Enter Chapter 5

Once again, there's a guest appearance in this chapter. We were fairly good friends while I was on here, but all too quickly fell out of contact. Welcome to the story Hanni B. author Opal Amari).

"Drop your gun! Put your hands above your head, step into the spotlight!" rang out the loudspeaker. Not wanting any more trouble, I obeyed. Suddenly, four gunshots rang out. The main spotlight was instantly shattered. One officer dropped with a gaping hole in her arm. Another dropped with a wounded leg. At the same moment, one of the cars' fuel tanks blew. Flames spewed everywhere. I backed up to the wall of the gym in the commotion. I turned my head to find a rope dangling from the roof.

"There he is! Open fire!" Before I knew it, bullets were flying in my direction and, thankfully, rebounding off the walls only a few precious centimeters from me. I climbed for all I was worth. Even then I didn't go that fast. So, at the first opportunity, I jumped to a roof-access ladder. I jumped not a moment too soon. As soon as I jumped, a bullet cut through my supposed escape rope right where my head had been. I reached the roof only to find a small piece of paper folded in half.

I heard the one officer yell, "Get a chopper up there!" I ducked behind a generator and unfolded the paper.

Well, well, well. Look who's been bad.
Couldn't let you have all the attention.
Couldn't let you get arrested either, not
after all the fun we've had so far. Catch
me if you can. Guess who's next.
"Killer"

I looked up to the next rooftop to find an indistinguishable person waving. The person turned around and ran out of sight. Before I could get up, the helicopter had its spotlight trained on me. I managed to dodge the small burst of bullets. I ran as fast as I could in a random way so the gunner in the air couldn't get a good bead on me.

As I ran, I grabbed Charizard's pokéball and tossed it on the edge of the gym. "Time to make a hasty exit." I hopped on the flame lizard and gave him further instructions. "A little flame diversion, please."

Charizard nodded, turned its head around and over me. He let loose a fireball at the oncoming chopper. It hit its target in the rear rotors. They were forced to land. In the mean time, I flew out of there.

I decided to fly to Fuchsia City. Koga was visiting his daughter to see how the gym was running. I decided I would sit around and wait for the killer to go after Koga, even if other people got killed first. We all make sacrifices. And I was getting desperate. I told Charizard to land in an alleyway close to the gym. I decided to get a drink to ease some of the stress of being a runner from the law.

I recalled my Charizard and decided to go to the small place I noticed right by the alleyway. It had a neon sign by the door. One second it had an open eye, the next it was half shut. I looked to see what the place was called. "The Lazy Eye Bar". I pushed open the saloon style doors and stepped into the bar. It smelt like beer and the ground was sticky with spilt alcoholic beverages. No wonder the place was almost full.

I walked over to the bar and sat onto a stool between two guys who didn't know the meaning of the words "shower," "deoderant," and "soap."

The bartender, a female of medium height and brown hair, walked over to me. I couldn't help noticing her popping a lemondrop into her mouth. "What can I get for you?" she asked.

"I'll have a whiskey." I don't know why I ordered that.

"How would you like it?" She turned and started pouring my whiskey.

"Straight. With ice and lemonade, a cherry and a slice of lemon." What?! I don't know what I was thinking.

"Would you like a little umbrella in it, too?" She turned, set the drink in front of me.

I picked up my drink and turned to face the stage in the bar. James, Jesse, Richie, and Todd had just started playing a rather bad rendition of "Mad Season" by Matchbox Twenty. James was singing lead with everyone else doing backup and instrumentation.

After the song ended, one man in the audience yelled, "Are you done yet?"

James nodded and walked off stage. Everyone cheered.

I turned back around to the bar and set down the now empty glass. "Bartender!"

She came over to me and, being the first time she actually looked at me that night, saw my face. She squealed and jumped over the bar at me. She trapped me in a huge bear hug.

"IT'S YOU!!!! It's you, it's you, it's you, it's you, it's you, it's you, it's YOU!!!!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I know it's me," I managed to gasp. "But, who are you?"

She released me from her grip. I gasped for air as I tried to ignore the burly laughing of the rest of the "patrons". She got off the bar and started to pour more whiskey for me, even though I would have liked a shotgun by this point. She turned to me, gave me the drink and started putting her two braids in order.

"Sorry, come with me. I'll explain." She tried to open the counter-door to let me behind the bar. All I cared for was that I was closer to the booze. She finally gave up pushing and pulling at the door, so she told me to hop over.

I reached to the door, hit it, and opened it with no trouble. I followed her to a back room. Before she went in, she called out to the room next to it, "Georgina! Your shift!" She turned and mumbled, "Drunk pig."

She clapped twice and all the lights went on. I mean ALL the LIGHTS went on. There was neon everywhere. The walls were covered with Clefairy posters, pictures, and photos. Then she pushed a button by her bed. The walls seemed to turn pages. If the Clefairy walls that turned were scary, the other side was just down-right freaky, horror movie-ish, terrifying. The newly revealed walls showed pictures of me and the newspaper clippings of all of my cases, including the current one.

She walked over to a small fridge in the corner. "Flattered?"

"More like creeped out."

"You want a cucumber? Frozen blueberry, maybe?"

"No, what I want is your name. Then an explanation, then maybe a cucumber."

"Oh, sorry." She popped another lemondrop into her mouth. "Name's Hanni. I'm just really obsessed with you. In fact, look at my shoes."

I expected to find I LUV ASH written all over them, but when I looked, I saw straining duct tape covering the top of them.

"It's so I don't run and hug you until all oxygen leaves your body."

"I appreciate it."

"By the way, what's the next step in the case? Are you going to set a trap? Are you going to let another Elite die? Are you going to..."

"The case is Confidential. I can't tell a soul."

"That's okay, I already sold my soul to the makers of lemondrops." She paused and brightened up some more, if that were possible. "Take me with you! I can help in the case! Plus, I can get you free drinks in Lazy Eye Bars all over Kanto. Sure, we're the only one, but still..."

"Oh crap! The..." Nearly gave out my plan. "Koga! Gotta go. Nice meeting you."

Hanni's face went a bit more bright. "Lemondrops kicking in."

"This can't be good." I ran over to the fridge, grabbed a cucumber and left a small tip. I decided she could either use it on therapy or more lemondrops. I ran out the door, slid over the counter, and ran out.

I ran the short distance to the gym. I ran into the courtyard only to hear Koga's voice.

"But why?"

I drew my gun and readied it. I turned around a pillar to find Koga on his knees with a mysterious person all in black (inclding ski-style mask) behind him with a gun pointed at his head. "STOP!" I yelled. The figure turned their head towards me.

I heard a small laugh. The black clad killer pulled the trigger. I aimed to kill as Koga's lifeless and brainless body fell on the paved ground.

"DROP THE GUN!!" I yelled.

The killer turned entirely to me. They held the gun out at arm's-length. "Now drop it!"

A male voice from behind startled me. "I think you're the one who should drop it." I immediately relaxed my arms and set my gun on the ground. "Raise your hands where I can see them, Baby." I did.

"Lieutenant Surge, I presume." I looked over my shoulder. I turned back to the killer. "Well, you got me. What's next, explain why? Maybe reveal who you are? After all, odds are I'm not getting out of here."

The killer took their gun from its dangling point and trained it on me. With their free hand, they removed their mask.

I couldn't believe my eyes!

It was...Agatha!!

End Chapter 5