Meowth leapt, claws ready except a foot came at him striking him clear in the jaw. Pikachu wanted to use his thunder but, everyone was scrambling around too much. Afraid he would hit Ash or the others he settled for a good old bite attack.
"The rat bit me!" Nero shouted before a fist sent him backward with Pikachu still attached to his arm.
James kicked at the figure but, it was too fast. He sent Ash to the floor instead. Then James felt his wind rush out as a pain in his stomach exploded. Nero pulled off Pikachu and launched himself at the shadow.
Again Ash was put in another headlock. Someone was barking in a slurred voice. He was demanding the release of something. James unleashed Victreebel. He ducked as the plant tried to eat his head. He ordered it to use sleep powder. Ash held his breath as the dust billowed around him. The grip on his throat slackened then the figure fell to the floor. James ordered Victreebel to return.
Pikachu ran to Ash immediately. Ash tried to catch his breath again. James lit a match. Ace lay next to Ash. Nero put a hand to Ace's forehead.
"We can't blame him." Nero fished in his pack.
"What do you mean! He's nuts!" Meowth screeched.
"In a sense he is. His fever is back and worse. He'll be delirious. I had an uncle that caught a fever like this. He was in so much pain it made him deranged." Nero found some asprins. "We helped him get over it. His doctor said it was brought on by stress. Whatever happened to him when he was robbed of his pokémon caused this, like I said you can't blame him because it's beyond his control."
James muttered as he shook the match out. He was glad he put his gloves back on. He lit another match.
"You know, when Jessie was feverish from a stun spore attack she wasn't herself either."
"What are you talking about James! She was her same old rotten self!" Meowth slapped him.
"Stop that!" Ash glared at Meowth. "We can't fight each other! We need to stay together to survive so no fights!"
"Ash is right." Nero mixed the crushed aspirin with water. "I need one of you help me get Ace to drink this."
"I will." Ash held Ace's head up as Nero poured the bitter stuff into Ace's mouth.
Jesus ran, he could see that the treeline was becoming normal. He laughed! He was going to be promoted. He would be in command of the Royal Trappers for bringing in the would be Assassin.
At the end of the trail there was nothing! He cursed.
"Why! Why can't these things be easy!" He knelt studying the ground for tracks. "You were dragged away by someone else."
"Jesus!" A man leapt from the trees. "What have I told you about bringing the Rockets in this far!"
Jesus felt his rear land harshly to the forest floor. In front of him stood a red haired young man. His hair was long and swept to the side covering one side of his face.
"Donavinni!" He scrambled backward.
"Don't call me that! Never call me by that accursed name! I'm Tude! Flare! Flame! Red! Anything but that name!" His eyes held fires burning into Jesus' soul.
"I'm sorry Flare!" He stood.
"Better! Now about those Rockets!" Flare pushed aside the hair but, it fell instantly back in place.
"What Rockets Don...Uh Flame?" He was sweating.
"The Rocket party that is about twenty minutes behind you! I want them out now!" He began to crush Jesus's hand.
"I can't! Big Sue is leading them! The Queen...was attacked! She ordered...us to ...take anyone found out here into...the city!" He tried to wrench his hand away from Flare.
"This will be bad for buisness." Flare released him while he rubbed his chin.
"I'll warn you out of the old friendship we used to have Donavinni! You are wanted now too! The Queen wants your head for supplying the Raiders with weapons! There's no way around it, she wants you dead." He held his wounded hand.
"We all know why she wants me dead! It has nothing to do with weapons!" He paced.
"If I were you I would forget buisness and run!" He could hear the Rocket's closing in. "I've paid my debt to you Donavinni! What is left of our friendship ends here! You went against the Queen and now you are wanted. Flare or whatever you want to be called I would take my advice because the next citizen you see won't owe you nothing!"
As Jesus stalked away Flare studied the crash course. He began to think.
"Jesus! I'm calling in my favor now!" He touched one of the singed trees.
"I've repaid you!" He spat.
"No, you haven't! You haven't given me any information I didn't already know." He had a wicked gleam in his eye. "I want you to leave this FBI agent alone."
"You know I can't do that! What he did to the Queen and me personally I can't let it go!"
"Yes, you can. What if the Queen is overthrown." Flare crossed the gap between them.
"Why would I want that!"
"Do you really like the life you have now?" He looked Jesus in the eye.
"Of course I do." He couldn't look Flare in the eye and say it.
"Look, let the agent go. Take me instead. Collect the reward for me."
"How do you gain from this Do...Flare?" Jesus stared at him.
"Nothing, profit wise. I do it for the greatest prize.' He smiled.
"Fine!" He put the handcuffs on Flare. "What is the ultimate prize?"
"Revenge old friend! Revenge for you know what. Yes, the ultimate reward old "friend"" He boomed with laughter.
"Big Sue! I caught him!" Jesus dragged Flare toward the search party. "This is the man! He confessed to the attack!"
"Excellent now turn him over to me." She grinned.
"No! He's my capture! My reward!" He backed away.
"Fine! I'll make more money collecting the run aways and Raiders." She hollered at her men.
"But, I brought him in. We should head back!"
"Of course you caught him Jesus! What you don't understand is that one of them would sacrifice themselves to save the others. Our orders are to bring in anything moving out there. The Queen's slave pokémon can tell which one really did it."
Someone struck Flare from behind before he could try to escape.
"Tag that one as Jesus's catch." Sue barked more instructions. "Get moving! We have a lot of forest to search!"
The Raiders ran, fighting from treetops, falling to be captured, and some unaware were taken in their sleep. Color bands being placed on them as they were thrown into prison wagons. Rezel's former slaves were caught as they tried to huddle beneath a canvas made of branches and roots.
Jesus counted his bills as he roped every runner he saw. He was becoming his new self again. He was in his element. Sue was banning captives she didn't catch in person. She smirked.
Ash heard the commotion outside the cave. He ordered everyone to hide against the cave's sides. Hours past and they grew worried by the second that Ace might throw his next fit. Outside the sounds of shouting continued.
Nero began to cry, James shushed him. He tried to stop but, the noise was reminding him of the night he lost his parents to the Rockets. He felt something hug him. He looked down to see the yellow mouse was hugging him. Smiling Nero tried to control his emotions.
The sounds grew weaker as the hunting party moved away. They relaxed slightly. They had endured four hours and thank anything above and below the blue sky that Ace hadn't thrown a fever induced tantrum.
All froze as figures rushed into the cave. Ash and Nero leapt upon them covering their mouths and trying to secure them.
"You make a sound and die!" Ace shouted and laughed.
"Shut that idiot up!" Ash whispered harshly.
James and Meow put their hands over his mouth while trying to keep him still. He pulled them away.
"Speakie and I killie willie you!" He began to uproar in his lunatical laugh again.
"Knock him out if you have to!" Nero whispered.
"Okay." James karate chopped Ace in the back, he went down in a pile.
"Now you. What do we do about two Rockets?" Ash looked at them but, couldn't tell much in the dark.
"We're not Rockets fool!" Another figure appeared. "Release them now! This place is big enough for all of us to hide in! Let them go! You'll only need to put up with us for a few hours!"
Ash thought the voice was familar. He did as he was told. Nero and he let the others loose. He turned toward the entering shadow. He came in and checked his people.
"How did you find this place! You are not my people." He growled.
"We found it by accident!" James snapped.
"Enough! We need to be quiet or get caught." A woman whispered, Ash thought she sounded familar as well.
"It'll be dawn soon, we need to avoid them till then. They'll have to return to the castle. If our info was right they'll try to invade Greenfield in two days. Not much time left to prepare." Another woman said softly.
"Yes, not much time for both sides." The man spoke.
Misty woke, it was morning. The birds flitted in the courtyard. The sun was rising slowly. She thought of last night. She ran out her room. Her bare feet catching chills from the cold floor. She found the Mentor concentrating in the gym again. This world's crystal floated before him.
"Mewtwo! What happened to Ash?" She ran to him.
"Child hush! Do not call me that outside privacy. I have many enemies. Even here in Sabrina's sanctuary I am not truly safe." His hood moved toward her direction.
"Sorry Mentor." She faced him.
"As for Ash, he was attacked during your link. Did you see anything unusual?"
"Yes, the sky changed color and the trees burst into flames." She answered.
"A manifestation of his pain. Don't worry he's fine now. I tried to open a link to him but failed. He was arguing with someone. He was worried about someone there with him." Mewtwo touched her shoulder. "You're also very popular in his thoughts."
She smiled as he lightly chuckled. The smile faded.
"Is there something wrong with James then?" She asked out of mere interest.
"No, it's another traveling with him now." He remebered something. "Misty I do sense something is wrong with Gary."
"What?" She felt Togepi hug her leg.
"He's been telling me lies." He cradled Togepi again. "I sense it."
"What is he lying about?" She took Togepi from Mewtwo's hands.
"I sensed Jessie after they arrived in Emerald but, now she has just...poof! Gone!" He rested his chin in his hands. "I asked him but, he said she was gathering firewood. Again I contacted him and this time she was off bathing somewhere. I can sense his deception but, why would he lie?"
"Maybe? Maybe something happened to her and he blames himself?" Misty thought out loud.
"I get that feeling but, what could have happened to..." It dawned on him. "She's dead. Why didn't I think of it before?"
"Dead? How could that be? And why would he blame himself Mentor?"
"Because he and Ash fought and they took them all to Emerald. Maybe since she died there he blames himself because he was the one who responsible for taking her there."
"Why didn't you think of it before?"
"Because I sensed Jessie in Ash's time period. She must be the Emerald Jessie."
Ace felt his mind waking again, he heard voices. His back ached, his head was throbbing from the fever. He was drenched in sweat. He wobbled as he turned his head trying to peer into the darkness.
"Draco is all alone now. Angel is lost like the kingdom, like my treasure. The treasure that lies in the belly of the Rocket...beast." He felt tired. "What you are saying at?"
"Is he a loon?" The man asked.
"He's running a high fever! He's in trouble!" Nero shoved him.
"Prepare for trouble!" James recited.
"Shut up!" Meowth slapped him.
"Sorry, old habit." He rubbed his cheek.
"Me so high! Fever is high I mean." The world went dark.
"At least he passed out again." Ash sighed in relief.
"A fever? Where are you from?" The familar female voice asked.
"Emerald." Nero checked Ace. "His fever is going down some."
"I'm from Kanto." James responded.
"Kanto?" The man asked.
"Never heard of it." The other woman butted in.
"Amber! I'm Amber! I mean I'm from Amber." Ace sat up. "Name's Jurael! Please to meet you put it there!" He offered his hand.
"Geez he's really out of his gord." James handed around some rice cakes.
"Thank you." Someone said.
Ace stuffed three of them in his mouth. He chewed obnoxiously. Meowth tossed his cake away mumbling about the bad taste they had. Ace picked it up.
"Beggars are not choosers!" He ate it noisely as well.
"Is he the FBI agent?" She asked.
"How did you know!" Ace shouted.
"Be quiet!" Nero felt it harder trying not to yell, he took a minute to cool and remember to whisper.
"He is. Then these are his." She placed a belt in Ash's hand. "His pokémon."
"You stole them? You are the ones that made him this stressed! He is sick because of you!" Ash curled his fists.
"No! He was already sick! He did something to the Rockets! They are after him! It's his fault our people are being trapped right now!" She threw dirt at Ash.
"You stole his pokémon still!" Nero charged them with the theft.
"We saved them! His Charizard was near dead when we found them. His Houndour is recovering from being poisoned." She returned the belt.
"You left me to my death!" Ace pointed. "If they are Rockets he'll be fine! If their slaves they'll kill him! Our interest ends with his pokémon."
"It was our survival I was worried about." The man seemed a little unnerved by this confrontation.
"Drop it! They gave back his pokémon. We are starting to get too loud. We drop everything till dawn." Ash rolled onto his side trying to get the others to stop fighting.
"Ah! Sleepy!" Ace rolled out his cloak and flopped down to sleep on it.
Morning came too slowly for Ash. He kept one ear open to his surroundings. He did drift into sleep after the fighting stopped and did not resume. He woke to the sound of nature. Soemone was at the entrance.
"Who's there?" Ash whispered.
"Me, Nero." He watched squirrels play in the feild. "The others are still sleeping. Team Rocket returned to the castle about two hours ago. Ash they were hauling out slaves, Raiders and free people by the dozens. I saw they even took their own trappers in."
"Greed does things to people. Changes them until they are almost unhuman Nero." Ash stepped outside with the scribe.
"I'm so naive to worldly ways! I can't image what could make them betray even their own kind."
"Greed has been the ruin of several kingdoms scribe!" A woman exited the cave.
"Veronica!" Nero shouted, he ran to her engulfing her in a bear hug. "You're alive!"
Tears in his eyes and older yet, Veronica recognised him. She shouted as well. Both embracing they creid together. Ash watched the woman, she had white hair like Nero but, she also had streaks of black in it. She was a little older than Nero.
"I was told you were dead!" She looked at him and kissed his cheek.
"I thought you were dead too!" He saw Ash with a curious look on his face. "Ash! Come here! Meet Veronica!"
"Hello Ash." She shook his hand.
"Ash this is my older sister!" Nero was choked with different feelings inside him. "James! James I want you to meet someone!"
Sleepily James crawled out the cave. He wandered to the stream where he splashed cool water on his face. He shook the last of his sleepiness before he went to Nero.
As James was being introduced to Veronica, the others of her group emerged from the cave. Ash froze, he knew them. He couldn't let them know who he was. They would not understand. From the cave emerged Gary and Misty. The future Emerald versions.
To be continued.....
-JLB