It took a couple more hours of walking, but eventually Brennan finally saw a very sketchy looking mountain in the distance. It looked like an ordinary mountain from the outside, but he could tell it wasn't. He stopped and stared at it, taking in the sight of it. Becky stopped next to him, looking from Brennan, to the mountain, back to Brennan.
"So, uh, that's it...?" She asked. Brennan stayed silent for several seconds, before finally replying.
"It has to be." He replied. "Come on." He said as he began moving again, not wanting to waste anymore time than they already had. Becky looked back at her still waiting Pokémon, before motioning them to follow.
Brennan had showed no sign of slowing down, as he speed walked towards the large mountain in distance. Becky picked up her pace to once again catch up to him.
"So, uh, I don't mean to bombard you with questions or anything, but what's your plan when you get there?" Becky asked, looking over at Brennan as she tried to keep up with him. Brennan stayed silent for several seconds, before replying. He didn't look over at her as he did.
"Not sure. All I know is that one way or another, I'll be getting my Gardevoir back." He replied. Becky knew he was determined, that much was obvious to her. But she also knew that determination wasn't going to be enough to get into Team Scavenge's base, track down Gardevoir while trying to get through their more than likely army of team members, and make a quick, easy escape. It wasn't possible. Especially not without a plan.
"I respect that determination of yours, but there ain't no way you're goin' to get in and find your Pokémon without some sort of plan." Becky said. Brennan continued to stare ahead as she did. He stayed silent for several seconds, leaving her waiting for some sort of response. But eventually, he finally did give her one.
"I'll think of something." He replied. Sounding so sure of that as he did. Becky had just met Brennan. He seemed like a pretty smart guy, but she wasn't so sure that he could come up with a plan THAT good in the short amount of time they had left before they got to the front entrance of Team Scavenge's hideout.
The thing is, Brennan didn't know what he was going to do when they got to the hideout. He didn't have any of his Pokémon with him, and knew already that it was going to be heavily guarded. Sure he had Becky's help. But he didn't really even want to get her mixed up in all of this. This was his problem, not hers.
Gothitelle continued to stare a hole through the back of Brennan's head. She had been trying to read him since they started their journey. She could sense worry, and frustration inside of him. But, even though she still didn't particularly trust him, she could feel that he wasn't a bad guy like she had assumed at first. He was a Trainer trying to get his Pokémon back. After her conclusion, she blinked a couple of times as she finally shifted her focus away from him. She looked over to the back of her own Trainer's head, quickly realizing something was wrong. She looked around before noticing a large amount of rocks hurdling towards them.
"Gothitelle!" She exclaimed as she used her telekinesis to block the rocks, protecting the group. She threw them all back towards their attacker as Brennan and Becky looked at her realizing something was happening.
Gothitelle and the rest of Becky's Pokémon stood ready to fight as they joined Brennan and Becky in staring towards the large dirt cloud that had formed in the distance. Several seconds passed before a few people dressed in black outfits and two Rhyperiors' appeared from the cloud.
"Yo! Who are you two and where do ya think you're headed?" A man about Brennan's height, with wildly spiky blue hair asked. Brennan and Becky stared at the men and their Pokémon as they slowly made their way towards them.
"None if your business!" Becky yelled back, not happy about almost being crushed by a bunch of rocks. The three men looked around at each other before looking back towards the group.
"Lookie here, girl. We'll take it easy on ya. You and your boyfriend give us your Pokémon, and we'll let'cha go. Deal?" Another one of the men, slightly taller than the last one, with very unkempt looking dirty blonde hair, said. Brennan shook his head, cutting Becky off before she could respond.
"Look, Why don't you guys ignore us and go back to being the grunts that you are? Because I'm in no mood to deal with you right now." Brennan said. One of the men chuckled at this.
"So you want to do this the hard way, kid? Remember, we were going to let you go. We just wanted your Pokémon. But now, we're going to destroy you, and take them anyways." The blue haired man said. "Rhyperior, use Rock Blast again. This time aim for the trainers'." He ordered.
"Rhy-perior!" The two Rhyperior's roared in unison, before launching their attacks. Gothitelle was quick to interfere, once again blocking the rocks from even getting close enough to hit Brennan or Becky. The blue haired man growled at this.
"Take out the damn Gothitelle first!" He yelled. The two Rhyperior' nodded before doing what they were told. One of the Rhyperior jumped up into the air, moving closer towards the group. It landed, shaking the ground in the process. It had used Bulldozer. No one in the group was quick enough to react besides Gothitelle, who had somehow managed to avoid getting hit. The others got knocked backwards and to the ground. The three Team Scavenge members laughed at this. Gothitelle looked back towards her downed Trainer, before looking towards the Rhyperior once again. She was angry now. More angry than she had been previously.
Brennan sat up, shaking off the sudden impact that he had just made. He looked over towards Becky, who was also pushing herself up off of the ground.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Becky looked at him and nodded.
"Y-yeah. Just wasn't expectin' that." She replied. They watched as Gothitelle protected herself from another one of the Rhyperior's attacks before sending a a bright, purple Psybeam towards him. The Rhyperior wasn't quick enough to dodge, and was left standing there confused as to where it was, or what was going on. This only further angered the Team Scavenge members.
"That's it! I'm done with these games!" The blue haired Scavenger yelled before yanking another Poké Ball off of his belt. He threw it forward causing a third Rhyperior to release through the bright red flash. The other two members followed suit, pulling a Poké Ball each off of their belts. A Metagross appeared from one, and a Dusknoir from the other. A small smirk appeared on Becky's face as she pushed herself back to her feet.
"Team! Let's show these clowns that messin' with us was a bad idea!" Becky exclaimed, trying to rally her small team of Pokémon. Brennan watched her for several seconds before climbing back to his own feet.
"Becky, I don't know about this. Maybe we should-" Brennan started before being cut off by Becky placing a finger to his lips. She knew what he was going to suggest, even though he didn't want to.
"I ain't runnin'. These guys' want to threaten to steal my Pokémon? They ain't gettin' away with that." Becky said as she removed her finger from his lips. Brennan remained silent, prompting her to continue. "You go. Get your Gardevoir back. We'll take care of these guys." She continued. Brennan shook his head. He couldn't just leave them. Especially not with the situation they were currently in.
"No. You can't expect me to just leave you guys after what you did for me." He said. Becky nodded.
"I can. We can hold them off while you get a head start. It'll be less of them you have to worry about." Becky said. Brennan stood in silence trying to think of what he should do. As he mentally fought with himself, he noticed out of the corner of his eye another large chunk of rock headed straight towards them.
"Look out!" Brennan yelled as he tackled Becky back down to the ground, avoiding the large rock in the process. Gothitelle had been busy trying to keep Metagross and Dusknoir at bay, so she wasn't able to block the oncoming attack.
Becky's eyes grew pretty wide as she looked up at Brennan, who was currently lying on top of her. Brennan looked from Rhyperior, down to Becky to make sure she was okay.
"Thanks. I owe ya one." Becky said. Brennan shook his head.
"You don't." He replied. After, he remained staring at her for several more seconds before finally realizing the very awkward position they were in. "O-oh, uh... I'm-I'm sorry." He said in embarrassment as he climbed off of her. Becky's own cheeks were also slightly red at this point.
"It's fine, really. Don't worry about it." She said as she sat up. An awkward silence started between the two as Becky climbed back to her feet. They didn't keep it long before they were interrupted by Gothitelle letting out a loud, angry cry, as she sent a very powerful Psyshock blasting towards Dusknoir. He was not quick enough to dodge it, and was sent flying backwards before finally crashing hard into the ground. The three Team Scavenge members didn't like this. As they were distracted, Becky grabbed Brennan's shoulder, once again getting his attention.
"You need to go while they're distracted! Don't argue with me anymore. We'll be fine. I've been in bigger battles before. So you don't need to worry about us." Becky said. Brennan stared at her for several seconds before finally agreeing to do what she told him to.
"Okay, I'll go. Thank you..." he said. Becky flashed him a small smile, and gave him a nod. After that, Brennan turned and took off running ahead, leaving Becky and her Pokémon to take care of the three Team Scavenge members.
"Go get your Gardevoir back, Brennan." Becky said to herself as she watched Brennan run into the distance. Several seconds passed before she finally looked back towards her Pokémon. "Okay y'all, now let's get the real fun started." She said in a very determined tone before looking back towards the Team Scavenge members.
•••
•••
•••
Gardevoir had remained curled in a ball on the bed ever since what had happened with Gavin. She was eventually brought another plate of food that wasn't thrown at her this time, but she left it where it was sat down. She didn't want to eat their food, no matter how hungry she was. She didn't want anything to do with these people.
She had pretty much cried all the tears she could cry at that moment. She just kept asking herself when, and if Brennan was coming to save her. The thought of him abandoning her kept forcing itself into her mind, no matter how hard she tried not to let it. At this point, thinking thoughts like that wasn't going to help. It was just going to make things worse if anything.
Eventually she sat up and tried to wipe some of the wetness off of her face. The squeaking the old springs in the mattress made when she moved was the first noise that had been heard in the small room since she stopped crying. After she wiped her face, she just sat there staring at the wall across from her. There was nothing else for her to do.
As she sat there, Brennan popped back into her mind. He had pretty much been what she had been thinking about since she got there. She couldn't help it. He just made her so happy. And regardless of the negative thoughts wondering if he was coming to save her that kept forcing their way into her mind, just thinking about him was helping her through her current situation better than if she wasn't.
She pictured him barging into the room any second, taking her by the hand, and running them to their freedom. Maybe knocking Gavin on his ass before so. Because he really deserved it. She imagined him being her hero. She also imagined rewarding her hero with a kiss. She bit her bottom lip as that thought appeared in her mind. Before her thoughts could go any further, however, there was a loud knock on the door. This brought her back to the place where she didn't want to be. Several seconds passed before the door finally opened and Gavin walked in with that same expression on his face that always made her feel very uncomfortable.
"So, Gardevoir, you've had plenty of time to rest. Are you ready to talk to me yet? Not that you really have a choice in the matter." Gavin said as he slightly pulled something up halfway out of his pocket to show Gardevoir. She looked at his hand and immediately took notice to the remote of the shock collar. Gavin let out a mocking chuckle as he slid it back into his packet. He knew Gardevoir had seen the remote. That's exactly what he had wanted. Gardevoir's harsh glare returned to her face as she stared at him, not that she wanted to. She just didn't want to get shocked again. "That's what I thought. I'm glad you've wise up a little bit." He said as he walked closer to her. This prompted Gardevoir to scoot further back on the bed. A sneer formed on Gavin's face when he saw this.
"Don't be afraid of me, Gardevoir. I just want to talk. That's all." He said, his tone just made it worse. As he continued to slowly creep towards the bed, he noticed the untouched tray of food still resting in the same spot on the bed as it was when it was brought in. "I see you didn't eat your food, hmm." Gardevoir didn't respond. She just continued to stare at him. He huffed before continuing. "I want to know more about you. You may not want me to, but you're going to tell me one way or another." He ordered. Gardevoir's glare remained on her face as she stared at him. She wanted to stay quiet. She really did. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he forced her to speak to him. But she also didn't want to get shocked again, so she really didn't have a choice.
"Gardevoir." She finally grumbled out. Gavin's sneer slightly grew as she did.
"Ahh, good choice my dear. Good choice. I really didn't want to have to use the collar again." He said. Gardevoir was not pleased with this in the slightest. "Now, I'm curious to know how you managed to survive out in the wild for so long. I mean, nineteen years. That's impressive. And I know you haven't been with that trainer long. So it obviously wasn't because of him." His words angered Gardevoir. She didn't like him talking about Brennan in any way. Gavin took notice to the way she was slowly clenching her fists. He let out another mocking chuckle as she did. "I promise you, that's not a good idea. I know you're smart enough to do the right thing. And we both know what that is. It'll save me from having to shock you again." He said. Gardevoir was still angry, but she was forced to listen to him. She slowly relaxed her hands once again, which prompted Gavin's next comment. "Good girl." He said. That somehow made Gardevoir's disdain for him grow even more.
"I want to know if you were alone before that trainer found you? Did you manage to survive by yourself out in the wild for that long? Because if so, it does look like you've managed to take pretty good care of yourself. You don't often see that in wild Pokémon." Gavin said. The question may have been innocent enough, but his tone of voice made it sound just as harsh as everything else he's said to her. Gardevoir remained silent for several seconds, as Gavin sat waiting for her answer. He knew she was going to give it to him, so he was being patient.
"Voir." She replied very angrily and reluctantly. She gave an almost unnoticeable nod as she did so she didn't have to repeat herself. Even though that wasn't the full truth, she didn't care. Not that he was going to be able to understand her regardless, she wasn't going to tell him anything. Gavin slightly narrowed his eyes at her, refusing to look away.
"Hmm..." he hummed. The way he was staring at her was making Gardevoir feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. Several seconds of a very uncomfortable silence passed before he spoke again. "I see. If that is the case, you've managed. You're definitely going to be an asset. That's for sure." He said. Gardevoir frowned at that and looked away. She wasn't going to be anything to these people. Even if it meant them killing her. She would have rather died than work for them. Gavin let out another chuckle at her response. "Still against the idea of being her, hmm. Well, that'll change, Gardevoir. It has to. Again, I apologize for what Nelson did. He paid for that one. I promise you. But you'll learn, we aren't all bad people. Hey, I'm probably a better guy than that trainer of yours." He continued on. Gardevoir let out another low, angrily growl. She started to clench her fists again, but quickly went back to relaxing them. Gavin stood with a smirk on his face having noticed. He continued on after he did. "I've noticed a pattern here, Gardevoir. It seems to me that you don't like me talking about that trainer, do you? *Huff*. Hey, if it upsets you THAT much, then I won't mention him again. Maybe it'll help you move on from him faster." He said. Gardevoir shook her head at this. She wasn't going to move on from Brennan. She refused to.
"Now, now. Don't shake your head. We've still got a lot to talk about. So I would like it if you lost that attitude you seem to have. Because... one button is all it takes. Remember that." Gavin said, once again reminding Gardevoir that he had the remote to the collar. Gardevoir's glare returned to her face as she looked back towards Gavin. She hated the smirk he had on his face. He was mocking her, and she knew it. But Gavin was quite enjoying himself "Now... where were we?"
•••
•••
•••
Lane had now been driving close to an hour, and they still hadn't seen any signs of either Blaziken, or Brennan. Luna had kept the same very worried expression on her face the whole time, as her eyes traveled around the largely, vast grassy area outside of her window.
"I can't believe Blaziken actually got this far ahead of us." Lane commented, keeping his eyes on the route in front of him.
"Yeah, I know. You still haven't seen either one of them?" She asked worryingly, looking over at her boyfriend as she did. She was hopeful, even though she already knew the answer he was going to give her. He looked over at her and shook his head.
"No, I haven't. I would have said something if I did." He replied. The little bit of hope that Luna had had vanished in an instant with her boyfriend's reply.
"Don't worry Luna, we'll find them." Lane said trying to reassure his very worried girlfriend. He hated to see her like this. He was worried about Brennan and Blaziken too. But he knew that Luna and Brennan were a lot closer than he and Brennan were. They had a close brother/sister relationship ever since they were kids. So she had every right to be worried the way she was. Especially considering Brennan went to try and face Team Scavenge, arguably the most dangerous team in the whole Hoenn region, by himself.
But Luna wasn't the only one that was worried. Delphox was hoping just as much as Luna was that they'd find Brennan and Blaziken. Blaziken could be pretty hot headed at times, and Delphox knew that. She was worried that with or without Brennan, he would do something stupid. And she didn't want to see anything happen to him.
Frankie had been sitting in the back, pinned up against the far left side of the car due to how cramped the backseat was with Delphox, plus most of Brennan's Pokémon. He had been staring out the window trying to ignore the fact that the whole right side of his body was asleep from being pinned against car. The longer and longer they drove, and the closer and closer they got to Team Scavenge's hideout, the more and more uneasy he grew. He hadn't said anything since his suggestion earlier, because it clearly anger or annoyed the others.
"Stop the car." Luna said abruptly, breaking Frankie from his thoughts.
"What?" Lane said in confusion.
"Stop the car! There's something over there!" Luna exclaimed, pointing frantically towards something in the distance. Lane listened to his girlfriend and slowed the car to a stop once he saw that she was right. There was something just off the route. Once the car stopped, Luna quickly jumped out and ran towards it.
"Hey! Luna! Wait! You don't even know what that is!" Lame called as he quickly climbed out of the car and ran to try and catch up with his girlfriend. Frankie struggled to open the back passenger door to follow suit. But once he was finally able to, he flew out of the car and face planted the ground as Brennan's Pokémon shoved past him.
"O-ow..." Frankie groaned in pain after being trampled over by the group of Pokémon.
Luna ran as fast as she could, her heart pounding as she did, fearing what she was about to see. She finally slowed to a stop once she got to what was laying on the side of the route. Lane caught up to her and was left just as surprised as she was. There were three unconscious Team Scavenge members, three Rhyperior, a Dusknoir, and a Metagross. As Luna stared down at them, Lane looked around the area to see if he could see something, or someone. But there was nothing. Just mountains, trees, and grass.
"Brennan couldn't have done this by himself." Lane said, turning back to face his girlfriend.
"What about Blaziken? Maybe he caught up with him." Luna suggested, once again sounding hopeful as she did. Lane was still a little unsure. But at that point, he didn't know what to think.
Delphox ran up next, followed by Brennan's Pokémon. Mightyena immediately grew very disappointed, yet relieved when he saw it wasn't Brennan. Delphox looked around at the mess of laid out bodies before looking at her Trainer.
"I don't know who did it, but something took them out. And depending on who it was— I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing." Lane said. Luna stared down towards the unconscious strangers for several more seconds before nodding.
"It doesn't matter. It's not Brennan. We have to keep moving. Maybe he and Blaziken are together." She said, placing a hand on her worried Pokémon's shoulder.
"Hopefully they are. Regardless, we'll find them." Lane said. Luna was counting on her boyfriends words at this point. She knew they were going to find them. Again, she just hoped that was before they did something stupid.
"Okay. Then we need to start moving again." Luna said. Lane nodded before motioning towards the car with his head.
"Alright, lets go." He said before he and the rest of he group headed back towards the car, leaving the unconscious Team Scavenge members where they lay. Frankie had remained on the trail a few feet ahead of the car staring further down the route. There it was, Team Scavenge's hideout. He knew that was it. And it made his stomach curl into knots. It was a terrible feeling.
"Hey, Frankie, come on." Lane called over to him, breaking Frankie from his thoughts. Frankie stared ahead for a few more seconds before turning to face the others.
"O-okay." He said in a somewhat hushed tone before making his way back to the car. Now it was time for him to squeeze back into, which he definitely wasn't looking forward to.
Once everyone was back in, they continued their drive. They were almost to Team Scavenge's hideout. So they were hoping they were going to find Brennan.
•••
•••
•••
After splitting away from Becky, Brennan continued on the route for several more minutes before finally deciding it would probably be a better idea if he tried to hide himself just in case there were more Team Scavenge members hiding somewhere. He ran off route and ducked into the tree line of the forest on the left side of it. He maneuvered his way around trees and through bushes, which ended up taking more time than it would have to just stay on the route. But he figured he would rather be safe than sorry.
Once Brennan finally got close enough to the front entrance of Team Scavenge's base, he peaked out from behind the large tree he was currently hiding behind to see what he could see. There were two Team Scavenge members blocking the large metal doors that led inside of the base of the mountain. Brennan had never seen anything like that in real life before. So it kinda caught him off guard to see. He was expecting there to be guards, though. So that wasn't surprising to him in the slightest. Now he just needed to come up with an idea to get past them. He knew with no Pokémon that was going to be a challenge.
He slid his backpack off of his back and pressed his back against the tree as he tried to come up with something to get rid of the two Team Scavenge members. As he thought, he unzipped his backpack and pulled one the one water he had left out of it. It wasn't much, but he needed something to wet his throat. Feeling the lukewarm water run down his throat was unsavory. He really did hate drinking warm water. But at this point, he didn't have any other choice. As he finished what was left of his disgusting water, he tossed the empty bottle back into his bag.
He was getting ready to zip it back up when he heard a growl. He quickly looked up noticing a pack of Mightyena circling him. They had to have been the same ones from the night before.
"Oh, shit..." he said not really sure of what else to say at that moment. He tried backing up, completing forgetting that his back was already pressed against a tree. "U-Uh... g-good, Mightyena." He said nervously as he put his hands up. He made it this far already. He needed to avoid getting torn about by these Mightyena. Becky had saved him once, but he didn't figure he'd luck out a second time. As they closed in on him, he grabbed his bag and slowly started stepping away from the tree. He knew he wasn't going to be able to outrun them. But he also knew keeping himself cornered wasn't the greatest idea either.
As he slowly stepped away from the tree, he looked down into his bag to see if there was anything in that he could possibly use to defend himself. Besides Luna's lantern, there wasn't. He was getting ready to pull the lantern out to use it, when he noticed the granola bars he had packed. An idea instantly popped into his head when he did.
"A-are you guys hungry? Is that it? I-I got these if-if you want them." He said as he pulled them out and held them towards the group of Pokémon. They stared at his hand before letting out another group of growls. "I-it's not much... but-but it's all I have." He said. He finally got away from the tree and started backing up out of the tree line. He knew it was risky, but he had an idea. He wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth a try.
He opened the granola bars as he backed up. Once they were open, he continued waving them towards the pack of obviously angry, and hopefully hungry Mightyena. Luckily for him, he had managed to avoid making it into the two guards viewpoint. At least at that moment. Once he got to where he wanted, almost tripping backwards as he did, but he managed to maintain his footing. He threw he quick glance back towards the two guards.
"O-okay, you want these?" Brennan asked, waving the granola bars closer towards one of the Mightyena'. He snapped his jaw closed, almost biting his hand off. It probably would have if he wouldn't have reclined it fast enough. At least it answered his question that they did want food. "G-go get them!" He said as he threw the two bars towards the guards watching the door. The pack of Mightyena' took off racing towards the guards. Brennan ducked behind a large, nearby rock as they did, watching to see what would happen. The pack of wild Mightyena' immediately caught the attention of the two guards watching the doors. He watched as one of them pulled out some sort of keycard to try and open the doors to get inside, but wasn't able to before the Mightyena' closed in. The guards took off away from the doors as they Mightyena' chased them away. They had quickly gobbled up the granola bars, but were very obviously still hungry. A small smile formed on Brennan's face as they chased the guards into the distance.
Once it was clear, he quickly made his way towards the door. It was definitely a sight to see. The two large, metal doors were installed a few feet into where the entrance into the mountain would have been. It was obvious that it used to be some sort of cave that Team Scavenge took over. He walked closer to the door before noticing the scanner for the key card. He looked around before spotting the one the Team Scavenge members dropped at his feet. He smiled as he picked it up.
He stared at the card for several seconds before finally looking back towards the scanner. He was getting ready to slide it, when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He turned around in a panic, ready to try and fight off whoever had grabbed him. But he didn't need to. Standing before him was... Blaziken.
"Blaziken? What are you doing here? Where are the others?" He asked, his panic starting to fade.
"Blaziken. Blaze. Blaziken." Blaziken replied. He was clearly annoyed. Brennan figured he knew why that was. "Blaziken. Blaziken." He continued, pointing behind himself as he did.
"Left them? Where?" Brennan asked. Blaziken was getting ready to respond, when a loud gunshot, followed by a Yelp was heard in the distance. Several more gunshots followed suit. Brennan's blood ran cold knowing exactly what it was. "N-no time to talk. We have to go." He said before turning and sliding the keycard into the scanner, unlocking the door to Team Scavenge's hideout.
For being large and metal, the doors were surprisingly quiet as he opened them. Once they were opened, he peaked inside to make sure the coast was clear. It was. After, he looked back at Blaziken.
"Stay close. Don't run off. And keep quiet." He told his Pokémon. Blaziken nodded in response. After, Brennan motioned for him to follow with his head. They were now entering the place that was going to change their life's... forever.