Chapter Two
Ben
As the plane continued towards its unnamed destination, I realised I didn't fit into this whole Project Alpha farce. Everyone else around here was suffering from a serious attitude problem.
Actually, maybe that was a bit harsh. Melissa seemed OK, but I hadn't talked to her yet, so I couldn't be sure. As for the others, Marle kept looking at everyone suspiciously, Stan had just chewed me out for making a little light conversation and Leon looked as though he'd put a gun to the head of anyone who approached him. The other girl was a bit of an enigma, however. She was sitting way back from the rest of us, staring out the window even though there was nothing to see in the pitch blackness.
Maybe we were the dregs of society and they were flying us out to some government lab to hold tests on us to see what makes us tick. Perhaps, if I had been a better trainer, I wouldn't be on this plane.
Melissa
Finally, just as the sun started to peer over the horizon, we landed on a remote airstrip. It was too dark to see much, but, from what I could make out, we seemed to be somewhere in the mountains. There was no sign of civilisation, no cars zooming past, no lights from nearby towns. There was nothing for miles around except us.
A man in a grey suit boarded the plane. He was Professor Sidney Dole, the director of Project Alpha and the person whose signature had been on the letter I had been sent. "Your attention please, Alpha members," he said. "In five minutes, you will leave the plane three at a time. When your names are called, please collect your belongings and make your way down the steps onto the runway, where the Project Alpha bus is waiting." He took a list out of his briefcase and began calling out names in no apparent order. "Ben Tyler! Marle Smith! Melissa Edwards!"
On hearing our names, Marle, Ben and I got out of our seats and made our way out onto the tarmac. I was torn between relief at being let off the plane at long last and the knowledge that, since I was one of the first off, I would have to wait for the others.
When we had all disembarked, we were led to the bus and driven even further into the unknown. We tried to keep our spirits up with sing-songs and guessing games, but both soon petered out. I guess we were thinking too much about the things we'd left behind and wouldn't see again for another year. Instead, we sat in silence for the half-hour trip.
Eventually, we drew up at what looked like an old military base with twenty wooden cabins surrounded by a high wire fence. Looking around, I instinctively knew that this was it. This was the Location, my home for the next year.
Ben
Marle released her Umbreon and Espeon, before starting to walk towards the compound. "Aren't you going to wait for the others?!" Melissa called after her.
Marle turned and shrugged. "Why should I? I don't know any of them and besides I want to check this place out."
I watched her walk off. None of the guards, or whatever they were, seemed to be in any hurry to stop her so I figured I might as well go too. "Well, I guess I'll catch you later," I told Melissa as I ran after Marle.
Stan
In the wild, there are no laws and we were in the wild.
Everyone was sorted into different Divisions. My Division contained Marle, Melissa, Monica, Ben, Leon and me. We were Gamma Division.
Marle
I stopped suddenly and started to laugh. Melissa skidded to a stop before running into me. We tumbled into a pile.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" she asked, looking at me like I'd lost my mind.
Trying to control my laughter, I replied. "I didn't notice at first in all the confusion, but they called me Marle Smith!" I said when I could speak coherently.
"What's wrong with that? Isn't that your name?" asked Melissa, still puzzled.
"Nope!" I replied. "I was pretty impressed by their research when they found out my real first name, but evidently that's where it stopped."
"So what is your last name?"
My face darkened immediately. "That's for me to know and you not to find out!" I gathered my Poke Balls from the ground where they had fallen and set off again.
Melissa
I finally caught up with Marle round the back of the cabins that had been put aside for the Project Alpha staff. "Look," I said, grabbing her by the arm. "I know there's something you're not telling me. What is it?"
She sighed. "I guess you might as well know," she said reluctantly.
"Know what?"
"Melissa . . ." she began. "Melissa, I'm a Timeseer. I can sort of see things that are gonna happen in the future and, when I was on that plane last night, I had a dream . . ."
I gasped. I'd vaguely heard of the Timeseers - they were supposed to be a race of people with the gift of precognition - but I'd never really believed they existed. "What did you dream?" I asked, instinctively knowing that, whatever it was, it was bound to be bad.
Marle hesitated for a moment. "I - I saw a great Plague unleashed on the world," she said at last. "Everything it affected died, humans and Pokemon. I also sense that Project Alpha is mixed up in it somehow. Maybe they knew it was coming and wanted to make sure at least some of us survived."
I struggled to take it all in. Just before I left home, the papers had been full of warnings about terrorist groups acquiring biological weapons, only no-one ever gave it much thought; at least, I don't recall anyone being too worried in my neighbourhood. But, from what Marle was saying, it sounded as if those fears might come true.
"It's not easy being a Timeseer," Marle went on. "My parents used to treat me like a freak, so I left home as soon as I could."
We looked at each other for several moments, wondering just what everything that had happened lately meant for us. Finally, I broke the silence. "Do you think they chose us because we're . . . special in some way?"
"I don't know," Marle replied. "I've been thinking, though, and I'm pretty sure they chose me because I can see into the future. As for the others, the reasons they were chosen are probably in their data files and we have to hack them."
"But we could get in trouble for doing something like that!"
Marle grinned at me. "I know," she said. "Are you in or are you out?"
I had to say I was "in"; after all, I needed to know the truth, no matter what it was. "I think we'd better get the others to help," I added cautiously. "I think Ben, Stan, Leon and Monica would be best." And, with that, Marle and I went off to find the other members of Gamma Division.
It didn't take long for us all to get together, but we now faced the problem of distracting the staff long enough for us to do what we had to do. It was Stan who came up with the answer; his Growlithe would start a fire in a waste bin, which should cause enough of a diversion for us to hack those files.
"Good," I said. "And Marle can stand guard since she can "see" into the future. The rest of us will work on cracking that password."
With the man whose office held the main Project Alpha computer called away to deal with the fire caused by Stan's Growlithe, we sneaked into his office and booted up his computer. The words: Enter Password appeared on the screen and we all racked our brains trying to think what that word might be.
"Um . . ." Monica said as she typed: Alpha into the keyboard and pressed Enter. Seconds later, the words: ACCESS DENIED flashed up in huge red letters. "Damn!" Monica cursed, as Leon elbowed her out of the way.
"Let me try," he said. But the same thing happened to him and to all of us. We were stuck and we knew we only had a short amount of time before the man whose office it was came in and caught us.
Then, I had an idea. "OK," I said. "The obvious passwords aren't working, but they'd hardly use something anyone could crack. I think we'd better try a different approach." With that, I sat down at the keyboard and typed: ZBYTOMD KVZRK. Then, I pressed Enter and waited . . .
To my delight, the screen flashed and the words: Welcome to Project Alpha appeared. Ben grinned at me. "How did you do that?"
"It's called Deca code," I explained. "You take the letters of the alphabet and substitute the one that's ten places higher than the one you want. Pretty neat, eh?"
"Whatever," said Monica. "Just . . . let's get on with this."
I pulled up a list of files containing the names of people chosen for Project Alpha. I clicked on Stan's first since his surname was first alphabetically and a complete dossier on him appeared on the screen, giving his birthdate and everything. It even said that he was extremely streetwise. I went through everyone's files. Monica was here because she had a perfect record in Pokemon battles and had never been defeated. Ben and Leon both had high IQs, not that you'd know it from the way Ben acted like an idiot all the time, and I . . .
I wasn't sure I really wanted to know what my part in all this was, but I clicked my name anyway and watched as my stats appeared on the screen.
Ben
Before any of us could see why Melissa had been chosen, Marle ran into the room. "Get that thing off! We've got company!" she yelled.
"Where are they?" Leon asked immediately, as Melissa started logging out quickly.
"They don't know we're here yet, but in a minute Melissa's going to trip a hidden alarm in that computer," Marle told us quickly. As one we all turned to look at the computer screen, which suddenly emitted a harsh beep as Melissa accidentally failed to compensate for one of the system's hidden security measures.
"Oops!" Melissa said as a terrible wailing siren kicked in from a speaker out in the corridor.
"If only you'd mentioned that a couple of minutes earlier," Stan grumbled.
"There's no time for that! We have to get out of here!" Marle ran back out into the corridor, followed by Leon and Stan. I was about to follow them, when Melissa gave a cry of dismay. I'd forgotten she was still at the computer and, now, her profile was frozen in place on the screen so they'd know who had been accessing the terminal.
"The system's not responding!" she told me. "It locked me out and it's stuck on that stupid screen!"
"Just kill the mains supply!" I said, franticly searching behind the computer for any kind of power outlet. I located the plug and yanked it out so that the screen went dead.
"Will that stop them from tracing us?" Melissa asked.
"We don't have time for that at the moment!" I told her as we dashed out the door and after the others.
Monica
I didn't really seem to fit in at all. I gazed out the window as a couple of people passed by and stared at me as they whispered something. They thought I was weird because I was different from all of them and I was usually by the window, staring at the nothingness. They had even given me the nickname Window Girl. That didn't bother me, but it wasn't a very original name. It was just that it somehow helped me to think. Staring at the nothingness, I mean.
I turned around, threw myself onto my bed and lay there staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. I didn't care what they thought really, as long as I was happy with myself and nothing ruled over me. That was what had been bothering me lately, though. These Project Alpha people had taken me out here against my will, which meant they had taken control of some part of my life. There weren't many rules to break, but we lived by their standards. I had tried to run away before I was taken here, but they sedated me and I ended up falling asleep. Now, there was no way I could return to where I was supposed to be, where I would have had a perfect life as a trainer and, maybe, become the Champion.
I turned my gaze towards the Poke Ball that lay on the table in front of me and wondered if there were any Pokemon for my Charizard and me to fight in this place.
Earlier in the day, Melissa and Marle had come in, panting for air. Both girls were - not that I was starting to think of them as friends or even like them - the only people in the world who could make me laugh. I stared at them both, confused. "Um, what's wrong?" I asked in a barely audible voice.
"Earth . . . disaster . . . Project Alpha . . . your help," both of them said between gasps.
I raised an eyebrow; I was not buying it. "You need my help?"
After a while of explaining, I agreed to help. Everyone in Gamma Division got together and made a plan. We all sneaked onto the main computer while the man who took care of it was dealing with a fire caused by Stan's Growlithe. Somehow, Melissa managed to get through the computer's security and we all checked to see why we had been brought to this place. I grinned to myself as I heard I was here because of my record in Pokemon battles. The boys each checked their profiles, but, just when we were about to check on Melissa's, Marle ran in and told us to get out immediately.
"Gamma Division, you are needed at the front desk!" a man called through the intercom. We all groaned and complained, but we had no choice but to do as he said.
When we reached the front desk, we found a lot of men dressed like soldiers standing in front of us.
Ben
"Just act calm, like they haven't found out we hacked into their system and just want a nice friendly chat," I told myself, as we all stood waiting to see what would happen.
This place was starting to change me; I was even beginning to think like Stan and Leon. "Got that right, kiddo!" my conscience told me. I unconsciously nodded, then checked myself. Since when did I ever call myself kiddo? This was getting way too weird.
"Is there a problem . . . er, Ben?" the man I assumed was in charge asked after consulting a piece of paper which I suspected had the names of the people in Gamma Division on it.
I blinked in surprise and shook my head as I realised what was going on.
"That's "No, Sir!", Tyler!" one of the other men barked, glaring at me.
I wondered why I was acting like this. "Because you're miles from home in some kind of military installation and you still want to be the same dumb schmuck you always were?" my brain suggested.
At that point, I snapped. "Stop calling me that!" I yelled out loud. All round the room, stares were fixed on me. The commander raised an eyebrow at me. "Something you want to share with the group, Ben?"
"I . . . " Before I started the sentence, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it, so I turned and ran out the door.
"Tyler! Get back here this instant!" one of the soldiers screamed after me. But his superior stopped him.
"Let him go," I heard him say from outside. "I'll talk to him later. Now, as for the rest of you . . ."
He'd brushed the incident aside just like that. I was insignificant, hardly worth the bother of fetching back. In fact, the only person in the room who paid any attention at all was Stan. It was his incessant sniggering that echoed in my ears as I hurried away to lie down.
Stan
"Stop calling that idiot Tyler! There's only one Tyler around here! And you can call me Sir!"
The gleaming sneer turned to my face and the cold, remorseless eyes burned into my soul. Tyler Banks - I forced myself to forget our relationship - had entered the room. He smiled, or at least turned up his mouth. His eyes stayed motionless. "Do you know why you're here?" he asked.
"Because we hacked the computer system?" suggested Monica, smiling confidently.
Leon turned to her and smacked her on the side of the head. Then, he helped her up. "Sorry," he muttered.
My brother glared at them and turned back to face me. "As punishment for your antics, you will be facing me and my officers in a Pokemon battle," he announced. "We are Alpha Division."
