The group of young Tamers as well as three of the soon to be slaves searched through the carnage that was their battlefield against Team Rocket. As Akira and his friends came upon corpse after corpse, he was starting to give up hope of finding anyone left alive. "Damnit! There has to be someone that is still breathing..." Akira growled to himself as he moved on to find another prone body.
Through his searching Akira was able to find another body pretty quickly and through his search he was able to find that this member of Team Rocket had three Pokéballs on their belt, which Akira quickly confiscated to ensure that they wouldn't be used to do harm anymore innocents.
Though as he continued to search the body, he checked to see if she was still breathing. As he placed his hand on the underside of their neck, Akira immediately felt a pulse and though the pulse was slow; it was still there.
That was all Akira needed to alleviate some of his guilt at having so many deaths be at his hand. "Yes!" Akira shouted as he bent down to pick the females body up and move her safely to a safe zone outside their camp.
As he was making his way towards the camp, Akira noticed that one of the individuals that had stayed to help them search for the living among the dead was following him.
As Akira examined the boy he saw that he had crimson hair just as Akira himself did, though unlike Akira this boy allowed his hair to be longer with it coming down past his eyes. Which is why the boy had to flick it away from his eyes about every five to ten steps. Even with the present situation, Akira was able to smile at the boy's antics. From his examination he was able to figure out that he recognized the boy though he wasn't able to remember his name.
Thankfully it wasn't a long walk from the battlefield to their camp and soon Akira was setting the female back onto the ground. As Akira looked up he could see that the Slaver that caused this whole ordeal was struggling in his bounds, though the fire attack that Natsu and Inari sent his way quieted him. By this time, Akira wasn't the only one who had made it back to camp.
Just as the boy who followed Akira entered into camp, Forrest as well as Ash came in; both of whom were carrying other bodies.
Once those bodies were also placed next to the female that Akira brought, Ash started to speak. "There are only a few more bodies that we have to check and then we can wait patiently for the Commander's Convoy to reach us, which hopefully shouldn't take much longer." Ash explained to Akira, though just when Akira thought that he was done speaking he started once more. "As we were checking the bodies, Forrest and I were able to find their Pokéballs. We think that you should hold onto them until the Commander gets here." Ash explained as he unclipped a bag from his belt and handed it to Akira.
After taking the bag and clipping it onto his own belt until the Convoy reached them, Akira looked towards his friends and felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. "Thank you, I appreciate all your help today...if you don't mind I am going to take a break since my leg is throbbing as well as someone should watch the prisoners." Akira replied as he took a seat on a nearby log.
With that Ash and Forrest went back to join the search for more survivors. Even as the other two Tamers left, the boy who followed Akira had stayed. "Is there something I can help you with..." Akira inquired and though he didn't know the boy's name he was hoping that he would take the hint and tell him.
"Cyrus. My name is Cyrus..." the boy that Akira now knows as Cyrus informed him. Though Cyrus was quickly speaking once more. "...I was hoping that you would tell me how you ended up from being an orphan to someone wielding weapons and Pokémon in a battle?"
"I should have known that was what he was going to ask, I knew from the way he looked at me after the battle that he recognized me from the orphanage." Akira thought to himself and knowing that his story could inspire this boy to make the best out of his life he decided to give it to him. "Well, it happened on the same day I was to leave the orphanage. I was taking this same forest when I stumbled upon Ash and another Tamer fighting for their lives with a group of wild Pokémon. Knowing that I had to help them I picked up one of their Pokéballs that they had dropped to the ground and captured my Inari. After that I was brought to the Tamers to join them." Akira informed Cyrus with his longwinded explanation.
From the look on Cyrus's face, Akira could tell that the boy was surprised that he had joined the Tamers on the same day that he was forced to leave the only home that he had ever known at that point in his life.
Akira watched as Cyrus opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something though before he could a screeching echo could be heard from above their campsite.
Looking up, Akira saw a Pidgey and from the way the creature was coming towards the campsite he had to assume that it was Kaito. Though Akira and Cyrus weren't the only ones to hear the screech of the Pidgey and soon both Ash and Forrest were crashing back into the camp as well as the two other orphans that they saved.
Though the only other body that they brought up was carried by Forrest, though as Akira looked at the member of Team Rocket he saw that it was the same man that he had knocked out with a punch to the face.
"Kaito, return!" Ash voiced as he held up the Pokéball that contained the creature. As the Pokémon was brought back into the Pokéball, a voice broke through their quiet campsite.
"Can you guys ever go anywhere without getting into trouble?" a familiar voice questioned the group of boys. As Akira was facing away from the other entrance to their camp he had to turn to see who it was and when he did he saw the familiar form of Brock who was followed by three other Tamers.
Before either Forrest or Akira could say anything they watched as Ash bolted across the campsite and into Brock's embrace. Seeing this only confirmed to Akira that the two had a closer relationship than just friends, though this wasn't the time for them to discuss it.
Deciding that it was better to get this done sooner rather than later, Akira decided to interrupt their reunion. "We could stay out of trouble if Team Rocket was removed from the equation and since I don't see that happening anytime soon, then there will probably be more trouble to happen." Akira replied to the Tamer who he assumed was of higher ranking than he was.
Hearing this caused everyone to look towards Akira and from the daggers that he was receiving from Ash, he could tell that the other boy was not happy at having their reunion interrupted. Though being the Tamer that he is, Akira could see that he was able to put his wants behind the needs of the contract.
Deciding that now would be the best time to continue, Akira did. "We found Team Rocket as well as that slaver over there meeting just outside of our camp and since I recognized the children that they had with them as orphans from Pallet Town, I felt it was my duty to intervene and free them from the horrible future that life had planned for them." Akira finished relaying to Brock.
Upon hearing this Brock nodded his head and looked towards the members of Team Rocket that were still not conscious, though he didn't voice it Akira could tell that he was curious about them.
"Those are the only members that survived our battle. All the others are back that way." Akira explained though within the same breath he unclipped the bag of Pokéballs from his belt as well as started speaking once more. "Here are Team Rocket's Pokémon, I figured it was better that we had them instead of leaving them behind. Though if you don't mind me asking, can you give one Pokéball to each of those who stayed back to help with the search. I think they would prove to be viable assets to our Order."
For a moment Akira thought Brock was going to reject his request when suddenly he reached into the bag and pulled out three Pokéballs. Throwing one to each of the Pallet Town orphans Brock started to speak. "Akira saved my life and if says you would be assets then I will take him at his word. Now lets get these prisoners back to the compound."
With that Brock and his team as well as the newest recruits gathered the prisoners. It wasn't long before Akira and his friends watched as they all marched from the camp.
With the situation now resolved Akira was able to once more get back to his contract. "We should really pack the campsite up. I want to make it to Pallet Town before dark." Akira told his friends and with that the group of three got to work tearing their camp down.
Authors notes: Thank you to everyone who has read this chapter. Please review or comment with any of your likes, dislikes and other general comments. Until next time.