Chapter Thirty-Four: Up In Smoke



Terra's POV



Hitoshi has a Charmeleon out, and it's gripping Meowth by the throat with one claw. The other has grabbed Meowth's arm in a death grip.



"Oi'm on yoir side, twoip!" Meowth complains. "Lemme go!"



Hitoshi looks up triumphantly at Ilima. "Go on, psychonaut. Make me let him go. I dare you. Just try it!"



"If you're goading me on to do it, I'm guessing you have a safeguard against it," Ilima says, shaking his head. "But what are you thinking, bringing a Fire-type with an open flame into a library? Do you want to set this whole place on fire around us?"



"What, a bunch of boring old books?" Hitoshi snaps. "Ask me if I care. You lot humiliated me back in Sida Forest, and I'm not about to let that go easily!"



Shu looks at Gary. Gladion looks at Ilima. Clearly this kid is unstable, and he's playing with fire. But nobody seems all that keen on battling a fire hazard in a room full of paper.



"What do you want, kid?" Ilima asks.



"Hand over your Pokemon. All of them. And if you don't, I'll set this library on fire."



"You'll be putting yourself in danger just as much as everyone else inside," Ilima warns.



"Then you'd better hand over your Pokemon quickly, before I do something drastic."



Ilima's voice takes on the dangerous, one-step-away-from-hypnosis tone. "You are going to let Meowth go and leave this library in peace."



Hitoshi scoffs. "No, I won't."



"You are going to let Meowth go and leave this library in peace."



"No, I won't! You think I didn't come prepared for your psychic mumbo-jumbo?" Hitoshi grins. "Now hand over your Pokemon, or else watch this whole place go up in smoke."



I freeze. "You can't... you can't possibly be that stupid!"



"Try me," Hitoshi snarls. "I'll make you eat those words!"



I smell smoke rising from Charmeleon's tail. I see complete determination in Hitoshi's eyes, and I realize that he really is that stupid. Some kids just want to see the world burn.



Terra, Ilima's voice says in my head. I have a plan. For now, go with what the kid wants.



Hand over my Pokemon? I think, scared. But why?



Ali.



Of course. I could almost slap myself. Ali's rings! Our Pokemon can escape through them. Once Hitoshi is far away from the library, Ali can send our Pokemon back to us and everything will be all hunky-dory again. That... that's brilliant, I think back.



There is one problem. Ali can't go through her own rings. But she's resourceful. She'll find a way back to us.



I suppose Ilima told the others his plan as well, because they reluctantly hand over their Poke Balls. Gary's pretty angry about it, and he tells Hitoshi where he can go. Gladion says he hopes Silvally bites Hitoshi's head off. Kachu gives Hitoshi the finger, which I didn't even know was possible for a Pikachu.



But we all hand over our Pokemon. Temporarily. But we do it. Even Ali goes into her Poke Ball, with a wink that says that she heard from Ilima as well.



Hitoshi sneers at us and grins. "Typical weaklings. Smell you later. Charmeleon?"



Charmeleon releases Meowth from its grip. Meowth tumbles to the floor, not quite landing on his own feet. "Meowth! Dat ain't roight!" he complains. "We're supposed ta be on da same side!"



Hitoshi laughs mercilessly. "Then follow me and leave these losers to burn. Charmeleon, use Flamethrower on that bookcase."



Before anyone can stop it, Charmeleon engulfs a case full of novels in a burning blaze.



---



"Fire!"



"Evacuate the library!"



"Just run! Don't look back!"



I don't have time to recognize or care who the speakers are. I just have to run for my life.



Somewhere in the back of my mind there's a little voice saying, "See! I told you living in the Pokemon world was a bad idea!"



A firefighting group of Water-type Pokemon arrives just as we stumble out. Gladion gives a quick headcount. "One, two, three, four... where's Ilima?"



"Don't know," Gary coughs, "but I coulda sworn I saw some big rock turtle Pokemon in there wearing his shirt."



"What?!" Gladion snaps, followed by something that bears no repeating. Then: "That IDIOT!"



He's about to rush in there to help his friend, but an emergency worker grabs him first. "You can't go in there!" she says. "It's too dangerous!"



"My best friend's in there!" Gladion snaps, slapping her away. "I can't leave him to burn!"



"There are firefighters dressed in full protective gear and a number of Water-type Pokemon in the building. Just stay back and rely on us."



Gladion tries to argue, but how can he? He has no Pokemon. He's barely dressed for normal weather as it is, given his pants and hoodie are all torn up. Aside from reckless self-endangerment, there's not really anything he can do.



He sort of collapses on the ground, trying not to cry and failing. "Ilima... you idiot..."



---



Ilima's POV



Protip: never try to transform into a Carracosta while wearing human pants.



The shirt is bad enough -- too tight in the back and too loose in the front, but at least the sleeves are short. The hat is obnoxiously large on a Carracosta's head, and I have to hold onto it with my beak because Gladion will kill me if I lose it and there's only so much you can hold with a flipper.



But pants...



I don't know if you've noticed, but Carracosta have really short legs. And humans have really long ones. And Aqua Tail is kind of hard to pull off well when you're trying to disentangle yourself from a pair of slacks, even if you're not trying to put out a blazing fire with it.



I hope nobody saw me transform. That would be awkward to explain.



I finally decide to forgo the Aqua Tail and fire a Hydro Pump at the blaze. I drop my hat first, catching it about as well as I can with my flipper and lodging it somewhere inside my shell. It's not pleasant, but it will have to do.



Transformations can be pretty hit-and-miss. Do you know why a Ditto doesn't have the stamina to use a move more than five times? It's because it's unfamiliar with its own form, and can only attempt so many moves. And right now, it doesn't look like the fire is running out of energy the way I am.



Or out of oxygen.



Hey moron, a part of my brain that sounds suspiciously like Gary Oak nags. If you don't come out of here, Gladion's going to rush in to save you, and you'll both die. You don't want that on your head, do you?



I don't, so I cave. Unfortunately, it's not easy exiting a burning building with my pants on the ground. I manage to make it to Mew form and turn invisible as I teleport out, holding on to the somewhat torn front of my shirt with the three Unown on it in my forepaws and clutching my hat with my tail.



Gladion had better not be using his Burst Heart to run into the fire for me. The last thing we need is an out-of-control werewolf that's also on fire.



I make it out safely, but have encountered a problem. My fur, my invisible fur, is covered in very visible ash. I look like some sort of flying Sneasel. But right now, nobody much cares to look.



Gladion, much to my relief, has not charged inside the burning building. He's more collapsed in a sobbing, quivering heap of post-traumatic stress disorder.



I float down to him and wave. "Greetings! Captain Ilima here."



He looks up, blinks, and clearly doesn't know whether to rejoice or slap me. "Where... are your pants?" he asks, as if this is a normal thing to ask when your best friend floats up to you covered in ash and fur and nothing else.



I blink. "My pants...?"



Gary saunters up and chuckles. "Let me guess, your pants are on fire."