"And you're absolutely positive there's no other way to do this?" Thunder moans, avoiding eye contact with the pokeball in my hand.
"It's either this or we get someone to implant the chip surgically." Jackson says. Thunder winces in response. "Look, it'll be for three seconds. Five at the most. And if
it's too much, you can break free pretty easily."
"I'll get you out as soon as I can. You have my word." I add.
Thunder is quiet for a moment, weighing his options.
"...Alright. Fine. Just get it over with." He closes his eyes tight, bracing for the worst. I tap the button on the ball, watching it flash green as a ready signal.
"On three, ready?" He nods quickly. "Okay, one, two, three." I lob it gently towards him, though it seems to almost jet away from my hand once I let go. It opens above Thunder and grabs him with the blue beam. Immediately he is pulled in and the ball snaps shut, bouncing off the floor with the distinctive pling sound. the ball's light flashes amber as it gently rocks back and forth. A few second later it stops moving. The light goes dark with a final click.
"And there it is." Jackson comments. "Took it like a champ. Usually there's a lot more shaking." I quickly scoop the ball up, slightly surprised at its new heft before activating it once more and tossing it out. And just as quickly vanished into the pokeball he reappears, looking a bit more relaxed now.
Suddenly the ball bounces straight back at my face, catching me completely off guard. I scramble to either catch it or swat it away, accomplishing neither as it makes contact with my right cheek. "Ah!" I yell in a mix of mild pain and surprise. "Son of a bidoof... I forgot they boomeranged..."
"You okay Alex?" Thunder asks.
"I'm fine. Wasn't even that bad, just scared the daylights out of me. How was your 'trip?'"
"Not as bad as I remember. Felt slightly more homely. Slightly. Still don't want to stay in there longer than I need to."
"Now that you're tagged you should be safe to go." Jackson says. "I'll drive us back to where I found you and we can go from there."
"Actually, it'll be just me, Thunder and Growlithe." I say.
"I can handle myself. You forget I spent a lot of time as a pokemon too. I know how to fight."
"It's not your abilities. I don't want to put you in harms way. This is our mission. Not yours. You have a son to look after. If they see you with me, you just got a target painted on your back."
"...I guess that's true. But I'm still going to drive you there myself. I need the car for work, after all. Better there's someone to drive it back in case... well... Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"Alright then. Guess that's the plan. You ready to-"
"Uh... Dad? Alex?" Josh says from outside the doorway. "What are you doing? Are you pretending to be pokemon or something?" For a moment I freeze. I had preferred to keep our little secret just that. "Wait... were you talking to your pokemon?" Wow... he jumped to that conclusion fast.
"I-uh... What makes you say that?" I reply.
"I just remembered that Thunder was talking back. You were having a conversation, weren't you? You speak pokemon?" Well. Now use hiding it now.
"Alright, fine. Yes. I know Pokespeak."
"Wait, really?! You can talk to pokemon!?" He yells in amazement. I swear you could see the stars in his eyes from a mile away. "That's amazing! Where'd you learn to do that?!"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later. But I need you to promise that you keep it a secret. There are dangerous people looking for me. And if they figure out that you're housing me you'll be in danger too."
"Oh, come on, what's the worst that could happen?"
"Josh, please." Jackson intrudes. "Alex is right. We need to be careful."
"...Oh alright. I swear to keep it a secret."
"Thank you." I reply.
"Care to let us in on the conversation?" Thunder asks.
"Had to reveal that I know Pokespeak. Josh says he won't tell anyone, thankfully."
"Dad, how long have you known how to speak to pokemon? How come you never told me?" Josh says.
"For as long as I've known you. I'm sure we can help teach you later, so long as you are careful about where you use it. For now, we've got to go and do something. Behave yourself while we're gone, okay?"
"Alright, Dad. Don't take too long, okay?"
"We'll be back before you know it."
I pick the backpack off the floor, slinging onto my back. "Alright Thunder, Growlithe, let's go." I say, motioning to the two others who quickly rush to my side. We turn and follow Jackson out the door, saying a quick goodbye to the others before we go. The four of us get strapped into the car, Jackson taking the wheel.
"You all ready?"
"All good back here." Jackson nods and starts the car. I take a moment to run through the plan in my head. Scout the facility out from a distance. If it looks like it's possible, get inside and grab whatever information we can and get out fast. I just pray that if things go belly up Jackson doesn't get caught in the crossfire..
"We're here. Let me know when you're ready to go." Jackson says.
"Right. Okay, you two, let's go. Stay low." I say in a hushed voice. The Thunder, Growlithe and I pour out of the car and gun it for the hill near the road to use as cover. As we peek out over the crest of the hill the facility comes into view. While I had expected a building of concrete and steel, what I saw was actually quite unexpected.
Light tendrils of smoke drift lazily into the sky over charred ruins of the building. The entire facility had been razed.
"I... think our little fire trick backfired." Growlithe mumbles. I recall what Thunder had told me about our escape and the use of fire to keep the guards at bay. I pull a pair of binoculars from my backpack and take a glance through them, relaying my findings to the others.
"No, I don't think so. Not unless that grass fire burned hot enough to melt steel, which I highly doubt. The charring looks... spotty. Like certain areas were burning and others were left alone."
"Yeah, that's not how fire works."
"I know. Which leaves me with a theory. Maybe the destruction wasn't accidental."
"What, like, they went in with flamethrowers or fire types and burnt down."
"More or less."
"I don't follow." Thunder says. "Why would they destroy their own base?
"To cover their tracks, I think. We had escaped and could easily let the Meowth out of the bag, so to speak. And perhaps whatever secrets they were hiding were dangerous or important enough that they couldn't risk them getting out. So they destroyed the evidence. Make it so that there's no way to connect them to what happened here."
"So you're saying there might not be anything left for us to find."
"It's possible. Hang on a second..." I interrupt myself as something catches my eye. Grey and purple biped. Wait, that's the pokemon we saw during the escape. "Our rampaging friend decided to show up as well."
"What!? What are they doing here!?"
"No clue. Wonder if they'd be open to discussion..."
"That's a terrible idea. You saw what it did to those guards."
"Yeah. It was just a thought." The pokemon turns it's head facing our direction. Wait, not in our direction, at us. It knows we're here. "Oh, crap. That cant be goo-AGHaaa...!" Suddenly my breath catches in my throat. I look down to see a band of psychic energy constricting around my throat, chocking me out.
"Alex!?" Thunder yelps. Before I can even attempt to reply an invisible force yanks me away like a bungee cord. Towards the mysterious pokemon. I come to a stop as the unknown being clasps its hand around my neck, replacing the constricting psychic ring with its fingers, now holding me even tighter as I feebly scramble for breath. It's eyes glare at me with an emotionless glance, a subtle wafting of pink energies rising from its irises like smoke.
"Who are you?" A thunderous voice booms through my mind, it's voice. A telepathic connection. I am too stunned to respond. Not that it gives me a chance. I can feel it systematically riffle through my mind, digging painfully deeper and deeper to find what it wants. Any attempt to mentally resist is rapidly circumvented. Nothing I do can improve my situation. I can only hope that whatever it's doing won't be fatal.