Ash let out a groan as he stirred awake. He reached down to rub his face and his arms stopped moving.
Last night, both of them had surrendered to one another and made passionate love right on top of his bed. It wasn't something he expected, but she was adamant on her decision and he just went with what both of them wanted and needed. It was rare that he experienced one of the best nights of his life and May was just as good in bed as she seemed to be. An hour after intense mating, the two of them drifted back to sleep with him draping an arm over her bare stomach.
She reluctantly left his side in order to go to class the next morning. May was very thankful she had brought many of her other clothes to put in Ash's house as well as driving on over, which indirectly saved her from that dreaded walk of shame.
For a moment, he thought that his arms had fallen asleep from all the action overnight. That annoying tingly sensation that caused him to lose all feeling in the limb, but then his head looked up and his eyes widened.
On both wrists were metal rings snapped firmly around, connected to chains that allowed maybe a foot radius of free movement. The chains linked to another pair of rings fitted around the posts of his bed. His legs were free, although that wasn't much of an asset.
He felt a presence and looked across the bedroom. Someone was sitting in the chair.
It was too early in the morning to discern anything; the person's features were hidden by shadows.
"Who the hell are you?" Ash hoarsely asked, suddenly aware that his throat was quite dry and he realized that he was still naked underneath the sheets.
The figure didn't respond, only stood up and slowly walked to Ash's bedside. He identified the body shape as a male, well built, but not overly muscular and his hair was longer and it was a few inches shy of going shoulder length.
He held up a palm sized phone and began to set up a tall camera tripod. Once it had been complete, he set the phone on top and angled it down to his lying frame.
"Wave to the camera action star." He said monotonously.
"What do you want from me?"
"Me?" The figure pointed at himself and chuckled, "I want nothing from you. You've got a nice house, good job and your girlfriend is quite sexy. I don't want to interfere with that."
"Well you could've ringed the doorbell. I would've answered." Ash smartly replied.
"Knowing you, it would have been done with a P two twenty six and a suppressor in the pocket of your bathrobe."
Ash looked at him in bewilderment as the figure held up his gun and casually released the magazine. He racked the slide, removing the bullet in the chamber.
"Like I said, I know who you are and wouldn't put myself at this close proximity to you without at least a guarantee of my own safety."
"Not giving up any information."
"Oh you're not giving up anything…Well anything yet." The man walked into the light and Ash recognized him.
One of Harley's lieutenants. The one that got away during their raid on Fallarbor.
He took the phone off the stand and turned it around so that Ash could see the person on the other side.
Staring back at him was the scared face of May.
They came for her.
She was completely unaware of the turn of events about to happen.
Dawn had excitedly squealed in delight when May spilled the fact of their lovemaking. However she was not inclined to share any details, much to her dismay.
"I can't believe you got engaged and laid on the same night!" She was extremely giddy and had to keep her voice down to avoid another embarrassment for the latter. "May this is the best thing that has ever happened to you!"
"I know," The subject was brought up because Dawn was asking on why May kept smiling and "glowing"
"I do not glow!" She retorted.
"It's written all over you!" Dawn egged on, "What did you and Ash do last night?" The mischievous grin began to grow on her face.
May was just leaving on Broadstone's campus in her class room when someone had bumped into her. She was carrying her backpack and the student easily reached for her pockets and pulled her cell phone free.
"Hey!" May was well aware of keeping all belongings while on college grounds and immediately sensed it. The thief took off, barging right through one of the stairwells.
Taking off after him, she quickly descended downstairs just as he threw open the door and took off across the courtyard.
She wished Ash was here. He'd chase that guy across the city and from someone used to playing quarterback; he tackled like a ferocious defensive end. She'd seen it in person.
The open lawn had a few statues and waterfalls with benches lining the sides. Students were laying in the grass together, moving about from class to class and a trio were throwing a frisbee around. No sign of the thief. Some other students around cast her awkward looks.
"Hey," A voice said from behind her.
May turned and saw a short boy with wire rimmed glasses. He had her cell phone in hand.
"What are you doing with my phone?"
"I…I didn't take it I swear!" He timidly said, "Some guy told me to give it back to you a minute ago!"
He extended it out and she took it.
"I uh…gotta get to class. Um," He adjusted his optics, "See ya!"
May watched, confused as he ran off. Not ten seconds later, her phone rang. She didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Sorry about swiping your phone earlier." An eerie voice said on the other end, "Only way I could get your number."
"Who are you?"
"That's none of your business. But if it pleases you to know, look up at the Williams Hall, flight of staircases in the middle."
May's eyes darted up and she immediately spotted the hooded man. He was standing still among the throng of students moving up or down levels. It was the same guy who had stolen her phone.
"Security's going to see that," May warned.
"Maybe, but by the time they do, I'll be in my band uniform heading to practice. I have something that you would be very interested in."
"What?" May irritably snapped. At the same time fear began to creep up her spine.
"Someone will meet you in one hour in the north parking garage on the third level. Be there. Otherwise, you're going to regret it."
Then the line clicked dead.
"Mister Ash Ketchum." The man in a black suit paced back and forth while he stared down, watching amused as Ash continued to fruitlessly break away from his bonds, "Your reputation precedes you."
"I don't believe we've met."
"I don't think we have either," His dark purple hair was long, over his shoulders and he had piercing eyes that seemed to be completely ice, free of emotion, but at the same time boring into him. It was almost as if his exterior was nothing but an illusion and he saw Ash for who he truly was. "You've been after me for some time. The name's Harley. I lead the Cacturne Syndicate in our friendly line of work."
"I wouldn't call it friendly."
"Neither would I, ever since you came here, you've been indirectly assigned to hunt me down. Now if you'll excuse me, I must meet your girlfriend for a chat."
As Harley left the room, his lieutenant stood up, "Why you?"
"Me?"
He picked up a folder. Opening it up and leafing through the contents, "Let's see here. Ash S. Ketchum, Lieutenant, six years of military service, five of them as a Commando in the Kanto-Johto Federation. Your past says you enlisted in Pallet and if my memory serves me correctly," He sat at the edge of his bed, "That's a pretty horrible place to grow up."
"I didn't have much of a choice. Pressure to join street gangs over there is intense and once you do, they never truly let you go."
"I love them," His lieutenant chuckled, "Many of them are junkies there anyway and they make good business. No police, so less likely to be caught." He went through the files again, "Served in Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos. Demonstrated heroism in the battle of the Oblivia Archipelago by hijacking and taking control of an enemy Thunderbolt-class antiaircraft tank and destroying sixteen aircraft belonging to the Pincer mercenaries. You know those guys were good friends of mine and I don't take kindly to people who hurt friends."
"Neither do I." He was more concerned about how the fact that the head of a huge crime syndicate had gotten his hands on his entire file. That meant that the entire military database of the Federation could be compromised.
"You haven't told me what you want done with May."
"May got away from Harley last time thanks to you," His captor leaned close, "She's not going to be able to get away this time."
"What the hell are you going to do about it?"
The phone was up again and Ash's mouth fell open at what he saw. His gaze shifted over. The man held a pistol and fired a single shot. Ash let out a sharp cry of pain as the bullet easily bypassed the fabric of the bed covers and ripped its way right through his body. His arms tightened, causing the chains to groan in protest. Blood began to seep out of the wound in his stomach and drip down his side. It felt like a red hot razor had been stabbed into him.
Now his shooter was visibly nervous. He had been told not to underestimate Ash at all and even if the guy looked cornered, he was still quite dangerous.
"What the hell?" Ash demanded, breathing heavily through clenched teeth and trying to erase the unignorably intense pain throbbing in his body, "I'm gonna kill you now!"
May cautiously walked on the third floor of the north parking garage. Nobody was in sight and yet she felt as if this was a place where nobody was watching. Her inner instinct was to get away, but something told her that a subject of importance was at stake.
In front of her were three black cars and the doors to two of them opened up to reveal three men. The first two were in long sleeved fatigues. They carried no visible weapons, but she was fairly sure they were armed. Not the friendliest duo and any other college student would think twice about approaching this shady group.
Both men walked forward and their large frames made her feel definitely scared.
"There is no need to frisk." She saw Harley's purple hair come from the other side of the car. "We don't want her to get any more terrified of us."
"Harley." May spat with disgust, "What are you doing here?"
"We're here on a little date are we not?" He spread his arms out, "You know, I'll just apologize now and say that it was wrong to abduct you and your friend in the first place."
"What am I doing here?"
"Well since you did leave quite a lasting impression on me and gave me complete grief thanks to your boyfriend," Harley opened a laptop, "My operations have been stalled and my business has suffered. So I figured I'd return the favor to you!"
May gasped. On split sections of the laptop were feeds of Ash and Caroline…her mother, both restrained in their beds by chains and bleeding from a single gunshot wound in their stomachs.
"What have you done?!" May shouted in anger, lunging at Harley. One of his men grabbed her and shoved her back, throwing a punch that connected with May's jaw.
She dropped to the ground and rolled on her feet, not very confident that despite all of Ash's training, she wouldn't be able to overcome three attackers. Her own jaw began to bleed through a cut in her mouth.
"I know it's a shock," Harley emotionlessly replied, "But you're going to hurt just as much as your boyfriend hurt my business. It's a damn shame, really. You two do make a very cute couple."
"What do you want from me?" May asked.
"A choice. You can use your car and head to either Ash's house or your mother's apartment. Turn yourself into my men there and they will free whomever you choose to rescue. Do it wisely though, by the time you rescue one of them, the other will have bled out."
"Why?" May began to feel anger and fear that she would lose one person close to her, "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Like I said before, you and your boyfriend destroyed my life. Now I am destroying yours."
She readied another outburst, but Harley held up his hand, "I would not waste time if I were you. Every moment you are here brings both your boyfriend and your mother one second closer to death."
May moved away towards her car.
"Oh and by the way," Harley called out after her, "I had your phone tapped. So if you try to call Ash's team or any police about me to rescuing whom you don't choose, I'll have them both killed."
Could she turn herself in to the Syndicate? Offer her life in exchange for her mother's or Ash's?
He made it very clear that he was not going to save one of them and if she tried, they'd both be dead.
Neither Ash or Caroline were more important, but at the same time, it would be heartbreaking to lose one of them
.
May's eyes clouded with tears as she raced her car out of the parking garage, her mind flying at a million miles an hour.
"No," She moaned as the car turned onto the highway and she stepped on the accelerator. The needle crept up and before she realized it, a police siren went off.
A sleek silver car broke out of the formation of others on the highway and tailed her in hot pursuit. Its lights flashed and the other cars in front of it parted to give it room for chasing.
"No please," May didn't want to get pulled over for speeding but it could get worse and time was not on her side. Her mother was dying, couldn't this be settled in a different time?
She took the next exit with the cruiser following behind, suddenly noticing that the vehicle looked awfully familiar.
More epic drama and a race to save Ash or Caroline. Who will May choose?
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.