As Chris and Gloria approached Silph Co., they had their Pokemon return to their balls. Even Pikachu and Clefairy went, this time. Chris hadn't meant to pull those two out, but they went in almost eagerly. Maybe they wanted to surprise opponents better, or maybe their attitudes had just changed since they had been traveling together.
The back door was still propped open when they got there, which was good. They opened the door, removed the stick, and went into the main part of the building. The main lobby was completely empty.
"Guess they think that the guards on the doors will be enough."
"Well then, Gloria, let's go prove them wrong."
They went over to the main stairs, and headed up to the second floor. The guard there was asleep. Gloria struck him hard, so that he stayed asleep. "We don't want him behind us, do we?"
"Of course not. Nice move, actually."
"Thanks. Looks like there's a group of them up on the next floor, though. Let's go check out these teleporters."
They headed into the main area of the floor, which looked to be a meeting room. There didn't seem to be anybody there.
"Hey, Gloria, there's a warp tile over here."
"Well, let's see where it takes us." They stepped on together, and found themselves in a small room with vending machines.
"Dang, the door's locked. We'll have to go back."
"Hang on a sec, Glo, I thought I heard something."
Chris walked around to the side of the vending machines. A woman was hiding back there. "AAAH! Please, don't hurt me!"
"Don't worry, ma'am," Gloria told her, "we're here to help. We're going to get the Rockets out of here."
"Oh really? What a relief. Here, I have something that might be useful. I managed to keep my key card from them; that's how I locked myself in here."
"Ok, thanks. We'll lock it again behind us."
"And we'll make sure someone comes to find you once things calm back down," Chris said as they left.
"Thank you, both of you. Good Luck!"
Chris and Gloria left the room, and locked the door as they said they would, and found themselves back in the same meeting room.
"Well, at least now we can open doors. Let's see what's in here." Chris went over to a nearby door and opened it. Unfortunately, it was occupied.
"Hey, you kids shouldn't be in here."
"And you are?" Chris asked.
"A scientist. What does it look like?"
"Well, then you won't mind letting us pass so that we can get the Rockets out of here," Gloria said, walking to do just that.
"Actually, girl, I do mind. I'm on their side."
"Well then, sir, we'll just have to get past you the hard way," Chris said, grinning.
"I doubt it. Magnemite, Magneton, Go!"
"Cubone, Bonemerang. Take them down."
Gloria didn't even bother to call out a Pokemon, since she had seen Cubone at work. He did indeed take them both down, before their trainer even issued an order. He nearly broke apart the Magneton, and the lone Magnemite was easy pickings for the return trip of the Bonemerang. "He really controls that Bonemerang well, doesn't he, Chris?"
"He sure does. Anyways, Scientist, are you going to let us through, or do you want to fight us yourself?" Chris reached into his pocket for the sword, and Gloria got into her fighting stance. Cubone was tapping his bone on one palm, ready to smack something with it.
The man started to turn pale, and he fainted completely as Chris extended the sword. Chris called Cubone back to his ball, and they walked past him to the teleport panel. "Let's see where this one takes us."
"Hang on, Chris, I've got an idea." Gloria grabbed a pad and pencil from the desk and drew a rough map of the floor. "We've already seen what all's on this floor, but there's still nine more to go. We can use this to keep track of where teleporters send us, too."
"Nice one, Gloria." As she finished, they stepped onto the tile, and warped. They found themselves in an empty hallway.
Gloria looked at a plaque on the wall. "According to this, we're on the fourth floor." She drew the hallway, marking the doors, on a new page. "Fortunately, they've got these windows so we can see what corner or side we're on," she said, pointing out at Vermillion Harbor. Chris found himself wondering if the ship he had come on was still docked there.
"Yeah, that will help with making that map. It's no good to run out of space." They went to the end of the hall, and saw that there were a ton of Rockets at the end of the adjoining hall, over by the stairs. "Well looks like a door, then." Chris walked to the door closest to the corner and opened it. There wasn't anyone inside, just an empty table and a warp tile, and another door.
"I'd say the door first. We can warp if we need to later."
"Good thinking, Glo. I got it." The next room looked much the same, though the door was on a different wall.
"Oops. Dang," Gloria called from behind him. "I dropped my pencil, and it rolled onto the warp tile."
"Um, Gloria, come here." Chris was starting to laugh.
"What is it?" Chris pointed into the room he'd just opened. There, on the floor next to the teleporter, was her pencil.
"So it warps between these two adjacent rooms? Kind of pathetic, really." She went over and got her pencil, and sketched in the new room.
"Well, I'll get this door now, too." Chris opened it, and walked into a longer room, as long as the other two combined. There were a few people in there, and two Rockets, one by each door.
Meaning that Chris was right next to one of them. "Hey, you shouldn't be here!" the man grabbed for Chris, but he dodged.
"Oh yeah? Says who?" Chris pulled out his sword and hit the man in the head, sending him to the ground in a heap. He turned to see the other rocket on a radio. "Oh no you don't!" He threw his sword, and hit the man's arm, causing him to drop and break the radio.
"Well kid, they at least know you're here, if not where."
"So, they're looking for us. Swell." Gloria opened the door next to the man and punched him hard in the jaw, followed by a kick to the stomach and a chop to the head to send him to the floor twitching.
"How did you..."
"There was another key in the notepad. So now we can do things like that. Anyways, let's untie these people." They did so, and were greatly thanked for their aid.
"Hey, I don't know if this will help," one man said, "but I heard them talking about how a lady has blockaded herself into the sleeping quarters up on the fifth floor. You could rest yourselves and your Pokemon there if you can get to her."
"Thank you. We'll do that. Can you take care of yourselves from here?"
"Yeah, I think so." They had moved the unconscious Rockets into the side room, and Chris had retrieved his sword. "If one woman can blockade herself in the sleeping quarters, our group can easily hold this room."
"One more thing; where does this teleporter take us?" Gloria asked, pointing to the one in the corner.
"Up to the ninth floor. Can you make sure it's clear up on that end?"
"Can do. We'll see you guys later." Chris and Gloria stepped onto the teleporter.
They found themselves in another office, with only one door. "Should be pretty easy to keep the Rockets out of here."
"That's what I was thinking." They turned, and saw that the man from before had teleported after them. "I can hold this spot easily. Especially since the Rockets haven't given the warp tiles much thought since they got here." He made a fist and grinned.
"Ok then, we'll leave this to you," Chris said as they went into the adjoining office, which had two doors out, and shut that one behind them.
"Man, there seems to be a warp tile in every room here," Gloria observed blithely.
"Probably is. Though it really doesn't make a lot of sense."
"Not really. Well, let's keep going Chris."
They
opened one of the doors, which opened onto a back hallway by the
windows.
"Point of reference, at least." She saw Mt.
Moon, and knew that they now faced northwest.
"Whoa!" Chris pulled Gloria back into the room as he saw a Rocket come out of the next door down. "Looks like they're patrolling now."
"Well, then there should be less of them by the stairs. Which should be to the left out this door." As she walked over to it, a Rocket suddenly appeared on the warp tile.
"Hah! Found you."
"And you'll wish you hadn't," Gloria said as she began to attack him. The man blocked Gloria's punches, though, and returned with a kick aimed at her head. She barely got under that, but she used it against him by kicking his other leg out from under him. He fell, but recovered quickly.
"You see, girl, I've also trained in the martial arts..." The man fell silent as Chris struck him in the head.
"Thanks for that, Chris. Um, what's that blinking light on his belt?"
"My guess: a transponder. They know where we are now." Chris's guess was confirmed by both doors suddenly bursting open...
