A/N: Whew! Sorry this chapter took so long, everyone. First there was Thanksgiving vacation (I'm writing this on my computer at school, so no writing then), then the worst writer's block I've had in a while. Hopefully I'll get the next one up quicker. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Yeah, yeah, the story. I know.
At about 6:00 AM, a red minivan pulled up at the gate in the electric fence surrounding Hapford Town. A pair of red-clad Pokémon watch officers stepped forward and opened the gate. The van drove into Hapford.
The car was in miserable shape. Its sides were streaked with mud, the paint job was scratched, and the tires looked like they wouldn't stand much more abuse. The minivan was loaded as though for a vacation. Through the windows, one could see that it was packed with duffel bags and suitcases, pressed in so tightly that you wouldn't believe seven people could fit inside it.
Seven people had, though. As the van pulled into the parking lot of the Sunny Day Motel and the doors slid open, a procession of people jumped out like clowns out of a tiny car. All in all, two men, one woman, three boys, and a girl came out in various stages of wakefulness, their clothes rumpled and their eyes bleary.
"Why aren't we in Cerulean?" yawned a boy of about eight or nine years old.
"Because it's harder for people to follow us here than in Cerulean," replied his older sister, a tall thirteen-year-old girl with long, light brown hair.
"Who's following us?" asked the boy, perking up immediately.
"Ummm—bad people," said the girl.
"Is it Team Rocket?" said the boy.
His sister's reaction was immediate. "Sssshhhhhhh!" she hissed.
"It is, isn't it?" said the boy, getting louder with his sense of discovery. "It's Team Rocket!"
"SSSSHHHHHHH!" said the girl, casting nervous looks at couple standing at the other end of the parking lot who were starting to look in their direction. "Look, Greg, I'll give you a piece of gum if you'll just shut up about Team Rocket."
Greg gave her a sly look. "I want two pieces," he announced.
The girl was furious. "You little brat, I only have three left!"
The boy took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if to shout. The girl quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. "Fine! Here, two pieces! Now scram!"
Greg ran off gleefully, clutching the sticks of gum in his hands.
"Y'see?" said a red-haired boy from behind her. "Bribing 'em never works. You gotta threaten the little brats."
The girl gave him an annoyed look. "Sky, he's my brother."
"Yeah, that's what I mean," said the taller boy, yawning and looking at his watch. "You gotta be firm with 'em."
"Whatever," she said, striding over to the car. "Help me unpack."
"Okay," said Sky. "I'll be the supervisor. First, get that duffel bag over there—"
The girl swatted him with the back of her hand. "Get up, now," she said, turning back to the bags.
"Ow, okay, fine," Sky said. He waited for the right moment, just when she was busy tugging a large bag out of the car, to slip quietly away before being suckered into actually helping.
On the other side of the car, a blond-haired boy was fishing something out of his pocket. "Hey Sky," he said as his friend walked up to him.
"Yeah, good morning, merry Christmas and all that. Watch'a doin'?"
Dylan held up a Pokéball. "Gotta get Geodude some air after that long car ride." He pressed the glowing red button on the front, shielding his eyes from the flash as the ball popped open and what looked like a chunk of rock with eyes appeared.
"Hey, you wanna know what the best way I know to stand out like a sore thumb and blow our cover?" said Sky.
"Oh, be quiet," said Dylan. "I have to let him out. It's still dark outside, no one will see him."
The Pokémon was making grinding noises in the back of its throat as it surveyed its surroundings with its unblinking brown eyes. "You know what?" said Dylan suddenly. "He needs a name." The Geodude turned towards Dylan, its stoic expression unchanged.
Dylan tried to think of names. He discarded the obvious ones, like "Boulder" or "Rocky". It was hard to name a living chunk of rock without making it sound corny. He thought about how the Geodude had battled. Not "Tackle". Not "Slam". But maybe…
"How about 'Crush'?" he asked. The Geodude pondered a moment. Finally, it brought its head down and up in a slow nod. "Okay," said Dylan. "You're 'Crush', then."
Sky laughed. He had heard worse names than Crush, but undoubtedly there were quite a few better ones.
"What's wrong with Crush?" said Dylan.
"Nothing, nothing," said Sky, putting his hands in his pockets and starting to walk away. But then he stopped. There was something hard in his pocket. He fished it out.
It was a Pokéball. "Where did you get that?" asked Dylan.
"It's the Rocket's," said Sky, turning the ball over in his hand. "Her Voltorb."
Dylan raised his eyebrows. "You took her Pokémon?"
"Would you rather I left it with the people trying to kill us?" said Sky.
"No," Dylan said after a moment. "But it just doesn't seem right." Sky shrugged. Right or wrong, he planned on living to be at least eighty, and if that meant taking someone else's Pokémon, well, c'est la vie.
He pressed the release button on the ball. A second flash lit up the early-morning darkness. On the ground sat the Voltorb. It looked comically similar to the ball it had just emerged from, recalling those box-within-a-box toys. We open up this ball, and out comes another, and out of that one comes another ball, and…
The Voltorb's staticky noise crackled as it looked around. It turned to face Sky.
"Hey," said Sky. "You're gonna be staying with us for a while. Why don't we give you a na—". Sky broke off as the Voltorb let out another horrible screeching noise. Sky clapped his hands over his ears and looked around for something to stop the noise with. But the Voltorb stopped on its own, charging towards the unprepared teenager for a Tackle attack. It slammed into his leg just above the knee, and Sky yelled in pain and toppled backwards, hitting his head on the side of the car. The Voltorb was about to Tackle him again, but Dylan leaned over and jabbed the button on the Pokéball, sucking Voltorb back in before it could hurt Sky even more.
"That thing's a maniac," said Sky, panting. He heard Lily's lilting laugher.
"What do you think a Pokémon's going to do if you take it away from its original owner?" she asked. Sky glowered.
"Well, I didn't think a Voltorb would have emotions like loyalty," he grumbled. "I mean, it's an artificial creature, for Crissakes!" Lily rolled her eyes.
"All the more reason it would distrust you," she said, as if speaking to someone who was a few twigs short of a bonfire. "The last orders its trainer gave it were to attack you and Dylan. Since it's an artificial construct, it's not going to be as quick to disobey orders."
Sky thought about that for a second. He had never considered it that way.
"Let me try something," said Lily, snatching the Voltorb's Pokéball away from Dylan. "If I'm right, the Voltorb won't attack me." She pressed the button.
The Voltorb, now looking madder than ever, reappeared. It charged straight for Dylan, screeching as it went. Lily calmly thumbed the recall button. The Voltorb disintegrated into the ball.
"Okay, now you to hide inside the car and watch." Dylan and Sky looked hesitant, but clambered back into the minivan. They looked out the window, shielding their eyes against the flash when Lily pressed the button.
The Voltorb looked at Lily, its eyes narrowing. Dylan was sure it would turn and charge, but—it didn't. It didn't exactly seem to like Lily, but it wasn't trying to kill her. That was a start, at least. Dylan saw Lily's lips move as she said something, but he couldn't hear her through the door.
Lily turned to the car and beckoned to Dylan and Sky. Hesitantly, they opened the door and got out.
Immediately, the Voltorb rolled straight at them. They were about to jump back into the car, but Lily yelled "STOP!"
The Voltorb, used to obeying orders, skidded to a stop immediately. It looked confused, staring at Lily with distrust and Dylan and Sky with outright hatred. Dylan suspected that it had stopped before even really thinking about it. It started to move towards them again, but Lily snapped, "No!" Again, the Voltorb checked its movement, looking more bewildered than ever.
Lily walked over to it, staring it straight in the eyes. It stared back, not blinking, but Lily thought she could see a hint of nervousness in its expression. "You are Charge," she said, pointing a finger at it. "Understand?"
The newly christened "Charge" did nothing. But when it started to scan its surroundings again, Lily said "Charge!" The Voltorb's swiveled back around to look at her. It still looked suspicious and slightly hostile, but at least it seemed to know that "Charge" meant it.
Okay, thought Lily, it still doesn't like me, but maybe I'll be able to get it to obey me. That's a start.
She looked at the Pokémon for a moment. It was alert, watchful, scanning every direction for danger. It was far from its owner and with strange people.
But it wasn't attacking, and it knew its name. That wasn't much.
But it was a start.
Outside of Hapford, there was a small road. The countryside around the road was covered with scraggly grass. Here and there, large chunks of rock stood, where they had stood since the glaciers that made them had melted. On the faint horizon, there was a forest visible.
Up this road came a van. It was black, with tinted windows. It rolled along, looking odd next to the scenery by the road. It was moving slowly but surely, following the road that a red minivan had traveled just ten minutes ahead.
The black van approached the gate to the fence around Hapford. The Pokémon Watch officers let it pass into the small town. The van moved slowly along until it came to the center of town. It roamed the town for the next half an hour while the sun rose over the forested horizon. Finally, the van turned onto the street that led to the Sunny Day Motel, where the red minivan was parked.
Then the van drove two blocks away to the parking garage by a hospital. The man operating the gate to the garage wrinkled his nose, smelling a foul stench. Slimy arms wrapped around his face. Before he knew what was happening, the man fell into dizzy unconsciousness, slumping over in his chair. The arms retreated.
The metal bar blocking the way into the garage jerked and began to lift, raising up enough to allow the black van through. The magnetic field holding the bar up moved back in the direction the van had gone, and the bar crashed down again.
The van rolled into a parking space and stopped. The doors opened and three very odd-looking people exited.
They looked to be about seventeen years old, give or take, and all were dressed in black. They had black sweatpants, black boots, and black dress coats that hung open over black sweatshirts with stylized red letter R's on them. There was one girl and two boys. The boys seemed calm and emotionless, but the girl was quite plainly seething. Her hands were clenched into fists, her mouth twisted into a scowl, and her eyes were little more than angry slits in her face. She was breathing hard through her nose like a bull about to charge.
"Alright," she snarled when the shorter Rocket had finished locking the car. "Let's get the brats and get gone."
The drowsy one turned to look at her. "That's not what we're here for. You know that." He held up a Pokéball and recalled the Magnemite that was floating towards him from the direction of the gate. "We keep them under observation until the hit squad gets here."
The girl scowled viciously. "I want that kid!" she snarled. "He took my Pokémon! Central will never issue me another one; they're so anal about resources! I want it back!"
"You'll get it," said the thin Rocket impatiently as he stalked over toward the exit of the garage. "Let's just hurry up with this. I don't want my pay docked."
The three black-clad teenagers headed to the clothing section of a mall. A few minutes later, they emerged dressed very differently. The sleepy-looking one was in business attire, looking like nothing so much as a CEO on the way to a meeting, right down to the briefcase clutched in one deathly pale hand. A pair of dark glasses hid his dazed expression. The thinner guy was dressed in a jogging outfit, with a fanny pack at his waist. Yellow stripes ran down the side of the red sweats. Color-blind summed up his outfit. He retained his contemptuous expression, dark eyes glaring cynicism at the world. The female one emerged last, looking thoroughly disgusted at the bright clothing she was wearing. A light blue halter top over white denim shorts was the main component to her look, sandals, sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed hat completing the "day at the beach" feel of her appearance. She had even washed off the heavy makeup and removed her face piercings. She held a purse in her left hand.
"Alright," said the tall, sleepy one. "Sunny Day Motel. Remember it. I'll stake out the place. Carl," he said, nodding to the whipcord-thin teenager, "You cover them if they move. Joanne, you check into a room in the Motel, and set up a communications post. We'll relay everything back to you." The girl Rocket nodded expressionlessly, adjusting the strap of her purse. "All right," said the sleepy one, looking deadly alert now. "Let's get on it."
"So what are we doing?" asked Sky. He, Dylan, and Lily were walking along the bridge over the Hap River. It was easily the oldest structure in the town, built even before Hapford grew up around it. It had been reinforced many times over the years, starting out as a wooden bridge and eventually becoming the gleaming steel structure it was now. The river had been the focus point around which all of Hapford was formed, and it was still the main source of income. River trade had been what the town was built on, and hydroelectric power was what supported it now.
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Sky, I have a really wild idea. Maybe you could start listening to what we talk about sometimes! Wow! Crazy, huh?"
"Shut up," said Sky. "I do listen. Just not the first time you say it."
"We're trying to find a store where we can buy camping equipment," said Lily. "We'll need for the trip back to Lavender."
Sky scratched his head. "Why do we need camping equipment? Can't we just drive back?"
Lily sighed. "Because, my parents and your dad don't know we're planning to go back. We're keeping it a secret. If we told them, they wouldn't let us go."
"What, don't they want to help Dylan's family?" Sky asked, confused.
"They do," said Dylan. "But they would want to call the police, or something. And we know that the police won't be able to help even if they do figure out where my family is. Team Rocket will just kill them using their Pokémon and move my family someplace even harder to find. We're the only ones who can do it. But the adults won't see it that way."
They walked in silence for a while, watching the sun dance on the wide river as it wound its way to the sea. This was a beautiful part of Hapford in any season, but especially in the spring. A jogger in red and yellow sweats trotted past..
"So, do we have any idea of where we're going to find a camping supply store?" asked Sky as they reached the other end of the bridge. "I mean, it's a big town."
"Well," Lily said, "We're entering the center of town now. Most of the stores will be around here. Hopefully, we'll get lucky. Otherwise…." She shrugged. "We can ask somebody, I guess. Although it would be better not to call attention to ourselves."
The man in the jogging outfit, running just ahead of them, smiled to himself. Too late, he thought to himself.
He took out a cell phone and began to punch in a number, watching the three teenagers as they walked towards a large mall. The phone's dial tone sounded. Much too late he thought as he brought it to his ear.
Joanne sat in the room she had picked out for them. It looked out onto the hotel's parking area. If the Androses tried to drive off, she would see it.
Aside from that natural bonus, she had added her own touches to the room. A phone sat on the desk, next to a laptop computer. On the wall in front of the desk was a corkboard, with maps of Hapford and the surrounding towns pinned to it. A large red tack was stuck into the Sunny Day Motel on the Hapford map, and there was another one marking Hapford on the road atlas map. Two different television sets stood on lamp tables on either side of the desk. They were muted and showing blank static now, but they would pick up images from Ralph and Jacob's minicams if either one turned it on.
The phone started to ring. Joanne picked it up and looked at the caller I. D. number. It was Ralph, calling from his cell phone. Had he found the brats already? She pushed the On button. "Hello?"
Ralph's voice came over the line, static-free. Central Department had ordered that no expense be spared for this operation. Getting a hold of Dylan Imena was top priority.
"I found the kids," he said, sounding bored. "They're in some mall or something." Joanne felt her pulse quicken. Gotcha! she thought gleefully. "Can you be a bit more specific?" she said.
"Yeah, it's called…" he paused for a second. "The Big M. Shopping mall. Your standard kind of thing."
"Give me visual!" she said impatiently. The TV screen to her left stopped transmitting static. It showed a mall in the midst of a large shopping district. A large stylized "M" hung above the sliding doors. "Okay, turn all the way around. I want to get a sense of where this thing is." The camera view started to rotate. "Wait! Stop!" she said. The camera stopped. It was pointed at the river. The Hapford bridge loomed in the camera's view.
"Okay, that's good," she said. "Why don't you take a break for a while? I'll call Jacob and give him the location, and he can watch them. You come keep an eye on the area near the hotel."
"You sure?" said Ralph, an unmistakable note of relief in his voice.
"Absolutely," said Joanne. "We need to keep rotating anyway. They'll get suspicious if they keep noticing one person hanging around nearby."
"Okay, great," said Ralph, hanging up.
Joanne replaced the phone. She turned the answering machine on, with a recorded message saying she was in the bathroom and she'd be right back. If Jacob or Ralph called, they'd think she just ducked out.
But she wouldn't be. Oh no. Now that she knew where the brats were, she was taking this operation into her own hands. She slipped a Pokéball into the purse of her disguise—god, how she hated those clothes—and stood up. She'd snagged the ball from Ralph while they were in the clothing shop. Ralph wouldn't need it. But his Grimer would be very helpful in getting Joanne her Pokémon back. And afterwards….
She drew a black-handled switchblade from her pocket and flicked it open, watching the blade glitter in the lamplight. The Imena boy was to be kept alive. Central had been very clear about that. But there was no such restriction on snot-nosed brat who had taken her Voltorb. "Use your judgement," they had been told.
Well, the little red-haired shit would find out just how harsh a judge she could be. "After all," she said aloud, "stealing is against the law." She smiled.
It was a predator's smile.
Outside Hapford, a trio of black vans sped up the road, identical to the one that the three teenage Rockets had arrived in. The wire gate suddenly ripped down the middle, as if pulled by some invisible titan. The vans sped through, ignoring the angry cries of the Pokémon watch.
The vans spread throughout the town, each one finding one of the exit roads out of Hapford and parking sideways across it, cutting off anyone who wanted to leave. Grim-faced, black-clad men exited the vans.
The Pokémon watch approached the van that was cutting off the street closest to the gate. As they neared the van, the driver got out. "Listen, officers, I can explain…" he said, walking towards them.
"You'd better," said one of the officers. "And fast."
"Fast? No problem," said the driver, drawing out a handgun and shooting them. Two men in black Team Rocket uniforms hopped out of the van and dragged the bodies outside the gate, concealing them in the tall grass.
Two more Rockets got out of the van, walking on either side of a third, a tall dark-haired man. He was not wearing any kind of rank symbol, but it was obvious who was in charge. "Call Jacob," he snapped to the driver, who was taking the silencer off his gun and putting it away. "Find out where they are."
The driver obediently pulled out a cell phone and dialed. He held it to his ear.
"Jacob?" he asked. "That you? Good. We're here. Where are the children?" He put a hand over the mouthpiece. "He needs to call Joanne," he said to the boss. He returned the phone to his ear. "What?" he said, frowning. He listened for a second.
"Joanne's not picking up the phone," he said to the boss. "Jacob's getting the answering machine. There's a message saying she's in the bathroom."
The head Rocket swore. "We don't have time for this!" he fumed. "Tell Jacob to go find her." The driver relayed this order to the phone. He waited for a few minutes, tapping his foot on the ground.
Suddenly, his face darkened. "What!?"
"What is it?" said the boss. The driver turned to him, worried. "Joanne is—well—she's not in the room. Or in the bathroom."
"Do you mean," said the tall Rocket, his voiced precise and laced with venom, "that she's gone!?" His face contracted with fury. "She'll ruin this whole damned operation!" he snarled. "We don't have time for this. Call the rest of the group, have them comb the town for those three. Tell them not to worry about cover, just incapacitate—but not kill—anyone who interferes."
He turned to the two Rockets next to him. "You two are coming with me to the motel. I think Mr. Imena will be much more cooperative if we have his friends' families with us."
The three of them turned and walked off.
"Well, I think that's everything," said Dylan happily as they hefted the backpacks they had bought. Inside the packs were a disassembled four-man tent, three sleeping bags, heavy hiking water bottles, and a few packs of beef jerky that Sky had insisted on buying. "You can't go on a hiking trip without beef jerky," he'd said. "It just doesn't work." There were also a couple bottles of water purifier and the survival kit Dylan's grandfather had given him.
"Are you sure your parents won't mind you charging this all to their credit card?" asked Lily.
"I'm sure. I mean, it's to get them away from the Rockets, right?" said Dylan. "It's an investment."
They heard a crash of breaking glass behind them and spun around. They caught a glimpse of a small red and white object flying through the display window of the shoe store before a flash of light made them cover their eyes.
They blinked, and saw a girl in beach dress holding a purse step through the shattered window and advance towards them. The Grimer in front of her made a glutinous burbling sound and started to ooze in their direction. "Grimer, Pound!" the girl called to it. It's arm whipped out and slugged Dylan in the jaw. He stumbled backwards, but Sky caught him. "Run!" he said, heading back into the camping store, Dylan and Lily close behind. The girl gave an angry yell and charged after them. Lily tipped a display stand over, blocking the doorway.
"Come on!" said Dylan, pulling open a door marked "Employees Only." The three of them hurried inside. They found themselves in a break room, which was thankfully empty. Dylan tipped the table over and shoved it in front of the door.
"Who is that?" he asked as he turned back to them.
"It's the girl Rocket," said Sky. "I remember that voice." As if to reinforce this, they heard the girl yell from the other side of the door. "Come out, you little thief!" she shrieked. "You're get it even worse if you don't give my Voltorb back!" The door shuddered on its hinges.
"If she's here, that means the others are here too," said Lily, sounding worried. "They followed us. They'll find my family!"
"Grimer, Pound!" yelled the girl outside. The door shuddered again. "I'll get you, you thieving little brat!"
"Listen," said Sky. "She wants me. Specter and I will hold her off. You two go get Lily's family out of Hapford. Here's what you do…"
He explained his idea as the door started to splinter behind them from the force of the Grimer's blows. "I don't know…" said Dylan hesitantly.
"Just do it!" yelled Sky as the door bulged inward. "Go!" Shooting one last look back at Sky, Dylan scrambled out the window behind Lily.
Sky turned to face the door, crouching behind a desk. The door gave one last creak and burst off its hinges, flying across the room. The door and the table crashed into the desk that Sky was now very glad he was hiding behind. He stood up as the girl entered the room behind her Grimer.
She grinned viciously. "Remember me?" Sky nodded, fighting to keep his face expressionless. He was scared. This wasn't just some training battle. This battle was for big stakes.
"Grimer, Poison Gas," snapped the girl.
"Specter!" said Sky.
The Grimer opened its vestigial mouth and breathed out a stream of noxious green gas. It drifted towards Sky, but Specter appeared in front of him, absorbing it. The Ghost didn't seem to be affected by it, but he certainly looked mad.
"Specter, Lick!" said Sky.
"Grimer, use a Sludge!" snarled the girl. Specter spat venom at the Grimer, which angrily threw a ball of the slime coating its body at Specter.
"Another Lick, Specter," said Sky, hoping silently that he could keep this psychopath busy for long enough. If Dylan and Lily didn't get their half of the plan done in time…
Sky looked nervously at the cruel gleam in the Rocket's eyes. He didn't want to think about what would happen then.