Spitfire, Chapter 27: This ain't a scene.
To put it simply, May was frantic. Even after everyone else stopped to make plans, she still hung around the edge of the trees in hope of finding not only Drew, but also Misty, who had also gone missing. According to Iris, they were probably trying to collect people of authority; gym leaders, top coordinators; professors. She said that when they were about to be abducted, the only reason Iris managed to break away was because Cilan line tackled her into the dirt outside of Pallet Town. Thus, Cilan was kidnapped, and Iris was left to find Ash and his group.
Unfortunately, she was still late. May tried not to get mad about this, but her friends were taken. Delia was already beating herself up as well for leaving the ringer off the phone; Iris and Cilan left frantic voice messages on their way out of Vermillion City that were never heard; resulting in an ambush.
"How did this even happen?" May stammered to herself while looking around the trees. She couldn't phantom Jessie and James doing this—they wanted Pikachu, yes, but their goofy antics were comical at the very least, they were never... violent. She sighed, they were never out to kidnap people and hurt her friends; they just wanted their pokemon, but whoever Bill and Cassidy were, they were serious. Even the naturally optimistic May was struggling to find an upside to all of this. She was nearing the edge of the property when she heard a grunt from below one of the large oak trees. She grabbed her pokeball right away, prepared for if it was a Team Rocket grunt, but what she saw instead was Tracey kneeling below a tree, barely conscious.
"Brock!" May screamed, alerting the group at the porch who were trying to devise a plan to find their friends. "I found Tracey!" May yelled while falling to her knees to support the older trainer. Unlike Delia and Serena, he wasn't just hit once; he was brutalized. His forehead was split open near his hairline, blood trickled down his lip, and his arm looked twisted to some degree. How cruel, May thought while ripping off her bandana to stop the bleeding.
"Tracey!" Ash yelled, the first of the group to reach the tree, he fell to his knees as well only to touch Tracey's shoulder and send a shock of pain through his whole body. "Are you okay?!" Ash asked worriedly, glad to see that he was okay, but a little rough around the edges.
"A little easy there, Ash." Tracey grimaced, pulling himself slowly to his feet. May rose with him, leaving her bandana pressed against his forehead while he used Ash as support. He looked so beaten, but the look of determination in his eye was admirable.
"They took professor Oak." he spat, a little bit of blood trailing down his lip while she spoke. Ash nodded,
"We know, just relax. Let's get you back to the house." Brock looked disgusted upon seeing Tracey. He quickly took over for May, who's black and white glove had been stained by blood, so she removed it.
"Ash, help me get him to the porch." Brock commanded, and together the three of them scrambled to the porch and up the stairs with May following behind. She watched as Brock removed more medical supplies, and looked genuinely pissed off—a look Brock had very seldom, and it worried her.
"Daisy won't be happy about this." Tracey groaned while Ash dropped him a little harshly into a chair by mistake. Tracey was a lot bigger than he was still; while Ash was lean and fit like a runner, Tracey was built more like an axe-man. Ash winced as he watched Tracey's expression turn from content to excruciating pain.
"Sorry." He gulped but Tracey waved him off.
"I'm not broken; just a few cuts and bruises. I'll be fine." he groaned while Brock cleaned and dressed his wound with the finesse of a surgeon; reminding Ash just how much Brock had grown in his own respect. Iris leaned against the railing tapping her fingers against the wood.
"We need to go get them, sooner rather than later." She said, and nods were shared around the group. Ash lowered his eyes to the ground for a moment, a wave of guilt washing through him before he shrugged it off. He didn't have time to feel guilty, he didn't have time to think. They needed to act. Now. He looked up at Iris, who was ready to rock and roll, and then at Serena, who was ready to collapse.
"Only people pokemon available should go." he said abruptly, causing Iris to challenge him by puffing out her chest.
"I've been here fighting them since the start! I'm going!"
"Iris, you can barely walk right now. You should stay here in case something happens and get some rest." Ash scolded, sounding for once much older than he actually was. Surprisingly, Gary was the first person to agree with the league champion. He was just as eager to find Team Rocket as Ash. His grandfather was taken, but Gary was a lot cooler about the situation; always thinking rationally, while Ash thought volatile.
"He's right, anyone else will only slow us down. If this isn't Jessie and James, we can only assume that we're dealing with actual criminals; which means the authorities should be mentioned as well." As Gary spoke, a light came on in Delia's eyes and she nodded.
"I'll go do that now, as well as an ambulance." Gary nodded to her, much to Ash's chagrin. Dawn hadn't let go of the flower in her hand, partially blaming herself for this situation; thought in no rational way was it her fault. Inhaling softly, she placed the flower onto the table beside Serena, who looked at it calmly, and then exhaled.
"I agree." Dawn added, wiping her hands on her skirt and approaching the ring of trainers; May and Max stepped up next, frowning deeply. This was personal.
"Just the five of us? Brock, Clemont, what about you?" Ash asked while looking over at where he tended to Tracey's wounds with the help of Clemont.
"We will stay here and help the injured." Brock answered, standing up to face Ash and nod towards him.
"And when the police get here, we will lead them to you guys." Clemont added, oddly hostile for his usual goofy nature.
"Are you sure Clemont?" Max asked skeptically, having grown accustomed to having Clemont around, but the older trainer nodded.
"I'm not as athletic as any of you. I'll just get in the way." He said awkwardly, but there was no time to discuss his nature and decision as the five trainers nodded to one another and approached the steps. As they pushed into a single direction, Dawn stopped suddenly.
"Wait! We don't know where they went! We should split up and scout the area, once we find them we will call everyone to our location! That way we can cover more ground!" Dawn suggested, catching everyone off guard. Ash looked at her with wild eyes, but nodded slowly. Each person followed his lead, and then checked their gear phones to make sure that they were on.
"And I don't think we need to mention that you should be careful." Gary suggested, looking at each person square in the face, "Leave a pokemon out at all time so if you get jumped they can defend you." He suggested and after they all nodded; they broke apart in agreement. Team Rocket was going down if it was the last thing they all did. Serena stood up to watch them disband and gently touched the railing.
"...They'll be okay." She said outwardly, mostly to reassure herself rather than anyone present.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOOXOX
Even after what felt like an hour-which Misty was sure was actually only about ten minutes-none of her fellow cell mates were awake. She had tried once again to wake Drew; but found that as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the boys were beaten up a lot more than she was. She got off easy in retrospect; shocked and punched was nothing compared to the bruises passed along most of these men. She rattled her chains for what felt like the millionth time, shaking her arms violently, trying to get her hands free, but the way the binds wrapped around the pole were already cutting out the circulation from her hands. She swore continuously, unwilling to just give up. There was some way out of this situation. She just had to find it.
After a loud jarring noise, sunlight peeked in through a few cracks in the surface of the metal box she was sitting in, and she winced slightly, jerking forward when they came to a roaring, bumpy stop.
Listening to the noises outside, she could hear foot steps approaching and frantically, she closed her eyes and let her head hang low to appear unconscious to the approaching soldiers. She didn't feel like getting hit again, which was probably in her future if she was conscious when they entered the cell. Seconds later, the door opened, but she couldn't see who it was. Light peeked in through her eyelids and she fought the urge to open them and see who the perpetrators were. They sounded like ordinary Team Rocket grunts, but a lot angrier.
"I can't believe they has us pull out early because of a professor; we had the man power to take on all of those trainers." One of the foul smelling men complained while unlocking who she assumed to be Professor Oak, and pulled him out of the metallic box they were in. Tempting fate, she cracked her right eye open slightly to see them. There were six of them in there, and hope of crotch kicking them all and running was slim with that many. She wasn't sure she could take them all with everyone awake, let alone by herself. So, as they worked their way around their prisoners and transferred them by unlatching their chains and dragging them against the cold ground, Misty was up last.
The bastards couldn't even have the decency to drag her head first; they grabbed her legs and tugged her along like a corpse. Assholes, she swore while trying to keep her face as stoic as possible. The temptation to kick the one dragging her was too great to bare; but she withheld her anger and creaked one eye open to look along her new destination. Surprisingly, she saw chandeliers and elegant trimming around the roof. The ground swayed beneath her familiar, and she twisted only very slightly to look at the window. They were on a boat! A boat! Of all places! She maneuvered gently to see that the man was pulling her with his back to her, much like how a farmer would rope a baby tauros—she couldn't see her friends from this angle, but as they drew nearer the commons, she realized her dire situation. She only got a glance, but could see a large embodiment of pokemon captured in cages, as well as gear and other expensive looking objects. Whatever this was, it was thought out for months. Misty rested a bit; what the hell was Team Rocket doing?
As she was drug down three corridors, head bumping against several bumps in the floor, she swore that when she got out; she was going to find this specific person, and do horrible things to him... but first, she had to figure out a way to get out. The closer they came to her new cell, the less likely that seemed to be. There was no place for her to go with her arms chained behind her back; she couldn't even swim like this.
"Through here." the one up front who had taken Professor Oak commanded while directing the rest of them. Misty shut her eyes quickly, and was maneuvered once again into a small cage. She was the last to be thrown in, and their brutality ended only at pummeling, because they were no gentler with throwing her into the cage than they were with the other four individuals before her. She bit her tongue when her head collided with the metal ground—simply by the noise of the room she could assume that they were in the boiler room, but wasn't able to check until she heard the sudden creak of the closing door, and then the members sleuthing off.
At first, she waited a minute to determine if they were actually gone or not, it was possible that they had guards placed around the cage—but c'mon, who would place guards around a bunch of unconscious people? Hopefully not Team Rocket. Misty sat up quickly, having realized that there was no one else around.
Luckily, they didn't bother tying her to anything this time, so it gave her room to roam. First things first, she needed her hands. Laying back down, she scoot over to the bars for leverage and pressed her feet against them. She lifted her butt from the ground, and then began the painful process of pushing her hands past her hips. Her shoulders popped, and she fell back down in a heap, whining. Misty was a lot of things, but she wasn't a contortionist. Tears swelled in the corners of her eyes while she pulled on her restraints, trying to make them give just a little bit more so that she could get them around her hips; that was the hard part, after that, it was the simple task of looping her arms around her legs, and that she could do.
"Ugh," She grunted, banging her head on the ground after another failed attempt. She could feel her arms popping, and possibly the bindings around her wrists cutting through her gloves, but it would be worth it so long as she could just.. Struggling a bit more, she inhaled, and finally managed to get her hands down far enough that she could bring them up quickly around her legs. Breathing a loud sigh of relief, she laid there for a moment, complimenting herself for a job well done.
She sat up carefully, the with her hands on her lap the sudden movement made her want to she scream and cry. Her wrists burned, tiny cuts penetrated her flesh, and so she wiped her eyes, as a small whistle echoed from another corner of the cage, and she looked up to see the familiar dark eyes that she saw in the market staring back at her.
"Paul?" She asked, sniffling.
"That was good, painful to watch, but impressive." He smirked at her, sitting up and leaning against the bars behind him. He had a few bruises along his chin, and a knot forming above his left eye, but it was covered mostly by his purple hair.
Misty smirked at him shamelessly and tilted her head, "Thanks..." She laughed, but her humor didn't last long as she jumped up to check on Drew who hadn't even stirred since they arrived. No time to waste, she shook him on the arm gently, rocking his body back an forth.
"Drew, Wake up. Drew." She whispered, getting close enough to his his ear that he could hear her properly. Sis pale green eyes slowly opened between murky eyelids.
"Misty?" He muttered, and she pat him effortlessly while backing away. She jumped up, much to Paul's surprise with energy and vigor, and approached Professor Oak. He was collapsed on the ground with an open head wound—but nothing that would kill him, she hoped. He was breathing easy, and didn't seem to be pale; so she took his handkerchief from his front lab coat pocket and dabbed it onto his head wound. The pain of his wound being touched didn't phase the man, and Misty cursed. With any luck, he wasn't going to recover as fast as the younger group did. Which was a shame, because she would have liked his brain to help them get out of here.
"What in the world happened?" Drew asked, fully awake. His eyes were still adjusting however; with everything taking a purple haze. While wiggling into a sitting position. He looked over at Paul, and spoke, "The last thing I remember was getting hit over the head, and electric spasms."
Paul scoffed, as if implying that Drew had it easy compared to the wounds of the older male.
"Well, Team Rocket happened, that much we know for sure." Misty implied while she looked down skeptically at her chained hands. Scooting away from Professor Oak, she approached Cilan, whom she hadn't met yet.
"Hey, you, guy. Wake up." She said calmly, shaking the suit wearing man, but he was in even worse shape than Professor Oak. He was not only beaten up, but covered in dirt as well. "Do you guys know him?" Misty asked skeptically, but got shakes all around.
"Handcuffs wouldn't suffice?" Drew asked, looking at Misty's binds.
Scowling, Misty glanced down at her wrists, "I guess not." But now that her hands were in front of her, she was sure that she could manage to wiggle her fingers out of the chains if she maneuvered them correctly, and so she started just that. With hand cuffs, she would have had a harder time.
"So, any plans on how to get out of here?" Paul asked while moving his hands. He, too, was trying to free himself; but he didn't dare to try Misty's variation of freedom, because he knew he wasn't that flexible. Drew did the same, but with much less luck than Paul.
"Well, if I can get out of these chains we might be able to break down the door, or something. I don't know." She offered, but knew their chances were null at the moment. From where they were, they couldn't see a way out of this situation that didn't require bolt cutters or keys. And they couldn't see any keys.
"Who is that, is that one of the twerps?" A strange, Brooklyn sounding accent echoed from across the room, though Misty couldn't see from where. The kidnapped group shrugged and Misty narrowed her eyes.
"...Meowth?" Misty inquired with eyebrows raised.
"It is one of the twerps! Oh thank mew, you have to get us out of here!" James cried agreessivly, slightly panicked.
"Why would I do that, aren't you helping them?" Misty called back, but then after an affronted 'ooooh' from James, he called back.
"Bernard and Cassidy captured us and threw us in here. They're bringing us back to the boss as embarrassments to Team Rocket." He whined, and simply from the tone sheer fear in his voice, she could tell that he wasn't tied up like her group was. She looked between Paul and Drew and stuck out her bottom lip while Jessie yelled at James.
"Be quiet you idiot! We will get out of here ourselves!" She yelled, and Misty nodded slightly,
"Actually, why don't we work together?" Misty called, nearing the edge of the cell, "How often do Barry and Cassidy come to check up on us?" she asked formulating a plot as she managed to knock the chains off her wrists. She rubbed them sorely, the faintest amount of blood covering her finger tips while she paced her cell to look for weakness in the bars. Drew nodded impressed, but it was Paul who escaped his restraints second. Misty pouted, realizing that his were a set of wires rather than chains. Lucky him.
"de' will probablys come by to check on das new group." Meowth answered after a few minutes, and Misty nodded and looked at her group.
"Then we're going to be ready for them." She said while tossing her chains onto the ground. She touched her glove and peeled it back slowly, before tying it in a knot around her right wrist to stop the bleeding.
"How?" Paul asked while rubbing his wrists, he added, "We're stuck in a cage." Misty inhaled and looked around; she didn't have any ideas at the start...
"We can stage a fake out." The small, crackling voice from the ground surprised the threesome as they stared down at the green haired man who slowly sat up. "They're after people of great worth," Cilan said suddenly and motioned to Professor Oak with his mouth.
"He's out cold. We could dress him up. They would have to come in here to check on him, and when they do, we'll grab 'em."
Misty raised her eyebrows, amazed. "That's not a bad idea. Cynical, but not bad." She declared carefully, checking with Drew who wasn't having such an easy time getting out of his restraints, "What's your name anyways?"
"Cilan, I was here to visit a friend, but..." His gaze drifted as he leaned up against the back of the bars, sighing tiredly.
"I'm Misty. You're the guy who traveled with Ash through Unova, yeah?" She suggested while checking his wounds. She was no doctor; so if she saw blood she didn't know what to do. Cilan nodded happily, regardless of the situation.
"That's me! You're the gym leader!"
"That's right." Misty said cheerfully, causing a brief moment of happiness, but as usual, it didn't last long.
"Look, it's great that you twerps are okay, but they're on their way so if you're going to do something, then do it now!" Jessie yelled, causing Misty to dive down beside Cilan, hiding her chains behind her back, only to stand up right again swearing. She rushed toward Professor Oak, and tried to turn him over, away from the cage door. Seeing her struggle, Paul helped her, and together they managed to face him away from the cage, so to check if he was breathing, they would have to walk inside.
"Drew, Paul and I will jump them when they get in the cage. Convince them that he's dead...or something." Misty whispered while laying on the ground. Paul followed suit, getting close to the entrance door. Drew nodded his approval as Cilan laid back down again, wincing as he did. This was either going to work, or blow up in their face. But it was worth a shot.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Ash went south to the harbor—staying fairly close to May who went nearly the same direction. Gary went west, Dawn went north into town, and Max into the East forest. With the help of their flying pokemon, they were hoping to find them sooner rather than later, but after a ten minute sprawl; Ash was getting anxious. There wasn't even a sign of Team Rocket. He swore at himself, wishing for once that it had been Jessie and James that did the kidnapping; at least they were sloppy. Ash's hands were shaking violently while he jogged over and around shrubs.
"Charizard, did you find anything?!" Ash yelled up towards the fire type, but from his angle, he could see the pokemon shake it's head. And so Ash cursed again and came to an abrupt stop at the hill looking down to the pier. He was so upset at himself for his stupidity. First heaving Pikachu away from him, second for letting Misty get kidnapped, third for not watching outside—but how was he supposed to know?!
To be frank, he could count on one hand how many times Team Rocket successfully stole Pikachu, and he didn't want this time to be permanent. He worried like hell about the rodent, yelling inwardly at himself for letting the pokemon out of his sight for so long because of his personal issues; what kind of trainer did that?! And to top it off, they took Misty in only under five minutes after he just talked with her! Despite what he said at the porch; he was livid. He couldn't think of a time before this that he had ever been so angry, and that scared him.
He marched through the shrub of the trees down the hill towards the harbor, but he knew already that there was nothing there. Only a bunch of sweaty fisherman pulling in the afternoon catch. He grumbled.
At this rate, Pikachu and Misty would be gone. Curling his fists to head forehead, he could only hope that someone else had better luck than him. He reached down to his pack to fetch his gear phone, and switched it on, clicking a few buttons, he sighed. No calls; but he wasn't ready to give up yet. He would find his friends.
May took the forest route to the harbor, it was a path less traveled, and with Beautifly hovering around, it was easier to scout out than with Ash's charizard. Where Beautifly could maneuver the forest, Charizard could only fly above it. On her trek, she discovered a walking path towards the harbor that she followed carefully. May was equally distressed as Ash, or more so. Drew was taken, and they had just started dating. What if something happened to him? What if he died?!
She slapped herself for thinking like that. That was too dramatic and she was just envisioning the worst case scenario!
NO, she told herself, she had to think positively because it wasn't just him, all of their friends were in danger and she needed to focus. Skillfully, she slid down a short rock slide, glancing around the area when a tunnel caught her eye, exploding out of the hillside, with giant tire tracks leading down to the coast. Her breath hitched in her throat as she dipped over to a tree, Beautifly hovered over her dutifully, watching her back while she approached the tunnel; it was man made, but not held up with supports or anything. This was fresh! She spun around, and ducked behind the trees, trying to stay out of eyesight just in case there was anyone watching her. Getting ready, she took out her phone and started to dial Ash. That way if she was abducted, they would know where to start at the very least.
It rang quietly as she dipped around a bend in the forest, peering around the corner, she could see the start of a private docking area just down the road. The original fisherman were tied up on the deck, and men in black outfits with red R's on their shirt piled mountains of supplies into a cargo ship.
"Bingo!" She called as the connection went through, slapping her hand over her lips to silence herself.
"Did you find something?" Ash asked eagerly; apparently he hadn't found anything. May nodded, before realizing that he couldn't see her and stammered her reply.
"Yes, there's a trail in the forest heading south. It leads into a private dock. I think I found where everyone been taken, but this place is crawling with creeps."
"Alright! I'll be there shortly! Don't get anywhere near them without me." He demanding, scuffling about on his side. Ash whistled sharply to Charizard, and he flew down as he commanded, lowering it's neck just enough for Ash to break into a sprint and jump onto the pokemons back.
"Call everyone else. We will have to work together!" he sounded elated at the good news, and May could relate as she hung up, and called Dawn next.
She watched the way that they packaged the boxes, what ever they were, onto the ships so carefully and licked her lips. When the gang got together, there would be some imminent hell to pay. They messed with the wrong trainers.
Author's Note:
I was supposed to write this in last chapters note, fml. We are nearing the end of the story, so if anyone has any lasting questions; write them in a review now (if you haven't already), or as we get closer to the end (because some of your questions might get answered as we move along). I will address the ones that are not answered at the end of the last chapter. I can't wait to read all the reviews, thank you again guys! :)