Shadowcat sat up groggily, looking around the room. She wasn't in that cage anymore, but she wasn't anywhere familiar either. She sensed someone standing behind her, and could see several other animals across the room.
"Alright, Blitz, she's awake now." A unseen voice spoke. She was nudged to her feet, which were tied to the floor. Across the room a Vulpix stepped forward and called out a Pokemon.
"Brock, go!"
"Brrrrock!"
Shadowcat stood, staring dumbfounded at the other Pokemon. It looked familiar, like she had seen it before on one of the monitors the Persian kept in his office.
"Brock, body slam!" the Vulpix shouted at the Pokemon. It jumped at her, knocking her back down. The restraints on her feet pulled painfully. The Ponyta standing behind her sneered, and kicked her shoulder with one of its hooves.
"Get back up."
Swaying, Shadowcat got back up. What was going on?
"Now, use your Reality Alter attack, Shadowcat," the Ponyta said. Shadowcat blinked. A moment passed, and then she looked back at him. "Well?"
"Cat, Shadowcat?"
"I said, use Reality Alter, you stupid Pokemon!"
"Cat!" her ears flattened. The Persian had never called her 'stupid'! These animals were mean. She knew that they were with the Opposition, but how did they expect to her cooperate when they were being so cruel? "Cat, Cat!" Shadowcat sat down, crossing her arms defiantly.
"I think she's still loyal to the Persian," the Vulpix said.
"Then use the serum on her," the voice she couldn't locate said.
The Vulpix nodded and crossed the room. He jabbed a needle into Shadowcat's shoulder.
"Shaaaadow!" Shadowcat squeezed her eyes shut as who-knows-what was injected into her system. After a moment, her vision blurred, and she slumped forward.
After a minute or two, she managed to get back to her feet at the Ponyta's command. Her mind raced. What had they done to her? She felt lightheaded and slightly sick to her stomach.
"Now, use Reality Alter."
"Shaaaa..." for a moment she hesitated, and then pulled out her quill. "Doohh..." This wasn't right. Her Master would never hurt her. He'd always planned her battles carefully, to make sure she didn't get hurt too badly. And now... She pointed the quill at the Brock.
"Cat!" she shook her head. "Shad, Shadowcat!" I want my Master! Shadowcat swiped angrily at the air. The Brock and its trainer collapsed, as did the Pontya. She ran the quill through the air, but before she completed the attack, something struck her in the back of the head. Shadowcat fell forward, her head striking the ground hard. The quill faded from her grasp as she fainted.
The Sforzando watched as several animals dragged Shadowcat back to her cage. Her head was bandaged, and her feet were bound together.
"What did you do to her?" the Sforzando called angrily as the animals left.
"Shut up, you stupid Pokemon," the Ponyta snapped. The door shut, and the room was dark.
The Sforzando waited, listening as Shadowcat stirred after several minutes.
"Are you okay?" she called.
"My head feels funny," Shadowcat whispered, holding her face in her hands.
"Did they hurt you?" the Sforzando swished her tail anxiously.
"Not really," Shadowcat leaned back and looked at the other Pokemon dimly. "They tried to get me to use one of my attacks--the Reality Alter--but it didn't work right!" Shaodwcat looked suddenly distressed. "I tried to use it against them, but it only knocked out those who were closest to me in the room!"
"Don't worry," Sforzando said in a soothing tone. "It's probably just because you don't have your trainer commanding you."
Shadowcat sulked, staring at the floor of the cage. "I hate it here."
"You aren't the only one," the Sforzando sighed. She raised her voice, calling over her shoulder. "Who else here hates this place?!"
"Toshi! Toshi!"
"Rrrrock!"
"Steee!"
"Strat! Gist!"
"Jesssiica!"
"Cassy, cass!"
The voices of Pokemon echoed from an unseen distance. Shadowcat's ears drooped.
"Will I be here forever?"
Sforzando stared at the tip of her tail. "Maybe. Seems like it."
"How long have you been here, Sforzando?"
The Pokemon hestitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Forever."
"Forever?"
"Yes," the Sforzando said flatly. She turned her head away from Shadowcat, pointing down the dark row of cages. "There's a Satoshi that's been here for over nine years."
"Nine years? I didn't think the Opposition had been around that long."
"Are you so naive?" Sforzando snapped at Shadowcat, still looking away. "How can a Pokemon be so stupid?"
"I'm not stupid, I just didn't know!" Shadowcat cried. "I'd never heard of the Opposition until last year. It was never a real thing, just something my Master complained about occasionally."
The Sforzando lay down, her shoulders hunched forward. She remained turned away from Shadowcat. "It has always been a real thing for me."
"I'm sorry," Shadowcat whispered.
"Not as I am," the Sforzando returned, and was silent.
"Ooh, why are we doing this, Rachael?" Zap whined. "Team Rocket agents are dangerous, you know!"
"Oh, quit whining, Zap," Rachael hissed. "You had your turn to stupidly pursue, and now I'm taking mine." Zap 'hmph'ed and quietly followed.
Rachael and Zap were trekking down the street, carefully following the two Team Rocket agents that had come from the PersCo building. The Jamie was doggedly following the animals, refusing to leave Jessie, who remained in her pokeball.
"I don't see why your Jessie likes that Jamie," Rachael said as she scanned the crowd they were nearing. "He got my feet wet."
"Bitch, moan, whine," Zap retorted softly. The Jamie snorted.
Rachael was quiet as they continued down the street. They walked for several minutes before turning a corner. This street was quiet, seemingly empty. The Jamie whimpered, hestitating to follow.
"What's wrong with him?"
Zap shrugged. "Got me."
"That's not all you've got, twerp," a bitter voice came from the shadows of a doorway. Two animals appeared.
"Team Rocket!" Zap whispered.
"That's right, kid," the Lickitung said.
"What's with the mice following us, Diane?" the Marowak next to her said.
"You've got me, Ross. Seems like they're asking for trouble."
The pair stepped out into the light. Zap trembled, but Rachael seemed unimpressed.
"Well, what do you want? You'd better have a good reason for following us, kid," Diane snapped at Zap.
"I, I don't want any trouble from you!" Zap said uneasily. "Just leave my Pokemon alone..."
"A simpering little Jamie?" Diane looked offended. "What would we want with that?"
"Besides, you were the ones following us!" Ross crossed his arms. The Jamie stuck his tongue out briefly at the Team Rocket members.
"I wasn't following you, she was," Zap said, pointing at Rachael.
"Yes, I was following you," Rachael said haughtily, tossing her ears.
"Well," Ross smirked. "Why were you following us?"
"I was trying to find out what you two were up to, that's what," Rachael said.
"We're trying to find something, what's it to you?" Diane said. "You, who can't even get a stupid Pokemon and bring it back!"
"What?! That isn't true!"
"Oh yeah? Well where is it?"
Zap looked on in confusion as the trio argued. She felt a tug on her tail.
"Jamie! Mie!"
"Huh?" Zap turned around, seeing two figures at the end of the street. "Blitz! Rockie!"
The trio stopped arguing. Diane growled. "Well if it isn't Rocky and Bullwinkle."
Zap ran toward her friends. "You guys, they're from Team Rocket! You have to help us!"
"I know who they are," Blitz snapped. Zap stopped short, realizing that Rockie was holding something in his paw.
"Uh, Rock--" Zap didn't get any further. She yelped and hit the ground as several shots where fired.
"Diane!" Ross ran over to his partner, who was laying on her stomach in a bloody puddle. "Are you okay?" Diane moaned.
"Take this is a warning, Rocket," Blitz shouted. "You can tell the Persian that he won't be seeing his precious Pokemon again any time soon. We've already begun to use it for our own plans."
Ross growled. Rachael leapt up from where she had hit the dirt.
"Chhuuu!!" Rachael shouted angrily, sending a wave of lightning at the fire Pokemon. They screamed, Rockie dropping his gun as they ran off. Rachael disappeared down the street after them.
Zap sat on the sidewalk, shaken and confused. The Jamie sat next to her, surprisingly quiet. A few yards away Ross had rolled Diane over. She had two gunshot wounds--one on her side, the other on her arm.
"Diane, say something..." Ross said worriedly.
"Cookie..." Diane moaned. Ross blinked, realizing that Diane was talking about her Pokemon, a young Sabrina.
"Diane, you know the Opposition still has her," Ross said softly. Diane winced in pain, her eyes watering.
"Ross, my stomach hurts," she whispered.
"Don't worry, I'll get help." Ross stood up, looking for his cell phone. Glancing over briefly, he noticed that Zap was still there. "Little Pikachu, why are you still here?"
"I... my friends... Rachael..." Zap shook her head. Ross sighed. He couldn't find his phone.
"Rachael... is a member of Team Rocket. That's all, so don't worry about it and go on home. You don't need to get involved with this." He reached for his Pokeball.
"I already am involved," Zap said softly. Ross sighed again.
"Otoshi, come out!"
In a flash, the Pokemon appeared. It looked down, seeing Diane. "Toshi?"
"Otoshi, listen carefully to me," Ross said. The Pokemon crouched down in front of him.
"Tosh, Otoshi?"
"Otoshi, Diane has been hurt. She needs to get back to Headquarters. I don't know how badly she's been hurt, but I can't leave her here when more of those Opposition people might show up."
Otoshi looked over at Diane. She was staring up with a somewhat blank gaze, a paw holding the bloodier spot on her side.
"Cookie..."
"Otoshi, I want you to carry her. But you have to be very careful."
The Pokemon nodded. "Shi."
The Otoshi picked up Diana. Ross trailed a few paces behind his Pokemon as they made their way back down the street. They had went almost to the corner, before Ross realized that he was being followed.
"Otoshi, stop." Ross turned around. Zap stood there, the Jamie cowering and trying to be unnoticeable behind her. "Do you have a reason for following me?"
Zap shifted on her feet. "I... I don't have anything else to do..."
"Mmmmie."
Ross sighed again. Otoshi swushed his long tail restlessly.
"Just don't get in the way. And if you get caught, it's not my fault."
Shadowcat looked around. She could hear a Pokemon moving around in its cage, a few spots down from her.
"I have to get out of here," a voice echoed softly. For a moment Shadowcat thought that Sforzando had said something, but the Pokemon had been silent for several hours.
"Who's there?" Shadowcat called.
"A fellow disposessed Rocket," the voice said. It was closer this time--sounding more like it was in her head. Shadowcat blinked. She recognized the voice.
"Cookie?"
"Yes," the soft voice said. A brief image flashed through Shadowcat's mind: the Sabrina, so young that she had only been able to walk for a few weeks, cowering at the bottom of a cage somewhere in the darkness. "I'm sorry, I usually can do better."
"It's okay." Shadowcat peered out into the darkness. "Cookie, how'd you get here?"
"Much the same way you did, I'd imagine," the Sabrina sighed. "Miss Shadowcat, you have to help me."
"What? How can I help you? What's wrong?"
"It's my master," Cookie said. "She's in trouble. She needs me!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know how I can help you."
"I... I heard you and the Sforzando talking. You..." the Sabrina hesitated. "You know Reality Alter?"
"Yes..."
"Then you can help me get out of this cage," Cookie said.
"Can't you just teleport out of there?" Shadowcat wondered.
"No. I don't have any sort of reference points."
"Reference points?"
"Places to aim to," Cookie said. "I could get out of the cage, but I haven't been anywhere else here. I wouldn't know where to teleport to... I might end up in a wall or something."
"So how can I help?" Shadowcat frowned.
"You've seen the doorway, right? When the animals come in?"
"Yes."
"Well, I haven't been able to see it. But you're a psychic type, and you could project to me what the outside of the door looks like. I need you to use your Reality Alter to turn the lights on."
"Turn the lights on?" Shadowcat said doubtfully.
"I know its primitive, but I'm still learning how to do all this right," Cookie said. "Please, Shadowcat."
"I don't know if I can..."
"Why not?"
"I..." Shadowcat frowned. "I don't know if I can do that attack properly without my trainer."
"You did it earlier, didn't you?"
"It wasn't as effective as I hoped it would be."
Shadowcat could almost see the young Pokemon's thoughtful expression. "That's why you haven't tried to escape, isn't it."
She blinked. "What?"
"You have the power to get out of here, Shadowcat," the Sabrina said. "But you're afraid to try. You think something will go wrong."
"I suppose you're right."
"That's why they kidnapped you now," Cookie's voice echoed. "You know the attack, but are still too insecure to use it against them."
Shadowcat's ear twitched. "That isn't true."
Cookie seemed to gloat. "You're a coward. A prissy, pampered pussycat."
"I am not!" Shadowcat balled her fists.
"She's baiting you," Sforzando's voice sighed from the opposite direction. Shadowcat looked over her shoulder. The other Pokemon was sitting on her haunches, listening to the conversation with a smirk. "She isn't good at psychic whispering yet, but she is pretty good at baiting you, Shadowcat."
"So what if I am?" Cookie swished her dark green tail back and forth a few times. "She has the power to get us all out of here, and she's too chicken to use it."
"I'm not chicken," Shadowcat whispered.
"Then why don't you just do it?"
She loooked up. "Do it?"
"Get us all out of here."
Shadowcat hesitated. "But, my trainer..."
Cookie sighed in frustration. "Then pretend like he commanded you to get yourself out of here!"
"Pretend..." Shadowcat looked thoughtful. "I think I can do it."
"Good!" Cookie looked past her to Sforzando. "Do you want to go to?"
"No, I'll stay here," Sforzando said softly.
"But I thought you hated it here!" Shadowcat cried.
"I do, but I don't remember what it's like outside anymore," Sforzando replied.
"You're... afraid?"
Sforzando nodded silently.
"I'm sorry, Sforzando," Shadowcat whispered. Turning back to the Sabrina. "I guess it's just us two then."
"We're not taking anyone else?"
"We'll have a hard enough time getting out on our own," Shadowcat said. Cookie nodded.
"All right. Let's do it."
End Chapter Three
Okay...this is getting weird. I think I've lost track of what I'm doing...hehe... we'll see what happens next time!