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Price for Freedom

Chapter 21

Victory Road

I found that the road to the Hoenn League was long, arduous, and very boring.

We had to travel by sea, first of all. And seeing as how the non-flyers didn't want to swim the whole way there, we were placed back into our poke balls until further notice. Every now and then, a dumb trainer who didn't know any better would challenge us and then we would have to pummel them, but other than that, there was no action or amusement to be had.

We would stop on meal breaks, of course. And even then, we were all bored out of our minds. Even Tai couldn't find anything better to do than stare at the water and begin laughing whenever a ripple appeared. Although, I found amusement when I pushed Tai into the water, but that is beside the point.

A few days after we had set out to sea, we reached a small pokemon center after scaling a waterfall. We rested there and then found that we were now at the entrance to something called "Victory Road", the final test of the trainers and their pokemon before they reach the Hoenn League. Tai told me that every League had one, and they were always really annoying. I soon found that he was absolutely right.

……………………….

It was very dark inside of Victory Road since it was a huge cave. We walked in and gazed in awe of the high ceiling and stalactites pointing down at us. Shayla turned to Shoko, who nodded and then made his tail flame burn even brighter so we could see better.

The cave itself was rocky, with no clear-cut path we could somewhat follow. I saw footprints on the ground and smelled human scents, but none of them followed in the same way. Some went to the left, some went to the right, and some went straight. I frowned. The trainers before us must have been as lost as we were. I heard Shayla take a deep sigh as she turned to us. "All right, Kazu," she said softly. "Lead the way."

I saw Kazu give a little nod and he stepped forward, looking about the cave. His eyes brightened with a light purplish hue, and he looked to the right. "That way," he said as his eyes dimmed to their natural color. "We go to the right."

Shayla nodded and let Kazu take the lead of the group. I guessed his telekinetic powers allowed him to see the path we needed to get out of there.

I don't really recall how long we walked around in that dark cave. Every so often, we would find a discarded item lying around, or a ladder. The ladders helped us along the way since they were some kind of marker for the nonexistent path. It was still rather dull, since the only pokemon we really saw were lairon and hariyama. Boring. Although, things did pick up when Tai fell into a hole.

"Gah!" he cried as he disappeared from all of our sights. At first, I thought he had found another ladder hole, but this one was plain. I looked into the mouth of the hole and saw Tai's little yellow form, looking back up at me helplessly.

"Get me out of here!" he called to us. Shayla turned to Kazu.

"Kazu, get him out of there," she said quickly. "I have a bad feeling about this." The espeon nodded and then his eyes shone a brilliant purple color. I looked down and saw the same color surround Tai. Then, he was slowly lifted off the ground.

Shoko scoffed. "Why didn't you just go AROUND the hole, Tai? Or maybe you were too busy thinking about food to notice it?"

When Tai's feet reached the rocky ground, he snarled at the charizard. "It wasn't there before then! I just stepped on it and then the floor collapsed! It's not my fault!"

"Quiet you two," Shayla spoke in an annoyed tone. "I don't want to hear it. Shoko, don't give Tai a hard time. Tai, be more careful and you won't get ridiculed. Understand?" The two quarreling pokemon glared at each other and then began to walk again.

It wasn't long when another mystery hole snagged another one of our team. Kazu, who had been walking a few meters ahead of the team, found another hole when he was about to change direction. It looked like he caught himself halfway, but I didn't see since I fell into a hole with Amburna.

I fell head-first into it, and it didn't feel all that great when the ground broke my fall. Amburna landed on top of me and then looked around. "Where are all of these holes coming from?" she asked no one in particular. I got to my feet and tried to estimate how far away we were from the mouth of the hole. I guessed about ten or fifteen feet. Amburna turned to me and said, "Get on my back. We'll get out of here."

I nodded and clung onto her long, lithe dragon body as she began to levitate and make her way to the lip of the hole. Right when we were about to get out, a net came down over the mouth. "What the heck?" I said and then saw figures walking around above us, putting nets over what I guessed to be more holes. I heard Tai shouting, and then realized that the others were trapped in holes as well. Amburna and I looked at each other, worried over who was trying to capture us.

"I love the fact that Victory Road had so many trainers with such wonderful pokemon," I heard a lofty feminine voice coo. "Look at this espeon. He's just gorgeous."

"You bastards stay away from my pokemon!" I heard Shayla's angry voice shout. A man's rough, scratchy voice began to laugh at Shayla's threat.

"Quiet, bitch," he growled. "You're not what we want. You're pokemon are ours now, so give it up."

Shayla's voice growled and then cried, "Kazu, psychic! Shoko, slam! Everyone, get out of your holes! Kick these bastards' asses! Don't let them get you!"

I smiled and then used ice beam on the net, and then Amburna used a slam against the frozen ropes. It broke easily at the power of her tail. There was a man standing above our hole, and when we broke out, he was caught off guard. I jumped off Amburna and rammed myself into him, knocking him down. I wasn't about to go without a fight.

The woman's voice sounded again. "Get them, dammit! Don't just stand there, tranq them!"

I whirled around at the sound of the woman's voice. I saw her -a tall, blonde-headed woman in her mid thirties. She was pretty on human standards. She wore a long, oriental dress with an eastern-style dragon making its way around her. She wore a similar necklace. She saw me and then aimed a gun at me. I saw her pull the trigger, which released a tranq. I followed my instinct and leapt to the right, making the tranq hit one of her own. She growled and followed my movements with her gun. "Stand still, you little bitch!" she cried in frustration. I ran around her in a zigzag path, making her gun almost useless. She cursed at kept firing at me, but kept missing.

I didn't know what had happened to the others. All I could hear was my own feet pounding into the loose ground, her cursing, and heavy footsteps around me. I didn't hear Shayla shouting, or Tai's battle-talk. Had they been caught?

I could now see more people firing at me as I raced past them. I was starting to get tired. How long had I been running? I then saw a way out of the cul-de-sac I was stuck in and ran all out towards it, not looking back. I heard Shayla's faint voice crying, "Get out, girl! Go! Get help!"

I ran and ran with the men on my tail. I heard the little ticks of the tranqs as they hit the rock wall beside me, or where my foot had just been a second ago. I ran over boulders, down little man-made stairs, and past other trainers in the maze. Then, something caught my gaze. Daylight!

I ran with even more determination towards it, when something pointy and sharp hit my left flank. I stumbled and fell, skidding about twenty feet afterwards. I looked and saw a little red feather sticking out of my leg. Oh shit, a tranq!

I pulled it out with my teeth and kept running. I had noticed the men chasing me were having trouble getting over a boulder and I took the chance. If I got out into the public, there was a possibility that they would stop and I could get help. I ran out into the open, where thankfully, were people loitering around, and I dashed to the nearest trainer and pulled on his shirt to get attention.

"Sol!" I cried. "Ab sol sol ab!" I pulled on his shirt as he looked down at me in confusion. "Sol!"

"Crazy absol," he muttered and brushed me off. I looked up at him hopelessly, and then tried to get to another trainer before the bad men got out to me.

I glanced frantically around to see if there were any amiable trainers that would help me. I saw a black-haired girl giving a massage to her crobat and tried to run to her, but my back legs simply collapsed. I felt tired. My mind was becoming fuzzy. No -the tranq's starting to come into effect!

I half-dragged myself around the lot, trying to get to the girl with the crobat. Then, I heard a voice on the air.

"Ayako?" I heard behind me. I turned to see Loki, staring at me in worry. "Ayako, is that you?"

I nodded when my front legs became too weak to support my weight. I collapsed onto the concrete, which gave the houndoom a start. "Wha- what's wrong? Are you okay?"

He was about to try and get me onto his back when the gruff voices of the men chasing me stopped him. "Hey! The absol!" I saw them out of the corner of my eye, and I began to growl.

"Whatever you do," I said shakily, "don't let those guys get me. You hear me? They're not my trainers!"

I saw Loki nod and he took a defensive stance in front of me, growling. I tried to stand, but I was too weak; too tired. My eyelids were so heavy. I was just so tired…

So, as Loki fought for me, I let the tranquilizer take me and fell into unconsciousness.

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Short, I know. But if I didn't, then this chapter would far too long. Can't have that.

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Ja