Chapter 8: Something Unexpected

Jason looked at the two fire-types, who are ready to unleash attacks. Martin quickly unleashed a Flamethrower, which Jason dodged by moving to the side. The Snivy quickly noticed that another Flamethrower was headed towards him and he tried his best to dodge it but the attack was able to touch his torso. Jason quickly moved away from the two so that he can have some time to think about his strategy.

'What should I do? I can't even go near them,' Jason thought.

"What's the matter? Can't you even use a single move? Even if we're in a forest, you'll never escape us," Martin taunted.

Jason thought about the words the Pansear just said. Just then, the Snivy had a realization. Vines appeared from Jason's back as he prepared himself for an attack.

"So you do know a move. Still, that's not enough! Flamethrower!" Martin unleashed flames from his mouth that are quickly moving towards Jason. Jason jumped high to dodge the flames. Then, Ken jumped and unleashed flames from his mouth. Jason quickly extended one of the vines on his back to grab a tree branch. Then, Jason used his vine to quickly pull him out of danger.

"What?" the Litleo was in shock while he's still in the air. Using the tree to give himself some force, Jason rushed towards Ken and tackled the Litleo, who was sent to the ground. Jason ran towards Martin as soon as he landed.

"Why you little…" Martin said as he tried to tackle Jason. With quick thinking, Jason jumped to avoid Martin's attack. With his vines already extended, Jason quickly lashed Martin a few times while he was still in mid-air. After he landed, Jason quickly turned around and tackled Martin, who was sent a few feet back. Jason followed it up with more vine whips, which Martin tried to defend himself against by crossing his arms in front of him. Just then, Jason noticed Ken unleashed Flamethrower from his left and Jason dodged by jumping. Martin followed it up with another Flamethrower. Jason quickly saw this and he grabbed another tree branch using his vines and pulled himself towards the tree to avoid the attack. Jason used the tree again to gain momentum to move towards the fire-types. The Snivy extended his vines as far as he can and he spun himself, which resulted in the vines making a sweeping motion around him. Both fire-types were hit by Jason's attack. Jason landed properly on his feet and looked at the two fire-types; the Pansear gritted his teeth while the Litleo was looking at Jason, or so he thought. Jason was curious and he looked at Ken again. After a closer look, Jason saw that Ken's eyes were more focused to what is behind Jason rather than him, which seemed like the Litleo isn't focused on the battle.

"Ken, can you come closer?" Martin asked but the Litleo was only able to respond to him after two seconds. After Ken went closer, Martin whispered something to him. Jason was a bit alerted about what they're doing and he braced himself. Just then, Martin looked at Jason with a smile.

"Let's burn the forest," Martin said to Ken, which Jason clearly heard. Jason was alerted on what they said but before he can react, the two of them ran deeper into the forest.

"H-Hey!" Jason shouted. He thought about what the Pansear said and without a moment's hesitation, Jason ran after the two. At the same time, Mincy, who just regained consciousness, saw Jason disappear into the forest. She tried to stand up but the pain she immediately felt prevented her from doing so.

Meanwhile, Wilfred was busy using Water Gun on the fire that was on the forest ground. At the same time, Cindy and Elaine looked around for Pokémon that might be injured. As Wilfred finished putting out the fire, Elaine and Cindy approached him.

"I can still smell something burning," Elaine said.

"Let's go. We need to put out the flames before it gets worse," Wilfred said. Then, the three of them rushed towards the fire with Elaine leading the way. After a few minutes, they reached the site where there should be fire. As they arrived, they saw that the situation is worse than they thought. This time, the fire reached some of the trees. Wilfred started putting out the fire with Water Gun.

"If we don't hurry, we might have a large forest fire soon," Elaine commented.

"I know," Wilfred paused for a short while before he used Water Gun again.

Just then, a blue spherical object went above them and hit some of the flames. The object was able to put out some of the flames.

"Water Pulse?" Cindy said. Then, a light blue Pokémon with white hands jumped above them and produced two more blue spheres on each hand before throwing them at different directions.

"We can handle this area. You can go ahead and check if there is any fire ahead," another Pokémon with pale yellow fur and dark orange tufts coming out of its ear said. The three of them looked at the duo that came to help. Cindy smiled before she said her thanks.

"Come on. Let's go ahead," Cindy said. The three of them moved ahead as the other two Pokémon were left to handle the fire. After a short while, they saw some fire again but it was smaller compared to the previous one. Wilfred quickly put out the fire with Water Gun. Just then, Cindy noticed the injured Minccino nearby.

"Mincy!" Cindy shouted as she went to approach the Minccino and the other two followed afterwards. Cindy noticed Mincy's condition and asked Wilfred for an Oran Berry. Wilfred grabbed one from his bag and gave it to Mincy, who was able to accept and eat the berry.

"Mincy, what happened?" Elaine asked.

"It's those two," Mincy said.

"Are you talking about the two related to the injured grass type incidents?" Cindy asked. Mincy gave a nod and she said "Jason… he's fighting them. They went that way." Mincy pointed towards the direction where she last saw Jason.

"What?!" The other three said in unison. Wilfred looked at the other two and they gave a nod.

"We need to hurry," Wilfred said.

"I'll stay here to check on Mincy," Cindy said.

"Okay. Let's go, Elaine!" Wilfred said as he ran towards the direction.

"Right behind you!" Elaine said as she followed Wilfred.

Meanwhile, Jason was chasing after the two. He can see them in a distance as he chased them. Suddenly, the two quickly disappeared but the Snivy continued to move forward. Just then, he found himself in a clearing. He looked around as he walked forward but he didn't saw the Pansear or the Litleo. Then, he heard some rustling bushes, which alerted him and made him raise his guard. Just then, two Flamethrowers were headed from both sides of the Snivy, which he noticed quickly. He jumped to dodge the attack, which collided with each other before it dissipated, and he landed on the ground with both his feet. Then, the Snivy noticed one thing.

'The trees are too far for my vines to reach,' Jason thought as he looked around the clearing and he estimated that the nearest tree is at least three meters away. Then, Ken charged towards Jason and he tried to connect his Fire Fang but Jason was able to dodge and counter with Vine Whip. Then, Martin was able to connect his Tackle to the Snivy but Jason was able to retaliate with another Vine Whip. Then, both Ken and Martin charged towards Jason with Tackle. Jason saw this and he jumped to avoid the attacks. As he looked down, Jason realized his mistake as he saw both fire-types looking at him. Jason extended his vines but the fire-types have already unleashed Flamethrower. Jason was able to slam their heads down using Vine Whip to redirect the attack but some of the flames hit him. Both fire-types were able to recover quickly and they moved aside as Jason crashed towards the ground. Jason yelped in pain as he felt the impact and he stood up. Jason can feel pain on his torso but he tried to ignore it.

"You're tougher than I thought," Martin said. Then, both fire-types surrounded Jason. Jason noticed that the scene he was in was familiar.

"Let's do this! Let's burn that annoying grass-type into a crisp!" Martin shouted, followed by a wicked smile.

"I'm always ready!" Ken said with a serious look on his face.

'What to do… Think!' Jason knew he was in a bind and he is getting nervous. He never realized how quick his breathing is due to his deep thoughts. Meanwhile, both the Pansear and the Litleo started running around Jason.

"Flamethrower!" Both fire-types unleashed their attacks in unison while still running around the Snivy. Both attacks met at the center, where Jason's position is, making it impossible to even see the Snivy's silhouette. They continued their assault without even a care for their opponent's condition. Suddenly, a fire vortex formed at the center and both fire-types stopped due to caution.

"What the—"

"What's that?" Ken pointed at the vortex. "Something's moving inside the fire."

Martin also noticed the silhouette that appeared to be inside the fire vortex. Then, the silhouette moved up to the top of the vortex. Martin and Ken finally realized it was their opponent. Jason was spinning rapidly as he moved upwards inside the vortex. As he exited the vortex, he slowed down his spinning movement.

"But how?" Martin was in awe as he saw the Snivy still moving after their assault. Then, Jason made a slamming motion with his tail and the fire vortex followed the movement of Jason's tail. The vortex collided with the ground, causing a cloud of dust and portions of the vortex to spread around along with the impact of the collision. Both Martin and Ken braced themselves and closed their eyes due to the impact. Then, both Martin and Ken felt something on their foot. Martin was able to open his eyes and he checked his left foot, only to have found out that a vine was wrapped around it.

"How did he do that?" Martin was amazed at how things happened so quickly. Meanwhile, Jason landed on his feet and tugged on both vines to check if he successfully grabbed them. After that, Jason spun around with all his strength with both Martin and Ken at the end of his vines. After a few spins, Jason threw both fire-types towards a tree. After a few moments of flying in the air, Martin and Ken crashed into the tree and they landed at the ground beside the tree. Jason was heavily breathing as he approached Martin and Ken to check on their condition. He looked closely and confirmed that both fire-types were unconscious. Jason was relieved that the battle is over and leaned on the tree as he tried to catch his breath. Then, he heard a familiar voice.

"Jason!" Wilfred was waving as he and Elaine ran towards Jason from the other side of the clearing. Jason also tried to approach the two but he wasn't able to move far from the tree.

"Are you alright? We came here as fast as we can."

"Then, there is this loud noise which startled Wilfred a lot," Elaine emphasized the last part as she looked towards the Oshawott, who stared back at her. Then, Elaine noticed the Pansear and Litleo nearby and she approached them. Wilfred also noticed both fire-types and went near them.

"Are they—"

"They match the description the guild gave us," Elaine said and looked backed at Wilfred. Wilfred nodded and rummaged through his brown messenger bag. He brought out two cuffs and a couple of Oran Berries. Wilfred used one cuff to restrain both the Pansear's arms behind his back and he used the other one to cuff the Pansear's right leg to the Litleo's left forelimb. Wilfred tried to feed the unconscious fire-types some Oran Berries and he gave one Oran Berry to Elaine. Elaine approached Jason and offered the Oran Berry she was holding to Jason.

"You'll need that," Elaine said as she watched Jason eat the berry. After he finished eating his Oran Berry, Elaine started ranting.

"I can't believe you left your room after Cindy told you to get some rest! Then, you got into a fight that might leave you with serious injuries! What are you thinking?" Elaine was clearly angry at what Jason did.

"I'm sorry. I just got caught in the moment," Jason explained.

"You would not be in this situation if you stayed in your bed!"

"But I can't just stay in my bed after what I saw."

"What you saw? You mean like before?" Elaine asked Jason, who gave a nod. Then, they heard a voice.

"Elaine!"

"Cindy!" Elaine saw Cindy at the other side of the clearing with Mincy by her side. Both the Zorua and Minccino approached the group and noticed the two unconscious fire-types that were cuffed.

"You were able to defeat and arrest them?" Cindy asked as she moved beside Wilfred to check the condition of Martin and Ken.

"Actually, Jason did all the work," Wilfred said as he nudged Martin to wake him up.

"Really?" Cindy turned around to face Jason as she was shocked that he was able to defeat two opponents in his condition. Cindy approached Jason and examined him closely.

"Are you sure you're fine? Don't you feel anything that hurts?" Cindy was worried about Jason's condition.

"I'm fine," Jason slowly raised his hand as a sign that he doesn't need help. However, Cindy is not convinced and she went closer to Jason. Using her head, she pushed Jason on his torso and Jason squealed in pain as he fell to his bottom.

"I knew it. You can't lie about this Jason," Cindy grabbed her backpack and opened it with her mouth. She rummaged through the contents, placed a small bottle on the ground, and grabbed a roll of bandage with her mouth. Using her paws, she opened the bottle with her paws and applied some salve on her paws. Cindy looked at Jason as a warning for Jason before rubbing some of the salve on his torso. Jason showed signs of discomfort for a moment. Then, Cindy grabbed the bandage roll and wrapped it around Jason's torso.

"There. That should do it," Cindy said as she finished wrapping Jason's torso.

"Thanks," Jason looked at the bandage on his torso for a moment and stood up.

"Take it easy, will you? Also, I still have to treat some of your wounds when we get back," Cindy smiled at Jason. Then, Wilfred approached them with the two captives, who are now conscious.

"Aren't you worried that they might retaliate?" Jason asked.

"Don't worry!" Wilfred showed an orb with a size slightly larger than an Oran Berry. "As long as this is in effect, they won't be able to use any attacks."

Jason stared at the orb for a moment.

"Now then, I guess we should head back to report," Wilfred said.

"Move it, you two!" Elaine shouted at Ken and Martin, who were startled and they started walking in front. Elaine, Cindy, and Mincy followed afterwards.

"Let's go," Wilfred said and started walking. Jason followed afterwards but he grimaced in pain after a few steps. Wilfred noticed this and went beside Jason.

"You know, I will be here to support you. You can always rely on me when you need it!" Wilfred smiled as he offered his shoulders to lean on.

"Thanks," Jason accepted Wilfred's offer and wrapped his arm around the Oshawott's shoulder. Both Jason and Wilfred followed after the three who were already a few meters away.