Chapter 15 – Station

Security was tightened up considerably all over Canalave after Slenderman made his announcement. If the radio announcements were true, the same could have been said of almost every city, given that the fiend hadn't actually named the location where the terrorists would be conducting their 'demonstration'.

All trains heading into and out of the terminal were screened by a team of psychic as well as electric pokemon that had been trained to detect explosives. Traffic came to a standstill as manned checkpoints were set-up along all of the major roads, whereas the smaller roads were simply closed-off. Patrol squads consisting of soldiers, pokemon, and digimon were ordered to sweep the city.

The government didn't want to take any chances with the terrorists, it seemed. When I thought about it, it was probably also due to that fact that they – the terrorists – had technically won the last tussle with the government over that illegally aired pokemon battle.

xxx

All of us non-combat personnel were summoned to port control within thirty minutes of Slenderman's broadcast. We were told that since a threat of this magnitude could not possibly be treated lightly – as if the current measures being taken were trivial – all available and capable personnel would be assigned to watch a portion of the city.

General Harding and I were sent down to the docks, where Kirrin and his crew of mechanics already had several of their best pokemon out and on the ready. Several digimon that worked there were also present, such as gesomon, octomon, and divermon.

"Alright, we don't know just where the hell those bastards are going to make their move, so we'll have to wing it," growled Kirrin, as he debriefed his men. "Port control may have sent General Harding down to monitor things, but we'll be forming the bulk of the dock's defences, right?"

Murmurs of assent were heard, even as General Harding gave Kirrin a thumbs-up. "You guys know the docks better than us anyway, Kirrin."

"Exactly," rumbled the chief mechanic as he shouldered a sledgehammer. "You guys may want to pick up a weapon that isn't a firearm, since we've got gas tanks down here."

After trying out a couple of tools that the mechanics offered us, General Harding wound up with a length of steel chain and I was given a shovel that had been stained black with coal dust. He let out Moivre the swampert to keep us company as we watched the dock's upper levels – Kirrin and his men were watching the lower levels together with the digimon.

"So, kid..." he said, as he scratched Moivre's head behind the fins, causing the large pokemon to let out a contented rumbling sound. "Looks like we'll just have to wait, eh?"

"I guess so," I shrugged. "It's only two hours before they'll do their thing, anyway."

"True, true," General Harding nodded. "Almost forgot that we were two hours behind Kanto, eh."

"Do you think they'll hit us here, though?" I asked, fidgeting a little out of nervousness. "We're a major port, but otherwise, we've got nothing worth destroying here, right?"

All General Harding did was look towards the distant horizon with a vacant expression on his face. "I really have no idea, kid. So looks like we'll just have to keep up a vigilant watch here."

xxx

Kanto standard time was two hours ahead of our time zone, and Slenderman had declared midnight to be the time for his little demonstration of terror. That would have made it ten at night in Canalave if the terrorists had decided to show their stuff locally, and so we all waited with baited breath for the clock to strike ten.

By nine-thirty, every form of vehicular transportation on earth had been shut down. Armed guards watched the trains and made sure that all civilians were safely confined in their homes as the clock counted down to twelve – or ten, if you wanted to use Canalave's time instead.

As it turned out, the first demonstration began just shy of midnight – two minutes to twelve, specifically.

The news spread like wildfire over the radio channels – Lavender Town had been hit first. Apparently, the terrorists had detonated several explosives that had been planted all over the sleepy hollow, including several that were inside the radio tower. Just how the concealed bombs had managed to evade detection was anyone's guess, but what we did know was that Kanto's biggest radio broadcast tower had been significantly damaged.

Then, more reports came in regarding explosions at other cities – Goldenrod, Castelia, Hearthome, and Lilycove. All of the attacks had been on radio towers, and no terrorist agents had actually been spotted at the actual locations.

"All personnel remain on your guard!" snapped a cold voice on our miniature radio sets. "We don't know how long they'll keep this up, but hopefully we'll nab someone tonight!"

"Who's that?" I asked General Harding, even as we continued patrolling the dock.

"Sounded a little like Kingsley," he replied, as he peered around a corner before actually moving past it. "He's the grand admiral usually charged with propaganda and national security."

"Sounds contradictory," I muttered. "Controlling the media and the lockdown?"

"Well, they do say that the pen is mightier than the sword," he shrugged. "And he's got an affinity to normal-type pokemon, so he has a handy mix of porygon and girafarig under his command. Cyber and psychic surveillance – hard to beat that combination."

Ten minutes had already elapsed since the attacks on the radio towers, and no terrorists had been apprehended yet. Some orders came over the radio to end the lockdown in several of the smaller towns, and we were instructed to remain on guard until morning in the larger cities.

"Patrol duty until tomorrow morning?" General Harding sighed. "Thank goodness it's a Sunday tomorrow."

"Think they'll attack again tonight?" I asked him, as I shifted the shovel I was carrying to my other shoulder. "They've already hit all five continents, and in major cities, too."

"I don't think so, but who are we to question-"

Panicked shouts came over the radio before he could finish his sentence, causing both of us to stare at the device. There was a sound not unlike the screeching you hear when a train is braking too suddenly, followed by even more panicked yelling.

"All personnel get on your guard!" said grand admiral Kingsley, his voice surprisingly calm despite the sudden situation that had arisen – whatever it was. "The terrorists are attempting to hijack several trains. Armed troops, pokemon, and digimon are moving in to detain them as I sp-"

A horrific sound of rending metal was heard, causing him to hesitate for a moment. "The hijacked train coaches have just been teleported out of their stations – it seems that they were detached from the others. All personnel remain on guard – we have no idea where they'll send them."

General Harding's eyes grew wide. "Well, fuck! Hijacking grounded train coaches by teleporting them? These guys are nuts!"

"Why would they hijack a train coach of all things, though? Not even the complete thing," I wondered, as I looked at the radio set curiously. "I mean, it's not like they have tracks to run them on, right?"

"I have no-" he was about to complete his reply, but instead tapped me on the shoulder and pointed towards the city centre.

I turned to look, and let out a startled cry upon seeing what he had caught sight of.

You might wonder just what we saw right then. Well, to put it simply, it was a train coach falling out of the sky, towards a cluster of buildings near the heart of town. It fell down onto the buildings, causing their upper levels to collapse as if they had been made out of cards. The impacted buildings shook ominously for a few moments, before they eventually gave way beneath the coach's weight.

And that was when the coach exploded. We barely managed to turn away from the blast, and were very nearly blinded by the bright flash of light. The sky above the crash site was lit-up with a sinister orange glow as the wreckage beneath it burned.

The radio set crackled once before a frantic voice came over it. "General Harding, to the Nublar building as quickly as you can, please! Fire-fighters are on the way, but we need water there, and stat – our roadblocks are working against us!"

He barely hesitated, despite the fact that he was probably still seeing spots after the explosion. "Come on, kid! Chuck the shovel and get Silas out when I tell you to!"

Adrienne materialized on the dock as he returned Moivre, and we each grabbed one of her paws as General Harding gave his orders. "To the Sorna building, Adrienne – the Klang building just got blown up!"

With a flash of light and the all-too-familiar tugging sensation that came with teleportation, we left the docks.

xxx

We teleported to the sidewalk somewhere about three blocks from the destroyed building, and narrowly avoided being cooked alive – the flames had already spread that far from their starting point. I recognized the area as the location of Canalave's fire-fighter headquarters, which explained why they weren't on the scene.

"Those bastards hit the fire station!" cursed General Harding, even as he unclipped all five occupied pokeballs from his belt. "Get Silas out, but hold on tight to him!"

The shadows cast by the dancing flames were briefly banished by the flashes of light as we let out our pokemon. I only had Silas, but I saw that General Harding had some of his toughest pokemon out. Adrienne, Moivre, Gary the gastrodon, Rodrigo, empoleon, and rotom all appeared before us, looking startled at the scene that greeted them.

"Hose down the fire!" he ordered. "Moivre and Pang-Pang, lead the way to clear rubble once the fires are out, alright! Kid, you stay on my tail to put out any remaining flames once we're inside."

"Got it, sir," I nodded, scooping up Silas in my arms. "You heard the man, Silas!"

He let out a high-pitched whistle of acknowledgement and stared at the fire with wide eyes as General Harding's team got to work on it. Several Surf attacks threw a damper on the flames quite rapidly, while Rodrigo the ludicolo started up a Rain Dance that enhanced the effects of his teammates' attacks. Within seconds, the closest of the flames had been doused, and the pokemon began working their way inwards.

"Stay close, kid!" General Harding instructed, as his swampert and empoleon began clearing a path through the rubble.

We made some decent progress, putting out the flames for about twenty feet before we ran into our first real obstacle.

Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that it ran into us.

A magmortar was casually feeding the fire as it strolled through the inferno, looking almost bored. Behind it, a magcargo was sluggishly doing the same, while a volcarona fanned the flames that its two allies were generating. They practically walked right into Moivre as he shoved the remains of a brick wall aside, causing him to stumble back out of shock. Before we could do anything, the magmortar discharged a Thunderbolt that sent Pang-Pang flying backwards with a screech of pain.

"What the- Moivre, Earthquake!" General Harding commanded, as his empoleon picked itself up.

The ground beneath our feet shook as Moivre beat down on the ground with both of his massive fists, causing the magcargo to faint right off the bat. However, the airborne volcarona wasn't affected, and retaliated on behalf of its teammates by unleashing a Hurricane that slammed into the swampert head-on.

"Smash it with Rock Slide!" snapped General Harding, even as the rest of his team finally caught up to us. The magmortar kept them back with several more Thunderbolts, at least until Moivre began throwing rocks at it and the volcarona.

Both of the fire-types managed to evade the rocky assault, and Moivre was knocked out when the magmortar picked him up with a Psychic and threw him into his teammates. The volcarona turned on us, but was attacked – surprisingly enough – by Silas.

Silas fired a cluster of icicles that were mostly melted by the time they hit the flaming moth, but which nonetheless managed to shred its wings pretty badly. It screeched in pain and fell out of the air, thrashing about as it landed on the soggy ground. A jet of water from Adrienne rapidly put it out of commission, causing the magmortar to zap her with a Thunderbolt. She fell to the ground in a twitching heap, paralyzed by the electrical attack.

"Finish the magmortar – Gary, Earthquake!"

Just as Gary sent a shockwave rippling through the ground, a wall of pure energy burst into existence between us and the blast pokemon, absorbing the impact of the attack. Once more, a Thunderbolt flew forward and hit one of General Harding's pokemon, knocking his empoleon unconscious.

I decided to join in the fight for real. "Silas, hose it!"

Silas eagerly complied, sending a stream of water in the magmortar's direction. The heat from its flaming body evaporated most of the water before it could get a good soaking, though, causing it to let out an angry growl and round on us. Gary's next Earthquake nailed it, but it remained standing, narrowly missing Silas and I with a Thunderbolt.

Out of nowhere, a brilliant beam of light lanced out of the flames and struck Gary, knocking the gastrodon out. A ninetales nimbly leaped over the fallen magcargo's prone form and exhaled a wave of fire in our direction, sending us back in the direction we had come from.

"Rodrigo, Surf!"

"Silas, Surf!"

Two columns of water surged towards the formidable fire-types, but failed to do much – the sheer heat being radiated by both pokemon was boiling most of the water before it could hit them. Billowing steam clouds formed around them, reducing visibility in the already smoky night.

"Rodrigo, Rain Dance!" General Harding ordered, as we cautiously stepped back, trying to see just where the two terrorist pokemon were.

Even as the steam cloud dissipated, the magmortar charged towards me and threw a punch at Silas with a fist that was sparking. I managed to sidestep the Thunder Punch, but it swung its other arm about and caught me across the chest with what felt like a red-hot pylon, narrowly missing Silas. I was sent tumbling to one side, until I crashed against a partially-collapsed wall.

"Surf!" General Harding yelled, as a light drizzle came down around us, dousing the flames. Rodrigo sent a water wave at the ninetales, which tried to jump out of the way but ended up getting splashed on its side.

Next thing we knew, a humanoid figure garbed in what resembled a biohazard suit was walking towards us through the flames that were still burning near the train coach's landing spot. Upon catching sight of us, it shouted and clumsily tossed two pokeballs into the air. A torkoal and a kadabra materialized not ten feet from where we stood, looking somewhat clueless.

"Get them!"

BANG! The torkoal collapsed in a heap as General Harding shot one of its stout legs out. Its psychic ally was quick to snap his arm in response, though, causing him to curse loudly as he dropped his gun. "Bail out, kid! The fire-fighters will be here soon!"

"No, sir!" I had to shout to be heard over the racket around us. "Silas, Icicle Spear!"

The kadabra teleported out of the way and the magmortar began physically grappling with Rodrigo, as General Harding picked up his firearm and tried to hit the mysterious figure in the dying flames. Meanwhile, I clumsily tried to draw my pistol without losing my hold on Silas, as the ninetales limped towards us.

It growled as it tried to use a fire attack while the drizzle from Rodrigo's Rain Dance persisted. Silas sent a jet of water at it, soaking it in the face, as I drew a bead on it. Without thinking, I pulled the trigger.

The recoil from the shot sent my arm jerking upwards, causing the bullet to graze one of its tails. The fox pokemon yelped and began convulsing, even as the kadabra materialized and grabbed my neck with a psychic grip.

Before it could snap my neck, though, Silas skewered it with several icicles. It shrieked in agony and staggered over to the ninetales, teleporting the two of them away.

"Thanks," I rasped, as Silas began firing water attacks at the magmortar.

However, we had all forgotten about the torkoal.

Despite having a busted leg, it had managed to drag itself towards the melee, exhaling great clouds of white smoke all the while. The little rain clouds that Rodrigo had summoned were rapidly boiling away as the tortoise-like pokemon approached, too.

"Get back, kid!"

"No!"

"That's an order!"

"Torkoal, Overheat!"

We couldn't do anything to stop it – the torkoal finally attacked with a colossal explosion of flame that very nearly engulfed us. I could feel the heat wave hitting me in the face like a massive, invisible hand, and Silas let out a terrified squeak as he tried to send some water attacks in the torkoal's direction.

Once again, the kadabra appeared, but this time, it teleported its trainer away. Rodrigo finally managed to knock out the magmortar with a Drain Punch, but collapsed himself not long after that. General Harding had actually been caught in the flames from the torkoal's Overheat, and was lying motionless on the ground not too far away from me.

"Sir!"

"Tor!" rumbled the last of those damned saboteur pokemon as it slowly brought itself around, belching out smoke.

What happened next was probably the biggest fluke I had ever seen in person – I fired at it, and at the same time, Silas used Surf on it. The force of Silas' attack slammed it backwards, and my bullet caught it on its back, cracking the armoured shell open. With a shudder, it collapsed to the ground, with noticeably less smoke pouring out of the openings in its carapace.

"Good job, Silas," I said hoarsely, my throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. "Now let's get to General Harding!"

With a squeak, Silas began clearing a path for us through what was left of the fire, until we reached General Harding. He had been knocked out by the blast during the Overheat, and his entire uniform had been signed. His skin looked as if it had been burned, but I wasn't good enough with first aid to recognize it even if it was.

I groaned, realizing that I had no way of getting him out of the area without recalling Silas and the rest of his team. "Silas, return!"

My shellder vanished in a flash of light as I recalled him into his pokeball, even as General Harding's rotom – the last conscious member of his team floated up to me and poked me in the back with a tubular, pipe-like arm. "And where were you all this while?"

It was then that I noticed the gashes all over its boxy body – clearly, it had gotten into a melee tangle with the ninetales. One of its arms was hanging limply by its side, and it was hovering in a lopsided manner. With a hissing noise, it floated over to its trainer, and reverted to its default form.

"Alright, I'm going to try and haul him out of here," I said, wincing as I felt my chest tightening – the magmortar had probably burned it when it struck me. "I'll be returning you and the others, alright?"

It took me all of fifteen seconds to recall all six of General Harding's pokemon, leaving me defenceless save for my firearm. The fire had mostly died down after the torkoal was knocked out, and in the distance, I could see the flashing lights and hear the sirens of a fire engine.

I knelt down and hoisted General Harding's unbroken arm over my shoulder. Sliding my free hand under his lower back, I slowly lifted him up. When his weight pulled down on my shoulders and put pressure on my chest, I very nearly dropped him due to the pain. Blinking rapidly to clear the tears that were welling up in my eyes, I grit my teeth and tried again, this time managing to lift him off the ground.

The fire engines were coming closer, even as I staggered towards the periphery of what had once been a raging fire. Several firemen jumped off their vehicles, and ran towards us once they caught sight of us.

One of them made it over just in time to grab hold of me before I fell to my knees, unable to withstand the pain any longer. Even as the man called out to me, I could feel the world around me spinning, and fading into darkness.

xxx

When I returned to consciousness, I was in a white room. I cracked an eye open and tried to turn my head, only to find that my neck was too stiff to do so comfortably – it made several popping sounds as I finally managed to get a view of what lay to my right.

General Harding was lying in the bed next to mine, hooked up to several intravenous lines and swathed in enough bandages to give him a mummy-like appearance from the neck downwards. His eyes were closed, and his hair had several singed patches.

That didn't make him any less attractive, though.

Deciding that sitting up might be a good idea, I tried to prop myself up on my elbows... only to find that my torso had been placed in a cast. The belated, throbbing sensation that made its presence known merely served to drive home the fact that I had a broken rib or several.

"Ah, good – you're awake," a raspy voice said, even as a familiar, tangled mass of stringy purple hair made its way into my peripheral vision. "How's it feeling down there?"

"I think I've got broken ribs," I deadpanned.

"Three broken ribs, to be exact," Dr. Esther commented, as she scrutinized something that resembled an X-ray film. "With some superficial burns on your chest, but it's nothing major, really. You'll have a mark left there once it heals, though."

"Hopefully it doesn't look too bad," I murmured, staring at the ceiling. "So how's General Harding?"

"Him?" she asked, as she walked over to his bed. "He's got a significant amount of superficial burns on his front, and a broken forearm. Other than that, he should be fine – just needs time to recover.

"And you, young man, are very stupid to have taken a hit from a magmortar like that. Why'd you jump in the way of it?" she glared at me from over her surgical mask.

"It was going to hit Silas..." I said, feeling my face flushing a little. "So I tried to dodge the hit, but got whacked instead."

She gave a sigh, and rubbed her already bloodshot eyes. "You trainers and these crazy antics will be the death of me... Didn't it occur to you that a shellder's shell is almost as hard as a diamond? Silas could've taken the blow and survived."

"His shell is that hard?" I blinked. "Well, that's news to me."

"And now, if you'd kindly stay conscious, there's some people who'd like to speak to you sometimes soon," she said, as she walked beyond my field of vision. "I'll notify them that you're awake."

"Who is this?"

"Grand admiral Kingsley Desjardins," she replied, just as the room was illuminated by the flash of a teleport. "Speak of the devil."

"I am no devil, doctor," said the grand admiral, in the same voice that he had used while speaking to us over the radio. "But yes, the sentiment is applicable."

"The young man you wanted to speak with is awake, sir."

"Is he now?" a tall, whip-thin man stepped up to my bed. He was dressed in a pure white uniform, which matched the streaks in his hair. His eyes were shielded by a pair of aviator sunglasses, and his face was about as angular as a porygon – quite striking, given his affinity. "Hello there."

"Good day, sir," I said, trying to prop myself up.

He pushed me back down with a chuckle, though. "At ease, son. So, I hear stories from our good doctor here that you got hit by a magmortar?"

"I did, but..." a thought struck me. "How she knows is anyone's guess."

Desjardins shrugged. "Magmortar have a certain spiny texture to their arms. I presume your burns fit that pattern."

I paused for a moment. "Oh."

"Anyways, on to the main purpose of my intention to meet you – where did the magmortar come from?"

"It came from within the fire," I recalled. "There was this... person there. Wearing some kind of biohazard suit, I think."

"Hmm... And did the person have any other pokemon with it?"

I thought about it for a while. "A few – I think he had a magcargo, volcarona, ninetales, kadabra, and torkoal."

The grand admiral seemed to be mulling over my words. "And they were contributing to the fire?"

"It appeared so."

"Alright, that's pretty much all I needed to hear," he nodded. "So, I guess I shouldn't forget to mention that you're in line for a minor promotion."

All I could do was to stare at him. "Begging your pardon, sir?"

"You got your commanding officer out of danger's way, and towards the firemen. Apparently, he would've died if you left him there any longer, since the fire did come back to life for a while," said Desjardins, tapping the side of his head with his fingers. "So you're slotted for a promotion of some sort, and a commendation, too – I can't recall the details."

For a while, I just lay there, staring at him. "Sir, would that promotion... mean that I won't be here anymore?"

"Well, you'd still be Zachary Harding's assistant once he recovers."

"Could I turn down the promotion in favour of... something else, sir?" I asked, as an idea came to my mind.

He raised an eyebrow. "And just what is it that you seem to desire so much? Money? Sex? Holidays?"

I offered him a small smirk. "None of the above, sir – I would like to be able to understand my pokemon's speech."

After a brief pause, he nodded. "Given that you are willing to forego your promotion, I do believe that we could arrange something along those lines."