Frontier Stories: Episode 2

After a painfully long flight we descended onto the Valley Windworks area after taking a clear look from the sky. I recalled Supa (Soo-pah), my resident flying Shiny Golurk, and headed towards what looked like the main investigation tent. Two suited goons stopping me at the front of it.

"You're going to have to vacate the premises sir. This is a government investigation that you're trespassing on." One of the goons spoke. I gave the man a look as I reached into my coat pocket and removed the badge that I was given for these kinds of situations. The man on the left didn't even blink at it, but the other quickly realized what he was looking at and moved out of the way. "He's clear Joe. Let him go."

"Yeah Joe." I stated firmly as the man moved out of my way so that I could enter the tent, "…if that IS your real name…"

I entered the tent and found a well-lit table that had a few more investigators in black surrounding it as well as a tall woman in a pantsuit.

"Ms. Helen. I'm surprised to see you here," I said as I walked towards the table. Helen's corporation, Iron Tail, was the leading security agency in Sinnoh that was in charge of such things as the Pokémon League

"I believe I should be saying that, I was not aware a Ranger was needed here…Oh but if we happen upon any crazed or endangered Pokémon, I'll be sure to let you know." She retorted coldly and sarcastically. Did I mention we don't exactly get along?

"Now Helen…" I began as she shot me an all too familiar dagger filled stare, "You know very well the Rangers have allowed me to investigate on their behalf in these situations, and it just happens I've dealt with explosions like this before. It's my job as a Spec Op Ranger that I be here to relay exactly what happened here and…

"I know the law Mica. You don't need to quote it to me. Get out of my tent and do your job then." She responded angrily. I took a little bow and exited the tent and into the sunny day.

"Well that went well," I said rolling my eyes to Fey who had been walking next to me the entire time. She gave a little sneeze in response and I gave her a smile before we began walking towards the wreckage that used to be the Valley Windworks.

The smell of burnt runner and rubble immediately hit me like a brick wall. I shook my head a bit and entered the former building and started to have a look around. The entire building had been leveled. Around me were the remains of staircases, desks, and all sorts of metal from the frame of the structure.

"See if you can sniff anything out Fey." I called out to which she left my side and immediately took a right over what used to be granite wall. I kept to where I was and started moving around pieces of rock from the front desk. Sure enough, I found the remains of a computer.

So much for that idea. I continued around what used to be a major hallway that connected most of the office space and technical rooms in the plant. The bomb must have been really intense. There was really not much to go here. I found Fey picking through a pile not to far from where I was. I came up behind her when I noticed she was pawing at a metal plate in the floor.

"What are you clawing at?" I asked moving in a little closer to inspect the plate. This being the moment I noticed that in the middle of it was a lever made into the front of the plate. As if it was actually a door!

I threw my hand into the mark and pulled. Sure enough it disconnected into the shape of a handle. I pulled hard on the lever and was able to open it enough to squeeze inside.

"Fey! Hold the door." I jumped down and removed a flashlight from my pack clicking it. There didn't seem to be any problems with this underground passage way. It seemed to lead further towards the mountains.

I walked down the hallways for a bit until I came to a pile of uniforms sitting on the side of the path. I knelt down and had a good look at them. They were marked Valley Windworks. The uniforms didn't have any names on them but they led me to believe that something really wasn't right here. The passage must have been how the culprits got into and out of the building between the explosions. Which led me to think… what was at the end of this hallway? I doubled back to the entrance where Fey was still holding the door open and jumped back up.

"Let's go ruffle some feathers shall we?" I said with a brow raise as I started to make my way back towards what used to be the entrance to the building, now the tent that Helen and her agents were holed up in.

I strolled past the two suits at the front of the tent and went in towards the long table again. Only Helen and a couple of her grunts were left. She was sitting in a chair and had her head in her hands as a steaming cup of what I assumed was coffee boiled in front of her.

"Do you have a sec?" I asked as I approached the table.

"What do you want now Mica? Every time I see you more and more sh!t goes down. So tell, what do you want from me?" she asked quite exasperated as she looked up from her hands and grabbed the mug in front of her.

"First of all!" I began irate before catching myself, "…. I'm sorry if you feel I cause you so much of a headache. If it seems we tend to bump into each other in these situations it's only because it's my job to respond to them. As is yours…. Second, I require blueprints of the building. And since I'm such a nice guy, I'll even let you in on the lead Fey and I found in the building."

"Alright. I'll bite." She said with a sigh, her lust for information working to my advantage as she flipped through a few pieces of paper on her table until she got to a rolled up, large white sheet. She slid it to the edge of the table nearest me. I stepped up to the table and unrolled the blueprints to the Valley Windworks, and sure enough, there they were. The original concept for the building was to build a tunnel that went through the mountain and into Route 206 where it would be easy to access both Eterna and Oreburgh City.

"So what is your lead?" she asked as I finished examining the blueprints, to which my response was pointing to the blueprints at where the tunnel was and started.

"I found a passage under the floor that had been cleared up by the explosion. When I went down to investigate, I had found Valley Windworks Uniforms inside that had been left behind. The uniforms seemed like they had been ditched hurriedly. My thoughts are that the culprits dug into this passageway and then snuck into the building this way. But that's not all. The doorway can only be opened from inside the building. So that leads me to believe that it was an inside job. Someone had to have made the time to go to the door, peel back the tile, and then let the people inside. I think everything was preplanned and the attackers had been in the building since at least the night before. The only time they would have had was at night when the main building is closed. "

"That's a very…uhh… interesting theory you have there Mica...uggh fine, I want you to follow the tunnel and see where it leads. The tunnel project was shut down not long after they started, so the terrorists would have had to dig their way in. See where the end of the tunnel is and keep us in touch. I'm still running crowd control here. There's a lot of work we still have to do. This may be a good lead."

"Wow, was that a compliment I heard?" I asked shockingly.

"Don't let it get to your fat head." She retorted as she took another drink from her mug and dismissed me with a wave of her hand. I picked my bag off the table and turned around to exit the tent.

When I reached the outside, the two suits were still standing there and the clouds above us were beginning to turn black.

"Huh, I thought they said the rains were going to be over Veilstone." I pondered to myself as I heard the sounds of distant thunder coming this way. I continued walking towards the building again with Fey still at my heels.

"Alright Fey, I know you don't care too much for dark spots, but we need to investigate the tunnel here." I said as I began lifting the lid to the secret door. She gave me a small nudge with her wet nose and I knew she was in.

I opened the door and waited for Fey to jump down so I could follow after her. I propped the door open with a rod so I could find my way back up if I needed to. The light from outside shone in a little bit, but not enough to illuminate it. I dropped down to the floor and removed the flashlight from my pack again and clicked it on.

We began walking down the hallway with Fey walking close behind me. We had been walking for only a few moments when I heard a very loud BANG as well as the sliding sound of a bolt. The door had been shut behind us and someone had slid the lever back into place too.

"Fey, stay close. Looks like we can only go forward from here."

I pointed the flashlight towards the end of the hallway and continued to walk. We eventually got to the point where the uniforms had been abandoned. I took another look over them to see if I could find anything else. I was able to find a couple of flares in one of the pockets of the jumpsuits. I put the flares into my jacket pocket and pressed on. The tunnel came to a stop not too far from where the uniforms were found. The end of the tunnel was a dirt wall with caution tape and barriers in front of it to warn people away from it. I flicked the flashlight along the wall, and when I looked to just the left of it I noticed the hole in the wall about two feet high and three feet wide. It looked as if this was the way they got in and out of the tunnel.

"It has been a while since we did some spelunking. I'll go first Fey. Bring up the rear and be careful." But before I could start crawling into the hole, Fey had already brushed past me to take up the front position. 'As you wish.' I thought to myself as I pulled my backpack tight on the straps and began to crawl through the dirt hole.

The space was really tight with my pack. I ended up having to crawl on my stomach through the small passage as we traveled to the end. After a very claustrophobic experience, we came to a small opening in the middle of the wall. I crawled through and found myself in an underground room of sorts. I picked out one of the flares and brought it to life. The room wasn't very big, about twelve feet high and ten across. But there were a lot of smaller holes around us that led to all sorts of passages. We were in a cave system now located deep in the mountain.

"Well Fey? What can you sense?" I asked watching Fey sit on her hind legs and became very still for a moment. I had seen her do this many times, her Future Sight was very good. She can pick up on even the smallest trails when it came to stuff like this. That's one of the very many reasons I keep her close to me on investigations.

She opened her eyes and started towards one of the passages on the far side. I followed close behind her and when we got to the small entrance of another tunnel I put the flare out and put it back in my pack… No use leaving trash in a place like this…

The path was really tight, tight enough that even Fey had to get down a few times. It came out into a big enough walkway that I could crouch easily in. looking down at my clothes I noticed just how muddy and dirty they were…Just another day at the office. We followed the path a little further and I noticed that the ground was getting a lot wetter. I shined my flashlight ahead and noticed that we were heading into the water.

"Are you sure they went this way?" I asked Fey. She looked up at me and gave a slight nod. "Alright. On your lead then."

After a few steps the mud became water and I was soon up to my knees in frigidly cold water. Fey was busy swimming in front of me down the tunnel. Soon, I was up to my waist in water and Fey was beginning to have trouble staying afloat. I caught up to her and put her on top of my backpack where she could lean on my back and neck.

"Just point the way girl and I'll get us there." I told my little buddy. She gave me a lick and nudged my neck forward.

The water very quickly came up to the middle of my chest. The tunnel seemed to be just one long stream. It took some time but eventually I started to feel the water receding as I reached a slight slope that indicated we were now going up. I could hear the screech of many Zubat up ahead and knew we were close to finding our way out. After what seemed like forever, the trip through the icy waters ended as we came out into a large open cave.

My flashlight illuminated all of the wet rocks around us and I could hear the Zubat overhead fluttering about. It must have still been daytime since they usually head outside around dusk. Fey jumped down and started to lead the way again as we followed the narrow path towards the exit. Sure enough, the fresh air hit hard as we emerged from the cave and into the outside.

We were surrounded by trees… It would be incredibly difficult to find this place without a map. I took out my Pok'enav and marked the cave location. According to the GPS we weren't too far off Route 206 and Cycling Road. The passage had come out exactly where we thought.

Fey and I descended the mountain and came to the entrance of Cycling Road. When I got to the small Cycling Shop the owner was just locking up his shop for the night as the last few cyclers got on the bridge to head to Eterna instead of having to take the long way through Route 206.

"Excuse me sir!" I yelled out running towards him.

"Wow, was it raining earlier? Because you're the second group I've seen soaking wet coming from that mountain." He said unbelievably nonchalantly as I ran up to him.

"There were others!? Please, you have to tell me where they went and what they looked like!" I yelled catching the poor guy quite offgaurd. The culprits must have gotten out of there not to long ago if he had seen them today.

"Well, they were an oddly dressed bunch all of them wearing white and black jumpsuits. They came in and asked for bike rentals." He responded , " They quickly dried off and the last I saw of them they were heading up towards Eterna City."

"Thank you! You've been a great help!" I exclaimed as I started to sprint up Cycling Road.

"Hey! You can't go in there without a bike!" He called out as I ran

"It's an emergency, sorry!" I yelled behind me as a Fey ran beside me. We were close. I could feel it. Eterna was not far by Cycling Road. I could be there in no time.

It was nightfall by the time we arrived in Eterna. The Cycling Road Bridge had cut off about an hour's worth of traveling time. We came through the other side's bike rental and I looked for the owner to question them. I found the lady running the night shift and quickly asked about the group of people in the jumpsuits. She said they had come this way and delivered their bikes and left. Other than that she had no idea where they could have gone.

As aggravating as it was, I was exhausted as hell. And I knew whoever I was chasing would be just as exhausted and probably holed up somewhere in the city, giving me an idea…

I thanked her and walked towards one of the hotels located in the city to grab a bite to eat and to rest.. I knew the jumpsuit they were describing. It was the uniform commonly used by members of Team Galactic. I checked into one of the rooms at a nearby hotel in the heart of the city and went to my room. Once there I laid out my extra clothes and Pok'eballs. Luckily my backpack had kept my extra clothes dry and all of my other supplies were safe as well. I went ahead and ordered a couple of burgers and a salad from the kitchens and took a shower while waiting for the food. After it arrived I put one of the burgers and some fries on the night stand next to me. I took one of the Pok'eballs and called forth Gengar, my very good friend.

"How are you sir?" I asked as Gengar stretched. "I have a task for you."

Gengar turned around and gave his toothy grin that he gives when he gets excited.

"Some Team Galactic members are hiding out in the city. We need to find them. So I need you to go out and have a look around and see what you can find. In return, I ordered your favorite."

At that I lifted the plate in front of me for Gengar to see. Gengar gave a good laugh and licked up all of the food in one go. He chewed excitedly and belched hard as he signaled his satisfaction with the meal.

Gengar gave me the ok signal and took off through the open window, making himself invisible as he left. I closed the window behind him and went back to my bed and took the other burger off the nightstand and took a big bite out of it. I was starved.

After chowing down, I relayed the cave info to Helen, the agency director, and Sam, who had a really big thing for caves. Fey was already falling asleep on the bed next to me and I was getting really sleepy as well.

I called Kiera to keep her up to date about what was going on. She told me that she remembered Team Galactic used to own a warehouse on the outskirts of town. So that may be a good place to look. I asked about the reserve and everything was going smoothly, as well as the finishing work for her line of clothing. We talked for a little while longer and finally said goodnight. I put the Pok'enav on the nightstand and closed my eyes.

I'm not sure how long I was out, but I was awaken to a sudden crash in the room. I sprung up and looked around to spot Gengar lying dazed in the middle of the room. I ran over to him to see what may be the matter. It looked as if he had been hit pretty hard with a confuse ray. I reached into my bag and pulled out a persim berry I had found in the forest that was good for confusion states.

Gengar ate the berry and almost instantly came out of the confusion. He looked around the room and got up, quickly moving out towards the map I had left on the table and pointed towards the warehouse district on the outskirts of town…Looks like Kiera was right again.

"Good job buddy, go ahead and take a rest." I told Gengar as he gave me an exhausted salute and returned to his Pokeball. I quickly dressed and moved forth quickly with Fey into the night air as we rushed for the warehouse district. We didn't have any time to waste. They had attacked Gengar and that meant that they knew someone might be coming for them. I had to move fast and couldn't wait for the others to come in.

Fey and I arrived at the warehouse district without a moment to spare. It wasn't long before we heard shouting and people barking orders around us. Seemed like they were in a hurry to get their stuff packed and leave. I watched from one of the crates and observed as a woman with short red hair was yelling for a bunch of grunts to hurry up and get the cargo from the warehouse onto some trucks.

I took out a small pair of binoculars and looked again. There was no mistaking the woman, which was Commander Mars. She was in charge of most of the Eastern jobs that Galactic was in on. I had met her once before, but the bomb wasn't her style. BuUut she was a wanted criminal of the Team…Sooo…. I had to stop her from getting away. I looked at the cargo and noticed the biohazard signs all over them…Everything pointed to this being the source.

"Fey, get towards the truck and disable it. I'm going to take Supa and stop them from finishing that truckload." I quietly commanded

Fey nodded and ran off into the dark night as she headed towards the truck. I took out the ball and called out Supa. The large Golurk burst forth and flew towards the crew carrying the cargo and landed hard on his feet in the middle of the group.

"Get the truck started!" Commander Mars shouted as Supa started to round up the Team Galactic members into the warehouse. When Mars got to the truck and tried to start it up, all she heard was a creak. And suddenly the engine flew through the hood of the car and into the air as Fey ripped it out using her Psychic attack.

"Going somewhere Mars?" I asked as I walked towards the truck.

"I should have known these idiots had the Rangers on their trail." She jumped out of the truck and pulled out two Pokeballs from her back. "I'm not going anywhere without a fight! Mightyena! Weavile! Get this moron!" she yelled as her Pokémon were released and sprinted towards me.

I smiled as Supa came down hard with a hand on each of the flailing Pokémon as he pinned them to the ground.

"I really don't feel like hurting Pokémon Mars. But seeing as you don't want to give up without a fight, how about I offer you the option anyways?" I asked with a smile looking down the alley at Mars who was now standing straight up in front of her crew. She had a fierce scowl on her face, but she knew she had lost this round.

An hour later, the officials had shown up with Helen. Mars and the rest of the Galactic squad were stuffed in the back of the truck trailer as I waited for them to show up and officially arrest the men here. Supa was back near the rear of the truck guarding the only exit and entrance, while Fey and I sat back near the cargo and watched carefully for any more signs of trouble.

"That was pretty stupid of you." Helen said walking up to me. "You should've waited for back up instead of venturing out on your own to chase them down like some vigilante."

"If I hadn't shown up when I did, Mars and her crew would have gotten away and we'd still be trying to chase them down!... That is if we could find them! Team Galactic is unbelievably resourceful and I didn't have time to wait for back up that wouldn't have arrived for another two hours. Besides, look around you. There is no telling what Team Galactic wanted with all of these chemicals." I stated as I motioned toward the cargo that was stacked in heaps around me and at the warehouse as well.

Helen gave a quick look in the direction of the warehouse and gave a nod. She then turned around and walked back towards the rest of the officials arresting Team Galactic and Commander Mars. My job here was done, there was not enough proof to pin the explosion on Mars, but there was definitely no denying that Team Galactic had been the ones behind the attack. We may have not captured the one responsible, but I was at least able to bring a part of their syndicate to justice. And that was nothing to guff at.

I walked away from the warehouse district and back to the hotel I was staying at where I would be able to rest and then take the next plane back to the refuge in the resort area. I was terribly exhausted, but there was something itching at the back of my mind. Those chemicals. Team Galactic wasn't exactly known for their bio weapons. They were more technology based. Eterna was a big city and very big on trading traffic. That cargo must have been sent here from somewhere. There was no telling who was supplying them with biohazard materials. But I didn't have a good feeling; something just didn't fit right…