Chapter 75: New Hunts

Following the trail of the object as it fell from the sky, Chloe and Dawn ran into a clearring. To their surprise, they found a Cresselia face down in the hurt, covered in scratches as it struggled to get up.

"I don't believe it, a Cresselia!"

"But what's it doing all the way out here?"

"I don't know, but it needs our help!"

"Guys, it landed over here!"

Chloe and Dawn turned to see Ash, Goh, and Lillie running towards them. Needless to say, they were quite surprised.

"Goh?"

"Chloe?"

"Ash?"

"Dawn?"

Immediately, Ash and Dawn did their signature high five, while Goh and Chloe quickly embraced. Once everyone got all caught up, they turned their attention to the downed Cresselia.

"Looks like she's hurt pretty bad."

"It's okay, I have some potions in my backpack."

"Well, well, well. We meet again."

Ash and Dawn gasped. There, standing before them, was…

"Pokemon Hunter J?!"

The sadistic Pokemon Hunter smiled, her long awaited revenge finally coming to fruition.

"Glad to see you remembered me. After all this time, I'd hate to think you'd forgotten me."

"You know this lady, Ash?"

"Unfortunately. She's a Pokemon Hunter who will do anything to catch her target. Dawn and I ran into her a few times during our Sinnoh journey. I thought she was gone for good after her ship sank to the bottom of Lake Valor."

J scoffed, readjusting the canon on her arm.

"Please, did you really think I wouldn't have an escape plan? My Alakazam teleported me out of the ship before I could drown. But thanks to you, I had to rebuild my equipment and team from the ground up! You brats have cost me a lot of money, but I'm about to make it all back once I hand that Cresselia over to my clients."

The five heroes formed a protective shield around Cresselia, preventing J from getting to her.

"If you think we're just going to stand here and let you take Cresselia, then you're out of your mind!"

"Get out of here while you can!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Cresselia took off into the air. The Pokemon hunter scowled, but was not deterred by the setback.

"So what? I'll still get my prey, one way or the other. But just to be sure…"

Raising her wrist to her mouth, she spoke into her communicator.

"Ground team, move to my location, now. First one to detain these kids gets a bonus."

Within seconds, a whole horde of poachers were on the five heroes, giving J enough time to leave on her Salamence.

"Oh no you don't! Go, Dragonite!"

Ash quickly climbed on Dragonite, the force from their takeoff sending several of J's henchmen to the ground. Lillie watched him leave, fearful for his life.

"Be careful, Ash."

"Get ready, guys. It looks like these guys mean business."

Cresslia tried to get away, but having already taken a lot of damage she couldn't move very fast, and J was soon right behind her, readying her cannon.

"I have you now. Don't worry, this will only hurt for a second!"

"Dragon Rush, Dragonite!"

Before she could fire her shot, Ash and Dragonite rammed into her mount, sending the two of them spiraling for a minute and her shot to go harmlessly into open air. J scowled, and righted herself.

"You really don't know when to stop being a hero, do you? Fine, have it your way! Salamence, use Dragon Breath!"

"Lightscreen, followed by Ice Beam, Dragonite!"

Salamence tried to shoot them out of the sky, but Dragonite managed to decrease the damage with a Lightscreen, and managed to stay afloat, much to J's frustration. Once she had righted herself, Dragonite fired a powerful Ice Beam, nearly sending J flying, though she was quick to grab back onto her Pokemo

"Dragon Claw, Salamence!"

"Ice Punch, Dragonite!"

The two dragons met in the middle, going at it with super effective attacks. But due to Salamence's 4 times weakness to ice, he fell first, sending both him and his rider spiraling to the ground.

"Great job, Dragonite! Now let's make sure she stays down."

"Dragoo!"

J growled, her canon arm broken from the fall. Looking over at her Salamence, she was disappointed to see that it was knocked out.
"Worthless Dragon. Return!"

Ash and Dragonite touched down, staring down the Pokemon hunter, who merely scoffed at their attempts at intimidation.

"If you thin I'm going to give up, dream on. Go, Drapion, Ariados!"

"Lucario, I choose you!"

Back with his friends, things were not going so well. While they had managed to take out a few of J's grunts, more and more replaced them, and they were soon overwhelmed.

"Man, where does she get all these henchmen?"

"More fighting, less whining! Snowy, use Powder Snow!"

"Yamper, use Spark! Eevee, use Copycat!"

"Cinderace, use Pyro Ball!"

"Flamethrower, Quilava!"

Their attacks landed, knocking out a few Carnivines and Golbas, but not a whole lot. The quartet began being pushed back into a corner as more converged on the scene.

"Any bright ideas?"

"None."

"Well, it was nice knowing you guys."'

Suddenly, a large shadow covered the moon, blanketing the forest in complete darkness. Looming overhead was a Darkrai, gliding ominously like a specter in between them and the poachers.

"A Darkrai? Do you think it's the one who's been causing all of these nightmares?"

"I don't know, and I don't really want to find out!"

With a low "Rai", the Darkrai launched a massive Dark Pulse on the ground, sending all of the remaining grunts and their Pokemon flying. Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, Darkrai floated into the air and left.

"What was that all about?"

"Do you think he wants us to follow him?"

"Only one way to find out!"

J scowled, getting sick and tired of this back and forth. Ash was far stronger than she had thought, and both of her Pokemon were struggling to fight his.

"X-Scissor, Ariados! Drapion, Cross Poison!"

"Hurricane, Dragonite! Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

J's Pokemon tried to get in close to strike, but Dragonite kept them at length with strong gusts of wind, allowing Lucario to blast them back with two well timed Aura Spheres. Realizing this was a lost cause, J turned around and started running.

"Hey, what about your Pokemon?"

"Every person for themselves!"

Enraged, Ash took after her.

"Get back here! We're not finished yet!"

The Pokemon Poacher ran as fast as she could, leaping over logs and fallen branches in her effort to get away. She didn't even care about a potential loss of her payday, she could always make more money somewhere else. In her haste, she wasn't watching where she was going, and ran right into someone, knocking her to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're goi-"

J stopped dead in her tracks when she realized she had run into a Darkrai. The Dark type grabbed on to her, before opening a Dark Void underneath her. The Pokemon hunter struggled to break free, but Darkrai held firm. Ash got there just in time to see her being dragged into the portal. The minute the portal closed, his friends came running into the clearing.

"Ash, are you alright?"

"What happened to J?"

Ash walked over to where J once stood and picked up her visor, the last thing left behind of her.

"It doesn't matter now. It's over."

The next day, Pokemon Hunter J was found by authorities and taken into police custody. The entire time she seemed to be in a catatonic state, only being able to mutter "Darkrai" over and over. Her Pokemon were recovered, and handed over to the humane society to be rehabilitated.

That morning, the five heroes ate breakfast together. To their surprise, it was the same waitress that had served Ash, Goh, and Lillie the day before, looking much brighter.

"Hey guys! What can I get you?"

"Hey, I remember you! You're looking better."

"Thanks! Turns out all I needed was a good night's sleep."

After the quintet ordered, the waitress left, leaving them to discuss the recent events.

"Well, all's well that ends well."

"I second that, Lillie. But there's just one question I have left. Why'd Darkrai do all of this in the first place?"

"I have a theory about that, Chloe. You know how Cresselia and Darkrai are connected, right? Maybe Darkrai could sense that Cresselia was in trouble, and so caused those nightmares in the hopes that someone capable of stopping her would investigate."

Everyone nodded, accepting the theory as plausible. It was then that Dawn noticed that Ash was being unusually quiet.

"Hey Ash, what's up?"

"Something just occurred to me. You remember how J said she was hunting Cresselia for a client?"

"The other four nodded.

"Then who hired her?"

In a bunker deep in the heart of Sinnoh, a lone grunt made his way through the maze of tunnels before reaching the control room. Standing before his superior, he saluted.

"Commander Saturn, sir!"

"What news do you have to report?"

"Pokemon Hunter J has been captured by the police. Darkrai and Cresselia escaped."

Saturn cursed, slamming his hands down on the console in front of him. Realizing the mood he was in, the grunt wisely left before he could turn his anger on him.

After a moment, Saturn regained his composure and relaxed into a chair. Looking up, he gazed upon the portrait of their founder.

"We'll find you, Cyrus. I won't rest until we do!"