Chapter 10

My internal clock didn't wake me this time, but the Experiment's fog horn did. The whole ship shuttered as the fog horn blasted across the ocean. I sensed every Dixierat on this ship was stirred awake. The Dixierats with me also stirred, moaning and yawning. Ray was obviously a morning person, because he was already up, amusing himself with his own tail. "Morning, guys!" he chirped.

Volta hiccupped when she heard Ray's voice, she stirred but couldn't get up. I took her hand and helped her up. "Morning, Volta."

She turned to me, her eyes gray with sleep and a mighty hangover. The mouse pokémon placed her hand on her belly and rubbed it. "I don't feel so good."

I wasn't sure if she had remembered yesterday, if she did she didn't care. Volta didn't get up to use the portable toilet. It was filled a long time ago and was sealed up with a plastic trash bag. Instead she stayed by my side and used all her will to keep her bodily fluids in. "You slept well?" I asked.

"Until I woke up," she said. "My mouth tastes weird and my head hurts."

"That's temporary," I said. "Here, let's go get some fresh air."

The fog horn bellowed again, I think we were approaching land. I muscled Volta up onto her feet and led her to door. Ray came up from behind and pulled up the latch, then pushed it open. Bright sunlight flooded the room, followed by cold salty air. It drove everyone in the freight container awake. I turned to Bruiser, he was climbing on all four limbs and stretching his legs. He asked, "What's going on?"

"Come with us and find out."

Bruiser stood up and stumbled toward us. We all stepped out into the open deck of the cargo ship and breathed. Volta's eyes were squeezed shut, it took some encouragement for her to open her eyes to see. "What are we doing?" she asked.

"We're approaching land," I said. "Possibly Faraday Island."

She looked at me with those soft marble eyes of hers and asked, "Do I look pretty to you?"

At first I was confused by her question, then took a moment and scanned her flabby body. "Volta, you're a pikachu. You're adorable no matter what."

"Pretty much," said Bruiser, clapping a stubby hand on her shoulder. "You got your mother's charm."

I said, "Why you asked?"

She said, "Because I got the impression that you don't like me being fat, but you secretly are."

Ray snickered, Bruiser even let out a chuckle. I remember clasping her last night, burying my face into her fur, and giving her gentle love bites across her belly. Besides that I kept to myself, but she gladly returned the favor, and then some. I guess I had to come clean, so I told her, "The pokémon on Faraday Island are often lazy and over their average weight, especially Irvin's pokémon back in the day. The pokémon who occasionally annoy me were often fat and lazy, but I couldn't bring myself to hate them."

Then Ray added, "It's either that, or fat is used for sex appeal. We pokémon don't have much to show compare to humans, that's one reason why a lot of Dixierats are gay or bi-sexual."

I turned around and pressed my hands against my head, then started walking. "I didn't need to know that. I do not wish to know that. Of course Irvin's pokémon aren't that different, but they don't rub that in."

Ray said, "I'm not rubbing it in, Tes."

"The fuck you're not."

Volta hobbled up to me, her hangover seemed to be forgotten. "Tesla, what's wrong?"

I turned to her and pointed to where I thought was Faraday Island, "But I'll tell you what's wrong. I've been remade on that fucking rock! What you see here is a result of relearning and unlearning pokémon habits and behavior. I was taught to read, write, and speak human; I was taught proper manners and how to act around people. I got a sense of property, personal space. Fuck sake, Tesla Westinghouse isn't even my birth name. I wasn't always called Tesla."

"Then what's your real name?" Ray asked.

I shrugged, "I don't have much of a real name. My mom and dad aren't big on naming us. They knew us by scent, touch, and taste. My mama, however, tend to call me by one particular name."

Bruiser said, "Which is?"

I stood there, trying to unearth that ancient memory. Then it came to me. "Sparky," I said. "She often calls me Sparky, and it's a common electric-type pokémon name. However it's mostly designated to mice pokémon."

Ray could barely hold his laughter, Bruiser and Volta merely smiled. "That's all I have left from my mama, an old name. I hadn't thought about it in almost a century, until now."

Volta said, "Sparky, I guess that could explain your powers."

"She wasn't aware of it, and neither did I until I blew off Irvin's hand."

"So do you like me more when I'm fat?"

I frowned, "Volta, anyone will like you more when you're fat. It's because you have more to grab on to when somebody decides to hug you, and cradle you, and cuddle you until you feel adored."

Ray backed me up on this. He got behind Volta and scooped her up with his good arm. "Pretty much," he says as he pressed his nose against Volta. "Everyone likes soft and furry things."

Volta giggled as Ray tickled her for a moment, I turned back to the freight container and checked the other Dixierats. They either went back to sleep or just sat there, staring off into the abyss. "Guys," I told them in pokémon speech. "You best get ready, we're going to dock today."

They complied by getting up and stretching their legs, then going back to sleep. So much for motivation.

. . .

I felt the freight ship's propellers changed pitch. The Experiment was slowing down, it was preparing to dock. The next thing I knew was looking up and seeing the familiar skyline of Faraday City above me. Tall glass buildings, reaching the height of two hundred stories, murmured with noise of activity. This was no ordinary city, it was a mega city. Much of the city's office buildings had a triangle-pattern design built into its construction, this gives them greater structural integrity than their early Modern counterparts. The green cylindrical buildings grow almost all of the city's food. Corn, soybeans, coffee, the vertical farms grow them all and deliver them to stores within walking distance. I recall going to Faraday City's flea market with Matt and Irvin to buy groceries and widgets. We made out with boxes of fruits and vegetables harvested within seven to fourteen days and some other odd stuff. Later Irvin decided to open his own booth at the flea market, and he had quite a collection of shit he picked up throughout our travels together.

Locally-made, individualism, and self-preservation, Faradian values taken like the commandments of a religion. Now they were going to be put to the test. They were supposed to be prepared for an invasion, but boy they were not going to expect a pokémon invasion.

We had to go back into the freight container, as the crew were coming back on deck to help the port authority secure the Experiment to the dock. I heard them walk back and forth passed us as we sat and waited. Ray said that Andy was going to announce a signal. A signal of what? I forgotten about the Dixierats on board for a moment, I guess I was too well deep within memory lane.

"You have a plan one we start to unload?" I asked Ray.

"Make a run toward Matt's place," he said. "Matthew Kissinger."

"Does he know what is going on?"

"No, he doesn't."

I said, "Okay, let's get packed up. Ray, I need you to haul ass by carrying your late Uncle's body on our back. Volta, help me strap him down. If we're going to run like madmen down the streets of Faraday City, then we gotta be quick. Faraday City has the highest police per population ratio in the world and they are militarized. I know the streets by heart, so I going to need you to trust me on this."

Bruiser said, "Andy claims he's going to cover us by jamming inbound and outbound communication lines. I don't understand how electronic comms work, do you know how wired Faraday City is?"

"Very wired, so wired in fact that you can jam one line and they'll switch to another within a blink of an eye. Jam that one and so on. If word gets out too fast about the Dixierat invasion, the Faradian's National Guard is going to be activated and it will be contained, and I don't wanna think about what they would do to the Dixierats."

Ray said, "Andy has people in high places, we're going to get an edge for a while. By the time their National Guard is mobilized, we would be spread out across Island and have a foot hold in strategic places."

"Strategic?"

"Andy picked it out, he said he used to come to those areas during his time in the Army Reserve."

Now how would Andy feed all those Dixierats? This island barely grows anything, which is the main reason why vertical agriculture is utilized. I didn't ask about food, because I knew the Dixierats would find a way. If I could survive out in Faraday Island's backcountry for twenty years then so could they. But what about the Dixierats who choose to live under the shadow of the Island's cities? The skills and knowhow they learned to survive in the wilderness is mostly useless in the urban jungle. I do recall my transition from the pokémon to human world was far from pleasant, but all pokémon experience it differently. I was brought into it against my will, these Dixierats are making the transition willingly.

So many factors, so many questions. I question Andy's logic. He was no military strategist, he is a pokémon doctor. Even though he, like all Faradians, had spent some time in the Reserve that doesn't give him a certificate to draft battle plans.

With that in mind, I started packing our shit up. I put my green drawcord bag on and helped Volta in carrying my dead son. His body was stone cold, no life left. We hauled it up onto Ray's back and Bruiser got out some thick paracord. We tied the body down to Ray. It looks awkward, so awkward that I felt stupid about it. If Andy was on board somewhere in the Experiment, why couldn't we hitch a ride with him to Matt's house? Oh, that's right. He has his hands full in trying not to get his ass arrested and thrown in jail. I suppose he had inside people in the FPD to bail him out. Oh why am I complaining about this anyway, and why do I even care? Was it because this Island had served to be my home, or was it the fact that it screwed me over?

Once the late elder Dixierat was secured to Ray's back, Volta turned to me and asked, "What's the big city like?"

"Lots of food and generous people," I said. "But car traffic may be a problem, I almost got ran over a few times. Besides that, you can live a comfortable life."

Volta's eyes glittered in the near darkness of the freight container. "Ooh, how about hotels?"

"Plenty of those around, but you won't need those. We're going to stay in an actual home, for now."

Ray said, "I call the couch when we get to Matt's house."

I said, "You could just sleep in Emmy's old bedroom."

"Hey, I'm a couch potato. I prefer to sleep on the sofa since the TV is right there, and the snacks within arm's reach."

I frowned. "Okay then, but whatever you guys do, take a shower. When's the last time you ever bathed?"

"Months," said Ray.

"I washed myself at the Nimbasa River two weeks ago," said Bruiser.

"I hadn't bathed at all since Vegas City," said Volta.

I said, "Even though I'm used to your scents, doesn't mean the humans are. Matt is going to hold his nose if he gets a whiff of you guys, so we're going to need to wash. You may want to shower in a group, since water isn't exactly cheap."

Ray said, "Got it. Bathe first, sleep later."

Lazy inbred, I swear Ray is enthusiastic about everything. He has no idea how serious this was. I doubt he would be given a fair trial if caught. There's a chance he could be sent back to the labs, not for experiments and tests, but for study. He's a one of a kind mutant mouse pokémon, no way I could see how the WHO would let him go.

Before I knew it I heard a loud garbled song play outside. Ray's ears perked. "That's the signal, guys!"

. . .

We threw open the doors as a familiar tune blasted into the freight container. This was the song I heard Ray sang with a group of Dixierats back in Dixie. It was simply a banjo and a guitar playing the tune, well synced and defined, and it was instrumental. I was just about to step outside when I was nearly ran over by several speeding Dixierats. They zipped by with lightning speed stopping for nothing, I stumbled back and watched as mice pokémon of all times started running passed me.

"There they go," said Bruiser. "With pride and glory."

I stuck my head out and saw freight containers popping open like a Jack in the Box. Mice pokémon poured out in a torrent. First there were a dozen, two dozen, and then four dozen. The whole ship was covered with Dixierats. I was flabbergasted, overwhelmed by the sight and smell of my own decedents. I snapped out of it and jumped up on Ray's back. "Get us up high, I wanna see what this looks like."

Ray sprinted out of the freight container and plowed into the Dixie crowd. Despite having one good arm he was quite a climber. He leaped up on the freight containers and made it as high as he could go. Bruiser followed behind, Volta clung to his back as he climbed up the freight containers. He was slower, but more careful as Ray. When he rejoined us, I looked out over the dock toward Faraday City.

And all I saw was a sea of orange and yellow fur. The Dixierats moved as a single mass. They ran across the walkways that connected the Experiment to the port. The humans down below were overwhelmed. They climbed up over whatever they could to avoid the surging mass. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in the open were mowed down and buried. I turned back toward the ship and almost all the freight containers were opened, filled with Dixierats just waiting for space to jump out and escape. I couldn't believe Andy crammed a whole ship with chus, even if he had help this task should've been impossible.

"We got to move," I said. "We stay here and we're going to get captured."

Ray chirped, "Onward then!"

He stupidly leaped into the Dixierat crowd, I hanged on as he body slammed on the deck. The Dixierats moved just in time before impact. Ray wasn't hurt, he just bounced back up like a coiled spring and off he went. Bruiser climbed down and the proper way, Volta hanged on to his shoulders with dear life.

"I'll follow you," said the raichu. "Just show us where to go."

Ray made a run down the walkway. The Dixierats knew he was coming, they barely had enough time to clear the way as he approached. "CHOO CHOO!" he chirped.

I think he was pretending to be a train, because he was plowed through the crowd, knocking any chu unfortunate enough to be in his way. I peered ahead and notice that most of the raichus were up front, acting as a battering ram to clear a way for their lesser evolutions behind them. Humans caught in their way were knocked aside. Just another obstacle, another burden in their path. We got deep enough into the port where we finally saw the security response. I know by experience that any security response is fast and rapid. The guards, police officers, and soldiers had done drills, knowing what to do when there's a terrorist attack or an invasion. The only problem was they were figuring out what to do. They weren't trained to handle a pokémon invasion. I caught sight of a couple of security guards in a kiosk barking into a radio. They were banging on it with their fists, checking the antennas. They were disabled, useless. Was this Andy's doing? If so, how?

It didn't take long for us to get to the fence. Security there was just as clueless. They knew something was up, but didn't know what to expect. So when they saw the Dixie surge their jaws dropped for a second, then hit a lockdown switch. Car barriers facing both ends of the street deployed, followed by two spike strips. They were sharp, thicker than a railroad spike but sharper than a scalpel. That was the best the port authority could do. The car barriers did almost nothing, but the spike strip did have an effect. The raichus saw the problem and stopped, then formed a V formation around the spike strip, this directed the surge around the gate. Ray followed the crowd at first, then made a mad dash for the fence.

"CHOO CHOO!"

I worked fast and gave him as much electricity my system could offer. A bright purple aura enveloped us. Ray plowed into the fence, my electricity melted the fence on contact. There was so much power that the fence burned up like dynamite wick. I didn't know how, didn't care. It carved a big ass hole through the fence, allowing the Dixierats to pass through. I turned toward the kiosk that had the guard. I saw his face, he was staring at me. It was recognition.

I thought about having Ray dash across the port authority to break open another fence to let more Dixierats through. That wasn't necessary as one gate had failed to lock down and Dixierats were plowing through it unhindered. Some climbed for the fence itself, the barb wire lining the top of the fence wasn't enough to deter them. They climbed over it without much effort and dropped down to the other side. Several raichus regrouped and reformed a line, it was thinner than before but much longer. With the pichus and pikachus behind them, they charged straight for the city and into the unsuspecting public.

. . .

"Whoa!" Ray said as we navigated the streets of Faraday City's core. "Everything has ground to a halt!"

Traffic was forced to a standstill as the Dixie surge swooped through the streets. Pedestrians and drivers, both amazed and bewildered, looked on as the Dixierats swooped passed them. The many street cops who patrol the city were quickly tagged and mowed down like weeds. Like the citizens they're supposed to protect and serve, the FPD officers were caught off-guard. Some tried to get on cars, tables, newspaper boxes, just any high ground they could find, before whipping out their batons to keep the Dixierats at bay. Others ran with their fellow denizens into random buildings and barricaded the door. Since much of Faraday City's buildings is mostly made of glass, I could see them pushing furniture in front of the main entrances. Like lab rats caught in a tight squeeze, they scrambled all over the place, trying to use the best of their abilities to avoid a furry entrapment.

Faraday City had these huge public jumbo screens across the street from City Hall, installed sometime around my outlaw years. These screens were always tuned to the Faraday News Network, the Island's government-owned news agency. The screens that supposed to be displaying the sexy news anchor were a bright pure blue, displaying the words No Signal, which bounced around the screen. I could imagine the mayor in his office, trying to get a line to anywhere, as the Dixie plague engulfs his city. I met him some months ago, I have long since forgotten his name but I think his term was almost up about now. What a way to end his administration, watching his city being occupied by an invading force.

As Ray and I charged through the streets, I could see several people had caught sight of me. Their faces show recognition, especially in older folks. I waved and give them a thumbs up as a zipped by, especially to the police officers who used to chase my tail around these very streets.

"Damn I am such an asshole," I said to myself. I tapped Ray on his shoulder and said, "Steer around here, I want to check something."

Ray made the turn as directed. I looked back to check on Bruiser and Volta. They were still there, just right behind us. Further down the street was the main Dixierat surge, a hundred marble eyes staring straight at me.

I knew my way around this city by heart, and I knew where we were going. It didn't take long for us to locate the Faraday City Police Department HQ, the main nerve center of law enforcement in the city. It wasn't made out of glass like the skyscrapers that shadow it, it was made out of classic brick and concrete. Antennas and satellite dishes carpet the roof, and surrounding the building was its parking lot and conjoining street. A rod-iron fence surrounded the compound, not a problem. The gate was still open and the guard manning its kiosk was busy fiddling around with his radio. Again, communications were down. I turned to Bruiser and Volta and said, "Hang back, this will be quick."

Bruiser and Volta took cover behind the kiosk, the guard didn't notice as Ray and I slipped through his gate. The parking lot was full of squad cars, I was looking for a particular one. It didn't take long to find the squad car. Car number 115, belonging to Emmett Kissinger. It was parked in the reserve place by the door.

"See that car," I told Ray.

"Yeah!"

"Head-butt it!"

Ray charged and slammed his head against the back bumper of the squad car. The vehicle jarred forward, its lights flashed for a brief second as the engine blew out. Once smoke started billowing under the hood, I streaked my body around the entire car, then pissed all the urine I had all over the windshield.

"Okay," I said as I jumped back onto Ray. "Let's get to a safe spot and watch."

Ray ran out the gate and Bruiser and Volta rejoined us, I directed Ray toward the side of the block. Just out of sight from the cops but having plain view of Emmy's squad car. We sat back and waited. Sure enough the Dixie surge appeared. The cop in the kiosk finally noticed and proceed to shut the gate. It did no good. The raichus merely charged and brought it down just as it closed, tossing it aside like cardboard. The surge poured into the parking lot and made a bee-line toward the back door. Half the surge bust the door down and charged inside, the other half diverted to Emmy's car. I couldn't help but laugh as the Dixierats proceed to swamp his car, rubbing their bodies over it and whatnot. One Dixierat, a burly raichu, popped open the fuel tank cap and proceed to urinate inside it.

"You have any idea that would work?" Ray asked.

"No," I said. "I didn't know what to expect."

Bruiser asked, "Who owned that car?"

"Matt's son, Emmett Kissinger. He's the Chief of Police of Faraday City. I knew him since the day he was born, watched him grew up and all."

"What was that for?" Volta asked.

"He shot me in the leg and I almost died, what you see there is revenge."

As more Dixierats poured into the HQ, the crowded conditions started forcing the officers inside out the windows. None of them was Emmy, but I do recognized them as the same SWAT team members who try to flag me down in the back alleys of Faraday City's outer ring. Several Dixierats followed behind them, a few quickly caught up to some of them and knocked them down. Once the cops were on their level, the Dixierats proceed to lick their faces to death.

"Damn," I said. "Okay, I've seen enough. Let's head over to Matt's house now before the Dixierats catch up to us."

. . .

The city went from glass to brick. The outer core held much of the older architecture of the city's history. Pre-Information Age buildings make up most of the outer core, all of which are no more than a hundred years old, but gutted sometime in the past thirty years, renovated with state-of-the-art building materials. The outer core is a mixture of office space and apartment complexes, with small Mom & Pop shops sprinkled evenly in between. Zoning laws had changed over the years since I first set foot in Faraday City. I can tell you by experience that much of the city used to be like the outer core. It was only just around the time where I went into exile where the Faradian Army Corp of Engineers had gutted the city's inner core of ALL old buildings, replacing them with the glass super skyscrapers all Faradians know today.

The back streets were cleaner since I last saw them in my outlaw years. Dumpsters and trash cans were sealed shut with metal clamps. There weren't any locks on them, but it sure made it inconvenient for anyone trying to throw something away. The infestation has yet to penetrate the middle ring of the city, but it won't be long before the residents here would start to take notice. We made our way through the back alleys without incident. The architecture reminded me of my early Westinghouse days. Memories of my dead buddies surfaced in my mind. I was further reminded when we dashed passed a convenience store, which I believe was the same one I had raided with them during the Faraday City blackout back in the day.

We slipped out of the outer core of the city and stepped into suburbia, actual one to two-story houses that border the city. Sometimes it was added as part of the outer core, sometimes it was called the outer ring. Whatever you decided to call it, this was the ring that stands between the urban jungle and the wilderness beyond. A lot had changed over the years. Houses were torn down and rebuilt, but some houses remained standing throughout the test of time. These older homes, like much of any century old building, were gutted and renovated. Steel and bolts now make up their once wood and nail skeletons. Solar panels cover their roofs, followed by small vertical-axis windmills that sit on top of each house or back yard. The fences of much of the yards weren't fences at all, rather they were cinderblock walls, all filled and reinforced with concrete and rebar respectively. All the houses were whitewashed, no blue, green, red, or yellow colors, all facades were painted white. Even the roofs were painted white, but it's hard to tell with the solar panels covering them.

"White," said Ray, "just like Andy's bunker."

"Prevents the heat-island effect," I said. "Makes sure that the sun doesn't make the environment too hot."

I steered Ray down the familiar streets, kept checking the four-digit numbers on each mailbox. Several of these houses had those shitty purple flags with my blacked out likeness on them. Matt's house, as I recall, don't have such flag. His house was simple, his yard is grass with no flowers or trees. I steered Ray down the empty streets and zeroed in on Matt's home. There it was, just as I last remembered it. No flags or flowers since his childhood. "Okay, Ray," I said. "This is Matt's house, let's-"

"CHOO CHOO!" Ray broke into a sprint and charged for the door. My eyes went big, I hanged on to the cloth that wrapped my son's body and screamed, "Wait, what are you doing!? Ray, stop!"

He stopped alright, stopped after he plowed right into Matt's front door. The front door had a steel frame with two dead bolts, armored with a chrome-plated strike plate. It had withstood attempted break-ins and other forms of force entry throughout its lifetime. Sadly the door was old, the frame had rusted and the hinges were worn from constant swinging, but it was still strong. However it was designed to keep out humans, not a charging rikachu.

When Ray smashed against the door, the door didn't exactly swung open. It burst open, the frame was not only torn out, but it came off in one piece. The deadbolts were ripped out of their sockets, the hinges of the door cracked and peeled away. I went flying head over heel and slid across the floor, the door clattered against the solid wooden floor with a big ass dent in it.

I sat up, blinking, my head stuck in a fog until Ray blurted out like a complete idiot, "DING DONG! DING DONG! We're here!"

TO BE CONTINUED. . .