Waking up the next day, Ash and his slave girls began the day just like the last, having fun in the sun and playing with each other. However, as the group planned to hop into the ocean for a swim, a white, unmarked van began driving up the dirt road, stopping at the house.
"What's all this about? I thought Sycamore said we'd have no intrusions?!" Cynthia scoffed. "You kiddos stay here, let me see what these guys want."
The van doors opened, and two figures exited the vehicle.
"Wait, that's!" Ash said as a smile formed on his face.
"Master!!" Hilda and Rosa cheered, leaping at Ash in delight, knocking him to the ground.
"Been a few days, hasn't it, slaves?" Ash greeted his servants as they kissed Ash's neck and bare chest. "How'd you track me down?"
"Used your phone's gps." Rosa explained as she and her sister calmed down, helping Ash back up to his feet as the other slave girls circled around.
"Ladies, allow me to introduce you to Hilda and Rosa, two loyal sex slaves I broke about a week ago. They attend Lumiose Campus, but they mostly ditch school to run the Vipers." Ash explained.
"Hey, dolls! I hope we'll have fun together! My my, Master, you've got quite a collection!" Hilda waved to greet her fellow sex slaves with a seductive pose.
"Ah, Hilda! It's been quite a while!" Cynthia waved to the teen.
"Miss Cynthia?! You're Master's sex slave, too?!" Hilda gasped, finally noticing the teacher.
"I was our Master's first sex slave. He used me as his slutty little test dummy for his hypnosis pen." Cynthia explained. "Thing clearly works like a charm, seeing how a proud girl like yourself could be made to serve, Hilda!"
"Hey, Master just made me realize the error of my ways. He showed me it's much more fun being a subservient plaything than some bossy bitch! I'm glad he put me in my place!" Hilda smiled, her eyes gazing onto Cynthia's busty chest.
"Test dummy... That's right! We can't get distracted! Sis, we don't have time to waste!" Rosa shouted urgently, the word 'test' causing the teenager to remember they didn't just track their Master down to worship him, much as they'd love to.
"What's wrong, girls?" Ash asked the duo.
"I'm sorry, Master, but sis is right. You'll need to get clothed and grab your Pokémon. You need to come with us. We discovered what was on that Prospect flash drive." Hilda explained, waving goodbye to her fellow slave sisters as she and Rosa ran back to the van. "It was nice meeting you all! I hope we can get more acquainted later!"
"Bye girls!" Rosa waved as well.
"Cynthia, I'm sorry, but I'll need you to work on my paper for me. This is really important." Ash commanded his teacher as he rushed back to the house.
"Of course, darling! Your teach has you covered!" Cynthia gave him a wink and thumbs up in affirmation.
After getting clothed and grabbing his Frogadier's ball, Ash ran to meet his girls in the car.
"Get in the back with sis, she'll go over what we found, and what we're gonna do." Hilda, realizing that she just issued a command to her Master. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Do whatever you please, Ash!"
"No, it's fine, slave." Ash reassured her as he entered the back of the van. "So what did you find?"
"Well, I had to run several tests first to make sure that this flash drive wasn't some USB killer that could've fried my whole setup. After checking it on some dud throwaway computer to check it was safe, I discovered that white haired guy with the Skitty mask had some crazy encryption on the thing. After I did my thing and broke in, the flash drive TONS of useful data. Shipping manifests for cargo sent to and from the Chateau, a list of potential guests to be invited onto that floating palace, but most importantly, a detailed routine transport of goods delivered by Prospect trucks."
"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked.
"Well, this list contained a manifest of Prospect trucks that run supplies across the city for the group. One such truck delivery however was explained in greater detail. That one such truck is what we will be hunting down today." Rosa explained.
"Well, we got this drive nearly a week ago. What's stopping them from changing their plans?" Ash asked.
"Not likely. This trucks are meticulously keeping their routes. And I mean nearly down to the minutes. All of it is kept logged in the drive. We also have a squad of Vipers pursuing one such trunk, right now." Hilda said from the driver's seat, taking the van onto the highway, east bound.
"This truck's cargo is a huge deal. That's why we wanted you on this mission." Rosa added. "The drive had a catalog of items being transported in it, with its destination an unmarked building miles north from the city."
"North? That'd mean they're heading through the Lumiose Badlands." Ash realized. "That stretch of land is miles and miles of nothing! They'd be easy pickings."
"That's what they would want you to think, anyways. The truck is a front, made to look like some small time moving company truck. The security will be a maximum of, like, three guys at best riding in this thing." Rosa explained, pulling out a handheld device.
"What's that thing?" Ash asked.
"Never heard of the Holo Caster? Big product Lysandre Labs sells." Rosa explained.
"That guy running for Lumiose Governor?"
"One and the same..." Hilda sighed. "My mom's been exhausted trying to campaign for her reelection. The guy's been gaining tons of popularity from the citizens of the city."
"Anyways, let me show you." Rosa butted back in, turning on the device to show a holographic map of the Lumiose Badlands. "See right here? This road leading out of the city is the one they're gonna take. The most direct route to the building the flash drive cited the delivery will be going is off the beaten path, though. Nothing but dirt road for miles for them. We'll plan to ambush them a bit further down the line, where the topography is a lot less flat than the immediate area outside the city. Easier to ambush them if we're not sticking out like a sore thumb on the flatter terrain. There's an area along the road where it has more hills and plateaus. We'll be meeting a third group there while our group tracking them from the rear will box them in, but they'll need to keep their distance for some time up until just before the ambush, or they might know something's up."
"I see you've thought this through, girls." Ash grinned, impressed by their planning. "So what exactly are we grabbing?"
"The manuscript says the cargo contains various amount of canned goods, pallets of water, cash, and a specialized crate apparently holding a set of prototypes the drive only listed as 'Minds Assimilators'." Rosa explained. "Canned goods and water make sense for a remote location. Cash is there for Prospect payroll I imagine, all of this, we can use to supply the Vipers, but these prototypes interest us when it comes to your interests, Master."
"We thought to ourselves these Mind Assimilators sound kinda like that amazing device you used to make us your sex slaves. If Prospects has that kind of gear, then who knows what they're doing?!" Hilda said from the driver's seat, putting the pedal to the metal.
"We wanted you to act as a hired gun of sorts. The other Vipers, especially our third in command, might question your presence there. We can't have the group know you are commanding them from the shadows. We want to keep our dirty little secret safe." Rosa informed Ash.
"Thanks girls, I knew I could count on you!" Ash smiled, his praise filling his slave girls with pleasure.
"Once we link up with the ambush group, Rosa will begin broadcasting radio interference to jam their communications. We plan to make this a quick hit, but we also will need time to unload their supplies into our vehicles. Don't want their guys waiting for their delivery to find out they're in the middle of being robbed." Hilda added. "We will have our Pokémon set traps on the road to make their vehicle stop. We'll jump out from our hiding spots and disarm and incapacitate the guards. From there, we'll have our team unload their truck, and I'll make it clear to them that some of the cash from this heist as well as that high tech case is your payment for assistance."
"You really have thought all this through!" Ash mouthed, impressed by his slaves' meticulous planning.
"We will make their truck incapable of operation, so we shouldn't worry about them pursuing us. Should all go well, there should be no casualties. If anything, them baking in the arid badlands is a rather just punishment. I'm just worried about how my third in command will feel about that." Hilda sighed, reflecting on things.
"Just who is this guy anyways?" Ash asked.
"I'd love to describe him, but you meeting him will paint you a far better picture than I could give you, Master." Hilda replied, her eyes focused on the road ahead.
After another hour past, the trio finally reached their destination, rendezvousing with the other half of the ambush team.
"Alright, everyone in position!" Hilda called out before reaching to call someone on her phone. "Hey, they heading our way?"
"Yep, looks like they haven't made us yet, either, the morons." A voice replied back.
"Alright, let's go sis!" Hilda cheered, readying a pokeball.
"Right!" Rosa replied, readying one herself.
"Servine! Use Grass Pledge!" The teen called out.
"Dewott, use Water Pledge!" The Viper's leader commanded her Pokémon.
As the two Pokémon emerged, they combined their attacks, firing them at the ground. Suddenly, the area they hit began to liquify, the once hard stone bedrock ground of the badlands forming a marshy bog.
"And for good measure, Galvantula, use Sticky Web!" Rosa called a second Pokémon, the Bug Type slinging volleys of silk onto the ground.
"Alright, that's good, everyone, take cover!" Hilda called to her team, the group taking cover behind a large mound.
As the sound of a truck could be heard over the hill, Ash and co waited in anticipation, peaking up just barely over the mound to investigate.
"Rosa, now! Fire up the jamming signal!" Hilda commanded.
Rosa, running to the other van the other half of the ambush group came in, crawled into the back where a radio scrambler resided. Starting the machine up, its antenna extended, distorting radio frequencies across all of the primary bands in the area. Giving her sis a thumbs up for confirmation, Hilda gave the final order before the truck passed over their trap.
"Jammer's up. Let's hit them hard and fast. We grab whatever we can and scram before they know what him em!" Hilda said to her group.
"Right!" The other Vipers nodded.
A moment later, the truck pulled up over the trap, it's tires sinking into the bog. Slowing it down significantly, the truck began to chug along until the tires ran over the sticky webs, the adhesive string now completely immobilizing the vehicle.
"Now!" Hilda shouted, the group now charging from behind the hill, bandanas masking their faces.
"We're under attack!" The officer in charge of the transport shouted, jumping out of the driver's seat, a firearm in hand.
"Razor Leaf!" Rosa commanded, her Grass type firing sharp leaves at the man, slicing away at his hand, making him drop his gun.
As the other two Prospect guards jumped out of the truck, Ash called upon Frogadier to hit them with a Water Pulse, the compact water sphere exploding on the duo, knocking them out cold.
"Dewott, Razor Shell." Hilda ordered her Pokémon, her shiny Dewott reaching for its shell to form a blade of hardened water, striking the leader across the chest.
As the man collapsed into the mud, out for the count, Hilda reached for her phone.
"Truck is secured. We're securing the cargo." She called out. "T! You, K, B, and J grab the supplies. R, you and A grab that special package. Let's move it, people!"
"Smart girl, Hilda!" Ash smiled, thinking to himself upon realizing she called her subordinates by code names to avoid risking giving up her teammates' names to the enemy, just in case.
As Hilda kept watch on the Truck's security detail as well as the road, the remaining crew smashed the lock on the truck's back doors. With the Viper grunts taking all they could from the food, water and cash supplies, Ash and Rosa grabbed the special cargo, kept contained in a sturdy steel box, locked with a heavy electromagnetic lock.
"Ain't no way we can brute force this. Clearly whatever they got in here, it's something they don't want getting taken." Ash noted to himself.
"Too bad for those chumps!" Rosa chuckled, sneaking in a quick kiss to her Master. "Let me get that lock for you, Master..! Galvantula, use your electricity to disrupt the magnets and change their polarity!"
Rosa's Pokémon came up to the box, pushing its mandibles against the crate's heavy duty lock. Giving the case a powerful electromagnetic charge, Galvantula successfully breached the lock, the magnets now repelled from each other, the chest now wide open.
Noticing what was inside, Ash reached into the box and pulled out a Headset, a strange visor, and a computer.
"This is what they were guarding? Some headphones, a laptop and a VR headset?" Ash murmured, somewhat disappointed in their find. "Not quite what I was expecting for this so called 'Mind Assimilator'."
"No, Ash this is something more!" Rosa gasped, her hands clutching a set of schematic files. "These devices are mind control devices! They're prototypes meant to beam commands and suggestions into the minds of whoever wears them, striping them of their free will! The computer is used to tailor make commands and audio suggestions, and the person who you'd want to break would wear these devices! Master! You can break so many more women to being your slaves if you use these!"
"Not a bad plan..!" Ash smiled, scheming to himself.
Leaving the truck, Ash and Rosa went to stash their find in their van. Realizing that their theft was complete and the rest of the ambush crew were finishing loading up most of the supplies into their van, Hilda turned to join Ash and Rosa. Looking back at his slave, Ash's eyes widened. The Prospect Officer they thought Hilda took down had gotten back up, his hand grabbing for his gun under the mud.
"Shit!" Ash cried out, calling Frogadier to assist.
"Die!!" The man screamed, staggering from his wounds.
As the man's finger began to squeeze the trigger, from behind him a shadow flanked him. Turning, the man couldn't even blink as a blade of dark energy came crashing down on him, cutting him across the chest diagonally from shoulder to hip. As the man gasped, his last breath drawn, the creature that dealt the mortal blow stepped out from the shadow casted by the truck. It's was a Greninja, it's skin black as night, and it's tongue a blood red. The trainer who came to the rescue stepped from behind the truck, his group's van parked just right behind the immobilized vehicle, with the crew exiting the van to load up the remaining supplies.
The young man was slightly older than Ash, but much taller than him, standing at a staggering six and a half feet tall. His disheveled dark brown hair was almost as ragged at his blue sweater jacket, tattered and torn in many places. His baggy, tattered dark grey cargo pants were yet another sign of a rugged, downtrodden lifestyle, but most of all, the young man's eyes were the most prominent feature. They were a deep hazel, yet lacking in any light, as if the man himself were a ghost. His eyes were baggy, a sign he'd not gotten a good night's rest in a very long time.
"Calem! Shit, that scared me! Thanks for the save..!" Hilda gasped, her breath still shaken from the man who nearly fired at her.
"That's only one of them, Hilda." The young man coldly replied, looking at the two still knocked out guards with hateful scorn. "I'll deal with them, you get our supplies out of here."
"Calem, that ain't necessary! You already killed one of them! Let's not make any more blood shed today!" Hilda stepped up, walking over to her subordinate.
"We need to teach these scum we're not afraid of getting our hands dirty. Let me make examples out of these two." Calem growled, his anger targeted towards the two men. "'When you fuck with the Vipers, you get their fangs!' I thought that was your motto to inspire those who were too weak to stand up for themselves."
As the argument continued on, Ash and Rosa watched on from the distance, with Ash murmured to his secret slave under breath, so as not to draw attention.
"So...is that the guy your sis told me about?" Ash whispered into his pet's ear.
"Yup..! Good old Calem. He came from a rough neighborhood in the Northern Lumiose District. He actually was running a gang up there himself, up until big Sis recruited him." Rosa affirmed under hushed tone. "He values strength above everything. In fact, the main reason he joined Hilda and helped form the Vipers was because she beat him in battle. If you ask me, fighting the Prospects is almost entirely secondary to him and his group. He never went to Lumiose Academy, most of our group never got such a privileged chance."
"Wait, if Lumiose Academy is the only place in the city people can optain their trainer's license and Pokémon, there where the hell did he get that crazy looking Greninja?" Ash replied quietly as Hilda's and Calem's conversation continued in the background.
"If we leave them alive, they'll cower back into whatever hole they crawled out of and tell their friends. Running with their tails between their legs and leaving them to tell their group how they got their asses beat by kids is an embarrassing loss." Hilda spat back. "Killing them will mean they're made martyrs. We've already got to deal with the media making us out to be thugs, using us to cover up Prospect's crimes. We don't need you making things look worse for us!"
"We're already thugs. We steal shit that don't belong to us, because we're showing them whose boss! If they weren't good enough to keep their shit, then it's ours to do with!" Calem shouted, his temper flaring.
"That's why it's all the more reason we don't need to do any more than this! We already got what we need! Let it go, dude!" Hilda scoffed, pushing the young man, knocking him into the Prospect's truck.
One of the teenagers in Calem's group noticed his leader get pushed, beginning to walk up to back him up, only for Calem to hold up his hand, telling his subordinate to refrain from intervening.
"That's good! Where's that energy when we're fighting the Prospects though?! We won't beat our enemies if we pull our punches, Leader. If you wanna see a future where we don't need to hide in the subway system like fucking Ratatta, then I suggest you..." Calem continued before his attention turned, noticing Ash in the background. "Who the hell is he?"
"He's just some hired back up! He isn't-hey!" Hilda shouted as Calem pushed her aside, walking straight over to Ash.
Getting up in Ash's face, Calem glared relentlessly, his Greninja doing the same thing to Ash's Frogadier as well.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Calem asked, seeming to recall seeing Ash's face before. "Wait a minute... You're that punk bitch who followed our Leader into our hideout the other day!"
"Oh, now I know who you are..!" Ash grinned smugly right back at him. "You're that jackass who tackled me when I was chased your boss to your hideout after she took what belonged to my mother. Friendly little greeting you gave me. Maybe I'll return the favor one day..!"
"That's in the past now. Calem! He's on our side!" Hilda grunted, shoving herself between both boys. "He helped me get that flash drive Rosa was investigating, so quit trying to pick fights and play nice for once! I'm sure he'd be more than a match for you anyways!"
"That so..?" Calem muttered, completely unimpressed.
Sizing Ash up once again, only to look at Ash's Frogadier, noticing the Bubble Frog growling angrily at the Greninja provoking it. Looking back at Ash, Calem simply scoffed indifferently.
"Unlikely." He chuckled mockingly before turning his back on the trio to walk back to his own vehicle, recalling his Greninja to its ball. "Have if your way, boss, we gotta leave anyways. Backup's sure to be coming soon, since that jammer has been keeping them radio silent for far too long."
"Shit, I hate it when he's right..!" Hilda scoffed, realizing her third in command did rightly point out they stayed far longer than they should have.
With the group taking off their own separate ways, Ash Hilda and Rosa took a detour to get back to Lumiose. As dusk was starting to set, Ash sat in the back with Rosa as the brunette teen began fiddling with the laptop for the prototype mind control devices they stole from the truck.
"There, that should do it!" Rosa smiled, proud of herself.
"What's up, sis?" Hilda asked from the driver's seat.
"Well, I just referenced the schematics for these mind control devices and did some tweaking to the program these things run. I adjusted the programming to make these devices ensure that whoever you want to put these on will see you as their Master once their will is broken. It looked like the prototypes had this 'blank slate' state on them that required a profile of a person to be inputed to make the one broken follow the commands of whoever they were made to obey." Rosa exclaimed excitedly. "I used a picture of you I took on my phone. Whoever you want to program will see your face and obey you absolutely."
"Impressive, my slave!" Ash smiled, bringing Rosa in for a smooch for a job well done. "You really got a knack for programming and computers, don't you?"
"Yeah... I kinda picked it up from my mom when I was little..." Rosa reminisced, only to remember bitter memories.
"Sorry, I must've opened up an old wound. I'm sorry Rosa." Ash scratched the back of his head.
"Don't worry about it, Master!" Rosa smiled, handing Ash the devices. "You were hosting a spa club, weren't you? Feel free to use these to break another few hot girls!"
"You can count on it!" Ash grinned.
As dusk turned to night, the trio arrived at the gates of Lumiose Academy. Sneaking in past the patrolling security guards, Ash made it to his apartment, mind controlling devices in hand. Crashing into his bed from a long day, Ash drifted to sleep, his last thoughts before drifting off being that of finding a perfect candidate to pick to break first.