Chapter Four: Kidnapping and a Shipwreck
Woohoo, I finally updated. xD Sorry it took me so long!
Lina woke early, but Aura even earlier. As soon as the girl woke up, she saw that her Eevee had been up for awhile, waiting there impatiently. When she saw that she was awake, Aura grinned.
"Eve!" she barked, restless.
Lina smiled, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Hi Aura. Ready to go back to Lavender?" she asked. She definitely was. She was sick of being on the road.
Aura nodded, and Lina got out of the Pokemon Center bed. She dressed and got ready, then she and Aura left their room to go get breakfast. She was almost hoping the boy was still there so she could see if he acted any differently around her, but was also relieved when Nurse Joy informed her he and his Pokemon had left nearly an hour ago.
As the two ate breakfast, Lina told Aura of Lavender Town. "It's very small," she said. "But there's a big Pokemon Tower, where the ghosts of Pokemon live. And the Name-Rater, that's my dad. Some people call the town quaint, but others call it spooky. Lots of people think it's haunted, but that's just superstition." Aura listened, and tilted her head. Lina wasn't sure if the Eevee was happy to be going back to live somewhere, or if she'd rather have stayed on the road. It wasn't as if Lina knew her Pokemon very well yet.
She thanked Nurse Joy and recalled Aura to her Pokeball, then put her in her backpack carefully. Lina got on the bike that belonged to the Man Who Knew Everything – she was planning on returning it as soon as she felt like leaving Lavender again – and began to ride up the eastern coast towards her town.
It was a nice morning, if a bit chilly. Lina liked it though, the colder air reminded her that she'd get home soon. The town of Lavender was usually nice and foggy, with its grey tendrils of mist snaking around the Pokemon Tower as she looked up at it.
The morning fog hadn't yet burned off as she rode east, past the tired looking trainers who didn't want to battle quite yet, and then north. She passed a grove of trees, but she heard her name being called, and stopped shortly, startled, with a jerk.
Looking back, she saw the bikers, all advancing toward her. Jaren and the dirty blond were in front, and Lina didn't really recognize the others. Somewhere behind them she spotted Andy's bright blue hair.
"LINA!" Andy cried, waving as he rode his bike towards the front. "Hi, Lina! Remember me?"
Lina blinked. "Uh, yes…" She'd only just battled him yesterday, after all.
"Where you going?" Jaren demanded.
"Lavender Town," she replied, a little uneasy.
"So you are a Lavender kid?" Jaren asked, an ephemeral look of surprise on his face. "That's what Rico said, but Sheila here thought you were more Pallet Town."
Sheila, dirty blonde, snorted and nodded at Lina, her wild strings of hair flying about her moon-shaped face.
Lina nodded back timidly.
"Jaren, you're hopeless," came another voice. She recognized it as Rico's, and he rode closer to the front now. "I told him you were from Lavender, but he's not so good at listening."
"Yeah! He did, he did!" Andy cried. He looked at Lina and nodded. "Believe me. I was there."
"Shut up, Andy," Jaren groaned.
"You going back home?" Rico asked.
Lina nodded.
Rico looked back at the others, then turned to her again. "Need us to escort you there? There's all kinds of undesirables on this road."
"Nobody's gonna mess with her," whined Jaren. "Why would they?"
"You did," Rico pointed out.
"No, that's okay," Lina said, a little confused at the offer. "I have Aura, and it's not that far… I'll be fine."
Jaren crossed his arms. "Aura. Right. That little runt."
Sheila hacked. "That little runt beat your Bronco," she said, then spit, dangerously close to Jaren's bike.
"Shut up, He-ila."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Sheila roared.
Lina, afraid she might spit again, gave them all another wave. "I'd better go! Bye!"
Rico nodded. "Seeya, Lina."
Andy jumped up and down, waving. "BYEEE! HAVE A GOOD TRIP!"
"I still say we shoulda jumped her," Jaren grumbled as Lina rode away – more quickly at this comment.
The rest of the ride was rather uneventful, up until a point. Lina avoided trainers when she could, though she did have to battle a few weak ones, Aura winning easily, and by the time she made it up to the long pier walk, it was lunchtime and she was tired.
She stopped the bike and let it rest against a tree, then sat on the edge of the pier. She let out Aura and they had some food that Lina had packed in Fuchsia. People went by, but they didn't really notice her much, and soon she and the Eevee were done eating.
Lina still felt tired, and wasn't in a hurry to get back on the bike. And Aura wanted to swim. The Eevee jumped in the water with a splash, which scared Lina at first, until the little fox resurfaced and began doggy-paddling. Lina laughed as she watched her swim to and fro, diving down, swimming in circles. Aura looked so happy in the water.
"Maybe you'd like to evolve into a Vaporeon," she said.
Aura nodded with a grin as she swam. "Ee! Vee!"
Lina smiled back. "That is, if I can ever afford a water stone."
Lina was debating sticking her feet in the water, but finally decided against it. After all, she was going to be cycling back up the hill soon.
Lazing back in the late morning sun, Lina closed her eyes in relaxation. It was nice here, she decided. Maybe she'd come back sometime for a day trip. Of course, not to this exact place, but near it, of course. After all, if Aura evolved into a Vaporeon, she'd want to swim a lot.
She thought of what it would be like if Aura could swim her across the ocean, and the idea made her a little worried just to think about. That was a much bigger journey than just cycling or walking to nearby towns – it was actually going to other countries, exploring lands, battling wild Pokemon at sea. Nevermind being unfamiliar with terrain, she'd be completely lost at sea!
As she was lost in her own daydreams, she suddenly came back to consciousness when Aura dragged herself back up onto the pier and shook. Water droplets came flying off the Eevee and all onto Lina, startling her out of her state. She frowned at the Eevee, whose mane had become puffy and large. The sight of her was so funny that Lina couldn't be mad at her, though she did have to remove her glasses and wipe the water off the lenses.
But suddenly Aura's lips curled back and she flashed her teeth, growling. Lina blinked. "What's wrong, Aura?" For a moment, she thought her Eevee was growling at her, then, when a hand clapped over her mouth and a blindfold jerked tightly over her eyes, realized with fear someone has snuck up behind her. Struggling to get away, she wasn't sure what to do, and she flailed behind her with her hands, hitting the person who had grabbed her.
She couldn't see, but she heard the sound of Aura yelping, and then she didn't hear her Pokemon anymore. Lina's hands were grabbed roughly and tied together behind her back with something that made her wrists itch, and her capturer dragged her up and forced her to walk. But she hadn't gotten very far when, all of a sudden, she was punched in the gut, and she whited out.
-x-
The next time Lina awoke, she was in darkness. She lay, still bound, but not blindfolded anymore, in a musty space. She didn't know how big it was, or even if it was a room, but she forced herself to get up and walk until she reached a wall. It wasn't very far.
Where was she? Lina's mind had kicked in, and now she fell back down to the ground with a sense of despair. What was going on? Had she just been kidnapped? Where was she?, she asked herself again. She heard creaking beneath her and a rocking sensation, as if she were being carried in a box, or something equally as horrible.
She didn't know what to do, and so she cried. She couldn't help it. She hated crying, cried too much, but she felt completely helpless. What could she do? Could she ever even get out? Had she just been thrown in this awful place to die? What had happened to Aura? Was she all right? If only Lina hadn't let her out of her Pokeball, maybe they wouldn't have been able to hurt her. She'd heard her cry out, had they gotten her too? What would her father think when she didn't come home that day as she said she would? Would he come looking for her? Would she ever see him again?
She cried for herself, she cried for Aura, and she cried for her father. And she cried because she couldn't do a thing. She was stranded, helpless, alone, and she didn't have a clue what she could do to try and get out of this horrible place.
And yet for as many hours as it seemed she cried, she finally stopped. She couldn't cry anymore, and had grown tired of it. It seemed as if she couldn't just become tired of it – it was something she had little to no control over – but she did grow weary of it. Her head ached, as did her stomach.
She began to wonder who had kidnapped her, and why. It wasn't as if her father was rich, he couldn't offer much of a ransom for her. And she didn't have much money with her, or any Pokemon besides Aura. Although Eevees were rare, she didn't think that someone would kidnap her just to get her Pokemon.
Gradually, she stopped feeling lost and listless and began to grow angry. Or at least a Lina form of angry. How could they just take her like this and put her somewhere? It wasn't fair. She didn't know who they were, and why they'd captured her, but she didn't like it and she wanted to get out, now.
At the same time, fear washed over her, a cold, sickening fear, and she screamed. She kicked the walls as hard as she could. She rammed into each wall with all her might, but nothing happened. She felt as if she were being watched by a group of scientists, like a lab Rattata. She didn't know what they wanted her to do.
But after she'd grown too weary to even scream anymore, she collapsed down to the ground again, her throat sore, her feet throbbing, and her head pounding. She lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, her hands still tied behind her back. She realized, like a slow animal just waking up, that her glasses were gone. She wondered if she'd ever been wearing them this whole time.
After she could do nothing more but lie in the fetal position, her arms sore from not moving, and close her eyes, something happened. One of the sides of the thing she was in slid open, and light poured in. Even with her eyes closed, it was painful. She would have screamed again had she not lost her voice. As it was, she curled up even tighter, trying to protect herself from the light and the people who stood there.
But, eventually, as she had grown used to the dark, she grew used to the light again, until it only hurt a little to look at the doorway – as that was what it was. She was in a tiny room, more like a cabinet than a cell – and there were two black-clad men standing before her. She recognized the clothes they were as the uniform of Team Rocket, and this made her even more frightened.
"Ugh, she looks terrible," one said.
"She's only been here for five hours," the other said. "Think how she'll look a week from now."
Lina barely processed the information, but heard that. Looking at them, eyes wide, she tried to ask them, to beg them to let her out. She couldn't be in there for a week. She couldn't be in there anymore!
She summoned up her energy and shakily rose to her knees, dragging herself out towards the light. But the Rockets only laughed.
"Don't worry, you get out soon," the second one said. "Well, it all depends, on your good behavior."
"We won't get any trouble from this one," the first said. "Look, she can't even talk."
Lina stared back at them. She didn't have an idea what they were planning to do with her, but she couldn't go back in the darkness.
One knelt down and stared her in the face, and she didn't have enough strength to do anything but turn her head slightly away from him.
"You'll be good, won't you?" he demanded.
Please don't let them rape me, please don't let them rape me, Lina thought to herself frantically. It was all she could do now. She was too weak.
"Here, take her up. Not all the way, just one story up."
The other one nodded, and grabbed Lina's shoulders, hoisting her up. Her knees were shaky, and she couldn't stand well, much less walk, but he dragged her after him. It was all she could do to keep from falling over as he led her along. They came to a staircase, and he forced her to climb it, pulling her back up when she fell and always making her keep going.
They finally reached the top of the stairs, where Lina was taken to another door. Her eyes widened again, fearing it was going to be another dark room, but when he opened it, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. This room was lit, if only dimly, and had a single cot in it, nothing else. There was a tiny window over the cot, but she couldn't see out of it this far away.
"There," he spat. "We'll come back later to give you food."
She wanted to demand he let her go, or even just answer her questions. But even if she had her voice, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to. But she must have done something, because he turned back, and said one more thing:
"It starts tomorrow."
He left the room, slamming the door behind him, and Lina shakily looked out the round window. Through it, she saw sky, and water. The ocean. They were on a ship.
Before she could even begin to think about this, she laid back on the cot and fell asleep out of pure exhaustion.
-x-
The next time she woke, she was sore all over from ramming the walls of the dark cell she'd been in. Her head still ached, and her hands were sore where they were bound behind her. It was too painful to move, and so she couldn't do anything but lie there. She wasn't sleepy, but her body was exhausted, and she could barely keep her eyes open in the gloom. She couldn't see anything without her glasses anyway, so what was the point of keeping them open?
It seemed like she lay like that for hours, though it couldn't have been that long. She drifted in and out of consciousness, though she never quite fell asleep. She tried not to think about what was happening to her, and instead thought of familiar, happy thoughts of Lavender Town. But sometimes her brain didn't quite want to obey her, and it slipped into the frantic, panicky thoughts of her current situation. She tried to dispel those thoughts as quickly as she could.
Then, she heard someone approaching the door. Her eyes flew open, though they weren't much good for anything, and she pushed herself away, towards the wall behind her, as best she could.
The door flew open, revealing two foggy people-like shapes dressed in black.
"Look, she's awake," said a woman's voice, and they stepped closer to her.
"Have a good rest, Leeeeena?" the other person, a man, sneered.
Lina flinched at hearing her name. How did they know it? Then she realized that they probably would know it, after all – they wouldn't have just grabbed any random person they saw, right? There had to be something she had that they wanted, and that was why they'd taken her. But… what was it? She didn't have anything they could possibly want that they had to abduct her for. Why hadn't they just robbed her?
The woman grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Come on," she demanded.
Lina struggled to remain standing. The man groaned and grabbed her other arm. "She's so weak," he complained to the woman, as they dragged her out the door.
Before she could lose her breath, Lina opened her mouth and tried to speak. "Wh-where are you taking me?" she managed to say, her voice shaky and hoarse.
"Shut up," the man said. She obeyed.
After what seemed like the most strenuous hike she'd ever been on (to the end of the hall, up some stairs, and to the end of that hall), the two people pulled her into another room. It was much bigger than hers, but she couldn't exactly tell what was in it.
"Sit down," commanded the woman, shoving her into a chair. Lina's heart was beating fast from the exertion.
There was another person in the room, this one a much taller woman. Sitting by her side was some kind of blue-ish Pokemon, but as they two of them approached, Lina saw that it was a Nidorina.
"Well, well," the woman said. "You're Lina, hmm?" Her voice was syrupy sweet, and as she reached Lina, she held out her hand, offering her something.
Lina couldn't tell what it was, and she just stared at it. Her hands were, of course, tied behind her back still.
"Well, don't you want them?" the woman asked. "Your glasses?"
Lina looked up at her. "Um… yes, but my hands…"
The woman gasped. "Oh, dear, your hands are bound, aren't they?" She turned to the two people standing silently by the door. "Did you two do this?"
"No, that's how we found her, ma'am," the man said.
"Find out who bound her hands," she ordered. "Rina, cut her hands loose."
The Nidorina obeyed, not making a sound, and Lina could move her hands again. She stretched her sore arms and twisted them, trying to get circulation started. She reached up with one trembling hand and took the glasses, then put them on, and the room flooded into focus.
"Hello," the woman said, smiling at her. She was tall and striking, with porcelain skin and red curls. Her eyes were a deep velvety brown. She wore a formal black dress with the letter "R" in red on the front: a Rocket uniform, Lina guessed, for one who didn't have to do much of the dirty work. The woman sat down in the armchair next to Lina's, and her Nidorina quietly sat down beside her, leering at Lina.
" I am Isabel," she said. "It's nice to meet you, Lina."
"Nice to meet you," Lina replied without thinking, then realized it wasn't, really. After all, she was being kidnapped.
Isabel laughed. "Well, you are a polite one, aren't you? I must confess, I was expecting you to be much more… oh, I don't know. Older, for one thing. You're barely more than a child!"
Lina turned red. She looked younger than she was, and people were always mistaking her for an early teenager instead of a late one. But instead of correcting the woman, she looked at her, confused. Isabel had held previous expectations for her? Then that confirmed her suspicions, and she was being kidnapped for a reason. "So you heard about who I was, then?"
"Well, you do catch on quickly, don't you?" Isabel smirked. "Yes, of course I have heard about you. Why do you think you're here, Lina?"
Lina shrugged. "I don't know…"
"We brought you here because you know something we want to know," Isabel explained. "And if you're willing to tell us exactly what we ask, you can go back home right away. Does that sound fair to you?"
Lina looked back at her, puzzled. "What? I don't know what you're talking about."
Isabel laughed. "Oh, I think you do, Lina," she said, then glanced at the two people behind Lina. "Out," she demanded, glaring at them. They did what she told them, not speaking another word. Then Isabel smiled at Lina. "So, why won't we just get down to it, then? You've seen how efficient our program runs, haven't you? We only learned about you two days ago. The next day, we found you and brought you on board, and today we're meeting with you."
"Um, it seems like a good system," Lina said, because she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"It is. Now, would you like to tell us what it is you know?"
Lina's head felt far too heavy for her neck, and she rested it on her hand. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said again.
A hint of irritation flashed across Isabel's face. "Oh, don't play dumb," she snapped. "You know very well what information we need."
Lina stared at her, blankly.
"What Fuji told you," Isabel said. "The message you took to Celadon, and to Fuchsia. What is it?"
Lina blinked. "What? Why does that matter?"
"Please answer the question, Lina."
"I don't know," she said. "I'm not even a part of that, he just asked me to take a message."
"Well, that's all very well and nice, but by accepting to deliver this message, you became quite a big part of it." Isabel sighed and leaned back. "Tell us what his message was, now."
"I don't know," Lina said. "It was in an envelope."
"And you took this same envelope to Fuchsia?" Isabel asked.
"Yes – wait, no."
"Did you take a different envelope, then?"
"Well, no, not exactly…"
"Then what kind of form was the message in?"
"Well, the Man Who Knows Everything just told me to tell someone there a little message. It won't even mean anything to you, though."
"What was it?" Isabel pressed. "It could mean many things."
"He said…" Lina suddenly had the intense desire not to tell her anything, even if it was only the cryptic ''the time has come to begin'. Was this Aura's stubborn influence on her, she wondered? Aura – where was she? These people had taken her, too. They'd taken Aura away from her, and taken Lina on this huge ship, and kept her in a dark cell, and beaten her. Why would she tell them anything? She looked down at the floor, not being able to look at Isabel. "I'm not telling you."
Isabel leaned closer. "Excuse me?"
"I'm not telling you," Lina repeated, finally able to drag her eyes back up and look straight at Isabel. "I won't tell you the message."
Isabel sighed. "I truly had hoped it wouldn't come to this."
Lina eyed her uneasily. "Come to what?"
"We have various ways of making you speak, you know," Isabel told her, examining her nails. "I prefer this sort of way, with a nice friendly chat, but I suppose there's nothing we can do about it if you won't comply."
Lina blinked. Did Isabel mean torture? Most likely, she thought. What else could she have meant? But was she actually serious? Did people even use torture anymore? Lina felt strangely detached from Isabel's threat, as if she were looking down and observing it, twisting it around to try and make it logical. The thought barely dawned on her that Isabel was threatening to torture her. If she'd realized that at the moment, she would have been nowhere as calm as she felt – she would probably have run in circles or given up the information right then and there. But since she wasn't affected by the idea of torture at all in her mind, Lina didn't care much about it.
"I'll give you one last chance before it begins, Lina," Isabel purred. "Tell me the message."
Lina looked up and at Isabel. "No," she said.
Isabel's confident face slipped for a moment into a glare, but she quickly masked it. "I hope you like pain," she hissed, then pressed a button on her desk. The two Rockets who had brought Lina in came rushing back into the room. "Take her back to her room," Isabel ordered. "Tonight, we'll show her what Team Rocket does to people who don't comply."
-x-
Later, Lina was lying in her room. Her hands were still free, but the door to her room was locked. She was beginning to realize what was really going on. Torture? She went insane when she saw blood. How could she withstand torture? And was this message even important?
She began to shake. Why had this happened to her? She was supposed to stay in Lavender with her Name-Rating dad. She wasn't supposed to go off on adventures and get kidnapped and tortured! Wasn't there any way for her to get out of this?
Suddenly, the ship jerked to the side, as if by a huge impact. Lina grabbed onto her bed, startled. What was going on? The ship moved again, tilting away from the direction of Lina's window. She was almost thrown off her bed to the other side of the room, but she clutched onto it as hard as she could. Something was hitting the boat.
Trying in vain to see what was crashing into it, Lina looked out the window. But she couldn't see a thing. She gripped to the bedpost as hard as she could as the boat again rocked, and did so three more times. On the next time, she heard a great groaning sound as the ship slowly turned over onto its side. Eyes wide with fright, Lina had no idea what to do. Out of her window, she was staring up at the sky. How had this happened?
She was literally hanging off her bed now, just trying not to fall to the other side. The window was fogged up from water constantly hitting it as the ship moved, but she thought she saw a motion high overhead in the sky. As she looked harder to try and see, she suddenly realized that a blue object was falling fast towards her. It hit the window of her cabin and shattered it completely. As tiny shards of glass flew on her, she shielded her face. Most of the glass fell on her arm and hair, and she was lucky not to get any in her eyes. The stone had fallen into the crook of her arm as she covered her face, and when the glass stopped falling, she looked at it, amazed, holding it in her hand. It was a water stone. What was going on? She grabbed the water stone in her hand. They were said to be good luck when at sea.
Realizing she now had a way to escape from the ship, and seeing that water was slowly pouring in through the window, she tucked the water stone in her pocket and pulled her arms through the window. She tugged herself out until she was standing on the side of the ship, partially submerged in water. Glancing around, she saw a few islands in the distance. She realized that she wasn't a good swimmer and that she would never make it there. But she had to try.
Lina jumped into the water and began to swim towards the islands. She wasn't very far when she felt something wrap around her leg and jerk her down in the water. Panicking, she looked beneath her to see a huge Tentacruel beneath her. She tried to free her leg, but it was no use. Lina took one last breath before it dragged her below water. She kicked frantically, but the Tentacruel was taking her down to the bottom of the sea. It wasn't soon before she felt she was running out of air. Some good luck charm the Water Stone was! She pulled it out of her pocket, then with her last amount of strength, rammed it against the Tentacruel's tentacle. The Pokemon cried in pain and let go of her, swimming off to go lick its wound. Lina tried to swim back up to the surface, but she didn't have the strength she needed. She was running out of air, as well… Finally, she could swim no longer, even though her lungs felt they would burst, and closed her eyes. She had no energy left, and all she could do was float there. Her last conscious thought was that she was holding on tightly to the Water Stone…
Aw, poor Lina. D: Don't worry, she's not dead. Though maybe I shouldn't have told you that, to keep some kind of cliff-hangy ending. Oh well. xD Anyway, please review and I'll try and update soon!