Kendo and I had greatly enjoyed our exhilarating flight, but the poor, frightened stantler, was not nearly as thrilled. For a Pokémon accustomed to the ground, he was doing quite well, but Kendo could tell he wasn't happy. Putting Pokémon first, as always, she gave the command to head back to the others and the three birds did so without question, setting the three of us gently onto the ground.
The first thing we noticed was the net, flung helplessly over at us, as if it had merely been tossed by a little kid, instead of three full grown men. The second thing we noticed were their uniforms, which were black outfits that didn't seem to fit any of them quite right. The last thing we noticed, of course, was the fact that these three grunts were staring at us with open jaws and blank faces.
It was clear to see that they had been ready for a fight. One of the grunts had stepped up to challenge Agony, another one stepped up to challenge the new blue-haired girl that had helped with the rescue mission, and the third grunt was scrambling to a giant net over all the stantler, that was, of course, until we so rudely interrupted.
"I order thee to proclaim to me where these unimaginable creatures came from!" Everyone, including the other grunts, stared at the speaker with vacant expressions. Finally, Agony spoke. "Dude, get with the times, that aint how ya talk." She said, rolling her eyes and digging in her pocket for a cigarette. The new girl with blue hair, slightly darker then mine, giggled at the comment. It was quite clear from the amazement on her face, however, that she was wondering the same thing. Where did we get three legendary birds?
Kendo stepped forward, right in front of the grunt who had spoke, and stared at him with serious eyes. "That doesn't concern you." She pointed out, giving a clear hint that we would reveal absolutely no information. "Oh but it does" another grunt gave a toothy grin. He seemed to step closer, as if unafraid. "And you will tell us!" the third grunt chimed in. Kendo paused a moment, simply listening. Agony and the other girl and I did too. A helicopter! Yes, the sound was getting louder now. More grunts, or worse, some commanders, were on their way.
Agony took charge of the situation without a moments hesitation, "Kendo, get the stantler back into the woods and away from rocket." She ordered. "Frost, you and the new girl take care of all the grunts." She continued. From the look on her face I knew what she had in mind for herself. She was going straight to the top.
I gave the new girl a friendly smile, feeling bad that I still didn't know her name. Now, however, was not the time for introductions. "Shoo!" I shouted, waving my arms wildly and rushing up to the legendary birds. They simply blinked, wondering if I was a mental case. "Fly away!" I repeated more firmly, not wanting the Pokémon responsible for saving our lives to wind up in the possession of team rocket.
The girl stepped forward, waving her arms just as I had done, shouting at the legendary birds as well. Her shouts and mine were both covered up by the roar of the helicopter as the monstrous flying machine hovered, then landed. Agony grinded her teeth together. Both of her Pokémon were out and ready for fight. Kendo had herded the stantler back into the safety of the trees and she was now standing next to Agony. Pooch was on her shoulder, and Sparks and Manecric were each on one side of her.
"Showtime" I grinned, doing a merry little spin. No use trying to scare the birds of now, they had already been spotted. Now, it was our job to fight of team rocket and protect the legendaries from their greedy, filthy hands. That would be a blast!
"Mudkip mud!" I looked down at the mudkip next to Blitz. It was young, but strong, just like it's trainer. "Alright, lets do this!" The four of us waited as a dozen grunts piled out of the helicopter. "Kendo, you take the left four! New girl, you take the right four! I call center!" Mudkip's trainer glanced at Agony, as if wondering why she wasn't fighting. She was about to ask but Kendo shot her a silencing look. That was the last glimpse I saw of both Kendo and the new girl before we were all surrounded by the battle.
"Blitz, flamethrower!" I called "spin as you do it to hit everyone! There's a goldbat above you!" We were fighting all four grunts at once, which was a fun challenge. There were enemy Pokémon everywhere, swarming us like combees swarm teddiersas who try to steal their honey. I caught a glimpse of Agony sneaking into the helicopter. The way she snuck in, ruthlessly knocked out anyone who spotted her, and headed straight for what she needed, made her seem as if she were one of them. A head commander in the team of villains.
Through the sea of black uniforms, I saw a glimpse of a blue dress. "Blitz, work your way to the right!" I called, wanting to check up on my new friend and make sure she was holding her ground. Blitz did as he was told, hurling blasts of fire at his foes as he did so. All of the Pokémon were crowding him, this was more then four! I suddenly realized that the grunts had sent out all of their Pokémon at once! It added up to thirteen Pokémon facing Blitz at one time. I quickly glanced around and noticed that my friends were in similar positions. "Pull in!" I exclaimed quickly. My teeth grinned tightly as I watched Blitz get ganged up on "hang on tight buddy" I pleaded.
Finally I saw Kendo and her faithful trio press through the crowd. The girl and her Mudkip were having a tad more trouble, but Blitz helped out by blasting a few goldbats out of the way. Soon us three trainers were side by side with out Pokémon in front of us. "We need a combined attack!" I said, stating the obvious.
Kendo gave a simple nod "Sparks and Blitz can do a fire duo." She volunteered. "and manecrtic and mudkip can team up too." I turned to the girl, finally asking the question I should of asked the moment Blitz led her over to us. "What's your name?"
"Ally!" the girl replied with a laugh, offering out her hand. I gave it a quick shake and replied with a simple "Frost" before turning my attention back to the chaos around us. "Lets blast these thief's!" I cheered, my friends joined in with battle cries, as did the Pokémon.
The plan worked better then one could expect! First, Sparks and Blaze stepped forward and teamed up, both of them spinning with flamethrowers in perfect formation. Evidently Kendo had taught the trick to her Pokémon, and boy was a glad she did. A fire tornado shot it in each direction, one made by each Pokémon, and crashed into all of their foes. Team rocket grunts were truly stunned. All twelve of them shielded their faces from the blast. The heat was too intense for even them. Some of the Pokémon collapsed. They had had enough of the battle, the rest, however, pressed on. Both fire Pokémon were exhausted from the great effort. Kendo returned Sparks, and Blitz darted back to my side. Next, Mudkip and Manetric stepped forward. Mudkip soaked the entire battlefield with a blast of water. Some Pokémon seemed refreshed by it, but they wouldn't be for long. The water served as a double purpose. It put out the fire before it spread to the forest. Also, however, water conducted electricity, which was why it was perfect in between the blast of fire, and the burst of lighting that Manectric was producing now. Electricity spread just as the wildfire had.
After that teamed up attack, every rocket Pokémon was down. The three of us exchanged satisfactory grins as team rocket returned their fallen Pokémon and scurried back to the helicopter. We all returned are wounded pokemon when we realized two very important things. The first one was that the legendary birds were gone, and the second was that Agony was in the helicopter when it took off.
"Your friend's in there!" Ally exclaimed. She clipped Mudkips pokeball back to her hairclip then turned to the two of us. Either of you have a flying Pokémon?" She wondered. I shook my head then glanced at Kendo, about to ask if she would capture something with her styler. When I turned to her, though, I realized she was way ahead of me. Kendo was already springing through the trees in search of a bird. I glanced at the stone around my neck. The red, blue, and yellow were fading fast. "Hurry Kendo!" I hollered, knowing that if they got to far away it would be quite hard to track them down.
Minutes ticked by, Kendo was long gone. I sat on the floor puling at the charred grass as Ally paced back and forth "Maybe she was eaten by a pack of hungry mighteanas. Maybe she was lost and tricked by the illusions the stantlers make. Maybe she was jumped by more team rocket members. They jumped me you know! They leapt right out of the bushes and tried to take Mudkip! They said they wanted to steal Pokémon from weak trainers! The nerve of it all! We sure showed them who was weak!" I look up at her. She seemed about twelve years old, and her aqua hair had a slight hint of a wave to it, like ocean waters. Her pale purple eyes were filled with a youthful spirit. "Is mudkip your only?" I asked, she shook her head. "I've got lovedisk too! She exclaimed merrily, rubbing her finger over another pokeball on her barret in her hair." "Interesting way of holding your Pokémon." "I wanted to be different." I smiled lightly at her answer, tugging more of the brown grass in my fingers. For some reason, I loved the feeling of burnt things. Perhaps I had been around Blitz for to long.
"Guess who's back!" I scrambled to my feet at the sound of Kendo's voice. She grinned widely "It's our lucky day, the pigeot were passing through" She pointed up at three big birds she had captured. I grinned widely and darted forward. "Oh master poke-catcher I shall not push you of another cliff for the rest of the day!" I promised as I extended a hand to the big pigeot in a quick form of an introduction. "Did you just catch all these?" Ally asked, her voice was filled with amazement. "I'm A ranger, we don't really catch Pokémon like trainers do." She explained "It's more like borrowing them, there just flying us over and then there free." Ally still seemed a bit uncertain, but we could explain more about rangers later, right now, we had a helicopter to chase.
"Lets fly!" I called excitedly. "Race you!" Kendo countered, gently easing herself onto the bird, then waiting till we were ready. "Liftoff!" she ordered. I had to hang on with all my might not to tumble off backwards the moment we started. How could rangers do this so easily? I closed my eyes and tried to find my balance. Riding the legendary had been so much easier! It was bigger for starters. Pus, we didn't have to lift off!
I glanced at Ally. She was struggling a little, but not as much as I was. Most likely because she was smaller then me. I repositioned myself again and leaned forward. "Faster!" I pleaded. It always felt weird ordering around Pokémon that I didn't know. Pigiot, however, obeyed without question and sped up. I smirked as I started gaining on Kendo, but then ally swooped past both of us. "Your not going to leave me out, are you?" she asked playfully. Kendo just grinned, then her pigiot took of out of a rocket, swirling and looping and gaining on Ally with ease. I was always amazed how Kendo and the Pokémon she captured acted united, like they were one.
We, on the other hand, were not one; my pigiot and I. I tried to get Pigeot to swoop and dive as Kendo's had done, but this time, she wasn't as convinced. Speeding up was one thing, doing tricks was entirely different.
The pigeot gave me a sharp peck on my side as a warning, but of course, being the idiot I am I let out some sort of surprised yelp and moved my hand to my side. That means I let go of the bird, who was now picking up speed again to keep up with the others. I slipped off, much to the surprise of the bird and myself. Dropping through the air without a parachute is not my cup of tea.
Quick as a pacherisu on a sugar rush, Kendo whipped out her styler and caught a ferow. The larger bird dove, and swept me up and I clung to it like a baby clings to its mother. My heart was thumping in my chest like a nervous rabbit foot thumping against the ground in anticipation. I glanced up to see Kendo's relived face and Ally's look of shock. I offered them a goofy grin before turning serious again and commanding Ferrow to head up to the helicopter.
Sounds of shouts erupted from the helicopter and we knew Agony had been discovered. "Hurry" Kendo commanded. She steered her pigeot closer, then leapt from the bird onto team rocket's machine. No longer needed, Kendo's pigeot flew off. Ally slipped of her bird just like Kendo did, leaping onto the metal, but loosing her footing as the helicopter suddenly lurched forward. Quick reaction on Kendo's part was the only reason Ally wasn't free falling to the forest below. "Stay here and hang on" Kendo ordered as she slowly eased herself to the front of the airplane.
Kendo looked like a lizard, inching forward by first sliding her arms forward, then pulling her legs closer. "You're an inch worm!" I teased as I glided over to the helicopter with me ferrow. "Shut up Frost!" She snapped at me, trying not to mess up her concentration.
More shouts could be heard from inside the helicopter. Now that I was closer I could identify Agony's voice among the shouting. Suddenly, the whole copter swerved out of control. "That's right! Leave your dumb grunts to the steering and fight me like a man!" Agony was challenging the pilot? She must have no idea Kendo and Ally were on the helicopter! The entire thing lurched again and for the third time in an hour I heard the frightened scream of Ally. "I got her!" I called out as Ferrow tucked in its wings and dropped like a bomb towards the screaming, flailing twelve year old that had slipped of the top of the aircraft.
"Gotcha!" By some sort of miracle Ally landed on top of the Ferrow with me. Her eyes were flooded with fear and she was practically chocking for breath. "Hang on" I ordered. "We're going up again!" Ferrow, worn out from catching two trainers, reluctantly flew back up to the helicopter. "Stay here Ally!" I called as I leapt onto the back of the helicopter. I let my feet slide as I landed and clenched a bar on the top of the copter so hard that my knuckled turned albino. "Right behind you Kendo!" Kendo shot a quick, stern glance back at me. Her face was super serious. "Try not to die!" she hissed. Then she wiggled forward more until she was at the entrance of the helicopter. She swung herself in with ease. I mimicked her inchworm crawling technique, which was extremely helpful when trying not to die and climbing across the roof of a flying helicopter. I too swung myself in, not with as much ease as the ranger, but at least I didn't fall to a horrid death below.
"What are you doing here?" One of the grunts exclaimed as about five of them jumped up and glared at us. "The door was open so we thought we'd drop in." I offered a very sarcastic smile "I hope you like visitors!" I sang merrily as I tossed a pokeball at them and my trusted partner appeared in front of them. Blitz was still worn out from his last encounter with the grunts all of ten minutes ago, but he did a great job of hiding it. "Growl Growl!" He barked, baring his teeth in a threatening manner. Kendo tossed out Manectric, but her focus was not on a fight. She was scaning the plane for Agony.
"Mercy! Mercy!" "That aint my name, so don't expect me to show you any!" A terrified wail of a man told us that we had found Agony. "Have fun Frost!" Kendo called as she took off towards Agony's voice and the helpless cry of her victim. Manectric ran at her side, shocking everyone who tried to stop her. Pooch, of course, was clutching her shoulder as he always was. The little grey puppy was a pro at hanging onto Kendo no matter what crazy thing she was doing.
The five grunts advanced on Blitz and I, trying to get us to back out of the helicopter. I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to see what awaited us below. "Ready Blitz?" I asked. He had no idea what he was ready for, but he gave a quick bar anyways. "Good, cuz here we go." I jumped straight up, grabbing a bar that was there for people to hold as they peered out of the helicopter. "Light as a feather Blitz!" I called. He froze, letting his body relax completely. By my words, he knew he would be picked up and tossed.
I swung myself on the bar, at one point my legs were outside of the helicopter. I gave myself another swing, going further out this time. "Here we go!" I swung out once more, and as I swept back in I wrapped my feet around the body of my little fire partner. He flew out with me, Suspended mid-air about 50 feet up only by my feet. He didn't tense up or freak out though. If he did, He would have fell for sure. It took all of his self control to stay calm, but he did, and as the momentum we had build up pulled us back into the helicopter, I let go of Blitz.
He was launched over the heads of the grunts and landed on his feet like a cat. He whirled around and faced the grunts. "Fire blast!" happily, Blitz obeyed and unleashed a blast of fire from his mouth that sent all of the startled grunts right out of the copter. I fell to the floor once they were gone, unable to hold myself up any longer. "Good boy!" I praised as I peered down and saw all of the grunts thrashing around helplessly in the water below. Of course I had checked to make sure we were above water before starting the whole stunt. If they fell on land, well, that would have been a bit more painful for them. True I was already a wanted criminal, but I preferred not to add murder to my record.
"Come on buddy, let's go find Kendo and Agony!" The two of us raced across the helicopter, slamming against the wall as it swerved to the side again. "Dang it, first thing I'm going to do is throw that good for nothing pilot overboard for the sharpedos to eat!" I ran forward again and yanked open the door to the control room. Inside was a scene of pure chaos.
First of there was Agony. She had a grown man with a different uniform on, a commander I suppose, in a headlock. It appeared that she was giving him an extreme nogie with her other hand while kneeing him in the stomach. "Tell me what I wanna know!" She snapped angrily, looking as though she was ready to murder. Not just the –chew-off-the-head-of-a-chocolate-easterbunny kind of murder. Agony's face seemed like the serious, serial killer (and not the edible cereal) kind of murderer.
Then there was the man, Agony's victim. He seemed far from innocent, but determined not to reveal anything. His eyes blazed fiercely at Agony. His eyes fell to Malice, who was standing besides Agony. "What are you ganna do, missy? Kill me?" His face was full of goofy pride. He knew the teenage girl that was clutching him so firmly would not kill him, and he was mocking her.
Thirdly, there was Kendo. She was desperately trying to pull the two apart. "No ones killing anyone! Were all fine and dandy here! Lets just go on back to land and continue on out little journey, come on Agony!" Kendo tried to pry her friend's arm from the man's neck. "Just let go and we'll leave."
The fourth contributing factor to the scene of madness was the current pilot. He was playing with the controls as if it were some videogame. Shouting "Weeee" as he pulled the joint stick back and "yeee-haww" as he shoved it forward again. His childish actions were the reason Blitz and I were smashed against the wall more then once on our way over here. Before I could even think about what to do about my fighting friends and the commander, I stepped forward, yanked the grunt out of the control chair, rolled down the window, and literally shoved him out of the window of the helicopter into the water.
"Frost did you just…" Kendo glanced over at me, he eyes filled with pure shock. "What?" I asked innocently "were over water, he'll live." Kendo didn't even know what to say, and I turned to the control panel to see the last part of the chaos of the room. Poocheana franticly jumping on all of the buttons hoping to find some way to turn of the flashing red danger sign.
"Did you guys know the copter blew an engine?" I asked casually, leaning against the control table as the helicopter began hurling downwards. "Yeah I did that!" Agony said proudly as she tightened her grip on her victim. Kendo gave both of us a look of utter annoyance then darted over to the pilot seat and pulled back, bring us up higher into the air again. "You two are horrible!" she scolded. "Thanks" I said, then turned to Agony. "Might as well toss him overboard, he aint worth our time. Agony glared at the man, kneed him in the stomach once more, then dragged him over to the open window. "Wait!" I called; she turned her head towards me. "I think Kendo wants to do it." Both of us turned to Kendo, who smiled innocently, strolled over, then shoved the guy out of the helicopter. All three of us watched him splash into the water. "Alright, I admit it, pushing people of the helicopter is fun," She said. The thee of us exchanged a high-five, then raced to the back of the helicopter. Blitz Manecric Malice and Pooch darted after us, the red warning light still flashing.
"The birds are in here!" Agony explained as she pressed a button on the wall and opened the doors to a big cell. Kendo snatched a key that was hanging on the wall and unlocked all three cages and Agony and I pulled the giant doors of the back of the helicopter open. "Lets fly!" The three of us each jumped onto a legendary bird. It was me on the fire one, Moltros, with Blitz tuched up carefully between the bird and my arm. Then there was Kendo on the electric bird, Zapdos with Pooch on her head and manectric returned. Agony was, of course, on the ice one, Articuno. The three of us flew away from the plane, joining Ally who was hovering on the Ferrow, waiting for us. "Fly fast!" Agony ordered "Its ganna blow!" The four of us picked up speed and then, KABOOM! Parts of the machine rained down onto all of the grunts who were in the water, and their overly cocky commander. "Have fun swimming home!" Agony screamed at the top of her lungs. "That's what you get for trying to steal legendaries!" Kendo chimed in. "I hope sharpedos decapitate you!" I sang merrily as my friends gave me a rather concerned look. "And eat your guts!" Ally added lastly. I chuckled "I'm a great influence, aren't I?" My friends responded only by rolling their eyes.