Here's Chapter 13! Enjoy!
Warning for foul language.
Aura Warrior: Ace
Chapter 13: Shadow Shinobi of Shiro Village
The pack had started to travel with Buck as their new ally. The emperor of Magma Mountain now shares the same vision as Bowen, and leaves his home behind.
The number in Bowen's platoon is now seventy, which made them stronger. Now they traveled further in the south, and after two days of running, they were closing in on the Shiro Village, in the Yukimura prefecture, which is the birthplace of the both Samurai and Shinobi.
As the sun began to set, the pack rested near a cliff while Bowen watched the view. "We are finally in the land of Yukimura. We'll probably be staying here for a while."
"Why is that, Bowen?" Buck asked.
"It takes patience to get this warrior." Bowen answered.
"No problem." Mako chuckled. "With this many numbers, we can't lose. Plus, our pops here is strong and fit for battle."
"Hey, who are you calling 'pops', Greninja?" Buck warned Mako while everyone laughed.
"No, he's not someone we want to win over a fight." Bowen declared, leaving everyone in silence.
"Let me guess, someone you knew in the past, Bowen?" Grace asked.
Bowen nodded. "Yes. That is if he hadn't changed since the last time I saw him."
Later on, they decided to have a feast. Ace and Grace brought berries and fruits from the forests while the Kohaku Brothers and Buck hunted and meat for the carnivores. When they returned, everyone was impressed by the catch, especially Buck who caught lots of Basculin with his bare hands.
"Wow!" Ace was amazed by the food.
"He may get angry for hearing this, but it looks like we got a fisherman with us, now." Grace whispered to Ace about Buck and chuckled.
"I got to admit, your power is really something, pops!" Kai teased the Emboar.
"Hey, you call me pops one more time and I won't let you have any food!" Buck warned.
Kai laughed as he rubbed his head. "I'm just kidding, pops!" Kai then kept quiet after seeing Buck's glare. "Oops!"
Buck then suddenly laughed, and later on everyone else did too. Grace then came to Bowen as she spoke happily to him.
"Bowen." Bowen turned his head at her. "I'm… really glad you're alive. I don't know what we would have done without you."
"So am I, Grace." Bowen smiled. "Besides, the afterlife wasn't a good place to spend alone."
Then they all ate together and enjoying their peaceful feast. From afar, Tabaqui watched them eat with a hungry look in his eyes.
"I'm so hungry…" He said licking his lips. "And Vermillion is cruel. He told me to go back to the pack, but how can I even do that?"
As he rested beside a rock, a piece of meat suddenly fell in front of him. Tabaqui gasped in surprise. "Hey! That's…" He then looked up in the trees and saw a shadowed figure on a branch.
"You're hungry, aren't you?" The stranger spoke. "Go ahead and eat."
Tabaqui was deep in thought as he was uncertain of eating food from a stranger. But his hunger got the best of him and grabbed the meat and ran. As he ran, the figure jumped across the branches with great speed and accuracy as he following him. When Tabaqui turned, the figure suddenly turned into three of them and yelled in alarm, dropping the meat.
Ace then gasped as he stood on a rock as he used his aura to sense where the yell came from.
"What's wrong, Ace?" Bowen asked.
"Just now, I just heard Tabaqui scream!" Ace explained.
"Tabaqui, you say?" Akru growled in anger.
Tabaqui was shaking in fear as he saw the three dark figures glaring at him.
"W-What do you want from me?"
"Are you part of the strange pack below?" The figure asked.
"Yes, I am!" Tabaqui answered nervously as he chuckled. "They'll attack you if you hurt me!"
The lead figure scoffed. "Fine, then I'll give you a warning. Tell your pack that they will not take one more step into this place."
"What do you mean?!"
"You were warned!" Then the figures disappeared in a flash.
"Where did they go?" Tabaqui searched everywhere until he spotted them up the tree, watching him.
"If they ignore our warning, then they shall all pay with their lives!" After that, they were gone, leaving Tabaqui alone.
Tabaqui stayed in his spot. He thought about the strangers and hoped to never encounter them again. But then he saw Ace and the pack coming towards him and panicked.
"I was right. It was Tabaqui!" Ace proclaimed.
"You bastard! You got a lot of nerve coming back!" Akru snarled as he tried to attack Tabaqui, only for Mako to stop him.
"Hold on, Akru!"
"Out of my way, Mako! Because of him, Volcan was killed!" Akru growled.
"I know. I want a piece of him too!" Mako agreed. Tabaqui stammered at the thought. "But, Bowen's the leader. He decides what we should do to him. You know that, don't you Akru?"
Akru turned to his father who nodded, saying that Mako's right. He frowned as he accepted it.
Bowen then growled as Tabaqui as he came closer to him. "Where is Vermillion? I need to speak to him."
Tabaqui explained fearfully. "I-I don't know! I only did what I did because he threatened me! I didn't have a choice!"
"That's bullcrap! You didn't look threatened at all!" Akru shouted.
"I swear that I'm telling the truth!" Tabaqui shouted as he bent down. "If I didn't, he would have killed me! Please!" Tabaqui then faced Grace. "Please, tell him, Grace!" Grace then turned her head in anger. "A-Ace?" He asked Ace, but Ace only gave him a growl of anger.
"A filthy coward like you… is no longer my subordinate!" Bowen pointed at Tabaqui, who panicked as he waited for his punishment.
"You're going to kill him?" Buck asked as he butted fists.
"That's not your nature, Bowen!" Grace said.
"I agree. I do it instead!" Star offered.
"No, I will!" Akru argued.
"Wait! I'm the boss and I'll put an end to it!" He then growled an unleashed an aqua tail attack at Tabaqui and sends him flying towards the tree trunk in pain.
Tabaqui struggled as he whimpered in pain. "I-It hurts!" He then felt Bowen's blade on his neck as he spoke.
"I'll spare you today, but the next time we meet, you'll pay the consequences! Bring Vermillion to me if you want to survive understand?"
Tabaqui nodded as Bowen put his blade away.
"You're a softy, Bowen! I would have given him a lot worse!" Buck complained.
"I'm sorry, Buck and Akru. I don't like killing. It's just not my style."
Buck sighed in defeat. "Akru, we just have to live with it as long as we're part of the pack."
"If I must, father…" Akru sighed.
"Hey! Looks like that fool have a tender piece of meat here!" Thomas said as he tasted the meat.
"Hey! That's mine!" Tabaqui yelled. "Please, give it back! I haven't eaten in days!"
"We spared your life! Isn't that enough?" Thomas complained.
"Cut it out, Thomas." Ace said. "Just give it back."
Thomas laughed. "Jeez! I was just kidding! Here!" He tossed the meat back to Tabaqui who happily accepted it.
But then Mako smelled something wrong. "What's that scent?" He wondered as he approached Tabaqui. "Wait! Where did you get that?"
"Hey! It's my meat! Get your own!" Tabaqui said as he put the whole thing in his mouth.
"You fool! Spit it out now! Don't you know what that is?" Mako yelled. Tabaqui then spit out the meat as Mako stared in horror and the others didn't expect what he said next.
"This meat… is from a fighting type Pokémon!" The others gasped in horror. "It also has human scent in it, so that means that this Pokémon belonged to humans!"
Of course, many Pokémon hunt other Pokémon, but devouring a fighting type such as a Machamp or a Makuhita is like eating a human itself!
Thomas felt sick as he threw up a little on the ground to get the taste of the meat off of his mouth.
"Mako… Are you sure that meat was from a fighting type?" Ace asked with fear.
"It's not funny! You better not be joking!" Grace exclaimed.
"I'm not! This bastard is a cannibalistic murderer!" Mako pointed at Tabaqui who then threw up in the bushes. Everyone growled as they blamed Tabaqui for it.
"I didn't know anything about it! It was given to me, honest!" Tabaqui explained.
"By who?!" Bowen ordered. But then they all heard something in the trees and gasped as they saw the three figures from before. They were revealed to be three glaring Bisharps.
"Who are they?" Ace wondered.
"They're the ones who gave me the meat!" Tabaqui pointed.
"What?" Bowen said in surprise. He then knew who they were. "That's…" But then they disappeared in front of their eyes.
"They're gone!" Ace shouted, but then he sensed them with his aura and followed them in the trees.
While the pack followed Ace from below, Ace followed two of the Bisharps as they jumped from branch to branch. Then Grace saw the third Bisharp hiding behind in the shadows.
"Ace, look out! Above you!"
But it was too late. The third Bisharp then used Aerial Ace on Ace from above, landing a critical hit on him.
"ACE!" Bowen yelled as the others watched the other two Bisharps attacking Ace with Aerial Ace as well, before he fell on the ground.
"Ace!" Grace came to him in worry as the others did too. They all watched the Bisharps disappearing deep into the forest as Ace struggled.
"They move like flying Pokémon!" Mako pointed out.
"Bowen, are they the ones we came for?" Grace asked.
"Yes, no doubt about it." Bowen admitted after watching their movement. "The Samurai of the Shiro Clan."
"Samurai of Shiro?" Buck wondered in confusion.
"Yes." Bowen nodded. "They practice Pokémon jujitsu and ninja skills. In fact, they are the subordinates of Hakutaka of Shiro."
"Hakutaka of Shiro?" Mako asked. "So does this guy allows his men to kill innocent Pokémon from their trainers and eats them?"
"No. From what I know of him, he wouldn't." Bowen said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought you all here. But, if he is responsible for this…"
The pack is now worried for this strange new enemy.
Ace has fallen to the Samurai's aerial attacks. As he watched the darkness in the forest, he now wonders:
What could Hakutaka, the boss of these Samurai, is like? Is he the warrior we're searching for? Guess we'll find out soon enough.
The pack now face the Samurai and the clan as they hope to recruit the famous Hakutaka, but what he'll be like? Guess you'll have to find out!
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