Pokémon

What is this? A new chapter! And it's early and longer? Oh my! Well readers, this might be a shock for you but it's deffinately a shock for me as well. I hope that these two factors don't hurt the content though. Let's hope I keep up this awesome summer writing energy. I couldn't have done it without you guys! A special shout out to Crimson. light. of. Death,especially since your name didn't show up in the last chapter. Hopefully it will this time.

And now to the reviewers from last chapter and the one before, which I was too lazy to mention:

xxichininxnioitexsonoxamexx(really hope I spelled that right XP): Well thank you very much! I'm glad you like it, and I present to you the update!

KitsPokePeople: That you did. Thanks for your continued support!

DragonzFyre WolvsAura: Thank you. :)

Starlight Lone-Wolf: I hoped people would find it as funny as I imagined. Thanks.

ADDBaby: I hope that means you like the story so far? Lol.

Althea Di Aerandaria & Zero-the One Man Show-Walkins: Thanks for messaging in your ideas. :)

Verdandi Iona: Thank you so much. Your idea was really helpful.

Shaymin: Yay, I made somebody's day. :) Thank you.

Taz1995: Lol, that is classified information. :P I'll try, I swear!

And thanks to all the folks out there that are reading. It means a lot.

Chapter # 16 – Operation SPRAS and the SS

Queue the theme song!

Piano-girl: …What? We don't have a theme song? Seriously? Well that's bogus…well I guess it's on with the story then…

The dully-lit corridor seemed to run on for ages. They journeyed farther down, the icy air tickling the skin of the raven-haired girl making her shiver in discomfort. Every ten steps, a new red-flamed torch ignited their dim glow, and if at all possible, it seemed to get even darker and chillier as they continued until they seemingly hit a dead end.

Shadow was troubled as to why she had been escorted to a dead end. Why would there even be such a long hallway that led to nowhere? It made no sense! Well, these people were really whacked in the head, so maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Her eevee huddled close to her leg fearfully. They just stared at the wall as though it would just vanish at any second.

"Am I supposed to say open sesame or something? What gives?" She demanded sarcastically.

Turning around with a devilish grin, the frigid, levitating hand of haunter clasped around Shadow's wrist and sucked her through the dead end, brick wall.

A bizarre sensation tickled her body as she passed through the solid object, like each piece of her body was being dislocated from her body, turned into a liquid, and then reattached at a rapid pace like puzzle pieces. Her eyes had drilled themselves shut as some point. As the dark orbs fluttered open, they couldn't see a thing.

Wherever Shadow had been dragged, it was swallowed by an inky void of darkness. The nippy air made it felt like she was in a freezer. The air supply seemed to be limited and stale tasting. It was dead silent besides the shaky breath escaping Shadow's lips.

Haunter made itself the sole visible thing to the human. It stuck its large tongue out and pulled down the area below it's eye down in a final taunting gesture. It glided back out of her vision, leaving a shrill cackle echoing off the walls at her expense.

Shadow's immediate reaction was to look for an exit. Her hands scraped along the jagged walls, probably drawing blood. Her hope diminished each time she came up empty. She went over and over the tiny room as if a door would magically appear the next time. She resorted to slapping her bloody palms against the barrier, calling, "Hello! Somebody get me out of here! What is going on? I can't miraculously walk through walls the last time I checked!" Nobody answered her pleas, not even the ghosts whom always roamed the halls.

Gravity hauled her down until she was curled up in the fetal position with her back to one of the four walls in her box. Her throbbing fists lay cradled in her lap. Each breath was becoming increasingly more difficult to take. Her head felt lighter than a helium balloon floating up in the clouds as her consciousness tried to slip away.

'No! I have to think.' She told herself firmly.

'It would help if you could, oh I don't know, actually breath! They're trying to kill you!' Her inner voice countered.

'Well I'm glad you're being so positive about it. Now shut up so I can think.'

'Whatever, but you know it's bad when you hear voices in your head. And you just told yourself to shut up.'

'Arg, no wonder people say I'm difficult to talk to. So if your so smart then how do I get out of here?'

'Well how am I supposed to know? I can only see as much as you can. Now you better think faster because I don't know how much longer you can hang on.'

'Geeze, you're helpful.'

'Tick Tock…'

'I don't see you thinking of any brilliant ideas!'

'You're wasting time.'

'Right. Focus. Man, this would be so much easier if I could see.'

'But you can't. And you also can't breath. Or apparently think…'

'Hey! That's not nice.Wait… I know! This is just a stupid nightmare. Any second now I'm going to wake up in that stuffy, death box they call a bed.'

'Well this is great. Now you're delusional on top of everything else. Does this really feel unreal to you?'

'Wow, I really am mean…'

'Will you please focus?'


"Tell me haunter, how is my Shadow doing?" The violet pokemon materialized through the wall of its master's office. "She's just sitting there? What a shame, I actually thought she had promise. Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped. We'll continue as according to plan, just in case. Keep me posted." And it was gone again.

The Grim Reaper was seated on a giant wooden chair in front of an equally large desk. Unlike most other rooms, this one had a small window with rose curtains, which prevented the sunlight from pouring in during the day. Her covered eyes shot between the three computer screens situated on her desk, and once in a while flickering to the brooding, night-colored fox clawing at the door.

Rebel, Shadow's eevee, stomped her tiny paws up and down the entrance, probably wearing out the carpet as she treaded. She'd stop to prod at the door, but after a futile attempt, would resort to her persistent pacing. As the un-hooded Reaper gave her a glance, she gave an unhappy mewl and sent a glare straight back. Silently, she was begging for her trainer to show up at this grand door and yell at the evil lady. Even if she wasn't aware of what the girl was being put through, she was smart enough to know it wasn't good.


'Do you have any idea's yet?'

'No. Do you?'

'No.'

Shadow could barely even hear the inner voice anymore. Her brain felt like was starting to fry and melt into a worthless pile of goop. Her body was trying to fight it, but she was already feeling numb from the inside out.

'What would you do immediately after making a potentially lethal room underneath ground level?'

'Uh, I don't know, shove somebody in it?'

'No…well maybe. But the first thing I would do after building a room like this would be to create an exit. So where would it be hiding?'

'Somewhere you wouldn't think of if you were trying to escape?'

'Exactly! But there are still loads of possibilities and I don't have time to try them all.'

'Well pick one you idiot and let's get out of here! Once we get out I say we shove that Bull guy down here and block all of the exits.'

'Yeah, yeah, we have to get out first genius.'

Shakily, with the protesting of her muscles and limbs, she got up on her knees and began feeling over the jagged surface once more. This time around, however, she found what she was looking for. It was a single, hallow, loose brick on the wall she had been leaning against. 'Why didn't I think of this before?' With her short nails, she pried the detached brick out of the wall. Her stinging fingers brushed against the layer of stone underneath, feeling a panel in the middle. She pushed on the crumbly surface. It didn't budge; it was stuck.

'Well that's great, push harder!' With her last burst of energy, she shoved all of her weight into the panel and felt it give under her palm. A burst of warm air rushed in the space. There was a whirlwind of dust, as well as a few cracks as a good fraction of the opposite wall collapsed, and two parallel torches lit a new path.

Shadow tumbled to slump on the cold floor, gasping as though air was going out of style. She violently coughed and sputtered the dirt now caked to her lungs. The skirt of her dress flared out around her legs, her chest heaved from her resting place; sprawled on the cement. A breathless laugh passed her bluish lips, along with a few tears.

'Look. Stairs!'

'Man, where's an elevator when you need one?'

'More like where's a therapist when you need one.' Heaving an exhausted sigh, Shadow began crawling up the heavenly, oxygen filled staircase with the dazzling light at the top.


If awkwardness were truly palpable, you would have been hit by it like being slammed by a golem's rollout attack as soon as the glass doors of Hearthome's pokemon center slid open. It was especially thick the closer you got to a single table. Seated at it were two boys, both with identical scowls. But the city traffic was circulating once again since Paul gave up murdering everybody in his head with stabbing, onyx eyes.

"It's not like Alex to just leave without a reason or without telling anybody where she was going. She would have left a clue or told at least one person. I bet Gramps knows where she is, if only he would answer." Gary thought out loud. His eggs were uncivilly forked and shoved into his mouth.

"Hn." Was the simple reply of Paul, eating much less ferociously.

"And if her ignorant brother had finished telling us what he was going to, maybe we'd have more to go on."

"Hn."

"Is that all you can say, Paul? If you're not going to help then you're only being in my way. Why don't you just run along and I'll go find my little Lexi." Gary looked up from his plate to look at the boy across from him, crossing his arms and watching pompously for him go get riled up.

Paul wasn't actually really listening at all. He was thinking too, just more mentally than voicing his opinion. He had called his brother the previous night and his words seemed to haunt him.

"Paul! I haven't heard from you since you left here with Alex." Exclaimed Reggie.

"Hn, what did you want me to call you for?" Paul huffed; he was still annoyed about the girl's disappearance and just hearing her name seemed to set his irritation off again, and that stupid, idiot friend of hers was really testing his anger level to its limit and beyond.

"I wanted to warn you. There's been a lot of thefts and pokemon kidnappings lately. It's been all over the Sinnoh News and the perpetrators haven't been caught yet. Be careful while your out, and warn Alex when you see her too!"

"Whatever. I can take care of myself." Paul replied, trying to look careless as usual.

Reggie gave him a long, scrutinizing stare before saying, "Alright. Take care, little brother." He let the line go dead.

Did Alex get swept up by some of these people? He remembered the day a while back when he went to find her after he had yelled at her, causing her to go off on her own. Maybe he hadn't used the most cordial way to approach her, but he was expecting her to be quite angry. Instead, as he closed his palm around her mount to prevent a shout of rage, she seemed jumpy, emotional, and almost frightened. When she turned around and saw whom it was, the look on her face was pure relief. But he didn't ask why.

Then he remembered the nightmare; she fastened herself onto him with all of her strength, still fast asleep. When she woke up, it as like it happened all the time. The dark rings around her black eyes were also proof of that. She was so angry that night, and distressed; words that would define her emotions lately compared to the happy girl he saw when he met her. She was still like that sometimes, like when she was with her brother, her pokemon, or the boy seated across from him. He didn't follow her that night as she stomped out the door. He didn't ask what disturbed her sleep.

In fact, he hadn't once tried to ask her what was wrong. They rarely spoke unless it was absolutely necessary. He wasn't good with tears, or feelings. Just the word made him twitch. But if they were friends, or even just traveling partners, shouldn't she have been able to tell him what was wrong. Shouldn't he have asked what was bothering her? Was it his fault they were in this situation again? Except potentially worse, of course.

"Pa-ul." Gary droned until the purplenette's gaze drew into focus on him, desperately swinging his fork beneath the boy's nose.

"Did you say something?" He blinked owlishly. He was the one feeling rather satisfied as the smart-ass brunette feel out of his chair, flustered.

After composing himself, Gary sighed, "Well, what happened while you two were in Pastoria City?"

"We challenged the gym, obviously." He said in his 'duh' manner.

"I mean besides that." Gary indignantly rubbed his temples. He had about enough of this Paul character. He may be amusing to get a goodrile out of, but it worked both ways. They got under each other's skin. If it wasn't for the unspoken treaty they had to find Alex, then they would have went their separate ways long ago.

"Nothing. We got there late, stayed the night, challenged the gym, and got caught in a storm so we checked back into the pokemon center. She had a nightmare, stayed up the rest of the night, and we headed out early the next morning."

Somewhere in between Paul's reminiscing, Gary had perked up considerably, a concerned frown overpowering his annoyance. "Storm? Nightmare? Did she say about what?"

Paul flinched, mostly in remorse. "No…"

Gary stroked his invisible beard in wonder. "This might be worse than I thought…" He muttered inaudibly. "Maybe its just coincidence?" He questioned himself.

"What are you talking about?" Growled Paul. He hated when this guy made him feel out of the loop.

"Nothing, nothing!" Gary rigidly assured. "But maybe Pastoria City would be a good place to start. After all, that is around the last place any of us saw or heard from her."

Paul urgently arose. "Well let's go then. We're just wasting time sitting here like losers."

Sweat dropping, Gary followed the hasty boy as the two boys began their own special quest: Operation SPRAS!

Or in other words: Operation Search and Possible Rescue of Alex Summers


There was light. There was honest to god electricity in the torch lit mansion. Shadow supported herself in the doorway as she peeped into the new, open space. She stumbled in farther, her skin soaking in the bright, stadium spotlights. It was truly a wonder that this chamber even existed within the dark palace.

The walls were a vibrant, lime-green shade, making the expanse appear larger than it was in reality. In the center, and taking up the majority of the floor area, was about a five-foot drop to an earthy, circular battlefield outlined with white and split in half like a pokeball. Both sides had a gate to a flight of stairs leading to the field. The upper floor however, was tiled in sparkly sleet, just wide enough to be a walking path. If you looked up, it was all glass; like an observing room.

Clapping, no, more like applauding, echoed through the empty room. Shadow, frightened, rapidly scanned for the source of the racket. It sounded rather distant, and she realized it was being broadcasted though a pair of speakers. Shifting her gaze upward, sure enough her gaze locked with the hooded figure she came to know as the head of the house.

"Well done, Shadow. I had faith that you would make it out." The haunting voice divulged, smoothing down the offended, black fox's bristling fur as she was held securely in her cloaked grasp.

"What kind of test was that?" Shadow shouted, not completely sure the girl could actually hear her through the thick walls.

Clearly she could as seconds later a colorless laugh cackled through the microphone. "We needed time to set up the arena. It's been quite a while since we've used this portion of the building. It simply was necessary to stall you to give your opponent a chance to arrive. She was running a tad behind schedule, you see. But I must say that making it out of that room all by yourself is quite an achievement."

Shadow flared up. "You mean that wasn't a part of the test?"

"Like I said. We required more time."

Shadow twitched that she didn't sound horribly bothered at the thought of leaving somebody in a tiny room, if you could even call it that, to suffocate. "You have got to be kidding me." She mumbled.

"But if you're that anxious to start then be our guest. We have everything set up now, anyway. Please, take your place on the right side of the field."

Feeling reasonably weak and woozy from her near death experience, Shadow forced the feeling away and sat down on the ledge of the walkway to take a shortcut down, sliding down the wall. Her legs felt jelly-like as they bent father than they should, to the point where she was nearly seated on the floor, to take the impact of the jump. She awkwardly stumbled over to the trainer's rectangle on the field.

A girl glared at her from the left sector, her eyes so pale of gray they were almost white. Long, braided, snowy hair dangled over her left shoulder with a violet headband pinning back the few loose strands. An unbuttoned, floor length, navy trench coat brought out her porcelain skin and light hair. Underneath, she wore a pair of white leggings and a high-collared, sleeveless, cerulean dress reaching mid thigh. Her slender hand was poised on her cocked hip with a look that said she had better places to be.

"I don't believe you have met. Storm, this is Shadow. Shadow, this is who you'll be up against, Storm. You must defeat her to challenge me. It's that simple. Are you ready?" The hushed voice asked.

"But I don't have any pokemon!" Shadow shouted hysterically.

"Psh, what are you doing here if you don't even have any pokemon of your own?" Storm snobbishly taunted.

"No, I have the pokemon but their not here. They're still in my room." Shadow was yelling at a wall instead of the direction she intended it to be directed, her reduced vision making it difficult to see.

"That won't be a problem." Grim pushed a big, shiny, red button on a large dashboard filled with colorful buttons and levers.

The ground beneath the two girls rumbled before a stand rose up in front of each of them. The screen flickered on, showing Shadow all of the pokemon she had with her.

"Now, this will be a one-on-one battle. The last pokemon left standing will be announced the winner. Any questions? Then go." Grim reclined in her seat to watch the girls. Shadow's eevee silently brooded in her lap, fussing in the girl's slightly harsh grip. It was obvious that Shadow was having a bit of complications below, but Grim decided it would be interesting to see how this all worked out.

Hesitantly, Shadow placed her finger on one of the images. To the side where there was a circular gap, a yellow and black ultra ball popped out with a whoosh. She just barely caught it in her chaffed hand, but had to rebalance herself using the platform. She concentrated all of her attention on the older girl across the field.

"Let's keep it frosty, froslass!" Cheered Storm, doing a spin and releasing the pokeball. The pokemon appeared, floating off the ground. Most of its petit structure was white but, its jaw, the circles around its eyes, and an area etched as a diamond on its forehead of its raindrop shaped noggin, purple skin could be seen. The strip around its waist resembled a red ribbon tied in a bow at the back, and patches of baby blue were spotted along the outer part of its flared wrists. Two horn-like crystals of ice protruded from the top of the pokemon's head.

"Eh? Why couldn't they have given me my pokedex too? Oh well, its time for battle, houndoom." The distorted girl called, unleashing her black, double-horned, fire mutt.

Storm began immediately, "Ice shard!" The white pokemon held out its three-fingered hands, forming a glowing piece of ice that only got bigger as it moved its arms farther apart. It threw the enormous hunk of frozen water at the dog with impressive force.

"Melt it down, houndoom." The raven-haired girl ordered calmly. The mutt seated a few feet in front of his trainer had a toothy smile, his eyes closed as he relished the time being out of his stuffy confines. Hearing its trainer's request, his crimson eyes bolted open to the incoming attack. His milky white fangs lit up with heat and caught the ice with his jaws, throwing the evaporated shard to the side. He smirked at the small ice pokemon through the water vapor.

"Now attack with another fire fang." Houndoom shot up, tearing across the field and sinking its flaming teeth into the froslass. It tossed the lightweight pokemon to the wall after hearing a satisfactory screech of pain.

"That's my precious froslass, don't be so mean to it! Froslass, give it a taste of your attract." The white pokemon cracked open its crystal-blue eyes and winked at houndoom, blowing it a kiss.

The infatuated dog's eyes became pink hearts and lost its threatening appearance. Its trainer snarled in frustration. "Ohhh no." She clutched her head as the room started spinning like a merry-go-round. "Uhhhh, houndoom, use flamethrower." The dog didn't attack, earning a giggle from both her opponents.

"Aw, looks like the big, bad wolf isn't so mean after all." Storm baby-talked. "I knew you were a waste of my time. One more time, froslass, ice shard!" The ball of frozen water got a clear shot, knocking the dog of his paws. Unfortunately for them, it also knocked the sense back into him too.

"You're back to normal, houndoom? Great, then heat it up with flamethrower!" With a battle snarl, houndoom was back on his feet and blasted fire effectively at froslass.

"Froslass, my darling! Are you okay?" Storm ran up to her spiral-eyed pokemon. A glowing red beam pulled it back into its pokeball.

"Isn't my Shadow amazing, Storm?" The noiseless Reaper snuck up behind the swaying girl, who was returning her pokemon as well, and placed a bony hand on her shoulder.

The defeated girl gave a petulant huff and, like her name, stormed out of the arena.

Eevee was handed back to her trainer and cuddled close to her neck, mewling happily and wagging her puffy black tail. The relieved trainer scratched the fox behind her ears affectionately as she purred.

Grim took Storms place on the lower lever, enlarging a black, green-spotted and red-trimmed dusk ball. "Alright, now it's time for your true test. Are you ready?"


"Bull."

"…"

"Bull?"

"Hn."

"Bull!"

"Wha' da bloody 'ell d'ya want, Bones?" Bull groggily grumbled at the girl. He had been enjoying a rather peaceful nap before the pest across the way intruded.

The redhead lying on the sofa swung her legs over the sofa's edge so she could search the man's face for a reaction. "Do you think she's okay?" She asked in a soft voice. Her ruby orbs glued onto the man's smoky ones, a pinch of sadness brimming through.

The man grunted, "Sure, why woul'n she be?"

"I don't know. But don't you feel like something is very wrong?" She turned her calculating eyes down to her fidgeting hands, spinning her pokeball as a nervous habit. "Maybe I'm just over thinking things."

"You? O'erthinkin'? Now dats funny." He chuckled, rolling over on the smooth material in hopes she would drop the conversation.

"You're really no help at all, Bull. I mean, would Grim even tell us if something hadn't gone as planned?"

"Le'it go." Bull grumbled with his face stuffed into the cushiony seats.

Disappointed at the mans blatant indifference, Bones let her body flop back down, but the thoughts that swam through her mind kept her from relaxing as much as she should. She could only stare at the ceiling for now and hope for the best.

After all, who knew what happened in the mysterious depths of the Soul Salvation?


And that's that. Thank you all and good night. I hope to be hearing from you, my lovely readers! Virtual cookies for everyone! Wow, I really need to lay off the caffeine and get more sleep. Who know, maybe the next chapter will be even EARLIER! Gasp!

~Piano-girl~