Pokémon

Yeah...it's pretty short... But hey, it's actually out! And...tomorrow I go back to school, summer vacation is over yippy... sigh...it's that time of year again, and you know what that means! Unpredictable update schedules! And I have no idea when I'll update next! Why are there so many exclimation marks!

...Don't make me gooooooooo T.T school sucks. I think it sucks a little bit of imagination from my brain everyday.

Thanks for the lovely comments :) It is ALWAYS appreciated. I'm too lazy to mention you at the moment, but I should hope you know who you are. And thanks to my sweet, darling readers for, you know, reading. Everybody deserves some cyber chocolate :) Enjoy!

Chapter #32 - Kendrick Corp. Caper part II

"…ey…..he….hey…dude…wake up, damnit!"

"Go awayyy," Alex groaned, the fiery, glaring sun blazing against her closed eyes along with the unwelcome, loud, prodding noise.

A softer voice entered in the background. "Maybe we should-"

"No! Get your lazy ass up now!"

"Five more minutes, Ryan," Alex responded sleepily turning over and stuffing everything in reach over her head as though to block the unwanted voices.

"That is it!" screeched the loud intrusion.

Alex felt her bed sink and rock most unpleasantly under her tired body. Her lovely clumps of comfy duvets were cast away, allowing a chill to run over her skin. The protective pillow sandwiching her head was ripped from her grasp, and worse yet, used against her in a vicious, feathery attack. "Ouch," she dully stated, lying still. Maybe if she pretended she were still asleep, the assailants would go away…

A deep rumbled was emitted from above her. "Rah!" Alex was grasped by the upper arms and jerked up to a seated position where she was shaken back and forth following the words, "Get your freakin' lazy ass out of there right now before I barbeque you into dust! I don't understand why we were sent here anyway but it shouldn't have been this hard so stand up so we can give you the damn message and we can leave! Honestly, what do I look like, a messenger bird? That goddamn boss of ours is going to get his ass kicked when we get back!"

"Sis, maybe you should stop, Shadow's turning a little blue," a nervous voice stated softly, ending the rant and movement all at once.

Well, that and the fact that the room's door flung open with a BANG and caught the attention of everybody in the room.

And with that, Alex, or Shadow, had gone completely limp in her death grip, and her mind went into darkness that seemed to be clawing its way into all sides of her brain. Well, maybe it was for the best, for the moment.

Approximately 12 hours Prior

The room was brought to a halt as Mr. Kendrick and his family took their focus by clearing his throat from the top balcony, looking down upon the ballroom. The many people halted in place when the music was cut, looking around uncertainly before beginning to applaud as their attention landed on the family. "Yes, yes, thank you. And now, while we have your attention, I'd like to begin our presentation."

"Running out of time," Dark sang softly through the earpiece.

"Well sorry!" Bones snapped sarcastically. "This basement is like a freakin' maze. We're working as fast as we can here!"

Alex glanced around. She was surrounded by too many people to give a remark of her own. With a searching eye, she scanned the room. Something didn't seem right. Something felt very amiss.

"Excuse me," she muttered, breaking through the gathered clump of people so she could talk freely without being heard. "Guys, are there any more people outside?"

"Nah, after Aqua spotted out whatever it was, she insists it was just a shadow or something, it disappeared and everything's been pretty quiet," Scarlett drawled in a bored manner. Alex bit her lip in thought.

"The Adaptability Nucleofuser is the Kendrick's own design. For years our scientists have worked on perfecting it's capabilities. And now, we can give you the full result, but before we show you, I'd like do delve more on what it was created to do, first."

"Dark, keep a sharp eye out. I'm sure you've also noticed something feels quite…off." She got a hum out from him in response. The brunette watched the stage for a few moments, thinking about what she was doing to something that could be so beneficial to the world.

"We haven't had the chance to test its true power, but it may even be able to fight against, or cure, terminal diseases like the one that took my late wife," Mr. Kendrick continued, pointing at the projection on the wall behind him. But Alex focused on how Kyler was giving a strange, blank look to the back of the room. Turning, her breath caught, choking and dying in her throat.

A man in the shadow of the staircase stared back at the family, a gun held firmly in his right hand. He had shades over his eyes, very out of place from the rest of the guests, with shadowy, casual attire and a crop of short, dark hair.

"Oh God," Alex whimpered, unable to take her gaze away. Dark, hearing the soft cry searched the crowd for her. His amber eyes fell to the near back of the room, where a figure emerged and in a swift, unhesitating movement shot a bullet upward.

Mr. Kendrick abruptly stopped mid sentence, and dropped his pointer in shock. The long stick clattered to the floor. His drooping eyes enlarged before his bodyguards stepped in front of him and his family. The rest of the crowd bustled into another clump, all except one, poor woman – who unfortunately had been returning down the stairs from the restroom - that was held my the scruff of her hair with her back pressed close to the man's chest.

"L-lower your guns," Mr. Kendrick croaked out to his bodyguards. He was too startled to realize none of them were around "We don't want any trouble, please! Just let her go, you won't get out of here alive if you don't." He tried to sound unyielding and adamant, but it drowned in worry and resulted in a weary plea.

"Oh really?" he chuckled darkly. "I'd beg to differ."

As he said this, the entire building lit up as a warning alarm sounded. From each and every exit or door, two steel plates slammed together to create a barrier with vertical bars falling for reinforcement. The lights dimmed dramatically and the noise cut off mid-sound.

"We didn't touch anything, I swear!" Bones yelped from layers below. There was banging in the background.

"Bloody 'ell, we're trapped!" Bull roared.

"If you didn't do it then that means they're already down there! You idiots, go! Move! Do something!" Dimentio shouted, causing a horrible screech to emit from the speakers in the listeners' ears.

Alex froze in place, in the middle between the man and the crowd. Her mouth formed the shape of an 'O', not processing what was happening. The doors had opened at the top of the staircase, revealing an average height, rather fit man with a black fedora shrouding his face under its brim. Jet-black hair prickled out from beneath, blending in with the cloak surrounding his frame. This was it. Like her nightmare had said, he had appeared to her now in real life.

It was the man that haunted her dreams, and now she was met with him face to face.


The large marble ballroom was stiff with a stifling silence. Its previous spectacle had dulled severely, showing the monotonous color and losing its sparkle and luster. The floor once covered with people was now bare as the attendants migrated to one side of the open space, making it appear even more spacious than when everyone was spread out. Just beyond the cramped and startled group was a teen with rolling brown locks and a turquoise gown, a few meters away from the far staircase with a disoriented expression.

A somewhat short man unhurriedly stepped up to join the obscured man at the top. He raked his uninhabited hand across the golden banister, the other swinging a black, trigger-operated weapon back and forth. A grin spread on his baleful visage as he turned on his heel. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are so very sorry for the interruption, but the main event is about to take place!" he proclaimed, outstretching his hand in a flourishing sweep.

"Guards!" Mr. Kendrick bellowed, cheeks blazing with discouragement.

The man placed the tips of his fingers to his lips and wiggled them in a tittering gesture. "Oh, they're preoccupied at the moment. I'm afraid you'll have to settle this yourself. If you can, that is. Now," he sardonically cleared his throat and adjusted his blazer, "What you've all been waiting for, Kendrick's…or should I say our new machine!"

The ground trembled under the building, rising in intensity until a black line split through the marble and spider-webbed out, finally ending in a gaping hole in the floor with a pedestal rising out and up. A woman sat crouched on the metal bars incasing the complex-looking machine within, drabbed in a tight, green jumpsuit. They stopped moving when they were level with the ground at the top of the stairs, smack in the center of the room. With another crack, four metal hooks smashed down, attached to thickly woven black cords to which the woman clasped to each corner of the box.

"Later, losers!" she sneered, leaping off her platform and diving down in the black fissure.

"What she said," the man smirked, he and his partner moving to make their exit through the only unblocked door.

"No!" stated a voice firmly, standing their ground in front of said door. This being was the tiny, pink-dressed Cassy Kendrick with a deep frown and crossed arms. The men laughed at the barricade.

"Look-y here. I think this little girl needs to learn some manners."

"Leave her alone!" Alex snapped, awakening from her initial shock and taking charge. She had ruffled around to retrieve a pokeball and tossed it out. Her sleek, black-furred canine houndoom bounded up the steps as the barrel raised to the little girl's eye. But even before his paws hit the ground, the older Kendrick sibling sprinted after his sister and tackled her into his arms and rolled out of the way, leaving the men to make their escape.

The brunette ran a few steps before crying, "Ouch! Crap, stupid shoes!" She kicked the low heels off her feet and climbed sideways on her pokemon's back to pursue the two fleeing members. "Stupid dress…"

"Quick! Quick! Turn the camera back on and follow them! Ready? All right, this is Reporter Jackie of Sinnoh Now! The seemingly calm evening for the Kendrick's gala has escalated to chaos within minutes! As we speak, I'm following in a high speed pursuit of the culprits as the new machine dangles from above in the hands of these fugitives." At this, the cameraman did a sweep of the gaping hole in both the floor and the ceiling before he returned to a close up of the anchorwoman. "A young woman was last seen chasing after the people in an effort to overcome the people's attempt of fleeing. It appears right now that they are making to the roof."

Alex and houndoom burst through the door of the upper-most floor. Flashes of red and blue fell over the twilight sky and painted their silhouettes. The girl jumped off her canine, jogging behind him and the two men. "Stop them, Doom!" Houndoom sped up to jump the thieves as the machine finally surfaced through the concrete like a fish out of the sea. It was raised on the four chords by a low-hovering helicopter. The whirlwind whipped the brunette's curls out of their bonds and surrounded her face. The men caught a ride on top of the cage like the woman had below, and climbed out of reach of the dog as he ran out of track due to the crumbling roof.

"…two helicopters hovering overhead and it appears there is no hope of recovering the machine now, with the police planted on ground dozens of stories below and the thieves making their getaway." Jackie had to yell into her microphone to hear herself over the buzz of the propellers roaring beyond their reach.

Alex frowned back at the woman. "Get outta here!" she bellowed back. She pulled back the glaring pup as she ran towards the ledge while enlarging another. "Hotshot, take flight and cut those cords!"

"One brave girl stands up against the group as a last stand with her dragon companion. What heroism from one so young!" The lens zoomed in to the red-skinned dragon beating his wings toward the retreating aircraft. One of the two men grabbed onto a ladder dropped by the other helicopter and swung onto it. The arm that he wasn't using to hang on threw out a pokeball in the path of Alex's.

"And one of them retaliates back! What will our heroin do now?"

Alex ignored the annoying woman and focused on the metal-armored pokemon spreading its wings, and her charizard that had narrowly intercepted the helicopter and slashed through the thick ropes with metallic glowing wings, making a wide circle to turn back.

The Kendrick's machine plummeted out of the sky, far away from the edge of the roof. The dragon backtracked to seize the quickly dropping object, only to be rammed in the side with the blunt edge of a metal wing. A smaller pokemon materialized on top of the barred box, and in an instant both were gone again.

"Charizard, you okay buddy?" Alex asked with concern as the dragon straightened out and faced its attacker. He roared in response. "Okay good," she breathed. Her brown eyes hooded as the second helicopter lowered, sending a downwind at her. She pressed the balls of her bare feet into the railing she was standing on to avoid being propelled off. She was met with the same cocky smirk and concealed appearance that turned up while she was sleeping. He reached out a large, gloved hand towards her cheek, and then stopped, turning his palm upward and lowering it slowly.

"Come," demanded his gruff voice. "There's no need to fight."

The layers of sheen turquoise material flared out the skirt of her dress. She shuffled a foot back, the middle meeting the ledge. Her frown deepened. While standing on the border of the building, she could see the entire, lit up city, the white waning moon, the reflective water surface, and the specks standing in the glow of the police cars. Her eyes met where his would be if the obstructing lid of his fedora weren't intruding. Her slender hand twitched of its own accord, curving up towards his and hovered over it. If possible, the man's cheeks were overwhelmed by the enlarging grin. The brunette stood braced on the edge, hand poised as if they were still at the ball and the man was offering a dance, eyes glazed as if in a dream and she had no will or control.

What would she do?

To be continued…


AGHHHH! IT'S THE DREADED CLIFFHANGER! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Paul: Hey, idiot writer! Why aren't I in this chapter?

Piano-girl: *Shrugs* I dunno. Guess you were off sulking in an emo-corner somewhere while Alex was being hit on by a totally hot rich guy and and old, creepy stalker dude.

Paul: ...Ursauring, use hammer arm!

Piano-girl: T.T Paul~y, you big meanie! D'aw, I love ya anyways! Wave buh-bye to the viewers, Paul~y!

Paul: *Gives evil death glare of doom*

Piano-girl: Eheh, think I better run now...don't kill me! Dimentio, you know what to do!

Dimentio: *Slithers out from nowhere* The Adaptability Nucleofuser is a fictional device only. It can not heal/cure your sickness/illness or mental instabilities like the characters in this story. And kids, don't talk to or get in a stranger's helicoptor, even if they seem to know you or offer you any candy or sweet in general, especially if they're old, creepy stalker dudes. Also, it'd be nice for the readers to review. If not, you may be the next victim of the purple-haired emo-kid's evil death glare of doom...

That appears to be it. Ciao!