`=Chapter 10, The Hunters Return!=
*Jacob to Arky*
*Yesterday was an amazing day, but let me tell you I really hope I never get involved with another Pokemon Contest against my will. I tell you that was torture, not for me but my team! Sure Harold, Sara, Kora, Roran, and Ivan were all well praised and admired by the judges, but Coral was made fun of by not only trainers and salon owners but by those same judges! I don't know how much more I could take with all of the trainers insulting me and Coral.*
*I can see now why Fera had so much difficulty keeping her and Segan's salon's image as a very high class place. Segan may have his heart in the right place, but even Coral agrees with me, putting her in a Beauty Contest was not the wisest or smartest move we could have made. We still won, but I would not want to put Coral through that kind of abuse ever again.*
(Jacob's PoV)
The next morning after a very well made breakfast, ordered in by Fera from the highest restaurant in town according to Karen, Jacob and his friends were preparing to leave the Salon that they had helped win the contest for the first time in a very long time. After they finished breakfast they prepared to leave the Salon to return to the Rest Area, both to help prepare for their Gym Battles and to get out of the arguing sibling's hair. Which is what he, Karen, and Sara were observing just as they were about to leave.
"Alright sis Glace and I are off for now!" Segan called out as he and his Froslass prepared to leave with empty bags for collecting berries. "We're off to Route 116 to go and find some Berry Trees. Be back in a few hours!"
"What, what do you mean you're leaving to go find Berry Trees, and don't even THINK of wearing that smelly, dirty trench coat!" Fera yelled angrily, brandishing a schedule at him from the lobby. "We've got an interview to do later today, and you need to help me shop for more shampoo and help pose for the magazine issue! Not to mention we need to make some phone calls to our big shot customers to let us use their Pokemon in the magazine issue and schedule interviews with them! And there's still that boiler you need to co-sign with me so we can purchase it and have it shipped here by the end of the year!"
"Oh you can handle all that stuff without me sis, tah taaaaah!" He giggled as he and Glace walked and floated out the front door, moving rather quickly so they could get away before Fera could catch them.
"YOU GET BACK HERE THIS ISTANT BROTHER!" She roared angrily as she raced after them, running into a full blown sprint with a clipboard in her hands. "SO HELP ME IF I CATCH YOU!
They all just stared and watched the two siblings run out of the Salon before both sighed and left as well, exhausted already from the morning. "Those two… how do they stand one another?" Jacob asked as they walked out of the Salon and made their way to the Trainer Rest Area.
"Don't know Jacob, adults can be such children sometimes!" The teen joked with a giggle from behind him. "Least we got some awesome food out of the deal. So Jacob, tell me about your adventures during the Petalburg Woods now that we have time to talk? What happened that took you so long to get through those woods; you told me that you had a reason why you were so much slower than me when to travel through them."
"Well if you really want to know, it happened after I entered the woods." He started explaining as they turned a corner and were nearing the edge of the city. "First my team and I encountered a Tailow, whom I later called Roran after Ivan decided to pick a fight with him. Soon after that we stopped to rest and eat, and that was where I 'captured' Kora, the Wurmple you saw."
"Er, what do you mean by 'capture'?" She asked, curious about why he was emphasizing that word.
(Kora fell on… the Pokeballs after… Ivan, Harold, and… Roran surprised her!) Sara said to Jacob, after saying it in her normal speech.
After Jacob translated, Karen burst out laughing so hard that she was clutching herself because her laughter was so painful. "You… caught a Wurple… by letting… it fall… on a spare Pokeball?" She asked, trying to breathe properly but unable to with the constant fits of laughter that kept on bubbling up, which only increased after Jacob gave his reply. "That is the most… hysterical… thing I've… ever heard of!"
Jacob and Sara both giggled as they watched Karen laugh her head off at the knowledge that he captured a Wurmple because it was hungry and he had a lot of food. "Yea well, she's quite the Wurmple thanks to all of our training, sure she's not as much of a fighter as Ivan or Harold, but she has her moments and isn't as much of a pushover as you might think."
"Oh I can't wait to see if that's true!" She said, regaining her old stance as a Trainer, eager to battle and challenge a worthy foe. "But first things first, keep going with the story, tell me what happened that made you so slow?"
"Well after that we traveled through the forest for the rest of the day, trying to find the right way through." Jacob continued as they left the city at long last, making their way toward the Rest Area. "When we couldn't after wandering for the rest of the day, we decided to make camp, but couldn't find a good spot after passing by one an hour earlier, but then we came across this break in the path that went into a small clearing, it seemed like a freshly made one so my team figured there would be a good spot to spend the night. Well we were right, it was freshly made and it was a good spot to spend the night, but we also found something that I never would have imagined me or any of my team ever seeing!"
"What was it?" Karen asked excitedly.
Jacob deliberately waited a few seconds before telling her, letting the suspense build up before announcing the epic discovery he and his team made. "We found a Legendary Pokemon, a Suicune, all injured and tired lying in a clump of bushes." He said.
"No way, really?" She asked incredulously.
"Yea, we found her all injured and tired, she was exhausted and starving." He said. "So we stayed to help her recover."
"Wow, you actually meet a legendary Pokemon and don't try to capture it?" She asked, clearly sounding thoroughly impressed by his actions. "That takes a lot of self-restraint to resist doing, any other trainer, heck even me probably, would have captured it and taken it to the Pokemon Center. Speaking of which why didn't you do that, wouldn't that have been faster?"
"Well yea but it wouldn't have been right; capturing a Suicune when it was that injured… it wouldn't have been fair."
"Okay so you found a Suicune, badly injured, starving and so on, what happened after that?" She asked now. "Obviously you decided to take care of it and treat its injuries there, but how come it took you so long?"
So Jacob explained for the next hour while they walked about how he took care of the Pokemon. First he explained about how he used every one of his potions to start healing the Suicune, then he explained what he fed it each day to help repair its body naturally, and then he described how he gave the legendary all the attention he could give it, protecting and keeping it safe from trainers and those who had injured it in the first place.
As he described that there were people who had been hunting the Suicune for months on end, chasing and injuring it twenty four seven with no rest and not letting up even after it fled from Johto to Hoenn, he saw Karen getting more and more angered. She muttered something about giving those 'people' a piece of her mind, before he continued with the story. He said that on the final night the Suicune saved him and Sara from one of the trainers hunting it, using the most powerful Hydro Pump he had seen, excluding his teacher's, an Aurora Beam, and finally a Mist it created to cover their escape. After she dropped them far away, safe and sound from all threats he and Sara collapsed from tiredness, having stayed up for a long portion of the night keeping watch.
"And in the morning, after we woke up, Sara and I found a mountain of items and food just lying next to us, right where Suicune had been standing before we fell asleep." Jacob finally said as they neared the Rest Area. "Among those items we found the Luxury Ball that Coral now sits in, after that we tried wandering around looking for Suicune, which is why it took us so long to reach Rustboro."
(It was rather… silly to try… and find her… again.) Sara told him after he finished his story. (A roaming Pokemon… doesn't stay in… one place for… too long!)
"Yea I know Sara, but still a guy can hope cant he?" He told his Ralts with a chuckle.
"Man I wish I had something like that happen to me, all I did was battle some trainers and got into a fight with a bunch of bug enthusiasts!" Karen complained as they made their way toward where he normally stayed. "So how about a short battle now that we have time to spare, I've been itching to take on your team, especially now that I've had a good look at them."
"But we just got back here!" He complained, though he should have known better when he thought about Karen's personality, she just couldn't resist the urge to have a battle.
"That means we can have a battle, besides we need to practice for our Gym match tomorrow!" She said with a grin. "Come on, Ziggles and I have been waiting for a rematch with Harold!"
"Alright, but don't expect Harold to go easy on you." Jacob said, taking a turn with Karen behind him and leaving the Rest Area just after they entered it. "He's a lot tougher this time around than before."
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you two!" Karen said excitedly.
They found a nice area to have their battle, and in no time at all they started drawing a small crowd of a dozen or so other trainers from the Rest Area, who, by some means Jacob and Sara couldn't begin comprehend, seemed to sense when a battle between two equally strong trainers was about to begin. Before they began Jacob put Sara on the ground so she wouldn't get hurt if something happened.
(Song to play, Pokemon Colosseum – First Battle-)
"Alright let's get this started with a rematch!" Karen said with a grin, taking out a Pokeball and twirling it in one hand. "Ziggles, rise to the challenge!"
"Harold, you're up!" Jacob called as both trainers released their Pokemon for a rematch.
"Zigzagoon!" Ziggles shouted.
"Treecko!" Harold cried and assumed a battle stance, recognizing a battle when he saw it.
"Alright Ziggles, its time we redeem ourselves from last time!" Karen shouted as she put her game face on. "Let's show Harold and Jacob how tough we are now compared to last time. Kick things off with a Tackle Attack!"
"Zigzagoooon!" Ziggles roared, racing forward toward Harold at a fast pace.
"Harold lets show em what we're made of, counter with Quick Attack!" Jacob shouted.
"Tree!" Harold shouted, and sprinted into a Quick Attack, moving faster than Ziggles expected and smacking into him before he could connect with the Tackle.
However just like last time, Ziggles was knocked into a backflip but landed on all four, still looking fresh and ready for another round. "Ziggles, use Sand Attack!" Karen shouted.
"Zig!" Ziggles said, turning around and using his rear legs to kick dirt into Harold's eyes before he could react.
"Harold, try to get the dirt out quick!" Jacob said, trying to remain calm as Harold started rubbing frantically.
"Ziggles use Headbutt!"
"Zigzagooon!" Ziggles said, racing forward and smacking Harold with a powerful Headbutt before Harold could react quickly.
Harold was knocked back, flinching in pain as he managed to stand back up. "Harold time to take things up a notch, use Absorb!" Jacob ordered, knowing that Harold needed some energy before he became unable to battle, and Absorb was the best move he had.
"Treecko!" Harold shouted, running forward as his tail started glowing.
"Ziggles don't let them get the chance, counter with another Sand Attack!"
"Zigzagooon!" Ziggles shouted, turning around and digging with his rear legs to kick dirt into Harold's eyes, but this time Harold was able to avoid the attack and carry through with his Absorb.
Harold jumped onto Ziggles' back and wrapped his tail around him momentarily, letting the green glow wrap his opponent. In seconds Ziggles was starting to get weaker while Harold was getting stronger, thanks to Harold's Absorb taking vital nutrients that Ziggles needed to keep fighting strong.
"Ziggles get Harold off you quickly!" Karen shouted.
"Zig…za…goon!" Ziggles declared, after two failed attempts to rock Harold off of him, the third jolt got him off, but the damage was done, Harold had recovered much needed energy while his opponent had been drained.
"Alright Harold, give it one more Quick Attack!" Jacob called out confidently.
"Zigges, counter with Headbutt one more time!" Karen ordered.
"Tree!"
"Zigzagoon!"
Both Pokemon charged forward, but thanks to the extra stamina Harold drained from Ziggles, his Quick Attack was able to smack into Ziggles before he could use his Headbutt effectively, and as Ziggles was knocked back one last time, everyone could see that this time, he was staying down for good.
"Way to go Har…" Jacob started saying before Harold started glowing.
"Whoa…" Karen said as everyone spectating them started clapping.
Jacob realized that he was watching Harold evolving and starting to grow in size, doubling in height compared to what he was previously. After the glowing ceased Jacob saw the new Harold after his change, his tail had elongated into two leaves that became slimmer near their tips, his head now had a very long and even thinner leaf protruding and flowing behind him, his legs had gained more muscle and ended in talon-like feet to give him greater grip and a stronger jump. His arms had now developed claws and had leaf-like blades growing out of his wrists. In height he was just over two feet tall, and his skin was a slightly darker shade of his previous green, though he still retained his reddish underbelly.
"Now that's a new look… Ziggles is going to need a bit more time before he can take on Harold again." Karen remarked as she recalled Ziggles into his ball to rest.
"Grovyle…" Harold said, admiring his new claw-like hands as well as the leaf blades.
"Wow… Harold… look at you!" Jacob said in amazement.
(Amazing…) Sara said to Jacob, staring in awe at the starter's evolved form.
Harold meanwhile was getting a feel for what his new body could do; he was hopping around on first his rear legs, admiring at how much higher he could jump before landing on his hands and rolling perfectly into a standing position. As he rolled the leaves on his wrists sliced up the grass a bit, sending bits of grass into the air behind him as they were sliced cleanly and effortlessly.
Jacob pulled out his Pokedex and had it scan Harold, wanting to know more about his new form.
[Grovyle, the Wood Gecko Pokemon, It is known that leaves grow out of this Pokemon's body. These leaves help obscure a Grovyle from the eyes of its enemies while it is in a thickly overgrown forest!]
"Wow… practical and powerful." He commented as he admired his Harold's accomplishment. "Congratulations buddy on your new body!"
"Grovyle!" Harold said with a smile, walking to stand next to him while everyone started leaving.
"Man Jacob, you and your Pokemon are just pushing me to want to become stronger, I like that in a friend!" Karen said with a smile, walking over to Jacob and giving him yet another hearty and heavy slap to his back. "Now slow down so I can catch up!"
(What does it… feel like… to evolve Harold?) Sara told Jacob after she spoke it in her native language.
"Yea Harold, tell us, what does it feel like to evolve?" Jacob asked as well, after he recovered his breath from Karen slapping him.
Harold thought for a moment before he replied. "Grovyle vyle vyle… Grovyle vyle Gro!"
(He says… it's like… you have all… of this energy… build up suddenly… and when you… feel it… it explodes and… makes you feel… stronger!) Sara translated for him.
"Well I bet that means you have a bigger appetite now don't ya Harold?" Jacob asked, smiling as he realized that the battle had made him hungry as well.
"Grovyle!" Harold said happily, and Jacob didn't need Sara to translate that for him.
"Well I'm joining you this time; I want to show off my team as well now in a more… casual manner!" Karen said happily, giving him another slap to his back. "You don't mind do ya?"
"No… but I think my back will, if you keep hitting it enough times…" Jacob declared, hoping that she doesn't turn him into a hunchback by the end of his trainer career.
They returned to the rest area and made their camp in an area where they had plenty of space to release their Pokemon to eat. Once they had a fire going for a long enough time, Jacob began preparing stew for not only himself and his team, but also Karen and her team. According to Karen she had captured three additional Pokemon after she left Oldale Town and headed for the Rustboro Gym. She was impressed that he had gathered a total of six Pokemon to his team, one wild and five caught, so quickly after leaving Littleroot Town.
Though despite how impressed Karen was with how many Pokemon he had, it did not resolve the problem of how much food he was going to be cooking now. In total, Jacob was now preparing food for a grand total of twelve, combining Jacob and his six with Karen and her four. A lot more then he was used to feeding and preparing food for, but thanks to all of the food Suicune had left him with, he still had a fair amount to cook, and thanks to his cooking skills and lessons he was familiar with how many proportions to make for each Pokemon's dietary needs.
The only question was who were Karen's other Pokemon, all he knew about her team was that she had was a Zigzagoon named Ziggles.
"Alright team, soup's getting started so come on out!" Karen called, taking four Pokeballs from her belt and releasing all of them at once.
The first to be recognized was Ziggles, the Zigzagoon, who was still a tad wobbly from his fight but stood proud before Jacob, Sara and Harold. The next he saw was a Poochyena, female by the looks of it, who sat and started using her rear leg to scratch her ear. Third was a Shroomish, a Pokemon Jacob had seen once before in Oldale Town and on occasion in the Petalburg Woods. Finally her fourth was another Poochyena, also female by the looks of it, but was standing at attention as though expecting danger.
"Well this is my team, Shroomish I call Shrew… get it, because he's very 'shrew'?" She said, hoping to get a laugh out of him. "And these two girls are Nora and Laura, Nora is the one scratching her ear, and Laura is the one standing. Nora is very lazy and would prefer to take a nap if she could, while Laura is very hasty and wants to get things done, sorta like little old me!"
"I thought you hated Poochyena's, so why do you have two of them?" Jacob asked Karen as he eyed the two pooches.
"I don't hate them, I just hate having to battle them over and over again." She corrected him. "Besides the two came together, when I found Nora sleeping off to the side of the road, her sister Laura came out to defend her. So after Ziggles and I challenged them both to a two on one battle, I captured both. Shrew I found in the Petalburg Woods, he gave Ziggles a run for his money with a lot of stun spores, but we won and you know the rest!"
"Nice to meet you all," Jacob said to them, "I'm Jacob, Jacob Beryl from Littleroot, and this is Sara my Ralts, and Harold my newly evolved Grovyle."
"Shroomish!" Shrew said, giving him a short bow.
"Arf!" Nora barked cheerfully.
Laura stared at Jacob intently before giving him a few sniffs, and then she gave her reply. "Arrrrr… arf!"
"Uh… Sara?" He asked.
(She says… you have a… funny smell… around you.)
"Uh… what do you mean by 'funny smell'?" He asked Laura.
"Arf arf arf… rrrrrf." She replied.
(She doesn't know… you just have… a smell that's… familiar but… not familiar… at the same… time.)
"Oh who cares about smell, let's just get cooking Jacob!" Karen said. "We're all hungry, feed us!"
So Jacob fed them all, after cooking a new brand of soup to fit the more carnivorous eaters as well as preparing a special batch of soup for the mainly vegetarians, he divided the food among the various Pokemon who had separated themselves according to who they belonged to. He noticed that Ivan had made sure to position himself so he could watch Nora and Laura at the same time with a wary eye, while Laura had mirrored his actions and was giving Ivan the same look. Nora on the other hand didn't seem to care about what her sister was doing; instead she was more interested in gorging herself on the food Jacob had prepared.
(Ivan and Laura… don't trust each… other do they?) Sara asked him privately.
"Poochyena and Mightyena are very territorial Pokemon Sara, they live based on a pack mentality and care only for their pack." Jacob explained. "Even those that are trained by trainers still retain this trait; they think of their trainer as their Pack Leader and they view any Pokemon their trainer catches as part of 'their' pack. Any other trainer they treat as a different Pack Leader and they don't trust anyone or anything outside of their own pack."
"That pretty much sums up Laura in a nutshell." Karen said through a mouthful of soup. "She always growled and treated everyone I was near in the rest areas in the Petalburg Woods as if they were enemies. She didn't trust anyone, especially those that had Poochyena's. She's also very protective of her sister Nora, just one of the many things I love about these two!"
While they ate all of Jacob's Pokemon admired Harold's new evolved form, including Ivan who, in between glares toward Laura, admired at how much taller Harold was now. Kora though was the only one not admiring Harold, as she was busy chowing down on her food with gusto, in fact Jacob noticed that she was really focused on eating.
"Hey Kora are you okay?" Jacob asked, wondering why she was so intent on finishing her food.
Kora did not respond, instead she gobbled down the last of her food before she turned her head skyward and released a very fine String Shot. Everyone who could took a few steps back from the Wurmple as she sprayed her sticky string into the air, before it separated into even thinner, finer strands to wrap around her body in ever increasing amounts. All the while, her body was glowing.
"No way, that's your second Pokemon to evolve?" Karen said in amazement. "How do you train them, or what are you feeding them?"
"I don't know!" Jacob said as he tried to figure out how Kora could be evolving, he hadn't trained her that much despite what he said to Karen earlier.
Kora continued to send sticky strands of her String Shot into the air, only to let them land on top of her and wrap around her tightly, forming a familiar looking cocoon. When the glowing faded, Kora the Wurmple had been encompassed into a hardened shell of white, with two gentle looking eyes to see the world around her, along with special spikes poking out. "Silcoon…" Kora whispered happily.
"Wow… congratulations Kora." Jacob said as everyone looked at Kora's new body. "Well I guess this saves us on feeding you for a while."
Everyone on Jacob's team laughed at that remark as he took out his Pokedex to look up an explanation for why Kora evolved so fast.
[Insect Pokemon, particularly those with evolution lines similar to caterpillar type Pokemon such as Wurmple, are able to evolve purely based on the amount of food stored in their bodies. Once they have consumed enough to last them through the transformation from first stage to final stage, these insect types wrap themselves into a hardened cocoon to undergo their metamorphosis transformation.]
"Wow, so she evolved just because I fed her enough food?" Jacob said to himself as Kora sat there looking at them all. "Well Kora looks like you'll not be as mobile as you used to be, least until you evolve again."
"Silcoon!" She replied calmly.
"Man that is some food you made, you really know how to cook." Karen said, patting her stomach in contentment. "Speaking of food, can I ask you a bit of a favor?"
"What kind of favor?" Jacob replied, not sure if he can handle anymore 'favors' after the last favor he did.
"Would you mind if my team and I tagged along with you and yours?" She asked politely. "You know, we follow you and your team around wherever you go for a while? I mean since we're both taking the Pokemon League competition we both are going to head to the same Gyms, it makes perfect sense!"
"I don't mind but, why do you want to tag along with me in particular?" He said.
"Well for starters, how else am I going to figure out your secret for training your Pokemon?" She said. "You really seem to know what you're doing, and all the awesome stuff seems to happen to you, I want to be near you so I can see what happens and see all the cool stuff you'll encounter. That… and I don't know how to cook."
Jacob groaned as he faceplamed himself. "So what you're really saying is that you want to stic with me because you don't know how to cook?"
"Pretty much!" She chuckled nervously. "I can't cook to save my life, despite being a girl I just never could learn how to cook properly!"
"Alright but you need to help pay for the food, I can't afford food for both of our teams, especially if they start evolving like this all the time." He said with a sigh.
"Deal!" Karen said happily, giving him a hearty slap to his shoulder this time, which caused him to fall into the pond where Coral had just finished her lunch. "Sorry!"
Jacob sat up in the water and splurted a mouth full of water back into the pond. "She really needs to stop doing that to me as well." He said to himself as he stood up to dry himself off.
While Jacob dried himself off, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted what looked like a guy wearing a western style hat, a long flowing jacket, and special hiking boots talking to a group of trainers on the other side of pond. He was talking to them animatedly, showing them a picture and pointing at it, clearly asking them something about the picture. However they shook their heads and he nodded before they moved on.
Normally he wouldn't have made much of a deal with the man, but Jacob recognized him as someone very familiar from years ago. Just one look at that man's hat, his coat, and his face and Jacob instantly realized who he was.
A Pokemon Hunter!
"What the… what's a hunter doing here?" Jacob asked quickly, taking his team's Pokeballs out in case he had to recall them.
"Pokemon Hunter, what are you talking about?" Karen asked him as she too looked over at the man Jacob was eyeing.
"That man, he's a Pokemon Hunter, I recognize him from when I was still in Littleroot!" Jacob said.
"Jacob that's a big thing to accuse someone of, are you one hundred percent sure he's what you say he is?" She asked him seriously.
"I'm dead sure; he was stalking me for a few days when I was still learning about Pokemon from my teacher." He said, the memory of his fear of the man coming back to him.
"Alright, then let's find out why he's here before we call the cops or anything!" She said, recalling her entire team back into their balls. "If we're going to report him we need evidence, just two people saying he's a hunter won't be enough."
Jacob nodded in agreement, recalling his team into their balls as well before taking Sara and holding her in his arms for safekeeping. They walked around the camp in a wide arc to avoid catching his attention, and then quietly snuck on top of him from behind a pair of tents to eavesdrop on what he was saying to another pair of trainers.
"Have you seen the Pokemon in this picture, I'm trying to find it for a friend of mine." He said seriously. "The Pokemon goes by the name of Sara; she's a bit of a runt and only stands about one foot tall when compared to human height."
*Sara… he's after Sara?* Jacob thought to himself as he listened to their reply.
"I'm not sure if I've seen her anywhere around here." A female voice said interestedly. "Anything else about her that might help us remember? I've seen too many Pokemon over the last few days to remember any one in particular."
"She's only a baby, about a little over a month old; she wouldn't be too big and would be very noticeable around these parts." He said. "Her kind is very rare around here; her species is the kind you couldn't catch around this city!"
"No I'm afraid we haven't seen any Pokemon like her that I can remember, what about you Tara?" A male voice asked.
"No I haven't seen this Sara at all since we got here a few hours ago, sorry we couldn't be of any help."
"It's no problem, thank you for helping me…" The man sighed in disbelief as the two trainers walked around the tent to leave the Rest Area. "Idiots… can't even spot a unique Pokemon like this Sara even if its dancing in front of them! What kind of trainers are they raising these days?"
The man walked through the Rest Area before stopping to talk to another pair of trainers, still being followed by Karen, Jacob and Sara. (Jacob… this man… he feels… strange…) Sara whispered to Jacob nervously. (I can't… sense his… emotions at all… it's like their… being concealed! He seems… to be blocking… me!)
Jacob nodded as he listened in on yet another conversation between the Hunter and the two trainers. "I'm looking for a Pokemon named Sara; she's only about one foot tall, very rare and hard to find around these parts, have you seen a Pokemon like that?"
"Yea we know a Pokemon like that, there's a trainer who stays here who has a Sara." One of the trainers said confidently. "She's a rare one alright; wish I had her for myself!"
"Oh you are so greedy, just be happy with the Pokemon you found!" His friend said.
"I see, thank you very much." The Hunter said calmly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go and meet up with my friends, we have a Gym Match later today and I promised I'd let her watch me battle!"
"Good luck man!" The trainers both said before they left.
"Well at least I'm getting somewhere!" The Hunter whispered as they watched him leaving the Rest Area, heading into a nearby stretch of woods alone.
"Come on lets go after him." Karen whispered.
"Why is he after Sara?" Jacob whispered back, leaning low to follow behind Karen.
"I don't know, but we won't know if we don't follow him, come on!" She whispered back, being careful to stay at least ten feet behind him to avoid attracting attention.
"Can't we just call the police now, we have proof!" He shot back.
"No way, all we have are words, we need proof, big proof, and words mean nothing without them!" She shot back to him.
(Jacob… I'm scared…) Sara whispered privately.
"I know Sara, but I promise I'll keep you safe okay?" He whispered soothingly to her.
(Okay…) She said nervously.
They followed the hunter for a long hour as he walked through the woods, seemingly not knowing where he was going, occasionally stopping to whistle out of boredom or to sneeze. After a long time of just following him, they finally stopped near the edge of a small clearing. In the distance they could see Rustboro City about a short five minute walk from where they were hiding as they watched the Hunter stand in the middle of the clearing.
"What is he waiting for?" Karen asked quietly, eyeing the hunter with suppressed anger.
"How should I know, I only ever saw him for a few days as a kid, then he just up and left!" He replied.
They bickered for a few seconds before a loud howl went up which silenced both of them. Then from the opposite side of the clearing a Mightyena jumped into the clearing, showing its razor sharp teeth and eyeing the human standing alone. The two stared at each other before the Mightyena stepped forward and allowed him to pet it on the head.
"Good to see you again Mightyena, any luck finding a trail?" He asked it, to which it growled with a shake of its head. "I see… and where is Absol, you two were supposed to be together, so where is she?"
The Mightyena merely glared at him before blinking twice. "I see…" The Hunter said calmly, before turning around and calling out in a loud voice. "ALRIGHT COME ON OUT, WHOEVER YOU ARE!"
*How does he know we're here?* Jacob thought quickly, looking over at Karen's nervous face as she too realized he was talking about them.
"I WON'T SAY IT ONE MORE TIME, COME OUT OF HIDING BEFORE MY ABSOL MAKES YOU COME OUT!" The hunter roared. "ABSOL, REVEAL YOURSELF TO MY TRACKERS!"
Behind them they heard something breathing heavily, before growling menacingly at them. They turned around and saw an Absol with pure white fur, a dark gray body, with a scythe-like tail and sickle-shaped horn staring at them menacingly. It stood about three feet tall, and extended its claws before them as a warning. Its message was clear, step forward or it strikes.
Taking the hint, Jacob stood with Karen and walked forward, the Absol still watching them calmly with its claws ready to strike. They walked toward the Hunter until they were about four feet in front of him, then they stopped because the Absol stopped.
"So a couple of kids tracked me?" The Hunter asked calmly. "I must be getting pathetic if I can't even spot two kids and a Ralts following me."
"You're a Hunter, aren't you?" Jacob asked, trying his best to remain calm as both fear and anger coursed through him.
The Hunter looked at him with a grin before his eyes narrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry have we met before?" He asked curiously. "I feel as though I've met you somewhere before…but at the same time I don't remember ever seeing you."
Before Jacob could respond he turned to his Mightyena and asked him. "Do you remember his scent?" He asked the hound.
The Mightyena growled before taking a deep sniff. After a few seconds he shook his head.
"I see, so we never met him before." The Hunter said calmly. "Well in that case this begs the question of why you are chasing me."
"Tell me why you're after Sara?" He asked boldly, clutching her close to him to keep her safe.
At the name Sara, he tensed up and stared intently at Jacob. "You know Sara?" He asked calmly. "You've seen her?"
"Seen her, you're staring right at her you monster!" Karen shouted angrily, electing a growl from the Mightyena and the Absol to move its claws closer to her.
At these words he took a look at the Ralts before chuckling. "I see… it's a mistake in identity." He said calmly. "I'm not interested or after 'your' Sara."
"Wait… you aren't?" Jacob asked suddenly.
"That's right…" He said, taking the picture from before out and showing it to them. "This is the Sara I'm after!"
They both looked at a picture of what appeared to be a Pokemon with black stripes, white and orange fur, and wore two pink ribbons around its ears with a shiny bell hanging from its neck. "That's a Growlithe…" Jacob whispered as he eyed the picture.
"That's right, the Growlithe in this picture is named Sara… and I've been hired by her owner to find her." He said calmly. "I really don't appreciate being called a 'monster' when I'm actually doing a good deed. If you must know who I am, my name is Zarak, the Pokemon Hunter. Yes I am a hunter, but I do not 'hunt' Pokemon in the term you think of. I search for wild Pokemon depending on what my client wants captured, sometimes I work for bad people, but some of my clients are just rich parents who want a particular Pokemon for their children or so."
A low growl came from the Mightyena as they talked, and Zarak nodded in understanding. "Absol, return to me girl, they're not a threat!"
The Absol nodded and pranced toward her trainer, rubbing her head lovingly against him while being careful not to hurt him with the blade on her head.
"If you're not stealing Pokemon then why are you called a Hunter?" Karen asked angrily.
"Because I sometimes have to work for less than credible people in the world, you understand that right?" He asked, now scratching his Mightyena's ears and making him close his eyes contentedly. "I found these two from such places, and because I wasn't exactly an example of a 'model citizen' at the time, I had no choice but to go on the run. Being a freelance Pokemon Hunter is the best kind of job for us, we get to live free and occasionally make money catching a Pokemon for some rich person. It's just a job, but just because my job is hunting and catching particular Pokemon, doesn't mean I'm a cruel person. Also contrary to the term, not ALL Hunters steal Pokemon.
"I apologize for making myself appear like I'm a criminal earlier, but after five days of finding no clues to where my target is, and over a month without a good meal, you get a little unrestful, you understand right?"
"I guess…" Jacob whispered, as he calmed down and decided not to mention that he was indeed familiar with Zarak.
"Okay, so you're not a bad guy, how are you able to train and raise those two so easily?" Karen asked, now that her anger had passed she was once again a trainer eager to see cool new Pokemon.
"Simple, I found Absol as an egg in the hands of a Pokemon Poacher." He said calmly, getting a happy, loving smile from the Absol as he mentioned her. "The Poacher was going to train her to hunt and kill Pokemon for their furs to sell on the Pokeblack Market. Of course I had another idea at the time, so I stole her egg and got away as the Poacher chased after us. At first I was planning on using her for another reason, but a few days later she hatched, and all those ideas were thrown out the window. I just couldn't think of letting a cute little thing like her get hurt because of me!"
"Mightyena I found as a Poochyena in an illegal fighting ring in Sinnoh." He said, and the Mightyena looked up at him with deep respect. "I snuck into the cages and broke him out; wanting to do some good for betting on something I didn't realize was illegal. They caught me and were about to put me in the ring as punishment when the Pokemon League showed up and broke the ring up. In the chaos that erupted from them appearing, Mightyena and I escaped together, and from there he's followed me wherever I went. Of course we had to escape the Pokemon League as well because I was just as guilty of that incident as the people who were doing horrible stuff in that ring."
Zarak took another Pokeball out and released another Pokemon, a blue reptile like Pokemon with two red blade-like wings that stood four feet tall. It looked at them all before looking over at Zarak with a raised eye. "It's okay Salamence, they aren't trouble makers, they were just cautious about me because I was asking the right questions." He said to the dragon. "They're a couple of kids, nothing dangerous, I just felt like showing you off to them and telling them our story."
The Salamence nodded and turned to face Jacob and Karen while Zarak explained. "Salamence I found as a Bagon, you see before I rescued Absol or Mightyena here, I first met and challenged Salamence." He said. "When I first met Salamence I was just a rash and irresponsible person, just wanting to prove how tough I was and boast it to everyone. So what better way to straighten out a rascal like me then to have me take on a Bagon in a head butt match! I don't think my skull ever recovered from the impact he had on it, but after a bit of wrestling I somehow came out on top victorious. He followed me afterwards, thinking that I would make him stronger if he stayed with me, and well you see the results now after nine years."
"My team is comprised of specialized Pokemon who perform different tasks for what we do." Zarak explained as he scratched each one. "Mightyena is our tracker; his sense of smell helps us find our target and tracks them down. Absol is our night stalker; because she's a very nocturnal Pokemon she always follows behind Mightyena and helps him track down our target silently. If we ever come across a dangerous obstacle, one that Absol and Mightyena can't overcome together, we have our powerhouse Salamence, being a dragon type means he has a lot of power behind him."
"Wow… I never thought I'd see Pokemon like…" Jacob started saying before Mightyena's ears twitched, causing him to turn to the right.
"What is it?" Zarak asked quickly.
"Grrrrowrf!" Mightyena barked, standing to attention and assuming a battle position, the other two followed his example and stood to the sides, Absol had her claws ready while Salamence bared his fangs in preparation.
They heard a couple of twigs snapping, rapidly approaching them as whoever or whatever was making those sounds stumbled closer. Then just as they neared the clearing, Jacob saw a patched hat over the bushes.
"HELP ME… SOMEONE!" A familiar voice called out in desperation.
"Stop its Segan!" Jacob shouted, rushing forward with Sara still in his arms and feeling worried.
Jacob and Karen ran forward and grabbed Segan as he stumbled into the clearing; his coat had gashes and cuts in it, while his clothes looked like they had seen better days. As for his hat, well Jacob guessed that it would need a few new patches for its older patches. "Segan what happened!" Karen asked, helping Segan to the ground as he gasped for breath.
"You… you've… got to help… they have her!" Segan whispered as he tried catching his breath.
"Who, who have her?" Jacob asked quickly.
"Glace… they have… they have Glace!" Segan said, looking at the through tear streaked eyes. "They have her… my poor Glace… she's been taken!"
"Who?" Zarak asked, having joined them now.
"Those Pokemon… stealing… jerks… Team… Snagem!" Segan said, having a coughing fit as he tried to calm down.