Hidden In Shadows Part 9~ Plusle And Minin's Excellent Adventure

Thanks to Nett's GPS map, they reached the Mystery Cipher Lab without much trouble. But they encountered a slight snag when they got there, and that does not refer to the team of that name.

"Ooh. Electricity. That's just great," Celia muttered as they looked at the electrified fence that surrounded the lab. They knew it was electrified because there was a handy little sign posted displaying a tiny Pokémon trainer getting fried to a crisp. And there was an electrical buzzing noise, which was also something of a tip off.

"So... what now?" Amy asked as the group stood idly in the desert.

"Um..." Cail seemed to be thinking.

"We could get on Selene and see if we can cross the border out of Orre that way?" Gary suggested hopefully, to be met by Amy's glare "Well, come on! How're we supposed to get over this without attracting attention? We-"

"Erm, I think I may have an idea," Jesse said hesitantly and Amy turned happily towards him.

"You do? What?" she asked to Gary's huff of disgust. She rolled her eyes and playfully batted his shoulder, to which he blushed and bit and looked away.

Jesse clearly his throat a little. "Well obviously I can't see it but, couldn't Plusle and Minin withstand the electricity? Perhaps you could send them inside to get a key or something for the front door? There must be a door"

"Yeah, it's over here," Cail nodded in the direction of what looked like a sliding panel of cement next to a slot. "It uses a card key by the looks of things." He pulled out a cigarette and rolled it in his fingers a moment before lighting it.

Celia smiled. "Sounds like a plan, Jesse. Okay, Gary, get out the rodents."

"Uh, sure." Gary frowned and released the Plusle and Minin who appeared with cries of slightly evil sounding delight.

"Plu Plus!"

"Mi Min!"

"Uh, yeah." Gary shifted uneasily. Amy stepped forward with a small frown of her own.

"Right, so, Plusle? Minin?" the electric rodents turned to her. "Can you guys hop the fence and get a card key for the front door, without getting caught?"

"PLUSLE!"

"MININ!"

They saluted and nodded firmly.

"Because you've been captured before by Cipher according to Duking..." Amy reminded them carefully. They gave identical indignant glares. "Alright then, go!" Amy ordered and at once the two scampered up the fence, tiny body coursing with electricity as they launched themselves over the top.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Jesse asked, scratching his arm.

"Do you think they'll die a horrible death?" Gary asked with an edge of hopefulness. They were both annoying and slightly creepy at times.

"I'm betting they'll join Cipher," Celia offered, since she had also noticed their air of malevolence.

"I'm betting they'll run Cipher. If they don't already," Cail snorted.

"Hey! Shut up! They're our only chance right now!" Amy snapped. Then she paused. "Wait... what if Cipher has camera out here?" They all looked around.

"Then... we're fracked," Cail sighed.

"Definitely Fracked," Celia nodded.

"Fracked?" Jesse asked in confusion.

"Heh heh, I loved Battle Star Deoxyica," Gary smiled and Amy rolled her eyes before she looked worriedly at the walls beyond the electrified fence.

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"Plus Plus Plus!" Plusle whispered to Minin.

"Min Min!" his blue tipped partner replied and they jumped to the ground inside the lab compound, quickly running towards the building. For the benefit of the readers, the remainder of the Plusle/Minin journey will be through the ears of the Pokémon, so you can understand what they say.

"Minin!" Plusle called Minin's name to indicate that he follow him up to an air vent on the building, located about 10 feet from the main gate.

"Plusle!" Minin gasped his friend's name as he slipped on the wall, to be caught at the last second by Plusle grabbing his paw and pulling him up.

"Minin," Plusle sighed in exasperation and relief as he ruffled the fur on Minin's head. He gave him a look that clearly told Minin not to scare his partner like that. Minin sighed back and hugged Plusle, speaking volumes in that action of his appreciation of having such a good friend. Then they ran through the vent.

They scrambled through the tin ducts, footsteps echoing for several minutes before they found another grate. Gazing down from it they registered that they were in a bathroom, and by the crude pictures of boobs all over the stall walls, they had to assume it was the male bathroom.

"Minin!" Plusle whispered to turn his friend's attention to the screws around the grate. Minin saluted and nodded before shoving his tail into the screw and flipping himself so he balanced on it, looking expectant. Plusle grabbed Minin's feet and spun him very fast over the screw, making him dizzy but also getting the screw loose. They removed it and moved to the next one. By the time the grate fell and clattered to the floor, Minin had to rest a moment for the room to stop spinning. Plusle gazed down into the bathroom while Minin worked on getting back to his senses.

"P-Plusle..." Minin groaned, touching his partner's shoulder to let him know he was okay to keep going. Plusle nodded back and the two jumped from the grate to the floor. Plusle landed on his feet alright but Minin landed in a puddle of… what we will hope is water and slipped, falling on his rear. He moaned at that but Plusle quieted him. The two hurried out of the bathroom and into the hall.

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Outside, the human crew was waiting impatiently for the return of their rodent... companions.

"Someone's going to see us out here," Cail muttered, smoke billowing softly from his mouth as he did so.

"Well you'd think if they had cameras they'd be out here by now," Amy pointed out.

"Unless they're trying to catch us by surprise," Celia suggested, to a set of worried looks. Gary didn't look worried though, he just looked pissed.

"Well you all could have listened to me and we might've been OUT of this stupid desert region by now! But nooooo, we have to save the Pokémon! We have to save your father! What-"

"He's my FATHER Gary!" Amy snapped angrily.

"Well there's POLICE that deal with kidnappings! Not teenagers!" Gary growled.

"Please, don't argue," Jesse muttered, "Look, we're here now. Plusle and Minin are inside, we can't change that. So just stay and see how it goes."

"Yeah, but it's frikken boiling out here!" Gary raged.

"Oh, I can fix that!" Amy smiled and threw a Pokeball, releasing Isis. "Use Blizzard!" she ordered.

"Glace!" Isis nodded and a shower of freezing cold snow shot out of her mouth… and immediately evaporated. "GLAAAAACE?" Isis gasped in shock.

"Geez," Cail shook his head and stabbed out his cigarette, "I didn't think it was that damn hot."

"Maybe it's not," Celia said carefully, walking over to where the snow had evaporated. When she entered the space however she immediately jumped back "OW!"

"What is it?" Amy asked, startled.

"The air here is way hotter than around it," Celia explained, wincing.

"Really? How is that possible?" Gary asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," Celia shook her head, "Not a clue."

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Back inside, Plusle and Minin were making good progress. They'd already tackled, knocked unconscious and tied up two Cipher Lab Technicians. They quickly donned their clothes and grabbed their key cards. They then looked at each other.

"Plu- Plusle…" Minin giggled as he looked at his companion. With the clothes on… well basically they were just sticking out of the neck hole. With really big glasses. Plusle hadn't seemed to notice until his partner laughed and then looking down he realised that this wasn't going to work. After all, they could barely see out of these glasses! They'd bump into things! Laughing at his brief case of stupidity he started taking off his glasses when the door suddenly opened, casting light over the two rodent Pokémon, if not on their captives. The two gasped and looked wide eyed up, over top of their too big glasses at another lab technician looming over them, too shocked to shock the newcomer.

He looked down and glared. "Just what do you two think you're doing?"

"My-" Minin started, about to say something to the extent of 'My partner and I were just conducting experiments on how shadow Pokémon would fair in the dark' but he didn't get further than a mere 'My' before the lab tech cut in.

"Yeah yeah, there's a meeting going on you know! Get down to sub-level 3 pronto!" the technician snapped and turned on his heel away. Plusle and Minin looked at each other. With a smirk and nod they followed the lab tech, lab coats dragging behind them. A meeting? They had to sit in on this...

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"I-I can't believe it! It's like there's some kind of hot air vent all the way around the building!" Celia gasped, coming back around from the other side of the building she'd just circled. "Its better then a moat… no luck with getting over it?" she asked Amy. Avion was panting at her feet after trying to get over top of where the heat reached. No avail there.

"I don't get it, how'd we get over the first time?" Amy asked in confusion. "How could artificial heating get like this?"

"Well…" Jesse said slowly, "I think Entie could make lava that hot. Under the ground, in some sort of river…"

"But that doesn't explain how we got over the first time," Cail said with a scowl.

"Don't you guys get it? It's a trap!" Gary snapped, "They have Suicune too right? So they used him to cool their lava moat until we got this close, then they heated it up again so we'd be trapped out here for however long they want, maybe until we're so damn hot we pass out!"

"I hate to say it but... that seems kinda… well it sounds weird but plausible enough I guess..." Amy sighed, "Maybe we can cool a path through it?"

"Maybe… but Isis' Blizzard evaporated instantly," Celia pointed out.

"Yes, if it is Entie's lava, only another legendary Pokémon, one of ice or water can possible cool it off," Jesse said dishearteningly.

"Well, that sounds hopeful," Cail said sarcastically.

"I wish we could call up Articuno right about now," Amy sighed.

"Yeah, this place could use a sheet of ice," Gary groaned. They all fell silent. It was really hot out. And there wasn't even any shade.

"We should probably conserve energy or something…" Celia sighed. "And hey, maybe Isis can use Blizzard inside the ring of fire?"

"Oh, hey yeah maybe, "Amy nodded and Isis smiled and let loose another Blizzard over her companions. They sighed in relief.

"Oh yeah baby, that's goooood….." Celia sighed, stretching in the cool air. So, that was one problem taken care of.

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Plusle and Minin sat beside each other at a long table in the meeting hall among many other humans in lab coats. At one end of the table was a giant TV screen. It turned on and all idle chatter stopped as attention riveted on the screen… just like every time a TV goes on around people who study Pokémon. They were not disappointed as on the screen came an image of a Houndoom. That of course was simply a ploy to get attention of course and the image soon changed to the image of a man with really, REALLY weird hair. This was like… like… like Sepheroth level weird. I mean, he may as well have come out of Yu-Gi-Oh for crying out loud!

"Evice?" came a murmur throughout the room.

"Yes, Evice has decided to speak to you lowly scientists so shut up and pay attention!" A snap came from beside the TV. Another lab coat man was speaking.

"Sorry Ein," muttered a few of the lesser scientists. Plusle and Minin put on very serious faces.

"As you should be aware by now, we have currently five teenage Pokemon trainers outside the lab, trapped within the lava ring. Two of them are known Shadow Sighters, but we have more information on them that will be presented by Ein in a moment. I simply want to make things perfectly clear. The Shadow Sighting trainers and their companions are not to be harmed physically. If there must be torturing done, do it to their Pokémon. I myself will be paying a visit tomorrow evening to see the captives. I trust they'll remain in your possession that long. I return you to Ein," the screen went blank.

"OH MY GOD ARE YOU SERIOUSLY?" came a yell from the back of the room. It was quickly joined by much more excitement. Apparently Evice visiting was big news.

"Yes, yes, now calm down and I'll explain the trainers that are currently outside." Ein pulled up the files on the TV screen now. Amy's pictured filled the screen "This is Amy Tanner. Second place champion of the Indigo League despite only training for about a year. She's 17 years old and a known Shadow Sighter. She is the daughter of the infamous rogue Snag'em member Wes Tanner and former Cipher scientist Rui Devante. Some of the more senior members of Cipher remember them well. Rui is confirmed dead and Wes is currently held in the Snag'em base. Amy herself holds a full team of Pokémon, including a Glaceon and Dragonair. She was under custody in Pyrite Town but escaped with another Shadow Sighter."

The screen changed to an image of Jesse. "Jesse Hutch. He is the second confirmed Shadow Sighter. We don't know a lot about him other than that he is the cousin of Pre-Gym leader Justy from the Sinnoh region and has some affiliation with the three legendary beasts. He has been rendered blind and has no Pokémon with him."

The screen changed to Gary. "Gary Oak, grandson of Prof. Oak of Pallet Town, Kanto region. He appears to be Amy's boyfriend and has a Snag Machine as well as several Shadow Pokémon under his control."

Celia appeared on the screen. "This is Celia Rivers. She was with Cipher at Goon level working as a guard to the Under but turned against us. Her twin brother Cail," the picture changed, "Assisted in the escape of the Shadow Sighters. He holds four Pokemon total."

Plusle and Minin raised their eyebrows as their own pictures appeared on the screen.

"Finally, Plusle and Minin. Duking's." A collective shudder ran through the room and Plusle and Minin fought smirks. "We knew we might have to face these two again. They don't seem to be outside, but remember, they are masters of disguise. We managed to capture one years ago but after he was rescued... we all know the revenge they had against us." Nods and murmurs of agreement filled the room.

"HEY! HEY LET US IN!" A yell came from outside the door. The doors were opened and two men came in, stripped to their underwear. "PLUSLE AND MININ! THEY'RE HERE!"

"I knew it! Mark didn't seem like himself today!" one woman yelled and punched the man seated next to her.

"SHIRLEY! IT'S ME I SWEAR!" he cried, rubbing his nose.

"Plusle?" Minin whispered to an agreeing nod and they quickly vanished under the table in the confusion.

"No, no that's them there!" one of the naked men yelled, pointing at the escaping rodents. They gasped, jumped out of their lab coats and made a run for it, followed quickly by a hoard of angry (and slightly panicking) scientists. They dodged and ducked as those in scientists fell over themselves to grab them. Soon the rodents were laughing wildly.

A deep growl and roar suddenly came from in front of them and a freezing breeze flew over the two. They soon were, literally, frozen in place.

"And that is how you capture a Pokémon," Ein smirked, recalling the shadow Suicune and collecting the ice block where Plusle and Minin were trapped inside.

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"Hey, the door's opening!" Celia said suddenly pointing from where they were building a snowman. Isis groaned and fell over, tired from all the Blizzard use.

"Oops, sorry Isis!" Amy gasped, recalling her Pokémon. They door of the Mystery lab was opening indeed… and many Cipher Scientists were coming out. And each had a Shadow Pokémon.

"Uh-oh," Amy said softly.

"I-I feel Suicune!" Jesse gasped.

"NO SHIT SHERLOCK, HE'S RIGHT THERE!" Gary yelled as the blue Pokémon stood beside what appeared to be the lead scientist.

"GARY! He can't see him!" Amy snapped in irritation. Gary was so insensitive!

"Blizzard," Ein ordered.

And so ended any possible plans of escape via battling.

((... yep. Still alive. ... Nothing else to say really.))