aaron stared on with a morbid fascination, for they had never seen the blonde cry. Lucian upheld his calm exterior and pushed his glasses up his nose, hiding his misting eyes behind the lens glare.
Cynthia ignores the fact that the Elite Four was witnessing her breakdown. At this point the blonde could not care less about her image. One hand grasps her keystone and fingers the handmade chain as she stares, lost, at the door.
...
"Oh, Angel," Sycamore sighs over the holo caster. He sadly took in the paler skin tone and sickly features. The white of the trainer's eyes held a tint of red, even with the blue filter the camera projected, and it was obvious that she had hastily tried to mask her tears before calling her professor.
"Don't call me that," Angel snapped. "I don't deserve it."
Sycamore sighed again, but didn't retaliate. "Okay. I'll be awaiting your return Kalos."
The child nods and stares off into space. Neither speak as the platinum's reality sinks in. A shout in the background diverts the professor's attention.
"I have to go. I'll talk to you soon." The connection cuts off and the blue hologram disappears as the device's screen turns black.
Angel leans against the bed and absent-mindedly rubs Calamity's head. The sound of shattering glass makes the six-year-old look up in time to see a ball get thrown through the window and see the misty haze leak from its interior. The child sways before dropping to the ground.
Don't worry; I'm not leaving you hanging. I said if I got some reviews I would post a cliff hanger, so next chapters up.