Chapter 10: The Capture
Mare only awoke once during the entire travel over the seas. Wendy kept her eyes on him; she knew for sure. There was only one particular thing that kept her interested in Mare; it was his courage and no sense of fear. She has only heard of one case in which this happens to Pokémon; it happened in Orre. What supposedly happened was that the Pokémon became what humans would often call Shadow Pokémon.
Was it possible that somehow, Mare was a Shadow Pokémon? He surely qualified. The only personality he'd be missing is the fact that he does not favor the humans. He does not work with or for the humans either. So what did this make him? Could he actually be considered…a true hero?
It had only been minutes before when he had last woken up. Wendy neared, sitting down next to the Sneasel. He breathed normally and appeared to have neither shock nor scars of the past battles. She pricked at one small part of the fur on his arm. She felt it very wet, and quickly assumed it was water. But when she stopped her stroke on the arm, she found that it was a dark red shade. Of course; blood.
He was normal in every way. He just did not act like he was.
Wendy took a look around the room. It seemed very crowded with everyone piled in that room, but there was really no other room to go other than that trap door under the control room. The faces upon many of the Sneasels were unsure of what to either believe or do.
She stood and walked straight to the door that once led to the back of the boat. She opened it to find the back of the Gyarados as it slowly at a comfortable pace swam over the waters. Beyond, there was a vast emptiness. She wondered where they would have ended up had they not been attacked by the Gyarados; would they have been trapped on the sea forever? Or would the humans find them? Maybe they could have even found land on their own…
She closed the door, locking it. other than looking outside the door, there was not much to do. She was glad that the children had something to do, playing along with each other. As for the rest, there was nothing much else to do but hope that they would reach land soon.
It was as Wendy thought this that the boat seemed to shift a bit. She felt that it began to hit the water again, and it slowed onto a small drift over the water. Then, it came to a complete and sudden halt. The shock of the movement awoke Mare, and fully awakened those that were about to drift to sleep.
"Have we landed?" Mare wondered.
No one answered. Wendy was going to be the first to find out. She jumped out of the front window and onto the front of the ship, looking about. They hadn't so much as landed; there was a large docking barge in front of her. Slowly, the ship began to sink. "We kind of landed…come on." She jumped off of the boat and to the dock, looking around. They were the only ones there; there were no other boats.
Slowly, the others followed. The last person off the boat was Irathie. Seconds afterwards, the boat completely sank underneath the water. In the distance, the Gyarados were swimming off. They jumped over the ocean and back in at different turns. It was too bad that the group had not been able to say good-bye to the Gyarados. Or, at least it was to Wendy. She was not so sure how any one else thought about the situation.
As soon as they were out of sight, the group was on the move again. They walked off of the docking area and onto the beach. It all seemed so empty. The quietness was not helping either. It just left them scratching their heads and wondering what had happened. What they could rule out was a nuclear bomb. There were still green trees alive, and the air felt clean. Something else had to have happened.
"Alright, everyone must follow me," said Irathie. "Stay close and stay alert. We do not know what has happened here yet."
There were no arguments. Everyone stayed with each other and kept their eyes out for any humans. They were scared more of them than other Pokémon. If they found other Pokémon, then they felt that they would be blessed.
One thing that they did not do was go deeper into the land. They stayed at the beach and went down one path. One thing they noticed upon this path was the fact that there were no human ships or boats anywhere in the docks. On their walk, they finally reached a point where the docks ended, and onwards was an endless beach. They froze for only a moment.
Since Irathie did not lead, Mare took it upon himself to go onwards. He stepped in front of all, and made the risky decision to continue walking. He felt the sense that there was a trap coming up ahead. They all felt it. That was what was worrying them.
"There does not seem to be anything wrong. Everyone should stay behind me," said Mare.
No one said anything. They kept a distance from each other. If there were to be anything to act as a trap, then they would be able to counter it. They would not all fall for it. If one of them were to fall for it, then the nearest would be able to help.
As they walked farther down the beach, the feeling that they were not safe grew even stronger. Irathie began to ready himself in an attack stance, making sure that his claws were out and sharp. When the others saw this, they too had their claws sharpened. And then the sense was far too immense; they had to stop.
"Does anyone feel it?" Mare asked.
It was obvious of what he was talking about. They felt the vibrations on the sand. There was definitely something coming. They even heard it in the distance. It sounded quite strange, but it was heard. Mare could not tell what exactly the noise was.
And then, as the ground vibrated for a fifth time in a row, he realized what it was. He turned around quickly, and shouted to the others, "They're under the ground!" As he had said this, a Sandslash had pushed itself out of the sand from behind him, ready to slash. Irathie shot an ice beam as quickly as he could, hitting directly at the attacking Pokémon.
And then all around them, Sandslashes and Sandshrews jumped out of the ground. The Sandshrews easily gripped the younglings, bringing then down in a lock, trying to choke them. The adults used their faint attacks to be able to quickly attack the ones attacking the young ones, in an attempt to free them. But more and more seemed to be rising from the ground.
Just as Mare was running towards a child being attacked, a Sandslash popped out of the ground in front of him. The sand blew everywhere, blocking his sight. He raised his claws in front of him to block. It was a good move; the Sandslash sliced on Mare's claw, and in a blind furry, the two fought claw and claw.
Nadlew jumped just as a Sandslash was coming out of the ground, kicking with a sharp clawed foot at the head, and pushing against it, twisting in the air, and tackle the Sandshrew that had one of the children to the ground. He struggled, trying to hold the Sandshrew in place, but then more rose from the ground, pulling him away and scratching away. A Sandslash appeared from the ground in front of him and pulled Nadlew under the sand.
Irathie kept his claws filled with ice as he attacked every Sandslash and Sandshrew that came near him. This proved not to work very well as when he was busy pummeling a Sandshrew, a Sandslash locked him in a chokehold from behind, only tightening its grip. As the Sandslash tightened its grip, it screamed in pain. At the legs, Nadlew had managed to crawl out of the sand and slash at the Pokémon. The Sandslash that had dragged him under rose from under the sand again and began to pull. Right behind him, Wendy aimed at the head, and shot a needle like ice beam through the skull.
She helped Nadlew out of the sand. Unfortunately, a Sandslash had gotten to her just as she pulled, and slashed at her back. The Sandslash's claw went deep into her back, and Wendy screamed in pain. The Sandslash covered her mouth and brought her back down into the sand, underneath. Nadlew tried to fight for her, but he was still somewhat stuck with his legs in the sand.
The fighting got rougher; the children were getting hurt! And they were one of the first to be pulled underneath the sand. As the fights continued, the others were dragged into the sand too. They were all being dragged under. It was up until there were only three left; Mare, Larne, and Irathie. And by then, their battle scars were visible; blood soaked their claws and teeth and fur as they continued their endless battle. And as their battle went on, there seemed to be no end to where the Sandslashes and Sandshrews were coming from.
A Sandshrew jumped on Mare, bringing him down to the ground. Within the next 2 seconds, Irathie picked up the Sandshrew and tossed it to the back of the one that he was currently fighting, causing the death of the critter. In response, the Sandslash turned and jumped for Irathie. He side-stepped, and it instead landed on Larne. It was better than nothing; the Sandslash began to drag Larne under, not caring about his struggle to stay above ground.
Mare jumped for Larne, reaching out with a claw. Instead of connecting claws, he only connected with the sand. Larne was gone, taken under.
Knowing the situation quickly, Mare stood up, looking all over the sand. He was looking right in front of him when the Sandslash popped out of the ground, forcing Mare to fall to the ground behind him. The Sandslash jumped for him, and caught onto one of Mare's feet as he tried to crawl away. Using his other foot, Mare hit three times at the Sandslash's head. The third time, he managed to pierce his right eye. The Sandslash let go, standing, and struggled a bit to walk. Irathie appeared in front of the blind Sandslash and hit with an uppercut. It was a lethal blow.
Still on the ground, Mare fired a clear shot of ice beam. It was heading straight for Irathie, but missed by a centimeter. It froze the Sandshrew that was about to strike Irathie completely. It landed as a frozen cube on the floor.
"Come on!" Irathie shouted, running. He pulled Mare to his feet. "We have to run!"
And so, the both did. On all sides, the Sandslashes and Sandshrews jumped out of and into the sand as if it were their ocean. They made it look so simple. Whichever got closer, they would hit with either an ice beam or a clawed attack. As they ran, there was a Sandslash that had appeared from the ground in front of them. Both Mare and Irathie did not stop; they ran, clawed fist ready, and hit directly at the face. They passed the Sandslash as it collapsed on the floor.
It would never last; a Sandslash appeared just enough out of the sand to snatch Mare's leg. He tripped, and as he had, Irathie tripped over Mare's arm. Instead of Irathie landing on the sand, he landed on the open arms of a Sandslash, and it pulled him under very quickly.
"Appointer Irathie!" Mare yelled. "No, no, no, NO!"
The Sandslash that had snatched him began to pull Mare under the sand. He struggled, trying to hold on to anything as his lower body was pulled under. Then, he shot an ice beam all around where he was being taken under. It created a concrete wall to keep him from being dragged. With force, the Sandslash pulled. It stopped, and appeared out of the sand. That was enough time for Mare to send a sharp hand made icicle slice through its throat.
Mare pulled out of the sand. Just as he stood, three Sandslashes, all from opposite sides, jumped at him, and made a good tackle, pulling him to the ground. Mare kicked and thrashed. He was able to break loose from one Sandslash, and slashed like crazy on the other two. He was free. He quickly pulled himself together and ran off, trying not to look back.
But the Sandslashes and Sandshrews were not going to give up. At a good distance, Mare made a complete halt. He took a complete breath of air, and then turned, running back towards the Sandslashes. He was running directly into one of them. A few feet away from it, he jumped, ready to kick it. The Sandslash was ready to grab at him and pull him under. What the Sandslash did not expect was for Mare to use faint attack, and fade through it, and kick the Sandslash behind it. By now, that Sandslash was turning to try and grab again, but the distance was too short. Mare had already turned in the air, and his clawed foot kicked at the Sandslash in the face.
Mare landed on his chest, pain ringing all over his body. In the corner of his view, he saw the other Sandslash looking, stunned for a moment. Then, it pounced for Mare. Mare pushed himself off the ground, and began trying to crawl away. The Sandslash easily caught up. Now, it was just trying to get a good grip on Mare. But Mare would not allow that to happen, and he crawled and crawled, trying to get out of reach of the Pokémon.
The Sandslash brought its claw down, wanting to thrust it through Mare. Fortunately, Mare kept squirming and trying to get out of reach. And although it was now seeming to be impossible, the Sandslash got a good grip on Mare's torso. He smiled. then, he dug under, bringing the thrashing Mare down with him.
And then the beach was empty.