9 - First clues and new questions

" … Lapis, are you OK?"

I opened my eyes. I felt exhausted. Every movement felt like an insurmountable task, but I still turned my head to look at who was talking to me. Cobalt was towering over my body laying on the ground, and looking at me with concern. We were still in the cave, and it was very dark now. And cold. Despite my exhaustion, I nodded back to him. I could not bring myself to speak back. Right now I just wanted to rest.

"Stay here. Don't try to move. I will go help John with Topaz and Kyan."

Topaz and Kyan! Shit! Were they alright? They both had been seriously hit by the Noivern! I tried to move a bit to take a look. I could see John kneeling beside an immobile form that I identified as Topaz. Cobalt was nearby. Further down the cave, Amethyst was helping Kyan to get back up. At least he seemed alright. But what about Topaz? I tried to get up to help them but I collapsed instantly. I just couldn't. I just hoped she would be ok in the end.

I was left here for a few more minutes, while the others were tending to Topaz. I was not in a very good shape myself, but I did not care. I could wait. I tried to use this moment to rest myself and try to regain some stamina. I felt like completely devoid of energy.

Finally, Amethyst and John came to me. He knelt down in front of me and presented me a sort of yellow fruit, encouraging me to take it.

"This is a Citrus berry. It will help you get back up faster."

It looked a bit like a lemon, but with brownish spots. I smelled it cautiously. I was not very comfortable eating fruits and vegetables I did not know, and in this world, there were plenty of those.

"Eat it, Lapis. You will instantly feel better. It works wonders," Topaz added, seeing I was still hesitant. I decided I did not have any reason to refuse, so I took it and crushed it between my jaws. My tastebuds were instantly assaulted with an acid juice, comparable to lemon, but better. And they had not lied when they said it would help me with exhaustion. I immediately felt much better. Not quite ready for another battle just yet, sure, but at least I would be able to stand up help them.

Seeing that the Citrus berry was having effect, John smiled. It sure felt good.

"Wait, how is Topaz?" I asked, quickly. I could not see her anymore further in the cave, so they must have taken her somewhere else.

"She will be alright. She was badly bruised by the Noivern you fought together with Kyan. Bruised, but alive. With some care and attention, she should be as good as ever in no time." Amethyst told me.

"Can I see her?"

"Sure, she is awake now." She led me to a small recess at the back of the cave where they had put our stuff and John had set a small, battery powered, light. Topaz was here , laying on a few sheet they had put here and which protected her from the cold rocky ground.

I was about to go closer, but Cobalt, who was here too, stopped me. "Any more hit from the Noivern, and this would have been a different story, you know?" he whispered with a grave look. I nodded. I knew this had been a very close call.

"Topaz! I am glad you are better! For a moment I had thought you …"

Topaz smiled and interrupted me. "Don't worry. I have seen worse. And I like to get some real challenge from time to time." I was relieved to hear that. I had really feared the worse, seeing her lying down immobile like this. Even if I knew her and the other members of the team for only a couple of weeks now, I had grown quite attached to them. They were my only family here.

Amethyst cut me out of my thoughts. "That being said, what you did was really dangerous. I remember quite clearly saying to you to stay in the back and never getting close during this fight." Uh Uh. I was being chastised by the Ninetales, as if I was just a child. "You could have gotten hurt badly. Or worse."

"But Topaz was out and Kyan was about to be beaten too! I had to do something!" I protested energetically. "I did what looked to me was the best option! I couldn't let Topaz or Kyan get mauled!"

"You could have just called me or Cobalt for some help. We are a team, remember? You should never rely only on yourself, especially in those kinds of situations." I just looked down and nodded. I was not about to argue with that. It was true I had gotten close to our foe without any sort of plan.

I turned towards Amethyst. "And the Noivern? What happened after I passed out?"

"You defeated it, Lapis! It's you who beat it!" Kyan answered me excitedly. All were looking at me with a bright smile, even Amethyst.

"You mean that, what I did was … ?"

"A full-fledged Dark Pulse attack. Quite a powerful one at that. And at point blank range!" Cobalt completed for me. I couldn't believe it, but Amethyst was nodding and Kyan was, as usual, practically shaking with excitement for me.

Dark Pulse? Had I just used an offensive move? It is true I had never felt something like that before, but I would never have imagined it had been a proper attack!

"You used so much energy doing it, that you fainted immediately. Do you see what I meant when I said to always save energy for a long fight? But hey, you took this Noivern out! I would have liked to be here to see that!" Topaz added. She seemed proud of me, and frankly, I was too. This was my first victory here, against what I assumed was an unusually strong Pokemon. Frankly, I had only given the finishing blow, but still.

Then I remembered something. When I had first spotted the Noivern, I had also caught glimpse of a small blinking light at the other side of the cave. Something reminiscent of an electronic device. What was it, exactly? I turned and quickly scanned the darkness behind us. There it was. The small light was still there, almost unnoticeable. Without the improved eyesight that came with this body, I would have missed it. To the surprise of my teammates, I walked the few meters that separated me from the source of this light, grabbed it in my mouth and brought it back. I gently deposited it on the ground between us. It was, as I had suspected, a cellphone, with its notification LED on.

John voiced the question my other teammates were also wanting to ask. "Where did you find that, Lapis?".

"I first spotted it near the Noivern before we initiated the fight. I nearly forgot about it."

John had taken the device from the ground and was examining it, before showing it to us. "I don't know this model or brand of smartphone." He said pensively. After a moment he spoke again. "It's weird. How could someone lose his phone in here? The entrance of this cave is far from everything, and no one is supposed to enter it except rangers and sometimes scientists. And I checked it: there is no record of anyone accessing the cave in the near past few months." He checked it with his energy sensor, which immediately gave a strong positive tone. "At least we know what gave those high energy readings in the area. Maybe the Noivern was attracted by it?" he added pensively.

But I wasn't listening, really. Something else had my attention. This smartphone. I knew it. The brand was one of the major phone manufacturers back home. I had used to have a similar model. Could it be that …?

"I am quite sure it comes from my world!" I said excitedly. This was maybe the first clue as to how I came to be here! This, in turn, caught the interest of my teammates.

"Really? Are you sure?" asked Cobalt, while Kyan was giving the device a closer look.

"Positive! I recognize the model, and even the mobile network carrier is familiar!". I showed him the name of the network provider, on the top left of the screen. Unsurprisingly, the phone was showing that no network data was being received. How could it? The antennas were maybe thousands of light years away, or outright in another dimension! Not that it would have been able to receive anything, as we were underground. The name of the owner was also displayed on the lock screen, but I didn't recognize it. Was it the name of someone who had suffered the same fate as me? If so, with the kind of Pokemon we had encountered in this cave, I didn't want to even think about what had happened to them… But there it was. Possibly something that would lead me closer to the truth. Helping me understand why a poor guy like me was somehow sent here.

John took back the device and put it a zip bag. "I will have it analyzed as soon as we get back to civilization. Now, I do not know about you, but I'm quite eager to leave this cave before we get jumped by something else."

Nobody disagreed, so we quickly packed up and left. Everyone was quite relieved to get out of the cave, even if it was already night outside. We were all exhausted, so we decided to just camp here, near the cave entrance. I too was tired. This fight had drained me. But I was happy. I had won my first real fight, done quite well when my teammates had counted on me. But more importantly, I had made an important first step in my search for answers.

When the sun rose again, some 4 hours later, we were all still very tired. But we had to continue moving. John feared that we would not be the only one having the idea to check this place with such high energy readings. And that we could stumble across the very same people who had tried to kidnap me a few days ago. I was not a fan of the idea either, so I fought my will to stay asleep and prepared myself to leave. Luckily, we hadn't had any time to settle, with the hurry we were the night before, so it was quick to pack up and start walking. John was not sure where we should be going, and after some time, decided to actually go towards the outskirts of a nearby city. The reasoning was that whoever was after us had already found me once, so they would certainly do it again sooner or later. And this time they would probably come more prepared, without doing the same mistakes that had allowed me to escape the first time. So he thought it would be better to seek the protection of the civilization and the local authorities. Out there in the wild, we would not get any help. He was also curious about the cellphone we had found and wanted to show it to a specialist.

What bothered me though, is that he was taking those decisions for the team without having the whole picture, with him not knowing about my "extra-dimensional" origin. I hadn't had the chance to communicate that to him yet. It seemed he was quite an old-school ranger, as he very rarely used the laptop I knew he was carrying. Without it, it would be far more difficult to make myself understood. I definitely wanted to tell him as soon as possible. We could run into some issues there, and him not knowing why would not help at all. Besides, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable: everyone in the team except him knew. This could not wait for much longer.

We weren't far from the city, and John wanted us to reach it before nightfall. This meant we would have to walk all day. Well, at least John had to, because us Pokemon could be recalled in our Pokeballs easily, and then the trip would just have felt like a short sleep. I didn't accept that, though, partly because I felt it was quite unfair to John, but mostly because I still felt uncomfortable with the whole "Pokeball" idea. I was confident I could do the walk, anyway. Since I had become an Umbreon, my endurance had greatly increased, and those four hours of sleep were sufficient to get me through the whole day. Kyan decided to do the same and stay out of his ball for the day. The Jolteon wouldn't miss an occasion to run outside for anything, so I wasn't surprised. The other, however, were recalled.

And so we walked. We only stopped a few times, just enough for John and all of us to eat a bit, before getting back on the road. I was actually quite impressed by John. He wasn't showing many signs of exhaustion when we saw the first buildings at the outskirts of the town, just before sunset. He truly was in good shape. Sure, as an Umbreon, it hadn't been too hard. But I was not sure I would have been able to do this kind of trek in my old body.

Thankfully, we didn't encounter many wild and aggressive Pokémon on our way. In the state me and Kyan were, even the smallest of feral would have been problematic. Seeing our destination was a relief. It was not a big city: from our spot in the forest, we could see most of it in one glance. But it was big enough for our needs. We would be in safety. It was a pretty city, too. No high-rise buildings, but mostly just old stone houses, paved roads and elaborate water fountains. Some more modern buildings too, but nothing fancy.

"Let's go find a hotel room guys" John said. "I don't know about you, but I don't fancy sleeping outside tonight if we can avoid it".

We evidently did not object to that, so we followed him in town. However, he told us, he first wanted to make a small stop at the shop of a guy he knew and who would be able to tell him more about the cellphone.

It hardly looked like a computer and electronic store as I thought it would. When we stopped, it was in front of an old, quite dilapidated shop. The kind of place you would go into to have your phone or computer repaired for cheap. Apparently, the owner was someone John would go to whenever he had any electronic related question. I sure was curious as to what this guy would say about this phone.

"Hello, Sammy" John said, entering the small shop. A faint ring was head when he had pushed the door. This was exactly how I would have imagined the inside of such a place. Old computers cases, laptops and empty hardware boxes alike could be seen everywhere. Ads for visibly out of fashion smartphones and other tech products were covering all of the walls, and little could be seen of the original wallpaper. A faint smell of cigarette was in the air. All of this was badly lit by a lone lightbulb on the ceiling.

"Ah John. I didn't expect you so soon! Got another laptop problem?". The voice had come from behind a counter at the back of the shop, where who I assumed was the owner was sitting with a few magazines. He looked quite old, maybe in his late 60s, and was wearing thick glasses as well as a washed-up hoodie.

"Not this time. I have found something interesting in the forest. Could you take a look and tell me what you think about it?" John answered, coming closer to the counter and producing the zip bag with the phone from his backpack. The older man immediately perked up at that, put his glasses back on and approached to get a better look at the device. He took it in his hands and observed it for a minute. I could see on his face that this phone had gotten all his attention.

"Where exactly did you say you found this?" Sammy said, without even stopping looking at the thing. "I have never seen this type of smartphone, nor heard of this brand…"

Well, yes. If he had, I would have been surprised.

"John, would you mind if I kept it for a few days, so that I can analyze it thoroughly? This is quite intriguing." He added, finally looking up back at John.

"I was about to propose that to you. We plan to stay in town for some time" the ranger answered. "You should ..."

"Actually, I am afraid we will have to cut your plans short." We all turned towards the shop's entrance. There were two police officers in uniforms. Outside, a few police cars. Shit. Why were they here? I hurriedly went behind John, a bit nervous now. But the two cops didn't seem to pay me any attention.

"Santalune Police. Are you John, from the Kalosian rangers?" one of the officers asked, showing her police badge.

"Yes, I am. Is there something wrong, officer?"

"We have been asked to find you. You have been summoned to the General Security Headquarters. Please follow us."

John looked back at the shop owner and they exchanged a glance. The old man kept the mysterious smartphone in hand and went to store it in the back of the shop. John grabbed his backpack and turned towards the officers.

"Right. After you, then." He said. I had no choice but to follow as they exited the small shop. A civilian car was waiting for us outside. One of the police officers beckoned us to get in the car, in which a driver was already at the front seat. As John was putting his backpack in the trunk of the car, I took the opportunity to speak to Kyan. The Jolteon looked quite surprised, too.

"Do you have an idea of what this is all about?"

"I'm not sure. John sometimes goes to this General Security Headquarters; I think to take his orders from the ranger authority. But they never send a car to take us there, much less so an escort"

Yeah. Frankly, it didn't look like a regular occurrence. John didn't strike me as someone important enough for multiple cars to be sent to him just for a new mission order.

I didn't have time to share these thoughts with Kyan, as John came back from behind the car and recalled the Jolteon in his ball. He took mine, but as he was about to press the button, he stopped. He then looked at the driver of the car.

"Can my Umbreon stay outside his ball? He is very well mannered" he asked the man, who responded with a quiet nod. At this, John opened the door and invited me to jump inside, which I did. It took me a few seconds to find a comfortable position on the seat, which were evidently not designed for a Pokémon. I finally chose to lie down on the seat. I was quite thankful to John for avoiding me a new stay in the Pokéball. I would not have been very comfortable inside, especially without knowing what was going on. As soon as John closed the door behind him and got installed in the car, the driver started the engine and drove off. Looking up through the window, I saw that the two police cars were following us.

After what must not have been more than a dozen minutes, the car slowed down to a stop. We were in front of a very corporate, and I must say, quite bland building. On a discrete panel near the entrance, a few words: "GENERAL SECURITY HEADQUARTERS". Other than this detail, this could pass for any other inconspicuous modern building in a business district. There were no police cars parked outside, so I assumed this was for the white collars only. Seriously, it could even be this world's equivalent to the CIA or MI6 headquarters, I would not have been surprised. And for all I knew, it may very well have been. John got out of the car and I did too. He took his backpack from the trunk and we followed the same two police officers inside the building. In the main lobby, one of my questions about this place was answered. There were apparently multiple government services in this place. The police, apparently, and the Ranger authority, I had gathered as much. What surprised me more, was that the military was also represented here. I could even see people in high-ranking army uniforms walking here and there. I didn't have too much time to observe around in the main lobby, as we were immediately led to a security check. We had to go through the whole thing: bag check, X-ray screening. Just like in an airport. Even I had to go pass through the metal detector. They had actually wanted John to recall me, but after a few words from one of the police officers escorting us, they reluctantly cleared me to continue. Just how tight was the security here?

We then got to a lift, which, surprising me, went down rather than up. Quite for a long time too. It seemed that this headquarters building had a number of underground levels. I wondered if those were some kinds of secret part of the facility. Us seeing a few armed guards as we exited the lift did confirm to me that this wasn't a place a lot of people knew existed. This also did not alleviate my anxiety. Where the hell were we? And why?

We finally got to a big office room, where one of the two cops who had accompanied us told us to wait for a bit. If I had to guess, this was the office of someone important. There was a huge wooden desk with lots of files and official looking papers, as well as an old fixed line phone and a laptop. A very comfortable seat behind it, complemented with two no less comfortable looking smaller chairs in front, one of which John took. At the back of the room, some sort of well diffusing light from above, so that the room, even without any windows, was well lit. A flag, the like of which was only found in a very high-ranking workspace, completed the scene. I recognized the Kalosian flag I had seen a few times already. Whoever was working here must have been really high in the hierarchy of this place. I just laid down next to John, trying to get back some of the sleep I had missed during the last 48 hours.

We did not have to wait long. The door from which we had come inside the room opened again, and a man entered. He was wearing a suit, and looked like he was 60 years old. But after a closer look, I believed he must not have been more than 45 years old. This guy, I thought, must have a lot on his plate every day, to look so much older than he really was. But if he had the sort of job that entitled him for such an office, I could very well see why.

With a tired smile, he passed next to us and went directly to his seat behind the desk. I was able to spot a very quick but thoughtful glance he gave in my direction. He then offered a hand for John to shake.

"John, I presume? My sincere apologies for the delay. We have a lot of things happening here at the bureau" he said with a warm voice.

John shook his hand and nodded.

"I'm Alan, the director of the Kalosian Bureau of Intelligence" he then added.

So this was really what I thought it was. This place was this place's equivalent to the CIA, or the NSA, or whatever.

"Do you know the reason you are here?" Alan continued, looking at John with interest. "But before, do you want some coffee, or a tea perhaps?"

"A coffee would be great, thank you" John answered "Yeah, no, I am sorry sir, but I have no idea why I have been brought here. I was in fact hoping you could maybe tell me."

The director was already up and getting busy with a nearby coffee machine. "Well, I am here with you exactly for this purpose. Let me finish making those two coffees and we will get right into it".

We waited in a somewhat heavy silence, both of our minds in turmoil, for him to finish the two cups of coffee. A silence only broken by the trademark guttural sound of a well-worn coffee machine. Finally, it stopped, and the director took the two cups of coffee back to his desk, offering one to John. He then sat again in his chair.

"First of all, I apologize for having brought you here on such short notice. As you will see, this was needed."

He fixed John in the eyes for a second or two. Took a sip from his cup. Then crossed my eyes.

"The reason you were brought here, John, is him". He was pointing at me.

Some notes from the author:

Here is the next chapter, more of a transition filler than anything. Very late too, because I have been quite busy lately. Many thanks to all who are still reading this.