Ben POV

I lifted my head slightly as I heard the door opening. My hands and feet were handcuffed, and a thick, heavy chain attached me to the wall. of the small room, as well as many other Pokemon trainers I've never met.

I heard a girl protesting. "Hey- hey, stop it! That hurts! Stop! I'm calling the police!"

Two people- a man and a woman- shoved a teenage girl into the room. Her brown hair, was in a loose, tangled ponytail, the red holder still dangling at the ends. Her hands were tied behind her back.

They quickly chained her to the wall, next to me. The woman held a Pokeball in one hand and a cell phone in the other.

"How can you call the police," the woman sneered, "when I've got your phone?"

"My mom gave that to me!" The girl kicked her in the shin with her untied feet. I smiled slightly, amused at her spunk.

"Ow!" The woman exclaimed, jumping back. "Tie her up."

The man nodded and pulled a rope out of his coat pocket. He quickly had the girl's legs tied, and without another word, they left.

The girl instantly began shouting.

"Those- stupid- IDIOTS-" she roared. "I want to punch them SO FREAKING HARD!"

"You can't," one trainer in the corner muttered. "You're stuck here."

"Welcome to the club," another said sarcastically.

    The girl's face paled. "I WILL SET A PRIMEAPE ON THEM!!!" She screeched, writhing.

    "Calm down," I murmured.

    She whipped around to glare at me. "DON'T tell me to CALM DOWN!" She yelled.

    "It won't get you anywhere," I said firmly. "My names Ben Straw- who are you?"

    She panted slightly, pausing. "Straw... Where have I heard that before..." She paused for a second before saying, "I'm Britney. Britney Kash."

    "Oh," I said, remembering. "I met you at the Silver Gym."

    She quieted as she tried to recall, and I studied her.

    When I fought her, she had been... Not to be rude, but... She had been pretty immature. And loud. Immature and loud. Now, she was surprisingly... thoughtful.

    People can change, I suppose.

    "I'm getting out of here," she informed me.

    "Good luck with that," someone muttered. A few other people chuckled.

    "We don't have a key," a black-haired girl said. After a second of scanning the room she said, "We don't have seventeen keys."

    "Don't they use the same key for all the locks, though?" Someone else said. "I noticed that it's always the swirly key with the bronze dot."

    As the group discussed their options, Britney stared at my chain. I began to get uncomfortable.

    Suddenly she jerked her head forward, and the ponytail holder fell to the ground, as well as two bobby pins. I blinked.

    "Lean next to me," she whispered, bending slightly so her bound hands could scoop it up. I shuffled closer to her, and she stuck the bobby pin into my lock.

    I was at a loss for words. Finally I managed to stammer, "So you have bobby pins- what a coincidence."

    She said nothing. Her hands touched mine a few times, and we both awkwardly jerked away.

    I closed my eyes and listened.

    And, after a couple seconds, we heard a click and the metal handcuffs came loose.

    Torch POV

    We walked for a while.

    On and on we walked through the pine forest. Eventually the needles on the trees changed to oak leaves, and Shadow said, "We must be in the forest between Silver City and Sweetgrove Town."

    I nodded. "Yeah. After you and your team-" I cleared his throat- "-beat me at the Silver Gym and we got Azu, we tried again, and we won." I grinned, but my face fell. "We were in this forest when Britney and Azu were kidnapped."

    "Azu too? What happened?" Shadow asked, and I appreciated his concern.

    "We were just walking through the forest when suddenly a bunch of people jumped out and grabbed Azu. Then they said, 'can't have a witness,' and kidnapped Britney too. I guess they didn't notice me, and they ran."

    Shadow's eyes widened. "Oh, Torch, I'm so- ahh!"

    He tumbled forward and vanished into the thin air.

    What scared me the most was that I could still hear him yelling.

    "Shadow!" I cried, running forward. I tripped as well, and prepared to hit the ground. But to my surprise, I fell through it, and into a... hole.

    I kept falling and falling.

    "Shadow!" I screamed.

    The last thing I heard from him was, "Torch!"

    Then he fell silent.