Chapter 28: Ambush!

Ugh, are you sure there's something up with Leeroy? He looks normal to me. Lucario fumed, frustrated at seeing Leeroy act like some normal snob.

I wasn't surprised at the attitude… Leeroy was probably planning to keep a low profile so that he doesn't find his actions discovered, especially when I'm the one that stopped his Mightyena. Regardless, he's still a suspect, and I was still going to keep an eye on him.

I was right to have Lucario tracking. According to him, his ability to sense the life force of living things, (known as Aura) can potentially expand farther than the eye can see. Because of this, Lucario is able to know where Leeroy is, even if it's through a wall!

I followed him over to his room, where I was almost beginning to lose suspicion… when I began to hear something.

*Tmp…tmp…tmp*

"Hm?" I tried to focus my hearing, to find the source of the noise.

What is it? Lucario asked,

*Tmp…Tmp…Tmp*

You hear something? I said, still trying to find the source of the sound.

Lucario paused. I held in my breath in silence. Then I heard something else… something like Leeroy's voice. I crept closer towards the door.

"…one's going to find you. Claid's probably thinking you got lost on the boat, and he'll be setting up for his match against his next opponent." Leeroy was saying. "And I guarantee you, little boy, that it will be the last Pokémon Battle that he'll be around to be in."

I heard muffled moans in the background. I heard the noise again, only louder.

*Tmp…Tmp…Tmp*

"I guess someone could potentially find you, but they won't defeat the guards I have stationed with you… and if you think Pokémon don't kill, then try to escape then. I guarantee that if you do anything stupid, he will make sure you're no longer breathing."

The moans began to sound like it was crying.

"Yeah, I know you want to know what my boss did to your pathetic little Pokémon." Leeroy continued. "Well, they've decided to hang out with me now. They realized that they're worthless being the way they are. They came with us, and now they're more powerful Shadow Pokémon, kid."

The moans gained a sharp twinge of alarm, as if what Leeroy said was some kind of truth.

"Smell ya later, newbie." Leeroy said, snickering.

I knew I had to get back to avoid suspicion. When I got back to Lucario, he was meditating. No surprise, though, since he was already impatient enough with me.

Well, did you get something worth my time? Lucario said irritably.

Yeah. I replied, and that puts Riolu at higher risk of kidnapping.

Lucario jolted off the spot. WHAT!?

Remember what I explained to you that happened in Riolu's memory? The Pokémon, being painfully charged with some purple energy?

yes…?

That energy, from what Leeroy said, turns regular Pokémon to Shadow Pokémon.

Lucario's eyes shrunk in horror. His younger brother unknowingly witnessed the creation of Shadow Pokémon outside their Pokéball. He shook his head, trying not to imagine his brother seeing something so horrible. His mind was wild with panic, mostly for Riolu's sake.

I rested my hand on his shoulder. Hey, Lucario. I said, getting his attention and looking into his eyes. You're thinking as if you're the only one that seems to worry for Riolu's sake, man. Don't forget, Riolu's my friend, and I don't let anything happen to my friends.

He's not even here! How can you protect him? Lucario snapped, breaking eye contact.

Because he's with my strongest partner, and my closest friend. Blaziken will not let anything happen to your brother and as a friend, I trust him.

Lucario stared at me, his thoughts wondering about what kind of person I'm like. I was told by other Pokémon of Kanto that you're part of Team Rocket. But seeing you act like this, I wonder how it's possible. He took a breath, and with confidence restored, he smiled. Thanks, kid. It's good to know there's someone that Riolu can trust. Plus, your Blaziken sounds like a tough cookie.

I nodded, smiling.

*Ki-click*

I heard the sound of a door opening. Knowing what I had in mind, Lucario sensed that Leeroy was walking away from the entrance, turning to the next hall, and then to the grand hall. He opened his eyes, and I figured the coast is clear. I snuck toward the door and tested it, and as expected, it was locked.

I began wondering how to use Psychic to pick a lock, and I called out Alakazam to help me out. Once we got inside, I then tried to inspect the entire room for some kind of clue.

"Hello?" I hissed, "Anyone else here?"

"MMMRH!?"

The bound up sobs came from the closet. I came close to it to see if Joey was through it… but it was too dark to see inside.

"Joey, that you?"

"MRrrrgh, mrrhrhrrrrh!" Joey moaned.

"Stay calm, I'll get you outta there." I tried to open the closet door, but it was stuck.

I plucked Alakazam's Pokéball and summoned the Pokémon Form. With a little help from the heightened psychic ability, I forced the door to slide open all the way, with a snap of something breaking.

But Joey wasn't there. Instead was a radio that had been set up as if it was someone actually hiding there.

"Wha--, damn!" I exclaimed, not happy about being fooled.

"The door's been opened. You know what to do to him." A deep male voice spoke through the walkie talkie.

"KAAAHHHH!!"

A sudden impulse in my mind, and I reflexively ducked my head to the left, avoiding what looked like silverish lavender needles.

I wheeled around to stare at my attacker. And the attacker was a black Arbok, with matching colored designs. Lucario was facedown, breathing heavily, and under the effects of what seems to be a concentrated poison.

"Lucario…!!"

I felt through his thoughts, and the toxin was working fast. His mind as beginning to fade on me, and if I don't give him medicine soon, he won't make it.

"Psycho Cut!" I declared, summoning a Psychic blade over my hand.

Like a flash of teeth and reptilian blackness, Arbok lunged at me, and I sidestepped it while grabbing for Alakazam's Pokéball.

With a whip of its tail, though, Arbok grabbed hold of my leg and tugged. I fell backwards and lost my grip on the Pokéball.

I tried to push my hands on the floor, but I found the needles protruding from each of them, and I couldn't find the strength. Arbok rose up above me, its body beginning to coil around my stomach and chest. The open fangs glowed purple and began to drip with killing intent.

My panic rose. No! I'm not gonna die here!

I tried to move, but the poison overwhelmed my arms.

I glanced toward the Pokéball, and focused on it. It lifted, and I dropped it on the ground, causing it to open.

"Thisss time, human, you peeped into the wrong dwelling for the lassst time." Arbok said, the words slithering out of its mouth in a relishing manner. Without even any warning, Arbok struck, biting down with toxic fangs at my neck. The poison released numbed the spot instantly, and it began spreading fast throughout the rest of my senses. I tried to breathe, but I choked on the poison instead, hacking and gagging.

My head began swimming, I tried to find the surface, but was having little trouble. I didn't… I……didn't want…to…die here…

Then the last thing I saw… was a psychic blade piercing through Arbok's head. Before it disappeared, I looked at a fuzzed out Lucario, but as I tried to reach him. I faintly heard my name called.

Then… Everything went black.

***

Blaziken began fidgeting, he was worried for Eric's well being, and he knew something was wrong. Cynthia began wondering what was taking Lucario to check up on her.

"Wat's takin Lucawio so long?" Riolu asked.

"I'm not sure…"

CYNTHIA!! A voice telepathically yelled. WHERE ARE YOU!?

Cynthia jumped, now standing, looked around. Who is this?

Eric and Lucario are poisoned critically, where are you!

Cynthia gave the voice a mental picture, Alakazam appeared seconds later.

"Alakazam, What—" Blaziken knew something was wrong.

"Pecha Berries, Antidotes, Eric's bag, NOW!!" Alakazam demanded.

Blaziken didn't ask, but instead dashed out of the room at top speed, knocking down the doorman.

"W-W-Wat's going on?" Riolu asked, flustered and confused.

"Alakazam, where are they?" Cynthia interrogated

"No time, Eric's dying, c'mon!" Alakazam put his hand on Cynthia and in a flash, they were instantly in a ransacked room.

Eric was on the floor face up, and twitching. Lucario was facedown, unmoving.

Riolu gasped. "Big Bwudda!"

Cynthia checked Lucario… he was breathing, but passed out. Eric, on the other hand, was barely alive. There appeared to be fang marks on his neck, and his eyes were glazed over.

*Tsmm*

Alakazam and Blaziken teleported behind Cynthia, just as Riolu did for Lucario, Blaziken rushed to his friend's side. Alakazam mentally took the antidote from the bottle, and crushed the Pecha Berry into it.

"Blaziken, open his mouth." Alakazam ordered.

Blaziken followed instruction, and slowly, Alakazam made Eric swallow the mixture. The twitching was still going on for a couple of seconds, until they began to calm. And Eric's eyes closed. Blaziken rested his finger on his neck, and he sighed of relief. He was going to make it, thanks to them.

Cynthia smiled at them, impressed that Alakazam was able to know what to do without help from another Trainer. But as she glanced at Alakazam, something glimmered under Eric's shirt. Blaziken spotted it as well, but Alakazam only stared solemnly at it.

Blaziken extracted the item from under Eric's shirt and laid it over for everyone to see. Cynthia's heart began pounding rapidly upon seeing the pendant with a Pokéball and gold wings.

So what the Pokémon say were real. This must be the mark of Ho-oh that Eric bears around his neck. Poor kid, not even eighteen years old and now he's got a global problem to face in the future… she thought. Then she glanced at Blaziken whose hands were folded, and his eyes closed. At least he's in good hands. It's not often you find a Pokémon Trainer that treats his Pokémon as much as he would of another human being.

"Nnngh…grr.." a voice groaned.

Cynthia glanced back, and found Lucario coming to.

"Ugh, what…?"

"BIG BWUDDAAA!!" Riolu cried, hugging Lucario with tears of joy. "You awake, you awake! I taought you was a gonaa."

Lucario noticed Eric on the floor, and a wave of alarm hit him. "Eric! He's not..." Cynthia shook her head, which explained wordlessly that he's alive. Lucario took deep breaths and settled down. "An Arbok caught us by surprise, I couldn't sense any aura from it, and it hit me with Poison Fang. I wanted to warn him… but, I couldn't move."

Riolu explained what happened to Lucario, and he sighed with relief. But something didn't add up to Lucario, and from a single glance at Alakazam, made Claid more suspicious.

"Hey, Alakazam. I thought I was dead, but here I am. What'd you do?"

Alakazam levitated a Pokéball with a small device attached to it. The Device covered half of the Ball, and where the button was to open it, was a latch with a lens in the middle.

"Eric will usually keep a Full Restore on hand at all times." Alakazam explained. "So using this PTM and your Pokéball was able to cure your poison. Unfortunately, Eric only carries one Full Restore on him, so we had to hurry to his room to help him."

"What happened to Arbok?"

Alakazam closed his eyes. "Dead…"

Cynthia snapped her gaze at Lucario and Alakazam. "Dead? But then where's the body?"

"Gone, disappeared the minute it began to slack."

Riolu tilted his head. "Disappeaued?"

Cynthia was just as curious as he was. A Pokémon that disappears when it dies, that's like no other kind of Pokémon.

"But why did you haff to kill it in the fuust place?" Riolu said, expressing pity.

Alakazam looked Riolu sharply in the eye. "Because when I saw Arbok, it had Poison Fang bitten down on Eric's neck. Poison can be cured, but I don't know if anyone on the boat can fix a ripped out throat."

Alarm shot through Lucario and Riolu, Cynthia heart sank as she stared at Eric.

"Hehehe, oh, no one can fix a ripped out throat, Alakazam." A voice said. "If it happened, he'd have been dead like he's s'posed to be."

Blaziken, who was praying for Eric's speedy recovery, recognized the voice and wheeled around. The voice belonged to Gengar, standing at the doorway and snickering.

"You, you're Joey's Gengar!" Blaziken exclaimed.

"Joey? My former Trainer?" Gengar responded. "Hah! When I was shown the power of the Shadows, I really knew that I wasn't meant to be with that kid. He doesn't know what it's like to really fight."

"'Power of the Shadows', what's that supposed to mean?" Cynthia interrogated

Using his Aura Sight, Lucario stared into Gengar's Aura… the blue aura that it had was twisted around by a purple black rope that seemed to be slithering through him, giving the aura a lavender shade. Lucario returned to normal sight, with the conclusion that Gengar wasn't really talking.

Alakazam was dumbfounded with Gengar, as was Blaziken. "You were a laid back Pokémon, and you even told Eric that he was fairly accurate when he said you were his closest friend!" Alakazam protested. "What happened to you two?"

Gengar grinned with an evil confidence. "Something that you'll never live to experience."

*Phhvvromm, Phhvvromm*

With an odd sound, two obscure Pokémon appeared out of a dark fog, seeming ready to fight, and murder in their glowing red eyes. Lucario used his Aura Sight again, but was surprised to find that these Pokémon didn't have any aura.

"No Aura?! But that means these Pokémon are…"

"You know what to do, boys!" Gengar declared.

The fog dissipated to reveal a Scyther and a Hitmonchan. Hitmonchan's attire wasn't pink, but instead a pale grey. Scyther, normally a lime green, was of a desert brown. Blaziken stood up and faced the enemies, standing beside Alakazam.

"Heh, not exactly my idea of 'thug' Pokémon." Blaziken commented. "Usually the Grunts would get only Zubat, Koffing, Ratata, or their Evo's."

Lucario snapped his gaze at Blaziken. "What?"

"This means that these punks aren't from Team Rocket. Unless the executives got new Pokémon."

"Huh!?"

"He'll explain later." Cynthia intervened. "Right now we got to focus here."

"Actually, why are they just standing there, anyways?" Alakazam inquired.

The Hitmonchan and Scyther were not moving, appearing to be observing what was going on. Riolu tried to read the Scyther's mind… but instead of getting a thought pattern, it was an image of Scyther's murderous eyes turning towards Riolu. Alakazam noticed the fright in Riolu's trembling, and tried the same with Hitmonchan. Unlike Riolu, Alakazam did not get anything in Hitmonchan's mind.

Empty thoughts… Alakazam relayed to the group. These aren't ordinary Pokémon.

And these two don't seem to have any aura, either. Lucario added. It's like they're some kind of machine… and not really living creatures.

ELIMINATE… ELIMINATE POKEMON AND HUMAN TARGETS.

At the sound of an unknown command, the two evil Pokémon's attack poise grew ready to jump.

Alakazam left the Hitmonchan's mind, dazed at hearing the voice with such a high intensity. Ahh, Get ready!

Hitmonchan leapt in Blaziken's direction, Electricity charging the left fist. Blaziken sidestepped, but then it occurred to him what the target was.

"No!" Blaziken snapped as he made a sweep kick to trip Hitmonchan. The first enemy fell forward, and the supercharged fist exploded a foot from Eric's head. Blaziken grabbed Hitmonchan and kicked it off towards the second enemy. Alakazam spotted Scyther glancing towards Riolu, and his alarm shot up when the gaze intensified.

"Riolu!" he shouted before teleporting, at the exact instant, Scyther twitched, and disappeared briefly. Then in a sudden flash of movement, Scyther was stopped in front of Alakazam, its blade pressing against the psychic spoons Alakazam held.

"Damn it's fast." Alakazam growled, fighting to hold Scyther's Blade away from a terrified Riolu. Then a second flash of movement, and Alakazam Teleported behind Riolu blocking another attack from Scyther.

"Riolu, Move!" Lucario commanded, charging towards Scyther.

Scyther twitched again, this time, looking to the left. Alakazam did a quick scan, and his alarm shot up again.

After a third flash of movement the attacked was blocked again, only this time, it was intended for Eric's throat. Being above Eric when the attack was blocked, Alakazam got slammed against the top of Eric's chest.

"Ngh… wha?" Eric groaned. "Wha—ACK!!"

As if coming out of thin air, a psychic Blade formed over Eric's hand and stabbed through the Scyther's head. The Pokémon's eyes glazed over instantly as it disintegrated. Blaziken, who was avoiding the Hitmonchan's flurry of punches, managed to seize one of the thrown punches and thrust upward with his elbow, dislocating the shoulder.

"Graaah!" Blaziken cried as he threw the Hitmonchan to the floor and proceeded to restraining it.

*KRRCKK*

Lucario, Riolu, and the bystanding Cynthia froze in place as they heard Hitmonchan's neck break. Blaziken stopped as he found his catch go limp and disappear from underneath him. Blaziken's knees dropped to the floor with a thud, and when Alakazam scanned him, he found his thoughts go wild with confusion and horror.

He scanned Eric's mind, who was reflecting upon something he was told by an Electabuzz.

"This is only the beginning, Claid. Are you willing to destroy something that resembles the real deal?"

"Weird… can't think…" Eric yawned, before passing out again.

Lucario checked Riolu to see if he was OK, Cynthia managed to help him calm down. Blaziken approached Alakazam, who was also followed with Riolu.

"Dat was scawy…" Riolu told Alakazam. Blaziken crouched down and noticed the look in Alakazam's eyes.

"Something that… resembles the real deal…" Alakazam muttered, processing the brief memory from Eric's mind.

"What's up?" Blaziken inquired.

"Ya, what's up?" Riolu agreed.

"I dunno…" Alakazam said, a sense of dread welling up. "Though it doesn't take a cliché to know that this isn't over yet."