# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #
Italics. Nothing new, still signify thought processes. I don't actually use it to indicate one character specifically, but theres a "Section like this" in those speech marks which is said by a television. More specifically, a newsreader.
Chapter 6: Initiation
Laura was lying awake at night in the Latias Nursery. She had been tossing and turning all night, but she was still no closer to sleep than she was about three hours ago. She couldn't understand why she was feeling this way, although it had only started three months ago.
She bolted upright from the bed. Three months. Ever since she'd first spoken to the boy on the other side of the wall.
"Laura? What are you doing awake at this time of night?" Came a voice from the bunk underneath her. Laura winced, having not anticipated that jolting so violently would have been enough to wake up her room-mate.
"Err… I'm not awake. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… See? I'm asleep." Laura whispered. The other Latias wasn't impressed, and shifted around so she could see over Laura's bunk.
"Come off it Laura. You haven't been sleeping for ages."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Laura said, turning away from her roommate to gaze out the window space.
"Oh come off it. You've been tossing and turning for the last two months. Something's up. I've known you too long for you to hide it."
"Larkspur…" Laura whimpered, desperate to avoid her persistant questioning and reason. Her words were true enough though; ever since they were barely out of the shell, they had shared a room.
"It's true, and you know it. There's something wrong, what is it?"
"Well… Not wrong exactly…"
"Then what's your problem?"
"It just feels like… I don't know."
"Oh come on. You can tell me." Larkspur purred, her tone changing slightly to one more seductive, another tact she frequently used on Laura and she was well aware of it.
"No I can't."
"Yes you can. I'm always here for you. You know that." Larkspur cooed softly. Laura rolled her eyes. The girl seriously needed to stop flirting; it was bordering on ridiculous.
"You're almost a year older than me. You won't always be there."
"Then try your best without me when that time comes. But by then, all this mess should have sorted itself out, and you'll be my precious strawberry-sweetheart again, huh? Everything will work out fine eventually." Larkspur said, pulling her sheets back over her. Laura laid back on her bed, thoughts of that boy still running through her head. She sighed and rolled over to fall asleep. As her face touched the pillow, for a split second she imagined it was the cheek of that boy she was nuzzling against, before she returned to her senses and realised it was just the cotton fibre of the cover. She rolled onto her back to try to block out these alien feelings swarming through her. She looked out through the skylight to see the night sky, thousands of diamonds twinkling down at her from their lofty perches. She looked out to her favourite star and smiled at it gently. She looked absently at the ones around it, thinking just how much her favourite looked like the eye of a… She groaned loudly as she realised exactly who she was thinking off.
"Laura, what are you doing up there?" Larkspur asked her. Laura sighed, knowing exactly what she was hoping.
"I was looking at the sky again."
"Oh." If there was any dissappointment, she was hiding it well, "Your favourite star I presume?"
"How did you know?"
"I've shared a room with you for six years. You hardly expect me to not know you." Larkspur said, sitting up slightly in the lower bunk. Laura paused.
"I think I need to get some air…" Laura mumbled, nudging her sheets back off.
"But it's past curfew! You can't go out now!"
"Well I don't care. It's the only way I'm going to get some sleep tonight." Laura said, floating out of her bed and moving towards the doorway. Larkspur made a brief movement as though to stop her, but simply shrugged instead.
"Suit yourself. But if they find you, don't come crying to me." Laura held up her claws into a W.
"Whatever." She said, before pulling the curtain aside. She landed, and waddled across the floor. The main building was very strict about flying indoors, and any juniors that flew would trigger some hidden wards which would immediately alert a tutor. She looked around at the main atrium, almost scared by how much more foreboding it looked in the darkness. The pillars around the edge curved almost maliciously up to the vaulted ceiling above, gargoyles perched at their heights leering down at her. She trembled as their visages seemed to twist and writhe as she passed them, the shadows rendering them even more grotesque than before. She shivered and looked back down at the floor, which was thankfully relatively unmarked, save for the occasional gold emboss pattern every few metres. She smiled as she saw the icon, a Latias and another slightly larger yet similar creature flying around each other in perfect symmetry. She moved quickly to try to get to the door, shouldering it open to get outside. She sighed as a cool breeze caressed her face, drawing her thoughts back to the reason she couldn't sleep. She spread her wings and jumped into the air, gliding over the paved yard and across the long grassy banks to her favourite spot. Her secret little hideaway. She landed softly behind a large bush that hid it from the rest of the Nursery, and crawled over to where she would usually sit when she was talking to Ganon. She rested her cheek against the wall, imagining he was there to help her sleep. She leapt back from the wall in surprise when she heard soft snoring from the other side. She smiled. Clearly he hadn't been able to sleep either. She sighed softly as she laid her head down by the wall to sleep.
"Laura. Laura! Wake up." A voice said, nudging at her side. She groaned slightly, not wanted to move from her position. The intruder sighed resentfully, and lowered a claw to her feet. In one deft movement, he'd grabbed her ankle and flipped her up into the air, startling her 'awake' immediately. She squealed, but her assailant didn't even flinch. From her vantage point upside down on the grass, she could see a pale glimmer radiating from a point behind her, sparkling particles breifly passing in front of her face before snuffing out like candles. Turning her head back, she could see her mysterious assailant hovering behind her. A silver Latios, the source of the glimmer, was watching her. He appeared to be considerably less solid though than a typical Latios, apparantly made of some kind of dense light; A spectral Eon.
"Who are you?" Laura asked, trembling slightly. This silver Latios was at least four times the size of her, which was more than just a little intimidating. It bowed its head briefly.
"My name is Argent." He said clearly. Laura narrowed her eyes sceptically, but the Latios continued before she could voice an opinion.
"There are exceptional names to your Lola convention, as you obviously know, to reflect their uniqueness. I was named Argent, because I am silver. Wolfram was a genius and an exceptionally talented designer. He chose the name himself, although his reasoning is his own." Argent finished. Laura opened her mouth, but again, the Latios was ahead of her.
"I'm here because you are the current owner of my amulet, regardless how dubious your method was."
"But I-"
"I'm not a completely inanimate object, I saw it well enough. But regardless of intent, at least there's the undeniable fact that after so long being forced to guide humans that I am finally a tutor to an Eon as the powers intended."
Laura immediately tensed at the word Tutor, since it was synonomus with misery and over-ruling. Argent, sensing the discomfort, breifly looked away, analysing the dream he had been brought into. Ahead, he could see the moonlit outline of the nursery, and he immediately recognised the handiwork of Wolfram.
"You're in a dream about the nursery... but why is half of it missing?" He asked, glancing across at a blue energy field, which Laura would easily have been able to recognise as the Wall, but seemed alien to the Latios. Laura looked over at it, shaking her head.
"That's always been there. The Tutor's here say its the edge of the universe and there's nothing behind it, but-"
"This world is wrong." Argent interupted quietly, moving over to the Wall and inspecting it closely, "This was never here before, it's been- how many Latios were in this area when you were kept here?"
"None."
"Oh by Astrid... Wolfram..." Argent immediately began scouring the wall in earnest, "If he's pissed off Eva yet again... "
"What?" Laura asked, although clearly Argent was too busy to answer since he was still mumbling various things to himself.
"Definately abused the planar mechanics... Realms fractured enough as it is... " Drastically pulling his arm back, he plunged a claw into the wall. Much to Laura's amazement, the contact point cracked under the impact, shattering into paper-thin shards that dissolved as they hit the ground. Transfixxed, Laura looked through the hole that had been opened up as Argent flew through. It wasn't an exact mirror image of her side, only the nursery building itself looked symmetrical.
"I changed the physics of the dream so I could build up the other side as it was in my memory." Argent said as he hovered in front of her. Laura was too transfixxed with something a few metres behind to notice that though. Turning around, Argent sighed as he spotted Laura's memory-based version of Ganon lying there asleep, "I see your memory of this place is fine. But I'll warn you now, I'll wake you up in ten minutes."
"Huh?" Laura asked. She had thought he'd been reading her mind, but that was something she wanted to keep private.
"It's your dream..." He said finally, before flying off again, dissolving into the air as he left. Now knowing she was alone, Laura smiled and laid herself down on the grass besides Ganon, wrapping one of his arms over her back, and taking the opportunity to kiss his cheek.
Ganon opened his eyes slowly, waking up from an almost blissful dream. He looked up at the room he was in, only vaguely aware that he hadn't fallen asleep there. He looked down and noticed that he was holding something in his arms. For a second, his mind thought it was Laura, but then he realized that it was just a red pillow. He rubbed the back of his neck gingerly as he wandered over to the window, resting his elbows on the windowsill. He looked out over the landscape absently.
"Oh… Laura… I miss you." He whispered to no-one in particular. These three days had been the longest he'd ever gone without speaking to her since before they'd met. It was absolute torture for him. He sighed and looked down at the town below, instantly startling him out of his reverie. There were several large groups of both humans and Pokemon making their way through the town towards the PokeCentre, although they were predominantly Pokemon. He squeaked before heading downstairs to find Kenai. He jumped the last few steps before heading back into the dining room where he had been cleaning soup earlier. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't there, although much more surprising was there was no trace of soup anywhere. He ran back out into the main hall, nearly tripping over yet another Glaceon. Or rather, the same Glaceon.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Melissa yelled at him.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you know where Kenai is?"
"Course I do. He's in his office at the moment."
"Office?"
"It's where he does his work. You have heard of work before I presume? Because you still look like a lazy slacker to me. We're working our socks off here making sure our guests have somewhere respectable to stay, whilst you're just stood there getting in the way. Get upstairs and do something useful!"
"Okay. Sorry Mel." He said back, before leaping up the stairs. He could hear her yelling after him.
"IT'S MELISSA! ONLY MY FRIENDS CAN CALL ME MEL, AND SURE AS HELL YOU'RE NO FRIEND OF MINE!"
Ganon decided it would be better for him to just ignore her from now on.
He found Clair in one of the rooms, trying in vain to get a cover onto a duvet. She looked at him briefly before continuing to try and get the cover in place. Ganon would have continued past the room, if it wasn't for Clair yelling at him.
"GANON! HELP ME!"
Ganon leaned back so he could see through the door, and had to hold back a laugh when he saw that she had managed to leave the duvet almost unmoved, but had sealed herself in the cover. He walked into the room, and stood next to the shaking bag.
"How? I don't know how to do these."
"One end of the cover is open. I just can't find it from here. Just get me out!"
Ganon looked over the material, but the alternating colours made it hard for him to focus.
"Are you actually doing anything?" She asked.
"Yes! It's just the colour's confusing me."
"A green strip. You're looking for a green strip with the buttons on it."
Ganon looked back at the sheet, and noticed the green strip underneath it. He grabbed it and pulled. He winced as Clair screamed and landed on the ground with a heavy thump. He realised that she must have been stood on it. She clambered out of the bag, her hair an absolute mess.
"I think you were stood on it." Ganon said, hiding a grin behind one hand.
"No kidding," She panted out, "Now help me get this done properly." She said, before giving the sheet to Ganon and walking out. Ganon stared at her before looking at the sheet, then at the duvet. He scratched the back of his head. This was going to take a while.
After about half an hour of struggling with the sheet, he had finally managed it. He stepped out of the room, and almost crashed into Kenai. If the Alakazam hadn't sidestepped to the right, then it would have been a full on collision, although instead, Ganon simply fell flat on his face instead. Kenai glanced through the doorway at the sheet Ganon had eventually changed.
"So you can't use telekinesis." Kenai said absently. Ganon picked himself up from the carpet, touching his forehead where he'd landed.
"How do you… actually don't answer that."
"Good answer." Kenai said before continuing along the corridor. He turned around to face Ganon at the end, beckoning him over with one finger. Ganon looked around and pointed at himself, earning an annoyed sigh from Kenai. He made the beckoning motion again, and Ganon yelped as his legs sprang forwards from under him, running after Kenai from the psychic force grabbing them. He was led towards the far end of the corridor, towards a room that had been locked ever since Ganon had arrived. Kenai pulled a key out of his pocket, and unlocked it, pushing Ganon inside. Ganon yelped as Kenai let go of his legs half-way through, causing him to land on his face. Kenai rolled his eyes.
"Sometimes I wonder why I bother with new recruits. You know the drill Lazlo." Kenai said into the room, before turning around and locking it. Ganon looked back at the door in fear, before turning around to see who he was being left with. He looked into the room which appeared to be mostly made of metal. Nine small television sat on a table just across from the door, each screen split into about a further four, each actually a live feed from cameras located around the town and elsewhere in the building. Three Meditites were sat in front of them, watching them intently. Ganon looked at each screen briefly, before a loud cough and a deep click behind him brought his attention away from them. He looked around to find a Lucario wearing a green army vest and a headset. It was holding a large tube shaped object in its arms, one gloved hand wrapped underneath the main section, and another gloved hand near the back end on what appeared to be a block sticking out the side. Ganon took one step towards the Pokemon, and it hefted the tube so it was braced against his shoulder. He slid a section on the underside, forwards and backwards each accompanied by a deep click.
"Stay where you are." The Lucario said. Ganon instinctively held his hands in the air, causing the Lucario to laugh slightly. However the cannon remained firmly planted on his shoulder.
"Even though you've only been in the land of men for a few days and you already know how to respond to when someone is pointing a gun at you."
"Land of men?"
"Latios, dropped from a portal in the Segon Valley from the Lateral Realm. Land of Eons to the land of men. General Kenai gave me the full file."
"He's a general?" The Lucario looked offended.
"Of course he's a General! This is a military installment. The forefront of the world's technology." Lazlo said.
"So what's your rank?"
"That does not concern you." The Lucario answered. At that moment, the radio on his waistband began to crackle.
"Colonel Lazlo. Come in Colonel Lazlo." The Lucario scowled down at it, before touching a button on the side of his headset. A microphone lowered from the side.
"Yes, Colonel Lazlo reporting sir." He said, giving Ganon an evil look.
"The first of our investors are coming in now. Is there anything out of the ordinary or suspicious around the town?"
"No sir. All the Meditites are telling me everything is fine. Both upstairs and down."
"That's good to hear. But I want updates every half hour as to the location of our visitors. They should have got here over an hour ago. So something must have held them up."
"Okay. I'll keep you posted sir."
"Make sure you do. Kenai out."
Lazlo tapped the button on the headset again, causing the microphone to retract back into it's housing.
"So, Colonel Lazlo."
"Think fast." The Lucario shouted, levelling the cannon on his shoulder.
Ganon barely had time to say what, before Lazlo pulled the trigger. Deep in the heart of the tube, a ring of twelve conducting elements became energized by a neutrino charge spreading through the matrix. Each element broke loose a stream of photons that were focused by a crystal into one concentrated beam. The photons compacted into one solid slug, and burst out of the end of the barrel. It hurtled straight at Ganon's head, who barely dodged it. He could feel an icy feeling tingling through the side of his face closest to the shockwave, and realised that they must have been planning this all along. It was an ice cannon, designed to destroy dragons.
Only one thought ran through Ganon's head. Laura. He had to survive this if only to see her again. Besides. It was hardly as though attacking the Lucario now would make things any worse than they were already. Ganon rolled under the hail of bullets as Lazlo lowered it to try and catch him out. He leapt up behind the Lucario, who had barely enough time to spin around before Ganon grabbed his trigger arm and wrenched it behind his back, spinning the now useless cannon across the floor. Ganon didn't notice it dissolve as it entered an area of the room that wasn't lit up. He forced the hapless Pokemon into a wall, holding him there trapped in an arm lock. He grabbed the other arm and twisted it back as well, forcing the Pokemon to its knees.
Immediately, the Lucario jumped back up, flicking him off as though he was little more than an insect. Dusting his combat jacket off, the Lucario walked over to Ganon, and hauled him to his feet, effortlessly despite his weight. Pressing a mug of something into the boys hands, he pulled off his gloves, flinging them into a corner.
"Test over. Projectors off. "
Ganon stood there (barely from the impact the Lucario had inflicted on him) in shock as the metallic decoration of the room faded away, along with the meditites and their equipment. The room now had pale red floral wallpaper, with a plush blue carpet underneath. He'd later come to learn that the whole set-up had been a hologram, but for now, it was plain and simple Magic. The Lucario moved over to the side of the room, where a large pile with a sheet over it had been made prior to the events, which evidently had been the hiding place for the normal furniture as he whipped off the sheet to reveal a sofa and a table stacked on it.
"Sorry for beating you too badly, but pretty much everyone I test leaves with broken bones." Lazlo said as he hefted the table off the sofa, replacing it on the floor. He wandered over to the other side of the room, where another sheet was draped over things that were being kept out of the way, "You can consider yourself almost skilled that you're still concious."
"But this… what the…" Ganon said, still flummoxed by the change in the room. Lazlo laughed slightly as he whipped this sheet off, revealing a chair and a television.
"I volunteered my room as a testing area for anyone Kenai thinks would make a suitable addition to our staff. He reckons you'd make a useful field agent, so I tailored the test for that." He pointed at some metallic prisms in the corners of the room, "My projectors. I write the scenario, they play it out."
"But your gun." Ganon started, looking at where the cannon had been flicked to only to find it absent. "I felt it."
"Psychic field. Plays tricks with your nerves. My gloves did that." He tilted his head towards the discarded gloves in the corner, whilst rummaging between the cushions of his sofa for the television remote which had just fallen down, "Usually, I'd set some underlings the job of handling new guys like you, but, your technique is unique. You fight like a demon, and that's something they can't deal with."
"Should I be pleased or insulted?" Ganon asked,
"Pleased. You will also have a weapons handling course, driving lessons, probably some Human culture... and before that, you have the universal two years as a research scientist. Everyone gets that, and its boring frankly."
"What's science?"
"What's science?! And you expect me to be able to answer that?" He pressed a button on the side of his headset, lowering a microphone, "Hey Moxis. Can you send Mel up please?"
"Sure thing pops!" An eager voice chimed from the radio. Lazlo scowled.
"I've told you before. It's Colonel during your shift. Don't call me pops, dad or anything else like that."
"But Kenai said I could call you pops!"
"Well, I say otherwise. It's not becoming in a young pup like you. You lose your manners, and you'll stop respecting your elders."
"Okay then, Colonel. I'll send Melissa right up. Moxis Out." Lazlo removed his hand and looked back at Ganon.
"You can be in your Pokemon form if you want. This room is soundproofed, and the windows are one-way glass. The door is practically unbreakable and locked so that's fine"
"So how is Melissa going to get in?" Ganon said, transforming back into his usual form.
"Just call her Mel."
"She said only her friends could call her Mel. And that I wasn't one."
"Well, she'll warm to you eventually."
"She breathes Ice. I don't think that would be a good thing." Lazlo took another long sip from his cup.
"Yep. Definitely a field agent." He said, nodding slightly, "They always have corny comebacks like that. Kenai was right, as usual. And if I'm right for once, Mel is just outside now."
He threw his arm in a wide gesture, causing the door to open. A strangled yelp came from outside as the Glaceon that was just about to knock was dragged in by a psychic force, and slamming the door behind her. She was put down gently on the third armchair, and she looked at Lazlo.
"How did you know I was there?"
"I could read your Aura."
"That's a load of Tauros shit, and you know it." She said.
"It's not Tauros shit as you so put it. If Kenai accepts it, so should you."
"Idiot…" She mumbled, averting her gaze from Lazlo. Unfortunately, it landed on Ganon, "Well hello!" She said, smoothing a paw through the fur at the side of her head and rearranging the ear into a more amiable position, "Who's this gorgeous creature." Lazlo couldn't help but snigger slightly.
"That, Mel, is Ganon." He announced dramatically. Melissa sweat dropped.
"Okay. Not so gorgeous." She said quietly, her gaze rapidly switching from flirty to steely, "You're that annoying kid that tripped up over me the other day!" She shouted at him. Ganon couldn't move for laughing, so Lazlo continued instead.
"Mel, the reason I brought you up here was because Ganon asked what science is. Would you care to define it please?"
"No! Not for him."
"Shall I rephrase that? Tell Ganon what science is!" He barked at her.
"But," Lazlo was tapping the Colonel insignia on his arm, "Oh fine then. Make yourself comfortable Ganon, because I'm only saying this once, unless Colonel Asshole orders me to again."
Lazlo sneezed into his fist, kicking her leg sharply. Melissa scowled at him briefly, before returning her attention to Ganon.
"For the majority of people around this planet, science is a very simple concept, dealing with mechanics as its primary source of knowledge. A human limit to science is cars, trains, lifts, building, and Pokeballs. All of their knowledge is rudimentary, and there is much that could be refined. Our idea of science is predominantly Biology and refined physics."
"Biology?" Ganon asked, confused by the alien term.
"The mechanics of living organisms, which is infinitely more complicated than human mechanics." Melissa tilted her head slightly to look across to Lazlo, "Didn't Teal say that the nurseries actually taught our level of science?"
Lazlo shook his head back at her, although evidently he was busy listening to something on his radio. Something he didn't like the way he was drumming his fingers against a holster on his hip.
"Idiot." Melissa said, earning her another swift kick from Lazlo.
"The Meditites have seen someone new on the scopes." He said, flicking the microphone out of the way and brushing a thumb over a clear object held in the holster, causing it to take on a blue hue. "Stay here. Both of you. Continue the discussion." And he teleported out. Melissa sighed.
"He's so cool..." She purred affectionately. Ganon raised an eyebrow at her comment, not expecting her to be capable of adoring someone.
"Erm, doesn't he have a wife? I mean he has a child."
"They're divorced, but he won custody of the child because she was off her head on Rare Candies all the time. Anyway, back to the conversation."
"But I didn't think you wanted to talk to me."
"Well... you seem intelligent enough, and I'm fed up with Kenai being the only other intelligent person who comes above ground. And as you are no doubt aware, he is too intelligent for me to have a good conversation with. You on the other hand are not a complete retard."
"I'll take that as a compliment, rather than as an insult to my intelligence."
"Close, but not complete. Regardless, any other questions?"
"Yes. What was that thing that Lazlo took off with? The see-through thing in the holster."
"Ah ha! My invention, regardless what the patent says. I discovered that every Pokemon attack has a wavelength. That means, that using anything that is capable of generating photons, any Pokemon attack can be synthesised artificially. As a result of that, I could grow crystals that emitted this frequency when excited by a neutrino pulse."
"So what you guys managed to make was a set of Pokemon-move based beam weapons?" Ganon asked. Melissa smirked.
"You catch on fast for an idiot, but no. We only made one." She said. Ignoring yet another idiot remark, Ganon continued.
"One?"
"Well, you could call it three. The Tri-Attack beam, made up of Ice, Fire, and Electricity. Eight types have a direct weakness to one of those three, and there are no Pokemon that have complete resistance to it, making it the perfect choice. However, trying to use all three elements at once had a habit of making it explode, so I placed a filter on it so it can only fire one beam at a time. It runs on a nuclear fusion battery and can fire whichever elemental beam the dial is set to." She said, "If I saw correctly, he flicked it to its ice setting, something that can freeze him solid when it's not me he's annoyed!"
Ganon smiled awkwardly, feeling sorry for Lazlo when he was on the wrong end of Melissa's chain. Without any adequate response, the room immediately fell silent, save for the sounds of a commotion outside. Curious, Ganon moved over to the window, trying to find the cause of the noise, although it took less than a second to see why.
"Err, what does it mean if there are about fifty men outside with red R's on their chests?"
"It means Team Rocket's here."
Laura woke with a start. She had been dreaming quite happily that she had been sleeping with Ganon. Of course she'd quickly forgotton about only being given 10 minutes. After that she had gotten a little more playful and daring. She looked around and noticed that she was back in her bedroom in the Kids Grid; she hit the floor angrily with one of her clawed fists.
"ARGH! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE GIVEN ME ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES?!" She screamed at no-one in particular. Martin looked around when she hit the floor with her fist, and was now looking at her with one eyebrow raised.
"Err… Laura? Calm down please… I don't want to get killed here. Just transform into your human form and mouth the words please. Otherwise someone will hear."
Laura didn't hear a word he said, too preoccupied with her own irate anger. She looked back at the Silver Latios amulet around her neck, its empty eyes staring at her blankly. She curled her claws around its neck, as though she could strangle the little eon that had woken her up.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" She bellowed at it, shaking it and trying to choke it mercilessly. It just sat there in her claws, absolutely unfazed by her attack.
"Laura, why are you trying to throttle an amulet?" Martin asked. He had thankfully been able to put Maria back into her Pokeball shortly before Laura woke up. Laura looked up at him, shooting him a glance filled with cold contempt, although he didn't know it wasn't aimed at him. He just backed away slightly.
"THIS BASTARD KNOCKED ME UNCONCIOUS JUST SO HE COULD TELL ME SOME POINTLESS CRAP, SHOW ME GANON, AND THEN WAKE ME UP JUST AS IT WAS GETTING EXCITING!"
"Err… Please calm down. If it makes it any better, you can find Ganon another time, and then it won't be a dream. You won't get… um… him interrupting you."
That seemed to cheer her up significantly enough to stop her from shouting, although she continued to clutch at the amulet in hatred. An almost cruel idea suddenly popped into her head.
"Hey Martin. Does that soldering iron of yours melt silver?" She asked innocently. The amulets eyes suddenly burst open in shock, revealing two tiny rubies.
"What? No, of course it doesn't. It can't melt anything that has a melting point higher than lead." Martin said back, exasperated by Laura's obsession that this amulet was alive. The amulet looked relieved and closed its eyes again, unnoticed by anyone.
"But it is alive! Its name is Argent."
"That's Latin for silver. It's why silvers elemental symbol is Ar. Now what sort of prank are you trying to pull?"
"But it is alive! It knocked me out earlier when I was gossiping with Maria."
"Well it serves you right for gossiping if that's the case. If it is alive, I bet its male and saving me from some no doubt baseless rumour." Martin finished, walking back to the desk to indicate the conversation was over.
"But but but… but… but…"
"But nothing. Shut up, I'm busy." He turned back to the device he was pulling apart yet again.
"Haven't you finished messing with that yet?" She asked him, slightly annoyed that he wasn't paying any attention to her.
"No. They've used the board I designed, and I put a lot of unnecessary components on. Or unnecessary for the purpose the grid is using them for. Therefore, there is an almost limitless amount of ways I can configure this."
"Fine. Show-off…" She muttered under her breath.
"Hey when did you get so grouchy?"
"Since this git woke me up!" She yelled angrily. Martin shook his head and sighed.
"So you're cranky. If that's the case, why don't you go back to sleep?"
"It's midday!"
"So?"
"I don't want to mess up my sleeping pattern any more than this git has done already!"
"Well you'll have to get used to it. After a brief stint in research, Geraint will be packing you off to wherever you'll be assigned field duties. You're gonna have to sleep whilst you travel, because unless you're lucky and get a residential post, you're not gonna get any sleep whilst you're on your mission." Martin said, chewing on another wire with his gums.
"How long is the research stint?"
"Fwee yurs ere," He spat out the loose wire, "Which is too long. It's only two years back at my place, but at least there it's new stuff so it passes in the blink of an eye. The stuff you'll be facing downstairs will no doubt either be outdated or stolen." He said, barely hiding a smug grin, "Stolen from us would be a safe bet."
Laura rolled her eyes, before continuing to scrutinise the locket. As far as she could tell, it was still just glaring at her with impassive eyes. The amulet had in fact gone back to sleep itself, but she didn't know that.
"Knock knock. There's work to do out here Laura." Geraint yelled through the door, causing Laura to squeak loudly in horror. She transformed back into her human form just as Geraint opened the door. Martin quickly shoved the device in a drawer he kept open next to his work, closing it casually so as not to draw suspicion.
"Hey Laura. You were only designated half an hour to familiarise yourself with Maria. That time is up. If you're going to stay here, which is the only option available to you, you have to work. Being a new recruit, you will be placed in a research position until you learn how this company works."
"Oh! It's a company now is it?" Martin asked sarcastically. Geraint would have ignored him if he'd even bothered to listen in the first place.
"Well, come on Laura. This is pretty much what you'll have to do every day for the next three years."
"Ha! Told you so Laura!"
"Oh shut up you!" She yelled back down at him. Geraint leapt back, screaming.
"OH MY GOD! SHE CAN TALK!"
Laura just stood there stunned. She had spoken in her human form? How was that supposed to happen? She looked down at the Latios amulet that was still around her neck, as though expecting it to electrocute her again. She then looked back over at Geraint, who looked slightly put-out.
"Well that's screwed all your ideas of spending long intimate nights together trying to teach her how to speak. Did you go out especially to buy candles?" Martin teased.
"Why you little…" Geraint started, reaching out to punch him. Martin ducked aside.
"Hey, attacking me will hardly help. It was just a casual question."
"About candles. Try and find a reason for candles that isn't suggestive." Geraint said, trying to keep his cool despite the mud-fish's insistence that he had feelings for this girl. Martin stared at the ceiling for a few moments as though the answer was plastered there.
"Erm… Oh crap. Err…"
"Can't find one? Whatever happened to your smart mouth?" Geraint teased, confident that there was no satisfactory answer. Martin looked back at him and grinned.
"It's still here, unlike yours which is off imagining itself on Laura's." Martin said, smirking. Geraint facefaulted.
"You git! You're supposed to be being subtle!"
"Well, if you're going to accuse me of not being subtle, I might as well not be." Martin finished, "And as a matter of fact, don't you have a job to do? Both of you?"
Geraint scowled at Martin.
"Don't you dare try to tell me what to do. Laura, follow me. Martin, behind her. No talking." And he strode out of the room. Laura looked down at Martin, who was cracking his knuckles, pleased with himself. She turned back and followed Geraint out of the room, Martin chuckling behind her.
"Shut up!" Geraint said, turning back to look at Martin.
"Whoooo! So what are you going to do about it?" Martin taunted, mocking fear. Geraint scowled so much that his eyebrows met, and pulled a remote out of his pocket. He pressed a button on it, and two sentry drones flew in, picking Martin up.
"Wha-?! Hey! Put me down you little-"
"House arrest. Maximum security. Take him away." He ordered the drones. They beeped, and started levitating the prisoner between them down the corridor.
"No!" Laura squeaked, tugging at Geraint's arm "You can't do this! I need him!"
"It's for his own good. I'll only take so much before I snap, and I am this close-" He held his finger and thumb about a centimetre apart, "From doing him serious injury."
"But-"
"Listen." He said. He looked up and down the corridor, making sure that no-one was eavesdropping. He took the remote out again, and another two sentries came, hoisting a pink-haired boy into the air that had been invisible a second ago. Geraint scowled.
"Why are you stalking me?" Geraint asked the boy suspended in mid air. The boy squirmed between the two robots, but remained tight-lipped.
"Hmmm... You can't talk at all. Interesting. Take him away. Keep him separate from the Marshtomp, and don't let him transform back. If he does, freeze him. I don't want Ditto's squelching around the place." The two avian droids obeyed.
"Now. Come on. I need to take you to your station."
"But weren't you trying to tell me something?" Laura asked. Geraint shrugged.
"I've just realised that until you have some technical expertise, whatever I say regarding why I am like I am won't make any sense to you."
"Are you calling me stupid?!" Laura yelled at him, instinctively placing her hands on her hips.
"No! Not at all! Just naïve."
"Naïve?"
"It means you don't know enough to be able to understand what the process entailed. If I told you know, you'd be more confused than you were to start with."
Laura sighed and looked back down at the floor. Geraint took her right hand, bringing it up to get her attention back.
"Laura, we have to go. Come on." He said. She reluctantly followed him as he led her back down the staircase to the main balcony, leading her down another staircase to the main floor she had seen yesterday. Kids were running around everywhere.
"Now keep hold of my hand. It's quite easy to get…" Geraint felt her grip on his hand disappear. He sighed. "Swept away." He finished, turning around to see where she had gone. She was running away from a large block rolling in his direction.
Oh crap. This is going to get messy, He thought leaping out of the way of the rolling mass. He looked in through the side to see several kids were trapped inside it, being spun around like socks in a washing machine, although they were having a far better time than those who hadn't been able to outrun it. He pulled a pokeball off his belt, throwing it after the rogue hamster wheel. It burst open to release a Machamp, which promptly took off after it. It sprinted through the wave of destruction in its wake, leaping up onto the top of the wheel. He turned around and bent down onto the surface of the wheel on all sixes, and waited until it revolved to put him in front of it. He pulled his feet out of under him, digging them into the floor, opposing the motion of the rolling wheel. The wheel stopped rolling as the Machamp pulled up in the opposite direction to its roll, bringing the rogue device to a halt. He heard a few loud thumps from inside the cylinder as some kids fell off the roof on the inside. Geraint ran over to his Machamp.
"Good... one. How many... casualties?" He panted.
"Judging by the path, about six, sir. Erm... Nothing too bad, just a few with broken bones, scapes, bruises and one concussion."
"Okay. Take them up to the medico, and I'll get this place sorted out for rebuilding."
"KK sir." The Machamp said, saluting Geraint.
"I told you. Just call me Geraint."
"KK sir." The Machamp said again, before dashing off to pick up one of the injured. He held them in their position with each of his four arms, before jumping up to the next balcony. He ran over to the medics ward, placing the girl carefully on a bed to prevent further injury, before jumping back down to collect another. Geraint turned back to the main group on the floor, and pulled out a Loudred from his belt. The Loudred looked up at him, before pulling a microphone from a holster on his shoulder. Geraint took it, and held it up to his face.
"Okay guys! Everyone get what's left of your projects, and get them up into residential. We'll have the Ribs here in ten minutes, so you guys better not be. I'll issue a new map once it's completed. Keep an eye out on your Codec from about six onwards. Remain off the factory floor until it has been announced that you may return." He said into the microphone, his voice magnified by the Loudred's amplifying ability. He pulled the device away from his face, grimacing.
"Do you ever bother with deodorant?" He asked the Loudred.
"Well sor-ry!" It bellowed at him, putting the microphone back in its holster. Geraint returned the Loudred, before running his hands through his hair to return it to its original style after the Loudred had blasted it into an Elvis quiff. He looked around at the kids around him, picking up pieces of various projects, before noticing his Machamp had come back.
"Shall I call the Ribs, sir?"
"Well I doubt they'll appreciate being called sir."
"Very funny sir."
"Please don't call me sir."
"Sorry S…Sir." The Machamp said. He growled loudly, and slapped his thighs with all four of his arms at once, with the unfortunate effect of knocking him flat on his front from the immense impact.
"I'm sorry sir. I must call you sir, sir."
"Why?"
"Request permission to tell tragic anecdote, sir?" Said the Machamp, saluting again. Geraint rolled his eyes.
"Permission denied." He sighed. The Machamp bowed.
"What are your orders sir?"
"Make the call in twenty minutes. For now, give me a hand getting the room cleared."
"Yes sir." The Machamp said, striding over to the massive wheel, picking it up. Geraint watched as the Pokemon hauled the device over towards it's original housing, before walking over to the central console. He activated one of the consoles at the base.
"Okay… Up you go." He muttered absently, twiddling his fingers over various dials. He looked up at the central monolith, twisted a lever on the underside of the desk, and watched as the pillar retracted into the ceiling. A few of the children that were still picking up pieces of their various projects oohed and aahed at the behemoths ascent. Geraint looked around at them.
"Everyone off the factory floor in thirty seconds." He shouted. Non-one heard him over the monotonous grinding of the pillars hydraulics. He grimaced and brought out the Loudred again. It was shaving its armpits.
"Doo be doo… what?!" It yelled at him. Geraint tentatively held out his hand, and the Loudred reluctantly gave him the microphone.
"EVERYONE OFF THE MAIN FLOOR IN TWENTY SECONDS!" He shouted into the microphone, his voice booming as it echoed around the walls. Several children were physically hurled backwards by the sound wave. Geraint handed the microphone back, and looked up to see the pillar had finished it's ascent, locked into the roof. Geraint walked around into the space between the consoles where the pillar used to reside, and they folded backwards, forming an octagon of consoles around him. He flipped another switch, and two lines of lights running from the edge of the first console he'd used, over to the edge underneath the microphone he'd used to announce Laura yesterday. He returned his Loudred, and hit another button. The cockpit rose up from the ground, pivoted on the end of the section marked by the fluorescent lines. It rose until what used to be the floor was flush with the back wall. The connecting shaft retracted back into the floor, the octagonal cockpit now locked into the balcony. Geraint looked down and saw that there were only two people left on the main floor. "All remaining personnel off the floor. We have Ribs in twenty minutes."
The last two people looked up in horror, before dashing up to the mezzanine floor. "Sir!"
Geraint looked down at the Machamp who had walked back onto the main floor with a huge wrench. He gestured for the Machamp to come up, which did a running leap onto the balcony behind him.
"The Ribs are on their way, sir. "
"Stop calling me sir!"
"Sorry." The Machamp turned around and held his hand over his mouth. "Zuh." The Machamp finished, muffled by his hands.
"Close enough. Can you do me a favour and go find Laura?"
"Which Laura?" Machamp quickly turned around and mumbled zuh, before turning back to face him. "There are at least five Laura's here." The Machamp turned around again. "Zuh."
"She has pretty red hair, and should still be wearing jeans and a red T. There's one Pokeball on her belt."
"Okay then, Zuh. I'll go find her." The Machamp looked at Geraint in amazement that he managed to resist saying sir. Geraint smiled and reached out to shake one of the Machamp's hands. Then the Machamp's eyes crossed, and he sneezed "SIR!" Geraint frowned.
"You were doing so well then. Maybe next time you can nail it."
"Okay, Zuh." The Machamp said, saluting and walking off. Geraint turned back to his control panel.
"Now where was I… Oh yeah." He slid two dials on each end of the machine, and the lower floor melted into a pool of liquid metal. It divided along the middle, flowing towards the walls, where it ran up them to form two reservoirs on the ceiling. The metal of the walls quickly followed suit, thickening the metal layer on the ceiling. Now the walls and the floor were solid earth. He pulled his remote out of his pockets, and the droids making up the main screen disconnected, flying off somewhere to wait until the Ribs had finished. Geraint picked up a headset from the control panel, putting it on over his head. He took two blue gloves covered in sensors, putting them on, flexing the fingers. All the diagnostics on the readout over his eye said that everything was functioning normally. He checked the clock on the HUD.
"Three, two…"
About fifty Sandshrews burst through the floor of the chamber, spinning in the air before landing nimbly on the cracked ground. Each of them was wearing a similar headset. They formed ranks on the main floor, facing Geraint. He flexed his fingers again.
"Okay guys. We've had major structural damage. We need a completely new design. The open floor plan is too risky, so we need a standard corridor and room arrangement. Please switch your headsets to channel 29." A series of clicks was heard as each Sandshrew twisted a switch on their headsets. They nodded appreciatively as they looked at the blueprints that Geraint was imagining. Every Sandshrew on the floor was a qualified Rebuilder, hence the nickname Ribs. Geraint mentally praised Razor for letting him use psychic field technology, and the Sandshrews below burst into applause as they felt his praise for Razor. And a little whooping.
"Oops. That wasn't supposed to happen. Anyway. Get to work."
The Sandshrews whooped again, and dug into the ground again. The raw earth rippled from the combined efforts of the rodents, before surging up to make the rock flush with the balcony. Geraint checked the progress of the Sandshrews construction through his headset, the psychic field allowing him to see through the eyes of any of the workers. Phase one would take about three hours, after which he'd need to get some sleep.
"Sir!" Geraint sighed as he looked over at the Machamp.
"What is it? Where's Laura?"
"She was the concussed girl." The Machamp finished. Geraint sighed before turning back to where the Ribs were working.
"Oh for goodness sake. It's always the pretty ones that get hurt." He muttered, thinking back to his own girlfriend. The look on her face when he brought Laura in was almost haunting.
The Rocket Group was making a clear heading towards the Pokemon Centre. At least a third of them were carrying rocket launchers, and every single one had a cluster of grenades on their belts. Clearly, they were expecting some seriously heavy firepower to be used to try and remove them.
"Mel, why are they just being allowed to run in?" Ganon asked. Melissa Jumped up onto the window ledge to get a better view.
"Because they're no threat."Ganon looked back down at the encroaching hoard. They all had body armour of sorts and those without rocket launchers had at least 3 guns each to swap between. Those sort of warriors were defiantely a threat. Melissa just rolled her eyes, and pointed at the ground about fifty metres ahead of the invaders, " There is a reason why we are the best."
Ganon looked at the area of ground Melissa was gesturing to, knowing full well it was no different to any of the surrounding ground. The rocket advance was still moving forwards, with some of the launcher carriers now taking shots at the building itself. Immediately, after the first trigger was pulled, Ganon saw exactly why Melissa knew they weren't a threat.
The Rockets could feel the earth shaking under their boots as they approached the building, but as grunts do with life-threatening situations, they paid it no heed. As the first missile sailed towards the building, a huge slab of dark metal erupted from the ground ahead of them, intercepting the projectile and throwing up a barrage of solid rock and earth. The Rocket Grunts immediately stopped in terror at the sudden contraption exploding ahead of them. This proved long enough for the mechanism to swing the appendage forwards, crushing at least thirty of the Grunts in a single crushing movement. Utterly paralysed with fear, the remaining grunts had no chance as the metal was swung back up, and swatted aside the rest, killing them instantly from extreme impact trauma. The last Rocket member standing, just out of reach of its second strike and shaking like a leaf, watched as the machine returned to an upright position, the three segments of it resembling a giant metal finger. Slowly, the end joint turned to point at him, and whilst the man had plenty of time to run, the sheer terror kept him rooted to the spot as it lurched down, crushing him into the ground in less than a second.
"What... in... Astrid's... name... was..."
"Science." Melissa responded simply. "As I said, they were no threat."
"But-" He was cut off as Melissa gave him a particularly cold stare. Cold enough to be painful to him.
"We're the ultimate power on the planet. There is no threat. Ever. If you're inclined to doubt anything you might as well get out."
"I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE BEING SIGNED UP HERE!" Ganon yelled back at her. Immediately, Melissa proved exactly why no-one argued with her. She shouted louder than Krakatoa.
"YOU DON'T GET A CHOICE! YOU HAVE TO CLIMB THE CORPORATE LADDER UNTIL YOU'RE GOOD ENOUGH TO CHOOSE ANYTHING!"
"MELISSA!" Lazlo barked from the doorway, the Lucario glaring at her lividly. Melissa leapt off her seat, before immediately bolting past him and tearing through the hallway. Shooting a loathesome glance down the corridor, Lazlo slowly pulled the door closed behind him, before taking the seat she'd just vacated. The pair were silent for several minutes, before Lazlo finally broke the silence.
The corridors of the Kids Grid base surrounding the main floor were unusually noisy following the accident, something Geraint wasn't particularly happy about. Redesigning a building always involved a lot of paperwork, and he was up to his eyes in the task of filling in all the forms. The bouts of laughter that filtered in through the door were trying his patience though, as he screwed up another piece that the distraction had caused him to mis-write. When someone dared to knock on his door as he finished the last line of the form, he was certainly in the mindset to kill whoever was on the other side. Angrily making his way to the door, he wrenched the handle, preparing to punch away whoever had disturbed him. What he didn't expect was the pristine white uniform of the medical squad, and quickly the motion faltered as the punch lost impetuous. The nurse gave him a sad eye, before quietly delivering the news she'd been sent with. The effect on Geraint was clearly distressing.
"You're kidding me. That can't happen." He whimpered, before belting out of the doorway and heading towards the hospital wing.
"Your testing is over now, so you should probably be getting back to what the humans expect you to do." Lazlo said quietly, gesturing towards the doorway.
"What do I say about this though?" Ganon said, gesturing the room around them.
"Exactly the same as the rest of us tell him. Nothing."
"That's a bit unfair for him isn't it?"
"I believe so, but it is unfortunately neccessary. He lets us live here, he doesn't question what we do, and he even remembers our birthdays. Few trainers are that considerate, and we owe him for it."
"What's a birthday?" Ganon asked. Lazlo looked at Ganon incredulously.
"How can you not know?!" Lazlo asked. Ganon looked up and pointed at the ceiling.
"We don't have them up there. We just know how old we are, and how long before we got kicked out."
"Kicked out? Sounds a bit harsh." Lazlo said, thinking back to what Teal had said about the matter, their resident expert on the subject.
"Well it is. They have these crazy gargoyles for gatekeepers that open a portal into this world when we're twelve. They literally force us through with almost no warning." Ganon hung his head, "I couldn't even tell Laura that I…"
"A girlfriend?" Lazlo asked, intrigued. Ganon looked back up.
"Well, she was more than a friend."
"Ganon, girlfriend means a girl that you love and care for deeply."
"Oh. Yeah that's an accurate description."
"Well. I could tell you that love is a hollow and meaningless thing to get involved in, but I'm not that cruel. Eddie would consider it a waste of time pining over someone you'll never see again."
"I will see her again!" Ganon yelled at him. Lazlo just nodded.
"I never said you wouldn't, but please let me finish. What I will tell you, rather than what anyone else says, love is the most wonderful feeling you will experience. But you mustn't let it affect your judegment."
"I've been experiencing it for six years. I think I know." Lazlo tilted his head to one side, looking at Ganon through one eye.
"How old are you?"
"Twelve. And three days." Lazlo looked dumbfounded.
"Jeez! You really are head over heels."
"I don't have any heels." Ganon pointed out. Lazlo rolled his head uncertainly.
"Well you know what I mean."
"You seem to know a lot about romance." Ganon said. Lazlo sniggered.
"Well of course. I was in love once." Lazlo suddenly scowled darkly, "But enough about that."
"Did you know that Melissa has a crush on you?" Ganon said trying to lighten the mood. Lazlo grimaced.
"Hmmm... I won't pretend I didn't, but I find it surprising that she revealed that in front of you of all people." Lazlo said. He walked back over to the door and opened it, revealing Kenai about to knock. The Alakazam grunted roughly, and walked in.
"So. What's the verdict Colonel?" Kenai asked.
"Field agent, sir. He held himself well in the turmoil, and has an instinctive grasp over some forms of basic combat. Judging by the mentality analysis, he fights predominantly for love, rather than revenge or simply fun like most recruits."
"Good, exactly what I thought. Compile the rest of the report with a copy of the simulation, and I'll file it where-it'll-never-be looked-at-again-but-has-to-be-kept-in-case-of-legal-problems."
"Very well sir." Lazlo said, bowing as Kenai left. The Lucario turned back to Ganon, who was still stunned. He smirked.
"Well. Private Ganon. Welcome to Razor."
About time I got this section repaired, as there's been a few key changes.