Ash's Aura

Chapter 3

May let out a cry when she watched a guard smash the bud of his gun into her boyfriends head. Her blood ran cold when she noticed a small amount of blood begin run down his hairline. She watched as the man Dante roughly grabbed Ash's motionless body, throwing him over his broad shoulders.

"Stop! Where are you taking Ash!" Professor Oak shouted, worry laced in his voice. Dante turned and shrugged lightly, seemingly not affected by the extra weight. "Giovanni wants this kid. Hired me. Now I'm taking him to collect my pay." He signaled to the other grunts to grab the group. "Don't worry, you'll be going with him. I'll probably get paid extra for bringing family and friends." He grinned maliciously.

The group was loaded into one of the choppers, each being locked up with special cuffs that were laced with electricity. Gary grunted as he watched Dante throw Ash in a small cage, his arms and legs bound by cuffs. He growled deeply when some of the rocket grunts kick his friends motionless body. "Leave Ash alone!" Max shouted bravely, making the grunts laugh. He paled slightly when one of them gripped a handful of his shirt, yanking him off the ground. "What are you gonna do about it?" The grunt asked, a dangerous tone in his voice.

Suddenly Max was dropped on the choppers hard floor, and the grunt that was holding him was doubled over, an irritated looking Dante behind him. "Don't bruise the merchandize."  He spoke, cracking his knuckles in a obvious warning. Grumbling, the injured grunt limped away to start the helicopter, glaring at Max. Dante nodded to himself, before looking down at the frightened group of teens. " Try not to piss off these stupid grunts." He laughed slightly when the one he punched scowled. That said, the spiky haired blond jumped out of the helicopter and onto his Salamence. "To the sky, my friend." He said, and at once the large dragon flapped its powerful wings, soaring into the darkening sky.

The gang could only sit in heavy silence as the helicopter took off, following the man into the sky. Hours passed by and they were still flying, the occasional grunt coming to check up on the hostages before returning to the cockpit. When the man left, May turned back to her caged boyfriend, who was still out cold. She started whispering his name urgently. "Ash! Come on, wake up!" She whispered. Gary, seeing what she was doing, also tried to help.

Soon the unconscious raven haired boy let out a pained groan, shifting a little before cracking open an eye. "May?," he rasped, throat dry, "Guys. Where are we?" He questioned. His head pounded, and he could feel the stickiness of the blood on his hairline. "We've been flying for a few hours. If were lucky we can figure out an escape plan." Ash just coughed harshly in response, making his aching head pound worse. Brock noticed his friends pained expression. "You away pal?" He questioned, noticing his friends discomfort. Ash nodded, though the Pokemon breeder saw through the lie.

"Are you guys okay?" Ash questioned, worried about his companions. Everyone nodded, before the helicopter gave a slight jolt, signaling that they were finally landing. A grunt walked into the cockpit, looking at the caged Ash in surprise. "Didn't think you'd wake up so soon. Tough brat, thought I whacked ya pretty good." He mused, causing Ash to scowl and pikachu to give a small growl. The grunt straightened up slightly when the plane gave another jolt. "We'll be landing in 2 minutes, prepare yourself." He stated, before returning to the cockpit.

The group sat in tense silence, jumping slightly when the helicopter jolted harshly as it finally landed. Brock looked out the window to see they were deep in some forest. Suddenly the choppers doors were thrown open, and Dante strolled in, his grey eye's scanning them. His gaze rested on Ash's quivering form, who was glaring at him with amber eyes full of rage. He chuckled, "Still got some fight in you, huh?" He question the raven haired trainer, as he casually walked up to the cage. Quick as lightning he pulled Ash out of the cage by his hair, pushing the large butterfly knife under the teens exposed neck. The group jumped to their feet, but stayed still, hoping their friend would not get hurt again. Ash gulped audibly, sweat on his brow as he felt the wickedly sharp blade near his throat. After a moment of tense silence, Ash felt Dante slowly put the blade away and dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor.

"We'll see how much you've got in you after I break you." He stated simply, before roughly grabbing the back of the raven haired teens neck, pulling him to his feet. He turned to the group huddled In the corner. "Move it." He ordered, corralling them out of the chopper. The group quietly complied, save for a low growl from Ash. Suddenly a loud, angry roar pierced the air, Ash instantly recognizing it as his Charizard. He turned around to see a group of grunts trying to control the caged beast, who started to launch random flamethrowers at anyone who came near. He let out a shout of protest when the caged fire type was electrocuted, letting out a roar of pain.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Ash shouted, attempting to run up to the grunts before he was roughly grabbed by his scruff by Dante. "You should worry about yourself more." He stated, before kneeing the boy in his gut. Ash felt the air rush out of him as he dropped to his knee's. He coughed, before looking up at Dante's indifferent expression. "Your Charizard seems to know that now." Indeed, the fire type had seen his master in pain, and had stopped thrashing. He simply looked at his trainers injuries with pained eyes. Ash found himself roughly pulled to his feet again before he was pushed in a random direction. "Move." Dante ordered, ushering Ash and his friends deeper into the woods, the rocket grunts following. Soon a large building was seen between the tree's. There was a pair of grunts standing guard by a large metal door.

"Commander Dante." They grunted, giving a stiff salute to the approaching man. Dante nodded briskly, before typing in a code, and stood back as the door opened. "Follow me." He ordered Ash and the group, before heading into the building. Ash glanced at his mother, who gave him a reassuring smile, before they followed the blonde man. The group walked down a long corridor, going down several turns before Dante stopped them at another door. He opened to reveal a room with a large cage sitting in a corner, and a single chair that sat drilled onto the middle of the floor. Before Ash knew what was happening, he was roughly grabbed by a couple grunts and forced into the chair. He struggled as they strapped him firmly with metal cuffs.

"Hey! What are you doing to him!?" He heard Misty shout, and he looked to see her and the rest of the group get locked in the cage, cuffs off. Dante ignored her, instead focusing on holding Ash down as he was being tied down. "Since Mr.Ketchum here is such a fighter and gave us so much trouble, he surely gets more special treatment when it comes to being restrained." He turned his piercing gray gaze onto Misty's smaller, curvier frame. "Although, if you want, I'd have no problem restraining you." He said, chuckling darkly at the red heads disgusted and frightened look. Ash however was anything but amused.

"Leave me friends alone, now!" He all but snarled, struggling against his restraints, making the metal cuffs dig painfully into his wrists. He bit back the pain though, feeling nothing but unbridled rage course through him as he glared at the blonde haired man in front of him. He felt something coursing through him, and his amber eyes flashed blue again. He heard May, Brock, and Max gasp, but before he could look at them he felt the air get knocked out of him when Dante slammed his fist into his gut.  The man followed it up with a series of rapid fire shots to the raven haired trainers face. Ash cried out in pain, tasting blood.

"Please, stop hurting him!" May shouted, unable to watch as her boyfriend was used as a punching bag. Dante looked at the begging coordinator, before delivering one more punch that made Ash's head snap to the side painfully. He then calmly wiped the blood off his hands, looking disinterested as as he watched the boy take several painful breaths. He took one look at the cowering teen before swiftly turning and heading towards the exit. He glanced back at his captives before shaking his head and opening the door.

"Giovanni's gonna do a lot worse if the boy can't watch his tongue," he said simply, "I'll let that sink in. The boss will be here in 30 minutes. Enjoy your stay." And with that he left, locking the door and leaving Ash to ponder his words.

Ash had his head down, chin resting on his chest as his chest filled with fear and anger. He looked up and made eye contact with his friends, who looked just as confused. "Ash," Max's scared voice broke the silence, his bottom lip trembling, "what are we gonna do?"

And for once in his life, Ash didn't have an answer. "I don't know buddy." He sighed, putting his head down tiredly. "I just don't know."