Chapter 25: Establishing Chaos

The roof gleamed black and reflective, like a shiny new Mercedes in the sun. Layers upon layers of beautiful dusty stone held up the roof, giant cracks running along the stone layers like battle scars. I wanted to reach out and touch—

"Anita, you're staring at it again," Erin said dryly.

"Mmmhm…" I answered. Soon I would be there…

Erin turned to Liam. "I think we've lost her. Maybe when we reach the lab and it's out of sight we'll be able to have an actual conversation…"

My head snapped around. "We're not going to the gym first? Of course we're going to the gym first! We have to go to the gym first!"

"You're a moron," Liam stated.

I would have glared, but there were more important matters to attend to—going to the gym NOW, for instance.

Erin sighed. "Anita, we talked about this ten minutes ago. You mumbled in agreement to everything we said! And I quote, 'So, Anita, we'll go to Professor Blubber's lab today and tomorrow you can challenge the gym leader?' 'Sure, Erin, sound's good.'"

{Did I actually say that?} I asked Apple.

{You mumbled something in response. I suppose it could be interpreted that way. Mumble is a difficult language to translate, it's so often mixed up with murmur and mutter…}

"You also said, and I quote, 'Mel deserves a piggyback ride. I think I'll give him one because he's such an amazing ghost!'" Mel grinned at me happily.

"Shut up, you can float if you want."

"If everyone is through quoting Anita, I think you'd like to notice that we are currently traveling in the wrong direction. Erin, you said we wanted to turn back there." Liam pointed out. Darn him, why did he always ruin my plans. It was too late to shove my elbow into his gut to get him to close his pie hole…

{You couldn't hit him if you tried. Plus, they were obviously going to notice sooner or later that they were heading to the gym. But congratulations on making it a whole twenty feet in the wrong direction! I was convinced you would only make it ten.}

"Anita, come on!" Everyone had already turned around. Erin grabbed my hand, but I stood in place.

"Can't we go to the gym first? Pleeeaase?" Yes, I resorted to begging.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Be serious. Let's go."

"Why don't we take a vote," I stubbornly replied. "All in favor of going to the gym first?" I raised my hand, and so did Mel. I smiled—finally there was someone else on my side! Erin crossed her arms and gave me her stop-it-because-I'm-done-playing look. "Look, I've gotta beat the gym as quickly as possible otherwise Jake is going to be ahead of me forever and he's annoying and you don't like him either so WHY don't you agree with me?"

"This is not about Jake. I have data and samples I collected that need to get to the lab as soon as possible—"

"Here's an idea," Liam interrupted. "You go battle at the gym. We'll deliver the samples." He sharply turned on the ball of his foot and strode down the path toward the lab.

Erin looked at me questioningly. {Is she seriously not coming?} she thought hesitantly before giving me one last fleeting look and scurrying after Liam. I watched her go.

I didn't mean to split us up…

{Then stop being so pea-headed and go after them!}

I turned around and walked towards the gym. I took bigger steps because the walk was uphill. Mel had to take twice as many to keep up.

{Anita, why are you doing this?} Apple asked.

I didn't answer. If Erin and Liam did not want to watch my gym battle, that was fine by me. If they had more important things to be doing—

{They DO have more important things to do! Snap out of it, Anita! You know Erin and Liam… well, at least Erin… support you in everything you do! It's about time you returned the favor!}

I had to avert my gaze from the gym as the sun glinted too brightly off of the roof. I was reminded of Liam's stare—the way he always made me want to avert my eyes… but I would never give him the satisfaction…

{So this is about not giving Liam the satisfaction? Satisfaction of what? Humans and their ridiculous emotions… At least I'll get a good battle out of this.}

We reached the gym. Now I could see that the gym sat on the very tip of Cape Caution. Beyond the gym there was a cliff and then the endless ocean, sparkling in the sunlight. I angrily put my hand on the large metal doorknob, intending to slam the door open—only to be shocked, literally.

I yelped in surprise and quickly pulled my hand back. The door creaked open on its own accord, and I tentatively peaked inside. The room was pitch black.

"Cool!" Mel exclaimed and rushed inside before I could utter a warning, "Wait!" It was almost better to have Scary outside of his Pokeball at times like this. And I had been ecstatic when I discovered Scary even had a Pokeball…

{Yeah, but Scary would only keep Mel from getting hurt, not from causing trouble. Stupid ghost helps Mel create problems,} Apple commented.

{You don't seem to have any qualms when you're the one causing problems,} I said sourly. {You just don't like getting a taste of your own medicine.}

I walked in after the boy, and the door slammed shut behind me. I reached my mind out to sense for life-forms and felt Apple doing the same beside me. I could barely sense a wispy Mel because there was a life so bright—

BZZZZT

Knives cut every inch of my body—not just my skin—but my gut, my lungs, my heart. My knees buckled. I could only think of the pain I was currently enduring—

And then it was gone. My breath came heavily and my mind was sluggish. Where was I? I heard a cackle, and for a moment, I thought Missy was playing an elaborate joke. Then I realized that Missy haunted Erin and Erin was not here and that cackle sounded nothing like Missy's—

Hehehe…

There it was again—it was too deep to be Missy's, but it caused the hairs on my neck to prickle up in fear in a similar manner. Not the same, though. This cackle made the hairs stand up and stay up—the fear was not leaving any time soon.

A too-bright light was ahead of me. I couldn't look at it—it was like the sun's reflection on the roof—I was spinning—

"Welcome to the Cape Caution Gym," a shrill voice seemed to scream. I covered my ears, but I could still hear the voice. "Please choose three Pokemon for battle and one for the prelim."

A gym… brilliant light… the light reflecting off of the gym's roof… knives… Pokemon… I couldn't make sense of the images. My head felt heavy. I felt something tug at my belt…

{ANITA!} Ouch, too loud, too loud… There was more pressure on my head but it was better than the loudness. Cool roundness was in my hand.

"Good, you have chosen." The voice was laughing. Maybe I was funny… now there were lots of dazzling sparkles… "Let the prelim begin."

And all was dark.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"How do you see memories?" I asked Liam, breaking our silence.

"Excuse me?" Liam finally broke his angry stride. By angry stride, I mean in each step he used just a tad too much force, causing bits of dust to come up around his feet.

"You know—what point of view do you see your memories from? See, some people imagine themselves in their memories so the view is more third person, but other people remember their memories exactly how they were, which is obviously first person. Maybe some people do a combination. Like, they see recent memories from first person, but old memories from third person. Haven't you ever had an old memory you kinda remember, but not really? Or a memory you're only reminded of when someone else mentions it so it's muddled and you sort of make up stuff to fill in the blanks? Which could be like third person…"

Usually by this time in a rant, the other person interrupts me out of annoyance. Unless that person is Anita, who often just dazes out. I looked at Liam expectantly. He was incredibly patient, I guess. Or evil and antisocial, if he wasn't planning to answer.

We walked in silence for another two minutes.

Evil and antisocial and patient.

What a horrible combination.

"Are you going to answer me?"

Liam smirked. "Why would I when it's so much more fun not to?"

"Oh, and is that why you never answer any of our personal questions? Because it's more fun not to?"

"Sometimes."

I jumped in front of Liam and pointed accusingly. Now I was walking backwards. "And when you do answer, you're always exceedingly vague…or you just avoid the question altogether!"

Liam rolled his eyes.

I stopped walking, forcing Liam to stop as well. "Listen, buddy, you're not the only one with a less than perfect past! But that does not give you the right to mope around and not answer questions that have nothing to do with the past!"

Liam watched emotionlessly through my lecture. Then, he asked, "Are you going to move?"

I crossed my arms. "Not until you answer."

"Your question did have to do with the past."

I threw up my arms in frustration, swerved around, and continued walking. "Not directly! Ugh, fine. What's your favorite color?"

"Magenta," Liam immediately answered.

I nodded. "Good, I'll remember that for your birthday."

"You don't even know when my birthday is."

"When is it?"

"Why would I tell you when you're going to get me something magenta?" Liam gave me one of his rare, genuine half smiles.

I grinned and yelled, "I got you to smile!" In an instant, Liam was back to being Mr. Empty-face. I skipped around in circles bellowing, "I made Liam smile!" until Liam made a very inappropriate threat involving a dirty shoe we spotted on the side of the road, his broken bicycle, and my ass.

I was still laughing at Liam when a cold shiver ran up my spine. I stopped laughing abruptly, and Liam turned questioning eyes my way.

Ugh, not again…

I was sick of this Misdreavus. Why couldn't Mel just have a Pokeball for her?

"Mehehehe," Missy cackled. This had gone on too long—it was time to take care of this matter myself.

I waited for the unnerving cool breeze on the back of my neck that I knew would follow. Then—

"Griffy, crunch, behind me!" I released Griffy. There was no way Missy could move fast enough to avoid the attack and no way Missy could defend herself—ghost attacks would not affect Griffy.

Griffy's tail bit down into what looked like was air, until Missy became visible in the tail's mouth.

Before the Misdreavus could react, I threw an empty Pokeball at the Pokemon.

Missy's eyes were wide in shock as she was sucked into the little ball. The Pokeball shook once… twice… and then was still. I smirked as I picked up the Pokeball.

"Who's laughing now?" I whispered to the Pokeball before clipping it to my belt.

Liam snickered and started towards the lab again. Now laughing like Missy, I ran after the thoroughly annoyed teen.

It was not long before the red roof shingles of Cape Caution's research laboratory were in view. Just as I expected, I heard Professor Blubber's loud, bubbling voice before we even arrived at the lab. "Erin! Welcome back! How is my favorite assistant?"

Professor Blubber, messy grey hair and all, stood in front of the lab, his arms wide open in welcome.

I ran forward to hug the Professor—he was more than just my employer; he was a good friend of the family, practically an uncle. "I'm great, Professor!" I stepped back and gestured to Liam, who had caught up. "This is my friend, Liam. He researches Pokemon, too!"

Professor Blubber held out his hand and Liam took it. "It's nice to meet you! Who do you do research for?"

I watched Liam curiously. At age thirteen, kids who wanted to become Pokemon researchers usually contacted a professor. If the professor saw fit, he or she would hire the kid to collect data from around Acceber or do lab experiments or fill out paperwork—basically whatever the professor needed. Liam had mentioned the lady he worked for when we first met, but I couldn't remember her name…

"Professor Teal," Liam answered. He shifted ever so slightly. As much as I wanted to trust Liam, there were times I almost understood Anita's original absurd paranoia about him. Sometimes his body language indicated he might not be completely truthful… weird.

"Why, what a coincidence! I just heard from dear Rita for the first time in ages—that woman does keep herself busy. She seems to know more about Pokemon behavior than the rest of Acceber's professors combined. She told me she was starting to dab into genetics—I'm not surprised. That woman is brilliant, and genetics is the newest, greatest research area. She asked me to do a bit of research for her myself, actually. I'll show you once we get inside. Where is she these days? Rita never had a lab of her own; she was always moving about, going wherever her research took her."

Liam shrugged. "Like you said, sir, she moves around a lot. Last I heard, she was in Cereal City."

"No need to be so formal, lad. Just call me Professor Blubber, or Chris. 'Sir' makes me sound like a grandpa or something." Professor Blubber chuckled and ruffled Liam's hair. Liam grimaced and shook his head out when the professor wasn't looking. I stifled a giggle. "So what sort of research does Rita have you doing?"

"A bit of DNA collecting, sometimes. Professor Teal wanted me to discover Acceber for myself. She instructed me to observe Pokemon behavior and how behavior alters in different environments. There's not a lot of data to report; I'm sure she sent me on a journey to gain experience." Another one of Liam's characteristics that bothered me was how he often spoke fairly formally—especially when he was answering personal questions.

Professor Blubber nodded. "I'm honestly surprised to hear she's sponsoring an assistant. Rita was always so absorbed in her work… and busy… and hard to keep up with. It was as if she was not in tune with the rest of the world. She must have a lot of confidence in you if she's made you an assistant researcher." The professor beamed at Liam for a moment. "You must have brains, boy."

I snorted, and Professor Blubber grinned at me, his eyes twinkling. "Well, why are we still standing here? Come on inside!"

I sighed with contentment as Professor Blubber led us into the lab, burying my misgivings about Liam. The metallic-cheesy smell made me nostalgic of the days a few years ago I would come to the lab to watch the professor work. Of course, watching the professor was not my only incentive for coming to the lab.

I smiled as Professor Blubber waved us through the first room on the right.

As always, Professor Blubber took his guests to the kitchen first. The blue-tiled kitchen was just as spotless as when I had left. I sat down on the third wooden stool from the left—the seat I had always taken as a child—and ran my hand over the cold, smooth granite counter. The professor gestured for Liam to sit down and left the room.

"Where's he going?" Liam asked.

"To bring us some of his home-made cheese and crackers. It's seriously the best cheese ever, but Professor Blubber refuses to sell it. He says all cheese is meant to be eaten fresh, and selling it in packages would ruin his 'cheese ethic'. He always gives a sample to visitors of the lab, though. When I was younger, I pretty much came here just for the amazing cheese."

Liam sniffed. "That explains the weird smell."

Professor Blubber returned with a tray of yellow cheese and square crackers. I immediately started shoveling down the food. I had gone without the professor's cheese for too long! Liam picked up a very small piece of cheese and tentatively took a bite. I waited for the moment of enlightenment—

One chew.

Two chews.

And, there it is! Liam's mouth twitched slightly upward. He reached for another piece.

Professor Blubber had also been watching Liam hungrily. He loved watching peoples' reactions to his cheese, almost as much as he loved eating the cheese. In fact, I sometimes worry he eats too much cheese—his belly matches his name.

"So, Erin, tell me what you've done since you left." Professor Blubber said as he reached for a piece of cheese. "And then let me see those samples and your observation journal!"

How long ago was it that I left Cape Caution? A year? I counted backwards—no it had been seventeen months, but it seemed like yesterday I was waving goodbye to Professor Blubber and my family with my best friend, Zach—

I froze, not believing I had actually allowed myself to think of my asshole ex-best friend.

I shook my head and launched into the research-related details of my journey. Some of it, Professor Blubber already knew—I called him at least once every two months.

When we were done snacking and I had handed over the samples, Professor Blubber insisted on giving Liam a tour of the lab.

"It's not very big," Professor Blubber was saying after showing Liam a few empty workspaces and his personal office. "But it works for me. Look here." Professor Blubber opened another dull wooden door.

We followed Professor Blubber through the doorway. Inside the room, there were two closed off habitats. On my left behind glass grew large plants, similar to those I had seen by Apoosh Forest not eight months earlier. The habitat was exceedingly bright above the plants, but shaded below.

The habitat to my right was nearly opposite the one on my left. Snow blew across a dim mini-tundra (it could only be as big as the twenty square foot habitat). The snow in this habitat was higher than my waist, and below the snow, I saw there was a burrow. I leaned in closer, and noticed there was an Eevee lying in the burrow.

"Here I've tried to simulate the environments that cause Eevee to evolve into Leafeon and Glaceon. My most recent project is to figure out what in the environment, exactly, causes them to evolve. So far, I have not even been able to get these Eevees to evolve in my simulated environments…"

Liam and I examined the forest habitat. When I looked closely, I could see an Eevee sleeping in the shadows.

"How long have they been in the habitats?" I asked Professor Blubber curiously.

"Over two-months. I talked to Abalina Sycamore and Niomi Shivicle, the grass and ice gym leaders, respectively, about how they obtained Leafeon and Glaceon. They claimed the evolutions were due to the places they were at the time of evolution, but I cannot seem to prove that the environment causes the evolution."

I thought about Anita's Eevees and considered how Fiery had evolved. It had been exposed to lava…

I repeated my thoughts to Professor Blubber. He stroked his short grey mustache. "Hmm… I think I will have to look into this further. Maybe set up another habitat… In any case, come along! I have to show Liam what his mentor has requested me to work on." The professor led us out of the room and down the windowless hall to a workspace that was not empty.

Like the other workspaces, there were two large grey lab tables on each side of the room. The back wall had three large windows, sunlight lighting up the room so the electric lights were unnecessary. I blushed when I noticed a large burn-mark on one of the lab tables. That mark was from the time I had become a little too curious about how much heat a lab table could withstand… It was one of the few times I remember Professor Blubber angry…

On the non-burnt lab table, there was a… large fish skeleton? There was no sign that the fish had been dissected. There were no guts, no blood, no skin, no flesh—just a clean fish skeleton.

"Jilly, cut it out," Professor Blubber snapped. "What did I tell you about playing dead?"

The fish skeleton shrunk down until it was a blob of pink—a Ditto. "Liam, Erin, meet Jilly, a Ditto given to me by Rita."

Jilly squeaked a hello. "Ditt!"

Liam narrowed his eyes at Jilly and frowned. Professor Blubber went on explaining. "Professor Teal sent me Jilly a couple of days ago. Apparently, Rita is looking for a way to differentiate a transformed Ditto from a Pokemon. She explained that she wanted to test a Ditto's reaction in different environments compared with the actual Pokemon. I only had the two Eevee environments set up at the time so those are the only two Jilly has been tested in."

"And the results?" Liam asked.

I was somewhat surprised—Liam had not asked about anything else on the tour. Then I reminded myself that Liam was an assistant researcher, too. Of course, he was just as inquisitive as me—just quieter.

"In both cases, I had Jilly transform into an Eevee. In the forest environment, after Jilly settled in, the Ditto mostly did exactly what the Eevee did. In the arctic environment, it was fairly similar, only Jilly tended to stay in the burrow more than the Eevee. My conclusion was that Jilly behaved differently because it was unused to the cold environment. I imagine if we had left Jilly in there for a few more days, the Ditto would have become accustomed to the cold. Ditto are a very adaptive species of Pokemon; I believe that's what makes them so hard to find. If there was an easy way to tell Ditto from the original Pokemon, I'm sure they would not be so rare."

"You know, I bet we could get more information if we had Anita talk to Jilly," I suggested. "Or—" I was about to recommend just using Griffy, but Liam interrupted me.

"No! We don't need Anita's input," Liam said sharply.

"Geeze, are you still upset about that squabble we had? I mean, sure, I think Anita was being a little selfish, but she is a trainer."

"Who's Anita?" Professor Blubber interrupted.

"She's a girl who's traveling with us. We wanted her to come here first, but she decided to go battle the gym leader."

"Then how would we get more information if Anita talked to Jilly?" Professor Blubber asked.

"Well, she's—"

"Very good with Pokemon, Professor. She also has several Eevees." Liam glared at me. I did not understand—Professor Blubber was trustworthy! He wouldn't do anything if he knew Anita was psychic! Liam was such a paranoid piece of poo…

"Well, I'd be very glad to meet her! I do hope she's careful. Our gym leader here in Cape Caution is… rather bizarre."

"At best," I added. "I always thought he was insane. Wasn't he almost impeached a couple years ago?"

"Then he promised to provide free electricity for the town while he was still gym leader. Nobody has challenged him since. He's a strange fellow, not very sociable."

I nodded in agreement, and Professor Blubber motioned us out of the workspace. Liam did not take his eyes off of Jilly until Professor Blubber closed the door behind us. We walked back to the kitchen and sat down around the granite counter again.

Professor Blubber looked at me thoughtfully. "So, Erin, what are your plans?"

Plans for what? "Err, what?"

"Well, you've been traveling around Acceber for over a year now. After a year, I usually have my assistants stay here and train with me."

Shit. I had known this was coming… I just had not wanted to think about it. My original plan had been to simply travel with Anita back to Cape Caution. It would be the last of my journey days…

The problem was, I'd had more fun in the past two weeks than I'd had during the whole rest of my journey. I'd been excited to finally stop traveling, even if it meant having to deal with my parents in Cape Caution… but that was before I met Anita and Liam. Liam and Anita were much more entertaining than Zach—

What the hell was wrong with me? I'd thought of he-who-must-not-be-thought-of twice in the past day! I shook my head, dispersing the thought.

Desperately not wanting to discuss this with the professor, I abruptly changed the topic. "Professor, we have a strange problem. Do you know of a haunted house a few miles southwest of Cape Caution?"

Professor Blubber frowned, probably in part because he did not understand how this related to me as his assistant researcher. "No, I do not."

"Well, we found this boy who—" Liam was glaring at me again. Not the gifted thing again! "We found an abandoned ghost boy—" I winced when Liam kicked me under the table. His kicks hurt. "And brought him with us. We couldn't just leave him in the empty house! But—"

"Did you say ghost boy? What—" Professor Blubber.

Liam interrupted. "She meant ghostly boy. He is very pale and thin from malnourishment—like a ghost."

Now it was my turn to glare at Liam. "No—" Liam kicked me again, and I nearly fell off the chair. My eyes were watering. The pain was not worth it… "Anyway, this boy needs a home. Do you know of who we should talk to about it?"

Professor Blubber scratched his chin. "Unfortunately, there's not an orphanage here. I'm sure I could have him sent to a very prestigious school near Mint Mountain—"

"NO!" I yelled. That place was hell. Professor Blubber gave me an odd look. "I mean, I don't think he would like that school. Is there any other option?"

"Well, the closest orphanage is in Vintage Village. They've gotten great support since that huge fire. I would also ask Nurse…" Professor Blubber paused for a moment. "Your mother."

Aw, crap. Another topic I had been hoping to avoid.

"Speaking of which, have you talked to her yet? She was very worried about you—usually complains you do not call enough. She's always asking her new apprentice—that boy you left Cape Caution with—to try calling you."

I blanched. "New apprentice?"

"You know, that boy that always wears a Pokemon League cap with brown hair, hazel eyes? His name is Sam… no that's not it. Maybe Jack…?"

"Zach," I whispered. No, this could NOT be happening…

"Yeah, Zach, that was his name!" Professor Blubber exclaimed.

I determinedly forced myself to relax. "Professor, would it be possible for me and my friends to stay at your house?"

Professor Blubber sighed. "Erin, I know you and your mother have your differences, but she cares about you a lot. For your own sake, I am going to have to decline. Family is too important. In fact," Professor Blubber looked at his watch. "why don't you go to the Pokemon Center now so your mother can see you. I have to finish up a few things here…"

"But, Professor, Liam and I can help you here, in the lab! What do you need done?" I asked frantically.

Professor Blubber gave me the I'm-an-adult-so-I-know-better-than-you smile. I hate those. "Actually, there is something that I need." He fished his hand around in his large lab coat pocket, finally pulling out a Pokeball. "This newly caught Bellsprout needs to be healed. I'm trusting you to get it to the Pokemon Center. You won't let me down, will you?"

In a last ditch effort, I said, "But Anita will not know where we are! We have to stay here until she finishes the gym battle!"

Professor Blubber laughed. "You think she'll come back here after she battles Sparky?" The professor snorted. "More likely, she'll go straight to the emergency room. And where is that, my dear stubborn assistant?"

"The Pokemon Center…" I mumbled.

"Exactly! Now run along!"

…Well, that sucks.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled into the phone. The perfectly aligned paperclips on my desk vibrated with my voice. I pounded my hand on the desk, knocking all of the paperclips to the floor, partially because the paperclip vibrations were annoying, but mostly because I was talking to a fucking moron who couldn't do a fucking thing right.

"I'm…I'm sorry Mr. Arkle, but…" The imbecile on the other end of the line lowered his voice. "I got caught."

"No fucking kidding!"

There was the barest murmur through the phone. "You didn't swear so much when you hired me…"

"Because you hadn't fucked up and I wasn't fucking angry!"

"So… when will you get me out? When can I try again?"

"I cannot believe I assigned a moron like you to this task. Not only did you fail to get the information I need, but you called me from jail expecting me to 'get you out'. Sorry sweetie, but there are no fucking second chances in Team Glop'emm, and certainly no bailouts. You fail, you lose." I slammed the phone into the receiver.

Dear Arceus, G-d, Creator, what idiots were they letting into Team Glop'emm these days?

I squeezed the arms of my leather chair in frustration and stared at the electric clock that sat on my desk, next to the 'Acting Master: Jamie Arkle' sign. Twenty minutes until my next meeting.

My decision was made before I even rose from the chair. There was a saying: If you want something done right, do it yourself. I never believed it. I still don't believe it. If you want something done right, yell at and fire (or kill) every moron that does it wrong. Eventually, you'll stumble upon a moron that can do it right.

Unfortunately, I did not have time for that.

Thus, I'd have to settle with the first saying.

I quickly locked my office and slipped into the elevator, pressing the ground button.

After navigating the maze of windowless halls, I finally reached the outside world. It was a cloudless, windless day. I took a glance back at our facility. From the outside, the austere grey building looked like another typical office building.

Wasting no time, I began my swift trek down the road to the City Hall.

The street was fairly crowded, with a few hundred inept businessmen doing their best to take as long of a lunch break as possible. When I passed a series of overrated restaurants, the shrill voices of upset children and their mothers rang in my ears. I sped my walking.

As I took a short cut through the park, I saw Rita Teal's despicable blue hair bobbing with the irksome chirping of Pidgeys. What the hell was she doing here? She sat on a park bench, now completely within my view, grinning like a mad woman and throwing bread to the loud Pidgeys. I caught her eye, and was unsuccessful in wiping away her smile.

We then both continued on as if we did not know or care about the other's existence.

When I ruled Team Glop'emm, that freak would be the first to go.

The City Hall was just outside of the park. The building was round, like a tire, with minor offices in the outer rings and important offices in the middle. I, of course, was headed towards neither. My long fingers gently caressed the two Pokeballs I was preparing use.

I entered the building through the main entrance. The pretty secretary at the front desk looked up at me, startled by my quick entry.

"Good day, sir. Can I see some form of identification?" she asked.

"No," I snickered. I pressed the release button on the Pokeballs I had been holding. "Magnemite, Hypno, make sure I am not caught."

"Just who—" the idiot woman was cut off as Hypno swung her pendulum. I turned and strutted down the hall.

By now, the woman was probably drooling in her sleep. Magnemite and Hypno were accustomed to break-ins. Magnemite would disrupt the cameras and other electronic security, while Hypno ensured nobody saw me, or at least remembered seeing me.

The basement door was easy to find. Unfortunately, it was locked with the DNA technology Rita Teal had installed. Oh, the irony.

{Hypno,} I called, knowing she would hear my thoughts. {I need the thumbprint of a knocked out security guard.}

Not twenty seconds later, an unconscious security guard was floating towards me. I took his thumb and pressed it to the DNA scanner. "Access denied," a cool automated voice said. I was tempted to have Hypno shatter the door to pieces. But, no, I wanted my presence to go undetected.

There was one person in the building who I was sure would have access to this door. {Fetch the mayor,} I ordered before mentally cursing the Master. If it were not for that snooty teen, Hypno would be able to psychically open the door. Being the paranoid bastard he was, he ensured all doors locked with DNA scanners were twined with dark material so they could not be psychically tampered with.

As demanded, Hypno brought me the mayor in a sleepy trance, and as expected, the door swung open.

I carefully stepped down into the dark basement, feeling the wall for a light switch. When I reached the bottom, my hand felt the switch, and one dull bulb flickered to life. The basement was huge, running under almost the entire building. Several storage boxes and cleaning items were strewn about, as if someone had thrown them from the top of the staircase.

I quickly flicked my eyes across the garbage, looking for what I came here for—

The computer.

I found it leaning against a wall, like an old man.

This particular computer was the private database of Drape Town. Because it held personal information—like tax money paid—of all the individuals in Drape Town, it was on a different server than any other computer. It also did not have Internet, making it virtually unhackable, without physically being at the computer.

Which I now fortunately was.

I took out another Pokeball and spoke as the red release light flashed. "Porygon2, I want you to find all information regarding the Mendol family or the current gym leader, especially past residencies."

The cyber Pokemon appeared before me, and then seemed to be shrunk into the USB port. I strummed my fingers across the keyboard as the computer whirred, impatient for the results.

After five minutes, the screen blinked. Porygon2 appeared on the screen, cocking its head at me. Next to the virtual Pokemon words appeared:

Zero Results Found