Call in the night
Professor Oak stretched, his back making a low crack, and yawned softly. It was getting late, and he was feeling quite tired by now. It was hours ago Tracy had said goodnight, but Oak just couldn't let go of his work. New discoveries was made at a neck breaking speed, creating new riddles of the pokemon world to solve, and he found it difficult to stop when he first had plunged himself into a mystery. But his own body was starting to protest rather convincingly now, his body sore and his eyes itching. With a sigh he began closing down the computer, saving his progress from the day. He stretched once more, turned of the light, and walked out of the room, enjoying the silence of the night, the only sounds his own footstep or the occasionally cry of a nocturnal Pokemon.
He was almost at his bedroom, when a strange sound reached his ears. A long wailing sound. For a moment he stood, wondering what kind of Pokemon that would make such a sound, when he realized it was the phone. "Who on earth would call me at this hour?" He frowned slightly as he moved towards the source of sound. Answering the call, the screen lighted up, revealing the familiar face of a Jenny. But unlike her sisters and cousins this woman looked slightly older, there were small wrinkles around her eyes and a few grey streaks in her hair.
"Good evening professor, this is Officer Jenny from Goldenrod city. I apologize of the late hour, but it was crucial to come in contact with you as soon as possible." Oak blinked. "Eh, no big deal, I was awake anyway. What is it about?"
Jenny frowned a bit. "Professor, are you alone at this moment?" Oak blinked again, considering the late hour he found it a rather odd question. "Yes, I'm all by myself" "No cameras or any kind of recording machinery?" Now things were getting a tad suspicious, could this be some sort of prank? Or had he fallen asleep in front of the computer again? "No." "Good." The Jenny nodded grimly "This might take some time, I suggest that you make yourself comfortable." Oak silently obeyed and pulled a chair to the screen.
Jenny took a deep breath before she began. "As you might now, professor, the world is plagued with groups of criminal gangs, and I am not talking about the small groups of thugs lurking in the dark streets of the larger cities. No, I am talking about large organisations, whose agenda could be compared to a well functioning company, just on the wrong side of the law. I believe you might know a few of the more known ones?" Oak huffed. "Yes, I have had a few encounters with Team Rocket in my days, and Professor Birch has told me about the Magma and Aqua teams in Hoenn." "Yes." She nodded. "Those three are the most widespread, and by far the largest we have, or so we thought" Oak frowned slightly, waiting for the Jenny to continue. "We know these organisations well, keeping huge files on them, and have people constantly working on solutions to stop them. But, the major reason why we know of them, is because they let them selves be known, their members will almost always wear recognisable uniforms, and they often seems to make a point out of showing off. Now this is not a completely unintelligent strategy, it gives them an image that they use to terrorise the public, making people frightened and thereby less inclined to fight back when confronted with an assault. However it also makes our job a bit easier."
Jenny sighted. "But then we found evidence of a new organisation. I cannot give you the details here, I will just say that this is not like anything we have encountered before. Oak took a deep breath. "And how do I come into the picture?"
"Less than a week ago, we found what we believe is their headquarters. And today we launched a direct assault, as well as arresting any supporters we knew of. It was quite tricky to keep this secret from the media, and I don't think it will stay hidden much longer. You see, this organisation had agents and supporters almost anywhere of important. Again, I cannot give you any details, but I will warn you that the world will be become rather turbulent the next couple of days, but I promise we will do our best to prevent panic from spreading." A slow, sinking felling of dread began tightening itself around Oaks insides, he wasn't entirely sure of what to think anymore. It all felt like one of those unclear nightmares, where you just know something terrible is going to happen very soon. He looked into the eyes of the officer. "I still don't know why you are telling me this."
"Because we found something that we need your expertise to manage." Oak slowly lifted an eyebrow. The woman now stared directly at him, her posture stiff and determined "In the basement of their headquarters we found a laboratory, and it was clear that they where making experiments, with the sole purpose of making creations meant for warfare." Oak stared at the screen for long, completely speechless, while the police officer's words echoed in his mind. He suddenly realised he had stood up, and now his legs was begging to protests. Slowly he sat back down, feeling oddly numb. "They, they where experimenting with pokemons?" He asked when he finally found his voice. The Jenny nodded grimly. "One of their main operations concerned genetic splicing." Oak now felt a slightly burning sensation inside, from anger or disgust he could not decide, perhaps both. He knew of several other cases where scientists worked with DNA from pokemon, but it was mostly to recreate extinct species, or to find ways to cure mutations or diseases, all noble and quite honest work, even if some of the methods were still being debated. Still the intentions were always good. But this, if what he feared was true, this was horrible beyond all imagination.
"So," he finally said. "What is the case?"
"I will ask you to forgive me for being so vague, but we are having trouble enough fending off the media. And should this reach the wrong ears, we are talking about a crisis that could stun the entire world. Not to mention many a scientist, dabbling in the same field, could be target of unfair prejudice." Oak nodded, the media was quite good at creating a specific mood, often a rather destructive one.
"So at this moment, unfairly as it might be, I can only reveal that it has appeared that these people are light-years beyond what we thought doable inside this field. They have managed to successfully splice together the genes from several species, creating a chimera." Oak froze. "You mean a real living breathing creature?" "Correct, and this has given us many complications, moral as well as scientific, and we need experts within the field to decide what our next step should be."
Oak felt sick. A living creature mixed of different Pokémon? No wonder the police was this discreet. "And you are asking for my expertise." It was a fact, not a question. "Yes professor, we believe that your knowledge within the physics and psychics of Pokémon would be crucial. We have also asked for the aid of several of your colleges of Pokémon science. But we will not force you. Should you decline, I will ask you to keep this conversation secret, and problems should only occur if this information leaves this room." The threat was clear, but without any malice.
Oak closed his eyes, how easy it would be to say no, so simple to pretend that he knew nothing. But he knew that if he declined, the knowledge would haunt his conscience. Also his ever vigilant scientific curiosity was tingling. What could this creature be, and what complications could occur when the instincts and patterns of behaviour from different species was mixed?
"Very well, I am willing to aid you. When would you need me?" "As soon as possible, in fact I can have a helicopter picking you up tomorrow morning, if you are willing. We need to have this solved as soon as possible, and any second counts."
Oak sighed, he expected this, but had hoped that he would get a bit more time to prepare. Though, he could easily take a break from his current projects, and Tracy would have no trouble taking care of the place for a few days. In fact the young man was already doing most of the physical work.
He sighed again and nodded. "I will be waiting, any specific time when you arrive?" "7:30, if all goes smoothly." "Good then."
And the conversation ended. For long Oak sat in the dim light, trying to collect his thoughts. He felt as if he had just ended a rather exhilarating rollercoaster-ride, in the house of dread. And to be quite honest he wasn't even sure if the conversation had been real, it seems far too , he would go to bed now, and tomorrow he would find out if it had been a dream or not. Though, he did not get much sleep that night.
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So, this is the rewritten version of the chapter.
If you spot any grammer/spelling mistakes do tell. Also any signs of OOC if you see it. I am very open to constructive critice. Given that english is my second language.