CHAPTER 14: OBSTACLES

The village was in destruction. Everywhere, you could see burnt buildings, destroyed carts and wounded Pokemon. The Pokemon wore some desperate expressions, as they looked at the once beautiful and busy place. All the villagers had gathered in the middle of the village, on the square that the market once stood. The Mayor struggled to find something comforting to say to them, but to no avail. He signed and lowered his head, giving away into desperation as well.

"This is the third time in a month!" A fed up Kecleon said as he looked at the Mayor. "You need to do something!"

"What am I supposed to do? I already requested help from Halka, but they haven't respond at all! They don't care about us, why should they? They only care for themselves!" The Buizel said in his anger.

"They have to. I mean, this village is really important because it's the crossroads between the western and the central Ivara!" A Raichu said as she lifted her hands in frustration.

"We are no fighters, we are traders for god's sake!" A Chimecho said. "Most of us have never fought for real in our lives before!"

"The lil fellow is right, we ain't fighters, we can't take on bandits!" A Charmander said.

"Everyone calm down!" The Mayor said as he placed his palms to silence them. "I know how feel, that's how I feel as well. I have tried, believe me, I have tried really hard to find a solution and the only one I came across was this." He said and everyone looked at him with anticipation. "We are sort of wealthy village, aren't we?" They all nodded. "So we can afford a couple of bounty hunters, can't we?" He said. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" The Raichu said. "We place a bounty on their head and each one of us gives a couple of coins. No sweat!" She said.

"Congratulation Mayor! That's why we elected you!" A Totodile said and everyone cheered.

"So, you are thinking about getting a bounty on my head, ha?" A voice said and everyone froze. "Let's see if it's going to work..."

000

The mountain was pretty big. A lot bigger than Brillage in Sara's opinion. She recalled Star saying that the rough path would push her to her limit, but that was ridiculous. They had been walking a path that was so sort, that she could barely walk it. Two days ago, they left Star's "home" and they started their journey towards Halka. And to think that in those two days, they had made so little progress... She knew that she had to keep going if she wanted to reach Bolcan before Alex did, and that was the only reason she didn't ask Star to rest for a while.

The Vulpix on the other hand, wasn't struggling at all. She was walking steadily and cheerfully, as if she had been doing this since she was born. She was leading the way and every now and then, she turned to look at her. But even thought she was cheerful, she hadn't said a word since they started climbing the mountain.

"You all right Sara?" She asked as she turned and looked at her.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, just keep going." Sara said.

"Don't worry, we'll soon reach Vall, a village at the top of the mountain." She said. Sara signed in relief on hearing this.

"We're going to get supplies from there?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, Vall is well known for its huge market. It's really busy, even though it's a village." Sara tilted her head.

"You sure we should visit a busy place with my little problem?" Sara asked her.

"Don't worry, the place is so busy that they won't spot you at all."

The duo kept walking the sort path up the mountain for about half an hour. When they finally reached the summit, Sara stretched and smiled as her bones cracked and her muscles relaxed. She then followed Star who was a bit ahead of her. Suddenly, Star stopped in her tracks, and Sara who was running towards her, literally bumped into her and made her fall face first in the ground.

"Arg, sorry Star!" Sara said as she helped her up. "Are you alright?" She asked her.

"Yeah..." Star answered.

"What happened, why did you stop like that?" Sara asked her.

"Look over there and you'll understand." She answered and placed a paw in front of her, pointing in the distance. Sara followed the direction of her paw and gasped at the sight in front of her.

"What the heck?!" She managed to say as she saw the ruined village in front of her.

"That's what I was about to say before I ate some, not so tasty, piece of ground." Star said and looked at Sara. "Let's hurry there and see what's wrong." She said and started running, with Sara close behind her. They reached the village, but they saw no one.

"Where are all the villagers?" Sara asked as she looked at Star. "You don't suppose they are..." Sara asked, unable to finish her sentence.

"Dead? I don't know... Let's go deeper and let's find out." Star said and started walking inside the village.

"Hey, wait for me!" Sara said as she hurried behind her.

Everywhere they turned their gaze, they saw burned or destroyed buildings, smashed cargos, broken pieces of wood and smashed berries, as well as other things you can buy from the market. It wasn't difficult to guess what had happened. The village was attacked by bandits. There was something really strange thought... Where did the villagers go? If this village was so well known, the attack would have become known as well. Since they didn't have any information of that kind, it meant it was attacked recently.

"Where did everyone go?" Sara asked. "What do you think Star?"

"I can tell the burns on some of the building were recent, while some others were from some time there. That means the village was attacked more than once." She said.

"You were able to figure that out, just by the burns?" Sara asked and Star nodded. "Wow, you are amazing!" She said in awe.

"Excuse me..." A voice said and both of them tuned to face the speaker. A little Cherubi was sitting there. "You aren't here to hurt me, are you?" The little Pokemon asked as she looked at them.

"No, of course not!" Sara and Star said at the same time. "What happened here?" Star asked.

"Some mean Pokemon appeared and caused havoc. They came again and again. My father told me that they only wanted food and that they wouldn't hurt us... But yesterday, they came and took everyone away... My father hid me in the secret storage room under the carpet. I was too scared to leave, but I knew I had to..." She said and started crying.

"No, please don't cry!" Sara said as she confronted the little girl.

"Where's daddy?!" She yelled and kept crying harder. Sara looked at Star with a sad look.

"I know what you mean..." She said and walked towards the girl. "Ok, listen what. We are going to get some help and save your daddy and the rest of the villagers." She said. "Right Sara?"

"Yeah, don't worry, you'll be with your daddy soon enough!" She said.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A voice asked from behind them. They turned around and they saw two Pokemon looking at them with grins on their faces. The one was a Glameow and the other was a Roselia.

"Who are you!" Star demanded as she got in front of the Cherubi protectively.

"It's none of your business, but I am in a good mood, so I am going to tell you." The Roselia said as she took a step forward. "I am Rose and the one next to me is Glay." She said.

"Wow, those names really suits you." Star said with a small grin on her face.

"Shut up! I am not here for chatting, I am here to take care of those that goes against boss's plan." The Glameow said.

"Really?" She asked. "Then take care of us...If you can that is." The vulpix said.

"Get back! If you stay here you're gonna get hurt!" Sara told the Cherubi and took a battle stance.

Glay was the one to begin the battle, as he charged towards Star with Fury Swipes. Star side stepped and used Tail Whip against his chest. Normally, this attack would do nothing, but since Star had eight tails, the attack was a bit powerful. Glay was thrown a few meters back, but landed easily on his feet. Rose joined the battle as she fired her Poison Sting towards Star, but Star fired her Ember and canceled the attack. Out of nowhere, a spray of golden start made their way towards Rose, hitting her and forcing her towards Glay. Sara and Star looked at each other and nodded. They both started running towards them and increased their speed, smashing onto Rose and Glay with their Quick Attack. After that, they followed up with Shadow Ball and Will-O-Wisp, the ghostly energy ball hitting on the Roselia's chest, while the blue flames enveloped the Glameow. The both of them hit the ground hard, but managed to get on their feet.

The second round begun, as Rose smiled and placed her hands in the air, gathering energy, while Glay's claws were enveloped by a ghostly energy. They both unleashed their attacks together, Star sidestepped and evaded the Solabeam, only to be hit by Glay's Shadow Claw. Sara, wasn't able to move out of the way and the beam collided with her. Rose smiled as she turned her attension full on Star. The Vulpix growled and attacked with Frustration, hitting hard on the Glameow, but she was soon shot back by Rose's Bullet Seed.

"Give up, you can't beat us." Rose said as she looked at the exhausted Vulpix.

"We will beat you, be sure about it." Star said.

"We? What are you talking about? The Eevee that was with you was sent flying by my Solarbeam." Rose said with a twisted smile.

"What?!" Star asked as she looked around, trying to find Sara.

"Your friend was just TOO slow." Glay said smiling.

"Yeah, right!" A voice below him said, and before Glay could react, he was sent flying by Sara's Dig attack. "Sorry to keep you waiting Star."

"You had me worried there!" Star said as she signed in relief. "So, ready for the final round?" She asked.

"Final round, ha?" Rose asked as she glared at the injured Glameow . "Ok." She said.

Sara charged forward with Quick Attack, while Rose used Magical Leaf. Sara kept going forward and mare inches before the leafs cut her, Star's Ember canceled them. Sara side stepped and smashed on Roses left side sending her some meters back. Glay charged at Star with Hidden Power and shot her flying towards Sara. Rose took advantage of that and smiled before unleashing her most powerful attack. Leaves appeared all around her and moved with incredible speed towards the dazed due. Star snapped out of it and used Flamethrower against the Leaf Storm, reducing its power as it swallowed them. When the leaved cleared, both Sara and Star appeared with scratches all over their bodies. They both charged forward and used Quick Attack against Rose. In the middle of the course, they changed and charged towards Glay, who had charged against them with Shadow Claw. Star unleashed a powerful Flamethrower from point black ranged at the stunned Glameow and Sara smashed into him. The Glameow was thrown to a tree and fainted immediately. Sara cried in pain as Rosa's Poison Sting struck her back and Star turned around and fired another Flamethrower at her, followed by a Will-O-Wisp, forcing a yell of pain out of the Roselia before she fainted.

"That's it for them." Star said as she walked towards Sara. "Are you all right?" She asked as she looked at her friend.

"Yeah, just a bit injured. We got hit hard by that Leaf Storm, didn't we?" Sara asked as she got up.

"We'll be fine." Star said as she smiled at Sara. Suddenly, she closed her eyes and fall, but luckily Sara caught her.

"Looks like you are exhausted. Let's rest for a while till we continue." Sara said.

"She doesn't look so good..." Sara turned and looked in relief at the Cherubi.

"She'll be fine, just get us somewhere we can set her down." She said and the Cherubi nodded and started hopping, while Sara followed her with the unconscious Vulpix on her back.

End of Chapter

Hey, what's wrong with Star's sarcastic attitude? She isn't supposed to be that sarcastic, right? Please Review.