Hey guys, just a little note about Danus' Sneasel. It's actually a female, by the request of my buddy who's designed Danus. I don't mind too much about the lack of reviews, because I know those that like what I do, do read it. Just keep reading!
Anyway:


Chapter 3: Team Aero

The group left Ecruteak City, and had stopped in a patch of tall grass just south of the city. Talon was checking out the grass around them, while Danus was just checking out Heather, who tried to ignore him by looking away.

"Okay Heather, I think we're safe for a short while, you got the Pokéballs before we left town, right?" Talon asked, to which Heather smiled, pulling out a handful, just in case. "Okay, good. Now you can never tell when something might jump out at you, but it's alright, we're here and Teddy is too. Look at him, he looks much better today!" Sure enough, Heather's Teddiursa was throwing punches in front of it in preparation, looking more like a pre-match boxer than a young small Pokémon. It made Talon grin, and Heather giggled.

Talon taught her the basics of capturing Pokémon in the next ten minutes, noticing every so often that Danus had not moved his gaze, and he wasn't looking at Heather's face either, so Talon made Houndoom give his hand a sharp bite, which surely made him drop his concentration. Heather looked over at Talon while Danus was messing about with Houndoom, and gave him a thankful smile, and Talon started to feel a little warm in the face.

"A-anyway so erm..." Talon started, clearing his throat and starting again, "Anyway, that's the basics, you think you got it down Heather?" he asked her. She thought about it for a second then nodded and smiled. "Good stuff, now keep your eyes and ears open." He warned, and she nodded, looking to her right at a rustling sound. Something was coming through the grass at them. The sound got louder still, and out stumbled a Growlithe. It looked incredibly weak, as if something else had attacked it before them. It collapsed in the small clearing the three Trainers had made, and Heather quickly rushed over to it. Too weak to growl her away, it let her take a look at its wounds, until it noticed that she was being nice to it. It weakly wagged its tail and reached up to lick her cheek before it fell unconscious.

"Lucky bugger." Danus commented, obviously peeved that his attempts weren't working with Heather.

Talon frowned and went to Heather, kneeling by her and looking at the Growlithe. "If I didn't know better Dan, I'd think you were jealous of the Growlithe." He said, smirking. He looked at Heather, who looked visibly worried for it. He sighed and hated how something could make her look this way, before realising what he was thinking and shaking it off. "Er… Heather, I think we ought to take this little guy into town and get him checked up." He said to her. She quickly nodded, took one of the empty Pokéballs and dropped it lightly on the Growlithe's belly. It vanished inside the ball, not even wriggling against it.

"Well… erm… Not what we had in mind, but you just caught something." Said Talon sheepishly. Both he and Heather got to their feet and started pushing their way through the tall grass into town, being followed by Danus, complaining about getting all the grass in the face from the other two. He sighed as they went into the Center.

"Here again. I bet the nurses think we're regulars now." He jibed.

"Shut it Dan, not the time for it." Snapped Talon, as Heather handed the injured Growlithe's Pokéball over the desk. She and Talon sat down, as Danus noticed an "old friend" a table or two away, and went to sit with her, muttering how this visit wasn't so pointless after all.

"Thanks Talon. I think without you two, we wouldn't have gone that way, and that poor Growlithe might not have been noticed." Heather said.

"Well this works two ways now. You've helped a Pokémon out and captured it as a reward." He smiled. "It'll be fine after a while."

"You've been so helpful since we met, Talon..." she went to reach for his hand, when she was interrupted by Danus looking questioningly out of the window.

"What the-"he began; wide-eyed, before he grabbed the person he was sitting with and dived to the floor. Talon then looked out of the window and saw what Danus was ducking from. He thought nothing more- he just reached for Heather, who had just noticed it too, and leapt for the floor too.

"Down! Everybody get down!" he warned them.

Not long after, the side wall of the Pokémon Center was ripped open by a huge Hyper Beam, causing chaos in the Center. All Talon could see was dust and rubble flying everywhere, and all he could hear was Heather and other people screaming. The sprinklers had been set off from the resulting small fires. Through the hole in the wall that was made by the Hyper Beam, three men walked in. Two of the men were dressed in green and black, with a logo on their chests which looked like an A with wings. The logo was also on their black and green bandanas around their necks. They came in just after a very intimidating man. He was around 5'9", with long red hair that fell over his shoulders. He had piercing hazel eyes and a frown that showed the lines of experience. He was wearing a grass-green shirt, under a black scaly jacket that went down to his ankles. He was wearing black pants, rough black hiking boots and black and green fingerless gloves. He walked into the Pokémon Center, his hands in his pockets and smirking.

"Good morning Ecruteak." The man said. "Allow me to introduce myself. Murphy, and that is all you will know me by. This is a message. Team Aero has arisen, and you will all soon know our name a lot better, believe me."

"Great, another Rocket rip-off..." Danus muttered. To his surprise, Murphy had heard him. He rolled his eyes and struck out suddenly; giving Danus a hard backslap across the face, before kneeing him in the stomach. The girl that Danus was sitting with screamed as Danus fell to the floor, clutching his stomach, coughing out a little blood. Sneasel, who had been covering a couple of baby Pokémon from all the flying chunks of rock, leapt down to check on her master.

"You compare us to the Rockets… You moron. The Rockets were a terrorist organisation just out there for money and pride. We on the other hand are here to change the world. In the shadow of Teams Magma and Aqua's failures, we have learned. But, I don't want to spill the beans on the whole thing to you." Murphy said, glaring at Danus before calming down again. The two Aero members Murphy had brought with him looked worried. Sneasel bared its claws and ran in front of the three men, practically snarling in rage.

"One Sneasel against two of my highest rank members and myself. That's funny." Murphy smirked, chuckling to himself. Sneasel jumped into the air straight at Murphy's face, ready to give a Beat-Up worthy of rememberence, but Murphy did something Sneasel did not expect; He did not reach for his Pokémon, he just dodged out of the way of the initial strike. In the confusion, Murphy grabbed Sneasel by the arms and swung it, throwing it forcefully into the nearest wall. Some onlookers in the Center gasped at the brutality of what Murphy just did, who just laughed and clapped his hands clean of dust. Sneasel struggled, crawling towards Murphy again slowly, but fainted after a yard or so.

"Your Sneasel sure is spunky, but it needs to learn that blinding rage is just that. It couldn't see me fast enough." Murphy told Danus, giving him a small kick or two in the legs as he hunched over. He walked slowly to what was left of the reception desk and hopped over. He walked calmly into the back area, and minutes passed, the two Team Aero members moving through the Center, picking on various Trainers. One of them came over to Heather and started flirting rather aggressively with her. Heather backed off into the wall; trying to push him away from her, fear in her voice. It was then that the Team Aero member yelled out in pain as she had brought her knee up into his vitals. He collapsed in a heap, clutching in-between his legs, groaning and cursing Heather. The other member heard the struggle and came over to see the situation.

"Oh you're in for it now, sweetheart!" he exclaimed and hurried over. Before he could make it however, Talon came in between him and Heather, a livid expression on his face. Houndoom leapt at the Team Aero member, taking him to the floor. After a struggle, he managed to push Houndoom off and released his own Pokémon- a rather large Golbat. It started flapping towards Houndoom.

"Houndoom, Faint Attack." Talon told Houndoom, his voice laced with ice. Soon after, Houndoom vanished into thin air. Golbat stopped in its tracks, looking around for it.

"Now, Crunch and Flamethrower!" and the hell-dog reappeared behind Golbat. It leapt up at it and latched on with its powerful jaws, before blasting a huge jet of flame point blank at the Golbat. After the flames died down, Golbat fell to the floor, charred and burned, and the Team Aero member was forced to return it, shocked in the strength of this kid. His expression changed to one of anger, and he ran at Talon, fists clenched. Just before he reached him…
"HEY! You, back off that kid now!" Murphy shouted, clutching a Pokéball in his hands. "We've got what we wanted; now we leave! Help him up too." He said, fastening the Pokéball to his belt and walking to the blown out hole in the wall. The Team Aero member didn't need to hear him a second time. He quickly helped his wincing partner to his feet and caught up with Murphy, and let him know what happened. Murphy stopped in his tracks and his eye began to twitch.

"A kid? The two of you lost to a kid?!"

"Well, no sir, number 14 was already down… The girl-"

"EVEN BETTER! A girl! You lost to a girl, and you lost to her boyfriend." He said glaring and poking the two of them in the chest as he talked to each of them. Heather flushed pink at what she heard Murphy say, and Talon was still giving the three of them daggers.

"Remind me why I brought you two in particular when we get back. And you…" he turned to Talon, who finally got a good look at his violent eyes, "You'll see what happens when you go against Team Aero. I'll see to that myself, hero. You just watch yourself from now on, kid. I'm going to be looking for you, and when I find you, there'll be hell to pay!"

Murphy stormed out of the Center, quickly followed by his two lackeys, one of them still holding the other up, who was still breathing heavy and hunched over. Talon looked out of the window and saw Murphy bring out a huge Salamence, before climbing on, dragging the other two on it and setting off into the sky.

The sprinklers finally stopped, and Heather and Talon hurried over to Danus, who had got himself to sit down again.

"Dan, are you okay? We saw what happened…" Heather asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Won't sleep on my stomach for a week but otherwise it's just my pride that's hurt. How about you two? I heard the struggle over there." Danus replied, still rubbing his abdomen tentatively. "How's Sneasel? I haven't been able to check yet." He added, visibly worried.

Talon knelt by Sneasel and checked her over. "Don't worry Dan, Sneasel's a toughie. She's just fainted, probably be right as rain after a rest." He told Danus, who shakily sighed with relief.

"Yeah… We're fine." Heather replied to Danus. "Talon… Back then, he-"

"Kicked ass, I know. He's had Houndoom for seven years. It had better be strong by now." Danus interrupted Heather, smirking at Talon. Heather decided to stay quiet about what Murphy said for now; It wasn't the time for it.

"Hey, don't thank me, thank Houndoom. Heather took care of the first guy well enough herself." Talon said.

Danus snorted a laugh, nodding. "Yeah, I saw the other guy drag him out. Heather knows how to hurt a guy if she wants to, I see." He said, as Heather blushed a little, smiling. "Everyone looks fine over here. I don't think anyone actually got hit by any of the wall, or the Hyper Beam. But what did that Murphy guy steal from the back? It looked like a Pokémon."

"Well I know something for sure; It wasn't that Salamence he used to get away. That thing was huge. Too strong for anyone to reasonably have here. Whatever it was, Team Aero needed it." Talon said, and Danus nodded.

The three of them decided to stay at the Center while Sneasel rested, helping any injured people and tidying up the place, as best as they could with a missing wall. The Nurse checked the recovery machines and thankfully, they were unaffected. Once Sneasel was back to fighting fitness, and the Pokémon Center looked stable enough, Talon, Heather and Danus left the Center, thinking it best to stay clear of the inevitable waves of press, emergency services, repairmen and worried civilians. When they were nearing the western exit of Ecruteak City, Heather saw Morty himself rushing to the Pokémon Center, possibly worried about a collection of his own Pokémon in rest there.

Danus led the way this time, thinking that if the group were headed through tall grass, then the other two would get the grass in the face this time, still grumbling about earlier that day.

"Damn… I gotta go. Erm… You wait over there; I don't want you guys seeing." Danus said sheepishly, before going behind a bush. Talon and Heather went and stood waiting for him at a lonely tree further on in the route.

"Umm… Talon, do you remember earlier, back at the Center, when Murphy was talking to his two thugs? I-I heard something… Murphy said that you… umm…" Heather started, but Talon just nodded.

"Yeah, he stared at me and told me to watch out. Turns out I'm gonna have Murphy after me for a spot of revenge. Heather, do you think it's safe for you and Dan to come with me anymore? I mean… What if Murphy does jump me and you guys get caught in the crossfire?" he said, looking Heather in the face.

"Talon… The way you took care of that man before… I don't think we have much to worry about. Plus, I er… I never really thanked you. Who knows what he would've done." Heather said, her eyes welling up. She flung her arms around him tight, surprising Talon at the very least.

"Well, I couldn't have let him hurt you, could I? I mean… I-"

"Did you hear what Murphy said though? He said that you were my boyfriend." Heather blushed, pulling away a little so she could see his face.

"He did? I didn't hear that. I must've been so mad back then…" Talon said.

Heather nodded. "But… Is that a bad thing, or what?" she asked him, confused at his expression. Talon's face went a little pink and looked in Heather's eyes for an answer.

"I… I umm…" he stammered, looking at her face. She looked confused and sad.
I don't want to see that face… It's not right. A face like that needs to be happy and lit up... He thought, and then he smiled. "I guess Murphy knew something we didn't, huh? Well I think we know now."

Heather's face grew into a huge ecstatic smile, and on what seemed to her as a reflex, pushed her lips to his.

"About time… Lucky git." Said Danus to himself. He had finished a long time back, and had overheard and saw the whole thing from the secrecy of the tall grass, Sneasel perched on his shoulder.

Darkness.

Walls of wood and stone, a ruin of its former glory.

Six yellow lights.

Three separate directions.

The Three are awake.

Whew. Alright you guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for the wait. I had quite a bit of writer's block. That's it for chapter 3. I'd love it if you reviewed, but otherwise, I'm just glad you read as I continue to write. Hopefully I won't make you wait so long for Chapter 4. See you around!
Scott