Author's Note: Due to various setbacks, one of which was a loss of internet connection caused by a faulty modem, I was unable to get this chapter done and put up yesterday. Fortunately everything seems to be working perfectly again, so hopefully there will be no more delays for a while.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 10: Quinton
Bolt had not been in the most cheerful of moods during the short trip to Saffron City. The whole time he had not been able to get his most recent encounter with Richter out of his head. Bolt kept wondering over about how Richter could possibly know Christine, and he knew of one very possible answer. Having an eye for the ladies, Bolt had in the past approached young women who happened to already have boyfriends, and most of the time these guys had a pretty short fuse about other guys hitting on their girlfriends. A few of these young men had even been as aggressive as Richter, which told Bolt that it was very likely that Christine just happened to be Richter's girlfriend. Yet as obvious as the possibility was, Bolt did not want to admit to himself that it might be true. For some reason he couldn't stand the thought of Christine being with Richter.
It was around noon that day as Bolt exited the Pokemon Center and found the others huddled together out front. He noticed that Lorain and Ross seemed to be debating something.
"What're you guys chatting about?" Bolt asked as he walked up.
"Oh, Bolt. We were just trying to decide on what are plans are for today." Lorain answered. "I know you probably want to head for the gym, but before that I'd like to take a tour of Silph Co."
"And I say the tour would be just one big yawn." Ross insisted. "What's the big deal about this company anyway?"
"Are you kidding? Silph Co is one of the biggest producer of Pokemon related products in the world!" Lorain told him. "They make just about everything from pokeballs to potions! Heck, they've even made the artificial Pokemon, Porygon! I mean that part would be cooler if Porygon was a bug, but still! We have got to check this place out!"
"And I say we just head to the gym, watch Bolt's battle and then just head back to the Pokemon Center for the night before heading out to the next city." The white-haired bass player told her.
"Oh come on! We can not pass this chance up!" Lorain insisted.
"What do you think, Skins?" Bolt asked.
Skins shrugged. "Whatever."
"Well… what the heck. We'll do it Lorain's way and check out Silph Co." Bolt decided.
"Yes!" the bluenette cheered.
"Seriously?" Ross protested. "But Bolt, what about the gym?"
"Ehh, I'm not really in the mood for a gym battle right now." Bolt replied. "We can check out the gym afterward."
"Does this have something to do with what happened with that Richter jerk?" Ross asked.
"…Something like that." Bolt answered. "Let's get going."
Within a few minutes, Lorain had led the rest of the gang to a towering skyscraper in the center of the city that was the headquarters of the Silph Corporation. Upon entering the lobby, Bolt and the others quickly found where the tour group was meeting and joined them. There were not a lot of other people in the tour group. Most of them appeared to just be tourists who were there to check the place out during their stop in Saffron. Within a couple minutes, a woman with long orange hair that split in the back like a V walked up to the group. She had on a black skirt with a white blouse and a blue blazer with the Silph Co logo on it.
"Hello everybody." The woman told the group. "My name's Cassidy, and I'll be conducting your tour today. Please follow me, and do try to stay together."
As the tour began, Bolt and his companions ended up towards the back of the group. Bolt had quickly become lost in thought and had started to walk a little slower than the rest of the group.
"I should start this tour by telling you all about one of the most innovative features of this building." Cassidy began. "If you'll all turn your attention to the floor, you'll fine large tiles here and there in certain spots in the room. These tiles are actually sophisticated teleportation pads that allow our employees to instantly teleport from one room of the building to another, allowing our staff to complete projects much faster. Please watch your step, or you might just end up being zipped to a whole other room. Let's stay together now."
Bolt had not listened to a single word that Cassidy had said. He also was not paying attention when he stepped on one of the large tiles and suddenly found himself surrounded by white light. When the light faded, Bolt found that he was in a completely in a room that looked like a small lab cluttered with pieces of unfinished technology and computer parts. Sitting at a table facing the wall and working on some piece of equipment was a young man about Bolt's age with blonde hair styled in a mullet. He had on a white jacket with the sleeves rolled up with a blue t-shirt and faded jeans.
On the ground behind the blonde's chair was a pink bird-like creature made from geometric shapes, like it was made using ancient computer software. The end of its beak was blue, as was its tail, underside, and the shapes at its side that acted as a pair of wings. Bolt recognized the creature as a Porygon.
"Uh, excuse me." Bolt spoke, getting the blonde's attention.
"Oh, hi there." The blonde replied. "Let me guess, you were taking the tour and accidentally stepped on one of the teleporter pads, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Bolt confirmed as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for just barging in on ya like this."
"Don't worry, it happens all the time." The blonde assured him. "The name's Quinton Mercury. And you are?"
"Bolt Hanson." The rocker replied as he shook Quinton's hand. "So where am I, exactly?"
"Just a room in the subbasement that my dad let's me tool around in." Quinton answered.
"Your dad?" Bolt repeated. "So does he like work here or something?"
"You could say that." Quinton confirmed. "My dad's the president and CEO of Silph."
"Seriously?" a surprised Bolt responded. "Wow! That must be kinda cool."
"It has its perks." Quinton admitted. "One of them was my little friend, Porygon here." At this, the artificial Pokemon levitated off the ground and greeted Bolt in the form of digital sounds. "My dad got him for me as a present on my tenth birthday, easy for him to do, since Porygon here is technically a Silph Co. product. Still, a lot of the time being the son of the Silph Co. president is a real drag. My dad eventually wants me to go into the family business."
"Not your thing?" Bolt deduced.
"Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of the science stuff the company does, but I'd much rather be out there traveling the world." Quinton admitted. "Just try my hand at the whole Pokemon Trainer thing, maybe uncover some secrets of the universe. Stuff like that."
"Did you tell him that?" Bolt asked.
"Of course I did. But he's made himself pretty clear." Quinton replied. "Course part of it is because he thinks I can't hack it as a trainer. I was pretty accident prone as a kid, and my dad's a little overprotective. So, here I am, just killing time in this little lab of mine."
"Yeah, that is a drag." Bolt agreed. "So it's just you and Porygon here in this place most of the time?"
"Well, and Chrome." Quinton answered.
"Chrome?" Bolt repeated with a raised eyebrow.
As if on cue, the electric metal door of the room opened, and hovering in was a metallic silver creature with a cylindrical body with a spherical head that had a single red eye. The other end of its body was flat and had three small golden claws. Using the claws, the creature carried a black plastic case that it brought over to Quinton.
"Thank you kindly, Chrome." Quinton told the metallic creature as he took the case. "Let's see… this should be just the right tool kit I need."
Bolt lowered his shades a bit to get a better look at Chrome. "Dude! Is that a shiny Beldum?"
"Sure is. I caught the little guy while my dad and I were vacationing in Hoenn." Quinton answered. "I was outside tinkering with some radio equipment, and whatever I was doing caused Chrome to just float over and look. Caught him with a little help from Porygon, of course."
"Man. In some ways, you really do lead a charmed life." Bolt told him. "So what the heck is it that you do down here?"
"Mostly I just mess around with stuff." Quinton answered as he continued working on the piece of equipment he had on his desk. "Computers. Little gadgets the company made that never got out of the R&D phase. Right now though I'm trying to get the best sound out of this electric piano keyboard I found in the junkyard the other day."
"So you play then?" Bolt asked.
"Music is actually one of my leading interests." Quinton confirmed. "What about you? Is that guitar of yours on your back just for show?"
"No way man." Bolt answered.
"Well then…" Quinton began as he put his keyboard back together. "What say you and I have a little jam session so I can test this baby out?"
Bolt grinned and took hold of his red guitar. "Let's rock!"
Lorain and the others continued on the tour without even realizing Bolt had vanished. The tour group had only reached the second floor as Cassidy took them into a large lab.
"And this lab is where we test out new products that may allow trainers to lure out certain Pokemon." Cassidy announced as she showed them the lab. "By analyzing the Pokemon move known as Sweet Scent, our scientist hope to one day…"
As Cassidy talked, Ross glanced around and finally noticed that a certain someone was missing. "Hey! Where the hell is Hanson?" Skins looked at him and shrugged. "That jerk! Makes us come on this stupid tour and then he skips out on us? The next time I see him, I'm gonna…"
"Shh!" Lorain gestured with a fierce glare.
"Now then, if you'll all follow me, our next stop will be the lab where we study the brainwaves of certain Pokemon." Cassidy announced as she led the group out.
As they headed down the hallway, walking towards them was a janitor in a grey jumpsuit. He was fairly young looking and had green hair that split in the front. The janitor walked up near Cassidy and began to clean a water fountain, causing Cassidy to pause.
"Everyone's in place." The janitor quietly told Cassidy. "We can start whenever you're ready."
"Good. We'll begin the operation in thirty minutes." Cassidy told him. "Meet me on the sixth floor in lab seven. You better be ready for this, Bill."
"It's Butch! My name's Butch!" the irritated janitor quietly reminded her. "How is it that we've been partners for years and you can never remember my name?"
"Look, whatever! Just get your ass up there!" Cassidy ordered, trying very hard to maintain her calm expression.
"Fine, fine!" Butch replied as he pretended to finish cleaning. "And it's Butch!"
"Uh, Ms. Cassidy?" Lorain spoke, causing her to turn around. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, not at all. Not at all." Cassidy assured her. "Now then, this way. Try to keep up."
Bolt and Quinton's little jam session went on for about ten minutes. Afterwards they decided to stop and take a little break.
"Man, I gotta tell ya. You really know how to tickle those ivories." Bolt praised.
"You're pretty good yourself." Quinton told him. "You also seem a little more upbeat since you wandered in here."
"You noticed, huh?" Bolt replied. "Yeah, I've had kind of a rough couple of days, I guess."
"Care to share?" Quinton asked.
Bolt sighed. "Well… there's this girl I met a while ago, and she's like no other girl I've ever met. I mean not only is she beautiful, she's got a kind heart and voice like an angel."
"Sounds like quite the lady." Quinton observed. "So what's your problem?"
"My problem… is that she might already be spoken for." Bolt answered. "This one jerk I first met back in Viridian City came to me the other day and told me to stay the hell away from this girl."
"Ah, possessive boyfriend. I get it." Quinton replied.
"You know what really gets me is that this girl never mentioned she was seeing that piece of trash." Bolt told him.
"Well… maybe he's not actually her boyfriend then." Quinton suggested. "It could be some kind of one-sided thing."
"How do you figure?" Bolt asked.
"Think about it. Maybe this girl and your rival do know each other, but your rival's stuck in the friend zone." Quinton theorized. "Then you come waltzing in to sweep the object of his affection off her feet, so he decides to scare you off. Doesn't mean she's spoken for though."
"You really think so?" Bolt asked hopefully.
"Well I can't be sure, but yeah. I think it's a good possibility." Quinton answered.
"Thanks man. That eases my mind a bit." Bolt told him.
"No problem." Quinton replied. "Now, what's say we try another jam?"
"I'm game." Bolt agreed.
Cassidy led the tour group into another large lab on the sixth floor. Butch was already in the room pretending to sweep up. Butch nodded at Cassidy, as did three of the scientists in the lab, prompting Cassidy to nod back. At the same time, Lorain glanced around and suddenly noticed that someone in the group was missing.
"Hey! Where's Bolt?" Lorain wondered.
"About damn time you noticed." Ross told her. "Bolt ditched us right when this yawn fest began. I've tried telling ya about fifty times now."
"Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid we've reached the end of our tour." Cassidy announced. "However, I'm afraid all of you are going to be staying with us a while longer." At this, most of the group began to murmur to one another in confusion. "Now!"
Suddenly a large metal door sealed off the lab, trapping everyone inside. The three scientists who had nodded at Cassidy took off their lab coats to reveal Team Rocket uniforms. Butch and Cassidy changed to reveal their own Team Rocket uniforms, though theirs were a little more distinct and included white boots and gloves with red bands near the top.
"What the hell is this?" Ross demanded to know.
"As of now, Silph Co. belongs to Team Rocket." Cassidy told them. "Which means you poor suckers are going to be our hostages for a while. So play nice, or else things will get messy."
Author's Note: One of my favorite things about doing this AU is combining things from both the anime and the games. And for this chapter I decided to draw from one of the most challenging events of the first generation games, the Team Rocket takeover of Silph Co. That event ended up being the biggest roadblock for me playing the games when I was younger (that and that dang Seafoam Island boulder puzzle). Of course this version of the event has a few differences from the games. The biggest is that instead of Giovanni, the main villains are Butch and Cassidy, the far more competent counterparts of Jessie and James. I got the idea to involve that duo in this story after writing the Mt. Moon chapter. For some reason, those five generic Team Rocket thugs that I used in that chapter made me remember Cassidy and Butch.
Please review and let me know what you think.