Chapter 23

Too Late

Jim

Philip sped along the highway, dodging other cars right and left. A police bike pulled up beside us. When I waved, she radioed for backup, knowing something was up.

"Only about five more minutes to go," said Philip.

"I hope that'll be fast enough," said Maya.

"Yeah, we can't let that thing release itself," I said. "If we're too late..."

* * *

Goliath

They were too late.

We had reached the cave Maya had talked about. A giant stone still blocked the way, moved only an inch or so.

Helplessly I watched as all my weightlifting turned on me. I picked up the rock, lifting with my legs, of course. The Unown continued to buzz behind me, but ceased when I dropped the rock.

"My reign has come yet again!" said the creature through my mouth. Then, I gagged, feeling like I was going to throw up. I regained control just in time to bend over and spit out a black shadow. It flew into the cave and for a moment, all was silent. Even the birds knew something was up; they weren't singing.

I stumbled from a deep, teeth-rattling roar from the grotto. A burst of psychic power threw me completely to the ground.

The Unown resumed their humming. They all turned to me. I knew how Jim had felt when he faced these little things. Their gaze was haunting. Especially when it started shining purple.

Purple?!?

I rolled to safety as they blasted a crater behind me. I thought of hiding, but the thought of facing whatever could growl with that much bass almost made me want to get my brains blasted by the miniature eyeballs taking aim again.

Of course, my bad would cause me to face it anyway.

* * *

Jim

"Almost there..." said Philip.

His SUV was tearing through brush and small trees. We probably took out half the forest, but more would be destroyed if we didn't get there.

I heard sirens behind us and found our backup. I just hoped they had some sort of weapon that we could use on this thing.

Holding onto the door grips for dear life, the car flew up over a fallen log and we landed in the middle of a clearing. Now, the word "clearing" means an open space. This was not open.

Thousands upon thousands of Unown were following a completely-in-control Goliath with their laser beams. One struck the door next to me and it imploded. I stretched to shield the others. "Anyone hurt?" I called. They all replied, so I told them to take cover and reached for the door handle. When I realized it and my seatbelt had been totaled, I leapt out the hole.

Before I could even grab a tree branch to start kicking some butt, it all stopped. Everything was silent and unmoving. Then, the creatures all turned to the cave and fell to the ground.

"Uh oh..." Goliath started.

"GET DOWN!" I knew what was coming. Intuition told me that this was not the time to stand around and pick my nose. Intuition was right.

At least ten of the vampire-looking things soared out from the opening, heralding another threat, one that we'd been talking to for months without knowing it. One that was plotting death, destruction, and complete annihilation of humans.

And then, silence again. "Uh, why does everything keep going quiet?" asked Goliath.

SILENCE.

Oh, we heard that in our heads, aright. And we shut up.

The ground shook. One footstep. Another. A third. Then it was in view. The light barely touched it, but its silhouette was all we needed to identify it.

All this time, we'd believed it to be a higher-evolved 'Mon. All this time, we'd thought it to be an enemy we wouldn't have any idea what to do about. All this time, we were wrong.

It was a large, bluish-gray, slit-eyed Snorlax.

"What the goo...?" said Philip.

"Mwahahaha... Thought I'd be something different, did you?" it said.

"How can you... How did you..." A million questions, a few seconds. And yet, one answer.

"Guess."

"Well," I said, "who do we know that likes to mess with DNA and combine Pokemon types? I can't think of anyone." My statement was very finely laced with sarcasm.

"I was one of Team Rocket's first experiments. I went a little crazy, so they sealed me in this cave."

Maya and Goliath looked at each other with bewildered looks on their faces. "What about the whole story you told us?"

The fat cat-looking Pokemon laughed again. "It got boring. I finally developed my Psychic powers enough to convince the nearby Unown that I was a kindred spirit, and I became their leader.

"Then I figured out how to possess people. When Marvette took that stick and budged the rock, I took her. Then I used her to write that journal that Carol found."

I had forgotten about that book. "So all of this was just to lead us to believe you were some sort of uber-Psychic, then release you to find a Snorlax?"

"I am a supreme Psychic, boy. But I am bored with this. I just wanted to get—"

It became a red flash and disappeared into a ball that flew over our heads and into the hands of…

"Giovanni?"

The big man himself was standing on top of our SUV, trademark suit and all.

"Who'd have thought we'd get you guys as another prize?" he said. "I wouldn't move if I were you." Then black jumpsuits wearing hats that overshadowed their eyes jumped out of nowhere, all aiming guns at us.

Very slowly, I raised my arms. The others followed.

AN: Ha! Bet you weren't expecting that! Come to think of it, neither was I...