Story Notes:
If you're thinking, 'Where have all the reviews gone!? WTF happened?' well it was due to an error, you see when the change over happened from the old AGNPH to the new one happened, I had to add my Co-authors back on, seeing as it took them off for some unknown reason. Anyway, when that happened, 2 copies of this story were made. I tried to delete the one without co-authors but when I did, it also deleted the other one, leaving me with no copies of blood and love, so yeah, have to re-upload. This is a pain in the ass but I heard that there was a problem with the text in all the older stories that made the text all glitchy, so maybe it was for the best that I re-uploaded it. Fortunatly, 'Blood and love' over at FanFiction isn't fucked up so that should make things easier. Also I've now noticed theres a duplicate 'Blood and love' story floating around, why this has happened I have no idea but I'm gonna try get it deleted. Oh, hears the stats for the story before it got wiped out.Views: 26,000Rating: 4.5Reviews: 59Oh, disclaimer. Yeah, Pokemon, I don't own it and I don't intend to make a profit out of it. This was done just for fun.
A drink best served frozen.
Louis suddenly felt a stinging sensation on his left thigh; he looked down to see that one of the bullets Ryan had shot had torn through his jeans and grazed his thigh. Louis then looked at the blood on his hands; there was no way he would go unnoticed in a crowd looking like this.
He unsteadily got up and looked at himself in the mirror behind the sink; parts of his face were red and already beginning to show signs of bruising. He turned on the tap and began washing all the blood off his hands, and also some of the blood spots that had gotten on his clothes.
When he washed all the blood off him, he then splashed his face with some cold water, before then thinking about how he should hide the wound on his left thigh. He took off his jacket and carried it with his left hand to try to hide the wound, he knew that it would look suspicious, but it would be better than just walking around and not bothering to hide it.
After he did this, he then unsteadily walked out of the room, leaving behind the dead man. Louis walked out to see Owen with a concerned look on his face. Louis looked around and noticed that nobody but them was in the mall.
Owen looked at the blank expression on Louis' face. "We have to get out of here, now. Everyone heard those gunshots and right now, and my contact is the only one keeping a horde of armed men away from this mall. Let's go!" Owen warned as he began to run back the way they had come.
Louis tried to keep up with him, but the graze wound on his thigh was making things harder. Whilst he was running, he also managed to put his jacket back on.
Owen looked behind him to see Louis trying to catch up, he could also see the wound on his leg. "You were hit?" Owen asked with a little concern.
"It's just a graze." Louis responded.
Owen let out a sigh. "Get back to the car! I'll be right behind you!" Owen yelled as he ran off
Louis slowly ran for the exit, he didn't want to be around once the police got here.
Owen quickly ran into a deserted pharmacy, he grabbed everything that could be useful, first aid kits, bandages, antiseptic and anything else that he thought he could use. He shoved them all into a plastic bag and ran off.
Richard, Tera and Kiara all stood beside their car. They, along with everyone else, had been ordered out of the mall by a man on a loud speaker because of a "terrorist attack". The car park was totally empty.
They all knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, Louis had gone there to kill someone and they wouldn't be surprised if somebody mistook it for one. Even though they knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, they were surprised that there was absolutely no sign of the police, or anyone else.
Kiara looked around her. "Has anyone noticed that Bruce and that Scyther are still missing?" She asked.
"Bruce isn't missing." Richard replied.
"What? Where is he then?" Kiara asked.
Richard pointed back to the car, towards the smashed out window. Kiara jumped up on the bonnet of the car and looked through its windscreen. "Ugh, pathetic." Kiara spat as she looked down to Bruce who was sprawled out on the car's floor with a number of empty vodka bottles around him.
"Is he even alive?" Kiara questioned as she tried to get a closer look through the windscreen. It was him, drooling and murmuring speech in his passed out drunken stupor.
Tera looked through the smashed out window to look over to Bruce. "Well he's still breathing." Tera replied as she heard his breaths and gibberish.
"Shame." Kiara insulted as she jumped off the bonnet of the car.
Richard opened up the back door to the car and soon realized something else. "Err; Bruce only had one backpack, right?" Richard asked.
"Yes, why?" Kiara asked as she walked over to the open door and saw three bags full of alcohol next to Bruce. "Seriously? How the hell could he even carry all that!" Kiara confusedly asked.
"I don't know, but he found a way." Richard replied as he carefully got into the back of the car and sat in his usual seat. Tera sat in her usual seat, right next to Richard and Kiara.
They all moved his alcohol bottles away from them and stared at Bruce, still passed out on the floor.
As Kiara got into her seat, she noticed Bruce make a little snorting sound, like as if he was waking up. "Hey, we could drag him out of the car before he wakes up and leave him behind." Kiara suggested with a little grin on her face.
"I don't think Owen would be very happy about that... Or Bruce." Richard added.
"Well Owen did make you the team leader, so you could get to kick a certain drunken, worthless human off the team, right?" Kiara asked.
Bruce woke up about half way through her conversation, but remained on the car floor with his eyes closed. "And you could also get rid of a certain blue ice rat, couldn't you?" Bruce retorted.
Kiara looked down to Bruce who now tried to sit upright, but fell back down to the car floor. "You're so drunk you can't even sit upright!" Kiara told him.
"Can too! That was just a practice sitty up righty thing." Bruce stated as he pulled himself up and sat down on his regular seat. "See, not only did I sit upright but I sat down on my chair!" Bruce exclaimed proudly.
"Oh great, now are you going to go on a quest for fire?" Kiara asked with sarcasm in her voice.
"Depends, is fire hot enough to melt you down? I could use some ice cubes with my drinks." Bruce retorted with a smile.
"Is drinking all you think about?" Kiara asked putting a disgusted face on.
"Yep, pretty much." He said as he looked around in his backpack to find his next drink.
"You just passed out and you're going to have another drink!" Kiara shouted.
"Hell yeah!" Bruce yelled with a smile as he opened up a can of beer.
"How do you expect to carry all these bags with you anyway?" Kiara questioned as she gave a confused look.
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet but, I'll think of something... Probably. Maybe not." Bruce replied as he downed the can of beer.
Everybody's attention then turned to Reaper who climbed into the car and silently sat down in the same seat he sat in last time.
Richard had expected him to be with Louis or Owen. "Where were you?" Richard asked him.
"Away from the mall, I only go in crowded places when I need to be there. Louis didn't need me." Reaper told them.
Just as Reaper finished his sentence, Louis climbed into the car and sat next to him. Louis didn't say anything to anyone; he just tried to hide the wound on his thigh with his hands. Reaper not only noticed bruising on Louis' face, but also the wound he was trying to hide.
Richard was about to ask about where Owen was, but Owen climbed opened the driver's side door and climbed in shortly after Louis arrived. Owen wasted no time; he closed the door behind him and set down the bag of medical supplies in the empty seat next to him before switching on the engine. The car roared to life and Owen drove off, far away from the mall.
1 hour later...
Owen was still driving; he was driving towards the mountains not far from there. When Owen told Richard and Tera that they were leaving Kanto, they couldn't stop smiling, they were overjoyed.
Owen was glad he was leaving Kanto too; it meant that he didn't have to worry about his team leader hating him for keeping both him and his partner in a region where their relationship is illegal. They were going to be heading to Johto next, but he hadn't told anyone else this, and they were going to have to drive a long way to get there.
Bruce looked out of the smashed out window tiredly, after running from security and passing out more than once in a day, he felt a lot more tired than usual, and bored. "Where are we going?" Bruce asked out of boredom.
"Johto." Owen answered.
Bruce's head perked up as soon as he heard him say Johto. "Johto? Why the fuck are we going there?" Bruce cussed.
"Our next recruit is there, when we've picked him up then there will only be one more person left to recruit." Owen added.
"And then I'm guessing we're going to get shot at... Again." Bruce pessimistically predicted.
Kiara looked at him and laughed, "Hey, if we're lucky then maybe they'll actually hit you this time!"
Bruce gave her a pissed off look., the temptation to just pick her up and throw her out of the window was overwhelming for Bruce. "I'm not sure what's worse, dodging bullets shot by slaving dickheads or listening to you bitch all day." Bruce angrily retorted.
"Oh, hit a nerve did I?" Kiara sarcastically asked.
"Don't make me throw you out of this car." Bruce angrily shot back.
Kiara could see the anger inside him building up, and she enjoyed it. "Try throwing me out of the car and I'll freeze you to death like that Rhyhorn I saved you from... You still haven't thanked me for that by the way." Kiara reminded.
Bruce let out a sigh. "You're not going to forget about that are you?" Bruce asked.
"Nope. Not until you thank me at least." Kiara happily stated.
Reaper sat silently next to Louis, he noticed that he hadn't said a word since he came out of that mall. He could see something had changed inside him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. "Are you okay Louis? What happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.
Louis looked back to Reaper and said, "I'll tell you later... Just not now."
Reaper could clearly see that Louis didn't want to talk about it, not in front of everyone else anyway. What he was concerned most of all, was the look of pain on his face.
Richard looked over to Tera; he was glad that they were finally leaving Kanto so they wouldn't have to worry about their relationship getting them arrested. They both felt like a weight had been lifted of their shoulders.
9 hours later...
It had gotten dark and right now they were driving through a mountainous woodland area. Owen stopped the car; he figured that this place would be pretty safe to camp at seeing as they were driving on an old disused road the military used to move equipment around. "We'll camp here for the night, then we'll move on to Johto tomorrow." Owen told everyone as he switched the engine off.
Bruce watched everybody climb out of the car as he put on one backpack and dragged the other two backpacks out of the car. He would have left the backpacks in the car, but he saw Kiara staring at them with a devious grin that Bruce didn't trust.
Richard and Tera wasted no time in getting out their camping equipment. Richard put up the tent while Tera handed him the pieces. Louis and Scyther did the same, except silently.
Bruce had dragged out his backpacks to the spot on which he planned to try and set up his tent. He left his backpacks behind to pick up his camping equipment from the car, although he constantly looked behind him to see if anyone went near his backpacks.
Bruce carried his camping equipment from the car to his spot and threw it all down to the ground next to his backpacks. Bruce took one look at the camping equipment. "Fuck it, I'm not going to put that shit together." He said to himself before he began searching for more booze in his backpacks.
Owen decided to climb out of the car, he was still planning on sleeping in there for the night but he just felt like he had to get some fresh air after driving for hours in that car.
Reaper watched Louis finish setting up the tent, he could see that Louis had something on his mind, and he wanted to find out what. "Louis, what happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.
Louis looked back over to Reaper and let out a sigh. "I killed Ryan." Louis replied as he stepped away from the tent.
"Shouldn't you be happy?" Reaper asked with a confused look on his face.
"No, I've changed nothing. That sick fuck still killed my parents and took my brother, nothing will ever change that." Louis stated as he looked Reaper directly in the eyes.
"You got your revenge, isn't that what you wanted?" Reaper questioned.
"It was, but now I know that revenge was only part of the reason I hunted down those slavers." Louis told him.
"Then what's the rest of the reason?" Reaper asked, still maintaining that confused expression on his green mantis like face.
Louis had a very serious look on his face, one that Reaper was used to by now. "To stop them from hurting anyone else. There are more slavers than those that attacked my home, and I won't stop hunting down and killing every slaver I can." Louis cursed in a furious tone.
Reaper hated to see him like this, consumed by hate. "Listen lad! Do you know how lucky you are to be alive? Are you just going to throw away your life to hunt slavers!" Reaper shouted at him.
"I'm not throwing away my life! If someone like me had killed Ryan before he destroyed my life, then my family might have still been with me... I won't stop hunting them all down, they all deserve to die." He said as he stared at Reaper, awaiting a response.
"Maybe, but... Listen to yourself! If you keep driving yourself like this then you're going to get yourself killed!" Reaper exclaimed at him.
"I don't care!" Louis yelled before storming off into the forest, away from the others.
"I do!" Reaper shouted just loud enough for him to hear. Louis stopped in his tracks when he heard Reaper say that, when he realized that he had actually stopped, he quickly went back to walking deeper into the forest. He felt like he needed to be alone.
30 minutes later...
Richard, Tera and Kiara all sat on a log near the campfire Bruce had started. Bruce sat on another log next to Reaper and Owen. Bruce and Reaper found and cut up the logs and branches used in the fire, they didn't know what to think of each other, but they both respected each other enough to stay friendly.
Richard and Tera both cuddled each other as they got warmer by the fire. Kiara was sitting further away from the fire, she really didn't like fire. But it wasn't all so bad for her, because right now, she was tucking into her big block of cheddar cheese. Richard and Tera both looked back to see Kiara with a big bright smile on her face as she stuffed her face with cheese, they both burst out laughing.
"What?" Kiara's muffled voice asked out of confusion. Richard and Tera just kept on laughing at the ridiculous sight of the Glaceon eating a big hunk of cheddar cheese with a big smile on her face.
Tera had no idea how Kiara was going to eat that big hunk of cheddar cheese by herself.
"Are you sure you can eat all that by yourself?" Tera asked with a little giggle as she watched Kiara stuff her face full of cheese and quickly trying to swallow it to answer Tera's question.
"Of course I can!" She answered quickly before stuffing her face with more of the delicious cheese.
Bruce looked over to Kiara, he was bored and drunk, so he did what came naturally, insulted her. "Hey, ice queen, are you sure it's okay for you to be sitting this close to the fire?" He asked.
Kiara swallowed the cheddar she had in her mouth to quickly say something back. "I was about to ask you the same question. Don't sit your drunken ass so close to the flames, if you catch fire then there's no way we can escape the blast caused by your alcohol stained clothes and the methane that comes from the bullshit you spew from your mouth!" Kiara insulted with a smug look on her face.
Bruce was a little surprised; he didn't expect her to come up with something like that. "Right now, I think the chances of me throwing you into the fire are a little higher." Bruce added before he brought up his beer to his mouth.
Kiara saw this, now was the time to truly piss him off.
Bruce closed his eyes as he knocked his head back to drink his beer, but much to his surprise, no beer came out and he felt his hand freezing and the bottle freezing to his lips. 'What the fuck!' Bruce thought to himself as he opened up his eyes to see the beer bottle frozen to his lips and hand.
Kiara laughed at the surprised expression on Bruce's face, but she quickly stopped laughing when Bruce gave her a murderous glare. Bruce quickly dived forward to grab her, but she ran off as he crashed to the ground. It was a good thing that he had that bottle frozen to his mouth because he was trying to shout out profanities that would make a black viper crap himself.
Bruce pushed himself off the floor and watched as Kiara ran off into the forest. 'Yeah, you run bitch, but I'll get you back, I fucking swear it!' Bruce angrily thought to himself as he looked over to the campfire. 'Going to melt this fucker off.' Bruce thought to himself before he moved really close to the fire and tried to melt the bottle off his hand and mouth.
Owen looked on with slight shock as Bruce's face got dangerously close to the fire. "Err, I don't think that's a good idea." Owen told him.
Bruce said something back but again, it was muffled by the bottle in his mouth, although he meant to say, "Fuck off."
Bruce could see the thin coating of ice slowly melting off the longer he stayed stood right near the fire.
Reaper, Owen, Richard and Tera all watched awkwardly as Bruce finally managed to pry out the bottle from his mouth and yell out, "Fucking finally! Now, where are ya! You little frozen bitch!"
Bruce looked all around him, but found no sign of the blue rat. "Yeah, fucking hide!" Bruce yelled at the forest before sitting back down on the log. Bruce opened up his backpack next to him, that's when he noticed that it too was covered in a thin layer of ice. "Oh, she fucking didn't!" Bruce thought out loud as he looked into his backpack and saw that all the drinks inside it had been frozen.
"Fucking hell! She really couldn't have pissed me off more, that little frozen blue fucking bitchy rat!" Bruce shouted before he took out a frozen bottle of vodka and smashed the glass against a rock nearby the log.
Bruce was determined to get drunk, so he began licking at the now frozen vodka as he held it by its still unbroken and still very cold bottle neck. "Not that bad." Bruce stated before continuing to lick at it like a popsicle.
Richard looked back into the forest and let out a sigh. "I'm going to look for Kiara; do you want to come with me?" Richard asked Tera.
"Of course." Tera replied as she stood up with Richard and walked away from the camp fire and into the forest.
Richard and Tera called out for Kiara as they went deeper into the forest, but they eventually found her.
"Heh, did you see Bruce's face when I froze that bottle to his mouth?" Kiara asked as she giggled to herself.
"Yeah." Richard responded. "He looked like he wanted to kill you, are you sure it was a good idea to piss him off like that?" Richard added.
"Probably not, but it was really funny wasn't it?" Kiara questioned as she began laughing to herself again.
"You know that you're going to have to ride in the same car as him right?" Richard asked.
"I know, but even if he does try to kill me, it was definitely worth it." Kiara replied with a grin.
"You really don't like him do you?" Richard asked.
"There is nothing to like about that drunken ass, he's annoying, vulgar, insulting and loud." Kiara quickly stated. "If he didn't open his stupid mouth then I wouldn't have frozen it to that damn bottle, although that will probably put an end to his drunken nonsense for a while." Kiara added with a smile.
"Err, not necessarily." Richard began.
Kiara gave a confused look before saying, "What do you mean?"
Richard let out a sigh before answering. "I mean that Bruce is so determined to get drunk that he actually began licking at his frozen vodka." Richard told her.
"Ugh, will anything stop that man from getting drunk?" Kiara asked in a tired tone.
"I don't think so." Richard said to her.
Meanwhile...
Louis walked his way back to camp, he had enough time to think about things and calm down a little. He shouted at Reaper, and he regretted it, especially after hearing the last thing Reaper had to say to him.
Louis knew Reaper cared about him; he wouldn't have protected him and stayed by his side all these years if he didn't. He could now understand why Reaper wouldn't want him to keep on hunting down slavers for the rest of his life; Reaper didn't want to lose him.
The more he thought about it, the more doubts filled his head about trying to hunt down and kill as many slavers as he can before he dies. Louis than thought about losing Reaper, and how lost he would be without him. He realized that if Reaper followed him to kill all these slavers, then there was a chance that Louis might lose him.
Reaper quickly noticed Louis coming out of the forest and walking over to their tent, he quickly headed over to him. "Louis!" Reaper called out.
Louis looked over to Reaper, he decided to apologize now and get it out of the way. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. It's just that I was a little pissed about... Well, nearly everything." Louis told him.
"I understand kid, you've been through a lot but right now you need to keep a cool head." Reaper replied him.
Louis noticed something, in their conversations, Reaper always talked to him like he was a kid. That fuelled the question he was about to ask him. "How old are you?" Louis asked.
Reaper let out a sigh; he was hoping that he wouldn't get asked that question. "I don't know, we Scyther's don't really place that much importance on age, but if I had to guess. Maybe somewhere between forty and fifty." Reaper said.
"Between forty and fifty? You're very agile for a middle aged Pokémon." Louis said with a smile.
"Well I never planned on being one of those lazy Scyther's that sit around all day and look smart and wise in their old age. I always hated the thought of being useless, the day they accepted that they were old was the day they would start dying, and I don't plan on dying any time soon." Reaper informed him.
"Glad to hear it, I don't think I could do this without you." Louis admitted.
"Hah, kid, don't get all soft on me now." Reaper added with a little chuckle.
"Don't worry, I plan on keeping my soft side to myself... Starting from now." Louis added with a smile.
"Good, now I think you should fix up your thigh with the stuff Owen left with us." Reaper stated as he pointed to the graze wound on Louis' thigh.
"Ugh, fine." Louis replied as he began searching in their tent for the medical supplies Owen gave to Louis and Reaper.
Bruce was still sitting on the log with Owen whilst licking his frozen vodka, still very determined to get drunk. Bruce then suddenly turned to Owen and said, "How many missions have you been on?" Before he went back to licking the frozen vodka.
"Too many." Owen replied.
"How much is too many?" Bruce responded.
"Over two hundred, why do you ask?" Owen inquired.
"Just wanted to know if you have been on a mission with an annoying, bitchy, cold Pokémon before." Bruce said.
"I've been on missions with Pokémon teammates but they were usually friendly." Owen told him.
"And the ones who weren't friendly?" Bruce asked.
"The ones who weren't friendly just said nothing and kept to themselves, not a good thing if the mission depends on teamwork." Owen answered.
"Eh, anything interesting happen during your missions?" Bruce inquired.
"You mean besides defusing bombs, running away from men with guns and avoiding the powerful Pokémon that try to hunt us down?" Owen asked.
"You know what I mean, anything stand out? Ever get laid on the job?" Bruce asked with a smile.
"Err; I don't even know what to say to that." Owen replied to Bruce's statement as he blushed lightly.
Bruce looked at the expression on Owen's face and burst out laughing. "You did, didn't you?" Bruce asked as soon as he stopped himself from laughing.
Owen wanted to shoot himself for blushing, all that training it took for him to be the best agent and hide his motives and feelings from enemy agents, and yet a single drunk man can see the answer through the look on his face. "That's irrelevant, anyway, have you?" Owen asked to avoid Bruce's question.
"That's irrelevant... But yeah, I did. Best fucking day at work ever!" Bruce told him as he put a big smile on his face.
Owen simply laughed in response, he thought that Bruce was just a drunken ass, that might still be true, but he was a funny drunken ass.
Midnight...
Reaper and Louis were still talking to each other; they hadn't stopped talking to each other since Louis had apologized for shouting at Reaper.
Bruce was now asleep by the fire, with his three backpacks full of frozen alcohol; he was hoping they would melt by the time he woke up.
Kiara was still awake and still in the forest, she felt like she should stay away from Bruce until he calmed down, or at least until his drinks melted. She happily ate the rest of her cheddar cheese which Richard and Tera brought back from camp for her.
Owen was in the car again, slowly drifting off to sleep in the driver's seat, until he heard Rhea's voice through the earpiece again.
"Owen, are you there?" She asked.
Suddenly hearing her voice made him jump a little. "Err, yeah. I was just about to get some sleep." Owen said in a tired tone.
"Oh, sorry if I woke you." Rhea apologized.
"It's fine, thanks again for stopping the police from charging into the mall." Owen stated, with a little sense of happiness in his voice.
"You owe me big for that by the way." Rhea said playfully.
"Yeah, put it on my tab." Owen replied with a little chuckle.
"I won't keep you up any longer, goodnight." Rhea concluded as her voice crackled out.
Owen let out a sigh and closed his eyes once more to try and get to sleep.
Meanwhile...
Richard and Tera were in their tent, Richard was fast asleep, but Tera was still awake. She cuddled up to her sleeping soul mate for both warmth and protection. Tera was scared; for both of them.
She couldn't stop thinking about what might happen to Richard, she was scared that he might put himself in danger to protect her, and she would never forgive herself if he died for her. The thought of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes; she began lightly sobbing.
Richard slowly awoke to the sound of her softly sobbing. "Tera; are you okay?" Richard softly asked as he looked into her tear filled eyes.
"I-I'm fine." Tera told him as she looked down to the ground.
"Tera, you can tell me anything, what's wrong?" Richard asked as he softly stroked her back.
"Richard... Please, promise me you'll stay safe." Tera said as she looked deeply into his eyes.
As Richard looked back into her eyes, it really did seem like they just begged him to say, 'I promise' but this was one promise that he knew was going to be hard to keep.
"You don't have to worry about me, remember, I already promised I'd keep both of us safe. I intend to keep that promise." Richard finished saying before kissing her on the top of her head.
Tera felt calmer in hearing Richard say he was going to keep them safe, but she still worried a lot about him.
Richard could see the concerned look on her face; he had seen that look before. "You worry for me a lot, don't you?" Richard asked.
Tera looked at Richard; she knew that he knew her more than anyone else ever did. "Yes, I do." Tera answered.
"I know how you feel; I worry a lot for you too." Richard admitted. "I promise I'll stay safe, for you." Richard added as he kissed her on her snout.
Tera hugged Richard and whispered, "I love you."
Richard always smiled when he heard those words. "I love you too." Richard said back before giving her a kiss on her neck. "We should get some sleep; we don't know what's ahead of us tomorrow." Richard said.
Tera stroked the side of Richard's face before closing her eyes and saying, "Goodnight."
Richard kissed her on top of her head and whispered, "Sweet dreams." They both fell asleep, smiling and in each other's arms.
He unsteadily got up and looked at himself in the mirror behind the sink; parts of his face were red and already beginning to show signs of bruising. He turned on the tap and began washing all the blood off his hands, and also some of the blood spots that had gotten on his clothes.
When he washed all the blood off him, he then splashed his face with some cold water, before then thinking about how he should hide the wound on his left thigh. He took off his jacket and carried it with his left hand to try to hide the wound, he knew that it would look suspicious, but it would be better than just walking around and not bothering to hide it.
After he did this, he then unsteadily walked out of the room, leaving behind the dead man. Louis walked out to see Owen with a concerned look on his face. Louis looked around and noticed that nobody but them was in the mall.
Owen looked at the blank expression on Louis' face. "We have to get out of here, now. Everyone heard those gunshots and right now, and my contact is the only one keeping a horde of armed men away from this mall. Let's go!" Owen warned as he began to run back the way they had come.
Louis tried to keep up with him, but the graze wound on his thigh was making things harder. Whilst he was running, he also managed to put his jacket back on.
Owen looked behind him to see Louis trying to catch up, he could also see the wound on his leg. "You were hit?" Owen asked with a little concern.
"It's just a graze." Louis responded.
Owen let out a sigh. "Get back to the car! I'll be right behind you!" Owen yelled as he ran off
Louis slowly ran for the exit, he didn't want to be around once the police got here.
Owen quickly ran into a deserted pharmacy, he grabbed everything that could be useful, first aid kits, bandages, antiseptic and anything else that he thought he could use. He shoved them all into a plastic bag and ran off.
Richard, Tera and Kiara all stood beside their car. They, along with everyone else, had been ordered out of the mall by a man on a loud speaker because of a "terrorist attack". The car park was totally empty.
They all knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, Louis had gone there to kill someone and they wouldn't be surprised if somebody mistook it for one. Even though they knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, they were surprised that there was absolutely no sign of the police, or anyone else.
Kiara looked around her. "Has anyone noticed that Bruce and that Scyther are still missing?" She asked.
"Bruce isn't missing." Richard replied.
"What? Where is he then?" Kiara asked.
Richard pointed back to the car, towards the smashed out window. Kiara jumped up on the bonnet of the car and looked through its windscreen. "Ugh, pathetic." Kiara spat as she looked down to Bruce who was sprawled out on the car's floor with a number of empty vodka bottles around him.
"Is he even alive?" Kiara questioned as she tried to get a closer look through the windscreen. It was him, drooling and murmuring speech in his passed out drunken stupor.
Tera looked through the smashed out window to look over to Bruce. "Well he's still breathing." Tera replied as she heard his breaths and gibberish.
"Shame." Kiara insulted as she jumped off the bonnet of the car.
Richard opened up the back door to the car and soon realized something else. "Err; Bruce only had one backpack, right?" Richard asked.
"Yes, why?" Kiara asked as she walked over to the open door and saw three bags full of alcohol next to Bruce. "Seriously? How the hell could he even carry all that!" Kiara confusedly asked.
"I don't know, but he found a way." Richard replied as he carefully got into the back of the car and sat in his usual seat. Tera sat in her usual seat, right next to Richard and Kiara.
They all moved his alcohol bottles away from them and stared at Bruce, still passed out on the floor.
As Kiara got into her seat, she noticed Bruce make a little snorting sound, like as if he was waking up. "Hey, we could drag him out of the car before he wakes up and leave him behind." Kiara suggested with a little grin on her face.
"I don't think Owen would be very happy about that... Or Bruce." Richard added.
"Well Owen did make you the team leader, so you could get to kick a certain drunken, worthless human off the team, right?" Kiara asked.
Bruce woke up about half way through her conversation, but remained on the car floor with his eyes closed. "And you could also get rid of a certain blue ice rat, couldn't you?" Bruce retorted.
Kiara looked down to Bruce who now tried to sit upright, but fell back down to the car floor. "You're so drunk you can't even sit upright!" Kiara told him.
"Can too! That was just a practice sitty up righty thing." Bruce stated as he pulled himself up and sat down on his regular seat. "See, not only did I sit upright but I sat down on my chair!" Bruce exclaimed proudly.
"Oh great, now are you going to go on a quest for fire?" Kiara asked with sarcasm in her voice.
"Depends, is fire hot enough to melt you down? I could use some ice cubes with my drinks." Bruce retorted with a smile.
"Is drinking all you think about?" Kiara asked putting a disgusted face on.
"Yep, pretty much." He said as he looked around in his backpack to find his next drink.
"You just passed out and you're going to have another drink!" Kiara shouted.
"Hell yeah!" Bruce yelled with a smile as he opened up a can of beer.
"How do you expect to carry all these bags with you anyway?" Kiara questioned as she gave a confused look.
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet but, I'll think of something... Probably. Maybe not." Bruce replied as he downed the can of beer.
Everybody's attention then turned to Reaper who climbed into the car and silently sat down in the same seat he sat in last time.
Richard had expected him to be with Louis or Owen. "Where were you?" Richard asked him.
"Away from the mall, I only go in crowded places when I need to be there. Louis didn't need me." Reaper told them.
Just as Reaper finished his sentence, Louis climbed into the car and sat next to him. Louis didn't say anything to anyone; he just tried to hide the wound on his thigh with his hands. Reaper not only noticed bruising on Louis' face, but also the wound he was trying to hide.
Richard was about to ask about where Owen was, but Owen climbed opened the driver's side door and climbed in shortly after Louis arrived. Owen wasted no time; he closed the door behind him and set down the bag of medical supplies in the empty seat next to him before switching on the engine. The car roared to life and Owen drove off, far away from the mall.
1 hour later...
Owen was still driving; he was driving towards the mountains not far from there. When Owen told Richard and Tera that they were leaving Kanto, they couldn't stop smiling, they were overjoyed.
Owen was glad he was leaving Kanto too; it meant that he didn't have to worry about his team leader hating him for keeping both him and his partner in a region where their relationship is illegal. They were going to be heading to Johto next, but he hadn't told anyone else this, and they were going to have to drive a long way to get there.
Bruce looked out of the smashed out window tiredly, after running from security and passing out more than once in a day, he felt a lot more tired than usual, and bored. "Where are we going?" Bruce asked out of boredom.
"Johto." Owen answered.
Bruce's head perked up as soon as he heard him say Johto. "Johto? Why the fuck are we going there?" Bruce cussed.
"Our next recruit is there, when we've picked him up then there will only be one more person left to recruit." Owen added.
"And then I'm guessing we're going to get shot at... Again." Bruce pessimistically predicted.
Kiara looked at him and laughed, "Hey, if we're lucky then maybe they'll actually hit you this time!"
Bruce gave her a pissed off look., the temptation to just pick her up and throw her out of the window was overwhelming for Bruce. "I'm not sure what's worse, dodging bullets shot by slaving dickheads or listening to you bitch all day." Bruce angrily retorted.
"Oh, hit a nerve did I?" Kiara sarcastically asked.
"Don't make me throw you out of this car." Bruce angrily shot back.
Kiara could see the anger inside him building up, and she enjoyed it. "Try throwing me out of the car and I'll freeze you to death like that Rhyhorn I saved you from... You still haven't thanked me for that by the way." Kiara reminded.
Bruce let out a sigh. "You're not going to forget about that are you?" Bruce asked.
"Nope. Not until you thank me at least." Kiara happily stated.
Reaper sat silently next to Louis, he noticed that he hadn't said a word since he came out of that mall. He could see something had changed inside him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. "Are you okay Louis? What happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.
Louis looked back to Reaper and said, "I'll tell you later... Just not now."
Reaper could clearly see that Louis didn't want to talk about it, not in front of everyone else anyway. What he was concerned most of all, was the look of pain on his face.
Richard looked over to Tera; he was glad that they were finally leaving Kanto so they wouldn't have to worry about their relationship getting them arrested. They both felt like a weight had been lifted of their shoulders.
9 hours later...
It had gotten dark and right now they were driving through a mountainous woodland area. Owen stopped the car; he figured that this place would be pretty safe to camp at seeing as they were driving on an old disused road the military used to move equipment around. "We'll camp here for the night, then we'll move on to Johto tomorrow." Owen told everyone as he switched the engine off.
Bruce watched everybody climb out of the car as he put on one backpack and dragged the other two backpacks out of the car. He would have left the backpacks in the car, but he saw Kiara staring at them with a devious grin that Bruce didn't trust.
Richard and Tera wasted no time in getting out their camping equipment. Richard put up the tent while Tera handed him the pieces. Louis and Scyther did the same, except silently.
Bruce had dragged out his backpacks to the spot on which he planned to try and set up his tent. He left his backpacks behind to pick up his camping equipment from the car, although he constantly looked behind him to see if anyone went near his backpacks.
Bruce carried his camping equipment from the car to his spot and threw it all down to the ground next to his backpacks. Bruce took one look at the camping equipment. "Fuck it, I'm not going to put that shit together." He said to himself before he began searching for more booze in his backpacks.
Owen decided to climb out of the car, he was still planning on sleeping in there for the night but he just felt like he had to get some fresh air after driving for hours in that car.
Reaper watched Louis finish setting up the tent, he could see that Louis had something on his mind, and he wanted to find out what. "Louis, what happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.
Louis looked back over to Reaper and let out a sigh. "I killed Ryan." Louis replied as he stepped away from the tent.
"Shouldn't you be happy?" Reaper asked with a confused look on his face.
"No, I've changed nothing. That sick fuck still killed my parents and took my brother, nothing will ever change that." Louis stated as he looked Reaper directly in the eyes.
"You got your revenge, isn't that what you wanted?" Reaper questioned.
"It was, but now I know that revenge was only part of the reason I hunted down those slavers." Louis told him.
"Then what's the rest of the reason?" Reaper asked, still maintaining that confused expression on his green mantis like face.
Louis had a very serious look on his face, one that Reaper was used to by now. "To stop them from hurting anyone else. There are more slavers than those that attacked my home, and I won't stop hunting down and killing every slaver I can." Louis cursed in a furious tone.
Reaper hated to see him like this, consumed by hate. "Listen lad! Do you know how lucky you are to be alive? Are you just going to throw away your life to hunt slavers!" Reaper shouted at him.
"I'm not throwing away my life! If someone like me had killed Ryan before he destroyed my life, then my family might have still been with me... I won't stop hunting them all down, they all deserve to die." He said as he stared at Reaper, awaiting a response.
"Maybe, but... Listen to yourself! If you keep driving yourself like this then you're going to get yourself killed!" Reaper exclaimed at him.
"I don't care!" Louis yelled before storming off into the forest, away from the others.
"I do!" Reaper shouted just loud enough for him to hear. Louis stopped in his tracks when he heard Reaper say that, when he realized that he had actually stopped, he quickly went back to walking deeper into the forest. He felt like he needed to be alone.
30 minutes later...
Richard, Tera and Kiara all sat on a log near the campfire Bruce had started. Bruce sat on another log next to Reaper and Owen. Bruce and Reaper found and cut up the logs and branches used in the fire, they didn't know what to think of each other, but they both respected each other enough to stay friendly.
Richard and Tera both cuddled each other as they got warmer by the fire. Kiara was sitting further away from the fire, she really didn't like fire. But it wasn't all so bad for her, because right now, she was tucking into her big block of cheddar cheese. Richard and Tera both looked back to see Kiara with a big bright smile on her face as she stuffed her face with cheese, they both burst out laughing.
"What?" Kiara's muffled voice asked out of confusion. Richard and Tera just kept on laughing at the ridiculous sight of the Glaceon eating a big hunk of cheddar cheese with a big smile on her face.
Tera had no idea how Kiara was going to eat that big hunk of cheddar cheese by herself.
"Are you sure you can eat all that by yourself?" Tera asked with a little giggle as she watched Kiara stuff her face full of cheese and quickly trying to swallow it to answer Tera's question.
"Of course I can!" She answered quickly before stuffing her face with more of the delicious cheese.
Bruce looked over to Kiara, he was bored and drunk, so he did what came naturally, insulted her. "Hey, ice queen, are you sure it's okay for you to be sitting this close to the fire?" He asked.
Kiara swallowed the cheddar she had in her mouth to quickly say something back. "I was about to ask you the same question. Don't sit your drunken ass so close to the flames, if you catch fire then there's no way we can escape the blast caused by your alcohol stained clothes and the methane that comes from the bullshit you spew from your mouth!" Kiara insulted with a smug look on her face.
Bruce was a little surprised; he didn't expect her to come up with something like that. "Right now, I think the chances of me throwing you into the fire are a little higher." Bruce added before he brought up his beer to his mouth.
Kiara saw this, now was the time to truly piss him off.
Bruce closed his eyes as he knocked his head back to drink his beer, but much to his surprise, no beer came out and he felt his hand freezing and the bottle freezing to his lips. 'What the fuck!' Bruce thought to himself as he opened up his eyes to see the beer bottle frozen to his lips and hand.
Kiara laughed at the surprised expression on Bruce's face, but she quickly stopped laughing when Bruce gave her a murderous glare. Bruce quickly dived forward to grab her, but she ran off as he crashed to the ground. It was a good thing that he had that bottle frozen to his mouth because he was trying to shout out profanities that would make a black viper crap himself.
Bruce pushed himself off the floor and watched as Kiara ran off into the forest. 'Yeah, you run bitch, but I'll get you back, I fucking swear it!' Bruce angrily thought to himself as he looked over to the campfire. 'Going to melt this fucker off.' Bruce thought to himself before he moved really close to the fire and tried to melt the bottle off his hand and mouth.
Owen looked on with slight shock as Bruce's face got dangerously close to the fire. "Err, I don't think that's a good idea." Owen told him.
Bruce said something back but again, it was muffled by the bottle in his mouth, although he meant to say, "Fuck off."
Bruce could see the thin coating of ice slowly melting off the longer he stayed stood right near the fire.
Reaper, Owen, Richard and Tera all watched awkwardly as Bruce finally managed to pry out the bottle from his mouth and yell out, "Fucking finally! Now, where are ya! You little frozen bitch!"
Bruce looked all around him, but found no sign of the blue rat. "Yeah, fucking hide!" Bruce yelled at the forest before sitting back down on the log. Bruce opened up his backpack next to him, that's when he noticed that it too was covered in a thin layer of ice. "Oh, she fucking didn't!" Bruce thought out loud as he looked into his backpack and saw that all the drinks inside it had been frozen.
"Fucking hell! She really couldn't have pissed me off more, that little frozen blue fucking bitchy rat!" Bruce shouted before he took out a frozen bottle of vodka and smashed the glass against a rock nearby the log.
Bruce was determined to get drunk, so he began licking at the now frozen vodka as he held it by its still unbroken and still very cold bottle neck. "Not that bad." Bruce stated before continuing to lick at it like a popsicle.
Richard looked back into the forest and let out a sigh. "I'm going to look for Kiara; do you want to come with me?" Richard asked Tera.
"Of course." Tera replied as she stood up with Richard and walked away from the camp fire and into the forest.
Richard and Tera called out for Kiara as they went deeper into the forest, but they eventually found her.
"Heh, did you see Bruce's face when I froze that bottle to his mouth?" Kiara asked as she giggled to herself.
"Yeah." Richard responded. "He looked like he wanted to kill you, are you sure it was a good idea to piss him off like that?" Richard added.
"Probably not, but it was really funny wasn't it?" Kiara questioned as she began laughing to herself again.
"You know that you're going to have to ride in the same car as him right?" Richard asked.
"I know, but even if he does try to kill me, it was definitely worth it." Kiara replied with a grin.
"You really don't like him do you?" Richard asked.
"There is nothing to like about that drunken ass, he's annoying, vulgar, insulting and loud." Kiara quickly stated. "If he didn't open his stupid mouth then I wouldn't have frozen it to that damn bottle, although that will probably put an end to his drunken nonsense for a while." Kiara added with a smile.
"Err, not necessarily." Richard began.
Kiara gave a confused look before saying, "What do you mean?"
Richard let out a sigh before answering. "I mean that Bruce is so determined to get drunk that he actually began licking at his frozen vodka." Richard told her.
"Ugh, will anything stop that man from getting drunk?" Kiara asked in a tired tone.
"I don't think so." Richard said to her.
Meanwhile...
Louis walked his way back to camp, he had enough time to think about things and calm down a little. He shouted at Reaper, and he regretted it, especially after hearing the last thing Reaper had to say to him.
Louis knew Reaper cared about him; he wouldn't have protected him and stayed by his side all these years if he didn't. He could now understand why Reaper wouldn't want him to keep on hunting down slavers for the rest of his life; Reaper didn't want to lose him.
The more he thought about it, the more doubts filled his head about trying to hunt down and kill as many slavers as he can before he dies. Louis than thought about losing Reaper, and how lost he would be without him. He realized that if Reaper followed him to kill all these slavers, then there was a chance that Louis might lose him.
Reaper quickly noticed Louis coming out of the forest and walking over to their tent, he quickly headed over to him. "Louis!" Reaper called out.
Louis looked over to Reaper, he decided to apologize now and get it out of the way. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. It's just that I was a little pissed about... Well, nearly everything." Louis told him.
"I understand kid, you've been through a lot but right now you need to keep a cool head." Reaper replied him.
Louis noticed something, in their conversations, Reaper always talked to him like he was a kid. That fuelled the question he was about to ask him. "How old are you?" Louis asked.
Reaper let out a sigh; he was hoping that he wouldn't get asked that question. "I don't know, we Scyther's don't really place that much importance on age, but if I had to guess. Maybe somewhere between forty and fifty." Reaper said.
"Between forty and fifty? You're very agile for a middle aged Pokémon." Louis said with a smile.
"Well I never planned on being one of those lazy Scyther's that sit around all day and look smart and wise in their old age. I always hated the thought of being useless, the day they accepted that they were old was the day they would start dying, and I don't plan on dying any time soon." Reaper informed him.
"Glad to hear it, I don't think I could do this without you." Louis admitted.
"Hah, kid, don't get all soft on me now." Reaper added with a little chuckle.
"Don't worry, I plan on keeping my soft side to myself... Starting from now." Louis added with a smile.
"Good, now I think you should fix up your thigh with the stuff Owen left with us." Reaper stated as he pointed to the graze wound on Louis' thigh.
"Ugh, fine." Louis replied as he began searching in their tent for the medical supplies Owen gave to Louis and Reaper.
Bruce was still sitting on the log with Owen whilst licking his frozen vodka, still very determined to get drunk. Bruce then suddenly turned to Owen and said, "How many missions have you been on?" Before he went back to licking the frozen vodka.
"Too many." Owen replied.
"How much is too many?" Bruce responded.
"Over two hundred, why do you ask?" Owen inquired.
"Just wanted to know if you have been on a mission with an annoying, bitchy, cold Pokémon before." Bruce said.
"I've been on missions with Pokémon teammates but they were usually friendly." Owen told him.
"And the ones who weren't friendly?" Bruce asked.
"The ones who weren't friendly just said nothing and kept to themselves, not a good thing if the mission depends on teamwork." Owen answered.
"Eh, anything interesting happen during your missions?" Bruce inquired.
"You mean besides defusing bombs, running away from men with guns and avoiding the powerful Pokémon that try to hunt us down?" Owen asked.
"You know what I mean, anything stand out? Ever get laid on the job?" Bruce asked with a smile.
"Err; I don't even know what to say to that." Owen replied to Bruce's statement as he blushed lightly.
Bruce looked at the expression on Owen's face and burst out laughing. "You did, didn't you?" Bruce asked as soon as he stopped himself from laughing.
Owen wanted to shoot himself for blushing, all that training it took for him to be the best agent and hide his motives and feelings from enemy agents, and yet a single drunk man can see the answer through the look on his face. "That's irrelevant, anyway, have you?" Owen asked to avoid Bruce's question.
"That's irrelevant... But yeah, I did. Best fucking day at work ever!" Bruce told him as he put a big smile on his face.
Owen simply laughed in response, he thought that Bruce was just a drunken ass, that might still be true, but he was a funny drunken ass.
Midnight...
Reaper and Louis were still talking to each other; they hadn't stopped talking to each other since Louis had apologized for shouting at Reaper.
Bruce was now asleep by the fire, with his three backpacks full of frozen alcohol; he was hoping they would melt by the time he woke up.
Kiara was still awake and still in the forest, she felt like she should stay away from Bruce until he calmed down, or at least until his drinks melted. She happily ate the rest of her cheddar cheese which Richard and Tera brought back from camp for her.
Owen was in the car again, slowly drifting off to sleep in the driver's seat, until he heard Rhea's voice through the earpiece again.
"Owen, are you there?" She asked.
Suddenly hearing her voice made him jump a little. "Err, yeah. I was just about to get some sleep." Owen said in a tired tone.
"Oh, sorry if I woke you." Rhea apologized.
"It's fine, thanks again for stopping the police from charging into the mall." Owen stated, with a little sense of happiness in his voice.
"You owe me big for that by the way." Rhea said playfully.
"Yeah, put it on my tab." Owen replied with a little chuckle.
"I won't keep you up any longer, goodnight." Rhea concluded as her voice crackled out.
Owen let out a sigh and closed his eyes once more to try and get to sleep.
Meanwhile...
Richard and Tera were in their tent, Richard was fast asleep, but Tera was still awake. She cuddled up to her sleeping soul mate for both warmth and protection. Tera was scared; for both of them.
She couldn't stop thinking about what might happen to Richard, she was scared that he might put himself in danger to protect her, and she would never forgive herself if he died for her. The thought of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes; she began lightly sobbing.
Richard slowly awoke to the sound of her softly sobbing. "Tera; are you okay?" Richard softly asked as he looked into her tear filled eyes.
"I-I'm fine." Tera told him as she looked down to the ground.
"Tera, you can tell me anything, what's wrong?" Richard asked as he softly stroked her back.
"Richard... Please, promise me you'll stay safe." Tera said as she looked deeply into his eyes.
As Richard looked back into her eyes, it really did seem like they just begged him to say, 'I promise' but this was one promise that he knew was going to be hard to keep.
"You don't have to worry about me, remember, I already promised I'd keep both of us safe. I intend to keep that promise." Richard finished saying before kissing her on the top of her head.
Tera felt calmer in hearing Richard say he was going to keep them safe, but she still worried a lot about him.
Richard could see the concerned look on her face; he had seen that look before. "You worry for me a lot, don't you?" Richard asked.
Tera looked at Richard; she knew that he knew her more than anyone else ever did. "Yes, I do." Tera answered.
"I know how you feel; I worry a lot for you too." Richard admitted. "I promise I'll stay safe, for you." Richard added as he kissed her on her snout.
Tera hugged Richard and whispered, "I love you."
Richard always smiled when he heard those words. "I love you too." Richard said back before giving her a kiss on her neck. "We should get some sleep; we don't know what's ahead of us tomorrow." Richard said.
Tera stroked the side of Richard's face before closing her eyes and saying, "Goodnight."
Richard kissed her on top of her head and whispered, "Sweet dreams." They both fell asleep, smiling and in each other's arms.