Approaching the Hunter's trap

**"Approaching the Hunter's trap"** is the thirteenth chapter of *Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.* After leaving the S.S. Anne, Ash and Misty continue their journey without any worries, unaware of the dangers that loom ahead for them. Meanwhile, Hunter J makes her move to capture Ash, as per the orders of the Bloodliner King's Emissary.

## Plot

Somewhere over the Rock Tunnel, an aerial battle ensues between Hunter J's ship and a group of Dragon-type Pokémon. One of the members of said group is taken down and plummets to the ground, separating from another and getting lost.

Earlier, after the S.S. Anne docks in its destination (and much to Ash's surprise, without any Team Rocket ambush), Ash and Misty find themselves in a port town east of Cerulean City, northwest of Lavender Town, and the only available route there seems to be through the Rock Tunnel. Ash also recalls that he earned plenty of Poké Balls of different types while aboard the ship, several of which he never saw or used before in the old timeline, while Misty also took a few of her own, albeit only Net and Dive Balls. After using the Pokédex to identify them and determine their specifics, Misty suggests that they head for Lavender Town through the Rock Tunnel before going to Celadon City for the next gym. As he does so, Ash wonders why neither Professor Oak nor Misty mentioned Saffron City as a possible gym to challenge before.

Meanwhile in Unova, Georgia is at the Buster Boot Camp, doing target practice with her Beartic along with several other recruits and their Pokémon. The Busters are an official organization dedicated to take down corrupt or evil Gym Leaders and Elite Four members, and they train their Pokémon for that purpose. In the past 40 years, they've seen little action, having only to confront six Gym Leaders and one Elite Four member, all of them guilty of varied crimes ranging from murder to voyeurism, and that there's currently one active gym leader in Saffron who's yet to be taken down, having killed three full groups of busters who tried to apprehend her, the last counting eighteen members of which she met five, and she takes a moment to remove her hat and stay silent for a minute when passing in front of their memorial wall.

Back with Ash and Misty, they end up encountering the Team Rocket trio on the road to the Rock Tunnel, and engage them in a battle. During the battle, Charmeleon taunts the trio, and when Meowth translates, James takes offense and sends his Koffing using a Return attack. The attack is unusually powerful and knocks Charmeleon out of the fight, prompting Pikachu to jump in to join Misty's Wingull in the fray. When Team Rocket complains about it, Pikachu and Wingull send out a Thunderbolt/Water Pulse combo that causes a great explosion and blasts them off again. Ash can't help but worry that they put up a better fight than Misty's sisters, and wonders if they'll become strong enough one day to take Pikachu.

Later, Ash takes interest in the move Return, and using the TM Brock gave him, learning how its power is dependent on how much the Pokémon likes its trainer. He decides to teach it to Squirtle who only has three moves in his arsenal while the rest of his Pokémon already have four, while also recalling how Pokémon usually can't learn more than four moves until they reach a certain level, though he recalls a time where such limit did not exist.

Meanwhile in Lavender Town, Gary Oak takes advantage of his H.O.P.E. Glove to rotate his Pokémon and train them to their fullest, sending a trainer he just defeated with his Nidorino and Nidorina packing, and ready to catch Ghost-type Pokémon in the tower. After finishing, he sends them back while bringing back Growlithe and Pidgeotto to join his Wartortle, Kadabra and Exeggcute. Having heard of an upcoming tournament in the Battle Dome, sponsored by the Battle Frontier, he plans to enter there and make himself known. That is, until he runs into Red and Yellow, the latter of which quickly reminds him of his previous defeats, so he decides to challenge Red hoping that third time will be the charm.

Ash and Misty arrive to the town of Puerto Blanco, a small town between Lavender Town and Cerulean City for those who wanted to bypass Saffron. While it didn't have a gym of its own, Ash manages to overhear some interesting gossip, such as how the Cerulean Gym was shut down after he challenged it, and that Koga apparently plans to take a spot in the Elite Four, and a new Champion in Sinnoh. With Misty having gone to do some shopping on her own, he was left to his own devices, until he comes across a guy using a pair of angry-looking Mankey to try and intimidate an older man. Ash steps up to his defense and the guy hightails leaving his Mankey behind, much to the old man's chagrin who has to call Pokémon Control to take them. He introduces himself as Forge Smith, and explains to Ash that he's a blacksmith specialized in making holders for Pokémon to equip items legally approved by the Pokémon League to use in battle. He gives Ash a Thunderstone, which Ash rejects, and an Eviolite that gives a defensive power boost for Pokémon with an armband for Pikachu to equip it. He then requests for Ash's phone number to stay in touch so he can make more holders for him in the future, albeit for a fee from now on.

Back at his lab, Professor Oak muses how Ash seems to have the devil's luck for having caught all three Kanto starter Pokémon in such a short amount of time, and hopes that he's able to get to the Safari Zone and catch some Tauros for him to study. Bulbasaur overhears him, and muses that he'll probably have plenty of them to study up close. After Oak leaves, Bulbasaur he continues to sit back on his role as the peacemaker and negotiator in Oak's ranch, which he prefers to battling. He also runs into Krabby, who is doing some weightlifting training to grow back and evolve soon, which Bulbasaur compares to Charmeleon. Suddenly, they overhear some fighting and spot a Growlithe about to pick a fight with a Sandslash, and they decide to go there and stop them.

Back to when the chapter began, Misty is dreaming of herself as an adult challenging Lance and his Dragonite with a Milotic. She's waken up by Psyduck, and begins to get dressed. When Psyduck questions the need for changing clothes, Misty replies that it's something humans do, before realizing she just referred to herself as a human, something she hadn't done in quite a while, at least until she met Ash. She starts fantasizing about traveling more with him, perhaps riding on a Lapras, which she admittedly finds a nice thought.

After getting dressed, Misty finds Ash's Pokédex dropped on the ground, who informs her that Ash has gone to do his needs, something she finds rather unnecessary to know. Shortly after, a loud explosion goes off in a nearby forest, which the Pokédex informs is the same direction Ash went. Worried for his safety, Misty runs off in said direction, but a Beedrill shows up and she stops. Despite being scared, she commands Psyduck to use Water Gun to knock it down and continues, only to run into three more, which Psyduck blasts away once more. However, a full swarm appears, and she has no choice but to turn around and flee, much to her chagrin.

Elsewhere, Ash regains consciousness, and finds himself unable to see, hear or feel anything around him. Wondering if he's dead or something, the familiar voice of MissingNo appears to torment him once more, this time taking the shape of Serena, albeit with her edges pixilated, and begins taunting him about losing his way and his Goodra (whatever that might be), and then realizing that Ash can't talk back, MissingNo morphs into Dawn, taunting him about being the "hero of this story" and then morphs one last time into Iris, daring him to show what he's capable of now that he's a teenager. Suddenly, a blue glow appears from nowhere, one that seems familiar, and his prison gets shattered freeing him. The glow apparently came from Lucario's staff, releasing Aipom from her ball and she managed to free him. Ash takes to his surroundings to find where he is. Not far from there he spots Pikachu turned into a statue and then he finally puts two and two together: he's trapped in Hunter J's airship. Aipom frees Pikachu with a Power-Up Punch, and they quickly start searching for a way out, finding lots of sealed doors with different elemental symbols, suspecting it might be where she keeps the captured Pokémon. He enters the door with a fang symbol and finds it's where she stores Dragon Pokémon, finding it mostly full of Dragonite with a small blob-like Dragon he does not recognize. However, Pikachu quickly recognizes one of the petrified Dragonite as the one belonging to Iris, due to his permanent scowl, much to Ash's shock.

Back on the ground, Misty wants to scold herself for running away in fear, but the Pokédex reminds her that she did the right call and she can now search for Ash safely. They come across an injured small green Pokémon, which the Pokédex (after some insistence) identifies as an Axew, making Misty wonder if Ash was attacked by Unovans. The Axew then cries out, which Psyduck translates as calling out for his "sister". Misty however decides that, whatever that "sister" might be, she won't run away and leave Ash. Said "sister" however, turns out to be not another Pokémon, but it's actually a human girl (or rather, a Bloodliner) with long purple hair, forming Dragon Claw in her hands. She then calls for Misty to get away from her "little brother" before attacking her.

## Continuity

* First appearances of Forge Smith and Georgia.
* First mention of the Busters and how they work in this timeline.
* One of the mentioned criminal Gym Leaders, Eric Knudsen, has his backstory expanded in the *Georgia Gaiden*.

## Characters

### Humans

* Ash Ketchum
* Misty Waterflower
* Georgia
* Buster Cadets
* Jessie
* James
* Gary Oak
* Random Trainer
* Yellow
* Red Tajiri
* Random Trainers
* Thugs
* Forge Smith
* Professor Samuel Oak
* Serena Gabena (MissingNo disguise)
* Dawn Berlitz (MissingNo disguise)
* Iris (MissingNo disguise)
* Iris

### Pokémon

* Beartic (Georgia's)
* Vanilluxe (Pokémon Buster's)
* Abomasnow (Pokémon Buster's)
* Weavile (Pokémon Buster's)
* Jynx (Pokémon Buster's)
* Glalie (Pokémon Buster's)
* Ekans (Jessie's)
* Charmeleon (Ash's)
* Wingull (Misty's)
* Koffing (James')
* Meowth (Team Rocket)
* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Squirtle (Ash's)
* Butterfree (Ash's)
* Pidgeotto (Ash's)
* Aipom (Ash's)
* Nidorino (Gary's)
* NIdorina (Gary's)
* Mankey (Thugs')
* Meowth (Forge's)
* Bulbasaur (Ash's)
* Krabby (Ash's)
* Growlithe (Random Trainer's)
* Sandslash (Random Trainer's)
* Dragonite (Lance's; dream)
* Milotic (Misty's; dream)
* Psyduck (Misty's)
* Beedrill (Wild)
* Dragonite (Wild)
* Axew (Iris')