The Children Are Hunted

Zaria managed a smile, dropping off again. Doom blinked before padding to lay next to Zoran. Deena sighed and went to go eat something. Ash chewed her lip a moment. "Hey Marcus... do you know what Gyarados is?"

Kira opened his eyes slowly, then went to go walk off. Something had caught his attention. "Be careful," Deena told him. The Lucario nodded,walking away.
 
"I've seen what they can do on the TV a few years back. But I've never actually seen one. Why?" Marcus asked. He wondered what this had to do with the situation at hand. Esper lay down where he had been sitting. He was a little tired, and ready for sleeping. Vulpix looked up from his meal and watched with interest. He wanted to see how Marcus would react to the fact that if he wasn't careful, he would have a rather large problem on his hands.
 
Ash sighed. "Well... how should I put this... your Magikarp evolves into Gyarados... and if you don't show how determined you are and what kind of strength you have... it'll bite off your head, literally. You don't have much time left until it evolves... so you'd better be prepared. I just figured I would let you know that."

Deena sighed. "Oh this will be fun."
 
Marcus stared, dumbfounded.
"I... I don't think I'm ready for that!" Marcus said. Vulpix snorted and went back to his meal.
"I know you can do it!" Thomas said. He had just caught the tail end of that conversation while drifting between sleep and semi-sleep.
"You really think I can?" Marcus asked. But Thomas had already fallen back to sleep.
 
"If you couldn't, I would have taken that Pokemon from you," Deena replied calmly. "You actually are attempting to raise him and as long as he remembers that, it'll be fine."

"And if he forgets," Ash added cheerfully. "Riley will help you calm him down until he listens again. You just have to be patient and work hard. Then you'll definitely be able to."

"Besides," Deena commented. "If you could manage to break into two bases to rescue your friends, a Gyarados should be a piece of cake right?"
 
Marcus laughed at that. He felt a little better. He pulled out Magicarp's pokeball and stared at it for a moment. He whispered something to it, and put it back with the others. He gave out a yawn and went to sleep. Vulpix finished his meal and walked over and looked at the base they had just left.
"For most of my life I lived there. Now, I can't stand the place. Even thinking about what has been done there makes me sick. I just don't know what's right anymore. But I do know this. I want to protect those three. They are the best people I've ever met. Pokemon or Human. I'm going to keep them safe!" Vulpix said. He lay down so that his tail was almost in the fire and went to sleep as well.
 
Deena smiled sadly. "It's nice to be able to relax a little. I can stay awake if you want Ash."

"Later," Ash replied softly. "I'll wait for Kira to come back." She stared at the sky, looking for the stars hidden by air pollution. Almost inaudibly, she began to hum, a melancholy sort of melody. Deena smiled at her, knowing the song. It would be a few hours before Kira returned, and with a solemn yet joyful look. Ash patted his head and quietly laid her head on his shoulder. Kira took that as a signal and remained wide awake. He usually had trouble sleeping during the night anyway.
 
Thomas woke up a few times during the night. But when morning finally did come, he couldn't see it. Esper joined his mind as he woke up and sent him the memory of the sunrise. Thomas smiled.
"Anyone awake?" he asked quietly. He didn't hurt that badly, just a throbing ache all over his body. Nothing near the agony he'd been in last night. He slowly got to his feet, using Razor to help him. He patted her on the head and she trilled happily at him. He didn't try to go anywhere. In the condition he was in, he'd just get into trouble.
 
Ash glanced at him from across the clearing. She had slept very little, worried about Zoran. "Hey Thomas," she mumbled. "You feeling a bit better dude?" Zaria remained very quiet and still. She was resting by her brother, who hadn't woken.

FInally, the girl said softly. "Hi Thomas." Her voice was raspy but a bit better at being heard.
 
"Well, I'm on my feet again, which is a good thing. Morning Zaria! At least, I assume it's morning. I still can't see a thing!" Thomas said.
"What's going on?" Marcus asked with his usual morning daze. Thomas shook his head at him. Then he heard some rustling leaves, and he turned to meet it.
"It's just me. I decided to eat my breakfast on my own, because you guys have weak stomachs!" Vulpix said.
"Did you catch a bird or something, cause you have a feather stuck in your tail!" Marcus said.
"Yes I caught a bird! Birds are some of the finest tasting things ever! This one was-" Vulpix said.
"For the sake of everyone here, please don't tell us how you caught the bird," Thomas said weakly. Esper was feeling a little better too, it seemed. He sent his support and encouragement to bot Thomas and Zaria, as well as hoping that they, as well as Zoran, were feeling better soon.
 
Zaria floated up slightly, managing a weak smile. "Zora's not gonna wake up for a while," she mumbled. Raising her head, she added, "Vulpix, maybe you should remember that a couple people here aren't used to ripping things to pieces as a daily process. Try being a bit more tactful." Ash snorted. Go Zaria, even when feeling like crap she sounded like her mom.

"Showed you," she commented to Vulpix as Doom stretched, racing into the woods. "Make sure to get us a couple rabbits too." Ness got up, walking like a spider. It mentally moved Zoran up onto his back and waited.
 
Thomas grinned at the exchange that was going on.
"Hah, if you can't handle the wild, why are you out here? And your asking me to have tact? That's like telling Thomas to be careful!" Vulpix asked. He didn't sound like he had an attitude. In fact, he sounded almost playful! Thomas laughed at him.
"Well, I guess that's true," Marcus said. Razor chirped her agreement.
"Traitor!" Thomas said to the bird behind him. He grinned at the others. He was feeling more lively today too. Vulpix snorted at him.
 
Zaria sighed. "I suppose so but if you learned tact it might not get you in as much trouble as you've been in. But you aren't really good at that sort of thing so oh well." Doom bolted back, clutching meat in his mouth and something on his back.

"What's that Doom?" The Houndoom let out a muffled bark and lowered the meat, running toward Deena.

The Audino glared. "Did you do this boy?" Doom shrank and shook his head no. She examined it, a small white Pokemon with a green helmet. Its breathing was ragged and faint. "Yeah you didn't: these aren't your fang marks. These are a Seviper's fangs, among other attackers." Deena tutted. "How you got involved with one of those is beyond me." She began to look through the berries and tossed a pink one to Ash, who had started making breakfast. "Grind one of those up. This girl may not last much longer." The girl obeyed
 
"What girl? What's going on?" Thomas said anxiously.
"Doom came back with a Raltz! She looks pretty messed up. I hope she'll be ok!" Marcus said.
"Hey, Deena will patch her up in no time! You watch and see!" Thomas said. Esper tried to contact the injured Raltz. He sent waves of sympathy and friendship, as well as safety and soothing. Thomas sat on Razor's back, and she trilled at him. He was ready for anything that might happen. Well, as ready as he could be.
 
The Ralts was breathing weakly, even as Deena gently placed ground berry in her mouth. But slowly it eased, looking a little less pained. Deena sighed. "What is with patients coming in one after another?" She released a Heal Pulse, ever so gently. The Ralts, feeling Esper's waves, let her horns glow faintly.

"Thomas, Ness is kind of busy right now," Ash commented. "Can you send Razor to get that Seviper? It would be a problem if it came out here and attacked us, looking for this guy."

Zaria looked worried. Seviper were scarier than Psychic Pokemon. She knew all about them, firsthand. Ash gave her a little smile. Only she and Zoran knew of the puncture wound on the girl's arm. "Please send Razor Thomas," she pleaded. "You don't have any way to fight back if it comes out here and Razor can't be poisoned. It would be okay. Please."
 
Thomas smiled.
"Go find that seviper and take care of it, Razor," he said. She trilled at him and took off after he slid off of her.
"Are you sure you should send her by herself?" Marcus asked.
"Razor's smart. Smarter than most pokemon I've seen. She can handle it by herself," Thomas said. As if to back up his claims, he heard a shriek of victory and heard her take off. The seviper had been closer than they had realized.
"Is she carrying it?" Marcus asked. Thomas honestly didn't know. When she landed in the camp, she was alone, though Thomas could smell the blood on her. It most certainly wasn't her blood so he assumed it belonged to her former enemy. She trilled happily at them all and settled down.
"Hmph, I would have protected you," Vulpix grumbled.
 
"You could have been poisoned, Razor couldn't," Deena told him coolly as she released the Ralts. "Good work Razor." Ralts stared at them with wide eyes, not speaking.

"You're too scared to speak," Zaria whispered. "Poor thing." She reached out warily and patted its head. Ralts turned and stared at the spot where she was and blinked. It felt like death over there yet she could feel a mix of emotions, so many emotions and a connection to someone. She tilted her head, not knowing what was going on.

Ash grinned. "Well that's one thing good. Who wants food?"
 
"I'm good, I already ate!" Vulpix said with a grin. He turned his gaze toward Thomas. Those eyes creeped him out. Thomas had no outward signs that he couldn't see, but those brown eyes were gazing over everything, yet seeing nothing. It was a little disturbing, to say the least.
"We already knew that, Vulpix. I'll take some food! Dinner was a long time ago!" Thomas said cheerfully.
"Only because you only took two bites before sneaking it to Esper!" Marcus accused. Thomas ignored him.
 
Ash went over to him and carefully placed the food in his hand. Doom went over to lick the Ralts' face. It blinked curiously. Deena suddenly had an idea. She went over and carefully replaced the sling on Thomas' arm. "Be more careful now."

Ralts turned to Esper and sent its confusion toward him. She could use words but she wasn't sure she was ready to talk yet. Her horns were glowing. Ash quietly passed more food to Marcus and the Pokemon before taking some of her own.
 
Esper sighed. It seemed like he had just been through the confusion himself. He sent his memories that concerned Zaria to the raltz, the ones about mistrusting her, then Zoran's intervention, and finally to how good friends he was with her. He then showed the feelings of a strong connection. He sent his feelings of friendship and trust, then asked Zaria if she minded getting brought into the mental conversation.

Thomas felt someone put a sling on his arm, and laughed when she told him to be more careful. He was always careful! But his being careful wasn't careful enough, or so it seemed. He ate the food, andf smiled in thanks.
 
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