Flame wakes up too find himself in a very unusual position. He'd gotten out of the frying pan and into the freezer, but can a slightly cracked ally help him out? And is Flame slightly cracked himself?

Episode Twenty-Seven: The New Inmate

I remember waking up that night, finding myself being carried in the arms of someone. I assumed it was Moron, my body didn't want to move so I couldn't look to find out. This person was running along a dirt trail as fast as its legs could go. Of course, I had no idea where I was being taken but I hoped it was some sort of Pokémon Center before I blacked out once more.

I had this weird dream. I was floating, everything around me was black. There was a white flash of light and this pink furred cat-like thing was before me. Although I had never seen it before, I knew exactly what it was. Mew, ancestor of all Pokémon.

"Be strong and you will come out of this intact. Your friends will save your life, but not in the way you initially expect," Mew said in its soft, purring voice. It made no sense to me, but I assumed it had some meaning. Unless Mew was one to go around putting fake crap in Pokémon's heads for a laugh. I didn't know and didn't really want to think about it.

Suddenly, the whole world around us exploded in a flash of white and my head filled with the most immense pain imaginable. I was yanked back to reality and regained consiousness screaming. The pain vanished as quick as it had come and I was able to take stock of my surroundings.

I was laying on a cold stone floor, looking up at a equally stone ceiling. I sat up, amazed that my back was no longer hurting. I looked around, puzzled as to my location. I definatly was not in a Pokémon Center, unless they come in black stone and were sealed.

The room was about ten paces long from wall to wall, in both directions. One of the walls was made of steel and I could hear muffled talking on the other side of it. Small slits ran along it, presumably to let in air. The only light was the little that came through the air slits and what was provided by my tail flame.

Suddenly - the entire room jerked and I fell forward, cracking my head on the steel. A loud clang rang out, both literally and inside my skull. As I rubbed my head and got to me feet, I became aware that the voices outside my confinement had stopped.

The steel wall swung, yes swung, inwards a small. I guessed it was some sort of flap, which explained how I got in. A small ball was rolled in through the small hole. In the dim light I could make out the familier red and white markings.

"Oh hell no," I managed to say as a red beam struck me in the chest and I was pulled inside.

I was held in the simulated prison for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Before I felt a small pull that pretty much yanked my essence and body back into the real world once more. This time, I found myself in a much larger stone room.

I spun round to blast Moron and came to a dead halt when I found myself looking, not at my Trainer but at one of the Team Rocket bandits. The bandit was standing on the other side of some bars with a stupid grin on his face.

"You may have defeated my Hypno but we still managed to grab you and escape. You are ours now," he laughed, then his grin vanished and he coninued in a much less jolly voice, "And later, I will have you punished for the damage you inflicted on Hypno."

I snorted in disgust and stared the bandit bastard strait in the eyes. We stared each other off for several seconds before the Human turned away and walked out of sight from my cage.

"Bastard. Now what am I supposed to do?" I said to myself, flopping to the floor. You can picture my suprise when I got an answer.

"You wait, soon all of us prisoners are going to bust out of here. We ware going to make those Rockets pay," came a low growl from behind me. I lept up and turned to see a small, fox Pokémon standing behind me. My companion had six curled tails and its fur was mottled with dirt, which was why I hadn't spotted it initially.

"Welcome to hell," the Vulpix said with a slight grin, "I'm Alpha. Leader of the Pokémon Rebelion here."

"Flame, now you mentioned something about busting out of here. How are we going to manage that?"

"Not sure yet, me and the others are working on that. But we must have faith, or we will be in here untill they break our wills and mould us to their evil cause," The Vulpix said.

I got the distinct impression that he was a little loose in the head but I was stuck with him. Plus, he was my only way out. There was no way that I was going to stick around if there was any chance of escaping there and burning it to the ground.

"Okay. Fill me in and lets see what I can do to help."