It was supposed to have been an uneventful stroll back to her motel. Any casual interruptions wouldn't have been a big deal, but "make a scene in the middle of the street" had not been on her to-do list today. Or ever.
But, well, when a middle-aged lady grabs you by the arm and begs you to interfere with what is so obviously a kidnapping in broad scorching daylight, you can't exactly say no without looking suspicious yourself. Seriously, who were these morons and how stupid could they possibly be to think nobody would notice?
So Rui channeled all of her righteous fury into the battle. She would teach them a thing or two about what being a proper criminal looked like, dammit. In no time, they were scrambling to their truck and zooming back and zooming to the city gate, leaving the squirming burlap bag in the dust.
The squirming, very loud, very angry burlap bag.
As she knelt beside Novo to work away at the knot, she was rather impressed at the string of curses the bag's occupant was spewing. They sounded male, which was a surprise. Wasn't it usually women that got caught up in this kind of thing?
When the knot finally came free, its occupant burst out of the opening, clawing through it like a frantic Meowth. She could hardly blame him; judging by the way his pale hair was plastered to his sweat-dampened face and the way he gulped and gasped for air, it'd been suffocating in there. Especially considering, she noted, that he was wearing a scorching coat. A long one, even. Who dressed like that in the desert?
Then, still struggling to catch his breath, he seized her by the wrists. Hard. "Did you get them?" he hissed. Novo bristled and growled at the sudden movement, but the man ignored him.
His eyes were a golden shade of amber, burning with an urgent intensity Rui hadn't expected. He wasn't afraid or shell-shocked or confused like any normal victim should have been in this circumstance. Instead, he looked like a furious Swellow that had lost its prey.
Rui forced a smile and patted his hand reassuringly. "Don't worry," she said in a kind, soothing tone. "They're gone."
"They're gone?"
"Yes, gone. You're okay now—"
"You just let them go?" he spat. "You didn't catch them?"
Rui gaped at him. Novo growled again, louder this time. Unbelievable. This was the thanks he had to offer her for saving his pitiful hide?
"I called gate security!" said the one other bystander next to the woman, a young athlete who'd said earlier his name was Dash. He waved his PDA for emphasis. "They'll catch 'em, don't worry!"
Rui brightened her smile at the victim—no, the ungrateful prick. Burlap boy. "See? It's fine." Let go of me before I break your fingers.
"No, it's not fine," he huffed. He released his hold on her wrists—good, he was pushing it—and rose unsteadily to his feet. "They…they have this Pokémon…something's wrong with it, did you see—?"
He was cut off by Neo, who, for some inexplicable reason, decided now was a good time to greet this new friend with a chirp and rub against his legs. Rui frowned discreetly at him; Neo often did this sort of thing to signal an easy mark to her, but this jerk was certified Freshly Mugged. He didn't have anything of worth on him. So did this just mean Neo liked the guy? And why?
She stood, dusting off her trousers, and tilted her head at the jerk in question, casting those thoughts aside for now. "Can't say I noticed anything odd, no. Just a couple of normal Whismur to me."
"You didn't see a Makuhita?"
She frowned. "No..?" Dash and Marla, the woman who'd dragged Rui into this mess—Rui would be sure to remember her name, if only to harbor a grudge for it—exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
"Let's not worry about that now, dear," Marla said. She stepped forward and offered a water bottle procured from her bag. "You must be terribly dehydrated and—heavens!" She squawked when Burlap Boy turned his head to look at her. "We should get you to a doctor!"
She wasn't wrong. Not that spending any amount of time in a burlap sack in the desert afternoon did anybody any favors, but Burlap Boy was quite a sight. He had a purple, swelling bruise under one eye, a bloody scrape on his jaw, and most concerningly of all, an alarming amount of dried blood on the side of his head. He clearly hadn't gone into that bag without a hell of a fight.
He took Marla's water bottle with a shaking hand and downed half of it in just a few gulps. "Thanks," he breathed when he came up for air and wiped his chin, "but this is urgent. Someone needs to warn security about that Makuhita. And if they're caught, it needs to be taken from them."
Oh, so you'll thank her for the water but not me for saving your ass?
"I can do that," Dash said. "Give em another call. I can go there myself, too, to see if they really do have a strange Pokémon on them. But, uh, what was strange about it, exactly?"
Burlap Boy hesitated at this. Rui narrowed her eyes. He sure was committed to whatever story this was, but she'd seen enough prideful and arrogant men like him; odds were he'd just stupidly wandered somewhere dangerous and was too embarrassed to own up to it, so now he had to spin some kind of noble story to cover his idiocy.
"Honestly, enough about that!" Marla exclaimed. "It's all well and good if you want to go check, but save the questions for later! Let's get you to a hospital, young man. Why, we haven't even got your name!" She rested her hand on his arm and Rui noticed the way he tensed at the gesture.
"Wes," he said stiffly. "Wesley Lycas. But—"
"Don't you worry, dear, gate security will have this handled," Marla said gently. "What's most important now is—"
"I can take him to a hospital," Rui said quickly. This woman was entirely too interfering; the last thing Rui needed was to get dragged into a news article or, gods forbid, still be around if a camera crew showed up. "Why don't you and Dash head to gate security? I can help him from here."
Burlap Boy—Wes, whatever—growled in frustration. "I don't need a damn doctor—"
"Oh, you are an angel." Marla clasped Rui's hand with both of her own. "Jumping in to help a complete stranger like this—why, the world needs more heroes like you, Miss Everlin!"
Rui internally winced. Now three people knew her name, all because she was so caught off guard by the situation that she'd blurted it out before she could use one of her aliases. She'd have to slip out of this situation as quickly and quietly as possible.
Rui smiled. On the bright side, at least somebody here was thankful for her stupid heroics. "Think nothing of it, ma'am. Better head to that gate quickly, though!"
And they were off. Finally. Rui looked at Wes, who was downright glaring at her. Gods, what his problem...?
To be continued...
