Chap 10

It's hard to describe what I felt when they walked into the room. It was a combination of horror and excitement. My breaths became labored, and my legs trembled, but at the same time I wanted to run over and tackle the bald guy. The smart place to run was back out the front door. I could've probably run away fast enough to escape but I needed to get Spike back first. All I could do was stare at the pokè ball in his hand, well that and the ridiculously muscular Pokémon standing beside him.

"Ma, what did he do to you?" Samantha said and started to run forward.

I threw my arms around her and held her back with all the strength I had in me. She flailed and thrashed trying to free herself, but I kept a tight grip.

"Let me go idiot, can't you see my mom is in danger?" She yelled as she fought me.

The bald man and Carol both looked at each other and then broke into a loud laugh.

"Danger, honey from who? Champ is mine" she said with a satisfied smile.

"I saw that Pokémon murder someone on his command." I said still holding Samantha even though she had stopped struggling.

The menacing grin on the Machamp's face got wider for some reason.

"Well, if you hadn't stolen this egg, that so-called scientist would've probably gotten to live longer. Then again, with loose ends being what they are probably not" Carol said and chuckled.

"Ma, what the hell are you saying right now? Why are you acting this way?" Samantha's body trembled as she spoke.

"Ha, you're the perfect example of how ruthless Carol can be" The bald man said with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean? You don't know me!" Samantha said.

"That is true, I don't really know you. I just pulled you out of a burning house once." He said and stared at Samantha knowingly.

"To be fair though you did have Charizard burn the house in the first place." Carol said nonchalantly.

"True, but you did say don't leave any evidence behind, so I followed my gut." He said and shrugged.

"Shut the hell up, you're both lying!" Samantha screamed. She started fighting me again, but this time she was stronger.

I somehow managed to keep ahold of her as she clawed at my grip and stomped on my feet. When that didn't work. She started trying to elbow me in the ribs. I was able to avoid all but one of them. She timed it too well, when I moved to my left to avoid her elbow her left elbow hit me hard in the rib. I let go of her instinctively. She turned around quickly, grabbed my hands, and pushed me hard against the door. I was so surprised that I almost missed her mouth the words throw it before she ran towards the bald man screaming like a madwoman. When she got too close Machamp appeared in front of her. His upper set of arms lifted her off the ground while the lower set choked her.

I looked down and realized she had placed a poke ball in my hand. I threw the ball I was holding at the one he was holding. The ball banked off his chest and knocked the other ball out of his hand. The ball I threw hit the ground and released Chinchou.

"Well, that was dumb, you're sacrificing yourself to save a common thief?" Carol said while slowly shaking her head.

Machamp's grip on Samantha's throat was so tight that we could hear every breath that she fought to take.

"I.... love... him" Samantha somehow managed to choke out before her eyes began rolling back in her head.

A weird series of thoughts hit me in a split second. The first was the fact that she had just admitted to loving me. Then there was a memory of her face under the light from the Silph Co building. Then the word light reminded me that Chinchou was in front of me. I suddenly knew what she wanted me to do.

"Use flash Chinchou," I said and closed my eyes.

There was a brief sound like a small explosion and even through my closed eyelids I could see a brilliant flash of light. When I heard Samantha hit the floor, I opened my eyes and ran over to her. She was on all fours gagging and gasping for air. Machamp stumbled past me as I grabbed Samantha and helped her to her feet. Carol and Baldy both writhed on the floor. We hurried past them toward the door.

"Ball" Samantha said between breaths and pointed to Spike's ball. I grabbed his ball and recalled Chinchou.

Carol gripped my pant leg. She was as strong as a Machamp herself. I tried to shake my leg free, but it was useless. She looked up at me and started to speak.

"Nice tr...." she was cut off by Samantha's foot slamming into her face.

Samantha grabbed the bag the man in the cave had given us as we ran out of the front door. I Heard Baldy yell kill them Charizard before I slammed the door behind us.

"I hope that slowed it down" I said as we hurried toward the southern gate of the city.

"Me too," Samantha said just before the roof of the house exploded.

A gigantic, winged Pokémon flew into the dark sky above us. Its black and orange, tiger striped wings stretched so wide that they blocked out all the light around us. We picked up speed as people around us began to panic at the flying monstrosity. We ran into the terminus with several other people seeking safety. The building was eerily quiet as we all waited anxiously.

"We can't hide here for long." Samantha whispered. She rubbed the bruise on her neck.

"I know that, but I don't know where this leads or where to even try to go next." I said as I picked at my fingernails.

Someone near us began coughing.

"Is that smoke, I think the building is on fire" Someone else called out.

Suddenly the silence was gone, and chaos ensued as the people panicked and scattered. I pulled Samantha into a corner and shielded her with my body as person after person slammed into me as they rushed past. The building was almost full of smoke when Samantha and I finally exited it. The scene we walked out into made me want to run back inside though. We were standing in a small clearing that led to a windy dirt path. To our left there was a pile of burning debris. A scorched stone in front of the pile identified it as the underground path.

On both sides of the path there was tall grass that the Charizard had already set ablaze. Wild Pokémon and people alike ran screaming through the fields trying to put themselves out.

"We can do this,'' I said to Samantha and gripped her hand tightly. She nodded at me and took a deep breath.

Charizard made another pass in front of us laying down a row of tall, black and purple flames. We took off before he came back round. We ran along the dirt path dodging anything or anyone that tried to impede us. When Charizard came back this time he came right at us. I noticed a large pond and we both managed to dive into it just as a wave of flames passed us. This time instead of passing over and turning around the Charizard landed beside the pond.

"Oh crap" Samantha yelled right before we both dove under the water.

We held our breath under the water as an unnaturally long plume of flame moved from left to right and back again across the surface of the water. I felt my chest tighten to the point where I thought for sure I was going to explode. Somehow though I kept holding my breath. The flames finally stopped suddenly. It was probably a bad idea to emerge from the water before I was sure it was safe, but I didn't have a choice. I erupted from the water and took the biggest breath I could manage. Samantha emerged a few seconds later gasping for dear life.

"This is insanity" she said to me as we watched the scene around us.

A group of people had come from the nearby city used several different water Pokémon to chase off the Charizard and battle the flames. We left the pond and headed into the city. There was a Psyduck spraying the charred corpse of someone just outside of the city entrance. The smell of smoke was soon replaced by that of seawater as we walked aimlessly through the city.

"I know what to do" Samantha suddenly said when we stopped in front of a pokè Mart.

We walked up to the counter and Samantha laid the soggy bag down and unzipped it.

"Hello welcome to the Vermilion City Poke Mart. How can I help you?" The overly friendly man at the counter said. His happiness seemed out of place with all the mayhem going on outside.

"How much can I get for these" Samantha said and pulled the two stone slabs out of the bag.

The man studied them for a moment and then called another man over to look at them as well. They whispered back and forth to each other for a few minutes before the man finally looked back up at us and smiled.

"I can give you 500 for..." He said before Samantha cut him off.

"Each" Samantha said.

The man rubbed his chin while he considered what she said.

"Okay 500 each." He said and opened the cash register.

He counted the money out to us, and we left the store. When we left the store, she quickly walked toward the dock directly ahead of us.

"How much is 2 tickets?" She asked the woman standing at the ticket booth in front of us.

"To where?" The woman responded sweetly.

"Wherever the next boat to leave is going." Samantha said. She was starting to speak quickly.

"Hey, take a deep breath. We're okay." I said softly in her ear.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"So, two one-way tickets to Olivine City will be 600 Pokémon dollars. Or did you want them round trip?" The woman asked.

"I aint ever comin back here again" Samantha said and handed the woman 600 exactly.

We got on the boat and looked out over the water as it carried us to our new lives.

"Are you nervous at all about wherever it is we're going?" I asked, gripping the railing.

"I feel like after what happened recently, we can survive anything together." She said.

The sun had started to rise on the horizon. It gave the water a silvery gloss. I couldn't stand to have any more moments slip past us. I took her hands in mine and stared into her eyes. As if on command an enormous shadow covered us.

"By the way, I love you too," I said and kissed her.

She squeezed me in her arms and kissed me back. We kept going as the snakish voice of Baldy Screamed his command for Charizard to hit the boat with a fire blast. I lost my grip on Samantha when the boat exploded and launched me overboard into the sea. The smoke made it impossible to see anything. If this is it, then I'll die happy, I thought as my body splashed into the freezing water.