Chapter 3: The Great Escape

As he and Mikey snuck through the southern gate of Eterna City, Will couldn't help but question his judgment. Was this really the best method to escape Eterna City?

Sure, he had gone through the statistics over a dozen times…but as he was actually about to attempt this daring maneuver he couldn't help but feel a tad bit insane.

The two of them walked out of the gate, officially considered 'free' from Eterna City. But this joy was short-lived.

They were now standing at the beginning of the Bike Path: a massive, 1,000 meter long, down-hill, road that used to be an exhilarating ride. But now, of course, the only emotion that Will felt while examining the Bike path was depression… plus a small bit of remorse was mixed in, as well.

It was completely vacant. There used to be dozens of bikers riding through this path daily, but now there was not a soul in sight. Peering over the steep edge of the bridge, Will looked down at the wilderness below him. This was Route 206. Two weeks ago, you could throw a penny off of the bridge and chances are it'd poke the eye out of a Geodude. But now that the Pokémon were gone and there was nothing living in sight, it was horribly depressing.

The two of them began walking down the path, keeping there eyes peeled for any sign of Galactic troops.

"Why are there no grunts here?" Mikey asked suspiciously, breaking the silence.

Will figured this question would pop up eventually. He groaned, knowing that the reason required quite an explanation.

"You see, Mikey, Galactic grunts always work in pairs." Will began, "Each pair is assigned to a certain landmark in Sinnoh, such as a Gym or Poke Mart. Therefore, there are hundreds of pairs throughout the region. This makes it very difficult for Trainers to maneuver from city to city."

"Well then how come there isn't a pair here?" Mikey intervened, "The Bike path is a pretty big landmark,"

Will nodded and continued, "I was getting to that. The grunts guard these landmarks relentlessly. They don't get breaks, lunch-hours, nothing. They never leave. However, every three days, the pairs participate in 'Rotation Day'."

Mikey widened his eyes, "Rotation Day?"

"Yes, Rotation Day. See, the pairs guard the landmarks non-stop for three days. Then, after those 72 hours, the pairs rotate to another landmark. That way the guards don't blow out their brains from boredom; with rotations they get to see all of Sinnoh."

"Great for them," Mikey said sarcastically.

Will continued, ignoring Mikey's comment. "The pairs leave their posts at exactly 9:30 each morning to rotate. Then the next pair arrives at precisely 9:45. This gives us a 15 minutes opportunity. Only a handful of trainers in the region know of this migration tactic."

Mikey looked down at his Pokétch. 9:42.

"We're running out of time," He said. They were only halfway through the bridge, "The next pair is going to be here soon."

Will nodded, and looked forward. He widened his eyes.

Standing at the edge of the path, of course, was a pair of Galactic grunts. Three minutes early. One of the grunts was laughing at his comrade as he turned his head to survey the rest of the path. The grunt stopped laughing as he saw the two stray Pokémon trainers.

"Holy Darkrai!" Mikey cursed under his breath, "We're in trouble now."

The two grunts were now sprinting up the path towards Mikey and Will. Now that they were getting closer, Will could make out their features more clearly. The one on the right was considerably taller, and in addition he had a long scar stretching across his left cheek. How he got it, Will could only imagine.

The shorter grunt was swinging his beating stick madly as he ran. His un-natural green hair seemed a bit longer than the taller grunt.

"What're we going to do?" Mikey exclaimed, "We're trapped!"

Will knew he was right. They were in quite the predicament. If they wanted to continued to Oreburgh City like they were planning to do, they would run straight into the grunts. But if they turned around to make a run for it, they would wind up back in Eterna. That method seemed ideal, but then Will realized that if they did fall back to the city, they would simply wind up in the hands of the Galactic grunts that were stationed at the Eterna gym.

"We fight," Will murmured, his eyes fixed on the oncoming grunts.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Mikey exclaimed.

Will turned to him, "We fight them! There's no other way. Besides, there's only two of them…we can take them!"

"But what if he loose?" Mikey asked somberly, "It would have all been for nothing. We could be killed."

Will knew he was right. But it was too late to back-out now. The guards had finally reached them.

The pair of Galactic grunts had finally reached Mikey and Will. Before confronting them, however, the grunts doubled over and began to gasp for air. After several seconds of pathetic recuperation, the shorter grunt looked up.

"Smart of you not to run," He struggled to breathe as he spoke, "But you're under arrest."

"Put your bags on the ground," The taller one added, equally exhausted from the run.

But Mikey and Will ignored the two pitiful guards. They reached over the backs and removed their packs. However, instead of putting them down, they unzipped them in unison. Each of them pulled out a Pokéball.

Seeing that the two teenagers were armed, the grunts leapt back in surprise. They then each pulled out a Pokéball.

"What's this then?" The taller grunt snickered, "A double battle, eh?"

Will nodded, "When we win, you let us pass. If by some sort of miracle you buffoons win, we'll willingly turn ourselves over. "

The shorter grunt nearly burst out laughing, "Big talk for someone so small!"

He threw his Pokéball onto the ground, in the space directly in the middle of the four of them. A bright light burst out of the small capsule and Will was nearly blinded.

As he regained his senses, Will looked at the Pokémon standing before him. It was short, much like its trainer. It hunched over and it stared at Will with bright yellow eyes.

Will recognized the Pokémon. It was a Croagunk, one of the many species of Pokémon that attacked his home on Judgment day. It was payback time.

Mikey was next to react. He tossed his Pokéball into the center, where it activated to life. The Pokémon that stepped out of the smoke was a short, plump creature.

"Muuunch!" It exclaimed with a smile on its face.

It was a Munchlax, one of Mikey's strongest Pokémon. Will had to admire friend's choice. After all, this was going to be a close-range battle and Munchlax was ideal due to its quick yet powerful strikes.

The tall grunt grimaced as he clicked the button on his Pokéball. Tossing it directly next to Croagunk, a new Pokémon leapt out. A small, brown hippo-looking creature stood on all fours. It was a Hippopotas, a ground type.

Will couldn't help but smile. The tall grunt had just set himself up to be defeated. Hippopotas was ground, which just happened to be very vulnerable to Will's strongest Pokémon.

"Go!" Will called out as he tossed his Pokéball.

In a burst of light, a small, adorable weasel leapt onto the battlefield. It had two long tails and collar that looked like a life-vest. It was a Buizel, Will's favorite and strongest Pokémon. He remembers when he had first caught it by Route 205. He had been so happy then, before Judgment Day.

Will forced himself to snap back into the present. He was about to battle. He allowed the anger to seep in, which was his best method to use while battling. Hate the enemy, set your mind to defeat them.

"Alright then," The short grunt snickered, "I'll start. Croagunk, use Sucker Punch!"

The Croagunk had a smile on its face as its fist began to gleam a bright shade of purple. Then, with its fists raised, it charged at Buizel.

Will smiled to himself as Buizel dropped to the ground, Croagunk's swinging fist barely missing the top of the weasel's head. Buizel had evaded the attack. With utter disappointment the short Galactic grunt called his Croagunk back to his side. Sucker Punch had failed because Will's Pokémon was not preparing to attack.

"Buizel, use Agility!" Will ordered.

Buizel nodded compliantly, and began to dart around the bridge. As he returned to his trainer's side, Buizel felt his speed raise sharply.

The taller grunt smirked, "Looks like I'm next."

The Hippopotas narrowed its eyes, ready to strike. Several grains of sand began to perspire from its back. It was obviously nervous to be battling real trainers.

"Use Take-Down on that fat thing!" The tall trainer ordered, referring to Munchlax.

Hippopotas closed its eyes as it charged towards Munchlax. As it neared the 'Big Eater' Pokémon, the Hippopotas whined in anger.

Unfortunately, the attack hit head on. Munchlax stumbled backwards as nearly half of its HP points drained away. However, the Hippopotas grunted and shook its head madly as it suffered from recoil.

"Get it together, Munchlax!" Mikey ordered encouragingly, "Use Rollout on Croagunk!"

Will, for the third time that day, smiled to himself. Mikey was a great battle partner. He seemed to know that Will was going to attack Hippopotas with super effective water attacks, so in the meantime Mikey should target Croagunk.

Munchlax seemed to laugh as it curled itself into a ball. Then, almost immediately, it shot off like a jet towards the Toxic Mouth Pokémon. Croagunk widened its eyes in terror as the 231.5 lbs. of pure fat slammed into its face, knocking it clean off its feet.

Mikey laughed like a child as Munchlax stood up and trotted back over to its trainer. However, the short Galactic grunt began to curse violently to his Croagunk. But it was too late…the Croagunk was knocked out cold.

Now it was Will's turn once again.

"Buizel," He exclaimed, "Use Aqua Jet!"

Almost immediately Buizel began charging towards Hippopotas. As it picked up speed, a trail of water began to splash at the weasel's feet. And then, almost as quickly as it had begun, Buizel shot off like a water rocket. There was an explosion of water and sand as Buizel collided into the Hippo Pokémon.

As Buizel came back to Will's side, he saw that the battle was certainly over. Hippopotas was lying on its back, groaning in agony. A blood stain covered its chest and its eyes were staring off into space. The tall Galactic Grunt groaned as he recalled his Pokémon. They had failed Team Galactic. He didn't want to think of the punishment that they'd receive.

Mikey and Will recalled their Pokémon in unison. They stashed their Pokéballs in their packs and proceeded towards the two grunts.

"We had a deal." Mikey glared with piercing eyes, "Let us pass."

A smile spread across the short grunts face as he unhooked his beating stick.

He said, "Sorry, kid. You may have won…but you two are fugitives. We're required by law to 'escort' you to Headquarters."

"By 'escort' do you mean execute!" Will exclaimed.

The tall grunt laughed as he too removed his weapon, "Well, if you want to say it like that, sure."

The two grunts charged at the trainers, raising their beating sticks. Will's eyed widened in fear. He dove to the ground as the tall grunt swung his weapon onto his back. There was a crack as pain spread throughout Will's body.

But he couldn't dwell on that. Will leapt up; shoving his way past the grunts and he sprinted down the path, leaving the Galactics in his dust. Twisting around, he could see Mikey sprinting after him. He had bruises and marks all over his face, but other than that he seemed fine. Thankfully, the Galactic grunts were too busy calling for back-up to actually give pursuit. This gave them some time to slip out of sight.

Will and Mikey continued sprinting until they cleared the Bike Path and they reached a small cliff. But Will kept sprinting. Amazingly, he dug his heels into the ground and he slid down a muddy trench. Mikey did the same. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Will ascended a small staircase. He found himself facing a large patch of grass. He took a left and kept jogging. The two companions found themselves standing in a huge complex of modern-looking buildings.

The gravel crunched beneath Will's feet as he took several steps forward. Oreburgh City.