Chapter 7: El Ciego ve Destino

A heavily muscled man with a steel helmet over his face, claws that could skewer several men in seconds and totally raging on something not kosher...Ash may have his hands full with this guy. Ashley and Pikachu watched in fear as the restraints failed to keep the berserk man held down. Ash began to walked back when it bumped into a couple crates. The man charged right at Ash despite the mash covering his whole face, meaning blind, mute and cannot smell. Ash dove away from the deadly swipe. "Ash!" Ashley screeched from the window. The man turned to the direction of the shout and ran to the wall underneath the American. Ash had to think of something. That's when the silver bells came to his mind. He pulled a coin from his pocket and fired the money at the bell behind him. DING! The man stopped and turned to the bell. Ash backed away as the man raced at the bell and swung. The claws got wedged in the wall, barely missing the bell. This gave Ash an idea.

'Of course!' he thought. 'He's reacting to sound. Maybe I can use this and bait him over to help us.' He turned to Ashley and Pikachu with a finger over the lip. Ashley and Pikachu wondered what's up. Ash had another coin as he tried to get to the lever in the cell. He wouldn't make it as the man yanked the claw out of the wall and twisted to see Ash...if he could see him. Ash put the coin back in for a green grenade. He pulled the pin and...threw the pin at the other bell. DING! That sound forced the man to follow the ring into the opposite wall. When the man passed Ash, he threw the grenade and raced to pull the lever. The grenade smacked the man's back. KABANG! The concussive blast slammed the man into the wall with massive force. The man was down as Ash raced back upstairs and waived the others to follow. It took a minute or two for the clawed man to rebound. The Ashes and Pikachu managed to enter the door on the other side of the room where they first met Salazar. They entered a hallway and met more cloaks.

"¡Alto!" they warned, which they did. They were starting to move in when the claws showed up. The Ashes were surrounded. Claws blocking one end, cloaks blocking another. One of the villagers had a bright idea.

"Garrador, attack!" he shouted. The first cloak sensed a problem when he called for the claws to strike.

"¡Necio!" Ash crouched and motioned Ashley to get down too. Garrador charged in, passing the Ashes and struck the cloaks. Each strike was killer as the cloaks' robes were shredded and stained with the yellow blood. Down the hallway, more cloaks saw the murdering and began to freak out, making Garrador attack them. The Ashes followed close by, trying not to make a sound which could spell their doom. They reached a large ballroom with a moat blocking the door on the other side of the water. Garrador was unstoppable, shearing through wooden shields and maces like scissors through paper. The death count was rising and Ash didn't need to use a weapon. Well, technically he used a frag grenade but that was for a distraction. The screams of the cloaks who, despite overwhelming numbers, couldn't bring this beast of a man to his knees. The Ashes had this opportunity to distance himself from the chaos.

"Staraptor, Buizel, I choose you!" Ash released his Buizel and a large grayish bird with a rouge feather style. "Staraptor, when Ashley jumps, try to glide her to the other side." The airborne bird allowed Ashley to grip its talons while Ash and Buizel jumped into the water, throwing caution to whatever could be lurking inside the moat. With a running start and no time to waste, Ashley and Staraptor leaped and hovered over to the other side of the moat as Garrador rushed at them. Staraptor struggled to keep it and Ashley high above the pool.

"You can do it!" Ashley encouraged. With one caw, Staraptor mustered whatever it had left and barely reached the other side where both collapsed. Wits recovered, Ashley petted the Pokémon as Ash and Buizel arrived. Ash recalled Buizel with both smiling.

"Good work, you two. Get some rest." Both back in their Pokéballs, the Ashes were ready to press on when they continued to view Garrador racing at them, completely blind to what was in front of him. For example, the moat. That's when he bent his legs. He KNEW? One mighty leap, Garrador jumped the watery gap, almost superhuman. He was almost over when Pikachu charged up, his body cocooned in a stream of yellow light. Ash knew what Pikachu was performing. "Let's make it count, Pikachu. Volt Tackle!" Pikachu jumped and struck Garrador just before he touched down on the land. The staggering hit, knocked Garrador back and into the moat. Let's see him get out now. Pikachu landed back by Ash's feet, a surge of electricity rippling through the Electric Mouse Pokémon. "Pikachu, you okay?" Pikachu shrugged off the shot and smile at his master.

("I'm good!") he squeaked. Ashley wondered why Pikachu had that tiny surge.

"Did something go wrong with that?" she asked. It was normal for Ash to expect a question from Ashley. She was seeing Pokémon and attacks for the first time.

"It's normal," he replied. "Volt Tackle is a powerful attack but it does recoil damage to the one attacking as well. Think of it as a double-edge sword." The risk of injury to injure someone else. Some of the surviving robes watched helplessly as the Ashes moved on. Going down one corridor, Ashley felt a ripping inside her. The sudden jolt caused her to cough blood onto her hands. Ash got worried quickly. This was the president's daughter that needed safe return. "You okay?" Realizing Ash was closing in, Ashley didn't want to let the blood become Ash's concern.

"I'm fine!" she snapped as she shoved Ash back. However, her push off sent her body crashing into the adjacent wall, knocking her down. Ash raced over to make sure she was okay when roars stopped him. He couldn't believe it.

"No way!" Garrador emerged, soaked from helmet to toe. Did the helmet keep him from drowning? Even Ash had to think the size of the claws would weigh him down and keep him from resurfacing. If water couldn't calm this beast, what would? Ash peered to his right as Garrador inched closer, spotting six oval holes in a wall. There were three holes on each side with the width of a grown body. Ashley was down near the other side of the hallway and if Garrador senses her, she's doomed. Ash wasn't the only one aware of it.

"Use the shoulder," a mysterious voice echoed. That had Ash look around for the voice. "Don't worry about me right now, get the claws to pursue you then use the shoulder!" Garrador reached the end of the hallway as he was a yard from Ashley at one end. Ash had to get Garrador from Ashley. He did a sumo stomp. The stomp stopped Garrador to turn to Ash who stomped with the other foot.

"Toro!" Ash, this wasn't a bull. Garrador charged at Ash who lined up in a three-point stance. He waited for Garrador to reach the spot, feeling a sensation in his shoulder. Garrador wound his arm to slice Ash while Ashley watched helplessly with Pikachu in her arms. WHIFF! Ash corked his body away from the strike. "Olé!" Ash sprung forward. SMASH! Ash's shoulder smacked into Garrador's knees, buckling the caps in. The smash flipped Garrador like a pancake. He landed back first onto the hardened floor that appeared to be missing some of the concrete. Before anyone could act, there was a reason for the missing pieces of floor: rising spikes. The spikes shot from the ground up, pinning then skewering Garrador through his body. Ashley and Pikachu jerked away from the gory sight. Garrador roared in unreal pain but began quieting until he roared no longer and his arms would fall limp. Garrador was dead. The spikes lowered back to the ground and Garrador was still. Ash summoned a monkey with fire for hair and a while furry chest. once again so that he could have help set up Garrador to the wall where they slapped him into the wall. They barely cleared away as curved bars sprung out of the holes and wrapped the clawed assassin as Ashley stood. Finally, the wall rotated and spun Garrador to the other side. Ash finally breathed a sigh of relief. "I had about enough of that guy." Same with Ashley but she was more inept at Ash.

"That was a little too close for comfort," she huffed. "What were you trying to do, impress me?" Ash, trying to impress a girl, let alone the president's kid?

"I heard a voice telling me to use my shoulder to knock him over. Just had to wait for that moment to tag him." Ashley acted less than impressed. Ash and Pikachu began to journey further into the castle while a huffy daughter just looked on.

"Ash Ketchum, I just know you'll be the death of me!" Ignoring her, Ash walked ahead. Suddenly, there was a ring. Was it Ingrid? Ash answered as Ashley caught up.

"Talk to me." A laughter shrilled terror into the receiver. Ash jerked the phone away from hearing the horrifying cackle. "Ramon?"

"So sorry to keep you from reaching the Secret Service across the Atlantic," Salazar mocked. "We jacked the line to prevent you from spilling...unnecessary information." Ash scoffed. That's when he decided to tease Salazar.

"You mean tell Washington about the outdated weapons you're demonstrating on us? Or about how Mr. Claws decimated your men before becoming a pin cushion?" Salazar snarled, losing his snickers. And it wasn't just the candy bar, either.

"You...killed Garrador? He's invincible!" Ah, no. "No weapon can pierce him!"

"Yeah, I saw. You just needed to trap him."

"So it seems. By the way, I released some of my insects for some workout in the sewers below." Ash could follow but he had a feeling someone was already taking care of them.

"I'd love to but I believe one of my rivals may be down there already with your bugs." There was only one rival Ash knew was alone: Paul.

"You're bluffing!"

"Hey, check for yourself. We did break to handle our own businesses." In another portion of the castle, Gary found a bottle of red/white pills underneath a cabinet. Could those be the medicine to control the parasites?

"Is this it, Luis?" he asked. Luis waived his hand to look at it himself. Gary tossed the bottle and studied it. One nod told the two that Gary found the prescription for those seizures.

"Si!" he replied. "Let's go find the others." Gary acknowledged before heading out to find the others. Meanwhile, Paul was watching something involving plenty of robes surrounding a red cloak who had a devilish skull with crooked horns.

"Looks like a ritual," he whispered. "Whatever it is, I don't care about." Finding flash, fire and frag grenades during his solo trek, Paul was ready to make his move. He threw the blue, flash grenade down from the level above. When one of the black cloaks spotted the flash grenade, it was too late. BANG! The blinding flash and concussive sound wave quickly disoriented the cloaks. Paul exercised part two: Pokémon support as he tossed his Pokéball. "Drapion, standby for battle!" The ball opened to reveal a giant scorpion with long arms and pincers on it's tail to add to the neck a normal scorpion wouldn't have. The cloaks were on the move at them. "Use Pin Missile!" Drapion fired stinging volleys of pins, spearing into the cloaks as Paul backed it up with his machine gun. Cloaks were getting mowed down and while Drapion was dealing with most of the religious folk, Paul pursued the one in red. Two shots to the kneecaps left the red defenseless. He snatched the key before he used the horns and planted him into the ground. "I'll be taking this, even if you do mind." He returned to Drapion, still fit to battle while the others were a different tale. "Good work. Return." After recalling Drapion, Paul continued forward until he got to a certain portion where Salazar was waiting.

"Well, well!" he spoke up. "This wouldn't be one of those...rivals the one guarding the president's daughter was talking about, no?" He pranced around up in his upper balcony, a bit upset. "But I have no desire for you, sadly. I'm only interested in Ashley." Desperation. Paul found humor in Ramon's struggles.

"If you couldn't take down a pathetic trainer like that Pallet boy, you're even more deplorable." The way Paul addressed Salazar, he'd have an easier conversation with Ash...if not for tricking Garrador to his death.

"I'm deplorable, you say? Keep in mind, this is my castle that you've trespassed onto. I am-"

"I don't care who you are." That was rude, Paul. One Salazar took personally.

"You insolent child!" Paul had a study about his height of the railing and the supposed height of Salazar just to poke some fun.

"Takes one to know one. Besides, what with that figure? You have the hair of a old geezer and a body of kid." A point Salazar wanted to clear up.

"Well, as startling as my looks to say, I am merely 20 years old." Even more use to tease and mock the castle owner.

"And you can't take care of someone about half your age? What a laugh!" Salazar had just about enough of Paul's sarcastic mouth. The walls opened up to more armed cloaks. An ambush and Paul was surrounded.

"I will not tolerate those who...belittle me." As Salazar made his escape, the cloaks moved in. Can Paul escape or will Ash and Gary be down a rival, much to their relief if being heartless?

CONTINUARÁ...