The camera array targeted the falling figures, providing high-resolution close ups of Leo's terrified face from several different angles. Far below, a figure watching behind a screen smiled in approval and reached to the microphone mounted on his desk.
"Attention all personnel. The chicken has flown the coop. Begin all preparations and activate all failsafe measures." Someone else appeared from the darkness.
"Hey." the mysterious lurker said. The official turned in his seat, surprise written on his face. "Guy, shouldn't you be downstairs right now?" he said. 'Guy' shrugged with indifference. "I can get down there in a few seconds if I take your elevator. Also, those dudes are still falling. Got any good ideas on how to catch them?"
The official smirked and pressed a button. Eight electromagnetic motors spun to life, activating two parts of the elevator shaft's anti-gravity drive. Cole and Leo literally stopped falling and turned over and over in midair, suspended over a mile above the floor of the geofront. Another button and the elevator shot up from the bottom station to rescue the hapless heroes.
'Guy' whistled appreciatively. "Nice job. I'll be heading downstairs now." The seated man grinned, and switched his monitor over to diagnostics.
Leo was too busy trying to understand that he had stopped falling to recognize the elevator coming upwards. He was trying to figure out why a metallic square was getting larger suddenly, and then it hit him. Literally, as in the elevator crashed into him.
Leo and Cole lay on the top for a minute or so. Cole got up first, and opened a hatch on the top of the elevator. He gestured for Leo to jump down inside. Unlike last time, Leo jumped without hesitation and made a perfect four-point landing on the thick elevator carpet.
After a quick glance upwards, he stepped to the side as Cole followed. Leo noticed that the walls of the elevator were made of glass, giving him a much better view of the geofront.
There was a huge grassy field with a large park in the middle, and several dome-shaped buildings surrounding that. The ceiling of the huge dome covering the entire area seemed to be made of natural rock except for it's uncanny smoothness.
Cole hit the button to make the elevator return to the ground floor. Leo was left alone with his thoughts.
He's angry at me… I should have just jumped when he asked. Now that he knows I'm such a coward, he won't trust me with anything anymore. Why couldn't I just jump?
With a woosh, a trap door slid open on the roof of one of the dome buildings seen from above to accommodate the elevator. The buttons flashed and the doors opened. The charmander walked over to the door and turned around. "This is the dormitory. Your room should be on the right, next to mine. Just call if you need anything-we've got different departments to handle any eventuality." he said.
Leo thanked him and stepped into the dormitory. Cole left in the other direction, muttering something about being on time. Leo decided that just standing around wouldn't get him anything, and decided to start looking for the room that Cole had promised.
There were only four rooms- two on each side of the small hallway. Leo walked to the door on the right and was mildly disturbed by the fact that his name was already printed on it. I guess that settles it-they knew I was coming. Spooky. The door was already unlocked.
Behind the door was a small efficiency apartment, with a television, a recliner and a well stocked minifridge. There also was a closet-sized bedroom and an impossibly small bathroom. There wasn't a stove, but Leo wasn't much of a cook anyway. Struggling to survive doesn't lend itself to luxury.
As he checked the tv, he noticed it only had three channels-one was some kind of private newscast, one had security camera footage for most of the geofront and surface, and one was specifically for the gaming systems.
Leo examined the surface cameras to get a better look at the other city, but the picture wasn't really clear at all because of the extreme distance. He did see some fires in the streets and some damaged buildings. Pretty much everyone on both sides were hidden, and the news channel was just broadcasting a test pattern.
Leo turned the TV off and draped himself over the couch's armrest, falling asleep in minutes.
Leo was startled by a knock on the door. The clock said it was almost 2:30, which meant he might have slightly overslept. "Who is it?" Leo called out, momentarily forgetting that whoever it was probably outranked him. Even if it was the janitor. And considering these people had an underground base, the janitor definitely outranked an ordinary street cat.
The door began to shake again. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm coming!" Leo did a rather impressive flip off the couch and opened the door. He came face to face with a red eye, which belonged to a Yamask floating in front of the door. Instead of a mask, the ghost-type held a pushbroom with his tail thingy.
Leo tried desperately to think of something to say. "I'm guessing you're the janitor? If you're here to clean my room-it's already pretty clea-"
He was cut off with a stare that would have boiled water. Leo moved aside and let the guy pick up some cleaning supplies from the room's closet. Abruptly, the door banged shut behind him.
Sitting down outside the door, Leo heard the phone Cole had given him ringing from inside the room.
He was caught between answering the phone and suffering the wrath of the temperamental janitor, so he opened the door a crack and said, "Hey, that's my phone ringing. Can you throw it out here to me?" A moment later, the phone impacted Leo in the face, sending his ears into a fit of ringing. Leo took the call, and Cole's voice crackled over the speaker.
"Hey, just wanting to see if you're ready for this afternoon! Did the janitor show up?" Cole said.
"Yeah. He did. Did I make him angry or something?" Leo asked.
"No. He just really hates dirt. He can take you where you need to go. Try not to worry so hard. I'll explain more later." The phone went dead.
Leo decided to take his chances and yell to the janitor again. "Hey, janitor-" The door swung open a crack, revealing the Yamask's face. "People call me Guy." the Yamask said. "What kind of name is Guy?" Leo said. "I suppose yours is much better?" was Guy's response. "Leo. My name's Leo. Did Cole ask you to help me out? I've got no idea where to go next."
"Hold on one second." was Guy's reply as he ducked back into the room, shutting the door behind him. Instantly a loud crashing noise began inside. Leo tilted his head to the side, trying to understand why the Yamask was yelling "GIGA DUST BREAKER!" at the top of his lungs.
The door swung open and Guy placed his mop back into it's bucket.
"Alright then. Let's get going-I don't think the boss will be happy if we're late." The ghost-type began to float down the hall toward the far end door.
Leo followed, trotting down the hallway to keep up with the other pokemon. "Why? Cole didn't say anything about this-Where are we going?" the Shinx asked.
Guy turned to Leo without slowing down. "To the hangar." he said simply. "We want you to work for us, Leo. You care about your city, don't you? What if I told you that you had an opportunity to protect our people in this time of crisis?"
Leo wasn't sure what to think. What is this guy talking about? If I could help people and protect them… This city hasn't been all that good to me- they were more than happy to look the other way while we starved. But that doesn't mean that they're bad, either! If I can protect the gang, then maybe I can repay them for letting me run with them. And if I can help anyone else, that'd be just great. Most of them don't deserve to die…
Guy reached out and grabbed Leo's leg, pulling him forward toward the door. Leo yelped in suprise as Guy pushed the door open with his other arm. The door lead to the outside of the geofront, and a small bench sat between them and a lowered set of train tracks. "What?" Leo said. "Are we taking a train?" Guy simply made a gesture as the train pulled into the station.
The train was, interestingly enough, lacking a roof or walls. Other passengers would have sat in seats mounted on flat cars, but there were none besides Cole and Leo. Rain was gently falling, because the geofront was big enough to have it's own weather system. The rain just bounced off an invisible dome over each train car.
"That has got to be the most impressively impractical thing yet." Leo said. "Guy, can I ask you a question?" Guy turned a bleary eye toward his young charge. "Shoot." he said. "If this place has so much funding, why do they still have janitors instead of cleaning robots or something?" Leo asked.
Guy chucked. "Son, I've been working here since this place was dug- Pheonix just can't bring himself to finally let me go."
The train came to a halt, and the domes switched off.
"So who is this Pheonix, Guy?" Leo said. "He's the boss and founder of SEAL, and even though there's a governing council, they would gladly blow up the base if he asked politely." Guy said. "SEAL? What does that stand for?" Leo said. "It stands for Secret Ecological Atmospheric Level. Or something like that. It seems that we're at the hangar." Guy answered.
They exited the train in front the largest dome in the center of the geofront. Examining his surroundings, Leo was surprised to see many statues of other Pokemon spread in a circle around a fountain in the middle of the train station. It seemed like a memorial of some sort.
The statue closest to him was of a Raichu, done with incredible detail. Looking closer, Leo noted each individual strand of hair carved into the stone as if they were sparking with electricity. Guy noticed that Leo had stopped and turned back toward him. "Do you like it?" Guy asked. "Yeah. It must have taken years to carve." Leo answered. "Actually, only seven months. This place is a graveyard of sorts, for those who sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could know peace."
Neither of them said a word for a moment.
"We've got to get going." Guy said. "You can come back later and I can explain who they all are. But now, it is your time. You won't want to keep the others waiting." With that, the ghost-type began to float down the path toward the sizable dome.
Leo paused briefly in front of three statues of a Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Scyther poised against an unknown threat, before taking off after his guide. Several huge blast doors loomed over them as they walked down the path leading to the hangar dome, which several large signs named as such in various fonts, colors, and languages. Guy approached confidently and came to a halt as Leo hung slightly behind him. An ear-shattering grinding noise began as the doors began to swing open to reveal a completely ordinary metal door set into the wall.
Guy pushed the door open to reveal a giant white figure towering over him. The ghost turned around to see Leo unmoving with a look of pure shock on his face. Guy sighed and grabbed onto Leo's paw, pulling him inside as the door shut automatically.
Leo snapped himself out of his daze and stared more closely at the giant's face. A dragon-like muzzle was set below two sets of faintly glowing blue eyes. Two fins ending in white tufts of fur emerged from it's shoulders. The white titan resembled some sort of legend, easily fifteen or twenty times Leo's height.
A voice rang through the hangar, originating from the white dragon even though it's mouth failed to move at all. "You got here early, Leo. Nice job." Somehow, the voice seemed oddly familiar to Leo.
"Cole?" Leo asked. "Yeah. I'm piloting this thing." Cole responded. "We call it Model R. Essentially, it's a giant robot and SEAL's pride and joy. My job is to protect what's left of the city from the other world's army. I called you here a bit early so that you can get suited up and in your robot."
Leo slumped back on his hindquarters.
My own giant robot? Who the hell do they think I am? Do they want me to protect people with one of those-those things? I'm going to be lucky if I can even get something like that to move at all.
Guy started to say something, but Cole cut him off.
"We need to be going. Guy?" Cole said. "Yes?" was Guy's response. "I'm afraid I can't let you come any farther." Cole said. "We have to get going. Thanks for that-I owe you another one."
Guy executed an exaggerated bow without any part of him touching the ground."The pleasure was all mine, good man."
Cole turned toward Leo and grinned as he helped him up with a single one of the model's fingers. The effect of seeing the smile on the model's gigantic face was somewhat unsettling.
"You ready to get suited up?" the pilot asked. Leo got the feeling his answer didn't really matter.
"Yeah. I'm ready to go and bravely run away." the Shinx replied sarcastically.