Chapter 17: The Heroes
"All right, guys, listen up. First, turn around," Kevin said.
"What for?" another person asked.
"Just listen to him," the man in the back demanded. "He knows what he's doing."
Though the group was a little reluctant, Kevin and the man managed to get everyone looking the other direction. Once that was done, the man turned around and Kevin transformed back to his original form.
Kevin, something's not right, Duo-Cevan remarked. He had been silent ever since they had been dragged into the room with the hostages. How many times have we transformed so far without feeling drained?
Kevin thought about it for a moment. Hmm, you do have a point, Kevin finally said. That is something we have to figure out. But not now.
Kevin then looked at the group in the room. "You can look now," he said. "Just expect an odd surprise."
The others in the room turned around and were greatly alarmed that Efalno wasn't there anymore, but instead a large Scyther with hands instead of blades.
"Wow!" the man said in wonder. "You never told me you transformed!"
"A Scyther transforming? That's impossible!" another man yelled.
"Well, I'm not an ordinary Scyther, either, as you can see," Kevin remarked. "As I have said before to you, Mr.…"
"Jonathan, but you can call me Jimmy," the man, who Kevin was talking to before taking down the Rogue, said. He then grinned. "What can I say? I'm a kid at heart."
"All right, Jimmy. As I have said to you before, I am a trained elite Scyther-warrior, sent by someone who wishes to remain anonymous," Kevin explained. "Being in my current form, I am capable of performing moves that I could not learn otherwise."
"Were you engineered for this type of work?" Jimmy wondered. "It almost seems as if someone created you for this."
"Yes and no," Kevin said. "I was created to overpower all sorts of things, but it was not for this intention. I'll explain later. First, I have to get a floor plan of the entire tower. It would be too lengthy to have someone explain the whole layout of the tower, so I'll need one of you to help. To put it bluntly, I won't be able to do this without risking the rest of the hostages on the other floors unless I have someone help guide me."
"I would help, but I have no Pokémon," Jimmy said. "If they spotted me, I would have no way of resisting."
"All right then, anyone else?" Kevin asked.
Everyone was silent. Kevin realized that he had no choice. "All right, Jimmy, it seems that no one else is brave enough," he stated. "How skilled do you think you are at keeping from being detected, anyway?"
"Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty good," Jimmy answered, after some thought. "I remember on some days, when they were slow and I didn't want to work, I would bring a mannequin in and use it to look like I was working before taking off. Then, at the end of the day, I would go in and retrieve it."
"Is that why those few days ago when I asked for a status report, you seemed to be in a hurry?" a woman behind him asked.
Jimmy spun around. "Well, uhh…" he stammered. He gave a sigh. "Yeah, I won't hide it. Guess my next pay won't be so good for this month…"
"You better believe that, Jonathan!" the woman said with a glare. She then became calm. "However, if you can help him save this tower, I'll personally see that the director gets you a raise."
Jimmy gave a half-salute. "I won't let you down, ma'am!" he said excitedly. He then became solemn. "But I'm still worried… I wasn't exactly trained for espionage, and I still don't have a Pokémon…"
Kevin pulled open his beltbox and grabbed the gold-laced ball. He tossed it to Jimmy. "Here, use this," Kevin said. "My friend, whom I was created from, is in that ball. His power is unmatched, but do not have him attack a Rogue unless the Rogue is attempting to warn others or overpower you."
"What about us?" a man asked in the group.
Kevin looked at the group. "Who has a fast Pokémon, and what is it?" he asked. Several said Tauros. A few said Poliwag, and one or two said Ponyta.
Kevin shook his head. "No good," he concluded. "We need something fierce that can knock down people, but won't cause too much noise. We also need one that won't cause damage to this tower."
"I have a Persian," a woman said in the back.
Kevin was silent for a moment. "That will do," he concluded.
* * *
"All right, stay quiet."
Kevin opened the door enough so he could peek out. Seeing no one around, he stepped out and into the interior of the cubicle walls, with Jimmy following his footsteps.
Kevin took a quick look over the walls. From where he was standing, both guards were nowhere close. He ducked down again. "Ok, where to, Jimmy?" he asked his partner.
"Well, first we have to get to the stairs," Jimmy said, deep in thought. "The stairs should be on the north wall. The room we were in was along the east wall."
Kevin faced the north wall and looked over the low wall. :Three doors and a guard,: Kevin thought. At that point, the guard pulled out his radio.
"Nothing new here," he said before putting the radio back. Kevin ducked back down behind the wall.
"Dang, this is going to be harder than I thought," Kevin said to Jimmy. "That guard is doing status reports. If we take him down, they might be alerted."
"Then we'll have to cause a distraction…" Jimmy concluded.
The office was quiet for a full minute. To the Rogues, it seemed like the task would be easy. Kevin finished his small distraction, got into position, and began counting down.
"Three, two, one…"
Crash!!!
"What the…?!?" both guards said. Moving to investigate the noise, they didn't notice a person and a Scyther-creature dash past them toward the stairs. What they did notice, though, was a fallen cubicle wall, both supports cracked and rusted. The supports had connected them to the other walls and had snapped.
Kevin silently closed the door behind them. "Ok, first I need to know… how many employees are on each floor?" he asked Jimmy.
"Only an average of 11 employees," Jimmy replied. "There might have been invited visitors, however. That would increase the number of people on the lower floors."
"Oh, that's just great," Kevin said. "So there could be more in this building than usual?"
"Perhaps. It only means more hostages for them to watch over."
Heading down to the second floor, Kevin motioned for Jimmy to stay close. Upon arriving at the proper door, Kevin faced Jimmy to explain the plan. "All right," he started, "Here's what I have in mind. First, we'll secure the safety of the hostages in this area. Then, Since you seem skilled in sneaking about, you will go downstairs and rescue the hostages on that floor, and I'll deal with the uppermost floors."
"What?!?" Jimmy said in an urgent whisper. "But I thought you needed a floor plan!"
"I changed my mind," Kevin said. "I won't need the floor plan because I have my Psychic abilities to sense for the people. They will, of course, feel it, but I'll be using speed rather than stealth to rescue them before their actions alarm the guards."
"Now I understand why you weren't made for this task…" Jimmy said with a sigh. "You're reckless!"
If only you knew, Kevin thought. He was hoping to accomplish this mission as soon as possible to find Lugia and rid himself of the melody. There's just so much to be done, and there's so little time to do it all…
"Something on your mind?" Jimmy wondered.
"No, just listening, Jimmy," Kevin replied, though he heard nothing. Opening the door, Kevin dashed in and ducked behind the nearest desk, Jimmy right behind him.
"I'm not sure what makes me more nervous," Jimmy whispered to Kevin. "The fact that you're not normal or how you think you're some one-man army."
"Did you mean to say one-creature army?" Kevin asked in a slightly humorous tone.
"Whatever."
Kevin, hearing footsteps, signaled for Jimmy to stay quiet. Two guards, Kevin thought. Piece of cake unless they do status reports like that other one.
"Find anything?" the first guard said.
"Nothing new," the second replied. "One of the hostages attempted to break free, but we immediately knocked him cold with a little sleep powder."
"Good," the first commented.
"Second floor guard captain, come in," Kevin heard a radio go off.
There was a slight pause. "Floor two guard captain here," the first one replied.
"We are nearly ready to send the signal," the radio blurted. "Patrael must finish making the recording without interruptions. We have little manpower, so if something urgent comes up, you must radio in to the other floors. Do not radio in to this floor unless you discover Kevin on your floor."
"Ten-four, Fifth floor," the first guard finished.
"Maybe we should attach the mind shields onto our Pokémon now," the second spoke up. "If I recall, the message Patrael will send out will also embed the hypnosis signal."
"You idiot!" the first suddenly shouted. "You were supposed to have attached those before this operation!"
"Hey, is it my fault that I have a slightly reluctant Scyther in my party?" the second said in a mimicked innocence tone. "How was I supposed to know that it would be that loyal to its old trainer??"
Hey, haven't we met that guard before? Duo-Cevan suddenly said.
"Well, you should've thought about it before this mission!" the first guard said. "Maybe next time you shouldn't steal Pokémon from a Pokémon Charmer!"
"Oh come on!" the second whined. "Like I knew the kid was a Charmer! I'd like to see you identify him from an original trainer!"
Yup, that's the guard all right, Kevin declared. In his dealing with Team Rocket, he had heard a guard explaining a story of how he stole a Scyther from a kid, in turn making Kevin extremely angry.
"So what do we do?" Jimmy whispered to Kevin.
"I'm going to put them to sleep," Kevin whispered back. "I have a pouch full of full heal, so don't worry if you end up getting put to sleep, too."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Jimmy wondered.
Kevin created a double coat of sleep powder on his skin and shook it off as silently as possible. The airborne dust affected Jimmy first.
"I see… Sleep powder…" Jimmy said before falling asleep.
Kevin suddenly began hearing the other guards. "Hey," the second one spoke up, "do you smell something?"
"No," the first commented. "Are you sure you aren't smelling yourself?"
"It's not me," the second one replied.
"Wait a second… I'm smelling it too…" the first guard interrupted. "It almost reminds me of the scent of…"
Kevin decided it was his cue and stood up from behind the desk. "Sweet dreams," he said to the guards, interrupting them and getting their complete attention.
The guards turned and, after taking a moment to stare in horror at Kevin, attempted to pull out a radio. Kevin's plan worked; the first guard didn't even get it off his belt before falling into Kevin's hands.
Kevin quietly placed the two guards on the ground, and immediately noticed a few devices on the second guard's belt. Those must be the mind shields that he was talking about, Kevin thought. He pulled it off and examined it.
The device was a flexible strap of metal that had two adhesive portions on its ends. Since everyone in the area was asleep, Kevin pulled out all of his Pokéballs, grabbed Cevan's from Jimmy, and opened them. As the Pokémon came out, Kevin signaled for each to be quiet about it. Testing the device on them, it would attach tightly between the eyes.
"Chikah?" Chikorita asked as Kevin attempted to fit the device on her head.
"It's called a mind shield," Kevin explained. "It's supposed to keep Pokémon from falling asleep during a hypnosis broadcast."
"Chi!" Chikorita said with beaming eyes. "Chika-chika?"
"Sadly, no, Chikorita," Kevin said with a sigh. "I'm only giving it to those who will be of help during this mission we're in." Kevin paused for a moment, deep in thought. "Although, if it is necessary, I may have to have you protect anyone we rescue."
"Chika?" Chikorita's cheery mood suddenly disappeared. "Chika-Chikachi?"
"We're all in trouble unless something is done, Chikorita," Kevin said solemnly. "You haven't had the training my Scyther has, so I'm going to give you responsibility of protecting the hostages on this floor, should none of them have any Pokémon."
"Chichika-chi?" Chikorita asked.
"Cevan has to do whatever I have to do… And believe me, it won't be pretty."
"Chika?!?"
"No, I don't," Kevin said, reading Chikorita's mind. "I couldn't even stomach the thought of killing someone. If necessary, I may have to hurt them."
Kevin then turned to Cevan. "Cevan, your job is to assist Jimmy in freeing the first-floor hostages."
"Scyther?" Cevan wondered. "Scyther-Scy!"
"No, but a reformed group of Team Rocket called Team Rogue," Kevin explained. "I won't be with Jimmy as I will be helping those on the upper floors."
"Scy Scyther-Scy?"
"Perhaps. It may be he's on the lowest floor," Kevin replied. "However, Jimmy has no Pokémon, so it will be up to you to help."
"Scyther?"
"Sorry, you won't have additional help, but you won't have to worry about it, either," Kevin said with a grin. "They don't have that much manpower. Plus, this is a tower they're attempting to control, so we won't have to worry about any rock-types."
{Your confidence in me is as overwhelming as ever, Kevin,} Cevan remarked.
Kevin quickly attached one of the devices on Cevan's forehead, and then recalled all of his Pokémon into their respected Pokéballs. Kevin then walked over to Jimmy, pulled out a piece of cloth, sprayed it with full heal from a container, and waved it in front of Jimmy's face.
A minute later, Jimmy was back on his feet and alert as he could be. "You know, I wish you didn't wave that in front of my nose," He commented.
"Too bad," Kevin replied. "That's how my full heals work. Oh yeah, here's the Scyther back. I attached one of the mind shields to his forehead, so if the broadcast was to come on during then, he won't be affected."
"What about you?" Jimmy asked. "You seem as vulnerable to the signal as your Scyther is!"
"Even so, my Scyther does not have these," Kevin remarked. He unsheathed Diamond Blade, revealing the hand scythes. "They've helped me before in protecting my mind, and I'm sure they'll help again." Kevin sheathed them again and began walking towards one of the doors. "Now come on, we have to find those hostages."
Jimmy followed behind Kevin. "You're Kevin, aren't you?" Jimmy suddenly asked.
"My name is Kevin… what of it?"
"You wouldn't happen to be… the Kevin from Kanto, would you?" Jimmy wondered.
Dang, Duo-Cevan said, wincing. He figured it out.
"So what if I am?" Kevin said, glancing back to Jimmy.
Jimmy pondered for a moment. "If we make it through this in one piece, I'll make sure that you are recognized as a true hero," he finally said.
"If we make it through this," Kevin repeated. "Listen, we will make it through this. However, I want you to promise me one thing. Only you and Efalno, who hold a position of communication, know about me. Until I am ready, I don't want you to even make mention of my name. Understood?" Kevin then looked down at the ground. "My history is a painful one, and until further notice, I would like to remain anonymous."
After searching four doors, Kevin finally found the hostages. However, they weren't as happy to see him as the Rogues, but it changed when Jimmy poked his head in the doorway.
"Everyone safe in here?" Jimmy wondered. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"We've been safe in here for a while, now," one staff member said. "The Rogue who was guarding us wasn't expecting our guest to be a Pokémon Trainer." He motioned toward the back, where a knocked out Rogue was against the corner and a Machamp standing guard.
"Where are the guards outside?" a child, no older than 13, asked. She then looked up at Kevin. "And who's your friend?"
"An elite Scyther-Warrior," Kevin replied. "The guards on this floor are asleep. They were knocked out with Sleep powder."
"What on earth are they doing?" a female staff member wondered.
"Stealing Pokémon, of course," Kevin answered. Something clicked in Kevin's mind. "Which reminds me. Here's a mind shield." Kevin gave two devices to the small girl. "Place one on the forehead of your Machamp. Save the other, in case you need to use another Pokémon. The Rogues are using them, as they will be turning this tower into a huge mind-controlling weapon of some sort.
"Now, let's get going, Jimmy," Kevin said, turning from the door. "You've still got the first floor and I've got to get the third and fifth floors."
Leaving the room, Kevin and Jimmy headed for the stairs. However, they didn't get through the door before the radio on the Rogue's belt began making noise.
"Second floor guards!!" It yelled. "We have a problem. A huge resistance conspiracy has struck here and we need assistance in stopping them. If anything, we have to delay them as much as possible until five minutes are up. I repeat…"
"Five minutes… that must be until the signal activates," Kevin said with a realization. "That means we don't have much time to save the hostages!"
"Any new plans?" Jimmy wondered.
"Only one," Kevin replied. "Stealth is now completely out of the question. Besides, the radio said that there was a resistance going on down on the first floor. With you doing a surprise back attack, combined with my Scyther's power, they won't be able to hold their own."
"And you?"
"I've got a blade to pick with the leader," Kevin said in a fierce tone.