Riot in Johto von MiniMeani (Randaleeee!) ================================================================================ Kapitel 13: Captured -------------------- Vielen Dank an Renaki! Für deinen Kommentar und die Geduld :)   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dawn had fuzzy dreams of fire, when the gentle thud of a closing door intruded her sleep. There was the buzz of machines all around her, as well as a whispered conversation. Her nose twitched, when she breathed in the sting of disinfectant. It almost coerced her to fully wake up, but a dull throb in her temple robbed her of any drive to stand up. The bed was simply too warm, the mattress too soft... But as she lay there, the situation grew more and more strange. Dawn had no memory of getting to that kind of place. In fact, once she pushed through the haze of her slumber, she remembered an incredible fear. Her heart sped up, only thinking about the memory. Water... she had been at the bottom of the ocean, freezing and despairing at the thought of dying there with J. And then, out of nowhere... Finally, Dawn's eyes flung open. She stared at a bare, white ceiling. The lights were dimmed, for which she was grateful. Her initial instinct almost made her sit up. Her heart throbbed, and for a moment, she held her breath. Were the people still talking? She strained her ears and surely enough, she could hear murmurs. Even a giddy laugh. It almost sounded too innocent for her suspicion to be true. With shaking breaths, Dawn shifted her head ever so slightly. The opposite wall had monitors embedded into it. Most of them showed a black screen and only one shone brightly in the semi-dark. Two people in white coats sat in front of it, a woman and a man. "Have you seen the defence stat?" The woman pointed at something Dawn couldn't see and her voice rose in excitement. She could barely sit still with her locks bobbing up and down. The man's quickly nodded his head, scribbling on a clipboard. They hadn't noticed Dawn, yet. As carefully as possible, she let her eyes sweep over the room. There was a door nearby; she could probably reach it before they would. She wished to have her pokemon at her side, but neither Piplup nor her pokeballs seemed to be in that room. As she looked out for something that might help her to escape, she noticed another bed next to her. The blanket had been flung to the side and there were even the imprints of a body in its pillow and mattress. Dawn's breath shuddered. Had that been J? She hoped she was alright, but even if so, it was up to Dawn to find her. As quietly as possible, she wiggled out from beneath her blanket. The floor was freezing cold under her bare feet. For a second she tried to look for her shoes, only to find out that her clothes had been changed into some beige shirt and pants. Dawn winced and, in disgust, turned her head towards the two doctors. She almost wished she hadn't. On the screen was a flash of silver. It was a close-up shot to Lugia's face, so Dawn could see its eyes squeezed shut and every muscle in its face twitch. Fangs were bared, and although the broadcast was silent, Dawn could hear its anguished cry. "No way," she gasped - and clapped a hand over her mouth. But it was too late. The two doctors jumped and yelped in their surprise. They set their sights on Dawn, gaping at her. She took that opportunity and bolted towards the exit. The man reacted first, but before he could get past his colleague, Dawn flung herself against the door and made it swing open. Once outside, however, the door crashed against something that gave a pained grunt. "Sorry!" Dawn cried. "Oi! What the hell do those four-eyed idiots-" shouted the Rocket henchman, whom Dawn had hit square in the back. "Never mind." Turning in the opposite direction, Dawn bolted down the hallway. The lights were a lot brighter and made her squint. Behind her, she heard the stomp of boots and a lot of cursing from her pursuers. Up ahead came a turn. She sprinted around it, almost crashing into the wall and tumbling towards the ground. Casting a glance over her shoulder, Dawn felt like she saw shadows of the men creep along the walls. The adrenaline made her completely forget about her wobbly knees and she rushed on - right into the arms of three particular individuals. "J!" She wanted to be relieved to have found her partner that quickly - but the two men flanking her just reinforced the panic bubbling in her stomach. There was Pierce, his sharp, olive eyes boring into Dawn. The other one, she recognised from pictures J had shown her back at the temple, what felt like ages ago. "You're Giovanni," Dawn said in a shaking voice. Only meters away from the three, she skidded to a halt. Her head was spinning slightly and although Dawn tried to blame the sudden physical strain, she knew better. Standing face to face with the leader of Team Rocket, in his neat black suit, the trace of a grin on his lips and an air of absolute self-assurance around him, caused a cold shudder running down her spine. She breathed heavily, her hands shaking at her sides. Clenching them to fists didn't settle the quaking. "Correct." Giovanni nodded in appreciation. Loud steps echoed behind her, but he raised a hand and the ruckus died down. "I suppose J informed you sufficiently about my person?" Dawn gritted her teeth. "Like I even care about someone, who harms and exploits pokemon," she retorted, but not as loudly and as strongly as she would have liked. First that image of Lugia, now Giovanni himself. Dawn felt a rush of despair claw at her, but she braved through it. She made a step towards the three, her eyes now set on J. Something was strange about her, too. Not only hadn't she fully turned to face the commotion - J didn't even look at Dawn. Instead, she was solely focused on Giovanni. She's probably getting ready to attack him, Dawn decided. "What are you plotting?" she shot at Giovanni, hoping to distract him for a little longer. He smirked. "What has been the goal since the day this organisation was founded. I plan to better this world." Dawn flinched slightly, appalled at his words. "You mean world domination! You're worsening everything!" She had heard of people never realising that they were evil, but how ignorant can one be? "Of course, a morally educated little girl can hardly understand the benefits of my actions." Giovanni simply shrugged her of. "Although I am surprised. I thought, you would have more pressing matters to care about. Like where your pokemon are?" The grin was back, but now with dark shadows playing around his features, as he lent towards her slightly. "What I plan to do with them?" Dawn's stomach churned. She took half a step back. What are you waiting for? she asked with a quick glance towards J. "I- I was getting to that!" Fear gnawed at her insides. It was hard, pushing back those emotions, when all she needed that moment was a clear head. "Well?" she whispered, then gulped and forced her voice to be stronger. "Are you going to tell me?" "They are in a laboratory," said Giovanni, "where my professors will administer the drug, which you have seen not too long ago yourself. Aren't you excited at the powers your pokemon will unleash?" "Are you crazy?" Dawn exclaimed, all reason gone. "Y-you can't... you'll only..." Why isn't she doing anything?! Dawn thought, irritated. "J won't help you." Dawn flinched as if she had been slapped. Dumbfounded, she stared at Giovanni. "Did you think, I wouldn't notice you looking at J?" Giovanni shook his head, with a quiet, disbelieving chuckle. "You believe you still have an ally." For a moment, Dawn couldn't breathe. Her eyes hushed from Giovanni to J and back again. Still, the woman wasn't looking at her. Dawn could barely control the shaking of her hands. "Boss, can we take her away now?" A gruff voice from behind Dawn suddenly spoke up. She winced, glancing back at the henchmen, who loomed behind her. One of them scowled at her and she realised that he was the one she had hit with the door. He already had his meaty hand outstretched to grasp Dawn. It made her neck prickle. "Not yet," said Giovanni. He slid a hand in his pocket and gestured with the other towards her. "There are a few things I want you to understand, Dawn." "You- how do you know-" "Yes, we know your name, as well as your home address, the storage system you use, just about anything you can think of." His lips curved into a little smirk. "You might not realise it, but through the people you know, you have quite the influence on the world. Therefore, you will serve me as a hostage. So as long as you don't make a fuss, nothing will happen to you or your pokemon." Dawn felt her knees turn into butter. It took so much from her only to stay on her feet. She opened her mouth to retort something, but there was nothing she could think of. It wasn't possible. It simply wasn't. She had jumped into that battle, only to safe J and Lugia. There was no way things had gone so terribly wrong! In an act of defiance, Dawn took half a step in Giovanni's direction. "You... you..." You liar? Dawn didn't even know, what she should call him. None of this was true, it couldn't be. That time, Dawn looked directly at the woman. Her only hope. Please, she begged silently. Please, just... just blink or something, anything! But J never met her eyes. And no matter, how hard Dawn concentrated, she couldn't sense her emotions. "Whatever you might try to do, it doesn't work in here, girl," Pierce chimed in. Then he faced J, glaring coldly at her. "Although I don't recall you saying anything about telepathy, J." Finally, J reacted. She also turned in Pierce's direction. Dawn's heart sank. There. on the upper part of her black coat, glared a red 'R'. "Don't be absurd." Her voice was chilled, even menacing. "I told you everything about those pests. Telepathy might actually have been useful and that's precisely the reason they didn't give me that power. The sooner you get rid of them, the better." "You're rarely that eager," Pierce observed with suspicion. "Wh-what the hell are you talking about?" Dawn finally burst out. She was dizzy, sick to her stomach. Her body felt too hot and too cold at the same time. A nightmare - that was it, nothing more but a bad dream. All of her senses screamed the opposite, but Dawn couldn't accept what was unfolding before her eyes. "You of all people should know," Pierce answered. "After all, you're Mesprit's chosen human." Ice. It felt, as if ice crept through her whole body, chilling it to her very bones. She couldn't even deny the claim. "How... How do you..." Even her tongue was too numb. All Pierce did was squinting at J. Dawn followed his eyes with disbelief - until, for the briefest of moments, it occurred to her how absurd it was to feel surprised any more. "It is in your interest to know, that their healing powers won't reach you anymore," Giovanni added. He didn't sound as if he was too happy to have been left out. "All our bases are protected against the entry through psychic powers. We did that to prevent Celebi from entering our bases through time-travel, but it works equally well against the Lake Guardians. So, I would like to ask you to be more careful with your life, than you were at the Whirl Isles. Your premature death would only be a nuisance." Dawn couldn't avert her gaze from Giovanni's smug face. It gave her the urge to wipe his smirk into oblivion. "Do you really think you can keep them out?" Her voice was shaking. "You have no idea how strong they are!" Her perplexity melted to something hotter. A burning desire to fight back. Dawn took a decisive step forward. "Ask Team Galactic. They just wait for you to sit in jail with them!" Now she jabbed a finger towards the huntress. "Or ask her! You guys love chatting, don't you? Then let her tell you, how miserable her life is now!" Finally, J's head snapped in Dawn's direction. But their eye contact was so fleeting, she almost felt as if she had imagined it. Dawn had to bite her tongue, when a pang of guilt arose. She's not really on their side. She is not really on their side! She kept repeating that mantra in her head, hoping it would calm her pounding heart. She can't be! Giovanni's black eyes observed her. Then he nodded at the grunts behind Dawn and suddenly, hands strong as an arbok wrapped around her wrists. Before she could compose herself, they yanked her arms behind her back. The shock, more than the pain, made her gasp. "I see you still haven't understood the position you're in," Giovanni said. "Without your pokemon, you are defenceless. You have no allies, who could rescue you and all the powers the guardians granted you are gone. I could silence you this instant, if I wanted to." The pop of a pokeball echoed in the bare hallway and in a flash of light, Persian appeared, crouching before her. Underneath its short, beige fur, Dawn could see muscles strained in anticipation. It's red eyes glinted with glee. The sight of Persian's shiny fangs drove more of the icy terror into her bones. "Consider this, when you're in your room." Again, Giovanni nodded at the grunts. "Take her away." "Yes sir!" the men bellowed. Dawn watched, as Giovanni strode down the hallway in the opposite direction. J followed suit without even glance back. Pierce's eyes lingered for a second, but he, too, turned to leave. Dawn could feel the tug on her arms, as the grunts readied themselves to drag her to her cell. Her eyes were fixed on the back of J's head, watching, as the person she had decided to trust just left. A little, tiny part of Dawn still screamed at J to spin around and knock the men out. Hoping, that she hadn't acted before, to minimise risk. Hoping, that Dawn's efforts hadn't been in vain. But then she remembered the life the huntress had dedicated herself to. So many opportunities had gone by, in which she hadn't even given Dawn the smallest hint of support. And now that she saw J stepping further and further away from her - it finally, truly sunk in. A searing strength seemed to explode in the girl. With more force than she thought she had in her, Dawn planted her feet on the ground and pushed against the grip on her arms. "You're just going to walk away, then?" Her whole body was quaking - that time, not with fear, but rage, just bursting through the last of her restraint. "You've just thrown away everything you've worked for? Run over to the next best group of criminals?" She could see the hesitation in Pierce's next step, but J kept going, The fingers around Dawn's arms began to drill into her flesh, but that pain only fuelled the inferno inside her. "You're a monster, you know that?" She burst out. Abruptly, J stopped in her tracks. Even from afar, Dawn could make out the slight change in her posture. Her shoulders stiffened and she straightened out her spine. The huntress turned her head, icy blue eyes piercing right into Dawn's sapphire coloured ones. "My obligation to keep you safe is over." Although it was barely noticeable, J strained herself to speak in a neutral tone. "You knew perfectly well how this would end. Don't expect me to please your fantasy of a heroic rescue." "I know you're not capable of protecting anything!" Dawn shouted back. "Your men, your ship - all of them lost because you don't care about anything!" The twitch of J's brow filled Dawn with a kind of joy. It left her feeling hollow, yearning to hurt the huntress more. "Watch your mouth or -" "Does it bother you? Well, you deserve nothing better!" The henchmen seemed unsure. They tugged at her, but Dawn just yanked her arms back. "How many times did these people try to kill you? Did that just slip your mind?" "You have no idea -" "What are you even planning to do with Team Rocket? Keep hunting pokemon? Until one of them actually does kill you? You're the one, who's pathetic!" J winced slightly. "Don't make me shut you up, girl," she whispered and stepped closer. "The guardians even gave you a chance to better yourself." Dawn's eyes began to sting. It drove her mad, but keeping her emotions bottled up was impossible. "Yet you just keep fantasising about your glorious life as a hunter. D'you think you'll feel better, hurting others?" Dawn's chest felt so tight as if it was about to erupt. "I changed my mind; you deserved all the pain the guardians caused you. You still do." J was now in striking distance. The fist at her side shook in agitation, ready to snap forward. Then suddenly, a ball of fire ignited in Dawn's body. In an insane burst of strength, she ripped her arms free. She heard the henchmen grunt their astonishment, their huge bodies tumbling behind her. Surprise was etched in J's face. She could barely step back, before Dawn swung forward. Her muscles burned with a thirst for pain, for revenge. Inwardly, she rejoiced at how J had put herself into her reach. So close, so close. But in an instant, the moment was lost. A beige shadow pounced at Dawn. It slammed her backwards, over the backs of the henchmen. With a thud, the girl landed on the floor, gasping as all air was knocked out of her chest. Four clawed paws dug into her body. They seemed to crush her bones. A coughing fit overcame Dawn. Her limbs just numbed, as if all of that sudden energy has been drained from her. The monstrous feline growled and Dawn screamed, when it pierced the skin at her shoulders and thighs. "That's enough, Persian." Immediately, though obviously grudgingly, Persian let go of its prey. It stalked back to its master, red eyes glinting. Under lots of cursing, the grunts hauled Dawn onto her feet. The back of her head was throbbing from her fall. For a moment, she couldn't even stand. Her knees just kept giving out beneath her. Small, bloody spots dotted her pants, but the burning was almost unbearable. Finally, Dawn looked up to see that face once again. J was breathing hard, yet she didn't show any sign of pain. It was insanely difficult to focus on her, as the whole hallway was spinning around her. "I've warned you." J exhaled those words, rather than pronounce them with her usual forcefulness. She blinked and Dawn noticed that, still, her eyes were averted. J's hand tremored and she stuffed it into the pocket of her coat. Her voice stayed so quiet. "I am not going to die saving you, just so you might feel better." Dawn swallowed hard, as another emotion bubbled up. "You can die alone instead." J's eyes snapped over to her. Her lips parted slightly, but no word came out. It almost seemed, as if fear flashed through her gaze. By then, however, Dawn's eyes were clouded with impending tears. With all her heart she tried to tell herself that it was only anger that made her chest feel so heavy. That the churning in her stomach wasn't real. She couldn't give J the satisfaction of hurting her anymore. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)