Chapter 14
"Psychological Conditions"
A light rain fell on Viridian City the day after Mondo Apollo's attempted suicide. Amanda and I arrived early the next morning at the Palace of Justice with the news about the attempted suicide and decided that while Giovanni and his fellow captives were terrorists, they were still human and that I had make sure that they were still alive for us to deliver the justice that they so desperately had to receive. Summoning Colonel Andrus into my office, I wanted to touch base with him about the sanity of the prisoners in question and that I also wanted him to meet Captain Hopkins, the U.S. Army Psychologist who was transferred to Viridian City to consult on the suicide risk of the prisoners.
"Mr. Schneider," said Colonel Andrus, walking in and shaking my hand as he took off his helmet. "I understand you wanted to see me about what happened yesterday morning."
"I have," I said. "Would you care to sit down?"
"Certainly," he said and sat down in the chair that was in front of my desk. He then took notice of my office and remembered it to being Giovanni's before his capture. "Didn't this used to be Giovanni's office?"
"It was his office until I took it over, Colonel," I said. "But, I called you here this morning in regards to the attempted suicide that happened yesterday morning around 8:00am. Would you care to tell me what happened?"
"I was shaving myself," explained Colonel Andrus. "When I got a phone call saying that there had been an attempted suicide in the cell of Mondo Apollo, one of the Team Rocket executives. Upon seeing this, I have ordered my men to watch them around the clock and that I give you on my life that no one will be taking the easy way out."
I took a sip of my orange juice and then pressed the buzzer that was on my desk. Amanda, who was in another room, responded to my buzz and immediately answered it.
"Amanda?" I asked.
"Yes, Jeff?" she replied.
"Is Captain Hopkins here yet?" I asked again. "I have Colonel Andrus in my office now."
"She should be here any minute, Jeff," replied Amanda. "I will send her to you."
Colonel Andrus wondered for a moment and then remembered that Captain Hopkins was the one who brought Sebastian Shimuni in on a stretcher when he attempted to kill himself. I then turned my attention back to Colonel Andrus.
"It's going to be for their own good, Colonel," I said. "I don't want them to take the easy way out as much as you do, so that is why we need to make this a team effort and that you are going to need help."
Just then, Captain Hopkins knocked on the door and a soldier standing guard outside my office opened it and allowed her inside.
"Good to see you again, Captain," said Colonel Andrus as she sat down next to him. "I could sure use your help."
I took a stack of papers in my hand and handed them to Colonel Andrus and Captain Hopkins for them to look at. The reported showed the full extent of what happened the day before.
"Now, I've called you here on the matter of what happened yesterday to Mr. Apollo," I said to them. "It's my personal view that I think there should be some form of letting the defenders recreate themselves before and after the trial."
"What is your view on that, Mr. Schneider?" asked Colonel Andrus. "These men and women need to think about their fate."
"That is true, Colonel," added Captain Hopkins. "But, they have nothing to do in the interim. We need to put together a recreational plan for these men and women to stay sane until the judgment is passed on down to them."
As much as he was against this idea, Colonel Andrus had to go along with Captain Hopkins' suggestion. It was his mission to keep them alive and after what had happened the day before, he knew that he needed to accept whatever helps came his way.
"What do you propose on that, Captain?" asked Colonel Andrus, turning to Captain Hopkins.
"Well, Colonel, based on your setup you have in the dungeons," replied Captain Hopkins. "I think maybe we could put together a small library and maybe a recreational yard for them to exercise in."
"That is a good suggestion," I remarked. "Perhaps it will break their minds up a little bit and not think about the trial all that much."
Colonel Andrus then had an idea about Captain Hopkins' involvement with the prisoners. He would put her in their lives and then report everything that she hears to him.
"I also have one other suggestion in mine," said Colonel Andrus. "I think I'll put you in their life, Captain Hopkins."
Captain Hopkins turned with a worried glance and gulped nervously about it.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I think maybe it would be best if these people have a chance to jibber jabber with someone as bright as enthusiastic as yourself," suggested Colonel Andrus. "However, whatever they say to you, you will report to me. Remember, these are war criminals, prisoners, not patients. That's the deal, Captain, take it or leave it."
Captain Hopkins wanted to object to this, but she couldn't for the sake of the possibly innocent captives that were inside.
"The library and the exercise yard, sir?" she asked.
"You got it," replied Colonel Andrus smiling, knowing that his bargaining chip worked. So, we broke up the meeting and as both Captain Hopkins and Colonel Andrus went their separate ways, I walked my way down to the documents room where Matt was going through every single bit of documents of the crimes that the Pokemon Criminal Organizations had ever done.
"You know, the Pokemon Criminal Organizations are a bunch of perverse people," he said as he looked over the mountains of documentation. "They had the audacity to keep record of every damn thing they do. It's downright perverse if you ask me."
"Well, we'll settle for 40 clean convictions with all this evidence, Matt," I replied. "Did you find any documentation that could prove useful?"
"Ha, take your pick," he said, pointing out to the assortment of documentation. "There are plenty of choices."
So, I went through the piles of documentation that were in the room but I was satisfied with the important fact that Captain Hopkins was going to get into the prisoners' lives, so that what happened yesterday morning, would not happen again…