Chapter 36: Taking Back the Brotherhood
The hallways of the Brotherhood were dark, and totally silent. Lloyd contemplated using a spark to add some light like had done when he went down the stairs to the database room, but he was worried someone would see it and catch him sneaking around. He decided to just walk quietly and carefully down the halls and hope that he didn't walk face first into a wall.
When he got to the elevator, he pressed the button that would bring it to the Captains office at the top floor of the Headquarters. The doors opened, then closed with a faint mechanical whine, but it didn't make enough noise to make Lloyd worried about alerting anyone who might be nearby.
The elevator started to rise and Lloyd felt a familiar sick sensation in his stomach, but he repressed it the best he could, focusing on his goal and nothing but.
The doors opened finally. The room in front of the Captains office, where the desk of his secretary was located, was just as empty as the hallways on the basement floor. The room was brighter then the other places he was just through, thanks to the light coming through the windows, but it was still very dark since the windows were pretty small.
When the doors of the elevator closed again, Lloyd thought he heard another sound, like footsteps that didn't belong to him. When he looked back behind him, and all around the room, he saw nothing and nobody, and figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him.
Lloyd quietly walked over to the door to the Captains office and opened it. He was hoping that, like everywhere else, that the office would be dark and completely empty. Neither of these things were true about the Captains office.
The room was illuminated by a desk lamp, which was the only thing that provided any light, because all of the windows were closed with curtains. And there was a pokemon in the room that wasn't Lloyd, the false Captain himself, asleep at the desk that was in the center of the room.
Great, how am I supposed to get that shell fragment now?
Lloyd stepped towards the desk very slowly, making sure each step he took made absolutely no sound at all. He got to the desk, and the false captain was still asleep. He opened up each drawer, quietly rummaging around to find the shell. Eventually he found it, hidden underneath a drawer full of paperwork.
As he carefully pulled the shell fragment out, he heard a small "Thump" sound on the desk. He looked at the 'Captain', but he was still asleep. Lloyd looked around where the sound had come from, and there, on top of the desk, was standing the Plusle newborn.
Please, please, please don't make any noise!
Plusle slowly walked over to where Lloyd was, and because Lloyd was kneeling over to search the desk, he was face to face with the newborn.
Oh, oh no. Please don't do what I think you're about... But it did exactly what Lloyd was worried about. The Plusle grabbed both of Lloyd cheeks, which caused it to get a huge electrical shock, sending sparks flying in every direction.
When Plusle finally let go, Lloyd looked immediately at the fake Captain. He snorted, shifted slightly in his chair, and kept on sleeping in the desk chair.
"Whew."
But then Lloyd noticed something else. One of the sparks must have flown over and hit the stack of papers that was on the far end of the desk, they had caught fire and were burning brightly.
Lloyd ran over and tried to pat the flames out, but he saw the false Captain sniff the air, and opened his eyes.
"Huh... wha... Fire!" He yelled as soon as he was fully awake. Lloyd fully expected him to shoot the fire out with a Water Gun attack or something, but instead he smacked the stack of papers off the desk and stomped on them a few times, eventually putting out the fire.
"You!" He yelled, pointing at Lloyd. "What are you doing in my office? ... What the, the shell fragment! Give it to me!"
"No." Said Lloyd in a defiant tone.
"... What?"
"I know who you are... or at least... I know that you're not really the Captain."
"How... how did you find out?!"
"The REAL Captain told me, and based on what I'm hearing, everything he said and showed me was true."
"You... You'll ruin everything!" The fake captain ran over to his desk, and before Lloyd could react, he had turned off the desk lamp. The room was now pitch black.
Lloyd heard the fake captain run at him, but Lloyd wasn't able to see him and didn't have enough time to try to locate him. He braced himself for whatever attack was coming, but when the fake captain reached him, all he did was scratch Lloyds arm and kept running.
"When I am done with you, I'm going to throw you and your entire team into prison for betraying the Brotherhood. How ironic would that be?" He laughed loudly from somewhere in the office. "I am Lancet, the worlds greatest scientist, and loyal servant to Mewtwo! And now, I shall show you one of my favorite creations..."
The curtains that covered the windows all fell to the ground, and Lloyd saw that the sun was just starting to rise over the far off mountains. The light shinnied into the office and Lloyd had no troubles being able to see.
Lloyd looked around, but couldn't find the guy who he now knew as "Lancet". Lloyd heard someone land on the Captains desk, and when he looked in that direction he couldn't believe what he saw. Looking at Lloyd with a devilish grin was a Raichu, but not just any Raichu... it looked exactly like he did, a perfect twin.
"Surprise!" He said.
"How did you..."
"I invented a small device quite some time ago that, with a small sample of DNA, allows me to look like whom ever I choose." He pointed to a device around his wrist that looked like a watch. "That is how I've been impersonating the Captain for so long, and its how I've copied your form!"
Lloyd didn't like having to fight himself like this, even if it wasn't really him. Just the fact that he was beating on what looked exactly like himself was just plain weird.
Suddenly, the Lloyd lookalike leapt at the real Lloyd, slamming him to the ground then pinning him down.
Lancet punched Lloyd twice in head, but Lloyd moved his head just as the third punch came at him, and Lancet missed, causing him to punch the hard, metal floor instead. As he cried out in pain, Lloyd shoved him off with all of his strength sending Lancet flying onto the Captains desk, which broke the desk in half.
Lloyd ran over to the broken desk, but Lancet was gone.
"Lloyd!"
Lloyd turned around and saw Rita standing at the door.
"Lloyd, what's going on? What are you doing here?"
Lloyd looked around the room, trying to find where Lancet was hiding. "Rita, you've got to get out of here, it isn't... AHH!"
Lloyd didn't notice that Rita had transformed into the exact same Raichu he was looking for. While distracted, Lancet was able to transform again and punch Lloyd right in the stomach. The force of the blow knocked all of the wind out of Lloyd, and brought him to his knees. He looked up, and saw Lancet holding a small leaf, and a tissue with a small amount of blood on it.
"You see, I've got samples of your friends DNA as well. This leaf was from your Chikorita friends Razor Leaf attack that I took from Havok Sewers final area, and the blood I got from you only a few moments ago."
So that's why he scratched my arm like that.
Lancet stepped closer to Lloyd.
"Well, I'm quite done with this fighting. I hope you and your friends enjoy your new home in the Brotherhood jail. Once I use this shell to transform back into the Captain I'll tell everyone that you tried to kill me, and that your entire team was working with you to do it. Wait, no, scratch that, YOU will be going to the boss. I had almost forgotten he was looking for you. He sure will be happy about this, I'm sure."
Lloyd tried to stand up and continue fighting, but Lancet struck Lloyd right in the back of the head, knocking him out instantly.
Lancet dragged Lloyd over to the Captains desk, and took the shell out of his hand. He grasped it firmly in his hand, and a second later, he had transformed back in a Wartortle.
He reached down to the desk, and opened one of the drawers. Lancet pulled out a small handheld radio and began to tune the frequency to Mewtwos personally radio signal.
---
Lloyd opened his eyes, but was nothing but black. At first he thought he was trapped somewhere, stuffed inside a box or something so Lancet could take him away. But when Lloyd tried to move his body he found himself completely unrestrained.
Then he recognized where he was, it was the same place he met with Shadow last night. It was Lloyds own mind.
"Why hello there Lloyd." Shadow said, appearing out of nowhere in his Celebi form. "Did that Lancet fellow give you a bump on the head?"
"Well, yeah, you were there weren't ya?"
"Indeed I was. So... Are you gonna just let him take you like this?"
"What am I supposed to do? I'm unconscious, as you well know."
"Ah yes, well then... I guess I'll have to do it then. Be right back."
Before Lloyd could say anything, Shadow disappeared and took over Lloyds body.
---
"Yes boss, yes, yes I have him right here now. No, nobody else knows about me. Where did he find out? He said that the real Captain told him who I was... No I don't know how he got his memory back, and no I don't know where he is right now. Yes boss... Alright then, send over those two idiots to pick up Lloyd, I'll tie him up securely just in case he wakes up on the way."
As soon as Lancet had finished his call to Mewtwo, something weird about Lloyd caught his eye.
He put down his radio and got out of his chair to investigate. He noticed that Lloyd was still out like a light, but something was happening to him, something Lancet had never seen before. Out of nowhere, a strange, black fog engulfed Lloyds entire body, until Lloyds yellow body was completely hidden beneath it. Once that had happened, lancet saw Lloyds arm move, and then his legs. Despite being knocked out only moments ago, Lloyd was waking up and taking on some new, weird form.
"What is going on?" Lancet asked himself out loud.
Lloyd, who was now standing all the way up, responded to him. "You should be more worried about what is about to happen." Lloyd opened his eyes and Lancet couldn't believe what he saw, Lloyds eyes were blood red, like frozen orbs of blood. Combined with the shadowy aura and his unexplainable recovery, the whole scene was like something from a nightmare.
Lancet collected himself, trying to sound as calm and in control as possible. "I don't know what just happened, but don't start thinking you can get away from me now Lloyd."
In an unbelievable show of speed, Lloyd ran to him and was now face to face with Lancet. Before he could do anything, Lloyd grabbed Lancet by the throat and lifted him into the air.
"It's too bad really." Lloyd said. "If you were right in your assumption, and I was actually Lloyd, you might not be in such a dangerous position."
"What... what do you mean?" Lancet said, having trouble speaking as he struggled to breath.
"I am not Lloyd, I'm merely a prisoner in his body, thanks to your boss. And I'm also the one who is about to kill you."
Not if I have anything to say about it.
Just as... who ever this pokemon was, started to squeeze harder on Lancets throat, Lancet transformed back into his true form, and used one of his claws to clash at the arm of his attacker, forcing him to drop him.
Lancet knew he had no chance against this new opponent, so before who ever had taken over Lloyds body could recover, Lancet sprinted towards the window, jumped through, and turned into a massive Fearow, allowing him to fly away to safety.
—
Shadow sighed. "Oh well." He said as he watched Lancet soar away into the sunset.
"You shouldn't have tried to kill him Shadow! We might have been able to get information from him or something."
You want to get information? Spare your opponents? Then actually put up a decent fight, you barely lasted a minute against him.
Lloyd didn't say anything in response.
Well, its morning, and the last thing I want is for the both of us to get caught in my form again. I don't care if you're awake or not, take over now.
The dark fog around shadow began to fade, and once control of Lloyds body was given to Lloyd again, he fell to the ground.
---
An hour passed, and Lloyd, as well as the Captains trashed office, was discover by the Lopunny secretary. She called Team Torrent to come up and investigate.
Ewan came in a few minutes later, and his mouth was wide open with surprise at what he saw inside the office.
"What happened here?" He asked the secretary.
"I have no idea! I just opened the door to see if the Captain was in here, and as soon as I saw all of this I called you!"
"Alright then, just go and relax and me and my team will deal with everything."
She nodded and left.
As his team spread out in the office and cleaned up the mess that was made, Ewan walked over to Lloyd and checked for a pulse. Ewan was happy to find out Lloyd was alive, and only unconscious. He aimed at Lloyds face and squirted a small water gun at him to hopefully wake him up.
Lloyd immediately sat up, spitting water out of his mouth. "Ewan!"
"Lloyd, what happened here? Where's the Captain?"
Lloyd looked like he didn't know what he was going to say. "Well... It's kind of a long story... You would never believe me... The..."
"Ahem, hello gentlemen." Everyone turned towards the door. Lloyd was happy to see the real Captain standing at the door, a friendly smile on his face.
"Wait, who are you? The Captains brother or sister or something?" Ewan asked.
"Nope I'm the Captain, in the flesh."
Ewan shook his head. "No, the Captain evolve nearly a year ago, I remember the exact day it happened."
"Hmph... Ok then, test me, ask me something only I would know."
Ewan thought for a moment. "All right then... Back when we were just rookies, where were we when Ivan got sick off of a rotten berry during a mission?"
"That's easy, Stark Valley, not far to the south. And you got something wrong Ewan, it wasn't a rotten berry, it was perfectly good. The reason he got sick was because it was a Cherri Berry, and Ivan is allergic to them."
Ewan was speechless.
"So, want to test me further, or do you believe me?"
"But... How? You're a Squirtle again!"
"I'll explain later Ewan, I have a lot I need to update you, your team, and the entire Brotherhood with." The Captain walked over to Lloyd, who was still siting up on the floor at Ewans feet. "Lloyd, while Lancet got away, I want to thank you for all that you've done. As promised..." The Captain pulled out another piece of paper from his shell. "On this is the coordinates to the building you will find the machine I used. Just use a map to find it. Take today off and go there right away."
Lloyd took the paper, and nodded. "Thank you, thank you so much Captain."
"Don't worry about it, now go to your room so your friends don't worry."
Lloyd nodded. "Plusle! We gotta go back to the room now!" Lloyd called out, hoping the little pokemon heard and understood him. Luckily Plusle did hear him, the baby pokemon walked into the office from the front room where the elevator and secretaries desk was. Lloyd picked uo Plusle with one arm, and was clutching the paper with the other, excited about finally finding a way to recover his lost memories.
The Captain walked over to the shell fragment and picked it up. "Um, Ewan, get one of your teammates to find some glue or something. Please."
---
On his way back to Team Valiants room, Lloyd spotted a familar face going in the same direction as him. It was Jennifer and she looked like she had spent the entire night in the rain.
Lloyd ran down the hallway to catch up to her. "Hey, Jennifer! Over here!"
Jennifer turned around. "Oh, hey Lloyd. How did your mission at the academy go?"
When Lloyd caught up to her, they both walked down the hall that went from the elevator to the team rooms. "Fine, we found the student and came home all in one piece."
"How's Isaac?"
"I'm not sure... He has been quiet for awhile now. Not sure why."
They reached their room. "Well, I guess I can ask him if anything is wrong. I wanted to talk to him anyways." But when she opened the door, it was immediately obvious that wasn't going to happen. Isaac wasn't in their room at all.
"Lloyd! Jennifer!" Said Rita, with a worried voice. "Isaac, he's gone!"
"Where?" Asked Jennifer. "Where has he gone?"
Rita pointed to a note that was resting on one of the beds that the Plusle had destroyed last night. "That weirdo Charmander from one of the other teams came up here and wasn't making much sense, then he gave that note to Isaac and he left without a word."
Jennifer picked up the note and read it out loud.
Dear Team Valiant
I have taken two members of the Brotherhood and am holding them captive. If you want to see either of them alive, send Isaac ALONE to Sunset Spire. If anyone else comes, or he tries anything funny, I'm letting these too drop from the very top of the spire.
You have been warned. Maverick.
"Oh no..." Said Jennifer, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "Isaac is going to go fight Maverick by himself!"
"That's gotta be a trap." Said Lloyd. "We can't let him go alone like this."
"Lloyd, stop and think." Said Rita. "You heard what Maverick wrote, if we go and try to help, Maverick is gonna kill both of these pokemon."
"We have to do something! Isaac can't do this by himself!"
Lloyd thought for a moment. "When did Isaac leave Rita?"
"Just over an hour ago."
"Ok then, that gives us plenty of time to catch up to him then. If we hurry we can reach him before he gets there, and we'll tak about it with him from there."
"Sounds good." Said Rita. "But who's gonna stay here? Someone needs to look after that baby Plusle thing."
"Hmm... Rita, do you still have that infinity stone? The one we got from the sewer?"
Rita nodded and pulled out the stone, which was wrapped in cloth, from one of the drawers. "What do you want me to do with it?"
"We can't leave the Plusle behind, it seems to feed off of my electricity. But I can't stay behind either. We need someone who is good with kids, and can take care of them, even in the wasteland."
"You mean you want me to waste my stone... on him?"
Lloyd nodded.
"Great... That's just great... You owe me a stone Lloyd."
Rita handed Lloyd the cloth wrapped infinity stone. Lloyd carefully unwrapped the stone and walked over to the far side of the room, where Regal, currently a metapod, was leaning against the wall.
Lloyd reached out and touched the stone to Regal, and immediately both he and the stone began to glow brightly. Lloyd had to shield his eyes it was so bright.
A moment later, the light died down, and everyone watched as Regals outter shell began to crack. The opening in the crack opened wider and wider, and eventually, everyone could see the Butterfree that Regal had become. The metapod shell finally split wide open, and Regal, now an amazing looking Butterfree, emerged and fluttered to the top of the room.
"Oh, yes! Finally free! I'm finally out of that horrible cocoon!" He yelled out happily as he flew around in circles above everyone. "Wow! Flying is absolutely incredible!"
After one last lap, Regal flew down to greet everyone. "Hello all! What a glorious day this is! How is everyone doing?" Regal then noticed several additions to the group, as well as the missing Isaac. "Oh, who are these two?"
"My name is Sakura." She introduced herself. "I joined at the academy after we pulled you and Isaac out of the cave in."
"And this." Said Lloyd, holding up Plusle. "Is the pokemon from the egg."
Regal immediately flew over to Lloyd and picked up Plusle. "Oh wonderful! And what an adorable little girl you are!"
"It's a girl?" Asked Lloyd.
"Well, its easy to tell without getting... up close and private, if you know what to look for. With Plusle, as well as Minun, you can tell based on the length of their tails. Males have slightly longer tails then the females at this age. Also, if I remember correctly, females have more fur around the ears. Yes, I am sure this one is a girl."
"Wow, you're better with children then we thought." Said Lloyd.
"Well, when I was taking care of Rita, the only literature the queen would allow me to read were child care books. I learned quite a bit. Did you know Plusle feed off of electricity, and not milk, at infancy?"
Lloyd rubbed his cheeks. "Yeah, I knew that."
"Listen, Regal, we need you to look after Plusle. All of us need to catch up to Isaac."
"What happened to him? I noticed he wasn't around."
Lloyd handed him the note from Maverick.
"Oh dear, so Isaac is going to this Sunset Spire place without us then?" He said after reading the note.
"Yep." Said Rita. "And we need to catch up to him before we gets there, otherwise someone is going to get hurt, or worse."
"Alright then, we should go right away then." Said Regal. Everyone nodded in agreement. Sakura and Rita picked up the bags they prepared for the journey, and walked out into the hall. Jenn. Lloyd was about to join them when Regal stopped him.
"Umm, Lloyd, about the baby. I'm guessing you haven't given her a name yet?"
The very thought never even came to Lloyd. "Uh, no."
"Well, how would you like to come up with the name?"
"Alright, I'll try to think of something."
Regal lifted the Plusle out of Lloyds arms and flew off down the hall to catch up with the rest of Team Valiant.
Lloyd took the paper with the coordinates to the machine in a drawer, then ran to catch up with his friends.
I'll have to wait until we save Isaac before I can get my memories back. Friends come first.
---
Earlier that morning.
Isaac was just leaving the Brotherhood Headquarter, a small bag packed full food for the long trip. He walked right out of the city, not looking at any of the passing pokemon in the streets.
When he got outside the city walls, he began to walk towards the direction where the Sunset Spire was located, but was interrupted when he heard something behind him.
He turned around and saw a Weaville, leaning up against the wall next to the cities archway.
"Hello Isaac." She said.
"... Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"Because she and I work together, brother." Said a very familiar voice.
Maverick walked through the same archway Isaac had just passed through himself, only there was a big difference now. Maverick was now an Empoleon, and not the Prinplup he was way back in Celsius Cave.
"What are you doing here Maverick! You said you were at Sunset Spire!"
Maverick laughed. "I lied. I knew you would go alone, and I'm willing to bet your friends will try to chase you down soon. Sunset Spire was a trap Isaac, as I am sure you have guessed already. Only... That trap is for your friends to spring, yours is right here."
Full of hate and anger, Isaac fired off a Bubble attack, which hit Maverick, not doing anything at all. "Hahaha, you're weak Isaac!"
"Maverick, would you just finish the little vermin off already?!" Said the Weaville with obvious impatience.
"Haha, Alright then." With speed Isaac would never guess a pokemon Mavericks size could pull off, Maverick ran at Isaac and swatted him with his wing, sending Isaac flying into the air and crashing into the sand. Isaac lost consciousness as soon as he landed.
"Great job." The Weaville, Crimson, said sarcastically. "Now grab him and lets go, I'm bored."
Laughing the whole way, Maverick walked over to Isaacs body, and heaved him over his shoulder. Both he and Crimson left Havok City without anyone ever seeing what had happened.
Half an hour later, Lloyd arrived in Room 160 and found the note that would lead everyone to the trap Mewtwo had set.