I wake to a large weight on me. I kept my eyes shuts and breathing normal. I can't let them know I'm awake. Judging from my senses, I think I'm hanging over the side of the basket.

I don't know how this net is not tipping this balloon over.

The wind is loud, but I can hear the talking and bickering at the basket. I open one eye the smallest bit and scanned the situation. I saw a meowth with the shiny gold plate, the lady with long pink hair, the man with blue hair, and the man with grey hair and grey trenchcoat.

They were having a conversation. The wind was incredibly loud, but I made out the words.

"That was way too easy!" the meowth boasted.

"Yes!" the man with blue hair celebrated. "We'll finally get promoted by the boss!"

"Settle down, people." The man in the trench coat ordered. "We aren't there yet. There is still risk of this mission failing."

"Yes, of course." the woman with pink hair echoed.

Wait, did that Meowth just talk? I mean, pokemon can talk to each other but last time I checked, people can't understand us at all. Whatever. Doesn't matter right now.

Their pointless conversation continued as they bickered and celebrated. I need to escape. The grey haired man said we weren't there yet. Looking at the sun, it's been a few hours at most. The sun barely crossed noon. Ash and the others must be really worried by now.

I don't think anybody's gonna rescue me in time. If Ash and co. haven't yet, then nobody else is. So I'm on my own. I don't know where I am, but I could find my way back if I escaped. Hot air balloons aren't very fast, as least compared to pokemon.

I still felt really drained from that needle. What did they even put in there? I don't think I could do anything drastic, like destroy the balloon with shadow balls. I would only be able to use physic once or twice. Anymore, and I'll faint.

I went over my options for taking the balloon down, or at least get it to the ground. There's no point if I drop to death.

I could make a hole in the balloon, but they could fix that almost instantly. I could force the controls to move down, but they could find out I'm awake and inject another one of those needles. I could destroy the heating machine, but I risk dropping the balloon too fast and killing myself anyways.

But then it hit me like a train.

I opened my eye a little and pinpointed the engine responsible for propulsion. I felt around, using psychic on a piece of dust and moving it around the engine. I found the air pipe leading into the engine and ripped it apart using the speck of dust.

The engine subsequently started to stall.

"Not again!" The blue haired man yelled, putting his hands to his head.

He sighed as he went to the controls and flipped a few switches. The balloon floated down.

"Just a sec commander, we'll be back up and running in a jiffy."

As the basket rested on the grass, the Meowth and the blue haired man jumped out and examined the engine.

I quickly used psychic and split the lock on my net in two. The net flopped in front of me as I tumbled off into the grass.

"Hey!" I heard a voice behind me. I scrambled to my feet and ran as fast as I could. I saw them chasing after me. The man with the trench coat pulled out a long grey contraption. A needle flew out of it and landed just behind me.

It's a tranquilizing gun.

I jump and weeve as needles shoot past me. I am tiring out fast.

But in the distance, I see a familiar red speak past the trees.

I take a sharp turn and roll into the forest. I see my captors chasing behind me.

"Get back here!" They yell.

Suddenly, my foot gets stuck on a root, tripping me and sending me barrelling into a spiky bush. It cuts and scratches me as I halt to a stop. I hear them outside the bush.

I curl up when a pair of hands reaches through the leaves. I'm gonna die here, aren't I?

"Pikachu! Use thunderbolt!"

I hear an explosion as the hands are violently ripped out of the green.

"Meowth! Use-"

"I don't have time for this!" Ash growled as several more explosions are heard.

I slowly get up and peek outside the bush. They came for me! They do care!

"Ghasteon!" Ash yells, kneelled down to me.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

I shake my head. I'm in seering pain right now, but they're only surface cuts. I'll be fine.

Ash smiles and he starts walking back. Pikachu and I follow in tow as Talonflame returned to Ash's shoulder. We walked in silence as the sun shone behind us.

3rd POV

Ghasteon felt terrible after yesterday's incident. She couldn't sleep and she wanted to be alone. Pikachu and the others tried to comfort her, but she insisted on some alone time. They didn't blame her.

Being kidnapped Is not the most pleasant experience.

When Ash finally convinced her to go outside, she stuck close to them, never leaving the sight for a second.

This routine continued for several days, increasing everyone's worry. Then Ash made the mistake of taking Ghasteon to training.

In the same place.

In the same spot.

Ghasteon POV

Ash dragged me to training. I swear I'm gonna beat some sense into that guy.

I was resting on a bench when I heard a whoosh above.

Not this time.

I flew to the side as the net slammed into the bench. It collapsed upon impact. I growled and looked up.

It's those rocket guys again.

I saw a wire drop down as I backed away. Pikachu ran up next to me. The man in the trenchcoat decended down and landed on the ground with a thud.

"I'm not letting you escape this time, Ghasteon."

I growl in response. He pulls out a strange grey and orange ball.

"Go Geareon!"