Chapter 60: The General's game

Dawn

Unova

Pokemon league

Grimsley barely perceived his surroundings as he tore down the hallways and opened the door. He paused. A bloodied figure lay curled at the end of the area and without thinking; the elite four member passed through the narrow conduit leading to the chamber and knelt down to the boy. Hugh was barely conscious, his crimson eyes glazed over with pain and some unfathomable feeling the older man couldn't quite read. Blood dribbled past the teenager's cracked lips and his chest rattled horribly every time he took a breath. The child clutched a pokeball in his gloved hands and the gambler forced the rigid fingers apart and collected the capsule. Few minutes later, a group of people stampeded in the otherwise quiet place and he let the doctors take care of Hugh. The elite four member spied Skyla and the twin train conductors along with a man identified as Falkner, the vice chief of the international police. Grimsley let out a breath he didn't know he held and waited for one of them to approach him. He knew the situation had escalated out of his control and the arrival of the international police warranted nothing but unnecessary danger and complications. The nurses and doctors gave Hugh a quick once over before declaring that the boy needed emergency medical treatment. Just as the elite four individual moved forward to confirm the situation, Falkner blocked his path.

"Thank you...we will take it from here. This boy, Hugh, is now in the custody of the international police." Falkner intoned in a calm voice and saw anger flare in the gambler's eyes, "please rest assured we will not harm the boy. We simply have to ask him a few questions regarding the perpetrator-"

"I don't know anything..." The boy rasped and coughed up blood, "you won't get anything from me...I don't know anything." he repeated in a broken voice.

"Hugh is a competitor participating in the Unova league." Grimsley spoke with controlled wrath, "he is our responsibility and I'm going to see that he is put in a Unovian hospital and sent back straight home to rest and recuperate before he resumes his normal life at school. He is not part of the Dex-criminals, I've checked, the boy hasn't been given a Pokedex since the kidnapping of his two best friends almost three years ago. Right now he nee-"

"He needs to be in safe hands should the people who attacked him come for him again." The Johto gym leader coolly interjected, "you are misunderstanding us, we do not suspect him of being part of the Dex-criminals, we are sure that he ran into an executive and we simply want to identify who that person is."

"I told you...I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Hugh tried to sit up but screamed in pain and spat out more blood, he dissolved into a coughing fit and the doctors quickly injected him with a blend of painkillers and sleeping drugs. The boy stopped spasming and fell into a fitful sleep.

"He says-"

"He is lying. Hugh is no longer under the authority of the Unova League associations; the right has been transferred over to the hands of the International police." Falkner brushed past an incensed Grimsley, "please understand that we are doing this for his safety and for the well-being of the general public. We just want to know and confirm a few bits of information and that is all." Forced aside, the Unovian man watched the twin train conductors and Skyla flank the vice chief as they walked out of the door. The doctors and nurses followed them, carrying an unconscious Hugh on a white stretcher. Blood oozed out of his chest wound and dyed the starched, white cloth an ugly red. The teenager's words rung like a broken recorder in the man's mind and the desperate voice hammered against his head. Sunlight seeped through the transparent ceiling and washed the filthy area with a liquescent gold. Grimsley grimaced at the sight of uprooted terracotta tiles and the numerous multi coloured blood stains littering the floor and walls. He sighed and ran a hand through his neatly groomed head. Perhaps, he reassured himself, letting Hugh go with the police had been the best choice.

A few days later

Castelia city

Police headquarters

"He says he doesn't know anything."

"Preposterous! How can he not know anything? Obviously the child is lying!" A blonde man banged a fist on the rectangular desk and roared. "The kid looks like he fought a hell hound!"

"We are well aware of that Lt. Surge." Anabel cut in neatly and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She rifled through a sheaf of papers lying in front of her and extracted a sheet. Putting the one document aside on the glass topped conference table, she turned her attention back to the members seated around her. "The boy has been threatened by whoever assaulted him. A check into his background reveals that he is best friends with the most recently kidnapped victims of the Dex-criminals. Whi-2 hailing from Aspertia city and Lack-2 who comes from Castelia." A few sighs and snorts were heard, "this bit of information is important, we can correctly assume that he is trying to protect his friends. If he tells the police, the ring leaders of the organization might harm his friends who are most likely being kept hostage or...Used as lower leveled grunts." The chief waited as some of the members scribbled notes down or ruminated on her words, "we interrogated him thoroughly and he refuses to speak. Unfortunately we cannot disregard his right to silence so I proposed another...Off the record method to extract information from him." Anabel leaned back on her swivel chair and scrutinized their reactions. Falkner did not twitch, Cynthia arched a perfect eyebrow and Sabrina, from Kanto, looked at her sharply. The Kalosian felt foolish, of course the woman endowed with psychic powers would be able to foretell what she thought and the chief inwardly prayed for their plan to work. "We will begin cross-examining him shortly. For now, meeting dismissed."

For a while no one moved then, one by one, the superintendents rose and left the chamber with their direct subordinates following them. Anabel gathered her sheets up from the table and downed her lukewarm coffee in one gulp. Sabrina tapped the glass surface with her polished nails and stared at the various diagrams and objectives projected onto a large screen in front of her. When the room emptied out save for Looker, Falkner, Anabel and herself, the fuchsia haired woman spoke up again.

"Where is Hugh kept?"

"He is in the infirmary on the third floor for the time being. The physical damage done to him was superficial; however we are worried about his mental state. His parents came to visit him all the way from Aspertia and for their and Hugh's safety, we discretely monitored their home...Nothing invasive." Falkner quickly pointed out when his superior made a face, "As of now, we are keeping Hugh here, at the moment; he is waiting for us in the interrogating room." The chief of police nodded and got up wearily, brushing her hair backwards, she motioned the rest of the group to follow her. On stepping out into the corridor, a blast of cool, recycled air hit them in their faces and several people murmured greetings. Taking the elevator down to the third floor, they promptly made their way into the interrogation room.

On opening the door, they found a purple haired boy sitting alone in the dingy chamber. The walls were painted an eye watering shade of peach and a single, bare bulb illuminated the surroundings in a ghastly yellow glow. Hugh sat impassively on a bench and kicked his legs back and forth, in front of him a small wooden table held a glass of water. The four adults squeezed into the room and at once the boy screeched that he didn't know anything. Waving his arms about, he folded them with a huff and maliciously spilled the glass of water across the table, the colourless fluid dripped down the sides. Sabrina's eyes bored on to him, taking note of the veins pulsing in his forehead and the perpetual frown lines stamped on his forehead. The boy tucked his chin in his high collared jacket and peered at the world with stormy, distrusting eyes.

"Yes we understand you don't know anything," Anabel soothed and he angled his face the other way, "so we will release you from police custody shortly." The boy shrugged nonchalantly but the Kanto gym leader could see a victorious spark in his crimson irises, "However, before you go, you will need a last minute check-up-"

"I don't need any last minute check-ups!" Hugh hissed, "I just wanna go home."

"You parents asked for this..." The police chief smoothly lied, "they understand that you hit the back of your head rather roughly during the fight, your ribs had shattered and a piece of it lodged in your lung. To make sure that you won't suffer from any long lasting damages from your injuries, we are doing everything we can. Please co-operate, after this session is over, we will personally escort you home and you will be free from us." Irritably, the teenager got up and accompanied the adults out of the room. It was only after stepping into another stark, windowless chamber did it occur to him that something seemed very off. Sure the theatre had all the medical equipment needed for scans and tests; and he saw the huge off white imaging device humming eerily, however, there were no nurses nor any doctors present and when he spun around to question them, he saw the four adults trailing after him into the room. One of them, the black haired, almond eyed lady, had her pokemon out and the hypno swung a magnetized pendulum whilst smiling teasingly at him. Hugh locked eyes with the creature and three seconds later, he collapsed to the polished floor and fell fast asleep. Falkner and Looker gently picked his prone body up and placed him on a bed. They set up a screen and a recording device. Sabrina placed a chair next to the comatose Unovian's bed whilst hypno waddled closer and kept a hawkish watch over the sleeping boy.

"The procedure will take over ten hours..." The psychic gym leader informed them and watched the shock rippling on their faces, "I warned you...Picking his neural network apart and reconfiguring the routes is a long, tedious process. There is also the risk of mild damage to his brain, but you told me it is a risk you are willing to take," coral pink irises pinned the chief of police solemnly and the female nodded slowly. "Unlike popular belief, memory is not congregated in one part of the brain, it is scattered and it's a harrowing business to separate his recollections from other things. Please leave me alone and under no circumstances should you allow anyone to bother me. Once I establish a link, I need to sever it in an orderly manner, an abrupt cut will send the boy into an irrecoverable coma and there is a high chance that I might suffer from the back lash as well." The three other members trooped out and Sabrina shut the door with a bang after them. Sighing, she removed her gloves, tied her waist length hair up in a high pony tail and examined her victim. Grabbing a few body electrodes, she neatly stuck them on Hugh's temples and cheeks. After making sure the recording device functioned correctly, she took her seat and grabbed on to hypno's free hand.

She saw fuzzy images; the pictures were layered with static and showed her things she could care less about. Hugh at a birthday party with his friends, curiously, she only saw the girl who smiled widely and had her hair still up in those cute little Chinese buns. The woman frowned and forced herself to delve deeper, wading through streams of painful and joyous memories and fumbling out of experiences. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and neck and she steered her consciousness away from her discomfort and peered into Hugh's memories.

"Hypno, use nightmare...Let's see what frightens him the most."

The effects were instantaneous, despite being hypnotized to the deepest level of sleep, the boy jerked involuntarily and cried out. The blurry pictures she saw earlier sharpened into high definition images and Sabrina breathed evenly to calm herself down. She did not allow herself to get excited or disturbed by what she saw, doing so will result in an abrupt serving of her connection, however, the woman couldn't keep the slight gasp escaping from her lips when the image of a crimson eyed, jet haired man surfaced in Hugh's mind. The battle the two fought and the reasons of Kanto's ex-champion's disappearance from the league became very clear. Feeling rather drained, Sabrina tightened her contact with hypno and started to extract her consciousness from Hugh's. The practice proved to be painful as her victim let go and churned up all his fears to the surface. He leeched on to her and projected his terrors, seeking comfort and an escape. More sweat poured from the psychic's skin and soaked her clothes. In half an hour, she developed a blistering fever and her hypno shifted uncomfortably from the heat emanating from its master's body. She lay limp, eyes closed and tears escaping from underneath shut lids, her hair came loose and fell around her in long, matted curls.

Time trickled by and yet; none of the two individuals in the room woke up.

A few weeks later

Unova

Castelia City

A flurry of activity seized the police headquarters in Unova, phones rang nonstop and officials rushed in and out of the building as they worked over time to piece together all the evidence and information they needed to apprehend the criminals. On the fifth floor, prominent members of the international police once again gathered around the table and shared their thoughts. They had decisive evidence of the Dex-criminals' crimes at the league and information of their recent, failed stint at stealing the duplicated Azure Flute in Sinnoh. Now all they needed was the location of their current base and a large scale bust could be drawn up and implemented.

"So what did poking around in the brat's head tell us?" Lt. Surge demanded and lifted his dirty combat boots on the table, next to him Volkner exhaled and immediately received a figurative slap in the face for his actions, "and what are you sighing for?" The older blonde boomed and lowered his tinted visor to leer at his subordinate, "you let two of the furrets escape. TWO! One of them confirmed to be the most notorious criminal in the Poke-verse! Have some decency or I'll send my boot up where it's not supposed to be!" Irritably, he lowered his feet off the table and proceeded to distract himself from his fury by disassembling and reassembling his handgun. "So? What secrets did you discover from the brat's head? It better be something worth listening to."

The chief of police tapped on her tablet and several images showed up on the large screen set at the end of the table, "I'm afraid the information is classified Lt. Surge and thus I will brief you and the other superintendents separately." The man grinded his teeth audibly but refrained from asking further questions, "the intellect we gained is very valuable, I assure you. Unfortunately, only Falkner and I are privy to those secrets for now. Firstly, I want to draw your attention to Sabrina, she is currently recuperating in hospital and has handed in her resignation letter. It seems she met with an accident whilst doing the work required of her." Anabel ticked off a few items on a list and continued speaking, "secondly, Hugh. Due to the experimental nature of this new method of interrogation...Hugh has forgotten everything from the past six months and suffers from memory lapses and anterograde amnesia. Fortunately, a team of psychic doctors and pokemon who are adept at these types of cases are currently working on him; we are funding the bill of course. It has been agreed dunking into the mind, as the procedure is called, is now a forbidden act and all the countries have outlawed its use, apart from Ransei of course."

"The proper term is Manas dunking..." Blaine murmured, "And forgive me for saying this chief, but you already knew it was an illegal process and you still went ahead and used it on the boy. Sabrina's record should've told you how unfavourable the outcome could be. The government uses her a lot to fish out confidentials from the heads of corrupt officials and wanted criminals. Not one of them survived the process without having some sort of lasting effect. We are no better than the people we want to bring to justice if we stoop as low as them." The elderly gym leader reclined in his seat and polished his eyeglasses with a cloth, "we already lost Steven and Norman...And now Sabrina is gone too...After we catch the Dex-criminal's please allow me to resign as well. I'm sick of this charade."

"Old timers like you should just sit back, polish their glasses and spend time with their grandchildren. And sometimes we have to play dirty to catch our prey." The Kanto electric type gym leader intoned and jerked his head at the screen, "let's get a move on, what information do we have? Sort them all out and let's see where that leaves us."

The screen flashed and a timeline appeared, several bits of the line were highlighted and the occupants in the room read the words intently. The Dex Criminals were founded over five years ago and it is suspected that they work as three distinct departments. Team Execution, their sign is two swords crossed over each other and they specialize in outdoor work such as capturing legendary pokemon. Next is Team Constellate, headed most likely by either Silver, or a brown haired female. A picture of those two along with their calling card image, a cluster of dark blue stars, popped up next to the snippet. This faction dealt with stealing and espionage. Finally Team Strategy, their insignia is a chess piece and they work behind the scenes, drawing up plans and sending the other two groups to execute them. The leaders of these factions are unknown, however, unlike all the other local criminal organizations; they work in a triumvirate formation. Each faction holds equal power to the next. Notable members include: Silver, also known as the phantom thief and recently found out to be the son of the late Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket. Blue, the brown haired woman who accompanied Silver when stealing the Azure Flute. Ruby, son of former Police member and current gym leader of Petalburg city, Norman. Whi-2 and Lack-2, kidnapped school children. Gold, former Kanto champion finalist who mysteriously disappeared and Crystal, a female who is friends with Gold and used to be an aide for Professor Oak. Black, a budding Pokedex holder who vanished soon after receiving his electronic encyclopaedia. Suspected members include: N, the former Team Plasma King and Platinum Berlitz. Another greyed out mug shot remained unnamed and it caused a commotion amongst the Police officials.

"Where...On earth did we gain this information from?" Claire coolly inquired and resisted the urge to grab her whip off the table and lash someone with it, "in our last meeting, we hardly received this amount of data and I'm sure...You are keeping more secrets from us." the dragon tamer accused and Falkner shifted uncomfortably under her strident gaze, "if you want our full co-operation, then I suggest you spill everything you know! My clan was against my participation in the police and yet I signed up for one. Don't let my effort go to waste." The woman adjusted her dragon skin cape and sat with her jaw taut.

"We gathered this new intelligence over the past few weeks," Falkner explained loudly over the clamour in the room, "after extracting information from Hugh, we, the superintendents, decided to go over every piece of information we have of the Dex-criminals and form a coherent timeline. In doing this, we came across several gaps and thus dispatched some of you to gather more intelligence. Brawley found out that Ruby is part of the Dex-criminals despite Norman vehemently denying it. Inspector Flint found a solid link between the organization and the Berlitz family, those nobles fund the criminals' activities and it is suspected that their daughter, Platinum is part of them. Whether she was kidnapped or not, we do not know. Furthermore, thorough investigations on the last two incidents those Dex Criminals caused, revealed a wealth of understanding. We traced their retreating trajectories, using space pokemon and a satellite; to three different places on the Poke-verse...three separate regions to be exact. One base is located in Sinnoh, another in Hoenn and a third one here in Unova. We do not know the exact location, but..." The cyan haired deputy flashed a series of security camera photographs on the monitor and zoomed up on two people. Using a laser, he pointed at one. "This is Lack-2, several weeks ago cameras sighted him an airport and he boarded a plane destined for Sinnoh," the picture changed to reveal another well dressed, indigo haired female, "and this is Crystal, at the airport and also boarding a plane for Sinnoh." The angry mutterings in the room died down and Falkner resumed his briefing, "I assume that the factions split apart and lied low for a few months before attempting to embark on missions on their own. As we can see, they failed and decided to quickly regroup. An in-depth look at their failures made everything clear to us and we have been horribly busy for the past several weeks."

The officials gazed at the screen with renewed disgust and amazement, some of them couldn't believe that a former member's son was part of the Dex criminals. "...So now they are in Sinnoh...It is prime opportunity to ensnare them isn't it?" Volkner piped up, "Sinnoh is my region and I'm not going to sit down and let those rattata fester in my homeland!"

"I agree with him" Cynthia brushed her hair aside and folded her hands on the table, she peered on a map of Sinnoh and pointed to a large island situated north-east of the landmass, "the mainland is too choked with Police, however, the security is more lax at the Fight, Survival and Resort area. If your prior news holds true and the Berlitz family is indeed affiliated with them...then they are here." She pointed to the resort area, "I have a holiday house there and so do the Berlitz family. They have a Victorian styled mansion big enough to doubly function as a base of operations. The thing is huge. Please conduct some reconnaissance to confirm my theories." She politely gathered her documents and eased up from the chair, "Chief Anabel, please allow me to take my leave, Sinnoh's Pokemon league has some business with me. Dipping her head respectfully, the blonde woman disappeared in a whirl of black and gold. Anabel noted the tired, almost robotic looks on her subordinate's faces; they had a bit too much information to digest.

"Well, I will leave the Intel gathering to the Sinnoh Police, Flint and Volkner if you please..." the responses varied amongst the two men. One acknowledged her with renewed vigor and determination whilst the other waved his arms and tucked his face in the crook of his elbow. Surge didn't have the energy to admonish his snoozing underling, this meeting had been tiring and he knew the subsequent gatherings would be even more taxing. Finally a breakthrough on the Organization they had been chasing zealously for the past three years and this time, they won't let go. "The meeting is dismissed for today, the next time, we shall reconvene in Sinnoh."

Evening

Sinnoh

Veilstone city

The meeting room in the police headquarters at Veilstone looked no different than the one in Castelia, Falkner mused as he eased himself in one of the brown leather seats dotting around a rectangular metallic table. Potted plants, some laden with berries, decorated the rather drab chamber and the table top held an array of tablets and other sophisticated gadgetry suspended on stands. The end of the table had a hologram projector and he spied a screen folded against the ceiling. Falkner snorted, in the good old days, when his father and grandfather were alive and serving in the police, they had to rely on pen, paper, maps, evidence from the crime and eye witness accounts. These days, the region's most cutting edge technology poured into the military and police division and yet, they couldn't bring a few criminals to justice. Granted, the opposition had also become crafty and more than once, when a legendary pokemon or a sacred relic had been stolen, the police arrived on the scene only to find a missing something and a card lying teasingly on the floor.

Mockingly.

The glass doors slid open to let a procession of people through, he spied Anabel and Cynthia striding in the air conditioned chamber and regally taking their seats. Looker entered a few minutes later, tapping furiously in his communications device before stowing it away in a shabby coat. Lt. Surge and Volkner followed suit, the former had a cigarette screwed in his lips and he pulled out the stick and flung it into a bin before entering. Brawly and Flint walked into the room, laughing at some private joke and a few minutes later idle chatter filled the meeting area. The Unova and Kanto natives arrived last. Everyone took a seat, swapped greetings and pleasantries and almost at once, the topic turned to the Dex-criminals. The atmosphere in the room tensed and all the technology beeped to life at once. Falkner, who lived in Johto, couldn't help but be surprised by the efficiency of the gadgets, thanks to the after effects of Kanto's civil war, the neighboring region, Johto, also suffered from much casualties and could not afford such high-tech such equipment. In tiring times, it opened its gates to those seeking asylum...and those who fled the region simply because it didn't suit them. A faction of Blackthorn's Dragon clan who resided in the Indigo Plateau in Kanto, moved back to their home region after the war. This sparked some international rivalries and Kanto demanded some heavy compensation. Thus the Johto association paid princely sums to Kanto and the war torn region benefitted from the revenue.

"Are we all here?" He asked and nodded to a scribe who recorded things down. The mass around the table inclined their heads solemnly and for the first time, Lt. Surge lost the mad spark in his eyes; the blonde man appeared as a totally different person and Falkner saw something swirling in the individual's lapis irises. Today, he listened with rapt attention and to the astonishment of more than a few people, did not heft his dusty boots up on the table. "Okay, let's get the meeting started straight away. Unfortunately we also have to sortie tonight." A swell of indignant voices rose and the cobalt haired deputy let them argue amongst themselves, "I understand many of you are tired, but this is an emergency as well. I will reveal the details shortly, firstly I want to mention that all the members who are in possession of a legendary, or a pseudo mythical pokemon must join this raid...It is imperative. However, due to reasons beyond her and our control, Misty from Cerulean city will not be able to attend this meeting, nor join us. Her Suicune did not follow orders when we tried to condition him to another member. The second factor is time; the Dex-criminals are quick on the uptake and masters of escape. If we do not strike now, we will lose this opportunity." The Johto native straightened up from his hunched position and pressed a button, with a whirr, the folded monitor descended from the ceiling, blinked to life and displayed an image of a beautiful Victorian mansion, the main block had two other wings attached to it and dark green ivy fashionably wreathed the off white domicile. He nodded to Lt. Surge who sprang up from his seat.

"Alright punks!" the soldier banged a fist on the table and Volkner grimaced at his uncouth tendencies, "A few days ago, Volkner and Flint sent in drones to scour the small island east of Snowpoint and like Cynthia predicted, we found them...Their base that is." He cast a glare at anyone who uttered a peep, "before we could get a good visual of the place, our bots were fried and one taken hostage by a porygon z, at least I think so and no one can tell me otherwise! Primitive they can be but when it comes to hacking and breaking in, those things are unrivalled." No one dared to disagree with him even though Volkner wanted to point out that Rotom could hack into any type of machinery and possess it. "Those criminals suspect we are on to them-"

"Obviously they will know..." a drawl cut into Surge's lecture and the chamber held its breath, every eye locked on to the younger blonde who raised his head and rolled his eyes. "They managed to get a security drone-"

"LET ME FINISH YOU INSOLENT MORON!" The older blonde barked and those nearest to him shifted away from fright, never drive Lt. Surge crazy, they inwardly agreed. Taking a deep breath, the electric type gym leader rubbed the bridge of the nose and stared at his map, "now where was I? OH! The drones...I had Blaine program a virus in it so the security measures in there degraded as soon as it was sabotaged. Those criminals might think that it's a routine weather drone...That veered a bit too close to their mansion. Let's hope so. IN ANY CASE! That is the reason why we have to move tonight...All the transportation routes are closely monitored by police and if they have the urge to run, we have to net them before they get out of Sinnoh." Electric blue eyes peered at each member intently, the superintendents eyed him back without flinching but a few other inspectors and lower tier officials either sheepishly looked away or refused to see the soldier in the eye. The image on the monitor changed to display a map and here, Lt. Surge picked up a pointer and stabbed the rod on the screen, leaving multicolored ripples in its wake. "This is a map of their base and don't ask how we got this, we higher ups have our ways. Cynthia and I are in charge of this mission and if anyone screws their roles up...I'll introduce you to my Raichu," someone gulped audibly, "The building is three stories high and there are no less than six exits on the ground floor and all of them have to be covered. On the second and third floor, the means of escape marginally decreases due to the height risk, between them; there are eight places where those furrets can squeeze out. All of these will be blocked and you will receive your statuses shortly." A smartly dressed woman entered the meeting room and handed out leaflets. "Now for the main plan...Chief, please do the honors."

The burly man sat down and took a swig of water from his personalized flask. He never drank anything offered by others. Anabel shifted out of her seat and continued from where he left off, tapping the screen more gently than her subordinate, she explained in a much more ear pleasing voice: "The sabotage will be carried out by the four superintendents and they are to be assisted by Blaine and Volkner who wield Entei and Raikou respectively. Ideally, we want to capture all the members but time and time again, they prove to be worthy adversaries so we are aiming to net at least a commander or two and their direct subordinates." She allowed the members to hold a brief discussion before the chamber became marginally silent, "A well-orchestrated surprise attack is our best strategy, no one is allowed to enter the building at any cost, if you do, an alarm will tip them off." Falkner inhaled sharply and fidgeted, "Lt. Surge will signal the process with an earthquake, whilst the others will take care of attacking. Please remember this is a large scale mission and for the safety of the neighbors, the island will be discreetly evacuated." The chief of police glanced down at a slim watch wrapped around her wrist, "the evacuating process has already begun. Members who are stationed outside the villa have moved already. The mission..." she paused as tension clogged the air, "has already begun."

"Chief..." Brawly stood up from his chair, "don't you think this is progressing a bit too fast? I mean-"

"LISTEN up you spineless weedle!" Surge stomped out of his seat and grabbed the Hoenn native by the collar, "when you are a soldier...You put your life on the line, GET IT?" The turquoise haired man trembled, nodded mutely and sagged down under pitied gazes.

"Time to sortie...Move out." Anabel declared and meeting chamber erupted into a flurry of organized chaos.

Evacuating the civilians proved to be a harrowing process. Looker earned an earful of curse words when a couple refused to leave their holiday home. He forlornly watched the other, more obedient citizens being ushered out into unmarked police cars whilst the duo before him shut themselves up in their mansion. Feeling a vein throb in his temples, the man decided that he was done playing nice guy and grabbed a megaphone off a member of his team. In a wonderful imitation of Lt. Surge, he roared into the megaphone and gleefully watched the pair scurry out. The man threw him a filthy look but allowed himself to be bundled into the back of a car. Looker tapped on his tablet and confirmed the area as clear.

Afternoon melted into evening as one by one, the occupants living, working or holidaying on the island emptied out. The fight arena and battle towers shut down for the night, the survival area morphed into a jungle and the resort area resembled a ghost town. On the digital screen, he smiled at the placement of officers, most of them concentrated around the Berlitz mansion and spread apart from the point, covering the entire island like a giant spinarak web. This task had been purely covert; the teams carried what they needed and came via public transportation and aerial pokemon. Helicopters and police vans would just alert their target. Fingers brushing against the cold metal of a gun, Looker brought the weapon out and after a quick polish of it with his tattered sleeves, he returned it to his holster, his superior preferred a handheld crossbow and used arrows fashioned out of Keldeo's molted horn fragments. Those arrows could pierce dragonhide. The officer longed to see his superior again and felt thrilled to know that he'd be joining in the raid. His phone rang and with a hurry, the man accepted the call and replied to the other end. "Yes sir, my toxicroak has given the area a sweep, I saw the formation..." he listened for a few seconds more, "alright, I'm on my way...Has, err my superior arrived?" At his question, the superintendent on the other end, no doubt Surge, barked another order and abruptly cut the call. The international police investigator felt foolish; nonetheless, he straightened up, pulled his trademark trench coat tighter around his body and swept his police hat off toxicroak. The frog pokemon looked up as its master slicked his hair back and placed the hat firmly on his head. "I'll be taking this back Toxicroak" he smiled, "if tonight's mission goes well...I'll buy myself a new coat." Saying this, he ambled off into the night and the poisonous beast watched its trainer's back for a few moments before hurrying after the human.

A/N: And the police are at it again. Anyone want to guess what will happen next? Anyway, much thanks to inklaced for following the story, hopefully the story will continue to be a pleasant read. At Jack54311: Red will wipe the floor with them if he was battling seriously and Sycamore does not know who stole the mega-stones. As for funding, heh, that's going to be the last thing on their agenda. At AceTrainerLeaf: :) I hate health checkups, If something is wrong with me, I prefer to sleep it off. Hmm...I think your sentence make much more sense, feel free to interpret it as such, I'm getting lazy with my editing again so with the next chapter, I'll peel my eyes and watch out for mistakes. I was having a pretty crappy day but your review just lifted my mood so thanks for that.

Anyway, virtual cookies and cake for all those who read and reviewed. Please keep on dropping a line of your thoughts. And can anyone spare me a slab of dark chocolate? Preferably the ones with 70% cocoa? I really need it, I can feel my brain unraveling because of not having proper chocolate in my system.