After an eternity of running, and nearly running into thirty trees in my case, we finally come to a stop. "Okay... I think... we lost her," Dean pants. Man, that was a lot of running for one day. It's a good thing I get a lot of exercise running away from the HCP. Doesn't change the fact that I'm winded. Maybe I need a real workout...
You're the most unathletic hybrid I've ever met, Arc comments.
"Like you know more than 3." I retort. "Now shut up for a while."
His chuckle echoes through my head. We both know that's not how I work. Either way, he'll probably stay out of things for the moment.
"We're not... going to... lose her," Kaveh breathed. Both Dean and I turn to face him.
"What are you talking about?" I ask. "We lost her like, half a mile ago!"
The look in Kaveh's eyes strikes a sense of urgency into me. "She's a skilled hunter. We can't lose her forever." He looks to the ground. "The best I can do is move on to another place until she finds me again..."
"Wait a minute," Dean interjects. "Do you know her already?" Oh yeah, that would make sense, considering the way he's talking about her. He definitely knows her from some other time.
"Yeah, I- Gwen came after me a few months ago, while I was visiting the city. I barely escaped back into the forest. But I heard from someone about a bounty hunter who never fails to catch her target." I can tell he's holding something back. He's got that scared look in his eye. I can literally smell the stuff emanating from him. How could I miss it? It's like raw onions and beer that's been out for too long.
"So, what you're saying is, you have two options," Dean begins. "You could either run away from this place and never return. Or, the better one in my opinion, fight back." Wait, what? Who said that?
"Are you serious?" Kaveh cries. "We can't just fight her! She'll kill us!" The moment he says that, he winces, most likely a result of hearing his other half yell at him again.
Yeah, it really sucks, doesn't it?
"Shut up. I wasn't talking to you." His presence seems to fade back again, which is great. He's so distracting sometimes. "Kaveh has a point. How can we beat someone who sounds that good?"
"Think about it, guys. Three of us, one of her. We'll beat her to a pulp, and she won't come after us again!" He seems pretty confident in his plan, actually. There's probably an issue somewhere in there, but it's the best we've got...
Kaveh starts to wring his hands nervously."I dunno, Dean. It seems kind of risky."
Let me talk to him. Arc says. I'll bea- er, talk some sense into him!
I don't even get a chance to tell him no before I'm overcome with a familiar feeling of falling backward. In an instant, everything seems to go numb, I can't move any part of my body. Great, Arc's in control. He usually doesn't just take control of our body like this, but it's really annoying when he does. I'd at least like to have to give him permission.
"Look," Arc begins. I can tell that Kaveh knows Arc has taken over. Dean probably thinks I have Multiple Personality Disorder now that I think about it. I should probably let him know about Arc before I forget again... "I know you hate fighting and all, since healing and stuff is your thing." He then balls his hand into a fist and puts it right in front of Kaveh's face. His face contorts into a snarl. "But if you think you can just spend every day of the rest of your life running from this bitch, you've got another thing coming.
Hypocrite, I interject.
"Shut it!"
"You're either going to stand up for yourself, or die trying, got it?" he continues. Kaveh looks absolutely terrified by Arc, and with good reason. The guy could be downright traumatizing if he wanted to. Which wasn't often, thankfully.
"I- I get it. Let's just go find her, o-okay?"
Arc steps back, a pleased grin on his face. "Now that's more like it. Let's go." Without even waiting for a response, Arc starts back down the way we come, though on all fours this time. He prefers moving around like this I guess.
So, can I have control again? I ask him after a few seconds.
"Now way, Raiden. It's been a week since you last let me take over and just run. Besides, I can run faster than you can." Oh come on! I can't even get back in control now? I know he hasn't gotten much time lately, but this isn't the time to argue about this!
Fine, but don't get us almost killed like last time. He doesn't respond to that, which makes sense really. I love holding that over him. And wait for Kaveh and Dean to catch up. Do you really think you should go on ahead like this? Once again, he doesn't respond, but slows down considerably.
Eventually, we reach the cave from earlier. The two arcanine that were lying there before are gone, which could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. Optimism is nice though.
In a few minutes, Kaveh and Dean finally catch up, once again looking absolutely exhausted. In that time, we were able to look around the area just inside the cave for a bit. "What took you guys so long?" Arc asks with a smirk. "Am I seriously the most athletic one around here?"
"What's with you, Raiden?" Dean pants. "It's like you... changed into a different person... in five seconds."
"What are you talking about? I'm still me." Well, it's not technically a lie... Kaveh shoots Arc a glare that I know is meant for both of us. It's like he's scolding us for not telling Dean about that part of being a hybrid. It's not like it's common knowledge, and it didn't seem important at the time...
"You just seem off," Dean says quietly. Or at least quietly to him. I wonder if he realizes I have really good hearing...
"Whatever, dude. Now, let's figure out where the Gwen chick is. She's obviously not in the cave, no one's left in there."
Kaveh is suddenly struck with a worried look. "Wait, how do you know that?"
"Well, I'd probably hear something in there. It's not that deep of a cave, and sound echoes all over the place. That and the scent Why?" Just one look at Kaveh, and I can tell he's practically sick to his stomach. As the realization dawns on me as well, I feel the same.
"Sh-she took the growlithe I was caring for. And who knows about his mom? We have to save them!"
Despite the obvious tension and urgency in the situation, Arc remains calm. Which could be good or bad, depending on just why he was calm. "Dude, relax! I've got a good nose. I can just track them!"
Our nose isn't that good, Arc.
"Oh yeah." "Change of plans, guys. We need another one." If I was in control now, I'd be facepalming hard enough to knock my head clean off. I can tell Dean and Kaveh have the same urge.
"I think I'll use Bolt for this one, Raiden," Dean says, a slightly annoyed look on his face. He grabs the pokeball from his belt and tosses it up into the air. Yellow lightning bolts with streaks of neon green blast out, almost faster than I can process. A familiar looking wolf cub materializes out of it.
And the moment Arc and Bolt look into each other eyes, all hell breaks loose.
"That bastard?!" is all I hear before Arc rushes forward, slamming into the smaller pokemon. Coicidentally, he was coming for us too. In seconds, they're rolling on the ground, trying to get the upper hand on each other. "You won't be sucking up my attacks this time!" Arc shouts over the chaos.
"I don't need to if I'm fighting you!" Bolt growls back.
What the hell, Arc! I scream at him. Are you seriously holding a grudge against him?
"He's the one who started it! We almost died because of him!" This fight doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon, but luckily, I can feel a force on the back of our neck and we're lifted up. Arc still tries to fight for a few seconds, but eventually calms down enough to not last out at whoever grabbed us.
"What the hell's gotten into you, Raiden?" Dean shouts from behinds us. Oh, duh. Dean's the only one strong enough to lift me off the ground and hold me there. Though it helps that there's that whole neck scruff thing. I can tell Arc's still steamed, though.
"Bolt's the one who almost killed me a few days ago! Of course I don't like him!" WIthout warning, Dean suddenly lets go and we land on the ground, a bit painfully.
"Look, I know you don't like him, but Bolt's the only one who can lead us to Gwen. So just get along for a while, got it?" Arc and Bolt both glare at each other, apparently not getting the message. But at least they're not fighting anymore. "Good. Now can you start sniffing around for a hybrid and a growlithe?"
Bolt is obviously still mad, but he complies to Dean's request. A few minutes later, we're racing after him into the forest. This time, Arc actually manages to hold back, and is running by Kaveh with Dean in the lead.
"Okay, Arc," Kaveh says suddenly. "I know you hate not being in control and all, and that Raiden refuses to shut you out, but you have to stop taking control without any warning all the time. This isn't exactly your area of expertise."
"Says the guy who always has a body of their own," Arc retorts. "When's the last time you let Diarmuid have any fun, huh?" Kaveh's eyes narrow at the comment, but he doesn't show more than that.
"Look, I just don't think you should be taking over without asking. And before you say that's not what happened, I could see it back at the clearing."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Arc says with a low grunt. Without another word, he speeds up a little, catching up to Dean in seconds.
I finally decide to speak up. Do we need to come up with a schedule or something? You seem pretty bitter. Arc doesn't reply, but i feel what he feels. And that was a deep pit of rage and bitterness.
After another few minutes, the trees and vegetation start to thin out. Now that I think about it, we're nearing the edge of the forest, which is actually where we were headed in the first place. I guess this turned out good, in a way. But soon enough, a young woman comes into view, along with a growlithe lying at her feet. I didn't notice before, but she has two thin lances strapped to her back. They look extremely sharp...
"So, you finally made it!" Gwen proclaims with a grin. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show." She then adopts an even more mocking tone, if that's even possible. "But then, what would have happened to this poor, wittle growlithe here?"
Kaveh steps forward, fists balled up in absolute rage. "J-just let the pup go, Gwen." His voice is shaking. "He has nothing to do with this. Even you're not
that cruel."
"Au contraire, my dear. It's pretty obvious you care about this pack of yours. And much more so about the young ones. Perfect bargaining chips, if I do say so myself."
"Yeah, well there's one fatal flaw in your plan," Dean says smugly. "There are three of us, and one of you. You couldn't possibly expect to win." "Oh no, my plan is ruined," Gwen says in a completely mocking and sarcastic tone. "I'm not an idiot, kids." All of a sudden,there's sound all around us. Leaves rustling, the ground shaking a little, and even strong gusts of wind. Right in front of us, a woman with the wings of a butterfly and a man with those of a bee drop down. The later's arms have very large and very sharp stingers protruding from them.
The earth right beside Gwen erupts upward, revealing a young man with blue markings all over his skin and extremely long claws. On her other side, a woman cloaked in white, blue, and red feathers lands. Her wings fold against her sides as she adopts a smug look. Soon after, a blue man with a wide mouth, sharp fangs, and bat-like leathery wings lands behind them.
Before I know it, we're surrounded by half-a-dozen hybrids, all ready to fight. A butterfree, beedrill, drilbur, tailow, golbat, and worst of all, Escavalier.
We're screwed.