A Vacation, an Adventure, and the Story of a Lifetime

Chapter 74- Poachers!?

With school-from-home up and running, there's a good chance updates are going to slow. My classes are already trying to kick my butt with hours of work due every week on top of Zoom calls with lots of lag for all four periods, so sorry in advance for any short or late chapters. And to all my readers that are in the same boat, good luck in your own classes and I hope you can bear with me here!

        -Luna the Space Fox

Key:

Author's notes

Thoughts

"Telepathy"

"Speech"

"{Pokemon speech}"

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, this wouldn't be a Wattpad fanfiction and the Sun/Moon anime would've had the same animators as X/Y~

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Hida, Chuka, and Migiki led the way through the forest that Luna and Lunalox had gotten themselves lost in as if they had lived in it their whole life- though from what Hida said, it sounded like they had spent their whole lives in it, raised from an egg by various kind Pokemon.

They had stopped at multiple hollow tree stumps, nests, and burrows of various Pokemon species, Luna and Lunalox standing back as the Hydreigon heads explained the situation with the poachers that had been seen lurking around, and for the families to be on their guard. After stressing the importance of staying safe and together, reassuring the youngest Bounsweet that she'd be fine if she listened to her parents and was careful, and suggested they stayed out of sight, the family of Bounsweet and their neighbor, Inkay, said their goodbyes and scampered back off to their homes.

Meanwhile, the Dark/Dragon-Type spun around.

"{You realize you're allowed to join the conversation, right?}" Migiki asked rather bluntly. His sister smacked him with one of her wings.

"{Please excuse him, but he does have a point.}"

Luna merely shook her head. "You three seem to have it down, and I've learned that observing a situation before butting in can teach you a lot, in both battling and normal interactions. After all, I'm a stranger to them; it would just bring up more questions and fear if the two of us were to intrude." While speaking, Luna reached her front paws out, stretching her spine as she momentarily shut her eyes to deter the creeping ache throughout her body.

"{While I understand that...,}" Chuka began, but trailed off. Hardly seconds later, Luna heard a thump directly in front of her, causing her eyes to snap back open. The center Hydreigon never finished speaking... which she quickly realized was because the body the three dragons shared was lying on the ground, unconscious, with tranquilizer darts stuck in their necks.

There was hardly time to process the information, but the instantaneous fear the situation gave was plenty to kick her fight-or-flight instincts into high gear, adrenaline instantly heightening her senses. She heard footsteps as a man, and then a second one, stepped out from behind some trees, appearing gigantic from her perspective. The second held a blowgun, confirming the suspicion she only then realized. These are the poachers Hida, Chuka, and Migiki were warning everyone about!

She took a protective stance over her new friend's body, Lunalox doing the same to cover her back. Both their coats of fur were fluffed up, wings drawn back and curled lightly up, and fangs bared. A snarl escaped Luna's throat as she regarded the poachers with disgust.

"It looks like we got a feisty one here, Steve," the first sneered.

"I've never seen either of these species before- or are they the same one? Either way, I bet we'd get a fortune if we sold them!" The other, apparently named Steve, said.

The first laughed, ignoring the lashing tails of both terrified Pokemon before him. "You're right, but we'd get even more if we bred 'em to get more. One of 'em's gotta be a girl," he pointed out, his smirk displaying his cruelty and greed without any filter.

Luna flexed her claws into the dirt, letting out a much louder snarl in response. The nerve of these vermin! I can't believe people can be this disgusting and selfish! But the more pressing question... can Lunalox and I get out of here alive, and with Hydreigon to boot? Is there enough time...?

"Just dart the things and put 'em in cages," the first continued. "We'll take 'em back to the base. Boss'll be proud." The second, Steve, scrambled to obey, aiming the gun at Luna first. "At first, when he suggested comin' here after those off-the-chart readings of power, I had just thought the machine was broken, but maybe these two had somethin' to do with it!"

Off-the-charts power here on Melemele...? She managed to leap over the first one, trying to aim a Dark Pulse at the poachers, but had miscalculated her jump. Her paws landed before she expected them to, accidentally sending the attack too far right of them, and fell forward, tripping over her still-somewhat-unfamiliar fox-like anatomy. Damn it! I'm still not used to this body the way I am to my human one, and I'm still caught up about that so-called reading of power... Did that have something to do with the Lustrous Lunar Lightstorm? The second dart found its mark in her neck, somehow avoiding all the puffy neck fur that might've stopped it.

Luna collapsed on her side, panting heavily. "{Go!}" She shouted to Lunalox, voice gravelly as she attempted Pokemon speech. "{Fly away and get help! Hurry!}" So tired... No! I need to get up, need to find help, need to... sleep, yes. Sounds so nice... SNAP OUT OF IT, LUNA!

Already her eyelids felt too heavy, and the idea of lying down and going to sleep felt like a better and better one the more seconds dragged on. She protested heavily, reaching out blindly with her paws as she tried to blink the sudden grogginess away.

She barely managed to see Lunalox spread her wings and lift off just as one of the poachers attempted to tackle her, but the thick-woven branches overhead were like an impenetrable roof to the forest, preventing her from making it out. Could she get out in time? A dart missed her by an inch. Lunalox prepared to use a move as Steve loaded another tranquilizer dart into his gun and aimed.

Luna only saw the cruel smile of one of her captors before everything went dark.