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Lapras Valley High – Hell Blastoise

Chapter Eleven – Suicidal Punishment

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To say the least I was stunned. My mouth dropped open with a clang, and my eyes widened as I stared at the jury. Time stopped. I was frozen, non-blinking, just staring. My hair slowly fell onto my face in front of my eyes. I brushed it away as a reflex.

Shaking, I put my hands on either side of the podium and leant there, breathing hard. I glanced up and glared at Lady Blastoise, who sat there, smirking evilly, gloating over my tragedy. Why had she done this too me?

I knew exactly why.

Only she knew that I was a were-pokemon. And with her extensive power she wished to capture me, keep me as her own and experiment on me to try and brainwash me and use me for evil. If she couldn’t do that then she’d use me as a circus animal. She’d get people to pay admission to see me, the amazing were-pokemon.

I hated her more than ever right now.

I hated her now more than when she forced Fury to swim 50 laps of her Olympic sized pool.

I hated her now more than when she taunted me in the past and threatened to tell my secret.

I hated her guts. And the rest of her too.

The people watching the whole courtcase began to move out towards the door. Ashley stood up and started to make her way over to me followed by Nayia, Martin and Fury. I shot a glance at them, before bolting, jumping over the small wooden gates dividing the court area from the audience, through the crowd and rushing away.

"Sal!" Ashley yelled, but I didn’t care. My fight with Lady Blastoise had gone on long enough; I just wanted to end it all.

"We have to go after her," Ashley cried, turning and facing Nayia and Martin anxiously. "I’ve never seen her like this before, never! And I don’t trust her by herself like this. She could… could… KILL herself!"

Nayia was silenced for once. Martin instantly responded. "Come on let’s go after her!"

"Na-ah," a menacing voice interrupted. The three teenagers and Fury stopped and looked at Lady Blastoise. "Part of the punishment is not only to punish them but to punish their friends as well. Most people don’t care about themselves and will just shrug off detention after detention but once you hit their friends you hit home… hard. From this point on you three are not allowed to leave the school grounds, not allowed on excursions and no school privileges or extra curricular activities."

"Wha…" Ashley gasped.

"Which for you Miss Lien," Lady Blastoise continued harshly. "Means no running for school council. For you Miss Waterflower, absolutely no more trips to Lapras Valley for two months. For you Mister Naeco, no skateboarding for two months. Any disobeying of these rules and you will be placed under further punishment."

She turned to leave. Ashley gritted her teeth and glared, temper rising like the flames of a bonfire. Her fists were clenched, knuckles white. Martin glared after Lady Blastoise as well, growling. Nayia stood there, speechless for a change.

"My shopping…" she whispered. "YOU CAN’T DO THIS TOO US! SAL IS TELLING THE TRUTH AND YOU KNOW IT!" She screeched after the smug looking bitch.

Lady Blastoise only looked over her shoulder. "I think I just have."

*

Pull the noose around the neck

You still have time its not over yet

Stop now if you want to live your life

There’s no turning back once the knot is tied

I continued running, I didn’t know where though. I just streaked through the school courtyards to the back of the school where I normally skated. Doubling back and going my own way, I rushed to my dorm and snatched my board from the corner and began skating through the halls and jumping down stairs.

Life’s too good to waste away

Hunt by night shrivel by day

Blow after blow it strikes you fast

But give it a chance and let it last

Skating out the back of the school I realized I couldn’t go any further on my skateboard and picked it up and started running, carrying it. I took one step, and found my sleeve caught to the barbed wire. With a sharp tug, my shirt tore and I was free.

Please don’t do it there’s someone who cares

Please don’t do it when someone’s out there

No matter how low life will take you

No matter what I know you’ll come through

Don’t give up now

Don’t give up now

I continued running, as the pewter clouds began to grow heavy. With a crack of lightning, rain began to flood down, wetting the dirt path. Mud began to stick to my shoes and I figured that my grip tape was going to get wrecked. Taking a slight detour off the path, I placed my board under a large leaf to cover the grip tape, and ran through the trees.

The road is long, winding, and tough

It won’t take long before you’ve had enough

One day you’ll be hit harder than ever before

One thing you won’t be crying out for more

The twig may seem harmless but when you’re streaking through Shady Thicket in pouring rain it’s no good at all. I slipped and fell flat on my face in more muddy grass. I got up and found myself at a dead end, only one way to go. Through the small path of thorny bushes. Running through, I tripped just as the clearing came close, and fell to the ground with a thud. My leg had been caught in the thorns and with a few hard yanks, my jeans ripped and I ran on.

Life may seem tough maybe worse

But it’s all just a part of its course

Survival is showing who is strong

Who can last for forever long

I was tired, breathing heavily, soaked to the bone, and shivering. I couldn’t go back, Lady Blastoise was going to expose me as soon as she could. I crawled along the grass in the rain, and made it into a small cave. I shivered and hugged my knees.

Please don’t do it there’s someone who cares

Please don’t do it when someone’s out there

No matter how low life will take you

No matter what I know you’ll come through

Don’t give up now

Don’t give up now[

*

"Nayia!" Ashley called worried. Ashley ran up to Nayia, wearing her jeans and a sleeveless spaghetti strap top with a yellow shooting star on a navy background. Around her neck was the bandanna I had given her for her birthday, the special tie died bandanna that I had made myself. Under that was the metal ball chain that I had also given her just before leaving for Lapras Valley High.

"Yeah?" Nayia asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Have you seen Sal?" Ashley panted, Sugar and Fury behind her.

"No, not since she ran out of the courtroom," Nayia frowned. "Why?"

"I can’t find her at all!" Ashley cried. "I’m so worried, what happens if she has committed suicide? She can’t have! But she probably is gone already…" Ashley began sobbing.

Nayia hugged Ashley. "Come on, we’ve got to search for Sal!" she replied. "Sal is a special person, although she may not see it. She was the first ever friend I had here, she was the first person who I knew that wasn’t afraid to speak their mind, to say if they didn’t like something. She was the first person to actually make a difference in my life, a positive difference."

"We’ve got to find her!" Ashley managed to say in between sobs.

"Right, you go get Blaron and his friends and I’ll find Martin and we’ll meet back here in five minutes," Nayia said. Letting go of Ashley, she turned and ran, yelling
"Hurry!"

Ashley turned and ran into the library over to the far corner where Blaron and Spike were sitting. Craig and Greg were no where to be seen but that didn’t matter to Ashley.

"Hi Ashley," Spike greeted. Even though the nerd group and my group didn’t see or hang around each other that much we were still on friendly terms and talked to each other and said hi in the halls and in class.

"Sal…" Ashley breathed heavily.

Blaron jumped out of his seat, and it fell over backwards. He could sense something bad was happening to Sal. "What’s wrong? Where’s Sal?" he asked anxiously.

"Oh la la, Blaron and Sal sitting in a – okay I get the picture I’ll cut it out," Spike grumbled, seeing Blaron’s harsh glare.

"Spike go find Craig and Greg," Blaron snapped. "Come on Ashley lets find Sal."

*

Ashley struggled through the pelting rain. She knew that Nayia, Martin and her were banned from leaving the school grounds but what else could she loose? Surly they wouldn’t take Sugar.

Fury had been told to wait at the school and she anxiously watched Ashley and the group go out. Nixie, Luna and Sugar had also gone, leaving Fury alone. Fury couldn’t believe that Sal had run off.

"Sal you idiot," Fury scolded to herself. "Why did you have to go out like that? Why did you have to run away? Why? Sal please come back!"

Fury knew these words were words that Sal couldn’t hear, and Fury stared out to the courts where it poured rain. It was like a thick wet blanket of water, gushing down forever. Fury took a deep breath and ran outside into the rain.

"Sal!" She shrieked, rushing through the rain. She ran as fast as she could, coughing and spluttering, feeling herself grow weak with the water soaking her fiery fur coat. She didn’t care. Sal needed her, she could tell.

*

"Sal!" Ashley called.

"Sal where are you?" Nayia yelled.

"Sal!" Martin cried.

"Sal come back!" Blaron shouted, concern creeping into his voice.

"Eevee!" Sugar shrieked suddenly, catching a wet blur of red and orange in the rain. "Eevee!" She ran and bit Ashley’s ankles.

"Sugar!" Ashley scolded.

"Dratini Drat!" Nixie yelled, pointing with her tail. Ashley saw the blur and ran over to it.

"FURY! What are you doing here?" Ashley gasped.

"Need to find Sal…" Fury coughed.

Ashley stared at Fury. Surly she hadn’t just talked, had she?

"Fury go back," Ashley finally said. "Go back, the rain is too heavy. You’ll die out here!"

"I don’t care!" Fury yelled. Ashley froze. Fury was speaking English. Honest to goodness words were coming out of the little fox pokemon’s furry mouth, not just the annoying ‘Vulpix’.

"Fury, you’re speaking…" Nayia whispered.

"Well of course I’m speaking, I’ve always been able to speak but there’s no time to explain that now is there?" Fury snapped showing the same quick temper as her trainer. "We have to find Sal. There’s a piece of her jeans on the fence there and some muddy footprints here." Fury coughed. "Follow the footprints!"

"Fury, how long have you been able to talk?" Ashley asked as they ran through the rain.

Fury coughed again. "For nearly as long as I’ve been with Sal," she replied. "Only I’m not supposed to tell anybody. Otherwise I could place us in danger. That’s why I never talk anymore, but this is an emergency."

"Is this…" Ashley paused.

"Yes," Fury answered. "This is a part of the big secret. The one that Lady Blastoise knows and wants to expose. She knows about my being able to talk. Why do you think Sal despises her so much? Why do you think Lady Blastoise taunts and tortures Sal in public and privately, emotionally and mentally. Lady Blastoise is evil, she wants Sal."

Ashley was speechless, as she watched the fire fox splutter in the rain. Sugar ran up ahead leaving those two behind. Ashley picked up Fury and placed her inside her rain jacket.

Fury’s body temperature raised a few degrees as she began to keep talking again. "She wants Sal for money, for greed, because Sal … because I’m her pokemon and I talk. She wants to use us and once the novelty wears off she wants to keep us for power. To use us to not take over the world – that’s a stupid ambition – to … she wants to run the whole of Ogindi! She wants every pokemon to be hers, to punish people for good deeds. She wants pokemon, the rarer the better. And you have to admit that a talking Vulpix is pretty rare."

"Ashley! Fury!" Nayia ran back to them and breathed heavily. "We’ve lost the lead, no more footprints."

"Oh no!" Ashley cried.

"Are you humans really dumber than I thought?" Fury sighed. Nayia stared. Fury ignored Nayia, and jumped out of Ashley’s arms. She ran up to where Martin and the rest were searching and quickly scanned the area. "Here, she’s hidden her skateboard so the grip tape wouldn’t get wrecked," Fury pointed out. "And she’s been through this way." Fury ran off the path and into the Shady Thicket. Martin followed, then Nayia. Ashley turned to everybody else.

"Just in case Fury is wrong, I want you guys to check Shellder Bay and around they’re in the caves," Ashley requested, before turning and going into the thicket after them.

***

A/N – In the part of the world where Cascade West, Zharman Island, Quagsire Heights and other places (especially Lapras Valley!) are situated there is a state or region named Ogindi. It is similar to Kanto and Johto except far away from them.

***

*

I didn’t believe this. For the first time in my life I had runaway, done what I had hoped never to do and backed down. I had let Lady Blastoise know she had won this round, that she had overpowered my mind and corrupted my soul.

This was so f***ing beautiful.

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Next Time on Lapras Valley High

To expose or to keep hidden? Sal is now facing the debate of whether to tell her friends that she is a were-pokemon or not "You know what? Just leave me alone. If I want to tell you… then I will!" - Sal

And seeing Ashley is out of the running for student council does that mean that there’s war between her and Teresa now? Things spice up a bit at the next disco "I’m sure that you won’t be forgiven for what you did to Sal, Nayia, Martin and I. You’ve gone the lowest any person you could go, and you should be so ashamed of yourself." – Ashley "You know what, your right… I SHOULD be ashamed shouldn’t I? Well I’m not." – Teresa

Ooh look at this, there’s not just bitch commotion going on "Um… Martin? Um…" – Nayia

Chapter Twelve – Tango Trickery