An Ambush!

Neku and his friends have arrived at the front of Petalburg Woods. They looked around before entering the forest, because it was already late and inside of the forest was dark, so they needed to be careful. Shiki and Eri felt a bit scared when they knew they would have passed through the forest on the evening. Neku and Beat have seen the girls were scared, then they tried to calm them down.

"Relax, don't be afraid. We're going into the forest together." Neku said.

"And we will protect you while we will pass through it. Trust us." Beat said as well.

Shiki and Eri nodded.

Then, they went into the forest. It was getting dark till it makes the forest feel spooky. Shiki and Eri felt frightened, and they asked the guys to walk more slowly so they won't wander around too far. During their walk, there's 2 shady characters stood behind the woods, watching carefully on Neku and his friend.

"Seems like those brats are heading to Rustboro City." a pink-haired girl said as she keeps watching.

"That's mean, they already get stronger. Want to play a little game with those kids?" an orange-haired male asked.

"Why not? I feel bored at this time. Let's see how those kids can entertain us." a pink-haired girl smiles evilly.

She snapped her fingers, as she summons some of the animals with skeletal patterns. She then ordered those animals after their prey, which mean it was Neku and his friend. As they keep walking, both Shiki and Eri feel more frightened than before. Neku and Beat have noticed the girls were scared, maybe they should stop passing through this forest and find a safe place to rest. But, suddenly they have heard the bushes shaking and a growl from behind the bushes.

"Bwaaaah! W-What.. is that!?" Beat yelled, feels startled.

Neku, Shiki and Eri also feels startled when they heard Beat yells so loudly.

"Beat! Don't yell like that! You are making us more scared now!" Shiki yells at Beat because of his yells make her more scared. "B-But.. t-that's right.. w-what is that earlier..?"

"M-Maybe.. j-just a wind.." Eri said, tries to think it wasn't a ghost.

"But.." Neku said. "If that was a wind, how come the wind has a growling voice?"

And then, some of the animals with skeletal patterns comes out from the bushes. The animal was a wolves, frogs and crows with skeletal patterns.

"A Noise!?" Neku, Shiki and Beat shocked as they can't believe there's a Noise around here. But how come there's a Noise here? Are they in Reapers Game again?

"M-Monster!" Eri said, panicked as she never saw the Noise before.

Neku, Shiki and Beat remembered that Eri never seen these monsters, so no wonder if she scared when seeing them. Shiki immediately stood in front of Eri as she tried to protect her, while Neku and Beat stood in front of Shiki and Eri to protect them.

"Let's finish 'em like we did before!" Beat suggested.

Neku and Shiki nodded and prepares their Pokeball. Shiki then looked at Eri. "Let's fight together, Eri. We all have Pokemon on our side. We can win if we work together." Shiki said, tries to comfort Eri.

Eri nodded, and took a deep breath. "A-Alright.." She then prepares her Pokeball as well.

The Wolves, Frogs, and Crows Noises jumped toward them. Neku, Shiki, Beat and Eri send out their Pokemon which are Mudkip, Beautifly, Treecko and Charmander are sent to battle the Noises. Beautifly and Treecko battle the Crows, Mudkip battle the Frogs and Charmander battle the Wolves. As their Pokemon was fighting the Noise, the shady character watches their battle from behind of the woods.

"This will be interesting. Once they are tired, let's finish them off." the pink-haired girl said.

"Understood." the orange-haired boy nodded.

Treecko uses Quick Attack to take down the Crows while Beautifly zaps them with Electro Web. Mudkip uses Mud Bomb to the Frogs but get blocked by the Frogs bubble. Treecko and Beautifly quickly go to help Mudkip. Beautifly uses Silver Wind to blow away the bubbles and Treecko uses Double Team and uses Energy Ball to defeat the Frogs. The Wolves dash toward Charmander as they didn't give a chance for Charmander to attack them. Charmander feels annoyed and blows them away with Fire Spin. All the Noises have been defeated, but in return their Pokemon have become tired.

Neku and the others healed their Pokemon with giving them a Potion. As they want to let their Pokemon rest for a while, the shady character that has been following them all this time, showed up in front of them.

"Hello~ Remember me?" the pink-haired girl waved to them.

"It's been awhile." the orange-haired boy greeted them as well.

"You!" Neku, Shiki and Beat surprised seeing the person they called as Reapers during their Reapers Game. "So, you're the one who behind this!?" Neku groaned.

The girl giggled. "So, what? I want to see if you still remember the Reapers Game, even now with no time limits."

"What'chu really want from us, pinky?" Beat asked as he stares at the former Reapers.

"Stop calling me with my hair color, you dead meat!" she groaned, annoyed with called as pinky.

"We just want to play a little game with you all." the boy said as he looked at Eri. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Kariya."

"The name's Uzuki. Seems like you are hotter than me." Uzuki said as she looks at Eri appearance.

"Don't you dare hurt my best friend!" Shiki warns her.

"Hmph! It's up to me if I want to or not." She took her Pokeball. "I can't wait any longer. Let's play with them Kariya."

"As you said, Uzuki." Kariya also took out his Pokeball and ready to fight Neku and friends alongside Uzuki.

Both former Reapers send out Seviper and Vigoroth.

"You are a trainer too?! But.. how come?!" Beat asked.

"We are a trainer with a special skill which is we can summon the Noise." Uzuki giggled. "Seviper, Poison Tail!"

Seviper's tail turn into purple color and ready to stab at Neku and friend. Treecko quickly runs toward Seviper in order to protect Beat, which in return Treecko is poisoned. Mudkip try to attack back Seviper with Mud Bomb but get stopped by Vigoroth who uses Fury Swipes to scratch Mudkip. Vigoroth is too fast for them and Shiki told to her Beautifly to slow down Vigoroth with shooting Electro Web to him. But still, Vigoroth can dodge it easily and it counters attack Beautifly with using Thunderpunch, make the Beautifly instantly fainted. Charmander uses Flamethrower to attack Seviper, but Seviper blocked it with Haze and combined with Vigoroth Fury Swipes, Charmander instantly fainted.

"Tch.. They are too strong.." Neku groaned.

"What should we do..?" Shiki asked, panicked.

"That's simple. Hands over your Pokemon to us, and you'll be fine." Uzuki said.

"No, Shiki! Don't do it!" Eri warns her. "Our Pokemon is our partner. If we hands over it to them, that means we have betrayed our Pokemon!"

"Then the only way is we gotta fight with our fists!" Beat ran toward Uzuki and Kariya, trying to hit them with his own fists.

"If you can. Seviper, Poison Tail!" Uzuki ordered her Pokemon to attack Beat directly.

Eri: Stop!

Shiki: Beat!

Neku: Don't!

Before Beat got hit by Seviper's Poison Tail, a flamethrower has come to it causing it got burned. Everyone was surprised, wondering where's that flamethrower has come? As they look around, they have found a white-haired boy standing on the tree with his Torchic.

"Just who do you think you are!? Interrupt our battle like that!" Uzuki asks annoyed.

"The name's Takeru Ryuichi. I am a friend of Neku and the others." He then jumped down from the tree. "From what I saw, that's not a battle. But, you tried to kill them!"

"So what if I did? Are you gonna telling the police to arrest us?"

"More than that, I shall take your life if you take my friend's life away!" Takeru send out his Ralts. "Go away!" Torchic and Ralts kicks them off with the combination of Flamethrower and Psychic, creating a gigantic flamethrower to sweep them away.

Both Kariya and Uzuki flew away.

Takeru then returns his Pokemon back to the Pokeball. "Are you guys okay? Sorry I was late to come here."

"W-We're fine. Thanks for the help, yo. If you don't come, I must be already poisoned now.." Beat said.

"You should not sacrifice your life. If you can't fight, just run." Takeru replied as he shares some Pecha Berries, Oran Berries and Cheri Berries to their Pokemon.

The others nodded.

"Well, you guys seem tired. Come with me. I have found a place for us to take a rest."

"Really!? Oh god, I'm relieved to hear that." Shiki gives a sigh of relief.

Then they went to the place where Takeru is going to use as a rest area. All of them let their Pokemon sleep, while they are still awake and talk about random stuffs until Neku have remembered that he was waiting for Takeru's answer.

"So, what is your answer?" Neku asked.

Takeru smiled and nodded. "I'll go with you."

"Great, yo! We have got our leader." Beat said, grins widely.

Takeru chuckles. "Oh, please. Don't call me a leader. Just call me Takeru. For me, everyone is a leader."

"Now we will be stronger. It'll be more easier with 5 of us to fight Uzuki and Kariya.

"That's remind me, who are they?" Takeru asked, curiously.

"A bad guy which they call themselves as Team Reaper." Neku said.

"I see. They are dangerous."

"Yeah." Shiki agreed.

"And, you are?" Takeru looks at Eri.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Eri. Me and Shiki are best friend."

"It's nice to meet you, Eri."

"It's nice to meet you too, Takeru."

"Well, let's take a rest now. Let's continue our journey tomorrow."

The others nodded and went to sleep with their Pokemon.