Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black. Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black.
Koji sat beneath his desk next to Julia in silence. Phone calls from other floors spread news of a takeover of some sort happening in the building. But no one, it seemed, knew who was behind it. No one who could let them know, anyway, he figured.
Chūi. Chūi. Zen jūgyōin. Kōdoburakku. Chūi. Chūi. Zen jūgyōin. Kōdoburakku.
He rolled his sleeve up to glance at his wristwatch. 2:15 in the afternoon. With a sigh, he pulled the sleeve back down and then turned to Julia. "You don't seem all that frightened." He paused and added, "Unless you're actually petrified and this is how you show it."
The blonde woman looked back at him and gave him a weak smile. "I'm just a little too used to this, you know?" She drew her knees closer to her chest and shook her head. "It's like my own little slice of Unova, here in Kanto." She laughed bitterly and added, "I thought I was away from shit like this. Guess I was wrong."
Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black. Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black.
"This is common in Unova?" asked Koji, incredulous. "How can that be?"
She shook her head and rested it upon her knees. "There's just a lot of...problems, let's call them, in Unova. It's not an everyday thing. It's not even a monthly thing. But it's at least yearly." She laughed again, shakier and more bitterly than before. "I guess bad luck is woven into the Wilson name-"
There was a loud crash somewhere behind them. Shouts filled the room and the sounds of various Pokemon cries filled the floor.
Chūi. Chūi. Zen jūgyōin. Kōdoburakku. Chūi. Chūi. Zen jūgyōin. Kōdoburakku.
"Someone get that fucking alarm system to shut up already!" barked a voice.
"Where the hell do I do that, boss?" replied another.
"Just get it shut off!" barked the voice again. "Comb the floor for security personnel and get them to direct you, we're heading up to the president's offices. Shut off has to be somewhere on this floor. Thing's gonna make me lose my fuckin' mind."
Koji glanced down at the badge clipped to his shirt pocket and felt a stone slip into his stomach. In bright red letters beneath the Silph logo read: "SECURITY TECH". He shook his head and smiled in spite of himself. "What a day to be the guy, eh?" he mumbled.
Julia shook her head, her eyes widening. "Just stay put and quiet. Maybe he'll give up on trying to find us," she hissed.
"Somehow, I doubt that." He leaned his head back against the back of his desk and closed his eyes. He heard shouted orders and yelps of fear mixing with snarls and hisses as the unknown man combed through the floor.
Koji reached down to his belt and grabbed hold of the ball there. "I'm the security tech here," he whispered, "So perhaps I should go do my job."
"Isn't security tech supposed to do technology related stuff? What are you doing reaching for your pokeball?" hissed back Julia.
"Well, I figured with 'security' being the title…"
"Leave security to people with guns and pokemon trained for this kind of stuff!" she replied.
"Kenshin's seen his fair share of battles…"
"Isn't he a tangela?"
"Well, yes, but what's that got to do-"
"He's a plant! What do you expect a plant to do?"
"HEY! Who's that whisperin' in there?" shouted a voice.
The two froze.
"Come out! Need to get this fucking security alarm turned off and I'm just about outta rooms to pick through! I won't hesitate to get a rhyhorn to plow through all this shit in here if I need to."
"I've gotta do something, Julia," said Koji, resigning himself to his fate. He unhooked his ball from his belt and expanded it. He rose up from behind his desk and came face to face with a man in a black uniform bearing a red "R" pin on his chest. "R-Rocket? Team Rocket?"
"You're gods damned-"
Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black. Attention. Attention. All employees. Code Black.
"Shut this fucking alarm system off already!" he shouted, looking around the room for the speakers responsible.
Koji raised his pokeball and shook his head. "No. I don't think I will."
"You wanna dance, motherfucker?" shouted the gangster. His hand went for his hip, but when it came back up it bore a pistol. "Get that fucking alarm system shut down."
His knees wobbled but Koji still stood. He replied slowly, "What? A gun? Afraid you won't win?"
"I'll fucking kill you motherfucker!"
"And what? Let the alarm still run? How do you know we haven't contacted every QRT across all of Saffron? Don't want to assure them it was just a fluke and we've been fixing it?" He tapped his head and smiled. "Can't do that if what's in here is all over the ground behind me. Stow the gun. You can beat a simple egghead, can't you?" He could feel a cold sweat running down his back. This would work or send him to an early grave.
The grunt made a low "tsk" sound and lowered his pistol. "Ace, get over here and teach this fucker some manners." A rhyhorn stomped into view and turned its beady gaze directly at Koji.
"Kenshin, these men would like to dance." Koji tapped the button on his pokeball and with a flash of red light a tangela materialized before him. It turned to give him a wiggly, rustling wave and then faced the rhyhorn.
"Pulverize it!" shouted the grunt. The rhyhorn charges the tangela, lowering its head to bring his horn directly at Kenshin.
The tangela rolled aside and spun once as he did so, sending a puff of seeds into the air, several of which struck the side of the rhino as it charged past into a desk and broke it apart. The seeds began to bloom into small sprouts within seconds and the rhyhorn turned about and bellowed at the tangela in anger before charging it again.
Kenshin began his dodge aside once more, but a shout from his trainer had Ace stop in his tracks and instead stomp the ground with a single foot, sending a zigzagging crack directly at Kenshin that exploded into a geyser of bright light beneath him. The force of the earthquake toppled the plant over and it rolled over and over again into another desk with a loud thump.
As he got to his curious red feet, Ace charged at Kenshin once more, and as he did, the sprouts upon his body flashed green and the foliage upon the tangela grew more lush and green. Kenshin avoided the charge, jumping above Ace and sending a flurry of vines down upon the rhino that wrapped about his midsection and pulled Kenshin along with Ace as he crashed through the glass wall of the office and out into the hallway.
The grunt shouted in alarm as the two went rushing past and turned to follow them, berating his rhyhorn all the while. Koji took his chance and rushed forward, seizing a large slab of wood from one of the destroyed desks and bringing it down with all his might upon the crown of the Rocket grunt's head.
He heard something like a strangled, "Oh," as a sickening crack filled the office, and the grunt crumpled to the floor. Realizing he held two pieces of pressboard instead of the single slab it once was, Koji tossed it aside and looked to the grappling pokemon. Kenshin had maintained his hold upon Ace and there soft cracks that filled the air with a strange staccato of sounds told him the bind was working. Koji shouted, "Just drain him," and Kenshin complied immediately, bringing a large vine to bear, this one bearing cruel thorns, and slamming it down upon the rhyhorn's back. The rock creature began to slow, panting and bellowing as he unsuccessfully attempted to toss the tangela off, before coming to a complete stop and falling over.
Kenshin unwound his vines from the rhyhorn, letting those that he could not pull from under the beast simply tear away and marched over to Koji looking thoroughly pleased with himself. Koji looked down at his friend, smiling and said, "Nice work there. Don't know if you meant to get that rhyhorn to break through that wall or not but it gave me the opening I needed."
Julia let out a sigh of relief as she stood up from behind the desk and began to walk over to Koji. "Nice job there, didn't think you'd actually get the better of that bastard."
"I'm glad to have your confidence," said Koji, smiling back. "Now let's get-" Something slammed into Koji's shoulder and his vision swam. Blinding pain burned in his right shoulder and the ringing in his ears made his stomach churn.
Julia let out an ear-piercing scream and rushed over to him and then stumbled back when a second crack rang out in the office and a round bounced off the ground near their feet. Koji did his best to focus on the grunt staring down the sights of a pistol at him. "You…" He groaned and did his best to put pressure on his shoulder. "You shot me."
"You fuckin' killed the boss!" screamed the grunt. Beside him, a machoke cracked its knuckles with an ugly grimace of rage.
"I knocked him out, you simpleton," grunted Koji, panting. "Why the hell did you shoot me?"
"Shut up! I'm calling the fuckin' shots here now." The grunt stomped up to Koji and put the pistol up to his forehead. "Get these fuckin' alarms off NOW."
Koji had trouble focusing on the grunt's face between the pain and the worry of mounting blood loss. "I need medical attention…" he struggled out.
"You're gonna need a body bag when I'm through with you! Get these godsdamned alarms off-"
Koji stepped back and shouted, "If I die of blood loss then these alarms will be the last thing you hear before QRTs perforate you. Get me treatment and you'll get your alarms turned off."
The grunt swore loudly and spun Koji around. "You there, bitch, get in front. Grab your shit and then we're going straight to the fuckin' security console. Put your fucking plant away or I'll have Tetsui chuck it out the window." The security technician raised his pokeball and recalled Kenshin, mumbling his thanks under his breath all the while.
All the while, Julia scrambled to get in line in front of Koji, her face a deathly white. An insistent tap of the pistol's barrel against the back Koji's head followed. "Julia, get moving. The medical cabinet is within sight of the console we need to use anyway." The three set off towards the opposite end of the office. As they marched, they slowed as they passed a ring of terrified coworkers, all bound and watched over by a vicious looking houndoom and another Rocket grunt armed with a submachine gun. "I heard shit go down, the fuck's happening Sugita?" he asked.
"Retard here thought he'd play hero. Grabbing him some gauze before he bleeds out and dooms us to hear these fucking alarms for the whole op. Need Tetsui to help out with these?" Sugita pointed at the ring of people.
"I got it handled," replied the grunt. He patted the top of his gun once.
"Don't take your eyes offa them, Hiro."
The three pressed on and arrived at a medical cabinet. Julia struggled to open it with her trembling hands, but eventually worked the latch to open it and began to pull gauze and bandages out. The grunt watched and shook his head. "Get working."
Julia fumbled through the myriad of supplies in the cabinet and then looked up at the grunt, her face shining with tears. "Wh-what am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"Oh for fuck's sake. Pack the wound with gauze and then wrap it with long strips of bandages. Pack it tight, wrap it tight. How the fuck do you not know this?" replied Sugita, annoyed.
"I don't have to deal with gunshot victims!" shouted Julia, wiping her face and beginning to pull gauze and bandages free.
She went to pack Koji's wound, but Sugita shouted, "Cut his sleeve off first, you stupid bitch!"
"You a- a medic or something?" asked Koji, his breathing heavy. He looked up at the Rocket.
"No, I'm just not retarded," he replied, watching Julia cut Koji's sleeve off and begin to pack the wound. When she'd finished wrapping the wound, Sugita gestured for her to get Koji up and then marched them over to the security console.
A single panel mounted on a wall with an attached card reader, the screen flashed red and a scrolling message in yellow blared, "SECURITY ALERT: CODE BLACK IN PROGRESS." Koji pulled his security badge up and slid it through the reader, then began to tap in his security credentials. His breathing was still heavy, and the pain in his shoulder was barely below blinding. Still, his mind raced to think of a way to keep the alert rolling for just a bit longer…
"I think that I might not be able to disable this alert from here," he explained. He winced and grit his teeth. "A code black is the highest priority alert we can issue short of a code indigo."
"What's a code indigo?" asked Julia, confused.
"Shut the fuck up! Who gives a shit what the codes mean, I want that fucking alarm off you son of a bitch," screamed Sugita. He trained his pistol on Julia who immediately screamed and cowered. "We know how these fucking panels work, and if I didn't need your sec credentials I'd have shot you in the dome and done this shit myself. Now turn the fucking alarm off or I'm blowing this bitch's brains out all over the wall."
"Take it easy, take it easy!" shouted Koji immediately. "I'll try to run a bypass, just take your gun off of her."
"Bypass my fucking ass, get working. I know for a fact this alarm can be disabled at any panel with sufficient sec clearance."
"If you know that, then why hit this floor?" asked Koji, still tapping through verifications and confirmation dialogs.
"It's the least guarded."
Koji frowned. He finally made it through the last of the dialogs and pushed through the alarm deactivation command. "You know an awful lot about Silph." The sound of the alarms died. "How?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" said Sugita with an evil grin. He raised his pistol. "Thanks for the help, but I don't take kindly to people crackin' any of us over the head."
The door beside them crashed open and a gout of flame exploded out, directly at Sugita and his machoke. The two screamed and fell to the floor, trying to smother the flames as they rolled about. A pikachu bolted into the room and let loose an electric shock that arced between the two of them, sending them into convulsions before they both fell still.
A charizard and a trainer in his teens strode into the room. He looked at Koji, his eyes serious and shadowed by the brim of his cap and nodded at him once, then pointed at the still smouldering Rocket grunt and his machoke.
"I'll make sure they're put completely- WATCH OUT!" shouted Koji. He pulled Julia roughly to the floor as the air filled with the sound of gunfire. Hiro stood some distance away, spraying at the five of them. Four of them. Where had the pikachu gone? The unknown trainer and charizard had already slipped backwards through the door they'd strode in from, and a second later Hiro began to convulse as a bolt of electricity struck him. He sprayed the remainder of his magazine into the walls and ceiling as his body seized and then fell over, twitching.
Two red lights flashed from out of the stairwell the trainer and his charizard had stepped out from, and then the trainer's head popped out and glanced about the room before he strode out once more. The charizard was gone now, replaced instead with scizor, holding its pincers up defensively.
Koji winced again - diving to the ground had been a terrible idea - and looked at Julia, who was white faced and crying. "Are you alright?"
The Unovan nodded her head, still visibly shaking. "Y-yes. I didn't get hit. Did you?"
"No. I'm alright." He sighed and looked up at the trainer. "Thank you."
The trainer nodded once and then looked about, then pointed up and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you trying to get higher up the building?" asked Koji.
The trainer nodded.
"If you're trying to save Silph Co. alone, you're mad." Koji struggled to his feet and let out a sharp breath of pain. "But I'm in no position to hinder or help you." He frowned, struck by a thought. "Well, actually…" He pulled his security badge free and handed it to the trainer. "This'll get you past any doors our own security teams locked as you climb. Don't know how much it'll help."
The trainer took it from him and offered him a swift smile and a nod. He turned and looked towards the rest of the floor and let out a long, high whistle. A few seconds later his pikachu sprinted in view and jumped straight at him, landing with Koji could only imagine was practiced precision, on his shoulder. He looked back at the security tech and nodded, and then set off towards the other end of the office.
Julia looked on as the trainer walked away, awestruck. "He's got your confidence."
"Let's hope it doesn't get him shot."