Chapter 3
Alix froze when the orange-brown muzzle pushed into the hole of her ‘den’. She screamed to the humans, telling them to leave her, as well as Kitsu and Akika, alone and to be. However, she was shocked when the humans didn’t understand her. They laughed chatting along on how they said of how they loved when Pokémon screamed in fear in their annoying voices, seeing it was showing how themselves were more superior than the Pokémon. She swiftly turned to Kitsu, who kept himself against the edge of the cave-like shelter, making sure Akika was safely behind him, between the edge and himself. Alix saw the Pichu, now awake and quivering in fear, having woken up in a terrifying scene. Knowing that Kitsu wouldn’t be in any shape to fight at the moment, Alix bit down hard onto the Houndoom’s black nose.
“Alix!” Kitsu screamed when he saw the Houndoom pull out immediately, yelping and yowling in pain and soon growling at the fire monkey. Alix narrowed her eyes and began to scratch the dark Pokémon, who opened his jaws wide and bit down onto one of Alix’s arms. Alix screamed in pain as the humans laughed. One of them reached out and grabbed her, throwing her into a cage-like box they had folded up on their backs and locking her in. Akika squeaked and hid her face into Kitsu’s shoulder, her ears flattening, her small figure still trembling. Kitsu could only keep his hold on her small feet and watch in horror as the Houndoom walked around. Alix frowned as well, confusion rising in her head.
Who were these guys, and what did they want?
The Houndoom was ordered to move to the other side of the sheltered hole. Kitsu tightened his grip on Akika as she whimpered softly. He pressed both Akika and himself against the rock-wall and stayed still, as if he was still hiding from the men who knew where he was already.
“Flamethrower.” One of the men ordered, a grin disgustingly smudged onto his face. Alix watched in worry as Kitsu kept himself against the rocks. He was sure that the Flamethrower wasn’t going to reach him as long as he was inside the shelter. It wasn’t long however until a weak whine came from the Pokémon he was carrying.
“…Aki hot…” She complained, her beady eyes slowly gazing to the hole of the den. Kitsu’s eyes widened as he too suddenly noticed the heat filling around them. His yellow fur slowly began to stick to his skin and his back began to feel as if someone held a heat-pad against him. The Minun gritted his teeth and sat down stubbornly in the den however. He knew that as soon as he came out, there was no chance of getting away.
“Try to not think of it too much,” He advised the child as he slowly made her get off him. The heat in the hole was increasing. He could hear the men chuckling, talking to one another and betting of how long it would take them to get out the hole. Alix desperately began to reach for the locking device on her cage, wanting to attack the sadistic Houndoom that kept blowing fire on the now-turning-red rocks. Kitsu too frowned a bit but tried not to show it to the Pichu, who was now weakly staring up at him for directions, her ears lowered and her eyes weary. Seeing that, Kitsu knew it would not be too long until Akika reached her limits.
“…Stay here.” He said, getting up on his feet. Akika whimpered and got up on her feet as well, ready to follow him, until she felt herself forced back to sit. With teary eyes, Akika glanced up to Kitsu who glared at her. “I said stay. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it. The heat will stop and cool down too.” With that, he reached down and patted Akika’s head. Akika, still with the exhausted look on her small face, nodded slowly with a deep frown on her face. She said nothing to complain about wanting to follow the Minun she learned to trust.
Nodding back to Akika, Kitsu turned and dashed out the hole. He felt small sparks tickling his cheeks, and blinked in surprise. He might just be able to control his attacks if he paid attention! On all fours, easier to move now that he wasn’t carrying the baby Pokémon, Kitsu jumped out the entrance and dashed to the dog Pokémon. Alix widened her eyes at what she saw and after curling her fingers around the bars, called out to her friend.
“Kitsu!!” She screamed, trying to tell him to watch out. She could see that some of the men were infuriated with how their bets were not right, and began to take out rubber gloves. At that moment she knew that these men were experienced men catching Pokémon in the wrong ways. Her voice was about to leak towards Kitsu to warn him about the men, but something else caught her eyes first. “No! Akika!!”
Kitsu’s ears perked up as he gave the den hole a quick glance at Alix’s voice. He could see that Akika was slowly making her way out of the den. He could tell that she was damped in sweat when he saw the fur sticking annoyingly onto her skin. The small Pokémon couldn’t take anymore heat alone; she seemed like she was going to pass out any minute if she stayed in the den.
“Shoot!” Kitsu gritted his teeth again and halted from his run suddenly. He twisted his body fully to turn around and dashed back to the hole, but it was too late. The men already saw the baby Pokémon lying helplessly at the entrance of the den.
“Awe, look at that! A Pichu!” One of them called, his eyes gleaming towards the little tired Pokémon. The others turned as well, landing their eyes on the baby Pokémon.
“Now that’s a full reward there!!” Another said confidently. “Boss will be very proud of this patrol! We have never brought back a baby Pokémon! They were always eggs we had to hatch on our own!”
Kitsu lowered his head as he continued to run towards the men who seemed to be ready to celebrate for their discovery any moment now. He could feel his body speeding up, and next thing he knew, he was using Quick Attack. Alix couldn’t help but to watch in awe at Kitsu’s speed. He then jumped up, tackling one of the men into the chest with a harsh Headbutt.
The man grunted, but of course, he was not at all hurt, seeing the Minun was not weighty at all. Instead, he grabbed the Minun in his rubber-covered hold and shoved him in another cage that another man got ready for. Kitsu felt his back harshly hit the bars on the back of the cage. He shut his eyes, expecting a blow or two from the men for attacking them, but none came. Instead, all he heard was the cage door slamming shut and clicking locked.
“Kitsu…” Alix whimpered softly, moving to the closest edge of the cage to get next to Kitsu. Her eyes scanned the forest. Frightened mother Pokémon that was watching the scene of them just scrambled away, abandoning their newborns and eggs, fearing for their own capture. Seeing so, Alix only could think of how harsh the wildlife was. She however was pulled out of her thoughts when Kitsu replied with a small groan.
“…This can’t be good.” He said under his breath, as if the men could understand his language. Alix frowned, sad for her friend’s words but not being able to do anything but nod, agreeing to him. She opened her mouth and searched for words to make the situation at least lighten up a bit, but none came out.
“So this was what they were trying to protect?” One of the men grunted. He kicked the cave-like hole and sighed. With his rubber-covered grasp, he bent down to reach for Akika, who was now slowly opening her eyes, having gained some fresh air that wasn’t burning up her body. Kitsu widened his eyes and started to fiddle with the lock, but could immediately tell that he needed a key. His glance worriedly shifted back to Akika, who flattened her ears fully when she saw the hand coming down to get her. Alix growled.
“She needs to fight!” She said angrily. “Akika!! Get mad! You can hurt these meanies, don’t worry!!” Alix called out to the frightened pastel-yellow mouse. Kitsu’s blue ears slowly came down to express his emotions.
“…” He couldn’t say anything to neither Alix nor Akika. Now that Akika was a Pokémon, indeed, it could be better since now she could attack. But still, she was only five. A loud squeak caught his attention, and both Alix and Kitsu widened their eyes.
“Let… Go!!!” Akika screamed in the man’s hold. She squirmed, her arms and feet flailing. The man just laughed like he was a maniac, only living to see Pokémon suffer. When he didn’t put her down, however, Akika’s body covered with a yellow light. She began to use Thundershock, but of course, with the man having the rubber gloves on, nothing seemed to happen except the fact that Akika screamed at her own attack. She soon had her head fall back, knocked out by her own attack she used, trying to escape. As if to tell Alix ‘See?’, Kitsu gave her a small glare. Alix glared back to Kitsu however and growled.
“That sadist needs to die.” She began to say over and over, soon screaming the line. Kitsu stared wide-eyed, shocked to see her suddenly get infuriated. He too felt the same urge of wanting to kill the men too however when the same one walked to the two cages they were in, holding Akika up by her arms and making her dance in front of them, as if she was just a little doll. At the movements Akika slowly opened her eyes, filling them with tears immediately when she saw the Chimchar and Minun in front of her in cages, just watching her helplessly.
“Let go~…” Akika whined, as if she thought that the man would understand her language. She tugged at her own arms, trying to jerk them out of his hold, but he was holding them too tight. Akika was only forced to be played like a doll in front of the two.
“Bite.” Alix whispered to Akika. The Pichu’s ears slowly twitched, hearing the Chimchar’s soft voice. However, she just continued trying to pull her hands out of the man’s hold. Alix narrowed her eyes slowly but kept her soft tone to the freaked out child. “Just bite. He’ll let go, I promise.”
Akika’s ears slowly perked back up in place at the suggestion and promise. With uncertainty, she looked over to Kitsu, who narrowed his eyes too and nodded to Alix’s words. Fear built up, Akika was frozen, only moved by the man’s hands. Her mouth then opened, and she whispered softly to the two trapped Pokémon that gave her an advice.
“…Daddy will hit Aki if Aki do that…” She said softly. Her eyes dulled and filled with tears again, and she began to tremble. Kitsu and Alix’s eyes widened.
“This… Is your dad?”
“…No, but…” Akika shook her head, still quivering. The man began to laugh again and forcefully picked the small mouse Pokémon by her arms.
“You’re just a little baby.” The man commented in a mocking tone. Akika felt a shiver go down her small spine as she watched the man grin down at her. Alix and Kitsu just watched, still not understanding what the child said by when she said that her ‘daddy’ will hit her. Akika then was stuffed into a bag and given to another, who took the rubber bag and began to walk off. Kitsu blinked and immediately moved himself to a corner of the cage, watching them. Alix just sat down, as if she had given up all hope and had just decided to willingly go with what the men wanted.
“While the Pichu goes to Boss…” One of the men commented, shifting his eyes to stare at the two Pokémon in the cages. He then took out a Poke’ ball and returned the Houndoom, who was now sitting next to the two men. “What about them?”
“Why not take them too?” Another asked, picking up the bag of Butterfree eggs. He tossed the bag of Pidgey eggs to another and smirked. “Three is better than one, right?”
“True.” The man caught the Pidgey eggs and lifted the cage Kitsu was in. Kitsu lost his balance as the ‘bottom became unstable to his feet and fell to sit on the bottom of the cage. He felt his small body bounced a few times at the movement and whimpered. Alix closed her eyes as her cage too was lifted and done the same. The two cages were put on two different men’s backs and carried off after the man who took Akika.
“…They’re a goner.” A voice spoke after the men left. The deep voice was soon greeted with another, soft and gentler voice.
“…You’re not willing to go help them?”
“Why should I?” The deep voice asked annoyingly.
“Just asking.” The softer voice said, giggling right after.
“I’m not sure. They kind of brought it on themselves.”
“And we were not fools as Pokémon at first?” The gentle voice seemed to be slightly annoyed by the deeper voice’s owner. There was no response from the other voice, so the softer voice sighed. “I’m going to help the kids.”
A blue figure dashed out the bushes and ran after the humans in a delicate, gentle movement that didn’t cause a noise to come forward. The blue figure only turned back once, as if to check if the other one was coming, and soon stalked after the humans like a hunting cat, in quick, but small steps. Soon, a black figure jumped out the bushes with a small growl and followed the blue figure with quick steps as well.
