Chapter Eight: Rescue Mission
"I had to open my big mouth," I called to Tiff with a laugh. When we'd set out from Fullmoon Island, I hadn't really been expecting trouble. After all, we'd had to actively look for Pokémon when my stomach needed filling on the trip out. The trip back had been much the same, up to a point.
"You sure did!" she yelled back. There was no laughter in her voice. "Spark, above us!" she called to her Lanturn, who launched a blast of electricity at the Gyrados that had been diving toward her from above. The discharge turned in mid-air, becoming a striking bolt of lightning... that missed by ten feet, briefly lighting up a patch of darkened water well away from us.
"That's the trouble with Thunder," I said, still laughing. "It hits like a truck, if it hits." I ducked as a flailing tentacle swiped at my head. I patted Bruce urgently, losing a bit of skin as I did. He obeyed the signal not to bite, but he wasn't happy about it. I was running quite low on antidotes though, and didn't need him poisoning himself. It was still miles to shore. "Big Bird, give Tiff some cover would ya?" I called, missing Lucky and Maiden. I'd have loved to have an Electric-type with me to fry the enemy, or at least a Steel-type to soak up all the poison being thrown my way. Big Bird wasn't all that well suited to any of our current foes. "Hit it with a Wing Attack!" The Predator Pokémon circling overhead shrieked as she flew in close to comply. The Gyrados broke off its attack on Tiff to deal with it.
"Shine Spark, I need that Tentacruel out of the way. Charge Beam this time, please," Tiff said. Now that a pissed off Gyrados wasn't barreling down on her, she sounded perfectly calm. She was a smooth operator, I could see why Arabella went to so much trouble to keep her around.
I didn't watch the beam of electrical energy tear into the Tentacruel. I'd seen what that move can do, and from the intensity of the glare I doubted I'd be ducking tentacles for the rest of the fight. Instead, I goaded Bruce into action. Big Bird was holding his own, avoiding damage easily so far. But he hadn't been able to hurt the Gyrados very badly either, only make it angrier. So Bruce got its attention.
Hanging onto a Sharpedo when it starts sending a jet of water out to move at max speed isn't difficult, not as rough as their skin is. It isn't fun either, but at least you don't run the risk of falling off. Not normally. When you've just demanded they use Take Down on an opponent ten feet above them though, its a bit less fun than it might be otherwise, and a whole lot more difficult. I trusted in the thick leather sleeves of my coat to keep my arms more or less intact as I wrapped them around Bruce's tall dorsal fin and grit my teeth as he surged upward. The impact that ran through him almost pitched me over it, but once more I hung on as we fell back into the surf.
Bruce shook his head dazedly. I don't enjoy using Take Down much, or any move that hurts my own Pokémon really. If he'd known another move the Gyrados wouldn't resist in one way or another I'd have passed on it. But at least it did what it was meant to do. The enormous Water/Flying-type flew in a drunken circle for a moment, dazed and off Big Bird's back. She wasn't stupid, she backed off and cleared our allies' line of fire. The Lanturn swung her lamp into alignment and a second Charge Beam surged forth. A few seconds later, the Gyrados plunged into the still waters with another tremendous splash.
"Nice shot Shine Spark," I said amiably. I said it through grit teeth, all the splashing had gotten salt water into my fresh scrapes, but I said it. The angler-fish almost seemed to smile as she moved through the waves to float alongside Bruce. In fact, she almost seemed to smile at my own fish. I made a note not to leave them alone together, at least until I could remember if they shared an egg-group.
"Pair of nice shots," Tiff corrected me, jerking her chin at the lump of jelly that had been a Tentacruel a few seconds earlier. It was a big lump, I'd never seen a Tentacruel that big. "Not that you three didn't hold your own," she said a moment later as Big Bird landed on the floating carcass of an Octillery. She tore into it, and no one objected. She'd felled the thing one-on-one, despite its repeated attempts to shoot her down with its cannons. It had gotten pretty close with Rock Blast one or twice, but Big Bird had managed to use Fly to excellent effect. It hadn't hit her very often.
"Damn straight," I said with a grin. "Hey, you hungry big guy?" I asked Bruce. I needn't have asked, he'd already headed for the Gyrados corpse. Battle can give him an appetite. "Oh hell, can I bum a ride for a bit Tiff? Just till he's done, I'd rather not ride the rest of the way splattered in gore."
"So what was that all about?" Tiff asked as we stepped out of the surf and back onto Iron Island. Once the carnivores had had their fill, it hadn't taken long to finish our trek. Though I was watching Bruce even closer now as I returned him to his ball, he'd actually shared some of the Gyrados with Shine Spark. Not like him at all. "I've never seen three unrelated wild mons attack at once like that."
"I think we got in the way of an ambush," I said, running the first few seconds of the attack through my head. The Gyrados came up fast and took to the air with the Octillery in its jaws. But it bumped Bruce as it came. I'm guessing that's why it dropped its prey. The Octillery started shooting at everything in sight. The Gyrados thought we were stealing its kill. The Tentacruel probably just came to see what the commotion was all about and got sucked into the battle." An unlucky coincidence that had luckily been for the Tentacruel rather than us. "How's your Peilliper?" I asked.
"Out cold," she sounded upset as the energy from the Great Ball coalesced into the large bird. "He ate a stray Rock Blast right off the bat, and the Octillery kept shooting until he went down." She pried his bill open and dropped a revive on his tongue. A moment later, he was awake, if not entirely happy. "Sorry you missed all the fun Pete," she comforted him, and herself, leaning against her Pokémon and stroking his ruffled feathers. Girl really cared about her mons. "So, Devil," she smirked at my name, "what's the plan now?"
"I need to get my Pokémon back. You said they keep yours when you're not on a mission, right? And even when you are they keep one hostage?" She nodded. "Where do they keep them?"
"They keep mine at the brothel," she replied. "Since that's where we're going, I assume yours are still there as well. Its where my handler," the edge in her voice told me her handler was the uncle who had betrayed her, "is stationed. Yours will end up wherever your handler is, once you get one."
"Yeah, not happening. I've used this team for years. They'd rather be dead than stick with this crowd," I growled, thinking that I would too. "Especially Spitpyre. No, we're busting out. Me, my team, we're not gonna work for Arabella and her goons." I turned to see the pretty little Aqua looking at me like I was insane. "And I'm not leaving yours with them either. What kind of Pokémon are they holding of yours?"
"I have six of my own. These two you know, of course," she said, patting her Pelliper and the ball containing the Lanturn my Sharpedo was apparently taken with. "I've also got a Corphish, a Huntail, Slowbro, and a Gastrodon," she said wistfully. She missed them. "But I don't see how we're going to get to them. We're outgunned so badly, and you're hurt. They'll take these four from us the moment we get back, and hurt us if we don't give them up."
"Trust me," I said with a smile.
We flew back to Canalave. Even though it isn't too far by air, it was close to noon by the time we arrived. What with the delays caused by our battle (and Pete's injuries from the fight) on top of the already lengthy Surf from Fullmoon, it was no surprise. We touched down in front of the Pokémon Center, where I stopped to refresh my diminished team. Tiff didn't protest, she beat me inside. After all, Pete was still injured.
We headed back to the brothel, though I had to remind her she was supposed to be my guard on the way. And that she was supposed to hate me, at that. She put up a good act, glaring angrily at me. And making sure to walk behind me once more with a hand on her Lanturn's ball, as she had when we first set out. Inside, I went straight to Arabella's office, slipping back into the act I'd put on for her earlier. To my disquiet, the chair she'd had me shackled in was still there.
The Rocket looked up when I walked in, annoyance and worry warring on her face. I hadn't bothered to knock. Even if I had any respect for her, which I did not, it wouldn't have suited my act to be polite. She stilled when she saw me, and rose excitedly.
"You're back so soon? Tell me you had success. Come now, don't keep me waiting." I was sure of it now, she cared about this Priscilla more than I'd have ever expected. I didn't answer, instead I dragged up the chair, pretending not to care that it had once kept me prisoner, and slouched in it like I couldn't give a Rattata's ass about any of this. "Tiff, report. Now!" Oh yeah, I had her worked up.
I took a look around while Tiff told the story of our little visit to Fullmoon Island, leaving out the bits where I revealed my true identity to her. It made Cresselia sound much less frightening than she really is, hearing it like that. She also went on a tirade about my causing her to have to murder three beautiful Water-types that was perfectly in character with how she'd treated me prior to the revelation that I'm not really a murdering dick. She wasn't entirely faking that part, killing the Gyrados and Tentacruel had really bothered her.
It kept Arabella's full attention, and gave me a chance to look around without her caring. Inside her display case, I could see my katana resting beside four Pokéballs. I'd expected that. With her obvious sexual interest in me, it was no wonder that Arabella had decided to handle me personally. Spitpyre, 'Scicle, Iron Maiden, and Lucky were just a few feet away. I had almost decided to do the risky thing and smash my way in to retrieve them when my hated enemy got my attention again.
"Well, it looks like you passed your interview. Give me the two Pokémon you were allowed to take with you, and the Wing," she held out her hand, speaking in a voice both sweet and thick like honey "and then we can discuss what sort of uniform you'd like. I think, personally, that you'd look dashing in Rocket black." The urge to vomit hit me, but I managed a grin and put Bruce and Big Bird in her hands, even caressing her fingers flirtatiously as I did so.
"I'd like to be there when you wake your friend up," I said with a wink. "Then perhaps you'll let me take you out to dinner to celebrate."
Dinner would have been good, had I been in better company. Nice thick Tauros steaks, seasoned just so, are a favorite meal to me. I've heard some people say that the imported meat from the Boufalant is better, but for me Tauros tastes like home. It wasn't the first, nor the worst of the times Arabella had spoiled a memory of home for me. But it still galled to smile and flirt with her through that. My underhanded plan for the night helped me keep it up though.
Although this was my first time in a situation like this one, I did have some experience with misdirection and sleight of hand. I kept her wine glass full, without ever so much as sipping from mine. By the time dinner and dessert were through, my plan was working fine. She was more than three sheets to the wind when I opened the door of the brothel. She was leaning drunkenly on me, giggling at nothing, when we passed the bouncer on duty. He quirked an eyebrow at me, and I just shrugged and said "Boss lady celebrated too hard." I foisted him off on her, proclaiming I didn't know where her room was and that she was too drunk to show me the way. Arabella tried to protest, but I kissed her on the cheek and told her we'd finish celebrating when I was sure she'd remember it. She tittered again and let her subordinate lead her up the stairs. Then I let my grin disappear and headed for her office.
The key-ring I'd stolen when I leaned in to kiss her had more than twenty keys on them. Luckily for me, they were as neatly labeled as the files in her now-ruined office at the secret base in the desert had been. I found the key to the office, and the display case as well. Then I slipped inside and locked the door behind me. I looked around one more time. I had an excuse in case I'd missed a surveillance system during my previous visits to this room, and I figured Arabella was too drunk to refute it if it came to that. Still, this was the part of the plan where things got dangerous. I didn't want to get my ass kicked in like last time. So far so good, however. I popped open the case.
My sword went back where it belonged, and I sighed in relief at its familiar weight on my hip. And better yet, I could sense the eagerness coming from the six balls that had been setting alongside it. Pokémon are often much more aware of what's going on outside their artificial habitats than people realize. Palmette taught me that the day she died. Most people don't have a reason to suspect it. I scooped up my friends and ordered them properly in their pockets, working by the texture of their balls in the dark. Spitpyre, Lucky, Big Bird, Bruce, 'Scicle, then Iron Maiden each lined up in their usual order. Then I snagged my pack from where it had been stowed under Arabella's desk and checked it over. The PokéGear was still missing, but everything else was still there. I still needed to buy antidotes, but other than that I was in good shape. I hoisted it over one shoulder and headed out, walking confidently as if I owned the place.
It was late now. The business had been closed for the last two days while the situation with Priscilla was cleared up, so no customers came and went. The place operated by appointment anyway, they couldn't exactly have people coming in off the street. The only people I knew were awake were the doctors Ms. Ragno had with her recovering subordinate, and the bouncer watching the door. So I got the run of the place as I sought out a particular room on the first floor.
Tiff's uncle was right where she'd said he would be. Despite his being fairly low in the organization, his age kept him out of the field. He'd also earned himself some pull with the boss by bringing in a capable agent when he turned on Tiff. Thus, he got the relatively safer job as security here at Arabella's whore house, rather than being stuck on the collection team or conducting other work. And keeping his niece in line, of course. It was that last bit that had me seeking him out.
He woke up as I entered, but I had my sword touching his throat before he could rise or call for help. Despite the angry glare he sent at me, so much like the one his niece had only recently abandoned, he was smart enough to freeze.
"Hi Frank. Care to point to your niece's Pokémon for me? Its time they had a better keeper."
I kept the sword in place, the tip resting against his throat. He didn't dare speak or move his head, but he remained defiant. His hand came up, but rather than point it made a different gesture entirely. A rather rude one at that.
"Frank used Brave Bird," I chuckled at my own joke. "Too bad, I seem to resist that." I rooted around in the pocket of my coat and came up with the pack of smokes I'd bought while out with Arabella. But of course, when I tried to light one, nothing happened. My lighter had suffered through that assault by the damned Gastrodon as much as my other gear. And the old man was still not budging. Time to kill two Tailows with one Rock Slide, as they say. I called out Spitpyre. "Hey buddy, give me a light would ya?" I asked with a grin.
I didn't take my eyes off of Frank, but I could see the Blaziken's three talons as he moved his right hand below my coffin nail. He snapped his fingers, sparks leaping from them brightly in the dark room, and Ember flared into existence in his open palm. It lasted only a moment, but was more than enough to light up on. I inhaled with satisfaction, all the more so for how wide Frank's eyes had suddenly gotten.
"Thanks Pyre. So, Frank... you don't mind me calling you Frank right? Good," I never gave him a chance to answer that, since I didn't care. "You wanna pull your head out of your ass and point to Tiff's Pokémon now? Or do you need a light too?"
He pointed.