Bashou and Buson are pretty fun to write, haha.

Enjoy.

Chapter 79
Captured

Everything was dark at first. Since Raikou was moved off of her, Marina had free motion in her limbs again. But she was also lying on a sterile, icy cold floor, something foreign to the landscape of prickly brush and rocks she was just in. She got up carefully, her eyes adjusting somewhat to the empty room before her. The sound of humming engines and Raikou's labored breathing were the only things she could hear. Oddly, she patted her ears when she felt them make some sort of quiet popping sound.

Where is this? She wondered. Is this inside that van those Team Rocket guys have?

A dim red glow filled the air in her peripheral vision. She looked to meet the large eyes of her Misdreavus.

"Oh, Muu-chan!" A smile crossed her face, and she petted the ghost gratefully. "Thanks. You got trapped too, huh?"

"Muu."

Marina stood and went for the nearest wall. "Kenta? Jackson?" Drawing a fist back, she inhaled and began pounding on the solid metal-like surface. It clanged loudly, and she raised her voice and shouted, "Can anyone hear me? Hey! Kenta! Eusine! Jackson! Let us out of here! We're trapped!"

She waited for a while, hearing no response, not even the sound of battling Pokémon. Uh oh… This isn't good.

The exit was sealed, but easy to find; it was a shutter door painted a darker color than the rest of the room. She tried to pull and bang on it as well, to no avail. A sudden hiss brought a shiver down her spine, and she turned to see Raikou struggling to its feet. Veins of electricity pumped through its body and mane, filling the room with erratic flashes of light.

"Wait, wait—ah!" Marina exclaimed, shielding herself as it released a blinding thunderbolt upward. When it went away, she lowered her arms slowly. The ceiling had not a single scratch, and her eyes went blank with contemplation.

"Your attacks get absorbed here too?" she asked.

Raikou answered this by tackling into the nearby wall. Though it cringed in paralysis, this merely delayed the beast's actions as it charged into the opposite side.

"Calm down, Raikou," Marina tried to pacify it. She wanted to walk closer, but kept her distance as Raikou was using up a lot of space from its repeatedly sloppy tackles. "You'll tip this thing over if you keep doing that!"

It turned toward her, flinching for a moment before sending her a warning bark. She stood stiffly in confusion until it started charging in her direction. She and Muu-chan scrambled out of the way as Raikou attempted to knock down the door. The shutters rattled, but held strong. Letting out a livid sputter, Raikou pivoted and leapt toward the other end of their cage.

"Come on, sit still! Kenta and the others will get us out, don't worry!"

"Muu muuma," Muu-chan joined in with a sensible hum of agreement. They sighed when it failed to listen and continued its intermittent rampage. Marina frowned, checking the floor again to see if she had missed some kind of handle to the door.

What she found was quite different. A battered metal panel lay crumpled where Raikou had leapt away, and her eyebrows rose as a notion struck her. She dropped to her hands and knees, moving the weakened plate aside. Inside was a shallow compartment containing a set of various colored wires.

"This might work!" she exclaimed and rolled up her sleeves. However, she stopped before touching them. "Oh wait, what if I get shocked?"

"Muu…" Muu-chan hovered close to the ground, giving her Trainer more light to work with.

The girl mused over the wires for a brief moment, picking out the ones that looked as though they would simply unplug from something else rather than fray. Twisting her face, she leaned back and pulled as hard as she could.

"We're getting out of here," Marina muttered breathlessly, "whether they like it or not!"

The cables gave way, and she fell back and tumbled into the wall behind her. Recovering quickly, she sprung forward and searched around her to see if there was a change. Raikou was now standing somewhat close, looking down at the wires as though it wanted to chew them all to pieces with its great fangs.

There was a buzz followed by a click, and the impermeable shutter doors began shifting upward.

"Yes! We did it!" the girl cheered.

Sunlight began pouring in, and the three inside rushed over to it. Marina watched, ecstatic and somewhat proud of how easily they were able to escape. Her expression quickly turned bewildered as wind began whipping past her, as though trying to yank her outside. The gusts increased with such intensity that Muu-chan fought to keep herself in place, grabbing her Trainer's shoulder for support. And as the door continued opening, Marina gasped and fearfully clung to the side of the exit. Her pigtails were tossed about wildly in front of her, but she didn't dare to let go to keep it out her face. She looked down with growing panic at the scenery that was much farther away than she was expecting.

"What the—?! This isn't a van," she exclaimed, "This is a plane! We're flying!"

Raikou stepped back to brace the full force of the gales, which steadied with the air pressure. It seemed to consider the small mountains that passed below them. The distance between the highest points was not too far from the small cargo plane, but it would be lethal for anything frail that couldn't stick the landing. Marina tightened her grip, feeling a sharp drop in temperature and her breath thin considerably from the high altitude. Closing her eyes for a moment, she turned to Raikou with a serious face.

"You've got to jump, Raikou!"

She wondered if she was loud enough to hear over the howling wind, but Raikou's eyes darted toward her immediately.

"It's too far for me, but you can make it, right?" she asked hopefully.

Raikou lowered its head a little, nodding, and glanced back down before making eye contact again.

"It's okay; just make a run for it while you can! You can't stop those bad guys alone, not when they've got that machine. But Kenta, Jackson, and Eusine—they'll stop them! Or maybe you can get help from Suicune or Entei!"

Clacking of metal alerted them above. The barrier was beginning to come down again, and Marina's eyes widened in harried alarm. She pushed away from the wall that she clung to, grabbing Raikou and trying to move its bulky frame forward. The beast did not budge an inch, but still she persisted.

"What are you waiting for!?" She yelled, loudly and quickly. "If you don't leave, then we're both done for! But they'll stop to catch you again, and that'll give my friends time to catch up so don't worry about me! Just! Go! Raikou!"

The gate had now descended past the tiger's head. Raikou, looking over its shoulder blade at the struggling girl, released a disgruntled growl. It ducked and dashed through whatever gap was left, gone within seconds.

Marina fell forward and collided into the metal door, sitting down as the shutters purged any and all light that attempted to squeeze inside. The winds were also shut out, leaving her and her Misdreavus in relative silence. She stayed that way for a while, warming her arms and hands with her eyes on the floor. Muu-chan watched with a morose mutter and floated down gently next to her. The girl offered an uneven smile, which was taken over by a sigh as the two waited in the darkness.

What do we do now? She wondered to herself. Where are we going? They aren't going to be very happy when they open the door and see Raikou's gone. What do I say? That I caught it maybe? No, they wouldn't believe that. I don't even have an empty Poké Ball on me.

Well, at least Raikou escaped.

The plane's engines began to taper, and Marina could feel the slight popping sensation in her ears again.

Are they landing? Oh no, did they figure it out that fast?

Eventually the room gave a small shake, and the engines died down. Marina stood with nervous legs and backed away from the door. She waited, her heart beating loudly in her chest as she could hear the voices of her captors—one of them sounding particularly unhappy as it made its way from the front of the plane to the back.

The only exit buzzed and lifted the shutters once again. Marina settled into a defensive stance and took a deep breath as she watched the figures of Bashou and Buson reveal themselves.

"We have no choice but to battle them, Muu-chan," she whispered to her Misdreavus. "So get ready when they send out a Pokémon, okay?"

Muu-chan nodded steadily, looking ahead.

"Well," said the peeved voice of Buson. "If it isn't the girl who was with Hero Boy."

The blond brute's face could now be seen, and he wore a crooked grin that implied anything but joy. He had his arms crossed, glaring at the girl through his sunglasses. Bashou was silent as he focused on a thin tablet computer in his hands.

"Grabbing you was a mistake, you know," Buson continued. "We would've been big hearted enough to let you go if you didn't let that beast escape, but now it's too late for that."

Marina tried to mimic his stalwart glare and proclaimed, "We'll see about that. Let's battle, and if I win, you're going to let me go!"

Bashou's eyes flicked up at her. "No."

She flinched and blinked quickly, unprepared for his answer. "What?"

"No," he repeated simply. "We refuse."

"But…" Perplexed, she glanced at Muu-chan and then at them, trying not to let go of whatever brave facade she had going for her. "But I challenged you!"

Buson gave a brief, rigid laugh.

"There's no need to accept your challenge," replied Bashou as he continued to work on his computer. "You are our hostage, and we will earn nothing from defeating you in a battle."

H…Hostage?!

Marina took an awkward moment to process his words. She met his eyes again even though he did not look at her. "Then if you won't battle me, I won't cooperate!"

"What will you do then? Use your Pokémon to attack us and escape?"

"What? No! I would never…"

"Yes," he said almost soothingly. "Only criminals such as Team Rocket would commit such a taboo."

"He's right," Buson added, reveling in Marina's discomfort. "Pokémon aren't tools to good little Trainers, just like your friend Hero Boy said, yeah?"

Marina closed her mouth, conflicted. Muu-chan uttered a growl at the people causing her Trainer's hesitation. Neither Bashou nor Buson took notice of her disapproval, and the white-haired young man continued the conversation with calm, delicate precision.

"If you did insist to bring harm upon us, we would have to retaliate in self-defense. We're currently parked at the edge of a steep cliff. My Steelix could easily knock this plane off with you inside, and that would be the end of it."

"W-What are you saying?" The girl asked, shaking her head. "That's…That's crazy. You wouldn't do that!"

"Would I?"

His indigo eyes shifted back up at her. She didn't respond, her confidence dwindling. He seemed indifferent as he watched her fret in this silence. At last, he lowered his tablet and pocketed it on his utility belt.

"But there is no need to resort to all that needless violence and destruction," he said in quite a reasonable tone. "If you listen to me, you will be kept perfectly safe."

Marina never left his unreadable expression, confused and petrified. She was at a loss of words. Before she could even think up a proper plan of action, Bashou calmly gestured toward the girl's Misdreavus.

"Now please, recall your Pokémon."

Struck with an almost hypnotic sense of intimidation, Marina grabbed Muu-chan's Poké Ball. Muu-chan gasped in dissent, but her silhouette dissolved and returned to the sphere-shaped container. Bashou nodded in approval, while Buson sneered with amusement of how easily his accomplice had manipulated the young girl. Her hands shaking, Marina slowly began to move the Poké Ball back onto her belt—when a sudden ringtone ripped out of the silence.

Marina jumped, terrified. The PokéGear around her neck had lit up, ringing a cheerful tune that clashed with her tense situation.

"Do not answer it," Bashou immediately ordered her. He glanced at Buson. "Take it off and give it to my partner."

Buson walked inside. Marina disdainfully took off the phone and held it out with her free hand. Her eyes fluttered beyond him, and she bit her lip in temptation. She thought frantically as the tanned, muscular man approached.

"Alright, give it here," he said, extending his arm and opening his palm.

The girl clutched the phone and shot him a glare. "Fine.

"You can have it!"

"Wha—." Buson couldn't even get a word in before the PokéGear was thrown straight at his face. He flinched, turning vindictively as Marina ran past. "You fucking brat—!"

"Buson, catch her," Bashou interrupted.

"No need to even ask!"

Marina ran as quickly as she could muster, but Bashou was swifter. He blocked her path, holding her shoulders in place. She struggled to push past him when a pair of large hands clenched tightly around her wrists and yanked her backwards. A sharp yelp slipped out of her. She dropped Muu-chan's Poké Ball, stumbling as her arms were restrained—preventing her from reaching any of her other Pokémon for aid.

"Let go of me!" She shouted and wriggled in Buson's grip.

"Nice try, kid," he returned. "I guess you have a bit of a spine after all. But there won't be any third option here."

""Marina!""

Marina froze at the familiar voices, followed closely by Bashou and Buson as they looked toward the source. On the floor, her PokéGear was no longer ringing, but the screen was still brightly lit—the call had been answered accidentally at some point in the scuffle.

"Kenta! Jackson!" She turned to it desperately and called out to them. "Help! They just landed somewhere, and Raikou—!"

"Pipe down," Buson scolded, jerking her away.

"Ow, ow! Stop it!"

"HEY! You listen here!" Jackson's voice bellowed through the phone loud enough for even Bashou to make a face in reaction. "You better not do anything to Marina or you'll pay! Hey, are you listening?! You stupid, ugly excuse of a—!"

Buson, beyond his patience at this point, whirled around and boomed, "SHUT UP!"

With that, he lifted his boot and slammed down, crushing the phone silent with a single stomp. Marina stared in horror at the broken remains of her PokéGear. She then looked over her shoulder and up at him with nearly tears in her eyes.

"Why'd you do that?! You didn't have to step on it! You could've just hung up!"

"What point of 'shut up' don't you understand?" he vehemently answered back. His eyes glanced at her jacket, and a taunting sneer brightened his face somewhat. "Say… You sure do have a lot of Gym Badges for your age. Your Pokémon must be pretty good at fighting, yeah?"

"D-Don't you dare touch them!" She snapped and began struggling again in spite of herself.

"Then I won't if you do as Bashou says and stay still for a minute."

Movement from the corner of her eye led her to look at Bashou himself, who bent down to pick up the Poké Ball she had dropped. His narrow eyes rose from the ball to her face in one poised motion. She pursed her lips and stopped flailing, quiet.

"No more struggling. Understand?" Bashou asked.

She looked away and nodded. Seeing no more signs of resistance, he coolly clipped the ball back onto the empty spot on her belt. He then grabbed one of the two coils of rope he had slung on his shoulders, unraveling it.

"Please bring her arms behind her, Buson," he said.

"Got it." Buson tugged Marina's hands behind her back, causing her to wince.

"Don't be too rough," Bashou patiently told him. "She's a bounty."

Bounty…? Marina wondered, but kept her mouth shut.

The blond man looked at him, surprised. "Really? You confirmed your suspicions then."

"Yes." Bashou nodded.

"Damn, you've got a great memory. Who requested it?"

"…Them." With that one word, Bashou continued to wrap the rope around the girl's torso with calculated focus. Buson gave him a strange look.

"What? I understand Raikou, but what would Cipher want with a random kid like this?"

Bashou shot back a reprimanding glare that lasted only seconds, but his partner got the message.

"You're being stingy, Bashou," Buson waved away the issue. "It's not like it matters; she'll be there soon anyway, right?"

"Even so, we should keep quiet regardless of circumstance."

"I gotcha. Still," he clicked his tongue, "If it weren't for this brat, we could've gotten two birds with one stone."

"Raikou is still in the area; we will lure and capture it again."

"Right."

"Um," Marina hesitantly spoke up. "Who's Cipher? What's a bounty?"

The two men looked at her. After another shared glance, they remained disciplined and refused to give her a response.

When Bashou finished tying her up, they brought her outside the cargo plane and had her sit down. Buson then set to work on fixing whatever damage had been done to the storage room—which wasn't difficult aside from replacing the dented panel. Immobile, Marina stuck to taking in her surroundings. The landscape was generally more rugged than before. Less plant life flourished, and a canyon was carved into the earth some distance away. But she shivered with an unnerving realization; they really had parked their vehicle on top of one of the area's various cliffs.

"You were serious," she said. Bashou gave her a glance to see what she was talking about.

"It was a bluff."

"A what?"

"A bluff is a lie," he answered her. "It would be foolish to toss our only means of transporting ourselves and Raikou. We work alone, so it's necessary for us to be self-sufficient at all times."

Marina twisted her frown, disappointed in herself for being fooled. "Oh…"

"A damn shame that the Mahogany base was taken down, though," Buson said from within the cargo hold. "We could've handed her right to one of the Executives and finish catching Raikou without any issue."

In an effort to look brave, Marina attempted a smirk. "Yeah, Lance and I took that place out just a few days ago."

Buson scoffed as he made his way out of the cargo plane. "Right, as if."

"She isn't lying," Bashou said. "It's on record that she has interfered with Team Rocket's plans at least two instances prior to this."

"The hell?" Buson glared down at the girl, mildly annoyed. "You've barely hit puberty. Why are you sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong?"

"Because you guys do bad things, that's why," she replied with a stubborn pout.

"Oh goddamn, I hate the kids here. No wonder Red was such a problem."

"Yeah, well—." Marina was stifled by a white cloth. Bashou had knelt beside her, swiftly tying a knot on the handkerchief and preventing any further headaches for his accomplice. She uttered a muffled whine, but he stood back up and faced Buson with his usual refined professionalism.

"Set up the Crystal System without any more delay," he ordered.

"Heheh, roger," laughed Buson. After flashing a cheeky smirk to the gagged girl, he walked along the side of the cargo plane to release his robot.

Marina gave him a quiet, defiant stare in response. She craned her neck at the collected man standing beside her, who crossed his arms in a settled manner. He looked down at her past his long white hair that swept just beyond his shoulders.

For a brief moment, he made a callous smirk.

"You'll see that your heroic attempts were foolish and fruitless. With them, it isn't a matter of if we get Raikou; it is a matter of when."

Bashou then looked away to oversee Buson's progress in reactivating the Crystal System. Since her mouth was tightly covered, Marina couldn't reply with any questions she had. It was unlikely he would answer, anyway. Worry swept over her, and she looked to the midmorning horizon with a hopeful sigh.

Kenta, Jackson, Eusine…please hurry!

Meanwhile, Marina's three companions lingered at the scene of her disappearance. Eusine had updated Kudou via PokéGear, and they now waited in anticipation of Officer Jenny's arrival—possibly with information of Team Rocket's whereabouts. Leaning on Kudou's car, Eusine maintained some form of composure as he eyed his silent phone. Kenta had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket, his somber yet stern eyes searching the sky.

Jackson wasn't nearly as relaxed; he paced around and would occasionally erupt in an outburst expressing his distaste of the situation and Marina's absence. Though Eusine and Kenta attempted to calm him, the phone call they just made to Marina wasn't the most reassuring. She had indeed been captured by Bashou and Buson, but call was suddenly dropped early on and they were unsuccessful in reconnecting. They left Jackson as he was, ignoring him to deal with their own discontent.

Some time passed, and Kenta moved out of his stance. He pulled out a Poké Ball and turned to the other two.

"I'm going to scout the area."

Eusine glanced up at him. "Remember what I told you earlier? You must remain calm and expend your energy when we get a proper lead on where they went."

"Those cowards, using a smokescreen to get away," Jackson murmured to himself as he began circling one of the boulders that had been unearthed by Bashou's Steelix.

"I know," Kenta replied, "But this is bugging me too much. You hate staying here as much as we do, right? They've got Raikou."

"Indeed I do. This anxious wait is killing me." The gentleman closed his eyes momentarily before making a smile. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt. What are you planning?"

"I've got a Pidgeot that can fly me pretty long distances. I think Marina said that they landed somewhere, so maybe they're still nearby."

"By air, you say? Unfortunately, I don't believe my Haunter will be able to keep up. Unless your friend has a similar bird Pokémon, we'll stay here to meet with Jenny."

"Okay," Kenta nodded. "Sounds good."

"That's not fair!" Jackson exclaimed. He quit orbiting the rock and marched over to Kenta. "I'm going too!"

"But you don't have a—."

"I know what you're doing! You're trying to take all the credit in saving Marina! You're my rival after all, aren't you?!" he exclaimed incoherently as he got right up to the other's face.

"This isn't some competition, Jackson," Kenta told him firmly. "Marina's in real danger!"

Jackson's mouth twisted shut as he silenced his frantic ranting.

"I know that," he said and turned away sharply. "This isn't like when Silver took Marina's Totodile. We can't just wait and expect for her to come back unharmed this time. Those jackasses are ruthless, Kenta."

"We have each other's PokéGear numbers. If I find anything, I'll call you. Okay?"

Jackson took a rough breath inward, turned to his friend and nodded. "All right, you better. I'll do the same if we find out something here."

Kenta released the large bird Pokémon and petted it with subdued encouragement. Detecting the gravity of the situation, Pidgeot lowered itself with a no-nonsense chirp. Jackson quickly crossed his arms as the boy climbed onto its back.

"If you actually do find them, wait for us first!" he demanded. "I don't want to have to save Marina and you."

"But if you do run into trouble and you cannot call, send a signal with your Pokémon. We'll come running," advised Eusine.

Kenta nodded at the both of them, a small grin returning to his features.

"Right."

With a few great flaps of its wings, Pidgeot took to the sky. Kenta leaned close and narrowed his eyes in the face of the wind as they flew ever higher. The two searched with restless diligence, hoping to see any sign of Bashou and Buson's getaway vehicle amongst the collection of forests, mountains and plateaus that covered the area north of Route 45.