Chapter Twelve: A Rocket Encounter.
Chris pressed a button on his pokenav, then resumed walking after Kani. Mathrara looked up, curious. (What was that about? )
"Oh… an e-mail, from a trainer I'd encountered a bit before I met you. She sent me some facts about what's been happening at home."
(Good news? )
Chris shook his head. Kani, taking pity on him, spoke for him. (His mom's dead. Rockets bombed his house. And now they've got a million bounty on him.)
(That seems excessive.)
(Well, he knows for a FACT what was there. What's more, he was a witness to what occurred. And since a rocket grunt tried to kill him, the rockets will be under severe pressure from police now. Stealing is one thing, murder another. I understand what they're trying to do. Kill him, or capture him. One or the other.)
"Yea. It looks like April got away clean. I guess she did some digging, too."
(Clever of her. You know…)
"Kani, no."
She shook her head, and fell silent.
A pair of rockets studied the traveler carefully from their hidden viewpoint. "Well, what do you think?"
"It looks safe enough. He obviously leaves his pokemon loose."
"Only rookies make that kind of mistake, huh?"
"Well, that, but I'm more interested in the fact that it looks like he's able to understand his pokemon."
"It could just be that Espeon. They supposedly can use telepathy."
"True, but there is no lag. When his Vulpix talks, he responds too quickly for his Espeon to have translated."
"Well, what good does that do us? People like that tend to hate us."
"We could force his cooperation. All we need to do is hold his pokemon hostage, and we could control him."
"Maybe. I don't think that's possible, though. At least, let's steal them. Maybe the Espeon's just a fast thinker, and it's translating for him at a quick rate."
They activated their trap, causing the trainer and his pokemon to fall into a pit.
Chris sighed, from his tangled position with the other two. "Yeouch. Pitfall."
(Hardly funny. Gimme a moment…)
They reappeared out of the pit, off to the side. Chris noticed two people were looking in expectation down the hole – at nothing.
"Hardly funny. What're you trying to do, steal Kani and Mathrara?"
The duo turned, and seemed a bit surprised. "Can Espeon teleport?"
"Not that I can remember."
They each threw a pokeball, calling out a Magmar and an Electabuzz.
Chris glared at the two. Each took a step back. (Why, you two? Why are you helping thieves? )
(We act on behalf of them. We follow orders.)
Kani screamed back (That's no excuse!)
"Kani, Mathrara, let's go."
The Magmar breathed flame, while the Electabuzz used thunderpunch.
Mathrara jumped into the flame, and Kani used Light Screen to halve the thunderpunch's power.
(You two powered up yet? )
(I'm ready to deal with them.)
(A calm mind would help. That still hurt.)
(Kani, power up. Mathrara, use hypnosis on the Electabuzz. Get it out of the fight!)
Kani glowed with light, and Mathrara managed to hypnotize the Electabuzz. The rocket growled, and started yelling for his Electabuzz to wake up. The Magmar went to burn Kani, but every time it used a fire attack, it was absorbed by Mathrara. Frustrated, it used confuse ray on Mathrara.
(Mathrara? ) Mathrara didn't respond logically, so Chris cursed verbally. (Crud. Kani, use psybeam! )
Mathrara, confused, began to use Heat Wave on the Electabuzz. Chris grinned slightly – spiteful little fox, that one. The damage to the Magmar (Heat Wave hit all opponents) was negligible, but not so for the Electabuzz.
Kani's psybeam was brutal on the Magmar. It was thrown into it's trainer, and barely had energy to stand. It fired a smokescreen, in an effort to hide.
Kani, un-amused, used Confusion (which didn't need her eyes to hit), and finished the Magmar.
The Electabuzz awoke to burning. It managed to free itself from Mathrara's attack, and threw a thunderpunch at Mathrara. He yipped, then passed out. He'd gotten hit on the head.
Chris returned Mathrara, and swore gently. (Kani? Finish it, then let's get OUT of here! )
Kani fired another psybeam, knocking out the Electabuzz. She then ran back to Chris, and the two disappeared.
The rockets, disgruntled, returned their pokemon. There wasn't a point in trying any further – even though they both had more pokemon, the kid was gone.
"That kid… so much for being a rookie. Did he even make a command to his pokemon?"
"Not that I could tell. Why?"
"The way they responded. I think he's a psychic. There's no other explanation."
"They could just be well trained."
"An eighteen year old, with a unevolved Vulpix, and an Espeon only? Not likely. Probably some trainer on a 'new journey' kick."
"Well, let's report this. The fact that that a Espeon could teleport might be worth something."
"Just make sure to stress that we were caught off guard by his attacks, and he fled before we could defeat him. And forget about that talking to other pokemon thing. They'd get us sent to the loony bin."
The other nodded, then both walked off.
Chis collapsed as soon as he was freed from immobility. Kani wasn't much better – she was exhausted. Both were tired – Chris hadn't ever used such a large amount of telepathy, and Kani was worn out from the tournament before. He'd called out advice all the time, and attacks…
"What were they after us for?"
(Probably Mathrara and me.)
"How long until he's better?"
(Oh… I'd say a while. You really should have stayed at the center.)
"Sorry, but we'd been there for a few days. Remember the 'keep moving' thing I said earlier? Besides, goons don't take too long to arrive by chopper."
(Backwater…)
"With two goons nearby it. And if Mathrara hadn't been taking all the fire attacks, you'd be out of it."
(Alright, I give. I need a nap, and you're not much better off. We're about twenty miles distant from the ambush point. Can we just stop? )
Chris nodded, and began to set up camp. Kani curled up to sleep.
Once that was done, Chris fell asleep himself.
A rocket analyst paused. There was something disturbing about the report he was reading.
"A psychic trainer, with a teleporting Espeon… now, I know I've heard that somewhere."
He went digging, until he found the black-list. When he read the description of the witness teenager, he shook his head. The Espeon might set some people off, but the list clearly said that he had a stupid haircut, and wasn't psychic.
He wasn't that raw, to call in a alert on only a half truth.
