A/N
Woo, chapter six! Yay! :D
Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.
Chapter 6: The Abandoned Base
A Dragonite touched down on the dusty path the led between Saffron and Vermillion. According to Benn, who had gotten whatever information he could from his work and returned to the two trainers at Nathan's home, Tary had been seen leaving Saffron city going south. There were no trainers on the route right now, for whatever reason. It seemed odd, but Matt wasn't willing to question the lack of trainers; maybe they just came at a bad time.
He hopped off of Kita's back, landing lightly and bracing his bruised ribs with one arm. They still ached and it still hurt to move around too much, so he was trying to be careful. He couldn't just sit still, though.; there had been news about his sister! She had to be somewhere around here, or in Vermilion. Hopefully, he could catch her before something bad happened or she left Vermilion going in some other direction.
Next to him there was another light thud against the dirt path. "She should be up on this road, according to Benn. We can't be very far," Adria grinned. Finally, Matt would be able to reunite with his sister. She'd be safer with her brother and her brother would be very happy, she was sure. "Let's check up ahead first. There's a bit of a hill that will slightly overlook the path a bit, so we should be able to see if someone's walking down it, or toward it. She's either got to be behind us or ahead of us." They could use Cerberus, the hound Pokémon, to track down scents and see who they lead to.
Matt agreed with a nod, looking up and down the path to make sure he didn't just miss her as they landed. No one was in sight, other than Adria, so off to the hill it was. He turned and headed that way, not bothering to recall Kita; she just trundled along after the two trainers on her hind legs, taking in the short route leisurely. Worried though she was about Tary, it had been a long time since Matt had been in Kanto and it was nice to see some familiar sights again. Matt, on the other hand, was completely focused on his goal; he was worried about his little sister and the sooner they found her, the better.
Releasing Cerberus, Adria followed after Matt quickly. Cerberus pointed his nose to the ground and followed any and every scent that was there. He could recognize a few: wild Pokémon that merely crossed the road, Matt's scent, Adria's scent, and Kita's scent. There were a few others that he recognized; one in particular seemed to be rather familiar to him indeed. His snarls were dark and threatening, and it caught Adria's attention. He was being unnaturally threatening and dark. Was there danger nearby?
The bushes just up ahead began to shuffle and shift a bit, rustling from whatever was in there. A black and yellow creature jumped out, pouncing on a few leaves. He didn't look at all threatening; just playing with the leaves, it looked like. The Umbreon didn't seem to notice the two trainers and the two Pokémon and continued to play. It was very unnatural to find one of these kinds of Pokémon in the wild.
Matt's attention was drawn first to Cerberus's dangerous growling, then to the loud rustling of leaves. What was that? Probably nothing more than a wild Pokémon; wild Pokémon were everywhere, hiding along the routes in the tall grass or just to the side and away from trainers. The sudden appearance of this rare Pokémon, however, had him halted to get a good look at it. He had stopped walking, head cocked to the side in confusion, staring it. "An Umbreon?" Didn't see those in the wild often. In fact, Matt had never seen one before. He'd seen Eevee and a few of the other Eeveelutions, but not this one. It looked innocent and playful enough; he wondered what it was doing out here.
Kita leaned down over her trainer to inspect the Pokémon that had just made an appearance. It seemed friendly, though out of place. Maybe they could figure out who this Pokémon belonged to and return him. Matt's single-mindedness for his current task, however, would force this issue wait until later. He snapped himself out of his confusion and instead made to move on. He was here to look for his sister, not hang around with some strange Pokémon.
The Umbreon stared up at Matt and Kita curiously then glanced over to the source of the growling and the look of horror on Adria's face. Cerberus didn't take kindly to this Eeveelution at all, regardless of how innocent and playful he was being right now. He was there for a reason, he knew it.
The Umbreon remembered what he was still along the side of the road and bounded up to Matt's side, jumping and biting the bottom of his shirt, tugging him to the side. He wanted Matt to stop and come see something. He tugged toward the bush he'd just pounced out of and tripped over. His head disappeared in the bush, but then it came back out with something clenched between his teeth. The part of the glasses that curved around the ear was between his teeth. He remembered he had to deliver this to them!
"Agh!" Matt was taken by surprise by the sudden weight on his shirt, dragging him to the side of the road. The Umbreon he had disregarded earlier had come back to drag him part way to the bushes on the side of the road. What could he possibly be trying to accomplish? Matt shook the Pokémon off his shirt, straightening up to alleviate the ache in his ribs. What he saw in the Umbreon's mouth, however, made him stop dead. "Th-those..." He reached out slowly, carefully, trying to take the broken glasses away from the Pokémon without being bitten should the Umbreon suddenly lash out.
Matt would recognize his sister's glasses anywhere, and seeing them broken and in the possession of some random Pokémon confirmed the worst. Something bad had happened and no one could tell him otherwise unless he saw his sister alive and healthy very soon. Something told him that wasn't going to happen, though.
Adria was almost hesitant to leave the spot she was in, but did so anyway and joined Matt, looking around rather cautiously. This Umbreon belonged to someone cruel and if this Umbreon was out and about, wandering around, then its owner had to be around. If his owner was around, the other Pokémon had to be around as well.
"Are those her glasses?" Adria asked quietly. This was bad; she knew who the owner of this Umbreon was. If it was him who had her... well, it was a whole new story. It was recent, or his Umbreon would have been long gone. This man that had her was cruel, even if his faithful Pokémon was really cute and innocent. But the other Pokémon was the very exact opposite.
Matt had snatched the glasses away from the Dark-type Pokémon and was inspecting them, still kneeling down at the side of the road. He had lost all strength to get up, to move, to do anything other than stare at the broken pair of glasses in his hands. The glass was cracked and one of the lenses had shattered and was missing several shards. They were mangled, but identifiable, and Matt had no idea what he was going to do. His sister was somewhere, caught by someone, and this strange Pokemon had her glasses. "Y-yeah..."
Kita, catching sight of the glasses and noticing the sudden paralyzed state that her trainer was in, began to growl. It was a great rumbling sound and she crouched protectively over the two trainers, projecting her ire at the Umbreon that had brought these bad tidings to them.
The Umbreon whimpered under the growl and anger from the Dragonite. His ears flattened against his head and tail went between his legs, as he nosed the ground; he was only the messenger. Even Adria had to admit that he was too innocent to purposely bring bad tidings. Not on his own, anyway. He was only the bearer of bad news while his trainer was the ring leader.
Cerberus joined Kita in the low rumble, once again stalking closer and closer to the slightly smaller dark-type. The Umbreon eyed him carefully as the snarling grew louder until it grew into a very nasty bark. He sprang up as Cerberus leapt at him and ran for cover in the bushes, terrified as Cerberus gave chase. "Cerberus!" Adria called. All she heard as a response was the ugly, dangerous barking and snarling begin to grow more distant. Hesitating at first, she broke into a run and through the bushes to give chase.
Matt's head shot up as his companions darted off into the trees after the skittish Umbreon. It seemed like an innocent thing; maybe it hadn't been quite so right to get so angry at it. Regardless of the fact, he needed to catch up to Adria. "W-wait!" Adria had come tagging along with him and suddenly they were separated; with what was going on, that was a recipe for trouble.
Regaining some strength in his limbs, Matt leaped up to his feet and darted after the girl with the teal hair and her Houndoom. They couldn't stay separated with Alex running around, especially not when there was another potential psycho with an Umbreon. Kita was left behind, unable to quite fit through the trees. Incapable of following from the ground, she took to the sky to try following them from above. It was difficult to track them through the foliage, but Cerberus's crazy, angry barking drew her attention in the right direction.
It was clear what his intentions were for the Umbreon and the Umbreon understood why Cerberus would so want to maul him. Even if he was an innocent Pokémon at heart, his owner remained to be that deranged man who hunted that trainer and anyone and everyone that was her family. But since Nathan was away at work, Maddie didn't fit the 'family' part despite dating the brother, the father being nowhere to be found, and the mother being somewhere he didn't know of, Adria was the only one stupid enough to continue traveling around despite this danger. It would have been so much easier for her to simply go into hiding until he got bored or something. Just watching the girl flounder about, wary on her traveling was enough to satisfy him. The Umbreon, Dyavol knew that, so he understood why Cerberus was out to kill him.
Seeking a relatively safe place, Dyavol darted straight into an abandoned Rocket base. It was falling apart and looked pathetic. The bushes and vines were beginning to take over this unused stone building, creeping up on the sides and tangling itself around the building. There was a wall of bushes by the entrance; part of it looked like it had been hacked away recently.
Matt chased after them, trying and failing to catch up with Adria. She was faster than him, apparently, and his bruised ribs weren't doing him any favors. It hurt whenever he took too deep a breath, so sprinting along and panting wasn't helping. When they finally reached the old base, Matt had to stop for a moment to catch his breath. Besides, he was fairly certain that running head first into this building was not the smartest thing he could do. They needed to regroup and figure out what they were going to do. It seemed rather likely that the owner of the Umbreon had sequestered him or herself in this building here. Running in without any sort of plan was a recipe for disaster.
Kita hovered overhead, trying to find a good place to land. Her wing beats rustled the tree tops above, signaling to everyone below that she was near-by and probably very confused as to what exactly was going on.
Adria had darted in, struggling to get over the rubble on the inside, but had ultimately lost Cerberus and Umbreon. His barking echoed down the dark halls and Adria preferred not to go alone. Returning to the outside, she saw Matt and Kita. "He fled in here. I'm guessing this is his safe place, and perhaps Tary is in here if his trainer is hiding out in here," she thought aloud. "They went further into the base, but I don't really want to go in... not alone." The darkness in the corridor wasn't the only unnerving thing, but so were the things that possibly lurked there. Anything could have lurked in the dark, unused, unlit halls of the base.
Matt grasped his ribs as they ached, trying to catch his breath for a moment. Kita had finally found a place to land, partially crouching on one of the broken walls of the abandoned base. Matt drifted over to her to get his bag. He didn't have an electric type Pokémon on him and none of his other Pokémon knew Flash, so he carried a flashlight for traveling in dark caves. It ought to come in handy here. Kita had his bag with her and he fetched the useful tool out of it.
"I can't wait around here," he managed to say after he had mostly caught his breath. "You should probably call your brother, or Benn, and tell them what's going on, though." It was their job to deal with threats like Alex and, from what Matt gathered, Alex was very involved in whatever was going on here. However, Matt was going in that base whether Adria wanted to or not. It was bad to rush in without a plan, but Matt couldn't stand around here making one for too long; his sister was in there somewhere and he was determined to find her.
Adria nibbled her lip. She didn't want to go alone, she didn't want Matt to go in alone, she didn't want to have neither of them go, but at the same time she didn't want either of them to go. Alex was likely in there, but then there was that other person who was in there. There was that other person who was with her if they were truly in the building. Going in knowing just Alex was there was okay with her, but if it wasn't just her... "I'll just send him a message, it'll take only a few seconds," Adria was already pulling her phone to send a message to them. "Just wait a few seconds; I'll come with you. It'll be dangerous if there's someone else there with Alex."
Matt glanced over to her as she agreed to call her brother and come with him. Honestly, he felt a whole lot better for the fact that he wasn't going in alone. Even if they were still just a pair of teenagers, being a pair was better than just being one inside the building. Nathan or Benn would be able to figure out what to do if things took a turn for the worse. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. With any luck, they could grab Tary and get out of this place. There was a very low chance of that, though, because there was more than one threat in this building. "Someone else as in whoever owns the Umbreon?" Matt still didn't know anything about this mysterious person, but judged that he or she wasn't very good from Adria's violent reaction to the Umbreon.
Adria nodded, her fingers dancing over the key pad as she typed the message as fast as she possibly could. "Yes. The owner might be very dangerous," although there was no question to Adria that the owner actually was dangerous. It was still possible to question if the Umbreon's owner was actually another victim of Alex and the Umbreon was kind of left behind, but Adria knew for a fact that couldn't be true. "The two of us is far better than one of us going in, especially now that Cerberus has probably roused them and announced our arrival. His violent chase and nasty barking couldn't have gone unnoticed." Shoving her phone back in her pocket, Adria slipped back into the building and waited for Matt to join her. "This could end in a bloodbath for someone if not for us all..." In a situation like this, splitting up was a bad idea; a really bad one.
Matt scowled slightly at the thought of a bloodbath, but followed the girl into the base anyway. "Kita, stay out here." As he spoke, he tapped Ender's Pokéball to release the ghost. It was probably best to have a Pokémon out and ready should they run into trouble. Although still a little sore and drained from the earlier attack against him, Ender seemed ready and willing to venture forth into the dark, abandoned base. "This is going to be a mess, but I can't just let my sister sit around in the dark while we stand around outside." Matt was determined to find his sister and take her back from these psychopaths.
Adria instinctively reached for her waist to dig into her brown and white butterfly-print messenger bag for a berry pouch, but realized she'd left all those important things at home next to her bed, bringing nothing but the Pokémon on hand and her phone. While cursing inwardly, the sight of an Oran berry tree caught her eye. "Ender, go grab a berry from that conveniently-placed berry tree over there before we go in," Adria suggested, pointing to a small tree just to the left of the hacked-away bushes. "It could help you in the long-run, or you can regain a bit more strength now." Too bad it wasn't Sitrus, though. It would have been slightly better because it was better at helping recover the Pokémon that ate it. The blast of multiple flavors was far better and helped relax and rejuvenate the tired Pokémon. An Oran berry was okay, though.
Ender did as she requested without hesitation, disappearing from their sides momentarily to fetch the berry. While at the tree, he popped one in his mouth to recover a little energy. It didn't help a whole lot, but it was nice to have anyway. He returned to Adria with two berries in his hand, offering them to her. "Here." He'd probably carry one with him, but Adria could have the other. Now they had at least something that could help them a little should a Pokémon get hurt. It was only a small, mostly ineffectual, method of healing; in the end, it might be just a little bit of healing that could really make or break this expedition.
Adria accepted the berry from Ender, slipping it into the rather empty bag for the time being. In the rush to get out of the house after Benn had told them where Tary had last been seen, she'd taken everything out to double check she had all that she needed only to forget to put them back and grab the bag instead. All she had left was a half-filled water bottle, a wallet absolutely starving for cash she'd shoved in the bank a while ago, a tooth brush, and a deck of cards – small things that littered just the bottom of her bag. "Thanks. Let's head inside then, I guess..."
Matt swiveled the light he carried to illuminate the dark halls before them. They needed to get going; no more stalling around. They were going to find his sister. Honestly, now that they were descending into the depths of this base, Matt wasn't sure he wanted Adria tagging along. As friendly as they had gotten since secrets had been spilled, it was probably really bad for him to be leading Adria into what was probably a very obvious trap.
Ender set off ahead, floating into the darkness by himself and returning every few moments. He bobbed in and out of their mission; mostly, he was probing the hallways to check for any danger he could detect, but he was also reassuring them that he hadn't disappeared. He didn't want to get too far from the trainers.
Adria knew how this would turn out for them in the end and there was no other way to achieve their goal without stepping right on that trigger. Although Adria was planning to tag along anyway, the fact that this second person was likely here made it impossible for her to think about returning. Matt may have been a victim of whatever plots Alex thought of, but he'd only end up as a victim to murder if it were up to James, unless there was some mutual agreement of no killing, or something.
"Do you hear that?" Adria whispered into the frigid air. Silence. There was no noise to be heard besides their careful footsteps over the rubble and foliage that scattered the halls like toys in a child's playroom. Silence. Where was Cerberus?
The duo was coming up on two sets of doors, one on either side. These first two doors were open: the left had its door thrown against the back wall of the room. Minus the rubble, the first was relatively empty. To the right the room had no door to begin with. Tables were flipped over in that room. There was shattered glass all over the floor from beakers and glass containers and a few barred cages tucked away against the left wall. This room was likely once a laboratory. Between two of the cages was a small moving, breathing lump. Its face was facing the wall to avoid eye contact with whatever popped their head in next.
"It's quiet in here." No Cerberus, no Umbreon, no people. It seemed like a ghost town in here.
Ender was the first to break the quiet after Adria. "Matt, over here!" He had spotted the small, moving figure in the room on the right. Matt was quick to join him in that room, picking his way through overturned tables. Glass crunched under his feet as he moved across the room, towards the figure. They needed to be careful, but the sight of another living body was something of a relief. It might be Tary! But it could also be James or Alex. Matt didn't really know, but he was determined to find out. If it was Tary, they could get out of this creepy base faster. As it was, Matt doubted that Alex would make it that easy.
Going to follow Matt and Ender, Adria stopped almost immediately before the threshold. Below Matt's feet a few clatters were made among the crunch of the glass, similar to the sound you get in a video game when stepping on a pressure plate trap. Adria, somehow, stopped herself before being impaled from above as bars shot out of the threshold and into the concrete where there were already indents in the ground for them. Adria didn't have a flash light with her since Matt had it with him and had to grope along the walls for a possible switch that may or may not raise these bars barricading Matt's way. "Matt!" Adria called to him. "You're locked in. There's no switch out here, either."
Stopping immediately at the sound of the metal bars descending and his name being called, Matt backtracked to the bars, looking around on the inside. Upon finding nothing that might help by looking and feeling along the walls, he cursed slightly under his breath.
Ender, presently distracted with the lump between two of the cages, made a rather upsetting discovery. "It's a fake. A Substitute, I think." He frowned at the thought that Matt had been trapped in here for nothing. It took Matt a moment to think about their situation and what they were going to do now, but the best idea he could think of was not pleasant. "Here," he passed the flashlight through the bars and held it out to her. "I'll figure out a way out of here with my Pokémon. Take the flashlight and Ender with you." Obviously, Matt's idea was for her to continue on looking with the flashlight. Tary was still in this building somewhere and nothing would be gained by both of them sitting around in the dark trying to figure out how to lift the bars across the door.
Adria bit her lip, reaching out and accepting the flash light. Should they separate for this, or maybe look for an alternative exit, instead? But his sister, Tary was very likely in here, in the building. Adria really didn't enjoy the idea of splitting up, but... "I'll... I'll go search for her," Adria agreed, thinking back to the description Matt provided earlier. "Hope you get out. Nathan and Benn should be here soon... I told them it was important they show up, especially if 10 minutes go by and I don't send another message." Flashing the light back into the room to check once more for another exit he could use, her search was fruitless. "I'll be back if nothing happens and you're not out," Adria promised.
Matt flashed a small, nervous smile. "Hey, I've still got my Pokémon with me. I'll have Riley work on trying to break through these bars or something. Shida might be able to sniff a way out. We'll be fine." Of course, that wasn't accounting for the two psychopaths running amok in the building, but Matt was purposefully ignoring that. Right now, it was most important to Matt that they find his sister and get her out of here; she was only 11 and there was no need for her to be dragged into a situation like this. As much as he didn't want Adria wandering around alone – which was sort of why he was sending Ender with her – Tary was slightly higher on his priority list by virtue of the fact that she was his beloved sister. "Be careful out there, alright?"
Shuddering in the darkness and cold, Adria nodded. He'd be fine. He had strong Pokémon. Shida was strong, and Riley, who was the Scizor that Ender mentioned the previous day, was there. Speaking of Scizor, the thought made Adria so much more aware of the danger that lurked in the base. There was no doubt that James was here with his Scizor. Adria could only hope she didn't come in contact with the man and that cruel Pokémon who struck fear into her very core. Shaking the thought clear of her mind, Adria began down the hall with the light. "Yeah... I'll be careful," Adria replied shakily, "see you in a bit." After that, she began her descent further into the halls, praying that she wouldn't meet James, that Matt got out before something happened to him, and that Tary was safe and hopefully somewhere the two psychopaths weren't.
Matt watched Adria and the light recede down the hallway. Adria was on her own, sort of; she still had whatever Pokémon she had brought and Ender. Matt was alone in the darkness for now. He released his Scizor companion to try breaking through the bars and his little Furret to try sniffing another way out of this room they were trapped in. It was pitch black in here, though, and Matt couldn't see a thing without the flashlight he had lent to Adria. Hopefully the girl would be alright and would be able to find who they had come for.
Ender floated along beside Adria, keeping close watch in the darkness. As a ghost, he had decent night vision and could see in places that the flashlight didn't illuminate. He kept watch for anything suspicious or dangerous in the darkness.
Proceeding further into the darkness, eventually Adria's footsteps faded away the further she traveled into the base. She had a feeling that Tary might end up being held in the furthest accessible part of the base. Although checking every room she passed, she still figured that Tary was further down.
Meanwhile, a pair of eyes fixed themselves on Matt and the Pokémon he released. In the darkness of the room, these eyes could see quite clearly in the darkness because, not only were they adjusted, it easily saw in the dark. In the corner of the room, it watched Matt and his Pokémon.
There was a light chuckle somewhere in the room. It was almost a mocking chuckle of amusement, amused that Matt had been the one to fall into his trap instead of his prey. But he guessed that was okay.
Matt whirled at the unexpected sound and he pressed his back to the wall to avoid someone or something coming up on him from behind. Shida hissed from somewhere in the darkness. Although impossible to see, her fur had puffed up as she searched for the source of the dark chuckle. Riley, who had once been working on breaking the bars in the doorway, had turned and carefully positioned himself in front of his trainer. There was something lurking here in the darkness and it was dangerous, whatever it was. No normal person could make such a sound while trapped in complete darkness in a situation like this. It wasn't the feminine giggle of the psychopath that Matt was most familiar with, though. This... this was someone different.
