We were shocked by this sudden revelation. Misty made a step back in fear and I looked closer to the pokemon. His eyes were really strange – too intelligent for a pokemon. But what does that mean – he is Bill?
"How is this possible?"
Suddenly some heavy knocks sounded from the second device interrupting me and all of us turned back to it. Misty retreated back but Clefairy quickly ran to it and jumped to the height of handle closing the door. Looks like there is somebody or something inside that this pokemon doesn`t want to release outside.
Clefairy returned to the table and started to scratch new writing. Knocks became stronger and the creature inside also started to talk… Some very strange indecipherable things, maybe on its own language? Holy crap all this becomes so creepy.
The pokemon finished another writing on the desk.
Experiment. Help. Reverse.
Misty looked at the writing and understood nothing. But I got the idea of what happened here. Of course this was too unbelievable but… we live in a strange world.
"You had… an experiment, yes? And you need us to finish it?" I asked this Bill the Clefairy. He nodded several times being glad that someone understood him. At least he can understand us.
"But how do we do that?" Misty sounded like she doesn`t believe in happening at all and just follows the stupid play we perform.
Bill erased his old writing and started anew. He diligently scratched words on the desk; and this seemed to be quite hard for him, considering his small Clefairy fingers. Another loud bang from the closed device startled us but Bill finally finished his text.
I enter. You press.
He jumped off the table and ran to the first device and pointed at it.
"Ah, I get it. You will enter this thing…" I said to him showing the right device.
He nodded again and then ran to the control panel, climbed up and pointed at the small green button on it.
"…and then we press this button." I finished the sentence to receive Bill`s nod of approval. He jumped from the panel and returned to the device. Bangs from the second one stopped for a moment leaving us in horrible silence for some seconds.
I approached the panel and looked at the Clefairy. This was really strange sight to see a pokemon raising thumb up. He was ready for… whatever he is ready for.
I raised my hand over the button and prepared for the experiment but Misty suddenly touched my hand and stopped me.
"Are you sure?" She asked me with doubt in her voice.
"No, I`m not. But what if this is actually Bill?" I tried to convince her.
"How can… this… be Bill?" Misty sounded very lost in her thoughts.
"Tell me, Misty… You said he is an inventor. But inventor in what field of activity? Did he mention genetics some day?"
She took thought for some seconds. Clefairy gave me an angry look because of the delay, he really wanted to proceed with this.
"I… I don`t know."
"Oh my god… So much of being his girlfriend!" I shamed her a bit comically. "Maybe he is not just an engineer? Maybe he is a genetic engineer?"
Misty`s eyes widened so much I instantly realized she knows nothing about this branch of science. Meh, this girl was never close to any scientific stuff.
"Let`s try to do something, and then talk, okay? Be on guard." I put my hand on the button and pressed it.
Doors of the first device closed; hiding Bill the Clefairy. Loud sound of machine working filled the room. Again sounds of hissing gas returned and strange screams from the second device too.
We were watching over this frightening process for a couple of minutes until the second door opened and a body of man fell out of it.
"Bill!" Misty rushed to him but didn`t catch him. He fell on the floor and wheezed quietly. I came closer and opened his left eye to look at the pupil.
"He has dilated pupils. This can be the effect of drugs; but the veins in the eye are normal. Strange."
"Drugs? No! He would never…"
"I said MAYBE. I don`t affirm this."
I continued inspecting Bill. Veins are in normal state – this is definitely not drug intoxication; or at least not the type I`m familiar with. Very fast heartbeat – this is not a very good sign too.
"Is this actually Bill himself?" I asked Misty.
"Of course, he is! Who else?"
"Then… what was wrong with that Clefairy?" I looked at the first machine. The pokemon inside it didn`t show any signs of life yet.
"…water…" Suddenly Bill said very quietly.
"I`ll bring it, stay here." Misty stood up and headed out of the room – to the kitchen I guess. Bill`s looks were awful but at least he regained consciousness and now he is suspiciously looking around with his eyes sometimes stopping his view on me. I put some sort of a bag from nearby under his head as a pillow.
"What is the result of experiment?" I asked him with interest. He looked at me and closed his eyes with a big satisfied smile.
"Success…" He wheezed and then coughed a couple of times.
Soon Misty brought the glass of water and gave it to Bill. We helped him drink it and then cautiously carried him to the armchair. After some minutes of complete silence, he recovered a bit and finally paid attention to us.
"So good to see you, Misty. And you, stranger… You two saved me."
"Can you explain what the hell happened here?" Misty demanded for explanations.
Bill put the glass on the table near him and tried to get up from his armchair buy fatigue didn`t let him do so. Accepting his fate, he sat back and looked at us.
"I had an experiment… And it went wrong way…"
"What do you mean – wrong way? You said your experiment was a success." I interrupted him.
"Yes… But… The fail sometimes leads to a success. Even bigger than expected." He pointed at the machine; some quiet sounds are heard from the inside. "Release my Kletto, please."
I said with my eyes Misty to stay here and directed to the machine. Sounds became a little louder as I approached but when I opened the lock and the door; poor Clefairy fell out of it just like her master. I carefully carried the pokemon to another armchair and used a potion on it.
"You see, Misty? It`s good that I didn`t spend this earlier."
She just snorted and turned away. Clefairy didn`t move during the procedure and I let her restore power.
After that Bill exhaled with a relief and continued his story.
"I invented a machine that could read pokemon`s thoughts, unite our minds. Well, it is supposed to. And this was the first test."
"As I can understand, you failed in this?"
"Yeah… But the result was even more impressive! It didn`t unite our minds. It exchanged them!"
Misty was shocked; and so did I. In the past I had some experience working with extraordinary scientists and mad machines but it was never THAT crazy. He managed to exchange his mind with Clefairy`s!
"Does that mean… You were in Clefairy`s body?" ```Finally, I realized the point of all that happened. Bill nodded several times stating I`m correct.
"Yes. And my Kletto was in mine. I can`t even imagine what would have happened if you didn`t come…" He looked down in deep thoughts that I think were not pleased much. "By the way, we haven`t been introduced. I`m Bill, as you already know."
"I`m Vengeance. Nice to meet you." I shook his hand. "I`m Misty`s old friend."
"He was that famous Screwdriver that I told you about before." My companion explained to Bill.
"Ah, so that`s you! I`ve heard a lot about you. Really nice to meet you in real."
"Misty said that you can help us heal our pokemon… I guess you have an equipment of some sort?"
'Oh yes, I do. My own equipment…" Bill made an attempt to stand up again and this time he succeeded with our help. His body was still very tired and weak but not his soul.
Bill approached the table and took away some papers revealing greatball behind them and used it to return Kletto back. After that he gave a sign to follow him.
We walked outside and headed to the warehouse I noticed earlier.
"What exactly do you invent? What specialty?" I asked Bill.
"Different... Crazy ideas sometimes visit my head and I try to implement it. But the most part of my researches are connected to pokemon." He raised Kletto`s pokeball to eyesight level and sighed. "Well… Quite a lot of things in my life are connected to pokemon in one way or another. They call me 'poke-maniac' for a reason!"
"He has a pretty good collection of pokemon. It was 79 types when we last met, right?" Misty noted.
"It`s 138 now. I have even some from Johto region now." Bill proudly announced. "Maybe professor Oak will help them accustom in these lands too."
"You know professor Oak?" I surprisingly asked.
"Yeah, he takes care about my pokemon; I don`t want to just store them in PC system like others… I also work for him as the Dex Collector``. You heard about PokeDex?"
"You mean this thing?" I took out my PokeDex of my pocket and presented it to Bill. He was pretty amazed by this.
"So… You are Dex Collector too?"
"I guess... But I don`t have much time for completing it."
"You`re quite busy man, aren`t you?"
"You can`t even imagine."
Soon we reached the warehouse. From the distance it looked a lot smaller than in real. I was really excited to see what is inside. Accurately Bill opened the doors with his strange mechanical keys and let us in. After the lights automatically turned on I finally found myself in a real workshop.
From the inside this building looked even bigger and it was so full of different machinery that I could barely breathe from the excitement. All that was so awesome; and how lucky we are to get here.
"This… This is my collection. The work of my life…" Bill stood in the center of this room and spread his hands. But suddenly the sad look appeared on his face. "I wish all of them could work."
"They can`t?" I surprised.
"Not all, unfortunately." He approached the machine that looked like incubator and put his hand on it. "But the healing machine can. Follow me."
He accelerated and led us to another machine. This one looked really different from the PokeCenter equipment that I saw someday. Bill`s machine had just three pokeball holes and a lot of wires connected to each of them. Overall look of this apparatus was just handicraft.
"Is it safe?" I asked cautiously. "I don`t want to risk the life of my pokemon for the experimental thing…"
"No, it`s all right." Misty replied first. "His machine works fine, we used it a lot of times."
"Well, if you trust him…" I took off Dumpling`s pokeball from my shoulder belt and looked at it. "…then so do I."
I put the first pokeball in the machine. After approving nod from Bill I put there two other pokeballs in the holes and made a step back. Bill nodded again and pressed something from the back. Machine turned on and started to shine, some small electricity discharges appeared on the surface of pokeballs. In a few seconds the device made a quite sound that used in PokeCenters to signal the finish of healing process. I guess it has the same meaning here.
"It`s done. You can take your pokemon back." Bill announced and turned the machine off. I cautiously put my hand in hole and grabbed a pokeball.
"Let`s see." I released the pokemon outside to make sure he is fine. The Reaper landed on the floor and stretched himself a bit. From the looks of him I could say he is fine now.
"Not bad, not bad…" I appreciated the result of device work and returned Reaper back to pokeball. After that I took back two other pokeballs and secured on my shoulder belt.
"I tried to replicate the PokeHealer PH-12 – the last model in series. It needs some tweaks still, but works, as you can see. But my device instead of just affecting the energy form of pokemon inside with electromagnetic waves affects the digital systems of pokeball itself, which emit the same waves too and doubles the effect!"
To my own surprise I even understood something. But not everything.
"What an awesome thing… I wonder what else you have here. You do some researches, right?"
"Yeah, I spent some time on researching forced evolution. You know, the one made with stones or that for some reason happens during the trade."
"During the trade?"
"Yeah! Can`t believe it myself. But fact remains as the fact. I have a theory that something special happens inside the trading machine itself… But I couldn`t get one for me. They are sold only to PokeCenters."
"This is really interesting thing to research. But… Do you have something researched to the very end?"
Judging by his flame in eyes, he does.
"I`ll show you, just give me a second..." Bill put his pokeball inside the machine and started the healing process. When this was finished he just took his pokeball back and put it in his pocket. "Let`s go. You will like it…"
We followed him to the corner of room where the ladder to the basement was hidden. He opened the hatch with the same mechanical key as the one he used for the entrance. Slowly we started to descend into the darkness.
Again as we reached floor the lights turned on automatically revealing another level of crazy inventions. But the one standing in center was the most impressive.
It was a common automobile with a FREAKING HUGE LASER CANNON on it!
"Holy shit…" All I and Misty could say.
"I knew you will be impressed." Bill said very proudly. "This thing isn`t finished yet but when it will be, I`m going to be the first man to invent a Gravity Beam!"
At this moment I was a bit confused. Gravity Beam was too simple name for a huge high-tech device like this. Judging by its look it could easily cut the building in half! Not just do some manipulations with gravity… Or it is just me that counts this too menacing?
I looked at Misty. She was simply terrified by this thing.
"You… you… You promised me not to invent any weapon!" She shouted at Bill with sacred anger. He was scared by this unexpected reaction.
"This is not a weapon! This is Gravity Beam! It… pulls objects on distance!"
"Are you sure? Does it have any secret mode that turns it into death cannon? All your inventions are not that simple, I know. Your Automatic Pan had a hidden knife thrower in it handle!"
"Listen, Misty, we live in dangerous times…"
"And your Mobile Washer could transform into a gun shat shoots sharp ice!"
"That was a precaution!"
"And what about your present on my 23-rd birthday? The Self-refilling flower vase? That also scares bugs away from flowers? The vase that nearly killed all Bug-type pokemon in the WHOLE CITY?"
Bill looked down very sorry.
"I didn`t mean to…"
"Of course, you didn`t mean to. You`re just an idiot. Very kind and naive idiot."
"Come on, give him a break!" I stepped into this dispute. "He`s trying his best and I understand him like no one else. I have been in so many situations where a knife thrower in pan could be useful."
Misty turned back from me in umbrage.
"You need to destroy this thing."
"What?" Both Bill and I exclaimed.
"Why is that?" I asked. "This could be one of the greatest inventions of century!"
"Yes, and I can get a good money for it, you know. This is how I live." Bill reminded her.
"Do you sell your inventions?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I do. A lot of them are bought by Silph Co. Otherwise it could be hard to live. Well, possible, but still hard. I have a machine that restructures organic trash on a molecular level into edible juice…"
"On this moment, please, stop…" I waved my palm in front of his face. "This one doesn`t look so attractive. Let`s return to your Gravity… Beam. Is this really dangerous?"
He guiltily looked away.
"Well, it can be switched to another type of magnets…"
"I knew it!" Misty exclaimed. "I just knew it! You just can`t create something that doesn`t kill anyone!"
"Hey, I`m not going to sell this thing. I made it for myself!"
"You know how unrest it is in Kanto now. Criminal is getting stronger and Team Rocket robs people! What if this thing will fall into their hands?"
"Meh, they don`t know about it." Bill giddily replied. "And there is no one among us that is somehow connected to them."
"Ahem…" For some reason Misty coughed and shook head in my direction. "There is one."
"What!?" At once Bill grabbed something metal from his belt and pointed it at me. Small device quickly transformed in a gun of some sort threatening me.
"Hey-hey, it`s not what you think!" I shouted at him. "I do not work for them! On the contrary, I chase them to return what they stole from me!"
Bill slowly took his gun away still mistrustfully looking right into my eyes.
"And what is it?"
"My car. Some days ago they stole my car and… Then something strange happened on Route 3, I still can`t understand what." Judging by Bill`s raised brow he was surprised and interested at once.
"Route 3? I heard something about the accident there some days ago. A broken car was found and nothing else."
"I was there and had my own investigation. There was shooting and even death. The squad of Team Rocket that stole my car intercepted another car with a common item cargo but was counterattacked instead by the driver. At least one dead, others are missing and even other Rocket don`t know where they are."
Bill scratched his head and turned around. He was in a deep thought about it.
"Huh… Interesting…"
He stood in the center of room for a while and then suddenly turned back to us.
"I think I can help you. We just need to do one trick."
Bill quickly headed to the ladder and then to the exit. Some minutes later we returned back to the house and yet he didn`t explain anything. Instead of it he started to delve in his box with different trash until he found a small paper.
"Take this." He handed me over this paper appeared to be a ticket so something called 'S.S. Anne'.
"What`s this?" I asked this obvious question willing to get some explanations.
"This will let you board the S.S. Anne ship that now is standing on the docks in Vermillion City…"
"Wait-wait-wait-wait! Why would I need to go there?" I interrupted him surprised by this sudden change of quest direction.
"Ugh, okay, listen. Some days ago I sold a special forest scanner to a foreigner. This scanner was installed in a forest near Route 3 for some days to search for pokemon and collecting their data. But the thing is that my scanner also has a spy camera inside. There is a chance that it recorded what`s happened there."
A record of something could be really useful. Just an audio could help me understand what actually happened then. But still some questions remain…
"So what do you want me to do? Steal this device of yours?"
"Well…. We need to get the information from it somehow, do we?" Bill looked at me cunningly.
"And you will be able to resell it again. Perfect."
"We inventors live hard life. Also that man looked suspicious to me. Rude dark face, big gold chain, strange symbol on his hat… I could say he`s definitely not an honest man. But he paid well."
"I guess I know why you don`t want to do it yourself… Well, I guess I have to use this chance." I sighed loudly as the situation becomes more despair for me. But I hope this changes soon.
I looked at the ticket. The ship sails away in a week. That means I have just seven days to finish my affairs with pokemon hunters and get to the Vermillion City. Maybe this is enough for me, if nothing will stop me on my way. And the latest experience says that such a thing sure can be.
"Anyway, thanks for your help, Bill." I shook his hand in gratitude. "I will try to do my best…"
"If you`re caught – I don`t know you."
"Of course, you don`t. See ya later!"
"Remember what I told you!" Misty shouted at Bill on our way out of the house. He didn`t say anything, and that was a smart decision. Sometimes in a dispute with woman it is better to keep silent. Especially when woman is Misty.
We left Bill`s house and headed back to Route 24. Familiar road marked the correct path. Despite that small quarrel between Misty and Bill all of us were in good mood.
"So, I guess, you have found a friend to play with?" Misty made a joke.
"He`s a nice guy. Very smart and – what`s the most important – very talented engineer. I`m very interested in his works."
"So, I made two of my ex-boyfriends friends with each other. I`m a terrible girl."
"Yes, you are, Misty. Yes, you are…" I smiled and hugged her shoulder.
The day was ending slowly and darkness fell upon the world. And it was two of us heading to our goal.
Two of us… And a whole bunch of wild pokemon waiting for us in darkness. The night is going to be tough…