Chapter 2: Trouble brews
"What?"
Warles immediately recognized the confused look on Kevin's face. "Yes, it's crazy," Warles said, "but they are definitely serious about this. Just yesterday they somehow they managed to get a Ursaring from Mt. Silver."
"Ok Warles," Kevin interrupted, "Listen up. There's something you're not telling me here. Just a moment ago you said there were no passengers from the mainland to Cinnabar, and just now you said they got an Ursaring. Now unless they were flying, which someone would've noticed, either you're just trying to cover something or your just plain lying. Out with it, Warles!"
"I wish I could tell you, Kevin," Warles confessed. "I'm just as confused as you are."
"Well, there goes your message," Kevin said. He then sighed. "Fine, I'll believe you, but if this turns out to be a fluke, you will be the first one that I will hunt down."
"Good luck if it comes to that," Warles remarked. "Regardless, those aren't the only things they've taken. The house itself was occupied by someone who did extensive study on Kabuto and its evolution, and even he disappeared because of them."
"I actually remember that guy," Kevin said, recalling him. "I thought he actually left that place because it became undesirable for him to live there. I haven't seen anything living at that place since I last looked."
"Well, I'm going to try figuring out what they are using to get from place to place," Warles stated. "If it doesn't bother you, could you try getting names?"
"Sure, I guess," Kevin sighed. "But I need your number. I can check to see if some of the names are in the school trip for tomorrow, then I'll call you back."
Kevin got the number of Warles on his Pokégear, then went back to his messages on his home phone once Warles hung up. Raikou walked up beside Kevin.
"How are you positive that some of the calls are from students?" he asked.
"I'm not," Kevin said, writing down the names. "However, it's better to play it safe. Besides, it's not like these are 7 or 8-year-old kids on the tour. These are mostly in their teens."
"Strange," Raikou commented. "I would have never expected children of such an age interested in a single person."
Kevin grinned. "Can I help it that I'm such a hit?" he remarked.
* * *
The next day, Kevin was up early to get to the museum. Arriving there an hour before the schools were assigned to show up, he prepared his charm attack in case he should need it.
"So are you ready for these kids, Kevin?" A security guard asked, observing Kevin beginning to do stretches.
"Of course I am," Kevin replied. "If they aren't excited to see me, then I can at least use my charm attack to keep their attention."
The guard gave him a skeptical look. "Doesn't that only work with cute Pokémon?" he asked.
"No," Kevin said, suddenly going into a series of punches in the air. "At least, not in my case. It could be because I'm a hybrid."
"Or because you're the Lost Trainer," the guard sighed. "Either way, I seriously don't think handling wild teenagers in the museum is covered in this museum's insurance."
"Isn't that what rules are for?" Kevin sighed. He then changed the subject. "Anyway, I heard a lot of adults are chaperoning for this. Do we have a list of names? I want to make sure I know faces so I don't confuse those with people who are already in the place."
"Sure do," the guard said, pulling out a slip of paper and handing it to Kevin. "They sent us a message ahead of the scheduled time for you."
"Good, good," Kevin said, taking the paper and looking at it. "Let's see… Hmm, seems to be a few new names, not to mention those I know of from previous trips…" Kevin's attention was suddenly taken to one name in particular.
"What's the matter?" the guard asked, noting the abrupt pause in Kevin's talking.
Kevin pulled his attention from the name he was staring at. "Hmm? Oh… nothing. Just deep in thought, that's all," he replied quickly, putting the paper into his pouch strapped around his front. "Anyway, you may as well get in position. You'll be quite busy watching these kids."
"Indeed, Kevin," the guard said, walking off into the museum.
Kevin watched the guard turn a corner, and sighed. Suddenly, he felt the presence of Entei acting up in his Pokéball. After much training, including being around the legends for an extended time, Duo-Cevan's Sense could begin to feel a Pokémon's presence when it showed up within 10 yards, including what it was doing or how it was feeling. Getting the notion that Entei wanted out of his Pokéball, he quickly went into an isolated area and let Entei out.
"What's the matter, Entei?" Kevin asked once Entei was fully out.
"Something is terribly wrong," Entei said solemnly. "While resting in my Pokéball, I thought I heard a human scream."
"A scream? In your Pokéball?" Kevin wondered. "You wanted out of your Pokéball to tell me about this? Why?"
"Not just any scream, Kevin," Entei said, shaking his head. "It was almost a plea of help. Like she was being taken prisoner."
"'She?' What are you talking about?"
"I do not understand myself, Kevin," Entei sighed. "My skills are not as strong to sense specific beings as Lugia's. I do not even know why I felt it. It would be best to be on your guard, Kevin. Take anything amiss to consideration."
"Fine," Kevin sighed. "Can I put you back into your ball now? I don't think this is the best place to hide you from people, and I have a tour to guide."
Entei nodded, and Kevin pulled him into the ball. However, Kevin was suddenly concerned. First Warles, now Entei, he thought as he went to the front door. Maybe Warles is sane in this case.
Don't worry about that now, Kevin, Duo-Cevan said, interrupting Kevin's thoughts. We have to worry about the tour for the moment.
Thanks, Duo-Cevan, Kevin remarked, glad that he had been interrupted.
Kevin opened the front door and walked to the open walkway in front of the museum. At the same time, the buses transporting the students had just stopped in the parking lot and the kids were beginning to pour out toward Kevin.
Kevin took a deep breath before beginning. "All right, students!" he yelled, making sure he got over the small talk of the voices in the audience. "Welcome to the Lost Trainer Museum. Before we can enter, every student must group together in their proper school, to make three different groups!"
As the students grouped together, several of the teachers came up to Kevin to give him attendance sheets. "These are the lists of the students that came for the trip," they remarked.
Kevin nodded, and looked over them quickly. Looking back up into the groups, Kevin suddenly noticed one student in particular who had no smile. Normally, Kevin assumed that a particular student who didn't smile when coming here was forced to come anyway, but in all three groups of students, he was the only one. Kevin quickly approached the boy.
All the kids were stunned. They moved so Kevin could reach the one boy, confused by his actions.
"Say there, son," Kevin began. "Why are you so down? Out of all the faces here, you're the only one who's not happy to come."
The boy sighed, not even completely acknowledging that it was Kevin who was talking to him. "I'm not exactly happy to come because Ms. Caharsi said she would show up," the boy replied. "She's my Pokémon Trainer tutor."
Ms. Caharsi? Kevin said, not even changing expression. Does he mean Jelza Caharsi? Kevin quickly pulled out the list of chaperons. Finding her name again, which he stared at some time before when he got the list, he looked around at the crowd for her.
Unable to find her, Kevin's calm expression suddenly went fierce. "Hmm…" He said aloud. "You're right… she isn't."