Escape to Cameron
Chapter 9: Escape to Cameron
"I'm getting worried, Meil. What if they got caught or something?", Kyra asked in an uneasy voice. Meil flipped though channels on the TV in the kitchen, stopping when he heard Kyra. "We'll just have to trust they know what they're doing.", he said, reaching into a bag of chips he was sharing with Kyra.
"I hope they're okay. If they get captured or die it'll be just you and me." Her voice cracked slightly, and Meil wiped the chip grease on his pants before putting a reassuring arm around Kyra.
"Don't worry, it'll be all right." He did not sound completely sure, but this seemed to calm Kyra slightly. All of the sudden, the entire ground shook underneath them, and there was a loud crash outside the cave.
Kyra grabbed Meil, burying her face in his poncho as she cried, "It must be an earthquake! The cave is going to collapse, Meil! We have to get out!" Meil flew down the hall with Kyra following behind. As soon as Meil was in the computer room, he mashed the red button to open the door. "Come on! Come on you stupid-!" The door finally finished unlocking itself, and slid open for them.
Meil grabbed Kyra, and shot across the stone to the mouth of the cave. But to his surprise, the cave did not seemed to be affected by the sudden tremor. Then his stomach turned as he saw an enormous, dark something in the valley, facing Tony, Alice, and Dorin with menacing eyes that glowed like fire.
Meil pulled Kyra behind a thick evergreen as the monstrous creature bent it's body down; Meil could hear trees snap under it as it lowered itself to the ground. Then he heard a familiar voice speak, and heard Tony's voice talk back to the Coal.
For a minute, Meil could hear nothing but the grunting of the giant creature, Coal and Tony exchanging words in hostile tones, and Kyra, who was whimpering, trying to appear as little as possible behind the tree.
Suddenly, there was another loud crash, and Meil screamed, "Watch out!", as the titanic shadow suddenly swung it's long, thick tail, chopping the thick tree that they had been standing behind in half.
Meil and Kyra were showered in evergreen needles and snow as branches crashed down on top of them. Meil put his arms around Kyra's head to protect her as sharp branches and splinters fell from above.
Meil winced in pain as a thick branch hit his left shoulder with tremendous force; it felt like some had taken a wooden 2x4 and whacked his shoulder with it. The only good this did was make Meil feel relieved, because if he hadn't been protecting Kyra with his arms, she would have taken the branch to the head.
Finally, the rain of falling debris stopped, and Meil moved his shoulder slightly, which stung and throbbed uncomfortably, but hadn't broken anything as far as he knew, though it would probably leave a painful bruise.
Kyra looked up now that the onslaught was over, and saw Meil's face grimacing in pain. "Meil, what happened? Are you okay?" Meil nodded, trying to smile through his discomfort, his vision blurry with tears of pain. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and shrugged his shoulders a little. It hurt, but not as much as it would have if he'd broke an arm or something.
"I'm fine. It's a good thing I covered you, or those branches would have killed you." Kyra smiled. "That was a very brave thing to do. Even though I'm the one that's supposed to be protecting you." Meil scratched his head and smiled sheepishly saying, "Oh, yah. But it's just sort of a natural instinct." Kyra embraced him suddenly and said, "Thank you, for sacrificing yourself for me."
"Anytime.", Meil grinned. Suddenly, Meil felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun on the spot to face Dorin, who simply said, "We must leave this place." Meil looked behind what remained of the tree, and saw Alice and Tony's Pokemon battling Coal's, and two other mens Pokemon fiercely.
Meil recognized Coal's black Charizard as it swooped after Tony's Salamence, firing jets of white-hot flames into the air. Meil and Kyra broke into a run, towards Dorin's Tropius. "Tyranitar!", Dorin called. Dorin's Tyranitar quickly finished off one of the mens Gengar with a Shadow Claw that knocked it across the valley to land crumpled in the snow.
Dorin returned the Tyranitar to it's Pokeball in a rush, and next thing Meil knew, Dorin had jumped on the Tropius's back in front of them. Unlike Tony's Salamence that only went Tony yelled, "Go!", Dorin simply knocked his heels against Tropius's side, and it's four enormous wings, that looked like the wide leaves of a tropical plant, began beating the air as it quickly rose into the air.
Then the Tropius suddenly fired a flurry of Magical Leaves into the air and let out a roar. This appeared to be a signal, because the next second, Tony and Alice were returning their Pokemon and climbing onto their fliers. Alice's Honchkrow took off in a gust of black feathers, and Tony's Salamence gave a loud roar before taking off behind her.
They were all in the air at last, and Meil could see Dorin knocking his heels on the Tropius's side again. The Tropius spread it's wings wide apart, and suddenly beat them with incredible strength. As they began flying faster and higher into the night sky, and through the clouds, Kyra was holding onto Meil from behind so tightly, he was being half strangled. When the Tropius pumped it's wings and sent them even higher, Kyra gasped, "Oh, my-!"
"Kyra, don't look down!" Meil advised, looking down himself to see what looked like nothing but green and gray squares dotted with specks of light below them. He felt dizzy, and kept his eyes to the back of Dorin's lab coat instead.
When Tony and Alice finally caught up with them, Tony called, "Watch out! They're after us!"
"What do mean, 'after us'? You mean on that huge thing they were on before?", Meil asked.
"Yes,", Tony said, raising his voice as a sudden gust of wind filled their ears. "it's a Dragonite, except it's bigger than any I'v ever seen!" Meil looked behind him, and had to stop himself from yelling in fright.
The Dragonite, which was bigger than any airplane that had ever flown, was beating it's massive wings from behind them, causing entire clouds to swirl as the air circulated around it's wings. It's glowing eyes watched them eerily, sometimes the only thing visible when the clouds obscured it.
Kyra looked behind her too, and unlike Meil, was unable to help her scream of terror as the colossal Dragonite followed them through the clouds. "Oh, god! Meil! Meil, I want to get back on the ground! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" Kyra's continuous screams were getting more high pitched as she put another stranglehold on Meil.
Tony suddenly dropped from the clouds to fly beside them and yelled towards them, "All of us are going to fly real close, then we'll all go off in different directions. I'm going under the Dragonite. Alice is going right, and you guys are going to fly left! Got it?"
"Yes.", Dorin nodded, as he thumped his right heel on Tropius, who turned right to fly close to Tony, who was flying close to Alice, so that Dorin was on his right, and Alice on his left. "Now! Break ranks!", Tony called. Dorin knocked his heel left, and his Tropius suddenly swung left so abruptly, it almost unseated Meil and Kyra, making Kyra cry out yet again and grip Meil tightly.
Meil looked behind him, and could see the Dragonite looked befuddled; looking below, then left, the right. Finally, he decided to chase the closest, Tony, who's Salamence was right under it's belly. But the Dragonite was so massive, that when it went it attempted a midair summersault, it began loosing altitude, beating it's wings furiously to get back up to Tony.
But Tony came to him, flying under the Dragonite yet again. This time the Dragonite thrashed it's tail, and Meil cried, "Tony!", as the Dragonite's tail collided with the Salamence, which began falling at an alarming speed toward the earth.
Meil could make out Tony barely holding onto the Salamence's back, his body flying upward, as the Salamence was heavier than he was, which made it fall faster than Tony. Meil nudged Dorin, who didn't even turn to look at Meil, but simply said, "I saw. Do not worry, they've survived worse hits." Meil looked over at the two, still falling figures.
"But the Salamence isn't flying-" "Wait.", Dorin said. Suddenly, the Salamence spread it's wings, and their descent was slowed, and then stopped, as the Salamence's wings filled with air, and it began to regain altitude. The Dragonite, clearly convinced that it had taken Tony out, had flown higher to seek out Dorin and Alice.
"What is the Dragonite doing?", Dorin asked Meil. Meil looked up at the Dragonite's enormous shadow in the clouds above. "It's way up there!", Meil said. "I think he's trying to find the rest of us!"
"We need to lose it.", Dorin said, and he knocked his heels two times.
Suddenly, the Tropius pointed itself at the earth, and began to dive almost vertically. The wind was blowing so hard in their faces that it seemed to make Kyra incapable of screaming, so she simply buried her face in the back of Meil's poncho and held on for dear life.
Meil looked to his right and saw Tony's Salamence and Alice's Honchkrow also diving towards the ground. Meil turned his attention to the earth growing ever closer. He saw a large castle almost straight in front of them.
Tony flew in closer to them and yelled, "When did we get to Kanto?" "Is this Kanto?", Dorin asked. "Yah, that's Cameron Castle. Let's land there! It would be a good place to hide!" Tony turned right now to pass on the same message to Alice. Now they were diving faster than ever. Meil closed his eyes; it looked as though they were going to crash.
But he felt a light airiness as the Tropius landed gracefully in what appeared to be a courtyard outside the castle. Meil looked up, and saw that the Dragonite had already flown over the castle; it hadn't noticed them. Tony and Alice landed a few feet away.
Alice's red hair was swept back, and she was laughing her head off. "Oh, man! That was a hell of a ride! Damn! That was something, huh?! Hah, hah! Freakin' awesome, man!" Meil could not have agreed less, and Kyra was probably incapable of disagreeing, or even saying anything at the moment. Meil caught her before she toppled onto the ground, her entire body shaking.
"Don't worry, We're on solid ground now. See?" Meil gestured toward the general area, but Kyra simply nodded, slowly regaining her breath and color in her face. "Yah... Solid ground.", she muttered, staring blankly up at the sky. "Come on, let's get inside just in case the Dragonite flies over again.", Tony said, returning his Salamence.
Alice returned her Honchkrow in exchange for her Chatot, which perched on her shoulder, muttering to itself in Alice's voice. Dorin returned his Tropius also, but not before giving it an affectionate pat on it's flank. "Good job.", Dorin said, a rarely seen smile on his pale, pointed face. They walked to the only door in the courtyard, which was streaming golden light from the small window onto the grass.
It appeared to be a dressing room, thickly lined with various dress, gowns, suits, and pants. But other things too; ties, necklaces, purses, and other various accessories. The room was empty of people, but Meil could see a Glameow sleeping contently on a pile of clothes atop of one of the tall dressers.
Tony grabbed one of the suits from the racks. "Come on. If we're going to blend in here, we need to wear these clothes. It'll make us less noticeable if The Seekers come looking for us here. Just leave your regular clothes here. We'll retrieve them before we leave."
Kyra shuffled through masses of dresses on a nearby rack. "Ah, Kyra. You're aware you don't need to dress up. You're a Pokemon, remember?", Meil reminded her. Kyra pulled out a gaudy red dress and looked at herself in the full-length mirror in a corner, holding it in front of her to see the effect.
"I know, but I'v never worn clothes. And I thought that since everyone else was dressing up, I could too." Meil picked a green and red striped tie from a pile of clog shoes. "We aren't playing 'dress-up' you know. We need these disguises so we're not recognized." Kyra put the dress away saying, "Geez, you sound like Tony."
"I heard that!", Tony said loudly, as Alice put on his neck tie for him. "You're just pissed because you know it's true.", Alice chortled, tugging the tie tight around Tony's neck. "You're pissed... it's true...", her Chatot uttered in Alice's voice. Tony just mumbled as Alice brushed lint off his suit. "Hm, spiffy...", she remarked, adjusting his tie. "Spiffy...", her Chatot mimicked.
"How's this?", Kyra's voice asked from Meil's right, as he took off his poncho, and slipped a black tuxedo over his shirt. Meil turned and stood rooted to the spot. Kyra was wearing an elegant violet dress, that flowed around her legs like water.
She wore matching gloves on her paws, and Meil wondered how she'd found gloves that would fit on her paws, considering most of the gloves in the room were made for fingers, not paws.
And for effect, she wore clip-on earrings on each of her perky ears, a thin golden chain around her neck with the Soothe Bell he'd given. She twirled, watching her dress glide around her. "How do I look?", she asked, looking up at him.
Meil blinked, feeling her question finally register in his temporarily stunned brain. "Brilliant...", he breathed. "Absolutely brilliant." She blushed, fidgeting with one of her head pieces. "Thank you.", she said, her voice faint in embarrassment.
Alice twirled around the room singing in her long, blindingly yellow dress. "I feel so beautiful.... La, la, la...", she sang, waking up the Glameow, who looked down at Alice irritably, jumping down from the dresser and escaped through the half-open door that lead out of the dressing room. "Beautiful... Beautiful...", her Chatot sang in unison.
"How do I look?", Alice asked the room. "Um, bright.", Tony replied honestly squinting as the yellow sequins on her dress reflect the light in room. "Thanks, I know. I was going to where this one, but I thought it made me look to... slutty."
"Slutty...", Chatot agreed. She held up an extremely skimpy, backless, black dress, before putting it back on it's rack. Tony raised an eyebrow, and Dorin simply rolled his eyes back to buttoning his suit. Both had obviously been imaging Alice wearing that dress.
Tony's face was slightly flushed as he asked, "Everyone ready to go?" They all nodded, and Tony lead them out the door to a corridor lit by a large crystal chandelier. "Which way do we go?", Meil asked, looking up and down the corridor.
"Doesn't matter,", Tony said, looking absently up at the chandelier. "all we have to is hang around until we're sure The Seekers aren't looking for us around here." Alice leaned against the stone wall saying, "Well I'm not going to sit around and wait until the coast is clear. I want to do something fun!"
Tony was about to respond, when a woman in a blue maids outfit walked around the corner, stopping when she saw them. "Oh, hello.", she said with a welcome smile, "I'm sure you're wondering where they're holding the festival." Meil, who was closest, scratched his head, "Um, I don't-" But Alice suddenly interrupted him, jumping in front of him.
"Yah! We were just on our way! We just lost our way. Can you point us in the right direction?" "Alice you shouldn't...", Tony whispered, but the maid had already pointed them down towards the right, and Alice, pulling up her dress so it wouldn't drag on the stone floor, began running as fast as possible while wearing a large, lacy, pluming dress. "Come on! Last one there is a rotten Exeggcute!", she shouted behind her. "Rotten... Rotten...", her Chatot echoed.
"She has to much enthusiasm.", Tony said exasperatedly, walking past the bemused looking maid with a stride of a sophistication. As Meil walked past the maid with Kyra, he heard he remark, "Hey, that's a Lucario. She'll fit right in at the festival. Have fun!"
Upon walking through the door at the end of the corridor, they entered a massive room that was decorated so brightly, so elegantly, that it made both Meil and Kyra gasp in amazement.
Long streamers and ribbons hung from the wall and ceiling, an orchestra currently playing a quiet lullaby in the back of the room. Crowds of men and women in dresses and suits, some dancing on the pink-tiled dance floor, a few crowded in front of the refreshments table.
A golden chandelier, much larger and more impressive than the one in the corridor, hung from the high, golden, domed ceiling. In the front of the room, a woman in a long, pink dress with blonde hair sat in a throne, a jeweled crown perched her head, watching the dancing crowds with a calm expression.
A bored looking old woman in a black maids uniform stood beside the throne, plucking her tightly curled hair unconsciously. A few of the massive arch windows were open, letting in the cool night air. Alice ran up to them from the crowd.
"Hey! There you are! Apparently they're celebrating so sort of festival. I think it's for this guy." She pointed towards a portrait over the throne. "Sir Aaron.", Tony said. "Yah, him.", Alice nodded. "I don't know what it's all about, but at least it'll give us something to do. Besides, I'm starving. I haven't eat anything since we were at the beach." She quickly made a beeline for the refreshments.
"I think i'll get something to eat too.", Tony sighed, and followed Alice. Dorin muttered something about, "nothing else to do", before striding over to a young woman wearing a dress of flowered lilac. Meil watched as Dorin bowed to the woman, who looked older than both Dorin and Meil, not to mention much taller than Dorin, but she smiled, and took her arm in his, and they strode onto the dance floor.
Meil scratched his head. How had he done that? Dorin must be truly fearless if he could approach girls like that. Meil looked at Kyra standing beside him. She noticed him staring at her, and returned his gaze. "You want to dance?", she asked, offering her arm to him. It was as if she was reading Meil's mind.
Meil did not know how to dance. Heck, he'd never danced in his life! Not including that time on the beach. But that had been different. Everyone here was dancing slow, and in rhythm. Meil grabbed Kyra's waist, and Kyra put her arms around his neck, pushing their faces close together.
Meil was quickly aware of a few of the dancing couples that surrounded them were staring at him and Kyra as they danced in slow, steady circles. Kyra seemed to notice this as well, and whispered, "Why is everyone looking at us?"
Meil heard a woman dancing nearby say in a hushed tone, "That's something you don't see to often..."
"I guess it's not everyday they see a guy and his Pokemon as a couple.", Meil muttered. Kyra smiled. "So I guess we're unique?" Meil just shrugged. "Yah, I suppose you could say that."
Maybe they were unique. Unique, strange, even bizarre. But if that was so, then Meil did not mind being unique. He did not care what people thought anymore. Because he was unable to deny it any longer.
He knew now, he was honestly, and truly in love with Kyra.
"I'm getting worried, Meil. What if they got caught or something?", Kyra asked in an uneasy voice. Meil flipped though channels on the TV in the kitchen, stopping when he heard Kyra. "We'll just have to trust they know what they're doing.", he said, reaching into a bag of chips he was sharing with Kyra.
"I hope they're okay. If they get captured or die it'll be just you and me." Her voice cracked slightly, and Meil wiped the chip grease on his pants before putting a reassuring arm around Kyra.
"Don't worry, it'll be all right." He did not sound completely sure, but this seemed to calm Kyra slightly. All of the sudden, the entire ground shook underneath them, and there was a loud crash outside the cave.
Kyra grabbed Meil, burying her face in his poncho as she cried, "It must be an earthquake! The cave is going to collapse, Meil! We have to get out!" Meil flew down the hall with Kyra following behind. As soon as Meil was in the computer room, he mashed the red button to open the door. "Come on! Come on you stupid-!" The door finally finished unlocking itself, and slid open for them.
Meil grabbed Kyra, and shot across the stone to the mouth of the cave. But to his surprise, the cave did not seemed to be affected by the sudden tremor. Then his stomach turned as he saw an enormous, dark something in the valley, facing Tony, Alice, and Dorin with menacing eyes that glowed like fire.
Meil pulled Kyra behind a thick evergreen as the monstrous creature bent it's body down; Meil could hear trees snap under it as it lowered itself to the ground. Then he heard a familiar voice speak, and heard Tony's voice talk back to the Coal.
For a minute, Meil could hear nothing but the grunting of the giant creature, Coal and Tony exchanging words in hostile tones, and Kyra, who was whimpering, trying to appear as little as possible behind the tree.
Suddenly, there was another loud crash, and Meil screamed, "Watch out!", as the titanic shadow suddenly swung it's long, thick tail, chopping the thick tree that they had been standing behind in half.
Meil and Kyra were showered in evergreen needles and snow as branches crashed down on top of them. Meil put his arms around Kyra's head to protect her as sharp branches and splinters fell from above.
Meil winced in pain as a thick branch hit his left shoulder with tremendous force; it felt like some had taken a wooden 2x4 and whacked his shoulder with it. The only good this did was make Meil feel relieved, because if he hadn't been protecting Kyra with his arms, she would have taken the branch to the head.
Finally, the rain of falling debris stopped, and Meil moved his shoulder slightly, which stung and throbbed uncomfortably, but hadn't broken anything as far as he knew, though it would probably leave a painful bruise.
Kyra looked up now that the onslaught was over, and saw Meil's face grimacing in pain. "Meil, what happened? Are you okay?" Meil nodded, trying to smile through his discomfort, his vision blurry with tears of pain. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and shrugged his shoulders a little. It hurt, but not as much as it would have if he'd broke an arm or something.
"I'm fine. It's a good thing I covered you, or those branches would have killed you." Kyra smiled. "That was a very brave thing to do. Even though I'm the one that's supposed to be protecting you." Meil scratched his head and smiled sheepishly saying, "Oh, yah. But it's just sort of a natural instinct." Kyra embraced him suddenly and said, "Thank you, for sacrificing yourself for me."
"Anytime.", Meil grinned. Suddenly, Meil felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun on the spot to face Dorin, who simply said, "We must leave this place." Meil looked behind what remained of the tree, and saw Alice and Tony's Pokemon battling Coal's, and two other mens Pokemon fiercely.
Meil recognized Coal's black Charizard as it swooped after Tony's Salamence, firing jets of white-hot flames into the air. Meil and Kyra broke into a run, towards Dorin's Tropius. "Tyranitar!", Dorin called. Dorin's Tyranitar quickly finished off one of the mens Gengar with a Shadow Claw that knocked it across the valley to land crumpled in the snow.
Dorin returned the Tyranitar to it's Pokeball in a rush, and next thing Meil knew, Dorin had jumped on the Tropius's back in front of them. Unlike Tony's Salamence that only went Tony yelled, "Go!", Dorin simply knocked his heels against Tropius's side, and it's four enormous wings, that looked like the wide leaves of a tropical plant, began beating the air as it quickly rose into the air.
Then the Tropius suddenly fired a flurry of Magical Leaves into the air and let out a roar. This appeared to be a signal, because the next second, Tony and Alice were returning their Pokemon and climbing onto their fliers. Alice's Honchkrow took off in a gust of black feathers, and Tony's Salamence gave a loud roar before taking off behind her.
They were all in the air at last, and Meil could see Dorin knocking his heels on the Tropius's side again. The Tropius spread it's wings wide apart, and suddenly beat them with incredible strength. As they began flying faster and higher into the night sky, and through the clouds, Kyra was holding onto Meil from behind so tightly, he was being half strangled. When the Tropius pumped it's wings and sent them even higher, Kyra gasped, "Oh, my-!"
"Kyra, don't look down!" Meil advised, looking down himself to see what looked like nothing but green and gray squares dotted with specks of light below them. He felt dizzy, and kept his eyes to the back of Dorin's lab coat instead.
When Tony and Alice finally caught up with them, Tony called, "Watch out! They're after us!"
"What do mean, 'after us'? You mean on that huge thing they were on before?", Meil asked.
"Yes,", Tony said, raising his voice as a sudden gust of wind filled their ears. "it's a Dragonite, except it's bigger than any I'v ever seen!" Meil looked behind him, and had to stop himself from yelling in fright.
The Dragonite, which was bigger than any airplane that had ever flown, was beating it's massive wings from behind them, causing entire clouds to swirl as the air circulated around it's wings. It's glowing eyes watched them eerily, sometimes the only thing visible when the clouds obscured it.
Kyra looked behind her too, and unlike Meil, was unable to help her scream of terror as the colossal Dragonite followed them through the clouds. "Oh, god! Meil! Meil, I want to get back on the ground! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" Kyra's continuous screams were getting more high pitched as she put another stranglehold on Meil.
Tony suddenly dropped from the clouds to fly beside them and yelled towards them, "All of us are going to fly real close, then we'll all go off in different directions. I'm going under the Dragonite. Alice is going right, and you guys are going to fly left! Got it?"
"Yes.", Dorin nodded, as he thumped his right heel on Tropius, who turned right to fly close to Tony, who was flying close to Alice, so that Dorin was on his right, and Alice on his left. "Now! Break ranks!", Tony called. Dorin knocked his heel left, and his Tropius suddenly swung left so abruptly, it almost unseated Meil and Kyra, making Kyra cry out yet again and grip Meil tightly.
Meil looked behind him, and could see the Dragonite looked befuddled; looking below, then left, the right. Finally, he decided to chase the closest, Tony, who's Salamence was right under it's belly. But the Dragonite was so massive, that when it went it attempted a midair summersault, it began loosing altitude, beating it's wings furiously to get back up to Tony.
But Tony came to him, flying under the Dragonite yet again. This time the Dragonite thrashed it's tail, and Meil cried, "Tony!", as the Dragonite's tail collided with the Salamence, which began falling at an alarming speed toward the earth.
Meil could make out Tony barely holding onto the Salamence's back, his body flying upward, as the Salamence was heavier than he was, which made it fall faster than Tony. Meil nudged Dorin, who didn't even turn to look at Meil, but simply said, "I saw. Do not worry, they've survived worse hits." Meil looked over at the two, still falling figures.
"But the Salamence isn't flying-" "Wait.", Dorin said. Suddenly, the Salamence spread it's wings, and their descent was slowed, and then stopped, as the Salamence's wings filled with air, and it began to regain altitude. The Dragonite, clearly convinced that it had taken Tony out, had flown higher to seek out Dorin and Alice.
"What is the Dragonite doing?", Dorin asked Meil. Meil looked up at the Dragonite's enormous shadow in the clouds above. "It's way up there!", Meil said. "I think he's trying to find the rest of us!"
"We need to lose it.", Dorin said, and he knocked his heels two times.
Suddenly, the Tropius pointed itself at the earth, and began to dive almost vertically. The wind was blowing so hard in their faces that it seemed to make Kyra incapable of screaming, so she simply buried her face in the back of Meil's poncho and held on for dear life.
Meil looked to his right and saw Tony's Salamence and Alice's Honchkrow also diving towards the ground. Meil turned his attention to the earth growing ever closer. He saw a large castle almost straight in front of them.
Tony flew in closer to them and yelled, "When did we get to Kanto?" "Is this Kanto?", Dorin asked. "Yah, that's Cameron Castle. Let's land there! It would be a good place to hide!" Tony turned right now to pass on the same message to Alice. Now they were diving faster than ever. Meil closed his eyes; it looked as though they were going to crash.
But he felt a light airiness as the Tropius landed gracefully in what appeared to be a courtyard outside the castle. Meil looked up, and saw that the Dragonite had already flown over the castle; it hadn't noticed them. Tony and Alice landed a few feet away.
Alice's red hair was swept back, and she was laughing her head off. "Oh, man! That was a hell of a ride! Damn! That was something, huh?! Hah, hah! Freakin' awesome, man!" Meil could not have agreed less, and Kyra was probably incapable of disagreeing, or even saying anything at the moment. Meil caught her before she toppled onto the ground, her entire body shaking.
"Don't worry, We're on solid ground now. See?" Meil gestured toward the general area, but Kyra simply nodded, slowly regaining her breath and color in her face. "Yah... Solid ground.", she muttered, staring blankly up at the sky. "Come on, let's get inside just in case the Dragonite flies over again.", Tony said, returning his Salamence.
Alice returned her Honchkrow in exchange for her Chatot, which perched on her shoulder, muttering to itself in Alice's voice. Dorin returned his Tropius also, but not before giving it an affectionate pat on it's flank. "Good job.", Dorin said, a rarely seen smile on his pale, pointed face. They walked to the only door in the courtyard, which was streaming golden light from the small window onto the grass.
It appeared to be a dressing room, thickly lined with various dress, gowns, suits, and pants. But other things too; ties, necklaces, purses, and other various accessories. The room was empty of people, but Meil could see a Glameow sleeping contently on a pile of clothes atop of one of the tall dressers.
Tony grabbed one of the suits from the racks. "Come on. If we're going to blend in here, we need to wear these clothes. It'll make us less noticeable if The Seekers come looking for us here. Just leave your regular clothes here. We'll retrieve them before we leave."
Kyra shuffled through masses of dresses on a nearby rack. "Ah, Kyra. You're aware you don't need to dress up. You're a Pokemon, remember?", Meil reminded her. Kyra pulled out a gaudy red dress and looked at herself in the full-length mirror in a corner, holding it in front of her to see the effect.
"I know, but I'v never worn clothes. And I thought that since everyone else was dressing up, I could too." Meil picked a green and red striped tie from a pile of clog shoes. "We aren't playing 'dress-up' you know. We need these disguises so we're not recognized." Kyra put the dress away saying, "Geez, you sound like Tony."
"I heard that!", Tony said loudly, as Alice put on his neck tie for him. "You're just pissed because you know it's true.", Alice chortled, tugging the tie tight around Tony's neck. "You're pissed... it's true...", her Chatot uttered in Alice's voice. Tony just mumbled as Alice brushed lint off his suit. "Hm, spiffy...", she remarked, adjusting his tie. "Spiffy...", her Chatot mimicked.
"How's this?", Kyra's voice asked from Meil's right, as he took off his poncho, and slipped a black tuxedo over his shirt. Meil turned and stood rooted to the spot. Kyra was wearing an elegant violet dress, that flowed around her legs like water.
She wore matching gloves on her paws, and Meil wondered how she'd found gloves that would fit on her paws, considering most of the gloves in the room were made for fingers, not paws.
And for effect, she wore clip-on earrings on each of her perky ears, a thin golden chain around her neck with the Soothe Bell he'd given. She twirled, watching her dress glide around her. "How do I look?", she asked, looking up at him.
Meil blinked, feeling her question finally register in his temporarily stunned brain. "Brilliant...", he breathed. "Absolutely brilliant." She blushed, fidgeting with one of her head pieces. "Thank you.", she said, her voice faint in embarrassment.
Alice twirled around the room singing in her long, blindingly yellow dress. "I feel so beautiful.... La, la, la...", she sang, waking up the Glameow, who looked down at Alice irritably, jumping down from the dresser and escaped through the half-open door that lead out of the dressing room. "Beautiful... Beautiful...", her Chatot sang in unison.
"How do I look?", Alice asked the room. "Um, bright.", Tony replied honestly squinting as the yellow sequins on her dress reflect the light in room. "Thanks, I know. I was going to where this one, but I thought it made me look to... slutty."
"Slutty...", Chatot agreed. She held up an extremely skimpy, backless, black dress, before putting it back on it's rack. Tony raised an eyebrow, and Dorin simply rolled his eyes back to buttoning his suit. Both had obviously been imaging Alice wearing that dress.
Tony's face was slightly flushed as he asked, "Everyone ready to go?" They all nodded, and Tony lead them out the door to a corridor lit by a large crystal chandelier. "Which way do we go?", Meil asked, looking up and down the corridor.
"Doesn't matter,", Tony said, looking absently up at the chandelier. "all we have to is hang around until we're sure The Seekers aren't looking for us around here." Alice leaned against the stone wall saying, "Well I'm not going to sit around and wait until the coast is clear. I want to do something fun!"
Tony was about to respond, when a woman in a blue maids outfit walked around the corner, stopping when she saw them. "Oh, hello.", she said with a welcome smile, "I'm sure you're wondering where they're holding the festival." Meil, who was closest, scratched his head, "Um, I don't-" But Alice suddenly interrupted him, jumping in front of him.
"Yah! We were just on our way! We just lost our way. Can you point us in the right direction?" "Alice you shouldn't...", Tony whispered, but the maid had already pointed them down towards the right, and Alice, pulling up her dress so it wouldn't drag on the stone floor, began running as fast as possible while wearing a large, lacy, pluming dress. "Come on! Last one there is a rotten Exeggcute!", she shouted behind her. "Rotten... Rotten...", her Chatot echoed.
"She has to much enthusiasm.", Tony said exasperatedly, walking past the bemused looking maid with a stride of a sophistication. As Meil walked past the maid with Kyra, he heard he remark, "Hey, that's a Lucario. She'll fit right in at the festival. Have fun!"
Upon walking through the door at the end of the corridor, they entered a massive room that was decorated so brightly, so elegantly, that it made both Meil and Kyra gasp in amazement.
Long streamers and ribbons hung from the wall and ceiling, an orchestra currently playing a quiet lullaby in the back of the room. Crowds of men and women in dresses and suits, some dancing on the pink-tiled dance floor, a few crowded in front of the refreshments table.
A golden chandelier, much larger and more impressive than the one in the corridor, hung from the high, golden, domed ceiling. In the front of the room, a woman in a long, pink dress with blonde hair sat in a throne, a jeweled crown perched her head, watching the dancing crowds with a calm expression.
A bored looking old woman in a black maids uniform stood beside the throne, plucking her tightly curled hair unconsciously. A few of the massive arch windows were open, letting in the cool night air. Alice ran up to them from the crowd.
"Hey! There you are! Apparently they're celebrating so sort of festival. I think it's for this guy." She pointed towards a portrait over the throne. "Sir Aaron.", Tony said. "Yah, him.", Alice nodded. "I don't know what it's all about, but at least it'll give us something to do. Besides, I'm starving. I haven't eat anything since we were at the beach." She quickly made a beeline for the refreshments.
"I think i'll get something to eat too.", Tony sighed, and followed Alice. Dorin muttered something about, "nothing else to do", before striding over to a young woman wearing a dress of flowered lilac. Meil watched as Dorin bowed to the woman, who looked older than both Dorin and Meil, not to mention much taller than Dorin, but she smiled, and took her arm in his, and they strode onto the dance floor.
Meil scratched his head. How had he done that? Dorin must be truly fearless if he could approach girls like that. Meil looked at Kyra standing beside him. She noticed him staring at her, and returned his gaze. "You want to dance?", she asked, offering her arm to him. It was as if she was reading Meil's mind.
Meil did not know how to dance. Heck, he'd never danced in his life! Not including that time on the beach. But that had been different. Everyone here was dancing slow, and in rhythm. Meil grabbed Kyra's waist, and Kyra put her arms around his neck, pushing their faces close together.
Meil was quickly aware of a few of the dancing couples that surrounded them were staring at him and Kyra as they danced in slow, steady circles. Kyra seemed to notice this as well, and whispered, "Why is everyone looking at us?"
Meil heard a woman dancing nearby say in a hushed tone, "That's something you don't see to often..."
"I guess it's not everyday they see a guy and his Pokemon as a couple.", Meil muttered. Kyra smiled. "So I guess we're unique?" Meil just shrugged. "Yah, I suppose you could say that."
Maybe they were unique. Unique, strange, even bizarre. But if that was so, then Meil did not mind being unique. He did not care what people thought anymore. Because he was unable to deny it any longer.
He knew now, he was honestly, and truly in love with Kyra.