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Sinnoh Bound
by Sailor Chronos
Chapter Ten: Flight Risk
The melodious noises of the local Pokémon in the summer heat did nothing to improve Jack's mood as he and the others were bounced around in Fantina's car. Instead of pursuing Pokémon Hunter K along the east road out of the city like the police had, Fantina had turned onto a lane that gradually became a narrow track, winding through copses and areas of tall grass. Eventually they could go no further and were forced to disembark.
A few moments passed in tense silence as Fantina mentally communed with her Mismagius, whom she had sent to shadow the fugitive. Then she brought out a PokéBall and released a Drifblim. "We shall surprise him this way," she announced with a smirk, her eyes gleaming. "How many of you have flying Pokémon?"
Heather nodded curtly and gave a call; her Pidgeot that had been circling high overhead swooped down and landed. However Jack sheepishly raised his hands, feeling like he had been stuck in a trap. He was so used to his sister having birds that he had never considered catching a flying type for himself.
Mouse had also been caught off-guard. "Um... does Gligar count?"
"Non, Gligar uses the wind to glide. And it is not large enough to carry you." In a fluid motion Fantina let out two more Pokémon: another Drifblim and a Gengar. "Pas de problème, my ghost Pokémon can do it." The first Drifblim wrapped its ribbon-like appendages around her body and lifted her slowly into the air.
"I'm sorry, Jack," Heather said ruefully as she settled herself on Eagle's back. "If I had worked harder with Aurelia and evolved her into a Staraptor, you'd have a ride."
"It's not your fault, sis. How could you have known?" He lifted his arms and the Gengar grasped his body, bearing him aloft with ease.
Mouse hesitated before allowing the Drifblim to carry her. "If it wasn't so important, I'd stay on the ground."
"Whatever helps to get Kojin back," Jack insisted. He would walk through fire if that was what it took to rescue his Torchic.
Once airborne, the unconventional quartet soared over a densely treed ridge, beyond which was more forest. However Fantina called their attention to a small clearing that contained a ramshackle cabin, next to which was parked a black vehicle resembling the one belonging to Hunter K. Her Mismagius appeared next to her, smiling in satisfaction; after thanking her Pokémon she recalled it.
Heather suggested, "When we land, we should disable his vehicle so he can't use it to escape. Then we surround him."
"He won't give up without a fight," warned Jack. "We already know that he has a powerful Houndoom and Skarmory, and probably has other Pokémon too."
Mouse gave her cat-like grin. "The most he can have with him is six. All together, we have more than that. He's outnumbered."
"Let us not get too confident, mes amis," said Fantina. "He is resourceful enough to escape the police, so he must have equipment that gives him an advantage."
They flew the rest of the way to the cabin in silence. As they landed and recalled their Pokémon, however, the low-pitched thrum of a helicopter sounded from the distance. Jack's earlier fury returned full strength. "I'll bet anything that's someone who's going to pay Hunter K for the Pokémon!"
Heather released Loki. "Then we'd better move! Loki, use Thunder Wave on that vehicle!" The Pikachu obeyed, and his lightning arced all around the black six-wheeled van, burning out its wiring and other delicate parts. Wisps of smoke puffed from under the hood.
The door of the cabin opened to reveal the muscular Hunter K, still wearing his black and white coveralls, and quite irate at the interruption of his upcoming deal. "You again? If you kids keep butting into my business, you'll regret it." He tossed up a PokéBall and a Skuntank emerged. "Leave! Now!"
"No way! Give me back my Torchic!" Jack shouted.
Hunter K laughed derisively. "I'd like to see you try. Your Pokémon are no match for mine. Skuntank, Smokescreen!" His Pokémon released a smoky cloud from its mouth that obscured both it and its trainer from sight.
Mouse and Heather nodded briskly at each other and assumed identical stances, as if they were participating in a double battle.
"Tysen, Dig!"
"Eagle, Whirlwind!"
Heather's Pidgeot whipped up such a fierce gale that not only did it blow away the smoke it threw the Skuntank off its feet. Meanwhile Mouse's Typhlosion burrowed into the ground, emerging a few seconds later directly underneath the Skuntank and hurling it into the air. It thudded into the ground and fainted.
Jack couldn't help but be impressed by the girls' teamwork; it was obvious that they had battled in tandem many times. He addressed Hunter K again. "Return my Torchic and the other Pokémon you stole!" His voice was all but drowned out by the noise from the approaching helicopter that was now preparing to land.
Fantina called out a Drifblim. "Ominous Wind!" The Pokémon floated in front of the copter and began to spin, creating a gust of purplish haze. The pilot panicked as the aircraft was buffeted by the wind, and he aborted his landing. Someone else inside the copter yelled orders and the copter gradually rose up to a safer distance.
Hunter K brought out two more Pokémon: a Toxicroak and his Skarmory. "If you're going double down, I'm game! Toxicroak, Earthquake! Skarmory, Fly!"
"Eagle, Wing Attack on Toxicroak!"
"Tysen, Flamethrower on Skarmory!"
The Toxicroak was able to maintain its Earthquake only for a few seconds before Eagle struck. It was thrown upward and then it crashed heavily onto the roof of the cabin, which cracked under it and then collapsed.
"No!" Jack screamed, horrified. Kojin had to be in there - not to mention how many other Pokémon! Forgetting the battle that was still underway he raced around the melee, plunged past Hunter K and into the damaged structure. The Pokémon hunter tried to grab him as he passed, but missed.
Gingerly he made his way through the the two-room cabin; the shattered boards that once had been the roof were everywhere and made his footing unstable. The Toxicroak lay unconscious amid the debris. Worried Pokémon cries emanated from the next room, including a familiar call that he had feared he would never hear again: "Torchic, chic chic!"
"Kojin!" He stumbled to the nearby doorway. In the other room he saw various pieces of equipment scattered about, but his attention was drawn to several cages lined up on a table, one of which contained Kojin! Intensely relieved, he moved toward them, and his Torchic fluttered about in delight within the confines of his prison.
The remnants of the ceiling above creaked menacingly as it was vibrated by a shock wave from the battle outside. Jack realized with dread that there was no time to get the cages open or carry them out one by one. The place could implode at any second and crush them all. He fumbled at his belt and released his recently-acquired Kirlia. "Grant, can you teleport us and the other Pokémon?"
Grant chirruped in an affirmative tone and held out his arms. A multicoloured glow suffused the area, and in the next instant Jack and all the Pokémon were outside, in a spot about ten yards away from the cabin. Jack took a relieved breath. "Awesome! Thanks, Grant!" He quickly glanced over his shoulder; Heather and Mouse still battled the Hunter who was now using his Houndoom and a large Pokémon with a shield-shaped head that he didn't recognize.
Trusting that the girls could handle it, he wondered how to get the captive Pokémon out of the cages. They were made of a material that felt like metal when he tapped it with his fingers, but it appeared to be impervious to attacks, judging from the marks that had to be the results of the Pokémon attempting to escape. There was no obvious locking mechanism, so the only explanation was that Hunter K had a device that controlled the cages. Defeated, he sat back on his heels with shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, I can't open it."
Once again, Grant came to the rescue. The Kirlia concentrated on Kojin's cage and teleported its occupant out. The moment the Torchic was free, he gratefully leaped into his friend's arms. "Chic, chic, chic!"
Joyful tears began to well up in Jack's eyes despite his efforts to stop them. He was a trainer! Trainers didn't cry! His throat closed up, but he managed to whisper, "I'm so sorry, Kojin." Swallowing hard, he lifted Kojin up to arm's length and continued, "If I'd trained harder with you, this wouldn't have happened." Kojin flapped his little wings and voiced a stream of syllables; Jack could clearly understand from the tone and body language that his Pokémon did not blame him, and relaxed a bit. "Okay, but from now on, no more holding back, understand?"
Kojin peeped happily, and then was suddenly surrounded by a brilliant glow. Shocked, Jack quickly put the Pokémon down. His Torchic was evolving! But he hadn't been battling! A half-forgotten memory surfaced in his mind: sometimes Pokémon evolved when they became more emotionally attuned to their trainers. He watched as the Pokémon's legs became longer and more muscular while the wings lengthened and grew sharp claws. Kojin had become a Combusken!
Jack let out a jubilant whoop, and then belatedly thought about the Pokémon in the other cages; they had to be freed also. Grant was happy to oblige and used Teleport to liberate the four remaining captives: Chansey, Munchlax, Gible, and Snorunt. They all made noises of relief and gratitude, and he smiled happily at them.
Wait... a Gible?!
Without thinking he yanked an empty PokéBall from his belt and threw it at the Gible. "Please let me catch you!" With a flash of red energy the Gible was pulled into the PokéBall, but it emerged almost immediately and gave Jack an annoyed glare before digging down into the ground.
His legs buckled and he sat down heavily on the grass with a tired groan. "Oh, man! I should have known better than to do that." He had been pining about the fact that he hadn't seen Wayward Cave where Gible were known to live, and he just had a chance to catch one but messed it up big time.
A few seconds passed before the Gible popped back to the surface a short distance away, and it growled at him. He took the hint and decided to not try to approach it.
"Jack!" he heard Heather call. "Are you all right?" She and Mouse jogged over to him. "When we saw you run into the cabin we got worried, but we had to finish battling Hunter K."
"I'm fine." He scrambled to his feet and glanced past the girls. "Where's-?"
Mouse cut him off with a wave. "Don't worry about him. We beat that jerk with no problem. After Fantina scared off his client's copter, she got her Mismagius to hold him with Mean Look until the police get here."
Heather leaned down to greet the freed Pokémon. "Hello. Who are these?" With a start she noticed the Combusken. "Is that Kojin?"
The stress and worry of the past few hours faded as words tumbled out of Jack's mouth in his effort to explain what had happened. "It was great, sis! Grant teleported all of us out of the cabin before it collapsed, and then when we got Kojin out of the cage he evolved, just like that! And one of the other Pokémon was a Gible and I tried to catch it, but it didn't work."
"Whoa, whoa!" said Heather, laughing. "Did you say a Gible?"
"You mean that?" Mouse pointed at the Gible, and it eyed her warily. "You do realize that it might already belong to someone? If that's the case you won't be able to catch it anyway."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said with a disappointed sigh, and then cleared his throat. "We should get all these Pokémon back to the city. I'm sure their trainers are worried about them."
Fantina drifted toward them; her hair was disheveled after being blown around by the draft from the helicopter. "You do that, mes amis," she said, and puffed a stray hair out of her face. "I must stay here and make sure that hunter goes nowhere." Then she looked pointedly at each of them in turn. "I witnessed some excellent battling today. Come to my Gym tomorrow. A bientôt!" She turned and walked back to her Pokémon.
They all stared at each other for a moment. "Was that... an invitation?" Jack asked, wide-eyed with amazement.
"I guess we'll find out tomorrow," said Heather. "In the meantime let's round up these Pokémon..." She chased after the Munchlax who had wandered a short distance away and was eating berries from a bush.
Jack recalled Kojin to his PokéBall, and once the other Pokémon were accounted for, he asked Grant to teleport them all to the Pokémon Centre.