CHAPTER 13

"Well , What Can I say? This Is what you call Being smart. I mean, Why Would I Let my man Fight you One On one when I can Bring you to your Knees With numbers! Smart, Isn't It?!", Sanchez Said before Laughing Loudly.

Rebbecca And the others Glared at him Angrily and when they're About to Join the battle, The Man wearing A Mask Raised his hand to stop them. They saw him turn to them, Eyes Squinted Into An arc.

"Now now, I can't Have You Saving My ass when I came Here To Save you In the first place, Can't I? Let me have this one, Alright? I'll End this Quickly", The Man said before turninf back Towards his opponents.

• • •

It would be An understatement To Say that Muez Is angry. He was Beyond Angry. He Is Angry towards this Scums, Them using Underhanded Tactics Like earlier Made his blood boil with anger. On the other hand, Muez Was also Angry At himself. How can he be so dumb To think that this was going to be A Fair Battle. Especially when this one Isn't even An Official One Like The Gym battles or Tournament ones to have Rules Applied To it.

"Haribon Let's Give them wh-"

Muez Was about to Call Haribon Back To join them In battling when he suddenly heard Escanor screech at him loudly. Turning towards him, Muez Saw the Determination burning in his eyes. The Unwillingness to Let His rival Handle His work for him.

Muez And Escanor stared at each other's Eyes Before Muez Broke the contact by closing his. A smile slowly Forming in his lips, Muez Understood What Spearow Wanted.

"Alright, Alright. I'll let you handle this one. Jeez, Why do you have to be so loud though?"

Escanor Cawed at him Before Facing His opponents, Eyes Glaring at them Coldly before taking off into the air.

Sanchez saw That the Man Still wanted to battle them all with His Spearow, Not even bothering to try Asking his Pidgeotto to aid him in this one.

"Hmph, You're one Arrogant Brat, Aren't Ya'? Fine then, Have it your way. Boys, Give him hell!"

The Men behind Him immediately went to work When they received his orders. One after another, Multiple Attacks once again Headed towards Escanor.

Having learned his lesson, Escanor Didn't let his Guard down and Started dodging All of the Attacks that came towards him. Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Poison stings, And Many more.

Jessica, Rebbeca and the others watched in Utter Awe and amazement as the Spearow Weaved through all the attacks that came Towards it with Ease.

Not long after, The Rain Of Different attacks Halted. Turning towards His opponent, Escanor And Muez saw all of them Panting heavily. The Continous Barrage of Attacks obviously drained the energy and stamina out of them.

"Well, Would you look at that. The Opportunity has arrived Escanor, Make sure Everyone of them Are alive, Alright?", Muez Calmly said, Both hands now Inside the Pocket's Of his jeans.

Eacanor nodded before Letting out a Startling Scream. The Astonish Arrived And made his opponents Flinch, Giving Him yet another opportunity to Strike them all down.

"Now, Use Wing Attack! Followed up by Astonish!", Muez Ordered.

Escanor cawed Before Flyinf towards them at great speeds, His pair of wings now glowing Brightly. In a Blink of an eye, Escanor Closed the gap between them with his speed before Slamming his Glowing Wing Against them With All his might.

Screams And groans Filled the air as Spearow Flew Around them, glowing wing Striking their bodies here and there.

Sanchez Gritted his teeth and turned to his lackeys.

"Move, You bastards. Move your Asses and do something!"

His men tried to Do what they're told to but the moment they've Turned Back towards the battlefield, they Found their pokémons Sprawling On the ground. Their bodies Twitching from time to time as Groans Filled with pain escaped their mouths simultaneously.

Sanchez Yelled in frustration. How Can this Be?! There's So many of them so how Come they can't Even Touch A single Feather on that Damned Bird!!

"You see, Fighting With numbers doesn't always guarantee you Victory. Isn't there a saying? What Was it again? Hmmm. . .Ah, Here it is. 'In this world, Businessmen Prefered Quantity Over quality While Professionals Says Quality Tramples Quantity!", Muez couldn't believe that he Actually came up with a Bullshit Quote Like that.

Sanchez heard What the Man Said, Making him Boil with Anger even further.

Turning towards Where his Ninjask Was Held captive, Sanchez Saw it Being Pinned down By the Bastard's Pidgeotto with it's Talons.

"Ninjask, You useless Mongrel! Break Free from That Shit's Grip and Help me beat this bastard up!"

Haribon Heard his Shout And Tightened his Grip Around The Ninja pokémon, Making It Gasp with pain. Turning Towards Her Trainer, Haribon saw him nodding at her, His eyes Shifting between her and the ninjask in her Talons. With just that, Haribon understood What Her Trainer Wanted. Loosening Her grip, She watched As the Pokémon Hurried to Fly away from her, buzzing off to It's Trainer's Side.

"Good, You Useless Shit. Go Up there and Bring that Bastard Down, Ya' Hear me?!"

Ninjask Stared at him for a moment before Turning Back towards Escanor. Insectoid arms Glowing A bright White, Ninjask Flew Towards Escanor With the intent to chop him into pieces.

Escanor Stared at It and saw How determined the Pokémon was to Complete it's Trainer's Order. Deciding to Honor the pokémon's Will to Fight.

Willing his Wing attack to Appear for the Last time, Escanor Gave the Incoming Ninjask a Farewell look before Meeting it head on.

Under the Watchful eyes of everyone below, The two pokémons Met Head on, Their attacks Landing Towards The other's Body before flying past Each other. The two pokémons then Hovered midair, Staring at one another Silently.

On the ground, Sanchez Watched the two with gritted teeth, Hurling Insults Towards his pokémons as they've both Hovered midair.

Muez, On the other hand, Began to smile Before turning to Sanchez.

"Seems Like that's It. Now, Let's Talk about your Temporary Stay in the prison. Would you like to do it 'Voluntarily' Or do I have to Use 'unnecessary' force to make you turn your Selves In?", The man asked, Eyes Staring At sanchez And his men as He waited for thheir answer.

"You're Courting death, You Bastard! Do you think I, The Great Sanchez, Will turn mysekf in just because some snotty Brat like you Told me to? Hah! Dream on. Boys, Beat that Bastard up while his pokémon is still pre-occup-"

Sanchez's Words Were Interupted when he heard sound of Flesh Hitting the ground followed by the Blinding Gliw that came from above. Using his Arms As A Shield, Sanchez Looked around and saw his ninjask Lying in the ground, Motionless.

Numerous Eyes Peeked through the gaps of their covers and saw the Spearow that the Man Owned Glowing brightly.

• • •

It's Finally happening. The Long Awaited evolution of Escanor, The Prideful Spearow. Muez Witnessed how Escanor Trained very hard ever since He was defeated by Haribon. Challenging Many spearows, Pidgeys, Pidgeottos And other Strong pokémons That lives in the forest.

Every night, Muez Will use Healing Herbs that he found Some Pokémon use To heal themselves in order to Heal The Cuts and Bruises around Escanor's Body Every time He returned from Fighting the Other pokémons around them.

Time flew by and Escanor Gradually grew in size, Strength And Speed.

Looking up Through the Gaps Of his Fingers, Muez Watched Escanor Glow with a Smile.

The Glowing Figure midair Distorted Before Suddenly Increasing in size. The wings that were Flapping continuously Spread And Grew longer. Escanors Small body Enlarged, Now Somehow Bigger than Haribon's. His Feet Lengthened And Finally, A long, Thin neck stretched out with A Head sporting a Long Beak and Crown like Crest on his head.

With a Burst of Light, A Huge, Intimidating Fearow Has now replaced The Spearow.

"Rowwwww!"

"So, What Do you say? Do we do it the Harsh way Or the gentle one? Although I strongly Suggest Surrendering Yourselves Without Any resistance since That big boy up there might find you all Annoying if you Resist", Muez said.

Sanchez Trembled with rage, His eyes now bloody red with anger. Just as Sanchez was About to hurl swears at him, One of his lackies suddenly stepped forward and Hand chopped his neck, Hard enough to make him go unconscious.

Turning towards the man that did it, Muez Saw that it was The man From earlier, Pedro.

Retracting his stretchwmed hand, Pedro noticed the masked man Staring at him. Scratching His Chin, The Appeared to be unconfortable.

"Well, We can't really Risk Angering you further Right? Especially when You have a Fearow and a gun iin your pocket.", Pedro said, A wry Smile Present in his lips.

"Hmmmm? A Coward? Or a Sensible one?"

"Oii, I'm not a coward You bastard! It's just, You know, This Is Actually our Last Hunt. We find the beedrill, Then We go home. After that, All five of us Will Then retire. Carlos Here Is Getting married, Lucas there has just became a father while me and the other two Had just grown tired Of Being treated As Some Bad guys running around to steal pokémons", Pedro said, His face now Frowning.

"Being treated Like some bad guys? Aren't You guys already Bad? Grinning And yelling like some perverted Animals While Forcing these guys Behind me To hand over their pokémons", Muez Said, Confusion And Amusement now Present in his Words.

Pedro was about to Open his mouth When A hand Clamped down To his shoulder. Pedro followed the Hand and saw Carlos Shaking His head before Stepping forward.

"Please Don't Judge us that quickly, Sir. You might not believe this, But all those Words That we've Said Earlier was all forced. You See, All five of us Here Except that guy There on the ground Is what you call Pokémon Mercenaries. Clients Come To us to pay for the Pokémons that they've wanted That we will then capture. We don't Abduct pokémons Like some Hunters. Instead, We use this"

Muez watched As Carlos Pulled out An Object in his pockets. A smartphone.

"After Defeating a Pokémon, We use this to contact The Client And let Him/her Convince the Pokémon themselves Through Video Call. It's Up to the Pokémons if they wanted to Accept our clients as their Partners Or not. Just this morning, A Client From Pewter city Contacted us. He said that he'd Heard of a spreading rumour about a Beedrill colony residing in the Forest So He wanted us To Capture Their Leader And Let him Convince it himself. At first, We Were hesitating. Especially When Words about how Almost all the people that Went Inside here never came out alive but Whe imnediately lost it when He Tripled the price."

"Tripled the price?"

"Indeed. The Man Suddenly Offered to Triple the price Under one condition And that is to Take that guy With us. We found it strange and insulting, Even. But that Triple Price was just too enticing, Especially when everyone is going to retire after this last hunt. So, When the Sun Climbed Onto the skies, We went Outsidr and met this guy. Sanchez, The so called 'Great One' of the Kanto Region. Sanchez Here is a infamous, Wanted Pokémon hunter Around the World, Especially in kanto. Unlike Us, He uses Force and cruelty in order to Capture the Pokémons That his clients Contracted him to Capture." Carlos said while staring at the Unconscious Figure of Sanchez.

"Then why the hell Did you Accept this guy to your Group, Then? If what you're telling me Is True, Aren't you Guys supposed to be like some Fairy god mother that bridges the Path of destiny between Your client and A pokémon? So why the hell would you accept A scum Like this To your group then?", Muez Asked, Confusion present in his words.

Carlos stared at him for a Few moments before letting out a Sigh.

"That's the Problem. This guy is a Huge scum. We didn't know how he did it but this guy got his hands on our Sensetive Informations. Including the Ones that involves our personal lives, Connections, And Family. When we found out Who We're Going to work with, We immediately Tried to decline The offer, No matter How tempting it was, If we somehow Involve our selves In some Shady business them our Peaceful Way of Living Life Will surely be affected, Gravely. However, When This guy Found out that we wanted to back off, He Started pulling papers Containing Our Family's addresses out from his pockets and started Threatening us that if we don't Accompany him in capturing this Beedrill, He will Do Something to our Families.", Carlos said.

"Yeah, He even said That he will chop My wife into Pieces if I Didn't Accept Their offer.", A man Said, Probably the one Named lucas, From Behind Carlos.

Muez was about to speak when a Voice Butted in and Beat him to it.

"Then why are you acting so Scummy earlier and Was even Trying to Please This bastard like there's no tommorow?", Rebbecca Said while Holding Jessica's Shoulders to help her remain standing as The Latter stared at Lucas with Great intensity.

"That's the Problem missy. We couldn't Afford to Offend this guy, Especially when he knew where our Families live. Also, This guy Loves being flattered, Being Worshipped so we all Decided to Not go into his badside. I do Apologize For our actions from earlier", Lucas Said before bowing towards them in apology.

Jessica didn't know what to say. One Moment this guys Were hurling threats towards them then the next moment they turned out to be some victims Forced to do the things like the ones from earlier. Jessica wanted to be angry. They wanted to take her friend away from her, So she wants to br angry and yet, She just couldn't bring herself To. She understood their plight. She understood their reasons For acting Like earlier.

Muez Listened with eyes narrowing down at the sleeping figure of Sanchez, His Disgust towards the Man increasing Continously.

"So, What now? How can we know that what you're Saying is true?" Muez Asked, His arms crossed in his chest While staring at them In curiosity.

As if Expecting that he will ask that, Lucas Inserted his hand in his Jacket And pulled out a Card. A business card. Muez Took the Card and read what was written in it.

"Happy Feet. Reaching Great feats with our own feets. Wow, Who came up with this Name?"

"Happy feet? Isn't that the guys that Accepts payments To Help People Capture their Dream pokémons?" Rebbecca asked, Her voice Showing great surprise upon Hearing The Name 'Happy Feet'.

Muez's Eyebrows Went up when he heard her words.

'They're for Real, And actually wasn't

bullshitting with me?!'

"Indeed, Young miss. Happy feet is the Mercenary group that was established by us, Enrico, Carlos, Pedro, Drow and me, Lucas. Once Again, I apologize For what Happened earlier", Lucas said, His face Completely serious.

Muez Stared at the two groups As they Conversed to each other Before Turning around. Muez Whistled and the newly Evolved Fearow Descended In front Of him. With a Loud caw, Escanor Lowered His Back For Muez to ride. When he's already Found a Comfortable position In Escanor's Back, Muez turned To them and said,

"So what now? Since you guys Seemed to Know each other, What's Going to happen to you guys and Sanchez?", Muex asked in a Very Calm Tone.

The two groups shifted their attention to Him before Jessica Stepped forward with the help of Rebecca.

"I thank you, Venerable sir, For helping Us Escape from that Perilous predicament. You Don't know how grateful we are, Really. I would like to invite you to Come With us To Pewter City so that I can Buy you A Meal or two To Repay the Kindness you've shown", Jessica said, sincerity Screaming From her Voice. Muez Stared at the Girl In Complete Silence.

Jessica thought that her offer might have offended their savior. Of course, The man just saved your lives and all he gets Is A couple of Meal?

"If that is not to your liking, I can Arrange some people to get money In order to rep-"

However, Muez interrupted Her by Raising his right hand, His falm Facing her direction.

"You should stop that miss. Believe or not, I also benefitted from this Ordeal Alot. So, I think What happened here is just a huge win-win situation. You live and I got something. Except That guy. What's Your Plan for him, Anyways?", Muez asked In curiosity.

"Pedro And the others Planned to Turn This guy in And also cooperate With the Police Force In tracking that Client of theirs. To Hire Someone As Shady as this Guy, That client might Be involved in Some Pokémon hunting Somewhere. Also, They also planned on Turning themselves in, And if the Court decided to Let them go, Then they will Retire Right after and live their own peaceful lives", Jessica said, Admiration And sadness Now present In her voice. After Watching the Masked man Battle with ease and Such confidence, She Began to admire him Not in a Romantic way, But More of an inspiration. Jessica wanted to be like him. Enjoying all the Battles That He and His Pokémon Faced.

Muez nodded Before Taking out the Pistol that he 'confiscated' From Sanchez from his Quiver.

"I see. . Here, Take this. I think this Toy will help you in your investigation About that Client of theirs", Muez Said.

Rebbecca Caught the Gun and Stumbled a few moments before regaining her Footing. Jessica And the others watched as The Fearow Cawed and Took off into the skies, The Masked Man's Pidgeotto taking off After them with a Wooden Bow In her talons.

Then, Jessica remembered something.

"I didn't ask what his name is. . ."