Chapter 2
(This chapter is much better than the last one. Better narrative and such...)
After what happened in Oreburgh Maze, Jenny gave each of the Heroes their own rooms in the headquarters. At least until they could find a way to get back home.
"You'll also need these." Jenny told them, handing them what looked like the kind of stage microphones that you clipped to your ear.
"What are these?" She-Bang asked, looking at the one she had received.
"Tele-transmitters. They help us find your position, and work as communicators as well." Jenny told her quickly. "You'll need them in case you get separated. Also, here." She added, giving them what looked like digital wristwatches. "These are Poke'techs. They have two maps, a phone, two different kinds of clocks, and a ton of other functions."
"Thanks." Static said, as Gear evaluated his. She-Bang put hers on and posed a bit, and Rubberband Man didn't do much, except put his arm through the loop.
"Now that you've got all your equipment, we can start our hunt for Dark Rose!" Jenny exclaimed triumphantly, putting her foot up on a stool from nowhere, accompanied by fanfare in her head.
"Uh, that's great and all, but where are we supposed to look?" Rubberband Man asked, deflating Jenny instantly.
"Well…"
"I'm on it." Marina said, entering through the hidden entrance and sitting down at the computer marked Suspects.
"Excellent work ethic Marina!" Jenny exclaimed, before turning to the heroes. "We should get to work as well!" At that, she released her Growlithe. "Growlithe, go on patrol for Dark Rose activity. But remember to remain inconspicuous, I'd hate for you to get stolen." The Growlithe barked once and left. "Marina, shall you send a Pokemon out as-"
"I'd prefer to do my own work." The girl stated sharply and swiftly, not turning away from the computer. There was a pause before anyone spoke again.
"…Alrighty then. Static, Gear, She-Bang, Rubberband Man. Those were your names, correct?" Jenny asked.
"Yes."
"I'll show you to your rooms." She said, walking ahead. The heroes looked at each other and then silently followed her.
Two Weeks Later
The heroes were running after a figure, a figure who was supposed to be working with Dark Rose. This was the fourth run so far, though it seemed the most promising. The last three had been dead ends, false leads and misinformation. Nothing had gone right for the past two weeks, from the virus getting into the computers (luckily, Marina had the foresight to back the computers up, so almost nothing was lost) to She-Bang getting some sort of flu that, apparently, was a mutated strand that only attacked people like her.
The figure, a man in his forties, turned a corner, only to come across a dead end. Sweating, he turned around to see his only way out was blocked off my various people, two in police uniforms, and four in strange outfits. Scared and figuring he had nothing to lose, he let loose a Koffing.
"Smokescreen!" He screamed, and the purple floating mine released just that. Most of the people were sent into a coughing fit, until Static cleared the smoke.
"Where's the suspect?" Officer Jenny cried, angry she let a target get away.
"Gear and Marina are gone too." Rubberband Man pointed out. "I don't think Mr. Grata is getting away."
And he was right. At that moment, Gear, who's visor still protected him from smoke and gasses (and had been specially tinkered with to do so) and Marina, who'd pulled her hat over her mouth and eyes, were giving chase.
"For an old guy, this dude can run." Gear said, breathing heavy.
"Be grateful I know Mount Coronet like the back of my hand." Marina said, her training keeping her from getting as tired as fast. "I've only climbed the outside like, forty times. And I'm not going into the amount of spelunking I've done in here." She told him, before chuckling.
"What?" Gear asked."'Spelunking'. It's just such an odd word. Never really used it before." She replied, causing Gear to roll his eyes.
"What is it with the word 'spelunking' and people in general?" He asked, and Marina shrugged. There was a pause, interrupted only by Gear's panting.
"We sound like idiots." Marina noted, after the pause. "Just two normal, stupid teenagers talking about nonsense, like you'd do while watching a Pokemon battle, or chowing down at the food court in a mall." She chuckled. "But we're not normal, are we?"
"No. No we're not. Well, I'm not." Gear said. "You seem pretty normal." Marina chuckled again.
"Trust me, I'm not normal." With that, the two slid into another chamber, where the man was scrambling to get out a hole.
"Peachie!" Marina yelled, throwing a Poke' Ball. "Bubblebeam!" In a flash of red, a Pokemon that seemed to be made of pink coral, a Corsala, appeared, and followed her trainers commands. Perhaps a bit to well though, as there was an explosion. "Why" Marina yelled aloud as the man fell unconscious to the floor, "do powerful attacks always do that? I mean, Bubblebeam is made out of water for crying out loud!" Just then, she noticed something at her feet, and, recognizing it immediately, picked it up.
"Well." Gear said, looking at the unconscious man. "He's defiantly not dead. No blood."
"Yeah…" Marina said, before tossing the item she had in her hands to him. "Catch." Gear yelped in surprise and a bit of fear. The item was his helmet.
"Th-thanks." He said, putting it back on quickly.
"I'm surprised something like that hasn't happened yet. Well, whatever." Marina shrugged, before pulling out some hadcuffs, and walking over to the man, muttering something under her breath about 'resisting arrest' or some such. After a few awkward moments, Officer Jenny and the Heroes came in.
"Excellent work, Marina!" Officer Jenny said happily, prying the unconscious, handcuffed man off the floor with ease.
"Just doing my job, ma'am." Marina replied with a shrug, before glancing at Gear, who looked down. The tension went unnoticed by everyone else.
That Night
"I'm heading to bed." Gear announced, heading towards his room. Everyone was in the police lounge, watching a soccer game.
"All ready? It's barley seven." Static pointed out. Gear just shrugged.
"I'm tired." He said, before turning. A few minutes after he left. Marina stood up and headed towards his room, unobserved by the others.
"Gear?" Marina asked, stepping into the boy's room. The boy was in his pajamas, and quickly hid his face. "I already remember what you look like, remember?" Slowly, the boy lowered his hands. "I want to talk to you, but first…" She trailed off, then before Gear could react, Marina had sent out a Zubat. "Ethan, use Mean Look." She said calmly. Immediately, Gear was alone in pitch black darkness, suddenly a single, realistic, red eye, almost as big as he was, blinked open in front of him, before closing itself, blinking out of existence. A second afterwards, a thousand other red eyes opened, surrounding him and he felt himself go rigged, mostly from fear, before they blinked out of existence themselves with a screech. Gear found himself rigged, almost paralyzed, and facing Marina, who spoke again, the Zubat hanging from her arm, which was stretched out to the side. "I don't want what I'm going to tell you to leave this room." Gear nodded, able to do that much and afraid of what might happen if he didn't agree.
An hour and a half later, Marina returned Ethan, and Gear felt his muscles relax, before he sat on the edge of his bed dumbfounded.
"You're lying. You have to be." Was all he could say. There was no reply, as Marina simply turned and left, giving him one last, honestly concerned, glance at the door, before leaving for her own room. "It can't be true…" He muttered, before flopping onto his bed, muttering about what he had heard. The last thing he did before falling asleep was to look at device, a Pokedex, Marina had called it, and to hide it.
All the heroes were awoken by a siren going off, and flashing red lights.
"No more fire pants!" Shenice yelled, before realizing her surroundings, and smiling weakly at herself, embarrassed, but thankful she had her own room. Once she got her bearings, she changing into her costume, becoming She-Bang and joining the boys, Marina, and Officer Jenny in the main room. "What's going on?"
"We've discovered the location of an Underground Battling Ring." Marina said, grabbing a backpack. "An area that holds horrible tournaments where people have Pokemon try to kill each other. According to an informant, there's a tournament going on now." She-Bang nodded.
"Let's move out!" Jenny yelled, which the Heroes had quickly learned she did before almost every mission.
"Where. Is. The. Stupid. OPENING?" Static yelled, getting more frustrated by the moment. They'd been searching for where, according to Marina's informant, the opening to an Underground Battling Ring was, but so far, all they'd ended up with was a wicked case of poison ivy (or poison oak, in Marina's case, though it was hard to tell). Marina shushed him.
"Shush!" She hissed. "If there is a UBR around here, you'll scare everyone off before we can bust them!" The girl rolled her eyes. Long-term stealth didn't seem to be Static's thing, and she almost laughed at his condition, the poison ivy all over his face and hands making him almost look like he was decorated in red tinsel, but she didn't look much better. Just then, her highly trained eye noticed something unusual.
Most holes on boulders weren't shaped like handprints. She studied it closer. Yep, it was rubbed worm, hidden and twice as big as a normal person's hand, but that was definitely shaped like a handprint.
"Yo Gear." She called quietly. Gear, who had been uncharacteristically emotionless all day, walked over. "Think this is some kind of switch?"
"Maybe." Gear shrugged, and Marina almost groaned. She almost thought that telling him was a bad idea… it seemed to short circuit him. Or most of his brain, one of the two.
"Fine. Don't help." She said, rolling her eyes. "But if I set off a security alarm because my fingerprints don't match or something, I'm blaming you. Same goes for if I lose my hand." And with that, she pushed her hand into the hole, and pushed. And immediately, the boulder disappeared, and was replaced by an odd, round… thing, that was big enough for all of them to stand on.
"What the… What is that?" Gear asked, more to himself then to anyone else.
"Holy Miltank, it's a Teleporter Tile!" Marina exclaimed, surprised and happy, apparently knowing what the thing was. "I thought those were only in Kanto and Hoenn." She said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin with a mischievous smile on her face, before turning to Officer Jenny and the other Heroes, who were so absorbed in their own searches, they had somehow missed a boulder disappearing into thin air. Marina whistled, dawning their attention to the discovery. Jenny looked a bit defeated, before brightening up.
"Excellent work Marina, as always." She said, a bit humiliated, before cheering up. "Where does it go?" Marina smiled.
"Let's find out!" She exclaimed, grabbing Gear and pulling him onto the Tile before he could protest. In an instant, the two were gone. The heroes and Jenny were shocked for a second, before following them. A single flash of white light later, and they were overlooking a stadium, just a normal, brown one, with thousands of seats surrounding the arena, almost all of them filled. There wasn't any blood on the floor of the arena, but almost all their stomachs gave a lurch at the same time when they noticed several Pokemon corpses, from a Houndoom that clearly went through a lot of battles and went down fighting, to a Ralts that looked like it had never stood a chance.
"We need a way to break up the festivities." Jenny mussed to herself. "But first, is that the only exit?"
"Yes Ma'am, if my informant is correct." Marina confirmed, saluting. Gear rolled his eyes, which went unnoticed by the others. Or, most of the others.
"Hey Gear, you okay?" Static asked, concerned for his best friend. "You've been acting weird lately."
"I'm fine, bro." Gear said with a shrug. "Just, had a nightmare last night is all." Static looked at him, not believing his friend for a second, but he decided now wasn't the best time to talk about whatever was bothering him.
"I'll take care of breaking up this… nice little party." Marina said, before throwing her Poke Ball into the air. "Peachie, Bubblebeam the lights!" The Corsala obeyed, and spat mostly solid, highly compressed bubbles towards the lights, blowing a circuit. Panic ensued immediately. Everyone in the crowd thinking one of the starved Pokemon had gotten loose. Until someone noticed the heroes and the girls in police uniforms, and the panic died, though only by the slightest of margins.
"Ethan, Mean Look!" Marina yelled, releasing the Zubat. Memories of last night came fresh to Gear's mind, and he shuddered slightly. To think she'd use that attack on a huge crowd of innocent, for the most part, people… It was horrible. But then again, why wouldn't she? All things considered…
The next hour and a half involved handcuffing everyone involved, that is, the trainers that were getting their Pokemon killed for profit. Nearly everyone else was going to be brought in as well, though, for questioning. To the heroes, it felt like it took forever.
"Now all that's left is to get the Pokemon to the Center…" Jenny smiled, once everybody was restrained, before leading the heroes to where the Pokemon were kept. Once they got there, however, they received a shock.
"Aw crud." Marina cringed, holding a bag of the Poke Balls in her hand.
"Marina…" Jenny said shocked. No one noticed Gear, the only one not surprised, shaking his head. "You're… you're stealing the… what?"
'Marina' groaned, before jumping back onto one of the shelves for storing Pokemon, then tossing something at Officer Jenny and the heroes, who scattered.
"Guess I had to be found out eventually." 'Marina' shrugged. "Ethan, Peachie!" She yelled, and the two mostly unintimidating Pokemon darted in, before the girl returned Peachie, leaving only speedy Ethan.
"Marina, what's gotten into you!" Officer Jenny yelled, horrified.
"The real Marina has been locked up in my closet, which I've turned into a hammerspace resort, for over two months." The girl smirked. Officer Jenny blanked, then grew angry.
"THEN WHO ARE YOU!" She screamed.
"You really do have a few screws loose." The girl said with a roll of her eyes. "Why not take a look at that gift I threw to you?" She smirked as Officer Jenny, warily, turned to look at the item she had thrown. She, and all the heroes except Gear, were horrified when they saw what it was.
"She was so close…" Static groaned, before turning to attack the girl. Unfortunately, she had taken the momentary distraction to make herself scarce. Gear simply walked over to the symbol she'd thrown, and picked it up, unseen. A black rose.
Dark Rose had struck again.
