Chapter 16
"I can't believe those idiots ran off again." Misty sighed.
"Please be okay…" May whispered as Serena put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Try not to worry, you know Ash he always finds a way to pull it out of the bag." Serena smiled.
"We're going to chase off some off the loose Rocket members." Brandon informed the group. "Anabel you come with us also, some of you who still have Pokémon on you come with us."
"I'll go." Leaf volunteered, she had managed to wrangle her pokéballs back from one of the grunts as well as Max's Serena's and Cameron's.
"I will too." Serena stepped forward.
"Okay, then you stay behind and protect the rest of the group in case any of them are still lurking." Lucy suggested to Cameron who nodded vigorously.
"I'll protect everyone don't worry." He spoke passionately.
"Be safe," Serena told him as she gave his hand a squeeze before she and Leaf followed the frontier brains to the outskirts of the forest.
"Team Rocket really done a number on us huh?" Max stated as he took a look around. Misty was tending to Brock who's mouth was still bleeding, Iris was staring into the forest with a furious look on her face, May was on her knees looking towards where Ash, Gary and Gaz had disappeared to and Dawn was sitting against a tree shaking.
"Yeah, we're not looking too good right now." Cameron agreed. "That's why you and I need to stay on our toes and make sure no one else gets hurt."
"You're right." Max nodded, they needed to buy time until the others came back. "Iris could you give us a hand keeping a lookout?"
Iris silently just nodded before scurrying up a tree and perching on top of it with Axew on top of her head. The Frontier Brains had luckily managed to get Axew and Piplup back from their cages but there was no sign of Pikachu.
"It must have been hard for her to see Cilan again." Brock spoke through the pain of his face.
"Was he there?" Misty asked in shock. "Why even deploy him out here?"
"Probably mind games. Trying to provoke one of us into doing something stupid." Brock explained. "Just like how Drew and Kenny baited Ash and Gaz into the forest."
"Idiots." Misty sighed. "Do they not know how that makes us feel? Especially May…"
May knelt in the middle of the clearing. Why did it feel as if she spent more time worrying about Ash and praying that he's safe than spending actual time with him? She was so angry, but she knew she couldn't bring herself to stay mad. She knew if Ash came back okay, she'd just be so relieved to see him that she'll forget the whole thing. But that's no way for her relationship with Ash to be like, right? That's not fair on her.
"Hey sis." Max came up to stand beside his sister for a moment. "I know you're sad, but you can't be disappointed, we always knew he was an idiot."
May let out a short laugh but her heart wasn't in it.
"I almost lost him, he barely survived and just when I thought we had him back safe he goes running off again." May cried digging her nails into the soil trying and failing to hold the tears back.
Max knelt down to hug his sister.
"I know, Ash gets provoked and rushes off leaving us behind to worry about him. Then he comes back by the skin of his teeth and acts like nothing happened. Story of our lives huh?"
"Pretty much." May agreed.
Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes to the right. Max jumped in front of May and reached for a pokéball. They continued to stare at the rustling foliage until Pikachu emerged looking dazed.
"Pikachu?" May called as Max put away his pokéballs.
"Pika, Chu Pika." Pikachu cried as he ran over to May.
May held out her arms and Pikachu jumped into them and buried himself into her torso.
"I'm so glad your safe." May whispered as she held the Pokémon. She was happy her friend was here, but it was also like she was holding onto a piece of Ash also.
Pikachu looked up at May's face.
"Pika Pi?" He asked.
"He went to try rescue everyone's Pokémon, ran into danger again." May explained.
Pikachu looked into the forest sadly, if he had more energy he would run after him, but he was hurt. Instead he looked back at May and gave her a quick lick on the cheek to try make her feel better.
And it did as May let out a small smile.
After making sure Brock was okay, Misty made her way over to Dawn who had Piplup beside her patting her leg. She just sat there in silence, testing to see if her presence could bring more comfort than her words.
They just sat there letting the slight breeze blow across their face causing the leaves to shake as if they were empathizing with Dawn's emotions.
After another couple of moments Misty decided to speak.
"Dawn, what Kenny did…"
"Please. Let's not talk about it." Dawn pleaded.
"Dawn, it's okay. It's completely understandable to be upset…"
"I'm not upset I'm fine." Dawn spoke in a higher voice than usual. She smiled but Misty could see the sorrow behind it. "Come on let's keep an eye out for the others to come back."
"Plup." Piplup let out sadly
Misty just let out a big sigh, but she didn't press the issue, this wasn't something you should force.
"Normally I'd say we should go out and look for those 3 kids," Iris spoke from the treetop. "But going out to search for them in the dark would just cause more trouble."
"You're right," Brock agreed. "As useless as it feels our best option is to wait here until they come back."
Suddenly they heard another rustle from the bushes behind them.
"Is that another Pikachu?" Cameron asked.
His question was answered by a barrage of different Pokémon breaking through the threshold of the shrubbery and entering the clearing. Max and Cameron both quickly brought out 4 Pokémon each for the eight that had arrived menacingly.
Max sent out his Sceptile, Gardevoir, Hitmonlee and Staravia. Cameron also sent out his Lucario, Ferrothorn, Hydreigon and Samurott.
The eight Pokémon they faced were Houndoom, Hitmontop, Exploud, Malamar, Crobat, Hypno, Mamoswine and Throh.
"Something tells me all of these aren't wild." Brock remarked.
His statement was confirmed by the emergence of several Team Rocket members from where the Pokémon came from. The vanguard was led by two familiar figures.
"Cassidy! Should have known you'd involve yourself in this." Brock shouted at the blonde woman.
"Pipe down brat, it's just business." She spat harshly.
"And her sidekick Bitch." Misty added viciously at the sight of her partner.
"It's Butch!" The man replied angrily.
"I know what I said." Misty clarified.
"We don't like seeing you guys either, but we have a job to do, it's just unfortunate that entails making sure you don't interfere." Cassidy explained.
"Well you know we're not just going to go down without a fight." Dawn spoke up.
"Brave statement from a weak girl without her Pokémon." Butch laughed.
"She doesn't need any because we're going to take you down." Cameron warned.
"If you two think you can take us on while commanding 4 Pokémon at once you are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid." Butch told them.
"Maybe it's both." Cameron replied.
"You're not doing us any favours." Max shook his head.
"Enough of this damn talking." Cassidy said wearily. "Houndoom, Fire Fang that Lucario."
"Use Bone Rush to stop it in its tracks Lucario." Cameron commanded.
"Gardevoir, set up a Light Screen to help us." Max asked as his Pokémon created a translucent barrier.
The group who didn't have any of their pokéballs on them hurried back out of the way of the battling.
The eight versus eight battle waged on for several minutes with Max and Cameron battling hard to keep their friends safe. Commanding 4 Pokémon each was starting to take its toll though and soon enough they were down to two each. Cameron still had his Hydreigon and Lucario while Max was down to Sceptile and Hitmonlee. However, on the opposing side the Rocket members were also down to four, with Crobat, Houndoom, Hitmontop and Exploud standing.
"This going to be tough, Max have you anymore Pokémon you can use?" Cameron asked.
"I have my Slaking, but he won't be any use in a brawl like this due to Truant, and my sixth is a Clamperl I just caught." Max explained shaking his head. "What about you?"
"I have my Sewaddle, but it'd just get hurt if I sent it out." Cameron told him.
"What about your sixth Pokémon?" Max asked.
A brief moment of silence followed as realisation dawned of Cameron.
"Crap! I knew I forgot something. I only withdrew 5 Pokémon!" He berated himself while grabbing his head and stomping around.
"Did you not learn from the last time you stupid kid?" Iris yelled from her treetop.
"This is going to be tight." Max sighed.
Seeing the problem that their friends were facing Piplup called up to Axew on top of tree with Iris who nodded and hopped down to join him.
"Axew where are you going?" Iris asked, worried seeing her friend head towards the danger.
The two Pokémon lined up alongside their allies as Iris and Dawn followed them to the frontlines.
"Oh, you want to battle. Are you sure?" Iris was answered by a firm nod from her friend.
"Piplup are you ready too?" Dawn asked, her voice still laced with sorrow.
"Plup, Piplup." He replied, he knew this was going to be a tough battle with Dawn in her current state.
Pikachu began to wriggle in May's arms.
"I know you want to help Pikachu, but you're hurt, you shouldn't put yourself in more danger." May warned him.
Pikachu kept manoeuvring though and eventually broke free and joined the rest of Pokémon.
"Just like his trainer." May sighed.
"It appears we're outnumbered." Butch realised.
"I guess you don't like the taste of your own medicine." Max quipped.
"Whatever will we do?" Butch asked feigning concern as he sent out his Mightyena and Cloyster while Cassidy followed with her signature Raticate.
Due to the fatigue of many of opposing Pokémon Team Rocket managed to swing the momentum into their favour. Currently Raticate, Houndoom and Mightyena still stood while for the defending trainers there was a severely tired Lucario, Hydreigon and Pikachu.
"Mightyena, put them out of their misery, Play Rough that Hydreigon." The Mightyena rushed forward and landed several strikes to the Dragon Type causing it to collapse to the ground defeated.
"Good job Hydreigon, return." Cameron spoke, he then wasted no time and turned to his Lucario. "Quick, Aura Sphere on the Raticate now."
Lucario charged up a ball of blue energy and released it towards the Raticate, it dodged just in time, but the attack landed on the Houndoom that stood just behind it, knocking it unconscious.
"How lucky could you get?" Cassidy remarked as she withdrew her Pokémon.
"Pika…Chuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu let off a thunderbolt that landed on the Raticate while it was distracted causing it to grunt in pain. Pikachu then went to charge in for an Iron Tail while it was hurt.
"Crunch while it's in the air!" Butch shouted.
The Mightyena leaped up and clenched Pikachu in its jaws causing the Electric-Mouse to cry out in pain. It then flung Pikachu into a nearby tree causing him to collapse defeated.
"No…Pikachu." May called out.
"Lucario, I know you're hurt, but I just need you to go on a little longer." Cameron pleaded.
"Arrrrr." Lucario responded through gritted teeth.
"Bone Rush the Raticate." Cameron commanded.
Lucario ran forward with staff of concentrated aura and swung at the Raticate connecting directly with the Pokémon knocking it out.
"Yes. Great job!" Cameron cheered.
"Mightyena, Play Rough now."
The Dark Type Pokémon blindsided Lucario and unleashed a powerful attack. Due to the boost it had received from knocking out Pikachu it had enough power to take Lucario out as well.
"Great job Lucario I'm proud of you." Cameron consoled his Pokémon as he returned it.
"Looks like you weren't good enough, how does it feel?" Butch asked the young trainer, trying to rub it in his face. He turned back to his partner. "Okay Cassidy, time to carry out our orders."
"We don't have to do this." Cassidy remarked, our orders were just to hold them back enough so we can escape and the forest plan has ample time."
"If we don't do it now then they're just going to keep getting in our way." Butch countered angrily.
"There's no coming back from this." Cassidy warned.
"I'll live." Butch responded coldly. "Okay Mightyena, you were the last Pokémon standing so you get the honours."
Mightyena looked back anxiously at its trainer. Butch had informed all of his Pokémon of his plan but that doesn't mean they were willing to go along with it.
"You knew this is what you'd have to do." Butch warned. "Now go."
Mightyena took a reluctant step until a pair of voices came from behind.
"Dustox, Signal beam."
"Weezing, Sludge Bomb."
The pair of attacks hit Mightyena and knocked it unconscious.
"Who the hell…" Butch shouted angrily as he turned to see who the attackers were.
"It hurt our hearts to have to turn our back." A female voice spoke.
"But we couldn't accept such a diabolical attack." A male voice followed.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
"Meowth, that's right."
"Not you three idiots." Iris groaned.
"Trust me we were thinking the same thing." Cassidy muttered.
"Hey twerps be more grateful, we just saved you." Jessie protested.
"That was you two who attacked the Mightyena?" Max asked.
"Who else?" James answered as a Dustox and Weezing floated beside them.
"But why?" Misty asked.
"Look you don't like us, and we don't like you, but as much as we want to steal your Pokémon, we don't want to actually see you physically hurt. Too much." Meowth explained.
"We don't like it either, but in this case we're on the same team." Jessie spoke begrudgingly.
"How can we trust you?" May asked.
"We took out their last Pokémon for you, what more do you want?" James replied.
"I guess we should call a temporary truce." Brock suggested, while the others nodded begrudgingly.
"You know what the price of treason is." One of the grunts warned.
"We do, but we couldn't live with the alternative." Meowth answered.
"Don't worry, you won't be living for much longer anyway." Butch replied. "Come on, retreat."
The Rocket members recalled their Pokémon and exited. As if on cue the defence party that left to find any straggling any other Team Rocket members returned.
"We took down any lurking Rocket members we found." Brandon boomed.
"Wait, there's still two." Lucy shouted pointing towards Jessie and James with a Pokéball in hand.
"3 actually." Meowth piped up.
"We actually formed a temporary truce, long story just trust us." Misty told them. "We'll explain later."
The group reluctantly put away their pokéballs.
"While we were out, we came up with a plan of action." Brandon told the group. "The Battle Tower is nearby, we should go back there to rest for the night, staying here in the dark will just probe more danger."
"But Ash, Gary and Gaz are still out there." May argued.
"We can't help them by staying here, we'd only be putting ourselves in danger May." Lucy spoke softly.
"No, I'm not leaving Ash out there." May argued.
"May, we're all worried about them!" Anabel shouted. "But there's nothing at all we could do. We'd only be causing more of an issue. As hard as it is all we can do is wait for them to get back."
"So, then we should wait here," May protested. "What if they come back and we're not here? How are they supposed to know we're at the Battle Tower?"
"We have that covered." Anabel pointed to her Alakazam, who was floating above the trees. "As soon as any of your friends appear here Alakazam will teleport them directly to the Tower."
May knew they were right, but something told her not to leave. Still she knew arguing wouldn't get her anywhere, so she gave in.
"Fine." May admitted, hanging her head.
"I'm sorry May, but this is the best option." Anabel patted her on the back.
The rest of the group made their way to follow the Frontier Brains towards the Battle Tower. May picked up Pikachu in her arms and took a long look back at the forest. Dawn came up to her but didn't say a word, just held her hand. Both just finding solidarity in their friend.
As they turned to follow the others May heard the heartbeat again, louder than before. She stopped and turned around frantically looking for the sound's origin.
"What's wrong May?" Dawn asked.
"Can you hear that noise?" May responded still looking.
"I can't hear anything." Dawn answered. "Come on let's go."
May, even more reluctant that before, turned and walked away from the forest.
More interesting developments, Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, please follow, favourite and leave a review if you'd like. We Out!
