The trainer did not give up.
He kept running around, shouting, and calling out thief. He hasn't even gotten close to Jake's location yet. By now, Jake was half way to falling asleep. When would this kid just quit?
"Hey, what happened?" a girl's voice asked, "You said there was a thief?"
"Yeah, yeah! He stole my absol!" the trainer replied.
"He stole my friends frogadier, too!"
That was the girl from before, Jake realized. What was she doing here? He gassed she hain't given up either...
"He-he used a frogadier in the battle we fought..."
"Oh, my... how long ago was it? Where did he run off to?"
"It was just now! He ran off that way!" The voice traveled towards Jake's direction.
"Quick, we have to find him to get your absol back..."
His body tensed, but he quickly relaxed. They still wouldn't be able to find him, Jake assured hmself. As long as he stood perfectly still, and made no noise...
Then his pokeball clicked, the one containing absol. Usually that would be a positive sound, a sound indicating he caught a new pokemon. But in this moment, Jake might as well have callied his location out.
"That's him!" the girl said, "Hurry, find him!"
Jake tried to work his way out of the bushes and sprint off, but they got to him before he did. Each one of them grabbed one of his arms and held him like a hostage.
"We've got you, thief!" the girl said, "You couldn't get away!"
"Now give me my absol back, loser!" the kid tried to kick Jake's shin, but Jake moved his legs.
"Yeah! And my friend's frogadier!"
"No!" Jake kicked and pulled. "I won't!"
"Reach into his bag, and grab his pokemon," the girl said to the kid.
The kid nodded. With one hand grabbing Jake, he used the other to reach into Jake's bag.
"No!" Jake tried to pull away. "Stop!"
"Hey! Hey! What is going on over here?" An authoritative voice came from the darkness.
A beam of light shone on the three of them. As Jake squinted and tried to see past the light, he saw a blue uniform and the sparkle of a badge—a police officer.
"Help!" Jake said to the officer, "They're trying to take my pokemon!"
"Hey!" The girl pulled Jake's arm. "No we are not!"
"Get off of him and get out of his bag!" the officer commanded.
"But he's a thief!" the girl said, "He stole our pokemon!"
"No, I'm not! They're making stuff up!" Jake put his head down and inhaled. "They're always bullying me like this!"
"He's a thief!"
"Yeah, likely story, kid." the officer said, "The last case of pokemon thievery was almost a century ago. A youngster wouldn't be able to do something like that. Now get off him!"
The kid let go, but the girl held on for a little while longer. Then she pushed him away, crossed her arms, and gave Jake an expression of pure hatred and contempt.
"You two go off, now." the officer said to Jake's victims, "I don't like bullies."
The kid's eyes were wide, and when he turned around he began to sniffle. The girl put an arm around him and assured him that they would get their pokemon back. She shot Jake one last glare. Then they both dissapeared into the night.
"So, you headed to Santalune City?" the officer asked.
"Yeah... yeah, I am," Jake tried to sound like a kid that had been bullied.
"Was it only them two? You'll be good for the rest of the way?"
"I think I'll be fine... if they don't go after me."
"Don't worry—they won't. I'll be here to make sure they don't. You go on your way."
Jake nodded, turned, and headed off. He looked to the ground and shook his head. What had he gotten himself into? Eventually he would be reported, and people will be on the lookout for him. He would be caught, and he can't keep running away forever. But once again, Jake knew that he had to do this because of his phobia.
As Jake stared at dark path, he put his hand to his forehead. His vision tensed, and he got tunnel vision. He felt light-headed and almost fell to his knees. Something came to his mind—an image of a haxorous, and broken glass throughout the air. Then Jake returned to normal. Jake wanted more to come to mind, but his memory would not conjure anything else. This image was Jake's first step to understanding his fear.
