While shopping for their weapons, Akira learned that Ash wasn't one to use them though he was able to talk the other male into at least buying himself a decent sized knife.
Forrest on the other hand was all too happy buying himself another sword and now had two strapped onto his hips.
Though for Akira he decided that the upcoming battle was reason enough to go all out. Akira bought himself two short swords that he had sheathed on his back, while he also bought a dozen more throwing knives which he kept on the left side of his belt. Besides the knives and the swords, Akira also found a mask that was being sold within the store that was in the shape of a Vulpix's face.
With their shopping over with, Akira and the others were currently marching towards the Viridian Forest and towards whatever dangers lay within it.
As they walked, Akira was trying to formulate a plan of attack though this was proving quite difficult as everything he came up with could get them all killed. "Damnit! Why is it so hard to come up with a plan?" Akira moaned to himself as he and his team made it to the entrance of Viridian Forest.
Ash and Forrest could tell that Akira was getting frustrated and though they didn't know what from they were both ready to give him their support.
"What is wrong Akira?" Forrest questioned the boy who has come to mean so much to him.
Though Akira opened his mouth to respond, he didn't get to answer as he as well as the others were soon rolling out of the way of multiple thrown knives. Akira was the first back to his feet and immediately looked for the attacker though he saw none.
"Where did they come from?" Akira questioned as he continued to scan the area.
Though as Akira was looking he noticed a glint out of the corner of his eye. Following the glint brought Akira to a small wire that lay broken on the ground. "Damn we walked right into a trap! We need to be careful making our way through these woods." Akira whispered to the other two boys.
Akira watched as both Ash and Forrest nodded their heads in acknowledgement of the suggestion. Now that they knew that they had not been spotted by Team Rocket, they were once more making their way through the forest though they were now careful to not set off any traps that could be laying around.
Though at the snails pace that they were going, Akira knew they may not end up getting very far in their search.
Though Akira wasn't the only one who was thinking this and soon another voice was thrown into the air. "At this pace we won't be making it anywhere today..." Forrest muttered out before finishing with a question. "...Ash why don't you use Kaito to scan the area?"
This was a great idea which caused Akira to agree with the younger male. Not seeing a point in arguing, Ash soon held Kaito's Pokéball up in the air which released the avian Pokémon.
"Alright Kaito. I need you to scan the area looking for traps as well as Team Rocket's compound within these woods." Ash ordered his Pokémon who was quick to obey his master.
The group stayed still for quite sometime, though once Kaito had returned to them they were able to swiftly make it through this trap infested section of Viridian Forest.
Even though they had made it through the traps they knew they had quite sometime to go since Kaito immediately started to lead them once more.
The pace that Kaito had set for them went on for a good fifteen minutes and just when they thought that he would never stop he did.
Though instead of coming back towards Ash like they assumed he would, the avian creature landed on a tree limb instead. Just as Ash was about to recall Kaito back into his Pokéball they heard rustling coming their way.
"Hide!" Akira mouthed to the others which they were quick to do and soon all three boys were being sheltered by some trees.
"I am sure that the sensors picked up movement from this sector of the forest..." a young male voice called out. Upon hearing the voice Akira knew that Team Rocket had somehow found out that they were sneaking through Viridian Forest, though he didn't know how.
Though this wasn't the only voice that Akira heard. "...the sensors must be on the fritz because I don't see anyone out here!" a female voice growled out though she didn't stop her words there "This was a waste of our time! We should get back to headquarters."
While they were speaking Akira decided to take a peak at the group to see how many there actually were. Looking around the tree, Akira was able see that there were in fact three people within the group though one of them looked more like a slave than a member of Team Rocket.
Akira analyzed the boy and saw from the collar around his neck that he was in fact a slave. "I am sorry master...I must have read the sensors wrong." the boy muttered out and upon hearing the voice Akira knew that it was the same one that he and his friends heard right after they had to hide.
Unlike the many other times that Akira had come upon Team Rocket causing harm, he was going to let them leave to go about their day. Though that was before he watched the female Team Rocket member slap the boy across the face, which sent him soaring to the ground. "That's it! I am tired of Team Rocket thinking they can treat anyone any way that they please!" Akira growled to himself as he pulled out two of his throwing knives.
Both Ash and Forrest saw this and since they knew there was no talking Akira out of attacking these scouts they too pulled out their weapons to defend themselves. "We are taking no prisoners..." Akira muttered out as he aimed his blades at them female who hit the slave. Though from this distance he knew he may have trouble hitting her throat and as such Akira aimed for her chest which was a much larger target.
The slave had yet to even move to push himself from the ground as the first of the blades spiraled through the air and though Akira hit his target he could tell from her movements on the ground that she was still alive.
"What the..." the second member of Team Rocket started but was cut off as Akira's second blade smashed into his arm which sent the man spinning into a circle and onto the ground.
Since Akira knew that neither of them were dead he unsheathed one of his swords and charged at them. From the footsteps coming from behind him he knew that both Ash and Forrest were doing the same thing. By the time that Akira had reached them, the male member was already struggling to his feet though before he fully could Akira slashed his sword across the man's throat. Before he even dropped back to the ground Akira was already stabbing his sword into the already dying female.
All three males gasped at how quickly Akira took the lives of these members of Team Rocket and though the slave boy's were for different reasons than the other two Tamers. Though before Ash or Forrest were able to speak to Akira about this sudden coldness that he had about him he was already ordering speaking.
"Search them." Akira ordered as he made his way towards the slave, who upon seeing the armed Tamer walking towards him tried to get away. "Stop. I am not going to hurt you..." Akira cried out. Seeing the terror in the boy's eyes caused Akira to stop making his way towards him and figuring that having his weapon drawn is what sent the boy over the edge in the first place, Akira sheathed it.
This action caused the boy to stop his escape though he still looked at Akira with distrust. "Come here..." Akira called out to the boy.
Though before he or the other boy could say anything else, they were interrupted by Ash. "Akira, we found multiple Pokéballs on their persons as well as a keycard which will hopefully allow us to break into Team Rockets base." Ash explained to the other male while bagging the Pokéballs and them and then throwing them as well as the keycard over to the other male who turned to face his friend.
Within seconds Akira had both the bag as well as the keycard within his hands though at the moment he didn't find the need to respond to his friend and turned back to face the now freed slave boy. "You don't have to be afraid of me. My friends and I are not here to harm you or any of the other prisoners that Team Rocket has taken." Akira murmured out to the boy though his words didn't stop there. "What is your name and are you able to point us in the direction of Team Rockets base of operations?" Akira inquired of the frightened boy.
Knowing that it wouldn't do any good for him to rush the other boy, Akira waited quite patiently for him to respond. A few more moments passed as the slave boy analyzed the Tamers and when he was done his voice was flitting towards them. "I'll trust you for now though I will be watching you. To answer your questions, my name is Mikey Vee and yes I can show you the way to the base." Mikey informed his rescuers.
Akira and his friends were quite surprised when Mikey suddenly took off running, though they weren't as surprised when they noticed that he was going back the way he came. Due to their surprise the team lagged behind their guide for the first few minutes of the run though thankfully they were able to catch up with him before he got too far away. Though when they caught up with Mikey, Ash had a few things to say to the brown haired boy. "You could have given us a warning before running off like that and couldn't you have taken us through a less dense section of the forest? I swear it felt like every thorn in this godforsaken forest had decided to stab me!" Ash growled out as he pulled a thorn that had embedded itself within his arm out.
The sheer volume of Ash's voice caused Mikey too flinch since he was used to blows following such loud voices and when none came, he turned to look at those who were following him. Once completed, Mikey saw that Ash was holding his head which confused the younger looking male since he heard nothing that resembled a fight.
As Akira examined the other boy, he could tell that he was wanting to question them on what just happened though he must have thought better of it because he ended up not saying anything at all. With a wave of his hand Mikey once again disappeared amongst the trees that surrounded them, though this time around the other male wasn't running which allowed the group of Tamers to easily keep up with him.
Minutes continued to tick by as Akira and the others continued to follow Mikey and just when Akira thought his patience was going to run out, their guide stopped. Ensuring that they were as quiet as they could be, Akira, Forrest as well as Ash made their way towards Mikey so they could see where the other boy had brought them. Looking out from the brush the concealed them from sight, Akira could see that their was a large structure built into the side of mountain.
From his first sighting of the structure Akira knew that this was Team Rockets base within Viridian Forest. "We are here." Akira whispered to those that accompanied him.
Authors notes: Thank you to everyone who has chosen to read the latest chapter of The Tamer Saga. I know that it has been sometime since I have updated this story and though some of the reasons why were from having computer problems it was mostly because I couldn't find the motivation to update the story though now that I have it back, I should hopefully be updating more frequently. Until next time.