27.

Poisonous Friends

They found the target.

The girl had been wandering around the Slateport market, heading towards Mauville City; they would ambush the girl once she left Mauville, away from any witnesses that might come to her aid.

Amethio figured their luck was solid; Spinel couldn't care less so long as they captured her and took away the pendant.

It was the fire in Goldenrod that had been their lucky break.

The target had disappeared near the big city and everyone, Spinel included, was at a loss. It wasn't until Conia, going shopping for supplies, spotted the bits of burned wood and workers in the area outside Goldenrod. It was a friendly man that answered, telling her that a trainer and her green cat Pokemon had helped stop the fire before it could get worse. That information had been enough for Spinel, who hacked a few cameras around Goldenrod until he found the footage he was looking for.

Spinel went to the Magnet Train station, pretending to check the times (and prices) and left, almost bumping into a blonde woman asking obnoxious questions to the attendant behind the front desk. Minutes later, another hack revealed all they needed to know.

The girl had gone back to Kanto, to Saffron City to be exact.

Hours later, the crew arrived in the outskirts of Saffron and while Amethio sent Zir and Conia to investigate the streets, Spinel did what he did best, hacking into the local Pokemon Center's camera and from there to most of the city system but he had to move fast as it wouldn't take long for the city officials to notice someone was in their system.

Half an hour later, Spinel arrived to the Vermillion City docks and bribed a disgruntled sailor in the local cafe; the man was complaining of some stupid kid that almost made the ship late…maybe if she hadn't been limping like a wounded Deerling…but nooo…brat had friends in high places, got herself some first class ticket to Hoenn, yada yada. Spinel thanked the man and left, a plan already in mind.

It was immediately obvious to Spinel that someone was helping the girl.

The cost of a Magnet Train ticket was a little too much for a girl on the run, plus that man's complaints were enough of a clue, and Spinel was hating it by the minute.

Out of all the people to be helping the girl, it had to be a champion.

Spinel was trying to figure out that champion's plan.

The girl had been moving all over the place, from Kanto to Johto, from Johto to Kanto to Hoenn.

Was the champion trying to get the girl to Kalos?

That seemed the only logical explanation.

The Explorers had little to no influence inside Kalos, and even less safehouses to hide in should anything go wrong.

It was pure bad luck that Serena Gabena had been visiting Kanto during Spinel's mission; that girl should have left after that charity race was all over but no, she stayed for a stupid bee that was causing trouble in the nearby Viridian forest.

Spinel had read Amethio's report about the champion.

Not a threat, it concluded.

That had been Spinel's mistake too.

Once the airship reached Slateport, Spinel sent a few of his Magnemites to shadow the girl from a distance as she made her way to Mauville City.

Amethio was already in the city.

Zir and Conia were approaching the Fiery Path.

The plan was simple; make the girl run towards the path, overwhelm her and wait for the heat of the nearby volcano to tire her and that stupid grass cat of hers out, Amethio would finish whatever she sent to stop him and if the target managed to outrun him (which she wouldn't) Zir and Conia would capture her as she left the path, thinking she was safe.

It would all be over…

…but there was a problem.

If Gabena was helping their target, why had she let the girl go all alone?

Spinel figured the champion would have hired bodyguards at best or sent her own Pokemon to take care of the girl but his little spies could find nothing. No bodyguards, no suspicious trainers watching her, no Pokemon guardians to worry about.

Did Gabena seriously believe that girl would make it on her own?

Spinel wants to laugh.

That girl's mother hired bodyguards; the woman definitely didn't believe her daughter would make it on her own.

Kid was a rookie, a greenhorn, a nobody whose value rested on the pendant she wore.

The girl was nothing.

But Spinel doesn't make the same mistake twice.

Conia doesn't know if she's seeing things.

A shadow seemed to be showing up behind her once or twice, a weird feeling that came from Kanto to Johto to Hoenn.

Conia doesn't dare tell Amethio, and it's not because he'd scold her for a bad case of nerves, no, it's because Spinel would hear all about it. Conia didn't like Spinel, and she knew that Zir was pretty much the same way as her about the younger man.

He was trouble; he could be spiteful, manipulative, and mean.

Amethio was supposed to go after the target back in Kanto but Master Gibeon changed his mind at the last minute; Zir thinks that Spinel must have convinced him to gain favor with the boss.

And despite it all…he failed.

Working with Amethio was Spinel's punishment for failure.

Conia shivers.

A shadow…no, a flying Pokemon making rounds in the air, one, two, it flies away to nothing.

The path is not far away, and once the pair cross it and get into position, Conia forgets about the shadows; there's no shadows but the Pokemon flying in the sky, not noticing the pair who lie in wait for their target to meet them at the end of her journey.

Amethio watched the girl leave Mauville from a cafe by the Pokemon Center; the girl had spent some time in the gym before stopping by a vending machine and leaving the city limits. Spinel told him to wait before he went after her, not that they were worried she'll get too far.

The young man had seen her walk past, limping all the way, her Floragato by her side, walking slowly to not leave its trainer behind.

Spinel's Umbreon had done quite the job with his bite, and yet despite the damage, despite the limp, the girl seemed all right. An injury like that would have taken days, maybe months—maybe never—to heal properly.

Amethio knew Spinel hadn't been entirely honest about what had occured back in Indigo Academy.

Something had obviously saved that girl from Spinel, had probably healed her and sent her on her merry way to meet Serena Gabena waiting in Viridian, leaving scattered clues in the dust for them to follow.

But her good luck was about to come to an end.

Amethio found the girl sitting down on top of a rock, not far from the entrance of the Fiery Path, taking a sip from a water bottle and sharing what was left with Floragato.

Conia and Zir were already in position on the other side of the path, and Spinel was hidden inside the airship somewhere nearby. Amethio had taken notice of Beheeyem and Magneton floating close by, noticing with a bit of annoyance that they were inching closer to the girl. To scare her, perhaps? Immobilize her with Beheeyem's psychic powers? Amethio figured it wouldn't matter, and even if she ran, that limp of hers wouldn't let her get too far.

He took out Ceruledge's Pokeball, moving slowly, towards his target, watching from the corner of his eye as Beheeyem and Magneton got closer, closer…

…and they flew, water all over.

The hydro pump attack came from behind, hitting Spinel's Pokemon without warning, sending the pair crashing painfully against a nearby mountain wall. Both fall down, knocked out instantly.

And Amethio freezes, Ceruledge's Pokeball in hand, unable to process what had just happened.

The girl is there, frozen too, staring at him, both her and Floragato.

Beheeyem and Magneton, fainted by the rocks, catches her eyes, recognition dawning on her face before she stares at the paralyzed Amethio, memorizes his face, and she's up and running, running as fast as her bad leg let's her, Floragato following behind, a shield on a hard place.

Amethio remembers, releases Ceruledge, and forgets the fainted Pokemon as he runs after the target.