CHAPTER 25

"Harpy, take us west," I commanded.

She turned towards Littleroot. From our location, it looked like a small blob of brown, the buildings less than recognizable from where we were. I seriously needed to get glasses.

Speaking of which...

"Who's there?" I called over the sound of the wind. I could see the dot getting closer now. Harpy called out a warning in her signature ear-splitting shriek. As the object grew closer, I began to gather shades of yellow, black, and orange.

Hmm, I wonder how many pokemon would fall under this color category...

Once again, that strange voice echoed in my head.

"What?" I asked.

Never mind. Just tell Zapdos that I said hi, kay?

Zapdos? As in the legendary bird?

I think you can figure that one out on your own.

I looked forward, and saw-

"Whoa!"

Sure enough, I was finally able to make sense of what I was looking at. What would Zapdos be doing in Hoenn?

Then, I noticed the person on its back.

Rosa?

WHAT.

WAAT?

I didn't know what to say. So, I didn't say anything as she hovered only ten feet away from me, Harpy shaking with real fear. I just didn't understand. The only trainer in all of my reading (which wasn't much, by the way) that had Zapdos was the great Leaf. She was Red's friend back when he didn't take life too seriously - only several years ago.

"Leaf?" I said in awe.

She nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry, Brendan. I'm with the Cloud Cover. I was given orders to look after you."

I was a little disappointed once I realized that maybe she didn't like me after all.

"Oh."

"And who is that girl with you?"

I looked back at May, who was now wide awake.

"I'm May, and I have no idea what's going on," she said.

I laughed, even though it wasn't all that funny.

"But I came to help you! I can take you to the Cloud Cover HQ. If you would just follow me..."

I shook my head.

"I have to go back to Littleroot. I need to make sure that my family's alright."

"I second that," May agreed.

"You don't want to do that, trust me. You really think that Arvil has all of his lookouts in one place?"

I didn't even consider that. I had to stop lying to myself that there was an obviously easy way out of every single problem in life. That's what screwed me in my first battle with former champion Steven.

I frowned, wondering how Leaf had become associated with the Cloud Cover.

"Where is the headquarters?" I asked.

"Just follow me."

Master shifted on my back. Was he seriously asking me to follow this bird lord to my death? Oh well, better put on a brave face for Zapdos. I sped up until we were right next to each other.

Oh, that's right! I waited for this day to come!

I tilted my head down to pull something out of my scarf.

"What in the world?" Zapdos said in a deep voice.

"Word," I said, adjusting the sunglasses.

He just stared at me in confusion. Then I noticed a gear click in his mind.

"Oh, like how we're both birds?"

I thought that I died inside just then.

"Wow, that took you a while to figure out."

"Well, that meme was a thing like...maybe twenty years ago?"

"No! It's pretty new."

"Dead meme."

"How about Shrek?"

"Dead."

"Onions?"

"Dead."

I groaned.

"How about dat boi?"

"Never heard of that one."

I shook my head in exasperation.

"Ya know, the one about the politoed on the unicycle?"

"It definitely sounds awful."

"So what is in right now?" I asked, curious to see what world he came from.

We passed through the steam of the volcano, and I suspected that the headquarters wasn't in Hoenn.

"Haha. Have you ever heard of the angry magikarp?"

I tilted my head so that the sunlight reflected off them just right. "No, but it sounds great."

"Well, I could show you the video once we land."

The girl that Brendan called "Leaf" made Zapdos turn towards the sea.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Have you ever visited the Jhoto region?"

"Of course. I've been to all the regions. But we go to the Jhoto region the most. Brendan used to live there."

"How nice. I sometimes visit Suicune in the forest near New Bark town."

It shouldn't have surprised me that Zapdos had legendary friends. After a moment of silence, I couldn't take it anymore.

"So where exactly is the headquarters?"

Wow, how unlike you to ask a serious question.

Welp, I've officially gone crackers.

"SHOW YOURSELF! I'M ARMED! LOCKED, LOADED, AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT YOU COULD EVER DREAM OF!" I yelled.

Zapdos shot sky-high, with Leaf screaming as loud as she possibly could. Brendan didn't react as hysterically. Ya know, since he had to deal with me twenty-four-seven. May, however, didn't take it as well.

"Harpy! What's wrong with you?"

AH. AHAHAHAHAHA! JUST THE REACTION TO CHEER ME UP!

I drooped my head in mock shame, just to make sure that Brendan knew that I meant no harm.

"You both alright?" he asked.

Leaf was level with us again, and was still panting heavily as if she had just ran a marathon.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Um, is your staraptor okay?"

"No. She's not okay at all. She would normally squawk a lot more. This trip must've sobered her up."

She laughed.

Arvil was fuming and calling up those who were involved with Brendan's escape. His nicely furnished office was arranged in a way to intimidate the spotlight person sitting on the opposite side of his desk. Even his administrators had a hard time looking him. Most of them didn't see him as evil, since they agreed to start working undercover for him in the first place. But there was a lot of talk behind his back. Now, that one admin who tangled with the umbreon was sitting in Arvil's spotlight, and she understood exactly what the others said about him.

They were right. When he got angry, there was an obvious dullness in his eyes, as if he was mentally counting to ten to calm himself down before he spoke. And the admin knew that getting fired would never be an option once she got associated with the company. She knew what the Cloud Cover referred to them as. The government. Government? She didn't know what to believe when it came to the CC's "garbage talk", as Arvil called it.

"Do you know why I called you here, Tris?"

She gulped, hoping that he didn't see it.

"You saw footage of me with the umbreon."

"Yes, and didn't I tell you to post grunts at the entrances and exits to the facility?"

She nodded.

"But I did. I didn't delay to follow your orders, sir."

"Then why didn't I see any posted?"

"They must've run off somewhere, when the braviaries arrived."

Arvil leaned forwards, his mask of a face hiding his frustration.

"Speaking of, how did the braviaries get in?"

"Don't you have footage?"

"No, I don't."

"I don't know how they got in. I was busy with the umbreon, remember?"

Arvil pulled out a NavPlus laptop from one of the many drawers in his desk.

"We'll watch where the grunts left to, then."

He pulled up the video, with the date and time displayed on the top left corner of the screen. Only ten minutes ago. Tris leaned forwards to get a better view of the screen. Everything looked normal at first. Then, she noticed the figurative exclamation point appear over the watchmens' heads. They peered through the exit to see the disturbance outside. They moved out of the camera's vision, but then were suddenly blown back by the numerous streaks of red.

Tris sat back in her seat, now confident that her day of reckoning wasn't even close.

"We're going to wait for the entire clip to end," Arvil said sharply.

The guards were now getting back up from the floor. One of them raised a finger, as if he was proposing something to the others. They nodded, then walked out of the building like there was nothing wrong with it.

She couldn't believe the treason that she saw unfold on the screen.

"What is this?" Arvil asked quietly.

"I don't know," she said in a shaky voice. "I didn't tell them to do that."

"Well, I know that the lookouts wouldn't just propose to leave without your or my own consents. They know the punishment. This leads me to believe that someone else of high command told them to do this. But don't worry, it probably wasn't you. Go back to your quarters; I'll find out which of you admins have betrayed me."

She stood up, and walked out the door. She caught her breath, and quickly made her way to her dwelling, which was situated on the opposite side of the underground. Once inside, she leaned against the wall of her dark living room. She wondered who did it, and why it happened in the first place.

If you're curious, it was me. You won't hear my voice again, so don't worry about your sanity.

Haha! I revealed a lot this chapter, huh? Okay, just remember that whenever something unexplainable happens, it was Arceus! Well, now that I told you that, I'm probably not going to use him that way again. Also, if the comments start rolling in, don't mention the female braviaries. Screw the pokedex! Female braviaries are real, okay (huge apologies to birdboy, who writes the actual pokedex)? Also, I told you that I would bring Rosa back, even though I brought her back ten chapters too late. Also, Rosa is her real name, but prefers to go by Leaf. Now that there is a seven-day break from school, expect three new chapters this next week! I'm going to take full advantage of this time away from the heck also known as "school".

Remember to point out the errors that I might have missed. Rate and review.

-PatrioticSwellow