The pokémon centre was dead silent, the pokémon below in the infirmary were sleeping, and the trainers in their rooms upstairs had long since laid down their heads in sleep. So it was hardly a challenge for the team of men to simply walk through the front door and make their way leisurely upstairs, past the snoozing Nurse Joy keeping vigil at the front desk.
Pausing outside one of the upstairs rooms, the leader pulled a small, stubby multi-tool from his belt, working his magic as he quickly and quietly slipped the lock on the door. With deathly silence and skill, the men slipped into the room. Within minutes they had what they had come for, stealing out of the centre and off into the night with their prey.
Kai woke with a splitting headache. His entire body hurt like anything he had felt before, and it took him a while to make sense of his surroundings. It was very dark, except for a solitary ray of sunlight streaming from a narrow slot high on the stone wall behind him. He was in a small room; bars lining the walls, a small stack of straw the only furnishings and he was completely alone.
Trying to make sense of the situation, he thought back to the night before, in the pokémon centre, but his memory was fuzzy and he slipped in and out of consciousness for several hours before being snapped out of his reverie by movement.
A small gust of wind told him that somewhere, a door had been opened, and he struggled to sit up, constantly fighting his body's protests as he fought to remain upright. His vision was blurred, but he could make out the silhouette of a man before him, on the other side of the bars before he finally lost consciousness again and the world around him fell away.
"... too high a dosage... he wakes up we'll... fine addition to my..." drifting in and out of consciousness was beginning to lose the novelty for Kai, fragments of conversation were all his mind could process as he hung there, in limbo as he lay on the straw in his cell.
Eventually, his mind rejoined his body and he woke, sharp minded, but still with a splitting headache from the drugs they had evidently administered to him. A quick glance around the room told him that there was no way out, the bars were thick and solid steel, he could perhaps be able to melt them, but it would take time and energy, two things he couldn't afford.
The door opened on the other side of the room, and Kai quickly lay his head back down, catching a glimpse of a gargantuan human figure before he closed his eyes, feigning sleep. A burst of inspiration struck him, and he opened his eyes again, staring emptily, slowing his breathing down almost to a halt, hoping fervently that his plan would work.
The huge man walked into the cell and made his way closer to the pile of hay on which Kai lay. A low groan escaped the man's mouth as he looked down at Kai. "Shit, don't be dead, don't be dead, the boss will kill me if he's dead, shit" he muttered, leaning over to check for a pulse.
That was when Kai struck. It was his fastest Shift ever, in the space of a heartbeat he had transformed, leaping from the ground at the man, claws outstretched, his jaws instinctively going for the throat.
His muzzle closed around the man's neck and it was over. His jailor lay on the floor of the cell, blood streaming from the deep puncture wounds in his throat, a low wheeze the only sound as he became still... and died.
Kai stood where he was, frozen in equal parts horror and fascination. He had killed a man. It was a feeling that was unexplainable, and one which he would never, for the life of him be able to describe. The knowledge that as a direct result of his actions someone had died, that he had killed him, revolted him but also, scarily excited him, and he was forced to quickly clamp down on his emotions, replacing them with steely resolve. These people had taken him prisoner and Hope might still be in danger. He had done what was necessary, nothing more.
The jailor's keys were at his belt, so Kai Shifted back into human form, shuddering at the taste of blood on his human tastebuds and took the key ring from the man's body. A quick search of the man yielded a sandwich, which was quickly eaten- he was after all, very hungry, a pocket knife, a healing potion and...
With a sinking feeling, Kai gripped the handle of the small, black handgun, turning it over as he took a closer look at the weapon. Firearms had been banned in Sinnoh since the last regional conflict with Hoenn. So many had died in those years of violence that in modern society, the manufacture, sale, ownership or use of a firearm by anyone outside of the police force or army was punishable with life imprisonment without parole. Whoever had captured him was either enormously powerful or enormously stupid to purchase firearms.
For now though, having a gun gave Kai a small measure of satisfaction, it evened the playing field, and he would do anything to find Hope and keep her safe. Fortunately, his captor hadn't been the brightest star in the sky, and had written down on a scrap of paper exactly how to use the gun. Disengaging the safety, Kai started down the corridor, carrying the handgun tightly in both hands as he jogged past endless empty cells, checking each thoroughly before progressing to the next, he would find Hope no matter what.
It was after about fifty metres that Kai stopped at the door of one cell, the largest by far that he had seen so far. This cell was more brightly lit than the others, with torches lining the walls and a series of cages up against the back wall, each one occupied by... a pokémon.
Kai quickly unlocked the door into the cell, and rushed inside. There were a total of five cages, each holding a different pokémon, each unconscious. From the right to left Kai could make out the limp forms of an Umbreon, an Espeon, an Absol, a Pigeot, its wings clamped to its sides, and... Hope.
She lay in the centre of her cage, eyes closed, her limp body covered in cuts and bruises, but she was alive and Kai rushed to her cage tucking the gun into his belt and fumbling for a moment with the keys before finding the correct one and opening the door to her small cage. He stepped over to her and gathered her up in his arms, gently so as not to hurt her. After a moment she opened her eyes and gave a small sound, somewhere between a cry and a laugh, and said "I knew you'd come and get me".
Gently, Kai carried her out of the cage and, sitting down against the stone wall, gave her the potion he had taken from the dead guard. The potion acted instantly, cleaning and healing the scratches and bruising until she was almost back to normal. Kai turned to the pokémon in the other cages, some of whom were beginning to stir.
"Do you know why these other pokémon are locked up?" he asked Hope, who looked sadly over at the other cages, then back to Kai. She sighed before she said "They're like you." "Whoever it is that captured us captured them for the same reason."
"They're Shifters too".
