Chapter Nine

Many hours later…

None of them had any idea where they were anymore. They had been driving for a very long time, and were still in Kanto, but that was all that they knew.

The van they were in was utterly Spartan in its interior. Two chairs at the front, and some shelves for holding PokeBalls, that was it. There wasn't even a glove compartment.

"We're here." Said the soldier that was driving, putting on the parking brake outside of a cheap abandoned warehouse. He, along with everybody else, did not know that Ralph had actually been formulating a plan the entire drive, while Larch and Anne simply wondered how they would be killed.

The stop was the perfect opportunity for Ralph's plan to go into action. Faster than either soldier could react, he jumped to his feet and punched the one in the passenger seat directly in his temple, knocking him out instantly. The other guard did not get off easily; in fact, his fate was somewhat worse, as Ralph chopped him in the neck and slammed his face into the wheel repeatedly, blasting off the horn. A passing couple looked at the van, which was shaking violently. Shocked, they immediately speedwalked away from it.

The wheel soaked in blood, Ralph determined that he had done enough. He turned around, and saw that Larch and Anne were staring at him in shock.

"What?" He asked. "Didn't I just save us?"

()()()

After that little adventure, they gathered their things together and got out of the stuffy, cramped van.

"Well, that was fun." Anne said, with noticeable sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah. I think we should let our Pokemon out, right?" Ralph said.

The other two nodded in agreement, and at once, released their teams, except for Larch, still quite hesitant to release his Shaymin.

"Ow." Henry said.

"What did they do to you?" Anne asked, worried about her team's well being.

"I think they hit me with a wrench."

Anne was furious. How dare they attack an innocent creature like that! She clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and said, "Let's kill". She gestured for her team to follow her towards the warehouse.

"Er, Anne, let's not do anything rash!" Larch insisted, his voice shaking.

But there was simply no stopping Anne on the warpath. She gave a command to Bill and Dante, and they cleared their throats.

"What on earth is she doing…" Larch asked, giving voice to what all of us were thinking. Within moments, he had an answer. Bill and Dante opened their mouths and simultaneously released a massive burst of white-hot flame, setting a large portion of the front of the building on fire.

"Good lord, Anne, have you gone mad!" Larch screamed, running towards her. However, he had to stop due to the incredible heat of the rapidly spreading conflagration. Inside the warehouse, scientists were screaming, trying to protect their work and, more importantly, the device inside. Anne was slowly walking away, as Bill and Dante gave even more heat to the fire. When she got to the van, she yelled at them to stop and get away from the warehouse, and then walked around to the back of the van.

"Anne, what are you doing?" Larch asked, frightened for his safety. Anne gave no answer and opened the door.

"Anne, please, tell me, what on earth are you planning to…" Larch figured out what she was going to do, and gasped in the greatest horror. There were two containers of gasoline in the back of the van, which Anne picked up.

Larch grabbed at her shoulders and desperately insisted she rethink her course of action. She shoved him away and continued her insane mission.

When she got near enough to the fire, she set down all but one of the containers, and threw that one towards it. When it landed inside, it set a cheap wooden column on fire very quickly, and the flaming gasoline was not helping either.

"You're going to get yourself killed, Anne!" Larch insisted.

The roof of the warehouse collapsed, shutting him up. He fell to the ground, but quickly got back up, and ran away screaming. Anne threw in the other containers, and followed Larch's suit, running away from the extremely dangerous conflagration. The device inside caught fire, and blew up in a deafening explosion, so powerful as to throw everybody in the vicinity to their feet, and temporarily deafen them…

()()()

"Hm." Said Deoxys, clearly worried about something. Most of the soldiers had left, but one remained.

"What?" The last soldier asked him.

"I can't help but feel that something just went horribly, horribly wrong."

Although he didn't know what exactly went wrong, he soon confirmed his suspicions that something had gone wrong. A sharp pain hit his chest, relatively sharp though. Considering his great power, pain was practically unknown to him.

He gave a bizarre, distorted cry, and crumpled to the ground pathetically, clutching his chest.

"Holy…boss, are you okay?" The soldier asked, temporarily losing his nerve.

"Gah! What's happened to me?" Deoxys wondered aloud, climbing back up to his feet. The pain had subsided, but he still didn't know why.

Then he realized what must have caused it, due to the large "boom" he just heard.

"The device!" He cried. The device was connected to his own life force, and if one was destroyed, just a little bit of him was destroyed as well. However, that was not the most important device there was. The most important one was in Unova, where Larch was heading.

"What about the device?"

"It's…it's been destroyed."

()()()

Larch's ears were ringing violently, and he wasn't entirely sure where he was. However, he did know that his glasses had fallen off. He started reaching around for them, but couldn't find them. His vision was very fuzzy, and he couldn't see anything without them.

He attempted to get to his feet, but his balance was significantly off. He tried to look around, but he couldn't make out anything except the vague outline of…a fire? Suddenly, he realized what happened. Anne had gone crazy and committed arson on a warehouse. He walked forward, slowly, and heard a crunching sound under his foot.

"Damn!" he shouted. The ringing was going away now, enough for him to recognize the sound of breaking glass and metal.

A low moaning sound came from the left.

"Who's there?" He realized it could have only been Ralph, though, and asked "Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Anne snapped and blew up the building."

"My head hurts…"

"Mine does as well."

Larch suddenly remembered something: due to his forgetfulness, he always had an extra pair of glasses at the ready in the event of loss or destruction. He began patting around himself, and eventually found what he was looking for: an oblong container, holding a pair of glasses.

"Here we are!" Larch shouted in triumph, taking them out. He put them back on, and started looking around for Anne.

He found her relatively quickly, pouring more gasoline onto the roaring fire.

"Anne, you've gone mad! The warehouse has already been destroyed!"

"I'm just making sure!" She ran out of gas, and threw the canister away.

"Well, now we're going to get arrested. Great job."

"Hey, they were breaking more laws!"

"And now all of them have run away, and you've destroyed any proof that there was ever…something…there." He had noticed the wreckage of the device inside, and it was quite an impressive wreckage. Hundreds of wires and tubes were leading away from a gigantic cylindrical thing that had blown its top off.

"What the hell is that?" Asked Ralph, holding his head and running towards them.

"I…don't know." Answered Larch. "Could that be the device he was going on about?"

"It looks dangerous." Anne said.

They heard sirens in the distance.

"Damn it, Anne, you've doomed us all! Everybody hide!"

They all dived into the bushes, and waited for the police car to pass…

()()()

Well…that was certainly eventful, eh? Yeah, I thought I should make it up to you after last week's lackluster chapter, so I burned something down. Anyway, until next time, this is AwkwardVulpix, over and out.