I'm back baby…"cue fireworks"
"HOLY CRAP!" Sange yelled as he slammed his soda can onto the table, causing Kite and Dean to jump up in their seats from surprise.
"What?" Dean asked the wild eyed Lucario.
"It's been like….like….Two months since we've updated!!"
Both Kite and Dean stared at him with bland expressions.
"Update what…?" Dean asked. Sange jumped onto the table and grabbed Dean's shirt collar.
"THE NEXT CHAPTER MAN." He yelled.
Dean narrowed his eyes and grabbed both of Sange's hands and lifted them off him.
"Sange…have you smoked the wrong berry again?" He said lightly.
"No, the voices told me it was the right one!!" He suddenly looked outside and saw a passing group of children. A look of total joy passed his face.
"Gasp….its the rare human Pokémon…I'm gonna catch it! "He ran towards the window and jumped. "SANGE AWAAAAAAY"CRASH "I'LL BE A Pokémon MASTER ONE DAAAAAAAY!!!" He yelled as he began to chase after the children.
"You going to stop him?" Dean asked Kite, who was simply looking at a list of what the bar served.
"Why should I?"
"Because….uhhh….well….uhhh….Never mind" Dean said before signaling the barkeeper. The tall, long brown-haired bartender walked over stood in front of Dean and Kite.
"What can I get you two?"
"I'll have a tequila slammer." Dean said, ordering his favorite drink.
"And you sir?" he asked Kite.
"ummm…." Usually Kite hated drinking anything that had an iota of alcohol in it, but after drinking only water on their trip from the Port, he was feeling thirsty.
"Got any Sake (Saki for those who can't pronounce worth crap)" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"uhhh….no….I don't even know what that is…I'm sorry, can I get you something else then?" He said with a confused look on his face.
"ehhh….just ice water then…" Kite said with a sigh. The bartender nodded and walked away to prepare their drinks.
"I see you haven't lost your taste for drinks from the Vale." Dean said from beside him.
"Yeah, I would be surprised if he knew what Sake was….or even the vale for that matter." He said, referring to the mysterious, far eastern continent that had closed their borders off over two hundred years ago for an unknown reason. Even the Spec-ops were clueless to why this had happened and had long since given up attempting to find out.
The only reason Dean knew about the vale was because of his connections to Kite.
"So anyways, how we doing so far?" He asked.
Kite responded by pulling out a map of the North-Western part of the Southlands. He pointed towards woods edge, the town that they were currently staying at.
"It took us a week and a half of traveling to get here, and we moved at a moderate pace." He then indicated The Silent Forest and Palmer. "If we keep up the same speed, and don't get sidetracked, we should make it through the woods and into Palmer in a week….but"
Dean folded his arms.
"But?"
"This is the Silent Woods we are talking about…I mean; mothers tell kids stories about the woods to get them to sleep…"
"They also tell stories about me to make them wet their beds.." Dean said with an outrageously straight face.
Kite ignored him.
"If something goes wrong in there…"
"What could go wrong?" Dean asked. He already knew the answer, but wanted to make sure Kite was thinking along the same lines he was.
"Well, how about it turns out Ketchum is part of the Advent and kills us all in our sleep."
"I really don't think…"
"yeah neither do I, but it's still a possibility. I have no idea of why Terrorist group has an interest in this kid, but I intend to protect him…or arrest him." Kite said with a serious voice. A second later, the bartender walked up and handed them their drinks. Kite took a sip from the cool water and turned back to the map.
"Anyways, once we hit Palmer and the Grass Sea, should be easy sailing to Leyalin and the Mid Mountains." Kite noticed Dean visibly flinch at the mention of the Mid Mountains.
"Something wrong?" He asked. Dean suddenly looked very uncomfortable. He started to nervously look around and his voice dropped to a mere whisper.
"Umm…do we have to take the road that borders the northern Mid Mountains?" He asked in a strange voice.
Kite raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"Why…"
"I uhhh…" Dean started to scratch his right shoulder but suddenly stopped and forced his hand down. "I just don't feel comfortable around that area."
Kite folded his arms and gave his partner a hard look.
"We are not going to Leyalin and then taking the southern route through the free-fire zone without a damn good reason."
"I know I know….I just don't want to head that direction…"
"Why?"
"Never mind…" He said slowly, then turned towards his drink. But Kite wouldn't let it slide.
"If there is something I should know about, then you should tell me." He said, his voice holding a small amount of concern for his partner.
"I said nothing." Dean retorted in a voice that held a hard edge of someone who wasn't going to answer no matter what.
"fine then, I'll just have you know that-" Before Kite continued, there was a large ruckus at the entrance to the bar. Both Kite and Dean turned around to see what looked like a group of college frat boys (YAAAAY STEREOTYPES) pushing their way inside. The one in the lead looked around the bar and then set his eyes on the two young men, and along with his group, started walking towards them.
Dean groaned.
"Look, a convenient distraction!"
"Hey May…." Ash said while sitting on a bench in the town square.
"Hmmm?" May said without looking up from a town map she had found.
"Why is Sange throwing Poke balls at little children?" He said in a completely normal voice.
"Beats me." She said.
"Maybe cause he's a-, you know, retard?" Kiri said with a laugh….before a Poke ball went sailing through the air and smacked her in the face."
"AWWWWW, I forgot I got to damage it first, oh well…" Sange yelled from the other side of the square before running off, laughing manically.
Kiri took off her hat for a second and ran a hand through her long black hair before putting it back on.
"I swear sometimes that guy…"
"Yeah he does that to everyone you know." May said.
"But..."
"Everyone…" Ash added.
"Oh fine" Kiri said with a sigh. "So anyways, what's to do in this town May?"
May continued to look trough the town map for anything that could be described as 'fun'.
"Well uhhh….they have ummm….a general store…" She said with a tiny laugh.
Ash and Kiri were not amused.
"I'm sorry; this town is really small…I can't find anything interesting!!"
Kiri sighed and stood up, dusting her summer dress off. She looked around at the small town before her. From what Kite had told them, woods edge was nothing more than what he called "a gate city". A gate city was a town or settlement that sat on the transition between one region to another. In Woods edge's case, the two regions where the North-west and the Grass Sea, with the silent Forest separating them.
"Well…It is a small town, Brock and Dawn are getting our supplies….we are stuck out here and….Where are Kite and Dean?" She asked.
"I think they went to the pub." May said. She stood up. "We got nothing better to do, so want to head over there?"Both Ash and May nodded and began following Kiri towards the pub where Kite and dean were staying.
"So like, why is Kite in a pub? I thought he hates alcohol." Kiri asked.
"I think me and him are the only ones that do..." Ash said with a nervous laugh.
"No, you just can't hold your booze." May said with a laugh. The last time the whole group had had drinks together, it was on the very boat where they had all met. Everyone, even the girl had been able to hold more alcohol than Ash, who had almost passed out on his first sip.
"yeah…We've come a long way since then." Kiri said, referring to the relationships they all had now. Kiri was practically Mays best friend and enjoyed being around Kite. May was close friends with Kite and buddies with Dean. Everyone loved to hate Sange.
Kiri had pointed out that as they traveled, they could resemble a massive dysfunctional family. Everyone, except Sange who called it a circus, was able to smile and agree.
"Hey…." Kiri suddenly stopped, causing Ash and May to bump into her. The two of them looked over her shoulder and saw a large crowd looking through the windows of the pub.
"What's going on?" May asked in a confused voice.
"You don't seem to understand those are OUR favorite seats." Said the apparent leader of the group of men who where now badgering Kite and Dean.
Kite started the man down without batting an eye.
"Fine, I'll go ahead and move." Kite said in a calm voice.
The man just laughed. "You don't understand, we don't like people-"SLUUUUUURP Both Kite and the man turned to see Dean slurping the last of his drink with a green silly straw. He grinned.
"Couldn't resist it hehehe…" Dean said as he put his drink down.
Kite managed to not burst out laughing, but still let a smile crack out as he turned back towards the angry looking man.
"Well, I'm terribly sorry about all this, we'll just be going now…" Kite started to get up, but the man grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back down.
"I don't think-"
Kite reached up and put his hand on top his hand.
"That…"He began to squeeze with surprising strength, making the man flinch. "Was a very…" He twisted one of his fingers, making him yhelp in pain. "Big mistake…"
He let go of his hand. The man jerked backwards and held his injured hand close to his chest.
Dean then took that moment to join in by standing up and planting his hands on table.
"Kite, I've been in a lot of bar-room brawls…and this one is taking forever to start up…so I'm gonna go ahead and…." Dean twisted around a threw a punch at one of the men, knocking him flat on his back "…Jump the gun!!!"
Dean Jumped forward and crouched into a fighting stance.
"ENGUARD!"
The group if men took one look at their fallen comrade, before letting out various curse words and oaths to rip dean limb from limb. And as one, they lunged towards him. Kite sighed and bolted to his feet.
"And all I wanted…" He grabbed the closest attacker and used his momentum to throw him over his shoulder and crashing into a table. "WAS A DRINK!" He yelled as he kicked another man in the face.
From besides him, Dean was laughing out of all things as he grabbed a plate of pasta from a very surprised customer and slammed it into the face of his closest attacker. He then twisted around, grabbed the back of the head of another man and slammed it into the table, knocking him out instantly.
"Haven't had a good bar fight in months!" Dean yelled as he kneed someone in the gut, dropping him to the floor.
Kite ignored him and grabbed a fist that was aimed at his head, twisted it and then pulled down, causing the man to fall the ground in a pain. Kite then looked up and through the window…to see Ash, Kiri and may all staring at him with their jaws wide open.
"Uh oh…uhh…hehe…." Kite waved at them.
The only response he got back was a look of horror from May and Kiri frantically pointing to something behind him. Before he could turn around, he found himself in a choke hold.
The second he felt the arm tighten around his neck, he placed one foot back and the started to shift his weight forward and down. In the matter of a second, the man who thought he had the upper hand suddenly found himself flying through the air and a glass window.
Ash, May and Kiri jumped backward as the man landed with a heavy thud on the ground next to them, clearly knocked out.
Kite Stuck his head through the broken window and smiled and gave a nervous laugh.
"Hey guys! Me and dean are kind of in the middle of something right now…." From behind Kite, the three of them suddenly heard Dean yell:
"watch the birdie!!!" There was a loud thud "Awww you didn't watch the birdie…"
Kite scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I think we should leave this town soon…."
"Kite…is this gonna happen every time we let you and Dean go to a bar alone?" Kiri said, clearly not fazed by the violence taking place around her.
"They started it!!!" Kite yelled.
"I don't care who started it!! If this happens again I'll end it!"
Kite gave her a flat look.
"Sange pissed you off again…"
"Yep…"
"Well I can't-"he whipped around suddenly at the sound of someone running and saw the leader of the group holding his broken hand and scurrying towards the exit.
Without saying a word to Kiri or Dean, he vaulted over a table and ran after his as he dove through an exit to the back of the building.
Even though he had a head start of several second, Kite managed to catch up to him and slam him into a wall, face first. Now that he was alone, he no longer had to hide under any mask.
The Spec-ops Assassin inside of him rose to the surface.
"There are two ways this can go down…" Kite squeezed his broken hand making him cringe in pain. "One…you can tell me why you attacked me and my friend…"
"You where in our seat and-"Kite shoved his hand into the man's side making yell in pain.
"….or….I can break every bone in your body and leave you to rot…" He said in an incredibly dark voice.
The last line convinced the man to tell the truth.
"Ok ok….some Kid, younger than both of us, paid us a few hundred bucks to beat the crap out of you. It was a lot of money for something simple! So we decided to do it."
"Wait back up, you where sent to attack ME?" Kite asked in a confused tone.
"Yes, you, he gave us a photo of you and everything…"
Kite ignored the rest of his words and slammed his head into the wall, knocking him out instantly. As he dropped to the ground, Kite was already walking away with his mind spinning. As he walked towards the front, he didn't notice that dean was arguing with the bartender about the damage they had caused. He didn't notice Ash, Kiri and May rush over to him. He didn't notice anything. He only had one thought in his head.
Someone in the Southlands had him on their list.