There was the sound of a boy yelling, and above it, a man's voice; "Got him, the little blighter." The window opened wider, and Jason was pushed back in. He seemed terrified to see the man there. Jaru somehow knew that this was his father.
The man grabbed Jason's collar and turned back to the hybrids. "Since you're all so eager to go, I think you might be shipped off tonight." He pulled his son in front of him. "And you can go too, since you seem so keen to be with them."
"Dad--"
"Be quiet, boy. You knew this would happen, and if you're going to keep releasing prisoners, I can't have you here." He motioned to the larger of the men, who was already holding Kret. "Take Jason and the freaks to the van. The boat leaves at midnight, so we have to be quick."
Nods were exchanged by the men, and Jaru's captor roughly pulled him along the corridors and out of the warehouse. Jaru immediately took a breath of fresh air and tensed his muscles, but he felt the barrel of the gun being pushed into his side and kept walking.
Kret, Jason and Taef had been thrown in the van in front of Jaru, and now he was pushed in as well, Tuftee close behind. "Knock 'em out and tie 'em up," one of the men said, and the others nodded.
Jaru felt the familiar needle sink into his neck, and let them world spin, wondering when and where- and if-they'd wake up.
This time, he woke up first. He was wearing what seemed to be a version of the muzzle Kret had been wearing, except that he could feel straps over his entire head. He could feel ropes cutting into his skin; they didn't hurt so much due to his skin being so thick, but he was in an uncomfortable position, bent over with his hands behind his back and tied to his feet.
Looking around as much as he could, Jaru could see the glint of metal. At first he suspected that they were back in their cages, before he realised that there was no wire pressing against him. He also realised that somebody was in the cage with him- he could hear breathing. The breathing was slow but regular- he guessed they were still out cold.
Jaru waited patiently for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a little light filtering through from a supposed window, but it was behind him and he could not move to see it. He could see some of the cage they were in; the roof was low and it seemed quite big, but he could make out the forms of other people in here with him. There were Taef's wings, tied roughly to her back with a few dislodged feathers sticking up; there was one of Tuftee's ears, and there was a figure sitting up, though still asleep, who looked like the boy, Jason.
How could humans do this to their young? Jaru wondered. If he was right in thinking, they only had an average of two or three children; only slightly more than dragons, but still; wouldn't they care instead of shipping them off to an unknown land like a prisoner? Like us?
That thought left Jaru thinking again: And I thought my mother didn't love me. Maybe he was wrong, he just had been too absorbed in the cosy lifestyle he knew. He remembered when he was seven, and ran off, his mother spent hours looking for him. Even Estelle had been looking for him with their parents. They wouldn't sell me off to humans, or let me go away, he realised. Shame he hadn't noticed that earlier.
The figure of Jason mumbled something and shifted a little, before opening his eyes. He was bound in more or less the same way Jaru was, except he was wearing a gag. When he saw Jaru and where he was, he didn't seem angry or surprised, just upset. He didn't bother to try and say anything. Jaru could still speak a bit, so he spoke now.
"Wait for dark to be clearer," he advised. Then: "It is Jaru."
A nod, though Jason probably couldn't see him. Humans probably couldn't see this well in the dark, Jaru suspected.
Another sigh. "Where are we?" Tuftee asked sleepily, his voice muffled a bit by his muzzle.
"I don't know. It's me, Jaru. I'm awake. Not sure about the others though."
"I'm here," Taef's voice answered. "I've been awake for some time. Weedy boy's still out cold."
No reply from Kret.
"Where are we?" Tuftee repeated.
"I don't know!"
"On a boat, I should think," Taef replied. "They said they'd take us to the port. Is that human kid with us? I can't see, I'm faced away."
"Jason's here, yes."
Jason must have caught his name in the foreign conversation, because he tried to say something through the gag.
"We won't hurt you," Taef sighed in Human. Then: "We're tied up."
"Are your wings hurt?" Tuftee asked.
Another sigh. "Yes. Hopefully they won't be injured too much. But they might cut them off. Depends what they want to use me for."
Silence at that, before Jaru asked, curious: "Is your beak tied up?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I snapped it off."
Suddenly, lights flicked on and Jaru saw a pair of boots through the criss-cross bars of the cage. Taef fell silent. Maybe she was trying to pretend she was still fully tied up. Jaru immediately pretended to be unconscious.
"You, boy. Are you awake?" asked the voice. It was a woman's voice, Jaru realised. He was curious to know what a female human looked like, but kept quiet.
"Yes."
"What about the pokemon?"
"Hybrids."
"Yes, them. Are they awake?"
"No."
"I should be able to untie them then. Remember, this cage is attack-proof. Tell them that, if they understand you."
Jaru heard beeps as she tapped in the entrance code, before a large section of cage gave way and her footsteps sounded inside. He waited for her to untie the others before she came to him. Briefly, he wondered why she had done that.
Finally, he felt someone grab his wrists and feet and cut through the rope, freeing them immediately. Jaru tried to let himself got limp, so she would think that he was still unconscious. He had seen that she had a gun. To his disappointment she did not take off his head straps, and when he was thrown back down he noticed that Taef's wings were still bound.
"I'll feed you all later," she said to Jason. "That's if they don't eat you first."
Suddenly, a growl came, as someone- most likely Kret- tried to jump up at her. But either his muscles were too cramped or his leg could not move properly, because he didn't get far beyond a half-jump. Jaru took the hint and tried to move too, but by this time the woman had slammed the door shut.
"Very cunning," she said through the bars. "But you can't escape now, I'm afraid. The ship has already been at sea for some time, and we will be arriving at land soon. You won't be any trouble." It was not a command they wanted to obey, butthey all notedthe authority in the sentence.
Silence form the prisoners, but Jaru sat up, limbs aching, and let his eyes' glare travel onto the woman and stay there. As a human woman, she was not much to look at, and he found her uninteresting.
As if showing an authority, the human tossed her hair and walked off, the lights going with her. Once again the hybrids and the boy were plunged into silent darkness.
"Why she untie us?" Tuftee asked suddenly.
Jason sighed audibly. The woman had removed his gag. "It's because otherwise your muscles will seize up and... you won't be... of... any use. And I suppose they want to feed us later without you moving around, though you're still gagged."
"What will they do to us?" said Taef.
A shrug from the figure of Jason. "I don't know. No idea what will happen to me, either."
Kret was saying something, but since his jaws were bound together, he didn't get much beyond mumbling. Jaru caught the word "show" but nothing else.
"Can you take it off?" Jason asked.
Kret shook his head, and as if to prove the fact, he dug a claw under one of the straps and tried to slice through it. Nothing happened, not even a faint white mark on the muzzle showed. His mouth opened a fraction and a tiny rush of fire broke out, only to be extinguished immediately. Kret sighed.
"Let me try, weedy boy," Taef muttered impatiently. Her clawed fingers dug underneath the fabric, but they did nothing except for cut a large gash on Kret's face. He did not even flinch, so Taef did not bother to apologize. Instead she admitted; "It's really tough. I don't know what it's made of but it won't come off."
"Yours came off," Tuftee said.
She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. "That was only rope; it snapped when I opened my beak wide enough." Then, turning to Kret, she asked: "Could you do that?"
The leather strained as he obviously forced his jaws apart; but after a few seconds they fell shut and he shook his head.
Jaru tried to unpick his straps, but they held firm. Again, he tried a Dragonbreath, but that barely left his mouth before it was put out, carbon filling his lungs as the air rushed back in. Tuftee seemed to be having the same trouble, but he couldn't try and burn through it. Not that it would have made much difference- Kret was still firing attacks but the material did not even blacken.
More footsteps. Tuftee heard them first and cocked his head to one side, as eevees tend to do. "People coming. Maybe to feed us?"
"So soon?" Taef asked, with only a hint of sarcasm. She turned to Jason and repeated the question in Human.
Before he could answer a light flicked on, half-dazzling Jaru's eyes with the sudden light. He did not bother to pretend to be asleep, since Kret was moving, so he sat up and looked at the new arrival.
It was another human, a male this time. He did indeed have food, something that looked like a large chunk of chalky white bread. The five prisoners watched him silently, until Taef suddenly broke the silence.
"Are you going to tell us where we're going?"
The man jumped, surprised to hear them talk. Taef spoke again. "When you're done being amazed at my intelligence, could you answer my question?"
"Dunno," the human replied.
"What?"
"I dunno where yer goin', OK? I only came ter give yer food." He indicated the bread. Taef did not look impressed.
"So how are they supposed to be eating?" she asked, indicating Kret, Tuftee and Jaru, who were still wearing muzzles and head straps.
"I'm gonna take 'em off."
"How?" Jaru asked. "We try that."
"Shuddup," was the reply, and the human opened the cage door. "I gotta gun, don' talk ter me or attack me or nuffin'."
"Terrified, I'm sure," Taef said sarcastically, but she said it in Kerain.
The five watched the man, aware that if they tried to attack him, he could shoot another of them. Even if they didn't know or like each other that much, each felt that they'd never sacrifice someone else for their sake. The strangest thing was, none of the five realised that they were thinking this. It came as second nature in both the human boy and the four hybrids.
Tuftee was first, the human producing something that looked a little like a key and wedging it in a place where the straps met. Jaru would have been fascinated to find out how it worked, but kept silent as Tuftee's head straps came off, and the human turned to him. He forced himself to stay still.
When all three were free, the man gave a little nod, as though he felt superior in some way. Which he probably did. He reached for the bread and threw it down on the floor of the cage, before shutting the door.
Jaru picked it up. It was tough and chalky; probably just to fill them up. He broke a chunk off and gave it to Taef, who in turn handed it to Jason. Jaru was surprised.
"If he starved to death I couldn'tkill him myself," she said defensively, when the other four stared at her.
E/N: More will happen next chapter, just so you know. Please review this one anyway.