Danger Strikes

A few days later, Hilary and Isabel were chatting near a lake. "A nice day, huh?" asked Hilary. "Sure," replied Isabel. "I think it's a good day," replied Hilary. "Well," Hilary began. "So, is this how we are going to keep meeting like this?"

A familiar voice said. "I know who said that," Hilary said. That's when Natalie showed up. "Oh, hi, Natalie," said Isabel, "Nice to see you." "Yeah. It's becoming a typical meeting," said Isabel. "Yeah," agreed Hilary, "I agree." "I know," said Natalie. "How are thing going?" asked Isabel. "Doing fine," answered Natalie. "Then let's enjoy our day together," declared Hilary.

"You're overdoing it again," said Natalie. "Darn it!" groaned Hilary. However, their day was about to take a turn for a nasty surprise. "So, Natalie, are you doing all right now?" asked Isabel. "Yes," answered Natalie. "How's your shoulder doing?" asked Hilary.

"It's doing better," answered Natalie. "But do you think it's a good idea not to tell your parents about this?" asked Isabel. "Don't worry," answered Natalie, "I can take care of it." "Okay," said Hilary, "If you say so." "But I'm not sure if it's a good idea," thought Isabel. What Isabel thought would end up being true.

It was nearly 15 minutes since Natalie met up with Isabel and Hilary when it happened. "You disgust me!" a menacing sounding voice shouted. "What the heck?!" said Natalie. "Who said that?" asked Isabel. "Hello, you little brats," the voice continued.

"Uh, Natalie," said Hilary, "Is this a new friend?" "No," answered Natalie, seriously, "Who are you?" "I am called the Enraged Savage," answered the man and that when he showed himself to the girls, walking out from behind a bush. "Wow, you are really lame," said Natalie. "Don't you dare call me lame!" bellowed the Enraged Savage. Hilary jumped in surprise.

"You don't have to shout!" she said. "Shut your mouth!" shouted the Enraged Savage, "I hear that you've caused a lot of trouble for one of my friends." "What are you talking about?" asked Natalie. "My sledgehammer friend," replied the Enraged Savage, "In case you've forgotten."

"We haven't forgotten," snarled Natalie. "So, you're saying that you let that overweight man attack us with that sledgehammer a few days ago?" asked Isabel. "Yes," said the Enraged Savage, "And now, he's gone! Thanks to you!" "Look, here," said Natalie, trying to reason with the Enraged Savage, "I didn't want to hurt him, but he tried to kill us!" "Exactly!" replied the Enraged Savage.

"What?" gasped Natalie, "Are you saying that you're friends with that lunatic?!" "You can put like that," answered the Enraged Savage. "Then why did you have him attack us?" Isabel asked. "Hmm," the Enraged Savage pondered, "Maybe because he doesn't like you?!" "What?" exclaimed Natalie, "Is it because you hate Pokemon trainers?!" "Yes!" said the Enraged Savage.

"Okay," said Hilary, "That has got to be the lamest explanation that I've ever heard of." "Shut up!" shouted the Enraged Savage. "So, uh, do you want to play paddy-cake?" Hilary asked The Enraged Savage, but he only stared at Hilary with an evil look. That's when he pulled out a rifle from his jacket and said, "Here is my answer!"

He aimed his rifle at Hilary. "That's not the answer that I wanted!" exclaimed Hilary. "Hilary!" shouted Natalie, "Get out of the way!" Natalie pushed Hilary out of the way as the Enraged Savage fired his first gunshot. Luckily, he missed. "That was close!" Natalie said sternly. "No problem," thought the Enraged Savage, and then he aimed his gun at Natalie and Hilary.

Natalie responded quickly by picking up a large rock and used it as a shield the moment the gunshot was fired, which ricochet off the rock. Natalie then threw the rock at the Enrage Savage's left leg. "ARGH!" he cried in pain.

"Come on!" Natalie shouted, "Let's get out of here!" So, Natalie, Hilary and Isabel got away.

"I'll blow you all up for this!" screamed the Enraged Savage as soon as he recovered and fired multiple gunshots; The three girls manage to avoid all the gunshots and hide behind a tree. "Holy radiation belt!" said Hilary.

"Shush!" hissed Natalie. The Enraged Savage fired a few more gunshots until he ran out of ammo, but he quickly reloaded his rifle. "I can guess that there's no way we can send our Pokemon to stop this guy," thought Isabel. "You're right," agreed Hilary. "Let's get away from this guy!" cried Natalie. "Agreed!" Hilary shouted.

"I won't let you escape!" shouted the Enraged Savage. "Did you have to go and open your big mouth?" asked Natalie. "I'm sorry!" replied Hilary. Natalie quickly jumped out from the hiding place, scooped up a pile of dirt and threw it into the Enraged Savage's eyes, causing him to go blind for a moment, and also firing his rifle at nothing. "Now we run!" shouted Natalie.

"Agreed again!" replied Isabel. And so they ran away. After the Enraged Savage recovered and got his eyesight back, he resume hunting down the girls, who were all running away once again. "Nice job of mimicking a Pokemon sand attack," commented Hilary. "Thanks," replied Natalie, "But don't give your opinion now!" "Keep running!" shouted Isabel.

However, Hilary and Isabel managed to run ahead of Natalie.

Meanwhile, Mason was just walking nearby. She was one her break and decided to go walking around.

However, her moment of peacefulness is about to get interrupted. One moment, she was walking, the next, she was on the ground; Hilary and Isabel ran right into Mason, bumped into her and accidentally pushed her down. "Oh, hey, Mason," said Hilary, nervously.

"Hilary! Isabel!" Mason exclaimed, "What on Earth are you doing?!" "We're running from a psychopath!" cried Hilary. "A psyco-what?!" Mason said out loud. That's when she heard gunshot sounds.

"The psychopath is coming here now!" Hilary said in a wimpy voice. "Isabel! Hilary!" said Mason, seriously, "Where is Natalie?" "I'm right here, mom!" Natalie exclaimed when she caught up to Hilary and Isabel. "Natalie!" exclaimed Mason, "Thank goodness you're all right!" "Thanks," Natalie was about to say more before Mason interrupted her.

"Now!" said Mason, "I want you all to go find a place to hide! Everyone!" "Okay," replied Isabel. "There!" said Hilary, pointing at a large rock. "Quickly!" said Isabel. They got behind the large rock as quickly as they can before the Enraged Savage showed up. "Who is that man?" asked Mason, quietly.

"He called himself the Enraged Savage," answered Isabel, "He says he doesn't like us, so he's going to shoot us." "Okay," said Mason, "I don't know who this man is. All I know is that he has a gun." "Yeah, that's true," said Isabel. The Enraged Savage showed up. But he doesn't know where the girls are. "Come on out you cowards!" he shouted.

"So, how do we get around this guy?" asked Isabel. "Okay," said Mason, "I have an idea." But Natalie wanted to do something about the Enraged Savage. "I'm not going to let this nuthead hurt my mom and my friends!" thought Natalie.

So, she snuck away without letting Mason, Isabel and Hilary noticing. "Now," said Mason, seriously, "I could distract the guy long enough for you to get out of here." "But what about you?" asked Isabel.

"Don't worry about me," said Mason, "I'll be fine. Now get ready to run. And get Natalie to safety." "Okay," agreed Isabel. That's when Hilary noticed that Natalie is gone.

"Okay, where is she?" thought Hilary. "Get ready to run out of here," said Mason, getting ready to take action against the maniac. "Yeah!" called out Hilary, "But look up there!"

"What?!" answered Mason. They could see that Natalie was on top of the large rock and it looks like she is going to jump onto the Enraged Savage. That's what she did. "Natalie, don't!" Mason shouted, the moment Natalie landed on the Enraged Savage.

Natalie then wrapped her arms around the Enraged Savage's head, thus blinding him. "Natalie!" shouted Mason, "Get off of that guy! Now!" Although the Enraged Savage started to go ballistic, Natalie did not listen.

The next thing that happened, the Enraged Savage started firing his rifle randomly. "Natalie!" Mason shouted as she dodged one bullet, "Stop!" "Natalie!" cried Hilary, "Are you crazy?!" Natalie still didn't answer, and she hung on tightly. The Enrage Savage fired his rifle in all directions uncontrollably. He continued firing; his last several shots, nothing happened.

"Natalie get off of him right now!" shouted Mason, starting to get worried. The Enraged Savage continued moving wildly until he grabbed Natalie by her left leg and slammed her to the ground.

"I'll blow you up!" screamed the Enraged Savage, aiming his rifled at Natalie. Mason, Hilary and Isabel watched in horror for the next thing to happen. The Enraged Savage pulled his trigger, but nothing happened.

"Blast!" he exclaimed, "Out of ammo!" He was going to reload his rifle again. Mason knew that she had to react fast. She immediately picked up a large rock, charged towards the Enraged Savage and struck him in the face really hard, knocking him down and rendering him unconscious. "Thanks mom," said Natalie as Mason helped her back on her feet. However, Mason said nothing,; she didn't look very happy. Instead, she tied up the Enraged Savage and made a phone call on her cell phone. Hilary and Isabel ran up to Natalie. They were both worried about her. "Natalie," said Isabel, "Are you all right?" "Yes," replied Natalie, "I think I am." "Natalie," said Isabel, "That guy could have killed you!" "I know," said Natalie, "I didn't want him to hurt any of you." Isabel said nothing in reply. "Natalie," said Hilary, "You are one crazy girl." "Yeah," answered Natalie. "You realized that you could have been hurt," said Isabel, "Or worse!" "I know," said Natalie. "Next time before you do something crazy like that," said Hilary, "Make sure it's not as insane as what happened today." "Fine," said Natalie.

By now, Mason had finished her phone call, and she heard everything Hilary, Isabel, and Natalie has said. They were about to say more when they were interrupted by an angry sounding voice.

"Enough!" Natalie, Hilary and Isabel got stunned and found that Mason was not happy with them. "Hilary! Isabel!" Mason said in a serious voice, "I want you two to go home now!"

"All right, then," said Isabel, "Bye, Natalie. Take care. "See you, Natalie," said Hilary, nervously. Hilary and Isabel went back home. Then Mason turned to Natalie.

"Natalie!" Mason said sternly, "You're staying with me for the rest of the day! We're going to have a long talk when we get home." "Yes, mom," said Natalie, knowing that she is in trouble. They both waited until the Enraged Savage, who too unconscious to do anything, was arrested by Officer Jenny.

So for the rest of the day, Natalie followed Mason back to the preserve center. All Natalie did was wait in a room while her mother was busy with her work. But neither said anything.

Soon enough, it was time to go home. Natalie knew she was in for a serious lecture when they got back home; Woodruff wasn't home when they return. Natalie sat down in the living room and prepared for a serious lecture.

"I can't understand this!" muttered Mason when she walked into the living room and Natalie just sat there and began to listen. "I don't understand this at all!" Mason scolded Natalie, "Natalie! What you did today was extremely dangerous!"

"I know, mom," said Natalie in a sad tone of voice. "You disobeyed me!" continued Mason, "I told you to stay behind me! But what did you do instead? You tried to take on an armed gunman by yourself!" "Yes, mom," replied Natalie.

"That man could have killed you!" Mason continued, "Do you realized how worried sick I was?!" Yes," Natalie replied in a sad tone of voice and that's when she realized her mistake. "I don't know what else to say anymore!" Mason went on to say, "You know how dangerous that man was! You should remember why I didn't bring you into the preserve when the Pokemon poacher ran wild!"

But Natalie was remembering her incident with two other creeps instead of listen to what Mason was saying. "Natalie," said Mason. But Natalie kept on thinking. Mason slammed her hand on the table to get Natalie's attention.

"Natalie!" Mason yelled, "Are you listening to me?!" "Yes, mom!" replied Natalie, startled. "You know that I don't like it when I have to raise my voice at you!" "Yes, mom," replied Natalie. "After this, I'm going to talk to your father as soon as he gets back home! I don't know what else to do with you!" Just then, Woodruff came home and walked into the living room.

He heard almost everything Mason said before he walked into the house. "Mason, is everything all right?" he asked, concerned. "No," answered Mason, sternly, "I had to teach our child a lesson. She did something-"

Before Mason could say anymore, Natalie got up and ran towards Woodruff, crying. "Dad!" cried Natalie, "I can't take it anymore!" "What is it?" asked Woodruff. "Dad!" cried Natalie, "We have to tell mom what happened weeks earlier!"

"Tell me what happened weeks earlier?" repeated Mason. "There's something we should have told you, mom!" said Natalie. "All right," said Mason, sternly, "What is going on?" "Honey," said Woodruff, grimly, "There's something you should know about."

"Yes," said Mason, "What?" "Honey," said Woodruff, "A few weeks ago, me and Natalie were both attacked by idiot hunters." "What idiot hunters?" asked Mason. "They netted us," said Natalie, "And then they tried to shoot us, but failed."

"Wait," said Mason, starting to get worried, "When did this happen?" "On the second day of the ranger training day for my friends," answered Natalie. "So, several weeks passed, and now, you're telling me this," said Mason, starting to feel uncomfortable, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"We thought they weren't worthy enough to be real threats," Woodruff admitted. "And now," said Natalie, "You saw what happened today, mom, and there's something else I should have told you as well." "What?!" Mason exclaimed. "A few days ago," Natalie told Mason and Woodruff, "Me and my friends got attacked by a maniac with a sledgehammer!"

"What?!" exclaimed Mason, "What?!" "And I got a scratch from that sledgehammer!" exclaimed Natalie, and she rolled up her right sleeve to show her parents her bandage shoulder. "So that's why you've been acting weird lately," Woodruff said. "Natalie!" said Mason out loud, "Why didn't you show me that before?!" "I didn't think it was that serious," replied Natalie, "But my friend, Isabel helped bandage it. So, mom?"

But Mason didn't say anything. Instead, she ran out of the living room. Natalie and Woodruff did nothing else as they heard steps banging, and then they heard a door slamming. Next, they heard a soft crying sound. Natalie and Woodruff both knew that they had made a mistake. "Mommy is upset," said Natalie, "What have we done?"