Morph Nine: An Educational Adventure
The computer's keyboard made the kind of clinking noises usually reserved for those who have horrendously wronged the person doing the typing. For 0 in particular, it was very difficult to watch a soap opera when the sound from Serena's laptop seemed like a herd of Snorlax stampeding through the living room. Here he was, squinting to read the subtitles that scrawled across the screen as the laptop was making far too much noise for him to hear what the actress was saying about her plotting to murder her husband. But, after a while, even the Golden Ranger's somewhat-infinite patience was waning.
He lazily tilted his head towards her the moment the commercials started. "3," he muttered, and somehow he was heard. "If you don't stop banging on that laptop, I'm going to have to take it away." In response, the White Ranger shot him a rather irritable look, and stopped typing. "No, no. I didn't say stop. I said quiet." She stood up and it was at that point that 0 noticed that she was wearing very little. In fact, the little she was wearing was probably worse than if she had been naked. "Stay there." For some odd reason, she misinterpreted this order as a request to come forward, wearing nothing but a very tight bra and what 0 prayed was underwear underneath her translucent robe. "Do not do that."
She crawled on her hands and knees towards him, a sly smile on her face. "Hey, baby," she murmured, and it was at this point 0 realized what a great idea it would be to begin moving away from her. Somehow, though, she managed to back him into the nearby wall and her advance was probably more terrifying then any horror he had ever witnessed during his years in the PKM. She crawled up onto him and 0 thanked whatever Legendary Pokemon that had given him the hindsight to wear heavy clothing, because she started wrapping her bare legs around his waist, and played with his shirt with her fingers. "What's say we make like the Pokemon in springtime, huh?"
"3...this is very unprofessional," he replied, as he attempted to dislodge her from his person. She resisted rather well, in fact the endeavor to remove her was making the situation worse. "Get off. Immediately." She was choosing a very annoying time to play deaf, as she inched her face closer and closer to his ear. The soap opera playing on the television was growing monumentally less important by the instant.
She continued to defy him. "Well," she said into his ear, his lips just grazing the lobe, "I want you to know that, the moment you drop your guard, you're mine. Also, I've managed to hack into 415's files and, if you'd like to look at them, we should." Having succeeded in transforming 0 into the skin-tone equivalent of the freshest cherry, Serena slowly dislodged herself, giving the Golden Ranger plenty of time to feel her slide off him, which helped matters in no way. By the time she had gotten off him and wandered right back to the computer, making sure that her eyes traced his outline, 0 felt ready to explode.
"You couldn't tell me this in a calm, decent, moral manner?" he asked, seething.
She slowly shook her head and her hair bounced across her perfect shoulders… 0 diverted his eye contact from her. "Where's the fun in that?" she asked and patted the seat next to her. After much consideration, 0 yielded and sat down to face the computer. "Ready to see it?" She twirled her hands over the keyboard and in seconds the content of the data file was displayed in a small folder on the screen.
He nodded. "Yeah."
She smirked. "That's good. Give me a back rub."
"Excuse me?"
"A backrub." She decided to slow down, just in case he couldn't figure out what she was talking about. "It's that thing you do with the massage oils and the candlelight. It's normally followed by rough and very passionate encounters." She threw her hair back, obviously in an attempt to seduce him. "I want a backrub before I show you my research."
0 considered it. "Fair enough. But, since this is 415's research, not yours, I figure I get a free ticket to the show. Punch it up, 3. We don't have all day."
She snorted. "What else are we gonna do besides trade jabs?" she asked, slightly annoyed that he had managed to get past her otherwise infallible logic for getting a backrub. When he didn't answer and turned to the computer, she sighed and activated one of the files inside the folder. "I managed to get some data on those Dark Gems she was talking about. Remember?"
"Yep," he replied. "Sounds like nasty stuff."
"Tip of the iceberg," she said. When the file loaded, an image was displayed with several precious gems in some kind of case. To its right was another photo, this time of some ancient drawing. Beneath was a paragraph or so of text. "Basically, it says that these things are bad news. They're some kind of energy source, like our ranger spirits."
0 glanced momentarily to his morpher. "These things work like Pi?"
She shook her head. "Close, but no banana, monkey man. Our morphers are activated using a ranger spirit, which is made from a living, breathing Pokemon. So, to utilize a PKM morpher, a live Pokemon is required." She clicked on the images and close-ups of the Dark Gem photos were displayed. "These things could, according to the theory in 415's text, be modified to operate with a different kind of morpher. Similar to ours, but really, really different at the same time."
"How so?"
She paused, as if truly disgusted by what she was about to tell him. "These things harness the power of dead Pokemon. Not Ghost Pokemon. Dead ones. Dark Gems are capable of absorbing the dead souls of Pokemon and corrupt themselves with that power. With the right tech, you could make a morpher and fashion a ranger uniform from it." She pointed to the gems themselves, and 0 noticed they were all of different colors. "The color denotes how many souls it can absorb. Onyx ones are the weakest, normally able to get one or so, but some of the stronger ones can house up to a thousand souls of innocent Pokemon!"
0 grimaced. "That's really sick," he muttered. "That's…really sick, 3. I can't imagine anyone doing something like that."
She nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, and that's not even the worse part."
"What could be worse than that?"
"These things are kind of kind the antithesis of our morphers. We use a living Pokemon, which means our power is based on that living Pokemon. It's a safe, and stable model, but it also limits our maximum power. These Dark Gems aren't inhibited by something like that. They trade stability for raw strength. Basically-" She lowered her eyes, and stared at the ground "-if someone got their hands on enough Pokemon souls, they could create a massive force that our tech won't be able to handle."
0 clenched his hands in fury and smashed the ground in irritation. "So you're telling me that my morpher, that our morphers, which are the most advanced technology of this day and age, are completely useless against some ancient theory?" His voice was rising. He breathed heavily.
Serena put her hand on his shoulder. "Ain't that how it always is? Anyway, these Dark Gems are supposed to be incredibly rare, only six have ever been reported being found other then onyx types."
"We've got to find them," he decided. "If we can, they can't be used, right?"
"That's an unlikely theory," Serena answered. "According to some of 415's research, it says that for roughly five years there have been some random break-ins in various museums around the world. All of them had displays of various gem shows in display. Several claim that a bunch of onyx gems were taken, but a few have had other colors stolen. Someone's already started stealing them."
0 sighed, and shook his head. "How…how many?" he asked.
"Couldn't say. But…" She grinned. "There's one that 415's tracked down. A nice, shiny emerald. If we pick it up, we should get a little bit of edge on the bad guys."
"I'm sensing there's something else in this," he replied.
She nodded and, in a deeply worrying moment, her smile brightened. "There is one, and only one way, we are going to be able to get at the Dark Emerald. It's being held at, conveniently enough, the museum an hour or so away from here. The problem is, this museum is off-limits to normal walk-ins. It's for tour groups and things like that. You need a reservation or something to get in."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Nope. Fortunately, I managed to find a solution that not only lets us get in tomorrow, but it lets us do it with style."
0 sat up. "That's fantastic, 3. How?"
She smirked widely. "Undercover. There's a school that's going on a tour of it tomorrow, and they're low on teachers because of some kind of strike. I called PKM, and got us employed as substitute teachers. I'll be doing history, you'll be battle theory."
"I'm sorry," he said. "It sounds like you got us jobs as teachers. Please tell me that is not what you did."
She grin broadened. "Perfect cover. It'd explain why Keean Toby's suddenly found housing in Petalburg, and it'll give you a chance to do something you've wanted to do all your life."
"What?"
"Have you ever wanted to see your daughter in school?" she asked. "We're substitutes at the Petalburg Pokemon Academy, where little Sarah Birch goes to school, and where our target has accepted a substitute position of her own as a Contest tutor. I figured it would be the best place for us to hide out, and earn some side cash until the strike's over."
0 scratched his chin, and felt some slight stubble that informed him he was well overdue for a shave. "Yeah," he muttered, as though not quite aware of what he was agreeing to. "Yeah, we can try it, if you think it'll work. Is she-" He looked up, and 3 caught a glimmer of hope in his smile "-is she going to be in my class?"
Serena nodded. "I made sure for you."
He chuckled. "Thank you, 3," he replied and grabbed her quickly in a bear hug. "Thanks a lot!" He started laughing, and Serena started screaming, as her partner started to twirl her around in the air.
"Let go!" she demanded, her eyes spinning. "I'm getting dizzy!"
He grinned and did as she requested. Serena went flying right into the wall. Fortunately, his partner wasn't quite the ditz he knew she pretended to be and planted her legs against the surface, propelling herself right back to knock his jaw with one fist. 0 went down, as he had not expected an attack from her. A sharp knock from below the floor issued, probably someone tired of the commotion they normally caused. Both looked to each other and felt rather childish.
"So…" Serena said, making a vain attempt to sound all business. "We're going to have to set your morpher up with a clothing program. You'll need to look the part of a lecturer at a private school." She sat down at the laptop and started typing. "What do you want?"
Clothing program, that would probably help, he thought, and sat down beside her. "Uh… I suppose that we could put in some dress clothes or something like that for the work." Serena's fingertips whirled on the board and a comfortable, yet professional black suit emerged with rough dress pants, a sports coat, and a lithe sweater underneath. "Perfect," the Golden Ranger muttered. "Next, my PKM uniform, complete with goggle system for emergencies." Serena complied. "And some casual clothes for other times. I figure that'll be enough."
"Okay," she answered. "Now, can you give me your hand real quick? I need to jack the morpher into the system to download the program." He presented his morpher and she extended a jack into the wristwatch device. "I'm adding a few more I think you'll like too. They'll help out." 0 watched the loading bar slink its way to the right and when it finished Serena removed the jack. "It works pretty much the same way as our ranger outfits. Only difference is that they don't require a morphing call to activate. Just press the red button and the morpher will cycle through what you want with a single tap. A double tap alternates the outfits."
He nodded, and cycled to the business casual suit. His street clothes glowed red and, in a small burst of light, transformed seamlessly between the two outfits. "This'll work," he said and looked himself over. Serena grinned, and flashed him a very odd look with her eyes. He looked through the remainder of the clothes, but stopped on one specific one he took notice of. "Uh…3?"
"Yes, Baby-chan?" she asked innocently.
"Why is there an option for erotic underwear in this?"
Serena looked back down to her computer and refused to comment.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
"Hand me the cycle capsule," Keean Toby asked, as he stepped out from his apartment with his lady friend, Serena. She happily complied and produced a tiny little container that held their primary mode of transportation. He clicked the top without thought and tossed it into an empty parking space in front of the curb. It exploded and a slim motorcycle emerged. "Think this'll work?" he asked and tossed his girlfriend a helmet, which she caught casually and stuck on her head. Her snow-white hair escaped at the bottom.
She nodded. "Yep, Kee-chan," she replied with a smile, though he couldn't see it from underneath the helmet's visor. The giant stuck on his own helmet and boarded the machine. Serena walked up behind him and swung her hips onto the contraption. "So I suppose I'm riding shotgun?" she asked sarcastically and dug her fingers into his stomach as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Retract your claws," he ordered, and she did so, but replaced her nails with sensual massage. "And stop clinging. We're trying to make a good first impression, not get ourselves banned from being within a hundred yards of children. If you're going to be a teacher, at least behave like one." He revved up the engine and put up the kickstand.
"Oh, are we feisty today, Kee-chan?" she asked. "Don't worry, you can have me all to yourself when we get home. I promise."
"This is going to be harder than I thought it was going to be," he retorted and, with a final rev, started the motorcycle. It was surprisingly quick, and handled superbly. Within moments, Keean Toby got a basic grip on the motorcycle and was gunning through early morning traffic in the direction of the Petalburg Pokemon Academy. Several of the cars didn't seem to share his enthusiasm and honked with gusto as he soared between their stagnant hulks. The motorcycle, a far more agile and subtle creature then the automobiles, was more then up to the task of getting through the traffic. Soon, they bid a fond farewell to the morning snail trail and revved their way in the direction of the school. Serena enjoyed the ride, Keean Toby looked at it like business.
"Got any idea where this place is?" he asked over the loud engine.
"Gotta turn left on the next street. It'll lead us right there."
"Huh. Pretty close by."
"Guess our little princess doesn't like her little princess too far away."
Keean Toby caught sight of the school a few blocks away. It was actually larger then he thought private schools were supposed to be. The campus seemed divided between three different buildings separated by multiple battle fields. It actually looked rather nice. The man stopped the bike right in front of the main building, where Serena had said that they had to check in with the office administrators. She got off and handed him her helmet, and he capsulated the bike with one flick of a button right next to the dashboard. It flashed red and he pocketed the small container.
"Ready, Kee-chan?" she asked sweetly.
He groaned. "Let's just try to survive this trip," he replied and offered up his arm, which she took greedily. Playing her part, she allowed him to lead her into the building while whispering directions to him as to where to go. "Where are you going to be headed?" Her job description was noticeably different then his own, as his would probably mean standing outside in the battle fields while hers would be lecturing.
She pointed to one of the classrooms. "My itinerary said that I would be discussing the differences between Kanto and Orre Pokemon Leagues. You're supposed to talk tactics with kids."
"Aren't my strategies too advanced for five-year-olds?"
"Dumb them down then."
"This must be it," he said and pointed to a door which apparently housed the administration office, judging from the small sign on the door. He opened it for Serena and stepped inside the rather cramp office, wherein several office ladies were typing away at monitors. Only one, apparently the head of the office, eyed the door with the look of someone desperately bored. She jumped up from her desk when she noticed Serena and outright gasped when Keean Toby crammed himself inside.
"Who are you two?" she asked and straightened her glasses.
Serena smiled. "I'm Serena Brine and this is Keean Toby. We were drafted to fill two teaching positions. I'll be doing Region Studies, while my gigantic friend here is scheduled to lecture on battle theory."
The woman squinted suspiciously with her eyes and then glanced down at some papers on her desk. "Yes well, it says you're on the list, so welcome. Thank you for filling in on such short notice. As you can guess, we have been rather understaffed as of late." She glanced to the clearly overworked women and sighed. "We should have gone on strike with the teachers," she murmured with some longing. "Come. I will show you your classrooms. Ms. Brine, you will be in the history section on the third floor here, and Mr. Toby, you will be on the first floor in the third building. Now, you know that after regular hours some of the students have signed up for a trip to the museum, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Keean Toby replied. "We're supposed to do that too, right?"
The woman, whom upon closer investigation had Penning written on her nametag, nodded. "Normally, we use our own teachers, but until they return to work next week, we have to rely on the few that remained and the subs we can get. Come," she said for a second time and showed them out of the rather depressing office. Keean Toby glanced back with pity and one of the women gave him a mournful glance before returning to the computer screen, so he followed Ms. Penning and Serena down the hall. After ascending some stairs the trio found themselves in a modest classroom, probably for twelve or so children.
"Sure you can handle this?" Keean Toby asked.
She smirked. "Sure I can, Kee-chan. Have fun."
He waved goodbye and Ms. Penning looked immensely displeased at their small gesture of affection. He grinned to her and shrugged as they headed out into the battle fields. "So, I'm guessing the both of you are involved, right?" Ms. Penning asked coyly. Keean Toby chuckled.
"I suppose you could say that," he replied.
She appeared to be fuming, as though disgruntled by this information. "Well, don't let it get in the way of work!" she snapped and raised her finger to him. "You men always let your hormones boss you around, so don't forget you're supposed to be an educator today!" She glared at him as she walked, giving Keean Toby the impression he was being reprimanded for being in a relationship.
"Yes ma'am," he answered sheepishly. They crossed the battle fields quickly and entered the building.
"Do you have a Pokemon?" asked the secretary.
"Uh…" Yes, yes he did have a Pokemon, but did not have immediate access to it. "Not at the moment, no."
She fished into her jacket and tossed him the red and white ball. "Here you are," she said. He caught the ball in surprise. "That's a rental. Lose the Pokemon and it's coming out of your pay." Disregarding him, she proceeded down the hallway towards his classroom.
Keean Toby glanced at the ball. It was strange, he thought, finally holding a Poke Ball after so long. He had used many as a trainer, but ever since he had entered PKM full time he hadn't really thought of using them ever again. A mental image flashed in his head of his other Pokemon at Professor Oak's. I should go see them. It's been years since I went home. He put the thought out of his mind for now, as the administrator had stopped for some reason at a single room from which the sounds of playful children echoed.
"Have fun," Ms. Penning said in an almost, but not quite, sweet voice, and left him to his fate, whistling briskly as she headed back to her den of offices. He braced himself and coughed.
"Be brave," Keean Toby told himself. "They're just kids. You've handled terrorists, robberies, bomb threats, and evildoers in spandex. You can handle children."
How wrong he was.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Sarah Birch was rather absorbed in her drawing and as a result didn't see the person that had come to teach her class for the day. The other students gasped in awe of this figure who seemed to radiate masculinity and coolness, but the happy little girl was far more interested in putting the finishing traces on the portrait of her mother. It was only after she had properly scribbled in the last hints of brown in the hair did she bother to glance at the person who had somehow quieted the entire room by entering it. None of her other substitute teachers had even made it that far.
When she did see him, her eyes bulged.
He was fearsome, even in the amazingly spiffy suit he had on, like a well-dressed wild Pokemon at rest, waiting to pounce. His dark mane hid most of his face, but his lips were pressed in a slight scowl, almost as though he was incapable of moving them outside of that position. In his hand was a Poke Ball, the same hand that had a cool-looking wristwatch.
"Good morning, everyone," he said in a gruff Orre dialect. "My name is Mr. Keean Toby. I am to be your instructor for today's lessons." He paused to take a breath. "If you will all-"
"You're the guy that beat my mom!" shouted Sarah from the back. Keean Toby glanced up at the girl and she saw his lip quiver for a moment, as though some sort of realization had assaulted his brain. "You're the meanie who beat my momma in Saffron."
He gulped. "Yes," he replied. "I was asked personally to help until the teacher strike is over. We will now move on." Keean Toby decided not to look at Sarah again, as he proceeded directly to the desk where his lesson plan sat waiting. He picked up the sheet of paper, rifted through it briefly to get the gist of it and put it back where it was. "You are here to learn special tricks to Pokemon Battles, right?" The class nodded. "Okay. I think I can let you in on a few secrets."
"How do you talk to Pokemon?" Sarah asked suddenly.
He kept looking at the class, as if unsure who had spoken, though Sarah was quite sure he knew it was her.
"In the fight with my momma, you talked to your Pokemon. How?"
This question generated many from the students.
"You can talk to Pokemon?"
"What do Pokemon think?"
"Are you a witch?"
Keean Toby held up his hand and, as if by some magic spell, the entire class silenced itself. "Talking in Pokemon language takes a lot of time to learn. But it's very important that you understand what Pokemon are trying to tell you." He lifted the Poke Ball and clicked the button. The ball exploded in a beam of light and a small little dog-like creature appeared on the desk.
Keean Toby glanced at the small blue critter. "This is a Riolu," he explained. "What can you tell me about it?" The Riolu itself was asleep and he didn't feel like waking it rudely. "Raise your hands." The class silenced itself in the middle of its shouting fest. One boy in the middle of the classroom raised his, and Keean Toby called on him.
"It's a Fighting Type," the boy answered. "It's also the Emanation Pokemon, and will evolve into a Lucario if its happiness level is high in the daytime."
Keean Toby processed the information. "That told me nothing," he muttered and glared at the kid. "Where'd you learn that? From a Pokedex?"
He nodded.
Keean Toby sighed. "Between you and me, a Pokedex is good for very little. Sure, it can tell you about Pokemon you don't know about, but that's about it." He glanced to the Riolu, who had just woken up and had begun stretching. "I asked you to tell me about this Riolu, not about Riolu in general. Who can tell me anything about this Pokemon?"
No one raised their hand, perhaps because they misunderstood what he was asking for. Serena had told him to be light-hearted with the students, but this was proving vastly difficult for him, as he wasn't sure he could dumb it down any further then he already had. Finally he grunted and the class jumped in fear. "Look at the Pokemon," he said and gestured to Riolu, who had started punching the air for its workout. "It has a sleek coat, what does that tell you?"
"It's well fed?" ventured a voice in the background. Keean Toby glanced to the origin, a girl seated in the back.
He smiled. "Very good. What else can you guess from it?" Now that one of them had figured out the trick, it would be easy for the rest to play the game. He turned to the Riolu and decided that impressing the group wouldn't kill him. "Lu, Rio," he muttered to the Pokemon, who gazed at him in shock, having never heard a human speak its tongue.
"Riolu Lu," the Pokemon admitted and nodded its head. The class gasped in awe.
Keean Toby faced the class. "Riolu has just informed me that our suspicions were confirmed. It has plenty to eat but, as you could maybe tell from its claw imperfections, it has not been receiving a balanced diet. The imperfections in the color give it away."
"How do you know that?" asked the boy in the middle of the classroom.
The man sighed, and rubbed his forehead. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you guys are just kids. I've been doing this for a long time, so I make it look easy, but it's supposed to be really hard to memorize this material. I guess that's why they give you this easy class instead of something that'll get you ready to take care of your Pokemon when you get to be of age." He lowered his hand. "All I can tell you is that being a trainer is very hard, and the first thing to do as a good trainer is to notice little stuff like that with your Pokemon. Treat them well, and they will reward you with their loyalty and respect. Trust me, a friend of mine named Z took forever to trust me when it evolved." For some reason, lecturing appeared to be getting easier, and Sarah Birch noticed he had unknowingly began to pace. "Speak to them. It takes forever to master the Pokemon language, but Pokemon can understand our dialects anyway, so it's just a cheap parlor trick. What's important is that you trust your Pokemon and that they trust you."
It was quite moving. The harsh, gruff sounds of his Orre dialect seemed insignificant in comparison to what he was saying. Even Sarah, who disliked the man who had painfully defeated her mother, found him oddly intriguing. She raised her hand and he called on her.
"How do we get them to trust us?" she asked.
At this, Keean Toby smiled. "What's your name, girl?"
"Sarah Birch."
"Well then Sarah Birch, why don't we go find out?"
The odd Orre man led the children out of the room in a single-file line, after making sure to grab Riolu for the purposes of his demonstration. The dog Pokemon rode on his shoulder as a mouse once did and all the way Sarah Birch watched him suspiciously. She knew this man from somewhere, she felt it as instinctively as she felt the need to annoy her uncle. He looked exactly like a picture she had drawn, which had suspiciously gone missing recently. Was he the man from the picture come to life? She wanted to know.
He stepped out onto the battlefield and Riolu gracefully leapt down from his back. "The object of a Pokemon Match, whether it's a Battle or a Contest, is to constantly protect your Pokemon." He looked down at the Riolu. "Lu, Riolu!" he ordered and the Pokemon nodded with a grin. Both Pokemon and human faced one another and bowed to each other. "I am going to engage Riolu in battle, since I don't have a second Pokemon to demonstrate with." He removed the fancy jacket he wore. "Is there a place to put this?" After glancing around the field, he placed the jacket on a nearby bench.
"Are you gonna fight the Riolu?" Sarah asked the apparently suicidal substitute.
He nodded. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll go easy on it."
"But teacher said we weren't supposed to fight Pokemon ourselves," one of the other students complained. "We're supposed to fight with Pokemon."
Keean Toby, though he didn't mean to, glared at the kid. "Your teacher isn't here. Your Pokemon should respect you and you should respect them. Right Riolu?" He returned to his stance of defense and the dog nodded. "Then come!"
The Riolu kicked up some dust, snorted, and charged forward. Because the Riolu was roughly a third of Keean Toby's impressive height. it had nowhere near the amount of muscle on the substitute, in spite of it being a fighting Pokemon. It lunged with a sharp kick to the substitute's left ankle. Keean Toby grunted, as the Pokemon had somehow hit a very painful nerve. Keean Toby swung his fist down to grab the Pokemon, but Riolu somehow managed to get behind him and kick the backs of his knees, forcing the giant down. The children gasped.
Riolu rushed to deliver the final blow and that was its mistake. Keean Toby rolled out of the way just as the blow was thrown and tossed a kick at the Pokemon. Riolu was forced to dodge left, right into the waiting grasp of the substitute. Keean Toby grabbed Riolu by the scruff of its collar and hauled it up with him as he stood back up. He checked himself and discovered he had only accumulated a small amount of dust on his immaculate shoes.
The Riolu struggled, but wasn't quite able to do much of anything. Keean Toby smiled. "See? I captured the Pokemon, all on my own," he explained. "Some trainers prefer to use their Pokemon as work horses. Others liken them to slaves. But they aren't. They are our equals and to treat them in any other way is just degrading." He lowered Riolu to the ground, where it now stood by its side, disappointed by its loss but nonetheless satisfied by the fight. "Understood, children?"
The class applauded.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
"So…" Serena purred and leaned in just a little too close for comfort, "how'd your first day as a teacher go?"
0 glanced out the bus window and attempted to drown out the noise from the back seats. "Fine," he replied and ignored her. He kept staring at the Poke Ball in his hand.
"When'd you get a new Pokemon?" she asked and looked it over.
He decided to put it away. "I got it for my services today. Ms. Penning said I did such a good job she'd give me the Pokemon instead of a paycheck. I took the Riolu." He didn't know why either. "I guess I got nostalgic for my old days as a trainer. It'll be fine, right?"
Serena sighed. The big lug had such a big heart sometimes. "Yeah, it'll be fine. We can put it up in a small training mat so it can sleep, I can stock the fridge with Poke Blocks. You can train it on the roof of our building. We'll make it work. It'll be like a baby…" She grinned at him.
0 groaned. "I knew you would say that. Please don't make our living arrangement any more awkward then you already do."
But Serena was already on a roll and, from the looks of it, she wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. She whined on and on about their new 'family' all the way to the museum exhibit. It wasn't that long of a drive but he was fairly certain that any short trip could be incredibly extended by Serena's badgering. By the time the bus finally pulled up to the museum, he had had his ear talked off and rather wanted to escape the confines of the small bus and the even smaller set of seats he was sharing with Serena.
The bus pulled up to the driveway and 0 assisted Serena with the disembarking of the students. The majority of them in the bus were from his class, so it wasn't particularly difficult to get them to move. They lined up single-file and awaited further instructions. 0 tried to ignore the girl with the pigtails in the back, but found himself glancing at her every few minutes just to make sure she was okay.
"Are there any more buses, Ms. Brine?" he asked Serena.
She glanced at the incoming traffic. "There's supposed to be three more arriving after us, Mr. Toby," she replied. "They'll be here in a few minutes. They got stuck behind a red light on the way down here."
"Okay." 0 took out his student roster and shouted off the names on the list to make certain everyone was there. He hesitated momentarily before he saw Sarah Birch's name, but called it out anyway to avoid suspicion. When he finished, he saw the three other buses headed in the direction of the museum. When they disembarked, 0 received the shock of his life.
In all honesty, he shouldn't have been shocked by her appearance there. After all, the lack of teachers must have required her presence. Together with her brother, she led a gaggle of children down the steps to meet the rest of the field trip groups. Her hair almost fluttered in the cool breeze. He thought she looked magnificent, but turned away the moment she arrived so he wouldn't be noticed right away.
Fortunately, he wasn't the first person who caught her eye. "Mommy!" Sarah shouted loudly, causing several people to cover their ears from the noise radius. She waved, jumped, did everything, until her mother noticed her. When May did, she smiled, and headed over to Sarah to hug her daughter after telling her brother to keep an eye on everyone in their groups.
"Hi, honey," May said and picked up her daughter. "Did you learn a lot today?"
"Yup! We had a good sub today, even if he was mean to you."
May was confused. "What? Sarah, who are you talking about?"
Sarah pointed to 0. "Mr. Toby!" she squealed.
"Oh really?" May asked. "Well, think I can have a chat with Mr. Toby?"
0 suppressed his urge to leave as May lowered her daughter back into his ranks and seemed to glide over to him. "Well, well, well Mr. Toby," she said and held out her hand. "We meet again."
0 played his part to perfection. "My apologies, Ms. Birch," he replied. He took her hand, shook it gingerly, and released it. "I hope you'll allow me to look after your daughter for a little while longer."
"I suppose I can see my way to allowing that," she replied. "By the way, have you met my brother Max?" She glanced over at her brother, who was rapidly becoming overwhelmed by the children. "Uh-oh… I should probably go help him. He's not good at handling kids."
"Perhaps I will meet him some other time, Ms. Birch," 0 said.
She chuckled and 0 detected an odd hint of a blush in her face. "I hope you do. Are you in town for long?"
He nodded. "Because of my coverage in the conference, I was asked to come here to help out for a bit, but I might see my way to staying a little longer. It's a nice city."
May pulled out her purse and grabbed one of her cards. "Well, if you get a chance, call me. I'd love a rematch with that Pikachu of yours."
0 gulped, but she didn't notice. "I have many other Pokemon, Ms. Birch. Variety is the spice of life."
She looked him over and smiled. "I agree." She tilted her head, then went back over to where her brother was attempting to dislodge a vast amount of children who seemed rather eager to see how many injuries he could sustain to his legs. 0 breathed a sigh of relief, but was slightly worried. He thought he had seen a facial expression from May that he was used to only seeing from femme fatales he had met on his adventures. Or Serena.
"Okay!" Serena shouted, breaking 0's deterioration of thought. "Everyone please line your students up and we'll go inside!" This announcement was hailed by the children, who apparently were very excited to learn for reasons that eluded 0, who was expecting to be bored while inside the museum. At Serena's orders, all eight groups of children began to shuffle in the direction of the main lobby of this vast museum and meet the tour guides. May and Max's guide came first and 0 watched them herd the jabbering animals towards the east wing.
"Where are we going first?" 0 asked, when Serena rejoined him.
She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that we're visiting the north wing first. I made sure we'd go there first, it's where the Dark Emerald is located. Make sure your com-link is working and get Pi into the security system. It can disable cameras and we can use the kids as cover to take it."
"Why would we want it?" He didn't like the idea of having a Dark Gem in their apartment.
"Well, the alternative is waiting around for the terrorists to take it. Do you think you can pull off that super-speed trick again? It would definitely help."
"I don't know," he replied. He had been trying to, all day in fact, but he hadn't been able to make anything slow down like he had that day. "I'll give it a try later." He grabbed the com-link in his pocket and tucked it into his hair on his ear. "Pi, you with me?"
"Is it true we're getting a new Pokemon?" it asked, a hint of excitement in its voice. "I can't hear much in your stuffy pocket."
"Yeah, I got a Riolu at the school. It looked a little unhappy being stuck in a Poke Ball all the time, so I thought I'd take it in lieu of payment for today. You don't mind, do you?" He didn't want Pi getting jealous.
"No way! The more the merrier!"
0 chuckled. "Good to hear it. Now-" He lowered his voice so the children wouldn't hear him "-when I give the signal, disable all security systems in the north wing of the building. Go and hack into the mainframe to set it up. I don't want anyone to even know that anything is wrong."
"No problem," replied the Pikachu. "Think you can give me…oh…ten minutes?"
"More than enough time," 0 answered. "Get going." The link went dead, but 0 knew the mouse would respond when the job was done. "How are we going to get the Dark Emerald out of here? Museum staff will notice if it goes missing during our visit."
Serena grinned. "Got it covered," she replied and pulled a green stone from her pocket. "Replicate. Switch them and we'll be good to go. They won't notice for days, and by then it'll be impossible to trace."
0 pocketed the stone and nodded. "Okay. Let's do this." The tour guide, a young man with an obscene moustache, arrived to take charge of the group.
"Alexander Anderson," he said and held up his hand. 0 took it while trying to avoid looking at Alexander Anderson's upper lip. "I'll be taking you all on the tour."
"Keean Toby," 0 said. "Serena Brine." He gestured at Serena. Alexander Anderson gave Serena a slightly lewd look, which she reciprocated in an endeavor to distract the youthful tour guide. It worked, as the happy-go-lucky Alexander Anderson took Serena by the arm and led the group to the north wing, leaving 0 to bring up the rear of the two classes, which he was perfectly happy to do. It gave him some time to figure out how exactly he was going to slow down time long enough to swap the gems, or even how he was supposed to slow it down period.
"Mr. Toby." 0 looked down, and discovered that Sarah Birch had broken ranks and was now standing next to him.
"What is it, Sarah?" he asked as they walked. She followed him.
"What're you going to do with that Riolu?"
He chuckled. "I decided I would keep it. I'll be training Lu from now on."
"Who's Lu?"
"That's Riolu's name, Sarah," he explained. "It told me so."
"Wow," she said, her eyes in wonder. "So you can talk to Pokemon. How come?"
He took a deep breath. They were coming up to the exhibits. "Because I love Pokemon, Sarah. They are my friends, my companions, and my strength. And in return, I hope they think I am their friend. And that's why I can talk to them. I listen to them, and they taught me every language." He didn't tell her why he had done so. He had needed to bury himself in work, anything, after he had left.
"Cool."
He smiled. "Well, I'm glad you think that it's cool, Sarah. Now go have fun with your friends." He glanced to the others, who were crowding around the exhibits. "I'm sure they'll think it's weird you think a fossil like me is more interesting than the ones on display."
She shrugged. "I don't care." But she took his advice and rejoined the class. The com-link activated again, and he put his hand to his ear.
"Pi, tell me you're ready."
The mouse laughed, and 0 envisioned the Pikachu's grin. "Too easy, 0. We're in. I'm ready when you are."
"Okay. We can only have five seconds. They'll notice anything longer than that, and even five seconds is cutting it." He glanced around. "There's no sign of the Dark Emerald yet, so standby until we're ready."
"Roger."
"Oh, and Pi?"
"Yes?"
"Any idea for how we can do that trick again? The one with the slowing-time thing?"
"Why?" Pi asked. "Do we need it that badly?"
He nodded. "3 reckons our best bet is to cut the security, slow down time, and switch the gems before anyone else notices. Any ideas how to do it?"
"Not really," Pi admitted. "Can you recall the feelings you had when you and I did it?"
"Uh…" He tried to remember that exact instant. Serena was about to die, Pi was roaring in his head. "Urgency. Panic. Something like that."
"So did I," the Pikachu said. "Maybe it has something to do with the bond Bakaguru mentioned to you. If we sync up our movements, or our emotions, maybe we can recreate the effect. Think we can give it a try?"
"It's worth a shot. Want to count to three?" 0 suggested. Pi agreed.
"One," 0 said.
"Two," Pi replied.
"Three," they said together.
0 glanced around. No one was moving, not one was doing anything, in fact. Serena was halfway in mid-laugh with Alexander Anderson, who's upper lip was pointed in an odd fashion that 0 didn't want to think about. It only lasted for a few seconds though and then everyone reverted right back to normal. The class moved into the second room of the exhibit and 0 followed.
"Well," said the ranger, "I guess we know now, don't we? Pi, maintain on standby until I need you."
"Copy," acknowledged the Pokemon. "I will root myself in the system. Five seconds will be more than enough."
Serena glanced back at 0 and winked as she lavishly draped herself along Alexander Anderson, under the impression that the Golden Ranger would feel a pang of jealousy. It failed, for 0's face remained stoic, so she turned right around and began to pet Alexander Anderson's hideous moustache before he began his lecture on the next room, which happened to be filled with a vast amount of bright shiny things that 0 took no notice in.
"There are a multitude of precious gems in the world," Alexander Anderson said and began pacing in front of the students like a waddling drill sergeant, passing occasional glances at Serena. "How many of you have heard of diamonds?" Everyone raised their hands. "How about pearls? We have every kind of gem you could think of here. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires. Even gold and silver. Topaz and amethyst. Look around and enjoy." The entire class swarmed over the displays, but 0 moved towards a specific display in the corner.
The Dark Emerald was on prominent display in a small wreath of other emeralds, but 0 knew enough about precious gems to tell which one it was. The one in the center, it almost looked pitch black, except that it had an ominous green glow to it. "Jackpot," he muttered. "Pi, disable the security system for five seconds. Immediately after, prepare to use the trick."
A moment later, Pi answered, "Security is disabled. On go."
"Go."
Time froze again. This time, because 0 and Pi were working in sync, he guessed that it would last longer, but didn't take any chances. He lifted the glass case quickly, the alarm didn't sound, and grabbed the Dark Gem in the center. He shoved it into his pocket and took out the fake gem, putting it right back on the pedestal. He realigned the glass case and stepped right back where he was standing. He somehow released the synchronization with Pi and time reverted back to normal.
He glanced at Serena and nodded when she looked at him. She smiled and proceeded to continue flirting with Alexander Anderson, who was saying something about his fancy villa in the Orange Islands. 0 focused instead on Sarah, who was busy being wowed by the gems on display. She seems so happy, he thought, and absent-mindedly felt the gem in his pocket. It gave him a bad feeling, but at least he had it, and not the terrorists. He would live with that. After some thought, he took out Lu's Poke Ball and put it in another pocket. Lu probably wouldn't want to be in the same place as the Dark Gem. He felt slightly calmer.
Which is why it made it more ironic when, once again, something exploded.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Interestingly enough, it was not 0's first reaction to protect the Dark Gem, something all of his training would have caused him to do. Instead, he made a beeline for Sarah but was intercepted at the right moment by Serena, who grabbed him to make it seem he was protecting her. Making a mental note to thank her later, he threw her to the ground to protect her from the shifts beneath their feet. The ground was starting to convulse.
"Get the kids out of here right now!" 0 ordered. Alexander Anderson, who had been panicking, suddenly remembered that the beautiful Serena was in the room and an act of heroism might be exactly what she'd need to come with him to his villa.
"All visitors follow me immediately to the front of the building!" he called. The screaming children chased after him down the hallway in a mad dash to escape.
"Pi, disable all security cameras on this wing for ten seconds," 0 ordered. "3 and I will get into our goggles so no one will place us here when our Ranger selves show up.
"Done 0," said the Pokemon. "Clear."
0 and Serena switched their clothing using their morphers to the PKM regulation uniforms 0 had had the foresight to demand put there. 0's golden-and-black and Serena's white-and-black PKM uniforms emerged, along with a pair of goggles on both their faces. The goggles completely covered their heads, all their identifying marks. "PKM goggle mode ready. Pi, what are the cameras showing?"
"0, 3, we have a huge problem."
"What kind of problem?" 0 asked.
"That thing that attacked us at the Contest…there are about fifty of them out here!" Pi shouted, a hint of panic in its voice. "They're coming your way! And…"
"And what?" Serena piped in, able to hear their communications now thanks to her goggles. "What else is there?"
"There's something else here. It's like those ranger things, but it's blue!"
"Blue?" 0 gritted his teeth.
"What does that mean?" Serena wondered.
"It means that those black things are just underlings. You could call them Rangerlings, I guess. The blue one will be the one leading them, right Pi?"
"That's what I'm guessing."
"If that's the case, our goggle gear won't be enough. We'll have to morph when they-" He was unable to finish, as the Rangerlings arrived immediately. 0 and Serena assumed a defense stance, but oddly enough the black critters didn't attack instantly. Instead they lined up in an eerily orderly fashion along the sides of the room. "This is just great. I took down one of these no problem, but I don't know if we can handle all of them."
"Don't worry, 0," Serena replied. "These things aren't anywhere near our ranger power level. We shouldn't have a problem. You're inexperienced. You don't know how strong you are."
"Our power level is inferior?"
0 and Serena turned to face the source of the question: a man clad in spandex so blue 0 was certain it was sapphire. The entire costume was sapphire, save for the knee-high boots, long gloves, and square visor, which were black. There was some strange symbol on his chest that they couldn't understand, but that was black too. The ranger looked to the agents and tilted his helmet in interest.
"Didn't you hear me?" he asked, and it sounded almost like a young boy to 0. "What makes you think my friends and I are inferior to you?"
"Pi, are authorities en route?"
"On their way. I will send a transmission telling them to remain out of bounds."
"Keep them busy with keeping the building structure stable and recovering the civilians." To the ranger, 0 growled. "How's about a name, Sappho?" he asked. "Meeting new people and all, the least you could do is give a name."
"Oh yes, how rude of me," he replied. "I don't remember. But I think I'm supposed to be the Dark Sapphire Ranger. You guys must be the people I was sent to fight…wasn't that right?" He began to ramble. "Oh wait, wasn't I supposed to get the Dark Gem? I guess I can kill you both and do that." He giggled and took a step forward. "Why don't you transform? It'll be so much more fun when you become rangers. It'll be a real fight then." He sounded almost excited.
Footsteps echoed along the hallway and 0 almost groaned when he saw the two people who could only make his situation worse: Max and May Birch, who had apparently disregarded any sense of caution and rushed to the room. "Sarah?" May asked. "Honey, where are you?" Max was the first one to notice the mass amounts of evil villains and grabbed his sister.
"May, I think we have bigger problems," he said.
"Idiots!" 0 shouted at them and they noticed the agents. "What're you doing here? Get back to the police right now!"
"My daughter's here somewhere!" May retorted. "Who are you? Where is she?"
"Shut up right now!" the Dark Sapphire Ranger shrieked. "You're May Birch, aren't you?" He glanced at the woman, who had apparently realized the error of her ways, but was nonetheless rather adamant about getting Sarah. "Well, May Birch, this is PKM." He gestured at the two agents. "I'm here to kill them. And take a shiny thing. And, while I'm here, I don't see why I shouldn't kill you. Three birds with one stone. Can't beat that kind of a deal."
"No…" May whispered, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger lunged.
"Go!"
