Awakening
Chapter 7: Tower
Upon their arrival at Vermilion City, Ashimi requested, "let's stop at the pokemon center. I think I got some mud from when you made that sudden turn."
"Me too... And it was your fault the mud was there to begin with." Jonathan reminded in a joking tone. He wasn't upset about the terrible crime of messing up such a great car anymore, as he had convinced himself that it could be fixed.
After a quick stop at the pokemon center to get themselves cleaned up, Jonathan announced that he was going to have the car cleaned. He would be content watching it and examining any other cool cars that might be in the establishment, but he knew cars only interested Ashimi when they were moving fast. It was the speed itself she loved more so than the means to achieve it. She'd probably get bored watching cars being washed and polished.
The redhead nodded and considered her options for a moment before coming to a choice. "I think I'll have a look around the city and maybe find someone to battle with before heading to the gym."
"Okay, see you later," thus they went their separate ways, with Jonathan heading to the carwash and Ashimi going off on foot to search for possible challengers.
xoxox xox xoxox
Ashimi headed to the Vermilion plaza, where she heard the sounds of a pokemon battle. Two boys around her age had just finished their match. It was Pidgey versus Rattata and the Pidgey won. However, the rodent had put up a good fight and the bird seemed tired. Ashimi made her way through the crowd of kids and teenagers as it began to disperse. "I want to battle too!" She announced.
The boy with the Rattata didn't turn back, assuming the victor was the one being addressed. The boy with the Pidgey shook his head. "Some other time, I don't think Pidgey can take another round right now," he admitted.
"Oh... Okay..." Ashimi realized that the boys didn't really keep more than one pokemon. Though they could battle, they were more so pets, probably not as strong as pokemon that battled more often and were specifically trained to be effective fighters. After the boys had both left and the crowd dispersed, as no challengers stepped up right away, a little boy approached Ashimi.
"Hello," the boy greeted. He was dressed a little oddly with a trench coat, a hat and big sunglasses.
Ashimi giggled, "hey kid, are you playing secret agent?"
The boy smiled, "yup! I'm going to be a secret agent and a pokemon trainer when I grow up. You're a pokemon trainer on a journey, aren't you? I want to go on a journey some day too!"
Ashimi guessed that the boy was around five, it would still be a few years until he could challenge any gyms, but maybe he could keep a pokemon as a pet and train it to get ahead of the game. "Do you have any pokemon?"
"Not yet," the boy replied. "But your pokemon looks super cool! Can I pet him? Please!"
Ashimi laughed, feeling a bit like a celebrity. Though her father had only taken his place as champion behind the elite four on a few occasions, it was enough for him to sometimes be recognized and for kids to ask him about pokemon training and even for his autograph. "What do you say, Pichu?" Pichu hopped into the boy's arms, amused by how enthusiastic Ashimi's new friend was. "What's your name?"
"Zero," the boy replied as he petted the little Pichu.
"I'm Ashimi," she automatically introduced herself with her nickname, not giving it any further thought.
"Your Pichu is awesome, miss Ashimi," Zero complimented. "Do you have more pokemon? Can I see them?"
"Sure!" Ashimi let Furball and Zubat out of their pokeballs. After some deliberation she let Squirtle out too. The little turtle looked around a bit scared, but seeing as there didn't seem to be a battle going on, he calmed down. Ashimi decided not to let Clefable out, least the pink pokemon embarrass her with her usual disrespect.
"Wow! So many pokemon, you must be an amazing trainer!" Zero exclaimed.
"Kind of," Ashimi feigned modesty.
"Can you show me what they can do? Pretty please?" Zero pleaded in a cute childish voice.
"No problem, prepare to be amazed!" Ashimi began to show off some of her pokemon's best traits, such as Zubat's speed, Furball's mastery of various elements and for Squirtle, she just had him retreat into his shell and pretended it was an advanced defensive maneuver that made him almost invincible.
While Ashimi coordinated the three pokemon, Zero offered Pichu some candy. Without any suspicion, the yellow pokemon ate it and felt very sleepy. A small crowd gathered to see the performance, clapping by the time Ashimi's improvised show was almost done. She intended to show off Pichu's power at the end, using his thunderbolt to simulate fireworks, but when she looked for Zero she didn't find him.
Assuming the show was over, the crowd dispersed and Zero remained missing. "Pichu?" Ashimi called out in disbelief. Her phone suddenly played the sound of an incoming text message and she looked at it. "I have your Pichu," the message read. "Meet me at the main Silph building in Saffon City if you want him back. Don't tell anyone, or I can't guarantee Pichu's safety." Ashimi looked around wildly, her eyes wide in shock. "This can't be happening!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, causing several passer-bys to stare at her oddly. She recalled her other pokemon into their pokeballs and began to run.
'My father spent years traveling around with Pikachu, defending him from experienced kidnappers and here my Pichu gets stolen by a kid! What an embarrassment!' With her thoughts racing, Ashimi rushed to the outskirts of the city. 'Silph is controlled by Team Rocket, if I can't get my Pichu back unnoticed, what will grandpa say? He's going to be so disappointed! Why didn't Pichu defend himself? Was he sedated or something? How did I not notice? Maybe if I hurry I can still catch up!' At least, she was in good shape from all the swimming she did.
When Ashimi reached the outskirts of the city, several realizations hit her beyond the haze of the panic. How did the kid know what number to text and why did he challenge her to chase him instead of just running off with Pichu and keeping quiet? "He can't be working alone," she concluded. If the little boy was working for someone else, that someone possibly had a car or some form of fast transportation and no matter how fast she ran, she wasn't going to catch them on foot. As for knowing her number, it had to be someone who had been watching her, someone who had a motivation to watch her. "Daala!" Ashimi gasped. "That little brat must have been Daala's lackey... When I get my hands on them!" She growled angrily. "Note to self, catch a flying pokemon big enough to ride." But for the time being she would have to work with what she had, "taxi!"
xoxox xox xoxox
Night fell over Saffron City and a storm settled in. Ashimi had texted Jonathan telling him that she had some stuff to do and would call him when she was done and ready to go to the Vermilion gym. He had been curious about what her business was, but Ashimi silenced him by saying it was girl stuff he wouldn't understand, though she wasn't even sure what that meant herself.
The taxi pulled over next to the Silph headquarters, which was closed for renovations. The driver whistled, "this is some storm." Lightning flashed across the distant sky and light rain began to fall. "Are you sure this is where you should be, kid?" The taxi driver didn't know who she really was or why she was there. "I thought this place was empty."
"Mostly," Ashimi made up an excuse. "My father is part of the renovation team, I'm going to meet him here." She paid the bill and the driver didn't question her any further. She exited the taxi and went around the building, searching for a way in.
"Welcome..." The back door opened on its own, controlled by the electronics integrated into the whole building. The voice coming from the telecom next to the door belong to that little boy from before, Zero.
Since the building was filled with surveillance cameras and audio detectors, Ashimi new she was being watched. How Daala and her allies managed to take over the building was something she didn't understand. "Where's your leader?"
"My leader?" The boy chuckled. "In the same place where your leader is."
Ashimi crossed her arms, displeased with what she interpreted to be meant as a rude remark, yet it was quite literal. "Where's Daala? She has Pichu, doesn't she?"
"I don't know who you speak of." The Silph building was dim and empty, the voice being projected echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
Ashimi's heart pounded, this was worse than when she faced Sabrina, this time Pichu could be... killed... "Where's my Pichu?!" Ashimi demanded to know.
The boy chuckled again. "He's here, at the top of this building. Come and get him if you dare!"
Of course she dared. Ashimi rushed towards the elevator doors that opened as if inviting her in, then she stopped. If the boy or whoever was with him was controlling the building from its main computer system, it wouldn't be a very smart move to jump into the elevator. She backed away then looked around for the stairs. She dashed towards the door behind which the emergency stairs awaited and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. Without wasting any time, Ashimi called out Furball. "Furball, cut this door down!" The Meowth exposed his claws, slashing at the wooden door, he kept cutting deeper until the door was no longer an obstacle.
"Stay on your guard." Ashimi looked at the spiraling stairs before her. The lamps were on but only dimly. There was at least more light than in the lobby, but not by much. The girl and her feline companion rushed up the stairs, then suddenly the stairs went flat and they slid down. "This won't stop us!" Furball jumped up on the metal banister and Ashimi held on to it to pull herself up. They made a lot of progress until the lights went out completely.
An odd sound was heard and Ashimi had a bad feeling. Furball hissed and the area was lit up by his thunderbolt. The object that had been rolling towards Ashimi, a wooden barrel, was broken open, spilling a multitude of pokeballs. "Woah!" Ashimi climbed onto the banister, stretching her body on it and wrapping her knees around it. "Okay... This is just like playing on a messed up jungle gym... Furball, you can see in the dark, right?" The feline made a sound of affirmation, his eyes glowing in the darkness. "Use a little spark, I'll follow that light." The golden coin on Furballs' forehead reflected the light as his whiskers moved in the static of the electricity. Ashimi followed him for a while, occasionally hearing more rolling barrels go by.
The banister abruptly became electrified, causing the Meowth and the girl to fall off it and slide down. Another rolling barrel was heard and Furball broke it. Once again it spilled pokeballs in its path, which made it even harder for them to stay on their feet, but it would have been worse if they were hit by the barrel. The banister remained electrified, so Ashimi couldn't use it to hold on to. "Someone has to be throwing those barrels from the top of the stairs. Go Zubat! Take Furball with you and stop whoever is throwing those barrels. Zubat, screech and create a diversion, Furball, since whoever is moving those barrels must be pretty strong, use a water pulse first, then a thunderbolt to make it more effective." Ashimi recalled Furball into his pokeball so Zubat would be able to carry him.
Taking the pokeball along, Zubat flew up the spiral of stairs to the top and released Furball there. They found a Machop had been throwing the barrels, but not for long! While the Machop was distracted by Zubat, Furball emerged from his pokeball and used water pulse. The Machop turned his attention away from the loudly screeching Zubat, but he was too slow. Furball was already charged up to attack and released a thunderbolt without delay. The Machop guard was knocked out instantly.
Ashimi grinned as she heard the sounds from above. Since she couldn't use the electrified banister as support and the flattened stairs were too slippery to stand on, she resorted to crawling her way up. It was slow, but at least she was getting somewhere. Once she reached the top of the stairs, light filtered in from the door leading to the rest of the floor. She saw the fainted Machop and commended her pokemon on a job well done. This wasn't the top of the building though. The spiraling stairs only went so far, since the higher levels were restricted. They shouldn't be closed up too tightly at the moment, because the building was being renovated and operations had been temporarily moved, but she would have to make her way to a different set of emergency stairs.
Ashimi opened the door to the next set of stairs, finding it unlocked, these stairs had a square winding style to them, instead of spiraling. She found the unlocked door to be very suspicious and held out an empty pokeball. She threw it and it collided with the wall, setting off several sensors as it moved through the air. Knives became embedded on the walls of the staircase, a deadly security measure. In the quiet of the night, the soft clicks of a reloading mechanism were heard. "I don't think I have enough things to throw to activate all the knives and who knows how many there are." After trying to think of a way to obtain safe passage, she released Squirtle.
Squirtle didn't like the eerie silent atmosphere and whimpered, his eyes watering. "It's okay Squirtle, this is the night when you learn to be brave!" Ashimi coaxed. The small turtle gave her a doubtful look. "This will be really simple, all you have to do is tug your head, arms, legs and tail into your shell and stay very still. Whatever you do, don't peek out, especially if you feel tapping on your shell, in fact, no matter what kind of conversation you hear, stay in your shell. When it's okay to come out, the password will be Pecha berry." The Squirtle looked visibly relieved. He wasn't sure about how useful this training exercise really was, but it sounded very easy. This was his chance to prove himself, so he eagerly did as he was told, assuming it was some kind of test of obedience.
"Okay..." Ashimi picked up Squirtle like a shield. "Furball, get on my back, Zubat, on my shoulder. I want you two to work together. Furball, try to see through the darkness for any marks on the walls. Zubat, use your super sonic waves to try to feel where the mechanism is hidden, just make sure you don't hit us with them. And Squirtle, no matter what, stay inside your shell until I say the password to come out. Here we go." Ashimi walked slowly and cautiously, crouching and shielding herself and her other pokemon with Squirtle's hard shell as much as she could. Zubat pointed at a spot on the wall and Furball squinted at it and nodded. "Where else?" Ashimi asked in a whisper.
The bat and the cat repeated their examination until they could pin point the location of the nearest series of attack mechanisms. "Furball, aim for the sensors and thunderbolt fry their circuits." Taking care not to shock his trainer, Furball released his electric power towards the trap. "Zubat, what do you sense?" Zubat gave a soft screech of alarm. "As I thought, the traps are too strong to be so easily disabled. The building's renovations are not finished, but they have some pretty good security in place. It looks like the traps only activate when the sensors pick up solid matter, so energy won't trigger them. Okay, I trust you were able to figure out the pattern, let's do this!"
Dashing forward, Ashimi held Squirtle's shell to her upper right and the knives shot from the wall bounced off it. Then she lowered it to her left, to the middle right, lower left, upper left, lower right and she pressed herself against the next door. No traps were triggering, it looked like the space between floors next to the door that led to each floor was safe. "Next round..." Thus it happened, as they went from one floor to another in the upper levels of Silph. They reached the final stretch at last, then Zubat let out a screech of alarm with more urgency than before. Furball used a small thunderbolt, not against the traps, as it wouldn't work, but to point out their location and light the way for Ashimi. "Above?!" Ashimi held the shell overhead and dashed forward, crashing into the door ahead in her haste and pushing it open.
Ashimi took a deep breath and looked over her pokemon. They were all alright. "We made it... Pecha berry." Squirtle came out looking confused and a little dizzy. "You did really well, Squirtle." She patted his head softly. "Get some rest in your pokeball now." She glanced at his shell briefly before recalling him and made a mental note to have the scratches polished off at the pokemon center and have a coat of hardening varnish added just in case. "Zubat, Furball, great team work back there, you were amazing." She hugged them, then placed them on her back and shoulder respectively. "There's no telling what lies ahead, so be on your guard."
Ashimi walked across the dark lobby-like area. She couldn't hear it at the enclosed, reinforced structure of the emergency stairs, but now the sound of the rain invaded her senses as it pounded against the glass windows. The wind had picked up too and thunder rumbled in the distance, becoming ever closer. The room was in an obvious state of renovations with paint buckets in the corners and large rolls of carpeting laying around. She looked at the large door at the end of the room. It was the door to the control center, the most highly secured room in the whole building. She approached the door and it opened by itself.
Inside the control room she found Pichu happily devouring a slice of extra cheese and pepperoni pizza while Zero spun around on one of the swivel chairs in simple amusement. He was still wearing his big sunglasses despite it being nighttime, though he wasn't wearing his vintage movie detective disguise. His hair was blue with orange stripes and he wore a black armor suit with red boots, belt and armbands... and a red R on the chest.
"Pichu!" The little yellow pokemon happily waved his trainer over and motioned towards the large pizza box near by, as if offering her and his fellow pokemon slices.
The screen behind them was the most perplexing part of the scene, as it showed a familiar woman with blue hair and dark eyes, wearing a familiar black uniform with a very familiar red R. The Rocket who went by the codename Pixel appeared alongside two of her pokemon, Prism, a Porygon-Z and Peachy, a Pikachu, who so happened to be the mother of Ashimi's Pichu. "Ashimi, hi! How nice of you to join us!" Pixel greeted casually. "I thank you for your assistance in helping me test the security system's installation process."
"You... what?" Ashimi blinked in confusion. "What's going on? Wasn't Pichu kidnapped? Is this kid a Rocket agent? But he's so young, I thought Team Rocket wouldn't allow anyone to become an agent at the age of five."
"I'm not five," Zero corrected.
"Oh? You're a midget then?" Ashimi grumbled at the interruption, she was talking to Pixel, not him.
"I'm two," Zero finished.
"That's impossible! You can't be two years old!" Ashimi shouted, her patience drained.
"Nope, he's two months old," Pixel's words left Ashimi more confused than ever.
"Zero is not a human, but not quite a pokemon either. He was made and materialized using a program similar to that of Porygon with an enhanced high definition graphics engine that better reflects the current era. His AI was created from the combined brain scans of two humans. He is essentially a prototype virtual android. Unfortunately, since the graphics and human persona take up so many resources, he doesn't have any sort of special powers like a virtual pokemon would. He was made as an experiment for research purposes, but the tech department no longer requires him to stick around... So I'm letting you borrow him for a while. Well, have fun, bye!" Peachy said her goodbyes in turn with her trainer and the screen went black.
"Did grandpa tell her to do this?" Ashimi wondered aloud. "Or did Pixel act of her own accord? Nah, this has to be some random test. Well, since I got to the top of the building I guess that means I passed, and hopefully that will make up for losing Pichu in the first place, right?" She didn't wait for a reply, "right!" She glanced at Furball and Zubat, who had gotten settled in along with Pichu, enjoying slices of pizza. She let Squirtle out, he deserved a snack for his efforts too. While the pokemon ate, Ashimi directed her attention to Zero. "Okay, your mission is done, so now you can be a good little virtual android and behave."
Zero stuck out his tongue. " I'll do what I want!" Zero spun around on the chair laughing and Ashimi fumed.
"Stop it!" She scolded, holding the chair in place. "Listen up, you little brat, and pay attention!" She snatched the sunglasses he was wearing, even if he was probably perfectly capable of seeing everything around him in high definition with them on anyway. Then she saw his eyes for the first time. He had no pupils, or maybe he had no irises. The big glassy orbs looked like the eyes of an anime doll, the circles filled with shades of color in a gradient that was black at the bottom and blue at the top. She gasped then squealed in delight, "look at that high definition! Your face; it's amazing!" The next thing Zero knew, he was being squished into a big bear hug.
To be Continued
Ashimi's last line in this chapter is from Wreck It Ralph, one of the funniest movies I've seen. I love the animation, the characters, the video game references, everything; so I just had to include a fun reference to it and this felt like the perfect opportunity. The part with the barrels was partially based on the original Donkey Kong, the one where Mario was still called Jumpman. The knife trap staircase was in part inspired by the arrow corridor in the game Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, though I'm sure similar scenarios have been present on many games and movies before. We'll see Jonathan's side of the story in Chapter 8: Thunder and Rockets.
Zero: An odd little boy who looks to be about 5 years old but definitely doesn't act like an average little kid. He has spiky blue and orange hair, his eyes have no visible pupils and are colored with a blue to black gradient. He is in fact a two month old virtual android made with a process similar to that used for Porygon. His artificial intelligence was created from the combined brain scans of two humans. He was used for research purposes, but is no longer needed at Rocket HQ.
