Forest of Death
Part IV
Tsunade grimaced as she tightened the make-shift rope around the Team Sound punks she was tying to a tree. She'd come across them a half an hour after the chaos that had broken up the search party and creamed them with Hime and Konoha. Now it was time to get some answers…
"Alright," she growled, pointing her flashlight directly into the three young men's eyes. "Answer my questions, or I'll turn you into pokémon food! What are you criminals doing in this forest?"
"I don't know!" one yelped. "We just go where we're told to and follow our orders!"
"We just set traps for ghosts!" a second admitted. "That's all we've been doing, honest!"
"Whatever else anybody else has done, we don't know nothing about it!" the third whimpered.
"…You poached ghost pokémon?" Tsunade said with a frown. At their nods, she went about stripping them of anything that they could use to escape. Leaving their knives, pokéballs, and other tools out of their reach, she turned to leave them behind. "Well, why don't you hang out here for a while and see what the ghosts think of that…"
She ignored the henchmen's cries for mercy and left the scene with her leafeon, Nawaki. She had no sympathy at all for them. It was one thing for wild pokémon to attack people, for abused pokémon to lash out at people, for acts of nature to kill people—it was something else entirely for trained pokémon to be directed into attacking and killing people. A few hours of torment from wild ghost pokémon before the police got them or their criminal buddies cut them loose would do them some good.
As she navigated the dense woods, she kept her eyes peeled for anyone on her side. So far she'd come across two groups of police officers, but they were coping well and in large enough groups that she didn't worry much about them. She was more concerned for the volunteer trainers, especially the younger ones.
After several minutes of walking, she spied a flickering orange light ahead and to the left. Intrigued, she shifted course to catch up with it. And when she caught up, she found that the light was coming from the tail of a charmeleon that was being followed by two kids, an espeon, and an umbreon.
"Hello kids," she greeted, making the boy and girl jump.
"T-Tsunade-sama," the pink-haired girl squeaked and bowed.
The dark-haired boy just stared at her.
"Do you need help finding a trail out of here?" Tsunade asked.
"No," the boy said. "We're looking for Naruto."
The blonde woman grimaced slightly at the memory of the brat. These had to be some of his little friends.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. It's better for you to get out of here as soon as you can. This situation is way over your heads."
"But…" the girl gulped. "But he's lost his umbreon…and he's terrified of ghosts."
He has a ghost phobia? Tsunade blinked. And he came in here?!
When they'd been traveling in a large, well-lit group, the ghosts had stayed away. And the chaos of all the fighting and explosions were keeping them away. But if he got far enough away to a quieter place…something would approach him.
"Alright," she sighed. "Let's go find him and then get you out of here."
With the two junior trainers under her wing, they continued on, following the umbreon who was desperately sniffing around for his lost trainer. There was no conversation as they traveled. The kids were scared; she could feel it. Every sound, every unknown glint of light, had them flinching. Tsunade really couldn't blame them.
"So, what are your names?" she asked.
"Sakura Haruno," the girl answered.
"Sasuke Uchiha," the boy replied.
An Uchiha…of course.
The boy bore a vague resemblance to most of the Uchiha she'd met over the years. They all had the serious, pales faces and dark eyes. And the vast majority of them were arrogant snobs. Only the sprawling Hyuuga family could match the Uchiha's size, influence, wealth, and bad attitude.
"And what are your goals?"
"I just want to help Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied.
Tsunade had to roll her eyes at that.
"I want to earn my family's respect," Sasuke answered. "I want to be good enough to beat my brother in his own gym."
"I see…" Tsunade folded her arms over her ample chest. So, he's Itachi's little brother…
Itachi Uchiha was undeniably talented as a pokémon trainer, and was surely the pride of his family. But he was a very hard person to read. Tsunade had only met him once, but his red eyes and unsmiling face left a clear impression of him in her mind.
"Um…Tsunade-sama?" Sakura squeaked out nervously.
"Hm?"
"Did you evolve your eevee into a leafeon because of the special rock that's supposed to be in this forest?" the girl asked.
"Yes," Tsunade nodded, biting her lip. "He would've wanted me to…"
The pink-haired girl tilted her head curiously. "Who?"
"My younger brother, Nawaki," Tsunade explained and patted the leafeon on the head. "This was his first pokémon. When he…died…I took it in as my own."
"Oh…"
That pretty much killed any conversation for a while.
The three of them just followed the umbreon as he followed his nose. The black monster kept sniffing around and sniffing around, sometimes losing the scent for several minutes before finding it again. And the scent trail that it followed just led them deeper and deeper into the pitch black forest.
Yeesh, Tsunade sighed, how far did this brat run?
Naruto struggled to keep his teeth from chattering as he, Demon, and the raichu crept towards the moaning sounds.
Maybe it's not a ghost. Maybe it's a hurt person. I have to go see…right?
But the closer he got, the more it sounded like it was a ghost—or a lot of ghosts—instead of a person. Then Naruto poked his head through a wall of bushes to find a clearing where the light of a nearly full moon illuminated everything. And it was choked with a cloud of ghost pokémon.
There were sheet-like shuppets, skull-faced duskulls, wraith-like misdreavus, and gaseous gastlys. The dark shapes swirled and moaned around a lonely purple shape at the far side of the clearing. Naruto started to shake and slowly edged backwards, hoping to escape notice, but his efforts were in vain. Perhaps it was the light of the raichu's flash, or maybe ghosts really could smell or taste fear, but one spotted them and the whole swarm turned to rush at him.
"Aie!" Naruto shrieked and turned to run, tripped, and curled into a ball, mind blank with fear.
The ghosts were going to get him. They were going to suck the life out of him. And he was going to die.
There were flashes of heat around him. And there were bursts of electricity that made all the little hairs on his body stand on end. But he felt no pain, and the ghosts never got him…and then it got quiet.
Slowly uncurling, Naruto peered around to find that all the ghost pokémon had gone. Some nearby leaves were singed and there was a small fresh lightning scar on one of the trees. Demon and the raichu were panting, holding defensive positions on either side of him.
"Thanks," he muttered, embarrassed at his panic.
Wobbling to his feet, Naruto dusted himself off and looked around. He didn't see any of the ghosts anywhere, but that didn't mean that they weren't still around. Ghosts were sneaky like that; they could hide in the shadows and even inside solid objects and then pop out with no warning.
Sweating with nerves, he stumbled back into the clearing where there were fewer places for ghosts to hide. With how open it was, it surely was a good place to wait to be found. The Forest of Death was so dense that any clearing would be on a map.
But…
"This clearing…" Naruto glanced around as he picked his way to the center of the clearing.
It was choked with broken branches and fallen, splintered trees. There were burn marks all over, and even a patch of what looked like ice. It was like a battle had happened here and knocked down a swath of the forest.
"…Whoa."
A sad moan made him jump and spin around.
The purple shape that the ghosts had been focused on before was still there. It was a balloon, or at least he thought it was balloon. When it turned…he saw that it had a face.
"Huh?!" he jumped. "A pokémon?!"
It was…well…a purple balloon with a bright yellow X-shape between two little beady eyes. There was a wisp of white cloud-like stuff on the top and one or two dangly strings hanging from the bottom. It even sort of made sounds like a balloon—squeaks like leaking air and moans like a person could make by trying to talk through a balloon.
"Funky," Naruto muttered and reached for his pokédex to find out just what the heck it was.
The strange balloon pokémon whimpered and tried to float away, only to be stopped short. Its strings were tangled around a broken branch, preventing it from escaping. The ghosts had probably been picking on it because it was trapped.
"Poor guy… Let me help you."
Forgetting his pokédex, he walked closer to untangle it from the branch and set it free. But when he got within a few feet of it, it puffed up like a blowfish, startled him backwards. He tried again and again to approach, but it would always overinflate itself and strain against its strings to try and flee.
"Well this isn't working." Naruto rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully and then turned to the two pokémon by his side. "Do you think you can distract it? I don't know…talk to it, or something?"
The vulpix and raichu moved closer and tried to speak with the living balloon. Naruto used all his sneaking skills to slink closer once the pokémon was fully engaged with the electric mouse and fire fox. He finally got close enough to touch the strings (which had little yellow hearts on the ends) and delicately began un-knotting them.
When the strings finally came loose, Naruto pumped his fist in victory. "Yeah! Alrigh—hrk!"
A large, callused hand closed over the back of his neck and squeezed.
"Well, well…what do we have here?"
:You see, you're fine,: Demon snorted at the wimpy balloon pokémon. :He didn't do anything bad to you, just like we said he wouldn't.:
:You're free now!: Kiroi cried waving her brown paws.
:…Free?: the drifloon warbled.
:Yeah, free,: Demon sighed. :Go now…or whatever.:
"Yeah! Alrigh—hrk!"
Demon whirled around to find Whisker Face frozen and pale, the dark silhouette of a full-sized human looming behind him.
"Well, well…" a dark voice chuckled. "What do we have here?"
Several other human shapes emerged from the darkness, and then there was the blinding light of flashlights.
:Argh, bright!: Demon growled, shielding his eyes from the glare.
"A little baby trainer, huh?" another voice muttered.
"Yeah," the first voice chuckled. "A little baby trainer…all alone."
"Good, good—"
"Hey look at that vulpix!" a third, excitable voice cried. "Look at that funky color!"
"I heard something about a vulpix like that appearing in Suna City…" a fourth voice said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, when Kin, Zaku, and Dosu were sent to steal that thing from that museum and tried to steal the gym leader's funky-colored linoone while they were there," the second voice said. "You were that little punk from Fire Country weren't you…"
"You jerks are from Team Sound," Whisker Face yelped. "You let me go—aah!"
Demon rubbed at his eyes and squinted against the light. :What are they doing to him?!:
:I can't see!: Kiroi squeaked.
:His arm…: the drifloon moaned from above them. :They're twisting it!:
"Get those plastic handcuffs," the first voice growled. "Strip him of his belt. We'll take all his pokémon…and his money, and whatever else he has of value. Go through his bag."
"Digger, Spike, take down that vulpix and raichu!" the second voice called out.
A dark shape exploded out of the blinding light and hit Demon, pinning him to the dirt. Whatever it was was heavy and no matter how he struggled he couldn't get free or turn enough to blow fire on it. All he could see was Kiroi being pinned down by a spiny sandslash, which was wholly unaffected by the bursts of electricity that it was receiving.
:Hey, brother!: the pokémon pinning Demon laughed. :Do you feel anything?:
:Nope, Digger, I don't,: the sandslash chuckled. :Knock it off you silly raichu. You know you can't hurt me or my brother. Stop wasting your juice.:
"Brother", Demon thought. They both must be the same species…
"Vampire, hit that drifloon with a mean look!" the fourth voice ordered, and there was the sound of leathery wings flapping.
:Hey you!: a squeaky voice above them hissed, apparently to the drifloon. :If you try and run, I'll hunt you down and tear you into tiny little pieces before I eat you!:
:Nooo…: the balloon moaned fearfully. :No, don't look at me like that! I won't run away, I promise!:
Wuss, Demon growled. We shouldn't have stopped to help him. This is all his fault.
"No, no stop it!" Whisker Face shouted. "Give those back! Hey—don't touch that!"
"Well look-ee here!" the third voice crowed. "Evolution stones! A firestone and a thunderstone!"
"Those are mine!" Whisker Face howled. "Don't touch them!"
"Quit struggling you brat!" the first voice growled. "Or I'll start breaking bones!"
"Just hit him," the fourth grumbled. "Knock him out so he'll shut up."
There were footsteps, and then a pair of boots in front of Demon's snout. "A little pink ribbon with a bell. How girly. Digger, cut it off."
Demon felt two claw tips drag along his back, and then the ribbon around his neck snapped. The Team Sound human removed the ribbon, jingling the bell. Then he dropped it on the dirt and ground it under his heel.
"There, that's better!"
:…My bell…:
The pressure on his back lifted and a human hand grasped him by the scruff of the neck, lifting him to eye-level with a cruel pair of gray eyes.
"You are going to net us a nice bonus little foxy! The boss loves freaks like you…"
"OW—"
"Grab him—"
"Hey—"
The bad human that had Demon by the neck lurched and dropped the fox as he fell. Demon darted out of the way and—with the flashlights no longer pointed to blind—he finally got a good look at the scene. The human that had held Whisker Face was curled up on the ground like he was hurt, two others were looking on, and Whisker Face—whose hands were bound behind him—had tackled the fourth. One of the two who was still standing hefted Whisker Face off the fourth one and kicked him in the side.
"What the hell?!" the fourth one sputtered.
"He kicked me," the one curled up whined.
"It was a low blow," one of the others snickered. "Below the belt."
"Nasty brat," the kicker growled and gave Whisker Face another kick.
Whisker Face coughed and gasped like he couldn't breathe.
:Bastard!: Demon snarled and set the kicker's hair on fire. :Take that!:
"Digger, crush claw!"
Demon yelped and darted to the side just as the sandslash's large claws slammed down where he'd been crouching.
:Hold still you freaky punk!:
:I'm not a freak!: Demon barked and spat a will-o-wisp at the ground-type mouse. :Burn!:
:Ow!: the sandslash squealed, favoring a burned knee. :Now it's on!:
:Bring it, dirt-brain!: Demon snarled and spewed a burning-hot flamethrower at his foe.
Even limping from the burn, the sandslash skirted the worst of the flames and charged in. Demon had to keep darting and dodging from the other monster's large claws. And then he tripped—
A pair of heavy vines lashed out and swatted the charging sandslash away. A looming plant-ish shape interposed itself between Demon and the sandslash. Off to the side with the humans there was another fight breaking out—human against human, it looked like—but Demon couldn't get a good look…
:Hana!: Kiroi squeaked. :Get it off of me!:
There was a flurry of cracking vines as the venusaur lashed at both sandslash, freeing the raichu in the process. Once freed, Kiroi attacked the golbat that had the rescued drifloon intimidated out of fleeing with a few good thunderbolts. With the enemy pokémon thoroughly taken care of, Demon edged around Hana's bulk to see what was going on with Whisker Face and the other humans.
Kiroi and Hana's master had arrived and was doing his best to beat up the four Team Sound humans. It was fascinating to watch, as Demon could never recall seeing humans physically fight each other. But Look-Alike seemed damaged and in poor health so his blitzing attack was soon halted.
"You got him?!" one wheezed, clutching his stomach where he'd been punched.
"Yeah! I got the bastard!" the large one who had first grabbed Whisker Face yelled.
"Hurry up and bind him!" another ordered.
"Call your monsters off!" the fourth shouted, pulling out a sharp blade and putting his knee on Whisker Face's back. "Call them off or we slit the kid's throat!"
:Oh no!: Kiroi panicked from her perch on the fainted golbat's back. :What do we do?!:
Hana hesitated and started to lower the sandslash monsters, which she'd suspended upside-down with her vines. :I…don't know.:
Demon's eyes were fixed on the knife that hovered dangerously close to Whisker Face's neck. No…
Things just kept getting worse and worse. The last ambush on his party had separated him from Kiroi and left Kyuubi so exhausted that he'd had to put the ninetails away. Only Hana and Gama were in good enough shape to be kept out with him, so he chose his venusaur.
He'd searched and searched for his lost raichu. He couldn't bear the thought of Team Sound or their mysterious criminal partners stealing her and brainwashing her to serve them. But what he eventually found was even worse than he had imagined.
Naruto was there, his wrists bound behind him and crumpled on the ground. Four Team Sound goons had him surrounded and, from the state of his possessions scattered on the ground, were in the process of robbing him. Minato didn't even remember starting to run at them.
He didn't wonder why Naruto was out in the Forest of Death in the middle of the night. He didn't wonder how the boy had managed to get neck-deep in trouble with some of the criminals that had been chasing him around for over twenty-four hours. He didn't think about anything but hurting those four men with his bare hands.
He was exhausted from all the running and not sleeping. He was thirsty and starving. But somehow he found enough adrenalin to fight.
It didn't last though. One tripped him and another struggled to pin him. There was shouting to tie him up and some threats, but all he could see was Naruto curled up on the dirt, wide-eyed and frightened, and with a survival knife held to his throat.
No! Minato tried to buck against the weight of the man that pinned him, but the shot of adrenalin was spent and he was too weak. No, no, no, no, no…
"…I said call your monsters off!" one of them shouted. "Get them to surrender and we won't kill the kid!"
Panic addled his already fatigue-fuzzed brain. He had no idea what monsters they were talking about or why he should be calling them off. But if doing that would somehow get that knife away from his son…
"Stop…" he wheezed feebly into the dirt.
A dark shape materialized from the darkness and slammed into the goon kneeling on Naruto, knocking him off and sending the knife flying off into the night. In the next second, Minato felt the hefty criminal that was sitting on him be removed similarly. He sat up and tried to get to Naruto, but he couldn't quite get to his feet. A pair of young trainers grabbed his son and started half-carrying, half-dragging him away. And then Tsunade was there with her nidoqueen and sceptile, grasping his shoulder in a comforting gesture.
The blonde gym leader gave her two powerful monsters a simple command:
"Hime, Konoha, trash them!"