NINE

Serena followed the van as it wound through alleys and back roads, through Rouge Plaza, and kept a safe distance once it stopped in a dead end behind the Looker Bureau. She peered around the corner of a building as a Team Flare grunt got out of the back of the van and opened up a manhole.

The familiar pounding of Augustine's feet on the pavement came soon after. He stopped by her side and bent over, placing a hand on her shoulder and clutching on for dear life as he labored for breath.

"What . . . are you . . . thinking?" he asked her, trying to sound disapproving although there was little support to his voice.

"I'm going to see what they're up to," answered Serena. She held a finger up to her mouth, telling him to shush, and then turned her attention back to the Team Flare grunts. The grunts were struggling under the weight of the large crate they had previously loaded.

"How are we going to get this down that hole?" one of the grunts asked.

"Have your Meditite levitate it or something. I don't know."

"Urgh, you are the least helpful person I've had the misfortune of working with."

Serena counted the grunts again. Three of them, and then the driver of the van, who had not revealed themselves yet.

"Are you going to battle all of them?" whispered Augustine.

"No . . . I have a better idea." Serena began fumbling on her belt until she found Haunter's Pokeball. She released Haunter, then gestured for him to come closer to her.

"Use Hypnosis on everyone there," she said, giving a small point towards the van. Haunter obeyed, and floated that way, making his body transparent as he did. In a matter of seconds, all of the Team Flare grunts were lying on the ground asleep. The van driver's head flopped over and hit the window with a thud.

"You do know that using Pokemon to attack humans is against the law, right?" Augustine said.

"Yeah yeah, just a minor detail. Good work, Haunter," said Serena as she recalled the Pokemon. "Now to see what's in that crate."

Serena walked over and dropped onto her knees next to the crate, and began feeling around the edges of it until she found a space big enough for her fingers to wiggle through before pushing up on the lid. The crate opened slowly, resisting Serena as its lid was forced upward, until nails became separated from wood and the lid was discarded.

"Oh – oh no. No no no no no." Serena's hand rose up to her mouth when she saw two fainted Skiddo inside the crate.

"Are those the two that always sleep outside the train station?" asked Augustine, looking into the crate and gasping in shock.

"I-I think so." Serena threw her hand into her bag and dug around until she found two Max Revives. She used them both on the Skiddo and watched them slowly stand up inside the crate. One Skiddo soon hopped out of the crate, followed by the other. Both of them looked around, confused by their surroundings.

"Go. Get out of here!" Serena pointed towards the Looker Bureau. "Your Trainer could be back any minute now!" As if she had said the magic words, the Skiddo bounded away from the alley, and she watched until they were out of her sight.

Augustine moved over to the van and looked in the back of it. It was empty. "So those were the only Pokemon they brought," he noted.

"But there's no telling how many are down there," said Serena, indicating the open hole in the ground. "I'm going to investigate. You can come with me or go home and wait, I don't really care." She moved over to the hole and saw the top of a ladder attached to it. She turned around and crawled backwards, dipping her feet into the hole until they found the cold metal rung of the ladder. She promptly began her descent.

"This is one hell of a date," Augustine muttered as he followed her.

When Serena disembarked from the ladder, she found herself in a steely white hallway, with bright white lights illuminating the area, and smelling faintly of sewage. The hallway stretched ahead of her for several dozen yards, before turning a soft left. There were no doorways in the initial stretch.

"Right under our noses . . . how long did they spend building this out of a sewer?" Augustine wondered as he looked around.

"Who knows?" Serena walked forward slowly, surveying the area, with Augustine by her side. "I mean, Café Lysandre was closed shortly after I helped Looker catch Xerosic, and the labs were shut down, so . . . ." She pulled Greninja's Pokeball off her belt, clutching it tightly in her hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Augustine fumble at his belt before choosing a Pokeball as well.

"I wonder what this place is?" he asked, noting the lack of anything happening in this hallway.

Serena was scanning the floor. "Who knows . . . I'm half expecting to accidentally step on a warp platform or one of those tiles that sends you zooming across the room."

The two of them rounded the corner, finding themselves in another stretch of hallway; one door was found on the right side of the hall. Serena went up to the door and turned the knob. It swung open, revealing the inside to her.

"Augustine," she gestured for him to come closer to her, not tearing her eyes away from what she was seeing as she walked in cautiously.

The inside of this room was illuminated with a cold white light. Walls were lined with cages of Pokemon that were asleep, huddled in the corner of their cages, or striking at the glass that kept them imprisoned. A steel examination table stood in the middle of the room, next to a boxy machine that was very similar to the one Augustine had recently acquired. The electrode connected to this machine was embedded between the closed eyes of a Solrock lying motionless on the examination table. Rolling tables in the corner of the room held forms covered by white sheets. Serena walked over to one of the tables and lifted up a sheet to see what was under it, and her stomach dropped when she saw what looked like the blackened and bloody remains of a Bunnelby. The Pokemon had two holes in its forehead, each the approximate diameter and circumference of the electrodes currently inside the Solrock.

She threw the sheet back over the Bunnelby and jumped back, her hand flying up to her mouth to suppress a gasp.

"What is it?" asked Augustine as he approached the table. He lifted the sheet, saw the Bunnelby, and then tossed the sheet back before turning to Serena. His face was twisted into a disturbed grimace.

"Those monsters," she hissed, unable to shake the image from her head. She felt like she could vomit, if her stomach had anything in it worth ejecting.

Augustine glance past her towards the Solrock on the table, then over to the other caged Pokemon. "That – that's the same device there that I have at my lab," he realized, horrified.

"We have to tell the Governor about this," said Serena firmly.

"You won't get the chance." A woman's voice came from the doorway. Serena and Augustine turned and saw Malva, who was standing with her hands on her hips and an annoyed expression on her face.

"What's this? I leave for five minutes to use the restroom, and I have intruders!"

"Malva!" Serena exclaimed. "What are you doing to these Pokemon?"

Malva sauntered into the room, lazily tossing her pink hair behind her shoulders. "This, you runt, is a laboratory. We're trying to tap into a Pokemon's energy and capture it for usage."

"Why?" Serena demanded. She noticed a Pokeball clutched in one of Malva's hands.

"It's a potential source of renewable energy for Kalos! That is, once we figure out how to keep the Pokemon from dying."

Serena took a step towards Malva. "This is barbaric."

"Ugh, you and your self-righteousness, I forgot how that annoyed me so," groaned Malva. "What's wrong, Serena? You can't handle that Team Flare is trying to do something good for the world that doesn't involve genocide?"

While the two women exchanged words and glares, Augustine moved away from the computer to the Solrock lying unconscious on the steel table, and began removing the wires from its body.

"Not so fast, Professor!" Malva snarled. She threw her Pokeball, releasing her Pyroar. "Pyroar, stop him."

Pyroar roared and reared back, preparing to pounce on Augustine. Serena flung forward the Pokeball in her hand, releasing Greninja.

"Greninja, use Water Shuriken!" she commanded.

While the attack missed and flew into the wall, it led Pyroar to hop off to the side. Augustine finished disconnecting Solrock and looked to Serena. While Malva directed her Pyroar to attack Greninja, Serena quickly dug through her bag, only to find that she was out of Revives. "Sorry, I used my last two on those Skiddo. Greninja, use Hydro Pump!"

Greninja's next attack took Pyroar out. Talonflame followed, landing a blow using Brave Bird before being fainted by a well-placed Hydro Pump. Torkoal was not even given an opportunity to attack, having fallen after one hit. Chandelure managed to use Confuse Ray and Shadow Ball in the midst of being struck by multiple Water Shurikens.

"You never cease to infuriate me," Malva hissed as she called back her fainted Chandelure. "But this isn't over. Soon all of Team Flare will know you're here, and there will be no escape." She backed out of the room before running down the hallway.

"We need to get out of here," Augustine said urgently. He started for the door, but stopped when he noticed Serena had run toward the caged Pokemon. She started by pressing random four-digit sequences on the panels; when that didn't work, she kicked the glass doors of the cages with all her might, only to find that they did not budge for her.

"Serena, there's no time," said Augustine as she released Lucario.

"We can't just leave them!" she protested. Shouts could be heard from down the hall.

"They're on their way. Come on!"

Serena bit her lip, and gazed at each of the caged Pokemon apologetically. "Perhaps some other time," she murmured, "If you live that long." She recalled Lucario and dashed for the door and out into the hall, Augustine running next to her.

"Where would you have kept those Pokemon anyway? They won't fit in your apartment, and there's no room for them at the lab either," said Augustine as they ran.

"I'd have figured something out," Serena told him. "I always do." She looked over her shoulder to see three Team Flare grunts in their wake.

The ladder taking them back up to the surface was only feet away. As Augustine climbed up, Serena released Greninja, whom she directed to let loose another Hydro Pump. The attack sent the grunts flying backwards, leaving them soaking wet and lying in a small flood.

Serena recalled Greninja and scrambled back up the ladder. Once back on the surface, she pushed the manhole cover back into place, and Augustine brought out his Garchomp to stand on top of the manhole cover.

"I'm going to alert the authorities," he announced, pulling out his Holo Caster.

"Should I go grab Emma? She's right around the corner," offered Serena, pointing in the general direction of the Looker Bureau.

Sirens could be heard not too far away from them.

"That's odd . . . I haven't even called them yet," observed Augustine as he noticed the sirens.

"There's no guarantee that they're coming here," said Serena.

The sirens were coming closer to their location. Soon after, a procession of five police officers on motorbikes, as well as a sleek black car behind them, arrived in the alleyway.

"She called the police?" Augustine said in disbelief.

At that moment, something from below ground hit the manhole cover, causing it to shake with such force that Garchomp inadvertently stepped off of it. The cover popped into the air, landing next to the opening of the manhole. A matter of seconds later, a Weavile had ambled its way up the ladder. Weavile located Garchomp, then shot an Ice Beam at the Dragon-type. Garchomp was hit square in the chest; once the attack had ceased, he fell forward, an icy patch still lingering on his body.

"Merde," Augustine cursed as he returned his fainted Pokemon to his Pokeball.

Serena grabbed Ampharos's ball, but the arrival of the police motorbikes distracted her. All of the drivers stopped their vehicles right at the entrance of the alleyway. The leader of them stepped off their bike and removed their helmet, revealing a head of bright red hair.

"Ah, Miss Carlyle. We meet again," Police Chief Renshaw spoke in her icy voice.

Serena pursed her lips. "Your timing's impeccable, Chief . . . but you're not here for me, are you?" she asked.

"Oh, you are a clever one!" said Renshaw in a patronizing tone.

The front passenger side door of the car opened, and Serena saw a sleek black dress shoe step out. A bald man, dressed in a red-and-black suit, stepped forward.

"She's not the only one," said Alexandre Teleurac as he approached her.

Serena's mouth dropped open slightly.

"Ah, Professor Sycamore! I expected her to be meddling in our business, but not you!" Teleurac turned his attention to Augustine, whose eyes were wide and whose mouth also hung open in dumbfounded speechlessness.

"I kind of dragged him along with me," Serena said, seeing the look on Augustine's face. She could hazard a guess at what was happening in his mind right now as he found out who it was he was truly working for over the last week.

"Is that so?" asked Teleurac, his gaze shifting to her. "You know what they say . . . curiosity killed the Delcatty. When you told me you had suspicions of Team Flare returning, I knew our operations would have to become more covert. If it weren't for those fools," he nodded his head to the grunts still sleeping near the van, "perhaps we would have never been found out. But now you know . . . so what am I to do?"

Serena reached at her belt to grab a Pokeball.

"Now now, Serena, don't be so hasty. Perhaps we can talk, and I will tell you everything we are planning to do. You should come along as well, Professor, because this applies to you." Teleurac gestured to his car and walked back to it. Serena and Augustine looked at one another, communicating their uncertainty nonverbally, before stepping forward to follow him.