Chapter 26: The Chase

Currently our duo was on a high performing sports-bike zipping down the streets of Lumious City. While Cynthia called out directions she also observed Frost who was currently zooming between traffic and taking sharp corners following Cynthia word to word.

[His reflexes are sharper than at the plane.] Cynthia thought because she was genuinely impressed by Frost's precision driving.

"Turn Left here." Cynthia said.

Almost immediately Frost swerved the bike to the left narrowly avoiding incoming cars not even breaking a sweat.

"So you can climb onto flying planes, fight with and without Pokemon and drive really fast, is there any other skill you are hiding?" Cynthia asked while readjusting her grip on Frost's back so that she is nearer his ears.

Frost looked back at the his passenger with doubt as he answered

"Champion do you really think it's a good idea to talk about this right now?"

Cynthia realized her impatience but who could blame her for asking that, she was currently on a bike with a person who she knew was hiding his identity from everyone and had multiple skill sets.

[Seriously this is my first time seeing someone like you….. it intrigues me.] Cynthia thought internally while replying.

"You are right, I am sorry… go straight from here."

"Thank You." Frost said simply as he accelerated even quicker making Cynthia tighten her grip even more.

"The tracker says the guy is nearby and looking at the rate he is moving he must be in a vehicle." Cynthia

"It is gonna be tough looking for him here."Cynthia added while looking at the crowed road full of different cars and two wheelers.

After riding for a few more seconds searching for the culprit Frost asked while not taking his eyes off the road.

"Call Stone from my phone and ask him for any updates."

Cynthia did the same and dialed the number Frost dictated her.

"Frost where are you?"

"Hello Stone? it's me Cynthia we are near to where your tracker is pointing but Frost needs more information about his mode of transport if we are gonna find the culprit in this rush."

"Oh it's you Champion, where is Frost right now?" Stone asked.

"He is currently driving." replied Cynthia swiftly.

"Hurry up Cynthia!" Frost reminded the Champion who was currently chatting with Stone normally.

Cynthia nodded and was about to ask Stone the same but then she heard the muffled noise of Steven who had just realized Cynthia was on the line.

"Cynthia!" Frost reminded again.

Cynthia sighed and basically demanded.

"Stone the car now!"

"Oh yes it's a white van with a sticker of plumbing solutions on it's back we are currently in stuck in traffic lost it's position a minute ago." he replied while fending of Steven.

Cynthia looked at Frost and asked

"Did you get that?"

"Yes! White van with sticker on the back."

Meanwhile Steven had finally gotten hold of the phone and asked

"Cynthia it's me Steven."

Cynthia on the other hand not interested ignored him and replied

"Thanks for the info Stone." while disconnecting the call.

Frost lightly heard Steven's pleas to stop but Cynthia just cut the call a fact that amused him.

"He seems really determined why not talk?" he asked while continuing a visual search for the white van.

"Weren't you the one who said it wasn't a good time to talk right now." Cynthia answered cheekily earning herself a smile from Frost.

"Alright you win." he replied while adding "There is he!"

Cynthia followed Frost's eyes to the white van taking a sharper right turn then the other vehicles.

"He is definitely the guy, it really looks like he is getting away from someone." Cynthia said as Frost sped up again trying to catch up.

"By the way he is heading it seems like he is trying to leave the city." Frost commented.

"We need to slow him down there is no way we can stop him with just a bike." Cynthia said.

"You are right, call Stone again will ya just put the Phone near my ear this time."

When the call was answered Frost immediately began by saying

"Stone we found the guy he is trying to go on the inter-city highway as I speak, get near me ASAP."

"Yes Leader.."he replied while simultaneous telling Ember to speed up.

"Tell Ember to get ready to intercept his car."

"Alright, also Frost do we use the gear we brought." he asked seriously.

Frost eyed the black case in front of him placed on the gas tank of the bike and replied.

"Negative, it's too crowded and we are trying to secure the target without drawing too much attention but if the situation gets out of hand feel free to let a little loose."

"Got it, I'll keep in touch, Stone Out!."

While Frost and Cynthia were in chase of the van they were nearing the entrance of the highway but suddenly the van turned a different way much to Cynthia's surprise.

"Wait why did he turn?" she asked.

Frost sighed and replied while speeding up the bike which was now almost nearing 80 miles on the streets of Lumious

"Damn he must have realized we are following him, he is trying to lose us in the crowd of the City something he can't do on a straight highway."

They were now basically in high speed pursuit of the van because the culprit was actively trying to shake them off his trail.

"Frost even if we catch up to the guy we can't stop the van with just a bike." Cynthia mentioned with concern.

"I know but I have a plan." Frost replied confidently.

[Of course he does.] Cynthia sighed internally.

"Let's hear it then?" Cynthia asked.

Frost asked her to call Stone another time as his plan required their help as well. Frost explained the plan to the other group consisting of Stone, Ember (driver), Ash and Steven in as much detail but after hearing the plan Cynthia's eyes widened in shock.

"Frost are you crazy?" she asked very much seriously.

"Nope but this is the best bet, because he is obviously planning to lead us to his backup and we will be out numbered then so we have to stop him soon our other group is an Standard issue Ranger Jeep it can unbalance the van very easily but it's quite slow so we need to slow down the culprit's van as well." Frost explained.

"And to slow the Van down your plan is to jump onto the moving vehicle with a criminal inside." Cynthia deadpanned.

"Yes that right but I am worried about something." Frost replied.

"What?"

"For this to work I need to pass the driving to you, you can ride a motorbike."

"Yes I can rid… but wait THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT!" Cynthia practically screamed.

Frost looked over his shoulder at Cynthia who was fuming.

"Good you can, get ready Cynthia it's the next intersection that Stone and Ember's jeep rams the van." Frost replied unfazed as he sped up now near the bumper of the white van.

[How did his teammates even agreed to this.] Cynthia began to think but was interrupted by Frost.

"Cynthia when I jump on, slow down so that you are at a safe distance alright."

"Huh.. ya okay, be careful." Cynthia said with a lack of any other words.

"Three…..Two…..One….. GO!" Frost counted down as he put his legs on the seat and jumped on the white van with much force.

Cynthia took her cue and slid forward into the drivers seat all while thinking

[This is madness, it's like he is trying to kill himself.]

She saw Frost jump onto the van while slowing down herself, Frost on the other hand was hanging on for his life to the back of the van and it seemed like the culprit didn't know he had jumped on yet. He saw that the window opposite to the driver seat was opened so Frost started shimmy his way to the front of the van from the side, once near the side window he pushed himself outwards and swung in leg first into the passenger seat now alerting the culprit sitting inside.

"Hi!" Frost said as he settled on the seat casually.

"What the fuck!" The grunt screamed as he swung his left hand at Frost that was easily caught and slammed onto the dashboard making the grunt groan in pain.

This caused the van to slow down a bit as the grunt had taken his foot of the gas, Frost grabbed the grunt by the head and was about to bash him on the steering wheel but was stopped by another grunt who was in the back of the van waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Come here you son of a bitch." growled the second grunt as he pulled Frost to the slightly open space in the back of the van.

[The second one is stronger than the first one.] Frost summarized as he was basically thrown on his back.

The grunt tried to punch Frost on his stomach (he was wearing a helmet) as he was on his back but Frost quickly rolled to the side avoiding the hit and instead kicking the grunt in his face.

As Frost stood up the grunt also recovered from the kick as he spit some blood to side and both men took a fighting stance.

The grunt struck first as he tried to hit Frost with a kick to his side, Frost stopped the leg with his left hand and with his right grabbed the grunt's neck while ramming him into the side of the van.

While the grunt was coughing Frost ordered the driver

"Stop this van at once."

"Never" replied the driver as he swerved the van violently to the right making Frost slightly loose his balance but not enough to make him fall.

"Suit yourself." Frost said as he peeked out of the front windscreen and saw that the intersection was almost here.

[15 more seconds I need to brace myself.] he thought but the coughing grunt recovered and pulled out a pistol and pointing it at Frost.

"Damn I am losing my touch." Frost joked slightly as he pretended to be caught of-guard by this but moved back grabbing onto the rail.

"Shut it and die!" the grunt said as he was about to shoot but

CRASH

The van was hit from the right side where the grunt was standing, the van flipped over rolling once sliding on its top before finally coming to a stop.

Cynthia gasped as she saw the van flip as she let out a cry

"FROST!"

Cynthia as instructed was slightly behind the van and now that the hit happened she sped up again to join a red haired women who was the first one to come out of the jeep that had rammed the suspect's van.

Cynthia saw the women and immediately realized it was Ember as she looked very similar to Cynthia with respect to facial features sharp eyes pointed chin etc. everything was eerily similar to Cynthia if not for the deep red hair and hot headed attitude you could say they were the same.

When Cynthia parked the bike near her Ember shot a glare at Cynthia and the bike but quickly stopped as she inspected flipped van from the outside.

Stone quickly joined in and set his crew cut style brown hair, if Cynthia had to say Stone was easily the most muscular out of the Rangers a fact that was quite fancied by Diantha.

"Did we overdo it?" Stone asked to Ember.

"Nah" Ember replied casually.

"Are you two serious Frost was inside the van." Cynthia objected as Ash walked out of the jeep slightly dazed.

"Guys next time please tell us beforehand what the plan is, so if you guys decide to ram the jeep into a van we won't be surprised." Ash said as he walked out slightly dizzy with pikachu still on his shoulder also quite shook from the ordeal.

"Sorry Ash." Stone replied sheepishly.

"Kid where is that idiot?" Ember asked haughtily.

"Oh Steven he was being a pain to deal with around Cynthia so I knocked him out using a bit of Aura." Ash replied honestly.

As Stone deadpanned Ember laughed hysterically as she wiped a tear from her eye and said

"Kid I already like you more."

Cynthia wanted to join in on the laugh but was currently preoccupied by the fact that her escort was in a car accident.

"Stone! Frost hasn't come out yet is he alright?" she asked worryingly.

Stone on the other hand diverted his attention at the blonde Champion who was in a helmet as he replied

"Don't worry ma'am that man has been through much worse this is not gonna be any problem for him." Ember also nodded along.

Cynthia was very annoyed by this answer and was about to object but was interrupted when the double door of the back of the van opened violently presumably by a kick and out came Frost dragging two barely alive grunt behind him.

"Got space for these two in your Jeep." Frost asked the two Rangers.

"Yup." Replied Ember as she gladly along with Stone helped out their leader with the two grunts.

As the two Ranger left to stuff them in their jeep Ash looked at Frost with awe as he said

"That was the coolest thing ever."

Frost simply smiled at the kid as he took of his now broken helmet and threw it to the side and looked over towards Cynthia waiting for the inevitable to happen.

"That wasn't cool it was reckless." she retorted.

"It got the job done." he replied.

"You could have died."

"But I didn't, also I did something similar on the plane yesterday." he replied.

"On the plane it was a compulsion here it was just you doing unnecessary stunts." Cynthia crossed her arms.

"It was the best way to slow them down." Frost defended but to no avail as Cynthia didn't buy it.

[I was worried for him and here he is having literally zero regard for his own life also his composure is still the same even if he just crashed in a car accident.] Cynthia thought as she looked over to the escort standing in front of him.

Frost's suit was all torn up from places as Cynthia observed his body carefully

[Nothing broken but….] She thought as her gaze went on his left arm that had a patch of moisture on it that could be easily mistaken for sweat on the black color of the suit but Cynthia knew better.

[It's blood, he hurt his hand. I knew he couldn't walk out of this unscathed.]

Frost saw Cynthia looking at his arm and knew immediately that he was figured out as he hid his arm slightly from Cynthia's view.

Ash observed the two adults bicker like a couple as he interrupted

"Guys I think we should leave now." he pointed at the crowd of people that had begun gathering around them.

"Good call Kid get in the jeep and tell Stone to go back to the Hotel to deal with the two suspects ASAP." Frost replied while agreeing.

"Cynthia mind driving back to the hotel." he asked normally.

Cynthia sighed at this before replying "Sure... get on" as she revved up the bike's engine.

Frost did the same and both of them were now going towards the direction of the hotel and following them was a jeep with the other half of the hunting group in it.

There was a short silence which was quickly broken by Cynthia.

"Frost where the hospital here in Lumious?"

"No need Champion I am fine." Frost replied quickly.

"Really…. Then why aren't you holding onto me or the bike with your left hand?" Cynthia countered.

Frost gave up on explaining as he said

"It's nothing serious just get me to my room there is a first-aid kit there that I can use."

Cynthia was honestly pissed by the fact that Frost was lying to her repeatedly but agreed nonetheless.

The rest of the ride was quite uneventful as Cynthia zipped through the streets of city with a decent speed, they reached the hotel in about 30 minutes and immediately went towards Frost's room where Frost asked

"Hey can you grab the red bag from my luggage?"

Cynthia retrieved the said bag and handed it to Frost who held it by his right hand and walked into the bathroom, he was gonna close the door behind him but couldn't as Cynthia had blocked the door with her heel.

"I am coming in to help." she said.

"I don't think that is a good idea…."

"Shut up and take your clothes off." Cynthia demanded.

Frost slightly tensed up by this as he followed and removed his coat jacket revealing a blood soaked white shirt in the process.

"And you call this 'nothing serious'." Cynthia said as she observed Frost's back and arm.

Frost on the other hand didn't reply as he now hesitated to remove his white shirt.

"Cynthia you really don't wanna see this." he said now with a serious expression.

"Frost I told you to shut up and take your clothes off."

Frost sighed as he readied himself as he took his shirt and undershirt off revealing a heavily scared left arm with a piece of glass lodged into it normal people would gag after seeing an injury like this but to his surprise Cynthia didn't even flinch and continued to order him around

"Pants too." she said as Frost eyed her jokingly but realized she was being serious.

"Fine…." he said as he took off his trousers.

"And there goes my remaining dignity." he joked but he heard no laugh.

Cynthia on the other hand was observing Frost's body intensely as although he was injured in his arm there were multiple signs of previous injuries indicated by the various stitch marks and discolored skin.

[I knew he had a scar on his neck but I didn't expect this at all, scars, cuts, burn marks hell even signs of bullet injuries, he has these all over his body for Arceus sake what is he doing to be this injured.] Cynthia internally gasped.

Frost knew what Cynthia was doing so he let her be as he went to work on his arm. He started by cleaning the small cuts on with tap water, bloody water started flowing into the drain as Cynthia snapped out of her daze and said.

"Frost how did this happen?"

Frost looked over to Cynthia and replied with a smile

"Let just say it comes with the job."

"These injuries you got them being a Pokemon Ranger?" she questioned.

"Yes." he replied as he closed the tap and added " and let's keep it at that." he said sternly.

Cynthia gulped at the change of attitude as she thought

[He looked like this while talking to Ash about his aura too, he is like a completely different person.]

Frost realized that he had intimidated the Champion so he recomposed himself and said in a normal voice

"I am sorry that was rude."

"No problem." Cynthia's voice leaked out as Frost used the antiseptic to clean his wounds and then asked Cynthia

"Can you bring the whiskey from the fridge I think I'll need it for this one." he said while pointing to the glass shard in his arm.

Cynthia nodded and brought two glasses along with the whiskey she poured herself one and drunk it quickly to calm her nerves and once composed herself she handed Frost the other glass.

Frost dumped the contents of the Glass on his arm and then took the whole bottle and took a sip from it.

"Here comes the worst part." he said as he tied a rubber rope from the medkit around his left arm and pulled out the shard in one go.

He groaned slightly in pain but was calmed by Cynthia who grabbed his other hand reassuringly. It was a reflex action by Cynthia who reacted when she saw him in pain but Frost didn't complain as it helped him on a psychological scale instead he thanked her and proceeded to clean his newly open wound before starting to stitch it.

Watching Frost sew Cynthia knew he had done this before multiple times because his hand moved without hesitation.

Once he was done Cynthia helped him buy applying some ointment on his arm and then wrapping it neatly with some gauze and bandages.

The room was completely silent when Frost started to wear newer clothes that consisted of a full sleeved green shirt and blue jeans.

"So you can stitch yourself too?" Cynthia asked as he finished buttoning his shirt.

"After seeing all that, this is your only question?" Frost replied with a wry smile.

"This is the only question you will reply to." she countered cheekily.

"True and yes I have some practice with it as you saw earlier." he said while referring to the various scars on his body.

"Yes I did most of them were lethal ones if left untreated it is better to stitch them up before you die of blood loss or even worse an infection." she replied deductively.

Frost surprised by Cynthia's observation and medical knowledge asked

"You seem well versed in medicine?"

"I am not a doctor but my father was I have read the books he keeps in the library plus I have seen him deal with such injuries before." she replied.

"That explains the fact that you didn't even flinch or gag after seeing my arm" Frost concluded.

Cynthia simply nodded.

With a lack of conversation between the two people Frost took the lead and said

"Sit down I'll get us tea." he said as he went to the kitchenette and started brewing tea.

Cynthia just sat down blankly trying to process what just happened, and her blank gaze was starting to worry Frost out a bit.

[Maybe I should tell her, she has seen a lot already it's better if she knows about the Rangers, it's better than leaving her like this to presume things.] Frost pondered as he got the tea and placed it in front of Cynthia.

While Cynthia took a sip from the cup he began by saying

"Cynthia there is something I need to tell yo….." Frost couldn't complete his sentence as his poke-gear

beeped signifying a text message.

He read the message and looked over to Cynthia and said

"Never mind it's nothing also you should finish the tea sooner I just got a text and we need to get to Lumious Tower now the Meeting Of Champion's is going to be held today one way or the other.

Author's Notes:

SURPRISE

This story isn't abandoned like you thought it was, actually I discarded this chapter thrice until I was satisfied with the end product hence the delay. Anyways enjoy this new chapter and share your views in the reviews. Feel free to PM me any questions as I do answer them seriously.

Follow the story to never miss an update and review my work… like really do it because it gives me motivation as well as more ways to improve my writing. Until next time

PEACE