Chapter 22 - Reunion in Chargestone Cave Part 02

Chargestone Cave

We ran towards the main entrance of Chargestone Cave following the three clan leaders up front; Golbat the leader of the poison types, Boldore leader of the rock types, and Voltorb leader of the Electric types with Muk in between and us a little behind not wanting to draw any attention to the enemy when we reached the entrance, unsure whether or not the enemy could be Purrloin's Pokemon sent to find us. "They wouldn't be that extreme!" I thought out loud as we ran. Always telling myself that Purrloin gave up on us and it was another clan out there and wanted nothing to do with us, that we would be safe for the remainder of the journey, I wanted to believe it.

Before we reached the corner of the tunnel where the entrance was, we heard some Pokemon argue, but then stopped when the three clan leaders turned the corner

At the entrance, we saw standing at the entrance six Pokemon standing beside the other, Pokemon me and Aqua knew; a Pidove, Rattata, Pansear, Houndoom, Herdier, and a Timburr. If I remembered correctly from when we were in Purrloin's hideout I remembered seeing these same exact six guarding the main lobby of the hideout.

"No… it's just a coincidence." I thought to myself as I carefully peeked around the corner at the six Pokemon again. "Pidove had a scar above his left eye; Houndoom had a scar under his maw, and Timburr a scar on his left shoulder…" If I saw those scars, I would know if it was them or not. But all six Pokemon standing by the entrance stood away from the light in into the shadows making it difficult for me to see if they did have scars. So all I could do was listen to what they wanted.

I wanted them to be other Pokemon from another clan, not involved with Purrloin at all and this was just a coincidence that the six Pokemon standing at the entrance were someone else. But unfortunately for us it would appear that escaping Purrloin wouldn't be as simple as that.

"We are looking for two Pokemon from our clan. A white Dewott with a black and red eye wearing an eye patch over his left eye, and a shiny female Oshawott. Have any of you guys seen them? If so, tell us their exact location or we will force our way inside and punish you all if you are protecting them!" The Houndoom growled along with the other five Pokemon beside it all glaring at Voltorb.

"You think you and your clan can come in here into our home and intimidate us? Hah, you must have some nerve the lot of you!" Voltorb glared at them. "We ain't seen any Pokemon like that at all in the cave. When it comes to Pokemon and humans walking through this cave, we also let them know we won't stand for any staying longer than they should, not bothering them if they don't bother us. But you! You come in here and threaten us the first day you arrive, attempting to harm one of our Pokemon after they greeted you and warned you of how your actions are always watched so you do not try anything funny. You do not seem to understand that your actions this far are almost about to start something that will not end well for you and your allies!"

The Houndoom shrugged. "These Pokemon we are after, no matter where they try and hide, we will find them. And if any Pokemon assist them we will kill them all! Including the young. So think about it with your other Pokemon, don't allow your future generation to have a short life."

"We have no Pokemon like that inside this mountain cave." Boldore spoke up, taking a step forward towards the six Pokemon with several Pokemon from his clan backing him up should the six try anything. "So how about you take your friends outta here and buzz off!"

"We have a lot of us just awaiting our orders to rush inside. A good hefty number of thirty all ready to storm the place outside this disgusting mountain." Timburr chuckled. "So unless you don't want your children to die, like my friend here said they would if you refused to let us inside, I recommend you do since the thirty outside are more than pumped up for a battle. Even one involving young Pokemon if it'll help gain them some experience."

"You're all vile!" Golbat spat, flapping his wings furiously at the six. "What kind of leader allows their own to hurt the young and sick?"

"I ain't the leader, and neither is any of the Pokemon you see before you." Houndoom snickered. "Purrloin is our bosses name, and if she were here to join us she would be instantly storming the place until she finds the two Pokemon she is after. So be grateful it is just us you are dealing with, so we can negotiate peacefully without any blood from being spilled. So either cough up the two Pokemon right now, or you will all die!"

"And we keep telling you, you ignorant fools, we have not seen the Pokemon you are looking for!"

Muk moved back out towards us and away from the eyes of the six Pokemon. "C'mon, I'll help you two pass through the cave to the other side. You can escape from there."

As we ran alongside him, Aqua asked before glancing back at the corner of the tunnel were we heard moves being used by probably all of the Pokemon at the entrance. "What about you guys? This is your home; we can't just leave you here to deal with Purrloin's gang all by yourselves. We can help you."

"Heh, we're not alone. So don't worry about us, we got more than enough Pokemon from all three clans to help take down these vile Pokemon." Muk chuckled as he guided us down the tunnel. "You just worry about yourselves and get outta here. After what you did for us, how could we give you and your friend up to those vile Pokemon. No! We would never give up any Pokemon to Pokemon like that. You helped stop a war from breaking out amongst the three clans. And together the three clans joined as one creating thus a stronger clan of Pokemon living under the same roof. You're a friend to the Pokemon of Chargestone Cave. There ain't no way we're going to let these vile Pokemon hurt you or your friend."

"You don't have to." I said as we had to narrowly squeeze through a tight small cave, me and Muk just barely passed through, while Aqua effortlessly crouched through.

"Heh, I may not look it, but I got more muscle than these vile Pokemon combined. I can handle them for I am known as the hero of this cave back in my day; fighting off an entire clan of invading Pokemon trying to take over the cave."

"Well, don't push yourself. The cave is still going to need its hero." Aqua chuckled, following closely behind Muk.

"So what did you guys do to set them off?" Muk asked as he guided us through the narrow passages, far too small for humans to enter. I guess that was how the Pokemon navigated through the rather than walk down the main tunnels humans pass through. "Never seen so many Pokemon from one clan after their enemy. Do I even want to know what you guys did?"

"Not too long ago Aqua and I were taken in by the Pokemon who are here at the mountain cave. They brought us in, fed us, gave us a place to stay. But this clan we were with weren't the nicest of Pokemon clans in the city, especially their leader. Hurting anyone who dared opposed them, killed them. Then when it got so bad for us, we had to escape."

"The leader of the gang has a rule refusing any of her gang members from leaving the hideout or the gang." Aqua said as we stopped at the end of the tunnel, watching several Pokemon run past the tunnel we were in towards the tunnel on the right to fight off against Purrloin's gang. "We escaped, and they're out here trying to bring us back, but It'll be bad if they do. Either it'll be torture or death, maybe both."

"More reason for you guys to get away from them as far as possible. We'll hold them off for as long as we can." Muk waited a little while longer before giving us the all clear for us to move forward to the next tunnel. It wouldn't be too long now for us to reach the exit and away from Chargestone Cave.

But before we reached the exit, two Pokemon up front turned the corner almost running into us, two Pokemon Aqua or I didn't know, but they knew us. "They're here!" shouted a Taillow, his voice echoed behind us as the other Pokemon, a Nidorina used Quick Attack on Aqua so suddenly, she was thrown into the tunnel walls with a loud slam breaking off shards of rock onto the floor.

Muk used Sludge Bomb against the Taillow and I used Tackle against the Nidorina. The attacks didn't do much damage by themselves, but surprisingly they did do something I wasn't expecting to happen. The move Muk used managed to get both Taillow and Nidorina and stuck them together. And so we used it as a good opportunity to escape.

"Aqua! H-hey, are you alright?" I knelt down beside her, lifting her head up a little, but she was unconscious. The back of her head was bleeding. I couldn't heal her up there and now, it was too dangerous. I would have to do it away from Chargestone Cave. Picking her up carefully, I followed Muk as he guided me to the exit of the cave.

"She alright?" Muk asked.

"She's unconscious. I'll have to treat her wound somewhere away from this cave."

Both of us turned back to the tunnel upon hearing many voices I could just make out saying 'What happened?' 'Who did this?' 'Zack and Aqua are up there!' echoing throughout the tunnel.

"I'm guessing those vile Pokemon just discovered their pals all tied up." Muk moved a little bit back towards the tunnel, glancing back. "Ya know, Zack. It was good seeing you again after so long. It's a shame we didn't have more time, maybe sing a few shanties here and there, but it was better than nothing."

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"This is my home, and my friends and family need me, just as Aqua needs you, so you help her. Find your home, recover your lost memories and live." Muk began heading back down the tunnel, glancing back before he disappeared around the corner. "Take care Zack, you keep her safe. This is my way of saying thanks for saving me when you did." It was all Muk said before he began charging around the corner of the tunnel, the echoes of countless moves being used, cries from multiple Pokemon were heard. I couldn't stick around any longer; Muk gave me and Aqua a chance to escape. I didn't want to leave without trying to help them, but Aqua needed to healed up, and I couldn't risk me and Aqua being captured, so I had to run, praying and hoping Muk and the others back at Chargestone Cave were all okay in the end, they managed to scrap by with just a few scratches and everything would be back to the way things were.

I'm not sure how long I ran for, away from Chargestone Cave, through the route. I'm not even sure how many people I passed by if there were any. My only concern was to find a place I could heal Aqua at fearing that if I stopped Purrloin's gang would eventually find us or Aqua would die. I didn't have much experience on using medical items. Potions and stronger variants I knew how; you just sprayed the bottle onto the wound and let it heal. But she did hit her head very hard against the tunnel wall I didn't know it would be enough to help.

To be continued...

Character interactions 02/03 – Purrloin and Buizel

An unknown Pokemon watched the two Pokemon sit together in front of a quarry from behind a bush big enough to conceal them to watch the two and listen in on their conversation. A conversation that would've went unheard if it were not for the Pokemon that has asked for its identity to remain anonymous still to this day.

"So, what are you going to do about the Dewott?" The Buizel named Lucian asked, skipping small stones across the quarry… failing at every attempt. "Now that we have an alliance with the humans and that masked Latias assisting us on our search for some reason. Are you going to punish him like you are with the Oshawott?"

"Zack? No. But the Oshawott, definitely." Purrloin smiled as she tilted her head up to look at the sky. "The Oshawott will pay for what she did to my future mate. When I have her in my paws… oooh, to think of all of the punishments I will inflict upon her, imagining what she'll sound like when I hurt her is sending chills down my spine. But seeing Zack and holding him close to me… I hate being apart from him!"

"Forget about that stupid Dewott!" Lucian snapped back at her, dropping the remaining stones onto the ground. "I have been with you longer than that loser, I have been more faithful to you than anyone else in our gang! And that memory loss thing he has, now that's just a stupid attempt to earn sympathy points from all of us after him being all cut up like that so we'll go easy on him, feel sorry for him. For all we know he probably did that to himself! And the Dewott's girlfriend, that Oshawott he is always seen with, they were most likely a part of another gang's team and came in here to find our weaknesses!"

Purrloin stood up in one swift motion, walking to Lucian with a relaxed smile on her face. Staring at Lucian for a moment before she swiped at his right cheek with her paw. "If I ever hear you call Aqua being Zack's girlfriend again, I'll kill you." Purrloin held up her paw and noticed the blood on her claws. "But you are right about one thing; you are loyal to me. And Zack being a part of another gang, losing all of his memory being fake, and him cutting himself up like that? Don't make me laugh, you stupid Buizel. That Latias offering an alliance with us, assisting us in our search for Zack and the Oshawott, despite my so-called agreement to hand over Zack to them after I was done with him, I am simply using them so this search for the two is quicker. Then after I have them both I will return to Castelia City and pretend I haven't found him or the Oshawott. Then that fool of a Latias will just cry about it and leave to find some other petty puppet."

Purrloin walked to the edge of the quarry, kicking some stones into the water one-by-one. "All I gotta do is simply plan everything I will say to the masked Pokemon. Make it sound convincing and hopefully we'll go our separate ways; me with Zack as my mate and father to our future children…" She said as she danced around with a huge smile on her face, giggling every now and again.

"Ugh… children with him? You gotta be kidding me, only a messed up Pokemon would ever consider being with a Pokemon like that… then again, you are pretty messed up…" Lucian groaned, but Purrloin didn't seem to react to it or even care. Comments like that from anyone within her gang whoever spoke to her like that wouldn't live for much longer. So Lucian was lucky that day, very lucky that Purrloin didn't react and kill him right there. Either Purrloin didn't want to lose any more Pokemon to assist her on the search for Zack and Aqua, or maybe her mind was too deep in fantasy. Only Lucian not too long after he said that realized what he had said, standing back in shock. Fearing that Purrloin heard him and was biding her time to move in close to finish him off. She would dance a little more before using a move on Lucian that what would be fatal, maybe attack him for saying what he said, but nothing like that happened. All she did was dance and hum to herself for an hour.

Lucian walked towards and stop in front of the bush the Pokemon who saw all this transpire and he spoke to himself quietly while looking back at Purrloin. "I better not saw things like that in front of Purrloin again, otherwise I'll be dead. Just keep calm Lucian, keep calm and relax. No matter what she says about that stupid Dewott it is all just a fantasy. Once I find him, I'll kill him and me and Purrloin will return home, she'll finally look at me and maybe even look at me the same way she does when she looks at that Dewott… and everything will return to normal." Lucian sighed happily, placing a paw over his heart. "Just gotta get to the Dewott first, kill him, make it seem like he died to something to else that it won't trail back to me in anyway, and everything will return to normal. But what to do with the Oshawott? Hmm…" Lucian sits beside the bush in silence. An hour later an Purrloin would stop dancing and call Lucian over to join with her gang to continue the search.

Conversation End