Rosa stood along side Zigzag, shivering from the cold, while he spoke to Drayden, and Nate didn't look like he was listening "I remember you from N's castle" Drayden told Zigzag. Zigzag played with his jacket and looked around.
"It's bitter cold. As if it wasn't already winter. I'm shivering. I'm suffering, but I'm still alive! It's what the essence of life feels like! It's proof of my existence!" He laughed like a lunatic, and even I don't find it funny "But that's enough to philosophy. Here are the facts of your admiration: this ice was specifically created by Team Plasma's technology. As long as we have our secret weapon, you'll never be able to melt or break the ice!" I cracked my knuckles, making the grunts, Rosa, and Drayden flinch.
"We might not be able to break the ice, but how much do you want to bet that I can break you?" I narrowed my eyes "What is the purpose of this?"
"I'll tell you exactly what it is! Drayden, hand over the DNA Splicers! Opelucid city is a city where the past and future are entwined. Could there be a more perfect place for the splicers that connect the separated Pokémon?" Drayden crossed his arms.
"Do you think someone who knows what you did two years ago will just hand them over quietly?" Zigzag snorted.
"That's what I'd thought you'd say. At this point, I'd like to threaten you with another volley of ice, but we can't use it for a moment..." he sighed "It won't be enjoyable in this cold, but I guess we'll just search for them" I laughed and tempted to jump at them, but Drayden pulled me back as they left. Rosa looked back at us with a frown before leaving with the grunts.
"I don't want you to do a thing recklessly" Drayden let go of me "you two, I want you to help me"
"What do you need us to do?" I looked at Nate still looking at where Rosa left from "What do you want... me to do?" Iris noticed Nate being dazed and slapped his head, bringing him back to earth. I pretended it didn't bother me.
"We're going to drive Team plasma out of Opelucid city!" Drayden told us "Iris, I want you to make sure nobody was hurt. Contact as many cities to get paramedics here if necessary" Iris nodded and ran off.
"Got it!" Drayden faced us
"Let's go" Nate quickly followed Drayden to where they needed to be. I stared at them leaving without noticing I wasn't behind them. I looked at Banette on my pants, frowning at me.
"It's colder than it's been for the pass month... I'm so glad the rest of my Pokémon are sealed inside you. We're going to have to battle, so back me up" it cried out to me "Oh, you noticed? It's okay, it's better this way. It doesn't matter that Nate and I can't be together. As long as he takes care of Rosa in my place, that's all I care about" I hurried to follow the guys after almost slipping on the ice and stopped when seeing Zigzag by a corner while shakily putting on his gloves to keep warm.
"It's so cold" he said with a growl "I'm not giving up" I walked over to face him "huh? Oh, for crying out loud. I didn't expect to have to fight hammered by cold like this. Well, no matter! The fact that I'm shivering means I'm truly alive!" He sent out his Pokémon to battle me. I wasn't in the mood to try to battle, so I glared at his Pokémon to scare it off and return itself back in its Pokéball "W-What..?" Zigzag shivered, staring at how pissed I am.
"Making it cold like this is stupid... She's freezing. You idiot, I'll teach you to make this shit harder on me! We hate the cold!" I referred to Rosa and I hating the cold.
I ran over to punch his cheek, causing him to fall and scream at the pain "I don't care if you're an old man. Respect doesn't come with age. You are making people suffer, and this isn't the first time. I'm going to finish what Hilda was suppose to finish. You just had to come back" I kicked his torso "didn't you?" I snorted and watched him lifting his hands.
"No, stop this.." he groaned.
"Why should I? Haven't people suffered enough? Why are you an exception?" I chuckled and pressed my foot on his face "This is the worse time to leave me alone with no guard" my body got pushed off by a grunt and got kneed on the stomach. I coughed and vomit something black onto the ice.
"You bitch. How dare you attack one of us!?" The guy lifted his fist to fight me "I'm not scared to hit a girl after you dare to kick an old guy" I widened my smirk, making him freeze.
"I can kick your ass too. Try me" he gulped and took a step back. I looked at my hands shaking violently, and not because I was cold. My body was getting too excited and I needed to stop "Get the fuck out of my face"
"A Unova region... completely... covered... in... ice" Zigzag shivered "we'll do whatever it takes to obtain that DNA splicer" the grunt shakily hurried to assist Zigzag and left with him. I dropped to my knees and leaned my hands on the cold ice, seeing tears fall on the floor before I vomited all over the place.
"Dammit..." I held my stomach in pain "I need to calm down. I have to fulfill my promise" I cupped my mouth, holding my sob "It hurts... Nate" I cried "Rosa..."
"Lit!" Litwick came out of the ball Banette spit out and provided me some heat with its flame.
"Thank you... Come on, let's go" I shakily stood up and slowly went off to find Nate and Drayden. They ended up being by a building that looked like a Pokémon gym. Drayden was watching Nate pull on his hair in a panic before he saw me. Nate followed his eyes and saw me shivering from the cold, having a hard time walking because of my stomach and the weather.
"Cam!" Nate hurried to hold me in his warm arms. I shakily embraced him to take in more warmth "What happened?! Where did you go!?"
"I didn't really go anywhere..." I closed my eyes "I had a moment. Nate, you weren't supposed to leave me" he hugged me tightly.
"I'm sorry... I just..."
"What happened to Rosa..?"
"She... She was too cold to battle. The grunts battling had to escort her out" I weakly chuckled.
"Yeah, Rosa and I don't really like the cold. It's too cold..." I sighed "I took care... of Zigzag"
"You mean Zinzolin?" Drayden asked. I don't really care what his name is "That's good. We managed to drive them out the city. A few people got hurt and are being taken care of by paramedics. For the people inside, the ice sealed their doors shut, so there's that. I have to go help as much as I can, so..." he thought for a moment "Wait here" he ran into his gym.
I quickly unzipped Nate's zipper, making him panic, and calm down once I wrapped my arms inside his jacket to get warmer.
"You should dress into something warmer. No more thin clothing. Who knows what else Team Plasma will do with ice" Nate said. I nodded "I'm... sorry I left you like that"
"It's okay... I only got kneed by a grunt once"
"W-What?!" I chuckled "Cam, I-"
"It's fine, it's not serious. I know you were just thinking about Rosa. Didn't I tell you? Once she's in the picture, you won't remember me"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to forget you! I was just..." I looked up at him and held his cheek, making him stop.
"Don't leave me alone again, okay? Your job is not done" he firmly nodded as Drayden came back with a small box in hand.
"That's a new record from going there and back" he said to himself before handing me the box "Camilla, I saw that Banette on your belt loop, and since I'm going to be busy around here, I can't protect this. This is the DNA splicers" I took the box confused and opened it, seeing something strange inside a glass tube "this is what they were after. We're really fortunate they didn't get their hands on them" I closed the box "I don't know what their goal is, but I'm sure they're planning something wicked" I nodded, remembering what Zigzag said before.
The box had vanished from my hands. I gasped and used my senses to threw a high kick in the air, making a shadow triad guy appear and block it.
"As we suspected..." he narrowed his eyes at me while I tried pressing down my leg on him "The hiding place was in the gym. Well thought out" I groaned and took my leg back before throwing a punch, which he caught "If Drayden isn't there, we can't get in. If he is there, he's the strongest guard we could possibly face, or is he?" He kept is eyes on me "I feel disgusted touching you..." he pushed me back and shoved me into Nate's arms.
"You're not any good looking either, dude" I said.
"We will accomplish our goals, no matter the cost. We don't have the ability to captive the hearts of others like Lord N does. Instead, we will bend people to our will with brute force" he appeared right at my face "much like what you did" he backed away again "Two years was a surprisingly long wait" he disappeared.
"Dammit!" I glared "I'm sorry, Drayden... I should had put them in Banette instead of looking at them"
"No... no..." Drayden rubbed his face in a panic "it's not your fault. I don't blame you. It's me who's let everybody down"
"Everyone!" Cheren flew down from his Unfezant "That strange ship was flying toward Opelucid City. I saw it, too!" Cheren said "That's definitely the ship we were on before! I'm glad I was already close by" he looked at me and Nate "Camilla, look at you!" He worried about what I was wearing "We need to get you out of here. I talked to Hugh earlier about the ship. I have a good idea on where Team Plasma is heading"
"I really hope it's somewhere not as cold" I pouted, even if it's winter already.
"The place with the lowest temperature in Unova right now is an area close to Humilau city. Hugh should already be there by now. You two come with me there!" Drayden nodded at Cheren's plan.
"Good! Take care of it while I stay here! I'm counting on you!" He ran off. Cheren patted his Unfezant "Lucky for you, Unfezant is strong enough to carry one more person, but there's two of you... How is this going to work?" I turned to Nate.
"Banette can carry me!" Nate looked at me like I was stupid "If it can carry a whole bed in its mouth, it can carry me!"
"Don't be stupid, Cam. I don't trust that thing to swallow you up! It could had killed you!" I handed him Banette, who blinked confused.
"It's going to be fine, okay?! Come on, Banette! Carry me!" Banette tilted its head confused "I'm storage, okay?!" It nodded before opening its mouth wide and sucked me in.
"Cam! What the fuck?!" Nate shouted into Banette "You better get out of there in one piece! You are not dying on my watch!" I saw him from Banette's open mouth.
"I'll be fine! Right Banette!?"
"Ban!" I giggled and noticed Litwick here with me.
"Hey there" I smiled and looked around the place, seeing my bag floating around and decided to grab onto it. The place had a weird tint to it "What a weird place... I didn't think the inside of a Banette would be so trippy and pink" our surroundings started changing and formed into something else "Banettes would usually eat people and present them nightmares. What nightmare can I possibly see that I would be scared about?"
My surroundings changed into a city. A pair of shoes appeared in front of me. I looked up and froze when seeing Nate standing in front of me "Nate..?" No, this didn't feel like Nate. This was an illusion to try to scare me "Are you going to scare me" I giggled "Do your worse-"
"Why would anyone like you?" I froze "You're a pain in the ass... I just can't wait for this job to be over" My heart dropped.
"N-Nate..." he looked at me with hatred in his eyes.
"You're nothing but trouble... I think you're right. Once Rosa is in the picture again, I'll forget all about you" my lips quivered "You're not worth remembering" he turned away.
"N-Nate! What is this?" I had forgotten this wasn't real at this moment "Come on, I know I'm annoying, but you don't really feel this way about me, do you-?"
"Just shut up!" I paused "Just shut up already! You talk too damn much!" I bit my lips to shut up and looked down "Seriously, you just make everything harder"
"I'm sorry..." I hid my tears "I'm sorry, Nate" I looked back up and gasped when seeing him facing Rosa with a smile I never seen before on him and lean in to... My heart shattered at that moment.
The two of them started walking away from me, along with everyone I got to know. I reached out for them, begging them to come back. This... This is exactly what I feared. This... This is my greatest fear..?
My head stayed on how close Rosa and Nate were. For a long moment, I haven't noticed that I was no longer in Banette's storage and Nate was in front of me while yelling my name. My mind slowly came back to reality and saw that even Cheren was here all worried as well and Hugh was watching.
"Cam! Cam!" Nate shouted at me. I slowly looked down and touched my face, seeing that my face was covered in black liquid "Are you awake?!"
"Yeah..." I got weak in my knees and collapsed.
"Cam!" Nate panicked and held me up. I tugged on his jacket, wanting to feel more of his embrace. I sobbed onto his shoulder "What happened..?" I moved back to look at his concerned face.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry" I cried "This job will be over soon, I promise. I'm sorry you've been putting up with me. I'm sorry..." He frowned and held me tightly in his arms. I sobbed more and held him tightly. I never thought... I never thought I'd find something I'd be so scared to experience.
"It's okay, Cam. You're okay now" he held my cheeks, holding them like he did to Rosa. I gasped in a panic and jumped away, falling into an sudden body of water. I've fallen again... How many times must I fall? Why is there so much water? I can't swim.... I'm going to sink into the darkness of the abyss, and I have no idea where I'll end up.
It's so cold... I'm not going to die like this, am I? I can't die, but it suddenly felt so warm. My eyes were getting heavy. It felt soothing... I could fall asleep. Strangely enough, I hope I can see Nate and Rosa together again, reminding me that I deserve nothing and shouldn't have dreams or feelings like that.
My eyes opened to myself in the middle of the ocean while my body was being pulled. I'm not sure through what direction, but when I looked up towards the sunlight, Nate was swimming down towards me while something pink was pulling onto my sleeve. It took awhile to register what was happening...
"Can you hear me..?" I coughed out the water from the ocean I fell in and looked at Nate looking at me relieved "Good... Are you okay?" I stared at his expression before Cheren held my head.
"You gave us a fright. I'm glad you're alright. I had to give you chest compressions, which means we need to take you to the hospital just in case" I slowly nodded.
"What happened..?"
"You were taken out from that weird keychain of yours and was covered with black stuff on your face, and for some reason you panicked and fell into the water" Hugh pointed at something in the water "that came up with Nate after he rescued you" I looked at the water confused to see a Frillish staring at me from the ocean.
"A ghost Pokémon..?" I questioned before Nate picked me up in his arms to take me to the Pokémon center. The visit was fairly good and I was released after what felt like an hour.
"They didn't even say anything about your eyes" Nate groaned, holding my hand as we walked the beach together at night "What was that anyway?" He asked me.
"It's not really a big deal" I said, enjoying the view of the beach and seeing that pink Frillish following us from the currents.
"How is it not a big deal? It was black. Are you saying that's normal?" I smiled at Nate.
"Yeah... I guess you can say that" I looked at our hands locked together "I'm sorry..."
"What are you apologizing for? What happened inside Banette?" I looked down at Banette frowning at me, feeling guilty about what happened.
"Banette's soul purpose in life is to seek revenge on the child that abandoned them. They are eaten by Banette and put into a portal that shows your greatest fear" I looked at my shaking hands "I thought I wasn't scared of anything, but I ended up seeing..." I squeezed my hands "losing the ones I care about" Nate held my head, making me look up at him.
"You're not going to lose anyone. I'm here for you, and once we take care of Team Plasma, so will Rosa. It's getting late. Cheren agreed that we should rest up and get ready for tomorrow" I nodded and put on a smile, liking how he's making me feel better about being here for me, even though it's a fear of mine to lose the ones I love, there's no stopping my reality.