Yay, I finally got it up, chapter 37 is here WAHOO!
Sorry about the wait y'all, haven't been able to write much in a while, you know, everything deciding it needs my time. On the bright side, one of my longest chapter with about 5,000 words. Hope that can sate y'all till I can get the next one here.
Now please, enjoy.
"Please daddy, I just want one!" Kaen whined as my eye twitched ever so slightly.
"Kaen, for the last time, you can't have it" I repeated with a sigh, earning a whimper from the little fire type.
"Why nooot" she whined, a little tear trailing down her eye that I knew was fake. I looked up at the sign and cringed.
"Sweetie, that is a five hundred Poké cookie, I know it may look like it, but I not wearing any pants, where do you think I would keep a wallet, much less five hundred Poké?" I questioned her, making her quit her begging and look at the pastry store in sad envy. She was staring right at the window where a small carrousel of large decorative cookie treats that were way to small for the price they were asking for were sitting. I gave her a small smile and knelt down to pat her head comfortingly.
"I'm sorry baby girl, maybe when we have a bit more money you can have one" I told her, trying my best to cheer her up. My efforts were to no avail as she seemed dead set on staying sad about not being able to get her sweet little treat.
It just happened to be my lucky day though. Not long after I tried to comfort her, I felt something tap me on the shoulder. What I was greeted by was a young brunette woman wearing a knowing smile on her face. I saw her holding out a small pink puff towards me, seemingly knowing all about the situation I was in. I smiled and took the treat from her hand, giving her a bow in thanks and watching her walk off to continue her day.
"You know what sweetheart, I think I might have something better than that little cookie" I said, immediately gaining her full attention. I grinned and handed her the Poképuff, watching her eyes light up at the sight of something sweet. She snatched it from my paw without a second thought, holding the sweet in between her paws and nibbling on it.
"oh tank chou dawdy!" she said with a mouth full of food. I chuckled and picked her up, making sure to keep the puff within her reach, and sat down at a nearby bench to relax while she ate.
"Wonder what the others are up to" I said, more to myself than anyone else. It had been a little over an hour since the battle against Clemont and all of us, excluding Caleb and Lee who were probably still at the Pokémon center, had been exploring the city since then. We all left as a group and somehow we ended up going off to do our own stuff. Yuki and Lilly went off to do their girl stuff while Kaen insisted on spending the whole day with her favorite daddy, like she had any others.
"So good" she cheered between bites as she devoured the last half of the puff before moving over to lay down in my lap and falling asleep with a satisfied burp. I chuckled and stroked her warm fur while I sat back and closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth that the sun blessed me with.
"Mommy look, its so pretty!" I heard a young girl squeal from not to far away. I peeked an eye open to see what she was talking about out of sheer curiosity and saw a familiar looking Absol rubbing up against a small girl while the girl happily petted her, all under the watchful eye of both the mother and, who I presumed to be, her older brother.
'Well, that answers one of my questions' I thought and collected the snoozing Vulpix in my arms and went over to say hey.
"Making some new friends I see" I said, announcing my presence to them all. The disaster Pokémon smiled broadly at the sight of me and licked the girl on the cheek before padding over to me, rubbing her head against mine.
"Hello Aaron, I am glad to have finally found you. I have been searching for quite some time" she said with a happy smile.
"Well, here I am" I chuckled and safely deposited my adopted daughter on her back, feeling like she wanted to hold her since her eyes glanced at her occasionally.
"Are these your friends Absol?" the little girl asked, gaining my attention. I smiled and moved over near her, keeping a respectful distance between us, and kneeling down in front of her. She tilted her head and looked to her mother for approval, to which she nodded while the brother stood next to her, totally slack jawed.
"Hello Mr. Lucario" she smiled and reached a hand out towards me, her palm facing forward. I smiled back and reached out in a similar fashion, touching my paw to her hand.
"I...I can't believe it." I looked over to the boy as he blinked away his surprise and moved to kneel down next to his sibling. "A Lucario, a real, flesh and blood Lucario."
"You appear to be correct" I chuckled and reached a paw out to him as well, allowing him to touch his hand to my paw. The girl decided to take a step further and reached past my paw, placing her palm on my head instead. I purred the best I could from the pleasure, much to the amusement of the girl.
"Aaron, I know you are enjoying the attention, but I was hoping we would be able to get some training in before we have to leave."
"What, eager to get destroyed by everyone's favorite Lucario?" I tittered and gave the girl a pat on the head before standing back up to my full height and looking her right in the eye, a challenge instantly sparking between us.
"You merely had luck on your side, I will win this time, I know it" she replied. I grinned and cracked my paws and gesturing over to the nearby field with a snap of my head.
"Keep telling yourself that." Her eyes narrowed and a small smirk graced her muzzle as she stretched out to pop all the kinks out of her back and trotted over to the middle of the field with me in tow.
"Come on kids, we have a few more places to be, lets leave these nice Pokémon to their battle" the mother told her children as she pulled the little girl along with her son following close behind them.
"Good, no need to worry about collateral damage" I sighed and crouched down in my fighting pose, her doing the same. "On your go."
"Why thank you" she grinned before vanishing from sight and appearing behind me a mere second later. I kicked my leg back, connecting with her paw and flipping up, sending her skidding back to her original location. I smirked at her failed attempt and came rushing at her with Power-Up Punch. Her Night Slash connected with the my punch and our eyes locked as our movements came to a stand still. That is until a sudden Shadow Ball formed between us and launched at me, hitting me and knocking me back a few feet. This gave her plenty of time to come at me with another Night Slash. I smirked and formed a Bone Rush, blocking her attack and knocking her back once again.
"En garde!" I said with a grin, pointing the staff right at her. Her eyes narrowed as she formed another Shadow Ball and shot it towards me, only for me to bat it away with my staff, sending it flying away to harmlessly dissipate into the sky. She shot another and I sent it flying into the trees, knocking down a solid looking Oak. The last one actually caught me off guard, me not thinking she would have sent three in a row, but I was able to hit it with a downward axe swing, splitting the ball in two, both halves bending around and flying off to hit whatever was so I unfortunate to have been behind me at the time.
"Nice try" I chuckled and deformed the bone before widening my stance and taking in a deep breath. That's when a quad set of ethereal swords formed around me, spinning around me before simply disappearing from sight. I suddenly felt stronger, faster, ready for battle.
"My, my, what a surprise" Yuki mused, regarding me curiously. I clenched my paws and flexed the muscles in my arms, surprised from the sudden surge of energy.
"Had to give up Extreme Speed for this one, but I wasn't gonna complain. Caleb told me to use it after the battle, don't know why but he has his reasons and I trust his judgement" I said with a shrug and dropped back down into my fighting stance. "Now shut up and come at me!"
"With pleasure" she grinned and charged at me with another Night Slash. I grinned back and formed another Bone Rush, running back at her. I was fully prepared to make this a repeat performance and it might have ended up being one, had a little intrusion not come into play. My mind wasn't able to process everything that happened so quickly, all I heard was a bang before we were both tethered to the ground by one of the most ensnaring and annoying devices ever created by man, a net.
"WHAT THE HELL!" I shouted in annoyance and anger, fighting to get the net off of me while Yuki squirmed and fought with her four paws pushing up on the net.
"What is this, what is happening" She cried and clawed at the rope to no avail.
"My goodness, that was a bit too easy." Our heads turned to regard the voice as the owner lazily walked over to us. The man was probably in his late twenties, his face nearly hidden by his hood and the ebony black hair that covered up the top half of his face, his left eye peeking out of the blood red lock that rested at the tip. He was also covered in dozens of tools made for the sole purpose of capturing Pokémon. Everything from bolas, nets, chains, and a heavy duty tranquilizer gun hanging from his hip. "Good thing we invested in that net gun."
We said nothing in response, glaring at the man with as much disdain as we could muster. It didn't take a genius to figure out who this guy was, everything about him practically screamed poacher.
"Aww, what's wrong, Purrloin got your tongue, you were so talkative during your battle, which was mighty impressive by the way. You two will definitely catch a fine price, the demand for decent battling Pokémon is actually pretty high on the black market" he said with a grin that I oh so badly wanted to punch off his arrogant face. "Now that I told you what I plan to do with you, I believe it's only fair that you don't squirm too much, it truly is a hassle to have to drag back a Pokémon when they actually think they can escape." I narrowed my eyes and exposed a single fang while a low growl reverberated within my throat, but I still held my tongue. I noticed Yuki doing the same as she once again tried to claw her way out of the net.
'Calm yourself Yuki, I already have a plan of action, just wait for my word.' She gave me a subtle nod and settled herself down, taking a breath to try and fight down her instincts.
"Fantastic, now don't worry, this won't take long" he said and stepped back to the trees and reached down behind it. That's when I noticed that the net was actually still attached to a rope that was now pulling us ever closer to the poacher. "Yes, yes, come my pretties, come and catch me a pretty penny."
'Lets wait till he brings us to his friends, Pokémon poachers always travel in groups.'
'Do you think we will be able to take them?' Yuki thought back, a hint of anxiousness in her aura. It was a legitimate concern, for all we knew this guy had a whole army at his back, or simply a small group supporting him. I hoped for the latter, cause this plan was already a risky enough gambit, but we didn't really have much other choice. This net was too strong to be cut by Yuki's claws, and the opening was secured tightly so I couldn't wiggle my paw through it, meaning I was pretty much stuck in this predicament.
"Well, looks like I finally found a pair that actually listens instead of clinging to some kind of false hope, its so...refreshing." I raised a brow at him, but otherwise kept my glare. "Well you definitely understand me, but for some reason you choose not to respond, peculiar, but no matter."
He tied the rope tightly and cut it from the gun, putting the thing behind his back and shrugging the rope onto his shoulder. He looked to struggle a little bit, but somehow managed to drag the two of us along the forest floor towards his camp, or so I guessed.
'If they don't open the net to let us out, cut the rope with Night Slash, if they do, use Feint Attack to keep them from surrounding you.' I said, taking another peek at the man dragging us along, noticing a single Pokéball hanging from his belt.
'What about you, how will you escape?' Yuki asked worriedly. I flexed my paws and began formulating that part of the plan, running though multiple scenarios that could possibly play out.
'After you get out of range, I'll let loose an aura shockwave, it'll distract them and give me time to get out. Your gonna have to back me up till I recover since the amount of energy necessary to create a pulse large enough to hit them will be massive.'
It wasn't a full proof plan, but it's the best I could come up with. If we're able to beat them, we can free any Pokémon they may have already captured. It was risky, but it had to be done.
"Don't worry you two, camp ain't too far, soon you'll be able to relax in your own nice little cages" the man said, completely oblivious to the conversation between the two Pokémon he was currently kidnapping.
"Brad, that you?" I heard a male voice shout from ahead, followed by a burly man that I knew had to be the owner. He looked like the stereotypical mountain man, minus the beard but double the muscle.
"Yes Ramon, its me, I brought a couple of guests though" The now identified Brad replied, peeking over his shoulder as us with a satisfied grin. The other man peeked behind his friend, laying his eyes on two rare Pokémon. His smile couldn't get any wider and I could have sworn I saw dollar signs appear in his eyes.
"A Lucario and an Absol! You hit the big time Brad, the Lucario alone could possibly be worth hundreds of thousands of Poké." That actually peaked my interest a little. I was worth that much, I mean I know Lucario were rare, but that was pretty amazing.
"Yeah, the Absol will be worth at least two grand I think, I'm actually tempted to keep the Lucario for myself."
"Like 'ell that'll happen, we still owe for the equipment!" another voice yelled, this one sounding quite feminine, but probably the most intimidating one of them all.
"Relax Roxy, I was just kidding, no way he would have listened to me" Brad shrugged and kept walking forward, meeting up with a muscular blonde woman that looked ready to punch somebody, but I'm pretty sure that was the face she held all the time.
'That's the whole group, there are only three aura signatures around and there are a few more a few meters away, but they are all radiating fear. At least a dozen Pokémon if I had to guess.'
"How fast do you think they'll sell?" Ramon asked, looking at us appraisingly.
"Trust me, they definitely won't last all that long, well sell them in less than a week, guaranteed."
"Oh my God, will you lot please shut the bloody hell up" I muttered quietly, though not quiet enough it would seem.
"Oh, so it speaks, had me worried there for a moment" Brad chuckled and dropped the net in favor of crouching down to look at me more closely. "Well come on, tell me what's on your mind Mister Lucario." I growled at his annoying confidence and used my aura to thump him on the head.
"Ow, what the hell" he said while looking all around him until his eyes landed on me once again, a shit eating grin plastered on my muzzle.
"I'm sowwy, did that hewt?" I giggled and stuck my tongue out at him. It did the opposite of the desired effect it would seem. All it did was make the man give me a toothy grin and reached his hand out, patting my stomach happily.
"Expert control of aura, your value just skyrocketed my furry friend"
"Kiss my ass" I growled and forced my arm up to grab his, holding his arm in a death grip. His smile faltered as pain and discomfort radiated from his form. I soon heard the familiar pops of Pokéballs, followed by a large hand grabbing on to my arm and ripping it away from the man.
"Look, don't touch" a deep voice rumbled as a Swampert held me tightly while a Sceptile unraveled the net. I was hoping this would have givin Yuki the chance to escape, but sadly that wasn't going to happen since the Swampert held her down with his other hand.
"Thank you Swampert, now will you please assist me in putting him in the cage, Sceptile can hold down the Absol." As soon as those words were said, I was pulled out by my neck while the Sceptile easily held her down.
"Why the hell are you helping him?" I asked the Swampert, glaring at him with as much malice as I did with his trainer. The Mud Fish Pokémon just shrugged and wrapped an arm around my stomach and held the other two at my sides.
"Just following orders" he said, making sure I was held tightly to him as he walked towards a large container. "Tyranitar, open up the door for me will you."
"Sure thing" said a large bipedal dinosaur Pokémon as it walked in front of Swampert and grabbed onto the latch, lifting the heavy metal door with ease. What I saw behind that door made my blood run cold. Cages upon cages lined the walls, holding dozens of Pokémon of all sizes. Each cage looked to be way to small for the Pokémon it contained, like each one was created to hold that specific Pokémon while using as little room as possible.
"Don't worry buddy, master and his friends are leaving tonight, so you and your friend won't be in the cages long" he said in an attempt to put me a little more at ease, but he obviously didn't think I would actually try and escape after I held still for so long. I wretched my arm from his grip and delivered a strong elbow to his side, receiving a pained groan as he dropped me in a mixture of surprise and pain.
"YUKI NOW!" I shouted, punching the Tyranitar back as it tried grabbing me, making it hit the truck and drop the door back down. I heard the sound of struggle and saw the Sceptile fly over my head, followed by the sound of rope snapping and the Absol joining me at my side moments later.
"That was surprisingly disappointing" Yuki said with a sigh. I didn't reply, my eyes never leaving the three. Their trainers were deathly quiet, but I sensed no fear in their aura.
"Don't let your guard down, we caught them by surprise, we don't know anything about their full strength." She nodded and crouched down, ready to pounce at the first sign of hostility. I simply narrowed my eyes and widened my stance as I watched the three pick themselves back up off the ground and rubbed their respected injuries.
"How cute, they thought they could fight back now" Roxy chuckled as she made her way behind the three, Brad and Ramon following close behind. I growled and glanced over at my friend, her looking right back.
'You ready, this probably won't be as easy as before" I told her receiving a nod as her crouch deepened and her lips curled back into a snarl. She looked about ready to kill, and frankly, it even scared me a little.
'They will not beat us, we have trained to much to be beaten by weaklings such as them' she replied and immediately threw a Psycho Cut at the Sceptile. The Forest Pokémon narrowly blocked it with a Leaf Blade and was about to charge forward with it, had a Bone Rush attack not slammed right into its head.
'Use Feint Attack on the Swampert, give me an opening on the Tyranitar' I ordered, to which she promptly disappeared, then reappeared right behind the Mud Fish Pokémon, dazing him with a swift sucker punch to the back of his head. The attack caught the attention of the Tyranitar, letting me deliver a Power-Up Punch right to his gut. I felt a clawed hand grab me from behind and toss me away from the dark/rock type. I planted a paw to the ground and slid across the dirt, pushing myself up into the air and landing back on my paws. I growled and formed a Bone Rush attack, brandishing it like a staff while the Sceptile crossed its arms, letting the leaves on its arm grow and sharpen.
"Please don't make me do this, I don't want to fight you." The voice was distinctly female as it basically pleaded for me not to resist. I detected no hostility in her voice, just sadness and a hint of regret. She was forced to do this, and she found it less than satisfying for sure.
"If you don't want to do this, then don't" I replied, dropping my stance ever so slightly.
"I am forced to do this, and I am sorry for this." She suddenly jumped as me, her blades drawn back. I planted my feet and pulled back my staff, as she jumped and brought her blades down at me. I brought my staff up to block her blades, gritting my teeth as I strained ever so slightly from the pressure exerted on me from her attack. A blade of purple Psychic energy collided with her soon after, knocking her away from me. I looked over to Yuki, bowing my head in thanks before tossing the staff at the Swampert, who had a fist raised in preparation to attack.
"Were even" I chuckled and elbowed the Sceptile as she charged at me again.
"Tyranitar, just use Earthquake and get this over with" Roxy ordered.
"WHAT!" both Brad and Ramon shouted, catching literally all of our attention.
"If he uses Earthquake, the cages might open, do you really want to risk dealing with a truckload of pissed off Pokémon?" Ramos reasoned with her. She glanced at him for a moment, but showed no signs of changing her mind.
"Use Earthquake!"
'Shit!' I mentally cried and leapt into the nearest tree, grabbing Yuki along the way.
"Hold on tight" I told her and held her securely to my side while my other arm held onto the tree as tightly as possible. I watched as the Tyranitar raise his foot up, holding it there for a moment, then brought it down to the earth as hard as possible. My grip on both tree and Pokémon tightened as the ground cracked and split and shook powerfully. The tree wobbled, but held strong against the attack, but everything else didn't fair much better. The Sceptile and Swampert went flying off of the ground while the truck teetered and swayed, then simply fell over with a crash. After everything had finally settled down, silence took over. The humans were definitely scared as they all held their breath, staring at the truck with fear evident in their aura.
"Oh crap" The Swampert muttered and took a few steps back, taking cover behind the Tyranitar. The Sceptile was pretty much gone as her aura swiftly faded into the distance.
"You alright Yuki?" I questioned her quietly, not wanting to break the tension quite yet.
"I am alright, thank you Aaron" she replied as she jumped from the branch, me following close behind. We shared a look before turning our attention to the people and Pokémon, then to the center of everyone's attention. I heard quiet a bit of rustling coming from the truck, then the sound of metal on metal scraping, then the sound of metal bending. Something in there had escaped, and it was currently either helping the others out, or was clearing its way towards the door.
"Back away...very...slowly" I said, walking backwards without taking my eyes off the truck. More scraping and bending sounded from the truck, followed by a loud banging on the door. Each hit made the door shudder and warp as a large dent formed out from the center.
"Roxy, I think we should go" Brad said urgently, already putting his Swampert into its Pokéball and backing away as quickly as possible. She nodded and returned her Tyranitar, but right before she could even turn around to escape, the door shot off the truck. Their was a mere second of silence before dozens of Pokémon stormed out of the truck like a flood.
"MOVE!" I cried and grabbed Yuki before hiding behind a tree. Attacks of all kinds hit the field, uprooting trees and cracking the ground worse than the Earthquake attack ever could.
"GO, GET OUT OF HERE!" Ramos shouted and dragged Roxy and Brad along with him as he weaved through the trees to avoid the multitude of Pokémon chasing them. The sounds of chaos filtered out in the distance until the field was quiet once again.
"Do you think their gone?" Yuki asked, peeking out from the tree, looking around for any traces of anything. I stepped out from behind the tree and slowly made my way forward, observing the carnage left behind from the confrontation. Carnage actually wouldn't begin to describe what was left, it looked like an army just said screw it and bombed the crap out of the entire area. Trees were strewn about here and there, the ground was barely even presentable as ground, more like shrapnel littering the field, and in the center of it all, was the truck.
"I think their gone, I don't sense any other aura signatures around" I answered. I gestured her forward and walked towards the truck. What I was expecting to find, I didn't know, but my curiosity made me check it out.
"Guard the door, don't want anything sneaking up behind us" I ordered, receiving a nod before I stepped into the truck. The feeling of cold metal against my paw made a shiver run through my spine and smell almost made me vomit.
"They must have trapped in here for weeks" I whispered, running a paw over the bars of the cages above me. One cage immediately caught my attention as it stood out from all the others. It was padded, like a room in an insane asylum. It was also the only door that remained closed.
'How peculiar' I thought and felt around for the cage handle. I felt a small bump and grinned, sliding the lock open and slowly open the cage. My eyes widened as I finally saw what the cage was hiding, a sight that made my blood boil.
"They stole an egg" I growled and secured the egg as I let the cage open the rest of the way. I looked down at the little egg, feeling great sadness for the parent that had their unborn child taken away from them.
"They stole what?" Yuki asked, entering the truck after hearing my small outburst. Her eyes widened and her hackles raised in anger. Seems she shared my sentiment.
"It doesn't matter now, those three have over a hundred problems right now, we have to get this egg to Caleb, let him figure out what to do." She nodded in agreement and stepped closer, examining the egg thoroughly.
"At least it wasn't damaged, I'll go find Caleb, take it to the Pokémon center and have it checked out. We can't risk even the smallest crack being left on its shell."
"Right" I nodded and watched her speed off through the trees back towards the city. It was now only me and the egg left in that clearing, along with a few Pokémon that were brave enough to investigate the noises, but I paid them no mind. I simply stared at the egg for a while, form what reason, I will never know. That's when a little thought entered my head and I nearly facepawed.
"Wait a minute, Yuki ran off that way, but we came from that way...oh crap, YUKI!" Looks like that visit to the Pokémon center would have to wait. Time to play hide and seek with Absol...fun.
There you go, another chapter. Hopefully I can get the next one up quicker. Sorry if it kind of drops in quality near the end, I'm just a little burned out.
Till next time.