Ch 51: The hunted
It was early in the morning on route 18 and the group was already moving down the road towards Couriway Town.
"So how much further to Couriway Town?" Clemont asked.
"According to the map it's another day or twos walk" Red said.
"Wait but it's suppose to rain tonight, we can't camp out" Korrina said.
"What?"The others said.
"Clemont you said that you told Red and the others" Korrina said as everyone turned to him. Clemont sweat dropped as he put his hand on the back of his head.
" Well I was about to when I found a part I'd been looking for at a shop on the way back to the pokemon center and I sort of forgot" Clemont said.
"It's alright according to the map there's a small village by an old mine halfway between us and Couriway Town. It we hurry we can make it there before the storm starts" Red said.
"Thank goodness" Serena said. As the group continued down the path Ash, Korrina, and Red all felt a little uneasy. There was something about the aura around them that seemed off, like someone was following them.
Something else was also on Ash's mind, Serena's 15th birthday was coming up in a few days and he was trying to think of something to do for her. Not only that but he realized that the day before her birthday was the one year anniversary since they had their first date and Serena would probably want to do something.
He had wanted to ask the others about it, but it seemed every time he tried to Serena had come with him or been with them. So for the last 2 days Ash had been going over the plans with his pokemon. Most were less than interested.
"Ok if we can reach Couriway Town town by tomorrow night we should be able to reach Snowbelle city by the end of the we'll have out last gym battle before the Kalos league" Red said.
"Serena isn't there a battle chateau there as well?" Ash said.
"Yes, but I've done some calculations. The Grand festival is going to start at the end of the month and I need to be at the rank of Duchess to enter. I also found out that this tournament is the last one before the Grand festival. Which means I'm going to have to win it to make it to the rank of Duchess in time" Serena said sounding a bit nervous.
"That's alright, all we have to do is train up and you'll have the rank of Duchess" Ash said. After another few hours of walking the group stopped to have lunch.
"Alright I think I saw a river a mile or two from here. Red, Clemont, andKorrina could you come and help me fill up the canteens" Ash said.
"But they're not" Red started.
"Full I know, that's why we should fill them" Ash said with a hint of frustration.
"I could come with you" Serena said.
"Oh no, uh Pikachu wanted you to uh , brush his fur" Ash said.
"He does?" Serena said.
"Pika?" Pikachu said turning to Ash.
"Please do this" Ash said to Pikachu through an aura message.
"Pika" Pikachu said nodding before running over to Serena.
"Well, alright" She said. Red, Clemont and Korrina followed Ash to a nearby river where he sat them down.
"Alright the real reason I needed you here is because I needed some time away from Serena. The thing is her birthday is coming up in a few days and our 1 year anniversary is the day before that and I haven't got anything ready" Ash said.
"Is she really going to care about the anniversary of when you started dating" Korrina said.
"You don't?" Ash said.
"If it were something like marriage then I would" Korrina said.
"Marriage" Red said as his face turned red.
"I wasn't talking like I uh" Korrina said as her face turned red too.
"Focus guys! Serena will care about it and I sort of do too" Ash said.
"Alright why not plan something more romantic for your anniversary and then a party for her birthday" Red said.
"That's actually a good idea" Ash said.
"Well Couriway Town is suppose to he lots of beautiful waterfalls at it so that would be something romantic the two of you could do" Clemont said.
"That does sound nice" Ash said.
"Well have you thought about gifts for her" Korrina said.
" Actually I have, remember when we were at the frost cavern with all that gold" Ash said.
"Yeah" Red said. Ash took out his backpack and reached inside, after a moment he came out with a solid piece of gold.
"What is that?" Clemont said.
"I took some of the gold from the cavern and over the last few weeks I've been trying to make it into a bracelet for Serena" Ash said. They could see he had already made a lot of progress on the piece of gold.
"How did you do that?" Red said.
"Charizard's Flamethrower and Tyrantrum's Dragon claws to mold it" Ash said.
"Well I'm sure sure love it since you made it yourself, plus it's gold" Korrina said.
"I think I'll give this to her for our anniversary. I have something else for her birthday, something more sentimental" Ash said.
"What is it?" Clemont said. Ash reached into his backpack and took something else out. He took out a small blue ribbon that looked almost 10 years old.
"That looks familiar" Red said.
" It should , back at summer camp Serena and I won it together" Ash said.
"Right that was when professor Oak let us use some of his pokemon in battles. You two beat Gary and Leaf. He certainly didn't take that well" Red said.
"I wanted her to take it with her, but she told me to keep it as something to remember her by. I think it would be the perfect gift" Ash said.
"Well that does sound like something she would love" Korrina said.
"Good now I just need to plan something out for the party" Ash said.
"Well let's think" Clemont said. Meanwhile back at the camp Serena was brushing PIkachu's fur.
"You know I wasn't even sure you had fur Pikachu" Serena said as she brushed across his back.
"Serena can I try!" Bonnie said.
"If it's alright with Pikachu" Serena said. Unknown to them, a pair of men were watching them from behind the trees.
"There's the target we were sent to capture and she's alone except for that kid" One of the men said. The other man took out a walky talky and spoke into it.
"This is team one to team two we've found the target".
"Copy that team one, we'd come to assist but we just found another priority target and we're currently tracking him".
"Alright looks like we're on our own. If what we were told is true , then that Pikachu could be trouble".
"We've got our Golbat's SuperSonic".
"True" The two men took out their pokeballs and let out a pair of Golbats as they took out their electric batons and put on a pair of earplugs.
"Supersonic" The two men shouted. The two Golbats unleashed Supersonic and filled the air with high pitched sounds. Serena, Pikachu, and Bonnie all quickly covered their ears and fell to their knees.
"Ahh what is that?" Serena said. Pikachu and Serena slowly turned over and saw a pair of team Flare grunts approaching them.
"Team Flare!" She said.
"Serena Achille, we've been looking for you" One of the grunts said. A few more grunts came out from behind the trees.
"What took you guys so long?" One of the grunts said.
"Sorry we're late".
"It doesn't matter, we've got the girl we were sent for. We'll head back to camp and meet up with the others when they have the other target. You guys stay here, the rest of those kids will be coming back".
"Huh?" Serena said. Ash and the others were heading back to camp when they heard the supersonic.
"Is that a Supersonic attack?" Clemont said covering his ears.
"Hey it's coming from the camp. Serena, Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he sprinted towards the camp. Red and the others quickly sprinted over to the camp as fast as they could. When they got there Serena, Bonnie, and Pikachu were gone.
"Serena! Pikachu!" Ash shouted.
"Bonnie!" Clemont shouted. Ash, Korrina, and Red could all feel hostile Aura around them. Using their aura vision, they were able to see 4 men all around them.
"We know you're there, you may as well come out" Red said. Just then 4 team Flare grunts came out from behind the trees.
"Where are our friends!" Korrina shouted.
"They're gone, you'll never see them again" One of the grunts said as they let out a few Golbats.
"Supersonic!". The 4 Golbats unleashed a piercing sound that hit the group hard.
"Ahh!" Clemont shouted as he fell onto the ground holding his head. Ash, Red, and Korrina tried to use their aura abilities to hold off the sound. They had some success but the Supersonic still hurt. Ash reached for his pokeball belt and hurled one forward.
Ash's Tyrantrum roared as he came out and slammed his massive feet into the ground. Ash, Red, and Korrina quickly diverted some of their aura to protect Tyrantrum from the Supersonic.
"Ancient Power and Head Smash!" Ash shouted. Tyrantrum's eyes glowed violet as he unleashed a furry of massive boulders at the Golbat. Two of the Golbats were smashed into the ground by the boulders.
Before the other Golbats could even respond, Tyrantrum sprinted forward and smashed his head into them both and easily knocked them out.
"Oh no" one of the grunts said as Ash and the others turned to them.
"Now what?".
"We fight!" One of the grunts said as he pulled out his electric baton and ran at the group followed by the other grunts. A few seconds later Ash, Red, and Korrina were standing over the now unconscious grunts as Red helped Clemont up.
"Ohhh" One of the grunts said. Ash went over to him and knelt down beside him. Ash put his hand over the man's face and revealed his wristblade.
"I'm only going to ask you this once, where did you take them".
"Uh well" The grunt said trying to crawl backwards. He then hit the feet of Korrina who also had her wrist blades held out.
"Where do you think you're going?" Korrina said.
"Uh?" The grunt said as Red got over him on his other side with his wrist blades out.
"Answer his question".
"I , I". Clemont stepped over the grunt with his robotic arm extended it over the man.
"Where is my sister!?".
"Alright we took them to a camp a few miles north of here, that's all I know" Ash retracted his wrist blade and smashed his fist into the grunt's face before getting up.
"Alright so their north of here, that's a start" Red said.
"Come on let's go!" Ash said. Elsewhere on route 18 , Serena and Bonnie were being lead through the path with an electric baton to their backs. The other grunt had PIkachu in a spherical containment device that could absorb all of his electrical attacks.
"Keep walking" The other grunt said as Bonnie started to slow down a little.
"But my legs are really tired" Bonnie said.
"I said walk!" The grunt screamed as he gave her a small shock.
"Ouch!" Bonnie said as she moved forward.
"Leave her alone she's just a little girl!" Serena said before the same grunt gave her a small shock.
"Shut up and walk".
"Our boss has been looking for you, we're gonna get a nice big bonus when we deliver you too him".
"What? Why would the leader of team Flare want me?".
"I said shut up, we should be at the camp in a few minutes. Bill call Mike's team, tell them they can stop looking and head back to camp".
"Alright, hey Mike it's Bill, we got the girl and Bob's team said they found the other target", there was no response.
"Mike come in, Mike?". On the other end of the radio 3 team Flare grunts lie unconscious with their pokemon knocked out beside them and 4 young adults standing over them. Ash picked up the radio and spoke into it.
"Mike's not here right now I had a little chat with him. The same chat I'll soon be having with you".
The grunt on the other side gave a very freaked out look.
"What's wrong?".
"We're being hunted" The grunt said.
"Ash!" Serena said to herself.
"Our friends are going to find you and rescue us!" Bonnie said.
"Shut up and keep moving!" The other grunt said. Elsewhere in the woods 5 team Flare grunts were trying to link back up with the rest of their party.
"Alright we lost contact with two teams, someone is hunting us keep your eyes open" One of the grunts said. As the grunts continued forward one of the grunts saw someone standing a few dozen yards ahead of them.
"Hey who's that!?" One shouted as the grunts ran forward. As one of the grunts ran past a push , someone grabbed him from behind and silently into the bush. When the grunts reached the young man they saw he was wearing a blue jumpsuit and glasses.
"What's going on here!?" the head grunt said.
"I'm sorry , I'm just lost" he said. Moments later another grunt standing near a tree was grabbed from behind and knocked out.
"Well you're gonna stay lost kid" The grunt said as he raised his baton. The fourth grunt was quickly put in a chokehold from behind and knocked out. The young man smiled as he looked up into a tree above and behind the grunt.
Moments later a rope with a hook on the end flew down and wrapped around the grunts left heel. Another young man in the branch above the ground jumped down and dragged the grunt up and into the air.
"Yahh!" the grunt screamed as before he dangled from the tree.
"Nice work Clemont" Ash said as he stepped towards the grunt he just ensnared.
"Another team down" Red said as he and Korrina stepped out from hiding.
"Please don't hurt me" The grunt said as Ash and the others stepped forward.
"We won't hurt you, so long as you tell us where your camp is" Ash said.
"Alright alright, to the north of here".
"One of your grunts already said that, be more descriptive!" Ash said as he held his wrist blades next to the grunt's face.
"Ok ok I'm sorry, our camp is in a cave take this map!" The grunt said as he reached into his jacket and took out a map. Korrina took the map and looked at it.
"This looks about right" Korrina said. Ash retracted his wrist blades then knocked the grunt out with his fist.
"Lets go" Ash said. Elsewhere the two grunts brought Serena and Bonnie into a cave where 6 other grunts were waiting.
"There you are" One of the grunts said.
"Where's everyone else?".
"We don't know, we shouldn't stay here long. We just need to inform the boss we got the girl and that other target then head out".
"Agreed" The grunts tied Serena's and Bonnie's hands together before forcing them to sit against the cave wall.
"What about this Pikachu?".
"Take him to Vlad, the other prisoner hasn't been responding to him. He would probably appreciate something else to torture".
"Torture!" Serena shouted.
"Alright".
"No! No don't you even think about hurting Pikachu!" Serena shouted.
"Pika!". The grunt took Pikachu deeper into the cave and into a room where Pikachu saw a muscular looking team Flare member with large sideburns and severals tools in hands. Sitting behind him was a massive man that Pikachu remembered from somewhere. The man wore a very old and dirty looking jacket and had long white hair.
Standing over the man was a large team Flare member with well combed hair and a very expensive looking Flare uniform. In one hand he had an electric baton while in the other he had what looked like an iron.
"You're a tough man to break, no one's ever lasted this long" Vlad said.
"You can torture me for an eternity, nothing you can do will ever bring me any real pain" The man said.
"Hey Vlad I know the prisoner hasn't been talking , I brought you a pokemon" The grunt said. Vlad smiled as he picked up the containment device.
"Well , well, who do we have here" Vlad said with a sinister smile. He slowly opened the device.
"Chu!" Pikachu shouted as he tried to shock the man. Vlad took a small shock before he gave one of his men the signal to get him some rubber gloves.
"No no, none of that" Vlad said as he put down his electric baton. Vlad then held Pikachu in front of the man who looked up at him.
"I suppose hurting you won't do the trick, but I know how much you hate to see innocent pokemon getting hurt. Perhaps watching this Pikachu get tortured will" Vlad said as he raised the hot iron with his other hand and lowered it towards Pikachu's back.
"Pika! Pikachu!". Serena could hear Pikachu's cries of pain from where they were.
"No! Tell them to stop!" Serena screamed.
"Don't hurt him!" Bonnie cried. Tears started to fill their eyes as they continued to hear Pikachu.
Elsewhere on the route Ash was trying to feel Serena and Pikachu's aura through their connections.
"I can feel their aura, we're getting close" Ash said with some excitement.
"Sweet now we just need to" Red started before Ash felt something very bad. He could feel something very wrong with Pikachu's aura. It was then Ash realized that Pikachu was in great pain. Someone was torturing him.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he sprinted forward.
"Ash what's going on wait up!" Red shouted as he and the others tried to catch up.
"PIka Pikachu!" Pikachu cried out in pain.
Meanwhile elsewhere in the cave Serena and Bonnie were sitting against the cave wall with tears in their eyes. One of the grunts was contacting a team Flare commander.
"Yes sir we have the girl the boss is looking for and AZ".
"Excellent".
"By the way sir I know the information AZ has is crucial to the plan but why did we send to many men after this girl?".
"That girl is very important to a major thorn in team Flare's side. With her in our possession he'll be less inclined to meddle with us. Now has AZ given you any information?".
"No sir, his methods haven't been working so he's torturing some Pikachu we found".
"What!? He's torturing a Pikachu!".
"Yes sir he".
"No! We do not do that! We exist to preserve the beauty of pokemon not to sadistically torture them. I thought I made this quite clear!".
" Sorry sir, I'll tell him to stop".
"No, as much as I hate to say so AZ will likely only break if he see's a pokemon being tortured".
"So don't do anything?"
"No he's diluted the name of team Flare by his presence and actions. If you wish to preserve your own you will kill him when he's done".
"Kill him?" The grunt said.
"Yes, do it!". The grunt slowly turned to the others.
"Guys, uh we have to kill Vlad".
"What?" the other grunts said.
"We aren't allowed to torture pokemon. The commander wants him dead".
"We really have to kill him?".
"Yeah". Three of the grunts got up with their electric batons in hand.
"Lets make this quick, we should prepare to move out too. Take those girls further in there's another way out of the cave." one of the grunts said.
"let's go" One of the grunts said as he grabbed Serena and dragged her to another area and Bonnie was taken to another.
"Serena!" Bonnie cried out. Serena tried to break free but the grunt's hold on her was too strong and she could only watch as her and Bonnie were dragged away into separate areas while still hearing Pikachu's cries of pain.
Author's note
Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger but I need to build some suspense for the next chapter.
Now the next chapter may either take longer to publish, or possibly shorter, it all depends on how things go this week. But I'll try not to leave you guys on a cliffhanger for too long.
So until next time please review, comment, suggest, or ask.