Chapter 9: Kidnap

Dingo inhaled sharply as his shoe caught a small rock. Tomahawkman looked up at the sound, and Cyndaquil halted. Dingo sighed.

"Its okay... sorry, guys," he said. He held the camera higher and continued. They'd found a small group from Team Rocket and driven them off, only to find a small cave entrance. Dingo felt that this would be the perfect place for the mysterious pokemon to hide, so they'd been searching there for a few hours.

There was a sound up ahead, and Dingo quickly hid behind a corner with the two pokemon. Cyndaquil's light dimmed, and Tomahawkman dared to glance around. He froze, eyes widening. After several terrified seconds, he forced himself to move. Dingo looked down as the Marowak tugged on his sweatshirt, making whimpering noises.

"Is it there?" To Tomahawkman's horror, the boy looked around the corner and got the same expression as his Navi. Something seized DIngo by the hood and jerked him up into the air. He struggled against his captor's grip, but whoever it was shook him until he was still.

"All right, human... You're going to tell me what I want to know," they said. Dingo raised the camera and took a picture. The captor knocked it out of his hand. Dingo looked down at Tomahawkman as he let his remaining pokeballs fall from his hand.

"T-Tomahawkman, run...!"

"Megaman was let out of the pokeball about an hour later, feeling quite upset. They were standing outside a small, rickety house.

"We're looking for Chansys, Aagrons, and Luxrays," said said Lan, looking around.

"What's an Aagron again?" said Ash.

"It's a big steel-type pokemon, similar to a Rhydon. They're usually found in the Hoeen Region," said Brock.

"So in other words, the people here are travelers," said Lan. Ash ran to the door and knocked three times.

"Hello! Is anyone in there?" he called. There was a loud crash that seemed to come from the back, and a shout.

"Ha! Checkmate!" Megaman looked up at this. No, it couldn't possibly be... And yet, it was. The world-famous Chess Netbattler came around the side of the house, followed by what looked like a black and blue cat with yellow eyes and a star at the tip of its tail.

"Hey there! I'm Tora. Who are you?" said the human, grinning widely at them. Ash launched into introductions and explanations, while Megaman walked over to the other pokemon.

"...Kingman? Is that you?"

"Yes," said Kingman. "And you, of course, are Megaman."

"Yeah. Boy, am I glad to see you! The question is getting a little old, but do you know exactly what's going on?" said Megaman.

"Well, Knightman looks like a dinosaur and the princess of Brightland is running around with a pickaxe... Tora remembers nothing except my name and how to play chess, and there's something called a Pokemon Ranger lurking nearby," said Kingman.

"Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?" said Megaman. Kingman was quiet for a few moments before answering.

"Megaman. Have you noticed that you have fins on your head and a tail suspiciously similar to a mermaid's?"

"Yes I have, actually. I meant, have you seen anything that looks like it could have something to do with a criminal organization?" said Megaman.

"So far, no. Why, are you expecting Grave to be behind all this?" said Kingman.

"No, something a bit more... frightening? Advanced?" said Megaman.

"The scariest thing I've seen so far is Pride when she loses her temper," said Kingman.

"Loses her temper? What do you mean by that?" said Megaman.

"Exactly what I said. Tora has a special hiding place behind the china cupboard for those times," said Kingman. Meanwhile, Tora was speaking again.

"Oh, so Tamako sent you here? Well, we haven't had any visitors in ages, right, Kingman?" he said.

"...What you said..." said Kingman.

"Here, I'll introduce you to my partner. Hey! Pride! Get over here!" Tora shouted. A clang rent the air. "Pride, hurry up!" said Tora.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Princess Pride came around the corner as well, with a smudged face and messy clothes. A huge metal-type pokemon came after her. It lowered itself down in order to view the other pokemon better.

"Hi, Knightman," said Megaman, recognizing the symbol on its pendant.

"Greetings," said Knightman. They didn't have a chance to say anything else because Lan lifted Megaman into the air and followed the others inside the house. The first thing that registered in Megaman's head once he was set down was the fact that a big, fat, pink...thing... had been dumped in the way of his vision. He tapped the object lightly, and it spun around. God in heaven, this pillow has eyes! he thought, bewildered. It apparently had a mouth as well, because it squealed, "Chansy!" before dancing away. As the poor vaporeon tried to recover from this shock, the humans sat around a table.

"It looks like a chess board," said Misty, observing the tabletop.

"Tora's a professional chess-player," said Pride, watching Brock with apprehension. Misty noticed this and seized his ear before he could say a word.

"Most of the time we're in the ruins. Pride's determined to find some sort of rare pokemon," said Tora.

"There are Unknown in those caves. Don't try to tell me you didn't see that one..." said Pride, jabbing his arm.

"Hey, have you seen someone named Dingo around here?" said Lan.

"Dingo? Oh yeah, this guy?" said Tora, holding up a paper. Lan squinted at the picture on it.

"Yeah, that's him."

"Well, he went missing about two weeks ago. Went up to Mt. Ember and never came back. All they found was his camera," said Tora. Megaman looked up, alarmed.

"He's missing?" said Ash.

"Do I need to say it twice?" said Tora.

"Where's Mt. Ember?" said Lan.

"What, are you going to try to rescue him yourself? No offense, but I doubt you can do anything about it. Besides, they've already got a Pokemon Ranger working on it," said Pride. "He's actually kinda cute, too." At this, Brock whimpered slightly and slumped in his chair.

"We can't just sit around, he could be hurt or something!" said Ash.

"Yeah!" said Lan.

"Oh, we can tell your type from miles away," said Pride.

"You're the kind of people who fancy yourselves as heroes. Try getting some training before you jump into things," said Tora.

"We've been training a long time!" said Ash. Pikachu nodded loyally.

"Yeah, there's nothing Megaman and I can't handle!" said Lan. Megaman nodded too. Tora and Pride just sat there and stared. And stared. And stared. They stared until the silence pressed in on them like they were far underwater.

"What?" said Lan.

"Your friend," said Pride.

"Your problem," said Tora.

"Come on, Lan, we can do it on our own! Let's go rescue Dingo!" said Ash. The two of them grabbed their pokemon again and were almost out the door when Misty grabbed them

"You guys, we just got here. At least stay the night before you go and get lost."

"Fine," said Ash.

"But..." said Lan, but Ash cut him off.

"Honestly, you can't win an argument with her if you don't prepare for it. It's easier to give up now and come back to it later."

The next day, Megaman was up bright and early, but not early enough to catch Pride and Tora as they left. The fat pink 'Chansy' waddled over to him and excitedly tried to teach him something he would later call the Chansy Dance. He gave up on this after a short while and merely sat on one of the chairs, watching as the sun slowly travelled higher into the sky.

There was a sudden, loud thump, accompanied by a groan. Mumbling followed, and he knew that the humans had woken up. It was probably Lan that had fallen out of bed. They came out later, fully dressed. Lan and Ash seemed equally deprived of sleep, and Megaman wondered whether or not they'd stayed up the whole night trying to create a plan.

"Hey, where's Tora and Pride?" said Brock. Misty leaned close to a note taped to the fridge.

"'We've headed off to work. The Ranger will be heading back soon, so you can ask him how to get to Mt. Ember.'"

"Great," said Lan.

"We should probably head back to the docks. Maybe we'll meet the ranger on the way," said Ash.

"Good idea. Come on, Megaman," said Lan. Megaman sighed, then followed the group out the door.

"Hey Brock?" said Ash. "What does a Pokemon Ranger look like?"

"I think they usually dress in black and red," said Brock.

"So, just look for anybody wearing those colors," said Lan. He paused for a moment before saying, "Hey, does that mean Chaud's a Pokemon Ranger?"

"Somehow, I doubt that," said Misty.

Upon arriving at the docks, they learned that Captain Kurohige wouldn't be arriving for another half-hour. They didn't mind, seeing as they had no idea where they were going. They asked around, but the Ranger hadn't shown up in town recently. The group ended up sitting on a bench, trying to pick out red and black in the crowd.

"This is impossible..." Ash groaned, hanging his head in defeat.

"Don't give up yet! Who knows, he might find us!" said Lan.

"Why should he? It's not like he knows us," said Ash.

"Pride thought he was cute. maybe they're dating and she's told him about us," said Misty. Brock sank even lower at this thought. Megaman looked up as a shadow was cast over him. He blinked in surprise.

"Excuse me," said the the stranger. "Are you the ones who were asking for a Ranger?"

"Yeah, we are," said Misty. The person nodded.

"My name is Raika, and I'm a Pokemon Ranger. what did you need help with?"

"You look awfully familiar..." said Lan, glaring at the older boy.

"We've never met," said Raika. Megaman began to study Raika's appearance, hoping for some sign of a pokeball that could contain Searchman. He had no such luck, however.

"We're friends of Dingo's. We wanted to help find him," said Ash.

"Yeah. Where's Mt. Ember?" said Lan.

"Mt. Ember isn't the sort of place you should go alone. You need to stick to the trail and stay with your guide... Something your friend neglected to do. Almost no one is being allowed near Mt. Ember due to the disappearances that have been occurring, so you couldn't go there even if I told you," said Raika.

"But you're a Pokemon Ranger! Surely, if you act as our guide, we'll be allowed in?" said Misty.

"Absolutely not," said Raika.

"Oh, come on, Laika!" said Lan.

"What was that?" said Raika, looking surprised.

"Please?" said Lan.

"No, what did you call me?"

"Raika, why? That's your name, isn't it?" said Lan. Raika shook his head.

"Fine, fine... I'll take you to Mt. Ember, but it'll take a while to gain entry. You'll have to find something to do one One Island..." He sounded flustered, though the others didn't really know why. Megaman tilted his head to the side.

"Laika and Netto... Both of those names hold some sort of significance... They sound familiar, but I just can't put my finger (oops, I mean paw) on it..." he whispered to himself.

Captain Kurohige arrived shortly, and they all made it to One Island, the place they'd first ended up. Raika told them to go find something to do, and walked away in search of the Ranger in charge. Brock immediately saw a poster for a pokemon contest and pulled them towards the event. Misty said that he was hoping to meet an old friend again.

Once they arrived at the contest arena, they located seats and waited among the gathering crowd. Brock didn't seem to have any luck finding his friend, and rejoined them as the lights dimmed. A woman came out on stage with a microphone. Her entrance was greeted with loud cheers and applause. Once everyone calmed down, she spoke.

"Welcome to the annual One Island Pokemon Contest!" (More cheering) "Today's contestants are as follows..." She began to call off names. As each trainer was introduced, they walked onto the stage and stood behind her. The group swelled to about fifteen trainers.

"It's not the most popular of contests," Brock observed.

"Oh?" said Lan, who obviously had never been to one.

"Yeah. Usually there's about twenty five or so," said Brock. Megaman tried to ignore them, choosing instead to watch the contestants. A familiar person was the last to enter, and he knew exactly who it was. Lan spotted them at the same time.

"Oh no! It's..."

"Maylu Sakurai!" cried the announcer.