Pokemon - Capture Quest

Chapter 10 - Royalty on the Run

The inside of the Thrifty Megamart was dimly-lit and cluttered with the abandoned remnants of a store well past its best days.

Alicia coughed, carefully avoiding a cobweb.

"They'll follow us up here." Alfred looked back at the doors, hearing the sounds of soldiers down on the beach.

"Ninetales, seal it." Kiria pointed. Her Pokemon breathed a chilling wind that froze the front doors solid in their hinges, binding them to the walls. "There. That should hold for a while."

"Thank you..." Alicia puffed. "For saving me..."

"No sweat."

"Are you all right?" Alfred asked.

"Yes..." She straightened up and her hood fell back. She went to catch it, but decided it was pointless now. For the first time since we had met her, we saw her purple hair.

"Meow." Minerva looked up at her.

"You look shaken still." Nelly said. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern... Though, I feel awful. You all protected me, yet I hid myself away... I lied about who I am..."

"Forget that." I shook my head. "You're safe for now. Whether you're a Princess or not makes no difference."

"Right." Nelly smiled.

"You... Won't treat me differently...?"

"Of course not. U-unless you want us to? H-highness...?" Nelly slowly began to bow.

"N-no! Please, don't force yourself to do that." Alicia said. "I want to be treated normally... For once in my life, I'd like to feel like a proper person..."

"You should've run away from home way sooner." The girl who had led us in here spoke up. She had been sitting on an overturned shopping trolley, but now stood up with a smile. Her hair was the exact same colour as Alicia's, and she was a few years younger than us.

"You..." Alicia blinked. "Is it you...?"

"In the flesh." The girl winked and gave a thumbs up.

"Acerola...!"

"Big Sis!"

The two girls hugged each other as if they hadn't seen one another for a long time.

"So the other Princess was hiding out here all this time." Alfred laughed. "Quite a different atmosphere to a palace, I'd wager."

"I don't live here." Acerola smiled. "I live about five minutes away from here. This is the site of my trial."

"I would hope that my sister wasn't living in a place like this..." Alicia shuddered at the cold air flowing past.

"Anyway, what's going on? I heard people say you'd gone missing." Acerola looked up at her sister.

Alicia explained that she had run away from home in order to escape her arranged marriage and find Acerola. As for the rest of us, we pieced it together from our confrontation outside moments ago.

"I fear my clumsiness has ruined it all..." Alicia sighed. "The guards know where I am now. And if they find you with me, then..."

"I don't plan on going home anytime soon." Acerola folded her arms.

"Of course. I... Had been hoping that you and I could live together for a while in hiding, but... I've truly made a mess of this... I apologise..."

"Loosen up, Sis. You've spent too much time around Prime Minister Bord, I bet." Acerola laughed. "It's all right. We'll find a way out of this."

"We could provide shelter for you." Alfred suggested.