Well, we jump strait into arc thirteen. And this proves that even the simplest of things go crazy whenever our dysfunctional Pokémon team are around.

Arc Thirteen: Island Troubles

Episode 148: The Hunt

So, a few days later, we all set on the road again. Crescent had recovered enough and had left the day before, without warning. Which was probably for the best as Pika was getting increasingly edgy around her. Squirt had retreated into a shell of apathy and refused to talk to anyone. Before she left, Crescent had asked Scyther not to tell anyone about her true identity. Scyther had agreed, which caused her to laugh and come out with 'it is not like you could form long enough sentences to describe the real me anyway'

I smirked at the memory of the look on Scyther's face as we headed west from Lavender. Apparently it would be another day before we reached Saffron, which had reopened after quarantine. Whatever the hell that was. Squirt was still moody so I decided it would be better not to ask. So I walked behind Moron in silence, slowly getting more and more bored as the time passed. Fervo had decided to take to his Pokéball and sleep, along with the rest of the gang, as had the mute Wartortle. I had long since gotten bored with fiddling with a small pouch I had taken from Moron's pocket. Even the small round pieces of metal with stupid markings on them had gotten boring and I placed them back in his pocket, throwing the pouch away.

Luckily, just as I was close to going crazy from boredom, our group came to a halt at the sounds of shouting from just off on a dirt path. Moron glanced across at us before heading down it, I followed along behind and let Joanne take rearguard. We spotted some sort of large building up ahead, with large canisters by the wall. Just outside there was a large Human cursing, kicking one of the canisters and cursing even louder as the idiot hopped on one leg, clutching his injured foot.

---

"What is with all of the yelling?" Moron asked as he headed over, despite the other Human being around twice his size. The other Human stopped and glared at my trainer, untill he spotted me right behind him. Strait away, he spotted the scar on my head and my claws ready which stopped any thoughts of violence before they started.

"Someone has been stealing canisters of milk. This is the third one this month," the Human finally explained, "the canisters always get returned but empty. I've tried everything to stop them but they just vanish. What's it to you kids anyway?"

"We just heard the cussing," Moron said with a disarming smile, "but we might as well try and help out since we're here. The thief can't have gotten far with one of those canisters."

"Fine, do what you want. Just don't trash anything," the Human replied, turning away and entering the building.

---

Moron took out several Pokéballs and soon I was joined by Blacky, Scyther and Fervo. We stood in a line and faced our trainer as he gave us our orders.

"Okay, we're going thief hunting. I want you guys to partner up and look for clues. Blacky, you're with Scyther. Flame, I'm sure you could handle this on your own but Treecko is your partner for this anyway. Just in case."

"I have a bloody name," Fervo muttered, but we both nodded and gave a mock salute before turning away and heading into the tree line.

---

"What the hell are we looking for, anyway?" Fervo asked after half an hour of searching.

"Something to eat. We'll grab a bite, sleep for an hour or two and head back. We'll tell the others we couldn't find anything," I replied as I hopped over a bush and checked the berries inside. Bright blue and very bitter. I left them behind and carried on.

---

Several more bushes and still no food. I was getting more and more annoyed, eventually snapping and punching a tree. Fervo looked at me with mild amusement and I glared at him, before noticing a large dent in the ground just in front of where he was standing.

"What the hell?" I muttered and Fervo glanced down.

"Hey, those smaller bumps match those on the canisters. Looks like the thief came this way," he smirked.

"Crap. So much for our goofing off."

---

A closer look around showed small trenches, where someone had been dragging something heavy behind it. We followed the trail, ready for a scrap.

"What are we going to do when we find this thief? It has to be strong to carry one of those massive canisters."

"We take it down," I replied, "We've taken stronger bastards down before. Hell, I managed a Dragonite then this should be no problem."

"You have a point. Although I think we should call for backup."

"You think too much. Sometimes you just have to wing it. We can handle anything. Now be quiet, we don't know how close we are and we don't want the bugger running."

---

Of course, we didn't realise just how far off we were. After a few minutes of following the trail, the bumps where the thief had lowered the canister to catch its breath were more frequent, we came across a large clearing. Completely deserted. And the trail came to a stop right in the middle of it. We both looked at each other, confused.

"Maybe we ought to take a closer look around," Fervo suggested, moving towards the clearing edge to scout around while I started checking the ground around me for any other sign of the thief's passing.

---

We had been there for at least half an hour before we gave up. Neither of us had found anything and I was starting to get hungry. We both sat down in the clearing center to get a breather.

"I can't believe it. We found the trail and it's a dead end," Fervo grumbled as he lay on his back, looking up at the cloudless sky.

"Well, at least nothing crazy happened," I replied. Big mistake.

---

We both shot up at the sound of crackling energy and were blinded by a bright light. I felt a tug similar to that of a Pokéball and was pulled into whatever was before me. I could hear Fervo yelling but it seemed distant. Soon I found myself lying on the floor in a second clearing, soon to find the Treecko landing on top of me.

"Ow," Fervo muttered, untill I threw him off and climbed back to my own feet.

"Why am I always on the bottom?"

---

We both took a quick look around our new location. I noticed that it was a real clearing although we were obviously not anywhere near where we were before. There were red flowers that I hadn't seen during the time we had spent in the forest. And there was a bush nearby, full with proper berries.

"Something tells me that we're not in Kanto anymore," Fervo muttered, while I moved towards the berry bush.

"We can figure out what happened later. First, let's eat!"