Chapter 12: The City of Canals
Palkia and James disembarked from the ferry along with the other passengers. Some of the crew members were busy hosing down the deck chair that Lugia had been napping on. Several Altomare police officers were present to take Jessie, James and Meowth into custody.
"That was an…interesting trip," Palkia said. He was holding a luxury ball that contained Lugia.
"So why is Lugia inside the luxury ball?" James asked.
Palkia winced. James was going to find out about Lugia's problems sooner or later but he was not comfortable talking about it with James since Lugia could probably hear them. "I'd rather not talk about that," he said, putting the luxury ball in his bag.
James shrugged. "So what's next on the agenda?" he asked.
"Let's get a hotel room and eat dinner first."
"Fine by me," James said.
They then stood by one of the canals and flagged down a water taxi to take them to the center of Altomare.
Palkia leaned back in the seat and enjoyed the fresh air flowing over his head. He noticed that an ad for a concert starring the Lati siblings had been partially painted over. He tried not to look at the ad as it bought back the panicked phone call from Latios.
After several minutes, the water taxi arrived at the center of Altomare. James paid the fare and they disembarked and climbed the stairs to the town square. The town square was dominated by a bronze statue that showed Latias and Latios as if they were in flight. Several people and pokémon were milling about and the designated battle areas were all full. Still others were laying offerings on the bronze statue. A few were taking photos. And of course, some tourists were climbing on it, despite the prominent placard that read "NO CLIMBING" placed on the pedestal of the statue.
Palkia went up to a newsstand and bought three bottles of lemon soda and a newspaper. He was rather surprised to see that no one paid any heed to him.
He stuck one of the bottles in his bag and sat on an ornate iron picnic table. He opened the bottle of soda and started drinking as he read the newspaper.
James had purchased some lemon ice from a street vendor and was busy devouring it. "So Pallie, what's on the news?" he asked.
Palkia turned the newspaper to James. The headline read "Altomare's Guardians Missing!"
James paled. "You don't think…" he trailed off.
Palkia nodded as he took a sip of his lemon soda. "They did," he replied. "In any case, let's get to a hotel and prepare for dinner."
James finished off his lemon ice and tossed the paper cup into the nearby garbage can.
Meanwhile, the Megarig sped towards Altomare on autopilot. Zero was still sleeping in the flight deck.
Suddenly, the radio clicked on and Cyrus's voice filled the flight deck. "Zero! You have new orders!" Cyrus barked.
Zero bolted upright and fell backwards on his reclined pilot's seat. "Yes, sir," he said, struggling to get back to his feet.
"Your new orders are to destroy Altomare."
Zero's eyes widened. He wanted to rule over the Reverse World, not destroy this world. "B…But Cyrus sir, that is madness!"
"Madness? Madness! THIS. IS. THE. DAWN. OF. A. NEW. AGE!" Cyrus thundered.
Zero sighed as he cut the radio transmission. He heard about what Cyrus wanted; a world without emotion and turmoil; a world where he was Arceus. He radioed the nearest Team Rocket airship. "Rocket Seven, this is the Megarig. Requesting bombardment of Altomare. Over."
The radio crackled for a moment before Rocket Seven responded. "Copy that. We are en route. Estimated transit time, eighteen hours. Rocket Seven out."
Zero sighed. Eighteen hours was a very long time to wait but airships were slow and the Megarig was no exception. Luckily, the hover skiffs could exceed speeds of four hundred miles per hour thanks to their light weight and extremely powerful engines. He leaned back in his pilot's chair and fell asleep again.
James and Palkia had arrived at a very nice looking hotel that overlooked the town square. To their surprise, the entrance was almost completely blocked off with paparazzi and curious onlookers – human and pokémon.
James shoved his way through the crowd and entered the equally crowded lobby. The lobby was very ornate, with beautiful bronze and marble statues – which he recognized as Palkia's work. An ornate crystal chandelier illuminated the lobby. "What's going on?" he asked.
"It's Cynthia!" a black haired man said. "And she's staying at Altomare!"
Suddenly, someone shouted. "It's Palkia!"
James sighed and made his way to the front desk.
In the meantime, Palkia was mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans. He tried to make his way to the front desk but the crowd hounded him for autographs, which he was happy to oblige.
The crowd's attention was soon drawn by the arrival of Cynthia and her Garchomp. Palkia managed to make his way to where the James was waiting by the elevator.
"I got us two rooms," James said, handing a key to Palkia.
Palkia nodded and stuck the key in his bag. As he did so, the elevators arrived, thankfully they were empty. The two were silent as they rode the elevator to the fifth floor.
They then entered their rooms – room 504 for James and his pokémon and room 502 for Lugia and Palkia.
Palkia entered his room and admired the surroundings. Two beds rested against the wall, a flat screen TV was inside a combination dresser-wardrobe-entertainment console that was fashioned of some kind of red wood. A black mini fridge sat in the corner. He had to chuckle as he saw the "Dialga blue" carpeting. Several reproductions of Lugia's artwork decorated the walls. He decided to examine the bathroom. It looked exactly like the bathroom in the Hall of Origins, right down to the glassy "Giratina black" tiles on the floor and the "Arceus white" tiles on the wall.
Palkia suddenly remembered that he was holding Lugia. He grabbed the luxury ball and tossed it on the floor. Lugia appeared in a flash of bright white light. He was scowling at Palkia.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad was it?" Palkia asked, placing his messenger bag on the helpfully provided luggage stand.
"Not bad huh? I just pissed myself in front of practically everyone on the ferry!" Lugia replied.
Palkia shrugged. "Well, that'll teach you not to sleep without a diaper on," he replied.
Lugia glared at Palkia. "Yeah, wear a diaper in front of a hundred people, that'll go over REAL well," he said bitterly.
"Your call," Palkia said. He then sniffed the air. "And take a bath, you smell!"
Lugia said nothing but entered the bathroom and slammed the door. Soon the sound of running water was heard.
Palkia turned on the TV and lay down on the bed. He was channel surfing until he happened upon the "Battle Frontier Channel". The "reverse pokémon battle" happened to be the program that was playing.
"And here in the red corner is challenger Lucas hailing from Sinnoh! Commanded by Imperator, the Empoleon!" the announcer boomed.
The crowd cheered.
"And in the blue corner is Hoenn's very own Brendan! Commanded by Brimspark, the Blaziken!"
The crowd cheered even louder. The camera zoomed in on the two who met in the middle of the arena. Both of them were shirtless and wore light fingerless gloves in addition to light athletic shorts – red for Lucas and blue for Brendan.
"Now remember, no biting, eye gouging, below the belt hits, hitting the throat or back of the head or stomping or kicking a downed opponent. Other than that, everything is fair game! Now shake hands and come out fighting!" the referee said.
All of a sudden, Brimspark yelled "Brendan! Go in for a Low Kick and a pin!"
"Lucas! Keep him at a distance with your Comet Punch!" Imperator shouted. Thanks to the miracle of computer technology, the pokémon "commanders" were able to speak English.
Almost immediately, Brendan circled around Lucas, deftly dodging Lucas's fists.
Palkia yawned as he heard Imperator order Lucas to use Feint.
All of a sudden, Lugia came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
"What do you have to hide?" Palkia asked.
"Nothing, it's just a habit I picked up," Lugia replied. He watched as Brendan approached Lucas to try and take him down only to get a knee to the chest for his efforts. "Nice Counter."
Palkia then went up to the mini fridge and retrieved the two complementary bottles of beer. "Beer?" he asked, offering a bottle to Lugia.
Lugia took the bottle and unscrewed the cap as Palkia did the same. They then toasted each other and took a sip.
"Mm. This is actually pretty good beer," Palkia said.
Lugia screwed up his face and swallowed his mouthful. "You're kidding right? This tastes like Giratina!" he replied.
Palkia made a strange face. "What does he taste like?" he asked, finishing off his beer.
"Musty, with a hint of bitterness and a slightly spicy tang."
"How do you-never mind! I don't want to know!" Palkia said, tossing the empty beer bottle into the recycling bin and finishing off Lugia's beer as he entered the bathroom and shut the door. He heard the sound of water running as Lugia tried to wash his mouth out.
By now Brendan and Lucas were both trying to choke each other out and their pokémon "commanders" were busy shouting encouragement.
All of a sudden, there was someone knocking on the door. "Lugia, Palkia we're heading to dinner!" James said.
"Coming!" Palkia replied, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and turning off the TV.
Lugia whipped the towel off and tossed it on the bathroom floor. He grabbed his own messenger bag and opened the door. Outside, James and his pokémon were gathered.
"So what do you want for dinner?" James asked.
"How about seafood? Altomare's very famous for its seafood dishes," Lugia said.
"Fine by me."
"Why not?" Wukong said.
"Blech," Ferrum added.
"Oh, don't be a killjoy! Seafood is so delicious!" Quartzon chirped.
Ferrum rolled his eyes.
As James, Palkia and Lugia headed down to the elevator. Cynthia and her Garchomp emerged from the nearby stairwell. Both of them carried a suitcase containing their belongings.
"Never thought we'd get through that crowd," Cynthia said.
"You're telling me," Garchomp added. Even though they were out of Palkia and Lugia's translation field, she could still speak English thanks to her trainer's lessons. But for some odd reason, Garchomp had a very sexy Spanish accent. She then turned to Cynthia. "And what about tonight's activities?" she said, caressing her trainer's face with a claw.
Cynthia grinned; she understood what her Garchomp meant. "Yes dear, we'll try something new," she said.
"Good girl," Garchomp cooed, giving the Sinnoh champion a peck on the cheek.
Cynthia unlocked the door and the two entered the hotel room and shut the door.
Palkia, Lugia, James and his pokémon were in the lobby of the hotel. Thankfully the crowd had thinned. Outside, it was nighttime but the city square was still active.
James was leading the group with his pokémon alongside him.
They passed by several people enjoying pastries or coffee in open air coffee houses.
As they turned down a side street, they stopped in front of a bland looking restaurant. The wooden sign mounted above the door read "Carvanha Café". It was illuminated by the warm glow of incandescent lighting and the sign depicted a Carvanha taking a bite out of the name.
They then entered the restaurant and were met by a waiter dressed in a suit. "Hello, how many are in your party?" he asked pleasantly. The interior was dimly lit and decorated in a style evocative of a old time sailing ship with lots of wood. To further up the "ship atmosphere", a live band in the back were playing some sea shanties.
"Three people and three pokémon," James replied.
The waiter gave the group a strange look. "I only see one person," he said.
"True but there are also two Legendaries, Palkia and Lugia."
"Ah yes, sorry about that, three people and three Pokémon. Please follow me," the waiter said. He then led the group to a table next to a window. The view outside was that of the ocean.
The waiter placed a large bowl of pokémon food on the ground near Wukong, Ferrum and Quartzon and handed menus to Lugia, Palkia and James.
Wukong picked up one of the morsels and eyed it warily. "Gross," he said.
Ferrum was busy devouring the food. "This is delicious!" he said.
Wukong rolled his eyes. "Says the bird who eats roadkill," he muttered
"Fu-"
"Ferrum, don't swear in front of Quartzon," James said, looking down from his menu.
After several minutes, Palkia, Lugia and James were finished ordering.
"So what do you plan to do later?" James asked.
Lugia shrugged. "Probably watch some TV and go to sleep. We can explore tomorrow," he said.
Palkia nodded. "I'll probably be working on my sculpture," he said.
Lugia coughed on the glass of water he was sipping. "You bought your sculpture studio with you?" he asked.
"Why not? I can control space itself! Watch!" Palkia then drained his glass of water, took the basket of bread and to everyone's shock, crammed the entire basket into the glass. He then tipped the glass over and the basket popped back out. Several other patrons clapped at the display of spacial mastery.
"Very nice, can you do that with living things?" Ferrum asked.
Palkia shook his head. "No, it would kill them," he replied.
"Exactly my point."
"Ferrum, the best use of force is when it is applied judiciously," Wukong said, helping himself to a piece of bread. He had not touched the pokémon food.
Soon, the food arrived; Palkia had ordered a basic seafood pasta, Lugia had a broiled Whiscash and James had seafood stew. And James had ordered some extra bread for Wukong.
Meanwhile, in the Hikokyu II's holding cell, baby Arceus was playing tag with Mew, Celebi and Jirachi.
"Tag, you're it!" Mew chirped as he teleported and tagged Celebi.
Celebi laughed and chased after Mew, who teleported around the room trying to avoid her.
Arceus landed on Dialga's head to take a breather.
"ARCEUS! GET OFF MY HEAD!" Dialga said.
"Your fault for turning Arceus back into a baby," Latias said, breaking off a passionate kiss from her brother.
Entei groaned and turned away from the couple. He may have disapproved of them having attractions for each other but he was not going to be rude about it. Raikou made gagging noises as he watched the two engage in passionate kissing. Suicune rolled her eyes and lay down to sleep.
Shaymin on the other hand was screaming profanity after profanity after profanity.
"Let me guess; she didn't have her drink today did she?" Heatran said with a sigh.
"I believe that is correct. Shaymin's behavior becomes…shall we say, inappropriate, after approximately five hours without alcohol intake. It has been almost twelve hours since she last imbibed," Uxie said.
"WHEN WILL ARCEUS RETURN TO NORMAL?" Dialga asked. Arceus was still on his head.
"In approximately two hours."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly Mew teleported into Arceus, knocking her off her perch and sending her tumbling to the ground.
Mew looked on in horror as he saw the baby Alpha pokémon fall towards the hard steel floor. He quickly teleported down and tried to catch her only to watch as she crashed into the steel floor in front of him.
Almost immediately, everyone in the cell was rewarded with the sound of Arceus crying.
Latias broke off yet another kiss from her brother and went up to the crying Alpha pokémon. She gently picked up Arceus and rocked her in an attempt to soothe her.
Arceus cooed and nuzzled Latias. "Auntie Latias!" she chirped.
Latias's eyes widened; "Auntie Latias" was a term that Bianca's younger sister used to refer to Latias. Latias held back tears as she recalled what happened to her.
Altomare Medical Center, Three years ago
Latias, Bianca and Lorenzo were in the waiting room just outside the intensive care unit at Altomare Medical Center. They had arrived as quickly as possible after the news had hit them: Maria – Bianca's younger sister – had crashed her water chariot during the annual Altomare Water Pokémon Race. Lorenzo nervously glanced at his watch while Bianca and Latias looked at each other.
After what seemed like hours, the doctor and his team of assistants came out into the waiting room.
"Mr. Vongole, Ms. Vongole, Latias, can you please come in?" the doctor said.
Latias's golden eyes shimmered with tears; she had watched enough medical dramas – much to the dismay of her "father", Lorenzo – to know what was going to happen next.
"Will she be all right?" Bianca asked.
"We are trying our best but so far, the prognosis looks grim. If – and that's a big 'if' –she survives, she could probably be paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of her life," the doctor said.
Bianca's eyes widened at the prospect that she might lose her younger sister. "N…no!" she said.
Latias closed her eyes, trying to stem the flow of tears from them. "Why? Why must Giratina do this!" she shouted.
Maria died that night. She was only sixteen.
"Latias, are you okay?" Giratina asked, noticing that Latias seemed to be staring off in space.
Latias shook her head. She was no longer inside the intensive care unit of Altomare Medical Center but inside the holding cell deep within the Hikokyu II. "F…fine," she said.
"Are you sure? You were staring off in the distance."
"And you dropped Arceus," Rayquaza said, picking up the baby Alpha pokémon, who was now crying, again, and handing her back to Latias.
Latias sighed and tried to rock Arceus to sleep again. All of a sudden, Arceus glowed blue and grew to back to her full size, dragging Latias to the ground and causing her to drop the Alpha pokémon, again.
"Strange. I estimated that only twenty five minutes have elapsed since my last estimate of time for age regression to wear off," Uxie said.
"Well, be thankful that she's okay," Entei said, glaring at Dialga.
Arceus looked around and noticed that she was on top of Latias. "Erm, what happened? All I remember was getting hit by a blue beam," she said. The high, childish voice of Arceus's baby form gradually became a rich alto.
"You got turned into a baby but I believe all effects have been reversed," Latias said. "By the way you made such a cute baby!"
Raikou sniggered while Latios, Registeel, Regice, Regirock and Regigigas all simultaneously facepalmed.
Arceus made a strange face. "Erm, thanks?" she said.
"Thankfully, that's over with," Latios said.
"Aww, who will play tag with us?" Jirachi asked. He, Celebi and Mew were circling above Dialga's head.
"You can play with each other, right?"
"But Arceus is so good! I mean, she is the best to play with!" Mew said.
Arceus grinned. "You know what? I might play again with you sometime. After I get my bottle of milk," she said, her alto voice gradually fading back into the high, childish voice of her baby form.
All the Legendaries, utterly flabbergasted, stared at Arceus. They could barely believe their ears? The "adult" Alpha Pokémon wanting a bottle of milk and to play tag with the three most childish Legendaries?
"Dialga! Fix this disaster! Now!" Giratina shouted as Arceus started crying because no one could get her a bottle.
Meanwhile, Lugia, Palkia, James and his pokémon had finished their dinner and were en route back to the hotel.
When they entered the lobby, the clock read 23:45 and a young man wearing a trucker's cap and accompanied by a biomechanical looking black pokémon and an angelic white pokémon was standing by the front desk.
"One room please," the man said.
The clerk yawned and handed the man his room key after accepting his credit card.
The man and his pokémon headed up the elevator.
"What are those pokémon?" James asked.
"I think the white one's Zekrom and the black one's Reshiram," Lugia said. "Or is it the other way around?"
"We could simply ask them," Palkia said.
"Do that tomorrow," James said with a yawn.
The trio then headed up to the fifth floor and entered their rooms.
Palkia and Lugia locked the door behind them and tossed their messenger bags onto the luggage stand.
"I'm going to take a bath and go to bed," Lugia said with a yawn.
Palkia shrugged. "Sure, I'll go watch some TV," he said.
Lugia grabbed his messenger bag and entered the bathroom. Soon the sound of running water was heard.
Palkia sat on the bed and turned the TV to the entertainment channel to his surprise, he happened across a live concert music video that featured the duo and their trainer. "Black Yin, White Yang Live at Goldenrod City Arena!" flashed across the screen for a moment. It appeared to be some kind of symphonic metal concert as Zekrom was playing the electric guitar, Reshiram was playing the piano and the man was playing the drums.
Almost immediately, they started playing, the opening bars were a slow, almost mournful piano piece. About thirty seconds in, the piano solo ended and Zekrom jumped in with the electric guitar and Reshiram got up from the piano and started dancing around. Hilariously, a giant black censor bar covered Reshiram's crotch.
Palkia scratched his head. After all, he and the other Legendaries routinely went without clothing – after all he had nothing to hide.
He continued watching the concert until it ended – about forty five minutes later. And Lugia was still not out of the bathroom and he wanted to take a bath.
He got up and opened the unlocked door and found a container of baby powder, a tub of baby wipes and one of Lugia's diapers (this time decorated with a pattern reminiscent of grass) on the counter. And a closed shower curtain. He pulled back the shower curtain and found Lugia taking a bubble bath.
"Hey! Have some decency!" Lugia shouted. He was thankful that the bubbles obscured nearly every detail of his body – not that he had anything to hide.
Palkia chuckled as he sniffed the floral scented bubble bath that Lugia was using. "I can't believe you're taking a bubble bath," he said.
"What's wrong with it? Suicune, Celebi and Articuno do it too."
"Yeah, but they're girls."
"So?"
Palkia decided to change the subject seeing as this would be a mighty awkward conversation. "So can you get out of the bathtub so I can take a shower?" he asked.
Lugia sighed. "Fine, I'll get out, now can you leave?" he said.
Palkia obliged and exited the bathroom.
He got back to watching TV; this time, they were interviewing the man about where he met the two.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Lugia emerged with a towel around his waist.
Palkia chuckled; this time Lugia really did have something to hide. Lugia then got into his bed – the rightmost one – and pulled the covers over himself. He then telekinetically removed the towel and stuck it into the bathroom. He groaned; James was eventually going to find out that he needed diapers eventually and it was going to be a hell of an awkward conversation. In fact, that day may come even sooner than he thought because he only had two diapers left – including the one he was wearing.
Several minutes, later Palkia emerged from the bathroom and got into the leftmost bed. He slid under the covers, enjoying the smooth fabric against his skin. He then shut the TV using his telekinetic abilities. "Good night, Lugia," he said.
"Good night, Pallie," Lugia said, using James's nickname for him. He telekinetically shut the lights.
Meanwhile, in James's room, which was an exact copy of Lugia and Palkia's room – except the complimentary beer was untouched – Ferrum was snoozing in the corner of the room.
Wukong was practicing some martial arts moves in the middle of the room.
Quartzon was busy playing with the remote control. She accidentally accessed the on-demand menu and purchased a movie called Riding the Time Stream, mistaking it for an action-adventure movie.
As soon as the movie was purchased, it began playing, much to Quartzon's interest.
Unfortunately, about ten seconds in, Quartzon was treated to the sight of Dialga – or at least a very realistic computer generated model of him – taking it in the rear from Groudon. And this Groudon appeared to be the real deal.
Quartzon stared at the screen, curiosity growing with every thrust.
Wukong heard the noises and turned towards the TV. His eyes widened and he dashed over and shut the TV off. "Quartzon! You're not supposed to be watching that!" he scolded.
"I didn't know!" she said innocently.
"Quartzon, go into your poké ball, now!"
Quartzon sighed and nudged her poké ball, which was on the computer desk, where she disappeared in a flash of red light.
"Shit, James is going to kill me if he finds out that I 'let' Quartzon watch gay Legendary Pokémon porn," Wukong muttered.
Luckily, James was signing – horribly off-key –Breaking Benjamin's Blow Me Away in the shower, which helped disguise the noise from the movie.
Meanwhile, in Cynthia's room, Garchomp and her master had unpacked their belongings.
"So exactly what are we going to try?" Cynthia asked. She was totally nude as was Garchomp – who obviously had no clothes.
Garchomp was examining a DVD of Champ-Chomp IV. "You'll see," she said, unpacking a portable DVD player.
"Okay, I'm going to take a nap now," Cynthia said.
Garchomp shrugged as she somehow managed to hook up the portable DVD player and load the DVD. "Cynthia, it's ready," she said.
Cynthia got up and sat on the small bench that came with the desk. Garchomp sat next to her master and pressed play.
The two burst into laughter as they watched the actors playing themselves.
"Oh come on, that voice actor doesn't even sound like me!" Garchomp said.
"Really, I don't recall having boobs the size of bowling balls," Cynthia said
Garchomp smirked and placed a claw on Cynthia's chest. "Well, I personally prefer them to be on the small side, bigger isn't always better," she said.
Cynthia kissed her and shut the DVD player. She grabbed a riding crop and handed it to Garchomp. "All right, so shall we begin?" she asked.
Garchomp took the riding crop and nodded. "Lie down on the bed now!" she barked.
Cynthia shook her head; in response, Garchomp swatted her on the buttocks with the crop. Cynthia obediently climbed into bed where upon Garchomp straddled her.
This went on for a few minutes; then it later progressed into full on lesbian, bestial Garchomp sex.
Meanwhile, Palkia was lying in bed. He was unable to sleep thanks to the noises he heard from the next room.
"Put it in me, girl," Cynthia said. He voice was muffled but still clearly audible.
"Yes, master," Garchomp replied. Her voice was muffled but her alluring Spanish accent still remained.
"No! You're putting it in wrong!"
All of a sudden, there was a sound like someone being spanked and yet more dirty talk from both parties.
Palkia looked at Lugia, who was peacefully asleep and unaware of the in-progress sex session. He got back in bead and covered his head with a pillow in an attempt to block out the noise.
Palkia sighed and turned on the TV; this was going to be a long night.
Jessie and James languished inside a temporary holding cell at Altomare. The hardened steel floors and reinforced concrete walls stood in stark contrast to the beauty of the rest of the city.
"So now what?" James asked with a sigh.
Jessie reached inside a hole of the tattered mattress. She drew out two small stilettos –more like spikes – that she had made by grinding a piece of loose metal from the bed against the concrete wall and handed one to James, making sure to keep her back to the cell door .
James examined the spike; it was a simple metal rod with one end sharpened into a point. He then tucked the spike into the sleeve of his prison jumpsuit as Jessie did the same.
"So how do we get the guards here?" James asked.
Jessie's eyes fell on the stainless steel toilet attached to the wall and the toilet paper roll nearby. "James, clog the toilet," she ordered.
James tossed the toilet paper roll into the toilet and flushed it. The water ran over the roll without clogging the toilet. "It's not working!" he said.
"Give it a bit of manual aid."
James made a face of revulsion. "What? Stick my hand in there?" he asked.
Jessie frowned. "Do it!" she snarled.
"N…no! Your plan stinks!"
That did it; Jessie whipped out her crude stiletto and brandished it. "Do it or you will feel the bite of cold steel!" she shouted.
James gulped; he had learned the hard way that Jessie was not above using violence. "All right, all right," he said.
He then went over to the toilet and proceeded to carry out Jessie's order.
Suddenly, two Officer Jennies arrived on scene, having been alerted to the disturbance by one of the other prisoners. "You! Drop the weapon!" the first Jenny shouted, leveling a taser at Jessie.
Jessie smirked, knowing full well that she was immune to the effects of an ordinary taser. "Make me," she said, waving the metal spike around.
The first Jenny fired her taser, striking Jessie square in the chest – to no effect. Jessie then started attacking with the metal spike. The Officer Jenny was cut in the face as she tried to wrestle the spike away.
James drew his own spike and charged; the second Jenny fired her taser and struck him in the chest – to no effect. She fumbled for her pepper spray but James tackled her and tried to stab her. The two soon engaged in a ferocious wrestling match, which James lost. He ended up with a face full of pepper spray and handcuffed face down on the cold steel floor.
The second Jenny went to help her comrade who had been stabbed in the neck with the metal spike in the fight. The first Jenny's uniform was ripped as well, revealing the suit of jointed metal plates underneath the uniform that protected her from sharp weapons. Jessie was still fighting, despite suffering from the effects of a face full of pepper spray.
A blind stab with the spike caught the second Jenny in the face. She screamed as the metal spike lodged itself in her face.
James managed to crawl over to the fallen Jenny and steal her keys. He quickly unlocked his handcuffs, which took a fairly long time since he was essentially blind and his hands were behind him but he did it. He kept the keys and headed to the sink to wash his eyes out.
Jessie swore. "James! This wasn't the plan!" she said. "But I guess we have to work with it now."
James nodded and picked up his metal spike and tucked it into the sleeve of his prison jumpsuit.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps off in the distance was heard.
"Shit! We've got to go now!" Jessie said. She picked up the keys and bolted from the cellblock.
James followed, leaving behind an empty cell with two dead Officer Jennies in a pool of their own blood.
Meanwhile, Meowth was inside a cage at the Altomare Pokémon Control Center. Around him were cages containing various other stray, nuisance or outright dangerous pokémon.
He sighed. What were they going to do to him?
"So now what?" he asked aloud in English.
A cold laugh came from a cage across him. Inside was a Gallade, crouched down and glaring at him. "You wait until someone takes you in with them or you live the rest of your life here," he said in Galladesian.
Meowth's jaw dropped. "You…You understand Humantalk?" he asked.
"Is that what they're calling it now?"
"But I thought I was da only pokémon who understood and spoke dat."
"Guess again," the Gallade said, switching to English.
"So'se what are you in for?"
The Gallade laughed. "Nothing, just that my master's inside the Hoenn Maximum Security Penitentiary," he replied.
Meowth looked cautiously at the Gallade. He knew from first hand that pokémon tended to take traits from their trainer – good or bad. He was beginning to suspect that this Gallade had taken after his serial killer trainer. "What did he do?" he asked.
"He killed someone over a pokémon battle," the Gallade replied.
Meowth was stunned. He had seen plenty of Pokémon trainers who were sore losers. But they usually just screamed profanities or accused the victorious trainer of cheating. "But why?" he asked.
"He lost, duh."
"But you'se tried to stop him, right?"
Gallade laughed. "You're kidding right? That punk cheaped out on him! He deserved to get his head bashed in with a rock!" he said.
Meowth sighed as he listened to the Gallade. "So'se what's yer name?" he asked.
"Galahad. And yours?"
"Just call me Meowth," Meowth said.
With that the conversation ended as Meowth lay in the back corner of the cage and fell asleep.
Out on the now deserted streets and canals of Altomare, the two grunts dispatched from the Megarig were scanning for any signs of the Legendaries. They were still wearing their oxygen masks, helmets and flight suits.
"Any sign of the Legendaries?" the first grunt asked. Of course, they could only talk and hear each other via radio.
"Negative, but I do see two people running on the street," the second grunt said. She was flying at "street" level. Thanks to the hover skiff's night vision system, which fed information wirelessly to the HUD system in her helmet, she could see that it was Jessie and James. "Move in! It's Jessie and James!" she ordered, heading towards them.
The two other grunts followed Jessie and James.
Thanks to the skiffs' high speed, they easily closed the distance between them.
"James, do you hear that?" Jessie asked.
"Hear what?" James asked. He could faintly hear the low hum of the antigravity engines used by the skiffs.
"That!"
James turned around and saw the faint outline of three figures, faces concealed by helmets and oxygen masks, riding some sort of hovering vehicle. "What are they?" he shouted.
He and Jessie immediately ran away from them but the mysterious pursuers easily caught them.
"D…don't hurt us!" James pleaded.
The female grunt disembarked her hover skiff and took off her mask and helmet. "We're here to rescue you," she said with a sigh.
"Wait, Zero, sent you?" James asked.
"Yes, now get on!"
"But we need to get Meowth and our pokémon!"
"Forget about them! Get on!"
"Ma'am, I hate to interrupt but we're unarmed and Meowth is a skilled mechanic," Jessie said.
"He speaks English too," James added.
The female grunt sighed. "All right, get on. Once we get you back to the Megarig, we'll search for them," she said. She then radioed Zero. "Zero, bring Megarig down to 10,000 feet," she said. She then turned to the two grunts. "Search for their pokémon!" she ordered.
"Thank you so much," Jessie said.
Zero blearily rubbed his eyes as he was awakened by the radio. "Infi, bring the ship down to 10,000 feet, rapid descent," he said.
He looked at the map: he was right over Altomare's central plaza. He looked at the altimeter; he was at 20,000 feet and dropping quickly.
The female grunt rolled her eyes. "Get on and hold on tight," she ordered.
Jessie and James squeezed themselves onto the hover skiff, which was just barely large enough to hold all three of them, and grabbed hold of the small handholds on each side of the central column. With the sound of the engine starting, the skiff sped up into the sky, marking sure to go slow as not to knock the two passengers off.
James gave a squeak of terror as he saw the city recede below him.
The two other grunts headed to the Altomare Pokémon Control Center. They parked their skiffs in the backlot and entered through an unlocked backdoor.
Luckily, the building was deserted.
They took off their masks but kept their helmets on. They looked around, the building was dimly lit but it was just enough to see by.
Suddenly, one of the grunts turned towards a cage with a Meowth in it. "That him?" he asked.
"Check it out. I'll grab their other pokémon" the other grunt replied. He entered a storage room that was filled with shelves containing assorted poké balls.
The grunt went up to the cage, eliciting a scream of "who the hell are you?" – in English – from the cage.
"Hey Meowth, Jessie and James sent us back here to rescue you," the first grunt said, trying to pick the lock with a small nail he picked off the ground.
"Dat's good but dey okay?" he asked.
"Yeah but what about Galahad?"
"Galahad?" the first grunt asked.
"Yeah, dat Gallade over dere," Meowth replied, pointing at the cage opposite them.
"What's so important about him?"
"He speaks Humantalk."
The grunt shrugged. "I'm sure he can be useful as a translator," he said.
"I'll be much more than that," Galahad said in English. "Just let me join and I'll show you what I can do."
The second grunt returned with Jessie and James's poké balls attached to his belt. "We need to get moving," he said, exiting the building.
"All right," the first grunt replied. He found a small piece of rebar left over from a construction project. He picked it up and used it to pry the locks off the cages.
Galahad and Meowth gratefully left their cages and followed the two grunts outside.
Meowth gazed in wonder at the sleek hover skiff. "Wow, I never seen one of those before," he said.
"Get on," the first grunt said. He climbed on, hooked up his oxygen supply line and harness and started the engine.
Mewoth did so, grabbing the handhold on the central column just as the first grunt donned his oxygen mask.
He then sped off into the night sky.
The second grunt had had already hooked up his oxygen line and harness, started the engine and donned his mask. He was trying to convince Galahad to board the skiff.
Eventually, Galahad acquiesced to riding the skiff and the second grunt flew into the night sky.
Above them in the distance were the red running lights of the Megarig.