Hidden In Shadows Part 2~ Running Blind

It was hours later that Gary finally dismounted Wes' motorcycle at the gates of Pyrite Town. Just a quick glance around the street told much about what sort of place it was. The buildings were dirty, cigarette butts littered the ground and the people on the streets all looked suspiciously like gang members. Tight-lipped, Gary steeled himself and walked towards the nearest person, who happened to be a boy with a bandanna near the entrance to the town, smoking a cigarette and tossing a Pokeball up and down in his hand.

"Excuse me," Gary said, trying to add his confident sneer to his voice. His voice still slightly shook. "Have you seen two men in a truck come by here?"

"Maybe I have," the kid said raising an eyebrow.

"Well then which way did they go?" Gary said, getting impatient.

"If you really want to know then battle me, and I'll tell you if you win."

"I don't have time for that!" Gary snapped.

"Then go ask someone else," the kid laughed.

"You bastard!" Gary snapped, "Fine!" he dove for his Pokeballs as the kid released a Furret. Gary's eyes widened and he turned out his pockets. No Pokeballs. He had left them all at the Pokémon centre.

"What's the matter? Release your Pokémon!" the kid growled.

Gary blanched. "I-I don't have my Pokémon with me," he whispered, horrified.

"What the hell? Stupid kid..." the cig-kid snorted. Suddenly the Furret let out a loud growl and charged at Gary, who let out a yell and dodged at the last second, throwing himself to the ground.

"What's wrong with that Pokémon?" Gary demanded as the boy fiercely called his Furret, who stopped, looking slightly puzzled. The boy recalled it and frowned.

"I won this thing from the Pyrite Stadium; it's been acting weird like that since I got it. I'm going to go back and complain," the kid grumbled.

"Hey! What do you kids think you're doing over here?" a deep voice roared. Gary jumped at the sound and turned to see a VERY muscular man with grey hair lumbering towards them, "Hey! Cail! You know all battles are only to happen in Duel Square!"

"Yeah yeah, sorry Duking. This kid doesn't have Pokémon anyway," the boy Cail said with a shrug.

"I do too! They're just... not here," Gary said sheepishly.

"Then where are they?" Duking asked gruffly.

"Back at Gateon Port, I was in a hurry, and I still am! Did you see a truck come by here?" Gary demanded.

"No, can't say I have, did you Cail?" Duking asked. The boy with the cigarette shuffled his feet and nodded, "Why do you ask anyway? What's your name, kid?"

"Gary Oak, and I need to know where it went because the people driving it..." he figured he'd need some sort of help so he might as well tell the truth, "They kidnapped Amy, my girlfriend."

Duking's eyes flew wide. "They did? Well we'll see about this! Come with me, you too Cail," Duking said, grabbing both boys' arms and dragged then down the road into what Gary assumed was the man's house, "We have a police force here but everyone knows I'm the real law. Now tell me exactly what happened." Gary nodded and began to tell his tale.

Elsewhere, under Pyrite Town, Amy was finally out of the bag she'd been stuffed in.

Amy sat on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest and looked angrily at the grey, rocky walls of her cell. Even on the other side of the bars there was only a narrow hall facing a wall identical to those inside her prison. The light was dim and flickering.

Amy had felt herself grabbed, carried and dumped many times, heard lots of muffled voices, and was now inside this small cell alone for no reason she could determine. She had clearly been kidnapped, but to what end?

Finally, after about 15 minutes Amy stood, grabbed the bars and shouted, "HELLO! ANYBODY OUT THERE? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

A low but audible male voice (it sounded like a guy from his late teens or early twenties, Amy guessed) came echoing from what Amy assumed with the cell to the left of her own. "So, you see the Shadow Auras too then?"

Amy froze, not actually expecting an answer to have come. She thought about the darkness she'd seen around Makuhita earlier and thought that that might be what the boy was referring to. "Um, yeah I think so. That shadowy mass around that one Pokemon..."

"Then you're here for termination," the voice said dully, "Just like me."

Amy's heart beat faster. "T-termination? As in-?"

"Yeah, we're gonna die. Not yet though, they're still running experiments. They didn't run many before they started killing off mass numbers of aura seers, and apparently I was their first subject in ages. They want to find out the cause for it now, rather than just kill all the people they find who can see the auras, since there seems to be more then they knew about and if people keep disappearing more people will start talking about it. They'd rather hide the auras from everyone. They'll probably use you too, for variety in subjects. After they know all they need to, we'll be disposed of."

"N-no way. That won't happen. Gary will... oh what am I saying? Sure Gary will try to find me but I can't rely on that. I'll just have to escape myself then," Amy said confidently.

Silence from the boy, then, "Who are you, and what makes you think you can escape from here? You don't even know where you are, or why you're here, or anything. I assume you don't even really know what shadow auras are, judging by your hesitation when I asked if you could see them."

"My name's Amy, Amy Tanner," Amy said frowning.

"Tanner huh? Where're you from?"

"Kanto, who are you and where are you from?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Hey! I just told you who I was, why can't you tell me? That's pretty rude you know," Amy huffed.

"Fine, my name's Jesse. I'm from Sinnoh. I came here to see my cousin Justy in Phenac City and I happened to see and comment on a shadow Pokémon in front of the wrong guy. I was taken here. That's my whole story."

Amy sighed, "I suppose you'll want my life story now then?"

"Not really," Jesse grunted. Amy's eyes narrowed, unsure if she should be insulted. They stayed silent for a time.

Back in Duking's house, Gary had finished his story.

"So Amy Tanner, daughter of Wes and Rui, incredible," Duking breathed.

"Erm, yeah, only Rui died years ago..."

"You know I'm an old man, even if I don't really look it. I knew Amy's parents. Great kids. Saved my Plusle from Cipher Goons who were blackmailing me. I'm sorry to hear about Rui, she was a sweet girl. I'll do whatever possible to help you find Amy."

Gary sighed and smiled. "Thanks, I wouldn't mind the help."

Suddenly, a small red rodent Pokémon zoomed into the zoomed and knocked Gary over, jumping all over him and chattering, "PLUSLE PLUSLE PLUSLE!"

That Pokémon was followed by a blue one, "MININ! MININ MININ!"

"Oh, looks like Plusle and Minin remember Rui and Wes too, they'll help," Duking said with a smile. Gary stared at the two bouncing on his chest and raised an eyebrow, unsure how much help they'd be. Cail was laughing his ass off until Duking clapped him on the shoulder and demanded he tell them where the truck went, and as punishment for battling outside of Duel Square, he was told that he was to be coming with them. This sobered Cail up rather fast.

"Oh, hey I remember you now!" Jesse exclaimed suddenly, "You came in second in the Kanto Pokémon League! I heard some guards mention your name."

Amy started at the exclamation, "Uh, yeah I did. That was a little while ago, how long have you been here?"

"Maybe 3 months, and it wasn't very long ago."

Amy was shocked. "And no one's looking for you?"

"First of all, how the hell should I know if people are looking for me? I only overheard what they said about you, they don't exactly issue me a newspaper every day," Jesse said and added a bitter laugh before a soft mutter that Amy barely caught, "Not that it would matter if they did."

Amy hesitated. "Well... do you think anyone's looking for you?"

"No."

The abruptness of the answer took Amy by surprise. "Why?"

"Because all my family and friends are-," he stopped suddenly and then finished, "Back in Sinnoh. They-uh, don't know I'm here."

"What about Justy?"

"He didn't know I was coming, they got me before I could reach him."

Amy looked at the wall behind which she knew Jesse was, and gave a determined look toward it. "We'll get out. Gary will probably find someone to help him with it. He has Pokémon. We'll- we'll be fine. Really."

Jesse let out another bitter laugh. "You haven't seen me; you don't know what's coming for you. When you do, you'll lose that attitude pretty fast."

Amy's eyes widened. "Why? What did they do to you?" At that moment, random salsa music filled the air.

"God it's Mirror B.," Amy heard Jesse groan.

"Darrrrrling!" Amy's head snapped forward to see some weirdo man in a yellow jumpsuit, huge sunglasses and sporting an enormous red and white afro. The music was coming from a tape recorder at his belt. "Come, come! Time for you to come along and tell us about yourself!" he said grinning and opening the cell door. He swept inside and yanked Amy up, quickly snapping handcuffs on her and forcing her out the door. She caught sight of the other cell as she was pushed down the hall. Inside was a boy with dark red hair, freckles, and black clothes. Amy felt a shriek rise in her throat when she saw his eyes. They were scarred deeply, in bloody red, the parts without the blood milky white. He was blind, and Amy had a feeling that he wasn't blind three months ago. At this though, her entire body went cold.