"Gloria, do you hear something?" Chris had just finished his shower, while Gloria was brushing her hair after taking hers.
"No, I…wait! That hiss…there's something in the vents." Dropping what they were doing, they both grabbed their packs and bolted from the room. But the low hiss continued.
"They're gassing the whole building. We've gotta move!" They darted down the hallway to the front entrance, and found it locked from the outside.
"No matter, we'll break our way out! But first, our Pokemon." Gloria jumped over the counter, to try the door to the back room. It was locked, too, but not for long, as she punched a hole through the bolt. Inside, they found Nurse Joy, bound and unconscious.
"Where are they?" Chris was starting to feel lightheaded, and realized that the gas was starting to work.
"Looking for these?" They looked, and saw a Team Galactic member with pink hair and a gas mask, holding a bag which they assumed was full of their Pokeballs. She confirmed this by pulling out the two Master Balls. "They'll make a very nice gift for my bosses."
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Chris flashed his blade.
"Hoping for a nice juicy promotion?" Gloria clenched her gloved fists.
"It'd be nice. But I'll at least get a nice bonus for capturing you two! I'm surprised that you haven't succumbed yet."
They both realized that they were running out of time. Things were getting blurry, and it was hard to stay on their feet.
"We need to act fast, Chris!"
"Glo, throw me! Straight at her!" Gloria nodded, and grabbed his left hand, flinging him straight at the Galactic Grunt. She dodged, but he had expected that, and he braced for impact behind her. He stabbed at the floor, pivoting around the sword to change direction. With less time to react, the Grunt didn't get far enough away to avoid Chris's attack. He grabbed her leg, and they fell to the ground. Gloria, who wasn't sure if the pink she was seeing was the gas, or caused by the gas, ran across the room, grabbing the bag of their Pokeballs. She then shattered the back door out of the center, falling to the ground in the grass out back and glad to be breathing fresh air. Chris, who noticed that the Grunt had been knocked out by their fall, staggered out after her.
"What about Nurse Joy?" Gloria managed.
"C-clefairy, go get her." Chris basically dropped the Pokeball, still trying to get the gas out of his system. Clefairy appeared, and darted into the Pokemon Center. A moment later, she returned, carrying Nurse Joy and the unconscious Grunt. They transferred the ropes from Nurse Joy to the Grunt, and tried to wake Joy up. Eventually, she began to stir.
"Ugh, what happened?"
"Someone from Team Galactic tied you up and gassed the place." Chris looked at the unconscious Galactic woman. She was gone! "Where'd she go?"
"Maybe she wasn't as unconscious as we thought. And I think we need to improve our knot tying." The rope was lying on the ground, in one piece. "Anyways, we should probably get going. We don't want to cause you any more trouble."
"Uh, sure." Nurse Joy was still unsteady, but at least he could stand now. "Once the building clears out, I'll go in and get the system reset."
"Could you forward the stuff that we left to the next Center?" Chris handed her their room key.
"Yeah. I'll have it waiting in Floaroma Town." Joy stood and went over to a control panel. She typed in a code, and the ventilation system started clearing out the gas. Chris and Gloria then headed off, making their way through town. They took mostly back roads, especially on the north end of town near the TV Station. They did not want to be spotted by a nosy cameraman when they were trying to make a sneak attack.
Meanwhile, on the roofs above, someone was placing a call.
"Yes, sir, I'm sorry. They got away. I underestimated their strength."
"Fine. Anything else to report?"
"I did manage to plant the tracers. They are heading north now. I think that they know about the Eterna Forest base."
"Well, that's fine. We'll have a little surprise for them."
She signed out, and began jumping rooftops northbound. Grabbing the zip line that was attached to the top of Jubilife TV, she slid down into the forest atop the ridge. Her next 'cousin' wouldn't know what hit her…
