Love in the Time of Trepidation

Chapter 11: A Distortion

We're making quite the progress. Hope you're enjoying! Chapter 11 starts now!

Chapter 11

A Distortion

"Irida, stop kicking!" Akari's shouts were met by another jabbing of her companion's knee right into her face. Realizing what she'd done, Irida apologized, but hardly stopped her thrashing in the attempt to break free. Suspended above the rocky ground, Akari longed to fold her arms and glare at the Pearl Clan leader, but found she couldn't even manage that, stuck in a position somewhere between Irida's chest and Dewott's legs. He, at least, was taking it like a champ.

"Dew..." His arms tried to reach for his scalchops in a most calm fashion, but failing that, he resorted to just waiting. Akari would have wanted to, but the increased intensity of the storm outside, so close to just frying them, made her want to act as impulsive as Irida. It didn't help that she was soaked, and all of them were dripping water to the stone. Cyndaquil was the most uncomfortable by it all, attempting to get his flame ignited once more, only to produce smoke that made them all cough.

"Glacey..."

"I'm trying, Glaceon!" Irida snapped. She bent at a strange angle, and Akari sighed, realizing the net was now spinning with them inside it. "Honestly, who puts a net like this?"

"I can think of a number of reasons..." Akari drawled. As the net spun, she tried to get a look deeper into the cave, where the Growlithe had vanished, and as they rotated, she saw the furry Fire type stick his head back out and bark.

"Wh-who's there, Growlithe?" The male voice gave Irida pause, and she finally stopped her thrashing. A shadow appeared on the wall of the cave, looming and lumbering. At first, Akari thought it might have just been Growlithe's distorted form against the glow of the flames within, but she didn't get the chance to snag a good look. Apparently, Irida didn't need it.

"Iscan? Iscan, is that you?"

"Who's Iscan?" Akari asked. She sneezed, the cold dampness of the storm starting to seep into her bones, no matter how warm the weather of the Coastlands was. "I thought your warden here was Palina?"

"She is. Iscan, will you stop hiding and let us down?!" Irida shouted. In her renewed and invigorated thrashing, Irida's hand managed to slip through the net, reaching for Growlithe. He barked, whimpered, and then darted behind the actual owner of the shadow: a swarthy man with a shaved head and an expression that said he was more frightened of them than the storm.

"Quilquil!" That sound smelled of danger, the acrid smoke increasing until Cyndaquil's back lit ablaze. Growlithe jumped back, and in the brief second Akari had, she could see his eyes widen at her Fire type's display from beneath the fur.

Then the ropes of the net snapped, and all five of its occupants were tossed on the floor. Immediately, they ended up in a messy tangle of limbs and flailing body parts until Akari managed to extricate herself from Irida and remove her hair covering, wringing it dry. Irida had other things to deal with, stomping to her feet and dripping mad as she crossed into the cave.

"Iscan, what's the deal with the net?"

"I-Irida, it's good to s-see you again. W-we haven't talked since the clan summit."

"You guys have a clan summit? I thought you all hated each other," Akari said, still trying to wring the water from her clothes, only for Glaceon and Cyndaquil to shake themselves off, dousing her once again. She glared.

"We have disagreements, but before the Galaxy Team started acting as a sort of go-between, we would have summits to deal with...minor territorial issues. Granting, I've only been to one since I was made chief," Irida explained, only to growl to herself. She finished crossing the distance to Iscan. "That doesn't answer the question. What's with the net?!"