After much thought, I have decided to merge chapters six and seven, mainly because of the editing I did to chapter seven...
(Smell of Victory, Stench of Defeat)
The sun was high in the sky as the three RVs made their way across the barren expanse of desert. Everyone had decided to ditch their normal clothing for something a bit cooler: mostly sleeveless tees, undershirts, and shorts. However the passengers seemed more restless than the drivers did.
Ash had his head mashed against the window, doing his impression of a Growlithe on a hot summer's day. He would have sold his soul to get something to cool himself off. Especially a cherry-flavored Popsicle. He glanced down at his and Sabrina's pokemon lying on the floor. The yellow electric rodent had been all for his "I'm not touching you" game earlier in the day, but had finally resorted in lying next to Kadabra with his tiny finger pointing in the coyote's direction. Every so often the mouse would squeak out some sort of taunt, only to have the other pokemon ignore him.
Ash only hoped that his friends were having a better time than he was...
"MAY! It's MY turn to use the fan!"
"Forget it, booger brain! You had it longer last time!" May and Max had resorted to a game of tug of war with the handheld fan/spray bottle combo their parents had purchased at the last convenience store. They both had sweat dripping down their faces. Most of the water had ended up all over the inside of the RV during their struggle, and the battle still continued.
Norman's eye twitched in annoyance as the bickering between his offspring increased with the temperature. The bottle of aspirin was of no use after he had been forced to use the remainder on his headache an hour ago. "Kids, Daddy's got a headache. Either you two quit fighting and be quiet, or I'll pull this RV over."
His patience wearing thin and the bickering still progressing, there was no wonder as to why he felt the sudden urge to explode. He had to calm down and avoid that urge. And that was why the spray bottle felt the need to do it for him.
The constant forces at work on its plastic took its toll and the bottle broke, sending water splashing all over the interior of the RV. The seats and floor became soaked with the lukewarm liquid; but most importantly, the back of Norman's head.
The reaction was instantaneous. Norman slammed his foot on the break, veering to the side of the road before placing the vehicle in park. With water dripping from their hair, the two children gulped and visibly shrunk down into their seats. Their father sat in the front seat unmoving for a minute. Then he twisted his head around like in the horror movies and the two kids nearly died.
They had never seen their father so angry in their whole life, and they probably would be nothing but smoldering remains if a person's anger could do such a thing. Well, minus the abilities of a certain psychic, that is.
Back before the bottle had burst, Gary Oak was contemplating going after his phone service company for disconnecting his call. He was even more resolute in that decision when the words "Out Of Range" stared up at him from the screen. Gary said a string of curses under his breath and looked up at his grandfather. The old professor had nothing but boxers and an undershirt on as he drove down the road, but the sweat still slipped down his wrinkled face.
Gary looked down at his phone again, and was thrown forward as the RV's breaks squealed in protest. The younger Oak cursed out loud and for once was not reprimanded by the old man.
"Ed, the other RVs have stopped all of a sudden."
Ash looked up at his aunt's comment, then looked out the window. It took his sun-roasted brain a moment for the information to register. Then he proceeded to comment on it. "Why did they stop anyway?"
Sabrina looked over at him. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe they wanted to get a picture of the best place on Earth." She muttered dryly. Her father had already exited in order to find out, and her mother was in the process of doing so. Delia gave a quick glance at Mr. Mime, who fanned her with some newspaper. "Oh my, I hope no one's hurt..."
Loud screaming erupted from the middle RV and two children ran for their lives from the door, leaving Norman huffing and puffing in the doorway. "Get back here, the both of you!"
The two kids sought protection behind Sabrina's dad, as their Gym Leader father made his way over. By this time everyone had gathered; even the two pokemon had gotten up off the floor. Oak positioned himself in Norman's path with his arms extended. "Now Norman, let's be reasonable...There's no need to get violent..."
The Gym Leader paused and looked at the professor, confused. "Violent? I was going to make them clean up all the water they splashed about..." Then he directed his eyes in the direction of his children. "...And we aren't moving an inch until it's clean."
Gary, Sabrina, and even Ash sent the two a dirty look. Pikachu just trickled sand onto the top of Kadabra's head.
May and her younger brother wasted no time in cleaning up the spill, and Norman soon sat behind the wheel. He grasped the key in between his fingers and turned. The engine turned over...and turned over. Norman stopped for a moment before turning the key again. This time the engine didn't even bother turning over. The whole family sat in silence. Then Norman proceeded to pound the steering wheel repeatedly, filling the RV with his swearing.
It didn't take long for Ed and Oak to approach the unmoving vehicle, mainly because the horn honked with Norman's blows to it. "What happened?" Sabrina's dad asked, fearing for his fellow man's sanity.
"What the HONK do you HONK think happened?! The HONKing thing won't HONKing start!!!" The Gym Leader bellowed. He pounded at the steering wheel a few more times. Sabrina smirked in amusement behind her father's back.
"Why don't I go and get some help?" Oak suggested while looking at Norman, partly to get away from the man. The professor left, only to return a few minutes later shaking his head. "I think my engine's overheated..."
Ed decided it was time he went for help. Sabrina watched him leave. The remaining people peered out at her as the minutes crept by. Her smirk slowly disappeared as her father approached. "Let me guess..." The psychic began. "The RV won't start?"
It didn't take a nod from her father to send her on a cursing fit.
The group of younger people sat around inside Ash's RV. It was high noon, and the only shady place for them was inside one of the RVs. Not only was the temperature in the vehicle staggering, but also the sheer boredom was eating away at everyone.
Gary looked up and sniffed the air. "Eww, Ash!" The black-haired trainer glared at him. "I didn't do anything!" Gary turned away. "Right, then what exactly is that smell?"
Ash took the time to sniff the air himself. "What IS that?!" He sniffed again and looked at Norman's children. "Be honest, was it you?"
"No way!" May shouted indignantly. Ash turned his head in Sabrina's direction. "Was it..."
"You finish that statement and I swear I'll leave your corpse in the desert for the rabid Kadabras."
Pikachu sniffed then lifted his arm and sniffed again. "Pika chu, chupi." (That was me.) Kadabra scooted as far away as he could from the mouse pokemon. Gary stood up and grabbed one of the water bottles from the cooler nearby. "I can't just sit here doing nothing. I'm going to go out and find a gas station or something. Anyone want to come with?"
Ash stood up. The psychic gym leader soon followed. "I can't let you two get killed and then get blamed for it. At least if I die with you they can't guilt me."
May and Max exchanged glances, then grabbed their own bottles and followed the three out the door.
"...Man, I wish we brought more water with us..." Ash muttered.
The desert turned out to be much more expansive than originally assumed, and the trainers found themselves walking into their second hour of travel. Pikachu sat slumped on Ash's hat, panting. Max moved along slowly behind his sister. "I wish Brock was with us. He could have used Marshtomp to find some water."
Ash nodded, then jumped in surprise at who he saw. "Brock...? Is that you?"
His friends seemed to give him a funny look as he pointed in Brock's direction. "It's Brock! Hey Brock, over here!" The others looked in the direction of his finger. Gary snorted in disgust. "That's a mirage, Ash."
Now it was Ash's turn to give Gary a disgusted look. "Brock isn't a mirage, Gary." Despite the warnings from his friends, Ash ran right over to Brock and proceeded to hug him. "Oh Brock! We thought we were goners until you showed up!"
Ash's traveling party watched the trainer nuzzle an emotionally scarred Cacturne. "So, when do you think he's going to realize that he's hugging a Cacturne?" Max mused.
"Just about any time now..." Sabrina replied. One resounding yelp later and Ash was holding his hands over the places where the Cacturne had jabbed his spines. A loud buzzing sound filled the air, and everyone's eyes turned towards the researcher in training. Gary pulled out his pokegear and answered it, only to be confronted by his grandpa's yelling.
"Calm down, gramps. We're all okay...No we were not irresponsible for leaving without telling...There are no such things as rabid desert Kadabras already! (at this Sabrina snorted)...I don't care what those people said, the Kadabras are just mirages..."
A strong gust of wind blew sand into his eyes and the eyes of everyone else, and the younger Oak felt something hard slam into his side. The pokegear landed a couple of feet away from him. Through the tears he could see a light tawny body scoop the device away, and the shrill sounds of his friends' cries filled his ears. He felt a skinny but strong pair of arms hoist him up and fling him onto a shoulder.
By now the sand had been washed away by their tears, and they found themselves being tied to trees by a pack of Kadabras. But these Kadabras were not like the one Sabrina had; they were at least one to two feet taller and many of them had various scars adorning their bodies. A few even carried bones along with the typical spoons, and they all looked a little leaner and muscular than normal Kadabras.
For a long time everyone was silent. Then Ash turned his head to the next tree where Gary was tied.
"No such things as rabid Kadabras, eh?"
"Just shut it Ash. No need to rub it in."
"Hey twerps, long time no see." The group of unfortunate travelers turned their heads to Ash's other side to find the three Team Rocket members tied to trees much like they were. "Team Rocket? How did you guys end up here?"
Meowth sweatdropped. "Well, that's a funny story. We've been here for a few days and just assumed that you might happen to come by and rescue us somehow..."
Ash paused before looking over at the Kadabras. Most of them stood off to the side, gathering firewood and preparing for what looked like a sacred ritual. But the largest and strongest-looking sat off to the side, a Donphan tusk hanging out from the side of its mouth. "And just what do those savage-looking pokemon want with all of us?"
"Don't ask us Twerp, they won't tell us." Jessie snapped. Ash carefully removed his shoe so that it balanced on his toes. Then with great skill he kicked it into the side of the biggest Kadabra's head. The air grew silent as everyone turned his or her attention to the boy with black hair. "Do you have a death wish Ash?" Sabrina hissed out as the Kadabra approached the group. It pointed to Meowth and spoke something.
"He's telling me that he's the leader of the group and that nobody's ever done what you just did..." Meowth paused as the leader spoke again. "And now he's saying that you'll be the first to be sacrificed to the Pokegods..." The cat pokemon's eyes widened at the realization. "Wait!" He demanded to the leader. "What are you talking about?"
Meowth listened as the Kadabra began telling everything. "He said that the Pokegods require sacrifices, and that we will be the perfect ones." James nodded next to him, before he froze and whimpered. "Sacrificed?!"
"If only we could get to our pokeballs..." May moaned in desperation. She referred to their pokeball belts on the ground on the other side of the camp. Sabrina hadn't been paying attention to the pokemon, all her focus on her belt and the one pokeball that might save them. "Kadabra, come on out!"
The pack watched as a fellow Kadabra appeared in a flash of light. Though it wasn't as strong looking as the wild ones, Sabrina knew her pokemon could pull off a win if need be. For a moment the Kadabras just looked at Sabrina with looks of devotion on their faces. Then the leader spoke to Meowth, who willingly translated. "He says that his pack will let us go...as long as we let Sabrina stay to be their queen."
Sabrina was silent; then: "No deal."
The leader looked from Sabrina to her pokemon, then smirked around the tusk. He spoke again to Meowth with the same smirk on his face. "Now he wants to make a deal. You and Kadabra versus him. If you win, he lets us all go free..."
"And if she and her pokemon lose?" Jessie prodded. Meowth listened to the rest of the leader's bet. "If he wins, we all get sacrificed and Sabrina becomes their queen."
The group was silent, then Jessie uttered: "Of course she isn't going to accept that bet! Tell him she's not--" The toe of Ash sneaker was jammed into her mouth.
"Agreed." Sabrina nodded to the leader. "If you win, I stay." The leader nodded to two Kadabras, who cut the psychic Gym Leader from her tree. She rubbed the marks where the ropes had cut into her skin and joined her pokemon on one end of the camp. The leader took his position on the other end. It was at this time that Pikachu offered his best wishes to Kadabra.
"Pika pika, chu pika pika pii!!" He roared, looking angry. Jessie looked over at him the best she could. "What did he just say, Meowth?"
"Let's just say that it involves a spoon and something little kids shouldn't be hearing." Meowth indicated Max, who had been hoping for a translation.
Kadabra stepped forward to meet with the leader in the center of the "ring", fires burning within their eyes. The pack leader looked confident in his assured victory. Sabrina and her Kadabra sweated not from heat but from out of fear of the difficult battle ahead.
The suspense was a killer; the others watched as one of the Kadabras counted down until the start of the match, sweat dripping down every inch of their bodies. One could see the obvious disadvantage Sabrina's pokemon had. He was smaller in both size and bulk, and was unused to the hot and dry climate of the desert. He was already panting, and the match hadn't even begun yet. Hopefully his link and training with Sabrina had evened the odds.
"Kada-bra!" The pokemon referee bellowed. Sabrina established a full mind link with her pokemon, intending to send all of the commands directly to her Kadabra's mind.
In the blink of an eye, the leader had teleported into striking range. He slashed at the enemy with his spoon, hitting nothing but air. He twisted agilely around in time to dodge a telepathically commanded thunderpunch. The leader grabbed the crackling limb in his hands, pulling the smaller of the two towards him.
The act caused Sabrina's Kadabra to loose his center of balance and his control. He fell forward, and the other's knee jerked up into his torso. He and his trainer expelled the air from their lungs in sync.
/Teleport away again./ the psi pokemon vanished again, prepared to fight the whole match from far away. /Disable your opponent, then move in for the offensive./
Kadabra's eyes shown with a light blue glow. He pointed his spoon at the enemy, and tendrils of faint blue extended from its rounded tip. The ropes, invisible to all but psychics, wrapped themselves around the leader and inhibited his movements. Kadabra teleported into striking range again, hitting the pokemon with a series of icepunches while the other pokemon could do little.
/Watch your back!!/
Kadabra was hit in the back of his head by a stone thrown by the leader's powers. He lost his footing again, slipping forward into the sand. The leader broke the restraints that held him. He seemed slightly mad, yet impressed at the same time.
"Cheater!!!" Max shouted, still tied to the tree. "A dirty rotten trick!!!" Meowth shouted something equally offensive, and Jessie somehow managed to give him a good kick.
/Teleport away!/ Kadabra attempted to, but felt himself tied down by the same type of attack he had used before. He cried out in pain as the leader scratched him with his claws, again and again.
Over on another tree, Ash was reminded of a similar incident years ago.
"Fight back in any way possible! Don't limit yourself to League-recognized moves!" He shouted out.
The leader had forgotten that the bonds were temporary; he still pounded away at Sabrina's pokemon. Kadabra clutched at the sand beneath him, and threw it over his shoulder. His opponent snarled and swiped at his eyes, blinking as the tears began flushing away the grit. Kadabra brought another punch upwards and into the jaw of the larger pokemon. He got up afterwards and limped over to the downed pokemon. His spoon pointing directly at the star on the other's forehead, Kadabra hit him with another disable.
/Stand down. Admit defeat and let us all go./ Kadabra snarled out, and his opponent closed his eyes. The leader sighed and looked upwards, then replied. /Very well. It seems your human has trained you well. But what of the three who were here before your pack arrived?/
Kadabra looked over at the three Rockets, who were in the midst of celebrating Kadabra's victory. /They are not of my group./ Meowth never even heard what he had said.
The middle-aged woman with the huge wart on her face turned as the bell to the truck stop/diner's door jangled. She continued to pour coffee into the mug of some truck driver, her focus on the group of kids threw themselves inside the diner. They were caked in a mix of sand and sweat, ranging in age from nine to eighteen.
"Can I help you dahlins in any way?" She drawled, automatically moving to fill another cup of coffee.
"We need the mechanic..." Groaned a male in his mid-teens. His brown hair was nearly impossible to see beneath the grainy sand. The waitress set a hand against her hip, filling another cup. "I'm the mechanic, Dolores." She introduced. "What's the trouble?"
"Our RVs broke down in the desert and we need assistance and water..." Began a raven-haired girl in her late teens.
The adults passed around the last of the water as they stood in the shade of the RVs. Professor Oak was down to a sweat-encrusted undershirt and boxer shorts. Norman had his shirt wrapped about his forehead like a makeshift turban, and Sabrina's dad had placed his shirt underneath his ball cap. The women were no better off, having changed into bathing suit tops inside the bathrooms. Mr. Mime held onto his broom weakly, leaning against it as he finally decided that it was too hot to clean.
But the mood was dark as they thought of their loved ones, the fear that they would stumble about the desert for days, until finally dropping like flies from dehydration.
"If they're lucky, the rabid Kadabras-"
"Don't you dare say another word! There are no such things!" Delia protested. Oak opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it.
It was then that a series of loud honks caught their attention. They looked down the highway, seeing the tow trucks heading straight for them. Out of each window, they could see their children and family members waiving and shouting at them.
(To Be Continued...)
Once again, this was going to be two chapters until I couldn't work in more stuff, and the stuff that I did was pretty cheezy so I cut it out. I do have the next chapter done as far as I can remember, so I might be able to get that up soon.
Thank you to all the readers who have been so patient with me thus far. I know it's hard because I'm such a bad updater.