FicWad

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The door shut softly behind her as Hikari exited the room.

She was silent and remained silent as Blaze approached her. He should know the answer, he heard it.

"You agreed!" He raged. Tongues of flames spurted out from his wrist. There were scorched marks just outside the door, little markings of black, singed wood where his wrist laid as he tried to hear what went on inside.

Master thought that it would be best for us. Hikari answered softly, faced down, looking at the wooden floor. She could not bear to face Blaze, to see his face contort in anger and disappointment. She could sense it without seeing it anyway... and that pained her.

"Do you think it is best for you!"

She could not answer. His emotions were overwhelming her, let alone her own.

Hikari felt the talon-like hands grabbed her shoulders. The heat from the emitting flames added a physical dimension to the emotional upheaval, but she did not resist. She had no strength left to do so.

"Is that what you want? To be married to a puppet?" This time, he asked more gently but a lot more disappointment.

She could not face him.

"Technically, it is not a marriage."

Master! They turned. Komicer was standing at the doorway, hands behind him, surveying the scene with a look of disapproval.

"Hikari is going to merely, what shall we say, 'engage' the said Banette and 'provide' both their trainers with the necessary eggs that would hatch into the perfect Ralts, fit for our training. ...Of course, should she find the Banette to her liking, I would naturally give my blessings to the matrimony," he continued, the voice soft but firm

.That sounded a lot more worse than Hikari had expected. She started to feel a little light-headed.

"Screw you and your schemes! You're a trainer, not a breeder! And breeders don't just breed for fun!
Eggs just happen." Blaze let go of Hikari to face Komicer.

Of course, what Komicer heard was probably, "Blaz... Blaz....ziken! Blaziken! Blazi...Blaziken!" But the trainer seemed to understand Blaze. He had not been a trainer for years for nothing. Hikari could sense a little bit of fear from him. There was a slight movement of his hand slowly inching towards a pokéball attached to his belt.

Blaze took a step towards Komicer, arms flailing in the air. Trainer and pokémon stared down at each other, neither giving way. Blaze moved his arms back, as if he was getting ready to do a flamethrower. Komicer was ready to recall Blaze to his pokéball whether he liked it or not.

No! Hikari quickly positioned herself between the two of them.

Stop this madness! she directed that towards Blaze, If you insist, you would have to fight me first.

Blaze stopped in his tracks. Komicer also relaxed, a look of confidence returning to his face. But they continued to glare at each other.

"Is that what you really want?" Blaze asked again sadly.

Hikari walked towards him and raised her hand towards Blaze.

There was sadness in her eyes as she gently placed her hand and caressed his cheek. Blaze felt a shudder run through his spine as he felt the coolness of her hand travel down his face and down to his chest in a smooth downwards stroke.

There was a pause, doubt.

Then Hikari pushed him away and turned, her face cannot be seen. I'm sorry, Blaze, she murmured, I cannot disobey Master...

I cannot disobey Master... she repeated, softer still, as if to convince herself.

Blaze looked at her, disappointment evident in his eyes. Shooting his trainer one last glare, he turned away in disgust and leaped off the tree house, walking off to be alone.

Hikari sank to the floor and looked on, not knowing what to do. She felt a human hand on her shoulder.

"It's for the best..." Komicer said, the old, humane voice was back, "For both of you..."

"You do know that nothing will come from the two of you..." he said.

Hikari looked back. For a while Komicer had returned to the old him, the caring, considerate trainer who was still learning his ropes. She understood what he was trying to say.

Not that it made her felt any better.

"Come! I have contacted the occult maniac at Mossdeep. We shall go immediately now to get her, before we proceed to the breeding centre!" he commanded.

In a flash, the cold Komicer was back. Hikari resigned herself to her fate.

Komicer put his fingers to his lips and whistled. The sleeping Pelipper awoke immediately and flew over, flapping its wings lazily. It landed, allowing Komicer to mount onto it.

Then, Komicer removed a pokéball from his belt and pointed it towards Hikari.

"Hikari, return!" A ray of pure, red light shot from the pokéball and engulfed her body.

It's for the best... Hikari reminded herself again.

As she felt her body drawing into the ball, a single drop of water hit the floor.

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Blaze looked on as the Pelipper flew east with Komicer on it. He knew that Hikari would be with them. Everything had been happening too fast, leaving him helpless and depressed.

In frustration, he harshly plucked a handful of grass from the ground. The grass got instantly incinerated by the flames from his wrist. Then, he stared into the mass of water before him. There was land in the far distance. And from there, he could easily get to the day-care cum breeding centre run by the kindly old couple...

Hikari's sad eyes haunted him.

Despite what she said, that was not what she had wanted in her heart.

At least, that was what Blaze wanted to believe.

First, he would need to come up with a plan. He needed to reach the breeding centre before it was too late.

Closing his eyes and placing a hand on his beak-liked nose, Blaze racked his brains for a solution. Beads of sweat started to appear at his forehead. Fighting pokémon just weren't meant to be the thinking type.

Scratching his head in frustration, he wondered if he should try and knock a couple of the lurking Sharpedoes in the water into his side, then using the hair of his back, tie the Sharpedoes together and surf to land. But there was no guarantee that the Sharpedoes would know how to surf. And he would have to enter the water to lure the Sharpedoes.

Yet since no other ideas were forthcoming, Blaze touched the dreadful water gingerly with a nail. Then fighting back with his phobia, he waded into cold, unwelcoming waters, feeling his health draining away from him as he looked around for any unsuspecting Sharpedoes. He would just have to try to knock the ability into them somehow.

Save for the occasional Tentacool brushing against the feathers at his legs, there was no water pokémon large enough to carry a Blaziken in sight. Maybe he would have to attract their attention somehow... Blaze unleashed a couple of flamethrowers into the water. Steam rose from the sizzling water that was hit. A couple of Tentacools that have fainted from the boiling water floated to the surface and drifted gently away with the ripples.

Still no big water pokémon in sight.

A large shadow fell upon him. Looking back, Blaze saw that Ms. Kang stood before him with a frown. Her child and Kireihana were cowering behind her trunk-like legs. "Oh, look what you have done..." She cooed soothingly to her child as she lived her up and placed her back into the pouch, "You've scared Junior and Kireihana..."

"Bla...Blaze... We kno... know what was ha...happening..." Kireihana stuttered, she had been very unnerved by Blaze's wanton release of fire. She had been emotionally traumatized by fire ever since Blaze once accidentally set her skirt of leaves on fire.

"We heard your little quarrel from here. Hikari's going to meet some prospective mate and you're just mopping here? Tsk," Ms. Kang looked at Blaze, "Knowing you, you should have ran off to rescue her or something. You do like her, do you?"

"/Will you all help me?" /Blaze asked with urgency. His Plan A had more or less failed miserably.

"Of course!" Ms. Kang grinned, revealing all her sharp teeth. "No one makes Hikari cry and escapes my wrath."

Kireihana nodded her flowery head furiously while trying to avoid looking at the steaming water.

"So how do we get off this island?"

There was a pause as the gathered pokémon considered the possibilities.

"Actually..." Ms. Kang started, "I've seen other Kangaskhans ferry trainers and their young across rivers before. Assuming that we can find that HM that teaches Surf, I might be able to get you across..."

Three heads turned towards the direction of the tree house with the same idea running through their mind.

"Won..won't that be breaking in?" Kireihana asked after some hesitation.

Blaze shrugged and waded out of the waters. Giving himself a good shake to dry himself, he started to climb the tree. Just another notch in the plan against his would-be-former trainer.

"We'll be staying here," Ms. Kang shouted back to Blaze/, "neither of us is of the right size to climb trees."/

The door went down with a kick, bringing the rays of sunlight into the darkened room. There was still not enough light for Blaze to see properly. He ignited a ball of fire from his wrist to act as a torch, bringing a glow of heat and light to the room.

The nameless Scizor was leaning in the corner, those silted eyes fixed on Blaze with a sinister fascination. For a moment, both of them stared at each other, sizing up their chances. When did the Scizor get into the room? Or more importantly, what is that disc he held in his pincers?

Blaze shifted his legs to provide more balance and readied himself. "Do you wish to stop me?" he asked, keeping his sight on Scizor as the Scizor casually got up from his leaning position.

"I believe you are looking for thissss..." the Scizor flipped the disc to Blaze in a swift movement.

Blaze caught it with his free hand and peered at it. The print on it, HM-03 could be seen.

"Jussst in cassse, you're not sssure... that'sss the HM for Sssurf..." the Scizor said. There was a slight degree of contempt in his voice. "Take it and leave..."

Then, without waiting for a reply, the Scizor walked out of the room, deliberately brushing past Blaze. He did not show any signs of fearing the bright flame burning on Blaze's hand, unlike other bug pokémon.

Blaze relaxed his stance and turned to face the back of the Scizor. The Scizor was about to leap off the tree.

"Why?" Blaze shouted. The Scizor stopped.

"I am a product of intenssse breeding and ssselection," Blaze heard. The Scizor turned around to face Blaze again. "I wasss born to fight... to be the ssstrongessst... but then there'sss you... "

The Scizor stared at Blaze/, "I want to fight you, to prove my strength. I can't do that now, not when you are ssstill here."/ He turned once more to leave.

"I am not doing thisss for you... thisss isss for myssself. The nextzz time we meet, we would be enemiesss..."

"Thanks." Blaze shouted back.

There was no answer as the Scizor leaped off the tree for the second time of the day and walked off, ignoring the other two pokémon present. But for a while, Blaze thought he saw a glimpse of emotion somewhere inside the cold, dark eyes of the
Scizor.

This was not the time to consider about the psyche of the Scizor. Blaze quickly rejoined Ms. Kang and Kireihana at the foot of the tree and passed the disc to the Kangaskhan. Ms. Kang turned the tiny, blue disc delicately in her claws to inspect it.

As Blaze and Kireihana looked on, Ms. Kang closed her eyes and then, with a constrain look on her face, concentrated on something. After a couple of seconds of silence, Ms. Kang opened her eyes and grinned widely.

"Are you okay?" Kireihana seemed to have calmed her nerves.

"I seemed to have forgotten something..." Ms. Kang pondered aloud, "You know... that move that I would do a little warm-up before rushing head-on at the opponent..."

Blaze tried to recall all the moves he had seen Ms. Kang done before. "Double-edge?" He hazarded a guess.

Ms. Kang tapped her gigantic foot for a while, leaving a slight imprint on the ground/. "Ah... yes... that one. Never liked it, always pose a danger to my Junior... Good riddance... Now to business..."/

She took the disc and smacked it on her head. Then once again, she closed her eyes and concentrated again. When she opened her eyes again, she announced happily, "I think I just learned to swim Poliwhirl-style."

Blaze could not help but wonder if what Ms. Kang did was for real or for show. But what else could he do?

Ms. Kang threw the disc aside, walked to the edge of the water and did a couple of light hops. The ground shook as if there was a small earthquake. Then, she looked back at the shaking Kireihana and the queasy Blaze.

"What are you all waiting for? Let's go!"

A few minutes later, Blaze was on his way to rescue Hikari. Somehow, Ms. Kang had acquired the ability to float on the surface of the water within minutes, though most of her body remained submerged in the water as she paddled her way to mainland. What little space left above water was shared between Junior, Kireihana and Blaze himself.

Junior seemed to be enjoying herself, squealing in excitement as she looked at the water speeding past. Kireihana and Blaze sat uneasily in silence, Kireihana because of her fear of Blaze's fire, Blaze because of the surrounding water.

Kireihana finally broke the silence/. "Bl...Blaze, did you think your ac...act of defiance will succeed? Mas.. no... Komicer may have changed somewhat... but he is still a.. ver...very determined tra...trainer... He would not let... let you off easily." /

Blaze considered Kireihana's words. He knew them to be true. Should he managed to escape with Hikari, Komicer would definitely hunt them down with all the resources he got. All his old allies would become enemies, including Ms. Kang and Kireihana and definitely the Scizor.

"I don't know," he finally conceded, "But unless I try, I would not be true to myself... and I'm sure Hikari and I, we could think of something."

"Then, where would you two go? You cannot run forever..." Kireihana asked, her concern overriding her fear.

Blaze thought for a while and then a faint memory, something he heard from the past came back to him/. "Mystery Dungeon," he answered, "That place Ms. Kang told us before. That place with no human presence."/

Kireihana giggled softly, the scent from her twin flowers floated away in the sea breeze/. "I do not know how you can do it and personally I do not think it would work... remember Hikari's stubborn nature? She would never agree to this considering her loyalty to Komicer."/

"But," she continued/, "we grew up together, Hikari is my best friend. I cannot leave her in such a situation, whether she approves it or not, I will help you in whatever bird-brain plans you had to rescue her." /

"Thank you," Blaze replied, wondering if he should be feeling somewhat insulted by her 'bird-brain'

"After all, I would not like it myself if Komicer force me to do such a thing..." Kireihana was on the row, she was blushing slightly and moving her petite green hand in circles on Ms. Kang's back, "I would like Scizor to come..."

Somewhere in Blaze's brain, something hit the 'pause' button. "What? Scizor?" he asked in between coughs.

"Well... he's so... determined... so brave... he would even dare to face fire..." she said dreamily, "I just wish... that he would reply sometimes..."

Blaze tried to visualize the minute, pacifist Kireihana with Scizor the war-machine... something did not register. Then the surreal image of Scizor acting gentlemanly with the Bellossom, he tried to control the emerging laughter. He did not need the distraction now... he needed to focus...

That was when the moving stopped. There was no longer water around them.

"When are you all going to get off? Time's a wasting!" Ms. Kang urged while she panted in fatigue from her lying position.

Blaze held Junior and got off the back of Ms. Kang along with Kireihana. The feel of land underneath his feet was wonderful.

Ms. Kang rolled over and pushed herself to a seated position. Blaze returned Junior to her arms.

"I can't go with you, I'll only slow you down and I'm too tired anyway..." Ms. Kang said, "Blaze, grab Kireihana and run. I know you can do it."

Blaze gently took Kireihana and placed her on his back where his flames would not get to her. Kireihana shut her eyes tightly in fear and held on to his neck even tighter.

With a look of gratitude to Ms. Kang who was now cradling Junior to sleep, he leap off into the direction he knew the day-care centre would be.

Ms. Kang's voice boomed out from behind. "Good luck! Take good care of Hikari! And don't accidentally set Kireihana on fire again!"

The wind against his ears, the changing scenery, the colored rooftops of the city... Blaze ran as fast as he could. Komicer once told him that a Blaziken can clear a thirty-story building with one leap. Blaze had never tried it himself, but he was sure he could at least come close to that.

The rooftop of the day-care centre could be seen now from the distance.

It was show-time.

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