Flame

Somewhere in the distance, sirens were blaring.

Flame ignored them. Whatever. Not my business. Sirens went off all the time in the Lab. Sometimes they went off when a pokémon tried to escape. Sometimes they went off for the sake of some drill. And sometimes they went off for no reason at all. As a Watcher, you just had to get used to them. When they started to blare in the area you were patrolling, then you had to worry about it. But Flame was currently in the Ward of the Dreamers, and the sirens were screaming in some other Ward.

He passed a Steward in the hallway. The Steward was another eevee, maybe twice as old as Flame. Because Flame was currently invisible, it did not see him. He made quick, quiet steps around the Steward, just as he had been taught in his training.

His training had taken a surprisingly short amount of time. In addition to allowing you to become invisible, The Watcher serum seemed to instill certain instincts into a pokémon. He had only been in the Lab for two weeks when he started learning routes and patrolling Wards.

Why'd I have to get the boring Ward today? Flame thought. He had only been on this shift for an hour or so, but he was already bored out of his skull. I wish Basher would've let me patrol whatever Ward those sirens are going off in. Sirens are cool. But Basher had insisted that, since Bolt and Volt were returning here anyway, it would be easier on the Stewards if a single one could escort three of them at once. So here he was, walking across a boring white floor and staring at boring white walls. In the other Wards, there was usually something cool to watch. The Fighters and Rangers, for instance, held sparring matches every single day, and the Breeders had shows of their own. Most of the pokémon in this Ward were asleep, though, so he wasn't even able to listen in on any private conversations.

He sighed. Those stupid sirens were still going at it. They were starting to get annoying. Come to think of it, they sound pretty close. Why were they so close? There weren't any other Wards around here. Well, unless you counted the Dark Cells. No way they're coming from over there, though. Sirens in the Dark Cells could only mean one thing, and that one thing was not good.

Flame suddenly heard rustling and heavy footsteps from around a corner. He froze; when someone unexpectedly approached, you were supposed to make absolutely no noise until they passed. You couldn't see a Watcher, but you could hear them.

The footsteps ended up belonging to a large group of humans. They sprinted around the corner at full speed. None of them looked happy. Flame saw a dozen hands clutching at pokéballs at their belts. They rushed past him in a stampede. They seemed to be headed toward the sirens. Well, Flame thought, that's ominous. The Darkrai couldn't really have escaped, could it?

A moment later, another figure came out from around the corner. Doki. Her head swiveled around and then she ran after the humans. By the time Flame realized that it would be smart to call out to her, she was too far away to hear.

Yep, looks like something's going down. He bit his tongue. Should he follow Doki? No, he thought, Bolt first. And he found himself sprinting down the halls toward the corridor which held all of the Dreamers.

It did not take him long to get there; the Ward of the Dreamers was pretty small. He burst through one of the doors along the wall. Bolt was not there. The eevee and jolteon inside of the room all jerked awake at the noise. Flame was still invisible, though, so they didn't do much more than look around awkwardly and wonder why their door had opened on its own.

Muttering curses, Flame let the door close. He tried a second room, and this time he was more quiet. Bolt was not here, either. He tried another room, and then another, and another, and another. He must have searched twenty rooms before finding the correct one.

When he finally found Bolt sleeping on a table, he made himself turn visible and then leapt up next to his twin and batted his face several times.

Bolt's eyes shot open and he seemed to wake up all at once. "Wha—Flame?"

"Hush. Don't wake the others." Flame turned his head and saw Volt snoring. "Well, I guess we should wake him."

"What's going on?" Bolt sounded nervous as he shook Volt awake.

Volt grew alert just as quickly as Bolt had. "Ah, are these the sirens of freedom I am hearing?" He yawned.

"Well, something's happening," Flame said. "I dunno what, but it sounds bad. I wanna go check it out." And maybe we can escape in the mayhem. He didn't dare to say that out loud, though.

"This is sounding very exciting, cousin! I am coming." Volt leapt down from the table.

"You too, Bolt," Flame said. "Let's get going."

Bolt rose reluctantly. Then his ears twitched and his eyes widened. A moment later, Flame found out why.

"Who's making all that noise?" a voice asked. "And why is this door open? Volt, I swear, if you—"

Aidren's words cut off when he appeared in the doorway and saw Flame. The Warden's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" He looked around. "You're not Jay. Just because he's your brother doesn't mean you're allowed the same priviliges as him. Leave, now. The Lab is in a state of total panic. You're the last thing I need to worry about right now. I will be telling Basher about this."

"Pass this along to him." In less than a second, Flame was invisible again. He charged at Aidren.

Aidren's eyes widened and he backed away. His fur began to crackle with electricity. Flame closed the distance between them.

Just as Aidren was about to let loose an electrical attack, Volt shouted, "You will not be hurting my cousin!" and then he ran at Aidren as well.

Aidren's attention was diverted. He looked around the room wildly, probably searching for Flame, and then shot the bolt of lightning at Volt. The electricity scored a direct hit but the jolteon remained unfazed. Still invisible, Flame slammed into Aidren and the manectric went sprawling. Flame quickly got his mouth around a big chunk of leg flesh and bit as hard as he could. The taste of hot wet metal filled his mouth and Aidren began to howl in pain. The Warden started to gather more electricity but Volt tackled him before he could let loose another attack.

Aidren flew backward into the hallway, landed on his side, and rolled back to his feet. A grimace formed on his face as he tried to support himself on the leg that Flame had wounded. He shot one last glance back into the room, and then made a hasty retreat.

Volt let out a cheer. "We have won, cousin!"

Flame turned visible again and nodded. "Won this battle, at least." He had a feeling that more would follow. His heart was beating fast. Had he really just attacked a Warden? That had to be grounds for execution. Or worse. He shuddered as he remembered the things he had seen in the kitchens. No turning back now.

He looked over at the table. Bolt was staring at him with wide eyes. He wasn't the only one. The fight had woken the entire room. Half a dozen unfamiliar eevee and jolteon were staring at Flame and Volt in awe. They had seen the whole thing, Flame knew. They had seen him turn invisible.

"What did you just do?" Bolt cried.

"Get down from there!" Flame said. "We're leaving."

"Leaving? You mean…?"

"Yes, I mean. We're getting out of here. Jay's already shown that he won't bust us out, so we have to do it ourselves. Come on, already!"

Bolt jumped down from the table. He was shaking.

"Do not fear, cousin," Volt said. "The mighty Volt is being here to protect you!"

"Great," Bolt muttered as the three of them fled the room, leaving behind several confused-looking pokémon.