Disclaimer; I do not own Pokémon, the Pokémon Special/Adventures manga, or Pink
"She does know where we're going, right?" Yellow whispered to Red, as the group trundled after Pink down a beaten dirt path shadowed with trees. And attacking pokémon.
"I'm not all that sure Yellow." Red answered, dodging an angry primeape.
"Hey! Girl with the strange clothes! Where're you taking us? This isn't the way Red and I came last time!" Gold yelled up to her, wrestling with a graveler.
"This is a shortcut!" Pink shouted back happily, a seel happily sitting on her head and aurora-beaming anything that came near them.
"Are you sure?" Red asked with concern, "Because there is a main path back there..."
"Oh yes, but this is a shortcut!" Pink repeated, "It'll get us there faster!"
"We know what shortcuts are." Silver grumbled, battling it out with an ambipom.
"Maybe taking her along wasn't such a good idea.." Blue groaned.
"Aaaahh!" A girly shriek resonated from the back of the group. They whipped around, expecting to see one of the girls in trouble, but were met with the sight of Ruby, who seemed to be entering a mode of hysteria and was staring at a large rip in his shirt.
"Calm down ya sissy!" Sapphire yelled, wiggling a finger in her ear from the loud noise her friend had produced.
"But... THIS IS MY LAST CLEAN SHIRT!" Ruby screamed, and fell to his knees, frantically pushing the edges of the gash together as if the tear would somehow magically repair itself.
"Arceus.. we keep getting held up by this guy." Green said, glaring disapprovingly at Ruby.
"C'mon! We can't just sit here and wait for the fans to catch us!" Crystal yelled at him, while fending off a dodrio. Sapphire grabbed Ruby beneath the arms, and hauled him to his feet. He stood swaying for a minute, before a resolute expression crossed his face.
"Fine. Then I guess I have no choice. I'll simply have to sew it up while we walk."
"Great. Wonderful. Drama. Let's go!" Emerald stated, and charged off after Pink. Ruby whipped out his sewing kit and began stitching up the shirt as he ran.
"He has skill." Blue said to Silver, who nodded.
"But my question is, how the heck is she getting through all of these hordes?!" Silver asked angrily, and Blue looked up to see Pink skipping through the masses of wild pokémon untouched.
"Who knows. She's weird." Gold answered, sidling up to the two.
"Heeeey! Guuuuys!" Pink called from the front of the group. Where she was standing the trees seemed to have thinned out and the pokémon were not following her. The rest of the group gratefully ran up, thankful for the brief respite in battling.
"You seriously did this all by yourself senior Red?!" Sapphire said, gazing at him with deep respect for his battling prowess. Red scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Hey, why'd we stop?" Green asked, bringing up the rear of the group.
"Well there's a cliff, duh!" Pink admonished, shaking her head at his stupidity. Green glared at her.
"I thought this was supposed to be a shortcut. How did we end up at a cliff?" Silver growled, staring up at the sheer stone wall blocking the path.
"We got lost, obviously." Pink pointed out, much to his frustration.
"But it's supposed to be a shortcut! You were supposed to know the way! If we get lost then we'll get held up!" Blue screeched at her.
"We got lost? Owch!" Ruby questioned, looking up from his sewing and poking himself with the needle.
"Well this is just great." Crystal sighed, taking a seat on a rock. Much to her annoyance, Gold plopped himself down right next to her.
"We can't fly ourselves out of this because of the atmospherical pressure, right? So what can we do?" Emerald asked.
"Ugh. Don't tell me we have to go back. There're too many pokémon that way." Blue groaned.
"And I don't wanna climb up that." Gold stated, to no one in particular.
"We have to keep going though. So, go around the cliff maybe?" Yellow suggested.
"Great idea Yellow! Let's bushwhack!" Red leapt up, and immediately began shoving his way through the trees off the side of the path. He knew he had to get them moving or the group would start falling apart.
"Ever the optimist." Green sighed, then got up and began to follow him.
"There's no way ya c'n do that while trampin' through there, Ruby." Sapphire said, then scrambled up a tree.
"Just watch me." Ruby muttered, and plunged into the woods while determinedly continuing to sew his shirt up. He ran into a tree.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! You better take wild girl's advice, sissy boy!" Gold shouted, and ran after Red. Ruby glared after him, holding his sore nose.
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"Do we have visuals on their destination?" Raquelle asked the panting girl who had just returned from a scouting mission.
"Affirmative. They landed at Mt. Silver." Was the reply. Raquelle smiled. No more aerial escapes. This would be the final showdown. Then Green would be all hers.
"Wonderful. You are dismissed." The girl threw a quick salute, and ran off. After Raquelle had somewhat gotten over her rage at the dex-holders' escape, she had pulled her forces together and gotten them completely organized, military fashion. The repeated escapes of their prey had only served to madden and strengthen the fans under her command, and now they were unstoppable, fueled by their deep-seated love for their idols.
"The next time we meet Greenie boy, will be the last. Then we will be together forever." Her eyes burned maniacally, and her lips parted to allow a bone-chilling, terrifying laugh. The fans closest to her moved away, fear in their eyes. She rubbed her hands together. Erin stared at her from a distance away, not quite sure what to make of the obsession that was eating away at the other girl.
"Come Erin, let's go get what we came for." Raquelle grated, and held out her hand. Hesitantly, Erin took it.
"Full speed ahead to Mt. Silver!" Raquelle roared, holding their hands above her head. The army of fans erupted into wild cheers and screams. Then, as one, the group took off for the summit of Mt. Silver.
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Blue crashed through the undergrowth in a foul temper. Even on her adventures she hadn't had to go 'bushwhacking' or whatever Red had called it. She hated how every twig caught at her hair, and she swore the roots were trying to trip her on purpose. She glanced over at Silver, and saw that he was having the same problem.
"Hawhawhaw! Silver, looks like you're in trouble!" Gold guffawed, looking at Silver who was helplessly standing in one spot, his long red hair tangled in a branch. Silver glared at him.
"Shut it Gold." Crystal said, kicking him in the gut and walking over to help her friend out.
"Owch... Take it easy super serious gal. It's his own fault for trying so hard to look like a girl-" The rest of his sentence was cut short by Pink accidentally running into him.
"Oops, sorry 'bout that!" She said cheerfully, brushing him off and patting him on the head. Then she walked off, whistling happily to herself.
"...I feel violated." Gold said, staring at her receding back with a distinctly creeped out look on his face. A now-free Silver punched him in the face.
"Geez, why does eberybody godda bead ub on me?" Gold muttered, pinching his bloodied nose.
"Hey guys! Looks like there's another clearing up ahead!" Red shouted excitedly, and everybody hurried over to see for themselves.
"...Oh no. No no no no." Sapphire murmured.
Placed in the center of the clearing was a large, craggy nest. And lying curled up and asleep inside, was a salamence.
"We gotta git away now, before it wakes up." She whispered to her companions, and began backing away.
The rest looked at her with confusion evident on their faces. Sapphire, the battle-ready wild girl, afraid of a pokémon? Shrugging at each other, they began to follow suit.
"AHA!" Came a loud cry from the back of the group. They all whirled around to see which idiot had made the noise. The salamence did likewise.
Ruby had just walked up to the rest of the group, and had finished repairing his shirt. He looked up, and finally realized what he had just done. A look of horror briefly flitted across his face, and he took a step backwards. The salamence slowly got to its feet.
Sapphire grabbed hold of Ruby's hand, breathing quickly and shallowly, gulping little mouthfuls of air. Ruby wasn't much better off. He had a hand on his hat, and was trembling ever so slightly.
The salamence opened its mouth, and let out an earth-shaking roar, then began to lumber straight towards them, mouth open wide.
"Flamethrower."
"Thunderbolt!"
The two moves hit simultaneously and the dragon pokémon crumpled under their weight.
"What's wrong with you two? It's just a wild pokémon. You were fighting them fine before." Green asked, returning his charizard to its pokéball. Red stared at them, equally curious, and Pika hopped onto his shoulder. Ruby and Sapphire spent a moment in slack-jawed shock, before regaining their composure.
"N-nothin. Nothin's th'matter. Jus' don't ask." Sapphire answered, tremulously. Ruby looked at the ground.
"Ummm, guys? I think we have bigger problems." Blue called. From their position in the clearing, the bottom of the mountain was visible. Blue had snatched the chance to look out for any sign of their pursuers.
"Yeah, they're here." Yellow said from her position next to Blue.
The tiny black dots of hundreds of people were barely discernible from where they were, but it was clear that they had just made the bottom of the mountain, and were on their way up.
"I think we might want to get going now." Pink stated, matter-of-factly.
"For once I agree with her." Gold said.
"Oh dear, if Gold agrees, then we must do what he says." Silver said in a monotone mockery.
"Shuttup Silver!" Gold yelled, and chased after him.
Sapphire tuned out their bickering, and carefully stepped over the unconscious salamence. Then she followed her friends towards the peak of Mt. Silver.
Yes, Bushwhacking is a thing. It's a hiking term for hiking without a path. Anyhoo, not much I have to say! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!