Call for help

"Zapdos!"

Its cry shook the entire forest and stopped the battles on the Team Rocket camps for a while as they covered their ears from the ear-splitting cry. After it stopped its cry, the stars from the sky slowly disappeared from the naked eye as clouds took over.

The Team Rocket members, Dojo members, and Police officers looked around with grave expressions on their faces.

'Zapdos!? What's going on?' Landrick inwardly exclaimed in confusion.

"That must be Zapdos!" Koichi yelled as he looked at Landrick with a wary expression on his face.

'Don't tell me, this was just a diversion while the main force hunts for Team Rocket?' Farlan thought to himself as he rubbed his belly.

'Damn. They must have realized something. I have to speed things up' Landrick thought to himself and clicked his tongue.

"Nidoking, use [Earth Power]" Landrick said as he clenched his fists.

"[Vital Throw]!" Koichi said as he raised a punch in the air.

Their battle intensified as it reached the climax. The surrounding captives and Team Rocket grunts also went all out on their respective battles.

Without them noticing, Folker, Chelsea, and Farlan disappeared from the battlefield as they hid inside a tent. Lucario stood guard near the entrance of the tent as it closed its eyes to feel the auras around.

"Something must have happened to Zapdos while we're battling here. The battles here must have just been a diversion for their main force to attack Zapdos. We've already partially achieved our objective for coming here. The only thing that's left is for the adults to clean things up" Farlan said with a solemn tone.

"We can just escape from here but that cry doesn't sound right" Folker replied. For some reason, he just can't shake the feeling that something is off.

'Help!'

Suddenly, a voice resounded on Folker's head.

"Did you hear that?" Folker said as he looked around.

"Huh? You mean Zapdos' cry earlier? I'm pretty sure everyone heard it" Farlan replied as the corners of his eyes narrowed.

"Aside from that, the only thing I can hear from here is the distant sound of their battles" Chelsea said.

"I must be imagining things then.." Folker said with a wry smile as he scratched the back of his head.

Lucario's brows creased. Just like Folker, It heard a voice that seemed to be asking for help. It then tried to dive deeper to feel the auras from around it, trying to find traces of the entity it heard just now. It didn't bother to inform the others.

'I do-...n't want to do th-..is'

A voice resounded on Folker's head once again.

"This time, did you guys hear that? It seemed to be asking for help" Folker said with a frown.

"Again?" Chelsea said as she looked at Farlan. As expected, Farlan just shook his head, indicating that he didn't hear anything.

"I'm pretty sure we didn't hear anything. But we can't dismiss it either since you have this magical aura stuff" Farlan replied.

Folker then looked at Lucario's figure who stood near the entrance and saw that it was deep in meditation. He can feel a strong surge of Aura on Lucario right now.

"My guess is that it's Zapdos." Farlan said as his expression turned sour.

The corners of Folker's eyes lit up in realization.

"Please guard me and Lucario. I'm gonna try something" Folker said as he closed his eyes and sat in a meditative posture. He wasn't as proficient as Lucario when it comes to aura, who can easily sense aura just by closing its eyes.

He had to sit in a meditative posture and dive deep into meditation, trying to sense an aura.

Farlan and Chelsea looked at each other. Chelsea nodded while Farlan just shrugged.

"Man, this aura stuff sure is convenient." Farlan said.

...

Meanwhile, Koichi and Landrick faced off against each other with their pokemon as Machamp and Nidoking panted for breath.

"You sure are stubborn." Landrick said with a grin.

"Like I said earlier, that's just what we are." Koichi said with a similar grin on his face.

"We can't go on like this. Let's finish this with one move" Landrick said.

"Fine." Koichi replied with a nod.

Machamp and Nidoking had already fainted earlier. The ones who are battling now are Koichi's Hitmonchan and Landrick's Crobat.

"Hitmonchan, use [Focus Punch]!" Koichi said as he raised his fist forward.

"Crobat, use [Fly]" Landrick said as the corners of his lips curled up.

Hitmonchan then focused its mind as it channeled all its fighting type energy on its right fist while Crobat just flew to greater altitude as its figure slowly disappeared under the cover of the night sky.

Hitmonchan just finished gathering energy and was ready to let out an all out punch the moment Crobat showed itself.

However, Landrick heard a voice from his earpiece just now. The corners of his eyes lit up!

He suddenly took out an object from his pocket. It was an odd phone-like device.

Koichi frowned when he saw Landrick's actions.

Landrick pushed a button from the device as his face showed a wide grin.

"Hitmonchan, attack Landrick, now!" Koichi hurriedly said.

Suddenly, Crobat's figure revealed itself in the sky as it rushed forward in Landrick's direction.

Landrick jumped on Crobat's back, just narrowly dodging Hitmonchan's [Focus Punch].

"So long, suckers!" Landrick yelled as he let out a victorious laugh as he disappeared from Koichi's view.

"Just what is he planning?" Koichi muttered as he recalled the device that Landrick took out earlier. He wondered what that device was for before he shook his head.

'I have no idea what that device is but I'm sure it's for nothing good' Koichi thought to himself as he looked around the surrounding battles.

The grunts had long fled from the scene as some captives chased them while the rest stayed behind.

...

Back on the tent, Folker and Lucario's eyes opened and nodded at each other at the same time.

Farlan noticed them and asked "So, what's up now?"

"We have to get out of here. We need to help Zapdos or else something bad will happen" Folker said.

"Something bad?" Chelsea muttered as she tilted her head.

"Zapdos' rampage" Lucario said through telepathy.