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**Luna and Thief:

The Orange Isles Chapter Eight: Seaborne**

The wind and rain had pelted down her scarred jawline as she stared up to the sky – numb needles stabbed at her celestial irises.

A storm had come as they all had departed from the cavern… strangely Seo had a feeling that Vaporeon had done something to deal with that third set of footprints she heard. It explained her next appearance to all of them. She had been merely thankful that the footfalls had wandered away after a voice called out to them. Umbreon had used a move, and to an untrained eye, the two of them only appeared as mates before their den. Seo noticed that about them, even though she knew it had been acting yet on a smaller island surrounded by the sea…

It's just natural to assume that a cave dwelled Eevee could become an Umbreon and fall in love with another that adored the ocean.

The ploy had worked for all of them, yet as Griffin urged Absol to follow – her being the only one out alongside Leafeon for Griffin's team… he realized quickly that she had been immobilized. Brad had been the one to give a firm glare as Melody had patted a damp cloth around his injury. The matter of being lucky that it was above his heart level, if only by a little, had touched the quiet air around them. The wince and the softer, strained exhale through his teeth came along as Griffin passed a suspicious glance at them both for only a fleeted moment.

I understand what's going through your head Griffin, but if you start questioning them, you'll bury yourself. I know what's wrong with Melody too, I can smell that clear as rain; but it's unimportant for those around her to know – she wishes that. She doesn't want to be called strong or courageous, but she pours that knowledge into Smokey; that's her only real weakness. Absol glanced up at Griffin as though to mutter to him.

"Carry me as far as you wish, but I can see her; I have seen her. so when it comes to it – put me down as I always get back on my four paws." Griffin's hand had just touched her pelt while every shock of pain rippled down her by the gentle palm alone.

To put it plainly, her body from top to bottom felt as though thick pins shoved into her skin, and that pain seeped into every bone.

Her world became colored static when Griffin picked her up. A greenish black-blue static with speckles of white and slate; that sickly Acid rain that chased midnight snow… It's all that could be said in the experience of unconsciousness. When she came too, all she could see had been the ass end of the Umbreon – it wasn't any form of a pleasant sight, yet it told her that Griffin had dropped to all fours while that murky sound of footfalls wandered by them. The bush line had rustled erratically, seldom sounds had been the only thing she could get a hold of.

I can barely see… it's blurry… colorful thing, but I can hear echoes. Seo throat had painfully clamped down as Griffin made an awkward move, it was quiet, but his shoulder blade pushed around her stomach.

She just swallowed whatever dared to come up – the simple touch alone sent enough pain for her to nearly vomit without any immediate warning. Human sounds crossed around her as she felt Griffin's lungs still.

"Any sign of them?" It felt like an after a delay that muddled every other voice – her mind slow to understand a human voice in any sense of their words. She had to relearn a whole new language. Their pitch, tone… it varied as her ears continued to play tricks on her.

It's all a reminder that without Bind… I'm much too old to do anything. Mid-sixties in human years? She's Sixteen, He's Sixteen.. Brad's Seventeen.

Her eyes tried to focus on Melody… yet all she could do was see the oddly nimble and exceptionally silently quick Leafeon behind her. A jump from one tree to the next blurred above her, Seo had trouble keeping up with it. It seemed near impassable for that kind of flexibility and speed, yet Leafeon appeared to outplay even the Umbreon and Vaporeon at times.

Absol only found her chin over the top of Griffin's shoulder, slump and drearily cautious of the noises around them. He began to move again with her on his back, and it took her everything not to make a sound. Whenever he was still, she felt numb and painfully tingly all over… when Griffin changed his stance – knelt…even laid down; Seo's body screamed at her with regret.

Something cold touched the air as a voice made this cocky and vicious sound downwind. She felt the hairs on Griffin's body – his whole back flinched from the gruff roar that went their way.

Without Smokey out, Absol could notice that Melody was on edge herself; the unexpected yell made her flinch even with Brad's eternal silence – against the ground as a touch of sweat crossed his forehead. Albeit a pale look Brad gave, the teen had been eerily quiet since they left the cavern as though he had been necked deep in the woods before; as though he knew anything, he missed would get him killed. She already knew that older teen been far in before, unlike the one that carried her on his back. There wasn't much to say about that feeling – aside from his shoulder blades, which irritated Seo's forepaws. The sting in every little jolt and anchor of a move he'd make. Even the light jostle of their slow treaded footsteps – as though intent on only following into the places where the sunlight hadn't dared to go. Every bit hurt…

Because of selfish sacrifices while true ones were purely song-less.

Her world became another twirl of color and slow built static as if her peripherals had tediously become consumed. All of it was only sand in an hourglass for Seo, especially how she fruitlessly cursed herself before she slipped into unconsciousness once more and knew that only green, lush leaves filled that timepiece. Every step now had jostled her to the point that she retched over Griffin's shoulder as quietly as she was able, even though her pelt stood on stilts. Tree bark had pulled, ripped, and shredded in the air before her – another rough jostle left her to vomit for a moment.

Watch the branch – the god damn logs ahead of you. Move erratically… move between the freaking trees if you have to. Seo felt a tremble run down her as a scent touched her pale nose… in response… She clamped around Griffin's neck and went dead weight on him – if she bit down any harder, it could easily have torn out the veins that ran down it. Griffin hit the ground on his side as Seo had slammed against the earth. It hadn't been a simple soft landing either – she took a blow clean to the bottom of the cheek from a nearby boulder. That massive rock had easily been afoot uphill where she ended up. They were close to the middle of the forest by then when her little move cost them both to separate and tumble.

All she had done was curse aimlessly about the colored static, which flooded her eyes with the last image of Griffin.

He bolted away from her, but she'd rather have that, then he shot dead.

She woke after a moment – her paws dragged, and when the daze that blinded her faded, her heart sank. The dumbass didn't bolt away from her – he went the longer or safer way around to get her in some line directed fit of adrenaline… If it hadn't been Vaporeon and its Acid Armor move, Griffin would've died, and instantaneously at that. The weight of the Vaporeon's gel state had slammed the barrel downward; even on discharge, the round would hit the ground. The Absol hadn't the energy to follow them with her eyes. Seo roared at herself to move without a bind to weigh her down – but she had still been incapacitated, hardly able to see the world in front of her as the strange gelatinous acid curled and swung itself effortlessly around that peculiar man's rifle and between his legs.

Vaporeon literally tripped up the human by changing the shape and viscosity of its body, all while melting the chamber of their firearm; They went head over heels by the sheer force of a single Pokemon.

Seo had half a mind to bite her tongue, yet what astonished her was that the Umbreon did much the same to the other human, somehow. By a single Pokemon each, the strangers had lost that battle even with their deadly lead. Absol only glanced at the Umbreon for a moment; he stared at her with a second look. Recollected.

That had been an odd thing to see followed by their massive pupils, drugged in some way – she could tell, but that thought had followed by more evil felt ones. More of that suffocated retch urged to touch the air… an all too familiar sound to her then. Griffin and her sunny murky colored blur of a world curled once again every time he ran. Seo knew she had heard gunshots; it wasn't the daze at all. Griffin became so narrow viewed that he overlooked the more natural path down. The man purposely tried to kill them both.

She had to run the murky image through her head over and over as that familiar chill slowly treaded up her back as the burnt gunpowder touched her nose. Brad made a comment as Griffin continued to run after them. The Umbreon had cut in the way, and that left Griffin to teeter and halt as swiftly as it would let him. That made Absol pant and wheeze weakly as the human stopped in his tracks, and something odd had terrified her.

The glare he had given seemed a little too welcomed for the situation they had been in. It left Seo to tremble and shiver as Umbreon crouched low. They all did as the air held a thump of a sound. Murkier human voices called and yelled in the wood all around them, hidden in a bush where Seo only caught her eye on Griffins.

I don't appreciate that glare you're giving, Griffin – I've seen you do that from time to time, broken. A few twisted nerves and another couple of gunshot wounds won't bring me down. It's not worth it yet. Absol softly drew in air, her recovery breath. Either that or you're carrying me so I can be your vest. It dared to creep up her throat, a vicious, violent growl, although Vaporeon had swiftly interrupted that with another change of shape.

Once again, she had used Acid Armor against a firearm… one that left Brad rigid as Melody passed out a softer, muffled squeak. Her instinct had been to make noise, yer her mind fought over that urge as something hit the ground with a dull thud. Umbreon had cut in too to knock out yet another human. This time Absol could just see enough to make them out. She went sharp-eyed.

_They're wearing digital print…? It looks much like the camouflage…

"Is that a Type One Navy Working Uniform?" _ The utter chill ran down her spine as Brad's words went through her head. She recognized the pattern immediately when she finally had a little clarity with her vision. They were the same pair of Camouflage, jacket, and pants to match that Surge wore from Vermillion City. It made her eyes sharpen a little on Brad. A question dared to run past her mind when two louder sounds made her jolt and fight the continued urge to retch as she stared at the unconscious human. He has a blue Bandana on too, like the other one but he didn't wear camo. He looked more like a 'professional' airsofter.' I think they… they color-code their members. A chill ran through her as urges to vomit came up while Griffin had moved behind a better bush as quietly as he could.

It told her that Recovery wouldn't work, and as Leafeon tilted his scalp while Vaporeon and Umbreon almost berated him for this sense of 'excessive' acts -Absol saw two human outlines that dangled upside down from one another. Leafeon had used Grass Knot… But in a whole forest, that Grass Knot – a gnarl of tough, strong roots – had become more like vines. The two of them, both with firearms of their own, hit their heads between one another when Leafeon effortlessly yanked them together like a spring trap. It looked as though two trees had bitterly whipped two humans in their respective places. The idea made her weakly grin.

At least Griffin is already there. No wonder why I'm still here. She continued to stare at Leafeon. It had been strange that he seemed so confused from them both; everything about the 'moss-log' left her sour.

"Let’s move.” She muttered out at them from the dense brush they hid from. “We stay. We die. Move,” The Umbreon had tilted his head at her angry mutters, nodded at his respective partner as they both bolted off ahead of them.

She had this creepy feeling that ran up her spine, one that told her they hadn’t been there to help; that feeling had been called ‘false hope.’ Footfalls jostled in the air around her as Seo attempted anything to even lift an inch from Griffin’s back.

Great, I feel fully conscious now, but I can’t move a muscle. Sleep paralysis is the best way to word it. I’m fully awake. Damned from the start. It left her stiff while the steps ran amuck, the odd murky voices roared all around the woods. They had guns, camouflage, even radio contact. That’s what stunned her in the moments that followed. Brad hadn’t also worn camouflage…

She knew Pokedex’s could be pinged just as quickly.

The ‘blue team’ aren’t enforcers. They’re utterly untrained. Someone or something is pulling their strings beyond this. They don’t even have to be officers of the law to find us, a god damn youth hunter could. Another voice called out again. It took me this long to figure that out?

Something or someone already knows where we are. They’re using the younger men – the trainers with them when they were kids… as fodder; maybe even lied about Griffin. All you get is the gun and ‘fake’ training. I’m pissed. Seo glanced around the bush-line and realized a straightforward thing, paralyzed, unable to see or hear; she naturally used her nose and went through a whole line of experience. The rage had slowly flooded her otherwise white-grey face.

Repel spray has a scent itself. It’s near sticky sweet. Scent covers make an absence of odor in the wind, especially when it comes in direction. It’s like a tunnel of vapor. The wind changes pace because of that human. The problem was she had any sense of a trail only a few feet around her – the rest of it had been no different than her eyes, an indecipherable mess.

Wind can grace me with it, but it depends on if they’re nearby or not – stalking us. By the time I figure it out, they’d be on us. Move Damnit. Think. We can’t just lay on the freaking ground Griffin. Seo bit her lip and tried to find a snarl to pull through her throat. A human had crossed the bush they hid in, even with the thick foliage that they had crawled under to hide – they were sure to find them.

Unless they were that stupid and inattentive, Seo hadn’t much of a chance where she was. The few seconds – a second… even with all their breaths stilled and quieter then the wind around them, it felt like the slowest second of her life.

She had been in unwinnable situations before, yet this felt different in caliber. The mental strain on her left every patch of fur along her spine on edge. Her crescent blade and horn had slumped further into the shadows – shade in the shade. If it was unwinnable… Then there was always a chance of surviving, even if it seemed impossibly small. The very thought of a gamble at all times – that was what they were up against… it left her dazed and weary mind and stomach, in all sense of illness. That was still a constant fight of her own, even as a smaller smile touched her wise face when the shadows jostled the tree branches from somewhere. She had moved her head back.

She moved even a little by even a fraction.

Take our time. Damnit breathe, take our time – I think that’s why they’re calm and quiet. As horrified as they are… I find it eerie. Someone will break soon, Brad is terrifyingly resilient, but I know he’s already taxed physically. Unbelievably, I figured he had more fire in his eyes then he let on. Melody’s scent seems odd or overpowering in some subtle way. She continually stays hydrated, so the lack of water now… She glanced back at Griffin’s glare. There had been a hint of fear in him now. That’s what made her spine tremble. That was oddly animalistic or at least oblivious when she considered his calmness much earlier. Even she knew that Griffin hadn’t commonly acted this unaware until an obvious threat had been in his eyes. Her head went back to Cerulean, Celadon, everywhere. “Don’t give up on me, you melodramatic shit,” Absol muttered into Griffin’s back. “Especially not where it’s going to get me killed too.” The softer growl dare slipped from her throat, footsteps around her, Seo had been stuck with her own strained heartbeat. Her vision started to falter with every sense of unconsciousness once more.

Colored static.

It took a lot more then she dared to say out loud just to stay conscious once more. If Bind had tried to work again, suddenly she had become so adhered to the move that it drained whenever it could. That was solely subconscious, and that had been a weakness.

Seo softly held her breath, rolled her chest as best she could…

And fully dispelled bind, she couldn’t risk falling unconscious.

To put it bluntly, then, her body felt as though all sense of ash burned into her flesh – broke bone. No, that pain had been residual from Sandslash, not to mention her hind legs. Her body screamed at her before. It wailed like a ghastly wraith now. Her insides desired to invert and pour from her throat. She simply had to swallow that as the stranger loomed over them, yet the tears stung her eyes in a harrowed second.

This human that had their eyes glued endlessly to the horizon had been much smaller than the rest of them – this smaller Service Revolver rested in their white-gloved hands. White…? They looked like a concrete block of snow to Seo. It left her eye to glue to them like a fly on tape. They had been white-clothed top to bottom – even their mud-caked cloth covered shoes had been white. It looked like the wrapping one would put on the body for a funeral pyre or the kind some Hollywood Mafioso would wrap their victims in. Seo couldn’t see them as any other way as her breath held even with her entire skeleton demanded her to writhe and grovel. Their eyes made her jolt – her heart dared to skip a beat.

She couldn’t afford that, less it stilled her entirely, underneath this weird mash-mop of a skier look, all white – the goggles sheened an opalescent blue – it was simplistic to read their body language. If anything, they were more horrified of the situation they had been in, more so then Brad or Griffin.

Even Melody had a bit more gall than the clothed up stranger, and yet that had been understandable.

They were twitchier than the rest of them, shaken… held the allure of a middle aged man.

I find any blue, and I’m ripping it apart; The white threw me off. I misread the situation. The blue knows where we are – the white… is this a test? A loyalty test, they’re using Griffin… but for how much can they use him for that’s the question.

I’m asking the wrong ones. It’s getting me muddled. Seo felt her nose brush against his back – the overpowering scent of sweat-drenched cloth, long faded, had wafted around his nose.

He wasn’t sweating… Melody was okay - It left a bittersweet taste to touch her tongue. There was plenty that any group could use someone like him for. Oblivious or blind-eyed to issues, hardly a complaint from him. A withdrawn rage, the profile made sense; yet his honest actions hadn’t.

Griffin dehydrated not because of the sprint or the crawl but because he had no water – gave the extra ‘rations’ to Melody. He was a prime target. Griffin could easily consider himself as expendable. Every action he did had proven that to the elder. As a ‘Trainer’ the young man focused primarily on physical health and from how he treated them – their minds too. It was all the hellscape that followed, which changed that little detail. A tremble ran down her back.

Once again, Vermillion City – the Pokemon Center. Luna, in her fit of tears, had told Seo about her nightmare. He started to eat less, so they could keep their diet. That was part of her ordeal.

His stupidity or bravado or… adrenaline makes him look suicidal, but he’s anything but. Why are you so sensitive to the world around you? Anxiety? Panic…? Calm down – you… Seo went silent as she stared at her trainer. His eyes had been dilated – warmly dilated for a moment. The fright had flooded away from him even as Seo glared at the blob. Griffin recognized something about them, something familiar.

The gloves. The gloves are adequately suited. Even that ‘spy’ or whatever in the cave didn’t have them. It’s the…. Her stomach churned from the thought, yet it made perfect sense to Seo.

She ‘fled’ the cavern, let a stranger in – got the police further involved. In some way, a much grimmer thought had entered her mind. It truly made her ill, the pain hadn’t helped, and she fought through every little bit of rage-induced numbness to swallow it down. Seo couldn’t lie in saying that she didn’t want to rip apart any motion around them. Yet there was no tactical advantage.

Leafeon had been somewhere, and that left Seo to wonder precisely what he waited for. Her mind went to a Pokeball. It made her eyes narrow as she stared at her flank. The eerie horrid scar rested, long healed over, a disfigured incoherent symbol rested there. Long faded… and always right in front of her.

Haxorus, Lycanroc… Vibrava could too. Seo forced an ear to angle while a voice cut off those thoughts. It felt cleared now – or drastically close.

“Find anything?” A voice commented. “This thing is supposed to be accurate, fifteen meters – where the hell are, they?” A voice muttered as Seo stayed dead silent – they all did. Seo figured it to be a mutter, or a sharp, loud yell, which had been an awkward thing to process in her recovery state. Her recovery…? Seo forced the urge to push her head up… then it hit her.

Griffin’s bag felt plenty a lot lighter.

He used a super potion, I think. My recovery is already kicked in. good to know I’m useful. She realized it with a sigh, what could it have been – what should it have been.

They stuck to the closest section of the wood – the darkest. They followed Umbreon – or at least Griffin had. She naturally assumed Griffin went first – he always seemed to. A Leafeon, an Umbreon, and a Vaporeon all go into the woods.

Hide and seek? It made the Absol in a sharp much-needed sigh.

Buddy pass. The running theme made her roll her eyes.

Umbreon and Vaporeon played the parents. Their cubs were the injured. That simple realization made her know that all they had to do was adjust the woods, and they’d be invisible by the best-known active camouflage in the world – Living foliage, a living backdrop too for drop.

Seo dared to chuckle, yet she knew a trick like this had been rough as all sin to do. A water vapor – like a fog could disrupt their direct view. One bush could look like three for even a moment, then there had been the shadows that Umbreon could manipulate. They stuck as close as they could to any line of depression. After all – the trail they went through had been uphill.

Seo pieced it together just as a clack left her body in an icy grip of fright. Someone was going to break, alright.

Who said anything about just Griffin and Co.

“This is a waste of time; the kid can’t find them.” There was this faded voice on a device. As though it had been a radio, yet she knew they couldn’t use those. A phone on a secure line of sorts? A built network? “Alright, we’ll do what we did there. Five clips, single shot. Bush to a bush.” The elongated weapon had come out.

“I -…” The girl’s voice went rigid. “That would be loud.” She nearly remarked as the man twitched an eye back, staring at the young teen who had been in the Wonder Trade, dressed all in white – but they wore white gloves.

“It’s a twenty-two, it’ll be quiet enough. We have time.” The man glanced at something – Seo felt her sigh slowly feed in.

“Noisy, isn’t she?” The voice made Seo rigid and hawk-eyed.

“Worth a hell of a lot more then you.”

Interesting comment. No one would think that matters. Why talk? Why comment? A strange tilt creaked her stiff neck – the soft crack made her stone. It was a quiet clack indeed – in fact… Seo honestly believed she only heard the receiver of the gun. If whatever that device was could track Pokemon through a Pokeball… if it wasn’t exact… then this bush idea would make sense. Row by row, a near circle of fifteen meters of dense foliage like some twisted firing line, those humans took their places.. As they stood on one end, the man-made motion as the one in all white had jolted and ran over to something else.

In a way, it excited her, the teen seemed to nod or hop with the idea gleefully. The Duffel bag filled with all sorts of things rested by the lead leg. Most notably were these tall sticks, thin pikes of pointless plastic. A stick colored white – which she started with and the other dyed blue - It looked like a meter flag to her.

“Like we practiced.” Each different-colored member slung up these simple smaller rifles holstered them in this semi-circle formation with a pike by each leg. They did their scan of the bush intensely, holstered the gun. As though to respond to the breach clack of the rifle, every other weapon fired at once. A volley which placed to hit any target they couldn’t see from their first suspicions on a glance. They spent the time to test the white shirt, that strange girl from the cavern; it hit her then.

A burn of rage-filled her. She couldn’t risk the use of bind – yet she couldn’t move without it.

They’re even persuading youngsters, and those they like end up here…?

Her best bet was to throw all her weight into an opponent and hope to god her fangs could hit something vital as she went slump. The next volley to be set had blue pins that stuck out of the ground; they lined about three feet apart each. They filled in the gaps, and she only assumed they’d interweave it. A move, they needed to move. She could see the flaw, yet the man in front only stood to focus on the device, a duffel by his feet.

It had been a tracking chip like she used to have, the scientists she knew used them too. This swirl of mud touched her nose after a while. The faint sea air finally registered to her nose… with every recovery came the worst part.

Her damned horn began to ring. It felt like this odd constant tinge or burn, yet that was painful enough for her to bear, let alone the continuous paralysis of her mobility and the sickening pit in her stomach. That kind of rage had burned like wildfire as Seo lowered her muzzle at the blobby, oily rod and block which appeared in the air away from them. The second volley cracked out with what she assumed would be a full parade shot. It didn’t have that precise accuracy; the first shot had been a full second before the last one. A cold, unbarred chill touched her spine as she did realize and understand one thing quite clearly. The sounds felt muffled in comparison to a larger firearm. Hell, it was quieter than the one that shot Brad; the fact that she also forced herself to take into consideration. A full rush of points chased through Seo’s skull – calm yet clearly enraged events; this didn’t frighten her. It only pissed her off as she tried to shrug off the weariness of the usual stone-cold slate of emotions. Bind truly did mess her up. She cursed her own selfish desire for mercy or peace once more. That naivety, although well intended, always got those with it killed. She cursed the word – Mercy and bared her fangs in a vicious predatorial gaze of silence. A leopard that waited for her chance to sloppily pounce at her opponent. Any younger…

All those men would be dead before they could clack the breach of that rifle – that was a simple truth about Pokemon.

In all reality, as Seo felt the name, she held onto for its bare warmth slither from her lips. From the mental fingertips where it slipped away into her usual blur of the world. It started to fade of color, a clear sign that Griffin’s potions, while she had been unconscious - did work. That concerned her more than it was reasonable.

A lot of things about herself as of late had.

_Bind isn’t fully restored, but it’s faster than I anticipated. A hyper Potion? Or a Max Restore? Whatever it is, for now, it worked.

It’s just muscles. They don’t matter._ Her gaze softly began to dilate, the usual, near villainous gaze cut into the air. She began to numb all over. I could cripple the move permanently. That thought slashed her like a tempered blade, unexpected and swift. In fact, the oily ribbons began to saturate. The green came in as the pain seemed to unfurl. The wince followed when the sight of rainbow-crisp rain hit the forest’s opening before them. No, it’s dull colored. I very much could cripple it if I don’t rest more. Seo gritted her teeth as the plops shot up again. Brad, at that point, looked white; he came into view. Don’t run out, you moron, don’t run at all. Seo glanced at Griffin’s Pokeball. Haxorus. It’ll be laughable to watch now that I think of it. I wonder if they’re honestly cannon fodder, I feel that only the big fellow in the middle knows of it… That duffle bag’s being tells me that.

Seo only kept her eyes on that Pokeball on Griffin’s hip. Griffin had simply fixed his eyes on them and with a silent glare.

He stared at the strange white-clad girl who stared aimlessly at his bush. She simply leaned curiously, utterly unphased by the situation around her. It appeared absurd, yet Seo only stared with a held breath – she refused to even swallow, let alone move. Not a sound passed by them while the human absurdly stared. The fact she had also been there had been absurd.

The eerie calmness had the worst effect about it, her tied up like some T-shirt covered mummy – those steely eyes kept open for endless minutes. The pit sank further. Every fiber told the Absol to run down all of them in a blink; save that smaller human from them. Naturally, she had trained to do so that long ago, yet without Bandit and Bind. It left her to bite her lip. The decision had been harder to assess. All of Griffin’s Pokemon had severe injuries now, save for a few untrustworthy exceptions. There wasn’t a smart way to survive, and everything had told her that the eerie human could easily see them and secretly hid it to themselves like some sick game. The teenager that had been with those clearly dangerous people made a chirp or a giggle. In some twisted way, the Absol could feel the curve of their cheekbone from underneath the T-Shirt.

The Mimikyu cloak came to her thoughts. They were out of time. If that Umbreon and Vaporeon had indeed been there to help in the beginning - they wouldn’t have run. That ‘Lucky Loss’ sigh touched her lip.

A little inside joke Bandit had with her – the only thing that made her laugh in a long time. Yet here it was a quiet motivating memory.

She gritted her teeth and waited. Griffin had shifted after that moment, uncomfortably, as though ready to lunge from his hiding spot and run. Melody had stayed dreadfully silent, yet she held a Pokeball in her lap.

Smokey’s.

Brad has Aura too. But these are still guns they’d be against, regardless big or small. Leafeon is around also. The constant illness flooded her stomach by then. The desire to hurl had gotten intense. Nettles of broken glass stabbed under her skin. Even with her constant modest fighting to stand on her own, it weighed her. She really had one move left in her lest bind is gone, and her body be damned. A strained paw pressed against Griffin’s back, her leg. A blink made her world slow down, her heartbeat.

Bind and body be damned, I’ll decapitate them. Aerial Ace and Psycho Cut. I can barely move, though. Her vision had slowly faded from the colorful glossy world. The numbness came back – reassured as the gentle deadly clack touched the air in their odd rhythm again. The rain began to pelt down again as Absol glanced at the crosses of droplets. A wave of water in sunshine? She glanced up for a dared moment.

The sky had become rampant too – clouds of white flickered by as though a massive gust shot them that way. That strong invisible force left her eyes to drop – the world in slow motion… It made her still. Hesitate.

The one before them had been short, a wrapped up adult stood beside her. That snapped Absol’s world purely black and white. Nameless and colorless, her tail began to charge power rapidly. The other one had been still… muttered incoherently.

Terrified.

The illness still flooded through her as a vile, vicious tremble ran down her back. The clack from the receiver primed in the air. The hesitant second…

She froze and stared down it – the realization that this block of steel had pointed at them. Trembled and said a name amid their mutter.

If for whatever reason, the younger teen could see through Umbreon and Vaporeon’s little tricks to hide them, she recognized them both in an instant. There hadn’t been any chance to move…Because the stranger hadn’t pulled the trigger, only stared – the T-shirt frozen.

“Can you see anybody?” Their voice became mild stutter – a single louder voice from him before silence. “I’ve… done Pokemon breeding for a long time and I don’t see anything.”

“No, I don’t. Do you?” She replied in her eerily calm and almost sing-song tone. All he could do was shake his head no in reply. White.

The Absol’s eyes darkened, sunk behind her skull. Every little reveal left her iller as she only stared back like some small watchful stone shrine. Hardly half a meter away from them, she stared at them both.

“We’re clear here.” An older voice had called out

“I got nothing…” Another voice commented in reply. This stern sigh cut the air.

“Where and how the hell did these people slip under us like this?” The other voice expressed. “I don’t care or know how they survived the freaking van, find them – kill them. Stomp on the damn forest for all I care, and where the hell is the Pokemon?” They called out quietly but firmly enough that even Griffin’s back stiffened instinctively. “Our little surprise to distract trouble... We already lost two; I haven’t got a clue what happened.” A voice gently laughed

“Think they’re still screaming about air?”

“Shut it.” The voice replied, yet there was this grotesque chuckle from some of the other strangers. “If they’re dumb enough to let out their Pokemon, then yes.” The stranger sighed. “Where’s our other guy?”

“Well.” A bush rustled, then another – another. They began to wander around in circles around the woods. The teen in front of her left her view. “I know that one guy mentioned something about an Abra catching him. They haven’t seen them yet.” The returned quietly. “I wish we were doing what our guys overseas are. That shit is ‘easier’” The stress on the word caught her attention. “We can get much more done in a shorter amount of time then pull out. Here, we get corner after corner.”

“Focus.” The other person replied. “If things didn’t go sideways, we wouldn’t be stuck here. It’s bad enough.”

“Whatever, I got my pay for the time being.” They answered in turn and continued to look through the foliage. “Anyone see anything?”

“What are you expecting? Some obvious tell-tale hint? Good luck.” They replied, “You wouldn’t see them if you walked into them. I don’t get why our Pokemon haven’t revealed them.” The man placed a hand on his hip. “We got locations on our Pokemon?” Some smaller blocks touched Seo’s eye.

“Yeah, they’re in static spots all over, I think. The last Pokemon I saw was an Umbreon and a Vaporeon.” Silence followed that. Bushes rattled, somewhere close enough that Griffin dared to take in a sharp breath or hold it. Absol had barely taken in a breath as one stepped dangerously close to their bush.

That same camouflage and strange get up. It looked flashy the kind of thing someone could see once and recognize whenever they needed to. That was foolish in her mind, she could see their outlines in the brush.

Sloppy. Their spacing and pace are sloppy. They get too close to thick foliage – I can hear their outfits against the bushes.

She simply laid low and listened to the murky noises all around her head. The one in the center eventually checked his watch and curiously opened the duffel bag. That had been a curious thing, indeed.

A vest, one that looked too familiar towards the Kanto PD. A firearm of some kind, ammunition, and some other miscellaneous gear.

“Keep searching.” The man in the center commented idly as he checked the sky. The flush of rain came in sharp waves now. The soil had that freshly matted scent. “I have my job to do when you see lights – pull out.” They commented idly and bitterly wandered away. “Shoot to kill, have fun with it – give me a marksman shot. I’ll see what I can ask my boss to get you.” They commented with an idle wave and casually walked past them – outfitted. They also held a stronger posture then the rest of them, although he had dressed no different from them. Her heart rate slowly began to taper as she wearily stared at the bag. There had been other gear in there.

A lot of it looked like cleaning chemicals, bags, and other random items. As she tossed her gaze aside, all she could see was the larger man push the younger teen away from him.

“Stay here.” He told the apparent teenage girl. “Help them search.” They nodded back turned, and walked away… something hit the ground with a heavy thud in the second that followed.

“What the fuck?” The clack of a quick, well-maintained receiver whipped the air. Seo could barely make out the shape – the larger stranger tripped over something. “Hey… Who did the initial perimeter check?” Four people put their hands up. “We got a bo-” They took another quick glance. “… What Pokemon did you say?”

“An Umbreon and a Vaporeon.”

“Doesn’t fit that other girl’s roster…” A voice said quietly. “She ran off with someone particular in Kalos.” A chill ran down Griffin’s back. Seo felt that – an eerie chill. “Who the hell here has an Umbreon and a Vaporeon?” Not a single hand came up

He’s…? He’s not…? Her mouth nearly dropped a little. You’re completely pissed off, that grim look isn’t about… Seo made a small grin of her own. You’re in the debate of whether it ‘comes down to it.’ Even someone like you wants whoever’s responsible out of the picture.

“Pooch,” Seo remembered that Griffin’s mother had called him that, a Center somewhere. This unsettled headache rang between her ears after a moment.

The damn horn, it’s… it feels like it’s burrowing into my face. I’m getting… hazy again, I think. It struck down on her as the voices of the others came up.

“W” The handgun made a little rattle, as though the man checked the breach – it silenced that voice in an instant. There had only been silence after that.

Vaporeon melted all those metal barrels. Maybe Leafeon hid the bodies under soil…? He is a little odd. Seo blinked as the sporadic rain became… prominent – it drowned out the sound.

“T – there…?” The younger voice touched her ears as she went cold from her paws to her neck. The oil blobs came back around like her eyes had drops put in them. Murky oily, and hard as hell to figure one thing from another. What damn type was I last…? She shook her head the water…? No, something else. Anything else…? Her lungs lightly stung, and she held her breath to hold back a cough. That light discomfort had been sure to get worse in a few seconds.

The urge would become a demand – one that she suffocated. Silence and patience had been vital here. The letter flashed in her mind as Seo willed herself to drown quietly, stabbed on all fronts – every follicle of skin felt like thick gauge needles again.

She let herself drown and burn at the same time to have even the extra precious seconds of silence in hopes that the stronger rain would flush the sound of coughs away.

The stranger had made all sorts of grinding noises, sternly scolded at the others. With that silent searing pain, she suffered in her usual glossed silence. Every time a bush rustled, even by the wind, that sensation cut through her lungs. The patter of the rain came along and with it, as quiet as she could make them, a collection of quiet spasmodic coughs.

It helped push against the pain, a pain that confused her. It came in waves, great one moment – crippled the next. That hadn’t been a good sign.

She had clearly been on borrowed time for how long – she hadn’t known for.

Even with that revelation, the sound of twigs underwater – a distorted pop and crackle. A branch had broken close by, yet Melody had a fixed gaze on Brad’s shoulder the entire time. He had looked cold now; it left Seo to bite her lip.

We’re out of time, come here, you prick. I’ll show you what fangs can do. Even with Seo’s more hardened disposition, this hint or prick left her to nip at the skin on her muzzle. Seo still couldn’t move, not painlessly. The term ‘Combat Ready’ had been one she knew three decades back, and she had been long past that title now.

It made her frown, the fact that the name came back – she held herself to the name… even as a letter hung in her mind. That made her dig her paw into Griffin’s back. You ditched the bag for me. Your bag, phone – Pokenav. Brad is the only one with his, isn’t he? A softer curve of her cheek pulled the frown away and left her in the stipulation. Her nerves burned. The pins felt like knives.

Seo had to move, regardless of how Griffin barely moved and motioned her quietly to still. There hadn’t been a point to back down. This man had been much, much smarter.

“Alright. You’re all going to learn a little thing about nature. About Pokemon.” He explained as he began to walk in small half arcs around each nestle of bushes around them. Reminiscent of a flat stone tossed across the water, the man-made that strange walk. “Water, water, vapor – it dispels light. Shadows also need a natural light source.” He stressed a few words here and there. “So clearly, all you need to do is watch whatever side you think they’re on, and eventually their little Pokemon will tire out. Water vapor is going to give colors off at certain angles. Use whatever sunlight we have left before this… whatever this is… gets worse.” There appeared to be a little sound, then he mentioned: “Move it, the storm is going to delay the police, and I doubt they’ve finished with our distraction.” The gruff and disgusting voice had said – Seo hadn’t liked it at all. It left her to wonder if the others had faked it, stuck in some perpetual loop. Her nape and shoulders – her fur on end. The detail would be beyond minute for a Human…

Yet if that human truly trained with Pokemon day after day, regardless of how… they’d notice something – even small parlor tricks. She had a feeling, an odd – sick feeling… that he knew where they were for the entire time. Something moved as Seo tilted an eye back. In the corner of her vision, Brad made a few meek hand gestures. She knew what they meant.

You, me. Column formation – pointed at the sharp smaller rock beside us; gun. Brad wants Griffin to use the foundation to hit the man, so he can grab the gun. Griffin would be shot dead; Brad doesn’t realize that the gunman has known from the beginning

He’s proving their point. Like a slow form of mental torture.

I don’t think he knows I’m on Griffin’s back, however. Griffin isn’t going to understand. I can feel that.

Griffin eventually pondered at the rock, picked it up – sharp side out; it appeared like a blocky cone. A thick spearhead he could use. Brad made another gesture, one that was much easier. “Fall back and watch.” He gestured to Melody since her condition hadn’t made things any more comfortable – whatever it had been. Seo gave a moment to contemplate all the facts together.

They’d have to go out swinging, pinned to the mud, under a makeshift veil of hidden screens and cheap magic. She knew that Griffin’s heart had raced no different than prey in open fields – she had been astonished that no one had soiled themselves yet. They all had been on the brink.

Lucky no one has peed either – I wouldn’t be surprised if he could notice. The Absol’s neck crowned into this position, which dared to splinter her back. It felt like it at least, yet she knew it had been all the inflammation – her chest hadn’t dealt well either thanks to Sandslash. A gentler grin fell over her face.

“Hey, the runt’s doing fine.” The voice came into her head, “I’m more worried about our little ‘hot pepper,’” She continued to say through her delightful Yeen. “You haven’t told us enough about you, Absol.” It had been words that circulated between them repeatedly. Upon the faux mountainside where they could see the strange honeycomb of biomes. “If you keep oohing at the sky, I’d tell you to join a wild pack.” They jokingly Yeened at her as Absol only continued to stare in return. “Heh, Wild Pack – I think there’s some crazy game with cards. Griffin and Logan played it all the time. They’d count their cards. I remember Griffin yelled it out when he finally won. “Lucky loss,” He said that, and some little argument came up.”

“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.” She had growled back at her then, yet that other voice went on, unfazed. It had been wonderfully soft with its usual gruff – sassy tone. The smile pursed her lips.

“Honey, if going to worry about the luck you lost, then you’re never getting ahead.” The voice continued to say in this warm tone as though to mimic someone close. “Someone endearing to me said that, along with many more.” Her voice became cheery. “Come along. I bet lunch is already out; you could use the extra muscle.” That voice made Seo lower her skull. _“That sounds better then oohing over the luck that’s lost – there’s much more ahead. I’m a little lucky too. I believe, foolishly, that luck can share. I feel like that’s what Griffin meant.” _

The world had slowed from the softer surge of adrenaline. It left her tired, meek… She forced herself to clench her jaw. There had been no reason aside from the will to break it herself.

The heel – cut it open; tag low, and he’ll drop. We’ll die, but that’s only if he’s telling the truth. It’s all been twisting and lies with these bastards, on top of it; they use innocent people.

_Yet he’s too stupid to realize one thing; I can smell up to twenty meters at least. I can smell each individual human. _ Seo closed her eyes, the slow-motion – the barrel slowly lifted… into view. Although her world had been in color and the blued-obsidian steel rolled into her vision, it felt every bit as greyscale as it always had. One good move, any good move. She dug further into Griffin’s shoulder blades – enough that he winced. Brad wearily locked an eye on Absol as Melody only went as low as she could go to the earth. The man’s head tilted as he played around with his handgun.

“Eenie, Meenie, miny moe. Which, oh, which shall I go?” He’d play around with it – but Seo knew that the oily gloss of the barrel… The sputter of a rainbow caught her now dilated eye. The sound of a happy hum. Seo didn’t need another moment… She lunged from the bush in a forceful and fast winded jolt of her hind and forelegs. From the man’s outer right side… His weapon had pointed Melody’s way. The lunge was only a foot across through minor brush – the man left-handed… held the gun with a single arm as she barreled toward him from an explosive push off Griffin.

He never assumed that the ‘crippled and injured’ Absol would be the one to sink her fangs… into something that felt too much like Aura’s baton. Except, it was no gel – more like rugged, raw line sports gear. Some metal or plastic brace wrapped with a curved protective pad; She couldn’t sink through. But like hell, would she try to let go. The pillow had been around the man’s arm.

“Well, that’s a sure sign!” He called out as Seo’s eye dilated – he kicked her hip with a heavy boot; usually, she could take it. Here it left welts in her eyes as she clamped down on it. “Too bad, you’re chipped dipshit! Shoot the brush. I got little miss granny.” The human called out in his murky voice and swapped his hand down in an instant. He pulled a knife, because she certainly wouldn’t let go of his arm, the one that held the pistol.

“Do me a solid? Thief has been down as of late, has nightmares. He doesn’t like telling me about his issues… could you please talk to him? He won’t listen to me now.” She remembered the reluctant nod she gave Luna the other night – certainly hadn’t wanted to be around the Growlithe. It reminded her, even the flood of thoughts that chased through her skull did. A bitter resentment rose in her throat as she looked down at the Growlithe, lounged out in the meadow – alone. The field Biome had always reminded her of a special place in her mind. It held its eerie resemblance.

Another reason to stay at the mountainside away from it.

“You should be in the Volcano biome, asleep if you’re here.” She remembered that it had been shortly after she retired for the night. Luna found her wide awake – unable to think or sleep with the knowledge of Esi. The Growlithe lounged but had been wide awake – looked at the stars in silence. The fake night skies. The altercation back and forth came into her head. The silent argument until Thief finally said.

“Sometimes, I get to dream. A day here or there… it’s always the same. Being terrified of… of everyone and everything.” The Growlithe spoke softly and coughed as Absol loomed in closer to hear him. “I’m tired of being… I’ve always been.” It made Thief gently cough and sigh. His eyes looked red as Seo casually glanced over his bandages. “Scarf… told me…” Thief swallowed – the painful sound touched Absol’s ear.

His ribs; still bruised? The second skin reacts with his body temperature; he’d heal faster if he didn’t stay so cold. Does Luna realize that? Absol gently listened to her memory clearly, as Thief began to say…

“Only those without the resolution to face the fear will find themselves only holding onto threads; those who don’t… won’t realize it was a ploy to throw off the timid” Thief swallowed and nodded “S – something like that… So, I asked him… about being weak. He laughed and then he… he told me that all strong people began weak.” Thief expressed and shook his head. “It’s dumb. There’s no… way.” Absol gently sighed and then felt something stiffen in her lower back. Her jaw clenched and curled the fabric as she forced her flame ridden paws to sink into the earth and held the man’s firearm pointed to the ground – a dog with his arm in her jaws.

“Little Growlithe.” It made Thief gingerly look up to her as Absol’s eyes softened in memory. The Growlithe’s eye was bloodshot and glossed. Hardly any color in them it made her inhale softly.

“When the strong protect the weak, they’re heroes; when the weak protect the strong…” She trailed off for a moment. The thought has slowly begun to fade as though the lapse of unconsciousness dared to touch her mind.

“They become legends.”

It snapped her mind to focus. She held the large man low to the ground with her dug in position – like a faulted trench line with barely any room for skull cover. A deep roar – a rumble from her throat brought out a passion that left her eyes to flare open wide. Her body screeched as though a very spawn of hell and distortion peeled off her flesh. The eyes wide like Bind always had… but the pain had been there, slammed her with hell her body had been saving.

The pain told her she was alive

The pain told her she could fight, crippled, elderly, or not.

The pain told her that she could break that human's twisted arm by crushing in that armor plate of plastic and fabric.

Then the entire forest rumbled underneath her – roots twisted and flung around in a flurry. The base of the tree’s shot out from underneath themselves as though the roots came to life. Sentient – intelligent. It happened in an impossible flash like a springboard. The lethal move…

A simplistically obvious solution backed by an impossibility. She heard the scamper of footfalls right when the gunshot rang out into the woods. Limp. She felt it in a moment, an instant. Heavyweights… colored static flicked and flashed around her vision – a numbness touched somewhere. Blood came out from somewhere and right when she thought the worst of it had been over – her world filled with red, and a loud clack snapped a shape left to right.

A putrid static grey.

Are you alive?

A voice began to call out in an eternal second. Mist touched her nose, her ears… eyes. A gentle seaborne rock brushed against her side.

Are you alive?

She couldn’t tell if it was a thought or a voice. Seo couldn’t move at all – yet her body felt calmer… quieter. Then a murky voice, a faded one who made her touch her ear to the earth. The human tone and sound, all she drew out had been.

“Can’t believe I get to say it. Nice call, Logan.”

Then there had been a scent inside of her heal ball – a new one; a max restore perhaps? Her back trembled, and she tried to turn her head.

“Absol? They told…” She knew the voice.

“Are we both dead? I got… shot, didn’t I?” The Mightyena lowered his head.

“Your hind leg got grazed, Griffin used a Heal Ball – Luna’s, I think.”

“I lost consciousness…”

“Umbreon and Vaporeon had to get us. They used - ”

“I know the moves; they played some trickery and ran,” Seo muttered back with her dry cough. “Any dead?”

“Griffin snapped a dude in the head with a rock; I overheard that. I’m shocked he did… he’s not the type. Two others might have brain damage.” He expressed. “The police walked in after a bit… Griffin nearly got shot right there at a cruiser. I’ve never heard so many loud cracks in response.”

“Shoot at a cop. What do you expect?” Seo muttered back in reply – it had been a stern, factual one. “What’s going to happen?”

“Who knows… They’re safe. The story is bound to come up – if the media got wind it could cause a panic. They’ve buried a lot or refused information to protect the public.” Shadow mentioned once again and went quiet.

“My head…” Seo leaned over and retched, aside from bitter bile – there hadn’t been any else. Her stomach felt filled to the brim with the horrid stuff by then. A glance to her paw… She took a round, through and through. It explained why it felt… partially asleep, regardless of what she did to it.

The pain too…

“They become legends” Thief’s voice repeated her words shortly after Shadow trailed off. The ghostly sounds of it ran through her head. It made her shake her own.

“Why am I not dead?”

“Griffin knocked the guy out… or Melody did – I didn’t get the whole story. I know Leafeon did a lot of freaking damage, the whole forest was overturned in that meadow. Everyone is alive. Some are just… in worse shape than others. I don’t know.” Shadow mentioned wearily. He looked as though he just got out of a wild fight of his own. “We knocked out their Pokemon as fast as we could.”

“Why… are you here?” Absol muttered. “Does Logan have someone following us?”

“From what I know of, there’s been someone following them both for a while,” Shadow commented back, his eyes held this allure of soft rose gemstones. Incandescent as though glossy. They were like brushed ruby – a darker than pink Sakura flower… It had been the first real-time she’d had the chance to see him, rather than Bandit’s ‘good’ side.

Shadow always clung closest to the ear that perked up during Bandit’s littlest angel look. He seemed like the type, from the robust and gentle muzzle to enjoy nosing at necks. His pelt shone like his name, the greys had a lackluster compared to the sleek, jet obsidian that took up most of his hide. He didn’t Yeen like Bandit, but he made a softer whine whenever he laughed.

Seo remembered that about him, yet here – Shadow looked no different than a coat that stood before a wall of cannon fire. She almost felt astonished he held back any real rage as even with that wall of death breathing down their necks

His pelt had been next to spotless.

“The Pokeball we’re in, you’re in now. It’s like a healing deck at a Pokemon center.”

“I know wh-” Shadow interrupted with

“It’s not a heal ball. With some luck, that wound on your paw will close… but you need more than a day.” Shadow muttered as Seo reflectively rested on this strange, open plain. The kind where the horizon seemed impossibly distant or even non-existent. She just let herself lay in a shell that confined her.

A shell left Seo’s mind to wander on those left behind; It left her to wonder if all luck had been lost through her sighing.