"Oh, wow, I can't believe this, but, you know, this happens all the time, its rather unavoidable, you know, there's so many people who try and steal your pokemon, you just don't encounter them often. Running through a bright alleyway, though. I agree with you, he's probably inexperienced." Officer Jenny said. Arwen had just arrived at the Police Station, and they were standing outside, Arwen with a backpack slung across one arm, and her Sableye riding on her head, rather than her shoulder. Officer Jenny, on the other hand, was, as usual, on her motorcycle, propping it up with one leg as she listened to Arwen.
"Yes, I think so ma'm," Arwen agreed, "do you have an idea of who he might be?" She asked, as Officer Jenny whipped out a notepad and began to scribble something down.
"No clue, I usually am familiar with most of the pokemon thieves around here, but this one may be new. So...dark hair, pale skin, stands around five foot seven when hunched over, and scrawny looking?"
"Yes, yes that's right." Arwen said quickly, nodding, as Officer Jenny scribbled something else down on the notepad. Then she tucked it away and looked at Arwen.
"I'll do my best, if he really is as inexperienced as he seemed on your encounter, then it should be, if only somewhat, easier to catch him than the others. He could be out of this area by now, though. I'm glad your Sableye is safe."
"Thank you, ma'm, I-" Arwen started to say, but by then Officer Jenny had fully mounted her motorcycle again and was speeding away, already a good 50 meters from her before she noticed. "Anyways...I guess its about time to head to Violet City, we're rested, we've got extra supplies, cause we bought extras and never used much getting here. Lets go..." Sableye showed his agreement by nipping her ear, his teeth leaving red marks where they had bitten down gently.
"Careful Sableye," Arwen said, though it didn't really hurt. "You wouldn't want to accidently do that to some innocent person, would you? They could get you into trouble, those teeth of yours." She felt like she sounded harsh, but maybe its was just that she talked more gently so Sableye because he was only a baby, and an undersized and weak one at that. Sableye looked down for a moment, but before Arwen could say anything else looked up again and, grinning, bared his sharp teeth at Arwen, who laughed, "I just knew you would get it." Sableye bit her ear more gently this time, and then resumed his usual perch on her head, sitting on the beret that she usually wore. Arwen pulled her black gloves up a little higher, and adjusted the strap of her backpack, she was used to its weight by now, and all it contained was a few pairs of extra clothing, shirts, socks, and two sweatpants, all rolled up and everything to take up as little space as possible. Then there was a secret pocket with a few pairs of earrings, and the rest was supplies, potions, bandages, pokeblocks, dried food, because cans were way too heavy, repels, you name it, Arwen's backpack contains it, or at least, any basic care materials you might need. Then the toothbrush, toothpaste, the like, that kind of stuff, and she kept anything extra in the second actual pocket, which was still pretty small. They were ready to head to Violet City, and after Arwen had stopped at a Pokemart to purchase another repel, and a couple of potions and more dried food, they began to walk down the road leading out of Cherrygrove City.
They had reached nearly reached Route 30 when an official ran up to them. "This way is blocked, there's a tunnel opened up that way." He said, pointing in the direction of a large elm tree, Arwen thanked the man and headed in that direction. She was about to enter the tunnel, when a woman with long red hair in a ponytail and wearing a peculiar...Arwen didn't know how to describe it, costume, or uniform, with a large red "R" on the front jumped down from the tree in front of them.
"Now here's an interesting pokemon, the boss should be pleased." She muttered, as Arwen backed up, startled, Sableye letting out a loud screech that made even the woman cover her ears. After Sableye was finished, she returned to her normal stance and snickered, glaring at Arwen, who, though surprised, and definitely frightened, glared right back. She wasn't exactly sure what the woman was planning to do, but whatever it was, she knew the woman wanted her Sableye, and Arwen knew she was definitely not giving it up. The coldness from Arwen's eyes should have been enough to make the woman flinch, but it passed unnoticed. "Won't be long now, go, Pidgioto! Your pokemon, whatever it is, is mine!"
Sableye and Arwen looked at each other, both seeming to agree on something, "if you want Sableye, you'll have to battle me, and we won't let you win!" Arwen replied, biting back a sharper reply, for fear of enraging the woman, who didn't seem worried at all, and smiled coldly, as if to say "we'll see." And Arwen got the message loud and clear, but she didn't back down, this was too important, she might have reacted differently if it was a friendly battle between trainers, but then again, in a friendly battle, there wasn't another trainer trying to take your pokemon away from you. "We'll get them, won't we?" Arwen whispered to Sableye, who nodded, baring its teeth, which seemed to startle the Pidgioto somewhat.
"Pidgioto, fly up into the air and use quick attack!" Arwen and Sableye grinned at each other, quick attack was a normal move, and the woman, not knowing what type of pokemon Sableye was, since it originated in the Hoenn Region, and obviously she was only stationed in Johto or something, had no clue that it wouldn't affect Sableye, but would give it a chance to attack. Sableye didn't dodge the move, rather, it took the full damage, which was no damage at all, but Pidgioto was pulling out of its dive and didn't seem to notice. That was when Sableye jumped up and bit down on its tail, Arwen winced, knowing how large and sharp Sableye's teeth were, Pidgioto lurched and screeched, flapping wildly, it wasn't quite strong enough to take Sableye's weight, and they began to drop down towards the earth.
"Keep hanging on, Sableye!" Arwen cried, and Sableye nodded, through a mouthful of feathers, as Pidgioto lost altitude, a little before they hit the earth, Arwen screamed, "jump!" Sableye leaped off the Pidgioto, which was unprepared to pull out of its fall, and hit the earth with a thud, momentarily stunned, Sableye landed lightly on its feet a few feet away, having jumped from only about five feet. "Now's your chance, Sableye, use scratch!" Sableye lunged forward, its claws seeming to enlarge, as it raked both sets of claws across Pidioto's wing, landing a direct hit. But they were unprepared for the moment when Pidioto suddenly flew off the ground and, without instruction, used a powerful gust attack. Sableye dropped down and dug its claws into the ground, though it finally let go and was thrown against a tree by the gust attack. It got up shakily, and glanced at Arwen, who smiled encouragingly, though the corners of her mouth were set in a hard line.
"Sableye, we can do this, can't we?" She yelled to her pokemon, and was pleasantly surprised to see Sableye nod happily and climb up a tree, hiding amonst its branches. The woman tossed her head and instructed Pidioto to search the tree's branches to find Sableye, Arwen nearly shook her head, couldn't the woman see how unsuccessful that could be? But then the Pidioto disappeared among the leafy branches. Suddenly, she heard both Pidgioto and Sableye cry out, and felt a sinking in her stomach, which was quickly replaced by a feeling of fear as she saw both pokemon plummet from one of the uppermost branches, Pidgioto falling helplessly, unable to catch an updraft to lift it towards the sky, and Sableye...could it be that Sableye was grinning triumphantly? As Arwen watched in amazement, Sableye flipped upside down and bit Pidgioto on the tail again, swinging it upwards before slamming it towards the ground. Then they disappeared again as they hit a layer of branches and leaves, though Arwen could hear a series of thuds and shrieks and cries. Once she heard her Sableye's characteristic screech of pain, and then saw them falling between the branches, bouncing helplessly off the branches, they were at the lowest layer, they would hit the ground soon, the woman was watching too, her eyes wide. Then Pidioto suddenly fell and hit the ground, Arwen waited, surely Sableye would come after it, and she couldn't help but cry out Sableye's name. But Sabelye never did appear. Arwen's eyes searched the branches anxiously, but saw no sign of her pokemon, and ran over, the woman following her. The Pidgioto was completely knocked out, and Arwen couldn't see Sableye.
"Sableye?" She called, no answer, and just as she was considering climbing up into the tree to search for her pokemon, she desperately needed to know what the heck was going on, she heard the most familar cry.
"Sableye! Sable sable sable eye!" The next thing she knew, she had been knocked over by her Pokemon barreling into her, unbelievably pleased with itself despite the scratches from the plummet through the branches. The woman caught up to them, just as Arwen had stood up again, her Sableye by her side. She saw her Pidgioto, and seemed momentarily speechless, and then, when she spoke, her voice was cold and mocking.
"You might have won this battle, but we are Team Rocket, and Team Rocket never play fair." She snickered, and threw something into the air, it enlarged to become a cage, its bottom open, coming down on Sableye, who would be trapped.
"Now, Sableye!" Arwen shouted, Sableye darted forward, and, with surprising strength, slammed into the woman, its diminuitive body managing to knock her over. Then Arwen kicked the cage, its bars were solid, and as soon as she placed it over a rock, the bottom of the cage slid out, trapping the rock inside. "I get it," she murmured, "why don't we get you cleaned up and then keep going on our way to that tunnel?" Arwen suggested to Sableye, just as the woman was getting up, looking furious.
"You've won this time, but just you wait, you're not safe yet, and you can't hide forever." Then she returned her Pidgioto, who was only just beginning to stir, and walked in the opposite direction of the tunnel. Arwen stared at her retreating back, then hugged Sableye.
"I can't believe how awesome you are!" She exclaimed, as Sableye grinned happily. "You deserve something, I'm sorry, we'll have to get to the next town for something good, but let me give you your favorite pokeblock until then." She removed a container from her backpack, and took out two large, spicy pokeblocks, Sableye perked up, and it reached its arms out to take the pokeblocks, nibbling at them happily. It bit Arwen's finger gently in thanks after it had finished, and Arwen smiled at her pokemon, who had climbed up her arm to resume its usual perch. "I guess we head to the tunnel then..." she muttered, but now she was alerted of something else, Team Rocket, and she did really wonder who they could be.
Arwen found the tunnel, which was really much more like a cave, with no problem at all, and walked inside, to be greeted by a flock of zubats that flew over her head and down the dark passage. Arwen shivered, and straightened her gloves, which she did whenever she was nervous, and continued forward, Sableye leapt down, and walked in front of Arwen, having seemingly no trouble navigating the tunnel, he seemed to be sure of which way to go, and Arwen suspected he should, being a pokemon that naturally lived in caves, she hoped she didn't run into any more Team Rocket members, though she had used a potion on Sableye, she thought one encounter a day was quite enough.