Author's Note:
Shout-out to Doreh, Slulldom, Jeffrey Seven, Vengeance2017, and Neophilic for your reviews! :D Special shout-out to Neophilic because I am a moron who spelled your name wrong last time around. D: I've ported over the review responses to last chapter onto zee Tumblr, and I'd like to assure you, I was not a moron over there.
Finally, special notes about this chapter! I could talk in length about this, but the short of it is that this version of the Pokémon World is basically like our own (with the same countries that exist in the real world and everything), except they have pokémon and actual world peace. As such, most people speak in a language called Common, but in this chapter, you'll start to see characters speaking in Japanese. This is done for plot and character purposes.
In this chapter, the word "Nii-chan" is used a couple of times. This just literally means "Big Brother."
Aaaaand that's about all you need to know, so without further ado, please enjoy this week's chapter! :D
Seven
D.E.V.A. CLEARANCE LEVEL 1
CLEARANCE ACCEPTED.
DOCUMENT TYPE: AUDIO/VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
DESIGNATION: THE ADAM INCIDENT—SUPPLEMENT A: "THE RAYE TAPES," FILE 01
DESCRIPTION: VIDEO AND ACCOMPANYING TRANSCRIPT RECORDED BY WILLIAM ("BILL") MCKENZIE, ADDRESSED TO AND SENT VIA THE STORAGE SYSTEM COMMUNICATION LINE TO RACHEL ("RAYE") MCKENZIE. BOTH INDIVIDUALS ARE KNOWN TO BE CLOSELY INVOLVED IN THE ADAM INCIDENT.
DATE-TIME: 06/06/00, 16:30 (ORIGINAL FILMING)
[SHOT OF THE INTERIOR OF A LABORATORY IDENTIFIED AS THE BOTTOM LEVEL OF THE SEA COTTAGE INSTITUTE. BILL SITS IN A CHAIR IN THE FOREGROUND, APPARENTLY FILMING VIA A WEBCAM.]
BILL
Hello, Raye. It's Nii-chan. Uh, I just want to say that I'm terribly sorry that I won't be there for your birthday. I know it's your last one at home for awhile, so I hope that someday, I can make it up to you. [PAUSE.] Your tenth birthday. Blazes, I remember the day you were born. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago.
[HE SHAKES HIS HEAD AND TOUCHES HIS RIGHT TEMPLE WITH A FINGER.]
BILL
Anyway, you're setting off on your own journey the day after tomorrow, so I want to take the time to give you a few words of advice. [PAUSE.] First of all, pokémon journeys aren't just about earning badges or ribbons. They're about finding yourself, learning as much as you can about the world, and meeting new friends. If you're ever unsure of yourself, just remember that this is the time of your life when you figure out who you're meant to be—or at least start on the path towards learning that. It's okay to make mistakes. Just be careful. We're all cheering for you.
Second, if you ever need anything—anything at all—don't hesitate to call me. You're my sister, Raye, so no matter what, I will do everything I can to help you. Well. Besides not being able to see you off. Anyway, third, remember that you should never talk to strange trainers, and if one of them bothers you, don't forget that you can rely on your pokémon. [PAUSE.] Don't … don't ask Christa what that means. Ask Mom.
Speaking of which, Mom tells me that you're interested in the Hoenn contest circuit. That's great! If a contest is ever held in Fallarbor Town, Lanette said she has a birthday present she would love to give you in person. But don't worry if you never journey there. Lanette and I have other ways we could send it; she's just interested in meeting you. [PAUSE.] Oh wait. That gave away the surprise. Ha! Anyway, Raye, have a happy birthday, and good luck on your journey. I…
[EXTENDED PAUSE. DURATION: SIXTEEN SECONDS.]
BILL
I'll be seeing you.
[END VIDEO.]
—
"You lost him?!"
Even over the roar of her jetpack, Domino could hear the coldness of Nettle's voice. She flinched and wished she could yank her earpiece off and throw it into the ocean below her.
"I didn't lose him. I know exactly where he is," she replied. "The tracking device is still working, and it's showing that he's headed straight for Hoenn. So long as he doesn't tamper with it, I should be able to locate him easily."
"You are dealing with the foremost researcher in pokémon technology," Nettle snapped. "Of course his next step will be to tamper with the collar! And what's worse, he's heading straight for the home region of the second foremost researcher in pokémon technology, and this home region of hers just happens to be the one infested with ixodida! Pray that he isn't able to contact Professor Chastain, or I will personally hand in a full report of your incompetence to our benefactor himself!"
Domino flinched yet again. "Relax, okay?! I know what I'm doing, and he won't get far. He put up a fight just before he escaped. I think I injured him enough to slow him down."
"You injured him and let him escape to Hoenn?! Are you insane?!"
She pulled the throttle on her jetpack and swooped down several hundred feet. The wind whipped past her violently, and she narrowed her eyes straight ahead.
"Like I could control where he goes," Domino hissed. "I don't think he was even in control when he broke out."
There was a beat of silence. When Nettle replied, her voice was low, almost inaudible over the noise of the wind and jetpack engine.
"What are you talking about?"
"It was the parasite," Domino responded. "Just like Pandora. I was talking to someone else at the end."
"How do you know?"
Domino frowned. Her mind flicked back to the monster, the way it stared at her with blank eyes from within a golden ball of light. She could picture the way the barrier exploded at its touch and the way it stalked towards her. And then, she recalled its screech. Its animal shriek. She couldn't describe it, but everything about it was alien, inhuman. All she could remember was jamming her electrified tulip into its torso just before it threw her into a wall.
It happened so quickly, as if it wasn't even fazed by electrocution.
"Agent 009, answer me."
Domino shook her head. "I-I just know, okay?"
Nettle sighed. "Yes, well, find him and bring him back. Our superior will have your head if he finds out you violated the Yeled Protocol for nothing."
"That I violated the Yeled Protocol?!" Domino yelped.
"Yes. Our benefactor has already agreed that only you and your subordinates will be held responsible if D.E.V.A. reacts. Find him."
The call ended with a click, leaving Domino to fly forward in silence. Suddenly, she felt cold all over, and she knew it wasn't just from the wind.
—
Warm.
It was warm. Almost too warm.
Bill winced and opened one eye to a pink sky. Dark, rose-colored clouds hung above him and rolled across his vision. Turning his head, he saw an expanse of black ground, ending several feet to his side in a concrete parapet. Beyond it, he could see the last orange rays of daylight.
"Is this … another dream?" he whispered.
With some effort, he sat up. Suddenly, a burning sensation rushed across his body, followed immediately by a pins-and-needles pain radiating from his left arm. He cried out and doubled over, clutching his shoulder. A spark launched itself from his skin and fizzled into the air, and he winced as he struggled to flex his fingers.
"Paralysis? How did I…"
He stopped short. The hazy memory of the girl with drill-tail hair surfaced in his mind. Or, more specifically, it was her tulip baton that he recalled.
"Oh. What happened?"
Bill struggled to stand. As he rose, another hot pain seared across his body, and he winced in response. Once the seize subsided, he peered out across the black expanse through narrow eyes, and in the distance, he found rooftops. The rough material under his feet finally had a name: shingles. This was a rooftop, and he was in some kind of town.
But where?
He fought to remember what happened, but his mind drew a blank. The last thing he could recall was being locked in that cage of light guarded by that Team Rocket agent. This place, meanwhile…
His feet dragged as he moved towards the parapet. The town itself wasn't that large, consisting of what looked like several low buildings and a handful of skyscrapers surrounded by trees. In the far distance, on the horizon in every direction, Bill caught sight of the jagged edges of mountains. One of them rose higher than the others and puffed plumes of dark clouds into the evening air.
Right then, Bill was certain of two things. One, this wasn't the Team Rocket aircraft. Two, there was something familiar about this place. Something about it—about the way the mountains outlined the horizon and the layout of the buildings—nagged at Bill's memory, but he couldn't figure out what. He simply knew that he had been there before. He just couldn't pinpoint the name of this place.
Not that that was his first priority anyway. No matter how hard he tried to remember the name of this place, the more it surfaced in his head that he couldn't remember how he got there. And it was that gap in his memory that bothered him, that made this entire situation feel incredibly, intensely wrong.
But before he could put more thought into it, he realized it was quiet. Very quiet. When that realization settled in, Bill peered over the edge of the building he stood on. Beneath him, he could see the sign for a pokémon center, unlit, unlike the signs for every other center he was used to. What's more, there were people below, but they weren't ordinary trainers. They walked the streets as if they were patrolling it, not simply strolling. At their feet, pokémon—mostly dog-like ones—padded quietly as their heads bobbed and waved. These humans were hunting for something, that Bill knew. But what? He squinted and leaned over the barrier a little more in an attempt to pick up another clue—any other clue that would explain what he was seeing.
Instead, he noticed the last piece of this puzzle.
Weapons. Every single human was carrying a weapon of some kind. Some carried rifles. Others held pistols in both hands. Still others carried bats or metal pipes. In short, there were no people laughing or carrying on about normal business. There weren't even children or normal trainers. Everyone was an adult, everyone was armed, and everyone was just about ready to kill something.
And the fact that Bill had no idea what they were hunting left a dizzyingly uneasy feeling in his chest.
He slipped onto his stomach behind the parapet, pressing as much of his body into the tarpaper as possible. A hiss of pain escaped his mouth from the heat of the roof, but he did his best to shake it off as he pulled himself up just enough to peer over the edge again.
"What is this place?" he muttered. "Adam … what happened? How did we get here?"
A long, drawn-out silence answered him.
"Adam?"
Another silence. Bill's breath quickened again as he turned himself over and stared at the jewel in his chest. A red light pulsed from within it in time with his heartbeat.
"Adam? Adam, are you there?!"
The parasite's voice echoed faintly in his brain, as if its words were whispered from at the end of a long, empty hallway.
Cannot. Exhausted.
"What?" Bill squeaked. "What do you mean? Adam, what's wrong?"
Escape. Drained. Girl fought back. Need time to recover.
"Escape … drained?" Bill pushed himself downward until he lay flat on his back. "Do you mean to say that girl fought us on our way out? Is that why…?" He groaned. Suddenly, the pins-and-needles sensation he felt in his arm made sense. "She electrocuted us. Of course."
Yes.
Bill closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. In the pause, he tried again to flex his fingers. The time he spent scrambling across the roof at least gave him a few moments to recover, and although the uncomfortable sensation in his arm still lingered, he was at least able to move his fingers into a fist. That, at the very least, was a good sign, but if he hoped for a full recovery, he knew he would probably have to arrange for proper care. Luckily, he was on the roof of a pokémon center. Unluckily, he shuddered at the thought of climbing down and asking the armed militia on the street for help, especially in his knives-for-hands state.
But then again, there was more than one way to get off a roof. Opening his eyes once more, Bill lifted his head and scanned the rooftop again. Almost at once, his eyes fell on the solution he knew would be there: the rooftop access door. For urban, flat-roofed pokémon centers like the one he had found, that door was meant for janitors and maintenance workers, for anyone who needed to repair and maintain the roof, the air conditioner, the satellite dish, or the multitude of other things that required work. But for Bill at that point, it was exactly what he needed: a connection to the inside stairwell.
He squirmed until he was back on his stomach. Once he was in position, he crawled a few feet away from the parapet until he was sure he wouldn't be seen by even the keenest observer on the street. Then, he drew himself up into a sitting position with his hands on the tarpaper and his eyes on the door just a short distance away.
"Adam, are you there?"
Silence.
"Adam?"
Must rest. Cannot.
Bill set his jaw. "Fine. We'll talk shortly."
With that, he sprang forward and darted to the door, claws skittering across tarpaper as he went. When he reached the entrance, he swung his good arm outward, grasped the handle, and briefly prayed that it wasn't locked. The rest of his body weight followed, leaning down on the handle until it turned with a loud click. He froze, listening carefully for signs of activity from the street. After a half a minute of quiet, he pulled the handle, and with a groan of protest, the door swung open. Without thinking twice, Bill ducked into the building, shut the door, and leaned against its metal surface with a sigh of relief.
"All right," he whispered. "We're safe for now."
The only thing he heard was the hum of the inside stairwell's lights. One of his hands drifted up to the jewel in his chest as his eyes cast down on it.
"Adam?"
Let me rest.
"You can't be that exhausted. I feel fine." He hesitated, remembering the lingering pins-and-needles sensation in his muscles. "Well. All things considered."
Not linked.
"Not linked?" Bill raised an eyebrow. "What isn't linked?"
Life force.
"What? What are you on about?"
Energy. Attack energy. Not linked.
Bill moved his hand over his stomach to give himself a clear view of the jewel. "Do you mean to tell me that you have a separate reserve of energy and that it's entirely possible for you to exhaust yourself before my body is exhausted?"
Yes.
"Then what exactly is the point of you living inside me if you can't take advantage of my state?"
Not a parasite.
Bill sighed heavily and pushed off the door. "You're not fond of straight answers, are you?"
His hand reached the metal banister and ran along its surface. Even the act of walking down stairs felt alien to him, with his tail swaying behind him, his feet spreading on each step, and the paint on the banister chipping off against his hand. He tried not to focus on how strange he felt, opting instead to sift through what he knew of his current situation. It just wasn't an easy task, given how much the feeling of himself in motion threatened to distract him.
"Adam," he finally said, looking for anything else to focus on.
Let. Me. Sleep.
"Not until you tell me where we are."
Adam responded, but it wasn't in a language Bill knew. He froze on the stairs as his mind wrapped around the word. The more he dwelled on it, the more it became an image—a swirling image that his brain somehow resolved into a question mark, even though he knew it looked nothing like one.
"What does that mean?" he asked. "You don't know?"
Yes.
"You don't know." Bill sighed again and continued down the stairs. "Fantastic."
Hive.
He stopped again and threw a glance to the side. "Hive?"
No response.
"Adam, what do you mean by 'hive'?"
Sleep.
"What? Wait, Adam! What are you talking about?"
Need sleep.
"The hive. Is that your way of saying that you need sleep?"
No. Sleeping now. Bill. On your own.
"What?! Wait! Adam, I'm not done talking to you! What am I supposed to do while you're asleep?"
Survive.
"This isn't funny! Adam, I don't know anything about—Adam? Adam! Are you still there?!"
Silence, save for the hum of the lights. Bill gripped the banister harder. His hand and the metal of the pole rang together, and the sound echoed off the brick walls for a few brief moments. Then, he relaxed.
"So. I'm on my own now. That's … that's fine." He cast his eyes towards the ceiling. "This is a pokémon center. I couldn't be safer anywhere else."
He was practically lying to himself, but it at least reassured him enough to walk the rest of the way down the stairs and to the door at their landing. It occurred to him then that he had no idea what he would say to the Nurse Joy on the other side, and he hesitated for a minute to compose an explanation.
Finding no suitable explanation whatsoever, Bill pushed open the door and hoped for the best.
Luckily, what he found on the other side was absolutely uninhabited. All he saw was an empty hall very close to an open doorway leading to the lobby. Taking a deep breath, Bill moved swiftly from the stairway to the hallway to the lobby, but even there, the place was empty. He stopped, standing beside a bank of video phones and PCs, to sweep his eyes across the room.
It was like many other pokémon centers he was used to seeing. There was a front desk set up near the back of the room, behind which was the doorway leading to the medical wings. A dining area full of chairs and tables occupied one half of the room, while couches and coffee tables strewn with magazines occupied the other. The furniture looked as if it hadn't been used in some time; some of the tables were covered in layers of dust, while the magazines' covers featured last year's news. Padding forward, Bill kept his eyes locked on the desk and the door behind it. He expected that Nurse Joy or her chansey would appear at any moment, but neither did. Not even a sound came from the medical wings. It was, in a word, empty.
"Hello?" Bill called. "Excuse me! Nurse Joy? I'm in need of assistance!"
More stillness answered him.
"I'm getting quite tired of talking to myself," Bill murmured as he raised his eyes to the ceiling again.
Shaking his head, he turned away from the desk and looked towards the video phones. He realized he could call someone, but until he knew where he was, he wasn't sure how much help he would be able to garner. His eyes trailed to the walls, searching for poster advertisements of the league, bookshelves with atlases, anything that might offer clues. What he found was something better: a framed map, hanging on the wall next to the door through which he entered. Straightening his back, he moved quickly to stand in front of it.
And then, his breath caught when he realized at once what region it depicted.
"Hoenn," he gasped. "I'm in Hoenn."
Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead into the glass of the frame.
"Of all the places I could have ended up, I managed to reach Hoenn." He shut his eyes tightly. "Please tell me that this is not what you meant by 'hive,' Adam."
Naturally, the parasite didn't answer. Instead, Bill pulled himself away from the frame and peered at the image again. A small dot was pasted over one city, and his heart twisted once more when he processed where it was.
"It can't be," he whispered.
He wasn't just in Hoenn. He was in the one part of it he visited the most frequently.
Fallarbor Town.
Swinging himself around, he paced in front of the video phones. This revelation explained why he felt the town looked familiar, but how did he get there? If the aircraft was heading towards the Sevii Islands, wouldn't it have made more sense to end up somewhere in that archipelago? And what's more, how did he get there in the first place? Could he fly? If so, why did he choose Hoenn? Did Adam simply read Bill's subconscious and settle on the hub of the region's storage system?
The storage system. Bill stopped short and lifted his chin as the idea settled in his brain. Fallarbor Town was the hub of the storage system. The hub of the storage system meant the place where the administrator lived. And the administrator of this region was…
His partner.
"Lanette!" he exclaimed. "Of course! This is far better than I could have hoped for!"
He turned to the video phone banks and reached out for one of the phones. His heart pounded in excitement. While he knew he could trust Celio, Lanette was a far better choice for help. After all, she was Bill's complement. Bill studied the minds of pokémon; she studied the body. She knew everything there was to know about how a pokemon's anatomy and biological processes worked, so if anyone could figure out how the ixodida transformation happened, it would be her. And if Bill could get her to help him figure out how the transformation happened, then she would most likely have an answer for how to change back. All he had to do was reach her.
Sitting at the booth, he tapped her number on the keypad and pressed the receiver to his ear. Flexing the fingers of his weaker hand, he waited, silently praying that she would pick up.
Unfortunately, what he got was her cheery voice repeating a single message he was all-too familiar with. "Hello! You have reached the Chastain household. We're sorry we are currently unavailable, but if you leave your name and number after the tone, we will try to reach you as soon as we can. Thank you!"
Bill took a deep breath and leaned against the wall of the booth until the beep came. "Lanette? It's Bill. If you get this, I'm at the Fallarbor Pokémon Center. I need your help. It's…" He glanced over his shoulder at his tail, which sprawled across the floor behind him for at least two feet. "It's urgent." He turned back to the video phone. "I hope to see you soon."
And then, after the briefest hesitation, he placed the receiver back in its place, ending the call with a click. He continued to lean against the wall of the cubicle for a few seconds before picking up the receiver again. This time, his fingers rested on the number pad. A question settled in his brain: should he call Professor Oak and inform him of where he was or not? Bill sat in thought for a long while contemplating this before his other hand touched his collar. What if Team Rocket was still searching for him? Who among the other personnel at Polaris might be an agent?
Bill placed the phone back in its carriage. No. Not yet. Professor Oak probably already knew where he was thanks to the tracking collar, and Bill wasn't ready to deal with Team Rocket. Lanette first. Then Professor Oak.
Satisfied with that plan, Bill pushed off the stool. He turned towards the doorway as his hand ran through his wiry hair.
"No sense in staying here," he muttered. "Perhaps if I find someone, I could—"
He stopped short once more. This time, it was because he wasn't alone. In the doorway, a single person stood. A girl, actually—one no older than eleven. Her wide, dark eyes settled on Bill, and her face blanched. Bill shook at that point. He knew her. He knew that the short, green hair was the exact color of her mother's. He knew that the flower hair clips she wore to keep her bangs out of her face were given to her by her sister. He knew that the shade of pink that her tights were happened to be her exact favorite color and that her boots were considered fashionable in her hometown. And he knew that she always wore Hello Skitty merchandise like her baggy, magenta shirt because she adored those cartoons, even if she recently tried to insist that she was too old for them. He even knew that she was here because she wanted to go to Hoenn since she was eight, after she saw her first contest on television.
And he knew all of this because he watched her grow up. Because he bought her those boots for Christmas. Because he sometimes watched Hello Skitty cartoons with her when he was bored. Because her sister wouldn't stop rubbing in the fact that she got those hair clips for the birthday that he missed. Because one time, he let her choose that shade of pink for one of the wallpapers for the storage system.
Because her mother was his.
"Raye?" he whispered.
She took a step back. It was then that he realized she wouldn't be able to recognize him. So he stood, hands behind his back as he leaned forward a little.
"Raye, it's me," he said. "It's Nii-chan."
She stared at him for a long time, her eyes widening slightly for each minute that passed. Bill relaxed, and a grin slowly spread across his face. Thinking that she understood, he slowly moved his good hand into view, reaching out to her with his palm up.
And then, she screamed.
Bill flinched, snapping his hands over his ears in pain. The sound had torn at his eardrums; to Bill, the scream sounded louder than normal. And then, when it finally died down, his ears continued to ring until the lingering tone gave way to the sound of boots pounding into the floor. Looking up, Bill could see a glimpse of his sister ducking into a room far down the hall, just before she slammed the double doors behind her.
That wasn't the worst of it, either. Behind him, Bill could hear the barking of several different dog-like pokémon, accompanied by the shouts of startled humans. Above him, on the upper floors, footsteps shuffled, and the distant trills of other pokémon filtered through the ceiling.
"Oh no," he muttered. "They'll think—"
Shaking his head, he tried to dash forward, towards the hallway. Without thinking, he dropped to all fours and darted forward a few steps before stopping. He turned and backed into the hallway, feeling for the first time how natural it seemed to run like that. The barking and footsteps drew closer, and as panic welled in his chest, his instincts screamed at him to stay down. He even felt himself crouch, his body low as he continued to move backwards into the hallway.
The front door crashed open, and the next thing Bill knew, he was bolting down the hall on all fours again.
It wasn't until he slammed into the door his sister had passed through and tumbled into the room beyond it that he stopped. Then, he scrambled to his feet again to slam the door shut and lean into its metal surface.
"Stop it," he said. "Get a hold of yourself, Bill." He exhaled and pressed his forehead against the door. "I've got to keep thinking like a human. It's too early for me to start adopting traits of a pokémon. It never happened this soon whenever I wore a costume."
Not a costume.
Bill looked up. "Adam? I thought you were asleep."
Another hush passed between them. Bill huffed and turned back to the door.
"Some help you are."
Outside a manectric howled. Bill backed away from the door and cast his eyes around the room. They were going to find him if he didn't do something soon, and if they found him like that, especially after Raye screamed, he wasn't sure if they would be so friendly to him. He had to figure out a way to stall them, but how?
As he turned around to examine where he was, he found the answer. On the wall right next to him, utensils hung from hooks above sinks—utensils just the right size and shape to hold the door shut and buy him time. With a quick swipe, Bill pulled a ladle from one of these hooks and jammed it through the doors' handles. Then, after some thought, he grabbed two other ladles and threaded them through as well. Right after he finished, the doors shook as a pokémon on the other side threw itself against them. The manectric howled again, and the hallway lit up with the flash of electricity.
Shakily, Bill backed away from the doors. Voices shouted from somewhere down the hall, and at that point, Bill knew he didn't have much time. He had to find a place to hide—and quickly too.
Turning, he cast another glance around the room. Behind him, long, metal counters extended the length of the room, leading to walk-in refrigerator doors at the other end. Hiding spots, in other words. The refrigerators were an option, but they weren't an ideal one, given that they wouldn't provide much of a means to escape if Bill needed to. But…
He stepped forward, his nails scratching against the floor. In response, a quiet voice whimpered from the other side of the room. Bill stopped, listening carefully over the sounds of people shouting behind him. He could just make out the soft noise, the muffled sobbing from behind one of the counters. Raye.
Although he knew the ladles wouldn't hold the doors shut for much longer, Bill crept forward as quietly as he could. A new plan formed in his mind. If he could get Raye to understand who he was, then perhaps she could convince the others he wasn't a threat.
"Raye?" he called in a low voice. "Raye, I won't hurt you. It's me."
Another whimper. This time, it was loud enough for Bill to get a fix on where she was. Straight ahead, right up against the end of a counter. He could see part of her boot slipping out of view. Carefully, he stalked forward, bending down as he moved. He caught her scent: an earthy, flowery smell with just a tinge of sourness and metal—the latter of which his mind translated into fear.
"Raye?" he repeated. "Don't be scared. I won't hurt you."
He leaned down, peering around the corner at her to see her crouched under the counter. Her hands clutched her head, and her knees were drawn against her chest. When she realized Bill was close to her, she leaned away and pressed against the metal behind her, as if she could blend herself into the shadows beneath the countertop. Bill reached out to her, ready to grasp one of her wrists gently, but before he could, a crash signaled that the ladles had given way.
Swiveling around, Bill stood and watched the doors swing open to reveal a manectric. Behind it, a stocky young man stood with his chunky fists up and a wide, determined grin on his face.
"Great job, Manectric!" he said. "Oh wow! The ixodida! Guys, I found it!"
Bill hesitated. Found it? The ixodida? Bill stepped back and cast a glance towards the counter. Raye, meanwhile, was scrambling away from him as quickly as she could, with her arms over her head. With a gasp, he reached out to her, his mouth opening in preparation to cry out her name.
"Manectric, Spark!"
Right then, Bill jumped. "Spark?!"
The manectric didn't hesitate like Bill had. By the time he realized what was going on, his opponent was already halfway across the room, engulfed in a brilliant, blue aura of light and crackling electricity. He only had time to turn towards the pokémon before it slammed head first into his torso. In a flash, he was knocked off his feet and into the refrigerator directly behind him. His world lit up in blue, and a surge of electricity burst through his body all at once. He was certain he cried out, but all he could hear was the thunderous crack of lightning.
The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with the manectric standing on his chest. It snarled at him, pulling back its blue lips to reveal sharp fangs. As its hot breath puffed from its half-open muzzle, it dipped its head close to Bill's face.
"All right, Manectric! Great job!" the trainer shouted. "Now use Thunder Fang!"
The dog reared its head back and opened its jaws. Sparks of electricity cracked off its fangs as it swung its head down, aiming for Bill's face. Running on instinct, Bill snapped his hands upward and seized the dog's muzzle. Electricity jolted through his fingers, but Bill pushed back against the pokémon to stop it from biting him.
"Oh man! Manectric, don't let it win!" its trainer yelled. "Switch to Fire Fang!"
Bill's eyes went wide as the manectric's fangs stopped sparking. He knew exactly what would happen if the dog succeeded in its attack. If he was a steel-type, as he assumed, then taking a fire-type attack would be, in a word, bad. He had to do something, and he needed it to do it right then.
But in the time that it took for him to realize that, the manectric was already executing its attack. Flames bubbled from its throat and filled its mouth, engulfing Bill's hands. Blinding pain seared down Bill's arms, and he screamed as he wrenched his hands from the canine's mouth. In the instant that Bill was distracted, the manectric took the opportunity to bite down on his forearms instead, sending flames swirling around Bill's flesh. The pain swallowed him whole, and his shrieks crescendoed and then faded into a barely audible sob.
Then, the manectric let his arms slip from its muzzle and planted its paws on the floor beside him. Bill curled up on his side, letting his hands fall limply to the floor. His throat throbbed, but that ache seemed dull and minor compared to the blistering agony radiating from his limbs. He couldn't even move his fingers, let alone feel his arms. All he could do was cry quietly into the floor.
Footsteps clacked across the kitchen's tiles, and from Bill's vantage point, he could see the feet of a chansey and the shoes of the manectric's trainer, a Nurse Joy, and an Officer Jenny. All four of them stopped behind the growling manectric.
"Good job, Thom," Officer Jenny said.
"Thanks!" The trainer clapped his hands together. "Want me to finish it off?"
"No," Bill rasped.
The three humans stopped and stared. Bill shifted, forcing himself onto his knees.
"Please," he said. "I … I'm not a threat."
"It can talk," Nurse Joy gasped.
"I don't care if it can dance and sing," Officer Jenny responded. "We don't know why it's here or what it's planning. Thom, finish it off!"
"Aye aye, Officer!" he exclaimed with a salute. "Manectric, let's go! One more Fire Fang should do it!"
"No!" Bill cried.
The familiar feeling of power flared to life in his chest. Without thinking, he crossed his arms in front of his face and mentally pushed the energy inside him outwards. Green light pulsed from his skin and flared into a bubble around him just as the manectric sprung into action. Its maw filled with flames, but when it lunged for Bill, it slammed into the green barrier with a bang and bounced harmlessly off. As soon as it landed on the floor, it growled at him but took a few steps back. Bill, meanwhile, shakily stood.
"What?!" Officer Jenny snapped. "Thom, do it again!"
"You-you got it!" Thom stammered. "Manectric, Fire Fang once more!"
It swung its head around, and its mouth filled with fire for a third time. Bill ground his feet into the floor and took a deep breath. Once again, he felt the power he needed, but this time, he flung his hands outward to form the barrier. The wall glittered around him, and it stood firm as manectric launched itself at Bill again. Just as it had in its last attack, the dog hit the barrier and went stumbling backwards until it came to a stop at its trainer's feet.
A whimper filtered into Bill's ears from the side. He glanced away from the manectric to catch sight of his sister, still crouched in a corner of the kitchen.
"She's still here?!" he muttered.
"Manectric! Try again!" Thom shouted.
Snapping his attention back to the battle, Bill tried to conjure another barrier, but although the green light flickered around him, it was too late and too weak. The manectric easily sailed through the barrier with its mouth open and filled with fire. Bill had no choice but to dodge, stumbling towards Raye as the dog passed within an inch of his shoulder. It collided directly into the freezer behind him as he scrambled to maintain his footing. While his opponent dropped to the ground, Bill glanced over his shoulder at Raye.
"Run!" he snapped.
"No good!" Thom growled. "Manectric, use Thunder Wave to disable it!"
The dog shook its head and rose to its feet. It growled and ground its paws on the floor. The air around it lit up with blue electricity, and it howled as blue tendrils of lightning snapped towards Bill. He braced himself and tried to summon the power to channel outward, but this time, it didn't come. Instead, the green light flickered in front of him and faded just before one of the bolts of blue lightning struck him dead in the chest. There was no pain this time. It was as if all feeling in his body died down, save for a rushing, pins-and-needles sensation flowing into him from his extremities. He collapsed to his knees as the light died down. Grimacing, he tried to force himself to move, but no matter what he did, his limbs simply wouldn't obey.
"No! Not now!" he whispered.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raye stand slowly.
"Raye," he hissed. "Get out of here! This is a battlefield! Go!"
"Okay, Manectric! Now we've got it!" Thom called out. "Let's go with Shock Wave to finish it off!"
"Wait, Thom! Don't! Rachel's over there!" Nurse Joy cried.
"What?!"
It was too late to retract the order. The manectric already tensed its body as its crest took on a brilliant, yellow glow. Looking over his shoulder at his sister, Bill knew what would happen if the manectric released that Shock Wave. With her as close as she was and with him as low to the ground as he was, Bill had no doubt she would be caught in the attack. Armed with that knowledge, Bill forced himself to stand, his body protesting with every inch. Grinding his teeth, he shut his eyes and concentrated hard until he dug deep within himself to find what felt like a burning fire deep inside him. He pulled at the fire until he sensed it flow across his skin, and then, he spread his arms and stood firm in front of Raye. When he opened his eyes, the barrier flared to life in front of him just as the manectric released. Blue bolts of electricity blossomed from the dog's crest and exploded in a rain of strikes across the barrier. But Bill's Protect held firm, right up until the point where the manectric's electricity fizzled into nothingness.
And then, Bill let his arms drop to his sides, and the barrier faded away. He took a few shallow breaths before glancing back over his shoulder.
"Raye," he gasped, "I know it's difficult to believe, but please listen. I'm … I'm your…"
Before he could finish, he collapsed face down onto the floor.
—
Sekitan Island. Technically, it was part of Hoenn's regional influence, but it was easy to forget that it existed. Years ago, during the last of the great wars and just before the International Pact, Sekitan had been a mining island for coal. It had been Japan's most promising coal site, in fact, with half a million tons of coal shipped from its ports per year at the peak of its productivity. And it was during those golden years that Sekitan had been the most densely populated island in Japan, housing thousands of mine workers and families in the gray, concrete skyscrapers filling its surface.
That was before the mines closed.
There was a valid reason for it. Japan's demand for coal had simply dropped, and it was much easier and more profitable to get it from the easily accessible mines of Sinnoh. Ships didn't have to worry about the high winds or rough seas between the mines and the mainland, the Sinnohian mountains were easier to carve into than the Hoennian seabeds, and the settlements along Mt. Coronet didn't have to depend on daily shipments of supplies to survive. So, it had been decided by the companies that owned Sekitan that there was no need for the mining city, and company executives gave the island's residents sizable compensation packages and free ferries back to Hoenn.
Between the apartment complexes' cramped quarters, the viciousness of typhoons, and the uncertainty of daily supplies, the residents of Sekitan Island couldn't refuse the mining company's offer. The last of Sekitan's residents had evacuated in the 70's, leaving a ghost city behind.
As far as the present residents of Japan knew, that was the fate of Sekitan Island: to stand forever on Hoenn's horizon as a black, empty city. What they didn't know was that only the first line of buildings, the ones nearest to the Hoenn coastline, were still unoccupied. The ones behind them were still lit, and the vast network of mines were reinforced into a massive labyrinth of steel.
This was the home of D.E.V.A.
No one in the general populace knew that D.E.V.A. existed. According to official paperwork, it didn't. Only the highest officials were aware of what D.E.V.A. was, and the organization took careful steps to cover up its tracks wherever it went. And when it came to the aforementioned official paperwork, it was only associated with the Japanese government in that the highest offices allowed its activities to continue unabated, assisting the organization only when they specifically requested help. D.E.V.A. held relationships like this with every ruling power on the planet. Give D.E.V.A. what it needed and be left alone. That was the golden rule.
As difficult as it was to describe D.E.V.A.'s existence, its purpose was easy to put into words. It was an organization dedicated to the capture, containment, research of, and diplomacy with realistic anomalies. Aliens. Reality warpers. Cryptids. Objects and locations linked or thought to be urban myths. They were, in short, the Men in Black, the people who ensured that the weirdest parts of their world remained mere rumors. And the ixodida were becoming a bit of a nuisance to them as of late.
At the same time that Bill eluded Team Rocket, a helicopter sat idling on the southern edge of Sekitan Island. Agents in black suits stood on either side of the rooftop doorway while others bustled to and from the helicopter, checking and rechecking steps on the pre-flight checklist.
Ten minutes after the engine started, the door to the stairwell opened, and out strode a bald man in a labcoat. He ran a hand over his brownish-gray beard and mustache as he squinted towards the reddening sky. His other hand clutched the handle of a small, black suitcase until he was halfway to the helicopter. At that point, D.E.V.A. personnel snapped into action. Several of them saluted and stepped aside. One agent rushed forward and took the man's suitcase before walking him to the helicopter.
"We're ready when you are, sir," the agent informed him. "Your flight's been cleared, and Polaris Institute has been made aware of your pending arrival."
The man grinned, and in a thick, Scottish accent, he responded, "Good. I wouldn't want to keep old Sam waiting, now, do—"
He stopped short as the door to the stairs banged open again. Through the doorway bolted a young agent, looking far more concerned than a member of D.E.V.A. normally would be. The guards around the door immediately drew their weapons but stopped as the man in the helicopter raised a hand.
"Oi! Stand down! What's the meaning of this, then?" he shouted.
The agent skidded to a halt before the helicopter and bowed briefly. "Councilor One, we just received an urgent call from Polaris Institute!"
"Urgent call?" The man furrowed his thick eyebrows. "What about? Out with it!"
At once, the agent straightened and lifted his head. "It's about Codename Adam, sir. He escaped."
"Escaped, eh?" Councilor One leaned back in his chair. "Where to?"
"Uncertain, sir. According to the readings on his tracking device, he was on a path heading for the Sevii Islands. Approximately ten minutes ago, his flight path abruptly changed to a trajectory towards northwest Hoenn."
"Hoenn." Councilor One rubbed his eyes and forehead.
"Sir, do you think this has something to do with Team Rocket's recent violation of the Yeled Protocol?" the agent asked.
"What, you think he got out and started flying towards a known Rocket hotbed himself?" Councilor One barked. "Of course it has."
"Then do you recommend that we take action against Team Rocket now?"
"No," he growled. "So long as Project Stardust is in operation, we'll need their so-called intelligence and scientists to understand what the hell we're dealing with. But we could speed 'em along. Look into the other research institutes. We're going to see if we can hand these bastards an ixodida gift-wrapped with a little bow." He paused. "Well. Guess that'll make the answer to your question a yes then." Motioning towards the agent, he turned back to the interior of the helicopter. "Make it a vicious one."
"Yes, sir," the agent responded. "And sir? What about Codename Adam?"
Councilor One turned his head back to the agent. "Pinpoint his location and have Councilor Three send a team out to keep an eye on him."
"To protect him from the other ixodida, sir?"
"No, from himself! God knows my son digs himself into enough trouble as a human."
With that, Professor John McKenzie, present director of D.E.V.A., slammed the helicopter door shut on his subordinate.