Clair and Iris -- Kidnapped

Iris slowly woke up and rubbed her head.  "Ow! My head is so tender!" Her vision was milky but after a few blinks, she could see more clearly.  "Hey! Where am I?!"  She looked around. Right away she noticed two things: she was in some forest and more importantly a grown woman was sleeping by her side.

"Hey!  Who are you?!  Wake up!"  Iris violently shook the woman.  A loud groan emerged from the seemingly comatose lady.  "Beat it kid, I don't do autographs.", said the woman through closed eyes, "I'm trying to get some sleep here."  The woman rolled over and felt the grass on her face.  Her eyes immediately opened.  "What?!"

Iris was able to place the woman's voice right away.  She was Clair.  She was pretty famous in Unova, but rarely did have a chance to be around one another.

Clair looked at Iris angrily.  "Who are you?  Why did you bring me here?  This is kidnapping?"

"You're such a kid!" Iris replied.  "I don't know what we are doing here.  But we are in the same boat.  I don't think this place is my home region."

"Indeed! you are right about that kiddo!" said a distant voice. Their eyes turned to the figure emerging from behind some trees.  It was a large, stocky man with a plentiful stomach.  He was older than both of their ages combined and he was smiling a shit-eating grin.  "I'm so glad you are awake now.  This won't put me behind schedule at all."

"You brought us here?!  You better have a damn good reason!" Clair snarled.

"Oh I have a great reason.  You are both kidnapped and I am going to collect a healthy ransom."  Wulfric smiled.  "Now if you two ladies will be ever so accommodating, I am going to need you two to stand closer while I put these handcuffs on you."

"And if we refuse?" Clair said through gritted teeth.

"Oh it's only in your best interest.  Yousee, if you two cooperate, then you get to hang out in Pokemon Village where all the safety and comfort of home can be found.  But if you don't, my avalugg will freeze you until the ransom is paid.  You two were already knocked out from his avalanche.  Don't make this get ugly."

Iris and Clair looked at one another and then back at Wulfric.  "Fine" they said, defeated.

Wulfric lumbered over and attached one cuff to Iris's left wrist and one to Clair's right wrist.  "This way you two can still be comfortable.  And as for the key. I'm a sporting man."  Wulfric blew on a whistle and a Snorlax slowly approached.  "Snorlax! Sleep on this key."  Wulfric said as he handed the key to the large beast.  Snorlax saluted, placed the key on the ground and promptly fell asleep.

"Now girls," Wulfric started.

"Girls!?!" Clair spat.  "I've not been a girl for a long time!"

Wulfric sighed. "Now ladies, you can try to escape, but I promise you, it will do no good.  The forest path leaving to civilization is winding, confounding and fraught with peril.  May I remind you that you two are without your respective pokemon?  My advice is just to lay back, eat some berries and enjoy the scenery.  You are in a place only a few humans know about."  Wulfric turned and started to walk away.

"You can't just leave us out here!"  Clair yelled.

"Watch me!" Wulfric waved and grinned one last time before heading off into the forest.

Clair screamed "AAAHHH!  This is infuriating!"

"You're infuriating!" squeaked Iris.

"What?!" Clair responded, incredulously.

"You're such a kid! He wants us to lose our temper out here! It's best to keep calm and not play into his games!" Iris yelled.

Clair sighed. "You're right.  I just can't believe we are in this mess.  Wulfric is such a low-rated gym leader.  This is truly embarrassing."  Clair sank against a tree and cradled her head in her hands.  "Say, you're Iris, right?  I think we met once or twice.  You didn't talk to me much then."

"Yeah, I'm Iris. And I couldn't talk much because you were surrounded by so many others and when we were alone you were the one who did the talking.  It was hard to get a word in edgewise."  Iris sat down beside Clair.  "So what do we do now?" Iris said quietly.

"I dunno kiddo. We could try to escape, but Wulfric is right, without a pokemon to protect us from the wild ones, we are toast.  I just wish I could remember how we got here.  Do you remember anything?"  Clair answered softly.

"Yeah, I do.  I remember it being closing time at the gym and some Pokemon came in and knocked out all my pokemon in one hit.  Then I saw a figure point at me and then I woke up here.  That's about it, really.  It all happened so fast.  I don't think the person was Wulfric though.  His belly is too big."  Iris giggled at the last part.

"He does have a gut doesn't he?" Clair joked.  "That probably means he farmed the worked out to someone else.  Who else would help him?"  Clair quietly stared into the forest, ruminating on her question.

"Could it.. Nah it couldn't be." Iris responded.

Clairs eyes moved to Iris, "No go ahead.  What are you thinking?"

"Well, it will sound crazy." Iris warned.

"Almost as crazy as being handcuffed together with a Snorlax sleeping on the key?" Clair joked again.

Iris smiled. "Yeah, I guess we are in a mess.  Well, I was thinking, do you think it could be a rival Dragon gym leader?  There has been talk about consolidating the gyms and creating a national gym program instead of the regional one.  Naturally we're the best Dragon trainers out there.  So it stands to reason that someone could benefit if we went missing."

Clair sat calmly digesting this new theory.  She then sprang up and announced, "Stand up, Iris!  We're going to get out of this place.  I have worked so hard to be the best dragon-type trainer and I'll be damned if a couple piss-ants are going to stop me."