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Chapter XII

Kissinger drove back home, both enraged and saddened by the results. The operation went smoothly until the last minute. The fireball that shot out of the treeline was enough to call a ton of ambulances and fire trucks into the scene. After he called for backup, Kissinger tried frantically to get a hold of Trent. When he failed to answer, he drew his gun and ran straight into the blazing forest. There was enough fires burning in the canopy that he had no problem seeing, enough for him to dodge the primitive spike traps, pit falls, trip wires, or any other trap Tesla set up beforehand. When he approached the electric fence, Trent was being carried out of there by fellow officers.

His right leg was gone, nothing left but a burnt stump of a limb. Everything else was partially burned but not too bad. Kissinger saw his friend's face, his eyebrows were burnt off but he was still conscious. He looked like he's trying his hardest not to laugh, he even joked that he was glad the bomb didn't took off his face, At least he still have his sense of humor. Kissinger thought as he followed his comrades.

The FCFD quickly came in and battled the flames from both the ground and the air, more explosions rocked the forest but they weren't as powerful as the big one that started the chaos. Kissinger nearly lost his head when he was surrounded by disorganized response teams as both flashing lights from emergency vehicles and the firestorm that lit up the night. Eventually he snapped out of his delirium and headed back to the SUV, where he ordered all SWAT teams out of the area. Fellow water-type Pokémon helped with the fire fighting efforts, and within minutes the blaze was under control.

The ambulances got to work in loading the injured police officers, Kissinger saw that most of them didn't have burns but large gashes on their face and legs. One officer had a large wooden spike through his foot, another was trying to put pressure on a laceration underneath his jaw. The fact that Trent was the only one burned made Kissinger figure out that these injuries weren't related to the blast. They were from the many individual traps set up in the area. The SWAT team steered clear them when they came in, but when the fires erupted, they blundered into them in sheer panic when trying to escape.

Kelly quickly came onto the scene and found Kissinger sitting in the SUV with both hands on his temples, after explaining what happened to his boss Kelly had him come back to the station with him. After leaving the van to another officer, they made the trip back to the station where the full debriefing went down. Seeing how stressed Kissinger was, Kelly told him to go home and sleep the night off. They'll make sense of the mess in the morning. Kissinger nodded and left in his own squad car, but his mind was more focused on Tesla than anything else.

The place was trapped, he thought, Since Trent was burned, did he triggered that major trap?

Make sense if he did, since he lost a leg in the process. Kissinger slammed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration, then quickly gripped it, just nearly avoiding driving off the road. Kissinger pulled up to his subdivision and onto his driveway within a few minutes, he killed the engine and headed inside where he was greeted to a dark home.

Normally Mark was downstairs watching TV, but it looked like he didn't stay up late this time. It was a hard day today, well yesterday, since it's now 2AM. Kissinger kicked off his shoes and head straight into the room, he didn't bother getting dressed for bed, he just slumped on it and quickly fell to sleep.

. . .

Tesla waited until Kissinger started snoring, the old Pikachu had his back pressed against the wall with limbs spread out like a spy. He peaked into the room and saw the son of his trainer's friend out cold, sleeping off a hard day's work, He's asleep now, thought Tesla, Better make this quick.

He quietly closed Kissinger's door before crawling into the bathroom. Using the moonlight from the window to see, he opened up the cabinet and pulled out the First Aid Kit, They still keep it here, Tesla thought, What else do they still have in their usual spots?

Tesla quietly closed the bathroom door and opened up the kit, he ripped off his crude bandage and tossed it into the trash can. He winced as he poured Hydrogen Peroxide on his gunshot wound, now sterilized Tesla grabbed the tweezers and extracted the 6mm bullet out of the wound, Thankfully Mark didn't hit any major blood vessels, thought Tesla, Maybe I would've died just like that.

Tesla wrapped up the wound with a fresh roll of gauze, after making sure it wasn't too tight or loose he sealed the bandage up with medical tape and packed the First Aid Kit back up.

With that done, Tesla took a deep breath and held it for a moment. He spent hours creating his plan, he knew all the possible escape routes and spots to lose the cops if followed. This might be difficult, since what he'll be carrying could be heavy. But he's strong enough to carry such a load on his back, it shouldn't be too difficult for an aging Pikachu.

Tesla picked up his weapon of choice, a flash-bang grenade. His target will make noise, no doubt about it. Not only will this be the distraction, it should cover the noise his target will make. The neighbors wouldn't be a concern, nor will the police. A GPS and cell phone jammer had been set up and the phone line to the neighborhood was cut. It took a long time for Tesla to get a hold of the jammers, 15 years to be exact. He'd been waiting for this moment to use them, and what was interesting that they're simply plugged into the wall downstairs.

Using the human's power supply against them, Tesla thought with a grin, Amazing.

Everything's quiet in this neighborhood, Tesla should have enough time to escape to safety. The trick is that he must be efficient when using that time, Distraction, extraction, evade, escape. Tesla thought.

Distraction, set off the flash-bang grenade. Extraction, grab the target. Evade, lose all pursuers. Escape, get out of dodge faster than getting into it, Just how you taught me Irvin.

Tesla exhaled and clutched the flash-bang, it was now or never. He crept out of the bathroom and silently crawled across the floor to Mark's bedroom. He cracked open the door and peaked in, he was soon greeted by loud snoring, Heavy sleepers, Tesla thought, They just have to be heavy sleepers.

Mark laid in the bed with his arms wrapped around Emolga. Tesla stared at the Pokémon for a moment, The Pokémon feels well protected, clearly a false sense of security in this case. Emolga, you best be ready, cause things are going to change fast.

Tesla held up the flash-bang and pulled the pin, then tossed it onto the bed before hitting the deck.

. . .

BANG!

Kissinger's eyes shot open as his son's screams went through the walls, he quickly grabbed his 9mm and ran out of his bedroom, "Son," he called out, "Don't worry, I'm coming!"

Mark's bedroom door was wide open, just as Kissinger neared it he got a surprise of his life. A Pikachu came running out of the bedroom, it had Emolga right on its back and was holding on it with a single hand. Kissinger saw it had a bandaged arm, seemingly fresh. When the Pikachu made eye contact with him for a brief second, the welding goggles gave his identity away.

"Tesla!" Kissinger blurred out.

Tesla quickly scrambled down the stairs, with Kissinger not far behind. He ran downstairs and quickly discovered that Tesla was gone. He checked the rooms to see if he's hiding anywhere, Tesla's nowhere to be found, He's gotta be down here! Kissinger thought.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Kissinger grabbed the phone and tried to call 9-1-1. But soon discovered it had no dial tone, he swore and slammed the phone back on its receiver.

"Dad!" Mark cried from upstairs.

Kissinger tried his cell phone, but discovered it had no signal. He tried calling anyway, it failed.

"Dad!"

Kissinger came running back upstairs and found Mark stumbling out of his room in his boxers, holding his varmint rifle in one hand and the other over his eyes, "Ugh, I can't see and my ears are ringing. What happened!?"

"Tesla's what just happened." said Kissinger.

"Damn, where's Emolga?"

"He took Emolga with him."

Mark swore, "Where did he go?"

"I followed him downstairs and he vanished."

"He's got Emolga, we gotta pick up his trail Dad!"

Kissinger heard a door open, he turned and saw Ash ran out of the bedroom, "What happened!?"

"Tesla's got Emolga," said Kissinger, "Go out and find him!"

. . .

Ash nodded and quickly head back to the bedroom, he grabbed his Unfezant's Poké ball then ran out to the front yard of the house, "Unfezant," he said, "I choose you!"

Unfezant came out in an instant, with wings waving with beautiful furry, "Unfezant!" she said.

"Tesla's got Emolga," said Ash, "Go and track him down!"

Unfezant didn't need more details, she already knew what was at stake, "Unfezant!"

Ash watched as Unfezant took to the sky and disappeared into the night, when he returned inside Mark and his Dad was just coming downstairs, "I can't seemed to get a signal on my cell phone," said Kissinger, "I'll try my squad car radio, hopefully that still works."

As Kissinger jogged outside to call the police, Mark turned on the lights and sat on the sofa, "Freaking Tesla got in and took him," he said, trying to contain his tears, "He took Emolga, he's my first Pokémon! Emolga's my best friend!"

Ash sat next to Mark and sat a hand on his shoulder, "Pikachu's my first Pokémon too, I know what you feel."

"I should have told you this before," sobbed Mark, "For every Pokémon Tesla kidnaps, not one ever escapes. Not even the ones in their Poké balls. I'm sorry Ash, I didn't wanna worry you about it!"

Mark reached for a box of tissues and blew his nose, then got more emotional, "Damn it, Emolga's like my baby brother! He's so delicate, very sweet and kind! He must be terrified out of his mind, maybe Tesla's torturing him and-"

Ash cut him off by giving him a hard slap across the face, Mark blinked twice and took a deep breath, "Thanks," he said, now calmed down, "I needed that."

Just last afternoon, they had gotten back some Pokémon from the Faraday City Pokémon Hospital. Mark managed to get his Plusle and Minun back after they recovered just enough to return home, Ash's Oshawott was also doing fine. The Pokémon missed him greatly, and he was quite happy to be reunited with him. Though he was a bit fazed that Pikachu wasn't with him, he must be getting some thoughts about replacing him. Course, Oshawott always wanna prove himself.

"If we're going to pick up on Tesla's trail," said Ash, "We'll need to know where he escape out of. Your Dad didn't see him escape anywhere, he might still be here for all we know."

"Yes," said Mark, "Good point, let's start searching outside and see where he might have gotten in."

Ash nodded and the two got up. They headed outside and began to search the edge of the house, Ash saw how well maintained it was and at first saw no immediate damage. The windows had no signs of being tampered with, the front and back door showed no damage, and the garage was untouched, "Find anything yet?" Mark asked as he met up with Ash after completing a loop around the house.

"No, nothing yet."

So he didn't use the doors and he didn't use the windows, so what did Tesla use? Ash looked up on the roof and checked to see if there was any entry. At first he thought it could be the chimney, but saw how well capped it was. Besides, Tesla couldn't survive the fall anyway, let alone climb up through it within a few seconds. Ash returned his attention back onto the ground, as he head to the backyard something caught his eye.

"Hey Mark," he called out, "I think I found something!"

Mark quickly returned to him, "What did you find?"

Ash pointed to the wall, a part of the sidings of the house appeared to be loose. Mark approached it and pulled a part of it back, behind it was a hole that lead to a cabinet in his kitchen. The hole was no more than 30cm wide and 25cm tall. There were no signs of any clawing, no sign of any unnecessary cuts. Due to the wood around it appearing to be rotting showed a sign that it may had been there for weeks, maybe even months. It was so well hidden that if Tesla were to put the siding back on properly, they wouldn't have even noticed it.

Mark kicked the wall of his house in anger, "Well son of a-"

. . .

Unfezant soared high above the sky, scanning the ground below for any signs of Tesla. The lights from Faraday City helped in navigation and illuminating some areas. She knew what to look for, and who Tesla's with. Thanks to Tesla's bright yellow fur, it may be easy for her to spot him.

She thought of all the things on what to do to Tesla once he found him. He wouldn't be expecting it. He probably feels so secure, so why even look up? Unfezant imagines coming down from above and attacking him, even imagine the look on his face when he tries to fight back. It's what Ash wanted, what he commanded her to do. Find this Tesla and bring Emolga back.

After wandering off a bit, she refocused herself when she thought she saw something yellow. Nope, that was just some guy in a bright yellow shirt. Darn, Unfezant thought she almost had him there. Always being this high up in the sky felt like she's free, it's always good to be out of the Poké ball once in a while. Of course, Ash kept her in her Poké ball, like all of the other Pokémon he has on his person. She never thought much of it, since it keeps the Pokémon out of harm's way. Though it didn't feel right seeing Pikachu on his shoulder, was Pikachu really Ash's first Pokémon?

That explains why he keeps him perched on his shoulder or head, Unfezant thought, The two had a stronger bond with each other, what do his other Pokémon think?

She did know that Oshawott is jealous of the relationship, Unfezant wished she saw him knock Pikachu off Ash's shoulder so he can sit on it. Must be hilarious, even when a brawl were to start. Well, that's life.

Unfezant found herself wandering off again, as he gets refocused her eye caught something, Is that yellow? She asked herself, Yes, it is.

Just as Unfezant focused in on it, there was a bright flash of white, and for an instant everything seized up. The next thing she knew she was falling back to Earth. Unfezant tried her best to stabilize her flight, but discovered some of her primary feathers are on fire. With the ground coming in fast, Unfezant quickly looked for a place to land.

There, a rectangular swimming pool. No more than 30 meters across and 15 meters wide, it's the perfect place to crash-land, not to mention extinguish the fires on her feathers. Unfezant quickly steered herself towards the pool, she covered her head with her feathers as he dove straight into the pool. The landing was hard enough to stun her, but thankfully not hard enough to knock her out. She quickly swam back onto the surface and climbed out of the pool, Well that went well, Unfezant thought as she shook off the water out of her feathers, Might as well dry myself off before I fly back.

TO BE CONTINUED...