Chapter 22

*Hunter J's Airship*

"Where's Ash? What have you done to him?" May asked, since all of them except Ash were locked behind bars. Brock examined the bars, wondering if one of their smaller pokémons can squeeze through.

"Hey, don't ignore us!" May said. The henchmen simply continued on with their work.

"What are we gonna do now? We have to save Ash and get out of here!" Max asked anxiously.

"Discussing for a plan? You really think my henchmen are deaf, aren't you?" Hunter J leered, while the henchmen started laughing.

"Is everything ready?" a rather familiar voice asked.

"No sir, I still have to calculate the energy needed for consumption-"

"Whatever! Get it done by today!"

"Isn't that Giovanni?" Brock whispered to the rest of the group.

"Who's Giovanni?" May asked.

"He's the head of Team Rocket." Brock explained.

"But what is he doing here?" Max asked.

"Who knows? But I have a really bad feeling about this…" May said.

"Yeah, hope Ash is okay…" Brsock said.

"Want to know where your friends are? I'll tell you," Giovanni mocked, "Your friend, Ash Ketchum, as you all knew already, has the ability to use aura. So put it in the simple way, I want it, and I'll get it from him."

"You can't just do that! There's no way Ash will let you!" May snapped back. She doesn't know what to do. Normally in this type of situation, Ash would be the one with ideas of how to escape. But now, he's in trouble himself.

Giovanni laughed evilly to himself, "Trust me, there's no need to negotiate. See that machine there? All I have to do is just place him there, and it will get me what I want." The trio looked towards the machine Giovanni pointed to. It was connected to a chair, with wires attached to it.

"And as for you all, don't worry, meals will be provided. You won't be killed, until I get the boy's aura." And with that, Giovanni left, leaving the henchmen to watch the place.

"There must be a way we can get out of here." Dawn whispered. Since the henchmen were a distance from them, it's still possible to talk without them knowing.

"I know, I've been looking at the bars. Maybe we can't break it, but I think Piplup might be able to squeeze through it without letting the guards know." Brock said.

"But the guards can still see Piplup!" Max said.

"Yeah, we have to somehow distract them," Brock said. He looked up and noticed May walking around the little space they are trapped in. "May, what are you doing?"

May checked the whole place, before returning to the trio, "I was just wondering if there may be a vent around here. But I guess not."

Max sighed. "Oh great, and how do we even distract the guards? There's so many of them!"

"Shh! Lower down your voice Max!" Brock quickly said. Fortunately the henchmen couldn't hear them. "I don't know yet, but we must try…"

*At another part of the airship*

The door opened, as Ash quickly stepped back. He reached towards his belt, only to find that his pokeballs had been taken away.

"So, enjoying yourself while you still can? You should be happy that you get to stay here instead of behind bars with your friends."

"Hunter J! Let my friends go!"

Hunter J merely smirked, "Such a kid…"

Ash clutched his fists, controlling himself from punching the woman in the face. "What do you want?"

"Now that's a proper question. Listen kid. You should be lucky that you're alive now. If you hadn't have aura, I would have make sure you're dead now."

Ash gulped as Hunter J closed the door behind her. He stepped back backwards slowly, but soon come in contact with the wall. Hunter J took out a pokeball, and released Ariados.

"String shot!" The spider pokémon directed the string shot towards Ash, tying him up. Ash struggled to get free, as Hunter J grabbed him by the neck. "I may not be able to kill you yet, but I still can hurt you."

Hunter J pushed Ash down towards the floor, as Ariados made its way towards him. Ash watched helplessly as the pokémon came closer.

'No… Don't…'

Ariados blinked his eyes, but continued on. Hunter J smirked as she watches on. It was pleasing to see her arch enemy finally within her clutches.

"AHHHHH!" Ash screamed in pain as Ariados used Fury Swipes on him. A tear ran down his cheeks as he felt the pain stinging at his neck. Ask looked back at Ariados pleadingly.

'Please… Don't hurt me… I don't deserve this…'

This time Ariados hesitated.

"Ariados, continue."

'No, please, don't. I didn't do anything wrong. I've never even hurt a pokémon before…'

"Ariasdos, what are you doing? Use Fury Swipes again!" Hunter J ordered. To her surprise, her pokemon shook his head. It crawled away from Ash, as if it was guilty that it has hurt him. Ash was shocked as well.

'You can…hear me?' Ash asked Ariados, through his mind. The pokémon nodded, though it went unnoticed to Hunter J.

"What is wrong with you?!" Hunter J scolded. But before she could command again, the door to the room opened.

"Hunter J." Giovanni stepped in.

"Don't worry I'm not killing him. I just wanted him to feel a little pain." Hunter J snapped back, annoyed to be interrupted.

"Fine. Just to let you know, the experiment will be starting soon."

"Good. Because I can't wait till I get full control over this brat."

Ash stared weakly at Hunter J, who returned Ariados into its pokeball and proceeded outside. There was a click as the henchmen outside locked the door.

Ash sighed and rested against the wall, with his hands still tied up.

'I wonder… if I really can communicate through my mind… I didn't know I could use aura to do that…'

[Author's note: It's not possible according to anime, but I still added the 'communication using aura' thing]