A trainer's story [25]
#26 of A trainer's story
The Lucario, captured!
"Well well well, what do we have here? I came here looking for the rumored Buizel, and found this Lucario instead, what a lucky day!"
Almost reflexively, everyone at present, both human and pokemon alike, turned their heads to the source of the voice. As the cloud of dust abated, Jake finally had a clear view of the culprit who had just captured Lucario and almost crushed him into half.
It was a man - a muscular, middle-aged man with a rugged face. and short brown hair. His outfits consisted of a dark green military vest, worn over a back tank top, dark blue pants and black boots. He also wore elbow pads, shoulder pads, made from plastic and steel respectively; and two fingerless, black gloves. A pair of sunglasses concealed his eyes, although Jake had a hunch he didn't want to find out how they looked like.
But, perhaps the stranger's most noticable feature was his scarrs. There were two of them, one across his cheeks and the other over his lips, making his bearded face, rough as it already was, look even more cruel and sisnister, escpecially when he tried to smile, but ended up making an ugly frown.
The man was riding a completely black vehicle which looked like a hybrid between a motorbike and a jet fighter. The mecha's front was pointy and resembled a hawk's beak, while the bottom was equipped with two sets of booster and a pair of retractable wings.
* * * * *
Nevertheless, the initial expression didn't distract Jake from the fact that his mate was being held captured by this man. Causually taking one step forwards, he pointed a finger at the man and shouted, "Hey you, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Seeming to ignore Jake, the man only smirked as he watched Lucario growling and barking while struggling hopelessly to escape from the capturing tool. Slowly, the man's lips broke into a wicked sneer, "It's been a long time, huh? The last time I met a Lucario, that wretched beast gave me loads of trouble, plus these...souvenirs, hmmm..."
As he spoke, the man brought his hand to his face and began to caress his scarrs, eyes still not away from Lucario.
The man's voice was hard to describe. It was low, powerful, somewhat monotonous, yet contained a hint of cruelty and excitement, in the worst meaning. Suddenly, Jake realized something that he should have from the begin with: This man in from of him is an extremely dangerous individual, or even a psychopath.
Still, that didn't stop him from shouting again, albeit a lot louder this time, "You jerk! I'm taking to you! What are you trying to do with my Lucario?"
"What did you just call me, brat?" asked the man flatly, rolling his eyes at Jake as if he considered the trainer nothing more than a nuisance, "Wash your ears and listen carefully to this: I don't care if you're its trainer or not, but once something got caught in my net, it belongs to me. Understood?"
"You..." Jake growled in his throat, his face adopted a deep crimson shade of fury. Noticing the situation's rising intensity, Jaden grabbed Jake's shoulder to restrain him before the trainer lost his last bit of composure and acted recklessly, which could get himself in potential danger.
"Calm down." Jaden said, shaking his head in a disapproving manner, "You see what I see, right? This guy is dangerous, so don't just rush into him. Why don't you try retrieving Lucario with his pokeball."
Jake twitched. It took him only a second to realize how much of an idiot he had become because of his temper. Nodding to Jaen, he searched his belt for Lucario's empty pokeball, but when he managed to bring out the containing tool, the bearded man began to laugh malevolently.
"What's so funny? Just you wait until I get Lucario back..." Jake grumbled as he pointed the pokeball at Lucario, hoping for a crimson flash to appear and bring his beloved aura user back to him.
There was a tense, silent moment...Nothing happened, except for the increasing volumn of the man's laughters.
"Nice try, brat, but you really thought that silly trick was enough take the mutt back?" said the man as he continued to laugh mockingly at Jake's fruitless attemp to reclaim Lucario, "My little toy here..." he pointed at the net, "...is equipped with hundreds of miniscule devices. They emit a special signal which prevents whichever pokemon trapped inside the net from being affected by pokeballs. And that's all..."
As he continued narranting, the man snapped his fingers slightly. At that instance, various electric currents could be seen transmitting from the net through Lucario in the process.
"You bastard!" Jake screamed as he saw Lucario let loose a howl of pain and immediately fall conscious, "You'll pay dearly for this, mark my words!"
"Yeah, that's what they always said..." the man grumbled as he licked his chin in a sadistically satisfying manner, "I always enjoy watching trainers suffering everytime I tortune their pokemon. But no worries, I won't kill your precious Lucario. After all, my customers prefer their goodies to be...alive, hmmm..."
"Did he say customers? Don't tell me...he hunts rare pokemon and sells them." Jaden thought, looking at the bearded man in utter disgust, "This is bad! This is beyond anything I've imagined. We can't let him get away, or Lucario might be lost forever. Beside, that guy has to be brought to justice for the crimes he's comitted."
As the former champion lost in his thoughts, his earlier concern finally became truth. Jake, no longer able to surpress his fury, decided to strike on his own. Trembling violently, he grabbed Luxray's pokeball and threw it onto the ground, unleasing the lion-like pokemon in the process.
"Don't fuck around with me!" Jake growled every word in his throat, before shouting out his order, "Luxray, use Thunderbolt on that man!"
Luxray paused and shot Jake a quizzical stare, wondering why the trainer would want him to use such a dangerous move on a human, but his question was quickly dismissed when he saw Jake's face. No one had ever managed to enrage Jake that much before, so his target - the bearded man, must have done something terrible...His eyes were then drifted to the net, and the eletric lion gasped in shock when he noticed Lucario - unconscious and battered, some of his fur was still smoking, and Luxray quickly realized it was from an electric shock.
After having put together every piece of the puzzle, Luxray was no longer bounded by hesitation. Sparks could be seen emitting from his mane as the feline charged his electricity, before a yellow lightning bolt was unleashed from his entire body, aiming directly at the bearded man.
"So, the brat wanna fight, huh. You have another good pokemon there..." said the man, amused, "Okay, I'll play with you, and that Luxray will be the trophy."
As he spoke, the man slipped a hand to his belt and detached a black pokeball from it. He tossed it onto the ground, revealing a massive, dinosaurian pokemon. It had thick, green hide and spikes at various sizes, lined from its head to its back; its shoulders and the tip of tail.
"Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!"
Tyranitar opened its mouth and an orange orb appeared in front of it. The dinosaurian beast then fired a fierce orange beam, which easily cut through Thunderbolt as the two attacks clash, before going straigh for Luxray.
Everything happened so fast that Jake was stunned and couldn't give out any order. However, when the blast was about to hit Luxray, it was intercepted and neutraulized by another orange blast at the same side.
"Tch..." the man frowned. Jaden had manage to summon his Dragonite and counter his Hyper Beam with another one.
"I told you not to act recklessly, Jake! He'd almost had you and Luxray if it wasn't for Dragonite." Jaden scolded, before glancing at the man, "A Tyranitar is dangerous enough on its own, leave alone one controlled by this mad man. I'll handle this from now. You and Ryan stay behind and back me up."
"But..."
"No but...don't you trust me or what?"
Convinced by Jaden's determination, Jake finally gave a firm nod of approval and gestured Luxray to retreat. Jaden gave him a thumbs up and slowly advanced, with Dragonite and Latios close by his sides.
"Dragonite and Latios? I see...you're the one team Galactic has been talking about. The brat who robbed them of a precious Dragonite." the man pointed out, tapping his chin lazily.
"Team Galactic! You know them? Just who in the world are you?"
"It's about time for me to introduce myself. I'm Logan, a Rare Hunter....which means I capture and sell pokemon for anyone who pays the highest price, and team Galactic is my most regular customers."
"Rare Hunter? It can't be," Ryan cut in, looking bewildered, "I thought the gorvement had terminated that criminal group?"
"Unfortunately, that's true..." Logan snorted, "But you really think those slowpoke cops can catch me, an elite hunter? As for those pathetic enough to have their asses captured, I have no use of them. I'll rebuild the Rare Hunter, and this time, no one can stop me!"
"I can, and I will!" Jaden declared, his voice shaking with rage, "You know team Galactic use pokemon for evil, and yet...you sold pokemon for them with no hesitation. Just how many innocent pokemon have become your victims? How many pokemon have been seperated from their trainers just because of your selfish greed?"
"Save your breath and that shitty lecture for fools like you. As long as I can make money, anything else...hah, I could care less about." said the rare hunter, "Well, looks like that's it for me. I wanted to add that Luxray to my collection, but a Dragonite and a Latios are too much for Tyranitar alone to handle. But don't get too cocky, cuz I'll come back for that Dragonite some times later."
Logan then aimed his hand at Lucario, and shot out a metal wire from his wristband. The wire's tip was attached to a metal claw which grabbed into the net as soon as they came into contact. The rare hunter then processed to pull the wire back, along with Lucario.
"See you brats later!"
"Get back here!" Jaden shouted, but when he was about to order Latios and Dragonite to attack, Tyranitar stomped on the ground, picking a huge chunk of soil, before spining its body, creating a cyclone of dust in the process.
"Gahh..." Jaden screamed, hoisting his arms to protect his face from the twisting wave of soil. The sandy attack lasted only for a few seconds, but when he could finally look again, Logan, his Tyranitar, as well as Lucario...were nowhere to be found!
* * * * *
"He...escaped," Jaden muttered, staring dully at empty space in front of him, before falling onto his knees and started punching the ground furiously, not stopping even when his hands started to bleed, "Damn it, damn it, damn it all!!!"
Jake's case was even worse. Driven by despair of losing his mate, possibly forever, Jake felt into a complete mental breakdown. His eyes became looking like broken glass, as his gaze shattered and turned into nothingness. Before long, hot, salty drops of pain began to drip onto the ground where he was standing.
"Grr...I'd had it!" Ryan gritted his teeth as he walked over to Jake, who was completely oblivious of his approach. Gripping Jake's shoulder tightly, Ryan forcefully turned his friend around, and was slightly stunned when he saw nothing but darkness in those blue eyes of Jake.
"Listen to me, Jake."
"Huh..." came Jake lifeless reply.
SMACK
Searing pain spread over Jake's left cheek as it was it hit by a hard slap - a particularly hard slap from Ryan, The pain was enough to bring Jake back to reality.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Ryan snapped, hands placed firmly on Jake's shoulder, "What good will it do, to just stand here and grieve? Can it bring Lucario back? Can it punish Logan for his sins. I think not! If Lucario is that important to you, why don't you use your brain and move your ass to find him?"
"..."
"I haven't spent much time with Lucario, but I know for sure he is a invaluable companion; and he deserves much more than a pathetic crybaby for a trainer. Beside, didn't you say you'd make him happy? What happened to those words? Have you forsaken that promise, forsaken the one who entrusted his life to you?"
Jake's shoulder sunk as he brought his head down and stared at the ground. Although Ryan couldn't see it entirely clear, he caught a glimspe of shame and frustration. Jake stood like that for a quiet moment, before giving a quiver as he took a deep breath.
The tears had stopped falling.
"Good." Ryan smiled and nodded to himself, before turning his attention to Jaden, "You too, Jaden. Now isn't the time to blame yourself. We know you did your best, and we want you to continue doing so, because among us, you're the most level-headed and experienced."
Jaden, embarassed for having let his frustration take over, finally managed to calm down. The former champion gave a firm nod as Latios tended his injured hands.
"That's more like it. First thing first, we must track down that hunter. Do you have any good idea?"
"But how? By this time, he'd properly escaped the forest. We don't know which direction he went, and even the traces were erased by that sand attack?" Jake replied with a dry and disheartened tone.
"No, I think it's the other way around. It's too risky trying to escape this forest now because there're people at both of its sides. He can't affort to do something as suspicious as strolling around with that weird motorbike and a Lucario trapped in his net...Ryan, please tell me everything you know about those rare hunters."
"O-okay...According to an old record I've read, Rare Hunter was a criminal group that activated this region a few years ago. The gang initially had less than 10 members, but as the profit of selling pokemon was too high, their number increased rapidly."
As he spoke, Ryan noticed that Jaden was struggling to control his rage, his hands already clenched into fists, trembling violently.
"Although they called themselve an 'organization', the rare hunters had no actual leader, for their sole purpose is money, unlike those of team Magma or team Galactic. They prefered to work alone or in a team of two, and the members rarely gathered in one place, but they had various hideouts all around Sinnoh."
"So that's it...I get it know!" Jaden exclaimed, eyes beaming triumphantly.
"Get what?" Jake inquired.
"The hideouts...there must be one of them in this forest. That's how he knew about Buizel, that's how he could appear out of nowhere. He must've been lurking in the forest all the time, searching for powerful pokemon to capture." Jaden explained, "Also, remember what he said about coming for Dragonite. I think he knew we would split out and search the forest for Lucario. Bet he's waiting for a chance to ambush me."
"But...if he'd really been here, then why didn't he show up when team Galactic tried to catch Dragonite?" Ryan asked.
"I think he, indead, had tried to do that, but immediately gave up and left when he saw Latios and I interfering. Anyway, now that we know he's still hiding somewhere around here, we'd better move too."
Ryan and Jake nodded.
"Here's the plan: We split into two teams: Jake and I will search on the ground; Ryan, you and Charizard will look over the forest from above. Should anything goes wrong or you discover anything suspicious, use your pokedex contact us immediately, okay?"
"Roger that...But, what should we do with him?" asked Ryan, pointing at Buizel.
"Oh, him. I almost forgot about him, well..."
"Leave him there!" Jake spat, his patience wearing thin, "We don't have time to deal with him now. I've got to save Lucario as soon as I can!"
"Calm down!" said Jaden, holding up his hands, "I know Lucario is our priority, but don't you think our task will me much easier with Buizel's help. He's a resident of this forest. This is his home, he knows the ways."
"I know, but this is our problem, not his. I can't drag him into this!"
"If it weren't for Lucario, he'd had been the one trapped in that net right now, waiting to be sold and become a tool or pet!" Jaden pointed out sarcastically as he became increasingly annoyed by Jake's sturbboness, "Not his problem, eh?"
Jake took a deep breath and glanced at the sea weasel pokemon, thinking, "Jaden does have a point there. Extra help is never a bad thing. Beside, Lucario saved Buizel, so it's only fair for him to return the favour.
But...what rights do I have to ask for help? Lucario chose to save Buizel on his own, so what happened to him really wasn't the latter's fault. I don't know for sure if Buizel would lend me help or not, and if I require it, I'd go back on my own words to never force pokemon to act against their wills, tch..."
After having spent a short moment thinking, Jake walked over to, before turning to Jaden, "Can you lend me a full recovery block?"
The former champion, having vaguely guessed what Jake was about to do, shrugged and tossed the latter another one of his brownish, healing block, "I give up. I can't reason with you at all, here!"
Catching the block, Jake kneeled down next to the sea weasel pokemon and offered it to him, "Here you go. Use this to regain your strength."
Buizel blinked. He stared at the recovery block, and then at Jake in disbelief. His lips quivered slightly as if he was trying to say something, but not a single word was able to escape his mouth. Noticing this, Jake smiled at patted the weasel's head gently, "Relax. I don't blame you for what happened to Lucario. It was his choice, and I'm pretty sure he didn't regret it. But I have to find that pup, because he's more important to me than anything else. Help us or return to the river, do what you have to do, just make sure you'll be able to live with yourself."
Having revealed everything in his mind, Jake sighned in relief as he got up and dusted himself, "Let's go, guys. Luxray, use X-ray vision and lead the way."
"I'm right on it."
"Well then, I should get moving too." Ryan said and hop onto Charizard's back. The fire-breathing lizard spread his wings, and launched into the air along with his trainer.
Holding the full recovery in his paw, Buizel watched as Jake and his team slowly disappear into the forest. His face was masked by a huge question: Should I help them or not?
* * * * *
(To be continued)