~N's pov~

I glanced at my watch for what must have been the millionth time this minute alone, still seeing the same time of just after midnight before I looked back up at Paige who was finally getting a good amount of sleep for the first time in the past two weeks. My little sister was huddled in the far corner of her cell with her back to us - most likely so we wouldn't see her crying, even if we could hear it. With the shock collar being set to go off at random intervals which generally made it impossible for Paige to sleep more then an hour of sleep at a time before she was painfully woken up. Her two broken fingers made moving around painful and she struggled to eat with her dominant hand injured and her left hand almost constantly shaking from weakness and exhaustion.

Turning my gaze from Paige, I glanced at Jake and Milly, both two cells down from my own. Jake's little sister was almost always by his side, clutching his arm fearfully. I wish I was close enough to Paige to offer her the same comfort, knowing she would be very clingy with how scary things were for her now... Between Jake and Milly's cell and mine was Jessica, I already knew a little on her from my time in Team Plasma because of the files Ghetsis would keep on all his note worthy members, such as Nicholette. Out of all of us, she had the least to fear from the situation, Ghetsis had Nicholette exactly where he wanted her so long at he kept her little sister alive. Even though unspoken, we all knew if we remained here much longer, Paige would die and it wouldn't be much longer after that Ghetsis would kill me too, he simply enjoyed watching me being helpless while the closest human I had to family died slowly and painfully.

I glanced down the hall as heeled footsteps echoed through the silence accompanied by the squeaky wheels of the old silver cart used to trolly our food. Nichole pushed open the end door a few moments later, wheeling in the cart with a number of trays on top. I looked over to Paige, still sleeping soundly before watching the Team Plasma Elite with caution. While it wasn't unusual for Nichole to bring food to us twice a day, most likely so she could monitor exactly what her sister was fed, which I can understand - I didn't trust a single thing she gave Paige since she was consistently suffering stomach aches lately and I could be sure if the pain was from the hunger or the food as Jessica was to only one consistently given all meals and Paige was hardly ever fed at all. Nichole was also the grunt generally left on guard duty, sitting at the end of the hall with some form of reading material in hand, obviously not trust any grunts with her little sister so vulnerable. I'll give her credit, she was at the very least a good a sister as she could be with the situation.

Nichole kicked a tray under for Jake and Milly to shared, a tray for me and pulled out one with food much more luxurious for her sister. She didn't say a word through her work and didn't even look at any of us. As she placed her sisters tray on the floor, Jessica grabbed her wrist through the bars, looking up at her sister desperately.

"Nicky, please just stop this." Jessica begged. "Help us please. I'm sorry if I did something, if it's me I'm sorry. Help us and I'll leave you alone, if you hate me then I'll leave you just please help us." The younger ravenette was close to tears as she clutched Nichole's wrist like a life line, trying desperately to meet her sisters eye as she looked away with a guilty frustration.

"Jessica, let me go." She replied calmly yet firm. "I have things to do."

The younger trainer shook her head. "No! Not until you tell me why." Jessica kept her tone even, her eyes scared yet firm and she seemed to carry the same air of intimidation that Nichole had always used to skilfully to get her way. "I'm sick of you brushing me off, tell me why you're doing this."

Nichole yanked her wrist away, causing Jessica to yelp in pain as her arm bent against the bars in a way it shouldn't. She cradled her arm close, her eyes tearing in a mix of pain and frustration. Jake looked at me as his sister hugged against him, clearly unsure weather or not to step into the family drama, I shook my head. Nichole wouldn't hurt Jessica intentionally but if either of us stepped in and angered her further, she'd made it clear it was all too easy for her to take it out on Paige - who despite everything was still sleeping.

Nichole glared down at her sister. "I made a stupid mistake Jessica, okay, all of this!" She swept her arm in a wide ark around the the line of cells. "is a stupid mistake, I couldn't care less about any of these people but now I'm fighting tooth and nail with a literal psychopath to get you out of this alive."

"You're a coward!" Jessica hissed. "You could figure a way out of this, I know you could because I know you're strong and I know you're smart. You just don't want to be."

Nichole steeled her gaze on her little sister. "You don't even know what your talking about so just shut up, you have no idea what Ghetsis is capable of. I've witnessed him torture and murder people without batting an eyelash, hell the only reason I'm alive is because I knew where she was." She jabbed her finger, almost accusingly, at Paige - as if it were all her fault. "So just shut up and stay put like a good girl until I get you out of this."

I won't lie but Nichole wasn't wrong. Ghetsis would kill off anyone he thought could betray him unless he thought them to be valuable to him to which he would torture them or their family or both until the situation was most favourable to him. Nichole was considered valuable because she was easy to manipulate, was a strong trainer and while she was intimidating, she knew when to submit.

"No! I won't. These people are my friends, the only few I have and if you won't help them then I will because I'm not a coward, unlike you!" Jessica was practically screaming at this point.

I glanced over at Paige who'd been woken up by Jessica, she was using the wall to help herself sit up, looking around the area with a confused, groggy and frightened expression. She didn't make a sound but was clearly concerned over how angry Nichole seemed to be. I put my finger to my lips, signalling for her to stay quiet and hopefully be forgotten.

Nichole, with a movement as sneaky as a Seviper reached through the bars and grabbed her sister by the collar. "Jessica, shut up."

"If you don't like the truth just leave, it's never stopped you before." She hissed.

Paige was slowly inching her way across the back of the cell to the small, dirty little bathroom each cell contained. She was extremely tense due to the constant electricity making her muscles constrict and the little mobility she had with her hands proved to make the task difficult for her but she soon managed to sneak into the room and close the door behind her. She wasn't aloud to stay in there long but hopefully she could wait out the argument between the sisters.

Jessica's words seemed to have struck a nerve and for the first time, Nichole's persona faultered. She seemed close to tears as she released her sister, backing up until her back rested against the adjacent cell. "Do you still honestly believe that I stayed away so long purely by my own free will?"

A few moments of silence passed, Nichole sighed and shook her head after Jessica's only response was silence. "I'm a prisoner in a different cage Jessie. I will not let Ghetsis hurt you. I don't care if you hate me forever and I don't care if I have to hurt others to get you out of this but I will and I'm stuck here until I do."

With a small sigh Jessica shook her head. "I don't want people to die for me Nichole, it's not fair."

Nichole stood up straight, looking down at her sister as she straightened her uniform. "Life's not fair Jessica, you need to learn that if you're going to make anything of yourself."

"As if I didn't already in that stupid boarding school you sent me too." Jessica snorted, still unwilling to let her sister off so easy.

"I did it to get you out of the house where two neglectful drug addicts were using you to gather ingredients to create illegal substances. So you would have a decent education and be able to make something of yourself, not have to take the first decent paying job you could find because you don't have a decent education and possibly end up working for a psychopath like I did!"

"I wouldn't be so stupid." Jessica replied snidely, looking up at her sister with distain.

Shaking her head, Nichole broke eye contact and looked away. "Desperation makes you do stupid things Jessica."

"Stupid people do stupid things Nichole." The younger ravenette shot back, staring her sister down at if she had the power. "You were the smart one, you're just too wrapped up in your own self absorbed self pity to see it."

Nichole shot her sister a dirty look, clearly struggling to remain in control. "I'm doing this for you!"

"If you want to really do something for me, let my friends go! At the very least take the damned shock collar off Paige before the thing kills her." Jessica snarled.

"Stop caring about what happens to the Runt, the sooner you give up on her the easier it will be when Ghetsis decides to merely put her out of her misery." Nichole looked down her nose at Paige's cell since Paige was still hiding before turning back to her younger sister. "She can hardly even be considered a human with all her defaults."

Although this struck a nerve with me, despising when Paige was spoken of as less then what she was but with as angry of Nichole was getting I bit back my own anger for my own younger sisters sake. Nichole hardly even seemed to notice the fact she had an audience watching her argument with her little sister.

"She's more of a human then you." Jessica sneered, glaring at her sister with a disgusted hatred. "You treat everyone else as if they owe you something but they don't Nicholette, stop belittling others just because you're to much of a Garbodour to do anything about the bad situation you're in, you're just taking the easiest way out!"

Both sisters were red in the face at this point, glaring at each other harshly. Jessica was crying and Nichole seemed not far from it. I glancing at where Paige was hiding nervously. No doubt she was terrified right now since the manual shocks always seemed to be worse then the automatic ones.

"Out of the bathroom Runt!" Nichole demanded, seemingly having enough of her sisters consistent insults.

Paige peeped out of the bathroom, she was in tears, trembling fearfully as she exited the tiny room into her cell with obvious self concern. Clearly, Paige knew what was about to happen and she didn't like it.

Nichole pulled out the controller the would remotely set off Paige' shock collar as well as loosen and tighten the acursid device. Paige whimpered, lowering herself to the ground and pushed herself away from Nichole, burying herself deeply into the corner while shaking her head pleadingly. Tears of fright rolled down her cheeks as she silently begged Nichole not to shock her.

My knuckles whitened as I gripped the bars tightly. "Leave her alone." I demanded Nichole to stop despite how rarely it actually worked to do so.

"Nicholette, don't, please don't. Hurt me, it was my fault, Paige didn't have anything to do with this." Jessica begged also clinging to the bars. Neither Jake nor Milly said anything to express concern but they rarely did. Jake's main concern was his little sister, not mine and just like how he couldn't expect me to be as concerned as he was for Milly, I couldn't expect him to be as concerned as I was for Paige.

"You need to learn your words have consequences Jessica, especially here, I won't hurt you but this will hopefully help you learn." The elder trainer said, looking down on Paige lower then one would a feral Pokémon, she hit the button the the side of the remote, watching emptily as Paige squirmed and cried in pain.

Over and over she pressed and held down the button, watching almost absently as Paige screamed and writhed in agony far worse then she ever had before. She sobbed desperately and didn't seem to be able to anything but lay on the ground in agony as each shock coursed through her body.

I attempted to catch Nichole's attention, shaking the bars desperately. "Stop it! You'll kill her! She's a kid, she can't take that much electricity!"

Paige fell quite although she did make an occasion pained whine, it was clear she'd lost almost complete consciousness, hanging on by mere threads before slipping out completely - possibly even suffering respiratory paralysis from the intensity. 

Panic surged through my body as I tried desperately to get Nichole to stop before she seriously hurt Paige. Ghetsis used those things to train Hydragons, who knows what they could do to someone as small as Paige when exposed to so much electricity in such a short period of time.

It stopped, Nichole looked at the remote before up at Paige, hitting the button several times before realising she'd exhausted the battery. Her face paled as she watched Paige for signs of movement but other then an occasional muscle spasm from the excess electricity still running through her body, her chest didn't move with her breaths and she didn't make a sound.

"Paige!?" I called, trying to find some form of life in her stilled body. "Can you hear me?"

Nichole opened the cell door taking a few cautious steps in before backing out pacing back and forth for a few seconds before looking up at me and unlocking my cell. I didn't waste a moment, slamming the door open - possibly hitting Nichole in the face as I did so, and pushing past her to get to my little sister. I pressed my fingers against her neck, feeling for a pulse that wasn't there before resting the side of my head against her chest - nothing. Without wasting a moment, I began CPR, hoping against hope that I could get her heart beating again on my own. Every 30 or so compressions I would pinch Paige's nose and blow air into her lungs.

My vision was blurry with tears as I pleaded for her lifeless body to wake up. I needed Paige, she meant too much to me too loose now. I was only vaguely aware of Milly having a panic attack in the background and Jake trying to console her, or Jessica screaming for her sister to hurry up and do something but I knew nothing else could be done without medical attention.

This must have continued for an twenty minutes, Nichole made several attempts to stop me but each time I pushed her away - screaming for her get away from my little one. So long as Paige's brain was getting oxygen, there was chance of revival. I wouldn't let go of that chance, no so long as it existed. I was beginning to tire at this point but I fought it off, Paige's life meaning far more to me than exhaustion could defeat.

Again I pinched her nose, blowing air into her lungs, pausing for a mere half second to listen as I had each time I preformed mouth to mouth. Paige made a small gasp, I froze, my hands still firmly against her chest. She gasped again, clearly struggling to breath as her expression winced and she coughed and gasped desperately for air.

"Loosen it!" I demanded, knowing the extreme sensitivity of Paige's neck. I had no doubt her throat was swollen and with the tightness of her collar, she must be struggling to get any air at all. Holding Paige upright, I watched as the collar loosened, as Paige gasped for air, her eyes always remaining tightly closed. "Just breath baby." I whispered, tucking her hair out of her sweat damp face. "Just breath okay?"

I rested her head against my chest, cradling my baby close as I rocked back and forth with her in my arms. Paige was completely limp with the only exception being a small muscular spasm every few minutes. My shoulders trembled with exhaustion but I refused to let Paige go. I wasn't even sure she was conscious but I still whispered for her simply keep breathing, scared that if I didn't remind her too, she would stop and I'd loose my precious little girl once more.

"N, I need you to get out of there. Ghetsis will be coming down here any minute and if he finds out..." She glanced over at her sister with a worried expression. "You need to go back."

"Why should I care about her when you literally just killed my little sister?" I snarled, holding Paige tighter, she whimpered and squirmed in my grasp in response until I loosened it. She still wouldn't open her eyes.

"Because you have better morals then me!" She replied anxiously. "I'll let you back in with her later, I need you out of there now."

"On one condition then," I replied. "Give me the remote. Paige is weak, her heart needs time to recover. Another shock could stop it again and I don't trust you. I doubt Paige is strong enough to have her heart restarted a second time."

Nichole made a slight growling sound under her breath. "Fine." She snapped. "Out, now."

I placed Paige back into her corner, tucking her arm beneath her head to help keep her air ways clear before kissing her forehead lightly. "I'll be back soon okay baby girl? Be strong." I gave her a second kiss before I left her, taking the remote from Nichole as I passed her bitterly. She locked my cell before going into Paige's, unclipping her collar before replacing it with a new one. A part of me wanted to ask if she always carried them around but decided against it for the time being.

From my cell across the hall, I watched Paige's breathing closely. Her breaths were very laboured, coming out in noisy wheezes. Although she did groan slightly with the sound of Ghetsis approaching, curling up tighter in the corner.

As Ghetsis came down the hall, I fought off the urge to yell at him as I normally did. Instead keeping towards the back of my cell with my eyes flicking between each person every few seconds. Jessica was sitting next to Milly with the bars between them which was normal for the two of them.

Nichole stood firmly in front of her sisters cell, still pale in the face as Ghetsis entered but she wouldn't let anyone enter her sisters cell.

"So, how is the runt doing?" He questioned snidely, looking down at Paige who was still huddled in the corner.

"Her heart isn't faring well..." Nichole responded, looking at me narrowly. I remained quiet, glaring at her in return, I would dob her in if it came down to Paige's safety and she knew it. "She's been struggling to breath and is reluctant to eat, it is possible her throat may be affected by the constant shocks, a break may allow her to last longer with ice treatments to reduce internal swelling."

Ghetsis snorted, shaking his head before turning his attention to Nichole then me, I steeled my glare but remained quiet, not wanting to make things worse for Paige while she was still so weak. "What about him?"

"What about him?"

"How's he reacting to her treatment?" Ghetsis snapped, yet again acting as if I did not exist in his presence.

Nichole shrugged nonchalantly. "As expected. He yells and fights to get to her, N's behaviour is quite a bit more submissive then it used to be, no doubt simply trying to save the Runt excess pain. The expected behaviour of an elder to their younger sibling."

The crazy fool chuckled, looking down on me triumphantly. "You should have never turned your back on Team Plasma, freak."

"At least I'm legally sane Freak." I snapped with a glare, holding myself back from saying anymore - not with Paige teetering so close to the edge. I looked away from my former foster parent, having lived with him calling me a freak for my whole life and the insult had come to mean little to me.

Ghetsis snickered dismissively, turning back to Paige in a manner that made me nervous. "Leave her be the rest of the day. Nothing more satisfying then taking away the hope of the desperate."

~~~~~~🌺~~~~~~
Word count: 3616
Quite a bit longer then my normal chapters, Jessica and Nichole's argument took much longer then predicted... even after chopping off several paragraphs about schooling and their parents. N at one point was going to intervene when Nichole got physical but I changed it because I don't feel like it fits the relationship.

Anyway please don't forget to vote and comment, means a lot - bye now :3