Pokémon - The Final Journey in Fenyuu

Chapter 45: Black Rocket's Master Plan



Professor Oak was still holding his hand out, waiting for Matt to hand over his Pokédex. Not only does it serve as giving out information about a new Pokémon, it also holds every detail of information on the trainer. Badges, league rankings, and of course personal information.

Matt was hesitant. He tried to keep his cool, for he remembered what happened the last time he lost it.

"If you don't hand it over, I'm going to have to force it out of you," Professor Oak stated sharply. "Now come on, Matt, I'm in no mood for games right now. Hand it over."

"No," Matt said, looking directly into Professor Oak's eyes. "I will not."

"You're making this unnecessarily difficult, boy. Now, hand it over, or one of our officers will force it out of your hands."

"I believe it is you who's being difficult," Matt responded. "Using a net to capture my friend? You've never even heard what she has to say."

"Enough. We already know everything; there's no sense in denying what happened. Now, I'm going to tell you for the last time..."

"Let her go," Matt demanded, "this instant."

"Boy, I've had enough. You're in no position to be giving orders. Officers, give me his Pokédex and take them both away."

"Yes, sir," replied an officer. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs, forced Matt's hands behind his back, and clipped them on.

"Good. Now give me his Pokédex and the Pokémon attached to his belt," Professor Oak commanded. "Take them away."

* * *

Matt sat quietly. The first few days here were rough, but he remained surprisingly calm. Surprisingly for him, because he would normally feel frustrated and angry. Lizzie sat next to him. She was also quiet. However, she did not seem calm at all. She seemed tense, nervous.

Matt looked around the prison cell. There was a bunk bed, with two very flat mattresses and two flat pillows. To Matt, they didn't even look like pillows at all. He sighed. They knew that Lizzie was in Black Rocket. How could this have happened? Matt asked himself. It makes no sense at all. This was supposed to be Lizzie's liberation from Black Rocket forever. Was this his fault? Was his killing of the Nibolto the reason this whole riot began?

Or, was that man not the true leader at all? It didn't seem right. With the leader gone, the entire organization should have been put out the day it happened. But since they had a plot against Lizzie...something did not seem right.

Matt sighed heavily. This seemed all confusing and frustrating to him.

"I'm sorry Lizzie. Because of this mess, both our Trainers' Licenses have been expired, and now, all of our Pokémon are being released. All of them, even the one you got me for my birthday. My friend, Zenigame...Charmeleon, Pikachu, Onix, Zubat...they're all gone. Your Vulpix, too. I never even had a chance to use the Gyarados they gave me as a gift."

"This isn't fair," Lizzie complained. "It should be just me in here, not you. I can't believe how much danger I've gotten you into. I wish we'd never met."

"Don't say that," Matt replied. "Lizzie, if we never would have met, we never would have accomplished so much together. I've been turned away from my path so many times; you had to keep me under control. Lizzie, if I was on my own, I would have been dead for months now."

"Oh, come on, be realistic--"

"I am, Lizzie. Don't worry; I've gotten us into this awful mess, and I'm going to get us out. I promise."

A creaking sound could be heard not too far from the cell. It was then followed by footsteps. A few seconds later, a security guard appeared, with bread and some water.

"Your lunch," he stated, putting both items on the floor. "It's a little dry." He then walked away. The footsteps then became faint, as a door slammed itself shut a few seconds after.

Matt without hesitation grabbed a piece of bread and his glass of water. He finished both items in a short matter of time.

"They're not even feeding us properly," Lizzie complained. "Aren't there human rights involved...?"

Suddenly, Matt's face lit up after hearing that sentence from Lizzie.

"That's it..."

"What?"

"I thought this place looked familiar...are we in Silph Co.?"

Lizzie looked around her cell some more. It did seem familiar to her; she remembered how they were recently captured, and placed in the prison at Silph Co.

"Then...this means that--"

"We were tricked!" Matt picked up a stone and hurled it against the wall. "That damn Black Rocket! We were set up!"

"So all those people we saw in Pallet Town...Officer Jenny, Professor Oak...were they manipulated?"

"I don't know," Matt shook his head. "Had that actually been Professor Oak, I think he would have sounded more disappointed and discouraged than angry and bitter. But then again, I never really knew Professor Oak that well. But that doesn't matter, I think the protestors intentionally forced an evacuation so we could be lead there."

"I can't believe they could come up with something so terrible in such a short amount of time," Lizzie commented. "I mean, this protest started literally days after your...uh...assault on the potential leader."

"On the bright side, none of our trainers' licenses will be terminated!" Matt stood up, looking around for anything which would aid him. "We have to get out of here."

"I'll help." Lizzie stood up and stretched, then began searching around the cell. "Though to be honest, I don't think our chances of getting anywhere will be very high."

"Yeah. For the first time, I can't rely on Arrmun to come save us. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I relied on him in the past."

"What do you mean you can't rely on me?" a deep, blunt yet muffled voice stated.

"Who said that?" Lizzie asked, surprised.

"So, they put you two in here, too, did they?" Arrmun replied, chuckling. "I also wondered why this place looked so familiar."

"Arrmun? How did you end up here?" Matt asked.

"I was transferred the night I was taken away," Arrmun replied. "I was really surprised when they found out you two, as well. I knew you would be brought here, but I didn't think they would put us in the same area."

"Arrmun, I have to apologize to you. I should never have let you take the blame for what happened!"

"I appreciate your concern, but now is not the time to be placing blame on yourselves or on anybody else. We should really concentrate on escaping, if there's a chance of it happening."

"Arrmun, do you have any Pokémon with you?" Lizzie asked.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I don't," Arrmun responded with a disappointed tone in his voice. "Also, I'm afraid I don't have many resources in this facility. I think escaping is virtually impossible at this point."

"Arrmun, Lizzie's life is in grave danger; we need to get out of here as soon as possible!" Matt replied.

"I'll see what I can do..." Arrmun said, his voice trailing off.

"Please, Arrmun, we need to work together here. This is desperate."

"I'm aware of our positions," Arrmun replied harshly.

"All we can do is wait, I suppose," Lizzie said, disappointed.

* * *

Jordan had just arrived back at his home that evening. He took off his jacket and threw it against the wall, completely frustrated. He had learned that both Matt and Lizzie were arrested. He shook his head in disgust.

"You big, stupid, stubborn idiot," he said, sighing. "You should have listened to me. I trusted Lizzie, too, so don't think you're the only one with crushed spirits here."

Suddenly, the phone rang. Jordan groaned, and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Jordan of the Elite Four?"

Jordan seemed somewhat surprised; he didn't recognice the voice of the person on the phone. "Yes...how can I help you?"

"My name's Ace, and I thought that you might be the best person to approach for this...."

* * *

Days continued to pass by, with Matt, Lizzie and Arrmun still in prison. Continuing to be malnourished, continuing to come up with some plan of escape, even with their limited resources.

"We're stuck here," Matt said reluctantly. "The only way out is if somebody bails us."

There was a long silence following. Nobody dared to say anything else, because they too felt that he was right. Cells with beds and nothing else.

Matt sighed. "I can't believe they're still after us. Those relentless bastards. Why can't they just leave us alone?"

"Matt, please be quiet..." Lizzie replied. "You've been saying the same thing over and over the past couple of days." She yawned.

Matt spread himself out on the bed, with his head resting on his right arm. He too yawned, and looked out the barred window. "I don't like being this far from home," he stated. "Which gym are we the closest to? Fuchsia? Or was it a secret gym...?"

"Matt, come on."

"Oh, give me a break, Lizzie, quit moping around."

"Don't you get it? We've looked everywhere; there's not a single thing we can use to get us out of here. I'm just hungry, tired and cold..."

"You think I enjoy being in here, too?" Matt responded.

"Oh, just shut up," Lizzie harshly replied.

"Hey, you two, if you don't pipe down, they'll come back and use tranquilizers on you," Arrmun stated.

"Why don't they just kill us...?" Matt muttered. "They've been after us so long trying to, why not just get it over with now?"

"Matt! That's enough!" Arrmun exclaimed. "Just lie down, and be quiet."

* * *

Jordan looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes late, he thought to himself. It was an unusually chilly evening, with the wind starting to pick up. The sky turned an orange colour as the sun was prepared to set for the night.

"You Jordan?" a voice from behind him called.

"Yes, it is he," Jordan replied, not moving. "Are you Ace?"

"That's right. I've done some research, and it appears that your friends have been tricked. Upon returning to Pallet Town, clever disguises were used which lead to their downfall. They now rest in the Silph Co. prison."

"Silph Co.? That's all the way near Saffron City!"

"It's imperative that we reach the Silph Co. building as soon as possible. I have arranged for a Pidgeot to take us there when you're ready."

"What's so important that we need to get there so quickly? I thought they were just captured?"

"They do plan on killing them," Ace replied. "But Silph Co. has received a lot of funding on Pokémon research and experimentations. They've tried cross-breeding, cloning, and merging. Some of their recent experiments have been deemed successful and they wish to try their new Pokémon out on them."

"What? Now they're playing God?!" Jordan exclaimed. He then turned around to see Ace for the first time. "How do you know all this?"

Ace held up his laptop. "I am related to Arrmun you know. We do have our ways of retrieving this information."

"But...seriously, how did you find this out?"

"I always stick my nose into places where it doesn't belong, particularly in areas that seem really fishy to me," Ace responded with a grin, then looked at his watch. "Well, the Pidgeot will be meeting us at the Pokémon Center in about half an hour. Should we go rescue them?"

Jordan nodded. "Yes. Lead the way."



TO BE CONTINUED.