Sooooo… Heehee. After more than a year… I beez back with as update. :D
I like this chapter. I don't looooove it, but it's good. And it's fairly long (comparatively). If it's a little all over the place, that's probably because I'm trying to sort through the multiple plot lines I have going on here. THANKS SO MUCH TO SWEET BUT PSYCHO FOR EVERYTHING! Oh my goodness, I would never have gotten to this point if not for her. And, ironically enough, this chapter is also mainly the Go Rock Quad, so it's totes dedicated to her. She's done an amazing job with her fanfic Melody of Ambition, so go read it! Most of the character development in this is due to her awesome writing (especially the most recent chapter cause Garret is AWESOME!).
So, yeah, enjoy! And to catch everyone up…
Previously: Lucy and Joel were chasing after Lavana and Alyssa after Sven stayed behind to capture Heatran. They were engaged in an aerial chase when they crashed in the middle of a school playground, where Lucy and Joel were placed in a precarious position. Also, a while ago, Kate and Keith had the Vatonage styler stolen from them by the Go Rock Quads, who had an objective of their own in all this chaos. Kate left without Keith to pursue them and eventually capture the Cresselia needed to calm Darkrai. That should sum everything up.
YAY!
Joel
Standing in the middle of this situation Lucy and I have found ourselves in, I decided that I've had better days.
I had dozens of small round faces staring at me in shock and no way to protect all of them. It was our worst nightmare. "No one move," I announced steadily. They all looked like they were older, ten or eleven, so they could at least follow my directions without question. They were all to the left of us, playing in a grassy field with a small playground to the side.
I took a tentative step forward and was halted immediately.
"Do. Not. Move."
So Lavana wasn't in a very good mood. Her hand moved to the pokeball behind her back and it opened to reveal her trademark pokemon, Magmortar. "One move and Magmortar unleashes its flamethrower." We could not have picked a worse place to land. She had the advantage and it was ridiculous how much control she had over us now. Might as well give her the leash and call it a day. The kids nearby us were just kind of staring at us curiously, faces confused with a tinge of fear, but also a bit of excitement. Crap, I thought to myself sourly, Gotta make sure none of them decide to play hero.
This wasn't a game, but did they realize that?
I held out both hands, trying to show that I had nothing up my sleeves. Perhaps reasoning would work. "Look, Lavana, all we want is Alyssa and everything is fine. You can go free." As much as it pained me to be saying this at the moment, I didn't have much choice. We could pick her up later; Alyssa, however, and the kids of Boyleland Elementary School were much more important.
A cruel smirk played over the pink-haired admin's face. "I don't think you're in much of a position to be making terms here, Fall City."
I hid my frustration. "Well, then maybe there's something else we can get you. Lucy, call the Ranger Union for me and see what we have to offer."
"They won't pick up." Lavana cut in without even batting an eyelid.
It took a few seconds for the statement to sink in. I turned around to meet Lucy's eyes. She shook her head imperceptibly and I was struggling not to ball my hands into a fist. At least we weren't wasting our time. "What happened?"
I had to keep her talking, keep her attention on me. I was 100% sure that Lucy was planning something and so I had to give her space while she did. Damn, we could have used Jackie right now. That kid always has a plan.
She raised a single eyebrow, amused. Amused. What kind of game was this? Playing this war of words, squashing anything I had to say, threatening children? I was Joel Hatake, Fall City Area Leader and Dodrio Rider, and although she may throw my title around like it's something to be sneered at, I didn't get it because of getting the lead in a school play.
I sighed. "What do you want, Lavana?"
The smirk played across her face and I could tell that she was not worried about what I had to say. Not a bit. "You know, there are so many answers to that question," she sighed, looking over her manicured nails with a certain amount of satisfaction. "I'm not even quite sure where to start.
"Well," I heard Lucy's voice from behind me, almost cheerfully. "Let's start with this. Dragonite, Double Team."
So we were going to have to act like trainers for the moment, huh?
But Dragonite didn't even get a chance to move. And that's when the tables were turned.
Because a Drapion had entered the scene and was already striking at Dragonite with his poision tail. Another figure followed, blonde hair curled in a gravity-defying way and wearing a purple suit that was missing the dust that covered Lavana, Lucy, and I. The impact sent Dragonite flying backwards and Lucy had to throw herself out of the way to avoid being hit. Luckily, the giant dragon was tumbling away from the group of kids on our left, so no one was hurt.
We, however, were screwed. Dragonite was really the last trump card we had. Now, partnerless and exploited, we had few choices to pick from.
"Lavana, you never could handle things on your own, could you?"
The pink-haired admin snarled. "I was handling things just fine, Kincaid. I don't need your help."
"Sure," the former Ranger School teacher smirked. "Just be glad I was sent in as back-up. You take the girl and get out of here. I'll soon follow."
Lavana stalked through the middle ground between us, grabbed Alyssa roughly by the arm, and started to walk away. I could see Lucy's fist clench beside me, but I grabbed her arm before she could swing.
"Lucy. Be smart."
"Let go, Joel," she snarled, the red hair that escaped her braid blowing into her face. "We had her. We had her and they're just going to take her back! What am I supposed to tell Kate?"
I spoke quietly, meeting her eyes. "They need her for leverage and they're not going to hurt her. I can't say the same for us. We have to get away and re-group."
She gritted her teeth, eyes flicking away from my face and toward Kincaid and Lavana. "Arceus damn it."
"Now, rangers," Kincaid grinned at us, clearly in charge. "What to do about you?"
Billy
We had lost the ranger girl years ago.
Seriously. We had escaped to Pueltown, taken our father's boat that was waiting for us there, and set sail. Whoever this girl was, she sure didn't deserve the Vatonage styler, so it was only fair that we took it. Survival of the fittest, right?
We were home free. All that was left to do was meet up with our father off the coast of Haruba Desert and get the hell out of dodge. Then we could plan the return of the Go Rock Squad and the reign of one of the greatest bands of all time. My siblings and I were determined to succeed. Well… Most of us were.
Some of us were more worried about personal health. Clyde was busy snoring away and Tiff was also lightly dozing. Garret seemed to be the only one concerned with what was currently going on around him. He was gazing out across the water, eyes focused on some point in the distance.
"Little bro, what are you up to?"
Said little brother frowned. "There's a boat out there."
For a moment, I was surprised enough to be in denial, but, when I followed his gaze and spotted the tiny boat in the distance, I laughed. "Please, Garret. We're fine. There's no way that boat can catch up to us. Never mind the fact that it's probably just a fishing boat or something totally unrelated."
"A fishing boat this far out?" He responded mildly, raising an eyebrow. I knew that he respected my unofficial leadership of this family and that he dared not overstep his bounds, but he was toeing the line here. But, they all did occasionally, and everyone knew that I came out on top every single time.
"Don't worry about it," I answered, turning toward the grunt who was manning the boat. "How much longer to the meeting point?"
"Another five hours, at most."
"See, bro. We'll be fine."
He turned back to face the ocean, hands gripping the side of our boat. "Okay, Billy."
I narrowed my eyes briefly, "You're still with us, right? This isn't going to be like last time when you decide to go soft at the last moment."
"No," he answered, gritting his teeth and looking like he wanted to argue with me. "I have no problem with what we are doing right now. None at all."
"Right now, you say. How about later?"
I knew I was pushing him, but I had to before he got some kind of moralistic mumbo jumbo in his head. But I also knew that blood ran deeper than anything he could manage to come up with. He would follow the family because we were what he had.
He looked away. "I just want what's best for the family."
"And I don't?" I answered, still studying him. "Forget about that boat. If it gets closer, then we do something about it."
I had everything under control.
Garret
I was still unconvinced. And as I kept an eye on this boat, I realized that it was gaining on us. At an alarming rate. I sent another glance toward Billy, who clearly saw me looking at the boat. Why wasn't he concerned? Tiff and Clyde were too preoccupied with other things to worry, I understood that, but Billy and I were different. Billy should know that this is a threat.
That's when Billy glanced toward the horizon and I saw what he had been waiting for. It the distance, clouds were gathering. He must have known that a storm was coming. His gaze said it all.
The storm will take care of a little boat like that.
I smiled to myself. Of course Billy knew what he was doing. He always did, right? Even when the Go Rock Squad was falling apart, it was Father's fault, not Billy's. It was a flaw in Father's plans, not anything that Billy could control.
That's always what he said, anyway.
The storm came on fast. I noticed that our course had changed and I figured that it was because we didn't want the boat (that was quite obviously following us by now) to figure out our rendezvous point. We were headed more easterly now, and I spotted a landmass approaching in the distance. Haruba Village?
That had to be it. The storm intensified and I looked to Billy and thought that his crazy plan may in fact work. There was no way that a smaller boat like the one following us could survive this storm (although it looked like ours may not be holding up all that well). The water was splashing up over the sides and Billy was yelling at the few grunts we had at our disposal to get a hold of the ship. Pandemonium reigned and I couldn't see more than the length of the boat, so I had no idea how this thing was getting steered.
Lightning cracked and, in that precise moment, I heard a scream that without a doubt had to be Tiffany.
"Tiff?" I called out across the roaring wind, fighting to get across the boat to where I had seen her last. "Tiffany?"
Panic. Chaos. This was my family and for all the arguments we got in, we still stuck together. Apparently, Billy reacted the same way, as we both approached the front of the boat at the same time. Clyde was kneeling beside a frantic Tiffany who was gasping like a fish out of water. All four of us were soaked to the bone.
"I was right next to her the whole time, Billy, I swear," the words were tumbling out of Clyde's mouth as he looked around frantically for what could have alarmed her so much.
"Tiff, what's wrong?" Billy got the words out of his mouth first, but my thoughts were the same.
She pointed toward the water. "I swear- I saw something come out of the water. It couldn't tell what it was, but it came so close to my face that I- I could feel the wind."
"But, I was right next to you, Tiff. I may have been looking in a different direction, but I didn't notice anything." Clyde added in.
"The storm makes it hard to hear and the splash from the pokemon would have been drowned out by the waves," I commented, realizing that, while the storm provided a bad situation for the small boat, it also provided the best conditions for a silent attack. That is, if the attacker had a way of getting around.
If they were using pokemon, it had to be a ranger. Damn it.
I looked back toward the direction that the boat had been in. I couldn't see it, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the rain or the fact that it was actually gone-
The boat lurched, even more than it already was. We were thrown to the deck violently in a heap. Tiffany ended up at the bottom and made it known.
"Grawph! CLYDE! Your elbow is in my back, you jerk!"
"Tiff! I didn't… It's not my fault. Garret's foot is in my face!"
"BILLY! GET EVERYONE OFF OF ME!"
After a loss of dignity to all of us, we untangled ourselves and regained some semblance of poise. Tiffany's angry mutterings were only punctuated by Clyde's grumblings and Billy's harrumphs of disapproval. A grunt came running up from below deck, freezing as he saw us recovering from a fall. Unsure of how much he saw, Billy addressed him strictly nonetheless.
"Erm. Tell no one of what you just saw," he stated plainly, attempting to gather himself together and present a front of composure. "Report."
The grunt looked confused, but continued. "We just lost the rudder, sir."
Billy let out a long string of swears. If it wasn't obvious that we were under attack before, it certainly was now. His stare settled on the deck below as the gears in his head worked to come up with a plan. If our fear, we were all looking towards him. Everyone knew that Clyde's brawn, my brains, and Tiff's stubborn determination could only get us so far. Billy's resourcefulness was the only thing that could get us anywhere now.
He finally looked up and motioned for me. "Is your scizor down below?"
I nodded.
"Bring it up here."
I hesitated. "Billy, what are you going to do with-"
He sent me a glare. "Garret. There's no time."
This was going to be just like last time. I was going to give up any ideals I had for Billy's psycho plans and my pokemon would be in his control for whatever use he wanted. Could I really even describe me as having ideals? Even from within a group searching for world domination? And could I really have morals with an older brother like Billy controlling the family?
But I went to get Scizor anyway because I was scared and because the family had to be taken care of. And because a part of me still trusted Billy as my older brother and the protector of this family.
After that, he strode in the captain's cabin and came out with the Vatonage styler held tight in his hand. By now, the boat was under serious attack by whatever pokemon were attacking us, hidden by the raging waters around us.
"Clyde, take care of Tiffany. Garret." His eyes held my gaze for a full two seconds before he even opened his mouth. "Don't ever doubt that I want what's best for this family."
I just stood there, waiting for what he would do. Was he just leaving?
He climbed on top of the captain's cabin, holding the Vatonage styler high in the air. Even in the middle of the storm, he held on best he could and yelled as loud as he could muster above the wind. "Ranger! I know you're here. If you want this, you'll have to come get it."
Satisfied that he had gotten the ranger's attention, he climbed onto Scizor, which, at his command, jumped into the air. What was he doing? Scizor could glide certain distances, but it couldn't fly and with winds like this, it was risky even in the best odds.
That's when I noticed Haruba Village only a few hundred yards away. Billy had a chance of making it, even if he swam the last bit.
But he didn't even have his guitar with him. What good was it going to do him soaked anyway?
Soon afterwards, the only thing rocking the boat was the storm.
And, as soon as the storm had come, it seemed to disappear.
Kate
I finally had him cornered after the most tiring tracking process in my ranger career.
He was done. Even I could tell that. I'd put him through hell, but he had put me through it as well and the retribution I wanted was nothing more than putting things as they were before. Before all this craziness happened and Alyssa went missing and I started to lose my mind. I was doing this for Alyssa and that meant that I would do what I had to.
I had followed him through the desert that he had retreated to. It was hot and sultry, but I could see him in front of me now with the precious Vatonage styler attached to his waistband, the son of a bitch. He was just outside my reach and, when he glanced back to see me on his heels, he sped up. But I knew he couldn't keep this pace up for long. Finally, he turned to face me, still standing tall in his stubbornness. He had no means of fighting back that I knew of, so what was he doing?
"Well done, ranger. I try never to underestimate you types. The Ringtown duo taught me that much."
I narrowed my eyes, still expecting some last ditch effort to escape or fight back. The scizor he had taken off on earlier was beside him, but didn't appear to be making any moves. "Then why do you keep fighting against us?"
Billy shrugged. "Call it ambition, maybe? Call it pride? Stubbornness? Whatever you want, but my siblings and I want to be great. Maybe we'll eventually find a way to do it, but we'll keep trying until we do."
"Stop trying to rationalize this," I snapped. "You guys are nothing but common crooks. You mistreat pokemon and kidnap and steal and do whatever it takes."
"I'm not rationalizing," the oldest Go Rock sibling looked disinterested as he replied. "I don't need to. If it's starting to make sense to you, that's not my doing. But, you know the feeling of doing anything for your siblings, don't you? What happened to your sister again?"
"Don't you dare compare us," I clenched my fist, ready to end this before it poisoned my mind. He was so good at being manipulative, at twisting minds to see things a different way without ever even alerting his prey. "We are not even close to the same."
Billy rolled his eyes. "I wasn't saying that much. We're way above you rangers."
I took a step forward. "It doesn't matter. You can't run from what you've done. Arson on Lookout Ridge, going against ranger involvement, illegal possession and acquisition of a valuable ranger tool. I'm going to bring you in to the Ranger Union and you'll face what you've done."
He smiled cockily. "You want this," he brandished the Vatonage styler, showing no sense of caution, and attached it to scizor. "Go get it."
It took off. I stood, frustrated, for a moment, stuck between the two. I'd left Cranidos in Pueltown because we were going on the water and I didn't want to endanger him. I had no back-up and I needed that styler. And yet I couldn't shake that self-satisfied smirk on Billy's face as he turned to leave. Damn it! A part of me despised him, but another part could understand him. He had siblings that needed him. He'd abandon the cause for their sake, but he would not be taken in by the Union.
I thought about Alyssa.
And I took off after the scizor. Like Billy, I was fine with sacrificing others things to get what I needed for my sister. The Cresselia was my mission and it was here in Haruba Desert. I would do what I needed to.
Cresselia was next.
So, the part about Garret going "soft" is a direct reference from the latest Melody of Ambition chapter, as is a lot of his character. That's Sweet but Psycho's! And... Yeah. That's it!
It's awesome to be back!