We all nodded as Sasuke picked up the bag and then gave us our little assignments. He looked to us and thus began to speak.
"All right, listen up," he said, "We're going to explore this place in a single formation. So, we are to keep in a line and do not break from it unless it's combat."
He turned to King, who smirked, and said, "King, your tail is a flame that will light up the darkness. And considering you're revving to go, you'll be first. That way, you can light up the way as we go and make any poison-types think twice of attacking us."
Sasuke pointed to himself and said, "Then, I'll go next. Considering I'm the leader for this mission, it's best if I go behind King, so I can give you hand signals to stop or go."
"Thomas," I blinked and paid attention as he said my name, "You may not be able to fight yet, but I know you have the best observation skills, because you take the time to watch everything. Therefore, you're going to be in the middle."
"Naruto," Sasuke said to his brother who nodded, "You got a good nose to smell and ears that can hear if enemies or Caterpie is close by. But considering Thomas isn't a fighter yet, I'm putting you behind him just in case you need to protect him."
"And finally," he turned to see Batsu fold his arms with his emotionless look, "Batsu, your aura can sense any attacks from the front. But since we could be ambushed from a back attack, I'm putting you at the rear so you can scan around us for any hostile attacks."
All of us nodded as Sasuke motioned us to get into the line formation. I saw King walk in front of him, as I got behind him. After hearing Naruto and Batsu get in line, Sasuke motioned with his right paw to move. We began walking down the dark path.
It became pitch black as we left the fissure opening and journeyed deeper into the underground of Tiny Woods. It would've been a pain in the butt stumbling in the dark, if it wasn't for King's tail. I gotta admit; even though he irritated me to bits, he was extremely a great help.
So, there we were; walking down even-ground paths that did twists and turns. Nothing seemed to be any different. I kept looking around, despite that. Anything that would be suspicious, I would tell Sasuke. I decided to look at the ground for a while. As we kept walking, something caught my eye and made me stop.
"Hey, Sasuke, I think something's odd here," I said.
Everybody stopped as Sasuke turned to me and said, "What is it, Thomas?"
I pointed to what appeared to be a tiny puddle of water to our right. I was a bit suspicious on why it was there. I was eyeing it as my new bully gave it a stupid look and glared back at me.
"It's called a puddle, doofus," King said.
"I know what it is!" I said to him annoyed, "I'm saying, don't you think it's odd that it's down here?"
King widened his eyes as he realized what I mean and Batsu said, "He's right, King. There's no way rain could get down here to create one and nothing is dripping off of the ceiling. There's only one way that puddle could've gotten there."
Naruto stared at it a bit nervously and said, "Somebody… made it…"
Sasuke blinked response as he gritted his teeth, gently put down the bag, and said, "Everybody, be on your guard. It looks like we're not alone down here."
It was then I felt all tensed up. There was a possibility that an enemy could be nearby. I readied myself as every one of us looked around. Suddenly, my left ear flinched as I heard a noise coming from above. I slowly looked up to see a figure looming above us!
"GUYS! ABOVE US!" Batsu yelled, obviously catching it before me.
Everybody's head shot up and looked up as the figure dropped down and began to attack. It revealed to be a Wurmple, as it shot at us and began to attack.
"Everybody, get ready!" Sasuke warned.
The Wurmple shot out string attack at us a blinding speed. We all were able to dodge it perfectly, as Batsu stepped forward at it. Suddenly, he formed a shining rod that looked like Bone Rush and went to strike it. The Wurmple was able to dodge the first two, but got smashed in the side by the third one.
"My turn!" Naruto yelled as he ran at the Wurmple and unleashed a Shadow Ball attack.
The attack connected right in the front as the enemy laid shaking on the ground, but not out. I smirked at seeing the enemy being beaten, but then King shoved me aside and ran forward.
"Move out of the way, Thomas!" he said, "I'm super-effective against this guy! He's mine!"
With that, he started running towards the enemy and flames started to come from inside his mouth. But just as he was able to fire it, Sasuke noticed something and tried to stop it.
"KING, WAIT!" he yelled.
Just as King unleashed a Flamethrower attack and the fire shot out, a huge gust of wind from out of nowhere came back and sent the flames out. King gritted his teeth and turned with us to see that a Pidgey had joined the fight. The Charmeleon growled as he ran closer to the still dizzy Wurmple. He was about to do another Flamethrower.
"You're mine now!" He said, only for his shooting flames to be once again blown away by a gust of wind from Pidgey.
The bird smirked as he kept flying around the area. The Wurmple was able to get up and finally be ready for combat again. It was frustrating; that was a good save, but not helping for us.
King growled as he clenched his fists and said, "Sasuke! I can't finish this bug off if that stupid bird keeps putting out my fire! You gotta hold him off!"
"Right! Thomas, you stay back!" Sasuke said to me, "Naruto, you and I are gonna take on this Pidgey! Batsu, give King any help, but only when he needs it!"
"Gotcha, brother!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the bird.
Batsu nodded and stood behind King at the ready. I slowly backed away and watched the fight occur between the Wurmple against King and Batsu. The bug Pokémon tried Poison Sting, shooting it in rapid succession. King was able to dodge right past it, leaving them flying towards Batsu. Luckily, he made another Bone Rush to deflect them all in an instant. That left Wurmple wide open for an attack. King then charged up a Flame Wheel attack.
The Pidgey saw it and immediately tried to blow the fire away. But before it could get the attack off, it was intercepted by Naruto, who Sasuke had given a boost, and had rammed into it.
"Nuh-uh-uh!" he teased, "Your fight is with us, so pay attention!"
As the Pidgey tried to regain its focus, King had successfully smashed his fire into the Wurmple. The bug did a few rolls on the ground before it showed it had fainted. That left King and Batsu to immediately turn their attention to the bird. With that collective glare, all of them tea besides me launched a huge projectile attack combination of Water Pulse, Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, and Flamethrower at the enemy. It all shot at it as a huge explosion occurred, having smoke cover up the area where Pidgey was. We all watched carefully as the smoke started to clear. That way, if the bird was still there, we could be ready for attacking and/or defending.
Suddenly, the Pidgey flew out of nowhere and out of the smoke, catching everyone off guard. It flew through all four, causing them to shield their eyes from the wind. As it flew past them, it saw me. Suddenly, it started smirking as it began to fly at high speeds right at me!
"THOMAS! WATCH OUT!" Sasuke yelled to me as he looked back with the others.
It was then the Pidgey let out its call and came flying towards me with its talons ready to do any bodily damage to me. I sort of got really frightened. Every cell in my body went ice cold as it froze in fear. I just shook as it got closer and closer. Oh my gosh… I was gonna get hurt. I was gonna really get hurt if I didn't move!
It… it… was then… I don't know how to explain it, but my body somehow reacted to this, like it knew what to do when I didn't. I suddenly found myself cocking back my right arm for a punch. I was actually gonna hit this bird. Suddenly, the Pidgey realized I wasn't scared anymore and that it was on a direct collision course with my fist. It tried to fly up or away, but because it had put its lower half first in trying to claw me, it was too late.
My fist smashed right into the chest of the enemy, sending it flying back past the others. It smashed into the wall and slowly fainted as it rolled onto the ground. Our eyes got so wide, somebody could've plucked them out. I stared at my right fist. That didn't even hurt, yet I sent a Pokémon sailing through the air! How did I do that?!
My thoughts were cut short as Sasuke grabbed my arm, who had gotten the bag again, and said, "Guys, we need to move! This place may have more Pokémon in the area! King, lead the way outta here!"
With that, we all got back into our positions on the line formation and began to run for about several minutes. After getting a significant distance away from the ambush, we stopped for a quick breather. As we did, King stared with amazement at me.
"What the heck did you do?" he asked.
"I punched him in the chest," I said.
"No-no-no-no," King corrected me, shaking his hands and head as he approached me, "I know ya punched him. I'm asking, how the heck to did you send him flying like that?"
Batsu folded his arms and looked at me, saying, "A Pikachu normally doesn't have that much physical strength. I'm pretty interested now on how you did that."
"I don't know what I did," I said amazed, "I just got really tense and my body reacted with a punch. I really have no clue."
"Look, it doesn't matter what Thomas did right now," Naruto reminded us, "What's important is that we got those two outta the way and Caterpie is still in danger!"
"Naruto's right," Sasuke agreed as he kept holding onto the bag, "We need to keep going and find him before he gets hurt."
"Okay, so what do you propose we do in order to protect ourselves from attacks this time? What's our next move?" I asked.
"How about you stay still, so you don't get hurt?" we all heard someone say.
In an instant, without a sound or the slightest blur, somebody dropped down right behind me and grabbed me. I let out a surprised startled yell as I was flipped with my kidnapper in the air and landed a far distance away from them. As I regained my senses, I noticed I was forced to sit down and my arms were pinned to my sides by two green arms. I was tightly pressed against a green left leg while the other leg was on its knee. I looked up to see it was Zev! That Grovyle that tried to steal my headband back at Pokémon Square!
He smirked as he looked down at me and said, "Hello, little Pikachu. I hope you remember me, cause I remember you. And I also hope my leg and arms are comfy for you, cause you're gonna be here for a while until your little comrades meet my demands."
I got fearful as I just stared back at him. I didn't dare to move, because I was afraid he would hurt me if I tried anything. He said he remembered me; that wasn't good. I was guessing he was pretty upset then about that time he failed at stealing my headband because of the others.
"THOMAS!" I heard Naruto yell as the four teammates of mine ran to me.
"Hold it right there!" Zev said, causing the four to stop.
King and Naruto growled at him intensely, Batsu gave a cold glare at him, and Sasuke kept his cool but focused on me. It seems this Grovyle's reputation as a thief made him not so popular.
"Zev, let him go. He's done nothing against you. Your grudge is with us," Sasuke said.
"Actually, I've got nothing against him," Zev smirked and said menacingly, "But if you don't meet my demands or you try to pull something funny… let's just say your Pikachu won't be getting out of this with just a scratch."
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