Crossfire

Operation: Z Two

"Every Trainer has a choice. To listen to that voice inside. I know the battle may be long, Winners may have come and gone, but I will carry on!"

***

Alya's PoV

Alain and I left Mossdeep City the next morning. I had chosen for us to walk, wanting to take as much time as possible getting to Lysander Labs. I felt the slightest bit more relaxed around Alain ever since talking to Steven. His words always made me feel better.

Alain seemed happier than usual today. I made him call Professor Sycamore at the Pokémon Center, and they chatted for quite some time. Sycamore was like a father figure to Alain, so it didn't surprise me that Alain was unusually perky.

The sun was high in the sky, wild pokémon roamed in the tall grass at the edges of the path, and the wind carried a sweet scent. In the distance loomed large mountains with several crevices, drop offs, and gullies. The rocky terrain that had to be traveled over would be strenuous. I might convince Alain to opt out and fly over it.

"Soooo, Alain-"

"No," he cut me off quickly. I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"You didn't let me finish. You can't say no when I haven't asked anything yet," I whined. I looked over and saw a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It made me just a tad happier to see that. Getting any positive emotional reaction from him was a miracle.

"Your voice is annoying," he stated bluntly. I gasped and stopped directly in front of him. My hands were on my hips and flames danced in my eyes.

"I am not annoying! Just because I try to make conversation for a cha-" Alain cut me off once again when he placed a hand on my head, rubbing it affectionately. I grumbled, but the action sent shivers through my body.

"Shut up," he mumbled. I looked up at him through my eyelashes and grinned. The smile on his face may have been the cure of cancer. It was so rare and beautiful, but it was gone as quickly as it came. The device he used to detect mega evolution energy began to ring from the inside of his pocket. He removed his hand, and I sighed a bit in disappointment. When he looked at the screen, his face became a blank slate.

"What do you want?" he asked in an annoyed tone. I moved behind him and stood on my tippy-toes to see over his shoulder. It showed a high quality image of Lysander and one of his male admins. It took everything in my being to not immediately roll my eyes.

"I need you and Alya to go into those mountains and help Mabel and a few other members with the capturing of Z Two. Make it quick, they don't have much time," Lysander told us. After he was finished speaking, the screen went black. I stomped my foot in anger at the short notice and the idea of helping them catch that innocent pokémon for their experiments. Alan sighed and gave me a look. My mood softened, and I nodded my head. I had no choice but to help him and the team.

We took off in a full out sprint towards the mountains. I would have flown, but it would have been too much of a hassle to get the both of us on Flygon and into the air. Over our years of extensive traveling, we had built up pretty good stamina. It took a lot for us to get tired. While going our fastest, we reached the spot of Team Flare within 15 minutes. Now, even with my large amount of stamina, running that long almost made me collapse. Although, the sounds of fighting and the ground shaking tremendously, were enough to keep me going. We still had a little ways to go, but we wouldn't make it time to save Team Flare's pokémon from being hit from Z Two's powerful attacks.