Pedestal: Chapter 79

I wasn't sure how long the flight took, but it took long enough for me to yell myself hoarse and get tired of struggling. It also took just enough time for me to be unbearably sore when we finally landed in a dense patch of forest that looked remarkably like every other patch of forest in the area.

Still, Chase descended with purpose. He dropped me unceremoniously in the grass and I immediately fell to my hands and knees, joints yelling at me for hanging like a rag doll in his grasp for the past however long.

"What the heck is this about, Chase?!" I demanded, straining to get on my feet and remain that way. It was harder than I remembered. He growled something at me and licked at his wing wound. I rolled my eyes and decided sitting was good, too. "I can't understand you. I have no idea what you just said, or why you just kidnapped me from my Pokemon-"

The growl this time was more pronounced and was accompanied by a glare.

I backed down. "…I still can't understand you."

Chase snorted and limped over to a tree, withdrawing a shredded backpack from it. I belatedly recognized it as Nick's.

"He-He got arrested, Chase. How… Why are you separated? Why is his stuff here with you?"

Chase shook his head and tossed the bag at me, scattering items everywhere. Two of them happened to be pokeballs and burst open with a flash of light, revealing an irate Magmar and a nervous-looking Smeargle. Vasudeva and Harlan. I backed up against the nearest tree. Chase was hard enough, but now I had to contest with three of them? Why weren't they with Nick?!

Vasudeva took one look at me and then snapped at Chase. He waved his claws at me and exclaimed, "Maaaar!"

Harlan squeaked something and hastily got away from them, wringing her tail.

Chase, lip curled, lowered his head so that he was eye-level with Vasudeva. The challenge was unmistakable. Vasudeva backed down and spat a mouthful of flames at the grass by his feet. "Mar," he added, almost as an afterthought. Harlan nodded and bounded over to me, much to my shock and alarm. I tried to circle around the tree, but Chase and Vasudeva's combined glares were enough to pin me to the spot.

"S-Smee," Harlan said, sounding suspiciously like she was apologizing. I was liking this less and less.

"I have no idea what's going on, but whatever it is, I'm not helping." Actually, I had a sneaking suspicion I did know what was going on, but that only made me less keen to participate. "Chase, take me back right now. Or I-I'll…" Without my Pokemon, I couldn't do anything. Well, I could try running for it, but with a Garchomp and a Teleporting Magmar on my tail I wouldn't last very long. Shouting wouldn't get me very far, either.

Harlan tugged on my hand. The movement was gentle, but it gave me a start and I pulled my hand away from her reflexively. She looked a little crestfallen, but pointed down at the ground. There, written sloppily in paint, was 'NICK'.

"…Nick was arrested. I can't do anything about that. He-He did a bad thing. You guys were all there, you know that-" Vasudeva smacked me in the shoulder with his tail. I winced and shied away from him.

Harlan was writing again. I didn't know when or where she had picked up the alphabet, unless it came with her abilities. That made sense. I swallowed, glanced at Chase and Vasudeva, and read over her shoulder.

'WE WERE LEFT BEHIND HE TOLD CHASE TO RUN THE BAG TORE THEY GOT TRAINER AND OUR FRIENDS'. Grammar, punctuation, and lowercase letters might've escaped her, but the message was perfectly understandable. I had been afraid of that. If I had used the language barrier as a shield, I could've repeated that I didn't understand them until they gave up and left me alone. (Or they might've killed me, come to think of it…)

"He was arrested," I repeated once more. Harlan nodded sadly. "So Chase left him…?" I hadn't meant for it to be an accusation-had I?-but it came out like one nonetheless. Chase didn't bother concealing his anger; he snarled, tail lashing behind him, and crouched down. Ike more or less did the same thing when angry, so I knew to back off. I looked away and shrunk into myself, trying to make myself a smaller target. Just in case.

'WHO CAN NOT HELP US VASUDEVA CAN NOT TELEPORT IN PLACES HE HAS NOT BEEN TO BEFORE CHASE IS HURT WE CAN NOT RESCUE HIM WE NEED YOUR HELP.'

"I can't Teleport, or fly, or attack. And you left my Pokemon behind." I raised my hands uselessly. "I can't do anything to help you. Sorry, but-" Once again, I was cowering beneath the combined glares of the Garchomp and Magmar.

Harlan was already scribbling in the dirt again. 'WE CAN PROVIDE A DISTRACTION YOU HAVE TO RESCUE HIM AND WHO AND JULES AND MARCO AND SERLING THEY ALL FELL OUT OF THE BAG WHEN CHASE FLEW AWAY'. She glanced up at Vasudeva and asked him something in a quiet voice. He responded with a nod. She added, 'WHO WILL TELEPORT YOU OUT WHEN YOU FIND HIM'.

"…But not…" I didn't finish it aloud. Who, whoever that was, would Teleport me-and Nick and his other Pokemon, I presumed-out when I found him. But not before. Not if I didn't reach him. Not if I didn't go through with it. I sighed and knelt down beside the painted grass, burying my face in my hands. "…Why did you have to come and find me?"

'YOU ARE HIS FRIEND'.

Couldn't argue with that logic, I supposed. Even if I wasn't sure if he even was my friend anymore. He helped me through pretty much all of my badges and saved my hide more than once, so I could save him just this once, right?

Never mind the fact that I was saving him from prison and, more likely than not, execution.

-.-.-

When it was left to a bunch of Pokemon (those three were not the only ones he had; I had heard he'd been traveling illegally with more, but for some reason, I had always thought it was a lie; it was not), the plan turned out to be little more than 'make a bunch of noise, and send the kid in to spring Trainer'.

"What if you guys get caught? I'm not going back in there again to save any of you, and if Nick did, it'd be little more than a suicide run."

Vasudeva snorted and raised his hand. Oh right, he could Teleport. I guess it was a smart move, but still… The entire thing made me way too nervous. Then again, I was getting shanghaied by a criminal's (and supposed mass murderer's) Pokemon into performing an illegal act, so I supposed I had a right to be apprehensive.

I didn't even have my team to back me up. Instead, I had Nick's. The irony was far from lost on me.

"Will you return me to my Pokemon unharmed and not attack us?" I asked suspiciously, though it was nothing more than stalling at that point. Nick was being held in Oreburgh's prison, which wasn't necessarily large, but it was still a prison. Which would be guarded. With Pokemon. And humans. With guns.

There was mostly nods amongst the group. It was the best I could hope for.

I was dropped off in Oreburgh by Vasudeva. I was to walk to the prison and get in as far as I could before they started doing-whatever it was they'd be doing. All I got was a vague explanation of a 'distraction'. I hoped it was a good one. I already figured I'd end up thrown behind bars, though, considering my luck.

Surprisingly, though, it was easy. You could go far in a prison while just saying you were trying to find the restroom, apparently. I was still wandering the hallways, trying my best to look like a small, lost child, when the building shook and alarms started going off. A couple uniformed men ran past me, a Growlithe following them, so I figured I'd head in that direction.

It all felt like a dream. I practically floated down the hallway, trying the occasional door. This was easy. I wasn't in my own cell yet, I wasn't in pain, I wasn't getting attacked, and no one was acting all that suspicious of me.

Of course, it helped when your distraction was the most feared trained Pokemon in recent history and he was currently chewing on two guards. Chase had knocked down two double doors behind me and gave me a look that told me very clearly to hurry up. I hurried. Nick's Linoone (whose name escaped me at the moment) wiggled through the opening that was not occupied by Chase or screaming guards and ran down the hallway towards me. He barked and nudged me in the direction of a certain door.

Opening it, however, I just got another hallway. The Linoone sniffed the air for a moment, and then nudged me forward again.

It still felt too much like a dream. When would I wake up? When would Konstantin intrude and say something creepy? At this point, I was half-expecting the Froslass.

"Hey!" A guard barreled out of the nearest doorway, gun trained on me, Luxio at his heels. "Who are you?! What do you think you're doing down here?!"

I held up my hands innocently as the Linoone darted past me and sunk its tiny teeth into the guard's leg. Vasudeva appeared in the doorway behind us and pushed me to get me going again as he ran over to assist the Linoone. I awkwardly got past them, ignored the guard's frantic shouts and the fact that they were viciously attacking him and his Luxio, and threw open the nearest door.

Cells. Bingo.

"Eh? Who are you?" The man in the first cell was not Nick. I couldn't help but feel relieved. I was not looking forward to this reunion. He leaned against the bars and squinted at me.

"I'm looking for Nicholas Sayre. Is he-"

The man swore and made a grab at me. I narrowly avoided his fingers, which were hooked like claws. "That monster!" I flinched at his word choice. "He killed my son, he did! That damned tournament slaughtered him and his Pokemon!"

So this was the man who'd attacked Nick's parents, who was responsible for this mess. I stomped over him and grabbed his shirt, pulling him roughly against the metal bars. He didn't expect that and only stared at me, mouth agape. "Do you have any idea what you just did?! You threatened his parents, and what did they ever do to you?! Nick didn't start that tournament! It was crazy people who are stupid and cruel and wanted nothing more than an excuse to kill! This is not Nick's fault, but you-you-Revenge doesn't solve anything, okay?! If you would've killed his parents, then Nick would have only killed more, and it would've been your fault, not his!"

"You-"

"He only attacked Cynthia because his brother was killed! Can you imagine what he would've done if you had-"

"Don't you talk like that to me, boy!" Now the tables were turned, and I was lifted off my feet by my collar. "You have no idea what it's like to lose a family member, especially because of something like this!"

"Let go of me, you crazy old man! I think I've had enough crap happen to me without you trying to give me a guilt trip about it! If you want to blame someone for your son's death, don't blame Nick! He didn't do anything wrong! It's this world that's wrong!" I snarled, trying to grab him again. He dropped me and I stumbled back. After catching my balance, I spitefully added, "His brother was killed and he took it out on the Champion. Your son was killed and you're trying to take it out on his parents. You're just a hypocrite."

I marched off, fuming. The man yelled something after me, but I ignored him and concentrated on finding either Nick or where confiscated Pokemon were kept. Either would've been nice.

I hit gold when I found a conspicuously locked cabinet. Unfortunately, it was when I was banging on it, trying to open it, that an Officer Jenny found me. Her Growlithe was attached to my calf before I noticed her arrival. "Stay where you are and put your hands up! I don't know who you are, but-ahh!" She was suddenly knocked off balance. She probably would've been fine, had she not fallen over and banged her head against one of the metal bars of the nearest cell.

Harlan the Smeargle stared at her, paw held to her mouth. The Growlithe let go of me and lunged at her, but she just disappeared again. The Growlithe looked around in confusion. She reappeared behind it, smashing into it and throwing it against the metal bars as well. I recognized the move, with no small amount of distress, as Giratina's Shadow Force.

"C-Can you open up this cabinet? I think the pokeballs are in here." She nodded and broke it open with a kick. Sure enough, no less than a dozen pokeballs, great balls, and ultra balls tumbled out, most of them releasing their contents. I recognized Serling the Staraptor among them, so his other Pokemon had to be among them as well.

The problem was that Harlan had only listed off four as his. I had nine or ten here. A Bibarel and a Purugly ran down the hall to the man in the cell; they were his, then. Harlan was rapidly explaining something to Ser and a Mothim, so they must've been Nick's. The rest of the Pokemon were looking around in alarm at me or her. I figured I'd leave them there to sort it out on their own. If Who was among them, then surely I'd get my way out soon enough.

Once I found Nick.