DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One.

Chapter Ten

The Man In Green

"We can't open the windows from the outside. Can we get someone to open them from the inside?"

Tally shook her head. "Don't think so. I've never seen a Pokémon Centre with open windows. They've probably got air conditioning or something."

Carla huffed in frustration. It was then that a thought came to her. She walked around the side of the Centre, intently looking up and down the wall. After a moment, she stopped and grinned before turning back to Tally.

"Could we fit through there?" she asked, pointing up at a large metal air vent in the middle of the wall.

"I guess. We could get in easy because the security system isn't working right now."

Carla barely had time to wonder just what the system had do to with the air vents before Tally was pulling out a Pokéball. She tossed it into the air; a Grumpig emerged from the capsule and landed neatly on its feet.

"Glossie, I need you to use Psychic to get Carla up to that air vent."

The Grumpig nodded, then turned her attention to Carla. Her eyes glowed a luminous blue and Carla was lifted into the air. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a yelp of surprise. Levitating was not a pleasant experience.

"It's OK," Tally called. "She won't drop you. Can you get the grate off?"

Once Carla was hovering in front of the vent, she reached out and tugged at the frame. It came away from the wall easily, revealing a long metal tunnel. She took her bag off, allowing it to hang from her right hand. She would fit in the tunnel easier if she didn't have it on her back.

Glossie gently tilted Carla so she was lying on her front. Carla pushed her bag into the tunnel and slid in after it. The metal floor was cold against her palms; she could feel it through the knees of her jeans.

She began crawling, nudging her bag ahead of her. She could barely see anything, but she knew the tunnel had to lead somewhere. A slight clang behind her told her Tally had made it into the tunnel as well.

Before long, Carla's hand left smooth metal and encountered another grate. Carla looked down and saw a room with long glass cylinders placed on top of oblong tables. The cylinders had long red wires attached to both ends and a soft-looking white blanket inside. Each one had a small door that was hanging open like a dislocated jaw.

"What is it?" Tally whispered. "Have you found a room?"

"Yeah."

"Can we get down?"

"Think so. Back away a little bit."

As Tally scrambled backwards, Carla slammed down on the grate with one hand. It fell open and clattered to the floor. Both girls waited anxiously, but nobody came to check what the noise was.

"If you go down first, I'll toss your bag to you."

"Careful," Carla murmured back. Her voice echoed quietly in the tunnel. "It's got my egg in it."

"Then you'd better catch it."

Carla managed to edge herself into a sitting position, with her feet dangling in mid-air. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slipped forwards, letting herself drop. She landed heavily, almost slipping on the grate. She froze, listening fearfully for any footsteps. But there was nothing. Nobody came to open the door and investigate the noise.

"You OK?" Tally called from above her.

Carla moved the grate so it was propped up against a table. "Yeah." Tally dropped her bag right into her waiting hands; Carla knelt down and quickly checked that Eggy was all right.

"If you drop yours too, I'll catch it," she said, wrapping Eggy back up in her spare T-shirt and placing it back in her bag. Tally's knapsack fell through the square hole in the ceiling, closely followed by Tally. She landed a bit more gracefully than Carla had.

"Maybe we can get some people out the way we came in," she suggested, taking her knapsack back from Carla and draping it over her shoulder.

"Where do you think we are?" Carla whispered.

"No idea," Tally said, lowering her voice to match Carla's. "I think this is a hospital room of some kind. These pods must be used to heal Pokémon."

"Do they always leave pods open when they're not being used?"

"No, they...don't." Tally's voice trailed off as a look of dread appeared on her face. She called out Glossie again and Carla summoned Ferry. Both girls crept towards the door.

Carla cautiously turned the handle and pushed it open. Something was blocking it from the other side. After a little effort, she forced the door further ajar - and saw an arm lying on the floor.

Carla clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She wriggled through the small opening to find a nurse lying crumpled on the floor. She quickly knelt down beside her and rolled her over onto her back.

"Oh my gosh, is she OK?"

The nurse's eyes were closed and she was breathing very slowly and deeply. Ferry nudged her in the side and looked up at his trainer, blinking in confusion.

"...I think she's sleeping. Hey!" Carla shook the nurse's shoulder gently. "Wake up!"

"I think they used Hypnosis on her. She must have interrupted them or something."

Carla was torn. She didn't want to just leave the nurse lying in the corridor; on the other hand, there were people running around the Centre that very probably had stolen Pokémon with them. Maybe they were stealing others right at this moment.

Without warning, lights came on overhead, causing both girls to start and look around them.

"Dammit!"

Carla and Tally's heads whipped round as they stared in the direction the voice had come from. From the sound, the person was only just around the corner. Now that the lights were on, Carla could see a shadow lying across the floor. It was too large and bulky to belong to a human.

"You stay here," she mouthed to Tally, slipping her bag off her shoulder again and putting it down. "I'll see what's happening." Without waiting for a reply, she tiptoed towards the shadow, Ferry silently following at her heels. All Carla could feel was her heart pounding against her ribs; she tried hard not to breathe loudly in case she was heard.

She looked around the corner and immediately saw what was casting the shadow. A massive purple Pokémon stood in front of her. It had powerful-looking arms and yellow-tipped horns on its head. As it turned around, Carla saw red eyes and white teeth in a wide mouth.

Before she could react, the Exploud swung a purple arm at her. Carla was knocked off her feet and sent flying into the nearby wall. Her head hit the wall heavily. Sharp pain blinded her and she crumpled to the floor.

xxx

The first thing Carla felt was a severe ache at the side of her head. The second thing was a hand at her throat.

"She's got a pulse."

Carla tried to open her eyes, only to screw them up in protest as light came in between her eyelids. She couldn't stop a whimper escaping. Immediately the hand left her neck and was placed on her forehead.

"Stay still. Just stay still." The strange voice wasn't loud, but it was clear the owner was trying to reassure her while expecting her to obey him at the same time. "Don't move your head yet."

Carla willed herself to remain completely motionless.

"You're breathing regularly and you're head's not bleeding. That's good. Can you open your eyes now?"

Reluctantly, Carla blinked them open. She saw a man in his late forties or early fifties, with skin tanned as brown as a nut and dark brown eyes. His wiry torso was hidden by a bulky green jacket.

"Does anything, apart from your head, hurt?" he asked.

"No, just my head."

"Good." He glanced up at a figure out of Carla's sight. "You've got her bag?"

"Yes," a feminine voice replied. It was Tally.

"Right, if you carry the bag, I'll carry her."

Before Carla could even protest, she found herself scooped up as if she weighed nothing more than a Skitty.

"It's all right," the man said. "You're safe. This is a precaution." He began to walk down the corridor, Tally beside him.

Something was missing. Carla couldn't figure out what it was, but she knew something wasn't there. She put her hands lightly on the man's shoulders, trying not to let her embarrassment show. She hadn't been carried since she was nine, and she wasn't sure if this was necessary.

"We're going to the lobby," the stranger informed Carla and Tally. "The police are using the unbooked guest tooms to talk to witnesses and trainers whose Pokémon were nicked. They'll definitely want to talk to you two."

"I didn't actually see anything," Carla mumbled. "I just saw one of their Pokémon."

"That'll be enough for them. If you can remember anything else, tell the police about it. It's really important these guys are caught."

"Are you police?" asked Carla. He definitely had an air of authority to him.

He chuckled at her question. "Nah, not quite. But I am helping them out." He lowered her gently down onto a chair. Carla hadn't even realised they were back in the lobby. As Tally sat beside her, the stranger pulled a blue rectangle out of his battered green bag and handed it to Carla.

"Keep this ice pack applied to your head. If you feel sleepy or sick, tell someone. All right?"

Carla nodded, pressing the pack to the sore side of her head. She was reminded of her father and just at that moment, that wasn't a bad thing. "Thank you."

He nodded and walked away to talk to a policeman standing by the reception desk. Carla watched him go. Then she remembered what she had thought to herself while she was in the changing-room: she couldn't keep getting help from people. She wasn't ungrateful to him, and this time she might have seriously needed help, but she was starting to dislike being helpless.

I need to check if Eggy's OK. Good thing Kess was in my bag as well, or...

Then she realised what was missing.

"Tally, where's Ferry?"

Her insides went cold at the expression on the other girl's face. "Tally, where is he?"

"I'm sorry, Carla. I...after the Exploud hit you, its trainer grabbed him and ran off. They'd teleported away by the time I got there." Tally looked as though she was about to cry. "I'm so sorry."

"But...but they can get him back, can't they? The police are going to get the thieves. They have to." Carla was nearly hysterical. "He isn't gone!" Please don't let him be gone...

xxx

"What do you remember before the Exploud hit you?"

"Not that much." Carla clenched her fists, fighting back tears. She wasn't going to cry in front of the policeman. "Its trainer swore when the power came back."

"So he was surprised?"

Carla nodded, wincing as the slight movement sent pain through her head. "Yeah. When...when I was knocked out, he snatched my Lotad."

The policeman sighed, as if he had been told about thefts several times that day. Before she could add anything else, he said: "Your Lotad is still legally registered to you, but thieves are finding ways of getting around registrations. Give me your ID number, and if there's any news, we'll get in touch."

Carla wanted to scream that those words hadn't been helpful at all, but he had already gone to talk to the next witness.

Before she could lose herself in the grief and anger bubbling away inside her, a voice came from above her. "Hey. You feeling OK?"

It was the man in green. When she nodded, he sat down beside her, resting his arms on his knees. "Your friend told me about your Lotad. I'm sorry."

"You're talking like he's died."

"I know you're angry and upset. You're going to think I'm being callous, but the odds of getting a stolen Pokémon back are close to zero. I know someone who spent years looking for a Pokémon that had been stolen from him. He found it and it didn't even recognise him. All the loyalty and affection it had towards him had gone."

"So I just let Ferry go?"

"I'm saying don't get your hopes up. He could be anywhere. How many Pokémon do you have right now?"

Carla blinked, surprised by the sudden change in subject. "Just my Torchic. I've got an egg, but it won't hatch for a bit."

"Right. Get another team member as soon as you can."

"What?" Carla almost shrieked. There was no way she could catch another Pokémon so soon after Ferry had been stolen. He couldn't be serious!

"You're going to be vulnerable with just your Torchic and egg. If you catch something else, you'll be safer. Trust me on this."

Carla wanted to say something else, but stopped herself when she saw the compassionate but firm expression in his eyes. At that moment, she couldn't have spoken against him any more than she could have against her father.

She nodded in reply. He squeezed her shoulder once before getting up.

Now she was finally alone, Carla took Kess' Pokéball out of her bag and released her. Kess landed on the floor and fluffed up her feathers. She looked around her, then up at Carla, clearly expecting her to release Ferry.

"I'm sorry, Kess."

The Torchic peeped softly, taking a few steps closer to her trainer. Carla gathered her up, holding her close and burying her face in the soft warm down.

"I'm sorry."

To be continued…