Pokémon Scarlet

Chapter 28: Jumping to Conclusions

(Kaylee Harrison)

Kaylee supposed if anyone deserved to find Whittaker-Cheng first, it would be her or Gav. This whole thing had started off with them, after all—it only made sense that one of the Harrison siblings should reach their greatest potential ally first.

Nevertheless, when Kaylee warped into the enormous Gym Leader battle arena, all she felt was small and hopelessly inadequate.

The room was opulent and high-tech at the same time. There were a series of steps that lead up to a platform where, it appeared, the Gym Leader would sit like a king in a throne room. The walls were gold, and Kaylee, already feeling hot and exerted from her Junior Trainer battle and close proximity to a number of Fire-type attacks, was already sweltering in here. Three Alakazam were out, two of which were positioned at either end of the steps, like palace guards stationed at their posts, and one appeared to be in deep meditation off in one corner of the room. A number of tele-warp pads glowed along the outskirts of the room, the eerie blue-green light casting decadent reflections off the room's gold sheen.

By comparison, Whittaker-Cheng looked downright ordinary. He was in his 30s or so and his black hair looked like it hadn't been brushed that morning. He was in a plain white t-shirt, khaki cargo pants, and open-toed sandals. He wore black-framed glasses. Kaylee had somehow thought he'd look more impressive or imposing in real life versus in his pictures in the paper. He wasn't even up at his pedestal, but was lounging around on the bottom step, one leg crossed over the other.

Kaylee's pre-canned speech about how she didn't actually want a battle, but to secure an audience with him to discuss a serious matter, died on its way out of her throat. Whittaker-Cheng watched her with interest as she dropped her bag to the ground, feeling brilliantly red in the face, and messily yanked out the packet of discs from underneath her slew of Super Potions and other Pokémon supplies. When she had their research in hand, a tangible, heavy reminder of the reality of this situation, she managed to finally get words out.

"Sir—if it's alright, I have something to discuss with you, rather than the standard leader battle. I realize you're very busy, but this was the only way we could figure out how to reach you without drawing attention."

"Man," Whittaker-Cheng said, standing up and letting out a soft sigh that seemed to belie feeling older than 30. "You guys really are just kids, aren't you?"

"Uh—" Kaylee began, at first thinking that Whittaker-Cheng had merely pegged her as a teen with some kind of cause. Maybe people did this to him a lot and he was getting tired of it. "I'm sorry. If I could just have a moment—"

"No no, it's fine. You don't have to go on—I know who you are."

For a moment Kaylee's mind desperately clung to an irrational shred of hope—he knew who she was because Gav, or one of the others, had reached him first and already explained everything. He knew who she was because she looked like Ando Harrison's kid and he'd heard of her and her brother's existence before. He knew because he was psychic or some crap.

The little flash of denial died like a spark flung into water. Almost immediately Kaylee knew the real answer.

"Look—I know this is going to be really upsetting to you. I completely understand what a terrible situation you and your friends are in right now. You really went out on a limb, coming here to me, and I'm happy you did. It was the right thing to do." Kaylee just watched him in a daze. "Listen, I want to help you all. Really, I do. So, I'm going to tell you what your options are, and give you a choice. It's the best thing anyone can do for you at this point."

Kaylee's heart was flying in her chest, and she felt backwards with her foot, no longer even remotely concerned with looking subtle in her attempt to escape. Whittaker-Cheng noticed immediately and shook his head.

"I've been controlling the warp tiles. It's no use heading back the way you came. Just hear me out, okay?" I know you're freaked out right now."

Kaylee fought the irrational urge to laugh. Whittaker-Cheng must have seen it, because he offered her a sympathetic, commiserating smile. It made her feel even more like she was adrift in the Twilight Zone.

"The bottom line is, your research is really pretty impressive—or, I assume it's impressive. Judging by your track record so far, you had the opportunity to get your hands on a number of pretty high-end files." Whittaker-Cheng moved a little closer to the center of the room, but Kaylee noted he was moving diagonally towards her, not in a beeline. She was vaguely reminded of techniques for approaching Pokémon in the wild. A trainer was advised to always sidle up to a Wild they wanted to capture, versus walking straight towards it and run the risk of startling it. "You obviously have a lot of questions, and are trying to piece together the answers yourself. You might even think you have some answers already, based on what you've seen. I want to tell you right now that, whatever you're thinking, you're jumping to conclusions."

Kaylee seriously doubted this, but for now staying silent seemed like the best option. Whittaker-Cheng seemed to take her lack of response as interest, or at least respect, and continued on.

"So, those options I told you about. Obviously we can't go into everything right now. But the way I see it, and the way my associates see it, you've got three ways you could go. One, you join us, since you've obviously proven your merits, regardless of your age. As I said before, it's very impressive what you've uncovered so far. Your second option is to go back on the run, but I say this out of concern for you and your friends, and with utmost confidence; you will be caught, sooner rather than later, if you do this." Kaylee felt a dull thrill of horror tugging in the soles of her feet and a buzzing start in her ears. This was the feeling she'd get in the aftermath of Brock's death, waking up from a night-terror, drenched in cold sweat, when all she could think was this can't possibly be real. "Your third option is to continue on the way you are, trying to get more information, trying to make contacts, and digging yourself in even deeper. You've crossed some of the wrong people already, but it's not too late. However, if you keep it up much longer... not even someone with my clout will be able to help you. Understand?"

Kaylee wanted to scream at him. She wanted to throw her research at his head and shout no, no I don't understand, we were supposed to be able to trust you, you were supposed to help us. The helplessness she felt soon morphed into a wild, frenetic energy, the need to move and move now, to take action and gain some semblance of control in this nightmare.

"No one wants to hurt any of you. I mean, you're kids. That would be so screwed up." Whittaker-Cheng shook his head, brow furrowed, like what he was saying was the most reasonable thing in the world. Kaylee almost wished he would just rattle off an elaborate plan to take over the world, complete with maniacal laughter and moustache-twirling. Whittaker-Cheng was talking like he was a good guy here, and that was because he must truly think he was. Kaylee had no idea if his ideals were just warped, or if he was being kept in the dark about just what was going on with Silph and whoever else was involved. As direly as she wished she could determine the answer to that, she knew that was not a good idea anymore. She needed an out.

Whittaker-Cheng seemed to realize she was still not in the mood to talk, so he went on. "No one wants you kids mixed up in anything dangerous. If you just agree to cooperate, and stop your solo work, we can assure the safety of you, your friends, and family. It's really the best offer you're going to get. No one will take anything out on you. That's a promise."

He really was a politician. Kaylee found a part of her, that base, instinctive part that responded to tone and body language, really wanting to trust him. He seemed so calm, understanding and in control. His previously unimpressive appearance now hardly mattered. With that kind of gift of gab Whittaker-Cheng didn't need any bells and whistles, didn't need to be perched on his throne at the back of the Leader Arena.

"Okay," Kaylee said, sensing the need to say something at this point. "I don't really know what to say."

Whittaker-Cheng nodded to her, still looking absolutely patient and compassionate. "Totally understandable. I know this isn't what you expected when you battled your way here to see me. Do you have any questions? I'll try to answer them, if I can."

It was such a kind gesture, and one that she was sorely tempted to take him up on. Of course she had questions—that was why they were freaking there in the first place, to get the answers to their questions.

Instead Kaylee went with an impulse and deployed her stronger Growlithe. Before it was even done forming from its red light she shouted out, "Flamethrower!" jabbing her finger in the direction of the meditating Alakazam in the corner. Her Growlithe, ready as ever for a scrap, leapt forward and let loose a torrent of flames that made the gold-plated room feel even more like the inside of an oven.

Whittaker-Cheng actually put his arms up in the air in a spastic motion and ducked, even though he wasn't in the line of fire. For a Gym Leader, he certainly wasn't prepared for impromptu assaults. "Whoa!" he said, giving the corner with the Alakazam a double-take, gaze darting between there and Kaylee. "That was completely unnecessary!"

Kaylee couldn't be bothered with his sputtering protests though; a horrible, glaring downside of her plan to get the element of surprise was now apparent. The Alakazam had been controlling the tele-warp pads, so it seemed—every single pad had now faded from the floor around her. Oh god, I'm stuck, she thought dimly, as Growlithe growled and lowered itself defensively in front of her. The slightly-charred Alakazam moved forward in a battle stance.

"No no, stand down," Whittaker-Cheng said to his affronted Pokémon, still giving Kaylee a look like she was more than a little unhinged. He almost looked a little sad that this had been her course of action. "Teenagers are so dramatic," he grumbled, but before Kaylee could decide what else to do to solidify his opinion, Jason appeared three feet in front of her with his Kadabra.

Jason spun around wildly, took in their surroundings, saw Whittaker-Cheng, and deduced the situation with remarkable speed. "Oh shit," he said, and Kaylee was already recalling her Growlithe as Jason reached out to grab her arm.

"Guys—" Whittaker-Cheng said with a long-suffering sigh in his voice, like they were being a huge inconvenience and this could all be avoided. Kaylee didn't hear his next argument. She and Jason warped away, and after a series of two hops she found herself on all fours, head spinning, at Gav's feet in the forest.

Gav hauled her upright and peered into her face. "Kay," he said, his voice alive with a sharp, harried edge. "Are you okay?"

"Uh," Kaylee said, trying to get herself oriented and less dizzy from the rapid jumps. "WC is—he's a no go, he's out. He's—"

"With the bad guys, yeah," Jason said, leaning down and resting his arms on his knees, also looking like he was having some teleportation sickness. "We know."

For the first time Kaylee was able to notice that Jason's arms and face were covered in little burns and cuts. She quickly deduced he wasn't in life-threatening danger, but he glanced up at her and shook his head, looking grim. "I was jumping from room to room, trying to find Gina and Amaris—we got separated—and there were people waiting for me. Like, not Junior Trainers with Psychic-types... these people were trying to capture us. The whole place is rigged."

"You were able to use Kadabra, though," Kaylee pointed out, brow furrowing. "Could you have just teleported earlier—"

"Naw," Jason said, straightening up and lifting his shoulder with a cringe. "Kadabra didn't work until like, thirty seconds before I found you. Something must have happened to drop the psychic barriers that were detaining us and stopping him from using Teleport."

"Oh," Kaylee said, flashing to the Alakazam in the corner and the tiles vanishing on the floors. "Oh, I think that must have been me. I sort of blasted WC's Alakazam in the face with fire. It looked like it was meditating, so..."

"Brilliant!" Jason said, grinning. "Good move, thanks for that."

Amaris appeared in the clearing with them a second later, Gina and Beth in tow. Kaylee leapt about a foot in the air, nerves still raw, but she and Beth ran forward into a hug just as Jason and Gina did.

"Jesus!" Gina said, looking Jason over and cringing at his battle wounds. "What happened to you?"

"The place is a trap," Jason said, and Gina said over the end of his sentence, "no kidding."

"Victoria's still in there somewhere," Beth said to Gav, who nodded.

"Kadabra is on it." He glanced at Amaris, who motioned to his own Kadabra as well. Kaylee hadn't even noticed that Jason's Pokémon had already teleported away in search of their missing friends.

While they waited, tense and fidgety, Kaylee pieced together the rest of the stories. Beth and Victoria has defeated a Junior Trainer pair, then been separated on the next tele-warp pad. The same thing had happened after Gina, Amaris and Jason beat their three Junior Trainers. Since Kaylee had been traveling solo she hadn't noticed that the pads were systematically splitting up their teams.

"So, what did WC actually... Say to you?" Jason ventured.

Kaylee shook her head. "He was... really reasonable. Tried to convince me to get us all to, uh, join him. Them. So we wouldn't get hurt in the end."

Jason let out a low whistle and Gina sat down heavily on the ground. "I can't believe this. I had no idea how far-reaching this... group, was. So they've got a Gym Leader on their side."

It was into a grim group of teens that Victoria and Zahlia phased. Each of the Kadabras stayed only long enough to ascertain that their charges were secure, then vanished once more. Now all they needed were Blake and Orion, and this knowledge was starting to weigh heavily on the faces of their siblings.

"C'mon..." Jason muttered to himself, eyes somewhere to the south as if he could see through the miles and give Orion psychic directions. "We gotta get out of here..."

Victoria was getting filled in on the situation by Beth and Gina, and Zahlia was alternating between listening to the recap and staring in the direction Jason was. Kaylee sat down, cross-legged, and cracked each of her ten toes, starting from the big toe and heading out towards the pinkies. Each second that ticked by without Orion and Blake wound the tangle of alive, writhing fear inside her tighter. Gav was markedly silent throughout all the proceedings.

Blake appeared about thirty seconds later, and Zahlia reached out to secure him. Kaylee only caught the second part of what he said. "—is freaking hopeless, is everyone here? We have to go, like, yesterday.

"What happened?" Zahlia asked, and Jason moved over to him and asked, "Did you see Orion?"

"No, but I saw Zeke," Blake said, his eyes wide and his brow set in almost an angry looking expression that Kaylee recognized as his version of fear and stress. Zahlia visibly flinched at the name and Blake barreled on. "He as much as flat-out told me that they have help from the Pokémon League. And I'm assuming Whittaker-Cheng is in on this whole crap since they were using his Gym to trap us."

"Yeah, he's in on it," Kaylee supplied, but Blake's earlier sentence had just sunken in. "Wait, what?"

Gina joined her in the, "What? Pokémon League? Wait, back up—"

"You didn't see Orion," Jason said, more to himself as a confirmation than restating his question. He tapped his foot edgily and looked off to the woods, and Kaylee joined him. Both Kadabra were now off and looking for him, so it had to be only a matter of time before they recovered him and could book it away from here.

Both Kadabras returned, almost simultaneously, and the first thing Kaylee noticed was that neither of them had Orion. The second thing was that both looked extremely shocked to be in the woods. Jason ran over to his Kadabra and started muttering questions at it, while Gav and Amaris headed over to the other. Gav was starting to look distinctly ashen now.

"This is... guys, we need to have a team meeting," Gav said, rubbing his hands over his face and muttering a curse under his breath. Jason was staunchly ignoring him, and Kaylee spoke up with what Jason would be saying if he wasn't interrogating his Kadabra.

"Team meeting later, finding Orion first," she said, heading over to Amaris' Kadabra and looking at the redhead. "Send him back, yeah?"

"I doubt it will work," Amaris said, his voice calm but his face harsh and tense. "Kadabra wouldn't return here like this unless something was wrong."

"Then let's go with them, and see what happened," Kaylee said, and Jason nodded.

"That's a great idea. I'm gonna go now," he said, and Kaylee leapt over to stand next to him.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Amaris reiterated, raising his voice. "There's something seriously wrong—"

"Yeah, no shit, my brother is still in that madhouse, look, I'll be right back with Orion—"

"I'm going with you," Kaylee interrupted, grabbing hold of part of Jason's Kadabra while Gav raised his voice over theirs.

"Jason, Kaylee! Wait, you need to hear this—do not—"

"Ready?" Jason asked Kaylee, tuning out her brother as expertly as she was now.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with."

Gav was leaping forward at them when they teleported, but before Kaylee could register shock at this action they were staring at the back of a little house with a sizable yard and some really awful modern art sculptures.

"... What the what?" Jason demanded, messily yanking out his Dex. He dropped it on the ground, picked it up, and called up the GPS.

"We're like, nowhere near the Gym district," he ascertained a moment later, his brow furrowed deep. To Kadabra he said, "Buddy, I want you to take us to the Gym. Okay?"

Kadabra was looking deeply distressed and at a loss, and Kaylee hesitated before reaching out to the Psychic-type. "Jason—I don't know if it's gonna—" Jason reached out and grabbed her hand before she could finish though, and then they were gone again.

This time they were in the middle of what looked like a park. A number of trainers walking their Vulpix or Eevee jumped at their sudden appearance.

"What?" Jason asked, looking absolutely flabbergasted. His Kadabra actually did a face-palm at their surroundings, and finally Jason seemed to realize this was not his Kadabra failing to follow orders or navigate correctly. He kneeled down in front of his Pokemon and put both hands on its shoulders. "What's the matter?" Kadabra gave him a helpless shrug and Kaylee felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Seeing that it was Gav, she picked up and braced for a tongue-lashing, though she hoped he was calling with the news that Orion had arrived.

"Get back here, now," Gav demanded, talking over her attempt to say something. "You will not be able to get back to the Gym that way, it's clear the teleportation is acting up. They probably have the whole Gym grid blocked off psychically. And I need to give something to Jason." Kaylee was going to speak during his pause, but the sheer randomness of his last sentence stopped her short. In her silence Gav said, "Tell him... tell him his father gave it to me, for him. Now, come back to the clearing, stat."


((Author's Note: MAN FF really hates hyperlinks, like, a lot. If you go to deviant art and search "Gina Charmander" you'll see line art I made pop up... then you can click on my username, HeleneAlexandra, and get to the rest of my gallery. EESH. Here's my final attempt at disguising the link... helenealexandra dot deviantart dot com.))