She adjusted her emotions, supported Ariel's arm, and asked with concern,
"Are you alright? Are you just too tired?"
Ariel leaned his body weight against her, placing a hand on his forehead. His brows were tightly knit, and his breathing became heavy.
His acting was impeccable, every detail perfectly executed to portray a Trainer suffering from both physical and mental exhaustion, further exacerbated by the effects of medication.
"My head... feels a bit dizzy."
"I'll help you to the lounge."
Ayaka's voice carried an irrepressible glee. She supported Ariel, quickening her pace toward a corner without surveillance cameras.
There was an inconspicuous utility room there.
Just as they turned toward the door, Ariel caught a glimpse of Ayaka quickly flashing a look toward the shadows not far away.
In the shadows, Honmura's figure appeared. Watching Ayaka's back, a greedy and cruel smile surfaced on his face. He rubbed his hands together and followed.
He couldn't wait to see Ariel kneeling and begging for mercy, so he could stomp on him a few more times.
Ayaka pushed open the utility room door and "helped" Ariel inside.
Honmura's pace quickened as well, walking toward the door with a sinister grin.
However, just as he was two or three steps from the door—
Bang!
A loud crash.
The utility room door was slammed shut from the inside, immediately followed by the crisp "click" of the lock engaging.
The smile on Honmura's face instantly froze.
????
He stood there stunned, his brain failing to process the situation for a moment.
A second later, he reacted, rushing to the door and pounding hard on the heavy iron door.
"Open the door! Ayaka! Open the door!"
"What the hell are you doing! Open up!"
He switched from pounding to smashing, using his fists, his shoulders, and all his strength to Tackle the door.
The iron door let out dull, heavy thuds, shaking dust from the walls, but in the face of the sturdy lock, all his efforts seemed utterly futile.
Inside the room, it was deathly silent.
There was no response.
At this moment, behind the door.
The deafening sounds of pounding from outside seemed like background noise from another world.
The utility room was filled with various cleaning supplies and discarded cardboard boxes, the air thick with the smell of old dust.
Ariel leisurely brushed off the sleeve that had been wrinkled when she was supporting him, as if the person who had just experienced dizziness and weakness wasn't him at all.
He leaned his back against the door, shutting out the noise of the idiot outside and cutting off the last hope of the woman in front of him.
The color had drained from Ayaka's face, leaving it deathly pale.
She looked at the calm man before her, then heard Honmura's furious pounding outside; a chill surged from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.
Fear, like a cold tide, flooded her entire being.
She finally realized that she and Honmura were the prey that had fallen into the trap.
Ariel didn't look at her; instead, he picked up the glass of water he had just "drunk" and gently swirled it in his hand.
The clear water rippled in the glass, reflecting Ayaka's terror-stricken face.
He looked up, his gaze falling on Ayaka without a hint of warmth.
"Drink it yourself, or should I help you?"
The color on Ayaka's face faded bit by bit. Looking at the man and hearing Honmura's impotent, raging roars outside, a chill shot from her soles to her scalp.
She finally understood that she and Honmura were the foolish deer that had stumbled into the trap.
"You... you were faking it?"
Her voice was dry, carrying a tremble she hadn't even noticed.
Ariel didn't answer the question, merely swirling the glass of water in his hand.
The clear liquid rippled, reflecting Ayaka's terrified and distorted face.
His gaze finally landed on her, as flat as if he were looking at a stone.
"Drink it yourself, or should I help you?"
Ariel asked again.
Her pleas for mercy were stuck in her throat, and immense fear instead gave birth to a sliver of frantic, hollow bravado.
Ayaka straightened her back, trying to use ferocity to mask her trembling.
"My boyfriend Honmura is right outside! Just try and touch me! He won't let you get away with this!"
The threat was so empty that even she found it laughable.
Ariel curled his lip; it wasn't quite a smile, but more of a sneer.
"Oh? Is that so?"
He questioned softly, and then, right in front of Ayaka, he released his Pokémon.
Hum—
A low resonance vibrated through the air as a massive Malamar appeared out of nowhere.
Its body almost filled the cramped utility room. A faint blue glow flowed within it, and eight thick tentacles danced silently in the air, bringing with them a slimy, suffocating pressure.
One of the tentacles lightly touched the door, and the entire wooden frame let out a tooth-aching groan, as if being pinned down by an immense force.
Confusion directly encased the entire door.
The sound of Honmura pounding on the door outside stopped abruptly, replaced by even more frantic roars and the muffled thuds of Pokémon attacks, yet the door remained motionless.
Ariel watched her leisurely, his tone even bordering on gentle.
"I'm just kindly inviting you to have a glass of water. Why are you and your boyfriend making such a fuss?"
Malamar's massive, emotionless eyes stared quietly at Ayaka.
It wasn't the gaze of a predator, but a higher being's disregard for a lower life form.
Ayaka's legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor with a thud.
All her facade and ferocity instantly crumbled in the face of absolute power.
She finally broke down, tears and snot flowing as she kowtowed incoherently.
"I was wrong! Big brother, I was really wrong! I was blind not to recognize your greatness! Please, I beg you, please let me go! I won't ever do it again!"
Ariel acted as if he hadn't heard her.
He knelt down, gripped Ayaka's chin, and forced her to look up.
Ayaka looked at him in terror; in his pupils, she saw her own pathetic reflection.
No anger, no desire, nothing.
Only a bottomless abyss of indifference.
Ariel said nothing. He simply brought the glass to her lips, tilted his wrist, and poured all of the spiked water down her throat.
The pungent liquid made Ayaka cough violently, her face covered in tears and mucus.
Having finished, Ariel stood up as if he had just done something trivial.
He glanced at Ayaka, who was still twitching on the floor, and tilted his head toward the Malamar beside him.
"Just don't kill her."
Malamar understood. Several flexible tentacles atop its head shot out like lightning, firmly hanging Ayaka upside down in the air, tightly locking her limbs and torso, and slowly applying pressure...
Outside, Honmura's eyes turned red upon hearing the screams from within. He threw his body against the door like a madman.
Beside him, the Blastoise he had released was also slamming into the door, but it remained motionless.
"Ariel! Get out here! If you have the guts, get the hell out here!"
His shouting drew more and more people, until the entire corridor was filled with guests watching the spectacle.
They surrounded the area from a distance, pointing and whispering at the immovable door, but no one dared to step forward.
Everyone heard the woman's screams from inside; the sound no longer seemed human, filled with agony and despair.
Just as Honmura was nearing total despair.
Bang!
The door he couldn't open no matter what opened on its own.
A strong fishy smell mixed with something else wafted out from the room. Then, a figure was thrown out, crashing heavily at Honmura's feet.
It was Ayaka.
Her body was as limp as mud, her limbs twisted at bizarre angles. Her face was streaked with wet tears and saliva, her eyes were vacant, and she made meaningless "he-he" sounds from her throat.
Honmura froze.
The surrounding onlookers also gasped, instinctively taking a few steps back.
He reached out with trembling hands to help Ayaka up, only to find that her bones seemed to be completely shattered.
Honmura suddenly looked up toward the open utility room.
The inside was empty, filled with junk, and the light was dim.
There was no trace of Ariel anywhere.
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