The hot, afternoon sun was beating down on the tired group. They had been moving for hours in hopes of catching up to Brennan. But they still hadn't seen any signs of him yet.
Blaziken had remained quiet since they left their small campsite. Not even Delphox could break his silence. Luna had tried several times throughout the past few hours to read his facial expression, but she found it quite hard to do.
"How far ahead do you think he got?" Lane asked from the back of the group, as he buried his hands into his pockets, playing around with the loose change that rested inside of them. Luna finally broke away from Blaziken, once again staring ahead.
"We can't know for sure. But we'll catch up to him." She replied. She knew they were going to find him eventually, she just really hoped they managed to do it before he got to Team Scavenge's hideout and did something stupid. Without any of his Pokémon, Luna knew he wouldn't be able to accomplish much as far as getting through their guards and getting Gardevoir.
Frankie had been falling further and further behind the group. The butterflies in his stomach had been telling him this was a bad idea since they left the city. He knew where Team Scavenger's hideout was, but he didn't know why he was going along with them. Sure he considered Brennan a friend at this point, but even so, he hadn't known him that long, and Brennan knew Gardevoir for less than that. But he just... wasn't sure what he was doing.
"Frankie, pick up the pace. We don't want you to get left behind." Luna called from the front, getting his attention. Frankie looked up from staring at his shoes, before nodding.
"O-okay." He replied somewhat quietly, as he picked up his pace to catch back up with the group. The thought of turning back crossed his mind on several occasions already, but he didn't. He didn't feel like he should, even though he kinda wanted to.
Mightyena had been walking with his head down since they started moving again. He was worried about Brennan. He wanted to find him. The longer they walked without finding him, the sadder and sadder he became. Roserade and Sandslash, who had been walking relatively close to him, had already tried several times to try and reassure him that they were going to find their trainer. Every time they tried, Mightyena would glance at them and nod.
He continued walking with his nose pointed towards the ground, until he finally caught a whiff of something. It was a familiar scent. A scent that he recognized immediately. The scent of his trainer. Mightyena quickly started sniffing around the ground, as he maneuvered his way around the group.
"What's wrong, Mightyena?" Luna asked, notice the Pokémon's sudden change in attitude. Mightyena didn't look at her, before he quickly took off running down the route, leaving the others behind. "Mightyena! Wait!" Luna yelled, as she and the rest of the group ran after him.
Mightyena ran down the route as fast as he could, hoping that the scent he had picked up would lead him to Brennan. He stopped and resumed quickly sniffing the ground once the scent became stronger. As he did that, the others finally caught up to him.
"Mightyena! You can't run off like that! What if you would have gotten separated from us and lost?" Luna scolded the Pokémon. He looked up at her, his tail wagging quickly, as he let out a short whine. Lane had been staring down at the Pokémon, when he noticed something in the dirt just below his paws.
"That looks like in imprint." Lane said, pointing down towards the ground.
"What?" Luna said curiously, turning to face her boyfriend.
"There. It's an imprint. It has to be from a human. Maybe Brennan." Lane replied. Mightyena let out another whine at the mention of Brennan's name.
"Brennan... Mightyena, is that what you smell?" Luna asked, squatting down so she would be closer to him. Mightyena nodded in response, before he started sniffing the ground again.
"It's obvious Brennan was here." Lane said.
"Yeah, but how long ago?" Frankie spoke up, getting the others to look at him. "We could still be hours behind him. For all we know, he could have made it there already." He continued.
"You're right, he could have. But that's not going to stop us. We have to keep moving. And we have to find a faster way to do that." Luna said.
"Well what do you suggest? Running?" Lane asked. Luna stared at him as she thought about a response. She already knew that if they wanted to catch up to Brennan any time soon they'd need to do more than just walk. Although running was an option, she knew they wouldn't get too far in this kind of heat without having to stop and rest, and that wasn't an option for them at that moment.
"I, uh-maybe we should just head back, ya know? I don't think we're going to catch up to him at this point." Frankie finally said, getting everyone to look at him.
"Head back? Frankie, are you kidding me?" Lane said curiously, not believing what had just come out of his friend's mouth. Luna shook her head.
"No. No way. WE aren't quitting. It's not an option. And we WILL catch up to Brennan. We just have to find a way that's quicker than walking, and less tiring than running first." Luna said. At that point Frankie decided to just keep his mouth shut. He could tell he annoyed most of, if not all the group by his suggestion.
As Luna thought, Blaziken stood staring ahead with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He was furious with Brennan for what he had done. Ditching them in the woods in the middle of the night so he could go and try to get Gardevoir back alone. But even with how furious at his trainer as he was, he was still determined to locate him. Just like the others, he didn't want anything to happen to Brennan, no matter how much at odds they currently were.
Delphox stood not too far away from Blaziken, watching him as he stared into the distance. She was worried about him. She was still wishing she could get him to talk to her, or at least give her some sort of response to anything. He hadn't so far, so she really didn't think that would change.
"Delphox?" She finally said, as she slowly approached him. He stood with his back turned to the rest of the group, still not looking her way. Blaziken had heard her, he had just chosen to remain silent. Delphox lightly grabbed onto his arm and leaned into him when she finally got close enough. However he still remained pretty stagnant.
Blaziken continued to stand there staring ahead, until he got this feeling. It was strange, and he wasn't entirely sure where it had come from. But he felt like he knew where Brennan was. The low, surprised noise that escaped his beak when the feeling hit him caused Delphox to once again look up at him.
"Delphox?" She asked worryingly. Blaziken shook his head, before looking over to the arm band he was wearing. The Mega Stone that was inside of it had a slight glow to it that it didn't have before. The glow managed to get the others' attention.
"Woah..." Lane said, as he stared at the armband.
"Your Mega Stone... what's it doing?" Luna asked. Blaziken ignored her as he stared ahead again. That was it. This Mega Stone was trying to lead him to Brennan. It was sudden, but his Pokémon instincts were telling him his trainer was in some sort of trouble. So he needed to find him.
Blaziken took off running full speed, before using his long legs to his advantage, jumping an incredible distance. He was out of sight before the others even knew was had happened.
"Blaziken!" Luna yelled, hoping that the Pokémon would hear her. But he didn't. "Blaziken! Get back here!" She yelled again, but to no avail.
"Oh, man..." Lane said, knowing full well what came next. The group took off running to try to catch up to Blaziken, even though they knew it probably wasn't going to happen.
Mightyena started running ahead again, but was called back. Luna didn't want to lose two of Brennan's Pokémon. Losing Blaziken was already bad enough.
At one point, Roserade and Sandslash started falling behind, but Machamp scooped them into his arms as he ran past, so they wouldn't. Luna looked back and saw this, she gave the Pokémon a single nod to thank him.
The group ran for several more minutes before they were finally forced to stop.
Frankie dropped to his knees in the grass, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. The sweat had soaked through his shirt at this point.
"T-there is-*Pant*-is no way we're... going to *Pant* catch him." Frankie said, as he looked up at the rest of the group, who were all as equally tired. Luna knew he was right, they weren't going to be able to catch him on foot. There was no way. She stood with her hands resting on her knees, trying to catch her own breath. She watched as the sweat dripped off of her face, creating a small puddle at her feet, as she thought of what they could do.
As they tried to catch their breath, they heard a noise in the distance. It wasn't just any noise though, it was a familiar one. It was a car. They didn't know who would be driving a car down the route, but whoever it was, was coming right for them.
Lane stood up to try and get a good look of who may have been driving the car. He saw the small, roof-less jeep nearing them. He couldn't make out too much, but what was unmistakable was the large Team Scavenge logo on the front doors.
"It's Team Scavenge!" Lane quietly exclaimed in a panicked tone. This alerted everyone.
"Hide!" Luna quietly exclaimed, as she motioned everyone into the woods just off the side of the route. Everyone ran off the side, except Sandslash. He had something else in mind. He sat in the middle of the route staring ahead, waiting for the jeep. "Sandslash! Get over here!" She called. Sandslash looked at her, but didn't do anything other than that. "Sandslash!" She quietly called again, but it was too late. The jeep rolled to a stop a few feet in front of the Pokémon. The engine stopped and two very obviously Team Scavenge members climbed out.
One male with spiky green hair, wearing a black jacket with the Team Scavenge logo on the back, and black pants. And a short, pink haired female with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail, wearing a matching black jacket, and a black skirt with black leggings underneath. The pair walked around the jeep, meeting up in front of it, as they stared at Sandslash.
"Whatta 'bout this one?" The man said in a heavy, Italian-American accent.
"It's just'a dumb ol' Sandslash. We've had plenty of these." The female said.
"We have to go back there with somethin' or tha boss is going to kill us." The man said, looking over at the female.
"Hey, if those useless Mightyena woulda tore that guy up last night like I was hoping they would, we could have raided him. I bet he had some nice Pokémon." The female said. This made Luna and Lane looked over at each other from the bushes they were hiding behind. They were both clearly worried of who that 'guy' could have been.
"I'm gettin' it. It's better than going back without nothing." The male said, as he pulled out a Poké ball. He was getting ready to throw it, when Roserade stepped out from behind the bush she had been behind. Luna tried to reach for her to stop her, but she couldn't. As the man got ready to throw the ball, Roserade pulled some sort of powder out, and blew it towards the two Team Scavenge members. They looked in her direction, caught off guard as they did.
"Aye! What did y-you...do..." The man said, before dizzily losing his balance and falling to the ground. The pink haired female looked down at her downed partner, before looking back up at Roserade.
"Oh, you l-little..." She didn't get to finish, before joining her partner on the ground. Roserade stared at the downed duo for several seconds, before rushing over to Sandslash. The others joined the two Pokémon back on the route, surprised themselves.
"Wow. Sleep Powder. Didn't know you knew that move, Roserade." Luna said. Roserade smiled and nodded.
"Rose-rade." She replied.
Lane and Frankie had walked over to the downed Team Scavenge members and started observing them.
"So... I think we found a quick way to catch up to Brennan." Lane spoke up, getting Luna to look at him.
"Wait, wait. You're suggesting we steal a car?" Luna asked.
"I mean, I'd say borrow, but if that's what you want to call it..." Lane replied.
"Lane, I don't know." Luna said. She knew it was their best option right now, but stealing wasn't really her thing. And that's what this was.
"C'mon Luna. It's a car, Team Scavenge isn't going to be using it for awhile, these are the people that kidnapped Gardevoir, we have to catch up to Brennan and Blaziken...and they left the keys in the ignition." Lane said, as he walked around to the drivers side of the car and looked inside of it, noticing the keys were left in the car. "We just need it to get us there. I'm not talking about keeping it." He said, trying to convince his girlfriend. Luna stood there thinking about. As she did, she looked over at Delphox, who seemed pretty worried at this point. She wanted Luna to agree to it. She looked away from Delphox, and down towards Mightyena, who was sadly standing at her feet. He had been staring down at the ground, but slowly looked up at her with a very, heartbreaking look on his face, as he let out a couple of short whimpers. This made Luna sigh.
"Okay, okay. I'll do it... But just this once." She finally agreed. This brought a smile to almost everyones' face.
"Sweet! Dibs on driving!" Lane exclaimed, as he opened the door and climbed in the driver's seat. Luna looked around at the group of Pokémon, before motioning them to get in.
"I think it's probably going to be a bit of a tight squeeze." She said, noticing that the jeep was only a four-seater.
"Hey! It may be. But at least it'll get us there quicker." Lane said. Frankie looked at the large group as they approached the jeep, before letting out his own sigh.
"Great." He muttered, before climbing in the back, allowing Luna to take the passenger seat.
After everyone was crammed in, they headed off. But not before tying the Team Scavenge members up to a tree so they couldn't get away. They were going to be in a for a surprise when they woke up.
•••
•••
•••
Gardevoir sat in the fetal position on the small bed in the room she had been taken to. She was tired and sore from all the tests Team Scavenge's scientists had done on her. She wanted to lay there and go to sleep, but she couldn't. She wouldn't have been able to even if she tried.
She sat in silence wondering when and if Brennan was going to show up. She wanted to see him again. She wanted...him. She convinced herself that he was coming for her. He had to be, right? He wouldn't just leave her and move on... he couldn't.
Then the realization that that scenario was indeed possible hit Gardevoir. What if he did decide to leave her? To forget about her. To forget about everything they've been through in the last month. What if he wasn't coming, and she was going to be stuck with these people for the rest of her life? Gardevoir shook off the thought as tears swelled up in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away, once again convincing herself that he was going to show up and save her.
She closed her eyes and let out a sad sigh. Something good happened. She was finally happy. She had someone that cared about her, a place to live, food to eat. Everything was how she always dreamed it would be. And then these people had to mess it up-try to take it all away from her. And for what? Gavin still hadn't told her why she was his target. Why did he want her? She continued to ask herself that question knowing full well that she wasn't going to be able to come up with an answer.
Gardevoir was broken from her thoughts when there was a heavy knocking on the steel door that she was trapped behind. She looked up as the door was unlocked from the outside and pulled him. An unnamed Scavenger stepped out of the way, allowing Nelson to enter the room with a scowl on his face and a tray of food in his hands.
"Here." Nelson said bitterly as he walked over to the bed. Gardevoir tried to slide further back against the wall as he approached her. When Nelson saw this, he froze, a small, mocking smirk growing on his face.
"Awe, is someone scared of me? That's adorable." He said mockingly. Gardevoir glared at him as he mocked her. She wasn't scared of him. If she wasn't wearing that shock collar around her neck she would have blasted him through the wall already. She just didn't want to be anywhere close to him. Nelson huffed, before once again moving towards the bed. Gardevoir looked away from him, deciding she would rather stare at the plain colored wall ahead of her, than stare at him any longer.
Once Nelson reached the bed he extended the tray out wanting Gardevoir to take it so he could get out of there. She didn't move. She didn't even acknowledge the fact that he was standing there with a tray of food in his hands.
"Take it." Nelson said, growing very impatient the longer he stood there. Gardevoir continued to ignore him. "Take the damn tray!" He exclaimed, growing furious with her at this point. After she ignored him again, he growled before tossing the plastic, red tray at her, spilling the food that had been resting on it all over the Pokémon. Gardevoir clenched her fists in anger as she sat there covered in water and whatever kind of Pokémon food that was on the tray. "I told you to-" Nelson began, but was cut off by Gardevoir's fist connecting with the side of his mouth.
Gardevoir angrily watched Nelson as he stumbled backwards, managing to regain his balance and avoid falling. He looked towards the floor as he felt his lip. When he looked at his bloody fingers, he growled in anger.
"You're gonna regret that, bitch!" He spat out in a fit of anger, before storming over to Gardevoir. He reared his fist back, causing Gardevoir to flinch, preparing for whatever amount of pain she was about to feel. But it didn't come. Before it could, they were interrupted.
"Nelson! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" A voice roared, causing Nelson to freeze in his tracks. The voice belonged to Gavin. Gardevoir knew that already.
"She punched me!" Nelson exclaimed in defense, as he turned to have his boss. Gavin stared at him, before taking a glance at the food covered Pokémon.
"From the way she looks, it seems like you may have deserved it." Gavin said. He stared at Gardevoir for several more seconds, before quickly stepping forward with his fist balled, and decking Nelson right in the jaw sending him down to the floor. This surprised even Gardevoir. Nelson sat on the floor, staring up at his boss in a shocked-daze. "I gave you direct orders to deliver her her food and leave. And you couldn't even do that. Now get your pathetic ass up and get out of my sight." He spoke, his tone sounding very intimidating. Nelson continued to sit on the cold, hard floor staring at him for several more seconds, before scrambling to his feet and exiting the room, nudging past the guard that had been watching the door. Gavin huffed in annoyance as he left the room. "Go get her a towel to dry off with." He ordered the guard.
"Yes, Sir." The man said, before leaving his position to recover a towel.
Gardevoir stood in silence, staring at Gavin, as he watched the guard leave. After, he turned around to face the Pokémon. She quickly looked away from him as he did, not wanting to make any sort of eye contact with him.
"My apologies for Nelson's behavior. I'll have another tray brought to your room by another Team Scavenge member." Gavin said, his tone had changed, but his voice still made Gardevoir feel very uncomfortable. She didn't want anymore food. She wanted out of there and to be with Brennan again. But she didn't even want to give Gavin the satisfaction of a response, so she didn't. She sat back down on the bed, pretending that he wasn't even in the room with her. He stood there watching her slow movements, before letting out a light chuckle. "My dear, you can't ignore me forever. Because quite frankly, I don't appreciate it." He said, his voice sounding angrier as he finished. After he did, he pulled out the small remote that controlled the shock collar on Gardevoir's neck, and pressed the button.
Gardevoir let out a loud cry in pain as she once again felt the strong surge of electricity coursing through her body. She fell down onto the now wet and dirty sheets on the uncomfortable mattress, the pain becoming too much to bare. It lasted about ten seconds before it finally stopped. Gardevoir panted, trying to catch her breath, as she lay there motionlessly.
"Now, attacking Team Scavenge members is a no no. I don't want to be the bad guy and punish you, but if you're going to learn, it needs to be done." Gavin said, staring down at Gardevoir as he did. She continued to remain lying still, still feeling the after effects of the shock collar. Gavin let out a single chuckle, as a mocking smirk replaced his previously displayed look of anger. "I'm going to allow you time to rest up after that. However, you better be prepared to answer me next time I see you. Because if you don't, that shock will be a whole lot worse than its been so far. I promise you that, Gardevoir." He told her. As he finished, the guard he had sent away returned with a towel in hand. He walked in and noticed the downed Pokémon first, before looking towards his boss.
"Here is that towel, sir." He said, extending the towel towards the man.
"Thank you, Owen." Gavin thanked the guard, as he took the towel from him. Even though it was a thank you, his tone still remained very intimidating. So much so that the guard, Owen, couldn't even take his boss' recognition as something positive.
"You're welcome, Sir." Owen replied. Gavin didn't respond, as he turned his eyes back towards Gardevoir.
"Here, dry yourself off." He said, as he tossed the towel towards Gardevoir. It landed just beside her on the mattress. She remained still as it landed. Gavin stared at her for several seconds before continuing. "You'll get used to the way we do things here. I know you will." He said. After, he huffed again, before exiting room. Owen closed the large, steel door behind him as they exited the room, once again leaving Gardevoir alone.
Gardevoir laid there in silence for several seconds afterwards, before tears welled up in her eyes, finally forcing themselves out. As she softly cried, she curled up into a ball, and just laid there unmoving. She wanted out of there. She wanted to be with Brennan again. She just wanted to go home.
•••
•••
•••
The walk-the walk had continued to be a torturous one for Brennan. The longer they walked, he kept wondering if they were even going to get to Team Scavenge's hideout. It seemed like they had been walking in place for hours considering they were surrounded by nothing but trees and bushes on the left side, and a mixture of sandy and grassy field on the right.
Brennan wanted to take off running full speed again, but Becky, the girl that had saved him from being torn apart just a good handful of hours before, somehow managed to convince him otherwise. She insisted that trying to push himself again like he had already done once today was a bad idea, and that next time it could kill him instead of just causing him to pass out from exhaustion. And dying was the last thing Brennan wanted to do at that moment.
"So... how did you meet her?" Becky asked, trying once again to break the silence between her and Brennan. Brennan's mind had been wandering, so he didn't respond at first.
"Huh?" He said curiously, finally looking over at her.
"Your Gardevoir, how did you meet her?" Becky asked again, this made Brennan immediately think back to the day he first saw Gardevoir. Although they didn't technically meet until after that, he remembered the first time he saw her standing in that small clearing.
Becky continued walking along side of him, staring at him as he remained lost in thought. She was thinking about getting his attention again, but decided not to. She shrugged it off figuring that he'd talk when he wanted to talk, before grabbing the straps of her backpack as she looked ahead again.
"Outside of the mall back in Slateport. I saw her, and I took her some berries." Brennan finally replied several minutes later, slightly catching Becky off guard. She was about to speak, but decided to let Brennan continue. "She was alone, hungry. I... didn't meet her till after that though." He continued.
"So when did you finally catch her? I bet she was pretty willing, aye?" Becky said curiously. Brennan shook his head.
"I didn't catch her. My Pokémon and I, we saved her from being attacked by a pack of Ursaring'. After that, I didn't want to leave her out there. She didn't deserve it. I asked her if she wanted to come stay with us. She did. She's been with us since." Brennan explained, this slightly surprised Becky. "I may not have caught her, but she's just as important to me as the rest of my Pokémon are. That's why I have to get her back. That's why..." He continued, glancing down towards the ground as he finished. He wasn't sure why he told her so much. He had just met her a couple of hours ago, and he was explaining his and Gardevoir's relationship to her? Sure she had saved him from being torn apart by a group of wild Mightyena'. And sure she brought his unconscious form back to her camp and let him sleep off his tiredness in her tent, and eat her food. But still.
"That's actually really sweet, ya know?" Becky said, still not taking her eyes off of him. Brennan grumbled something, seeming to be lost in thought again. "I don't want ya worryin'! My Pokémon and I are goin' to help ya get your Gardevoir back, right team!?" She exclaimed, happily glancing back at her team of Pokémon. There was a mixture of happy Pokémon cries from behind. All except for one, Gothitelle.
She had been following at the back of the group, staring at the back of Brennan's head the whole walk thus far. She was reading him; trying to learn more about who he was. She wasn't as trusting of people as her trainer was. And so far, she didn't fully trust Brennan.
"See! We may have just met, but we're goin' ta be by your side till the end!" Becky exclaimed, cheerfully slapping Brennan on the back as she did. This finally got him to look at her again.
"I, uh-thank you." He said, before looking straight again. After that, it left Brennan wondering why Becky was willing to do go through all of this for someone she just met. Her positive personality and happy demeanor definitely made her seem like a very helpful and trusting person, but she hadn't even known him twelve hours yet. So he was still left pretty confused.
The duo continued their walk ahead with Becky's Pokémon following behind them. Becky had continued talking, even though Brennan would only occasionally reply with anything other than a grunt. He just didn't really feel like talking at that point. He was still way too worried about what was going on with Gardevoir to even think about anything else.
As Becky rambled on about her first gym battle, something finally broke him from his thoughts. His bracelet, the one with his Key Stone it, it started to glow. Or, at least the Key Stone did. This caused Brennan to stop and stare at it in surprise. Becky, who hadn't noticed he had stopped walking, kept going for several seconds, until she realized he wasn't there anymore. She stopped and turned around, noticing Brennan staring at his glowing bracelet.
"Woah... that's'a cool bracelet." Becky said, as she walked back over to Brennan, stopping when she got close to him so she could stare at his bracelet like he was doing. "It ever done that before?" She asked, once the glowing finally ceased. Brennan stared at it for several more seconds, before shaking his head.
"No. No it hasn't." He replied somewhat quietly. After, he turned around to look behind him, but didn't see anything except for Becky's Pokémon. He turned back around to face forward again, quickly shaking his head, before continuing on his way. Becky was quick to catch up.
"You aren't goin' to worry about what that was about?" She asked.
"No. I don't have time to worry. I doubt it was anything anyway." Brennan replied. Becky honestly wasn't too sure. She figured that it had to mean something. But it was Brennan's, so it's not like she could tell him what to do or how to feel about it.
She looked over at Brennan once again and saw that his serious, determined expression returned to his face. She could tell that he had already pushed the happenings of his bracelet to the back of his mind. She knew he was determined to get his Gardevoir back, but it was obvious no more than ever that he was definitely more determined than she originally thought. And with how determined she saw he was, she was determined to help him. And that's what she was going to do.