Swanna Girl and Braviary Man

Chapter 22: Caught

Something tight burn around my wrists, digging deeper and deeper, forcing me out of my sleep. While my wrists were behind me, burning, I felt colder than a sneezing ice type. Trust me, those Pokémon's sneezes were cold because ice shards were embedded inside, well, in nicer terms, the sneeze.

My body instinctually curled together as I tried wrapping my arms around my legs to keep warm, but my hands wouldn't go past my back. When I tried tugging, I realized they weren't just tied to my own hands, but someone else's as well. It was then I opened my eyes, seeing darkness around me, with a dim light behind these silver burred lines.

Someone took off my Swanna mask, and it didn't take much to realize who. I couldn't see without my mask or my glasses. To think, everything was going as planned until something wrapped around me, suffocating me. I wouldn't be surprised if Team Miasma left me here to die.

It was then when I felt someone shift behind me. I'm in a dark room with bars in front of me. While I may be clueless on how I got here or where I'm at, I do know that I was in a dark and small room with something tied behind me, or rather, someone. The air became thin, while a voice whispered in my mind: nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

No, it couldn't be happening. I squeezed my eyes shut as I brought my knees into my chest. I couldn't wrap my arms around my legs, but I laid my head on top of my knees. Concentrate on breathing, I thought. Breathe slowly. In and out.

"Sylvia?"

My eyes shot opened as I looked everywhere. I couldn't see. The hands that were tied around mine did their best effort to wrap around mine. His touch was freezing, but comforting in an odd way.

"Rudi?" I asked, not looking back as it was too good to be true.

"Arceus, I thought you were smarter than to fall for their tricks," Rudi cursed before I felt his fingers let go.

I didn't want him to let go, but as they did, I noticed the ropes tightening around my wrists for a moment. I bit my tongue to prevent me from letting out any noise. I just had to keep reminding myself I've experienced worse. From the time that Pokémon used a poison sting on my back to the time that I stepped on one of Toxapex's poisonous barbs, this was nothing. At least, that's what I had to keep telling myself as the ropes wrapped tighter around my wrists.

After a few moments, those ropes fell to the floor. Once gone, I didn't turn around to look at Rudi and ask what was going on. I should've, but instead of doing that, I wrapped my arms around my legs feeling another cord of rope tied around them. I didn't waste any time untying them.

One thought came into my head. At least when I find a way out of this place, I wouldn't have to search for him. It was almost a relief. With Rudi around, I wouldn't feel so alone in this small space. There was no way that mysterious man's voice could torture me here. Not when someone was here on my side that is.

"We had a plan," I explained, "Besides, they didn't get the real map. Rena made a fake one that they took. My plan was to just have them hand you over in exchange for it, and if that didn't happen, Rena was—Rena!"

"What," Rudi froze behind me, "Is she alright?"

"I don't know. She was supposed to stop whoever was there, but she never came. Then again, it happened so fast," I explained, "You don't think they—"

"No," Rudi claimed as his back slowly peeled away from mine, "No, she'd be in here if that happened. Something else must've happened."

We both fell silent before I felt Rudi's arms wrapping around me. I laid my head on his shoulder, shaking really bad as I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I was scared. Superheroes weren't supposed to be scared though. When Rudi was Braviary Man, he didn't seem to be scared of everything. The picture of our parents, they carried themselves with confidence.