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The Children Are Hunted

(loud sewer and Kira can see Aura even though Ash can't.)

Zaria huffed quietly. "Naive?" She snorted. "Inexperienced I'll accept but not naive. God, the living are so arrogant sometimes. Come on Kira, we should head back." The Lucario snorted and went after her. Alyss waved at them as they rose, leaping onto the ground to join them. At Zaria's shake of the head, the winged girl nodded and followed them. It was easier that way.
 
Garet had been lying down some distance from the plane, eating before he left. It could be a while before the Arcanine would have time to eat again, for all he knew. Going by the Elekid's words, all repairs would be done in minutes. It was already past time to track down Leo and the CT.

"All done!" someone called.
Garet looked up at the plane and watched as the tech team left the plane. Finally! He finished up his food, then got up and walked over to the Elekid, who was the last to leave the plane. "Are you going to leave now?" the Elekid asked.

"Yes," Garet affirmed. "As soon as possible."

The Elekid looked beyond the Arcanine and asked, "Why would Hawkeyes be here? He doesn't need anything else to fly."
Garet turned and saw Trigger, who'd just flown into the hangar. What did the Staraptor need?
 
(OOC: Heh, I'll accept that answer.)

Marcus met Zaria and Alyss at the edge of Venice.
"What happened down there? Where is Vulpix? Is he alright?" Marcus asked as he followed them back to the RV.

Thomas walked cautiously down the sewer. Esper watched him. He was very tense. He had no idea what they would find. Esper himself was on edge as well. Something was blocking him. He could only sense for a few meters. That was all. Whomever it was had a lot more power at their command than Esper did. He couldn't even contact anyone. And that put him on edge.
"We should go ba-Thomas!" Esper said. Thomas fell to the ground. There was a dart in his neck. Esper hissed angrily. He looked around. His eyes, and mind told him no one was there. He didn't believe them. A dart flew out of the darkness, and Esper deflected it. He tried to call for help, but his mind was still blocked. He rammed it as hard as he could. He was shocked to find that he was still unable to break through it. He felt a prick at the base of his tail. He whirled around as he felt his strength fading. He could feel someone there. He blasted their mind with everything he had, before fainting.

Trigger landed and looked around for Garet. He spotted him talking to a Rattata. She was very squeeky about something. Before he could go over and talk, Winny teleported in front of him.
"I just thought you might want to know, but we caught a CT!" she said breathlessly.
"What?! How!?" Trigger asked.
"When you sent me to go see Van, I met his psychic pokemon. The one that nearly fried Garets brain? Yeah. And so, I was keeping an eye on you, and sensed the pokemon. He wouldn't be down in the sewers without his human, so I asked Merin to lend me a hand. Merin saw that it was a CT, and sent a few Devisors to catch him. Merin was so cool! He blocked the whole area off, so that the espeon couldn't sense anything. It was pretty easy to capture him after that. But... the espeon fried poor Lucan's mind. He's just sitting on the floor babbling about pretty flowers or something," Winny said. Trigger wasn't surprised. Lucan was a moron. He had probably gotten too close, and the espeon lashed out at him. He thanked Winny, and then flew over to Garet to inform him of these latest developements.
"Garet, I have excellent news. First is that we have captured Van Flaresoul. As soon as he wakes up, we will find out what he took and why. Also, one of the CTs has been captured as well! Not the one you have been following. A different one. The one with the espeon that threw you a few hundred feet. We have him locked down now,"
 
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Zaria shrugged. "It's his choice to come back or not. It's not our problem if he does or not. We won't like fighting him but we will if we have to." Alyss opened the door and went inside. Ash was rubbing her eyes with her knuckles. She looked irritated about something but waved at them. Her headache was going.

"I lost contact with Esper," she told them. "Someone cut him off." She rubbed her head now and groaned. "If things are as bad as I think they are, I am glad Zora left on his own."

~

Zoran watched the woman sink into the darkness. To her credit, she didn't scream. He waited five minutes then pulled her unconscious form back out again. She wasn't useful to Mickey but she was useful to him. Theo still needed a source of income and power. And he knew Mickey's older brother wouldn't give it so easily when he got the money. So he dropped her on the tile. Her body was covered in small black blobs, like leeches. Her eyes were stuck in a permanently wide stare, terror-filled and echoing the trembling in her body.

Zoran smiled. Perfect. He walked over to her, the woman not reacting to his catlike footsteps. He rested a hand over her head and it was covered in violet fire. "Now," he whispered. "What should I make you do?" Then he knew and released his power. "Have fun when you wake up ma'am," he told her, shutting down his power and ignoring the small pounding of the shadows in his mind. He went over to the door and knocked. Behind it was a small squeak. He opened it and there were two children. One was sleeping, but the elder ran to his arms. "It's okay Cerise," he told her. "It's over."
 
Thomas woke up all at once. There was an odd buzzing in his mind. His whole vision was dark. He reached a hand to his face, but could not see a thing. That wasn't right. Even under backlash he could see! His light vision was gone! He reached down and tried to touch his light. He could feel it stirring angrily under some kind of lock. Angry, he rammed against the lock. That didn't work. Nothing he could do about it. He stood up. He reached out and followed the walls until he got a good idea of the room he was in.It was just a basic cell.
"If I'm so important, why not give me a better room?" he shouted angrily. It got no response. He calmed down. Getting mad would not get him out of this. He reached out and tried to call Esper. No response. He didn't even feel Esper in his mind! He reached down for his pokeballs. They were there, but would not respond. The pokemon were inside them, but he could not call them out. He frowned. He was missing Esper's ball.

"What!? We have to go after him!" Marcus said urgently. Now it was Mia's turn to make sense.
"Dolt! What would happen if we just ran off into the trap they most likely have set! How would going off after him now do anything?! Really, I don't know what's gotten into your head, but you need to fix it. We don't even know what happened yet!" she said angrily. Marcus glared at her.
"We need a plan. We don't even know where he is. I'm as worried about him as you are, but getting all panicked won't help!" she said a bit softer. Marcus calmed down and started to think a little.
"Then what do you think we should do?" he asked. Mia had no answer to that one.
 
"We've got two options here: all of us rush in and sniff him out with our Pokemon or," Ash smirked slightly. "I go in with my team I can't see for crap but I can hear plenty. And it'll take more than a little Aura user to take out Kira or my senses." She glanced at Alyss. "Alyss can guide you through Zaria who will go with me. Any questions, comments, concerns, snarky whines?"
 
"I favor the first option," Robby said jokingly. Mia glared at him. Now was so not the time for jokes. She looked down at the third pokeball on her belt. Could she get him to listen? The pokemon inside was very strong. But, he had never listened to her before. But, she didn't really feel comfortable letting Ash go alone. And with Ursaring on her side, she wouldn't slow her down at all. But Ursaring never listened to her, so why would he start now? She still had scars on her back from the last time she brought him out.
"Ok, Ash, we'll leave it to you. Be careful! You don't know what you're going up against," Mia said.
"I shouldn't have let him go alone!" Marcus moaned.
"Cut it out! That doesn't help things!" Mia said. She swore in Italian. If he had been hurt, she would... Well, she didn't know what she would do.
 
Ash grinned. "Relax, everything will be fine." She nodded at Kira, who nodded, having cleaned himself. "Okay partner, let's go!" As they left the RV, she glanced back. "Robby, Alyss, I'm counting on you." Alyss nodded as the blind woman disappeared, quickly following her partner. She knew they wouldn't move him too quickly, not until they had Zoran and that other kid. Regardless, she didn't want to leave Thomas there too long. Zoran mentioned the kid had been captured before. She did not need to explain a bunch of corpses to the authorities again. Though it would be fun.

Kira felt the pulse of the opposing Aura. It was a Riolu. He snorted and very calmly released a counter. Did they really think they would lose to that? He could feel his lady's excitement. She really did enjoy ripping things apart and explosions too much. But she would rein herself in right now. After all, Trigger was Alyss' friend now.

(Oh I'm going to enjoy this. XD)
 
Reka jumped back. Winny looked at him questioningly.
"There's an Aura user even stronger than me! He just blasted some kind of counter. I don't know what he did! I... I can't fix it!" he said. Winny sighed.
"That's fine. You can go now. Thanks Reka!" she said. She turned her attention to Van, who still wouldn't say anything. He was staring around wide-eyed at everyone. Whenever someone would come close, he'd begin to growl. If they came even closer than that, he'd bite them. Winny had been bitten twice already. She didn't understand what was wrong with him. He had been in bad shape when she went after him in the sewers. He didn't know who to trust. Then when she talked with that ghost, he stopped trusting her too. Now, he had no one. His mind was trapped in the deception she had put on him. And she didn't know how to fix it. Then Trigger had come along and attacked him! That had confirmed all of his paranoia.
"Oh Van... I'm so sorry!" she said. He looked at her, recognizing her, but at the same time, not.

Esper awoke in a dark room. He was livid. He tried to call Thomas, but couldn't reach him. Something was blocking him. He rammed against it with all of his might. He heard it chuckle.
"Sorry, but I can't let you do that right now. Relax, we haven't hurt you. Or your former master," a voice said.
"What?" Esper said aloud, then he gasped. Had he just spoken!?
"What the heck is going on here!?" Esper yelled. No wonder he couldn't feel Thomas's presence anymore.
"We've set you free. It has been decided that you will remain here until you get used to the idea," the voice said.
"You have just made a big mistake!" Esper said. He focused his considerable power, and blasted the door. He blasted it again. And again. The door bent and writhed.
"Let me out, or I'll bring this whole place down on top of me!" Esper shouted, crushing the door.
"I think not," that maddening voice said. The door creaked and shifted back to it's normal shape. Esper then blasted the walls around him, bending them outward. They too were repaired. Esper was not going to lose now! He shot every negative thing he was thinking, and everything he planned to do to this voice, right at it as the walls were being repaired again. He felt it cry out. It hadn't been expecting Esper to be such a powerful empath. Esper bent the door open and slipped through it. He was going to find the source of this voice and kill it. No, killing it would be too kind. He would trap it in it's mind, but only after Esper had twisted it and shaped it into the most terrifying and painful thing he could think of. Then he would find Thomas. He expanded his senses and felt Ash moving toward his location. He sent out a signal to her. Then he felt his senses get dulled again. He blasted the mind with everything he had, but it did no good. Esper shrugged. Let them come. He set up a barrier around himself and began searching.

(OOC: That's one mad mad kitty!)
 
(Ima ninja!)

Garet grinned. "Good work, Trigger," he replied. "I don't know if you'd heard it at the time, but a mental shout had been thrown at me. If it's the one with the Espeon, then that CT's name is likely Thomas." He stopped for a moment before adding, "I'll leave this to you, though. Agatha warned me to not get sidetracked again, so I'll be off to find Leo and the CT that the coward had taken."

The Elekid, meanwhile, had gone off to get the plane ready for leaving. Garet said to Trigger, "When possible, though, I would like to know what Flaresoul had stolen. See ya." The Arcanine turned to go. Now that the storm had blown past, it was time to find Leo.
 
(I'll say.)

Ash grinned. "Hi Esper," she greeted coolly as they strolled closer. "I'd like a situation report please, if you can give it." Kira snorted and focused his aura on his human's anger. Zaria let out a worried cry, sensing Esper's distress from next to Ash. She could sort of feel Vulpix but she wouldn't touch him, not unless he let her enter his head. And he was too troubled for that.

Meanwhile, Ash was deeply focused, her unseen eyes a vivid, dark blue. This was a load of pure BS. One of her friends was captured was in pain, another had been mentally screwed up again! That was not on. You messed with one of her friends, you just raised the legions of hell on you. Riley's Pokeball shook and agreed. She released her Raichu, who ran ahead, smiling coldly, charging electricity from the air wherever he could find it.

The RDM was about to learn for a second time what happened when you pissed off Ashara Harris.
 
(OOC: Run Garet! Ash and Esper will destroy this base! XD)

Esper couldn't answer Ash. The voice had cut him off. The Magmorter slumped on the ground, mumbling something about pretty butterfree. This was the third one Esper had done that too. He was starting to get bored. He wanted someone that wouldn't go insane quite so easily! That big Arcanine! He would be tough. Or Trigger! He was the one responsible for this, all of it! Esper wanted to rip his wings off and feed them to him! Or, trap his mind with the image of that happening over and over again. That made him feel a little better. A Poochyena confronted him.
"Where's my human?!" Esper asked coldly.
"You don't need to worry about that. You're free! I'd think you would be thankful!" the dog barked. Esper blasted him with Swift, knocking him to the ground. Esper couldn't enter his mind very well. He never could with dark types. So he just kept blasting the Poochyena with Swift until he fainted. And he kept going until the dog was a quivering mess. Esper could see the blood seeping out of him. Esper didn't care. Time to do something fun. Esper blasted the wall again and again. A hole opened up and he leapt through it. He was going to make them all pay for this! He felt something in the back of his mind. He was moderately curious. He explored it, and found someone familiar.
"Za-Zaria?! What the!? I thought I closed this connection down!" He said, sounding very surprised. He had closed it after she had used him to find Thomas that one time. It would not work this time. Esper's bond with his trainer had been severed. To him, Thomas felt like another human, and there were a great deal of them in this base.

Trigger nodded. He turned and flew away from Garet. He hated those steel things. But they made it possible for those without wings to fly. He returned to the main part of the base, where people were running about.
"What is going on here?" Trigger asked.
"It's that Espeon that was brought in with the CT. He's gone berserk! Merin didn't know he was such a powerful empath, and that allowed him to escape!" the scared Joltic said. Damn! Garet would have known that. And now Trigger knew, but it was to late! Stupid Arcanine not following protocol! The first thing he should have done upon his return was file a report. If he had done that, then Merin would have been prepared for an empathic blast. Oh well, nothing he could do about that now.
"Relax. It will be alright!" Trigger said. He took charge and began directing everyone to go about protecting the base from the rampaging espeon.

Van glanced at Winny again. She was agitated. Why was that? Was it something he had done? What was going on? There seemed to be some sort of commotion. Winny stopped. She looked at him.
"Come on Van. I'm going to take you someplace safe," she said softly. Safe? Hah! Nowhere was safe! There was no such thing as safe. He felt something in the back of his mind, and ignored it. He tightened his mental shielding. She walked over to him, and he growled and lunged. She let him bite her arm.
"Van... Please. I'm so sorry. Just, please trust me, ok?" she said. Van didn't listen. How could he trust her? Everyone was after him! He was surprised and let go when his surrounding abruptly changed. He was standing in a field. Winny took a step back, holding her arm. It was bleeding profusely.
"You're on RISE Island. This is a safe place. I'll come back to check on you in a little while. Van... I," she said. Then she teleported away.

Winny teleported in front of Ash and Kira. She looked at the ground. She didn't know what to say. But, she just had to do something! She couldn't just stand there.
"I... I took Van someplace safe. After this is all over, I'll bring him back here. I'm so sorry! I... I broke his head. And I can't fix him. I... I just want to help," she said, still looking at the dirt. She undeerstood why Van had left now. He had seen that the RDM was hurting good people and he was trying to stop it. She had been such a fool! But, if she could, she would make up for it. She used her mind to send the location Van was at to the ghost.
 
Ash watched the Wynaut a second before kneeling and patting her head. "Okay." She was sorry but that wouldn't help anything. What helped was the location. Then she straightened. "Here's how you can help me out." She returned Kira and Riley trotted up to her. "Get me in that base quietly. Then after that, I recommend you either follow Zari back to Vulpix or go back to the RV. Alyss will keep you out of harm's way if you go there. It's your choice."

Zaria twitched, seeing the place in her mind. She managed a small smile at Winny in thanks. But first... "You did. I didn't. Esper please stop! I understand how you feel but you'll bring the whole base down on you and you will definitely lose! Calm down and let Ash get to you then she'll help you rampage I promise. But this could get Thomas hurt! How would that help anything?"

Hoping that helped at least slightly, she closed her eyes and thought of the field. God this was going to be difficult. She imagined it, the image clearing and strengthening in her mind. Opening her eyes, Zaria "landed" there. She examined Vulpix, his paranoia darkening his eyes. "Hi Vulpix, I found you again." she started softly. "Are you going to attack me now?" She tilted her head slightly, watching him with interest and sadness all at once.
 
Van jumped and snarled when Zaria appeared. She asked if he was going to attack her. Not if she kept her distance. There would be no reason too. He just sat and watched her warily.

Esper stopped. The voice didn't seem able to hear them talking to each other.
Very well. You have five seconds before I start breaking stuff again," Esper said. He sent Zaria an image of where he was sitting at the moment, which (I assume) she passed to Winny. Winny nodded and teleported Ash and Kira into the same room as Esper. Esper looked at Ash and Kira, and finally at Winny. He threw her into a wall and started to strangle her.
"This is your fault! If you hadn't shown up, then Vulpix would not have left. And if Vulpix hadn't left, Thomas would not have followed! And this would not have happened to me! Anything you want to say before I kill you?" he said, his high voice cracking a little.
"Erp! I'm trying to help!" she said.
"Like you were trying to help before?" he asked. She was silent, and he tightened his grip.
"Answer me!" he yelled.
"I... I'm sorry!" she gasped.
"Where's Thomas!?" Esper said. Winny had no idea. Esper finally dropped her to the ground as hard as he could. Winny gasped for air.
"I... I think I'll take your advice and follow the ghost," Winny said as she teleported away.
 
Zaria didn't even twitch. "So... how long are you going to keep glaring at me?" she asked pleasantly. "I'm pretty sure I haven't stepped on your tails. Not that I really could. I can't do much to you really. Not unless I get mad which, although I do it more often than Zora, I have a habit of keeping calm." She looked around. "This place is nice and quiet. It doesn't really suit you all that much with that violent look on your face." She seemed to sit down, still watching him. She wasn't afraid. "So... you're being kinda cowardly I notice. Snapping at everything, running away... you really aren't very good at facing your problems head-on are you?" She thanked any higher power than she could imitate Zoran's way of smiling as he degraded somebody. It was really difficult. Zaria nodded quietly at the gasping Winny.

"You know Esper, you may need anger management therapy," Ash commented happily. "It's not nice to beat someone up for following orders. Besides she got me in here. Now then," She turned and began to walk down the hallway. An opponent ran up as she casually kicked it down, flipping over its large head and continuing on. "Let's go so I can tell Thomas how to break out of cells."

Kira snorted. "You are so one to talk." He waited for Esper. "You should find out where humans are in the base. That would help extremely so we know which doors to break down."
 
"Idiot! Don't you think that's the first thing I tried!? Something's blocking my mental senses! Why don't YOU try it!" Esper said as he reduced the mind of a Sandshrew to mush. He raged at the voice that was still there. He was very angry, and he knew he shouldn't take it out on those around him. Although in the state he was in, it's not like they could stop him, even if they tried. Esper followed along behind Ash, blasting everyone she couldn't hit in time.

Van was only feeling worse as she spoke. Winny knew that it was meant to try and hit his temper, but he was still lost in the maze Winny had unwittingly created in his mind. She couldn't even comfort him. She was miserable. She didn't even know what to do! A yellow Rattata walked up. She looked around at them.
"What are you all doing here?" she asked.
 
Kira shrugged. "If you insist." He silently extended his senses and nodded to himself. "My lady," he began. Ash nodded without glancing up at him. She was running ahead, laughing positively insanely as she knocked everything around her unconscious. Or killed them, she honestly wasn't paying attention. She abruptly turned right, kicking a door down and shooting someone into the wall. "Well if you're going to be that useless," Kira remarked casually to Esper as he passed by another door. "Why don't you try tracking the source of the block? If that doesn't work, then shut up, chill your heels and use your nose and ears. I mean, you're a Pokemon too! You've got instincts, as dull as they are. You've got senses so try relying on those for a change. You're just wasting energy." He leapt after his trainer, spinning a fist into someone's gut and leaving him there. He could vaguely sense a familiar aura not too far away. Hope that kid hears this. "My lady, move!" He threw an Aura Sphere past her and through a door.

Zaria shrugged and waved at the Rattata. "Dealing with a temper tantrum. Whatcha doin?" She smiled at it, still looking quite pleased. "By the way Vulpix, I hope you know people are kinda worried about you right now, what with you being a silly little fox and all. You're being awful selfish just blowing all of your friends off like that." She glanced at Winny, indicating her as well. "But I guess you don't think we're friends anymore. What, did we do something dumb? Come on tell me."
 
Fight or Flight?

((Erp...I wonder if Garet has become careless...))


Garet, who wasn't in the main part of the base, initially had no knowledge of what was happening there. He was in the cockpit of the plane, which was about to take off. It was a good thing that he was able to pilot it without needing hands.

"TruthSeeker!" Garet winced as a voice snapped at him through the radio. "Delay your flight! We have trouble here! That Espeon escaped and is on a rampage, and with a Psychic on the loose, who knows who else he might bring in! Why didn't you tell anyone about this?!"

"May I ask who this is?" Garet growled back.

"A certain someone who is responsible for collecting reports from Devisers. If I hadn't been busy otherwise, I would have asked for yours sooner. Now get out of that thing and get back here! I don't care if I don't have the authority to order you around!"

Garet had sometimes seen someone do a facepalm. That's what he felt like doing now. A chain of mistakes, mainly his, starting with leaving the plane open for anyone to walk in. Most of them had something to do with the two CTs and their companions. The Arcanine was feeling a little torn. Should he just take off and leave the base to the Espeon to look for Leo and the one CT, or should he try to fix things by staying and fighting?
A strange thought came to him. What was the RDM's goal in capturing kids that weren't affiliated in any way with the AAPM? Even Garet didn't know for sure, just that it had something to do with the CTs' powers. One goal of the RDM was to free Pokemon. It didn't say anything about kidnapping.

Garet shook himself. Why was he thinking like that? His loyalty was to the RDM. He cancelled the plane's flight and left the plane, heading for the main section of the base. Whatever mistakes he'd made recently, it shouldn't be one to stay and defend it.
 
Thomas stood up. He had heard an explosion off in the distance. He started banging on the door. He had been trying very hard, but he couldn't release his light. It was frustrating!
"Hey! This way!" Thomas said as he guessed what was going on. He hoped Esper was alright. It was disconceting to say the least without Esper's presence in his mind. He hadn't even known it had been that deep. Was this the bond between pokemon and trainer?

"It looks like a bit more than a temper tantrum," the yellow rattata said. Oh well, it was none of her concern. She was just out looking for something to eat. She started walking away.
"Oh, if you guys are gonna stay here, then you should know that the berries that grow down there are really sour," she said.

"I've already tried tracking the source of the block. I know it's a pokemon, but I can't find out where it is. And as for using my ears and nose, I have been. I've been following the smell of humans in this general direction. So, unless you have something useful to say, then shut up and let's move!" Esper growled. He blasted a Spearow that had tried to dive on him so hard she flew into the wall and landed on her head with a loud resounding crack.

Van looked at her, a little calmer now. What friends. There was nothing for him. Everyone was a threat. Nowhere was safe. But, he started to examine his surroundings. It was a nice field. A gentle breeze was blowing. This was kind of a pleasent place. If only he could... No, he had to think differently. He glanced at Zaria, Winny, and that odd colored rattata. Something clicked in his mind. Someone... Someone was missing a rattata. Oh well, he couldn't remember. He had to keep himself safe. Zaria kept talking to him. He wished she'd stop. He didn't want to hear it. He still didn't say anything, but he looked up at her.
 
Kira snorted, but did hear the nearby shout. "Obviously you are not using them very well. Your anger weakens your senses brat." Ash had heard it as well and hurried in that direction, Kira easily keeping pace. Ash merely snorted at Kira's annoyance. The Lucario believed Esper was being childish. That was true but you didn't have to tell him that.

Zaria nodded in thanks and looked at Vulpix. She gave him a bitter smile. "You'll have to grow up eventually," she told him kindly. Then she stood and began to wander away from him, exploring the field. She hadn't conceded but she wasn't a fool either.
 
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