~The Heart~
As the smoke around the blasted door continued to clear the new figures began becoming more and more clear to Aaron and Ash. Anabel, with a similar duffle bag around her shoulder, Kidd Summers, and Pikachu. Behind her, Anabel's Lucario calmly walked into the room and came to a stop behind the purple haired girl.
"Anabel? Kidd?!" Ash asked.
"Hey there, stud." Anabel responded.
"How's it been, kid. Long time, no see." Kidd waved.
Anabel quickly pulled out a pokeball and turned pointing it at the Lucario. "Thanks for the opening, Lucario." She praised returning the pokemon. She turned back around and looked at Aaron with a triumphant face. Pikachu wasted no more time and jumped off Anabel's shoulder.
"Pika!" He yelled sprinting towards Ash. "Pikachu!" He barked again closing the gap between them.
"Pikachu!" Ash returned kneeling down and opening his arms. "C'mere buddy!" Pikachu jumped into his arms and nuzzled up against his cheeks. "I missed you!"
"Pika?"
"I'm never goin' anywhere without you again." Ash promised.
"A touching reunion, truly." Aaron said clasping his hands together. "But with this comes a choice, I believe." Aaron said looking at Ash.
"That's enough out of you!" Anabel ordered. "We're taking Ash home right now, right Kidd?" Beside her Kidd gave Ash a quick nod. Ahead of them Aaron raised an eyebrow and quickly put a finger to his comm. "We got to go, Ash." Anabel said. "I don't know how long Clemont and the others can hold out."
"How right you are." Aaron interrupted. "Butler, feed 12 on the big screen." He ordered. Behind Aaron, his computer lit up with the image of Clemont, Bonnie, Max, Meowth, Molly, and Abel all being escorted down a long hallway with their hands up in the air, save for Clemont who had one arm protectively around Bonnie. Aaron looked over his shoulder at the monitor. "Though I must admit, they put up a much better fight than I thought they would. If only they had a little more firepower...oh, well," He shrugged. "can't change what's done."
"You don't know what you're getting into." Ash warned. "Clemont's smart, too smart for you."
"Smart, you say..." He said stroking his chin. "I have been low on help. Butler, can you hear me?"
'Yes, sir. What are your orders?'
"That group that was just brought in, contact Silver and tell him to pod everyone except for the one in the blue jumpsuit. I think we found our replacement scientist for the one I had to 'let go'... on second thought, leave the Meowth too. A talking Pokemon would be quite the asset as well." He ordered. "He seems to have a connection to the little blonde girl."
'It's his sister.' Butler replied.
"Good. Separate the two. Explain to him his situation, then have him taken to Lab 1 and put him to work." Aaron ordered. "Those intruders should be detained by now. And I want those prisoners handcuffed! That's just basic protocol."
"Leave them alone." Ash ordered. "It's me you want not them."
"Ash, I will not be ordered around by a teenager. I built this business from the ground up, and therefore I can employ whoever I please. And now I want your friend. If he's smart, then he'll do good work. Ever since starting my conquest, I've been running out of pods. They're all being used. So, I need new ones built immediately."
"Conquest? What conquest?" Ash demanded.
"Pika! Pika! Pi! Chuu!" Pikachu said pointing his leg at Aaron. "Pikaaa." He growled.
"What's he saying?" Kidd asked leaning towards Anabel.
"He was just explaining how Aaron's responsible for the kidnappings of hundreds of innocent people. People he still has in his custody." Anabel scowled. Of course, Kidd knew that, Anabel's explanations of Pikachu's words were more a way of letting Ash know.
"What?!" Ash said glaring at Aaron. "That was you?!"
"Honestly, as soon as I showed the first of your captive friends, Misty, in my possession, I figured you would've put two and two together. It was a pretty obvious distinction to make." Aaron responded.
"She's not my friend, I don't care about her." Ash barked. "Not since she helped hurt Pikachu."
Aaron chuckled. His chuckles soon turned into a full out laugh. "Oh, Ash. Believe it or not, I have quite a bit of respect for you, so I'll let you in on a little secret, Misty never hated you. Neither did May or your Unova pals."
"What?! Of course, they hated me! They betrayed me! They hurt Pikachu and never contacted me again! They-"
"They didn't hate you. They were envious of the success you had, they hated how you never contacted them, they hated how you seemed to replace them every so often, they even doubted you could make it as a master, all that was true, but did they hate you, specifically? No. But all it took was for me to take that anguish, anger, doubt and envy and amplify it to the hundredth degree and boom!" He said smacking his hands together. "Instant hate. But you-" He said pointing at Anabel. "you and the others. Couldn't you have been the least bit jealous?" He groaned. "You've become quite the thorn in my side."
"Of course, I wasn't jealous." She said placing a hand to her heart. "Love means being happy when the one you love succeeds."
"And it's that sickly sweet love that prevented me from corrupting you. I should have just had you taken away. You and Brock should have been just as easily manipulated, but for some reason I couldn't find a hint of ill will."
"You failed with Max and Dawn too." Anabel reminded.
"Yes, but I still managed to work them into the plan by playing on their doubts. You two, however, alluded me."
"It was you? They never hated me?" Ash said a tear rolling down his face. "You set it all up? Even Oak shooting Pikachu?"
"Pika..." Pikachu growled from Ash's arms. "Pika!"
"Didn't it ever occur to you that their anger was out of character and came from nowhere? Who just up and turns on their friend like that? It's ridiculous." He asked. "But you were too busy being angry to question anything like why they were doing it, you chalked it all up to them hating you."
"They shot Pikachu and you suggest I just turn around and discuss their actions over tea?" Ash shot back.
"Wait a minute... all of this is impossible!" Anabel yelled. "I was there, nothing was influencing their minds! I would have felt it."
"Little girl, your empathic abilities are hardly up to par with my aura manipulation." Aaron mocked. "I take offense to you even insinuating that you could've caught me in my tracks."
"So, then my pokemon, they were manipulated and Delia, and Oak-"
"No. Oak and Delia were both acting of free will. Oak was so easily corrupted. Dangle some power and safety in front of him and he jumped at the chance. And Delia and I have a... history... together. I honestly believed all of your pokemon would stick with you as well, but low and behold Oak convince the majority to join him."
"That still doesn't explain why May or anyone else never contacted Ash to tell him the truth." Kidd added. "The May I knew wouldn't have given up so easily."
"Couldn't have it happen." Aaron said simply. "The little black-haired boy, Max, ran off immediately after you left the corral, off into the sunset, and as your friends began to come off of the high of emotions I had emphasized, I had Oak capture them." Aaron continued.
"But I saw opportunity in young Max so I kept his sister May out there as my puppet to continue manipulating his emotions until he finally sought you out, throwing you into your terrible mood that led you to me. Then once he came to Kalos, I captured his sister and brought her here."
"What about Pikachu? And Gary?" Ash asked angrily. "Were you behind that too?"
"Of course not. Oak burned his lab of his own free will. And be as cruel as I am to the human race, I would never hurt a pokemon in the way Oak hurt Pikachu. I had no idea he would go so far, so I offered to heal your Pikachu as long as you joined me."
"They were my friends," Ash started taking a step forward.
"They were weak!" Aaron snarled. "None of them had half the drive you do. I did you a favor severing your ties with them."
"And you turned them against me!" Ash continued. "You've been manipulating me from the start!" Ash yelled with tears in his eyes. He took another step.
"Maybe, but it's all been for the greater good for you, Ash. I may have amplified their envy, hate, and doubt, but in order for that to happen they had to at least somewhat be angered at and doubt you in the first place." Aaron said.
"You're the reason my life has been so rough over the last year! All for what? Me to join your stupid dictatorship?!"
Anabel tried to rush ahead to join Ash but was stopped by Kidd's arm folding out in front of her before she could move. Anabel turned her head towards Kidd. Kidd shook her head. "This is his fight. Let him handle it. We're here for support if he needs it." She nodded and looked back to Ash and Aaron. "Why are you telling us all this?" Kidd asked. "You're just damning yourself here."
"It's likely you were going to find out eventually. All it takes is one loudmouth." Aaron replied. "It also serves to show the extent of my influence. Besides, there was no point in hiding it anymore, I have everything under control now that all the assailants from outside have been caught."
"You're going to start making up for what you've done right now by healing my Pikachu. If not..." Ash dug into his pocket and pulled out his only remaining pokeball. "things are going to get ugly...for you."
"Sadly, that's not how this works. You know the whole story now, so you know the extent to which I'll go to get what I want. I want you by my side, and if you comply, I'll help Pikachu."
"And what about my friends? Anabel? Kidd? Serena?" Ash asked. "Once I join you, are you just going to throw them in pods and steal their aura?"
"As long as you stay by my side, and they stay out of my way, I see no reason why we can't be friends, or at least bitter acquaintances." Aaron said.
"Ash don't do it." Anabel said. "We can find another way to help Pikachu. We don't need him."
"There is no other way. Unless you expect Arceus herself to descend to the Earth to heal a single Pikachu, something that's never been done." Aaron prodded.
"Think of all he's done Ash!" Kidd joined in. "Can you be sure that what he says will happen will? The whole procedure could be a bust."
~Lower Levels~
Professor Sycamore and Tory were currently around the corner from the room where all the captives were being held in containment pods. They had recently watched as both Ritchie and Trip were wheeled in the dark room by two male grunts. What the grunts didn't know was that Plusle and Minun followed them inside. The grunts left the room moments ago but Plusle and Minun still hadn't opened the door.
"This is taking too long." Tory said turning to Sycamore. "What if they were caught? They could be in real trouble." He whispered.
"Have faith young one." Sycamore took a look at his watch. "We'll give it another three minutes, before we go in guns-a-blazin'." The two's conversation was cut off by a loud scraping noise. The two men turned their attention back to the door to find it wide open. At the very opening of the door was Tory's Plusle giving them a happy wave.
"Come on!" Tory said rushing to his friend. He sprinted to the door and came to a stop beside Plusle. "Good job, buddy." Plusle quickly climbed up Tory's legs and torso and perched herself on his left shoulder. "Where's Minun?" Tory turned to his right to find Minun already perched on his other shoulder. "Whoa. Hey."
"Come on, Tory-boy! We've got captives to save." Professor Sycamore said rushing into the room.
"Wait for us!" Tory said running after him, Plusle and Minun clenching his shoulders for support. They made their way into the room and the doors slammed shut behind them. Tory quickly scanned his surroundings. It wasn't even a room, really. More like another hallway. The middle portion was really bare, nothing but a bunch of weird looking pieces of technology and a couple hovering vehicles.
The left and right though, was much more interesting. Pod after pod as far as the eye could see stretching the length of the hallway/room on both sides with an unconscious victim in each pod. They seemed to be arranged alphabetically too.
"Pull up a flyer, my boy." Professor Sycamore said. Tory looked to his left to see the good professor standing on one of the hovering vehicles. "Let's go!" He prodded.
"But I don't know how to drive one of those things!" Tory argued. "Maybe I should just walk?"
"This'll be much faster. It's easy, I remember from my grad days in Oblivia. Just hit the red button lean in the direction you want to go and the Flyer will follow suit."
"Alright." Tory said unsure. He jumped on the nearest Z.Z. Flyer and hit the red button located on the foremost part of the handlebars and stood in amazement as its engine began roaring, he leaned to the right and slowly approached the professor.
"Good show." Professor Sycamore said smiling at him. "Now we need a game plan. There are way more pods than I anticipated."
"Well I hate to play favorites," Tory said. "but maybe we should find our friends first, then worry about the other hostages?" He suggested.
"Not the altruistic choice but it sounds good to me." Sycamore said.
"They're all arranged by last name, problem is I only know first names. What do we do?"
Sycamore clicked his tongue a couple times and shook his head. "Fear not, no one enters my lab without a background check. Not Ash Ketchum. Not Ritchie Jayne. And not you, Tory Lund."
"So who's first alphabetically, then?" Tory asked.
Sycamore paused for a moment. "That would be..." He trailed tapping his chin. "James."
"Team Rocket James?" Tory groaned facepalming. "Fine. I suppose he did come to help so..."
"His last name is Cathcart. To the C's!" Sycamore yelled. He leaned forward and the Z.Z. Flyer zipped down the hallway. Luckily whoever designed the room wanted to make easier to organize too so each pod was labeled with the name of the person inside.
Tory slowly moved behind Sycamore at a much slower pace quickly falling behind. "Mi-Nun!" The blue pika-clone exclaimed from the right shoulder.
"Sorry! I've never even ridden a bike before and now you want to be a pilot of this weird hoverboard?! It's not my fault!" Tory shot back. Plusle jumped off Tory's shoulder and onto the standing pad and took a quick look around. "What are you doing Plusle? Please don't do anything-"
"Plu! Plu!" The little mouse shouted releasing as much electricity out of her little body as possible and siphoning it into the Flyer. With the boosted energy wave the Flyer flew forward at an alarming rate towards Professor Sycamore.
Professor Sycamore's Flyer came to a stop in front of a single pod. He turned his head to find a familiar bluenette locked inside, seemingly asleep.
"Look out, Professor!" Tory yelled. Professor Sycamore looked behind him to see Tory charging towards him. Sycamore hopped off the Flyer just in time. Plusle stooped releasing electricity and Tory's flyer crashed into Sycamore's. Tory flipped over both and landed on his back and both Plusle and Minun soared above him before plummeting and landing on his stomach. "Ouch." Tory said. Plusle and Minun both got back up and began jumping up and down on Tory's chest.
"Plu!" "Nun!" They both cried happily. Tory dragged himself back up and scooped up the two mice. "No, we're not going again and I forgive you, by the way!" He scolded. "Did you find him?" Tory asked joining the professor.
"Yes, though those Flyers aren't going to do us any good anymore." Sycamore said turning his attention to the two wrecked speeders. "They're quite fragile."
"Plu!" Plusle said crossing her arms in defiance. "Plusle."
"That's what I get for having pranksters for best friends." Tory sighed. "But let's focus on James, here. How do we get him out?"
"From what I could gather from base appearances, they definitely have limited power in and of themselves. So, if we cut the exact chord that transfers the extra power, we could cut off any further use for them or we could find what's powering them in the first place.
"So just cut all the chords! Problem solved." Tory suggested.
"No, no. It has to be the right chord, otherwise the resulting imbalance of power could envelop the entire tube in a deadly shock and with them surrounded by all that water..." Sycamore let his silence spell the rest out for the young boy.
"Okay, bad idea, I get it. So how do we tell what's what?" Tory asked.
"Well, it looks like the bulk of the machinery is located here." He said pointing to a metal casing located below the glass tube. He pulled out a pokeball. "Garchomp!" He said throwing the ball into the air. "I need you!"
A bright light took the form of a giant humanoid shark before it faded to reveal Sycamore's trusty Garchomp. "Gar!"
"Okay Garchomp, see that metal casing? I need it gone without damaging everything inside. Think you can do that?"
"Chomp!" He stretched out his arms as it roared. "Gar!" He extended his arm a lightspeed digging his nails into the metal casing. He reared his arm back tearing the metal clean off the machine revealing a motherboard of chips and wires of all shapes and sizes.
"How was nothing damaged with that move?" Tory asked in amazement.
"Garchomp prides himself on his precision." Sycamore said smirking. "Now onto the hard part."
~Lower Levels~
~Outside the Collection Room~
Bonnie, Molly, Max, and Abel, now handcuffed per Aaron's orders were standing outside the same room Tory and Professor Sycamore happened to be occupying at the moment. Clemont and Meowth had already been taken from the group by two older men in lab coats. Now the remaining four were being taken to where everybody who's been captured over the course of a year were being held hostage. The group was being escorted by two young male grunts.
While the two grunts weren't looking Bonnie leaned towards Max. "I thought you said you had a plan." She growled quietly.
"I've been waiting for the right moment." Max replied. "They're watching us like fearows."
One of the grunts looked over his shoulder and glared. "Quiet you two! No talking."
"You guys are gonna be sorry once my brother comes back for me." Bonnie threatened. "He's not just gonna let you lock me away!"
"Guess there's no point in the 'no talking' rule. Your brother doesn't have a choice. None of us do." The first grunt replied. "Once you're podded, Aaron will be able to make your brother do whatever he wants. Like a little puppet."
"Is that why you're here?" Max asked. "Does he have your sibling?"
"I'll let you in on a little secret since you're gonna be locked away anyways. Most people here are just normal, good willed people. There are a few higher ups that don't have the greatest of intentions, but most of us are here because somewhere in that room," He said pointing ahead. "is someone connected to us. Brothers, sisters, moms, dads, friends, anyone special. As long as we do what we're told, he doesn't hurt them. Soon your brother will be in the same position as the rest of us, a slave."
"So why don't you help us? We can get your loved ones out of here!" Max said. "Just release our bonds and we can help!"
"If I help you that psycho will age my little sister up 'till she's old enough to be my grandma! And you're not worth that. Silver, open the door. I'm done talkin'."
The boy called Silver leaned over and let the retina scanner beam his eye. 'Access granted.' The doors slowly opened and the first grunt gestured for the group to go inside.
As they walked in the four captives took in the view of the hundreds of people in suspended animation all around them.
"Whoa." Molly said. "This place is almost as big as my bathroom!"
"Alright." Silver said. "I'll take blondie and the rich kid over here. Smart aleck and the minun boy both belong over in the 'M's. Once done we're supposed to-" Silver turned back around to find two people he'd never seen before messing with one of the pods. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?! This is a restricted area!" Silver said reaching into his pocket. "Bill, help me check these two jokers out!" Bill nodded and followed Silver.
"Uh...Professor?" Tory whispered. "We've been caught."
"Yes, yes, I heard them. Just stall them okay?" Sycamore said in response. "I'm on the brink of a breakthrough here."
"Kid! Can we see some authorization?"
"Why? Can't you see there was a malfunction in this pod?! We need to fix it before there's any permanent damage!" Tory ordered.
"I wasn't informed of any malfunction in the pod." Silver said crossing his arms. "I'm going to need to call this in." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his comm. Plusle jumped straight from Tory's shoulder and into Silver's arms. "What the-" Plusle quickly swiped the comm and jumped to the ground scurrying away. "Hey!" Silver yelled. He began chasing after the little mouse. "Bill stop these two from doing anything else!" He called behind him. "Get back here you little rat!"
Back with the other four Max was in the middle of putting his plan into action. He pulled his leg back and kicked at Abel's thigh. "Ow! What the hell, Max?!"
"Sorry, Abel. Gotta get Jirachi out of your pocket. Just keep the screams to yourself." He kicked at the pocket once again, this time hitting at just the right angle to knock a pokeball out of his pocket and into the air. Max struggled with the bonds trying to flip his hand over. He managed to flip his hand up just in time to catch the pokeball. "Got it!" He used his thumb to hit the small button and the ball opened up releasing the wishmaker.
'Hi Max!' Jirachi greeted happily. 'Is it over?'
"Jirachi, I wish these metal bonds were replaced with plastic toy cuffs." Max said. "Everyone else's too."
'But that's stealing!'
"Pretty sure hundreds of lives are worth more than twenty pokedollars, quickly!" Max argued. He held his bonds right in front of Jirachi's face. Jirachi lifted his hands in the air as it was enveloped in a bright white light. He gently touched Max's cuffs and in seconds Max could feel the material change. His hands felt lighter, the material wasn't as cold, and he had gained much more wiggle room.
"Perfect." He smirked. He used all his strength pushing both arms away from each other violently. The little plastic chains connecting the cuffs easily broke apart and Max pushed the remaining plastic rings to the floor. "Thanks, Jirachi. Now do the others."
'Alright.' He said floating over to Abel.
"Where are you getting these?" Abel asked.
'Remember that novelty toy store we came across in Hoenn?' Jirachi asked. He touched his magic hand to the metal cuffs transforming them into plastic.
Abel quickly mirrored Max's former movements breaking the toy into pieces. "Oh, yeah." He replied flicking his wrists sending the remaining pieces to the floor. He looked ahead to see Tory being manhandled by Bill. "C'mon Max! We gotta help what's-his-name!" Max nodded and ran after him.
Tory wrestled with the boy for a moment before Bill grabbed him by the neck violently stopping his fight. In response Minun let out a powerful, painful shock at the boy. As soon as the electrification was through Bill coughed once before stumbling. Taking the chance, Max charged at shoved the boy to ground before he could regain his footing. "Thanks, Minun. Maybe lower the voltage next time, though." He turned to the younger boy "Max!" Tory exclaimed. "Am I glad to see you! I'm not much of a fighter." He admitted.
"Well we're here, now." Abel said joining the two. "And we can fight."
"No, we can't." Bonnie interrupted. She, Molly, and Jirachi joined the group as well rubbing their newly freed hands. "We don't have any pokemon."
"Eureka!" Professor Sycamore exclaimed jumping up.
"What?" Bonnie asked.
"I've done it! I've cracked the system! I may not be any type of mechanic or computer tycoon but I'd bet my PhD that that's the wire we need to cut!" He said pointing to the thickest wire on the panel.
"Hey!" They all turned to see Silver with Plusle in a headlock and his comm back in his other hand. Behind him floated one of his Darkrai. "Back away from the tube." He ordered. "Or your dreams will be particularly nightmarish for the next few weeks."
"Wait!" Bonnie said. "You guys said you couldn't help because your loved ones were locked up in here. We can free them!" Bonnie tried. "Let Professor Sycamore try one thing quick and then if you're not happy, we surrender." She reasoned.
"On one hand we succeed and help you save whoever you lost, or we fail, you detain us, throw us in pods, and your boss will hail you as heroes who stopped an uprising." Max added. "You can't lose."
"The rat doesn't get let go until I see some results." He said tightening his grip on Plusle. "And no funny business!"
Bonnie nodded. "Okay professor, go ahead." She insisted.
"But what if I'm wrong? This is just an educated guess at best!" Sycamore panicked.
"You said you'd bet your PhD!" Molly reminded.
"Those words had no weight to them!" Sycamore replied. "It was the heat of the moment!"
"Do what you're gonna do or no deal." Silver warned. "You've got two minutes to show me something incredible."
Sycamore nodded and kneeled down and took a deep breath. "I need something sharp." Sycamore said turning back to the group. "Quickly people!"
"Jirachi!" Abel said turning to the wishmaker. I wish for a broken shard of glass!" Jirachi nodded and in a blip of light a single shard of glass fell into Abel's hands.
'Don't cut yourself.'
"Incredible." Silver said. "A real wishmaker." He shook the amazement out of his head and turned his attention back to his task. "Don't try anything with that shard."
Abel handed the shard to Professor Sycamore. He gripped it tightly before slashing it across the intended wire. It fizzled and sparkled for a moment before becoming completely powerless. Sycamore raised his head to face the tube holding James.
Nothing happened.
"Damn it!" Sycamore cursed. "So much for my PhD."
"Don't worry." Molly said putting a hand on his shoulder. "When we get out of those tubes, I'll buy you a new one." She said.
"Alright, you had me going for a moment but you blew it. Bill, get up, you lazy bastard! We got people to detain." Silver ordered. From the ground Bill fidgeted and let out a moan. Silver shook his head at him. "Good help is hard to find. I request that all pokemon be returned to their pokeballs before the podding process or they will be confiscated. The process is painless and-"
"Wait look!" Max said pointing at the pod. Everyone watched in amazement as the fluids inside the tube began to drain out of the machine. The water level slowly descended past his torso and James's eyes began to slowly open. The door to the tube flung open and James fell face first out of the contraption.
"Somebody catch him!" Bonnie yelled.
He fell into the open arms of Professor Sycamore. "His eyes finally opened all the way and he began regaining consciousness. "What happened?" He asked. He looked at the professor then back at the tube he was locked in. "Where am- Jessie! Meowth!" He yelled. He stumbled to his feet. "Where?"
"Meowth is fine." Max said. "Jessie's somewhere in one of these tubes. Stay calm, and we'll help you get her out, right?" He said turning to Silver. "Sycamore did it. We can all be allies now."
Silver nodded. He released his grip around Plusle. The little mouse dropped to the floor, landing on her feet. She made her way back to Tory and scaled his body before nuzzling up against his cheek.
"Great. We're all on the same side here, right?" Sycamore asked. Everyone nodded in response. "Good then we split up. There are way too many tubes for us to do this one by one. Break into groups and start breaking people out." Sycamore ordered. Silver nodded and sprinted off down the hallway presumably to find the person close to him.
"It's about time I got my free will back!" Bill exclaimed. "I'm coming Jackie!" He called running after Silver.
"We're gonna need the help of our pokemon to break these people out. I'm gonna have to ask Jirachi to break his 'no wishes' rule one more time. We need some vitality clumps." Max said.
'Done.' Jirachi said. He waved his arm in the air leaving a trail of max revives in its wake. 'Enough clumps for one pokemon each.'
"We should check for Dawn and Paul too. Just in case that's why we couldn't reach them." Bonnie suggested.
"We need last names though. That's how they're organized." Max said. "Professor?"
"Right." He nodded. "Let's see Jessie is..."
"Knotz!" James interrupted taking off down the corridor before anyone could react. "I'm coming Jessie!"
"Miette McDowell and Trip McGonnigal." Professor Sycamore listed on his fingers.
"'M' category. Great!" Bonnie said. "Come on Molly!" The two rushed to the other side of the room in search of their friends.
"Ritchie Jayne." Sycamore added. "Alain Silver."
"Done." Max said taking off.
"And done." Abel said running after him with Jirachi floating closely behind.
Sycamore looked around. He was alone. "Guess I'll check for Dawn and Paul." He shrugged. "Time to turn the tide." He thought for a moment. "Let's see...Rebolledo? That sounds right. But I'll need a ride." He reached into his pocket. "Garchomp, come out again!" He said releasing his shark pokemon back out into the room. He climbed on top of Garchomp's back. "Glide me to the 'R' section, buddy! Stop if you see Paul!" Garchomp let out a grunt before launching himself off the ground and began his flight down the corridor. On his way down he caught a glance of Max's Grovyle cutting the wire to Ritchie's pod and saw both Molly and Bonnie catching a drowsy Miette from her fall from the pod. Everything was going well.
Garchomp landed and skid to a stop and let out a grunt. Sycamore quickly dismounted his friend and took a look at the pod Garchomp had stopped for. Inside was a familiar purple haired young boy. He had changed his clothes into a black and red sweater jacket and matching pants but other than that you'd of thought they captured him the day he left the lab. "So they did get you. Well my, boy we're here now. Garchomp, the casing."
Garchomp nodded and, just like before, used his superior strength to rip the casing off of the bottom of the machine. "Thanks, Garchomp." He knelt down to the panel and took the piece of glass and slashed the large power wire.
He took a step back as the fluids inside drained. The tube's door flung open and Paul dropped out of the machine into Sycamore's arms. "Paul, my boy? Can you hear me?"
The young teen groaned in response. "What?" He opened his eyes and looked around. He suddenly realized he was being held in Sycamore's arms.
"Aah!" He jolted up with surprising stamina for someone who's been in suspended animation for an indefinite period of time. "You tell no one that you were holding me, got it?!" Paul ordered. "Wait...Dawn! Did it work? Did she get away? Why isn't she here helping?" He barked still struggling to gain his footing
"Does she know where we are? We couldn't reach her."
"I left her the business card of the goon who captured me." Paul said rubbing his temple. "Oh." He groaned. I got a killer headache." He complained.
"Dawn's here." The voice of Molly answered. They both turned around as Bonnie and Molly joined them bring along the newly freed Miette with them. "She saved Clemont earlier, then rushed off before we could talk to her."
"We'll have to find her later." Sycamore said. "She can take care of herself in the meantime. This is more important."
"What's the plan?" Paul asked. "I'm here, might as well play the hero."
"Got a pokemon with any sharp parts strong enough to cut through metal?" Sycamore asked. Paul nodded and threw a pokeball into the air. The resulting light revealed a white and blue quadruped with a long sharp blade attached to the side of its head.
"Picked him up over by Ambrette." Paul said proudly scratching the pokemon's head. "Absol's blade should be more than enough."
"Great. I'll show you how to release the hostages, then split off and release as many as you can. We don't know how much time we have before someone realizes something's up. But I'm guessing it won't be long enough to release everyone in here." Paul nodded.