"The stage is set, the curtains have opened, and it's time for the last duet!" He announced and without missing a beat, I took the lead this time.
"Venipede, Sewaddle, now!" I commanded, the larva beginning to swing Venipede around, gaining momentum.
"Don't let them finish their plan, Krookodile!" Shouted the leader before the lizard dashed towards the Sewaddle, but we had the ball rolling already, or a centipede in this case.
"Attack from afar! Swing it like a whip!" I yelled.
"Sewaddle!" The little guy mumbled with his mouth full of his webs before snapping his head to the side, the string with the Venipede wrapped at the end following suit. With a loud crash, the Krookodile got hit on the head by the Pokémon-made whip, making him yelp in pain while back peddling slightly.
"Do not stop! Continue the assault!" I said, with the Sewaddle rapidly tilting its head from side to side in a dance-like fashion. The whip followed through all of his rapid movements, not having a single sign of tearing while the Venipede still seemed fine with the fact he was a living ball at the end of a web.
Each subsequent strike made more of an impact against the Krookodile, and I felt every single one as they got stronger with each connection. The lizard couldn't find a way to get past the offense the two bug types provided.
Another loud bang vibrated through the forest as the Venipede slammed into the Krookodile's chest, making him lose his balance before plopping to the ground. He was panting heavily, bruises and scratches evident on his body.
"Now for the finisher!" I declared, pumping my fist in the process before swinging my hand down, "Hammer and anvil!"
The Sewaddle raised the Venipede high into the sky, almost reaching the sand veil that black our view before jerking his head to the ground, the whip the following suit. With a soft crack of the webs, the critter slammed it against the Krookodile, creating a small dust cloud in the process.
"Good job. Now pull him back," I said and the Sewaddle nodded before pulling on the whip but somehow wasn't able to. I was confused at first, but then my eyes widened.
"Sewaddle! Snap that we—" But it was too late. With a yelp, the larva got yanked by its own string into the dust cloud, disappearing inside.
"Get out of there, you two!" I shouted desperately and a few cries were my answer before a small shock wave of air pushed the cloud away, revealing the Krookodile standing, panting for air while having a ball of web in one of his arms.
"Kroooook…" The lizard said, tired from this exchange while my legs began to feel like jelly. I slowly began to lose my footing, and my hands shook sporadically, trying to find reassurance. My battle high was gone, and through all of that, I heard a slow clap from the leader, his attitude of an ecstatic performer was gone.
"I'll commend you for lasting a lot longer than expected," He said, admiration evident in his voice before sighing, "But luck can only take you so far. Krookodile."
"Krook?" He asked.
"Get rid of them," Was all he said before the crocodile threw the ball of web with all his might. It sailed through the air before disappearing outside of the veil, leaving the only three of us inside.
"With that out of the way," The leader said, gazing at the spot where my two only partners that weren't out of commission left before looking back at me, "You. I need to take a good look at you to find out why our king is so interested in you."
My legs finally gave out, and I plopped to the ground with a dull thud while the leader kept a steady stride, eventually reaching me. I tried to get up, but my whole body was shivering, disobeying every command I gave it.
While the Krookodile stood guard if anything would come, the leader took hold of my face, squishing it with his hand. He forced my head to tilt from side to side before taking hold of my band and removed my ponytail, letting my bangs fall on my face.
The leader let out a scoff before throwing the band away.
"No, I don't know what our king sees. I only spot a rich boy with an easy future that was given to him without holding any merit," He then looked directly into my eyes, "Not to mention the bloodshot eyes of spending too much time gazing at a screen."
I tried to squirm, to resist him, but my body seemed to have shut down, letting the leader do anything he wished to do. He then grabbed my garb, slightly lifting me up as well before inspecting the coat.
"At least you have a taste in fashion, but that won't save you," He said and then gazed at my belt with a single pokéball attached to it, "And here is what we are after."
He reached out to take Diana's pokéball, and my body moved on its own, grabbing the leader's arm in an instant before giving him the piercing stare I used many times over.
"Touch her and I'll make sure you'll not get away with it," I warned, and the leader tried to jerk his hand away but my grip was unrelenting.
"Let go of me, you mongrel!" He shouted before turning to the Krookodile, "Krookodile! Get him off of me!"
The lizard lazily tilted his head back before nodding and extended one of his arms, its claws about to slash at my hand if it wasn't for two cries echoing in the forest. The Krookodile stopped and gazed in the direction the sound came from instead, ignoring his trainer.
"I command you to make him let go of me!" He shouted impatiently while squirming, but I didn't relent for a single second. To my surprise however, the Krookodile snapped at his trainer.
"Dile!" He exclaimed, shifting his attention back to the sand veil before adorning a wary stance, ready for any form of alarm. Tense seconds felt like minutes as the lizard stared at the empty spot, his eyes narrowing down and once I followed the Krookodile's gaze, I spotted a shadow of a Pokémon on the other side.
"Whirlipede!" I heard, before a centipede in the shape of a tire hovered its way through the sand veil, bolting towards the Krookodile. The lizard's gaze widened for a fraction of a second before adorning a challenging smirk.
"Krookodile!" He shouted and charged against the centipede before catching the centipede by its large horns with a loud crash. The lizard backpedaled slightly at the force of the impact but stood strong, making me snap my gaze at the bug-like tire.
Now I knew why it was hovering because it was using the horns it had littered on its body to support its speed, making it looked like it was floating. With a pale purple carapace and eyes gazing from tiny holes at the center of the ball, I was stunned at the fact a wild Pokémon came to my rescue.
The centipede turned its gaze at me, spotting me before letting out a reassuring "Whirlipede!" and turned back to the Krookodile. I, in the meantime, turned back to the leader, locking eyes with him before adorning a smirk, much to his annoyance.
"The duet continues then," Was all I said before I pulled him in for a knee into the gut. He gasped for air, catching him off-guard by my sudden attack before letting go of his hand while simultaneously decking him in the face.
My mother would have thrown a hissy fit over me punching two people today, but the ends justified the means right now.
The leader's hood flew off from my punch, revealing a jagged pale-blue hair that looked like lightning bolts flowing down to his shoulders. He rubbed the spot on his face where I punched him while trying to regain his breath. Once he did, the stare he gave me was one of pure rage.
"That's it! I don't care our king told us to let you be! I'll just tell him you've died in an accident and bury you here alive!" I screamed, losing his composure in the process, "Krookodile! Kill that Whirlipede, NOW!"
The lizard wasted no time as he readied his fist, enveloping it in a red menacing aura before throwing it at the Whirlipede.
"PEDE!" He suddenly shouted, his cry echoing inside the sand veil before being yanked back suddenly, much to everyone's surprise. The leader became even more furious at the display.
"Krookodile, stop wasting our time and finish this already!" He shouted while the Krookodile bolted towards the backpedaling Whirlipede, ignoring his trainer. Once the Whirlipede reached the veil and the Krookodile wasn't far behind, razor-sharp leaves pierced the barrier, cutting into the Krookodile with ease.
The lizard shouted in pain before backing off, prompting the Whirlipede to let his horns grow before impaling them to the ground, locking himself in place. It was then I spotted a web coming from its back, and after hearing the sound of a rope being pulled in, another Pokémon jumped from the sand veil, entering the battlefield with a loud "Swadloon!".
It was quite similar to a Sewaddle, but instead of being a larva, it looked like a yellow ball wrapped around a leaf and hugging it for dear life while having an annoyed expression on its face.
The Krookodile stared at the two Pokémon with an angered frown, finding himself in a situation that didn't seem advantageous to him anymore. The leader mirrored the lizard's expression, his gaze snapping back to me.
"You lucky—" He caught himself before swearing, regaining his composure slightly, "You win this time, but don't think for a second this is over between us. Krookodile!"
The Pokémon turned to its trainer with a questioning brow.
"We're leaving. Dig up a hole," Was all he said before the Krookodile reluctantly obeyed and started to dig a hole for its trainer before disappearing inside. The leader turned to me one last time, "My name is Blesq, and we will meet again, Radko."
And there he went inside the hole, following his Pokémon before it automatically got patched up, disappearing like it never was even there.
I took one breath, a second breath, a third breath before slumping down from sheer exhaustion, panting for air. At least I found comfort in knowing that it was finally over, to the point I was almost starting to regret the fact that we came here in the first place.
The two Pokémon that came to my rescue closed the distance before checking on me if I was alright. After giving them a shaky smile, I tried my best to stand up, only to be almost brought back down to the ground if it wasn't for the Whirlipede catching me.
It was surprisingly tall too, almost reaching my hips.
"Thank you," I said and the critter gave me a quick "Pede." as an answer. Now that I thought about it, these guys probably were the Venipede and Sewaddle from before.
"Hey, you two are the ones I fought with, right?" I asked to make sure, and the deadpan looks I got from both of them immediately shut down all doubt I had, "Alright fine, sorry."
Then, the sand veil broke, leaving behind only small piles of sand that formed the same circle as the barrier before. I looked around to the place that still was disheveled by the Krookodile, but to my surprise, Hilda was able to find a spot where she could easily rest.
She was tying a bandage on her arm with the help of Tusky while Bunni was napping, also having a small bandage wrapped around her left front leg. Once she was done with her wound she breathed a sigh before turning in my direction.
She was surprised for just a moment before standing up briskly walking towards me. She didn't speak at first once she reached me, instead she gazed inside the sand circle before turning to me again.
"Where's the main bad guy?" She asked.
"He escaped," I began and Hilda was ready to snap at me if I didn't beat her to it, "And we weren't in a position to give chase, Hilda."
She stared at me long enough to satisfy herself before breathing a sigh, "Well, at least you don't look as injured as I am, safe for those red eyes of yours."
She touched the bandage around her arm and winced lightly before jerking her hand away, "Arceus, it still hurts."
"Let it heal then. No need to rush, we can finally rest easy," I said before turning to the three grunts we had tied up and still out of commission, "What about those three?"
"We'll call the police and figure things out from there since we can't open that cage over there," She said, pointing at the cage before bringing out her wristwatch and dialing in a number. A few beeps later, a voice called out through the watch even though we were in the middle of the forest.
"Castelia police, what's your emergency?" The watch said with a crackly voice of a man.
"We have a few Pokémon thieves here in the Pinwheel Forest and we can't open a cage with the Pokémon inside," Hilda said.
"Alright, we'll come to your location asap," The policeman said before hanging up.
"Wait, he didn't even wait for where we are," I pointed out and Hilda breathed another sigh.
"Every X-transceiver has a GPS that tracks calls whenever somebody needs help. We don't have to tell them our location because they already know it," She explained with a tired voice, but I only raised an eyebrow, even more confused.
"Cross-transceiver? I always thought it was called an X-transceiver," I said and Hilda let out a small snort.
"Don't worry, you're not the only one who thought that," She said, making me snort as well before Hilda turned to the two Pokémon that were ignored this whole time.
"And where did you get your hands on those two?" She asked, pointing at the Whirlipede and Swadloon.
"Would you be surprised if I told you these are the two bug types we fought with?" I said and Hilda's eyes widened.
"Wait, they already evolved? That was… very fast," She remarked, gazing at the two Pokémon before the Swadloon hopped next to Hilda.
"Swad-loon looon," He said, bopping his head from side to side before pointing with his leaf on top of its head at Hilda's belt. To say she was confused would be an understatement.
"Umm, a little help here?" Hilda forced out while absentmindedly gazing at me and I let out a chuckle.
"He, or at least I think it's a he, wants to come with you," I said and since the Swadloon didn't turn to me with a frown or something, he probably was a male.
"Again, how?" She asked.
"Look at his head-leaf, it's pointing at your belt. I think that should give you an idea," I said while pointing at the aforementioned leaf and Hilda let out an "Oh." before kneeling down to the guy.
"But wouldn't you want to go with him?" She asked the guy, but Swadloon shook his head.
"Swadloon swadloon lon," After he said that, I had a strong urge to feel insulted, making me give the Swadloon a slight glare before sighing. I couldn't decipher what he said about me anyway. Hilda only shrugged.
"Alright then," She said before obtaining a pokéball and was about to bob it against the head of the Swadloon if she didn't strike a thinking position, "What should I name you though?"
"I think that's something you'll figure out eve—"
"I know!" She suddenly cut me off before pointing the pokéball at him, "You're going to be Loomie!"
A small breeze passed by after those words left Hilda's while the Swadloon stared at her, no idea how he was taking his nickname. I just stood there, mouth slightly agape before I unsuccessfully stifled a snort.
"You have the worst nicknames possible," I remarked, making Hilda huff.
"At least I have one. Do you have a name for that Whirlipede?" She shot back while crossing her arms, making me do a double-take.
"What? No, I'm letting him go," I said before my arm felt slight movement from the curled-up centipede. I turned to him, my eyes locking with his.
"Pede," He said softly while leaning a little forward, making my eyes bulge out.
"You… really want to come with me?" I asked him to be sure.
"Whirlipede," He answered, and a small smile graced my lips.
"I see," I said before I started petting the centipede, although its carapace was a little tough, "Then I need to ask you something. Are you a boy?"
The centipede shook its head, or its entire body in this case while letting out a firm "Pede-pede.", much to my chagrin.
"Great, I guess I'm forever cursed to get Pokémon genders wrong," I mused out loud before touching my chin, "I was kind of hoping you would be a boy though. There was one name I would have gone with immediately but now I'm not so sure."
"How about Spiky?" Hilda offered, forcing me to exasperatedly sigh.
"For you, maybe. But not for me, or her, right?" I said while turning slightly to the Whirlipede and she grunted in agreement.
I touched my chin again while circling around the Whirlipede, hoping to find some inspiration for a good name. It took me a while, but it eventually clicked, letting out an "Ah!" while pointing my index finger upwards before switching back to her.
"How about Katarina?" I offered, allowing the centipede a few seconds to think about her eventual new name before hoping one time off the ground in excitement.
How she was able to do that was beyond me, but it made me smile regardless.
"Your names are so boring," Hilda drawled, "Why not put a little creativity into it?"
"Because your names are so much better than mine, yady yady yada," I said, "Look, just because I use regular names doesn't mean I automatically don't think about what name I give her. Katarina will fit her like a glove."
"Yeah, and what's so special about it then?" She challenged me.
"Tell me what is special about Spiky and then I might tell you why," I shot back.
"Wha—No! That's not how this is supposed to work!" She shouted at me.
"What? Scared you don't have a good argument?" I replied with a sly smirk. Hilda began pouting like a little girl before crossing her arms and turning away, mumbling, "I hate you."
Instead of adding more fuel to the already huge pyre that was Hilda, I turned back to Katarina who still was with me, leaning on my hip. I patted her head again, earning a happy purr from her.
But then, another thought pierced through my mind like a lightning bolt, making me grow more sheepish by the second before turning to Hilda with a desperate smile.
"Um, Hilda?" I said nervously.
"What!?" She snapped at me, wincing slightly at the volume.
"Do…" I gulped, "Do you have a spare pokéball? I don't have anything to catch Katarina."
Hilda's posture eased for a fraction of a second while wearing a dumbfounded look. She soon brought her arms down across her face before letting out the largest groan I had heard from her since we began our journey together.
I stayed silent while a nervous laugh or two escaped my lips before Hilda started digging inside her bag. She stopped soon after, her hand still buried inside while having a small glint in her eyes that made me a little concerned.
What was I left with after this small scuffle was an imprint of a pokéball on my face.
{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}
After catching ourselves two new partners and giving all of our partners some much-needed rest, we stayed near the cage to keep the Pokémon inside some company before the police arrived. It didn't take as long as I thought, even though we were in the middle of a forest, but they were able to find us with very little trouble.
A few policemen came to arrest these grunts that their leader left behind while they started working on unlocking the cage. Me and Hilda only gazed at their efficiency before one of them came to us with a tablet of sorts while wearing a small frown.
"Arceus above, what is with kids running into trouble these days?" He said out loud, not really addressing us in any sort of way. He kept tapping on his tablet, small clicks from his nails were loud enough for us to hear before he looked up, "And then there are you two, how were you able to find Team Plasma all the way out here?"
"A Venipede showed us the way, officer. We would have gone on a wild goose chase otherwise," I explained.
"Well, that's all fine and all, but you said this leader had a Krookodile. How were you able to defeat it with your crew?" The policeman asked while continuously tapping on his tablet.
"I'd say we were more lucky than anything," I said while looking away and Hilda reluctantly hummed in agreement, "He was the only one who escaped too."
The policeman sighed.
"At least you two seem relatively fine," He said, "You were on your way to Castelia, I'd wager."
We both nodded.
"We can give you a ride to the nearest center to make things easy for you," The officer offered, making us sigh with relief.
"Oh thank Arceus, this forest is getting on my nerves," Hilda said, "I know I got Loomie from all of this but it still felt like a huge hassle."
The officer barked a small laugh. "You got that right. Back in my day as a trainer, there wasn't even an asphalt road through this thick forest."
That would have taken sheer power of will to get through this place.
"But I'm getting off track. Come you two, we'll just do some administrative work before we leave," He said warmly while stashing his tablet and pulling out a new device that looked like a portable terminal, "Now, I'll need your trainer cards."
We both pulled out our documents, giving them to the officer who swiped Hilda's card first. He checked the terminal before his eyes slightly widened.
"Hilda Hymerlay? The Hymerlay?" He asked, looking up and Hilda winced before turning her gaze.
"Yeah, and?" She said, her voice as neutral as possible.
"No, it's nothing, I just wasn't expecting the daughter of Hymerlay to be here of all places. I had a chance to inspect your brother as well," He said while having a smile on his lips, "Your mother was quite the trainer back in her heyday."
"I know," Hilda said emotionlessly, making me perk up in a wrong way while the officer was completely ignorant.
"Heh, I must be quite the lucky officer," He mused out loud before moving to my card.
"Now, you sir are…" The officer trailed off before doing the same swipe. Once the terminal registered, he narrowed his gaze at the screen.
"Radko… Reygir?" He tried to pronounce, earning a small snort from Hilda, breaking her stiff posture while I breathed a sigh.
"It's Rieger," I corrected.
"Ah, that's… very foreign. Sorry for being wrong," He said, making the conversation more awkward than necessary.
"It's fine, I'm used to people pronouncing my name incorrectly anyway," I said before the officer's smile turned back into a frown for some reason.
"Is there a problem, officer?" I asked him, slightly wary.
"I see," Was all he said before turning to me without giving me back my card, "I'm sorry lad but you have to come with me even whether you like it or not. You're under arrest due to very specific reasons I can't talk about here."
"Wait, what!?" Me and Hilda shouted at the same time, caught completely off-guard.
"Don't resist, or I'll have to use one of these," The officer said while spinning a pair of handcuffs on his finger, "Make things easy for you and me."
"But I didn't do anything that would make you arrest me!" I yelled at him, with Hilda quickly backing me up.
"Yeah! I've been with him for some time and I know he is too much of a good guy for his own good!" She yelled and as much as I wanted to glare at Hilda, I was happy she stood up for me, but the policeman was unrelenting.
"I don't make the rules, kids, I'm just a messenger of the higher-ups. Yell at them all you want once you get cleared, but right now, follow me inside the van if you don't want more trouble," He said without any room for argument while I balled up my fist.
This day just couldn't get any better.
AN: I'm so sorry for another cliffhanger, but I promise you the next chapter won't be one. It just made sense to end the chapter here as it would be too long for my regular formant. Anyway, expect the end of the first arc and the start of a new one next chapter.
As always, shoutout to the amazing group that is the Fanfiction Treehouse. All of them are awesome people. If you want to join the discord server the link is right...
Here: gg/9XG3U7a
God's speed.
PS: I swear the next chapter won't be a cliffhanger.
