The Children Are Hunted

Arca sighed. "I'll go. I am a walking ice pack. She went to go find the Leafeon and lay near her. It usually helped. Finding Amber on the ground, she curled up near her and began to drop the temperature, placing her tail over the knot.

Ash chortled. "You? Beat Mickey?" She laughed again. "Dude, I'm the only one who can even fight Mickey. His power is a physical, life power like my Aura. Your light and Zora's shadows don't have that much effect on him at all. Zora only does when he's super emotional so you know, like never. It's why that kid Bryan had trouble: his attacks can't really touch my cousin. Downside to this, it makes his body all funny. his backlash gets like mine, only he wakes up sooner."

"And that's why she didn't say it," Zaria commented to Thomas' remark. "It is unsafe for your tender ears to know what goes on after you kiss." She winced. "It's not for mine either but i think Alyss knows where babies come from. She is asleep though."
 
"Good to know! I hope never to have to fight either one of you!" Thomas said with a smile.

"I bet that's what the deal is with Robby! His power seems to take it out of his body more than his mind!" Marcus said with a sudden birst of insight.

"That would explain why Robby did so good against the boy, even though his powers are half trained at best," Esper said. Thomas sighed, then jumped when he heard a sharp yelp, and then a hiss from the other room.
"Amber jumped at the cold and tried to hit Arca," Esper explained. Thomas laughed at this.

Trigger landed at the front of the base. He was drenched. He had spent some time and dropped three trackers on the RV, only for each one to get destroyed. Damn powers. Finally, he had given up. They weren't going anywhere, not for a while at any rate. He needed some help.
"Trigger! God, what happened to you? You look like hell!" Winny said when he reached the doors. That was a good way to describe it. He was still ruffled looking from the fight with Alyss, and then he had to dodge lightning in the storm!
"I'm fine. Garet has assigned me a mission. One that I need your help for. Van and his new friends have stolen something important. We need to find out what it is, why they took it, recover it if possible, and capture the CTs if the situation presents itself," Trigger said.
"I... I kind of-" Winny began. She didn't want to go up against Van.
"That was not a request, Winny. Van still trusts you. He'll tell you what you want to know. Has Merin arrived?" Trigger said, he shook off the towel.
"Even better! Agatha's here!" Winny said. Agatha? What was she doing here? Had things really gotten that bad?
"I must speak with her. She needs to be told the situation. Those children with powers are far stronger than we were led to believe, and she must be informed!" Trigger said.
"Right this way boss!" Winny said as she led the tired bird inside.
 
Ash just grinned quietly and glanced at Zaria. The girl nodded and smiled placidly. Arca grumbled something at Amber and pinned the Leafeon easily with a paw. "Behave you runt," she told the Pokemon affectionately. "It's helping, isn't it?" She returned her tail to the spot it had been.

Bryan bristled quietly in the small building. he was drenched and he hated it! HE hated water in almost every incarnation, cursing the fact he needed it to survive. Worse, he had still failed! Damn her! Damn that winged demon! Damn that freak for getting some sanity.

Worse, that blood kid was there. Why? He wasn't allowed to kill him yet! His fists clenched tightly but his powers didn't rage. He wasn't as foolish as Zeph, luckily. He knew better than to waste his powers. Still... he would kill Alyss. Bryan swore he would. For his brother... and for his boss too. She wouldn't be too happy with him, not until this job got done. So he had to be careful.
 
"It's cold though!" Amber protested. She struggled weakly, then gave up. This was not her day. Stupid bird and his stupid Twister! But, it wasn't the move that hurt her leg. She had been thrown into a tree. That had jammed her leg inbetween branches. When one of the branches broke after she hit it with Razor Leaf, she fell and hit the ground hard. And now because of that, she was pinned to the ground by the bigger Glaceon getting her head frozen!

Trigger walked back out of the meeting room. That had been a diaster. At least he hadn't been yelled at. But still, what had he and Garet been thinking? They had gone up against several known enemies of the RDM! It was a miracle neither of them had been killed or captured! Oh well. He still had a job to do. And another plan was forming in his mind. He had seen the fight between that boy with the fire powers and the other two. Maybe, he could manipuate fire boy into helping him get what he was after! But, he was hesitant to try that. Fire boy wanted nothing more than to kill the the others. Trigger had come to respect them, even like a few of them, like Van and Alyss. And that Thomas person. Who commanded so much loyalty from his pokemon? No, Trigger wasn't going to enlist fire boy unless he had no other options. And then, if he tried to hurt the wrong ones, Trigger would kill him himself.
 
The Amnesia Chronicles: Awakenings.

"Yes!" Tony blurted out too abruptly. He probably had freaked her out. Her friends could do those things too? He wondered if Mark could do those things, and that mean girl Clair. He shouldn't be that rude to her, for all he knew, she could be dead by now. He looked at the apple he had dropped nearby. Should he tell her his big secret? No. Not yet. He took out a small tag from his pocket. It read:

Macro Rejection Project: AAPM
​
The rain was pouring outside, but even through the rain, Tony could see a hooded figure in the distance. It moved like gelatin; slow and wobbly. He poked Mia and guided her finger to the figure.

"Do you see that too?"

The figure must have known they had been spotted as they darted out of sight. Then a light shone from the figures hand and Tony fell to the ground, fainted.

****************************************

The hooded figure waltzed back to their ship.They had hit their target. Now, they had to keep moving on. By now, Mark should be far away from the AAPM factory. The children were so close to regrouping, so close. But now...would they ever meet? With three of them...that was enought to glimpse at the future. That's why the RDM and AAPM really wanted them. They would be able to see into the past and future. Each individually may have their reasons...but those were unimportant. The boy had fainted. He could be a problem. The hooded figure smiled as they dropped a small object on the ground. A potion...for the boy. It would stop his amnesia, but would they find it?

****************************************

Karen. Shauntal. Karen. Shauntal. There had to be some sort of connection between the two. Agatha looked over their records. Shauntal had some sort of power and Karen was just mysterious. Karen walked into her office.

"The Black Ones are here. They've finally found the children. They'll spoil everything."

Agatha cursed, "They must be dealt with." She looked over the security footage of Mark's escape and the hooded figure in the forest. She had sent two Murkrows with a camera attached to each scene. Those two had tremendous power. But who are they?

"By the way...Karen, where were you in the last half hour." Agatha drew one of her cold stares.

"Umm..I...I was, well I hardly think that's any of your business." Karen bit her lip.

"Fair enough. Please go." She would have to be watched.

********************************

In the midst of all business in wherever she was, Clair hadn't been noticed. She had awoken with a scream, somebody yelling her name. Mark. Couldn't be. The last thing she remembered was being tied up. She tried to find out wherever she was being held, but she only found that she wasn't alone. A dark costumed woman was staring at her.

"Who are-"

"No time. We have to get you to Venice...now. Verus Mens, Umbra, and Rector are already there."

"Who?"

"The boy you have been traveling with. I'm surprised that they haven't told you yet."

"Who?"

"Let's go, darling, I'll explain soon."
​
 
Mia spotted the tag Tony pulled out. She was just about to ask Dora to bring them all inside, when Tony pointed at something.

"Do you see that too?" he asked her. She could kkind of see it. It was a black shape, moving through the trees. Upon being spotted, it sent some strange beam of light at Tony, and he collapsed. She caught him before he hit the ground and swore vehemently in Italian. The thing scurried away, dropping something in the process.

"Delcatty! Follow it, whatever it was. Alakam, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to go back in your pokeball. Return. Dora, could you please go and grab that?" Mia said. With one hand she sent out her Delcatty to follow the shadow, and then grabbed the pokeball for Alakazam off of Tony's belt and returned her. She put the ball in it's place.
"Esper, tell the others that there will be two of us. And something hit Tony. I've got Delcatty following it, but she'll need help," Mia called out. In an instant, she was back in the back room of the RV. Thomas looked at her with unseeing eyes.
"What exactly hit him?" he asked.
"I don't know! This thing in the shadows shot some kind of beam of light at him!" she said, she lowered him gently to the ground and grabbed a towel.
"Please! You have to help him!" she said urgently as she began drying her hair.
"We will! Don't worry," Thomas said soothingly.
 
Silly Guards. Cells Are For Humans.

Well. His chance at escape had just...escaped. Leo slumped back against the wall of his cell, sighing. That CT had escaped with the help of someone else, though. He hadn't been able to tell what that other person had looked like, since his Aura-sight didn't include description beyond the Aura of a living creature.

The Lucario listened to the footsteps that approached. Probably someone to take him in for interrogation. Then again...Leo extended his Aura-sight one last time, going to the cell that had contained the CT. There was a hole in one of the cell's walls. So that had been what the blast was - some sort of explosion. If he could get out of this cell, he could get out through that hole.

A plan began forming in the Lucario's head. He grinned, silently thanking whoever had broken the CT out of the cell.

"This is the one," a guard said to his companion as they walked over to the cell in the floor. "The idiot thing probably didn't try to escape after seein' that these bars were outta reach."

"They say that it's one of the RDM's upper agents," the other guard said, crouching with a key in one hand. "Why use something as old as this to hold a Pokemon like that? Don't we have better cells?" Looking in, he frowned. The Lucario was slumped, as if still unconscious. "Won't need to paralyze it," the second guard said, grinning. "It hasn't woken up yet."

After unlocking the set of bars, the first guard called out a Machop and ordered him to move the bars away. After it had done so, he said, "Now pull the prisoner out." The Machop did so, grunting a bit. As the Lucario was laid out on the floor, the first guard snapped, "Hold it! I thought I saw it twitch."

"You're seeing things," the second guard replied, calling out a Ponyta. "It'll be faster to get it to--" He didn't say another word as a bone made of Aura hit him in the chin, knocking him back.

"'It' has a name," Leo growled, jumping onto his feet. He swung his Aura-stick and knocked the other human onto the floor. He then turned and whacked the second guard on the head, knocking that one out. "I don't have time to stick around," Leo said, glancing at the awestruck Ponyta and Machop, "so if you two wanna be free, then break the spheres that they use to hold you."

It was time to get out of here and find that CT again.
 
Arca sighed and released Amber. "Honestly, such a child, let it hurt then." She padded over to Zoran, who sat quietly by himself as Dora teleported back to him. They spoke a moment and Zoran nodded quietly. Dora disappeared, moving to the other room and dropping the bottle in Mia's hands.

Ash sighed, quietly drying Tony off the best she could without moving him too much. "Relax, Mia," she said quietly. "Give him the bottle Dora gave you and he'll likely be okay." She moved away from him, overcome with the urge to leave them be. She left the room, going to sit with Zoran. He must have nudged her to come by. Alyss was in there anyway with Zaria. THey had ears.
 
Mia nodded and began to pour the bottle slowly down his throat. Thomas looked at the boy. His light was pretty strong, but it was kind of different. He couldn't explain it any better than that.
"Hey, Mia! Thomas has something to tell you," Marcus said grinning evilly at Thomas.
"What?" she asked.
"Marcus! I swear to god! It's none of your buisiness!" he said. He glared at Marcus, who's light turned purple with fear.
"Fine, you can tell her when you're ready!" Marcus said quickly.
"WHAT!?" she said raising her voice.
"Well... What I want to say is important, but I'll tell you if we all get out of this alive, ok?" Thomas said. Mia waited a moment before answering. Thomas swore he could hear Esper giggling again. He was going to kill that cat!
"I understand. It can wait," she said. Thomas watched her light turn from the red of agitation to a deep blue of emberassment.

Amber watched as Arca walked away. Finally! She stuck her tongue out at the fully grown Glaceon and Espeon before using Synthesis. It wouldn't have worked for her leg, there wasn't enough light for that. But minor injuries, like the knot on her forehead didn't need that much light to heal. The little light she was getting was just enough. She glanced at Robby, who was still sitting motionless on the bed. That guy creeped her out when he got like that. She looked at Zanna who was still on the top bunk. As soon as her head felt better, she scrambled very carefully to the top bunk to resume the game.

Vulpix was being chased down a long and frozen hallway. And it just got colder with every step. Behind him was heat and safety. But, in front of him was something behind a sheet of ice. He didn't know what it was, but he wanted it. As he ran closer, it turned into the shape of all of his friends. They were all frozen! He opened up his mouth to deliver a Flamthrower that would melt the ice, but nothing came out! Then he was falling. Falling into a black oblivion as Thomas and Zoran and all the others stood there watching him. They turned and walked away, each of them with a hateful sneer on their faces. He looked down and saw that he was falling toward an ocean! He splashed down in the water and tried to swim. But he couldn't! He splashed around helplessly until he began to sink! He sank down to the bottom of this ocean. He couldn't move. He couldn't breath. He looked around, wide eyed. Nothing. Not his friends. Just, nothingness. He was all alone and drowning. He heard a voice calling him. He turned to hear what it was saying. He could barely make it out.
"This is where this road ends. Is that really what you want? They are not your friends. They never were. They hate you. They will be the ones that leave you to die all alone. Is this your desire? They care nothing for you. They will turn on you in an instant. And you will be alone. Terribly alone," the voice said. Vulpix couldn't hold his breath any longer. Water rushed into his lungs, and he began thrashing. He recognized the voice. It was his own. Then he woke up.
"Wah! What the hell!?" Vulpix shouted. He felt like he was all wet. He coughed a little. He looked around, and gradually relaxed. He was safe. He was still in the RV, laying next to Zoran where he had been earlier. What a nightmare! That was all it had been, right? He wasn't sure. He looked at his coat. He wasn't wet at all. He was perfectly dry. Was he going mad?

(OOC: I've got a reason for Vulpix's nightmare.)
 
(ooc: I can tell. XD)

Zanna grinned at Amber. "Oops. You get any brain damage?"

Zoran glanced at him. "Bad nightmare," he asked softly. Ash looked over at the Pokemon and away again, helping Mickey sit up. He had been out like a light. The boy blinked hazy, scarlet eyes at the fire type before looking away again, numbly reaching for some of the leftover chicken. Ash rolled her eyes as Doom woofed and took a piece, looking interested.
 
"Nope! But that ball is mine!" Amber said. She playfully snatched the ball away from Zanna and ran with it to the other side of the bunk. She crouched low and grinned daringly at the Zorua.

"Wha? Oh... Yeah. I've never dreampt anything like it before," Vulpix said. It played over again in his mind. It had felt so real! What was going on? He coughed again, and was surprised when a tad bit of water went into his mouth. He swallowed it quickly. No matter what happened, he could not tell his friends about this! They'd think he had gone crazy! But... Would they really be wrong?
 
Zorua grinned and pounced, wrestling the ball from Amber and letting it hit the carpeted floor softly. Grinning, Zanna easily jumped down to reclaim it, bouncing away with a laugh. She fled, running past Arca, who shook her head amusedly.

Zoran looked at Vulpix worriedly. "You don't seem too good," he mumbled to himself but let it go. Vulpix would say he was fine and drop it like everyone else did. it was best to just let them be and they'd say on their own or it'd blow up in their face. Zoran knew that instinctively. So he turned back to Ash and Mickey, keeping his hand near in case Vulpix would want his attention.
 
"Give that back! Thief!" Amber yelled as she leapt gracefully to the ground. The landing wasn't as graceful, but she picked herself up and chased after Zanna, nearly colliding with Arca on the way out. Esper laughed his head off at their antics.
"Kids," he said.

"I don't know that I am... You don't think I'm crazy, do you?" Vulpix asked. He just couldn't get that dream to leave his mind! It was horrible to think about. He didn't want to be abandoned by everyone he felt close to! But... What if that dream had been right? After all, it was himself telling himself not to trust them. It couldn't be any clearer than that. But, he did trust them! And even more surprising, given his history, he enjoyed their company! How could that ever turn so bad? Unless... Was he just blinding himself? He'd seen it before. Winny had fallen for him so hard, that it was not even funny. Granted, now she was just a friend to him, but still. What if he was being as blind as she had been? No, he couldn't think like that.
 
"Adults," Zanna sneered lightly, joking around. "And no way!" She bolted away, still clutching it.

"Do I think you're crazy?" Zoran repeated. He thought a moment then fixed the Pokemon with a calm, sincere stare. "I think you're badly scarred from your past, whatever it may have been. I think you're not sure if you can truly trust anyone and anything anymore, especially those which to you have been so evil before. I think you should have had a good life, with many others surrounding you and should have more kind friends than us. I think you're my good friend whether you trust me or not. I think you need time to heal. But do I think you're crazy?" He shook his head. "Nope, never. Never once. Maybe silly and hotheaded but I will never think you are crazy."
 
Amber gave Esper a dirty look and chased after Zanna, before jumping on top of her and making the ball go rolling away from them both. She jumped off of the fox and ran and caught it.
"It's mine again!" she said joyfully before running away from Zanna.

"I... Thanks Zoran," Vulpix said. There was no deception in what the boy had said. Vulpix would have been able to smell it. But... then how did he explain that dream? What did it mean? He shook his head. He didn't want to find out. He lay his head down and watched Zanna and Amber playing with the pokeball. He had no clue where they got it from, but whomever had it was going to lose it soon if they weren't careful. Marcus walked into the room and sat down in a chair.
"Those two are so clueless! Even after Esper made them both aware of how the other one felt. They won't even talk about anything! Any time he asks her something, she blushes and looks away, and everytime she tries to talk to him, he gives short answers and changes the subject. The only things they want to talk about are pokemon and the RDM!" Marcus said. He shook his head. This was so typical of Thomas.
 
Zorua pounced again, refusing to lose that easily. Zoran smiled kindly at Vulpix and pet his head. Ash chuckled at Marcus. "I've said it before," she stated merrily. "But Thomas has no sense with women. Even this guy," she jerked her thumb at Mickey. "knows how to treat girls in relationships."

Mickey snickered. "Yeah and I barely swing that way."

Zoran sighed. "Ash, no matchmaker..."

"Duh," she replied cheerfully. "But we'll have to cut the man some slack. He is new to this. Besides," she glanced at Zoran and smiled, a very different one from the one she gave her cousin. "Love is awkward, especially at the start. Even normal crushes are."
 
"Give them some time. Pretty soon they will be as bad as Ash and Zor are," Esper said smugly. He watched as Amber was pounced on and the ball taken from her. She scrambled to her feet and chased after Zanna again. Those two were a never-ending fountain of energy. But Marcus had a firm hold on something and wasn't about to let it go.

"But really? What are we going to do about the RDM? They must have a base here if they could send two powerful agents after us," Marcus said. Vulpix sighed. Should he tell them? He was already in deep.

"Devisors. Those two were RDM Devisors. Good ones too. The bird was Trigger Hawkeyes. He was my old teacher. He's really high up, and you don't get that far without being one of the very best. Alyss is lucky he wasn't trying to kill her. The other was Garet Truthseeker. He's even further up the ladder than Trigger is. Last I had heard he was being sent to track down one of the CTs. What he was doing here, I have no idea. But it's a good guess that his trail led him here after that CT. We got lucky he didn't see Thomas and Zoran," Vulpix said thoughtfully. He thought about it some more and said, "And yeah, there is a base here in Venice. Trigger told me about it once. In fact, he had arranged a transfer for me to here. If I hadn't thrown in with you lot, I probably would have been fighting you today."

"A scary thought to be sure. Now, when we rescued Mia, I saw three humans in a net. I couldn't do anything for them. One is in that back room. One was a woman. I have no idea where she is now, but it may be safe to assume that she is, or was, with the RDM. And the last, a boy about Zoran's age, was being carried away on a Charizard. Do you know which of them was the CT?" Esper said.

"It isn't the one we have, that's for sure. We need to find the other two," Vulpix said. He really was not looking forward to this. It occured to him that not everyone knew what a CT was. Oh well, if they wanted to know they would ask. But how would Thomas and Zoran react if they knew the reason they were being hunted. So far as he could tell, Zoran thought they were after him because of his powers, and Thomas because of what he has done to fight them. Would they be horrified? Worse still, would they take it out on him? Bah! They would never do that! Never! How could he even think that!?
 
The one on the Charizard," Zoran mumbled. "I dunno... that just feels right, about whatever this is."

Ash didn't seem surprised. Zoran was an instinctually clever person. He used that to zero in on weaknesses or if that failed, simply overwhelm the opponent with odd moves. So she grinned placidly at him and looked at Vulpix with a vague sort of inquiry. "So Vulpix,what's a CT?" In all honesty, she had a very good idea but it was best to let the professional explain it.
 
"You want to know what a CT is? Well... It's difficult to explain. And I don't know everything. But... There are five CTs. Zoran, when we first met back on Mt. Saint Helens, would you assume that was the first time we had ever seen each other? Well, you would be wrong if you did. Way back in the beginning, we knew you were a CT. I had been shadowing you for days, and then you were attacked by that AAPM woman, after you took off, I stepped in to prevent her from going after you. Then, I went after you. That's why I was in the mountains in the first place. When Thomas and Marcus showed up, I just assumed they were punk trainers, but then Esper hit me with something, and that opened my eyes. I was dealing with two of the CTs. I contacted the base, and they told me to get close to you. The two of you had sought each other out, even if you weren't realizing you were doing it. That's why I stayed with you at first. You see, CTs are Chosen Trainers. You all have some kind of shared destiny. The RDM simply knows that you have some kind of power, and not like your shadows or Thomas's light. Something more than that. They want it. Same with the AAPM. So far, only three of the CTs have shown themselves. Like I said, you are drawn together. And now that you know this, they will be after you much harder now. I'm sorry. That's all I know. A higher ranking person would have been able to tell you more, but that's all they told me. They said you were very dangerous, and that you had a great deal of power, and that I was to try and take you if I could," Vulpix said. His voice was flat, unemotional. And now, it's time for the other shoe to drop. How would they react. It wasn't like Vulpix told them anything useful. Would they be mad? Why was he thinking like this? It wasn't like him!

"I hate messing with Van's head like this," Winny said. She looked over at Trigger, whose feathers were still drying off.
"Do you want him to come back where he belongs or not?" Trigger said. Winny nodded.
"I do... But it just feels wrong! Whydo we have to do it like this? And why me?" Winny asked.
"Why not you?" Trigger asked with a chuckle. When she frowned at him he sighed and said, "it has to be like this, because he will never leave them on his own. And it has to be you, because you're the only one that can reach him undetected. There are three psychic types, two Aura users, at least one dark type, a spectral guardian, a seer, and two CTs. Anyone else would not be able to slip through all that. But you can. Because of your Destiny Bond,"
"Do you think he will be mad when he finds out that I put it on him the last time we met?" Winny asked nervously.
"No. He will be over joyed to be where he belongs again. But first, you must plant enough doubt in his mind that he does something rash. Then the humans will turn on him. Humans always do. That will drive him back to our side. Which is what you want, right?" Trigger said.
"I just want what's best for him," Winny mumbled.
"And that's what you're working for. You know that all humans are two faced. Do I need to remind you of-" Trigger said.
"No! I'll keep going!" Winny said. Trigger sighed. He hated lying to her, but it was the only way that he would get his mission done, and keep Van and those others safe. He just hoped Van wouldn't be too angry at him when he learned what was done here.
 
Zoran and Ash looked at each other and nodded. "Makes sense, since you've said you aren't very high on the the totem pole," Ash commented. "Still, this information helps a lot. Glad you said something at all."

"Thank you for telling us Vulpix," Zoran said quietly. He was staring at the ground. he had a dislike of the idea of destiny and being pulled into fate. It was uncomfortable. Then he analyzed another part of the sentence and grinned. "Dangerous huh? They got that right." He grinned as Ash distinctly saw his Aura turn blacker. "Hope that means they know better than to underestimate me or Thomas."
 
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