Tiger nodded, and watched as Mel ran off with Riu. "Stay safe" he
called after her in concern and continued through Melemele. He
walked towards iki town and Koko's shrine.
Mira followed Mel, Salandit running ahead of the rest of her team.
Char barked, trying to catch up. "Shhh! Be quiet, Char," Mira
whispered. Char slowed down and nodded. "Salandit, come back here,
too. We're on a mission."
"I'll be okay! Don't worry about me, worry about yourself!" Mel
called back, skating towards the ruins. She paused to release
Samurott and Unfezant, explaining the situation quickly before
continuing on. Riu greeted the Pokémon kindly before moving after
Mel.
"Probably. It would give us a better view of the scene anyway." Mel
said, choosing a tree and grabbing a branch, pulling herself up.
Thanks to the leaves, she was no longer visible. Riu hopped up next
to her, and Unfezant flapped to one of the higher branches,
vanishing into the leaves.
"Uh--" Mel glanced down at Samurott. "Heck. Fine. We'll pull you
up." She glanced at Riu, who nodded. The two reached down and
grasped Samurott's outstretched arms, bracing themselves against
the tree and slowly pulling him up.
Mira climbed up as well. Toka jumped up after her. Amana clawed his
way up with Char hanging by his back, while Salandit climbed up
like it was nothing (being a lizard and all). "Now, we wait. For a
long, looong time."
"I dunno. Any interesting stories you haven't told yet?" Mira
asked, crossing her legs on the branch. Amana lied down above her
with Salandit on his back; Char was now on Mira's lap with Toka.
"One of the first sailing lessons my Dad gave me. The first one
where he left me alone as an 'assessment'," Mira giggled. "Yeah.
Wasn't pretty. I wasn't sure what I was doing."
Snow walked into the ruins with the majority of Skull. "Remember
we're here to get Tiger" he said lowly. Guzma nodded and followed
Snow into the ruins.
"We also need his stupid Cyndaquil." The skull leader said in a
gruff tone. Snow then nodded and looked up when Tiger showed up
with Cyndaquil on his shoulder.
"Alright Snow I surrender....you've got me, and scared everyone
else away" he said in a convincingly sad tone.
Snow laughed "just like I got rid of your so called 'friends' in
Ecruteak" he said victoriously. Causing Tiger to flinch.
"Yes just like Ecruteak" Tiger said quietly. "They said they didn't
want to be killed while saving me for then millionth time so they
left. I'm alone now go ahead and do what you want. I won't attack"
he said and threw his pokeball belt at Snow the pokeballs were
empty. Guzma took it and laughed.
Mel closed her mouth and fell dead silent, biting her lip
nervously. She glanced at Riu, who looked back at her nervously.
She resisted the urge to leap out of the tree and scream, instead
settling on chewing her lip. Yikes, he sounds convincing.
Mira was ready to jump out of the tree at this point, as soon as
Tiger gave the signal. Char and Toka on her shoulders were just as
tense, while Amana and Salandit were still lying down.
Guzma laughed and looked over to Snow. "You were right. His spirit
is easy to break" he said lowly. Snow laughed and grabbed
Cyndaquil. Tiger then narrowed his eyes and waited. Guzma then
opened a pokeball and a voltorb came out. It exploded creating a
wall of smoke and dust. "What the!" Guzma said in shock.
"Yeah easy to break" Tiger said dully and laughed. "NOW!" He called
his Pokémon jumped out of the bushes and surrounded a few grunts.
Cyndaquil then ran out of the shrine area to signal to the others
the grunts then followed Cyndaquil out.