Chapter Seven

Alana

I overheard the conversation Jason and Zeod were having. "Let's concentrate on getting Proteus first," I said cautiously. "We can decide what to do later."

To be honest, it was kind of cool to be part Mightyena; having the abilities of that Pokemon had given me a whole new perspective on things. For example, I could now hear sounds that were beyond the range of a human, which would be useful in our current situation. It had been hard at first, but I had slowly grown used to it and now I realised how much I would miss it if it was taken away. Maybe, if there was a way to remove the physical traits I had gained while retaining my Mightyena abilities . . .

And, glancing at my fellow hybrids, I started to wonder how many of them felt the same, how many wanted to retain their Pokemon abilities without all the risks and marginalisation of being a hybrid.

One thing was certain, however. We had to deal with the organisation that had done this to us and, for that, we would need our powers.

Zeod

"OK, great leader," I said. I then tossed Alana onto my back. "Every leader needs a noble steed and I'm the closest thing here."

Alana

"Great leader?" I thought to myself.

I suppose Zeod was right in a way; after all, I was the one who came up with this whole revenge idea in the first place. But his trotting up to me and tossing me onto his horseback had taken me by surprise. I didn't quite know what to say or how to react, but there was one thing that immediately stood out. Zeod's horseback, though covered with flames, felt perfectly normal. There was nothing to indicate that the flames were present.

Then, I remembered something I read once: a Ponyta or Rapidash will never burn anyone it trusts. And, since Zeod was a Ponyta hybrid, the same thing probably applied to him. But that didn't answer why he was acting like a real Ponyta all of a sudden. Was the Pokemon part of him taking over? If so, we would have to act fast.

Just then, Crystal ran up to us, with Luke and Alex close behind. "Hurry!" she shouted. "I sense an ambush!" She didn't need to tell me who was going to ambush us.

Sure enough, seconds after she said that, a dozen or so Proteus agents emerged from behind the trees. They were all armed with stun-guns, which they had trained on us, and it looked as though they meant business . . .

. . . and so did we. "Let me down," I told Zeod. Then, as I dismounted, I called to my fellow hybrids, telling them to get their best Attacks ready. It was time to fight.

Zeod

"Let's heat things up, shall we?" I said. I lit my hand on fire and ran by the goons, making their guns too hot to touch.

Alana

"ARGGH!" cried the Proteus goons as Zeod heated up their guns and they were forced to throw them down.

But our triumph was short lived. Just as we were starting to congratulate Zeod on a job well done, the agents all pulled out their Poke Balls and threw them. With a collective flash of light, several powerful-looking Pokemon appeared before us. "Did you brats think we'd come unprepared?" asked one of the agents, a tall man who stood behind a Hitmonchan. He looked directly at me. "Hitmonchan! Use Fire Punch on the Mightyena girl!"

Hitmonchan drew back his fist as flames suddenly built up around it. I had to act fast, not least because, as a Dark Type hybrid, I had a disadvantage against a Fighting Type like Hitmonchan. So I had to strike hard and fast, using my non-Dark Attacks. I decided to start with Sand Attack and, in the seconds before Hitmonchan launched his Fire Punch, I sent a cloud of sand into his face. Hitmonchan coughed, unable to see where I was, and I quickly decided to follow through with Iron Tail.

I focused all my energy on the thick black tail growing out of my rear, feeling it beginning to glow as it hardened. Then, I turned my back on Hitmonchan and prepared to whack him with my tail. "Hitmonchan! Agility!" called the agent who was Hitmonchan's trainer.

My tail struck nothing but air as Hitmonchan dodged to one side. The next thing I knew, he was in front of me, preparing to use Thunder Punch; I could tell because of the way his fist was crackling with electricity. I had to act fast. Thunder Punch is a very powerful Attack, as I knew from personal experience; a Raichu once knocked out my Combusken with that move. I decided to try another Sand Attack.

"I'm afraid that won't work twice!" Hitmonchan's trainer said when he saw sand whipping up around me. "Hitmonchan! Seismic Toss!"

Before I could react, Hitmonchan grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder. I froze, wondering what it would feel like to be slammed brutally against the ground.

Zeod

"Well, I guess it's my turn," I said, using Fire Punch in Hitmonchan's face. This knocked him down and also released his hold on Alana. I waited below her to try to reduce the damage of the fall.

Alana

"Phew!" I said as Zeod saved me from getting Seismic-Tossed. "I didn't know Ponytas could learn Fire Punch."

Zeod grinned at me. "Well, Ponytas don't usually have fists. Anyway, let's take care of this pest," he added, rearing up on his hind legs and preparing to use Stomp on the Hitmonchan.

I decided to create a diversion by using Double Team. I focused and, as if by magic, another Mightyena hybrid appeared beside me, then another, then another. Hitmonchan was clearly confused - which one should he attack? There were four Alana Willises in front of him, but only one was made of flesh and blood. The rest were simply illusions.

"What are you waiting for, Hitmonchan!" snarled the Proteus agent. "Just knock out all the fakes!"

Hitmonchan moved to do so, turning in the direction of one of my duplicates. In the seconds before he struck, I acted.

"Now!" I called to Zeod.

In response, Zeod sent his hooves crashing down on Hitmonchan's head. Hitmonchan was on the ground, but he wasn't knocked out, at least not until I sent him flying with a well-aimed Tackle. His trainer growled with fury as he recalled his fallen Pokemon, then pulled out another Poke Ball. "You punks just got lucky!" he told us. "Very well, try your luck against . . . this!"

He threw the Ball and we watched as the Pokemon within emerged in a flash of light. Then, as the light faded, I recognised the Pokemon as a Tyranitar, a Tyranitar I had seen before . . .

"Oh crap!" I muttered to Zeod as I recognised the Tyranitar which had once given me a severe beating back at Proteus's HQ. "What can we do against this thing!"

One thing was certain: we needed Matt, Belinda or Tanya to help us since they all had a Type advantage against Tyranitar. Unfortunately, all three were busy with battles of their own.

Zeod

"Well, I guess we have to do this ourselves. I wonder if I can use Fighting moves . . . Let's try a Cross Chop!" I said, rushing up to the Tyranitar.

Alana

I watched as Zeod launched himself at the Tyranitar, wondering exactly what he hoped to achieve with such a reckless move. There was no way a Ponyta hybrid could be compatible with Cross Chop.

"Hyper Beam!" shouted the Proteus goon in the seconds before Zeod attacked.

And the Tyranitar opened its mouth and blasted the area with a powerful beam of light, a beam so powerful that it knocked all the hybrids within range flying. I saw Crystal catapulted through the air to land in a pained heap some distance away, while Jason and James ended up in a nearby tree. As for Zeod and myself, we were closest to the thing so we both got the full force of its attack.

That's the last thing I remember before I woke up to find myself in a cell. I had no way of telling where it was, only that it had no windows and the only light in the place came from the flickering glow of Zeod's flames. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my head. "W - where am I?" I asked.

Tanya walked up to me, a concerned expression etched on her Dewgong face. "I'm afraid Proteus caught us," she told me. "We're back at their Headquarters ."

I frowned with fury as I heard her words. How, after all the trouble we had gone to in order to get away from Proteus, could we have let ourselves get caught again so soon? And what were they planning to do with us? I didn't know, but I did know that whatever they did was bound to be bad. We would have to fight our way out.

"Quick, you guys!" I said as I tried to stagger to my feet. "Let's . . ." Then, I felt my limbs sag and I had to sink back down again.

"Don't try to get up," Ruby warned me.

"Well, we've got to do something!" I insisted. "We can't let Proteus get away with this!" Then, as I looked round at the flickering faces of my fellow hybrids, I had an idea. "Luke," I said, "do you know Recover?"

Luke nodded. "But I've never used it on someone else before," he added. Nevertheless, he stepped forward and placed his hands over me. I instantly felt a warm glow inside me as my strength was renewed. Soon, I felt as though I was ready for anything - and that included finishing what we had set out to do in the first place.

"Thanks, Luke," I said as I stood up. I looked around at everyone. "I guess the next order of business is getting out of here."

Zeod

"You know, if there were some metal bars, I could use my fire to make them hot. Then, Tanya or Matt could use a Water Attack to make them cool. It would then just be a matter of having a strong hybrid bend them to get out," I said, standing up.

I fell as soon as I did so. My leg, I soon found out, was twisted around at the knee. "This isn't good," I said, wincing from the pain.

Alana

"Quick, Luke!" I said when I heard Zeod cry out in pain. "Use Recover on Zeod's leg."

Luke did so and Zeod's leg was soon as good as new. Now, all we had to do was work out a way to get out of here before Proteus tried any of their tricks on us. And, to do that, we would have to fight. I turned to the others. "Is there any way out of here?" I asked.

"Only the door," replied Heather. "And that's locked pretty tight."

"Not for long," replied James. He stepped forward and used Strength on the door, pushing against it until it broke on its hinges and we were free. Or so we thought because, the second we stepped into the corridor, an alarm went off. It pierced the very air around it, causing us to wince at the high-pitched tones echoing in our ears. With my heightened senses, I found the noise especially hard to bear.

"Can't we shut that noise off?!" I cried, covering my ears as we ran down the corridor. It wasn't only the noise of the alarms that worried me; I also knew that, before too long, someone from Proteus was bound to show up. It was clear now that the door to our cell had been wired to the alarm.

"That's the source of our problem!" called Belinda, pointing to a security camera in the ceiling. "We'll have to knock it out!"

"You got it!" Crystal powered up for a Psychic Attack. Her body glowed as she focused all her energy on the camera, willing it to break. But it didn't; it continued to stare down at us, filming our every move. All the while, the alarms continued to blare.

"Crap!" I said out loud as I realised the camera must be Psychic-proof. "We'll have to try something else."

"I'll try," said Jason. He raised his arms and, using his powerful Zangoose claws, proceeded to tear the camera from its wall bracket. I grinned at him; having a Zangoose hybrid around was certainly useful. Even Heather, with her innate mistrust of Zangoose, had to admit that. Anyway, just as we had hoped, the alarm stopped the second the camera was removed, but that wasn't the end of our troubles.

In the space where the camera used to be, a strange device was now revealed. It consisted of a grey box with wires sticking out of it and an LED display which was relentlessly counting down the seconds. "Warning! Warning!" a robotic voice chanted. "Security has been violated! Destruction in fifteen minutes and counting!"

We had activated a booby trap.

"Great!" I thought, wondering what else could go wrong for us. "Is there any way we could stop it?"

Crystal and Luke shook their heads. "It's wired up pretty tight," Luke told us. "I can sense that it would take at least twenty minutes to defuse it - and that's if we used our Pokemon abilities."

"And twenty minutes is something we don't have," I said. There was nothing else for it; we would have to fight our way out. All fourteen of us . . .

Zeod

"Well, I could try to melt it," I offered. Without waiting for an answer, I ignited my hands.

With a primal scream, I thrust them at the device. After a while, I could feel that it had heated. But I wasn't sure if the insides of the machine were melted.

Alana

"Warning! Destruction in fourteen minutes and twenty seconds!"

Clearly, Zeod's attempt to melt the device hadn't worked, so we had to get out as fast as possible. "Let's move!" I called to the others, noticing that some of them were staring at the device as though hypnotised.

"Er, Alana," said Ruby, "how do we find our way out?"

"Let's at least get clear of this thing," I told her. "When we've done that, Crystal and Luke can use their Psychic abilities to find the exit. You got that?" I said to the two Psychic Pokemon hybrids.

They nodded in unison.

"Good - now, come on!"

We sprinted down the corridor, determined to get out of this place no matter what, hoping we wouldn't run into any Proteus agents. All the while, that robotic voice continued to echo in our ears.

"Warning! Destruction in twelve minutes and fifty-nine seconds!"

This whole thing seemed like one of those movies where a bomb had been timed to go off and the heroes had to either deactivate it or get everyone clear before it blew. It would have seemed laughably cliched had we not been directly involved. Not that it mattered; if we didn't get out of here, we would be in serious trouble.

Zeod

"Go back and get the shiny thing!" Pony screamed in my mind.

He loved shiny things; once, he made me fill my room at the Trainers' School with Magnemites and Magnetons because they were shiny. But, anyways, he took over and I ran back to get the bomb.

"Pony, no!" I yelled at him.

"But it's so shiny," he whined.

Maybe the others could help me out here.

Alana

"Zeod! Snap out of it!" I shouted, slapping Zeod in the face.

He blinked and looked at me. "Sorry, Pony took over for a moment there," he told me.

"Well, try to control it; we've got to get out of here before that bomb goes off." Plus, we still had to deal with Proteus for what they had done to us; I did not need to be told that Zeod's Pokemon side was starting to take over. And that worried me; if he was having this problem, how long would it be before the rest of us started to lose our human selves?

"No!" I said fiercely as we ran down the corridor. "That won't happen! We'll get . . ."

I was cut off abruptly as I realised the hybrids in front of us (Matt, Atsuto and Tanya) had come to a halt. But what were they waiting for? Had they forgotten that we had to escape? "Hey!" I shouted, trying to attract their attention. But, just then, Matt moved slightly and I saw for myself why they had stopped running.

A entire phalanx of Proteus agents, some armed with stun-guns and others with Poke Balls, blocked our path.

"Oh crap!" muttered Heather as she and the others realised the trouble we were in. And, as if things couldn't get any worse . . .

"Warning! Destruction in nine minutes and fifty-five seconds!"

I knew the last thing we should do with a bomb counting down near us was waste time on a battle, but those Proteus goons had left us with no choice. "Let's do it!" I called to the others as I powered up a Shadow Ball.

They all cheered as one before launching into their respective Attacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Atsuto and Ruby take off and use Fly to divebomb one of the agents. Then, when he was on the floor, Zeod used his hooves to give him a good kicking. I, meanwhile, felled another with my Shadow Ball and began looking round for my next target.

Then, the goons recovered from the initial shock and started sending out their Pokemon. This meant trouble; there were only fourteen hybrids compared to around thirty Pokemon controlled by Proteus agents. But we had to try. We had to take out as many as we could before that bomb went off. I turned to a nearby Mr Mime and began to ready another Shadow Ball.

"Everyone pick a Pokemon you have an advantage against!" I shouted. "If we can't beat them, we can at least make a stand!"

I just hoped this wouldn't be our last stand. If it was, Number 1 would only start over with a fresh bunch of kids. I began to launch my Shadow Ball.

"Mr Mime! Barrier!" the Mr Mime's trainer called in the seconds before I fired my ball of shadowy energy.

The Shadow Ball left my hands and shot toward the Mr Mime. But, seconds before it made contact, Mr Mime waved his hands and an invisible wall appeared in front of him. My Shadow Ball struck the Barrier, then reflected straight back at me; I threw myself to the floor and felt the rush as it passed over my head.

Then, I got up. I was not finished yet.