Author's Note: This chapter gave me a bit of trouble to write, mostly because I was trying to figure out how much trouble everyone should have with Inflora Forest, and I'm still not super-confident with fight scenes. I think it still turned out well, though, and it's a pretty important chapter nonetheless.

Chapter Nine: Capture

"You sure you wanna do this? It's kind of the way for something you're just curious about."

The trip from the crossroads had been a long one. At least, it was slightly longer than Hannah was used to. The other dungeons they'd explored so far had been somewhat closer to Post Town, after all. Still, she knew she couldn't expect everywhere they went to be like that, nor did she want to abandon a lead now that she had one.

To pass the time, Heath had popped the question when they were partway there. She and Mia exchanged awkward glances. Hannah hadn't brought up her own dreams to him at all yet, and she doubted Mia had specifically mentioned Munna to him. While she didn't want to hide things from him, especially if something bad came up, it still felt weird to give out all of the details, too.

"Well, you know…" Mia finally said. "I thought it'd be good for Hannah to explore somewhere more out of the way. Get used to the trip, and all that."

"Uh…yeah," Hannah agreed, though it was less enthusiastic than she would've liked. "I need to get better at this if I want to stick with you guys, right?"

She was admittedly getting worn out by the trip, and Heath could probably tell easily enough. They weren't even all the way there yet, and Hannah was visibly tired—she was drooping slightly and was somewhat out of breath. Heath blinked at her before shaking his head and turning back to the path.

"Whatever you say…" He shrugged. "Just know it might take a day or two to get back. I've heard it's a pretty complicated area, so we're gonna spend a lot more time there, besides however long it takes to get there."

"Yeah, it's fine," Hannah replied.

She and Mia looked at each other again. Well, Heath would find out about Munna soon enough if she was still there, but…

For now, they just had to keep going and see what happened.

"Well, here we are—Inflora Forest!" Heath announced.

The area really was pretty, Hannah thought as she looked around. They'd arrived in a small clearing, and a path wound through a narrow gap in the trees up ahead of them. Several clusters of brightly-colored flowers dotted the area, and there was a larger patch of them near the trail. It was hard to imagine anything 'scary' happening here; was Munna really being hunted down in such a nice place? Still, with how far out of the way it was, maybe Inflora Forest was the perfect place to kidnap someone after all.

Mia nodded as she looked around as well. "It's kind of pretty, isn't it? Well, let's get exploring, then!"

Hannah nodded as well as they filed through the path ahead. It wound around for a little while before coming out to another small chamber. So far, nothing… Then again, they had just gotten there, Hannah thought. Munna was probably pretty far back.

They rounded another corner, and the trio was quickly met with a Cottonee and a Foongus. The Foongus charged at them first, and Heath blasted an Ember at him before Mia finished him off with a Psybeam. Hannah turned her attention to the Cottonee, managing to pull off a Seed Bomb with little difficulty this time.

Still, it didn't do quite as much damage as she was used to—though Hannah supposed that made sense. Cottonee looked like a Grass-Type, and she figured that might give him a little more resistance to the move. Fortunately, Heath was able to knock him out with a Headbutt, and he nodded as Cottonee crashed to the ground.

"I guess there are unpredictable Pokémon out here, too," he mused. "Well, whatever… Let's keep looking around."

Hannah glanced over at Mia, and the two nodded again before following after him. She hoped they didn't run into any more trouble… If Munna was in danger, Hannah wanted to have as much energy as possible. They might need to fight this Hydreigon character she was worried about, after all.

Fortunately, they reached another large clearing without too much difficulty. Several pathways branched off of it this time, and Hannah looked around curiously. Depending on how large the forest was, exploring all of the paths might take a while…

They'd have to reach Munna quickly, wouldn't they? Hannah didn't want to take forever deciding which way to go, but they'd have to pick carefully. Heath, of course, was unaware of the pressure, and he shuffled towards the path nearest to them.

"Wanna see what's over this way?" he called out.

Mia shrugged as she looked over at Hannah. Was she thinking the same thing? Well, it wasn't like Hannah had any better ideas, so they may as well…

"I don't want to leave anything overlooked," Mia whispered. "What if Munna's over there?"

"Good point," Hannah whispered back in agreement. "We should check everywhere."

With that, the two followed Heath again, and Hannah hoped they'd made the right choice.

"This is…where we were before, isn't it?"

Mia blinked as they arrived in the clearing. Hannah looked around and sighed; she was pretty sure Mia was right. There was the same sparser grass as there had been before, and there were three branching paths again… It definitely looked familiar.

"I think so," she groaned.

"Ugh, guess I was wrong," Heath grumbled. "Well, maybe we need to try another way… Lemme see here…"

Well, at least the pathway they'd taken hadn't been too difficult, Hannah thought. It had wound around a lot, but it wasn't too long. They'd only run into two or three of the local Pokémon, too, so they hadn't gotten into many fights… Still, she hoped this didn't take much longer.

"We need to hurry," Mia muttered. "I know I said I wanted to check everywhere, but…"

"…Munna could be in trouble, right?" Hannah muttered back. "We need to find her before Hydreigon does."

Mia nodded firmly, eyes trailing back to Heath. He'd gotten a little ahead of them now, and he was waiting near another pathway. They caught up to him quickly enough and followed him through the gap in the trees.

Now, Hannah was even more nervous, and she could only hope they went the right way this time.

"Well, if you just wanted to see the place, I think we did a pretty good job of that," Heath groaned.

They'd made it pretty far into Inflora Forest by now, but they'd run into another clearing with branching pathways. Once again, they'd taken the incorrect trail at first guess, and they'd run into several fights along the way. Hannah was out of breath, and even Mia was looking worn out, despite her usual attempts at cheeriness.

"No, um…it's okay," Mia wheezed. "It looks like we're in the furthest part now…see?"

Hannah nodded as she looked around. She couldn't see any more paths leading out of the area, other than the one they'd just come through… And if this was as far as they could go, maybe Munna was nearby. That was the one good thing about the situation, at least.

Still…if Hydreigon caught up with them now, they'd be easy pickings. They would have to find Munna quickly… Hannah took a few careful steps forward, looking around as she did so.

"Yeah," she agreed. "So, uh, maybe we can find her soon?"

Heath blinked. "Find…her? You're looking for someone? You could've told me that sooner."

Hannah rubbed her forehead as she realized what she'd said. Of course he would've found out eventually, but…now she felt guilty for not speaking up. She shared a quick glance with Mia before looking back at Heath.

"Yeah, we should've told you, but it was kind of a weird situation, so—"

"You're here! You're here! Please, come quickly!"

A voice cut off Mia's apology, and Hannah spotted a small pink shape behind a tree in the distance. She scampered towards it, and she could soon make out Munna's form. The other Pokémon was huddled up in a tight ball, and she cautiously looked up as Hannah approached.

"Hannah, is that you?" Munna called. "I'm so relieved you made it! Is Mia here too?"

"You two know her?" Heath blinked; he and Mia had followed Hannah over to her. "I thought you both seemed pretty confused at first when I met you… If you had friends here, what'd you need my help for?"

"Well, er, it's not like that, exactly," Mia replied awkwardly. "We can explain better once we get out of here. Munna, are you okay? Do you need help getting up?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine…just fine." Munna suddenly grinned before calling out, "Everyone, they're here! Come on out now!"

Hannah whipped around as she heard a loud rustling noise. A large group of Pokémon crawled into the clearing; there were five others altogether. The gathering consisted of a Chandelure, Toxicroak, Purugly, and two Gigalith, if she was remembering her species correctly.

Something was wrong here, Hannah thought as her heart started pounding. Where had they come from? She didn't think any of these Pokémon lived in the forest… If they knew Munna, why did she need Hannah and Mia to come out here? Surely her friends could've helped her out instead—

"Everyone, get them!" Munna shouted. "Now, while they're still tired!"

And then, before Hannah could figure out what was going on, pandemonium broke loose. Munna immediately blasted her with a Psybeam, and Hannah tumbled to the ground. She was too tired from all that wandering around to dodge in time—and there was a small part of her that wondered if that was the point. Had Munna chosen a confusing place like this on purpose?

She forced herself to her feet as Mia shrieked off to her left. The Gigalith had ganged up on her, and they'd both launched a Smack Down at the same time. Hannah tried to shoot off a Leech Seed at one of them, but Purugly had noticed her first. Grinning, she slammed into Hannah before striking her with a Fury Swipes, and Hannah yelped as numerous bloody cuts formed on her body.

Nearby, Chandelure and Toxicroak had cornered Heath, and, to his credit, his attacks were enthusiastic if nothing else. He'd managed to keep some distance at first by firing off a couple of Dragon Breaths, but he couldn't fight two opponents forever. Chandelure finally managed to get in a good strike of Shadow Ball, and Heath was sent flying. He crashed into a tree, wheezing as the air was knocked out of him.

"You—you led us into a fight—" he groaned.

"I thought she—we thought Munna needed help," Mia wheezed, trying (unsuccessfully) to scramble away from the Gigalith.

Purugly had finally backed away from Hannah, though her eyes were watering. None of the slashes were too deep, but they still stung. Hannah tried to stand up again, but she crumpled almost immediately. She looked around wildly, eyes finally settling on Munna.

The Psychic-Type had settled towards the back of the clearing, seemingly content on watching the fight so far. Despite the distance, it almost looked like she had a smug look on her face. This had been her plan all along, hadn't it? Had she just lied to them the whole time?

"M-Munna, why?" Hannah croaked.

"Well, you see, there's a very simple reason for that," Munna replied disdainfully. "You two are in the way. Master Kyurem sent us to get rid of you, or at least capture you if we couldn't do that. So on that note… Salamence, come on out!"

There was a loud roar in the distance, followed by a large shadow falling over the area. A giant blue dragon settled in the middle of the clearing, roaring again as he took in the scene. Munna grinned as she continued speaking.

"Get those two to the Great Glacier! Master Kyurem will want to see them in the palace," she shouted. "Only the Pansage and Gothorita—they're the only ones we need! Don't waste his time with the extra."

Before Hannah could speak up again, Salamence grabbed her with his mouth and tossed her onto his back. Then, he did the same to Mia, and she gasped as she landed roughly next to Hannah. Finally, Salamence roared one more time and launched himself into the air.

"H-Heath, I'm sorry—" Hannah shouted, though they were far enough away by now that he might not have heard her.

She tried to look down and see how far away they were from the forest, and maybe what direction they were going in. But Salamence was traveling too fast, and she was already too weak… It wasn't long before Hannah's dizziness caught up to her, and she passed out with the thought that she probably should've realized it was a trap sooner.