Author's Note
Ah, hello again friend! So you made it to Chapter 2? Nice job!
I must wonder if it's my masterful suspense and writing that's brought you here or is it that this fanfic is bad enough to be labelled a comedy? XD
Anyway, in this chapter we will see some familiar Team Galactic faces! Onwards!
Chapter 2; READY SET GO!
Back at home, Palmer had finished moving the last of the boxes. Not even remotely knowing what was going on, he assumed Shivu would still be in the back of the van.
So, Palmer patted the back to catch his attention, "Ready to go, Shivu?" he called as Barry closed the back doors.
Since the back of the van was now empty and there was no answer from Barry's friend, Palmer frowned. "Shivu?" he said, a little louder this time and accompanying his puzzled voice with a knock on the metal.
"Ah, don't worry Dad," grinned Barry with a carefree shrug, "He's probably fallen asleep; he was saying earlier he was tired,"
Palmer scratched his head in uncertainty but soon guessed that perhaps his son was right, "Guess so," he shook his head, "I would love to join him! Come on; we've got a long drive ahead of us,"
Completely convinced that everything was alright, and having no real reason to check up on Shivu since they had no suspicions that anything had gone on in the short time they were both in the house, the two jumped into the front and began the journey to their new home.
% & *
"Ready… Set… GO!" and with that thought Shivu leapt forwards.
He heard a surprised bark from whoever had opened the doors and caught sight of a few people, all dressed like the original two he had met, who looked quite horrified to find an unfamiliar child leaping from their vehicle.
It wasn't long before they noticed the bag and as Shivu hit the ground, tumbled and then jumped up and ran he heard commanding shouts coming from behind him.
Shivu didn't stop; he kept sprinting, using his long legs to his advantage. Quickly he looked around to take in his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was. The truck he had jumped out of was parked in a perfect line of some other empty ones on a tarmac strip- beyond that, covering the whole compound he was in was short, neat grass.
Around everything and dividing the area from the outside city which Shivu could just about see was barbed mesh fencing.
A yellow sign indicated it was electrified so Shivu began heading for the gate at the front. But as he reached it, it rattled shut thanks to the guard who stood in the control box a little off to the side. Shivu didn't waste a second thinking; instead he turned and bolted in the other direction and thought hard about where to run to next as he ran away from his pursuers.
He glanced around the rest of the area; in the centre was a huge building with spikes up the side.
It was an ominous sort of building, dark and gloomily painted grey. The windows were all blacked out; mirrored only on the outside.
Shivu gulped as he realised someone could see the commotion inside the building and alert backup without him even knowing about it; until it was too late, of course.
In the hopes of countering this he moved closer to the building so that anyone looked directly down wouldn't be able to see him and darted along the path that went all the way around the structure and kept to the shadows hoping (and failing) to lose his pursuers.
He dived around the back; here there were a few trees and bushes, adding plain decoration to the yard and Shivu quickly dived under one before his chasers came round the corner after him.
Shivu turned and crawled backwards, retreating deeper into the darkness the bush provided. He watched quietly as the people who had been chasing him slowed down and began creeping around as they searched for him. Some sent out Pokémon to sniff him out.
It was at that point Shivu had a horrible realisation; he wasn't going to get out of this one.
When they found him then they would find the bag as well. He wasn't sure yet what was inside it but something deep down told him it was extremely important they didn't get to it.
Quickly, Shivu began digging in the dirt; once he had dug an adequate hole he shoved the bag inside and shovelled the dirt back over.
He vigorously rubbed his hands on his jeans to remove the mud so as the people after the mysterious item wouldn't guess what exactly he'd done with it.
His strange enemies were approaching now so Shivu took a deep, terrified breath and scooted out from the bushes; he needed to lure them away now.
Behind him, a shout rang out and he soon heard the pursuit of a person and a Pokémon hot on his tail.
Shivu figured he could use the darkness to help him hide but this presumption was soon diminished as the compound was suddenly alive with blinding light.
Shivu flinched as he realised that if everyone who was here, both outside and in, couldn't see him before, they sure could now. He glanced behind him to see three people chasing him now along with two Pokémon; a Zubat and a Mightyena.
He increased speed but was so occupied with his pursuers that he didn't watch where he was stepping.
SNAP!
Shivu howled in pain and tumbled to the ground. He looked down to where a searing pain coursed up his leg; clamped around and drawing blood was something Shivu didn't think he'd ever see but on television; a leg-hold trap.
Its vicious metal teeth were sunk deep into his leg and the trap itself was pegged firmly into the ground.
The three strange people approached, along with three more on Shivu's other side- who had apparently ran around the building in order to cut him off. Shivu pulled away from them in terror which only succeeded in making the injury worse as the spikes tore down his leg.
Frankly Shivu, at the time, didn't give a damn about his pain; he only wanted to get away from these strange people. Up close he could sense something off about them; he realised they were all dressed the same as the two in the van but apart from that none of them displayed any emotions in either their facial expressions or the strange manner in which they spoke.
There was something very unnatural about them and Shivu's fear got the better of him; he forgot about his main objective to lead them away from the bag and instead worried about saving himself.
Shivu backed off as far as the chain would let him, fright and panic sparking around his body. He growled, warning them to back off.
They either didn't listen or didn't care (Shivu presumed the latter) because in unison, all six of them grabbed him and dragged him to his feet- or rather foot since Shivu kept his injured leg behind him.
One of the girls said something in their bizarre language and gestured to the trap. She bent down and examined Shivu's wound, despite Shivu's best attempts to hide it from her. The girl sighed and took a tool from her belt, pulled the peg from the ground then gave an order to the others, pointing to the building.
It was obvious she wanted Shivu inside but he didn't want to be near these people and certainly didn't want to be inside their creepy tower block so he began to struggle wildly, trying to ignore the pain in his leg.
His efforts didn't amount to much and the group easily dragged him into the building.
Inside was no more bright and colourful than outside; the same stony grey colour followed them along the walls and floors, differing only in shade. In fact the only colour Shivu saw at all was the large golden 'G' that was imprinted into the tiles at the front entrance. Other than that the building was void of anything. Shivu assumed it was some kind of organisation; hence the uniforms they all wore, but surely such a place would have pictures of the employees, certificates of achievements or any other sort of framed things upon the walls?
Although, he guessed as he glanced at the people around him, one could simply copy-and-paste an image of one person and it would pass for them all; apart from the dull colours of their eyes Shivu could barely tell the difference between those who walked him through this bizarre place and the ones he'd met earlier.
Through the maze of corridors, into a lift, through more corridors and to a door; after all this Shivu felt almost disorientated.
The door was inscribed in a strange dialect which, in a second-long break in his tossing and turning, Shivu guessed was probably the written version of the language that the strange people spoke.
One of them let go of where they were holding a clump of his hair and knocked on the door.
After a while a voice from inside said something that Shivu presumed was "come in". Shivu was dragged inside and thrown to the ground. Three of the six people left, not being needed and closed the door behind them.
Shivu scrambled upright and looked around; he was in some kind of break room. On either side of the room were three-seater sofas; at the far end a kitchen. Despite its dull colouration, the room had a look to it like an apartment but the vibe was all different; this place may have been designed to look homely but it had every feeling of being otherwise.
In the corner, there was a young man who was wearing similar attire to the people surrounding Shivu; when he turned his head he saw he had dark blue hair fashioned into two spikes.
A look of surprise crossed his face when he saw Shivu trembling on the floor with blood dripping from the multiple puncture wounds on his leg.
"Who is this?" he asked, curiosity shining in his eyes as he turned around on his heel and came over.
Although he was relieved that at least someone in this mad place spoke English, Shivu was still consumed with fear and he gulped and shuffled backwards, his injured leg dragging in front of him.
The woman holding the peg stepped up beside him and explained in the odd dialect what had happened. She gestured around her side as if miming the bag Shivu had taken from the van.
But then she shrugged and said something that must have been, "But he doesn't have it now,"
Throughout her speech she kept using the words "Commander Saturn" and so Shivu surmised this must be this man's name or, rather, his codename of sorts.
Saturn narrowed his eyes, "I see…" he said to the girl. He walked over to Shivu and bent down on his haunches, making Shivu lean backwards as far as he could manage.
"What's your name, boy?" he asked.
Shivu didn't respond.
"I said 'what's your name'?" Saturn repeated, bending down on one knee, moving closer. Shivu tried to twist round and run but the two people behind him grabbed his arms and held him down.
"Hmm…" Saturn said, "I can see you're scared; and you're not listening to reason."
Shivu tried to stand up but, out of habit, he put his injured leg underneath him and ended up crying out and collapsing to the ground again.
Saturn narrowed his eyes at the trap, still clamped around Shivu's leg; "Perhaps it's your wound that is making you panic so?" he stood up and paced thoughtfully, "In that case, you three, shall we bring him to see Doctor Charon?" The three nodded eagerly and Shivu looked up worriedly; he didn't much like doctors, and he certainly didn't want to see one related to this weird syndicate.
Further Adieu
And thus concludes Chapter 2! I hope I can get the further chapters up relatively quick because I have up to Chapter 15 written; all just needs to be proof read! :3
I don't know if you enjoyed the trivia before but I, for one, find it fascinating so I'm going to do it again!
*The Team Galactic Commander's personalities vary somewhat from the games (as I stated previously, I take elements from all worlds- mangas, anime and my own) you may not notice much off now but later you'll see how I've played around a little.
* Fun fact; I am actually terrified of doctors. I didn't used to be until I was getting blood taken once and hadn't eaten anything but the doctor said I'd be fine; all well and good till I nearly passed out xD thus creating a fear of needles. Doctors tend to be related to needles so there you go XD
*If you're wondering if Shivu looks anything like me he doesn't; apart from his build (the way I draw him anyway) I have brown hair with a dyed blonde fringe and green eyes with a hazel birthmark. Although I do mention a few times that Shivu has "distinctive eyes" in relation to what people tend to say about mine.
*I did originally call the trap for what it is which was a "steel trap" but Looney Tunes has kinda ruined that name for me ("Jaws as powerful as a steel trap" was something I used a lot for silly monsters I made up as a kid) so I used the term "leg hold trap" which isn't entirely wrong but if you Google the image it'll bring up a more humane trap.
-I don't know why Team Galactic has these in their base; especially as they seem to have a habit of dim-lighting at night time. I'm sure Shivu isn't going to be Charon's first patient for accidently walking into one.
*"What's up with the Grunts?" you ask? You'll see later but if you can't wait till then go and look up Team Galactic in Pokémon Adventures!
