Chapter Three
Gary had yet to sleep. He sat continuously observing the two Rockets' from where he was situated, closely noting each movement and using those little pieces of information to formulate some kind of escape plan. At the moment the male was packing a ruby red bag, filling it with money and a spare set of clothing, from this Gary had concluded that the male had been chosen to travel into the town, most likely stopping somewhere so that he could change into his spare clothes so not to draw any unnecessary attention to himself, as a Team Rocket Member usually would. What this meant was that the female would be staying behind, watching over her two captives and preparing for an immediate set off for when her counterpart returned.
Now all Gary needed was a way to untangle his wrists from the rope bracelets currently bearing his red raw wrists.
Looking around, Gary could see no obvious signs of weapons, nothing sharp enough to devour into the thick rope. Letting out a frustrated sigh he renewed his search but once again coming up empty handed. As he began to rethink around this obtruding obstacle he felt a small nudge in his hand though chose to ignore it as he reworked his plan. Again, a nudge contrary to the first this was much more forceful. Taking advantage of the small leverage he had, Gary tried to pry behind him, exploring the space in which there should be some sort of explanation. Alas, he remained confused as he any answer avoided him when he only seemed to catch thinning air. He summed it up as a brief moment of delusion or a scruff of grass tickling the inside of his hand even though, deep down he knew that the force of the second action had to be more than a mere spike of grass. Tossing the thought of this from his mind he returned his attention to the scenery around him only to feel a warm fabric pushed into his withering grasp. Now that was unexplainable. Twisting his body he noticed the red rim of a baseball cap balancing on the edges of his identification platforms. With a lick of his lips he lifted his head to where he heard a sway of leaves. A sight of hope, stood proud, in a position ready to pounce as two beady eyes gleamed at the boy, letting him know that it was all going to be okay, reinforcements were here.
Turning to face the front Gary smiled. He could feel the eyes trained on him as he waited to signal the Pokémon. As soon as the male grunt had dashed into the forests coverage and the female had returned to the blimp to secure their plans he motioned the yellow ball of fluff over with the stretching of his fingers. Within moments he could feel the satin feel of fur and the wetness of the little ones snout as it buried its teeth into the handcuffs. Every so often he could feel a nip at his skin but ignored it so not to force the woman to return to the clearing.
With one more snip the cuffs would be free. Pikachu rushed to Misty's side and for the first time in a while Gary looked over to her. He brushed the red clumps of hair from the slash on her forehead, he quickly examined the break of skin, it didn't look as bad as he had originally thought still, he'd feel much more comfortable once the girl had been for a real examination. His cold fingertips must have awoken the redhead from her well earned rest yet it was not a pleasant awakening as he jolted up from the sudden contact, resulting in the abrupt squeal of pain as she gained two incision bites from the Pikachu's fangs as she threw off its co ordination after being thrown from her lap. The yelp caused Gary to look in the direction of the open door of the blimp, watching for any sign of a return from the departed woman- just in case he returned his wrists to the position behind his back. Trusting her partner when he risked a hush in her direction, she followed his gaze and she too awaited for some form of action or movement in that general vicinity. For a few minutes there was nothing but the upmost silence as Gary apprehended the Rocket's return, nevertheless neither was disappointed as they were left alone by the woman. At finding this Gary turned back to Misty, a questioning look overriding each and every one of her features.
He didn't give the look much as he scoped a look at her wrist, now lightly bleeding from the two small bite marks. Knowing that it wasn't fatal Gary began to explain albeit not through his words, intensely he set his sights on the cowering Pikachu- still a little shook up from being thrown so unexpectedly- with his gaze supervised the opening of the blimp a little longer before heading off to rejoin the two trainers.
"Pikachu!" Misty hugged the small ball of fluff close to her chest, made easy by the fact that her arms had been secured to the front of her rather than, as Gary's had been, to the back. Whispering to the small Pokémon she asked:
"Where's Ash?" She had known that particular Pikachu anywhere and there was no doubt in her mind that he was owned by that dopey, raven haired hero she had travelled with so long ago.
"Pikapi, pi pi." He pointed into the woods but Misty could see no sign of anyone but she trusted the Pokémon nonetheless and clutched him in a hug once more.
The brunette couldn't help smiling at the two's interactions, Pikachu's chubby cheeks affectionately rubbing against the redheads as she held him tight. He allowed them a moment before placing his hand on Misty's shoulder to draw her back to reality. She looked to him, realised and then looked back to her Pika Pal, where he was sat on her lap.
"Think you can help?" She held up her still-bound wrists as an indicator to what she was insinuating.
"Pika!" Gary guessed that must mean 'yes' as the Pokémon quickly dived into its job while he got to work on getting rid of the rope wrapped around his ankles.
"This is taking too long," moaned Misty as she watched the small animal peel piece by piece of the rope off, her companion wasn't all that happy to agree as he fought back.
"Pika, Pi! Pi pika pika chu! Chu pi chu!" Misty was taken back and instantly apologising after all her intentions were never to slander the hard work that the Pokémon was contracting. She smiled as he returned to work but looked over at the brunette who was seemingly struggling with the rope surrounding his feet, anger pouring out of his pores as he began to get more and more aggravated by the tight bounding.
As the two male's continued to work Misty heard shouts in a distance, shouts ignored by the two labourers. Barely could she hear the screams of a man getting heavily infuriated by what sounded like a battle. The more she heard the more positive she became that she could distinguish the gravelly voice of the one and only Ash Ketchum. Her continued eavesdropping let off little more information however she was positive that she could hear the sound of her other old companion participating in the battle as well.
Meanwhile Gary got closer to freeing his legs, a privilege he now yearned for as a feeling of white noise buzzed through his legs. Just as he was about to rid himself of the restraint he heard what could only be described as a rippling aftershock that dragged the groups attention. Before having any chance to do much else Gary returned to his original position, quickly followed by Misty and Pikachu who ran back into the bushes for safety. Undoubtedly this would catch the awareness of the woman grunt, and Gary was right, not too shortly after she ran into the dust now filling the air of the small opening. She wandered over to check on her captives, and once she noticed the two still ensnared to the tree she started up the blimps engine and used the large fan to clear the area.
"What the fuck happened?" She directed the question at the two on the ground, clearly expecting an answer. Her hair was in disarray and patches of suit covered any piece of bare skin she had exposed though she was no less uptight than she had been before. She simply demanded her answers and to the best of the teenager's knowledge that was how she ran her work. When she received no answer she stormed over the two, the scowl permanently engraved to her face becoming deeper with each heavy slap of her boot of the rocky earth.
"What. Happened." She punctuated the words with a harsh stare; first at Gary then to Misty. Neither spoke, neither could, both were still completely surprised themselves as to what had just occurred. Just as she was about to advance further the two were saved by a wildly similar voice peeking from the shadow where out steeped a tall man, covered in soot albeit still evidently a Rocket member, yet he did not appear to be alone. Stood beside him, a man around a head shorter than the grunt, head to toe covered in the black dust. His chocolate eyes peeked from under his eyelids and his dirty lips upturned into a frown. For Misty and Gary it was apparent who the man was, however it had been apparent the moment they had seen his scruff of untamed coal hair, which admittedly looked odd without the usually crown upon his head.
"Ash..." Gary looked to Misty who was blatantly staring at Ash then to the grunt forcibly holding the struggling teenager and Gary couldn't help but think "great, now our saviour is captured, awesome- really, really awesome..." But he didn't voice the opinion since he was aware of how serious their predicament was, definitely not a time for his usual sarcasm.
"Hey let go of me!"
"Found this twerp on the outskirts of the town, I think he knows them," the rocket nodded in the prisoner's direction, "probably thought he could be a hero." The male's voice was different but then again it was probably just smoke inhalation, visibly he'd been close to the centre of the blast.
In response to her partners words the female let out a dry humourless laugh but stopped the minute she felt weight pushed onto her skinny stature. She saw the boy now in her grasp and looked at her partner, clear distain evident upon her features.
"Tie him up." This command didn't sit well with the woman as in a high pitched voice she exclaimed,
"Excuse me." The man shrugged, unfazed by her reaction. Misty and Gary, too, were puzzled to the man's sudden authority, so far it had been the woman piloting the Rocket's mission but the tables had turned and now it was her who was being directed.
"You heard me. I'm going to get a drink. Do not tie him over there with them two, I have a bad feeling about him. Tie him over there were they can't interact." Still surprised by the male's tone the woman watched as he stalked inside the blimp, her mouth open wide enough to catch flies- if only she left it open a little longer. After recomposing herself she dragged the boy over to another tree, grabbing spare rope as she did so, muttering profanities to the still struggling boy.
Temporarily she forgot about the other two teens who were still giggling over the facial expressions of the female- it had humoured them that she had finally been put in her place. No one notice the two people sneak from the trees, both making direct eye contact with the other pair. Misty easily noticed May, a girl she'd met a few times and had quickly become friends with and after a few moments remembered Drew from the few contests she had watched- to support May, of course. In that second she reminded herself of all the times she and May had talked about her rival, and took in the appearance of the green haired boy- she had been right, the boy was good looking (albeit not Misty's type), she could only hope he was not as arrogant as May had made him out to be, she already had to deal with Gary. Deeming these thoughts inappropriate, for now at least, Misty wriggled from the restraints of her wrist and then helped May with the legs. It was only now she noticed the friction across her stomach and the sawing movement of the rope typing the two to the base of a tree. Turning she could see a blue haired girl unfastening the knot of the rope, she recognised her as Ash's new companion: Darcy, Dani, Danna? Misty was so caught up in her guessing game she didn't notice she'd been fully freed by the trio of saviours; well not until she was forced to her feet by Gary and his glare. She smiled sweetly at him but only received an eye roll to which she genuinely smiled.
May grabbed Misty's hand and Drew grabbed the upper arm of Gary and they began to escort the two away from the scene. Everything was working out despite a few hiccups in the plan and May and Drew were hyper aware of the thought. Things never usually worked out so well. And that's when it happened.
Snap.
Everyone's eyes, including Ash and the Rocket's, fixated on Dawn who had accidentally stood on one of the few scattered twigs. Sharing a glance May and Drew could only think similar thoughts. "Well, so much for this actually working."
[A/N]: Sorry this has been so delayed. I've actually been struggling at college and then I started failing two of my subjects... I only take three subjects. -.-" Obviously, education had to come first and I think that I've pretty much caught up so I could finally whip out another chapter. I haven't really read through it or anything because I feel you guys deserve a chapter as quick as I could so I do apologise for any mistakes though there are usually an abundance of those anyways. Also, it's supposed to be a pretty dynamic chapter but I feel it drags so I may spruce it up a little but I needed to update, so here you go. Hope you still enjoy and again, sorry...
Oh, and a side note: THIS STORY WILL NOT BE ABANDONED!
Bubbles: Firstly, thank you for reviewing! And I LOVE Egoshipping too! :) I'll probably go a little over the top with the hints for Ash and Misty but I just can't seem to restrain myself when it comes to those two. But hey, I do have a few Egoshipping stories on my profile, even in my Pokeshipping story 'Unnamed, like I said it's so hard to restrain myself... Anyways, I'm still unsure on the whole Paul thing but I'll take into consideration the no Ikarishipping (I'm more of a Twinleafshipper if I'm honest anyways but I do find myself writing Ikarishipping in other stories so I'll see what I can do) hope this suffices?
Deedee2034: Thank you! :) This wait was a little extensive so sorry about that and this chapter is definitely not to the best of my ability but I will make sure to sort that out in the near future, so I feel I do need to apologise to you about that especially after taking the time to leave such a nice review. Honestly I'm still a little on edge about Paul but that's mostly in how I would get him to join the group, I have a few ideas but it's hard to settle on one indefinitely so in concerns to his character I'm still a little wary. Thanks for the confidence about Richie, and I know exactly what you mean when you say there aren't nearly enough Richie stories out there (unfortunately). I'm thinking of giving him a little more character this time around, maybe a little more time and effort because he was pretty much just a filler in my first draft. So I have a few ideas for him too. Anyways, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the story.
RedHoodLover: Glad you enjoyed and thank you for the review, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story just as much and decide to continue reading. :)
As always feel free to give constructive criticism, put across opinions or provide suggestions of things you'd like to see included.