=Chapter 50, Hiring Underhanded Help=
(Coral's PoV, unknown time after abduction)
*Ugh…* She thought quietly as she felt herself starting to wake up.
Her whole body was aching badly, it felt like she had been hit by the lightning bolt of Zapdos itself. From the tip of her tail to her very forehead, she was in aching pain, and her body felt like it was paralyzed.
Still, she managed to muster up enough strength to open her eyes and lift her head up and look around.
Where she was, was obvious, she was in a cage with iron bars, barely big enough to hold her and no room to line up her whole twenty-foot-long body. She had been stuffed into the cage and body forced into very awkward curves to 'stay' in it, at length the cage was roughly seven feet long and wide, and about five feet high. All in all, she was very cramped in the cage.
"Not like I'm staying in here another minute…" She grunted as she prepared to blast her Hydro Pump at the bars to force them open.
As she prepared to use her powers though, she felt a sharp jolt right below her head. The jolt was so painful that she instantly groaned and curled up in reaction to the jolt of electricity. When she stopped trying to use her Hydro Pump however, the shock ceased and she could relax slightly.
Panting, she lifted her head up and managed to angle her head in a way that the bars reflected her image, and she saw some kind of collar strapped on her neck.
"There's no point in trying dear…" A sad and elderly voice whispered faintly.
She looked across to see another case like hers, and inside it was an elderly looking Serperior, a collar bound around her neck and her feminine eyes showing deep bags, evidence of extreme tiredness.
"Where… are we?" She asked painfully, trying to shift around and wiggle her tailfins in front so she could try and shove the collar off.
"I wouldn't if I were you…" She said, but two seconds later Coral's tail met the collar.
"Garaaaaagh…" Coral moaned as she shoved her tail away, and the shocks stopped again.
"I tried to warn you…" The Serperior said sadly. "That collar restricts your powers… and shocks you every time you try to use them, or even attempt to remove it forcefully."
She panted for breath as she recovered from the collar again. "What… is… this place?" She whispered painfully.
The Serperior sighed as she used her tail to gesture to their surroundings. "Holding Block 'A'… this is the 'good' section of the holding blocks." She said. "We're in what humans would call… the Pokeblack Market."
"Pokeblack Market… I never heard of that. At least… I don't think I've ever heard of it." She said, trying her best to recall anything about such a place when she was with her Jacob.
"Let me guess… you're a 'trained' Pokemon?" The Serperior asked sadly. "I can just tell… you're not nearly 'wild' enough to have been caught in the wild, your more tamed. A wild Milotic would have been bashing at the bars with their head or tail by now, demanding freedom."
"You're right… I can just do that!" She said, her mind just realizing that.
She had been trained to use the water inside her body to fight, but she was naturally strong physically, she could just shove at the bars until she made an opening to escape!
"I wouldn't…" The Serperior began saying, but no sooner had she started, then Coral began trying to smack the bars with her head and tail.
"Gyeaaaraaaah…" She screamed painfully, as she felt the bars surge with electricity.
Moments later the shocking stopped and she panted painfully again.
"There's no point in trying to break free…" The Serperior said sadly.
She looked up and stared into the eyes of the Serperior, and saw that she had the look of a very defeated and broken hearted Pokemon.
"But we can't just… sit here!" She grunted.
"We have no choice, we can't use our powers, we can't break our cages… and we can't even free ourselves of these collars…" The Serperior whispered back. "I admire your strength, and your courage young one… but there's no point in trying to break free. All we can do now… is wait… and hope whoever buys us… treats us better than our previous masters did."
"But I don't WANT another trainer!" She screamed fearfully. "I don't want any other trainer, I want my Jacob, I want 'my' Jacob!"
Her outburst left the two of them quiet for several minutes before she spoke to the Serperior again.
"Tell me… what is the Pokeblack Market?"
"It's a place where humans purchase… well anything, from everyday items to rare and expensive merchandise. But most commonly, its used to traffic Pokemon… captured wild Pokemon, stolen 'trained' Pokemon, illegally bred Pokemon... all kinds of Pokemon." The Serperior whispered sadly. "You and I are the lucky ones, we're in the A Block, so we get to be sold to the breeders and battlers… you need at least thirty thousand to even 'think' of purchasing us. So, that means whoever purchases us will treat us very well… I think."
"So… what are the other blocks like?" She asked nervously.
"If I recall… B Block is where the rarer Pokemon are held… those are for the 'Collectors' of the world. The ones who just want to have the rarest or coolest Pokemon around, and have the bank to buy what they want. You need at least two hundred thousand to buy one."
"But… why would people do that…" She asked. "I mean… I know that there's an evil group experimenting on Pokemon… but why would humans treat Pokemon like that?!"
The Serperior chuckled sadly before matching her sad expression with her chuckle. "Ah… the sheltered life of a trained Pokemon… I'd forgotten what it was like to have a human tend to your every need." She whispered. "You have a human feeding you, cleaning you, caring for you… and you in turn fight for him, protect him, and care for him. Don't have to struggle to feed yourself, face your species' natural predators, you get great medical care, and get praised in battles by adoring fans. Sadly, not every human you meet thinks like our trainers do… as I learned the hard way."
The Serperior sighed sadly and laid her head on the floor, before shedding a few tears. "At least B Block Pokemon get the lavished lifestyle of being treated as jewelry, they get the good cages that even 'we' don't get. I feel sorry for the C and D Block Pokemon though… I managed to peek on them when they were moving things around. C Block Pokemon are Pokemon that are forced to do tasks that humans are unable or too lazy to perform."
"What… but… why, they can fight back and…" Coral began saying before the Serperior shook her head again. "They can't… can they?"
"If they try, the collars shock them… and the humans who control them have the only source of food and care they can gain. If they even 'attempt' to resist… well you use your imagination." She whispered sadly. "But the ones to pity most… are the ones in D Block. They're the 'sex' slaves of the Pokeblack Market…"
"W… what? Why would humans…"
"Because not all humans are kind, self-restraining, caring people like our trainers…" She whispered dully. "Some just see us as objects, means to an end, or an outlet for satisfaction to their perverted fantasies and fetishes."
"W… we need to get out of here then!" She said fearfully. "We can't stay here, there has to be a way out!"
The Serperior shook her head again sadly. "There's no way out… I wish I could help you but… once the Pokeblack Market opens, we won't ever return to our old lives again."
"B… but… my trainer… he needs me!" She said even more fearfully.
The Serperior looked at her gloomily now, and began shedding tears as she watched her. "How I wish I were your age again… a trainer who cares for you… sheltered you… treated you so well. When you were a 'team'…" She said. "I guess… you were stolen from him? You're 'Jacob' as you called him?"
"Yes… I was kidnapped by net… why what happened to you and your trainer?"
"My trainer… lost his way…" She whispered sadly, before curling up to look away from her. "He's lost… and I've spent a long time… trying to find him… figured I'd find him by letting them capture me… but now… I'll never see him again…"
(Jacob's PoV, seven hours after Coral's abduction)
"Why are we sneaking around the police station?" He whispered to Karen in front of him.
"Because, I want to find out what's going on!" She snapped back at him. "I'm honestly surprised 'you' aren't the one wanting to sneak up and find out why Chief of Police Jenny isn't doing anything to find out where Coral was taken!"
"Why do we have to crawl on our knees, we could be walking and making hardly any noise?" Segan whispered painfully. "My coat is ripping on these twigs and bushes."
"That's cause your coat is held together by stitches!" Karen snapped angrily.
It was late at night and they were trying to sneak up to the Chief of Police's office window to sneak in and find out what Jenny was planning to do to find Coral. Unfortunately, their plan required them take a very long route along the side of the building, and then crawl through several yards of bushes.
"I want to find Coral… but the officer said that Jenny is doing all she can." He said.
"Then why didn't she come out and say so herself, why hide inside her office?" She asked.
This was true, earlier he and all the other trainers who had observed Coral being abducted, rushed to the station to explain the situation and even some wanting to join the search for the captors. But instead of a search party being sent out made of trainers wanting to help find Coral, they were met with a plain faced police officer explaining how Chief of Police Officer Jenny was currently engaged in a case involving a 'missing Pokemon' already, and had diverted too many resources to help locate Coral now.
=Earlier=
"What do you mean you aren't sending someone to find her?" Jacob had yelled in disbelief. "Coral's one of my best friends, I have to find her before something bad happens to her!"
"I'm sorry young man, but we simply have no officers available to send out and search for your missing Pokemon." He said, not even looking him in the eye, just staring into the crowd of frustrated trainer's direction. "Please file an abducted Pokemon's report with us and we will do our best to locate your Pokemon as soon as possible, or contact the Rangers Core with the details you provide us in the report."
"That's what you said about my sister's Lopunny, she's been missing for three months and you haven't even found a single lead!" A teenaged girl yelled furiously, flanked by an equally angry Houndoom.
"I'm sorry for any inconvenience you may be feeling, but we are doing our best to locate any missing Pokemon, but until further notice, all we can do is send the details you provide us on the incident to the Ranger core, and have them track down and locate your stolen Pokemon." The Officer said, still using the same monotone voice he used before, and still not looking at anyone directly.
=Present=
"Alright… there's the office window!" Karen hissed to them.
He looked up to see the square police building's rear windows, and one of the windows was lit, indicating someone was up and in the office.
"Hey… the window's open!" He whispered.
"Good, we can sneak in and find out what's going on…" Karen said.
"You two do know you're breaking and entering, right?" Segan said nervously. "If you two get caught your Trainers Licenses will be revoked and you'll never be allowed to have Pokemon ever again! They might even lock you away and no amount of money I throw for a Lawyer will get you out of those hot waters!"
"But Coral needs us Segan…" He said to the Salon Owner. "She could be halfway across the world for all I know, we need to find her before something bad happens to her!"
Segan sighed, and nodded in understanding. "I know… I'd do the same if Glace was ever stolen from me like that, and she was… and I did do all I could." He said. "Come on… let's get this over with then…"
(Jacob… something's not right…) Sara said to him psychically, crawling in the bushes alongside them, but making sure to stay well behind them all, for 'personal' reasons. (I'm sensing only a few minds in that building… one is… traumatic… in pain… another is disheartened… a third is shielded… and a fourth is… hidden.)
*Hidden, like that time you tried sensing Viridian?* He asked her, looking back.
She shook her head. (No… Viridian's mind was so… 'hot' and painful to me, that I could not read it without being in pain. This one is… completely hidden, I can only sense the tiniest edge to know it's there… but the mind itself is shielded so well, that my attempts to touch it are washed away.) She looked worried. (As a Ralts, touching a mind to sense any thoughts or feelings took great energy, but as a Gardevoir, I could brush the edge of a mind for the faintest of seconds and learn all I want… but this mind… I cannot even begin to 'grasp' at its edges.)
"Hey, you coming or what?" Karen hissed.
He turned to see Karen near the wall getting ready to climb to the window. He and Sara moved toward the building wall as well while Segan moved to keep look out. Just as he prepared to boost her up to the window, they heard a door opening inside.
"Sorry for the late-night visit Jenny, but as you know I have very little time to cover up for the… 'minor' inconveniences." A snide voice exclaimed inside.
"Whatever, just say whatever you want and get it over with…" An older female voice said.
"Uh uh, remember your place…" The snide voice said sarcastically. "We wouldn't want a misunderstanding between us… it might… give the wrong impression about our partnership."
There was silence for several minutes before the woman's voice spoke up. "What do you want this time…" She said, but this time her voice sounded broken, almost defeated.
"That's more like it… as you know the recent wave of Pokenapping has begun to put my organization into the spotlight… and we need that spotlight 'moved' before the masses of the crowd see us!" The voice said. "Despite using Team Snagem as a scape goat, and having them arrested, we neglected to consider the fact that not having them means we have nobody to cover up for our 'minor mistakes'."
"So find someone else for me to chase, I can only falsify what my officers do for so long!" Jenny yelled furiously.
"Temper my dear… temper…" The snide voice said, though with a chuckle now. "We wouldn't want a 'misunderstanding' right?"
He looked over to Karen to see her eyes wide in surprise.
(Something's wrong… her mind is… blurred…) Sara whispered to him in confusion.
"So here's the thing, the recent Pokenapping today was done by some people. They made such a racket that half the beach saw it happen… and that isn't good for 'our' business. So, we want you to point the blame away and cover up the incident as always."
Silence again as Jenny waited to respond. 'And what do I tell the kid who begged my officer to send out a search party for his Milotic...?" She asked, but now her voice had a hiccup in it.
"Just say you're working on it, I'm sure you can improvise…" The snide voice said with a laugh.
"Wait… what about my Arky?" Jenny asked suddenly. "You said the next time you visited you'd let me see my Arky!"
"Arky… but…" He said in confusion.
(Isn't Arky the name of your teacher?) Sara asked in confusion in well.
"Yea but…" He began saying, but just as he did the second voice spoke up.
"Ah yes… here you go… forgive me but I'm afraid a 'live' connection is impossible… considering where he is." The second voice declared. "But I'm sure this prerecorded video we made today, showing the state of your Arky… is good enough for you. As you can see, he's in good health… but that's only so long as you continue to hold up your end of our bargain. Which reminds me, your sister in Mauville City and her friend found some data regarding our 'Snag Ball' capture mechanisims. We would like if that information 'vanished' within the next few days…"
-SNAP-
Instantly he, Karen and Sara looked at Segan, who's hand was sitting on a snapped twig.
"What was that?!" The voice said.
Quickly, he and the others all ran to the wall and hugged it, trying to stay out of the window's line of sight. Moments later they saw a shadow of a person looking through the window, and he held his breath, hoping they didn't see them.
Seconds passed before a Rattata ran out of the grass and toward the trash can nearby.
"Just a Rattata…" The voice said, before leaving the window. "As I was saying… we'd like the information to mysteriously vanish from the system in the next few days… if you catch my drift."
There was silence again, but this time the snide voice spoke up instead of Jenny.
"I take it we have an understanding… so good that this visit was worth the investment of my time… I'll be in touch…" He said. "Oh… and do clean up here… the air 'reeks'."
The door closed moments later, and after a while they watched a vehicle drive away in the distance, heading toward the pier.
"Come on!" Karen said, grabbing Jacob by the arm and dragging him toward the front of the police station.
"Wait up!" Segan yelled.
They ran toward the front of the station with Sara floating behind them, 'running' but not touching the ground. They reached the front and Karen stormed the front door with him, Segan and Sara following behind.
The only officer on duty was the same officer from earlier, and he watched them enter with a look of surprise.
"What are you…"
"Chief of Police Officer Jenny, where is she?!" Karen demanded, throwing her hands forcefully on the front desk.
"You can't just…"
"Yes we can, we demand to speak with her!" Jacob said now, now furious that the officer from before was trying to stop them from learning the truth about Coral's whereabouts. "We know all about whoever that was that just left, they're involved with my Pokemon's kidnapping. We 'demand' to speak with Jenny or else!"
"She… she's in her office down the hall but…" The officer said, but no sooner had he finished, then Jacob lead with Sara and Karen behind him now down toward the office, Segan following behind.
"Beg our pardon, but these kids don't know how to be Slowpokes!" Segan said, gasping for breath.
They ran down the hallway and he saw the 'Chief of Police Officer' Office, and instantly stormed in.
"Officer Jenny I…" He began saying, but stopped and stared as he saw the scene before him.
The desk was littered with papers, clip boards, computer screens, files and folders filled to the brim with papers and other things a Police Chief's desk would have. Yet littering the floor were various empty bottles, carelessly thrown on the floor and discarded. The trash bin nearby was flooded with take-out food wrappers, and along some of the walls were bags stuffed with what he could clearly see was dirty laundry.
Sitting at the desk was an Officer Jenny, her blue hair frayed and unkempt, dirty and with several knots in it. In one hand, she was clutching yet 'another' bottle, and in the other was a glass cup that had been emptied of some kind of liquid he didn't recognize. Her hat was askew and her clothes reeked, but her face had wrinkles and her eyes were bloodshot and had bags.
She was staring right at them as they walked in, without lifting a finger to tell them to stop, only waiting to see if he was going to finish saying his sentence before filling up her glass with more of the bottle's contents, and taking a huge drink from it.
She gulped it down and looked up at them. "Can I… help you?" She asked exhaustedly.
"Uh… I came to… ask about… my Milotic Coral being…" He began saying before she filled her glass and drunk again.
"Please take any inquiries to the front desk, have a nice day…" She said in a dull tone, before taking another drink.
"No, we came to ask 'you'…" Karen said, almost nervously. "You've got to tell us who was that just now, and why can't you help my friend find his Pokemon?"
"I'm afraid that the Mossdeep City police force is unable to assign any new officers to assist in locating your Pokemon, please file a missing Pokemon's report to the front desk, have a nice day." She said dully, sounding more dead with each word she spoke.
"As if, we heard what you said in here!" Karen yelled angrily, stepping forward now. "You're in cahoots with that group, you owe us an explanation, or I swear I'll tell everyone what's really…"
She stopped talking as they heard and saw Jenny now crying in front of them, hiccupping every few seconds and somehow managing to knock over a bottle behind her, sending it rolling away.
"It's true…" She moaned pitifully, trying to pour more of her drink into the glass but spilling most of it on the floor, and only managing to drink a teaspoon of it. "I'm a failure… a pitiful excuse… just say it and get it over with… my sisters would be ashamed if they found out… just yell at me and get it over with…"
She finally let her glass go, sending it to shatter onto the floor and instead, choosing to drink directly from the bottle itself. "Bah…" She gasped as she emptied it in one gulp. "Go ahead and yell… I deserve it… can't even help… a kid find his Pokemon… I'm just a failure… I ought to be shoved into a cage and put on display… with a big old sign that says…" She waved the bottle wildly, almost knocking over a computer screen now. "HERE SHE IS, THE FAILURE JENNY, COME SEE THE NINETH IDIOT OF THE F* ##%G WORLD!"
She shoved the bottle toward the trash can and managed to land it inside, before reaching into her desk, pulling out another bottle, uncorking it, and taking several long gulps from it.
"Some… police chief… am I?" She asked bitterly, before lying her head on the desk. "I've got one job… stop the bad guy… can't even do that right… right?" She looked up at them weary and bloody eyed, her eyes having difficulty focusing on any of them. "Were there six of you here always?"
(Is this… a 'human'?) Sara asked him privately. (Her mind is so… broken… I can't even begin to make heads or tails of her thoughts. They're so erratic… and that's saying it politely.)
Seconds later they heard Segan release Glace and push his way past the two of them with his Froslass. "I think you've had enough to drink Jenny…" He whispered quietly, motioning Glace to the bottle.
She nodded and helped wedge the bottle out of her tight grip, before grimacing and shoving it into a trash bin. Jenny meanwhile looked at her hand as it held the shape of the bottle still, and looked confused, as if she didn't notice the bottle ever being pulled away from her.
"Listen Jenny… you can still help us…" Jacob said warmly, hoping to draw her out of her desperate state. "Please… tell us who took Coral from me… she's one of my best friends… she means the world to me… I need to find her!"
Jenny stared into his eyes with her bloodshot, tired eyes, before sitting straight up in her chair…
Proceeded to stand up…
Stumble toward the window…
And vomit outside through the open window.
They all grimaced and tried to ignore the sound of whatever was expelled from her body outside, splattering to the ground.
She gasped and wiped her mouth before stumbling back to her chair and sinking back in. "I couldn't… even if I could…" She said dully, wiping her mouth. "The people who stole her… are professional thieves who… steal Pokemon from trainers."
She now began crying as she held her head.
"Besides… even if I could… I can't… they'd hurt my 'Arky' or worse…" She moaned.
"Arky?" Karen asked.
In response Jenny shoved a player into their faces, slammed the play button, and showed them a video clip.
The clip showed sixteen seconds of a caged Pokemon from four different angles, the Pokemon in question was an Arcanine, wearing a metal collar, eating a meal much too small for its normal dietary needs that he saw. The meal consisted only of a small bowl of berries, and it was suffering from malnutrition, evidenced by its very bony appearance. It was sitting in a cage that was barely large enough to hold it and was lit by a single spotlight. His legs were thin and showing signs of muscle atrophy, even his fur showed that he had not been properly bathed in 'years'
The time index showed that it was captured that morning.
"My Arky… they stole him when I let him out one morning for exercise while I worked on a case involving Team Snagem years ago…" She said with a hiccup. "Ever since then, they've used him to blackmail me and force me to help them. If I say 'anything' he dies… if I don't do as they say, they lower the 'care' he gets… if I even 'think' of resisting, they'll experiment on him and make me watch after its happened. I can't even give him a message to comfort him… they won't let me say 'anything' to try and make him feel better…"
"I just want my Arky back… I want my Arky… I husst nnt my Arky…" She cried tearfully, sobbing heavily into the desk.
(Sara's PoV)
Sara watched as the Officer Jenny sobbed for a full three minutes into her desk, unable to speak and mumbling gibberish the entire time. It broke her heart to see a once strong woman, forced into such a position, left all but broken and unable to fight back lest the one she cherished suffer for it. She knew that if Jacob were threatened in any way, she would use her full power, as she once did, to ensure his safety against anything. Jacob too was of the same mind, if she or any of the others were harmed, he would do anything to take care of them.
Yet now Jacob was in a similar position, and she felt it gnawing at his mind. His friend Coral was in trouble, and he could do 'nothing' to help her.
But she did not want that to happen, they had to do something, Coral had once evolved specifically to save the trainer who believed in her from the bottom of her heart. She had pushed herself beyond her normal strength, simply because she wanted to make him proud of her.
And despite her confused state when she was in heat, she cared deeply for Jacob.
(We must do something Jacob…) She said determinedly, looking at him directly.
*But what can we do Sara…* He thought privately, looking at her sadly. *Coral could be anywhere… and Jenny can't help us or she risks her Arcanine being hurt!*
(Yes, but she can help us find someone who 'might' know!) She said knowingly, as she suddenly realized who the third mind belonged to that she had sensed.
*Who?*
(She said that the people who stole Coral were 'professional thieves'… Ask her if she knows a Pokemon Thief?)
(Jacob's PoV)
"Uh…" He said, looking to Jenny as she was still sobbing. "Do you know any… Pokemon Thieves?"
Jenny looked up at him and hiccupped. "We have a Pokemon Thief in custody… down below." She said dully. "He's a Pokemon Hunter I had to put the blame on for a Lopunny abduction months ago… even if he never even saw a Lopunny before being caught by my officers."
"Wait… you put a Pokemon Hunter behind bars just to…" Karen began saying before Jenny snapped.
"I HAD TO!" She yelled. "IF I DIDN'T DO 'SOMETHING' PEOPLE WOULD GET ANGRY, I HAD TO SHOW WE WERE DOING *hic*…"
She hiccupped and stopped yelling, looking very shaky on her feet before collapsing onto the chair.
"It was… either that… or…" She said bitterly. "Arky suffers… I had no choice… I just had… no choice… besides… he's a hunter… Hunters aren't saints, nobody complained about me fingering the blame at him…"
They were quiet before Jacob asked, "What's the hunter's name?"
"I don't know… Zarak or something…" She said.
"Zarak?" All three of them yelled at once. "You have Zarak here?"
She looked up confused, but it was hard to tell because her confused look was the same as her 'bitter' look in her drunken state.
"You know him?" She asked.
"Yes… he's a friend, he helped us rescue Sara and Glace a year ago!" Jacob said, and both Glace and Sara nodded in agreement.
"Hey… doesn't he know the Pokeblack Market?" Karen asked. "Pokemon Hunters would know all about that stuff… you think…"
"Yes, if she were stolen, then they'd want to sell her!" Segan said instantly. "They'd take her to the Pokeblack Market, and from there…"
"We could find the group that took Arky from Jenny!" Jacob finished.
He looked to Jenny and saw that her eyes had barely followed the conversation they'd just had.
"Jenny, you've got to help us, take us to Zarak and let him help us find Coral!" He said. "We promise you we'll help rescue Arky."
She shook her head and began reaching for another bottle. "I can't… he's been convicted and sentenced to prison time… if I let him out…" She began saying before Jacob finally lost his patience.
He slammed his hands on the desk and yelled, "Do you want your friend back or not?!"
There was silence as everyone, even Jenny, stared at him.
"He's your friend… you care about him… you're his trainer…" He said in barely suppressed anger. "You're supposed to take care of him… that's what you are supposed to do as a 'Trainer'… you want to rescue him but you can't without risking hurting him… right now your Arcanine is suffering, alone and in some dark room, barely fed and in a cage…"
He began to cry as he thought about Coral in a similar position, alone and afraid, unsure of where her trainer was or if he was trying to find her, only having her belief that he 'would' find her to go on.
"Right now my Coral is in trouble, she's alone and afraid, in some dark room hoping I'll save her… she needs me… and Zarak is my best chance now of finding her. So please… let me save my Milotic… let me save my friend… I promise you… I PROMISE… I 'will'… find your Arky… and save him… and bring him back to you…"
She just stared at him for a while, before she got up, wearily walked to the wall… and took a key off a rack. "Come on then kid…" She muttered, before stumbling toward the door.
They headed down a flight of stairs, past the front desk, and down to a row of jail cells. Most were unoccupied but at the far end, one cell was locked up and had a person lying in bed on it.
It was indeed Zarak, his hat was askew and his clothes slightly wrinkled, but he was the same person they had seen leaving on the back of his Salamence with a Growlithe in toe.
"Zarak!" Jacob yelled.
Zarak mumbled as he began to stir, and he wearily opened his eyes to see who was yelling at him.
"Huh…" he said in confusion before focusing. "Well I'll be… it's the kid and crew! Look at you, a Gardevoir and everything…"
"Zarak, do you know the Pokeblack Market?" He asked instantly.
"The Pokeblack Market?" Zarak asked, stretching. "Why yes… yes I do… that's where I get my clients for the jobs I do… why you ask?"
"We need you to help us find Coral, Jacob's Milotic." Karen said, walking up next to him. "She was kidnapped by some thieves, we think maybe they took her to the Pokeblack Market to sell… please, you've got to help us and take us to the market so we can find her."
"That… kid… no way." He said grimly, going back to his bed. "As much as I like seeing you kids again, I aint taking a couple of kids there. Besides I'm heading to prison… not like they'll just let me off the hook…"
"But you're the only one we can trust to help us." Segan said with Glace nodding in agreement. "If you don't, Coral is gone forever…"
"I would… but I can't." He said simply. "First, I am in here… second, my Pokemon were confiscated, before I'd do anything I'd need my Pokemon again." Then he looked at them with one eye. "And third, I don't do anything for free, I have a fee that I demand for my services. You could offer me freedom but that aint enough to feed me and my Pokemon… so you need to pay me before I help you…"
"What… why you sleazy little…" Karen began saying, but Jacob intervened.
"Fine… I'll pay you!" He said. "I have fifty thousand saved… please… it's all I have… I'm begging you… I just want my friend back…"
Zarak watched him for several minutes before he sighed and sat up.
"Fifty thousand huh… normally my fee is five plus it depends on the Pokemon I'm 'hunting'… your undercutting for Milotic but… since I know you… I'll help you." He grinned as he glanced at them all. "Well, you just hired yourself Zarak the Pokemon Hunter kid, once I have my Pokemon and we're ready, I'll take you to the Pokeblack Market and track down your Milotic…"
=Minutes later outside=
"Ah… the free air…" Zarak said as he had his Pokemon's Pokeballs on his belt, and his hat flapping in the night air.
"Now let's get one thing straight…" Jenny said, walking up to stand in front of Zarak. "You are going to help these kids get their Milotic back… and then, you help them rescue my Arcanine… as well as the 'Lopunny' I charged you with, before you even 'think' of taking off again."
"Hey now, that wasn't part of the…" He said before Jenny grabbed him by the arm, twisted it back, and shoved a tracker into his neck, sticking it to his skin with super glue.
"Listen here you little… I am drunk, I am upset, I haven't slept good in weeks, and I haven't had a proper bath in months." She growled fiercely. "So when you find that Lopunny and my Arcanine is when you can come back and have this tracker removed. But if you even 'think' of trying to run away or shut it off, I'll call the rangers and have them arrest you and thrown in jail so fast, it'll be like you were hit by Extreme Speed!"
"Now unless you want to spend all night smelling my drunk breadth in your nose and hearing my bad voice in your ear, you will agree to help these kids find their Milotic AND my Arcanine… and that Lopunny! Understand…?"
Zarak grimaced and nodded, saying he would help them, then he was released and allowed to go with Jacob and the others.
"Alright, let's go… Salamance can't carry all of us, so we have a problem." He said.
"Latias can carry me and Sara I think." He asked Sara, who nodded.
"Hey kid…" Jenny said, calling him over as they began making flying arrangements.
He and Sara walked over to her and looked at her weary eyes. "Please kid… bring my friend back to me… I miss him so much…" She said hopefully. "He's so important to me… he's the only thing I have in this world that brings me real joy, that makes this job bearable. Without him… well… you see what I look like."
"I will Jenny… I will bring him back to you." He said sternly.
(We will not fail you.) Sara said confidently.
Jenny leaned over and hugged him tightly, crying a little as she did. "You're my last hope kid… please… don't let me down… I can't take losing my last hope… if you don't bring him back… I'll… I just…" She pulled away and wearily smiled. "Just bring him back… alright? He's late for dinner and… he probably needs a bath…"
He nodded and left, taking Latias' ball and preparing to release her so they could soar into the night. He and Sara knew that this time, failure was not an option.
Coral was not the only one who was depending on them now… two other Pokemon were depending on them.
An Arcanine and a Lopunny, both taken from their trainers were depending on them.
Their lives depended on him, Sara, and the others finding the Pokeblack Market and rescuing not only Coral, nit also locating the people who stole Arky the Arcanine and rescuing him.