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The Dark Type	By : Manifest Destiny Category: Pokemon > General Views: 36309 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is copy write by GameFreak, INC. and Nintendo. I make no money from this story, nor do I seek any.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
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Chapter 25: Fire Escape
—————
Iruni bolted upright from the couch at the sensation of something very cold being pressed against his neck. He brought his hand to his neck, feeling the cool, damp spot with his palm. He looked down to his right to see a very annoyed looking Sneasel with ice covering one of her paws.
“Your alarm has been going off.” she said curtly. “For an hour.”
“Shit…” Iruni said groggily, not realizing that Rikalia was now speaking to him again after the previous day’s events. He reached down and picked up the Pokédex off of the floor. Once it was in his hand he noticed that it was only vibrating, not emitting the jingle of noises that normally would play when his alarm would go off. “Sorry, I guess I set it to silent.”
Rikalia was already across the room, sitting in a chair and staring out the window.
“I don’t remember doing that…” he said quietly. Iruni turned the device over in his hand to see if the small switch was indeed turned to silent. Doing so revealed small but distinct red smears and stains on the outside of the casing. The dark crimson color was something that he immediately recognized as blood. He quickly tore his eyes away from the sight before he lost his composure.
I guess some blood got on it from when I hurt my head down in the ruins. I gotta get this cleaned up.
“Kate’s gone already.” Rikalia spoke without turning around to look at him. “She said to make sure you lock the door behind you when we go out.”
“Alright.” Iruni stood up and stretched his body, working out a neck that was particularly sore due to the size of the couch he had slept on. “Hey, Rika? Listen, about—”
“We’re going to find a better way for me to keep this with me all the time, right?” The Sneasel held up her Umbra Ball over her head in its full size so she knew Iruni could see it. “Right?”
“Y-Yeah. We can do that.”
“Good.”
Iruni idly looked around the apartment as he got ready for the day and didn’t see any of Kate’s Pokémon. He assumed they must have all gone with her wherever she had gone. The rest of his team were still inside their Poké Balls from being recalled the night before. He wanted to spend time with all of them after being forced to keep them in stasis, but he knew he’d hurt Rikalia’s feelings with how he had handled his battle at the Saffron City Gym. Iruni silently decided to spend the day with her alone as much as he could to try and make up for what he did.
Once he had carefully cleaned and wiped off his Pokédex as best he could, he sat down at the table and looked through a list of shops in the city that might provide custom clothing and accessories for Pokémon. He had a few ideas in mind for a solution to Rikalia’s problem, but he was sure there were other such trainers who had dealt with this sort of thing before. If he could find a shop that did things like that, he wouldn’t have to do much more than pay for it.
After finding what he hoped to be what he was looking for, his attention was brought to Rikalia when she pushed the Pokédex down onto the table.
“I want to fight that thing again,” she said to him.
“What thing?” Iruni asked.
“I don’t know, you weren’t paying attention enough to tell me…” she growled.
He quickly understood what she meant.
“I know you’re probably really frustrated about what happened,” he said. “But do you really want to go again so soon after—”
“—I got beaten so easily?” she finished for him. “Yeah, I’m sure. So long as you promise not to ignore me this time…”
“I do! I promise!” Iruni nearly yelled, surprising her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I’m just really sorry for yesterday.”
“I heard you.” She got up from her seat and waited by the door. “Are we going?”
Iruni sighed slightly, not wanting to further worsen her mood, and stood up from the table as well. He quickly grabbed his wallet, sunglasses, and his belt of Poké Balls, before making sure to lock the door to the apartment as they left.
—————
The tailor’s shop that Iruni had picked out was located on the southern side of the city, and even though he would have liked to take the time to enjoy the nice day and walk, Rikalia’s increasing impatience drove him to get a cab to their destination. The building was small; looking like it had been smashed between the two other, much larger buildings on either side of it. It also looked as if it were much older than the surrounding businesses, the owners perhaps unwilling or unable to remodel to keep up with the development of the block.
Before Iruni could step through the door, Rikalia ran inside the dimly lit clothing shop and leapt on top of the front counter.
“Hey, old man!” she called to the worker currently repairing the sleeve on a jacket in a smaller room in the back of the store. Rikalia held out her Umbra Ball brazenly, “Make me a thing so I can wear this!”
“What’s that?” the older man called back at her. He put down his work and slowly made his way out to the demanding Pokémon. “This your noisy cat?” he asked Iruni.
“Yes, sorry about that. We’re just in a hurry,” said Iruni. “I was wondering if you did custom jobs for Pokémon clothing.”
“So long as it isn’t a full wardrobe, yeah. What did you have in mind?” the tailor asked. “Is it for ‘Noisy’ here?”
“Hey, I can understand you,” Rikalia hissed.
“Easy, Rika,” Iruni put his hand on her shoulder. “Yes. We’d like to have something that will hold her Umbra Ball. I was thinking a glove or bracelet might be the easiest thing.”
“Bad manners aside, that sounds reasonable,” said the older man with graying hair. He ushered the two of them behind the counter and into his workshop in the back of the building. He offered them a pair of chairs to sit in as he looked for some basic tools. “I’ve gotten plenty of requests for these sort of accessories ever since trainers began dolling up their Pokémon with ‘mega-rocks’ or whatever they’re called.” The tailor knelt down in front of Rikalia and gently took her paws in his hand and made some measurements with his tape measure. “That Poké Ball should fit right into one of our docks, so long as it’s kept small.”
“Is it too much to ask for it to be easily removable and secure at the same time?” asked Iruni. “It’s not just some memento; it’s her current active ball.”
The man looked up at him over the head of a blue-feathered Sneasel, peering over the rims of his small spectacles. “You sure that’s safe?”
“Well, I’d like to try and make it safe, yeah. That’s why I came to get it professionally made.” He explained in brief Rikalia’s newfound ownership of her own Poké Ball, and how it might hinder her in battles if not properly secured.
“I don’t see why you’re going through such a fuss, but I don’t know your life. Or yours, eh?” the man said, gently petting Rikalia’s head with a smile. He stood, going back to his workbench with various tools and materials stacked on top of it. “It might take some doing to make a release that’ll trigger if the ball needs to activate on its own in case of an emergency.”
“What about one of these?” Iruni asked as he stood, pointing to his belt. He showed the jeweler the type clasps that held the four other Poké Balls in place on the strip of leather. Iruni demonstrated how much force it was needed to remove a ball from its grip, which proved to be no more than a light but deliberate tug.
“Yeah, those could work, but I don’t care those kinds of grips in the store. I’d have to order it in for you. Could take a few days, that alright?” the man asked.
Iruni glanced down at Rikalia, who was already looking more upset by the second. “Can you use one of these then?” he asked, pointing to the few unoccupied clips embedded in the belt. “They could probably be cut out of this out pretty—”
Rikalia jumped up and stood on her small chair, grabbed Iruni’s belt firmly in her paws, and pulled him closer to her. She swiftly carved her claw into the material and cut out the metal mechanism that was used to secure a Poké Ball to the belt, leaving a shallow hole in the belt’s length. She shoved the Iruni away from her and held out the clip to the tailor, impatiently staring up at him.
“Well, that’ll work,” the older man said, carefully taking the clasp from her claws. He rummaged through a drawer in his work desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. “If you have any other preferences or specifications, write them down here. Color of material, design suggestions, whatever.”
To Iruni’s surprise, Rikalia was very engaged and involved with the discussion about her soon-to-be-made garment. She made most of the design suggestions as she knew exactly how she wanted it to, or to not, affect her paws in battle. The final product would be a light bracer, made of both cloth and faux-leather material, that would cover her left arm from her paw to her elbow. A strip of material would go between her two claws and a set of fasteners would line the side to help secure it to her arm. Her Umbra Ball would be set in a raised metal ring, partway up her forearm, locked in place by the generous donation of a ball-clasp from her trainer. The material would be kept thin and light, to further combat any restrictions to the Sneasel’s movement, as well as avoid any infractions on any League regulations regarding armoring one’s Pokémon.
“Alright. I’ve got what I need. If you want it by the end of the day, give me a few hours and I can get started on it for you. I still have other work I have to do. I can patch up your belt for you if you want too.”
At his Sneasel’s annoyed growl Iruni shook his head. “No, that’s alright,” he said. “We’d actually like it as soon as possible, if it’s alright with you. We have a gym appointment this afternoon.”
“Rush job’s extra,” the tailor warned.
“Deal.”
“Then you gotta grab me some coffee from the café down the road,” the tailor said as he began drawing out the preliminary designs for the garment. “Tell ‘em ‘Greg wants his regular’.”
—————
Rikalia grinned to herself, despite the bad mood she had been in for most of the past twenty-four hours.
Her new armor was finished and now being worn on her left arm and she couldn’t stop admiring it. It had never occurred to her how satisfying it could be to envision something in your mind and then have it be real and your possession. It was perfect; just the way she wanted. The bracer was made of flexible, smooth material. It bent when she wanted it to, but it didn’t slip off her arm when she attacked.
She stared down at her Umbra Ball, locked in its place on her forearm. She didn’t tell Iruni what it meant, or the tailor even if he could understand her, but in the patch of blank leather that she’d asked to have included in the design, Rikalia had carved a pattern into it. She did so with her own claws—the tailor’s tools couldn’t have made the same design even if he’d tried. The pattern meant a lot more than just being aesthetically pleasing. The symbols that surrounded her Umbra Ball were something that any Sneasel or Weavile could read, but only Rikalia would appreciate:
“Control.”
The Sneasel swung her arms around as she walked down the sidewalk toward Saffron Gym, attacking imaginary targets that just happened to look like the thing that had punched her so hard yesterday. Iruni had called it a “Meditite” when she had asked him about their impending rematch, but Rikalia didn’t care very much what it was called. As far as she was concerned, all that remained to do about her opponent from the previous day was to knock it down onto the battlefield and beat it until it lost consciousness.
And now, I can.
She flexed her claws, testing the resistance her armguard gave.
“So, you think that’s going to work out?” asked Iruni a step behind her.
“Oh yeah,” she responded, finishing a set of slashes. “I love it.”
“That’s great,” he said as they turned a corner. “Although, we probably should’ve gotten it made as soon as we got into town.”
“No, I’m glad you…” Rikalia chose her words with care. “It was a good thing I got to ‘practice’ fighting without this. It helped me figure out exactly what I needed.”
“Really?” her trainer asked.
“Yeah,” said Rikalia. She turned around and walked backwards so she could face him. “Even if you were paying attention yesterday, I still would’ve been fighting with one set of claws instead of two. I should’ve thought of that before I decided I wanted to hold onto this all the time.”
“So,” Iruni started, “you forgive me for yesterday?”
“Well,” she said, looking over her new bracer once more. “This is pretty good, but there’s still one more thing you owe me, right?” Rikalia pointed over her shoulder at the building she was now standing in front of: Saffron Gym. “One… ‘Marsh Badge’, wasn’t it?”
“You got it.”
The instant Iruni pushed open the door to the building, Rikalia immediately felt relief from the warm weather outside. She shook herself and enjoyed the chill of the artificially cooled air that blew out from the doorway. Gently taking her claws, the Sneasel ruffled her fur, shaking free the small droplets of sweat that clung to her.
This time, the two challengers didn’t have to wait long before the Gym Leader graced them with her presence. Sabrina, the woman with black hair and strange glowing bracelets, approached them almost immediately.
“Mr. Thomas,” she said as she walked up to them. “How are you this afternoon?”
“Eager to get to our rematch,” said Iruni. “If it’s alright with you, we’d like to get that started as soon as possible.”
“Is that so?” Sabrina asked, looking down to Rikalia. “I see you’ve found a rather elegant solution to your problem from yesterday.”
“Enough stalling!” Rikalia called up at the tall woman. She flexed her claws in anticipation, “Let me fight!”
“Are you sure you would rather not take some time to prepare for the battle?” asked Sabrina, crossing her arms and tapping her finger against one of her bracelets two times.
“I think we’re more than prepared,” said Iruni. “I don’t want to waste any more of our time.”
Sabrina nodded, leading their way to the main gymnasium. “Then, if you’ll follow me; the battleground is already open for our battle.”
While the Gym Leader took her time walking to her side of the battleground, Rikalia gnawed at her claws, trying to bring a particularly dull edge back to proper form.
“Nervous?”
She looked up to find Iruni kneeling down next to her.
“I understand,” he said to her, “but don’t lose your focus. It’ll be alright.”
“Sorry,” she said, finishing her trimming quickly. “So, are you gonna watch this time?”
“I’ll do more than watch,” Iruni stroked her head. “We’ll beat her Pokémon together. You trust me?”
“…Yeah, of course,” said Rikalia.
“I’ll be trying something different this time, so keep on your toes.”
“Challenger Iruni Thomas,” the referee called to them as he approached. “Please present your Pokémon for inspection of its new garment.”
“I can present myself, you know…” mumbled Rikalia. She walked over to the man who had tried to take away her Umbra Ball before their last attempt, removed her gauntlet, and held it up for him to scrutinize. She watched him turn it over in his hands and test the security of the ball-lock mechanism. Satisfied, he let her put it back on, and he gave it another look over, testing how it fit on her arm.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” he said as he finished. “Mr. Thomas, I’ll go ahead and register your Sneasel’s new bracer as her ‘official accessory’. If you decide to change or alter its design, or wish to register a different kind of item for official battles, you’ll need to consult a League official beforehand.”
“Thank you,” Iruni said.
“I hope you understand that I will not show you any consideration because of our last encounter,” Sabrina said to them from her side of the field, holding out a Poké Ball in her palm. It opened with a flash of bright light, revealing the same creature from the previous day. “My purpose as a Gym Leader is to test and challenge any trainer who seeks my approval, whether it takes them one try or twenty to defeat me.”
“Let’s not let it get to twenty…” Iruni muttered.
“It won’t!” Rikalia ran out to the middle of her side of the battlefield. “Ready!”
The referee checked with both trainers and then signaled the start of the match.
Rikalia leapt forward into her opponent’s side of the field, determined to make her target wake up and take her seriously. Following the same tactics from their previous battle, the Meditite floated above the floor, eyes closed. Rikalia knew it was merely a front; it was already preparing that same heavy punch from before.
She crept close to it, its unwavering, statue-like concentration already starting to irritate her. Rikalia was about to swipe at it with her claws when she was interrupted.
“Teeth!” Iruni called out.
In the moment it took for her to look back to her trainer, the Meditite took the opportunity to land a quick strike, punching her in the side of the head.
The startled Sneasel reeled from the impact, clutching her head in pain. When she opened her eyes again, her opponent was back in its tranquil and relaxed state.
“What was that?” Rikalia called back to her trainer once she retreated a safe distance. “‘Teeth’?”
“You know, ‘Bite’. Well, now we know close-range isn’t what we need to do here. You’ll need to break its concentration by attacking outside of its range.” Iruni told her.
The Sneasel wondered how to accomplish that while she considered her trainer’s careful wording. She knew that Iruni obviously didn’t want to let the Gym Leader know what he had in mind, but that meant she didn’t have the specifics either. Rikalia wondered if he was giving her his same half-attention from yesterday, but one glance at his determined expression proved otherwise. He was relying on her to fill in the blank; he had given the command, but it was up to her to choose how to carry out the order.
“Remember to stay cool and calm, Rika!” Iruni called. “Surprise me!”
Cool… Surprise… Oh!
Rikalia knew her opponent was a Psychic type, but its mental abilities could only help it so much against her; it couldn’t read her mind or sense her movements. With its eyes closed, it could only rely on its big ears to track her. She grinned and flexed her claws. She guessed at the Meditite’s arm length, remembering how it caught her paw last time she attacked it. She closed in on her opponent, running straight for it. She focused her attention on its small movements, its regular breathing, how it tensed its muscles as she drew near. Just like before, she reared back her right arm, claws extended, ready to bring them slashing across the thing’s head.
The Meditite uncrossed its legs, landed on the ground, and prepared to catch the Sneasel’s bold assault. Once it opened its eyes, it was met with a sharp chunk of ice crashing into its forehead.
Rikalia had flung the Ice Shard with her left paw, having already prepared the attack as she ran forward. The sound of her clawed paws scraping against the battlefield floor hid the sound of the ice forming between her two claws.
Sabrina’s Meditite stumbled backward, covering the point of impact with one hand, glaring angrily at the Sneasel.
“Hit you,” she teased, grinning.
With its focus lost, and its temper rising, Meditite lunged forward with its free fist, intending to knock a fang or two loose from the cocky Sharp-Claw’s mouth.
“It’s not fun to fight one-handed, is it?” Rikalia mocked again.
Meditite sent a flurry of wild punches and kicks at the agile Dark type, but without any restrictions to her own movement, Rikalia easily dodged and attacked whenever opportunity showed itself, nicking and scratching the her opponent with her claws. With each attack it received, the Meditite lost more of its composure. A quick glance showed that even the Gym Leader herself was unsure about the outcome of the battle.
“Eyes!” Iruni called.
Rikalia was beginning to catch on to the loose ‘code’ Iruni was speaking in now. She ducked to the right of a particularly wild attack, blowing an Icy Wind into Meditite’s face. The frosty blast of air chilled the Leader’s Pokémon where it stood, leaving it open for Rikalia to return the punch she had been given in their last battle. Solid ice coated her right paw, claws clenched tightly. She sent the Ice Punch crashing into the Meditate Pokémon’s chest with all of her strength.
Despite taking the repeated Ice type attacks, Sabrina’s Meditite continued to move. It had endured the hit and grabbed hold of Rikalia’s right arm with its own, slowly clenching its left fist in retaliation. It leaned forward as it threw its punch.
“Fall!”
Following her trainer’s command, Rikalia pushed back with her legs and fell backwards onto the floor of the battlefield. The Meditite, who already had its own forward momentum from launching its attack, was easily sent flying over the prone Sneasel with just a little effort. After crashing into the ground headfirst, Meditite tumbled to a stop on floor of the battlefield.
Rikalia jumped to her feet once the Meditite’s grip on her arm loosened. She turned around, staring at its motionless body, unsure if the battle was over or not. She readied a set of Ice Shards in her claws, waiting for it to get up and attack her.
But an attack never came.
“Sabrina’s Meditite is unable to battle!” called the referee. “The winner is the challenger, Bartholomew Iruni Thomas!”
The next thing she knew, she was suddenly lifted up into the air. Rikalia let the blades of ice she had prepared drop to the floor of the battlefield. Iruni lifted her up, smiling ear to ear, laughing.
“That was amazing, Rika!”
He pulled her into a hug, which Rikalia couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
“You did it!”
“We did it,” she said, hugging him back. “Together.”
“Congratulations,” the Gym Leader said as she walked over to them. She had recalled her defeated Pokémon and was carrying its Poké Ball in a field of telekinetic energy. “A much better performance than yesterday. Night and day, even.”
“Thank you. We really appreciate the opportunity to try again so soon after losing the first time,” Iruni said.
“My pleasure. Though I feel I should mention; you needn’t hold back on giving your Pokémon commands because of my psychic abilities. It would be incredibly unsportsmanlike of a Gym Leader to spy on a challenger’s thoughts during a match.”
“I never assumed you would,” said Iruni. “I knew that if I had called out detailed instructions, you would be able to think of ways to counter them. I wanted Rikalia to choose how to beat your Pokémon because I knew she wanted to fight her own way. As the fight went on, I only needed to give her a few hints here and there. I trust her judgment.”
“Well, your trust has been rewarded,” said Sabrina, handing over her badge. “It’s clear you learn quickly from your mistakes. That is a sign of great potential. If I might make a suggestion for where you head next, why not try Viridian City?”
“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”
—————
“Now this is much better,” said Rikalia, sitting on Iruni’s shoulders as he walked along the road back to his sister’s apartment. She held the newly won Marsh Badge between the claws on her right paw. The gold, circular pin shone brightly in the sunlight as she flipped it between her white talons. Watching the Meditite’s shocked face as it flew over her and fell onto the ground had been satisfying on its own, but knowing that their win today came from the combined efforts of her trainer and herself made Rikalia feel better than she had in a long time. She gripped the badge tightly in her paw, knowing she would soon have to drag the mood down into unpleasant territory.
Today—right now—was the moment she needed to seize.
“I’m sorry it took us two tries,” Iruni apologized for the millionth time that day. “I swear, I didn’t look away from you for a second.”
“I know you didn’t,” said the Sneasel. She never said so, but she had taken as many chances as she could to glance back at her trainer during the battle to check where his attention was focused. “You’ve always kept your promises, even if you’ve been slipping a little lately.”
“Yeah…” Iruni looked down at the sidewalk as he walked.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it that much,” said Rikalia. She pointed toward a bench sitting in the shade beneath a tree. “Actually, can we sit down over there? I want to talk to you about something.”
“Right now? We can just head up to the apartment. We’re just a few blocks away.”
“Please? I want it to be just the two of us,” she said.
Iruni took the slight detour and sat down in one of the empty spots with his Sneasel still sitting on his shoulders.
Despite taking the initiative of getting him to sit down to talk with her, Rikalia had trouble starting her conversation with Iruni. She didn’t want to make him feel any worse; she’d done plenty of that. As she idly chewed on one of her claws she could tell that her stalling was making him nervous, watching her human shift uncomfortably and try to focus on anything in front of him. She realized just needed to come out and say it. This wasn’t the time for lies and subversion anymore.
“You’ve been lying and hiding things from me.” Rikalia’s voice was soft, almost sad. She hugged his head. “Something about what happened to you down in the ruins and why we came here. Don’t try and deny it anymore. I want to get this settled. Now.”
“What makes you think I’ve kept anything from you?” he asked, voice wavering slightly.
She rested her head down on his. “It wasn’t hard for me to guess the password to your Pokédex.” Rikalia felt him jump as she said that. She knew she had him caught now. “I read your notes… the ones you keep private and separate from work.”
Iruni sighed, at a loss for words. “You must hate me,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“No I don’t,” said Rikalia. She got down from his shoulders and stood on the bench next to him. “I read what you said in those notes you wrote, so I know that you’ve been doing this to protect me, right? Well, don’t you think I’d be able to help with whatever is going on if I knew?”
“I… dammit.” Iruni looked away from her. He hung his head and covered his face with his hands. Iruni said something quietly under his breath, but Rikalia could only hear him say, “…just as bad as her…”
“I’m not mad, really. I gave it some thought, and I’m actually… glad you’ve been doing this for me.” Rikalia pulled his hands away from his face and gave him her kindest and most genuine smile. “You’ve been sneaking around behind my back and keeping secrets all to keep me safe from something. I really like that, actually.”
“That’s not it. It’s not just about you, it’s everyone—everything. I’m afraid that everything in our lives could be in danger if I make even the slightest mistake. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know who I can turn to for help.”
“Well, hey,” Rikalia took the Marsh Badge she still held and put into Iruni’s palm. “You see this badge? I couldn’t beat Sabrina’s Pokémon alone, because when I tried it just thrashed me. It took the two of us,” she closed his fingers around the small metal pin, “working together to beat the little annoying bastard into the dirt. You got this sleeve made for me so I could keep my ball with me and now I can use both paws in battle. You watched my battle and told me what to do when I couldn’t think of anything.”
The Sneasel gripped his hand with both of her paws, leaning up close to his face. “We work best as a team, not when we’re alone.”
“That’s just it,” Iruni shook his head. “I haven’t been treating you or anyone else like I should have. After the whole ordeal we went through in those ruins, I learned what really happened. And now I see I’ve been treating you the same way she’s been treating me. I’ve pulled you around without your choice and I’ve kept it all from you because I thought I knew what was best. You don’t deserve that.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Rikalia. “Who could be doing those things to you? Is it… uh…” she struggled to remember the name she had read in his notes. “Cellbi?”
“Wow, so you did read my notes,” Iruni said.
“Did you think I was bluffing?”
“I was kinda hoping,” Iruni admitted. “But, yes. Celebi has been… I don’t know everything about her or what she’s done, but she is the reason I’ve been so cautious lately.”
“Ruby seemed to get really uncomfortable when I mentioned that name,” Rikalia said. “Said she could be dangerous. Who is she?”
“You roped Ruby into this?” her trainer asked.
“You did too!” she protested. “Mr. Private-psychic-conversation-with-the-pretty-Gym-Leader!”
Iruni sighed heavily and leaned back against the bench. “Okay. What don’t you know?”
“Plenty,” Rikalia nudged Iruni’s arm to get his attention. “Come on, look at me and talk to me. This doesn’t have to be hard.”
“I know, but,” Iruni looked down at her, “you know that I wanted to tell you all about what happened, right?” he asked. “It’s just such a strange situation that I panicked and kept everything to myself. I didn’t know what to tell you because I really don’t know that much myself.”
“Just tell me what you do know, it’s okay.” She sat down on his lap and pushed against his chin gently with her head. “You can tell me anything, you know.”
“I know that, but…”
“What? Do you think I won’t believe you? Did you do something else that would make me angry?” Rikalia asked.
“Not me, no…”
“Come on, you’re being difficult about this. Alright fine, how about this; I’ll ask you a question, and you answer it. Just don’t lie. Easy. How’s that?” she asked.
“Okay.”
“Great! Now, let’s see… Uh…” Rikalia turned around in his lap to look at him, “Can I go through those notes again? I’ll know what to ask better if I can ask about whatever confuses me.”
Iruni chuckled as he handed his Sneasel the device, “Sure. I guess you know how to find them, huh?”
Rikalia shot him an annoyed look, “I wouldn’t have had to snoop around if you had just been open with me, you know…” She tapped away at the screen, smiling to herself as she finished entering in the password. “Hey… it is my name, right?”
“Huh?”
“The numbers that unlock this,” she pointed a dulled claw at the screen. “It ends up spelling out my name, doesn’t it?”
Rikalia thought she saw her trainer’s face flush with color for a moment before he spoke again.
“I mean, it is easier to remember a word than a string of numbers, at least for me,” he averted his gaze for a moment. “How, uh, did you figure it out anyway?”
“Ruby said that humans make passwords something that they’ll always remember, or something that’s important to them,” she said, staring into his eyes.
“Did she now? She’s become so helpful since she became a mother,” said Iruni.
“Is she right?”
“About what?” Iruni asked.
“Am I something important to you that you’ll always remember?” she asked. When Iruni didn’t answer immediately, Rikalia added, “Remember? I ask a question, you answer. Don’t lie.”
“Rika, I— This isn’t doesn’t have to do with what was in those notes—”
“I don’t care,” she stood up so her face was even with his, leaving the Pokédex lying on the bench beside them. Rikalia put her paws on his shoulders, gripping them tightly, but not enough to pierce his skin with her claws. “Please, answer me. Am I really that important to you that you’d use my name before yours, Kar’s, or Kate’s?”
Iruni’s seemed to struggle keeping his eyes front and center.
“Yes or no?” Rikalia asked.
“Yes,” he finally said. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not all the time…” Rikalia looked down at her claws and the damage she had done to them the previous night in her nervous fit. “But… it feels good to hear you say it.” She hugged his neck, rubbing her face against his. “I’m sorry I got all mad at you.”
“I deserved it—”
“No you didn’t.”
“I still messed up big yesterday,” Iruni said. “I promise that won’t happen again.”
“Because now we’ll be honest with each other, right? No need to keep things a secret because we think it’s right for the other?”
“Right. I’ll tell you everything that happened, and we’ll work together; you, me and the others.”
Rikalia pushed away from him to look him in the eyes once more. “Before you tell them, just tell me. If you were unsure whether you could tell anyone, just practice with me.”
“I don’t—” Iruni cut his sentence off as his eyes drifted upward, looking on at something in the distance.
Before she could take the time to ask what had interrupted him, the Sneasel caught the putrid smell of smoke.
“That’s not good…” Iruni picked Rikalia up with one arm, hoisting her up to his shoulders again, and swiped his Pokédex up from the bench. He began quickly walking in the direction of the smoke and dialed a number in his PokéGear. The road they walked along had become congested with traffic and many other people were moving in the direction of the troublesome smoke. Iruni tried his PokéGear again, “Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up!”
Rikalia tried getting his attention, “Hey, what’s the matter? Why are we running towards that?” As Iruni rounded another corner Rikalia had her answer. While she didn’t quite understand human cities or the way they built them the way they did, she could at least recognize buildings she had been to before.
Kate’s apartment building was now dead ahead of them, being devoured by flames and spitting out a column of suffocating black smoke from many of its upper floors.
Iruni broke into a sprint, running faster than Rikalia had ever seen before. Rather than fight to keep her balance, she leapt down to the ground and ran alongside her trainer.
“Kate’s not answering her phone! I don’t know if she’s alright!” Iruni yelled, answering a question that didn’t need to be asked.
—————
A crowd of people had gathered in the street below the climbing flames, yelling their worries and concerns to one another. When the two arrived on the scene, Iruni and Rikalia frantically looked around the mass of people for any sign of Kate or any of her Pokémon.
“Maybe they’re still out?” Rikalia suggested.
“She should still have her phone…” Iruni muttered. “Where is the fire department?” he asked one of the bystanders.
“We don’t know,” they said. “A bunch of us have called them, but they’re still not here. The traffic this time of day is awful.”
“How did this even start?” Iruni asked.
“No one knows. This fire just got way out of hand really quickly.”
Damn…
Iruni looked up at the burning facade of the building, worry and panic rising in his gut.
“Hey, whoa,” another person beside him said. They had a hand against their head and wavered in their stance. “I’ve got… an Espeon talking to me? It says it’s stuck in the building! Its owner and other Pokémon are still inside!”
‘Ruby!’ Iruni did his best to catch any stray psychic links that might’ve remained, trying to remember the tips she had taught him. ‘Is that you?’
‘There you are! I thought I felt your mind down there! Where are the damn firefighters?’ Ruby felt terrified. ‘We’re trapped in here! Kate’s knocked out!’
‘What— sorry, no time. You’re in the apartment still? Can I get to you easily?’
‘How should I know?! Just get us out of here! I don’t care how!’
Iruni took a few steps back, looking on at the burning building.
“Rika…” Iruni said in a low voice. “Kate and everyone are in trouble. We need to get into the building as fast as we can. How do you think we could do it?”
“In there? Wait, is everyone really in there? Are they alright?” she asked, gripping his leg.
“Rika! I need you as my partner here,” he knelt down to her. “We need to get them out of there now!”
Rikalia looked from her trainer to the building a few times, “Why are you asking me!?”
“Because I don’t know what I should do! I need your help, please! I trust your judgment, but I’m… too scared. I can’t think. Please.”
Rikalia stared at the building for a tense moment, eyes darting around the immediate area. “Going up all of those stairs would be too slow, even if they’re not blocked by fire, so why not climb up on the outside? We could get in on the floor below Kate’s room and head up through the floor? Drapi could carry us up and claw his way through easily, couldn’t he?”
Iruni considered the option seriously for a moment. The building had visible flames starting on the third floor, unfortunately right were Kate’s apartment was located. The first two floors looked fine, but there was no guarantee of that just by observing from the ground.
“Well, could that work?” asked Rikalia.
“It has to, come on!” Iruni ran forward without another thought and Rikalia chased after him. He pushed through the crowd as quickly as he could, coming close to the front of the building. He ripped the Friend Ball from its spot on his belt and released its occupant. The large insect-like creature materialized with a confused and troubled look on his face.
“I’m sorry about this but it’s an emergency! I need you to get us into the building, below the fire,” Iruni pointed up to a balcony on the second floor. “From there, we need to rescue my sister and her Pokémon. Do you understand? Do you think you can do that?”
Drapion looked up the side of the building and then back to his trainer, nodding silently. Without needing further orders, he grabbed Iruni and Rikalia with his large arms and placed them on his back. A quickly translated direction from Rikalia told the two of them to grab onto the long, slender part of his body as he began to climb. Using his four legs, two clawed arms, and his clawed tail, Drapion scaled the side of the building with what Iruni considered surprising ease.
Below him he could hear startled onlookers calling up to him; some with words of encouragement, others concerned for his own safety.
Reaching their destination on the second floor, Drapion crashed through the sliding glass doors of an apartment’s balcony entrance. Once inside, they were all relieved to see that the fire had not spread to where they were. As they quickly made their way through to the hallway, Iruni grabbed a few stray dishtowels from the unsuspecting person’s apartment.
“Listen up!” Iruni yelled as they ran toward the stairwell that would lead them the rest of the way to the third floor. “We’ll try the stairs unless they’re blocked. When we get into the burning areas, try to breathe through these,” he tossed a towel to Rikalia and Drapion. “Breathe as little smoke as you can,” he held up the rag to his mouth. “Rika, ride on my shoulders and try and use your ice to fight any flames you can! Haradah—that’s your name now, big guy!—you’re in charge of any large debris in our way, got it?”
Haradah the newly named Drapion grunted in affirmative and Rikalia got into position as well.
Iruni climbed onto Haradah’s back once more as the Ogre Scorpion climbed up the stairwell toward the entrance to the third floor. Flames could be seen through the small window in the door. On Iruni’s order, the large Drapion ripped it from its hinges with a clawed arm. Already prepared for what would happen, Hadarah conjured a Protect barrier for himself and his comrades as the blast of fire and hot air that erupted from the hallway in front of them. The group’s fears worsened as they saw what looked like a sea of fire covering the entire hallway leading toward Kate’s apartment, where it looked like the waves of flames were coming from.
“Rika, shoot the floor with ice so he can walk. Haradah!” Iruni yelled, “Step where Rikalia disrupts the flames!”
The Sneasel did as she was told and threw shards of ice onto the floor as quickly as she could, which would then melt and temporarily extinguish the flames that burned the floor. Haradah stepped on these freshly cooled spots and the group slowly made their way down the burning corridor. The doorway to Kate’s apartment was partially collapsed with the door itself mostly burned away. A quick swing of the Drapion’s large arms cleared the entrance for them.
Inside was a large, mostly melted dome of ice trying to be maintained by an exhausted Glaceon. Azula—doing her best to avoid touching the ice walls that Tom was creating—was curled around Ruby, Molly, and Kate’s unconscious body.
“Hey, we’re here,” Iruni called into the room. “Let’s go!”
‘We can’t carry Kate, dumbass. Otherwise we’d have gotten out when that asshole started this mess!’ Ruby yelled through their mental connection.
“Is she okay?” Iruni asked, kneeling next to his sister. Her face was bruised and bloody and her arms and legs had burns along them.
‘We can worry about that when we’re out of here! Now let’s—’
The flames that had been eating away at the walls caused a portion of the ceiling to collapse, blocking off their only exit.
‘Oh, fucking fantastic!’ Ruby cried. She nuzzled her terrified daughter. ‘I’m so sorry, sweetie…’
“Hey! We’re not dead yet,” Iruni yelled through his cloth. “Ruby, tell Kate I’m sorry for this later!”
Thinking back to Rikalia’s suggestion of climbing up the building to save time, he thought that the best way to get down that should be even faster. He reached over and grabbed Azula by her Everstone collar, pulling it off. The instant the plain stone was no longer in contact with her body, the Dratini’s body began to shine intensely with bright light. The Dragon Pokémon’s body elongated and coiled around them all, shattering Tom’s ice walls. Azula’s scales darkened and the fins on the sides of her head changed to wings. A Dragonair now surrounded the group, looking surprised and curious about her new body.
“Azula, I’m sorry I did that without asking, but you can get us out now! Everyone grab on and Azula can fly us right out the window!”
‘She can fly now?!’ asked Ruby.
“I hope so! Azula! Hurry!” Iruni looked to Rikalia, “Recall yourself!”
“No! Not while you’re in danger!”
“Fine!” Iruni groaned.
Iruni recalled Haradah and gently picked up Kate and carried her over his shoulder. Ruby levitated over hers and her teammate’s Poké Balls and Iruni recalled them all as well, save their transport out. He and Rikalia held onto Azula’s body as best they could, and the newly evolved Dragonair blasted the sliding glass doors with a Dragon Rage attack.
“Go!”
With such speed that Iruni would remember it for the rest of his life, Azula darted out of the apartment building and took to the air, spiraling up into the open air over the crowd of people below. Cheers and clamor rose up from the ground as they descended onto a patch of grass half a block away, the sounds of firetrucks could finally be heard approaching from the distance.
After they landed, Azula let her passengers disembark before rising to the sky once more, coiling and twisting in the sky above the apartment complex that was burning to the ground.
Iruni set his sister gently down on the grass, relieved to see her still breathing.
“What’s she doing?” asked Iruni, looking up his sister’s Pokémon in the sky.
“Helping,” Rikalia said simply. “That’s what she said when she took back off.”
As the Sneasel finished her sentence, dark clouds began to build in the sky above the Dragonair. A heavy downpour of rain fell over the immediate area, quenching the flames as much as they could before the firemen and ambulances arrived.
—————
To Be Continued…
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The Dark Type