"No! Zev, please," Sasuke begged, not daring to take a step forward, "Listen, we don't want any trouble. Please, just let Thomas go."
"Nuh-uh-uh-uh…" Zev playfully taunted him, "You gotta meet my demands and then I might just let him go."
"Okay, fine," Batsu said calmly, "Let's hear your demands. What is it you want?"
Zev taunted me by rubbing me against his leg and stroking my right cheek. I grunted, closed my eyes, and was forced to feel this as he chuckled at me. He could tell it bothered Naruto and Sasuke, who had gotten gravely angered faces at it. They were shaking with anger as they kept their eyes fixed on me. King and Batsu did the same, but not with so much intent of helping me. He then answered Batsu.
"That bag of yours… that has berries in it, right?" Zev asked, "I want it."
"W-What?" Naruto said, going from angry to stunned, "But we need the bag and the berries in it for the mission we're on."
Zev shook his head and kept rubbing my face in a taunting way as he said, "Then I guess you don't care about this Pikachu. Is that what you're saying?"
"No! Of course, we care about Thomas!" he yelled back.
"Good. Then give me the bag," he said.
"Rggh, this is so stupid!" King roared, "For crying out loud, Zev, there're berry trees outside with the same freaking berries that are in the bag! Why don't you just go outside and pick them instead of messing with us!?"
"Because picking berries off a tree isn't as fun as messing with people," Zev smirked and said, "I mean, you should know as well, King."
"What'd you say!?" the Charmeleon yelled.
"Oh, come on," the Grovyle replied, "Bullying is your favorite pastime. You mess and pick on anybody you can get your hands on."
Well… Zev did have a point. King did his best to pick on me, that's for sure. I looked to see King clutch his fists in anger and then fold his arms with a snort. He growled as he closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Hmph, whatever. Look, Sasuke, we're wasting time here," he said, "Let's just leave Thomas here for now and-"
"Unacceptable!" I was shocked as well as King to hear Sasuke yell at him, "I refuse to let my little brother be abandoned like that!"
Zev's eyes blinked in surprise as he looked down at me. He still kept a firm grasp on me, but he was a bit taken back. He looked back at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.
"Your… little brother?" he asked, "Kind of late to just be revealing you have another brother, don't you think, Sasuke?"
Sasuke sighed and said, "Long story short, Thomas survived a Monster House, but lost his memory. Naruto and I have taken him in as our little brother until then. He doesn't remember anything but his name. Please, Zev, let him go."
The thief looked down at me and then back up at them while saying, "It must've been a sad sob story and a heck of a beating to get the knowledge he once had smacked out of him. But then again, it's his sob story and not mine. So, just give me the bag and I'll be going."
"Tch… what a shame," Batsu said as he and the others gave a stare-off with Zev.
I knew that I wasn't gonna be much help in fighting. But I didn't want the team and I to go fighting this unnecessary battle. Wait… that's it…. What if Zev helped us just this once? Yeah… that was good. I smirked as I slowly cleared my throat.
"All right, we'll give you the bag and the berries in it," I said with a smirk.
The other members of the team blinked in surprise as King shook his head in disbelief.
"Thomas, are you freaking nuts!? We NEED them!" he yelled at me.
"Heh, looks like the Pikachu at least has a brain," Zev said confidently.
"Not only that," I said confidently, "but I'll also give you my headband, the thing you tried to take the first time you saw me."
"B-But Thomas, that's your most prized possession!" Naruto said as he tried to urge me to reconsider for my happiness.
"Well… that's extremely nice of you, kid," Zev said as he grinned and tried to slowly take it off my head, "I'll take that too."
I grinned as I continued, "However, all of this will be yours on one condition."
Zev gasped in surprise as he stopped and thus held me again. Batsu stared interestingly at me. I bet he as well as everybody was wondering what I was doing. I smirked as I looked up at Zev's face.
"That one condition is… you have to help us with this mission," I said.
Well, I gotta tell you; never in my life have I seen surprised faces that shocked before in my life. That was maybe one of the last expected moves anybody would've thought that a Rescue Team member, let alone me, would pull; a Rescue Team member bargaining with a thief? Wow, I didn't think at the time if I would get into trouble for this, but currently it was the best move.
Sasuke and Naruto immediately started to smile confidently at this. They knew now that I wasn't going down without a confrontation; maybe not of fighting, but a confrontation nonetheless. King wasn't so thrilled about the idea; he looked more peeved off now that I'm trying to strike a deal with Zev. But he kept his mouth shut. Batsu was analyzing me. I don't know why he kept interestingly look at me, but it was for a split-second that I wondered maybe that conversation he and his dad had back at the pond was for him to watch me…
"Excuse me? You're trying to force me to bargain with you? Not a chance," Zev said as he rubbed me against his leg, causing me to grunt, "I mean, what makes you think you can tell me what to do to get that bag? I mean, I have you as a hostage. I could hurt you if I want."
"Yet... you won't," I said confidently.
"Oh? And what makes you say that?" he said as he tilted my head up to look at his face which was getting annoyed.
"You just said to us to give you the bag and then you'll leave, right?" I said grinning, "That implies to me that you don't want a confrontation with us. You just want to grab the goods as fast as you can and get out. Also, it would be a drag for you to have tangle with not just a team, but with the two strongest rookies of Pokémon Square, along with three other strong members. And considering Sasuke and Naruto care about me, if you harm me, they won't let you go. Period."
Zev was taken back at my bold and long statement. Obviously, this plan of his had backfired. He was NOT expecting me to stand up like that. But if he started to become afraid now, the other members of our team might try to advance. So, he rolled his eyes and acted cool.
"Whatever," he said, "Besides, how can I trust you that you're gonna give me all these things if I let you go? You might just try to pull a fast one on me."
"Because I just admitted I'll let you have the bag, the contents of the bag, and MY MOST PRIZED POSSESSION if you just cooperate! I'm not asking for you to join the team; I'm asking for you to lend us a hand just this once!" I said to him, "I promise on my word as a Pokémon that I will personally give you all three items at the end of the mission, okay?"
Zev was again taken back by this. I'm sure he had gotten those fake promises of a Rescue Team member or whatever, but to have a promise as a Pokémon would mean I was scum if I betrayed him. In other words, it was a very powerful and trustworthy promise. Zev was silent for a bit as he slowly nodded.
"Okay, so say if I accept," Zev asked, "What is this mission?"
"We're rescuing a baby child, a Caterpie, who fell in here," Batsu said.
"A… baby?" Zev said shocked, "What on earth is that child doing here?"
"You know that fissure you entered so you could find us and loot our stuff?" King said, pointing behind him, "It was a natural disaster. It opened up on Caterpie and he fell in."
"His mother tried to get him out, but the Pokémon here were enraged about the fissure and prevented her from entering," Naruto explained, "And being scared and unable to get out himself, Caterpie ran deeper into this place."
"That's why we're here," Sasuke said, "Our mission is to rescue Caterpie and get him back to his mom safely."
Zev looked down at the ground as he became silent. All of us were kind of confused at what was wrong with him. He took a deep breath and calmly closed his eyes.
"Look… I may be a thief… and I might've forsaken all my morals…" he said.
To our surprise, he slowly let go off me and stood up. He then nodded as he got a serious look on his face and opened his eyes. He then turned to Sasuke and continued speaking.
"But I still have honor left in me… and a child's life is more to me than my wants or the things I steal," he said boldly.
I could tell that nobody from the team expected him to join us. I smiled; the plan worked! I wasn't scamming him or anything; I just had gotten him to know that, hey; there's a child here that needs our help. We'll give you what you want after we rescue the child, we promise.
"Sasuke," I said, "I know the berries are for the mission, but let's at least save three or four. I want to keep the promise I made Zev."
"All right, Thomas. I promise I'll keep at least three left," he said.
I turned to Zev and said, "Sasuke has us in a single line formation, but you don't have to be in it. However, it would be good if you stayed close to us, okay?"
Zev closed his eyes again and nodded. Good, at least he was going to cooperate. That was the best part; getting him to listen. I then nodded to Sasuke, who then motioned us to keep going. We then continued down the pathway.
-
After ten minutes, I was noticing that we still were not gaining any ground. We were still in our single line formation, with Zev walking on the opposite side. We kept walking side by side as finally I was proved wrong; it was then I saw a huge opening. It was then Sasuke signaled us to stop. Zev kept walking, but made sure to turn around and stop after getting a bit near the entrance. It was then Sasuke was squinting, looking at the open area.
"Wait a second… that's… Caterpie!" he said.
"Really?! Is it really him!?" I said.
"Yeah! All right, everyone, let's move forward, but stop at the entrance of the open area," he replied and then ordered.
It was then the six of us hurried over to the entrance. Now, as you got to this place, there were tons of rock slabs in the middle that presented cover for either side. There was a huge rock slab on the entrance of the right that prevented you from seeing what was on the other side until you get into the actual area itself. And on a rock in the middle of the room was poor Caterpie, crying in which it made my heart go out for him.
"Mommy… where are you… sniff… WAAHH! I wanna go home!" he cried.
I looked at Sasuke, who nodded to me that it was okay to call to him. I put my hands near my mouth and then took a deep breath.
"Hey, Caterpie!" I called out.
The child immediately turned around and saw us. His eyes were drenched in tears as I called again.
"It's gonna be okay! We're here to rescue you!" I called again.
"R-Rescue me?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah! Your mom sent us to get you!" Sasuke called out.
"I wanna go home to mommy!" Caterpie cried out to us.
"Hang on, little buddy!" Naruto called as he got ready to run over, "We're coming to get you!"
But before he could even get past all of us, Zev put a hand out blocking his path. The brother of mine stopped and looked up at the Grovyle, who was scanning the area for anything.
"Hold it, puppy," he said, "Don't you think this is a bit suspicious?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"Think and use your head," Zev replied, "We're in an open-dome area that is completely quiet… Caterpie is sitting on a rock in the middle of the room crying… and this slab prevents us from see the right part of the room until we run right into the middle of it… doesn't that scream, oh, I don't know… 'TRAP!' to you?"
"I hate to admit it, but he's right, Naruto," King said, "We have no idea if there's another Pokémon here. And it's too risky for us to just barge in and rescue him."
"Hang on, let me try something," I said.
I then turned to Caterpie and called, "Caterpie, we want to make sure you're safe! So, we need you to tell us; is there anybody else in the room we should know about?"
It was then Caterpie started to shake in fear even more and sweat like crazy. What also made it more clear to us was the fact he began to slowly stare at the right where we couldn't see.
"He got pretty scared when you asked that, Thomas," Sasuke said, "Which means there's probably a Pokémon on the other side of this rock wall."
"Make that there IS, Sasuke," Batsu said, who was using his aura to scan the area, "There's a huge aura coming from behind this wall. That means that there's some Pokémon we don't know about that is a danger to Caterpie and will hurt him if we're not careful."
-