Chapter 8

Two people were talking at a distance, so far away that their voices mingled together into a hum. The hum irritated Mipsy's head as she returned to the waking world, which was cause for her splitting headache. Her eyes refused to focus, the world was too bright and her eyes watered. As she closed her eyes, she drifted off again…

This time the conversation was clearer; at least she could tell that the two speaking were unfamiliar to her. The headache had not subsided, and the initial rush of light was just as blinding as before. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a cough—her mouth felt like it had a wad of cotton in it. The pattern in the conversation changed; apparently they'd noticed that she was awake. Something cold and hard was pressed to her lips at an angle. Obediently, she opened her mouth and cool water seeped down her throat. The voice was close enough to her ear that she could make out what it was saying, "All you have to do is answer a few questions, and then we'll release you."

Release her…? Mipsy tried to move her arms, just to find that they were bound to her sides. Slowly, the scene from the ship came back to her—the voice over the loudspeaker, Kirra wearing the Team Aqua uniform, the Grumpig's hypnosis attack—and she groaned. "W-where am I?" Her voice was just a whisper, water or not, her throat was still parched.

There was no reply.

Her eyes slowly got used to the light, meaning she could pick out the figures of the two that were standing near her. One, an older teen, looked rather bored. She held the empty glass at her side, while her free hand twirled a dark lock. Mipsy stared at it for a long moment, finally deciding that she wasn't seeing wrong. The teen that stood before her in the Team Aqua uniform had navy hair.

The other figure that she had heard talking was no human, but a Grumpig. In one purple paw he held a green-and-white pokeball. At his feet, in a messy pile, were her Pokedex, pokeball belt, and backpack. As she watched, the Pokedex gained a blue aura and floated over to the teen. "You should know that we've already removed the tracking device from this thing," she said.

Great. Now nobody would know that she'd been taken… wherever she was taken to. "So, are you going to talk, or what?" The teen continued with annoyance creeping into her voice. She tossed the Pokedex into the air and the aura caught it again, making it float back to the floor. The Grumpig yawned, leaning against the bright white wall.

The teen shrugged, not waiting for an answer. "You know Kirra Knightly?" Mipsy nodded slowly. "Well, she's going to be your team leader."

"What? I'm not—"

Mipsy bit off her own sentence, but not because she wanted to. The Grumpig's eyes had glowed for a second, and now she couldn't open her mouth.

"Right. As I was saying…" the teen paused, thinking.

The Grumpig snorted, "There are a few things you need to do first. Such as—"

"Thank you Magical," she interrupted. He snorted again. "Such as, you need to actually join…"

Mipsy tried to say something, without her lips open it sounded like 'mmph-mmph.' The teen glared at the Grumpig, and she suddenly had use of her mouth again. "I'm not going to join Team Aqua," she gasped out.

The two of them exchanged a glance and in a blinding flash that hurt Mipsy's eyes, Rose was released from her pokeball. The Roselia looked around silently while a blue aura gathered around her form. "Would you rather join Team Aqua, or see this pretty little pokemon ripped apart before your very eyes?"

Her eyes widened, "You wouldn't…" The Grumpig closed his paw and Rose howled. A few petals fell from her roses when he opened his paw again, allowing her to fall to her knees. Rose huffed, as if she'd been running.

"What do you say now?" The teen still seemed bored. Mipsy tried to reply, but she was too lost for words. Taking her silence as a refusal, the psychic pig resumed his attack.

This time Rose bit back her cry and just shook in obvious pain. Her trainer opened her mouth to speak, just as the door crashed open. The Grumpig immediately stopped; turning to stare at the teen Kirra had been with on the ship. He leaned against the door, scowling, "I thought I made my orders very clear, Melody. We aren't using the old methods anymore."

"My admin told me otherwise," the teen responded.

He was silent for a long moment, "Magical, release the plant and the girl," he ordered.

Rose crumpled to the floor without psychic support. The ropes binding Mipsy's arms and legs slowly unwound from her, and she stood, shakily, before collapsing back into the chair. A force—she was sure it was the Grumpig—made her stand again. She would've fallen again, had Magical released her. "Follow me," said the boy, as he snatched up her pokeball belt and returned Rose.

Mipsy didn't have much of a choice, as her legs moved in accordance to Magical's whim. She followed through a hallway that was painted the same bright white as the room she'd been in. They passed by several rooms that she realized were quite small, as she stole glances in each one. The hall ended in an area open to the sky. The ship was docked in the water, rocking just slightly as a few people rushed around its deck. Behind the ship, across a short stretch of water, were two huge gates. Sunlight streamed down from above, the sky was completely cloudless.

The teen kept going, he led her through another narrow hallway before taking a sharp turn and going up a staircase. Magical, who was following behind her, had to float her up half the stairs when she fell too behind. From the stairs was another, short, hall, and then he held up his arm to stop her. Before them was a cafeteria that had maybe a couple dozen people in it. None of them were eating, but at the reminder of food, Mipsy's stomach growled.

"Stay here," he said. The teen walked off, still holding her Pokeball belt. He went to one of the tables and sat down next to someone with green hair. A couple minutes later, he turned and nodded at her and the Grumpig.

"Nathan says to join him at that table," Magical remarked, pointing to one. It glowed blue for a second. She jumped when he spoke, causing him to snort, "Can you walk on your own?" His psychic powers slowly drained from her, even though she stumbled, she had been walking long enough to get the numbness out of her legs. The Grumpig snorted again as she began to walk towards the table and disappeared.

A thought crossed Mipsy's mind unbidden. Why don't I just run away? She would be safe from Team Aqua… maybe. But then she'd be leaving her pokemon behind. She'd seen what they did to Rose. She didn't want that to happen again…

Nathan and a few others had moved to the table that Magical had pointed out. Nathan, Kirra, and another teen sat on one side, while a few others—some of which were around Mipsy's age—sat across from them. Kirra motioned to the seat across from her when Mipsy was close enough.

"Who goes first?" Nathan asked when she was seated, "Eric, shall you do the honors?"

After a moment, Mipsy recognized Eric as the last of Kirra's companions from Isle Rockola, the one that hadn't spoken a word. Even sitting down, he appeared impressively tall. "Sure," he said. His voice was high and cracked a bit over that one word. "Well, this must seem like a shock—being on a ship, then just appearing here. But for the next six months, until your contracts expire, you'll all be members of Team Aqua. You'll have to get used to the three of us—" he indicated himself, Kirra, and Nathan with a hand gesture "—because we're going to be your team leaders." He introduced the three of them by their first names only.

Kirra picked up from there, "We're trying something new with this process, though. No signing your life away in blood," the woman next to Mipsy cringed, causing the teen to smile slightly. "Instead, you'll only have to serve Team Aqua for six months. Our three teams are considered freelance, so mostly we won't bother your quests with missions."

"How would that keep us from spilling all of Aqua's secrets to the first police officer?" Asked a boy.

Her smile was menacing, "Nothing sensitive will pass through your ears. Why tell the police you're a member of Team Aqua when you can silently pass the six months by?" There was no reply to that. She nodded to Eric.

"I have the documents you need to sign, right here," he said, picking up a clipboard that had been resting on his lap. "You get your pokemon back in exchange for a signature."

Mipsy relaxed, just slightly, when the familiar weight of her belt was back around her waist. She hadn't had enough time to release one of her pokemon, before she was off again, following Kirra this time. There was a lot she wanted to say to the redhead, but none of which she should say while they were in the company of the woman she'd been sitting beside. Casting a glance at her, Mipsy noted that her lips were set into a hard line.

The woman was older than many of the other 'recruits' that had come off the boat, with a plump, kind-looking face. She wore a tan shirt with a pattern of the little five-petal flowers that grew in Dewford Town. An islander, perhaps. She looked about as happy to be there as Mipsy felt.

"Do you have any objections to being given pseudonyms?" Kirra asked over her shoulder. "And getting new hairstyles?"

"I could use a new hairstyle," the woman remarked dryly. "But I'll think of my own pseudonym."

"Ah, alright. Mipsy?"

"Um. Sure. To both," her thoughts flickered back to Melody, with her navy hair, and wondered what was about to befall her own.

Kirra led them down another staircase and out into the open. She stopped and said, "That building is the women's barracks." She pointed to a brick building half hidden by trees. After digging into the purse-like bag she had by her side, Kirra produced two keys with bits of paper attached to them. She glanced at one before handing it to Mipsy. "The first number is what floor the room is on. You'll find your belongings there, later."

"And now, I'll take ya'll to the salon."

All Mipsy's pokemon stared at her in astonishment. Well, except for Zyair—she didn't have eyes, after all. Rose, who had been sent to a healing machine, scowled at the girl rather than stared at her. Razzle held one hand to his mouth, contemplating her with his head to one side. Finally, he said, "Mipsy, I'm touched. You, you match… my pokeball."

Mipsy was blushing furiously. The women at the salon seemed to have a lot of fun with hair dye. They'd changed hers to a dark, almost black, shade of purple. She supposed it was better than green, but still—purple? Tassie giggled as she fluttered, Razzle translated it as he smothered a snicker, "Tassie says you remind her of a flower."

Rose put her roses to her hips and said something of protest to that. Tassie responded heatedly, and the two of them were caught up in a glaring match.

The trainer sighed; "Guys, I need to explain a couple of things…" she told them about her situation with Team Aqua, to different levels of surprise. Aubrey looked completely horrified, Rose barely blinked—she knew already. Zyair's response was to flutter her wings, which was more of an acknowledgement that Mipsy expected.

When she was done, Razzle exclaimed, "No problem! We can just run away and they'll never be able to punish us!"

She cringed. "I don't think it works like that…"

"Oou!" Tassie exclaimed, looking in his direction. He replied in Ralts tongue. Mipsy let the two of them talk as she searched for her belongings. The stack of clothes that Kirra had shoved at her still remained on the small table that was close to the door. Mipsy flinched inwardly every time she looked at the black-and-white striped shirts and the bandanna.

Her bag and Pokedex rested in the next room, on the bed. It hardly gave at all to her weight when she rested on it. It didn't seem very comfortable, but it was still inviting to Mipsy—even though she'd apparently gotten a lot of sleep, it didn't feel like it at all. But she ignored the impulse to lie down as she opened her backpack and dumped its contents on the bed. Potions, a plushie or two, and a lot of clothes went everywhere with a muffled thump. It was the clothes she was after, her instructions were clear—she was to wear one of those striped shirts under her normal shirt or jacket. She had picked out a shirt with a few ducks on it, one of them sleeping. "We can't all be morning people" was written across the top of it.

A thought struck her. "Hey, are any of your hungry?" She called.

"Enough to eat a Miltank!" Razzle exclaimed, not missing a beat. Mipsy abandoned the mess she'd made; it could wait for a bit.

"Come on, then," she said, scooping up Aubrey. The Azurill looked up at her with watering eyes, and she looked back for a long moment. He'd wanted to go with her, to avoid being with Team Aqua. And look what Mipsy ended up in… she was startled from her reverie when Razzle tugged on her pant leg impatiently.

She hadn't memorized where everything was yet, so she was relieved when she ran into her teammate—the woman who'd introduced herself as Abby. She had a Delcatty at her feet, apparently going the same way as Mipsy. The two of them got a little lost in the big main building before reaching the cafeteria. Mipsy kept an eye on Rose, but she had no problem making the trip outside her pokeball. It was Zyair that had to return to her own pokeball when the remaining light of the evening began to irritate her skin.

Abby was a pleasant companion to have, she chattered on and on to the younger girl about where she was going to college, Pokemon Tech, in another region. She'd returned to Dewford Town for the summer, just to be caught up in Team Aqua. "The plane tickets were expensive," Abby said. "I can't just hop back and forth between Kanto and Hoenn once the summer is over."

By then, they had found the cafeteria. They weren't the only ones with pokemon out… many Zubat and its evolutions clustered on the roof, clinging to small poles built as claw-holds. Mipsy sent Zyair out and the Zubat was more than willing to join her own kind. A great din came from the many trainers that clustered at the tables, the majority of which sported oddly colored hair. Mipsy glanced sideways at Abby, who had gotten lucky when her hair was dyed a light brown.

There were hardly any seats left for the two trainers, Mipsy realized. Only one table had some spots missing, the one secluded in a corner, longer than the rest—the one that was occupied by a man Mipsy recognized with a shudder. Archie, leader of Team Aqua, dined in the full uniform with only a few others, probably high-ranking officials.

"Mipsy, hello?" Abby poked the girl, startling her. "C'mon. Your pokemon are going to be finished by the time you've gotten something," the girl looked around, seeing that Razzle and the rest had disappeared. Abby half-dragged her to a doorway that led to a kitchen-like area.

That's where her pokemon were, who already had food in hand. Mipsy caught Razzle saying, "Oh, my trainer will pick up the bill. See, there she is!" He pointed at her and scurried off.

She got her dinner—some sort of chicken dish—and paid for five meals. The price wasn't bad, but it still bit into her remaining funds hard. She carried her meal in one hand, and took Aubrey's dish from Rose, who'd opted to carry two. Only Razzle had left, the rest of her pokemon waited for her.

The dish of kibble looked very unappealing to Mipsy, and apparently she wasn't the only one to think so, when Razzle appeared again, a purple glow around his form and his plate barely touched. "This isn't food!" He exclaimed at the cashier, a woman gone gray who looked at him sourly as Abby paid for her meal.

Razzle shook the dish, "I paid good money for this, and it isn't even edible! Why can't I have something like that?" He pointed at what Mipsy was holding.

"Because, dear, you're a pokemon," said the cashier. "That's what we serve to your kind."

The Ralts spluttered for a moment, "But I can't eat it. It's too hard, see?" He took one of the pieces of kibble and gnawed on it.

"Razzle," Mipsy said as she bent down, carefully balancing both plates she held on her palms. "I'll buy you a meal like mine if you want it—"

"That's okay Mipsy, I've got this under control," he replied, stepping forward and glaring at the cashier.

"What do you want from me, kid?" The woman asked. "I can't—" She cut herself off as a plate floated over her head towards the Ralts. She grabbed for it, succeeding in making it skew to one side, spilling its contents over her hands and onto one of the plates Mipsy held, the one with the kibble, which wobbled precariously with the added weight. The cashier cried out and tried to flick the hot sauce off her hands while Razzle lost his psychic grip on the plate and it fell sideways, bouncing off the plate he had had originally with enough force to knock it to the floor, shattering. It hit Rose's plate off of where it was lying on one of her roses, both clattered noisily. That was just as Mipsy lost her balance and the plate of kibble was dropped at an angle that flipped her own meal at Abby's Delcatty's feet. With a happy mmrow, the cat licked at some of the splattered sauce.

Tassie looked around at the chaos, then at her own plate. She flipped it over, so it would match the rest.

"Oops," Mipsy said. "…Now will you give him a chicken dinner?"

The cashier sighed heavily. Abby came to the girl's rescue. "Yeah, you owe them all new meals, since you caused all that."

So Razzle was contented to have the human meal, while Mipsy and Abby sat together, with a group that paid them no mind.

It was dark out when Mipsy returned to the women's barracks. Zyair fluttered above her head, quite awake, unlike her trainer. The bat and Tassie were the only ones of her pokemon still out, the rest had gone back into their pokeballs to sleep. Tassie had made friends with the Zubat; they played an aerial version of tag. The Beautifly was It for most of the time they played.

Abby and her Delcatty parted from them at the first floor; their room was close by. As Mipsy waited in the elevator for the third floor, she smiled inwardly. Even though Abby was twice her age, she was friendly, and given her situation, that might be rare.

She nearly stepped on a note when she entered her room. It was in Kirra's slanted handwriting, telling her to be outside the women's barracks at six a.m. She glanced at Zyair, who was still wide-awake, wondering if she would still be like that when Mipsy had to get up. Probably.

Mipsy released her pokemon again, they weren't completely asleep yet, but—Rose especially—didn't appreciate the interruption. "Sorry about that," she said as she locked the door. "But I think you all should sleep outside your pokeballs for a while."

"Why—oh," Razzle cut himself off. He jumped on the small couch, sprawling across half of it, "I call this place!" Tassie giggled and landed on the other half, leaving the rest looking around for someplace to go. Zyair couldn't find a place to hang on to on the ceiling, so she settled on the top of the open-backed chair that was, Mipsy realized, the only chair. It went with the kitchenette, a place she thought she should start using, looking at the cost of getting meals from the cafeteria.

She watched Rose and Aubrey cuddle together on the seat of the chair; they were too small to fall out the back of it, so she didn't worry too much about them, even though it appeared to be an uncomfortable place to sleep. "Good night," she murmured and went into the other room, where her bed and all her items awaited her. The clothes she hid in the closet, to fold up later. She gathered the potion-related stuff and put it back in the bag, along with other stuff.

The only things that stayed out were her nightclothes and a plushie Dragonair. The plushie was about the size of Rose, it was soft, and depicted one of the rare pokemon Mipsy wanted to someday see; she'd heard a little bit about Dragonair from her parents, since it was the pre-evolved form of Dragonite.

She went to bed cuddled with the plushie for comfort. A lot had happened that day. She'd signed her services to Team Aqua for six months, when she hadn't even had a pokemon by her side for three weeks. The person she'd thought was her friend—Kirra—had the biggest push into her having to join. Kirra was the one to suggest getting onto that ship. She could've easily said nothing.

Then there was Rose, who was starting to glare at Mipsy whenever attention came to the girl. She hadn't stopped the Roselia's pain went she could've, instead it was Nathan who did when Mipsy's consent was right on the tip of her tongue. No matter what Mipsy did, Rose found some fault in it to be offended at.

And what would the people she knew—Professor Birch, Brendan, Marvin, her mom and dad, even the people of the Dancing Dragonite—say if they saw her in that Team Aqua uniform? Sure, she could tell them that she was forced into it, but the initial impression on them would be massive. Would she still check in at every town, when it was only to protect her from what she'd had to join? And her tracking device—though it was a relief to know that she wasn't being tracked—it was probably in the belly of some Tentacool, swimming around Routes 106, 107, 108, and 109. It would look… interesting… to whomever tried to locate her, just to find that she was somewhere out to sea.

And where would her seventh and onward pokemon go, if she managed to catch that many?

It was with these thoughts, in the uncomfortably hard bed, in the small two rooms she had been given, in the women's barracks of the Team Aqua base that was located who-knows-where, that Mipsy fell asleep with, along with her preposterous purple hair and a Dragonair plushie.

It was around midnight when she drifted awake long enough to notice that her plushie was not only snoring, but had relocated to above the covers. She placed a hand on its side, the fine fur felt smooth and warm while it moved with its breathing. She must've made a sound, for the plushie stirred and a tiny voice murmured, "Rill…" before it moved into the crook of her arm and resumed its sleep. Mipsy found the real plushie under Aubrey's weight, acting as a cushion for him. She suspected that he hadn't been there long, which was cause for her to wake up. She picked him up and shifted him to the other side of the bed, where he wouldn't fall off the edge if she rolled over. Instinctively, he moved towards her and rested his head on her elbow, using it as a sort of pillow with the covers between them.

Mipsy caught a whiff of Rose's scent close to her pillow, but she guessed the Roselia had returned to her chair. Either way, she was soon drifting off and waking again to a loud buzzer from the bedside clock. Aubrey complained along with Mipsy at having to get up. After taking a shower, Mipsy left her room with her pokemon still sleeping, but inside their pokeballs with her.

Kirra glanced at her cell phone when Mipsy got outside the barracks. "Abby's late," she murmured. There was a boy a little older than Mipsy with her, who looked awake and alert. His skin was pasty white, as if he didn't go out in the sun too often, which matched his white-blonde hair well. He had high cheekbones and an angular face, with eyes obscured by sunglasses. Mipsy wondered how he could see; when she realized the way he looked down on her was his was of looking over the top of them. His skin and hair were the only light things about him, as he wore all black.

When he spoke, his voice had a nasal quality, "So, who is this?"

"I'm—"

Kirra cut her off, "This is Morgan, the other recruit," she said quickly. Mipsy blinked at her blankly, the boy didn't see it, since he was looking at Kirra. "And Morgan, this is Seth." She mouthed, 'tell you later' with a wink when he turned away.

"Nice to meet you, Morgan," Seth said brusquely. His tone was the exact opposite to what he'd said, but before she could comment back, Abby appeared.

Kirra didn't comment about lateness to Abby, instead introduced her to Seth and said, "We're going off to the shipyard. Abby, Morgan, this is going to be a lesson to you about how things work. Seth, hmm…"

"Nah, you don't give long tours," he sighed.

She led them towards the main building, "The ship we were on has been returned to Route 108," Kirra began. "Half the passengers and all the crew were left on it."

"How is that possible?" Abby asked. "They must remember—"

"Psychic pokemon can remove memories," said Seth. "And several of them can teleport big objects…"

"…The passengers will wake up with a headache in their cabins, and not remember how they got there," Kirra picked up. Mipsy shuddered—those people would never know how lucky they were…

"But that's not of so much importance right now," she continued. They were passing by the main building in a large arc, through a courtyard with a few stone benches to rest on. Mipsy spotted the other side of the water gates that she'd seen yesterday, leading out into a stretch of water that forked two ways. Kirra followed the one that went to the right, "The shipyard is where we need the most hands. For a couple of days, I need you three to stay here and… make yourselves useful somewhere around the shipyard. I know, it's not very definite. By the way, Seth, do you remember what the ship is going to be called?"

"The Sapphire Milotic, ma'am," he said.

Kirra snickered, "And you'll find the dock master has quite a way with names."

Mipsy and Abby exchanged glances, "Breakfast is served until noon, but I expect you two to eat with Seth and me at six thirty sharp," she continued. "Then we'll all be at the mercy of the dock master. Here we are, by the way… there's the Sapphire Milotic right there," Kirra pointed at the suspended shell of a ship that looked solid at the angle they were standing at, but as they circled around it, Mipsy could see that only half of the outside was fully completed, and hardly any of the inside was finished. The shell was huge and several people were already at work on it, held in the air by psychic pokemon or standing on ladders held by a few others.

"That's about it, for now," Kirra said. "Let's get some breakfast."

"See, I told you she doesn't give long tours," Seth mumbled.

She scowled at him as she asked, "Any questions—Abby, Morgan?"

"Will you explain the ranking system?" Abby spoke up. "I thought in these big teams, you are either a grunt or an admin."

Kirra laughed, "It's still like that. There are only a few admins—don't get in one's way, they have no qualms about stomping over anyone—and the rest of us serve them. The entry level has many names, the most flattering of which is 'grunt.' The next step up is team leader. A team leader commands three to five grunts, unless one resigns… or dies," Seth coughed at the dramatic pause she put in. "Above team leader is commander, who is in charge of three team leaders and their grunts. And above that is admin. Then there's our leader, Archie. And that's about all you need to know."

Jitsu's wings buzzed once and he hopped off her head, flying away. "What's gotten into him?" Asked Seth.

Kirra was looking in the direction he'd flown off in, "He's heading towards the north gate. Prisoners, perhaps? He'll come back."

He did, pointing a claw in that direction and saying something. "Hold on Jitsu," she took a pokeball off her belt, and in a flash a Kadabra appeared at her side.

Jitsu said his message and the Kadabra's voice pierced Mipsy's thoughts, like a hot knife through butter, "The Team Magma goons Nathan found at the police station have been captured," he said.

"Oh. That's all?" Jitsu nodded.

Seth murmured to Mipsy behind his hand, "She does this a lot. Jitsu tells her everything he thinks is important."

Kirra thanked her Kadabra, who she called 'Mage.' He nodded, saying, "Would you like a lift over there? It must be quite a scene." He sounded almost eager to be over there.

She glanced at Abby and Mipsy for a second before shrugging, "Sure."

Before Mipsy could react, a powerful psychic mind had gripped her body for the split second it took to teleport the group. She recovered from the shock quickly, but spared a glance at Mage. He seemed to be powerful, but she wasn't much of a judge of psychic power. When she looked up, she recoiled. "Edward?"

The tall man gave her a smile that remained on his lips for only a second. "Ah, hi kid. I guess I have you to thank for these?" He held up his arms, which were linked together at the wrists by metal shackles.