Candela's shoulder connected with the stone floor first. She tucked herself into a ball to roll her landing, but the impact was still rough. She felt herself slipping and rolling down a slope, but try as she might, she couldn't see anything around her. Her fingers grasped at the ground to slow her momentum.

At last, she stopped moving. She could hear rapid breathing nearby, and she crawled toward the sound of it. Her hand met something soft, and as she felt along, she decided it was an arm.

"Who's there?" asked Blanche's voice.

"It's Candela," she whispered, giving Blanche's forearm a light squeeze.

"Candela? Blanche? Are you OK?" came Spark's voice from the darkness.

She heard him crawling toward her, scattering a few loose pebbles in his wake. His hand touched her upper arm and stayed there. She reached her free arm around Spark's shoulder so her hand could rest on the nape of his neck. She sensed that they'd all connected, and she clung to that anchoring thought while she caught her breath.

"I'm OK. Bumped my shoulder a little, but…"

Spark's hand gently moved toward the shoulder, as if he instinctually knew where the pain was. She tensed as his fingers carefully investigated area, searching for a sign of dislocation or broken skin.

"Blanche?" he repeated.

"I… I'm a little disoriented," Blanche said with a quavering voice. They'd never been great with surprises. "But I'm uninjured."

"Good, OK," Spark said with audible relief.

Candela strained to see anything in the all-encompassing blackness. "Did we just get trapdoored by a forest?"

"It seems that way," Blanche said, and Candela felt them shift from a prone to a sitting position.

Candela unclipped a pokéball from her belt and called Flicker out. The ponyta materialized next to the huddled group in a defensive position, head lowered. His bright mane chased back the shadows several yards, but revealed no walls or ceiling, only a stretch of cave floor.

"Blanche, your cheek," Spark said, reaching a hand toward a scrape on their face.

Blanche modestly covered the irritated skin with their fingers. "It's fine. All things considered, we came out in remarkably decent shape."

"Yeah, it's great that we survived the fall into our shared grave," Candela joked, but even she didn't find it funny. She stood and massaged her sore shoulder as she looked around. "Is this a sinkhole or something?"

Spark stood next to her and frowned at a tear in the arm of his puffy coat that was hemorrhaging fluff. He tried to poke the stuffing back in while he spoke. "Whatever it is, somebody built a trapdoor into it. That click wasn't natural. Man, I just bought this coat last year…"

"Trust me, Spark, it's not that big a loss," Candela said.

"But I was going to paint a face on it and be a Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween," Spark pouted.

"I'm glad you're back to your usual antics, but we need to focus," Blanche said as they pushed themself off the ground and brushed dirt from their jacket. "We should follow the slope back up. Maybe there's a way to climb out."

Spark cleared his throat in a businesslike manner. "I brought my sandslash, so we can dig out if we need to."

"Good thinking," Blanche said.

Spark shrugged and seemed uncomfortable with the compliment. "Stroke of luck, really."

"No use waiting around here, then," Candela said, and she started up the slope.

"Shh!"

Candela hadn't been hushed by Blanche for a while, and she really didn't think she deserved it this time. "What now?"

Blanche held a finger to their lips and pointed into the darkness, where something metallic glittered with the light from Flicker's fire. As they watched, the object began to sway lethargically from side to side. Candela couldn't look away. The hair on the back of her neck prickled.

A hypno followed the object out of the darkness, and Candela belatedly realized she'd been watching the swing of its pendulum. In the corner of her eye, she saw Blanche drop, followed by Spark. She opened her mouth to command Flicker, but it was too late. Her eyes closed against her will, and she didn't remember falling.

§

"How are you feeling, Candela?"

Candela didn't recognize the voice. It belonged to a woman and was cool and crisp and sweet, like biting into an apple. Her mind scrambled to get itself in order. She opened her eyes, and the world was hazy.

"What… where am I?" she asked, trying to sit up straighter in her seat.

"You're in my laboratory," said the woman, but Candela couldn't see her.

Candela squeezed her eyes tight and opened them again, clearing her vision. This was not like any lab she'd ever seen. She was in a cave, illuminated by warm electric lights that had been strung along the naturally-formed, reddish walls. The area that she could see from her chair was relatively small, not much bigger than Professor Willow's office. In fact, the space very much resembled an office like Willow's. In front of her, a large stalagmite had been cut into the shape of a desk, complete with a computer and tray of paperwork. Shelves containing books and binders had been carved into the walls. Candela wiggled in her chair, which was plush and quite comfortable, in contrast with the rocky décor. She couldn't quite piece together how she'd arrived here. She'd been walking in the woods with Blanche and Spark, and then…?

"I apologize for my unorthodox welcome," said the woman.

At last, the stranger came into view. She was a small, chubby woman, with a dimple-cheeked smile and slim, glimmering eyes. Her straight black hair hung long in the front and short in the back, marked with the occasional silver streak. Her glasses were much too large for her cherubic face, and her lab coat was a bit too long for her and almost brushed the ground as she walked. Beneath the coat, she wore a black and red uniform that Candela wasn't familiar with, emblazoned with a single scarlet letter.

"Who are you? What's the 'R' for?" Candela asked. An alarm rang in the back of her mind. "Where are my friends?"

"Lots of questions, lots of questions, hold on," the woman giggled. She bowed as she introduced herself. "I'm Dr. Dillinger, and the 'R' represents my association with Team Rocket. Rest assured, your friends are safe, but I have no business with them. It's you that I'm interested in."

Candela pushed herself out of the chair and glanced around the rest of the room. Various tunnels led out of it, all lit by the same type of electric lights. There was something cozy about the place, but she was still far from at ease.

"Team Rocket? Never heard of it. I'm flattered, but I'd feel much better if I knew where Blanche and Spark were," Candela said, letting her hand wander to her belt. She sucked in a sharp breath as she discovered that her pokémon had been confiscated.

Dr. Dillinger must have seen her reaction, as she immediately addressed the issue. "Oh, I'm sorry about your pokémon! I took them to our healing center while you were asleep."

"They didn't need healed," Candela said, not bothering to conceal her suspicion. "But it's not like I'd need them to kick your ass anyway. I'll ask you one more time: where are my friends?"

Dr. Dillinger grinned. "Now that's what I love about you, Candela. Professor Willow always said you were a firecracker. Your friends are touring my facility. There's no need to worry about them. I'll take you to them, if you'd like. But first, would you be willing to talk with me for just a little bit longer?"

Candela's curiosity got the best of her. "How do you know Professor Willow?"

Dr. Dillinger bobbed her head bashfully and leaned against her stone-hewn desk. "You could say we were an item, way back when. But we went our separate ways when we each started our own labs."

Candela wasn't sure what to ask about first. She didn't fully trust the woman, but she was too intrigued not to have a conversation with her. Besides, she seemed about as dangerous as a magikarp. "You and the professor? When was this?"

"It was a long time ago," Dr. Dillinger said with a wistful sigh. "We were young researchers with differing views on the nature of pokémon. It eventually drove us apart."

"How do you know who I am? You said Willow talked about me?"

Dr. Dillinger sat on the edge of her desk and popped one leg over the other. She gazed at the stalactites hanging overhead, lost in recollection. "Though we were separated, we kept in touch over the years. He described his assistants to me, and you were always the standout. You understand the true value and strength of pokémon."

The scientist looked back to Candela with a grim smile. "But Willow gave me the cold shoulder when I merged my lab with Team Rocket, and we haven't spoken since."

Candela wished she had a way of taking notes. It was all too strange, and she worried she'd forget all the details. "What exactly is Team Rocket?"

As Dr. Dillinger opened her mouth to answer, a hypno suddenly appeared from one of the hallways nears her desk. He sidled up to the scientist and leaned against her leg affectionately. All at once, Candela remembered the trapdoor and the swinging pendulum. Her initial fear turned to anger, and though she tried to hold back since she had no pokémon with which to defend herself, she couldn't contain her outrage.

"That's your hypno? You knocked me out and kidnapped me?" Candela shouted, pointing at the offending pokémon, who blinked innocently at her. The details of her mission came back to her in a slow stream. The snow, Blanche's map, the legendary birds…

"Easy now!" Dr. Dillinger said, not looking nearly as alarmed as Candela wanted her to be. "As I said, I'm very sorry for the rough introduction! It's just that the research we conduct here is very sensitive, and so we have measures in place to keep unwitting civilians from stumbling onto our facility. It's for their safety, and for the safety of our experiments. You see, Hypno puts those who accidentally intrude to sleep, and then analyzes their subconscious via their dreams. That way, he can learn their motives. Are they coming to steal our research? Or are they merely lost hikers? He then transmits his findings directly to me."

Candela wasn't sure she heard that last bit correctly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"It's all part of our research to expand the strength and capacity of pokémon. Hypno and I can share a certain psychic wavelength by using these," Dr. Dillinger said as she drew back a lock of her hair to reveal a metal diode on her temple. The hypno turned his head as well, displaying an identical device.

Candela stepped back. "That's impossible…"

Dr. Dillinger giggled. "You see now why we're so concerned with the intentions of intruders. Our science is cutting edge, and I'd like you to be part of it."

Candela couldn't process the offer. She had bigger concerns. "You… you were in my head!"

Dr. Dillinger slid off the desk and casually strolled toward a shelf full of thick binders. "Yes, well, I didn't mean to be. We're still training, Hypno and I. He automatically sends me information, even when I don't want or need it. But I didn't see anything that I didn't expect in you. I already knew you to be the strongest of your comrades, and understood the depth of your passion for pokémon. Glimpsing your subconscious merely confirmed that I need your expertise at my lab."

"Look, that's flattering and all, but I have an obligation to Willow," Candela said.

"Ah!" Dr. Dillinger found the binder she was searching for and pulled it from the shelf. She waved Candela to follow her as she lay the overfilled binder on her desk. "Why don't you look over some of our biggest projects before you decide? I'm afraid I have something to attend to before I can reunite you with your friends. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Candela kept a wary eye on the hypno as she approached the desk. The binder overflowed with pages and pages of charts, reports, and diagrams. As curious as she was, she couldn't imagine ditching Professor Willow for this chipper yet creepy stranger.

"Sit tight, Candela," said Dr. Dillinger as she and her oversized lab coat swished down a hallway. "I'll be back in the blink of an eye!"

"OK," Candela said uncertainly.

The hypno, rather than following his master, sat in the plush chair that Candela had woken up in. Just how much had he seen? If his job was to seek out intentions, then he surely knew that Candela suspected the legendary birds were nearby. Did Dr. Dillinger know as well? Why hadn't she mentioned it?

Candela sank into the doctor's chair to flip through the binder, trying to ignore the hypno as he polished his pendulum and stared at her with his dark, ever-watchful eyes.

§

AN: Candela didn't sleep through her "Team Rocket Awareness" classes. In this little PoGo universe, Team Rocket is just beginning its rise to infamy and is a fledgling organization lurking outside of the public eye. Candela gets a pass for not knowing who they are. Kudos if you know where Dr. Dillinger got her name! I tried to keep it in true Team Rocket style…