Carefully scooping dirt over the flames of the campfire, he made sure it was put out properly before standing and stretching the kinks out of his muscles. Then he calmly took a pokeball from the belt at his waist and released the pokemon within. Skarmory was a metal plated bird, that despite its looks, was quite fast. It gazed at its trainer expectantly, and Steven smiled.
"Go check out the forest, Sky," he ordered, "towards the northeast. I'll be right behind you." The swift pokemon would be able to detect whatever had made that noise and report back to him faster than he could explore on his own.
The silvery bird dipped its head in ascent before speeding off into the trees. Steven checked the camp again, making sure everything was in place, before following. He hadn't walked very far, when a voice called out a greeting.
"Steven, hi!"
Steven turned and then smiled warmly at the three kids who jogged up to him. "I'm guessing that crash was you guys?" he asked.
The oldest of the trio shook his head, but was still grinning. Brock, if Steven recalled the name correctly. "Nah, it was probably just Ash, training his Pokemon. Although..."
"He's late for breakfast," the youngest boy said, "and if its one thing that Ash never misses, its food!"
"Like you don't eat just as much, Max," the girl, May said with a roll of her eyes. But her eyes held concern and she glanced off into the forest. "Ash just probably got too caught up in his training to notice..."
The three friends fell silent as they joined Steven in walking towards the source of the disturbance. If it had been an attack of some kind, it must have been pretty powerful to have made a sound as loud as that. When he'd last met Ash and friends, the kid had been training to challenge Brawly, Dewford City's Gym Leader, to a rematch, and had unwittingly disturbed a nest of aron.
Still, the last time he'd chatted with his brother, the Ecruteak Gym Leader had nothing but praise for the young trainer--laced through with awe bordering on hero worship--something his calm and collected older brother had never shown, even in his obsession with the legendary Ho-oh. Just because the kid claimed to have seen Ho-oh, and had helped to return stolen goods to the Tin Tower.
"Well," Steven said after the silence stretched, "I've sent my..."
"Ska! Skaaaaar!"
It was Sky's urgent call for help. Steven reacted quickly, taking off at a dead run towards the direction it had come from, the three trainers right behind him.
When they arrived on the scene, Steven could only stare in shock. Wreckage of some kind of machinery lay burning against a pomeg berry tree, the smoke rising slowly and sinuously into the air. A pile of clothes were strewn carlessly on the ground, as though someone had stripped for a swim. And four bodies littered the ground.
The trainer, Ash, was nowhere to be found.
Sky was standing over one of the bodies, a pikachu, and nudging it gently.
"Treeko!" May called out, running to the green lizard and falling to her knees beside it. Her blue eyes were dark with emotion, "It's still alive!"
Her words spurred everyone else into action and they all took a pokemon. "So's Taillow!" Max cried, relief evident in his voice, "but just barely...its lost so much blood..." The boy ripped off a large piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the wounded pokemon, then cradled the creature to his chest.
"So has Corphish," Brock said gravely, doing the same for the crustacean pokemon, "but it too, is still alive, thank goodness."
"The pikachu is as well, probably in the same condition as the other pokemon," Steven told the others, placing his hand on the yellow rodent's head. The fur was soft and supple, in very good condition for an unevolved member of its species.
Dismissing that thought as irrelevant, he stood and pulled out a couple of super potions that he always carried on his person, even when he left his bag behind, spraying a little on the electric mouse. There was no way to determine if it worked, since blood still caked the wound making it impossible to see what had done this, but it did seem as though the creature were breathing easier.
He then moved to each of the fallen pokemon in succession, repeating the actions until all the healing liquid was gone. The Treeko had the lesser injury, merely a grazed wound in the side, however, judging by the unconscious state of the pokemon, Steven determined that whatever had been used must have been tipped in poison.
"Okay," he said, when finished, his face grim, "We're going to have to take them to the pokemon center in Lavaridge, and it's not going to be easy climbing up those ridges. On us, or the injured pokemon, but I don't see how else we're going to manage."
"I can fashion some slings to carry them in," Brock suggested sensibly, "That'll make it more comfortable on the pokemon and us."
Steven nodded. "Excellent suggestion, Brock. Let's..."
"Well I'm staying and looking for Ash!" May declared suddenly, her arms clutching the treeko a little more forcefully than was necessary, "he'd never just abandon his pokemon! Something must have happened to him!"
"Yes," Steven agreed, but then reasoned, "but we can have our other pokemon look for him while we concentrate on getting these where they can get the medical attention that they need. I'm sure Ash wouldn't want you to spend precious time looking for him when his pokemon are here, in obvious need of help."
He hated saying that, hated the look of utter helplessness and resignation that appeared in peoples' eyes when he said it. To his surprise, however, the girl just set her jaw stubbornly and nodded.
"Fine then, Beautifly, come on out!" The winged bug pokemon appeared in a flash of red and floated in the air above its trainer. "Beautifly, I want you to look for Ash! And don't stop until you've found him, or I return, okay?"
Brock called out a crobat and ordered it to do the same, concern filling his brown eyes. The young man was obviously slightly less optimistic than his companion. Max, on the other hand was cheering the pokemon on, gently holding Taillow. "Yeah! Go find Ash you two! Oh man, I wish I had a pokemon..."
A weary sigh escaped Steven. They were wasting time with this. He doubted very seriously the kid was alive. Otherwise, these pokemon would not be here now, in this condition. He glanced sharply at Sky, but before he could order it, a rush of air practically knocked them all over.
In the clearing, a large Dragonite landed and a figure wrapped in a black cloak dismounted and strode over to them. He had a shock of spiky red hair and piercing brown-almost black- eyes. Lance, dragon trainer and Leader of the Elite Four, he was also part of the Pokemon League's special forces squad, along with Steven, and other high ranking members of the League.
"Team Rocket's behind this then?" Steven asked, eliciting gasps from the three kids.
"Team Rocket's evil," Brock said, his voice sounding confused, "But even they wouldn't stoop to something as low as this..."
Lance faced the older boy and inclined his head, a grim smile playing on his lips. "Not ordinary members of Team Rocket no. But...there is a branch that specializes in things like this. Although," he stared at the wounded pokemon, "they're not usually so inept at hiding their evidence."
Then, his eyes sharpened on Brock. "Tell me, Brock," he asked, in a strange voice, "was Ash traveling with you?"
The teenager frowned a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Yeah but he's...."
"Not here," the redhead finished for him, "I can see that." Lance's eyes grew distant and he gave a short laugh. "Agatha did say that a bond could create a reaction like that."
Steven frowned and stepped forward. "Lance, we've got to get these pokemon..."
Max gasped at the sound of the famous name and stared at the dragon trainer in fascination.
"Right," Lance said decisively, "take Dragonite and..." there was a flash, and a charizard appeared in the meadow, "Charizard. They'll get you to the pokemon center faster."
"What about you?" Steven asked, brow furrowing, "You can't mean to..."
"I am." Lance's voice brooked no argument. "I've dealt with these particular members of Team Rocket before, and I know their MO. Obviously they've got a couple of apprentices who got too excited with their work when they got interrupted."
"What are you talking about? How do you already know....those two haven't been seen in fifteen years, Lance. It can't be them."
"Who else do you know who's obsessed with the Legend of Ho-oh enough to follow up a rumor that is very probably wrong?" Lance snapped, then giving Steven an apologetic glance, "that applies to Team Rocket members of course, and not to your family. Or you."
Steven shrugged that off and turned to the kids. "Okay, Brock, you and May take Charizard. Max, you're with me on Dragonite." Not waiting for any answers, he climbed aboard the pokemon. If Lance were correct, then, it was possible that Ash were still alive. The trainer would be wishing right now that he weren't though, because the Jewel Sisters were very thorough in their methods of extracting information.
Unbidden, his thoughts turned to his second oldest sibling. Diana. If their mother, a member of Team Rocket, hadn't filled the girl's head with so much poison against them all, she'd probably still be alive today. And Team Rocket would never have discovered the Stone family's greatest secret.
Shaking his head to clear it of those thoughts, he helped Max into position, then cradled the pikachu close, and ordered Dragonite to take off, Charizard following closely behind.
-------------------------------
Lance watched his pokemon rise into the air, and then disappear beyond the horizon before returning his attention to the task at hand, feeling emotionally distanced. He pulled off the pokeball that contained Gyrados and released the water dragon, knowing that the pokemon would be the best bet to find the Team Rocket's ecampment, because he was sure that they had Ash.
He had dismissed Agatha's statement before, but now realized that it was probably dead on, however it had happened.
Immediately, that strange keening sound filled the air, and Lance had to repeat himself several times before catching Gyrados' attention.
"Listen to me, I need you to find Ash," he told it, "You remember Ash, right? Find Ash Gyrados."
The pokemon just gazed at him before once more emitting the heartwrenching sound. Lance felt a chill run down his spine. That could mean only one thing, and he turned his face away from the mourning pokemon, unable to stop the tears that pricked the backs of his eyelids. It wasn't fair, that a young life could be taken like that.
Straigtening his shoulders, Lance gazed with hardened eyes into the murky depths of the forest. He would find them, and those two would pay dearly for their crimes. They wouldn't be able to escape so easily this time.