The Shadow Gang Gaffe

Dark felt more pressured than ever as she starred at the barrel of the gun being held at Kaumi. If he kept talking�Yes, if he kept talking to Roxy, then maybe he could buy them time to think of something. They were going to get out of this, all of them, alive.

Cass grinned oddly and Dark raised a brow. "What�s up�?"

"Cous, what is the one thing the Shadows are known best for doing�?"

Dark thought a moment. She knew she had to hurry because every second spent could risk losing Kaumi. She smiled when she noticed him arguing calmly with Roxy some more. "Stealing�pokemon, why?"

"Those idiots! That�s the only thing they haven�t done to us- steal our pokemon!"

She was right. The chain that attached Dark�s pokeballs was still on her hip with all the devices there, and Cass�s own pokeballs remained in her handbag. "Now Dark, we have to do this fast. Priority is getting the gun away from that psychotic woman without getting noticed."

"My Haunter�"

"�He�s perfect. My team and I�ll back you and your up. Let�s move."

Haunter�s pokeball slipped to the floor, unnoticed by the inhabitants of the other room. "Haunt-haunt-haunt!"

"Haunter, you have to do something very carefully for me." The pokemon was on the floor, unseen by anyone else, and Dark made herself look like she was speaking with Cass�It was a keen cover-up. "You get over there and use Confuse Ray on that woman, and DON�T let her fire that gun! Understand?"

Haunter nodded with a big ghost-grin and cackled. He vanished. Cass took that time to call out her pokemon that were short enough so they wouldn�t be seen: Pikamie and Gloom.

The action began. Haunter materialized a foot in front of Roxy�s face, wearing a big smile and began to cackle. The shocked Roxy took a step back, waving the gun with anger. Haunter didn�t give her time to react though; his Confuse Ray hit every Shadow in the room. Kaumi let out a sigh of relief as the bumbling young redheaded captor accidentally shot a co-worker.

"Gloom, Acid!" Cass�s Gloom obeyed, firing a black liquid acid at the window separating the two rooms. It melted away right down the middle, and the team ran out into the opposite room. "Pikamie, Thunderbolt!" The obedient Pikachu fired a nasty electric attack at their foes, who were sent sprawling through double-doors off to the side.

Dark saw Kaumi, and noticed that his weak condition hadn�t gotten any better. She ran to him and put his arm over her shoulders, serving as a support. "Cass, we have to get him to a hospital�"

Startled, Kaumi looked over at Dark. "What, you�re not mad�? I did betray you, didn�t I�? I thought you were pissed�"

Cass laughed. "How could she be?"

"Yeah, right." Dark smirked. "Anyway, we need to run before there�s more Shadows thrown our way. Haunter, stick with Cass and the other pokemon. They�ll lead us out."

Cass nodded to the three pokemon with her, and hurried out doors opposite where the Shadows had made their noisy exit. Dark helped Kaumi, but not long after they began the hallway journey, she told Cass to stop.

"What is it, cous?"

"He�s passed out�Now what?! He�s too heavy to carry on my own." Dark carefully sat Kaumi down against a wall and leaned him back against it. Kneeling down by him, she continued, "�and there�s no way we�re going without him. They�ll kill him if they find him again."

"H-Hey! Someone there�?" A faint voice reached the girls� ears. Cass followed it to a nearby door. There was a small glass window reaching horizontally across the door.

"I hear ya. Who�s there?"

"Please, get us out!" Another voice, that of a male, was now being heard. Cass looked to Dark, who shrugged.

"I asked who you are!"

Once again, the woman�s voice called back, "We�re prisoners of the Shadow Gang!"

"Yeah!" the man inserted, "They brought us here from Victory Road to steal our pokemon, but since we wouldn�t give them up, they locked us in this room without any food as torture!"

Cass cocked a brow. "You�re prisoners then? How long�ve you been there?"

The man answered. "You think we�ve had any friggin� way to keep track of time in here?! C�mon, we�re really hungry!"

Cass tried the door, but it was locked. "Step back from the door, okay?" She motioned to Gloom. "Acid." The door fell away to reveal two very surprised people.

"That�s a strong Acid attack from such a, er, small pokemon," the woman told Cass. She looked to be about 5�10", and had long white-blonde hair that flowed down her back, almost to her feet. Violet eyes studied her rescuer. From her hips to just past her knees hung a black skirt, and her shirt was a gray baby doll tee with the kanji symbol ai ("love") written on it. She smiled at Cass. "Thanks, that was great of you."

The man, however, stood behind her with a hint that he wasn�t at all glad to have been rescued by a girl. He had short fiery orange hair and brown eyes. Khaki slacks dressed his legs, and he wore a white button-up shirt. On top of this, a long green earring hung from his right ear, and a short red one from his left.

"Isn�t he happy to be out of there�?"

"Ah, no. We�ve been friends long enough for me to know he�d rather die doing something himself than being saved by a woman�"

"But the begging-"

"I don�t know; he�s weird like that. Oh! Excuse me, my name is Cypris, and he�s Genro. We�ve known each other since we were very young, and we�ve traveled our journey together."

"You whole journey?"

"Yes. When we were taken by these kidnappers, we were headed for the Dream Island Stadium."

Genro butted in. "Damn shame too. I was ready to win my trophy�er, or whatever you get for winning."

"You guys are that good�? Oh yeah, my name�s Cass, and my friend over there you can call Dark, and the unconscious guy is Kaumi�"

The duo peeked around the corner at Kaumi and Dark. "Oh! What happened to him?" Before Cass could reply, Cypris had thrown back an arm. "Go, Yamato!" A puffed pink Blissey appeared before its trainer. "Use your Softboiled on that young man, okay?"

Yamato ran to Kaumi and conjured an egg, which cracked before him, releasing tiny gold sparkles down onto him. Dark and the anxious pokemon waited. Kaumi slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh�?" He looked down at himself. All of his injuries were gone. "Wow! A Blissey!" He leapt up hardly acknowledging the two new people or Dark at all.

Cass smiled at Cypris. "Well, he�s back to himself. We�d better get moving or the Shadows�ll find us."

"Hey Cass, why don�t the two of us join you?"

"Don�t you have a league to battle?"

"Actually, their battling season was about to end; we would�ve gotten to the stadium on their last day, so I�m positive that we can�t until they re-open in the summer."

"That�s a shame. Well okay, I don�t have a problem with it. You guys are as good as masters to us; we�re still working on beating gyms! It�ll be nice to have new faces around."