Chapter Six

Jason

"Nice to see you're back without any Proteus goons on your trail," I said.

I finished my slice of pizza and got up to go look at a few books that the place had. I could read fairly well and I never skipped the big words; I kept trying to pronounce them until I got them correct.

The book I chose was A Geographical View On Hoenn, a book that explained a lot about what could be found in Hoenn and what areas there were to live in or, in our case, hide out. I sat down in the corner, skimmed through the pages and started to read.

Matt

As Zeod walked in, I noticed he had a few leaves on him. As I brushed them off, I suddenly got an idea. "Whoa!" I said all of a sudden "I can't believe I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Alana asked.

"I've got a Secret Base near here. I made it a long time ago and it's got tons of space. It would be perfect for everyone to stay at till we figure things out. So what do you think?" I finished, looking around at everyone. "It's in the side of a mountain, so it should be hidden. And no-one knows about it but me. Plus, I stocked it with some food. It's also quite comfortable, with mats, tables and chairs."

Zeod

I winced as Matt brushed the leaves off. Then, my bullet wounds were exposed. "I never said I got out in one piece," I said with a fake smile.

Alana

Esther dabbed some Potion she'd got from somewhere on Zeod's wounds. "There," she said. "That should help."

I had to admit that Zeod had been fairly lucky. The bullets had glanced off him so there wasn't too much damage. But that wouldn't do us much good if Proteus showed up again, so it was best if we did as Matt suggested and hid out in his Secret Base.

"Lead the way," I said to Matt. I was as anxious as the rest of us to get out of this place. Don't get me wrong; Petalburg is a nice city. But it brought back memories of my life before Proteus caught me. Just looking at the Gym reminded me of how I had once stood outside it, ready to take on Norman and his Pokemon. Now, however . . .

But Matt shook his head. "Er, maybe we should wait till it's dark, especially after what happened earlier."

I nodded reluctantly. "OK," I agreed. "Meanwhile, we'd best get prepared in case Proteus show up."

The day was long, but nothing happened. Finally, it was night, time for us to make our escape. So we slipped out of the building we had been hiding in and began to make our way through the streets of Petalburg. Matt took the lead - he was the only one who knew where his old Secret Base was - and Alex and I were right behind him. Most of the others walked behind the three of us, while Atsuto, Esther and Ruby elected to fly.

All the while, we kept on the alert, watching and listening for any lurking Proteus agents.

Matt

Continuing along for a while, I constantly looked around, with that paranoid feeling always hanging with me. This continued for quite a while, everyone finally making their way down towards the beach. Now feeling a bit safer, as we were quite a distance away from town now, I decided it was all right to move a little faster. At a slow run, I continued forward, with everyone following through the cold night, carrying all the things from the apartment.

Now, along the side of where the grass stopped and the sand began, the ground started to jut up so that the grass was higher than the sand. After a while of this, the ground was several feet over my head. We were finally there.

I walked up to a large boulder, sliding it aside a bit and revealing an opening in the wall of rock. As I stepped inside, chiming noises could be heard from the music mats I had bought. Now, letting everyone else inside, I was forced to take the mats off the floor as they created some quite loud noises with everyone walking on them at once.

Going to the back of the room while everyone dumped their stuff in corners and against walls, I hit a switch, turning on a few lights. There, in the back, was my old slide. Fence pieces lined most the walls. And there were rock tables on their sides in the very back. "OK, everybody, make yourselves at home. And welcome to my Secret Base," I said, walking up the stairs of the slide and jumping behind it. I then pulled out a few boxes, sliding them down the slide. "Here's some food."

Picking up another box, I opened it, revealing a Mudkip doll. I touched it as I remembered long ago when I was still a trainer. I remembered when I got my Mudkip from Professor Birch. It had been one of the best days of my life.

Atsuto

"Being part Flygon has advantages," I thought to myself, "Even though I only see in red, when I fly way high up, I can still see the others down below."

Knowing this, I let a small smile creep across my face, the first real one in days. I soared up higher, being careful to keep an eye on where Matt was headed, while enjoying myself at the same time. The feeling of flight amongst the clouds felt much more invigorating than flight within the large battle arena back at Proteus. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed when I saw the group stop in front of a large boulder, indicating that our trip was over.

I backed off a bit and just let myself drop. I plummeted towards the ground and, at the last moment, spread out my wings and flapped them powerfully, landing softly in the swirl of sand that I had kicked up. Coughing, I muttered about how great it was that I had landed a few good feet away from the others and followed the group as they went inside. I could hear musical notes sounding as we stepped inside the cave.

Matt was busily picking the music mats up; what with everyone stepping on them at once, they made a bit too much noise. He tossed a couple boxes down a slide in the back, stating that they contained food. Being the hungry person that I was, I promptly walked up to the first box, picked it up and placed it on one of the rock tables nearby. I flicked out one of my clawed index fingers and carved the box open, wondering what kind of food was inside.

Alana

It looked as though Matt's old Secret Base was going to be home - for the time being, at least.

I looked around, noting the items Matt had set out and comparing them to what I would have put in my own Base if I'd ever got round to making one. I knew from someone I met in Mauville that Secret Bases were the "in" thing in Hoenn. Trainers would set up "home" in various caves, large trees and clumps of grass, but I'd never found anywhere that was to my liking.

I sighed. I was doing it again, dwelling on the past and what I'd planned to do before Proteus caught me. What we need to do right now was concentrate on our present situation. I turned to Atsuto, who was currently checking out the food stocks. "Anything interesting?" I asked.

"Mostly travel food," he told me. "The kind trainers take with them on long trips. Still, at least it'll tide us over."

Zeod

As soon as I walked in, my leg started hurting. This was because it was still sore and hard to walk on. So I went over to a corner to lie down.

Alana

I knew there was no way we could stay here indefinitely. For one thing, Matt's stocks of food wouldn't last very long even if we rationed them carefully. And, with fourteen hybrids sharing the space . . .

I sighed and looked at the others, all either sitting on the floor or leaning against the walls. We needed a plan. We needed some means to take care of Proteus and stop them from turning anyone else into half-Pokemon freaks. And the only way I could think of was to take them head-on.

"Guys," I said, "what do you say we do something about Number 1 and his cronies?"

They looked at me doubtfully. "I don't know," Crystal said doubtfully. "Wouldn't that get us into . . .?"

I cut her off before she could finish speaking. "If we don't, who will?" I demanded hotly. "Remember, we're the only ones outside Proteus who know about their experiments, which means we're the only ones who can stop them from doing it again. We have Pokemon abilities and - damn it - we need to use them!"

"So what should we do?" asked James.

"Do?!" I echoed. "I'll tell you what we'll "do"! We're going to get Proteus for what they did to us!"

I didn't know why I was ranting on like this. All I knew was that I hated Proteus and wanted to shut them down for good, no matter what the cost to myself or my friends. This, I realised grimly, meant war.

Zeod

"I'll help," I said, waking up when Alana started shouting. "I got a good look at their base when I was there. I might not be much help," I added, looking down at my leg. "But I'll do what I can to help."

Alana

"Thanks, Zeod," I said with a smile. I knew what was bothering him; his leg was obviously still hurting and, even with the use of Potion, it would take at least a few days to heal. Still, that should hopefully give us time to make plans.

I turned to look at the others, thirteen kids who, like me, had been transformed into Pokemon hybrids. We were, to put it bluntly, freaks, forced to live in fear of those who had transformed us. Well, not if I could help it. I meant to put an end to Proteus once and for all. And, to do that, we would need to fight them. What did we have on our side?

Well, we had the ability to use the Attacks of the Pokemon we had been blended with, as well as the bond of friendship in adversity. We also had a decent spread of Pokemon Types: Psychic, Poison, Ghost, Dark, Fire, Flying, Dragon, Normal, Water, Grass and Bug. What did we have against us?

An organisation run by a man mad for power, that's what. I didn't know how we were going to do it yet, but Number 1 had to be stopped.

Zeod

I walked to a shelf and grabbed some paper and a pencil. I then sat down in a corner and started drawing.

Alana

I looked across at Zeod. "Hey," I said. "What are you drawing?"

He held up the sheet of paper, which showed what seemed to be a building plan. "It's the layout of Proteus's HQ," he explained. "What I remember anyway."

I looked at it closely, reasoning that having even a basic plan of the place would be better than going in blind. In all the time I had been there, I had never seen it in its entirity; there were areas we hybrids were never allowed to enter. So Zeod's little map was going to be useful for our plans, especially if used in conjunction with Luke and Crystal's Psychic powers.

"Guys," I said, turning to the others, "I think I have an idea."

"If it involves giving Proteus a good beating, count me in," said Heather. She folded her arms and gave us one of her snaky glares as if to say Proteus would be sorry they ever messed with her.

I held up the map Zeod had drawn and began outlining my plans. "OK, we want to get even with Proteus, right?"

Thirteen heads nodded in unison.

"Well, to do that, we need to strike at the heart of the organisation. So that means taking a little trip to Rustboro . . ."

This time, I was greeted with the sound of thirteen voices expressing doubts and saying things like: "Nuh-uh! No way! I'm not going back there!" I could understand their doubts, but, as far as I could see, this was the only way.

"We have to!" I insisted. "Otherwise, who's to tell how many more kids will end up . . ." I looked down at my clawed hands, then at the other hybrids. " . . . like us?"

Zeod

As Alana said that, I started drawing another thing. When I got done, I stood up. "If you don't mind my interrupting, I have also been working on a ray to turn us back to our old selves. It will take a lot of work and I will also need the stuff Proteus used to mutate us. But, if we can get that, I might be able to fix us," I said, holding up my other drawing.

Alana

"Let's concentrate on getting even with them first," I said. I had to admit that Zeod's idea sounded good, but we would need our Pokemon abilities if we were going to get revenge on the people that had done this to us.

I turned back to the others. "OK, here's what we'll do. Tonight, we'll take a trip over to Rustboro and check out the Proteus building. There's got to be some weakness we could exploit . . ." I paused, wondering why I was saying all this stuff. I should have been trying to put as much distance as possible between myself and Proteus, not thinking of going back to them. They had destroyed my humanity. They had . . .

"I'm with you, Alana," Crystal said quietly.

"And so am I," added Belinda.

Everyone else nodded. "We're all with you," said Atsuto.

I nodded approvingly and began to explain my plan, a plan which would require both Zeod's plan of Proteus's HQ and the Psychic abilities of Crystal and Luke. We could, I reasoned, use them to find our way into our former prison, hopefully without being detected. It would be risky, but we had little alternative; Proteus had to be shut down before they either recaptured us or caught some more unfortunate test subjects.

I picked up a Duskull doll from a nearby desk, listening to the wailing noise it made as I turned it over. It reminded me of my kid brother's pet Duskull. Jon was mad about Ghost Pokemon and planned to travel to Ecruteak and study under Morty as soon as he was old enough. But would I ever see him again? Would any of us see our families again?

"Alana?"

I looked around and realised it was Matt who had spoken. "Sorry," I said, feeling a little guilty for having touched the toy Duskull. After all, this Secret Base and everything in it were his. "I was just thinking about my family."

"I understand. I think about my family too sometimes."

"It's been nearly two years since I saw mine. And, sometimes, I wonder if they'd recognise me . . . like this." I thought about all the changes the Mightyena DNA had caused in me, in particular the change in my hair colour. "Well," I added after a while, "this just gives us another reason to make Proteus pay!"

I sat down on the floor and waited for night to fall.

Zeod

"I'll keep watch by the door," I said, as I slowly made my way to the door with the paper and pencil. I then started doodling.

Alana

That night, we all set off for the place I had hoped never to see again: Proteus's HQ. As I walked with my fellow hybrids, I felt as though every step was taking me ever closer to somewhere I did not want to be. But we had no choice as far as I could see; unless we dealt with Proteus soon, there was no telling what evils they might end up committing.

I was kind of starting to like being part Mightyena; it was really cool being able to use Pokemon Attacks. The only downside was the people - if you can call them that - who had caused me to become like this. They wanted to exploit me, to exploit all of us, and they had to be stopped. And, to do that, we would need to use the powers we had acquired. I wondered if the guy I attacked in the battle room was still around; I so wanted to finish what I had started that day.

To get to Rustboro from Petalburg, we would need to cut through Petalburg Woods and would need all our wits about us. I remembered from my days as a Pokemon trainer that the place was a popular haunt for Bug and Grass trainers . . . That thought made me pause and look at Esther and Belinda, wondering how these Bug and Grass trainers might react if they saw them. I knew I'd be pretty surprised if I saw an anthropomorphic Ivysaur and a giant Ledian.

"OK," I said, turning to the others as we neared the entrance to the Woods, "I'll lead the walking hybrids into the trees. Atsuto, Esther and Ruby, you three can fly above the canopy, but be careful to stay out of sight. We'll meet up in Rustboro."

I looked at the others, my gaze falling for a moment on Zeod. I knew having him enter a forest would be perfectly safe, since Fire Pokemon can control the temperature of any body flames they might have.

Zeod

"Don't worry, I will control my flames," I said as I saw Alana look at me.

Jason

As I walked along with the others, I decided my best bet would be to stay in the shadows, so I moved to the side near the trees so that the people in Petalburg Woods would not spot me. "When we get to the base and finish off the Proteus goons, try not to damage the equipment," I said. "It may be our only chance of turning back into our original selves."

"And my only chance of getting a good life," I added in my mind.

Zeod

"I'll be handling that. You can help if you want," I told Jason.