It took us maybe a half hour to find our way out of that foggy forest, and by that time, Spark was almost wide awake, Ember was grumpy as hell, and I was annoyed by Ember's griping and Spark's enthusiasm. That should have been the first clue that this day was going to suck. Then again, as far as I was concerned, my days have all sucked since I accepted the operation a few days ago, but that's not the point.
"Like I'm ever going to get some stupid sleep now that the stupid sun's up, it took so freaking long to get back to the stupid clearing," Ember grumbled rapidly under her breath. "There's not even stupid food to eat so I don't stupidly starve," she muttered.
"Should I knock you out? Because it's incredibly tempting right now," I told her after another three minutes of her muttering in this fashion. Ember glared at me before going silent, although this didn't last long.
"Let's just be stupid and walk to stupid Vermillion so we can hurt some stupid Rockets," Ember said bitterly after failing to fall asleep.
"Me see man!" Spark yelled a moment later and Ember stopped griping for a moment to look at where Spark was pointing.
"Oh shit!" Ember cursed.
"Don't swear in front of the kit!" I chided before I looked as well. "Oh damn it!" I muttered loudly. A human was walking towards us, a dark grin upon his face. He was dressed in a simple black outfit, but I recognized him from a picture in the Rocket's base. "Get ready to fight," I whispered to Ember and Spark, both who nodded seriously.
"Who is he?" Ember whispered back, although the human couldn't understand her.
"I'm not sure of his name, but he's a Hunter, a hired thug, if you will, that tracks down particular Pokémon for money," I replied quietly. "My bet is he was sent after us," I added. Ember cursed again and I smacked her with my tail. "Stop swearing in front of the kit," I hissed to her.
"Alright, we can do this the easy way or the hard way!" the man growled at us as he approached, holding a Pokeball. "The Rockets want you two alive, and a bonus for the Pichu," he said coldly. I snarled slightly.
"Why are they after us?" I asked sarcastically, although I was moderately interested in whether they actually had a specific charge against us. The Hunter blinked and then smirked.
"I don't care why I'm hired; I just do the job they pay me for, which is beating the hell out of Pokémon and turning them in. Although I was told that you are traitors," he replied, tensing slightly.
"I've always wondered about the Hunter profession. How much are they paying you? I mean, you're going after a Charmander who is very skilled in battle and a Dragonair, which is a rare and powerful specie. Then you get a bonus for a baby Pichu. How much is it for all 3 of us?" I asked seriously. Ember stared at me in confusion, unsure if I was trying to distract the Hunter or seriously wondering.
"We're talking about 300,000." the Hunter replied. I snickered and he growled in annoyance. "What's funny?" he demanded.
"They're only paying 300,000?" I sneered, "You should be getting a lot more." The Hunter paused, puzzled.
"What the hell do you mean?" he demanded.
"Think about it. You're being paid 300,000 to find and capture a Dragonair, a Charmander, and a Pichu. The odds against finding them are incredible and the odds of capturing us are 0," I explained, sending a Thunder wave towards the Hunter, who grunted as the wave hit, knocking him backwards, and temporarily immobilizing him. "Then again, you're pretty stupid, so it explains how they managed to buy you off so cheaply," I added, leading Ember and Spark past the Hunter, who was struggling to throw off the paralysis.
"So now what?" Ember asked several minutes later. "We can't go to Vermillion if the Rockets are hunting for us. We'd be overwhelmed. We can't stay here because of the Hunters that are being sent after us, so what do we do?" she demanded. Spark was bouncing around aimlessly, completely oblivious to the conversation.
"We have no place to go. With no leads as to where Spark's parents are, and no leads on where that information is, we don't really have a plan, do we?" I replied, slightly frustrated by being forced to admit the oversight. "We can't just go into hiding, because there's nowhere stable enough for long term stay, we can't travel far because of Spark. We can't wander around due to the regular dangers and the complications," I continued.
"So we have no options, no backup, no goal, and no food?" Ember asked angrily. I nodded grimly and she scowled. "This is all your fault!" she snarled. I shrugged off the accusation, mostly because I had nothing to argue that claim with.
"We better hurry in a different direction. That Hunter is sure to be following." I said after a moment. Ember scowled, but agreed. "We can't follow a path, too easy to track us," I added. Spark nodded before climbing onto Ember's tail to hitch a ride. Ember glanced at the Pichu, but didn't say anything.
"So where are we going to go now?" she finally shot at me. I sighed in frustration.
"We should go find a clue as to where Spark's parents are, and we can plan from there. The best bet to find this information is to access a Rocket database of some sort. We must be patient, or this will all fall apart," I said wearily.
"More than it already did?" Ember snapped back. I ignored her scathing comment.
"No fight!" Spark pleaded. Ember growled angrily.
"Get off my tail! You're so annoying!" she yelled at the Pichu, who slipped off her tail, whimpering slightly.
"Me sorry..." Spark said sadly, but Ember ignored him, turning away from both of us. I stared at her passively, although a bit startled by her anger directed at Spark.
"Calm down, Ember," I said gently, but she glared at me furiously.
"Just shut up! It's your fault I'm in this mess!" she snapped.
"Close enough, but don't get mad at Spark. He didn't do anything," I said calmly.
"Shut up!" Ember bellowed. "Just shut up..." she muttered, walking away from us, no longer appearing angry at all, but I also couldn't identify her current emotion. I paused, uncertain of what to do next. Spark was still whimpering, upset at being snapped at. Ember sat down under a tree, reminding me of my reaction during my argument with Ember a few days ago, after the second encounter with Fang. Maybe she was upset for the same reason I had been, that the stress had gotten to be too much, and coping with it was difficult.
"She no like me..." Spark said sadly, small tears running down his face.
"Sure she does. She's just upset, I think," I told him comfortingly and he hugged my coils.
"How cute," mocked the Hunter from earlier as he stepped into view. "No escaping me this time! Take them down!" he shouted, flinging a Pokeball towards us. It burst open, releasing a large bug Pokémon. I blinked at it, slightly surprised. It was a purple insect with large wings, which seemed to give off a poisonous odor. "Venomoth!" the Hunter yelled.
"A Venomoth," I muttered to myself. Shouldn't be too tricky, unless we get poisoned or something. Spark whimpered, his sparking cheeks causing me to wince, as they were pressed against my coils.
"Now surrender or you'll face the real terror of my creature!" the Hunter said mockingly.
"It has to be some horror to overcome the terror I'm experiencing by looking at you," I replied, causing the Hunter's face to darken in fury.
"You'll pay for that one, Dragonair!" the Hunter snarled. "Take it to them!" he ordered and the Venomoth dove forward.