"Takuya!" Kasi exclaimed as Takuya passed out. She turned to Avery. "Is he…"

Avery used a free hand to check Takuya's pulse. "He's alive. Barely…" He then turned his attention to their rescuers in the dune buggy. They were sitting there, no doubt in stunned silence. Avery was unsure of what to do. They had not encountered any humans up to this point. Part of him wanted to run, but the logical side of his thoughts screamed out not to. That, and he doubted he nor Kasi could get very far after that fight. They just didn't have enough energy.

"What are they?" One of the Pokemon trainers asked. The driver of the dune buggy turned off the engine and stepped out cautiously. Avery started charging what energy he had left in his body into an electrical strike, not wanting to take chances as sparks started to dance around his body.

# # # # #

"Woah, woah! Wait!" Tyler shouted, holding up his open hands as Pikachu and Quilava threw themselves in front of him. "You don't have to do that, you're not in danger anymore!"

"How can I be sure?" the Raikou creature spoke. "For all I know, you want to capture us just as much as they did!"

"Hey!" Ash shouted. "We just saved you from those goons! The least you could…"

"Ash!" Tyler snapped, looking at Ash with a serious glare. "That isn't helping!"

"He's right, Ash." Brock agreed. "We all just need to calm down and work through this carefully. This is a very delicate situation. They're frightened, we need to earn their trust."

Tyler then turned back towards the Raikou creature. "…I understand you are scared, but we mean you no harm. We just want to help." He said calmly.

"It's going to take a lot more than that for us to trust you." The Raikou creature said, not lowering its defense.

"Is there any way I can reassure you?" Tyler asked.

The Raikou glared at Pikachu and Quilava. "How about you start by calling off your Pokemon?"

Tyler motioned at Quilava to get behind him with a whistle. Quilava obeyed.

Ash looked at Tyler, worried. "Are you sure about this? You saw what they can do. He could hurt you really badly."

"Ash, I know we just met but you need to trust me." Tyler said. "We can't just leave them out here. If we do, those creeps will just start hunting them down all over again."

Ash finally caved. "Pikachu, come on." He waved for Pikachu to come over to him. Pikachu, with a bit of reluctance jumped back into the dune buggy. The Raikou creature powered down its electrical charge.

Tyler then slowly walked forward, still showing his hands. "See? I have no intention of harm. I just want to help. My name's Tyler Sapphire."

The Raikou and Suicune creatures then started to relax. "I'm Avery Cornell. This is Kasi Martens and the passed-out dude in my arms is Takuya Wong."

Dawn gasped. "You mean you are not Pokemon? You're… People?"

"We 'were' people." Avery said bitterly. "Those hunters that were chasing us… Their working for some sick scientists that did this to us. We escaped from a lab they were operating and have been on the run ever since."

"How bad is he hurt?" Tyler asked, looking at Takuya noticing one of his arms had several crudely wrapped bandages on it.

Avery looked down at Takuya in his arms. "Pretty bad… We've been running from those hunters for weeks, and Takuya's taken the brunt of their attacks trying to keep us safe. We were able to get some medicine off one of the hunters we took down a few days ago, but we couldn't make it last."

Tyler turned to the rest of the group. "Dawn, open the supply box I have in the back of the dune buggy." Tyler instructed. "It will have some medicine, food and water inside. Brock, Ash, help me lay Takuya down so we can see what we can do. Let's help them."

Dawn, Ash, and Brock got up out of the buggy and did as they were told. Ash and Brock helped lay Takuya down on the grass while Dawn came running up with a bag of food and medicine, along with a few bottles of water.

"Here." Dawn said, handing Avery and Kasi two bottles of water and some food as Tyler and Brock started to inspect Takuya's wounds.

"Oh, man." Tyler grimaced as he started to change Takuya's bandages and disinfect the wounds. "It's a good thing we showed up when we did. If these bandages had been left on a day or two later, he would have started to get an infection."

"What would have happened after that?" Kasi asked nervously.

"He could have ended up with gangrene, depending on how long he went without medical care." Tyler said.

Brock looked up at Tyler, worry in his face. "That might not matter if we can't get him help. I can barely feel his pulse."

"But who can help?" Kasi asked. "We can't just take Takuya to a regular doctor… Our bodies have been changed so much I don't know if they would know what to do…"

"We don't have a choice. If Takuya's going to live, we're going to need help and there's only one person I know that has a chance of success." Tyler got out his Pokegear. "I'm calling Professor Elm."

Ash looked at Tyler. "Maybe we should call Professor Oak and Professor Rowan, too. With the three of them working together, Takuya would have a better chance."

"Fair enough." Tyler said. "I'll put them on a conference video call."

# # # # # # #

After Tyler called up the Professors, they immediately agreed that they would help Takuya, Kasi and Avery, and to meet at Professor Oak's lab in Pallet town. Professor Rowan told them to meet him at the main road off the path they were on with Officer Jenny, and he would have them air lifted to Pallet Town. Takuya was loaded into the Dune buggy, while Kasi and Avery had to stand on the dune buggy's running boards, holding on to the roll bar as they drove back to the road.

A short time later, they got to the main road again. Professor Rowan and Officer Jenny were waiting as he said they would be, as was a cargo helicopter. They drove into the helicopter, which took off and began their trek back to Pallet Town.