A friend in need…
How could the day have gone so wrong so quickly? Bonnie thought despairingly as the lock turned in the door behind her, and she heard the heavy boots retreating. It had started so well! The blond girl sank unto the cool stone, head in her hands, as the memories of the day assailed her…
xxx
She had woken up with a lot of energy, still pumped up from the wonderful fire shows of the night before, and the new friendship she had struck with Litleo. The first pokemon she had caught all by herself, without any help! The morning was already pretty well along as she had made her way down to the lobby of the pokemon centre: the Kalos Fireworks had ended quite late, and she had stayed up even later, celebrating with the other spectators. Some trainers had put up impromptu mini-shows until shortly before dawn, as if unwilling to see the end of the event. Many were still hanging around when she went for breakfast, pausing only to leave Dedenne and Litleo with Nurse Joy for a health checkup. She wanted to be sure her pokemon were totally fit before going on the road again.
Listening to other trainers share their plans over porridge and hot chocolate had put the first damper in her day, as she realized that she had not given any thought to where to go from there. She was in Santalune, the Fireworks were over, and now what? She did not want to challenge Viola nor collect badges for the Kalos league, at least for now. In a word, she was stumped.
"I asked them, and they said their next show would be in Aquacorde Town. I wish I could go there!"
To distract herself from her aimless thoughts, Bonnie started to listen to her neighbours' discussion.
"So do I. That camerupt and combusken duet was a blast! Pun intended…"
The other trainer laughed, and Bonnie perked up. The duet had been one of the top shows the night before.
"Excuse-me," She interrupted, "Are you talking about another fire show?"
"No quite," answered the black-haired girl next to her. "I had the chance to talk to the trainer of those two pokemon yesterday, and he said he was part of a travelling circus. They put on all kind of shows with their pokemon, and judging by what we saw yesterday, it must be fun to watch!"
"Indeed!" Bonnie agreed with enthusiasm. "And you said something about Aquacorde Town?"
"Yes, that's where the circus will be next week. Apparently, they travel all over Kalos during the summer, and spend the winter months perfecting their shows. That firework performance was a masterpiece, I'd love to see more! But I really need to stay in Santalune, I'm trying to enter the next Kalos league and don't have much time to win my badges!"
"How many do you have now?" Asked the boy facing them.
"Five," The girl answered proudly.
"That's a lot! You must be very good! Hey, can I battle you? I only have two badges but I've been working hard."
"Sorry" the girl said, "I have to challenge the Santalune gym leader now, so I want my pokemon to be fresh. Bye!"
The girl all but skipped out of the pokemon centre. Bonnie stayed in her seat, deep in thought. Should she go to Aquacorde Town to see the circus? It seemed kind of a superficial way of travelling, going from spectacle to spectacle, but she did not have a better idea for the moment.
xxx
"Hey, would you battle me instead?" Bonnie all but jumped, having tuned out the freckled boy in front of her. The offer was unexpected, but she wasn't about to turn down a nice battle!
"Sure, just let me collect my pokemon and I'll join you outside!"
"How about we just do a one-on-one?" The boy – Bonnie realised she had never gotten his name – asked a few minutes later, when they met up on the lawn.
"Works for me!" She replied. "Who is your pokemon?"
"Hawlucha."
"Then my partner will be my Dedenne!"
The boy's hawlucha started with a nice wing attack, quite a fast one. But Bonnie was not taken off guard: she had trained with her brother and with other trainers at the Lumiose gym often enough, sometimes with Dedenne, sometimes with borrowed pokemon. And it was nice to have the type's advantage as well. She countered with a well-placed tackle, and had Dedenne follow it up with thunder shock. The unexpected speed of the counter attack left the hawlucha a bit disoriented. The trainer called for a karate chop, but Dedenne dodged the move easily, and placed a second thunder shock. The hawlucha bit the ground, then got up again.
"Ok Dedenne let's finish this! Nuzzle!" The little mouse was too quick and his adversary could not dodge in time. It bit the ground a second time, and stayed there.
"Hawlucha, return!" A few seconds later, the boy came up to shake Bonnie's hand. "Hey, you're good! How many badges do you have?"
"Actually," Bonnie replied with a smile, "I don't have any. I don't know yet if I want to take part in the Kalos league. But I've been doing quite a bit of training."
"It shows! You should do gym battles for sure, if you're that good without badges."
Bonnie laughed, in high spirits after her victory, and decided that yes, she would go to Aquacorde Town for now, and the future would take care of itself one day at a time. But she wanted to call her brother and father first. As luck had it, no one was at home, but a call to the gym got her Clemont.
"Hello big brother, how are you?"
"Bonnie! It's got to see you. Dad and I were getting worried. Everything alright?"
"Everything is just peachy! I had a lot of fun at the Fireworks. I ran into Alexa, and she allowed me to trail along backstage while she did some interviews, that was great. And of course the shows were amazing! But it's not the most important."
Clemont smiled at his sister's enthusiasm. "It's not?"
"Look who decided to come with me!" Bonnie said, holding up Litleo.
"A litleo? So you really took that advice about fire pokemon seriously!" Clemont laughed.
"Hey," protested Bonnie, "Fire pokemon are great. Though it was mostly a matter of chance, wasn't it, Litleo?" The cub in her arms purred.
"It often is," Clemont agreed with a smile. "But hey, congratulations on catching your first pokemon! And it looks like Litleo and you will have a great friendship. Oh, and by the way I have a message for you from Professor Sycamore. He understands why you did not want any starter pokemon, but he was rather disappointed that you did not pay him a visit before you left Lumiose City. He said to tell you that he would have a pokedex for you next time you come by, but he's not going to send it to you, you'll have to do without in the meanwhile."
Bonnie flushed. "I was so happy to start my journey, I did not remember to go and see Professor Sycamore before the next day. And I totally forgot about the pokedex to boot! Please tell him I am sorry and will come to see him next time I'm in Lumiose City!"
"No worry. So where are you going next?" Bonnie explained her plans, then brought the call to an end: the day was too nice to waste. A few minutes later, she departed the centre.
xxx
Trouble found her shortly after noon. Litleo and Dedenne were eating their lunch, and Bonnie had wolfed down a sandwich and was waiting for them to finish. The plain was dotted with fields and little wood thickets, and they had stopped in the shade of one of them. The place was quiet, no one in sight. Suddenly, a shrill cry resounded from the next patch of woods, and a blue bird exploded out of it. A swablu, noted Bonnie. It was flying as fast as it could in their direction and seemed frightened. She did not wonder why for long, as a big jeep came roaring into view a few seconds later. It was obviously in pursuit of the swablu, and the man in the roofless car was waving some kind of net above his head, aiming at the bird. The little pokemon did its best, but the fight was too unequal, and the driver caught it with a triumphant shout. The jeep stopped a few meters from where Bonnie and her pokemon stood, stunned. Everything had happened so fast they did not even think of hiding, and the man gave a grunt of surprise as he became aware that his little stunt had had spectators.
"Witnesses, hey?" He grumbled in his thick beard, scratching his bald scalp. "Can't have witnesses, it's bad for the business."
"You are a thief!" Bonnie cried, finding her voice again. "Release that swablu immediately!"
"Or what?" The man answered with a mocking laugh. "Are you going to try and stop me? You and which army? I got to admit, you've got spunk, little girl." He stopped laughing and reached for a pokeball. "But it's not going to help you. Now hand over your pokemon, step quietly into the car, and no one will get hurt."
"No way in hell. Litleo, ember! Dedenne, thunder shock!" A shower of flames and a lightning bolt were immediately shot at the thief, but the man did not even dodge. Instead he threw his pokeball in the air. "Trevenant, reflect!" The big tree pokemon came out of the pokeball and made a wall of light appear in front of him and his trainer, deflecting both attacks. "Now forest's curse!" Trevenant's eyes began to shine, and a ray of light shot out of its eyes and hit the ground around Litleo and Dedenne. The ground grew purple, and purple vines grew out of it to constrict both of Bonnie's pokemon, who began to twist around, unable to get free.
"No!" Bonnie yelled. "Litleo, fire spin!" Bravely, the lion cub shot more flames at its big opponent. This time the move hit, and the trevenant flinched, but it did not release its hold on either of its adversaries. Despite the type advantage, Litleo was hopelessly outclassed. "Confuse ray!" the man called, and his pokemon obeyed. It formed multiple brown-gold balls floating in the air around its head. Then it fired them at Dedenne and Litleo, who, still tied by the vines, could not dodge. The orbs exploded right in front of them, and both pokemon fell asleep.
"As you see, don't mess with me, little girl" the man concluded. Bonnie considered running, but where to? And she could not abandon her helpless companions. While she dithered, the trevenant had scooped up both Dedenne and Litleo and brought them to the thief, who threw them with the swablu into the big cage at the back of the jeep. "Now get in" The man motioned, and, trembling with rage but unable to disobey, Bonnie complied. "Oh, and I prefer the term pokemon hunter", smiled her opponent. "It has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?"
"Filthy thief," Bonnie murmured from the back of the car, but the man either did not hear her or pretended he did not. He got into the driver seat and drove away, destination unknown.
xxx
So now, here she was, stuck into a cage-like cell inside a dilapidated house which served as the hunter's lair. From what she understood, the man planned on gathering a few more pokemon in the area in the next day or so before moving on to another region. He was going to leave her behind when he did so, while disappearing with his stolen preys… including her beloved friends! But what to do, what to do? The cell had brick walls on three sides and sturdy bars on the last one. The lock looked new and shiny, nothing she would be able to pick. Nowhere to hide, nothing to use, not even a bench to sit on – she gathered it was supposed to be a cage for bigger pokemon. The house itself was only a small one-room cabin on the edge of an abandoned field, and kilometres away from any other house. The situation looked bad.
But the blond girl was not much given to despairing, and pretty soon, she stopped feeling sorry for herself and started looking around for anything she might use. If nothing could be done now, what about later? Apparently she had at least a whole day and night to work out an escape plan. That would certainly give her enough time to think of something! First, she located Dedenne and Litleo, still asleep in the same cage as the swablu. The cage had been put carelessly on a bench on the other side of the room, which only contained a table, a bed in a corner, and several cages. Most were still empty, but one contained a clefairy and a bellsprout, and in the smallest one, an espurr stared back at her, its sad eyes threatening to undo her composure a second time.
The pokemon thief, or pokemon hunter, had left again, no doubt in search of more pokemon to steal. Had he taken the keys of the locks with him? No, here they were, on a hook next to the door! But out of reach of anyone, unfortunately, even if by any chance the bellsprout knew the move vine whip. The man was not taking any risks. Maybe Dedenne could slip through the cage's bars when he awoke? It seemed doubtful, for the cage had been built for small pokemon. Bonnie spotted her bag, flung on the ground besides the table, and knew she had a communicator in it, a present from her father. But the bag was just as out of reach as the keys.
"Okay girl," she told herself, feeling the anxiety rising again in her throat. "Panic never helped anyone. Now focus. It's not your first encounter with thieves and hunters, not the first cage you see, remember? What would Clemont or Serena do in this situation? What would Ash do?" As she remembered some of the predicaments she got herself into with her friends on her previous journey, she calmed down again, and a stray memory brought forward the beginning of a strategy. Of course her friends, and especially Ash, would never give up! He would fight and fight, and so would she! As soon as Dedenne and Litleo were awake, she would have them attack their cage over and over, and possibly coax some of the other pokemon into helping, until the bars bended enough for Dedenne to slip through and bring her the keys.
It was a good strategy, and it probably would work, except for one flaw: her pokemon showed no sign of stirring. Bonnie tried yelling, but to no avail, so she settled down to wait, hoping the hunter would not return in the meanwhile.
xxx
An hour passed, and still Dedenne and Litleo slept.
"Psst!"
Startled, Bonnie looked around for the source of the noise.
"Up here!" The voice said. "Are you alright?"
Looking up, Bonnie saw a brown-haired head in the roof window which provided the only light in the small cabin. It belonged to a girl about her own age. The swablu exploded into a flurry of excited chirps.
"Yes I am," She answered. "How did you find us?"
"I hid in the trunk of the jeep while the thief was battling you, then I slipped out when he brought you here. Swablu is my pokemon. I wanted to get into the house and rescue you all, but I can't pick the lock! And it's too high for me to jump down this opening!"
Bonnie thought hard. "I have a plan," she said finally. "But I need my pokemon to wake up first. Can you ask your swablu to use peck on them?" "Sure!" On her command, the little blue bird attacked Litleo and Dedenne. Both were startled awake, and Litleo reflexively defended itself with ember, singing the swablu's tail.
"Litleo, stop, Swablu was only helping you! Sorry about that", Bonnie said to the girl.
"Never mind, it's alright. So what's your plan?"
Bonnie explained, and the girl enthusiastically agreed to help. A combination of tackle, wing attack and ember was launched at the bars, once, twice… Suddenly, Litleo stopped using the fire move, and launched itself bodily at the cage alongside Dedenne. "Hey, that looks like headbutt!" the girl said. "That could be useful!" "Litleo, I didn't know you could use headbutt!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Keep it up, everyone, good job!"
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the bars started to bend. Though it only took a few minutes for the three pokemon to make an opening big enough for Dedenne to slip through, it seemed like hours. The little mouse scrambled out quickly. And encountered a problem Bonnie had not thought about: the keys were too high for Dedenne to reach, and the wall was too smooth for him to climb. Bonnie instructed her friend to use thunder shock to dislodge the keys from the hook, but it was not enough. Then, as she was about to give up, the keys started to glow faintly, and, slowly, rose by themselves over the hook. It looked like some psychic move, thought Bonnie, with a sharp glance at the espurr in the next cage. It was indeed looking straight at the keys with a focused expression. They trembled in the air for a few more seconds, then fell on the floor besides Dedenne.
"Good job Espurr!" said the girl on the roof, who had also traced the move to its source.
Dedenne ran to Bonnie with the keys, launching himself in his trainers' arms. With trembling hands, the blond girl opened the lock on her cell, then the cages, to discover that the key to the outside door was not on the keyring. Bonnie was momentarily stumped, but the other girl took over. "There, the rope in the corner, throw it to me!" Bonnie did, but missed. On the third try, she felt the rope become lighter as it started to glow: the espurr was helping them again. The brown-haired girl caught the end just as the espurr let it go, apparently unable to sustain the move longer, and secured it. Her swablu had joined her, perching on her head and singing. She shushed it. Working together, both girls got all the pokemon out through the roof window. Then Bonnie was the only one left on the ground. She tied the rope around her own waist, scooped up her bag, got on the table, and leapt. The girl on the roof heaved mightily, and the espurr used psychic on Bonnie: it seemed to be getting better at the move. Only a few seconds, but it was enough. She caught the frame of the window in one hand and the hand of the other girl in the other, and, after a few hairy moments, managed with the help of her new-found friends to get out.
They jumped off the roof quickly: on the back side, it was really low, and the grass made for a good shock absorber. As soon as they were all on the ground, everyone started to run as fast as possible, not looking back, even after they could not see the house any longer.
