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Chapter IV
Smugleaf wondered about the PRA's rate of success when doing their missions. At first glance, they were clumsy and stumbling around a lot. One Pokémon repeatedly dropped its crossbow and picked it up, and Wotter had to continuously berate poor the thing. Were these Pokémon new recruits, or were they just complete amateurs? How they got into the PRA, Smugleaf don't wanna know, she doesn't need to know.
When the PRA made it to the facility in question, Smugleaf was disappointed. The compound was a small one, not really impressive. It looked more like a warehouse for welding equipment, the Miller logo displayed on the face of the building was cracked and bleached, the parking lot was growing weeds. Everything that could age was old and needed to be replaced. This place was derelict for a long time, yet it was recently bought. Smugleaf could see security guards walking around, they were young and fit. Fresh from the latest generation. They whistled a tune while swinging their batons around their cords. If Smugleaf had to rate these guards for their effectiveness, she would give them a big fat zero. These rent-a-cops were trained to deal with petty thieves, not professional burglars. Heck, whose to say the PRA were professional burglars?
The group sat on a cliff overlooking the facility as day turned to night, the vegetation was enough to break up their outline. Everyone laid perfectly still. The human eye, trained or not, can pick up movement in the shadows. Even in darkness. Smugleaf laid on her belly, watching the guards shrug along the sides of the warehouse with a pair of binoculars. Wotter sat beside her, she could feel his eyes scanning her back instead of the warehouse. The Dewott should be keeping his peepers pointed to the building, but obviously he had something else in mind.
"Dewott De?" Wotter asked. Do you have any siblings?
"Sniv Snivy Sniv." Smugleaf replied in her Pokémon language, keeping her eyes on facility. I have a younger brother.
"Dewott?" Where's he?
Smugleaf shrugged, "Snivy Snivy Sniv, Snivy Snivy Sni." Last that I heard, he was making millions.
"Dewott Dewott, De?" Does he have a name, like you?
"Snivy, Sni Sni Snivy." Grasshole, because he's quite an ass.
Wotter lit up, "Dewott, Dewott!" Oh, I watch his show on TV!
"Snivy Sni?" The Grasshole Show?
"De!" Yeah!
Smugleaf chuckled, and said in human speech, "Well, then you also know he speaks human."
"How did you speak human, Smugleaf?" Nobark asked as he came along.
"About three weeks ago, I was wondering in a back alley in Straton City. I was rummaging through a trashcan when suddenly I found something of interest. It was a couple of worn out paperback books. One was an outdated dictionary, the other was a novella written decades ago. I took them, because I thought they might worth my while. First I read the dictionary, from cover to cover, twice. Reading the pronunciation and all that was hard, but it came to me, somehow. Then I read the novella. It was a good book, eventually I try to say the written words out loud. First single words, then sentence, then paragraphs. Until finally I finished the book speaking two different languages.
"I learned a similar way," said Nobark, "Irvin was very thorough with his teaching. My voice sounded like sandpaper when I tried to speak the human language. Eventually I learned to speak the language, then read the language. I was well-read before I found myself with a shaking arm."
"Outstanding."
Nobark sat cross-legged next to Smugleaf, setting down his AK-47, "Tesla knows how to speak human as well, learned it a similar way. He too was well-read, he even documented his thoughts with his own hand."
"You're close with Tesla?" Smugleaf asked.
"Like I said, he was like a big brother. Mostly a mentor, but like a big brother. We both know what would become of us once Irvin passed, and we were right."
"Where is he now?"
"Running from the law in our trainer's hometown, you heard of Faraday Island?"
"Unova's rebellious province?"
"Yeah, he's stuck in the city with the same name. Living off the trash while avoiding Pokémon trainers and cops. I felt bad about him, he pretty much inspired me to start up the PRA in the first place."
Smugleaf sat up and stretched her arms, "So what's the plan?" she asked, getting back on task.
"Wotter will create a diversion," said Nobark, "then you and me sneak in and free the Pokémon. Everybody else would be our support if things go awry."
"Do we know where Team Rocket keeps these Pokémon?" Smugleaf asked.
"The center of the building, away from the windows and such. They can scream all they want, but nobody won't hear them. They will be in cages, so we'll need to find the keys unless we can pick the locks."
"I know how to pick locks." said Smugleaf.
Nobark smiled through his sneer, "This might go smoothly then."
. . .
The new moon helped a lot, the PRA could stick to the shadows for almost the whole mission. Maybe even hold the element of surprise for the entire mission. Smugleaf figured that the integrity of the mission lay with her, it was just her and this Nobark. She liked the old Scrafty, he had lived his life to its fullest, now he was spending his golden years chasing a cause that he might never achieve. Maybe he would be the stepping stone for it, might happen years after his death. Maybe Smugleaf would live long enough to see it happen.
For her, it would start here, in this facility. Smugleaf had heard of Team Rocket, but wasn't too sure what they really do. Kidnap and sell Pokémon, yes. But what were the conditions? She was going to find out.
"Okay," said Nobark, "Everyone's in place, once Wotter start the music we would slip in while the humans are distracted."
"What's he gonna do?" Smugleaf asked.
"He's going to rig a few trucks' alarm systems to go off, it should be enough to wake up the entire neighborhood."
Smugleaf chuckled, "They're going to think it was the local delinquents."
"Maybe," said Nobark, "Unless they saw Wotter escaping."
"You sure he knows what he's doing?"
"Our techies built several small jamming devices, he's going to attach them underneath the trucks, somewhere out of reach. They have a timer, they would trigger the alarms and keep them going for two hours, that way the humans can't deactivate the alarms with simple electronic keys. If it comes to it, they would have to pop open the hoods and rip the batteries out."
"Which takes time." added Smugleaf.
"Exactly."
A car alarm went off, followed by another. The alarms blared in a repeating tone, shattering the silence like a freight train. Birds were rudely awaken from their nests and took to the skies, their angry calls deadened by the alarms. The security guards patrolling the warehouse took note of the trucks, a few muttered into their radios to report the noise. Overall, the guards stayed in place. Smugleaf tried to look for the trucks. She found them, they were just down the street. The placement of the buildings made sure that most of the noise gets funneled towards the targeted warehouse. Some people came out complaining about the noise, eventually a whole crowd of nocturnal folks showed up to investigate.
When the guards notice several other security personnel taking to the streets, they finally abandoned their posts to see what was going on, "Now's our break," said Nobark, "Let's move."
Nobark ordered the Panpour to keep the PRA on the cliff, not to act unless they heard gunshots. The old Scrafty then took Smugleaf down the cliff up to the chain-linked fence.
"Let's hope these ole muscles still have what it takes." said Nobark, he stretched his arms and raised his AK-47.
Smugleaf and Nobark climbed the fence and dropped to the other side. They took cover behind some wooden crates, sticking to the shadows as they made their way into the facility. They then climb down the ladder into a trench. Nobark led Smugleaf to an iron grate from what appeared to be covering a drainage pipe, the grate was rusted and brittle, ready to break. Nobark sat down his assault rifle and positioned himself in front of the grate, he grabbed the sides with both hands and plowed his head into it. The grate broke upon impact, shattering into pieces while kicking up dust. The noise was muted by the car alarms, no one suspected a thing.
"You shouldn't be doing that." Smugleaf advised.
"It doesn't hurt," said Nobark as he picked up his gun, "Besides, I only do it when I need to."
Nobark crawled into the drainage pipe and Smugleaf followed behind. The pipe was a tight squeeze, Smugleaf thanked herself for not being claustrophobic. She struggled to crawl through the small tunnel, trying her best not to breathe too much. No telling what kind of muck this warehouse drains. It doesn't smell, so it couldn't be sewage. She questioned Nobark's logic in coming into the warehouse through a drainage pipe, where does it lead?
"Pat," muttered a chirpy voice, "Patrat."
A loud thump of a metal object thundered down the pipe, it sent a shiver down Smugleaf's spine, "Shut up, you little rodent!"
The pipe opened up to a large concrete pit, faint florescent light shined down through a floor grate above them. Smugleaf looked up and saw a Team Rocket grunt tormenting a Patrat. The Patrat was stuck in a cage, a really small cage. The roof of the cage forced the Scout Pokémon to hunch over in an uncomfortable position. Smugleaf was appalled, the cage might break its back if it were dropped. Nobark pulled Smugleaf to the side of the concrete pit, the two held their breath and hid in the shadows, watching the scene unfold.
"Patrat," the Scout Pokémon muttered again, "Pat."
The grunt jabbed his baton into the Patrat's side, it gave off a loud squeal, "I said shut up," barked the grunt, "Don't you rodents ever listen!?"
The Patrat said nothing, it hunched over and passed out. The grunt held the Patrat's head up with the tip of his baton, laughing to himself. Smugleaf could see the keys to the Patrat's cage, clipped to the grunt's belt, "That's better, and stay quiet, you little rat!"
The guard left the room, slamming the door behind him. Nobark quietly stepped out of the shadows, then sighed, "He's knocked out cold, poor thing."
"What kind of place is this?" Smugleaf asked.
"The stuff of horrors," said Nobark, "This is where poached Pokémon wound up, sold off to a black market, where they're forever enslaved. What you saw here is nothing compared to their HQ. If Team Rocket has any Pokémon with signs of resistance, even a tiny spark of defiance, they are killed and their bodies dumped in the septic tank."
"Holy shh . . ." Smugleaf felt her voice caught, she pressed her temples and stared up at the grate, then exhaled, "How do we get up there?"
Nobark looked around, "Over there."
A ladder was bolted to the concrete, leading up to a grate door. Nobark started up the ladder and Smugleaf followed suit. The eerie silence made her skin crawl, if the trucks' alarms were still blaring, then the sound didn't reach her. The evil of this place was so strong, she could feel its weight pressing upon her shoulders. Nobark reached the top of the ladder, he thrust himself up and broke the grate door free. He swung it open and helped Smugleaf up.
"You okay?" Nobark asked.
Smugleaf nodded, "Yeah, just a little shaken up."
"I knew you still have a heart, just learn how to control it."
"Okay."
Nobark stepped over to the door and opened it a crack, he peaked through and whispered, "Bastard's leaning on a chair by that desk, put him out of his misery. Quietly."
Smugleaf drew her knife and extended her two vines. Nobark widened the crack of the door, just enough for her to slip through. Sure enough, the guard was watching the TV. The room was dark, only a single lightbulb from a nearby desk lamp and the glow of the television screen lit the room. The baton sat in the middle of the desk, surrounded by half eaten donuts and empty candy wrappers. The grunt laughed at something at the TV, his laughter ironically concealed Smugleaf's footfalls. She got right behind him, the knife clamped firmly in her hand.
She gave the grunt no time to react, Smugleaf wrapped a vine around the grunt's neck and threw it back. A let out a loud crack, the grunt's arms went limp as he struggled to breathe. The knife went straight into his back, right into his kidneys. She gave it a hard twist and the grunt stopped moving. Smugleaf dropped the body on the floor and snatched the keys, she held it up for Nobark to see.
"A bit of overkill," said Nobark, "But very good."
Smugleaf handed the keys to Nobark and he approached the Patrat's cage, "Hang on, friend," said Nobark, he hoisted the AK-47 onto his back and tightened the gun sling, "We're going to get you outta here."
Nobark stuck the key in the big padlock and gave it a twist, the lock clicked loose. He pulled the lock off the hasp and opened up the cage, "Help me here, Smugleaf."
Smugleaf holstered the knife helped carry the Patrat out of the cage, "We gotta get him to a Pokémon Center."
"We have our own doctors back at camp," said Nobark, "They'll take care of him. All we need to worry about is getting him out of here."
Smugleaf hoisted the Patrat on her, "Back the way we came?" she asked.
"Yeah." said Nobark.
Nobark went down first, then Smugleaf. She went steady down the ladder, gripping the bars with sweaty palms. Smugleaf wrapped a vine around the Patrat for a better grip, she made it down without a problem.
"Let's get outta here," said Nobark, "No telling if the PRA started shooting yet."
Nobark went through the pipe first, then Smugleaf followed. He pushed the unconscious Patrat through the pipe first and followed suit. The Patrat barely squeezed through, Smugleaf had to push most of the way just to make ground. Hot sweat trail down her neck as she pushed her way through the pipe. It was getting difficult to breathe, she coughed as she fought through the dust. The Patrat's dead weight was zapping her strength. She told herself not to rest, she didn't wanna spend another moment in the drainage pipe more than she had to.
"Here we are," said Nobark, "Here, let me help."
Nobark pulled the Patrat out and Smugleaf climbed out of the drainage pipe. She breathed in fresh air and exhaled, "Out of there at last."
The trucks alarms were still going, this time there was more of a commotion. Smugleaf took the Patrat and hoist the Scout Pokémon on her back, her two vines wrapped firmly around him for support, "Let's go," said Nobark, "we're done here."
. . .
The PRA slipped out unnoticed by the humans. Nobark led the group back to the river, heading upstream. They reached a checkpoint where they stopped to rest. Nobody considered starting a fire, they were too exhausted to do anything else. An Audino tended to the Patrat, keeping his head elevated and his back aligned. The small cage had did him in, it would be weeks before he fully recovered. Smugleaf laid on her back from a job well done, she was just about to sleep when someone tapped her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Nobark looking down at her through the darkness, "We're resting for 10 minutes, then we'll move out. We won't stop until the next hour."
"Where are we going?" Smugleaf asked.
"PRA Headquarters, its 40 kilometers away. We'll be walking all night and morning."
Smugleaf yawned and sat up, "Will Team Rocket be after us?"
"We have to assume they're tracking us down right now. Smugleaf, I know you're a hunter in all, but you're now the hunted. You got to get use to that, either you like it or not."
"I work my way around obstacles before, I can handle it."
Nobark sat down across from Smugleaf, "You did good Smugleaf, kept things simple. You were quick on that grunt, how do you feel?"
"Tired," said Smugleaf, "I need to wash, you have a river near HQ?"
"Better, we have showers. Solar-heated showers."
Smugleaf lit up, "Hot water?"
Nobark nodded, "Yup."
"What about food?"
"We grow some of our food, but we often raid industrial warehouses. If we want to get ice cream, for example."
"I hadn't had ice cream in months!" Smugleaf scratched her chin and asked, "What about living space?"
"We have a lot of space, we'll have a bedroom for you. Walls are concrete, so they're soundproof. You'll have all the privacy if you want if you stick a sock on the doorknob."
"What about . . . You know, special creature comforts?"
"We have Pokémon who are very interested in keeping company, even Wotter might help."
"I think I'll have to pass on Wotter, he's too aggressive if you know what I mean."
Nobark chuckled, "Prefer a more gentler touch?"
"I prefer them soft and stupid. I'm not picky on the gender since all Pokémon look the same."
"You're bisexual?"
Smugleaf nodded, "Yes, my trainer's death messed me up. I'm not ashamed to admit that. My appetite pretty much taken over what's left of me."
"You're not alone there, it's the opposite in my case."
"Oh?"
Nobark sighed, "My sex life is over, I'm old and tired. I was a little like Wotter in my younger days, but more kinder. You ever look at yourself in the mirror and wondered if you could still recognize yourself after so much time goes by?"
"I had, once, after I took care of the Houndoom that killed my trainer," Smugleaf shook her head, "I didn't recognize myself. I used to be happy all the time, now I'm just a cut up version of what I used to be. I have a large void in my life that's going to suck me down into my grave, I might not be as successful as my dumb brother."
"Build yourself up," said Nobark, "Be self-made. That empty part of you is yours to customize. Heck, I named myself Nobark because I don't talk as often. I only talk when I need to."
"I was named Smugleaf because I smile a lot, or used to."
Nobark stood up and pointed a finger at her, "Don't say that, we've seen you smiling often."
Smugleaf frowned, "I was wearing a mask, it wasn't real."
"It's a habit, of course I know it wasn't real. But you were smiling, you just don't have any meaning for it yet."
"Meaning? Like the love and affection from a trainer?"
Nobark leaned closer, "Pokémon don't need trainers, they train themselves. They learn by watching others duke it out. Take mental notes. Then try them out later, figuring what works and what doesn't. My ole days were like that, it was a time when the Faraday gov'ment got out of its way and release a lot of restrictions on do hickeys, like this AK here."
"The gov'ment still do that?" Smugleaf asked.
"Only the Faraday gov'ment, not the other regional and provincial gov'ments. They have strict do hicky control laws, so strict that the only crap I managed to get were crossbows and twenty-twos for the PRA conscripts. If the PRA were based on Faraday Island, we would have neat toys. Yet we might not last five minutes against gov'ment forces. Heck, not against a simple police force for crying out loud!
"But here, the usual street cops and motorcycle cops and the automobile cops are simply arms with batons and Pokémon. Batons? Yeah right. Their Herdiers however, are disciplined beasts. Their thick fur holds up well against blunt attacks, maybe some range attacks. Maybe the full force of a sledgehammer on their damn back. Thing is they dish out and take in a lot of punishment. Don't bother fighting Vine Whip or Leaf Storm on them Smugleaf, trim their mustaches a bit with your knife. They won't know what's coming if you get on top of them before they act."
Smugleaf nodded, "So if you get the Herdier out of the way, what does the cop with the baton do?"
"That cop would either run away, or fight. Depending on how touch you are. I had seen human beings harm Pokémon in the past few weeks," Nobark repositioned himself and stretched out his legs, "Now that cop with the baton need to choose to fight or flight. A Pokémon like your size? Easy prey. Size matters in some cases, so the cop would prefer to knock a small Pokémon senseless rather than a big Pokémon, like a Bouffalant. Now if that Pokémon is holding a weapon, such as a knife, a tomahawk, or a gun. That cop will flee, because the Pokémon being boss has a better weapon. Look at all the cops in Unova, had you seen any carry a gun?"
"No."
"All they carry is batons. Yes, you might find an Officer Jenny with a gun, but don't expect it to be a reliable one. Police-issued .38 revolvers can't hit a barn door for sh*t."
"The cop might be trained well with it."
"True, but don't expect him to hit home. He aims for your heart, the torso. They do that because its an easier target to it. I hadn't seen a cop make headshots yet. I got a feeling I might some day. Who knows, I'm just getting too old for that kind of abuse."
Nobark turned towards Wotter, who was sleeping against a rock with his crossbow on his lap, "Scrafty," he said, "Scrafty Scrafty?" What time is it, Wot?
Wotter looked up and checked a battery-powered alarm clock, "De De, Wott." Twenty-three, fifty-two.
"Scrafty Scraf," he turned towards the other PRA members, "Scra Scraf, Scrafty Scraft. Scrafty Scraft!" Thanks Wotter. Okay guys, breaks over! Time to move out!
The Pokémon groaned as they got up, Nobark stood up and stretched his legs, "You think you can walk for an hour?" he asked Smugleaf.
"I'd walked longer, I can handle it."
"Okay then, let's go. We'll throw a party at the HQ when we get there."
Smugleaf smiled, this time her smile wasn't a mask.
THE END!