CHAPTER 12
I woke out of my dreamless daze completely exhausted. I opened my eyes, but all I saw was darkness. I was also strapped to a chair, conveniently bolted to the floor.
"Hello?" I called out.
"Hush!"
"W-who's there?"
"It's me, Alec. You know, the guy who tried to save you?"
It was hard to recognize him with his scratchy voice.
"Yeah, I know. Where are we?" I wondered.
"I don't know," he said. "I have a bag over my head."
"Hello?" a different voice called out. May was with us.
"It's Brendan. I'm glad you're all right."
"Me too. How are we going to get out of here? I'm also wondering what in the depths of distortion is going on!"
"It's a group we call the 'Corruption'. We have spies here that could help us escape, but I only know one person here. We need to find him without getting caught," said Alec.
"Who's 'we'?" May asked.
"I am with the Cloud Cover. Our job is to protect Hoenn from security breaches and dexmail leaks. We also plant devices in the ground in various places, to help prevent them from tracking a trainer's location."
I envisioned May's mouth falling open in shock. That was probably what I looked like when he told me the truth. Anyways, for the next five minutes, Alec told May everything that he told me at the cafe. By the end, she had a few questions just like I did.
"So why would they want to track our locations? Why would they care?"
"Think about it," Alec said, "If they know where everyone is, then they could just do whatever they want whenever they feel like it. They can also access our trainer IDs that way. If they wanted to, they could just buy from your card."
"What about our pokemon?"
"That's how they track us. The poke ball factory in Kalos has specially built their products to have tracking capabilities. That's why the Cloud Cover uses privately made poke balls."
May groaned loudly.
"I'm sorry May. I got you into this mess," I confessed.
"No. It wasn't your fault. But what are they going to do to us?"
"It's my fault. It was my job to take care of you guys. Brendan, when you left Unova, I saw some people take after you a few minutes later. But let's not dwell on it. We will worry about that later. First, we escape." said Alec urgently.
I tried to grasp for my poke balls, but my hands were tied behind my back.
"Dang it...and how are we supposed to leave if we can't even reach our pokemon..." Suddenly, I realized something.
"No."
"What now?" Alec groaned. My throat constricted in panic.
"Remember when I crashed into May when we were running?" I asked.
"Yes, but didn't you pick some of them up?" Alec asked quietly. It was obvious that he didn't want to be overheard by anyone near the room. It was most likely that there were microphones and cameras all over the place.
"I did, but I don't feel their weight. Someone must have taken them!" I felt naked without my pokemon. They were the primary source of my courage and hope. May began to sob when the realization that we were screwed finally reached us. I was also feeling very emotionally weak and vunerable-the perfect time for someone to impose.
"So, it seems that you kids have finally woken up. This guy was up hours before you, just waiting patiently for something interesting to happen," a new voice said. I didn't recognize it, so I just went straight for the defiance.
"Who are you?"
"You may call me Arvil. Don't ask for my last name, because you aren't going to get it. I am the founder of the Elites, a society dedicated to the protection of people and pokemon alike. And I am here to extend a welcoming visit to you all. You should all consider yourselves lucky that you get to meet the center of all this success that we have reached over the twenty years that we have been in operation."
"If you are really dedicated to the protection of people, then why did you kidnap us?" asked May.
"There is always a cost to success. There will always be a bill for achievement. Have you ever read that great novel by Orson Scott Card?"
I shook my head. I really didn't care what Arvil had to say about the book-just wondering when the fold would come off. For all I knew, we were probably surrounded by feraligatrs at that very moment.
"You should read it. It tells the story of a boy who had led a misguided life in a world facing an alien invasion. He played games at this place called 'Battle School', where he learned that in time, he would be the only hope left for mankind's survival. Little did Ender know that he was the only chance for them to make it. You young people are like Ender, in a way. Probably not as genius minded, but very bright. One of you have already achieved the goal to become a pokemon regional champion. You could be of great value to our cause."
"And what is your cause, exactly?" Alec asked. I figured he just wanted to hear the Elites's goal in the founder's own words.
"We have many causes, but they all orbit one magnificent goal," Arvil said, "And that's to keep humans and pokemon safe. Did you know what life used to look like before we came to be? There was a great war in the Kalos region some two-hundred years ago, similar to the one that took place three-thousand years prior. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. We are the main influence to stop things like that to happen again."
I wanted to scoff at this man, but my face was still covered and my hands still tied behind my back. Does this mean that Steven also works for the Elites? Or was he just a puppet, unknowingly working for a strange government?
"And how do you do that?" Alec asked.
"Enough questions for now," Arvil said calmly. "I don't want to give away all my secrets right now!"
"What are you going to do to us?" May asked.
"Oh, I am just going to introduce you to the others." Arvil said.
I strained against my seat, but the hard ropes wouldn't give. Who were the others? I didn't know what he had in store for us, but I trusted that Alec would find a way for us to escape. I suddenly felt a hand grip the bag over my head and pull it off. For the first time in several hours, I was able to take in my surroundings. Sure enough, I was in a large cell with nothing except for chairs and a concrete floor. The lights were dimmed, but my eyes have already adjusted due to being in the dark for so long. First I saw May, then Alec. Then Arvil. Just looking at his face made me hate him even more for ruining my life-which led me to my next question.
"Did you burn down my house?"
Arvil smiled a sad smile.
"Like I said, there is always a cost to success. Believe me, we tried to get to you before you returned home, but we were forced to 'scare you out'-for lack of a better term."
Alec stared at him incredulously.
"You seriously had no other way to get him? Do you realize how much money you costed his family? If you think you are the actual government, then we would all be better off moving away from Hoenn altogether."
I could tell Alec was trying to probe more information for the Cloud Cover, in the event that we ever escaped in the first place. I also still had no idea what these people were trying to accomplish other than what Alec told me, and for some reason Arvil thought that tracking peoples' locations was okay. I came to the conclusion that he was delusional.
"What's your name?" asked Arvil, staring at Alec with distain.
"Why is that important?"
"Never mind," Arvil said. "As long as you cooperate, you can keep the blindfolds off. But right now, we are going to take a look at what we do here." He snapped his fingers, and the ropes loosened. I wished that I had a knife or a baseball bat to take this psychopath down. May stood up, and I followed suit.
"What about me?"
I looked back to see Alec still tied to the chair.
"Right, so you won't be following us," said Arvil.
Arceus, save us, I thought to myself.
I tapped my claws against the entrance of the pokemon gym of Petalburg city. A few seconds later, a round man with a grim face opened the door for me. A look of shock and fear showed on his face for just a second, then he recognized me.
"Well if it isn't everyone's favorite absol!" he said as he opened the door wider to let me in.
"Norman is in the back. Just follow me."
I nodded. He led me to a room with two doors at the far end of the wall. He kept picking the left one, until-
"Oh look, It's Glade!" someone shouted.
We just reached the back room, which I recognized. Oh, the good ol' days. Jaqueline and Harpy rushed forward to greet me while Eclipse looked on from the back. Harpy reached the door, winded from the short dash. Unfortunately, Lenny and Patriot were nowhere to be seen.
"Where have you been? I think the grass grew several inches while you were gone."
"I was just-"
"Oh and did you hear? Brendan was taken by these weird guys in a helicopter! What-"
"WHAT!?" I exclaimed.
"I know," Jaqueline said.
"I knew something was wrong this morning," I mumbled. "So what are we going to do about it?"
"We could go after him," Eclipse said, now standing closer to better hear the conversation.
I had to agree with that. The police force in Hoenn was pretty light and wimpy compared to a more populated region like Unova or Kalos. I sensed the tension even before I was released from my poke ball. Norman walked up.
"Hello? What's your name again?" he said to me.
"Glade."
"I don't remember, so I'll just call you Absol."
You don't say.
Harpy was laughing her head off. Norman looked confused at the exchange.
"...All right then. Don't worry about Brendan. We will get him back as soon as we can."
"Did he just say 'we'?" Jaqueline asked.
I thought it over. Having a human with us would probably be for the best, just to keep Harpy's antics in check. But he could also be a drag to us. His rational decisions may appear irrational to us.
"I vote we just get out of this distortion-hole and leave daddio," Harpy said. Unfortunately, arguing with Harpy could mean pain, and there really wasn't anything to lose.
"Let's go," I said.
End of chapter.
You're welcome to take a look at the plans for chapter 12. This was my first time even writing them on paper, so I decided to post this as well in case you're interested (probably not).
Important terms for the books:
The Corruption- What the resistance calls the bad guys
The Elites- What the bad guys call themselves
Colress- A man who works for the resistance
The Cloud Cover- What the resistance calls themselves
Idiotic fools/resistance/cloud cover- What the bad guys call the resistance
CCM- (Cloud Cover Machine) A machine that stops poke ball tracking for a 20 foot radius
CHAPTER 12 PLANS:
Alec brendan and may discuss how alec knew to warn them about being followed. apparently he saw some people in unova begin to pursue brendan on the latias. This is in the detainment cell. May is reassuring everyone that help will come. Brendan argues that no one saw the abduction and that they were going to be stuck there forever. A man enters the cell.
"So you're awake," he said.
Hatch-man shows brendan the battle video and flatters him on the genius. Brendan won't be flattered by his trubbish, but still eats up the compliments. Alec wont buy it though. Let us out! he said. Hatch-man said: "That will only depend on how well you will cooperate. Because if you don't, trust me, you will lose your pocket monsters one by one."
And that's where we will leave chapter 12, unless the conversation turns out too short and we will get back to Glade's POV. Got it?
Please, if you have any suggestions for the next chapters, please tell me. I know I said it twice but I need ideas NOW!
Next chapter will be in Eclipse's POV. Also help me come up with names for Absol, Flygon, and Lucario. They seem to lack character when they don't have proper names.
(Never mind it's fixed, but I don't erase my author's notes. By this I mean that I now have names for the three previously un-named pokemon)
-PatrioticSwellow
P.S. If you read this chapter within the 24 hours of its release, I sincerely apologize. There was a ton of errors that made the story very confusing to follow. They have been fixed though, and I hope you enjoy reading!
