Not to Go Back ;; Hoenn ;; Steven

[KANE]

Stepping into lux boundaries was almost like a death wish. Yet, he had to do this. Going home was only natural for someone to do, and besides, he needed to get something. Even if this was lux territory. Even if it was going to get him killed. This war was far too young for him to die so soon, he thought with a grim smile to himself as he walked along the pavements of the city. The people hadn't changed much. He knew some of them by sight, some by name. This woman was from that house, this one had two children ...

He averted his thoughts. Sinking back into past recollections was like playing with water. Fun, amusing, refreshing even, but he could drown in it if he went too far. Steven had no intention of doing so. Chain, his mawile, trotted by his side happily, her arms crossed as she glanced around the city. She hadn't seen this place in some time. One of her hands moved to stop her trainer; he did, glancing down at her, then across the road.

It was a large building.

Familiar? Hell yes. Steven twitched almost noticeably behind his generally calm face. His hands moved to straighten the coat he had on most of the time. The structure was rather tall, easily one of the tallest in the city itself. It had a large compound, framed by iron gates and pavements a shade lighter than the ones outside its boundaries. He remembered playing on them as a child, messing with stones (fossils?) far too valuable for a young boy to use as a plaything. The man glanced away.

"Not now, Chain," he told her, "I think this isn't the right time to do such a thing." The mawile only tugged at him more. "True. I am going back." Why not face it now? He didn't know. Reluctance had its firm grip on his muscles, stopping him from moving. The light-haired wanderer crossed his arms, then bent down to the yellow creature's level and placed a hand on her head.

"Maybe tomorrow. For now, we go back."

[KANE]

Alyssa’s limbs were practically twitching with the adrenaline pumping through her body. Her fingers were trembling, as was she. She had practically started committing suicide as soon as she stepped off of the small peninsula that held her Secret Base with intentions of coming Rustboro. She’d taken to staying at it more often now, and it was slowly becoming something that was more like her base of operations than anything. Seeing as her Base was on possibly the Westernmost point of Hoenn, she needed some way to stay up-to-date with things happening in the East and on the islands all over, right? Although she didn’t know all too many people scattered throughout Hoenn, she’d managed to establish a contact with somebody that lived in Fortree.

Since Alyssa didn’t want to risk too many bird pokemon being observed flying to and from the peninsula on route 115, she had requested to meet the liaison in person. Since she had basically been governing when information was sent, where he had to go, etcetera, she had let him decide on the place of meeting. She couldn’t say she had expected, much less agreed with his choice of a location, though. It was requested that they work beneath Devon Corp. He worked for them, so something to do with Devon Corp. for a place was understandable. But...really? Rustboro? He was a ‘traveling’ worker for the corporation, more like a designer of potential future products. He could have chosen anywhere to meet, so why Rustboro – Lux-infested territory?

That made her suspicious. Although their meeting had just finished in the time it took her to run through that inner monologue, she watched her liaison's back disappear into the shadows of the basement. She had been growing more uncomfortable with the situation and was about ready to punch someone if they said anything to her, simply because her muscles were so wired. She made her way quickly to the stairs, stopping at the bottom of them to pull the hood over her head. Although wintertime was making the air seep with cold, her dress could be considered a bit excessive...the top portion at least. Her sneakers and pants were fairly normal, but atop her shirt and gloves she was wearing a red hoodie, with the hood pulled fully over her head, which was already capped by her red beanie.

Yet again, her long white hair was stuffed beneath the red hat. With the hoodie hiding any of her most gender-obvious features (although said features werent the most obvious to begin with) and letting her pass for a boy, she had a feeling she could get out of this Lux territory without much hassle. She slipped up the stairs and out of the second exit from the basement of Devon Corp. She closed the door quietly and walked hurriedly out of the building, with her head ducked and her gaze glued to the ground. She felt the burning gazes of the secretaries behind the desk and other employees of the company as she made her rushed exit.

She pushed the door open and walked out of it practically before it was open, not paying attention to where she was going, just so long as she could get away. Her adrenaline was turning more into paranoia than anything. She kept her head down and eyes closed as she walked quickly away from the building, not much paying attention to her direction, or who she was walking towards.

She was interrupted mid-stride when her knee knocked against something hard and sent her stumbling forwards. She wound up spinning halfway around as she fell out of her trip, in an attempt to make the clumsy action look as though she had intended to do such a thing. She landed rather hard on the stone ground, and her hood fell off her head just as abruptly as the white-haired girl found herself on the ground.

”Ugh...” she said, only one eye now closed in a wince, the other open to get a rough view of what she’d tripped over as she rubbed her knee. Great. I didn’t trip over something but someone. Good job Alyssa...

”I...I’m so sorry about that...I...” she flushed in embarrassment, looking down and opening both eyes, but not looking up yet to identify who had been victimized by her stupidity at the time. ”I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

[KANE]

"Jeez, Akiyama. look where you're going."

Calm as always, Steven spoke as he glanced down at the white-haired girl. It was easy to figure out who she was; no one had the same stature, size and hair colour that Alyssa did. Her voice affirmed her identity; it hadn't been long since he last saw her. Quick on his feet, the former champion had sidestepped his fellow nox member, allowing her to pin Chain down. It would have been stunning, to say the least, had he been in the mawile's place. Chain squirmed from underneath Alyssa, letting out a yell before managing to pull herself free.

Steven retrieved his pokémon's pokéball and clicked the button on it. Chain returned to her pokéball, and the young man stepped closer to the female on the ground. He wasn't Wallace. He couldn't see himself extending a hand flamboyantly to go to the aid of a fallen lady. Not him, not today, not ... ever. "Apology not accepted. I doubt Chain would forget that in a hurry," he said, turning his back on Alyssa - and noticing the building she had just exited.

It was that building. His eyes narrowed and he stared down at Alyssa. "What were you doing there." It wasn't a question; it was more of a statement that he didn't seek an answer to. It hurt, looking at the structure. It hurt even more thinking of the man tapping his chin and signing papers that held weapon designs. His designs. Things his father had probably oh-so graciously lifted from his files when he left the corporation after that row he had. The handgun President Tsuwabuki mailed him just meant that he had probably gone through more than Steven - hell, even Daigo - would want him to.

He turned back to her, steely blue eyes falling on her back. It hadn't occurred to him that she might have just been on a mission (before she tripped over him and probably cost her the mission).

"Tell me."

[KANE]

”Jeez, Akiyama. Look where you’re going.”

Alyssa froze, her cerulean eyes widening slightly as she recognized the voice. Steven?! Of all people, why did she have to trip over Steven? She had only met him recently, with Wallace acting as their ‘mediator’ of sorts for the first meeting. He introduced them, both friends of his, to each other. The meeting had gone fine as far as meeting new people went .She wasn’t exactly the most charismatic person around and didn’t have that much experience when it came to meeting others. She’d stuck mostly to herself, but...it was time for that to change. Actually, the time to change that was long overdue.

She was frozen with her shock long enough for something beneath her legs to wiggle out. Oh gosh! she thought, curling her legs to the side as the small pokemon crawled out from beneath her leg with a yelp of complaint. Alyssa’s eyes were peering through her white bangs, sticking out from beneath her hat. She looked at the Mawhile apologetically, frowning some. She instinctively opened her hand and reached very slightly towards the pokemon, stopping herself though.

The pokemon vanished with a flash of red light as it reverted back to a blaze of energy withdrawn into the pokeball. ”Apology not accepted. I doubt Chain would forget that in a hurry.” Alyssa groaned inwardly. Not that she had expected more of an acceptance of her apology from Steven – based on what she’d learned of him in the brief time they’d met previously – but she was more concerned about the pokemon.

Sighing slightly, she pulled her knees back beneath her, getting out of the awkward position she had landed in. ”What were you doing there.” It was a statement, though. Not so much a question that she half-lurched to answer immediately. She looked back up at him, turning herself so she was facing him, her clear, cerulean blue gaze meeting his steely blue one.

”Tell me.”

She blinked once or twice. Well. That was a bit of a change. She placed her hands on the ground and pushed herself up. She had noticed previously her hood falling off of her head from where she’d pulled it minutes ago, but she hadnt noticed how lop-sided her beanie had been knocked. It was practically half off her head now. Sighing again, she pulled it all the way off, letting her long white hair fall back down. Although she didn’t think of it at the moment, truthfully pulling her beanie off wasn’t the smartest thing she’d done that day...it was right up there with venturing into Lux territory.

”Well...” she said, crossing her arms, ”...if you really must know I had a meeting. Sort of important.” It would be dangerous to say anything more in the open as they were. She paused for a moment, thinking. She knew her answer had been annoyingly vague. But in their current situation, it was about all she could give. ”And...please tell Chain I’m sorry...I was...in a bit of a rush and...I really didn’t mean for her to wind up trapped beneath my knees...really...” she frowned some, finally moving her eyes from Steven’s chest to look up at his eyes for once.

If it hadn’t hit her before, it did now. Steven...is really tall... Her head was visibly tilted upwards so she could look the former Hoenn Champion in the eyes. He had to be at least half a foot taller than her.

”Wait, what are you doing here?” she asked, silently adding And don’t give me an obvious answer... with an expression that said those exact words. Whatever reason he may have wouldn’t be good enough of an excuse for someone like him to be walking in plain sight of Lux territory.

---

---

Looking out the window of Devon Corp., the trainer couldn’t help but stare. Was he...seeing this for real? The light-haired suited man was one thing, but the person who had just ran out of the building – revealing long white hair – revealed herself to be unmistakably Alyssa Akiyama, Hoenn’s Nox Leader. His fist clenched. Two of Nox’s biggest figures were standing out in the open in the middle of Lux territory.

”Hey, guys!” he called, to the four others besides himself in that room. ”How does a possible promotion sound?!” Curious, the others looked out the window to the sight which had attracted their fellow Lux member’s attention. Rumblings from their voices followed him down the stairwell as they made their way to interrupt the little meeting taking place. Stepping foot out of the door, he began making his way across the cobblestone, covering the distance between the now five Lux members and two Nox members.

Looks like a bad day for Nox... he thought with a smirk.

[KANE]

Alyssa certainly hadn't got it into her mind that what he said inherently represented what Chain was feeling. His mind, however, wasn't set on his pokémon's emotions. They were settled on other more important things, the least of them being Chain. As long as the mawile was in its pokéball, she was safe, together with Cross, Wing and Dust. He hadn't bothered bringing along more, figuring that if push came to shove, he could just dodge into Devon, harden his head and hide out there until the worst of the lux storm blew past and he could leave. He highly doubted any of the employees or even the president would mind his intrusion ... well, he wasn't so sure of the latter, but at the very least, his head would stay firmly on his neck if he stayed there.

"You already did. It was not accepted," his voice was flat and emotionless. The pokéball was returned to his pockets and he folded his arms, still focused on her. He didn't flinch when her cerulean eyes met his, her voice reaching his ears. So she was here for a meeting - in Devon. Steven wanted her out of that place; no one should be in there, or had anything to do with it. For one, it was a weapon research centre aligned with lux; another reason was that ... forget it.

Obvious answer or not, Steven did not care for Alyssa's emotions. The meeting in Lilycove was to humour Wallace, and because of that, Steven was several degrees nicer than he would normally be. Right now, there was no turquoise-haired man lurking around, throwing comments left and right that he had to answer smilingly because they were teetering on the border between friends, comrades and a thousand different more words Wallace would use to describe their relationship. In short: if it was too complicated for Steven, it wasn't worth thinking about.

Steven's head of greyish-blue hair turned to follow the voice calling out to them. It wasn't time to even answer the female, regardless of whether she was his leader or otherwise. There were lux members coming out from the building; he had underestimated the president's capability to display different stances to different people. Perhaps he had just been playing into his hands, after all ... ? "Akiyama," his baritone sounded, "Can I leave this to you?"

If possible, he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

[KANE]

”You already did. It was not accepted.”

Alyssa groaned inwardly as Steven spoke. She should have guessed that he wasn’t speaking for himself...a good number of trainers spoke for their pokemon rather than themselves. She was the sort of person that could never fully tell until after the fact if they were doing so, making her feel closer to an idiot than she may have already been. In this case, she definitely already was – seeing as she had not only tripped over Steven, but also trapped his Mawhile slightly beneath her knees. Why is today not my day... she asked silently, refusing to move her eyes from his steely gaze.

The colder attitude that was pracitcally unravelling off of the former Hoenn Champion strangely didn’t surprise Alyssa. She knew in the back of her mind that certain people acted differently if they were with a particular person or another, one-on-one with somebody, or in a group social setting. She never truly judged somebody based on their actions during a first encounter, but more like by any encounters there may be afterwards. Yet again oddly enough, Alyssa wasn’t bothered by the contrast in the silver-haired mans attitude. She didn’t mind it at all, really. In fact, she almost found it as a bit of a relief.

A good number of people from Nox she’d met had been a diverse range of personalities, but none yet held the demeanor she was gathering from Steven now. They were either positive – naturally (which was rare) or acting positive (as Alyssa often tried to) – or completely negative. So far Steven didn’t necessarily fit into either of those categories, but his cold attitude was something that interested her seeing as it was a rare thing for her to come across given her past encounters with others.

Alyssa’s head turned when Stevens did, looking to the rising sound of voices. Well...fuck. she thought, almost with a bit of exasperation. Her task for today had been simple – get in, get out. Nowhere in her plans had she calculated stumbling upon Steven, nor being surrounded by Lux members as she found herself now. Five Lux members fanned out around herself and the suited man next to her, surrounding them and practically cutting off any escape.

Unless...you know...we suddenly learn how to fly or burrow underground in a matter of seconds. the white-haired girl thought sarcastically.

It was rare that her train of thought took a sarcastic route, but it was not impossible. Truly it was something rarely seen, and even rarer still if she allowed it to enter her voice and give away her true thoughts on a situation, despite any outward appearance she gave on it.

”Akiyama. Can I leave this to you?”

In response, Alyssa pulled the front of her unzipped hoodie to the side, clicking an Ultra Ball off of her belt, leaving it in it’s small state for the moment. She only drew her arm halfway to eye-level thoguh when she froze. The shine of metal from the sun reflected upon something that the Lux members all pulled from their belts or beneath their jackets.

Guns.

Alyssa bit her lip, her temper giving way to the charted-out-plan that had gone awry almost from the start. The Veteran Trainer knew that if her temper got the best of her too often it wouldn’t be a good thing, but on that note it didn’t happen often...hardly at all, really. The last time she could recall it happening was almost a full year ago. She sighed quietly, though loud enough for Steven to hear. ”Well, I would love to say you could...” she said, her voice uncharacteristically hard. ”But last time I checked humans aren’t bulletproof.”

She turned slightly to face the Lux member holding two pistols, one pointed at both herself and Steven. ”We’re not all made of steel...” she said with a curled lip, glancing at him. ”I’m not willing to put my pokemon so obviously in danger.” she told him, her blue eyes alight with an icy fire that hadn’t made its presence for a long while now.

She lowered her hand abruptly to her belt to click the pokeball back, when a warning shot was fired at their feet from her left, making her start slightly.

”Stop moving Akiyama!” the Lux member shouted.

Luckily enough she had reached her belt in time to click the ball back, so she didn’t have to move anymore. Damnit... she thought, biting her lip. I need to think of something that wont put either of us, or my pokemon... she paused ...or his if I can help it...in danger. She swallowed as her brain raced. If they take us captive...they’ll only be holding us in Devon Corp... she figured. Steven undoubtedly knows the way around that building...and it’s easy enough to escape from it. Probably the same as far as restraints go.

She looked between the three members she could see out of her range of vision before glancing back at the tall man beside her. Was allowing themselves to be taken captive temporarily really the best option? Alyssa wondered as the Lux members slowly closed their circle around the two experienced trainers.

[KANE]

The lux members were quick; it was just a matter of seconds before he was surrounded by five of them, Alyssa by his side. Their clothes bulged and their bodies were oddly rigid - it seemed that they were all concealing weapons. Steven was foolish to have expected Alyssa to be carrying weapons on her, as that was clearly not the case now. Any chance of getting away in the craze of a gunfight was now gone. His hand dipped into his coat, bringing out a handgun with gold trimming, battered, but still functional. "They are humans as well," he told the white-haired female. It was obvious that they were all humans here, save pokémon when either side decided to send one out to take them hostage.

Neither of them were made of steel, yes. He might have been a steel-type specialist, but he did not have a steel skeleton. His harsh eyes narrowed; she wasn't willing to send out her pokémon? Very well, then. It seemed that surrendering before making their escape would be their course of action. He had no intention of sending either of his pokémon into the fray, as bulletproof as the toughest of them might have been.

A bullet, fired towards the Akiyama made Steven turn towards him, gun moving to point itself at Alyssa. He stepped behind her, arm moving to hold her by the neck and closer to him. "You wouldn't get your promotion," his eyes had a manic glint only the lux members would see as he spoke, "if this was seen as an act where her ally had chosen to save his own skin and make his escape. In fact - it would merely encourage the promotion of - perhaps, just perhaps - one of us?" Us being nox members, of course - he knew a few potential leaders intent on carving their name in history.

"I am not entirely unreasonable."

He cocked the gun, loading a bullet into its barrel.

"Take us in. You have nothing to lose - we are clearly outnumbered."

He didn't fancy getting a blast of the past in this manner, but since his father had so graciously chose to send his men out to get them - well, he probably didn't know his son wanted to retrieve his weapon designs - he would take the offer and go straight into the dragon's mouth. He shrugged, but kept his gun trained on Alyssa. Who knew what the female might attempt had he let his grip slack? Unconsciously, he tightened his lock on her.

[KANE]

Alyssa glanced over at Steven as he made a slow, subtle movement that wasn’t alarmingly quick as her abrupt motion to drop the pokeball back to her belt. So...so long as she didn’t move they wouldn’t get shot at? Or at least moved as quickly as she had. But what was Steven doing? She stayed relatively still as she stayed looking at him. From his gun he revealed a handgun. Her eyes narrowed. Was he really going to try to fight his way out of this one when he was clearly outnumbered in both people and firearms? At least two of the five members that Alyssa could see were holding two weapons. The one in front of them held pistols, while it looked to Alyssa as though the one out to the side of her peripheral vision was holding a pair of revolvers, or something similar.

Alyssa couldn’t help but feel a bit closer to useless than previously in this situation. She didn’t carry a weapon – not now, not ever in the past. Two years ago and before, she had no real need to, but now even with war having broken out she still didn’t. Truthfully that was probably something that would eventually need to change, but she maintained the standpoint that she had the better asset in her pokemon. Having a party comprised of a good number of Psychic-type pokemon her argument held the position that they posed more potential than any sort of weapon when it came to harming others, if necessary.

She held her gaze where it had been, trained on Steven’s eyes. She had watched his expression change as she spoke, his hard eyes narrowing at her statement refusing the use her pokemon to help the both of them in this instance. Her eyes still burned with the cold fire that had flared up initially when she first spoke, and now her gaze maintained it, shooting a non-verbal message at him that was obvious to anybody that knew the purpose it had been caused in the first place.

Argue with me my decision not to send out my pokemon. she thought, the voice within her head unwavering. Go on...I dare you.

What she hadnt noticed though was Stevens movements in the time she held his gaze. He faced her now. Her expression lightened slightly as she dropped her eyes somewhat off his face. She froze immediately when she saw the gun pointed at her. What was this? Her eyes darted to the side when she saw a flash of pale skin and black cloth out of the corner of her eyes. Steven’s arm reached around her front, clasping lightly over the front of her throat and shoulders, the silver metal armband around his upper arm brushing slight against her jaw as he pulled her against his body, and putting the gun to her head.

She felt her body seize up again with adrenaline. Her eyes displayed no expression of what she was truly feeling. The backs of her shoulders brushed against his chest as she shifted her stance slightly, hardly even breathing as she listened to him speak to the Lux members.

”You wouldn’t get your promotion if this was seen as an act where her ally had chosen to save his own skin and make his escape. In fact – it would merely encourage the promotion of – perhaps, just perhaps – one of us?” his voice was smooth and calm, with an uncaring aspect entering it that Alyssa had heard earlier. She didn’t say or do anything. Of course by ‘us’ he meant Nox, but what would killing Hoenn’s leader get him? He didn’t exactly seem like the leading type, and in a dog-eat-dog world someone lower that killed someone of importance would step up to the bloodied plate left by whomever they killed. As far as Alyssa could guess or see, he had nothing to gain – immediately, anyway – from killing her.

”I am not entirely unreasonable.”

Bullshit... she thought, a rather unamused expression pulling at the corners of her mouth and the blankness that had entered her eyes. You’re pointing a gun at my head.

He cocked the gun, the familiar click of a bullet sliding into the barrel making Alyssa’s eyes widen slightly.

”Take us in. You have nothing to lose – we are clearly outnumbered.”

As the confused Lux members looked amongst themselves before turning to head back, and Steven’s grip on her tightened, driving her a bit closer against him. A red beam shot from Alyssa’s belt and hit the ground without warning. Her eyes widened further in alarm as the energy began to take the form of her beloved Daybreak.

”Espeon, no!” Alyssa said harshly, not quite yelling but loud enough to get the point across. The form taking shape vanished as soon as her words were out, retreating back to its pokeball. Guns all around them cocked into position to fire at the formation that had almost taken full shape. The white-haired trainer exhaled shakily. She only referred to Daybreak as ‘Espeon’ in dire situations, and this counted as that. She knew now that Daybreak was angry with the position her trainer was in, and that had she taken shape, she probably would have tried to help her trainer.

That would only get the Sun Pokemon hurt, or worse killed.

Alyssa didn’t care that the near-appearance of the purple pokemon made it look somewhat untrained. She knew the truth was that Espeon was one of her best-trained pokemon, and that was all that mattered, along with the safety of the pokemon. The Lux members began walking forward again, and Alyssa followed slowly, still pulled close to Steven and the barrel of his gun pointed at her head.

After a few minutes of slow walking, the ‘brigade’ was inside Devon Corp, headed for the stairs. What are they planning... she wondered, glancing around before looking straight ahead. Steven’s armband brushed her jaw again as they moved. Steven...what are you planning?

[KANE]

Well, things were going just fine as they were. However, when Alyssa's pokémon chose to intervene, he pushed the tip of the gun closer to her head. It pressed against her scalp, cool metal no doubt forcing upon the other lux members a sense of threat and particular ruthlessness the former champion was displaying. The young lady's shriek forced her pokémon back whence it came; Steven had a feeling that it would have been shot down, had it not returned upon command. He kept his face a sea of calm (a sea, Wallace would have been proud) as the lux troop swarmed them to bring them into custody within the building.

What an honourable return, he mused dryly. Taken hostage, then probably locked into a room. He said nothing else as they moved for the stairs, Alyssa in his grip, guns trained on him in case he did something drastic. Steven noted that they were not much different from nox guerillas - in situations like this, they would do the very same. There was no difference between the sides. In their case, the lux operatives wanted no risk in keeping them under threat of fire, for one was a former champion and the other, the current regional leader. Both were valuable fighters - Alyssa moreso than the fair-haired male.

"Stop," someone told the troop, and they ceased to move. The sounds of bullets being loaded reached Steven's ears, yet his face was still emotionless. Rather rudely, they had their pokéballs taken from them - in Steven's case, his handgun as well. Unarmed, they were both locked in a nearby storage room with officials stationed outside. Alyssa might not have been much of a threat without her pokémon (if she had any sort of martial art background, they probably didn't know), but her companion was a grown man, slim, but wiry enough to withstand a few blows.

In the musty room, Steven wasted no time in making himself comfortable. He seated himself on a crate labelled [meteorites] after taking out a stone and weighing it in his hands. "Take a seat," he told the female, "They're not letting us out. I should let you know that I do not intend to escape." The room was small, stuffy, and evidently unused other than for storage of old rocks. Rocks which he ordered and never got to use, he reminded himself eventually - which he would now proceed to inspect whether Alyssa liked it or not.

"I'm sure you want to, Akiyama. Feel free to do so."

He tossed the meteorite from one hand to another. It felt solid; his fingers ran over the small cracks in it, and he exhaled softly. This stone probably did not have a moon stone lurking within its protective outer layers. 'twas a pity. It would have had a nice, sleek shape to it. He gripped it within his hands, before dropping it on the ground. The dull thud was, for a moment, the only sound within the room before he spoke again.

"Well, you were here just now. You should know how to get out."

[KANE]

As they walked, Alyssa felt the pulse in her neck rhythmically beat, with a slightly increased pace from what was normal. The cold metal from the barrel of his gun brushed against her scalp, parting her hair as it shifted slightly while they walked. The white-haired trainer couldn’t help but swallow with the nervousness that had been rising in her body. After the immediate onset of the frustration with how terribly the day was flowing was subsiding, allowing her to think more than simply act or speak on impulse. She said nothing and remained still aside from walking. The guns from the Lux members remained pointed at them, more on Steven than her at this point thanks to his actions.

She had to admit that any Nox guerillas would most likely act the exact same. Had she not been at the dangerous end of a firearm, and were the guns being pointed at Lux members rather than herself and Steven, she would be pleased. This, though, was anything but pleasing. I suppose that no matter the side they’re on, they behave the same... she thought, her lip curling slightly. Despite how useful it may be in a situation, she disliked it...just like everything else in this war.

”Stop.” Alyssa’s eyes narrowed slightly and she looked up through her bangs, her chin brushing against Steven’s arm. More metallic clicks rang in Alyssa’s ears, making her tense further, but that was hardly anything compared to the tension that sprang through her veins like a new kick of adrenaline as her pokeballs were taken from her, Steven’s as well in addition to his gun. Her instinctive reaction was to pull against Steven’s grip, half-lunging forward before her sense set in enough for her to stop, besides his strong grip.

Damnit...! she yelled metntally. Not my pokemon! Without her pokemon, she was close to nothing. She preferred to keep less obvious portions of her background quiet. She had extensive knowledge of pokemon battling and breeding, and a fair bit as far as making poffins and pokeblocks go alongside contests. However, that was the surface. Lying underneath that was what one could consider the most basic knowledge of a self-defense skill set that focused primarily on making an offense out of a good defense of dodging and counter-attacking by striking pressure points.

She couldn’t call herself an expert by any means, but it was enough to get her out of a sticky situation every now and then. I can’t say I’ve faced guns, though...

The two of them were soon after thrust into a small, musty room. As Alyssa regained her footing, she got her balance back, but not without leaning on some of the sturdy crates that easily stayed upright. She blinked repeatedly for her eyes to adjust to the gloom of the comparatively dark room, leaning back slightly to look at the labels on the wooden storage units. A good many of them were labelled “Meteorites”, alongside various types of rocks and other earthen materials. She turned to the door just as she heard locks click, and the shuffling of boots against the floor outside, in addition to the quiet rustle of clothing. She couldn’t understand what was being said, so she soon gave up, turning back to look at Steven as he began to speak.

”Take a seat. They’re not letting us out. I should let you know that I do not intend to escape.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly. Why was that? He had never answered her question from earlier, and this, she felt, tied into it.

”I’m sure you want to, Akiyama. Feel free to do so.” He held a meteorite in his hands, moving it between his fingers before he dropped it, producing a sound that made Alyssa jump slightly. ”Well, you were here just now. You should know how to get out.”

She looked at the meteorite before back at him.

”I could pick this lock given the one of the two needed items, but even if I did that it wouldn’t get me anywhere but on the ground with a bullet in me.” she said, her voice lower in pitch and colder. Glancing around herself, she saw no crates near her low enough to sit on like Stevens. She moved towards him slightly, arms crossed, to look around the corner of crates in order to determine if shadows being cast were just that –shadows – or hiding a potential seat. Turning around after a moment, she sank quietly to the ground, with one knee pulled up to her shoulder-height and raised her head to look up at him again.

”Not to mention I wasn’t in a locked storage room.”

She absently picked at a hole in the side of one of the crates, making it a bit larger. What would she do now? Wait? It seemed as though that was the only plausible thing to do. Moving her hand inside the torn opening of the crate, she picked at more of the wood without looking at it, widening it from the inside.

”Just out of curiosity...” she began, keeping her voice level ”...is putting a gun to my head your idea of how to react in an unforseen and unfavorable situation...?” Alyssa glanced up at him again, her eyes conveyed the message that her question was not out of anger, but rather curiosity.

She blinked and moved her attention from the former Champion beside her and to the box her hand now successfully fit within. Her fingertips brushed against packaging which she had pulled at and unraveled from one corner for the most part before she leaned to the side, which caused her fingers to brush against cold rock – another meteorite. She worked her fingers successfully around the rock and carefully managed to dislodge it from where it had been carefully packaged, and slip it out of the crate.

It was very dark in color, riddled by few craters, and incredibly sleek. It reflected the light cast from the ceiling and shone almost like a star. It was smaller than the one Steven had picked up, but it was longer, and more oblong. Truly she had never paid attention to rocks and stones other than their unique shapes, colors, and ‘power’ they held. She knew Steven collected rare stones, so it was by far more his field than hers. Moving it to balance in her two hands, she moved it slightly, watching it reflect light at different angles.

[KANE]

He nearly, nearly laughed at her comment. Of course it would be dangerous to pick a lock, considering there was an armed man or two outside the door. It was wise of her to not do so; he was comfortable in a musty room surrounded by his rocks anyway. Meteorites were a never-ending source of fascination and inspiration for the young man, and as he picked up the stone he dropped, he allowed a small smile uncharacteristic of [Steven] to take hold of his face. He weighed it again; even though it was nothing special, he liked how it looked and felt. Perhaps he could make room for it, after all.

"Of course you weren't," he said, odd smile still on his face, "But you surely must have passed this room, or at the very least have the building map memorized?" It was basic for someone to memorize the layout of a building, or area of a location they were about to storm. It was common knowledge that a good grasp of the battlefield was a quarter of the job done; despite everyone doing the same, it was still a perk. It made sense to level the playing field, then, if everyone had the area stored within their memory. "Draw it." He tossed her a piece of charcoal from the crate he was sitting on, then gestured to a box that was built out of lighter wood.

When they were held hostage, there was no such thing as leader or subordinate. Who had the ideas were in charge of getting things done. As much as Steven disliked taking charge, Alyssa was currently helpless without her pokémon. Maybe she could have done something, yes, but at the moment the Stone saw nothing coming from her. He returned to his inspection of the meteorite, running his mind through the structure of the entire building. Of course he knew the place like the back of his hand; the heir of Devon that had run away was none other than Tsuwabuki Daigo, or right now - [Steven Stone].

Regardless of whether she chose to draw the map, Steven leaned back and spoke to her. "Did you know - a semi-automatic handgun has several safety features built into it," he said quietly, "If you press against the muzzle of a gun similar to mine, the disconnecter keeps the hammer from falling and striking the bullet. This means you technically won't get shot - there are more technicalities to it, but ..." His voice trailed off, and the suited man shrugged calmly.

---

"Did you point your gun at him?"

The leader of the lux operatives nodded his head. "Yes, mr. president," he said calmly, "We all did. The two of them - one of them being the Hoenn leader - were both under our control."

"No, I meant, did you point your gun at him? As in press it against him, or any of the sort?" This time, the response the president of Devon got was a shake of the head. President Tsuwabuki nodded, then linked his hands together and stared at the operative. "That was wise of you."

"It was a reserve measure. Had he done anything more drastic than threaten the safety of his own leader, we would have pressed our guns to him."

It was then that the president let a loud, booming laugh escape his throat. He straightened his purple suit, then glanced at his subordinate. "Radio the guards guarding the storage room and have them do that. Switch on the surveillance cameras," he ordered, then walked over to the multiple monitors giving him a view of the entire building. He spied a familiar figure balancing a rock on his hand; then turned back to the security guard.

"Seth, Raskel. Get in there and point your guns at the male. The Hoenn leader is no threat. Execute this approximately three-hundred-and-sixty seconds later."

[KANE]

”Of course you werent” she glanced up at him and blinked repeatedly in surprise. He was...smiling? Was she seeing things? Was the musty smell in the room really some sort of hallucination-enducing inhalent? From what Alyssa had seen of Steven Stone both in their first meeting and this one, he hadnt been much of one to smile all too much, if at all. ”But you surely must have passed this room, or at the very least have been the building map memorized?” That much was true – both points, actually. She had passed the room in her hurried escape, and she could remember at least the first three floors from her visits previously – despite the fact they were not very numerous.

”Draw it.”

Huh? She moved her gaze from his face just as a black piece entered her line of sight for a flash of time. Her eyes darted to follow it as she raised her hand reflexively, catching the black object. Residue brushed off of it and stained her fingers with the colored powder that came off of it like snow falling from a cloud. She looked down at it for a moment in her hand, clenching her pale-skinned fist around it, looking up and following his gesture to a box built from lightly-colored wood that would surely allow charcoal to show up.

She leaned back for a moment and glanced at the light on the ceiling before back to the comparatively small meteorite she had pulled from the crate next to her. Her fingers brushed against the stone before she turned slightly to set the space rock on the crate next to Steven as she put the charcoal on the ground. Pulling her red hat out of the beltline on her pants, she put the cap in her mouth, beginning to twist her white hair in a long line as Steven spoke again.

”Did you know – a semi-automatic handgun has several safety features built onto it? If you press against the muzzle of a gun similar to mine, the disconnecter keeps the hammer from falling and striking the bullet. This means you technically won’t get shot – there are more technicalities to it, but...”

Alyssa lifted her blue eyes to look at him in time to see a shrug as she pulled the red hat down over her head, effectively hiding her white hair save for the tuft of bangs that stuck out from beneath the rim above her eyes. Leaning forward, she picked up the charcoal again and pulled the light-colored crate slightly towards her, beginning to sketch out the basement level first, before moving on to the ground, second, and third floors which had a fairly similar layout save for a few details that were floor-specific. She labelled those respective to their floors in silence. She debated how to respond in the time. At first she considered taking a verbal route that would make her seem less...heartless than she could be in a time of fighting or if the situation called for it, but her current mood easily sidestepped that potential barrier and she responded.

”I didn’t know that...” she told the former Champion, responding to him quietly and ignoring the fact he hadn’t totally answered her question. Although she had to admit that in a way, he sort of did. ”...I don’t know a thing about firearms.” She smudged some lines from the other floors she had drawn, indicating doorways and sketched a few lines parallel to each other to signify stairs before moving to the seventh floor. ”I can’t say I own one, nor have I ever.” she inhaled quietly, trying to stop her limbs from trembling thanks to the rush of adrenaline from earlier as she moved on to the eighth floor, the details in her mind becoming even more clouded than they already were. ”In a way, Psychic pokemon are effective enough to be called my substitute for the time.” She finished the ninth floors sketch and moved to that of the tenths, sensing it would be her last seeing as the details were becoming too clouded.

”I can just as easily pull the trigger on a gun as they can cause a gun’s holder to turn the weapon on themselves and fire.”

Putting the charcoal down, she looked back up at him for a moment before looking back to the rough sketch she’d done. She remained silent for another moment before speaking. ”Besides today, I last set foot in this building more than two years ago. And before then I could count on my hands how many times I’ve visited in sixteen years.” she stated plainly, scratching her temple slightly to rid her skin of an annoying clump of hair lying across her skin in an irritating position. ”They’ve...obviously made some renovations so I don’t know how much the internal details have been altered for these floors.” she told him, gesturing slightly to the eleven floors she’d roughly sketched.

”I’m assuming you have a better and more up-to-date layout of the building than this?” she asked, silently hoping that he did. He had prompted her to show what she knew so far, though, so it only made sense for him to have a better idea of what there was to be expected – right?

At least I hope so.. she thought silently.

[KANE]

He wasn't watching as she drew the building. He had a vague idea of how things looked like now - from the size of the building, it wasn't hard to guess at all. The renovations were most likely to accommodate the new weapons research and development departments that Devon had invested money into. He had a hand in designing the floor layouts - but that was some time ago. As to whether the president had modified it, he had no idea. He made an assumption that the man did not - if his personality was anything to go by, it probably meant that he just took his design and ran with it. After all ...

Steven hummed lightly at Alyssa's comment. Psychic pokémon, though useful, had their drawbacks. For one, they were generally weaker on defence; Cross, on the other hand, had the defence and power, and that was precisely why it was a popular pokémon choice for most trainers seeking a psychic-type to train. However, psychic powers were the last thing on Steven's mind as he studied the layout that the female had drew. "You can, but the power doesn't come from you," he mused, knowing of a few - the twins from Mossdeep, for one - that had psychic powers, "It comes from your pokémon. That's a disadvantage." Disadvantage indeed - if her pokémon were out for the count, then it went without saying that she probably would be down and out as well.

"I don't," Steven admitted. It was a half-truth. He knew there were new designs, new renovations to the building and new additions. He could probably fill in the blanks Alyssa had in her designs, but how true were they? It was better to rely on her design, after all, she had just traversed it moments ago. The Akiyama seemed the type to prepare adequately for a mission. "Let me see." He studied it, then noted the lack of a presidential room, or something along those lines. It was odd. The president was known for his flamboyance (he lost to Wallace though) and love for elegance (he still lost in this aspect) as well as penchant for subtle beauty (Wallace beat president Tsuwabuki hands-down).

"Where's the presidential office?"

Steel blue eyes fell on the female before the doors burst open. The countdown was up - exactly three-hundred-and-sixty seconds - and they swarmed the room, Raskel trying to kick Alyssa out of the way while before Seth and him aimed their guns at the former champion. "Don't move," Raskel said triumphantly, that wasn't too hard after all. Wonder what's up? The duo pressed the butts of their handguns to Steven, and he sighed, almost rolling his eyes.

What was up indeed. Knowing the president of Devon, he probably had something up his sleeve.

---

And he definitely did. Amused, Tsuwabuki continued to survey the monitors. "And this is precisely why it's dangerous to go up to someone who's studied weapons extensively," he said quietly, slipping his hands into his pockets. He turned on his heels. "I think you don't know why, Maine," smoothly, the president spoke as on the screens, Steven kicked into actions.

---

"Are you ... threatening me?"

Steven wasn't in the least harassed by the guns' invasion into his privacy. Then everything happened so quickly - he gripped the butt of one of the guns, slipped a finger between the its hammer and managed to disarm Raskel after kicking him with a heavy boot - his right hand had swiftly manoeuvred the semi-automatic into its grasp; Steven had it trained on Raskel, before he fired a shot towards his upper thigh - then he trained it on Seth, eyes flashing with a silent snarl curling his lips.

Raskel groaned; Alyssa probably had the chance to react, but Seth quickly made his way towards the leader, trying to capture her - but Steven's finger was on the trigger, pulling it towards him. The shot caught Seth cold in the shoulder, and he dropped the gun - "You should never threaten someone by pushing the gun into them."

---

"It tells him where the gun is. He can grab the gun and outmanoeuvre them - provided he can stun them long enough." The suited man watched as Steven kick Raskel, then picked up his weapon. He calmly continued even as Steven trained his two newly-obtained it on both operatives. "Then he gets back into a range where his targets cannot fight back and at which he can fire with sure precision. And then -" Tsuwabuki chuckled when Steven calmly angled the guns towards Seth and Raskel, trying to get back onto his feet.

"He points the gun at them."

---

"... just like this. Okay?"

His explanation was done. Steven's face was blank and expressionless, all signs of previous flaring emotions gone by now. "Once again, I am not entirely unreasonable," he stated, a half-shrug curving his shoulders. His digits itched to pull the trigger - which he did soon enough, and a bullet found their way into Seth's chest and Raskel's other leg. The latter grimaced in pain; Seth staggered backwards before crumpling to the ground.

Quietly, Steven walked past the two writhing figures to approach Alyssa. His eyes, cold as steel, focused on her. Firearms were dangerous in their own right - he hadn't killed either of them, but it should have been demonstration enough. "Now, Akiyama," he said, exhaling calmly before replacing the two guns into his suit pockets. Ammunition was scarce - he hadn't extra magazines and whatever bullets was left in the gun was what he had left for usage.

---

Maine's expression had contorted itself from one of calm supervision to stunned, then to one of barely concealed rage. Tsuwabuki had just sent two of his men into getting shot by Steven Stone, possibly under the orders of the Hoenn region leader. He wasn't in the least interested in knowing what else the president had to say to him. "Mr President, you ..." he grunted, teeth gritted and his dark eyes flashing, "You knew what would happen." When the last of the words left his mouth, Maine was clearly shaking, hands balled into fists.

"And you sent them in?!"

"All in the name of research, development, and further learning," Tsuwabuki replied smoothly, placing a hand on his employee's shoulder.

"How is that research - development - hell, further learning?" roared Maine, pushing aside Tsuwabuki's hand. He skulked to a corner of the room; yes, he obeyed orders, but a reason - reasons - like what the president gave was not acceptable, even with his tendency to distance himself from the job. He couldn't understand that. He didn't comprehend. "You just had them shot. Four times."

"The first shot was for research. The second, for development. The third, for further learning. The fourth - reason to avenge."

A warm smile, and the president was talking on the phone.

Slowly, Maine glanced up at the large man.

"Mr President ..."

---

"To the exit. I must get going."

Steven's face was stoic, but serious. He intended to leave the vicinity; he should have escaped the first chance he got instead of voluntarily being drawn into Devon. Forget the designs; he had disarmed then shot two men. More were definitely coming - Devon doubled as a weapons warehouse, the last he heard from his fellow nox members. They would be more than adequately armed. His mere handguns couldn't save two people - sacrifice? Overrated.

The former champion's face hadn't relaxed once. Raskel had passed out, as did Seth from blood loss. He exhaled, not sure if Alyssa would follow him - he didn't see it, but Alyssa would - behind him, shone a beam of red light. It flickered once, twice, then it travelled the length of the room before settling on Steven's dark suit. It wasn't visible to the young man, but it would be for her - it was a trace, a fine red laser trained on Steven.

"I need you to -"

His eyes - gunfire - widened -

[KANE]

She had heard a slight humm come from the former Champion’s throat. ”You can, but the power doesn’t come from you.” She had refrained from rolling her eyes slightly and smirking at the comment, though she had thought Tell me something I don’t know.... She was no Psychic, unlike some of the gym leaders and Elite Four members out there in the pokemon world, or heck, even other trainers. ”You can, but the power doesn’t come from you. It comes from your pokemon. That’s a disadvantage” She hadn’t wanted to simply specialize in a singular type of pokemon. If she had done so, she probably would not have been able to stand against other trainers she’d fought in her past. There were a number of Psychic-type pokemon on her team, yes, but she definitely liked other types and their versatility. In truth, she felt as though if she specialized in one type, she would go a bit insane. On another day, the thought would be amusing, but now it was not.

I’ve been mistaken for a Psychic before... she recalled. It had been thanks to the pokemon she’d used in battle against younger trainers challenging her, in addition to her hair and eyes. She never fully understood that portion of it. She’d battled many Psychics, and none of them seemed to share a physical characteristic that gave away what they considered themselves. Unless of course she had missed something. It was a possibility, but she hadn’t paid attention for a few years now, and truly didn’t mind what people thought she was so long as they gained something from their battle. Steven’s voice pulled her out of her train of thought with what seemed like a bit of reluctant admittance. ”I don’t.”

Alyssa blinked and looked up at him. You don’t? She had definitely expected him to know his way around the building, seeing as he had asked her in the first place. In Alyssa’s mind it only made sense for someone requesting a layout of a building like Devon Corp. to have an idea of the correct answer in mind. However, the real answer must have been that he requested the layout because he himself was unsure of it. Oh... Alyssa thought, not letting the frown of disappointment show on her features as he requested to see the rough sketch of charcoal she had drawn. Pushing the crate towards him, she leaned back against the crates behind her while he examined them. Not long afterwards, he spoke again. ”Where’s the presidential office?” She leaned forward to indicate it to him but was rather abruptly cut off by the sound of a clicking lock, only seconds later followed by the door slamming open.

Her gaze moved upward fast enough to see that two Lux members that had been standing outside were storming the room, but too slow in the sudden commotion to see the foot coming towards her face to kick her out of the way. Luckily her partially raised arm provided a bit of a block from direct contact with the boot, but instead slammed her upper arm against her cheekbone to send her upper body forcefully to the side and against the crate she had pulled the meteorite from. She heard a small crack from her nose that was accompanied by a warm, gushing feeling. The force had not been great enough to break her nose by sending her into the crate, but it was enough to cause it to erupt with a stream of blood and daze her slightly from the contact her head made with the crate.

She shook her head vigorously and looked up in time to see the slightly distorted figure of Steven taking the reins of the situation. His words registered in her head, but for some reason were not fully processed, only his actions were taken into her immediate memory. The former Champion’s actions were swift, fluid, and precise. He knew what he was doing, whereas Alyssa had only just recovered from the kick to the side of the head and her face that had been delivered. She made to stand again and saw out of the corner of her eye one of the Lux members coming towards her.

A second shot rang out in the small room and the man that had been approaching her turned as though an invisible hand had punched him to throw him off balance. Merely seconds passed and Steven shot the two Lux members again. Alyssa had managed to get to her feet quickly enough after the first shot directed at the man coming towards her. Now she stood again, and looked up into the eyes of Steven, who had come closer after the two men crumpled to the ground. ”Now, Akiyama.” he put the guns back into his pockets, taking their weapons that they had used against him into his possession. ”To the exit. I must get going.”

Alyssa blinked as he turned to leave. First he seemed like he had intended to come to the building in the first place, practically asking for a suicide by stepping into Lux territory with such a large weapons company in its midst. Alyssa was sure he could handle himself in battle otherwise if a Lux member decided to try a more traditional route of battling. She moved to follow him, and gave her head a final shake as he stepped through the doorway. Alyssa looked up and re-focused on Stevens back in time to see a red beam flicker before settling on his suit.

”I need you to –“

She lunged forward, towards the doorway with her mouth open in a shout of his name that was drowned out by the sound of gunfire, hitting its target.

Steven!

She stepped out of the doorway and instinctively reached out to her fellow Nox member before sense came over her, which was quickly replaced by a blinding anger. She spun on her heel and ran for the Lux member, which – luckily for her – was stupidly close. The gunman turned to her, but was unable to adjust the angle of his weapon fast enough to fire a lethal – or potentially lethal – shot at the white-haired trainer. She moved to the side as he turned, letting the poorly-aimed shot miss her for the most part. It grazed her side, but that was nothing she couldn’t push to the side. Stepping within the guard of the Lux member, Alyssa first reached out and drove her thumb into the sensitive tendons of them mans wrist, forcing him to drop the weapon as his fingers receded from a strong grip. She turned her hand, taking it to cover the top of his, and force his hand down, bending the wrist further than it was anatomically meant to. His wrist snapped beneath her fingers, accompanied by a yelp of pain from the grunt.

Alyssa stepped forward further into his guard until she was nearly against him, planting her foot between and behind his as she drove her elbow upwards into his torso, catching him between the part in his ribcage, forcing him back into the wall. He reached up to grab her hair, but that hand was soon restrained as well. She quickly grabbed that wrist and pulled his arm backwards so it was in an uncomfortably awkward position.

She drove her thumb into the soft-tissue crevice beneath his chin, between his lower jaw bones for a base grip. She rammed her pinky, ring, and middle fingers into the crevice against his windpipe - between the dip in the meeting of his collarbones. Finally, she hooked her index finger around the side of his windpipe and put severe pressure on his jugular and windpipe. He stilled with this, dropping enough for her to reach behind him and grab his neck at the base of his skull, her eyes cold as ice as the anger blazed within them.

”I should kill you where you stand.” she said quietly, a snarl evident in her voice. ”I can do it, too. Feel this?” she applied a bit more pressure to the jugular-windpipe grip, causing the man to gasp, giving a strangled sound. ”If my control slipped and so much as held on for too long, you’d be dead. But that would make me no better than you.” She stared at the man for a moment longer, her lips curled in a vicious anger. She kept her hold on his throat before letting go of the back of his skull, only to ram him – hard - twice into the wall, knocking him solidly unconscious.

His limp body slipped from her grip and his face slowly regained its normal color, less of the purple-red it had been.

She glared at him for a moment longer, before running over to Steven, where he was on the ground. He had fallen, but managed to catch himself. She practically dropped to her knees as soon as she was beside him. The wound on her side burned and stung with complaint at the movement, but she ignored it, placing one hand lightly on his shoulder, careful to avoid touching whatever area he’d been shot at before placing her other hand on his chest, firmly but with a strange gentleness in case he lost the grip in his elbows that was keeping him up. She leaned over at the waist, over the tops of her bent legs, tilting her head slightly to look up at him from below his level.

”Steven..!” she said, quietly but obviously concerned. ”A..are you alright?!” Obviously no, he wasn’t alright – he had just been shot. But her question was more along the lines of asking if he could still move, and wasn’t about to drop dead within the next minute. ”Please answer me...”

[KANE]

Well, damn. Steven felt the cold of the bullet seep into his back, before warmth flooded him. It felt odd; there was nothing that immediately made him scream in pain – it was as if he knew what was precisely coming for him, even if he hadn’t seen the bullet or the tracer settle on his dark suit. Everything was mostly a blur to the former champion. Alyssa rushed for his assailant, but he couldn’t be bothered. More or less stuck in a daze, he remained standing until the grunt from the sniper knocked unconscious roused him.

Then everything was like after a bout of lag; all the emotions, feelings, sicknesses that welled up in his gut surged his nerves and he fell to the ground. Shakily, he managed to reach out with a trembling hand to steady his body. The effort, though minimal, shook him. Steven blinked his emotionless eyes once, twice, thrice; nothing he did eliminated the pain that was crawling up his nerves and sending him into a sensory overload. Things seemed to move so slowly, each syllable Alyssa uttered slowed down several seconds before speeding up. He was fading in and out of consciousness, but he eventually managed to stand straight again, pushing aside Alyssa’s hand in the process.

I don’t need your help. Selfishness swarmed the former champion’s mind. He could stand up for himself, he could do this alone. She didn’t need to come into the picture at all. He remained silent, pocketing the meteorite from before – the act of bending down to pick the object out nearly caused him to stumble and fall, but he caught himself by steadying himself with his arm. His injury was on the lower part of his shoulder, while not life-threatening; it hurt if he strained it too much. Blood loss was also an issue, but he found himself caring less about it than before.

His actions were answer enough for Alyssa as he walked out of the room, intent on getting back his pokémon no matter what it took. Respect?

He fucking threw it out of the window. Screw leaders, screw whatever. No one was worth protecting anymore.