This chapter is dedicated to CupboardCat! ^^
  
   Chapter 2: Gift & The Slither Gang

   The Slither gang sat on logs as they stared at the flames of the campfire, licking the air veraciously. They waited for Gift to return from searching for the cave they had been looking for for years.

   The reason why he went alone was that he was the only one who knew where it was, and he didn't want his gang to mess up his tracks like they did last time, hindering his chance of finding the cave.

   Their golden arbok symbols on their black shirts and caps danced and flickered when the fire brightened as if ambitious for the gang's chief to return. 

  The sun didn't have mercy for these waiting men, and things got worse with the camp fire's blazing heat. Yet, no one complained. They had to have the fire lit because to keep away any bug types or bug like pokémon.

   A word never flew by in the campsite. The only thing that could be heard was the white noises of the forest: the wind and the rustling of the vegetation around them. Pokémon was nowhere to be found because they knew the monstrous history of the gang and made sure to stay away. But Sneasel enjoyed the trees, even if he was slightly allergic to them. He sneezed now and then; his congestion was a little irritating.

   But then a voice arose from the group, and it was the last voice anyone wanted to hear.

   "Bloody hell! Of all the days chief made us wait, this one has to be the longest I've ever waited for him! He doesn't have the decency to..." Whenever Poisontongue gets going, he's an unstoppable force of complaining. Words just kept shooting out his mouth like a machine gun.

  Of course, no one ever listened or cared. But after a few minutes, hell, even a few seconds, it can be ungodly irritating because of his high-pitched voice.

   "And also! He didn't give us food, and I'm famished!"

   Sneasel got up from his log and went to the truck that was parked nearby. He got out a bag of Italian bread from the front seat.

   Poisontongue eyes were mesmerized by the sight of the bakery.

   "Y'know, we have bread, right? Here!" Sneasel tossed out the bread to his fellow members.

   "May Arceus bless you, Sneasel!" Poisontongue cried out. Sneasel was one of the nicest in the crew as you can see.

   "No problem." Sneasel sat back onto his log and enjoyed the silence that came once again.

   "At least it'll keep his mouth full until chief arrives," one of the other members whispered to Sneasel and chuckled.

  Poisontongue was the first to take a bite and greedily clamped his jaws onto the bread, only to feel its surface impenetrable.

   "What in blazes?" Poisontongue slammed his loaf of bread onto his log. Thonk! Thonk! "How am I supposed to eat this if it's hard as a rock!"

   Instead of whining about it, the others tried to find a way to eat the bread. Soaking it water to soften it or cut, but those methods improved the bread's edibility from slightly to none.

   "Good God! Not only did you let us sit here in the dry heat, but you buy awful bread for us? Gift, you're the worst chief I've ev-"

   A rapier skyrocketed through the air at a perplexing velocity. Poisontongue yelped as it left a deep gash in his cheek. It flew right past the campsite and dug its blade into a nearby tree with a metallic ping. He felt the gash and looked at his hand to see that his fingers were covered in his own blood.

   "Look who's getting slick out zhe mouzh again." Gift chuckled as he arose from the greenery. Each step in his violet pants and leather cowboy boots demonstrated his confidence. A purple fedora with a wide, floppy brim. The german wore an intricately knotted purple cravat and a black shirt under a white overcoat with a cape.

   The gang members didn't dare to say one word because they knew by that maddening crooked smile on his face that he was pissed beyond belief.

   Poisontongue bit his lip so heard that his teeth dug into his skin. His heart was at rapid fire speed. He glanced away from Gift as if he did nothing, but he knew all too well...

   Gift smirked at Poisontongue and barked at him. "So, I'm an awful leader, right? Vell, I bought ze most expensive bread to keep ju healzy and zen I spent all day searching for ze cave and finally fount it? Ze one cave zat contains ze pokémon ve're after! How despicable!"

   The gang members exchanged glances in excitement. They will finally get what they all wanted: the legendary pokémon that rests inside the cave. But then they focused on the situation between the blabber mouth and the chief.

   "Look at me vhen I'm talking to ju!"

   Poisontongue looked him straight into the german's venomous green eyes.

  "Now, eat ze bread and chew it as slowly as possible." Gift gave him a devious grin.

   "But how can I-"

   Gift pulled out his second rapier from its sheath and placed the tip underneath Poisontongue chin. "I said eat it, ju pig!"

   Poisontongue bit into the bread hard enough to at least a small mouth full. He chewed it thoroughly and swished it carefully around with his tongue. He winced in suffering pain as it sliced his gums.

   The gang members smiled sadistically at Poisintongue's hopeless state. He got what he deserved for such an annoying loud mouth.

   "So, how is it?"

   He couldn't speak, and so he only responded by smiling. Gift laughed at how his teeth were covered in red fluid.

   "A blabber mouz is silent viz a bloody mouz!" he joked to the others and then returned his attention on Poisontongue."Ju're lucky I spared jur life! I only did so because I need all of the help I can get."

   "Now Sneasel, heal zhis blabbering fool vhile ve drive there. Ve have vork to do men."

   They put out the fire and climbed into the truck.

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   "I can't believe my eyes!" One of the members exclaimed as he examined the entrance.

   The others right beside them, yet tired from walking through a network of previously digged tunnels through a small mountain. There was no way light reached these tunnels and gave the tunnels quite a scary feel to them, but ghastly darkness was shooed away by the beaming brightness of their flashlights.

  "I zought zat too, but I know ven I saw it, it vas ze most fantastic zing I've ever laid my German eyes on!" Gift boasted. His voice rang through the cavern as it echoed, scaring the living daylights out of any pokémon nearby.

   Gift shined his flashlight on the entrance they examined as if they were seeing pure gold. At least close to gold, it was blocked by rosy red rubies. The light from the flashlight coursed through the crystals, coming out red as a result. The rubies were impenetrable crystals, especially with their sharp tips that could cut through flesh and their magical sturdiness, so trying to break or move them was worthless. They had strange, foreign letters inscribed on them, and as the rubies shined, the letters were reflected on the wall.

   Gift shifted his flashlight into a different position, causing the red letters to align and form a sentence. He mumbled the translation, "'Only a young, fiery, and adventurous heart can pass through these crystals.' Hmm...Damn."

   "We're young," A member said, "so maybe one of us can go through." The Slither gang were in their twenties, except for Sneasel, who was in his forties. The gang member went over and touched one of the crystals. But he was ejected into the air by its magical barrier and hit his back on the wall. Surprisingly, he didn't suffer any injuries, just an aching spine.

   "No fool! Ve need a someone younger who has a heart full of adventure. And zere's none of zose plenty of those. Ve have to do vat ve got to do best: kidnapping!" The Slither Gang were notorious for kidnapping rare pokémon from their owners and selling them on black markets to heartless trainers for high profits. And oh how they loved every speck of it!

   "But not now, ve have to vait until night, ven ve can blend into ze darkness of night. C'mon, let's go to ze campsite."

   Gift's gang exchanged devious laughter with each other. They would finally get the legendary pokémon that slept deep inside the cave.

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  "Hey! Slow down, bud," Daniel yelled. He looked like a camper while carrying their belongings on his back. Despite having a scrawny figure, he could actually lift things quite well.

   Travis zanily zoomed across the dirt pathway. "What are you, a slow bro?" the teen joked and enjoyed sprinting around. His shoes left imprints on the dirt as he stomped on the ground with every step. An energetic vibe just gave Travis happiness. Loren Forest was the only place to find pine trees on the Manto region. They were his favorite trees all because of their pine smell.

   Daniel had changed into more appropriate attire: some short jogging pants, a yellow shirt, and some tennis shoes (even though he preferred bringing his Jordans, but Travis begged him not to. He thought he would dirty them up in the woods, and Jordans are too precious).

   They walked all the way to Loren Forest. (It was only a forty-five minute walk.) And golly, there were truly some sights to see.

   The branches of the trees and bushes swayed to the wind with rhythm as their leaves rustled as if they were saying hello to the pair. The smell of pine gave them a tingling sensation of adventure. No pokemon could be heard; the sight of humans had scared them off.

   Daniel smiled as his brother laughed from a distance. It sure did make Daniel happy too to see him this way, but then his smile weakened.

   Daniel took out a pill bottle. Just a couple of mood stabilizers rattled inside the bottle. He sighed and placed them back in his pocket. He knew Travis didn't like to talk about this kind of subject, but he had to discuss it. "Yo, Travis!"

   That got the teen's attention, and he ran to his brother's side. "Yeah, what's up?"

   Daniel ruffled his short hair as he thought of good words to say. It just made him all nervous. He sighed and then said, "So Travis, I know how much it means to ya to have a pokémon. And, uh..."

   "Yeah?" Travis said in a way to encourage him to say more.

   "So, I want ya to be able to control ya emotions so ya can be friendly towards pokémon.I thought if ya take ya meds for once. And I know..."

  Travis said, "Daniel, I just can't! I'm sorry...It just won't! I did use them, but they never did anything for me..."

   He did try therapy, but it doesn't work for him. And so Daniel suggested to use mood stabilizers. But, they did little improvement on his moods either. What made things worse was that Travis was abusing them and hid them so they wouldn't reach Daniel's grasp. The blond fount them and immediately took them away from his little brother. This time, he will have full authority over them. But Travis just doubted help all together.

   "Travis, I know they can work."

   "Just stop it, Daniel! This conversation is over!" Travis ran down the dirt road without a warning.

   "Travis!" Daniel ran as fast as the weight pulling him down allowed him to, following wherever his brother went.

   Travis stopped when he spotted a campsite and decided to sit on the logs, not caring if anyone owned it. It was his for the taking.

   Daniel sped down the road and saw his little brother at a campsite. "Travis! Thank goodness I found you," Daniel said. He dropped their belongings onto the ground and went over to Travis.

   The teen turned away from his brother and gave him the cold shoulder. His fists tightened until his knuckles whitened. He nostrils flared at the attempt to breath in and out.

   "Travis, please..."

   Not a single reply.

   He got out a lighter and started up a fire that was once out. He watched the fire dance. He knew deep breathing and happy thoughts about his father wouldn't be enough. There has to be something. "Maybe, maybe-"

   "Maybe you can stay quiet!" The blond jumped as his brother snapped at him all of a sudden.

  "Travis, I know this is hard for ya. I just..."

   Daniel continued to talk to him, trying to calm him down, but Travis refused to back down.

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   "I can't wait to hit the log. My legs are tired," Poisintongue said.

   The Slither Gang had parked their truck pretty far from their campsite.

   "Don't worry, we're nearly there. Just a few m-"

   "Get on your hands and knees!" Gift hissed as he saw the smoke in the air. Someone's already there...

  The gang ducked into the vegetation and got down onto the ground. Gift lead them until they were right by their campsite, but they stayed hidden by the plants surrounding them. They inspected the two brothers, but the one that caught the German's attention was the brown-headed teen.

  He was yelling like no tomorrow. And the light from the fire reflected such ravishing hate inside his eyes. He shouted at such high volumes that the sounds of the wild would be a tiny sound of the wind compared to it.

   Sneasel smiled. It reminded him of his children and how they used to bicker now and then. How he missed them...But he can't go back to them. But he couldn't go back to them. He had made his choice to be with this gang a long time ago, and once you joined Gift's side, you had to stay with him for the rest of your life and be loyal to him or you would be killed.

   "Zis is perfect!" Gift whispered. "Zat brown headed one vill be our first victim."

   "Wow...It's like Arceus wanted us to succeed, "Poisintongue mumbled.

   "Ve vill come back at night, ven zey're asleep," Gift said.

   And so they waited until the sun set. Gift grinned in ambition. The brothers didn't know what trouble was coming their way.

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Author's Note: Cliffhanger! MUHAHAHAHA! Lol 😂, anyways... So, what do you guys think of Gift and the Slither Gang? Gift is based off of Alucard from the Hellsing anime series, but I added some little quirks and twists of my own. ^^

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