The sun blinded me right in a moment the first rays reached the ground. I tried to turn away from it, but instinctively didn`t do it. Why? Because even in my damn slumber I realized that I fell asleep on a freaking tree!
"Holy shit…" All I could say when I woke up and realized the truth. I still can`t understand how I didn`t fall down during the night, but now is the best chance to do so.
I tried to climb down as cautious as I can but on the last few meters I lost my grip and fell down anyway with a loud smash on the ground. Damn, that was hurt!
I got up and looked around. Moment was hanging on another tree, sleeping quietly. Dumpling is sleeping right in the middle of extinguished bonfire. Reaper is laying near in the bushes, and Misty, of course, in her sleeping bag. She looked disturbed and I don`t know whether it is because of me waking her up with my falling or because of another sleeping bag right near her, alone and empty, was so close to Dumpling`s blazing tail it started to melt and stink with burnt rubber.
I hurried to the bag and took it away from the fire, making some more noises that completely woke my companion up.
"What time is it?" She asked intensely wiping her eyes.
"Time to go find some renegade Bellsprouts." I stated and took out all my pokeballs to return team back. They were all asleep and didn`t care about anything. Misty yawned, stretched herself and slowly started to pack things.
Finally I looked at the time. It was just 5 a.m. That means we have slept nearly a couple of hours. And I feel myself surprisingly rested and fine, despite the bruised ass. I scratched it a bit and headed to Misty for help.
We packed everything in a couple of minutes and very soon we were on our way to the forest of Route 24. If I`m correct it must be not that far from here, right over the hills.
And I was right – after crossing the hills we could see both Nugget Bridge and the small forest near it. With new aspiration she rushed down the hill with calls to me.
"Come on! Let`s have some morning running!" And without waiting for my answer she ran away across the plain. I could just sigh and run after her.
Very soon I caught up with Misty and grabbed her shoulder. We stopped and took a breath. The forest was already near us so we didn`t need to hurry that much.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" I asked her.
"Because the sooner we deal with this thing the sooner we go back and I will be able to show my new dress! Let`s go." Misty hopped on place and quickly headed deep into the forest. Such an eager girl... She always was this way, and this is one of reasons why we were together for so long.
We entered the forest and started to look around. If the information is correct we should find this marked Bellsprout pretty quickly as the territory isn`t that big. Some other wild pokemon – Bellsprouts included – were appearing somewhere nearby and running away, but none of them was my target. Some of them had small scratches across their body, but the scarred one was hiding somewhere but not here.
I noticed how quickly these wild pokemon scatter as we come closer. Their cries sound like they are really scared of us. Maybe they are afraid of people? I bet this somehow connected to hunters` work over here.
"Stop!" Misty suddenly straightened her hand in front of me blocking the way. I was so lost in my thoughts that didn`t notice a trap in front of me.
"Interesting…" I crouched before the small cylinder device in front of me and observed it. I have seen such things before. A really evil technological invention of mankind – this emits some sort of aroma that only certain kinds of pokemon can sense and attracts them to it. When the pray comes close enough it just acts like a pokeball capturing the target, but the targeting system is a bit different. The beam hurts pokemon, makes it faint and catches anyway immediately. That works only on small pokemon but it never fails and just then converts to pokeball energy. When capturing is finished it sends a signal to the hunter. What was the most interesting thing in all this – the scent source. It was a very small bottle of vine. And I know this sort very well.
"Is this… a trap for pokemon?"
"Yes, it is." I stood up and looked around to find out whether there are more of these things. There have to be more, but these are very expensive. I don`t think usual hunters like those that hired me have enough money to afford even one of these. Maybe Team Rocket finances the equipment for this.
"Can you defuse this thing?"
"Unfortunately no, I can`t. Also one wrong move can alert its owners or – what`s even worse – just explode."
"Oh my god. This thing can explode?" Misty looked very shocked at this moment.
"Yes. Sometimes they are used to catch very rare pokemon, and used by very crazy people that can destroy the caught prize but not to give it to other competitors, if such danger is possible."
"How awful…" Suddenly Misty`s face changed to very serious and even angry. "Tell me you never used these things!"
"No, of course I didn`t! But… One time I delivered some of them. The road was long and one exploded right inside the truck. After that I was explained everything."
"What can we do?" She started to pace back and forth nervously.
"Calm down, there`s nothing we can do. Just deal with the hunters themselves. And, maybe, take the grass away so pokemon will see it clearly."
"Yes, yes, we do this." She rushed to the trap and started to tear the grass around it.
"Carefully, don`t come closer! Human presence will be noticed too."
Misty stopped clearing the grass and stood up with a very sad face. After some second of silence she stared at me with an overconfident look.
"We will deal with these bastards."
"Yes. We should be careful as there can be more."
She nodded and we continued our way into the forest depths. Soon we found a river coming along the rock formation on the West. Far away on the other side of the river I could see a strange blocked cave.
"What is that?" I asked Misty pointing at the suspicious cave.
"Ah, never mind. People call it Cerulean Cave, but there is nothing special in there."
"Maybe that Bellsprout is hiding over there?"
"I don`t think so. It`s blocked, you see? They said to look for him in the forest and so we should do."
"We already left the forest. Look around." I faced the huge rocks in front of us that further become the mountain. "Forest is already behind us, and we need to return."
"What if somebody already caught him?" She asked.
This one really question. What will we do in such situation?
"Anyway, we should at least try to find him."
Suddenly the loud screech sounded from the direction of forest. And I should guess that was Bellsprout`s cry. Maybe not mine one`s but it definitely attracted our attention.
"One was caught. Let`s hurry and try to save it!" Misty rushed back to the forest and I followed her.
"We should be careful. The owner of trap must be alerted already. Soon he will be here."
Some sounds of machinery reached us from the side, following by the sound of hits. We headed there and soon appeared on the glade. In the middle of it was another activated trap, shining brightly with red glow. A lone Bellsprout was near it and actively smashed it with his vines. A bunch of other smaller Bellsprouts was behind the trees on the edge of glade watching this scene and shaking in fear. But the hero in center of all this tried his best to break the damned machine.
"Holy shit, we have to stop him!" I shouted to Misty. "He can cause the explosion!"
"I don`t know… Distract him!"
"Okay… I have some feeling that…"
The fearless Bellsprout heard us and turned his head. And my feeling was correct – this exact Bellsprout had a short notable scar over his eye.
"This is the one!" Misty was surprised.
"Then it`s the fate." I said taking out Dumpling`s pokeball. "Come on out!"
Dumpling was sent out to the field right in front of his opponent. The Bellsprout felt this new danger and turned to my Charmeleon. This guy is really fearless as he faces an opponent that overcomes him with type.
"We need to be careful here. Don`t touch the trap!"
Dumpling roared and prepared to battle. I started quickly to think through the strategy. We can`t use Smokescreen here as I don`t want to block the view; they can accidentally touch the trap under the smoke veil. I don`t want this. Using ember can damage the trees and grass around or – what is worse – other little Bellsprouts. That means our available moves are reduced to Metal Claw and Scratch. Or we can try to take him away from here.
"Okay, Scratch him a little!"
Dumpling rushed to his opponent preparing his sharp claw for attack, but Bellsprout suddenly raised his vines and caught my pokemon for his legs. Dumpling continued moving further by the inertia and could just hit land on Bellsprout if he didn`t dodge flying as bullet Charmeleon. So my pokemon just flew past this pokemon and stuck into the tree. The next attack with vines hit Dumpling on his head, causing little damage but angering him pretty much.
"Pull it to yourself, and then use Metal Claw!"
Dumpling patiently waited for another vine to whip him and intercepted it with his hand. Bellsprout was surprised and immediately dragged to Dumpling that landed a successful hit. Our opponent quickly recovered and suddenly started to exhale some sort of glowing green powder into Dumpling. On the contact with this stuff he just yawned widely… And fell on the ground and snored loudly.
"What the hell? Dumpling, what`s wrong?"
"He is asleep." Misty quickly replied. "Bellsprout used Sleep powder."
Noticing that the danger of Dumpling is no longer exists; Bellsprout just menacingly snorted at us and continued to Vine Whip the trap. Just in a moment the body of trap was damaged so badly that it activated defense mechanism. Which is just a usual bomb.
"Great, look what you`ve done!" I accused the surprised Bellsprout and headed to the trap. Pokemon showed his dangerous vines to keep me away.
"Look, pal, I know what you want to do. One of yours was caught in here, right? So if you want him to live, you have to let me try to open this thing."
He didn`t seem to believe me and just hit my leg with vine.
"I don`t have time for this. Guys, come on out!" I quickly threw two pokeballs on the field and released my Team. "Reaper, take Dumpling away from here. Moment… Keep this Bellsprout away from me."
Reaper immediately flew in the direction of sleeping Dumpling and slowly tried to carry him away. Moment was hovering there for a second like thinking through whether it is worth listening to my orders or not, but in the end he turned to Bellsprout and attacked him with Astonish the second before another Vine Whip would hit me. I thankfully nodded to him and ran to the bomb.
Bellsprout didn`t want to leave me alone and tried to wrap me with his vines. Moment continued his attacks with Astonish, sometimes making the opponent flinch. I couldn`t see that from my point but heard everything very well. At this Moment Misty was busy with taking care of smaller Bellsprouts, making them to stay away from the dangerous glade.
I approached the activated trap and crouched before it. I should at least try to do something before it explodes. Again I thought about the madness of those who are ready to kill their caught rare pokemon but not to give it to the others. What an incredibly stupid thing to do! But I don`t know who is just crazier: those who use the mined traps or who make them.
I know that after the activation of this 'emergency' mechanism there is just one minute before the explosion. That is made for the owners of trap to use a special key deactivating the countdown and retrieving the core with captured pokemon. But I don`t have such a key and have to do this with my bare hands. Maybe I`ll manage to take out the cursed pokeball at least.
The structure of trap was really confusing. I`m not very good at engineering, but have some experience. But can this help me now?
Suddenly Moment`s fading screech distracted me from my work. I turned back for a second to see my pokemon falling on ground asleep as Dumpling did before. Bellsprout also hit fallen Moment with his vines a couple of times and then turned to me.
Both Reaper and Misty were busy at this moment and will not help me. Feverishly trying to come up with something I just did the strangest thing ever – I uncontrollably put my hand in pocket, took out an empty pokeball and threw it into the Bellsprout. Even if he will escape, it will give me some time to deal with the bomb.
As the wild hero was beamed inside the pokeball I returned back to the trap. It was just nearly 30 seconds left. With all my strength I moved the small metal clips that were keeping the central pokeball in place and then just wrenched the pokeball out of the trap. The prey was free for now, but it didn`t stop the bomb.
I looked around to make sure everyone`s far and safe and then realized that scarred Bellsprout is disappeared. So I ran away from the bomb and took my pokeball from the ground on my way. After some seconds the trap exploded, and it was much bigger blast than I thought it to be. When such trap exploded in my truck it just destroyed the cargo hold and barely touched the cabin with me. This one covered the whole glade burning everything in it and throwing me on ground.
I came back to senses after some time, seeing Misty`s face above me.
"Are you all right?" She asked with real care.
"Yeah… just hurt my ass again…" I carefully moved to sitting position and looked at her.
"You better tell me is everyone else all right?"
"All wild pokemon are safe. Your Reaper took Dumpling and Moment away, but…" She sighed very tragically. "But I didn`t find that scarred Bellsprout."
Just now a certain thought struck my mind. With suspicion I looked around to find my pokeball that fell out of my hand when I was hit by explosion. It was nearby, a bit scratched but intact.
Misty looked in the same direction as me and found that pokeball too. After some seconds she realized it.
"Did you… did you caught it?"
"Maybe…" I got up with severity and headed to it. The lone pokeball was lying there absolutely motionless, and the only button was glowing with light blue. I slowly approached the pokeball and took it. Just now I noticed that it has small but visible scratch on its surface. Just like that Bellsprout`s scratch.
"I hope it is all right." Misty said with begging tone.
I turned the pokeball away from me and opened it. A light blue energy appeared from it and transformed into a pokemon on the ground.
Yes, it was The Bellsprout.
He shook his body and then angrily looked at me. Some seconds passed but he didn`t attack. Soon I understood that he is staring not at me but at the pokeball in my second hand. I realized that I still keep the trap pokeball in my hand. This one looked very different from the balls I know. It had different color – mostly back – and also strange form with some small hollows for fingers. This is quite comfortable to hold, but also very unlikely to see in a hunter`s equipment.
Bellsprout raised his vines above him, taking the menacing stance like he is going to attack me. I noticed that and squeezed the trap pokeball in my hand. He stepped back a little in fear that I can hurt the pokemon inside this black capsule.
"Your friend is here, right?" I tried to talk to him. Bellsprout waited for some time and then nodded mistrustfully. "You could kill him, you know… If we didn`t interfere. You should be more careful about people."
Judging by his look I didn`t tell him anything new. I think he doesn`t trust people at all, and I can guess why. The scar on his head wasn`t the only one – now I could see some other wounds on his body: cuts and bruises. I think he had a lot of fights – not with other pokemon but with people.
I squatted before him and looked deep in his eyes. He suspiciously stared at me prepared for anything. I raised the trap pokeball on height of his eyes and let him see it good.
"Do you know what is it?"
He didn`t reply in any way, just continued staring at me and pokeball.
"I don`t know much about this thing too. But what I do know is that we can`t open this thing to set your friend free. Just the hunter himself can."
Bellsprout looked at me surprisingly. I guess he is considering me as a hunter too. Well, he`s partly right about that. But just partly.
"You`re strong pokemon both by body and will. You seem to protect these younglings from the dangers, but the main danger is not here right now. And I know how to deal with this danger once and for all."
"What do you have in mind?" Misty interrupted me.
"Hah… You shall see." I stood up and approached her. "I have a plan, and this guy…" I pointed at the scarred Bellsprout. "…is going to be in the center of it."
"Great, another plan. What is it this time?"
"This is simple. I`ll give him to the hunters."
Both Misty and Bellsprout were shocked by this, but the pokemon didn`t seem to be surprised at all. More than that – he seemed to be expecting such turn of events.
"You give him to them? And that is all?" Misty shouted at me furiously. "But wait… There is a catch, isn`t there?"
"Yes, there is. And I need you to help me with some preparations. Did you hear them talking about their lair?"
"Yes, I did. What should I do?"
I looked around to be on the safe side and whispered in her ear part of plan that she`s going to execute. Then she stepped a little back and stared at me.
"Are you sure is this a good idea?"
"Well, I`m waiting for yours. No? Then – yes. I`m pretty sure this is a bad idea. The worst I`ve ever had. Will this help you calm down?"
She didn`t reply and just turned away and headed in the direction if Cerulean City. I hope she will do everything right. My plan depends on her a lot.
"So, my little agent…" I turned back to Bellsprout and looked at him seriously. He didn`t try to escape me, just stood there all the time, like waiting for something. His glance was very hard – the will of this pokemon is very solid. He knows that I`m stronger than him and still doesn`t afraid. He continues to stare at me like he doesn`t give a shit.
"Yes, you shouldn`t trust me, but I`m going to do some terrible things. With you on my side I`ll be successful in this. But… at first we need some training. Agreed?"
He just contemptuously turned away. The voices of other wild Bellsprouts became quiet as he lost leadership in the pack.
"This is no going to be easy, my friend, but we`re gonna make it. You will be my agent from now on. Agent… Harry."