Chapter 35: The False Captain
The rain continued to fall as the green shelled Squirtle lead Lloyd into a small, unmarked building that was somewhere at the far end of Havok City, opposite to where the Brotherhood Headquarters were located.
When Lloyd stepped inside and was finally out of the pouring rain, he shook as much water out of his fur as he could. He looked around where Squirtle had brought him and saw that it was some kind of small restaurant or bar. The place was nearly empty, with only one person behind a counter, and three customers all quietly sitting alone and keeping to themselves.
"You sit over there, at that table." Squirtle said, pointing at a table that was near the wall farthest from the door. "I'm gonna go get us some refreshments, on me, want anything?"
"Just water, I guess." Said Lloyd, who was still looking around.
Squirtle laughed. "Didn't get enough water outside, huh?"
Squirtle left to go get the drinks, and Lloyd went over to the table. He sat in one of the chairs and found it uncomfortable, and seemed small to him, but it would probably be the perfect size if he was a Pikachu again. the chair was made of carved wood, and had no padding or cushioning on the seat or back. It didn't take long for Squirtle to join him, bringing over a tall glass of water, filled half way with large ice chunks, and another drink, which was a deep, dark blue color, and also filled with the same large ice chunks.
"What's that?" Asked Lloyd, pointing at Squirtles beverage.
"Oran Berry, liquified and chilled till its nearly frozen." He picked up the glass and drank some of it. "It's refreshing, healthy, and cheap. The perfect drink!"
Lloyd drank some his water. It wasn't until the icy drink reached his lips did he realize how thirsty he was, and he kept drinking until the glass was almost completely empty. He put the glass down and decided to wait for some of the ice to melt before drinking anymore. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" He asked.
"Lloyd, you remember me saying that I lost my memory awhile ago?"
Lloyd nodded. "And that you were looking for something. But what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, I found that thing I was looking for, and I remember everything."
"Really?" Lloyd said, with a genuine interest.
"Yep, and I think this thing can help you too."
Lloyd couldn't believe his ears. "Seriously? You know how to get my memories back?!"
"Exactly. You see, the thing I was looking for was a machine, one made long ago by those humans that died off a few thousand years ago. It was made to restore memories taken away unnaturally, which is pretty much any memory you don't just plain forget." The Squirtle took another sip of his Oran Berry drink. "It took me awhile, but eventually, I found it."
"Where?!"
The Squirtle sighed. "Here's the thing Lloyd, I need your help before I can tell you. It would be only fair, and what I need would benefit both of us anyways."
Lloyd was angry that Squirtle was keeping something so important from Lloyd, but he figured he didn't have any choice. "What is it you want me to do?"
The Squirtle leaned forward. "You've been in the captains office, correct?"
Lloyd remember the unusually large office, where he was first welcomed into the Brotherhood, as well told the story of how the wasteland came to be. "Yeah, I've been there."
"What I need you to do, is to go into that office, go through the desk, and bring me back something. All without being seen by the Captain himself."
"What?! You're crazy!" Lloyd couldn't believe it, he was being asked to sneak into his bosses desk and steal from him? How could this possibly benefit me? I'll just get kicked out of the Brotherhood! Thought Lloyd.
"Lloyd, how long have you known the Captain? And how well?"
Lloyd stopped to think for a moment. "Not much." He responded.
"Well, I can tell you with complete certainty, that he isn't the Captain at all."
That was something Lloyd didn't expect to hear. At first, Lloyd planned to argue, saying that he didn't believe a word of it. But instead, Lloyd asked, "Prove it."
"You still have the list I gave you? The one with the pokemon who are working for that 'Mewtwo' guy on it?"
"Uh... Oh no, I...."
The Squirtle broke out in laughter again. And pulled out the note out of his shell. "Just kidding, I saw that you dropped it, so before going with your friends I picked it up and kept it safe. I want you to look at it, and read the... lets see... seventh one on the list."
Squirtle then handed Lloyd the list. He counted the names until he got to the seventh, and began reading.
Pokemon - Lancet - Species Unknown (Assumed to be a Ditto) - Carrying out orders to impersonate the Brotherhood leader known as "The Captain"
Lloyd had to read it twice to fully understand what it said. "I can't believe it... The Captain was so nice to us."
"That's why Mewtwo hired him, not only is this guy able to take on any form, but he is also supposedly very persuasive. He's been fooling the entire Brotherhood for nearly a year now, and has been passing information and even releasing prisoners who work for Mewtwo."
Lloyd remembered how Zar had supposedly 'escaped' captivity, despite his weakened state caused by the de-evolution.
"Before I agree to help you, I need to know what you have planned, what are you gonna do to get rid of this guy?"
"Well, that thing in his desk, the thing I wanted you to get for me, its what is allowing him to copy the true Captains image. This guy needs a piece of DNA in order to be able to turn himself into a perfect copy, and inside the Captains desk is a fragment of his shell. Get that, and after about four or five hours, he'll be forced to change forms. When he changes forms, that's when we got him."
"Fine, you've given me no reason to doubt you in the past... I'll do it."
"Great!"
Lloyd got up from the table. "One last question, the shell fragment, how big is it? And what shape?"
The Squirtle pointed to a spot on his shoulder. "See here?" Lloyd walked over and saw a medium sized chuck of the Squirtles shell lost. "That's it there, that's the hole the piece came from."
"Wait a sec... Are you trying to tell me YOU'RE the Captain?"
"Haha, figured that out finally, did ya? Yes, I am the actual, factual, leader of the Brotherhood, known by most as the Captain. Now, anymore questions?"
"Uh, ah... No." Lloyd was void of any words. While the information was a surprise, Lloyd had a feeling. And both had the same, unusual green colored shells.
"Well, I think you better go catch up with your friends then. When everyone goes to sleep, go into my office and grab the shell fragment and then bring it down stairs, where I'll be waiting for you."
"What else?"
"The next morning, tell the secretary that there is a friend outside waiting for him, then come out and meet me out front before he gets here. We'll catch him and tie him to a chair or something until he is forced to take on another form. Once he does, we'll tell everyone, and the Brotherhood will have its Captain for the first time in a long time."
"I'll try not to fail you." Lloyd said, sounding somewhat confident in himself. But inside he knew he was afraid of getting caught. Lloyd had no idea what might happen if he was caught sneaking around at night, stealing from the Captain that nobody knows is actually a impersonator. "I'll you tonight then."
"All right, good luck."
Lloyd drank the rest of his drink, which no longer had any ice left, and stood up. "Thanks." Was the last thing he said, and then Lloyd left to go back to the HQ.
---
"I can't believe how cute this thing is!"
"But what about our beds? They've been shredded!"
"Can't sleep on the floor for one night Isaac?"
Lloyd walking into Team Valiants room and saw the most unexpected thing. Every bed was completely ruined, and all of the pillows looked chewed open, their innards pulled out and thrown all over the room. What confused Lloyd the most was nobody seemed to be overly concerned. Instead, Rita, Isaac and Sakura were all gathered around in a circle in the back of the room.
"Hey guys."
Rita looked behind her and saw Lloyd. "Oh, hey Lloyd, didn't hear you come in."
Lloyd noticed that the Celebi was nowhere to be seen. "Hey wheres..."
"Don't worry Lloyd." She said, interrupting him. "We told Ewan about her and he's taking care of her right now. Said she would probably be fine in the morn... Hey where are you going?"
Lloyd looked at Rita, confused at the last thing she said. He wasn't going anywhere.
He then noticed a small pokemon he had never seen before slowly crawl out from behind the crowd of his teammates and look up at him curiously. It looked similar to a Pichu, only this thing had red fur where the black fur was supposed to be. Not only that, but it had much larger, flatter eats, and it had what looked like an addition symbol on its tail.
"What is this pokemon doing here?" Lloyd asked. His eyes locked on to the eyes of the little pokemon.
"That egg, the one in that was in Regals incubator when we left... It hatched."
The little pokemon walked over to Lloyd and actually hugged Lloyds leg, holding tight. Lloyd couldn't get over how adorable this pokemon was.
"It's called a Plusle." Said Isaac. "It's extremely rare in these parts. I read in a book awhile ago that these things mostly live on a bunch of Islands to the far west of Havok City along with another, similar pokemon called Minun."
The Plusle looked up at Lloyd, let go of his leg, and raised its tiny arms straight into the air. Even Lloyd, who had no experience with kids that he knew of, knew this meant it wanted to be picked up.
Lloyd leaned down, and lifted it up, cradling it in his arms.
"Aww, how adorable, it likes you Lloyd!" Said Rita.
Then suddenly, the little Plusle reached up to Lloyds face, and pinched both of his big, yellow cheeks. Since this was where Raichu, as well as all of Lloyds evolutionary stages, stored electricity, the action caused the Plusle to receive a huge shock, sending sparks flying and brightening the room for a second.
Lloyd was worried that the newborn might have just seriously hurt itself, or even just killed itself accidentally. But when Lloyd looked down, it had a huge smile on its face, and then giggled with delight.
He looked at everyone else, who all looked worried about the shock, and told them, "Don't worry, Its fine." He held the Plusle out for everyone to see to prove it.
"Why would it shock itself like that?" Asked Sakura.
Lloyd shrugged. "Maybe it feeds off the electricity somehow? Kind of like how most pokemon drink milk when they are very young."
"Maybe we could find out more about it the Library?" Suggested Rita. "I mean, we know nothing about what it eats or anything like that."
Lloyd looked at the time. "It's still pretty early for bed, that sounds like a good idea. You guys go to the Library, I'm gonna go to Ewans room and see how that Celebi is doing."
While Lloyd was genuinely worried about Celebi, that wasn't the real reason he wanted to go see Ewan.
"All right, come on guys lets go!"
Lloyd tried to pass of the Plusle by putting it on Ritas back, but the thing wouldn't let go of him. It desperately held on to Lloyd as if he was trying to throw it off a cliff.
"I don't think it wants to leave you Lloyd, why don't you look after it for now?"
"I guess I can." He said. Lloyd secretly hoped this Plusle thing would let go of him when he had to sneak into the Captains room later.
---
Lloyd knocked on the door of Team Torrents room, but moments passed and nobody answered. Lloyd knocked on the door again.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your Ponytas." The voice wasn't Ewans, it must have belonged to one of his team mates.
When the door opened, their was a Poliwhirl there to greet him.
"Can I help you?" It said with a lot of attitude.
"Umm, yeah, I need to see Ewan for a sec."
The Poliwhirl sighed loudly, as if Lloyds request was a lot more trouble then it actually was. "Stay here then." And then the Poliwhirl walked off, leaving the door open.
Lloyd heard some talking, but couldn't tell what was being said. A second later, Ewan was at the door.
"Oh, heeeeeey Lloyd! Wait...did you evolve? And who's the kid?" Ewan said, pointing at the Plusle newborn that was snuggling up against Lloyd as he held it in his arms.
"Oh, well I evolved recently actually. And this is a newborn pokemon that hatched in our room awhile we were away at the academy, it's called a Plusle."
"Wow, sounds like your teams had a pretty eventful night."
You don't know the half of it. Lloyd thought. "So, about that pokemon Rita and the others brought you..."
"Oh yes, that strange pokemon. We've given her some medicine, and she seems to be alright now, just sleeping quietly."
Ewan lead Lloyd over to one of the beds, where the Celebi was sleeping. It was underneath the covers and looked comfortable enough. He put the Plusle down on the bed, and walked over to where Celebi was lying.
"Wow, just wow." Said Ewan. "I still can't believe you've evolved."
But Lloyd wasn't really listening. He was occupied with Celebi, and was filled with a mixture of emotions. He felt guilty about Celebi getting so hurt because she was protecting him, and felt glad that he had managed to bring her safely to the Brotherhood HQ before her condition worsened.
"...Like I've known you forever, but we only met for the first time a few days ago. Funny thing that..."
Just then, something caught Lloyds eye. Did Celebi just move? He asked himself.
He saw it again, this time it was unmistakable. Celebi did in fact just move her head a little bit. Was she just shifting around, or was she actually waking up?
Lloyd waited, but Celebi had stopped moving, and was quietly resting again. She definitely wasn't waking up.
"... But my father on the other hand, he evolved twice! I can only imagine how it felt, transforming into a powerful Swampert. Although, he evolved in the bathroom, which had this tiny door, so he was stuck there for hours! Good times..."
"Umm, Ewan, I better be going. Its getting late."
"Oh, yes it is. Guess we can always chat again another time." Ewan said, sighing afterwards.
"Uhh, sure. Sounds good." Lloyd went over and picked up Plusle. "I'll see you later Ewan."
Lloyd walked out of Team Torrents room, and made way for his own room.
---
It was late at night now, and everyone was asleep. Because the beds were destroyed by the Plusle, everyone had to sleep on the floor, using spare blankets taken out of one of the drawers. Lloyd slept with the little baby Plusle, who still refused to leave his side.
By the time everyone got to bed, the Plusle had shocked itself by touching Lloyds electrified cheeks three times. This thing had shocked itself so many times with so much electricity, any other pokemon its sized would be burnt to a crisp.
"I'll have to look up some information about you tomorrow." He whispered to the Plusle, who was cuddled up against Lloyd. He then stood up, being careful not to wake said baby pokemon. "But right now, I've got a job to do."
Lloyd looked around the room, looking at each of his team mates. They all looked to be asleep.
Satisfied nobody was awake, Lloyd quietly tip-toed to the door, opened it, and walked out into the hall.
Not long afterwards. The Plusle woke up, and followed Lloyd out the door he had forgotten to close.