Chapter 4: Shadows Under Castelia
Burgh found himself on Homura's doorstep at 4:00 am after only a few days. They mutually agreed that Plasma needed a quick death, and the lives of the stolen Pokémon were probably a time sensitive matter. In Burgh's experience, Plasma occasionally kept their test subjects alive; but only when they really needed it.
He would never forget the hundreds of stolen gurdurr, boldore, and unfeasant who's skeletons formed the foundation of N's castle.
Burgh prepared by transferring a few Pokémon he thought may be useful and carried the legal limit of a full team of six. He had Leavanny of course, he wouldn't be caught dead without his ace and closest friend, Scolipede in case he needs a heavy-hitter, Vespiquen for air-support, Beautifly for her stun spore, Galvantula to set traps, and finally Excavalier in case Leavanny goes down. A good split between fighters and utility ought to do the trick and a few tricks up his sleeve gave him a lot of hope. He couldn't rely on Homura for back-up; she wouldn't tell him what she was packing.
The sky was still dark and almost no one was on the street, save one or two homeless bums, but the Pokémon living in the alleys were just as active as before. Even Munchlax had swapped sleeping positions since he was last there.
Burgh wrapped his knuckles on the door and waited only seconds before Homura cracked the door and walked away.
He stepped inside. "I prepared a full team of six, a gym leader's finest!" He declared with a joking bow.
Homura had one foot on the couch while she strapped her boot. She was wearing a tank top and Burgh realized he never actually knew what she really looked like now that Homura wasn't hidden in baggy clothes and long hair. She had a wiry body like she didn't eat enough, but her arms bore a lot of corded muscle and a few scars that said she didn't need the bulk to be a threat. Her hair was pulled back in a severe bun, revealing a sharp face with dark features that was actually kind of pretty. It was also vaguely familiar, but the memory escaped him. Homura had six pokeballs at her hip which gave Burgh a bit of relief.
"I always carry a full six." Homura said. She set her foot down and worked it into the boot. "I've prepared a program to track the signal in the sewers so we can navigate in full darkness. I doubt they would use the same exact location as before."
Burgh nodded. "No, I suppose not, but the general search area is same as before."
"Plus, we can tell if one of those things are coming." Homura added. She unclipped a ball from her belt and released a Pokémon. In the living room appeared a beldum. Homura pulled the hovering Pokémon down to eye level. "This is Bode. His red light is harder to detect than normal flashlights and he's able to communicate with my phone to warn us of an incoming signal and track it himself. He'll be our guide."
Burgh walked up to the Beldum with his arms folded behind his back and leaned in for a good look. Its unblinking glassy red eye stared back at him, though it was impossible to tell what it was thinking; or if it was thinking. There was no face for Burgh to understand, though admittedly, bugs often had the same problem. They just weren't popular in people's homes for being too alien. Burgh never had a connection to steel types, but he somewhat understood why Homura might gravitate towards them. "This is a powerful Pokémon line; how did you acquire it?" He asked.
Homura cracked a sly smile. "He came from the original and the original was a gift from my father. That one has been with me since I was a kid."
Burgh smiled back. So, she did care about someone.
"Let's head out before the sun rises." He said.
Homura took Burgh several blocks down to a whole new part of the district, which wasn't at all where he told Homura to go. The sun was fully up now and slowly baking the trash and droppings in the street. The manhole they stood over was particularly vile with noxious gas leaking out of the tiny rusted holes.
"You're certain the best way is through a manhole?" Burgh asked. Homura and Burgh peered down the manhole of the nearest service entrance. They didn't see anything, but they sure smelled something.
"Yes." Homura confirmed.
"And not, say, the giant entrance near the bay with walkable space?"
"Were going in this way whether you like it or not." Homura said. She turned and stepped on to the first rung of the ladder. "Plus, I have a connection down there who could help."
"You make a lot of strange friends." Burgh said.
"Thank you." Homura disappeared into the void and Bode drifted after her.
Burgh wrinkled his nose. He was no stranger to getting dirty; he trained bugs after all, but sewage was another tier of 'dirty'. He turned and started down the ladder himself, pulling the manhole cover shut after him.
He stepped down a few rungs. His foot slipped on the next. Burgh's voice rose an octave as he dropped straight into ankle-deep cold water.
"Watch out, the ladder is slippery." Homura said. She didn't even look up from the device in her hands.
"The warning was much appreciated." Burgh instinctually wiped his pants off and got sewer water all over his hands. He tried to stand to his full height and clocked his dome on the cement ceiling. "Now can I hear your full plan or are you determined to be cryptic again today?" He'd asked for three days for details and Homura evaded everytime. All he knew was what she mentioned that morning, which did not include basic things like what to do when they find the signal or what they would do with any criminals they find along the way.
"I prefer the word 'reserved' rather than cryptic, cryptic gives me far too much credibility." She said.
Burgh frowned. "Does that mean you don't have a plan?"
"I do as of two hours ago." Homura turned the device towards Burgh. It displayed a few sets of continuous jagged waves on the tiny black and green screen. She pointed, saying "These are the signals we picked up and cleaned earlier at the top and the bottom signals are the ones we currently hear. The closer we are, the higher the percent match. Now we play hot-cold with it."
"And what about your connection?" Burgh asked.
"We'll find him eventually. For now, Bode can guide us, his red light is much harder to detect than a normal flashlight." Homura said. Burgh stared into Bode's static red eye.
"Lead on then." Burgh checked his belt for all six pokeballs. He'd rather not have to use them, but past dealings with Plasma reminded him that violence still existed in this world no matter how insulated they were from the feudal past.
Homura and Burgh wandered the sewer in silence and darkness. Homura was the first person he'd ever met who felt comfortable in silence with a stranger. No forced awkward small talk about the weather or rising Castelia cone prices. As an introvert, he appreciated it. Her presence was calm and collected, even in the dark, potentially criminal infested tunnels beneath Castelia and kept his nerves to a minimum. Numerous Pokémon splashed away from them, spooking Burgh every five minutes until he grew used to the ambiance. Homura never jumped. She strolled through like it was a trip to the convenience store.
Burgh was impressed by the new section of Castelia's sewers; he never knew such a labyrinth festered just under their feet. They never saw the same tunnel twice and the path seemed to have an endless number of turns. They could've been under his gym for all he knew, even though that was in the heart of the downtown, miles from Homura's alleyway.
The tunnels would shrink, forcing him into an awkward squat-walk, but then suddenly open into a cavern large enough to accommodate two convenient sidewalks next to the water. Annoying at first, but eventually he fell into a rhythm and his mind wandered away from the present. The only thing focused on the real-world was his left hand as it brushed his poke balls.
An inkling of fear wouldn't leave him, though it didn't come from the sewers. Ever since he fought Plasma years ago, his view of the world felt a little off-kilter.
Burgh was known for his skill with bright colors before he was known for his skill with bug Pokémon. In fact, his love of bugs came from their naturally bright colors and zany personalities. Kaleidoscopic wings, false eyes, vivid oranges, reds, and greens, these things were how they lived. Art was their body and life! He once went on sabbatical just to capture all the forms of Vivillon for a little inspiration.
That was his art. Was.
Burgh's art these past few years felt darker than he remembered, though he couldn't pinpoint when the change happened. Team Plasma sucked up his free time for a long while as well as his headspace. It became a little parasite, gnawing at his brain from the inside out. Every little thing that reminded him of them kicked a combee's nest in his head.
His art suffered for it.
The moment his next piece, A Sketch Upon Driftveil Bridge, went up next to his pre-Plasma period pieces, he could tell the color was drained from it.
The figures of Leavanny and Scolipede were off a few degrees. His Magnum Opus, La Danse des Papillons, captured the beauty and freedom of the Vivillon he spent months studying. In contrast, Leavanny stood…tense. Not actively in distress, but something had infected the mood of his work.
Plasma had shown him the worst side of humanity. The first mission he went on brought Burgh face to face with a purrloin living in its own detritus in the name of freeing Pokémon.
It was obviously a fake message, a front for a single man's unjust desires.
Lab upon lab of caged Pokémon consumed his life for a month. He spent a few years away in a shiny, clean world away from such things, he had slowly forgotten it ever existed. He grew up middle-class, went to art school, travelled the world, and trained his way into a gym in downtown Castelia. But had he really experienced the world?
His mediation broke as he crashed into Homura.
"Oof!" She grunted. "Look down when you walk, I'm not that tall! We're here."
"Taller than most women." He remarked. She wasn't a giant but did come close to the average man. Burgh looked around at the unremarkable concrete walls. "Here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Homura kneeled to the murky water, dangling something in it. She didn't elaborate on what 'here' was.
"You can stand use your words once in a while, it would save a lot of confusion on my end." He said.
"You're an artist, you should be used to cryptic wordless bullshit." Homura mocked.
"There is a message in art if you care to ever think on it!" Burgh said.
"Spending anytime in that part of my brain is just depressing."
That hit a little close to home these days. Luckily, he didn't need to dwell on that as three shiny blobs surfaced in the murky water. Bode's light focused on them. Staring back was a trio of trubbish, stack on top of one another like a particularly vile Castelia cone.
"This is your connection…" Burgh said.
Homura smirked. "People pan anything that can't fight well in a league, but I believe any Pokémon can be useful if you pay attention to your environment." She whispered to the trubbish. Then, they sank into the channel, disappearing under the oily surface. "We're in good hands." Homura said standing up.
Burgh smiled. No one ever believed bug-types could be good enough to compete either. A strong bond and knowledge go a long way.
They continued winding through the tunnels for some time, navigating by the thin red beam emitted from Bode's eye and Burgh grew pretty comfortable with the sewer.
Too comfortable.
Bode's red light snapped off in a flash and plunged them into darkness. Before Burgh could even ask, he felt Homura yank his arm and drag him around a corner and her hand clamp over his mouth. For second, he thought Homura betrayed him and was about to slit his throat, but a foreign red light washed the tunnel they were just in.
The light was wide and spanned the width of channel. A low mechanical hum rolled through the floor and the source of the light passed by; it looked like a thick disc but had two eerie red lights in front that reminded Burgh of a beedrill.
His heart started to pound. What the hell was that? And what did its existence imply?
Homura waited a couple minutes after the drone disappeared before taking her hand away from Burgh. Immediately, he said, "Is that a security drone?"
"I would assume so, but there's something more to it; the signal was coming from that thing. Whatever it is, its alive." She whispered.
Burgh's blood turned to ice. Those were eyes and specifically, eyes just like those fossils years ago. However, those fossils had a whole body attached, this only looked like a drone. Still, Burgh couldn't be certain it didn't have a body somewhere; he was already in disbelief that Plasma managed to recreate something Lenora claimed was impossible to resurrect. He would have to discuss with Homura later.
Bode flicked his light on again and Burgh blinked, letting his eyes adjust back. The shadows on Homura's face exaggerated her dark features and Burgh could tell her expression was tight.
"We're not far." She said. "Get ready."
They returned to the tunnel with no trouble, though Burgh kept looking over his shoulder. This section felt eerily quiet. It didn't help that they were in the largest corridor they'd travelled yet; the tunnel was wide enough to have two sidewalks on either side of the channel and high enough for a staraptor to comfortably fly. They stopped on a corner at an intersection with a lit dead end to their left and Homura pulled Bode back before it drifted into the light.
She peeked around the corner. Burgh felt his throat tighten.
She held up two fingers to him and mouthed "Two people."
Shit.
There was no avoiding a fight today.
Homura returned Bode just as Burgh picked Galvantula from his belt. He didn't know what his opponents were packing so going for a quick capture was a safe bet. Close quarters made Beautify's sleep powder risky, and the dead end meant they had to face them head on. That said, it gave them a good shot at cornering the lab.
He tapped Homura on the shoulder and whispered, "Sticky web," and she nodded. Burgh heard the click of Homura's finger against her pokeball. Burgh readied his. She counted down '3, 2, 1'.
Burgh charged in, releasing Galvantula into the narrow maintenance lane. "Sticky web, on the guards!" He said.
Two half-asleep men that flanked a heavy metal door scrambled to the pokeballs on their vests, but Galvantula launched a viscous net and ensnared them both, pinning them to the wall. "Paralyze them, quick!" A thin spark travelled the line and arced across the web. The men's arms straightened and pinned themselves to their sides.
"Nice…try." One choked out. His finger reached a device on his hip and an angry, ear-splitting signal sounded from the speaker.
Burgh covered his ears and Galvantula shuddered; the noise felt like an icepick on his ear drums. He returned his Pokémon and swapped the ball for Leavanny.
Homura ran out. "So much for that plan. Klinklang, stand by!" Bright light flashed and the gear Pokémon appeared. "Shift gear!" she shouted and Klinklang rearranged its whole body into a more aggressive, streamlined form.
Burgh felt the mechanical hum return. Shit. "Leavanny!" His pokeball flashed and the thin frame of Leavanny appeared in a gracious bow. Burgh loved Leavanny's optimism in the worst situations.
Homura dashed to the men, ripped the noise-generator from his hip and crushed it in her fist to Burgh's surprise.
Too late.
He turned around and they were corned by the drone from earlier. It was much bigger than he realized and had a thick purple shell encasing the flat disk like a mechanical exoskeleton.
But there was more. From both directions came two liepard bounding into the dead end.
"I can handle the Liepard, their weak to bug Pokémon. Can you take the drone?" Burgh said. Leavanny bent down and performed a swords dance.
"I can certainly try." Homura said. "Klinklang, gear grind!" The gear Pokémon clicked and whirred, revving its gears into a blur and speeding off after the drone. It separated its body and attempted to clamp the drone between its heaviest gears, but the drone dipped out of the way.
Meanwhile, the Liepard charged, eager for blood. "Leavanny, defend with x-scissor!"
Leavanny chirped back. Both Liepard pounced and at the peak of their jump, Leavanny sliced both arms across their bodies with an audible shink! The attack launched both Liepard back and they skated on their claws over the wet concrete. As soon as they were down, they bounced back, this time flanking Leavanny.
Burgh chuckled. "Our opponents have an unfair advantage, but bugs have many limbs for a reason!" He mimed the x-scissor attack on his own. "Use your leaf blade and prepare to defend yourself!"
Both the Liepard launched a coordinated series of attacks against Leavanny, but Leavanny proved her strength as a Gym Leader's ace and met them, blow for blow in a frantic dance for survival, her arms moving as two halves of the same sword. Their claws raked her hardened exoskeleton, but Leavanny kept a bright smile on her face. "Your form is impeccable." Burgh complimented.
Things on Homura's end were not so great. Klinklang caught the drone in its gears, and they sparked against its metallic shell with a ragged screech. The drone resisted every attack and backed away from them. A cannon ejected itself from its back and a crackling ball of electricity grew at the tip.
"Shit." Homura cursed. She could recognize a zap cannon by sound alone. "Around the corner, now!" She yelled and Klinklang banked hard. The drone launched the zap cannon and it exploded on the concrete corner Klinklang hid behind. It left a scary smoking crater, but thankfully, zap cannon was as strong as it was unwieldly.
The drone turned to Homura and her eyes widened. There was a small window as the payload grew in its cannon and she charged underneath the drone, then took off around the corner, but it didn't work a second time. The drone tilted and the cannon pulsed as it launched the payload at deadly velocity.
BOOM! Homura felt the heat and energy crackle behind her, and the impact knocked her down, though it wasn't her that took it. Klinklang clattered to the ground in a glowing heat that steamed against the concrete.
She needed a lot more power to face this thing. Homura returned Klinklang just as the drone warmed up to another blast and pulled out her own ace. "Nyquist, go for the drone!"
Nyquist's body hogged the narrow hall and the several-ton metal monster planted all four legs into the concrete, cracking the ground under it.
Burgh watched a metagross, a true monster of a Pokémon, appear before him just as Leavanny landed the last fatal blow on the remaining Liepard. Homura stood behind Metagross, poised for battle.
Burgh beamed. "It's a wonder I've never seen her in the Gym challenge. Leavanny, let's assist our friend!" Leavanny chirped happily and skipped across the channel, its sharp blades glowing with power. "X-scissor!"
Leavanny jumped and landed x-scissor on the dome of the drone. The drone's zap cannon attack was cut short, and it steadied itself in the air. Burgh set his jaw when he realized Leavanny's blades weren't strong enough to penetrate its shell.
"Nyquist, engage in a dogfight." Homura commanded. Nyquist folded its legs up and hovered. Burgh felt the ground rumble as it took off, stirring a wave of water in its wake that flooded the walkway. The drone tilted and sped away and the two were locked in a high-speed chase down the tunnel.
Leavanny ran a few feet before she realized she was not catching up to them.
"That'll distract that thing for bit, we need to get through the door before they've had a chance to destroy the evidence. No doubt they know we're here, I wouldn't be shocked if they set-up an escape plan." Homura jogged past Burgh and made for the door. Thankfully the men were still bound and paralyzed; they would need their information later.
"Leavanny, look out for Metagross and the drone! I'll be right here." Burgh said. Leavanny gave him a cheerful salute.
Homura bent down and examined the door. It had a passcode lock on it. "Shit." She rasped.
Burgh looked at the number pad himself. "Pretty prolific for a sewer hideout, don't you think?"
"That's what scares me." Homura growled. Then, she pulled a black device off one guard's belt and flicked a switch. Two metal prongs ejected from the top and electricity arced between them. Burgh's eye widened. No way was she actually…
Homura held the prongs close to the guard's face and his pupils narrowed. Burgh could see his neck muscles strain against the paralysis as he desperately tried to lean away. "Give me the passcode." She said in a low voice.
Burgh swallowed. He really couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not. As much as he hated Team Plasma, he never once used unnecessary force.
"You've got a lot of balls, girly." The guard mocked through his strained throat.
"Don't test me." Homura growled. Burgh's throat felt tight.
"Homura?" Burgh said.
She shot him a pointed look, looked back at the guard, them jammed the prongs into his collarbone.
Burgh watched in horror as the guard shook violently with a muffled scream. "What is wrong with you?" Burgh yelled.
The guard fell limp and panted after Homura pulled the weapon away. "I'm getting us results, there are Pokémon in danger, right Burgh?"
"Not like this." Burgh said between his teeth. Homura glowered at him, then raised the weapon again.
"No! Please, 7834, 7834…" He repeated over and over.
Homura flicked the device off. "Life has taught me bluffs aren't effective." She punched in the code and the lock clicked with a soft kerchunk! Bluish LED light filtered through the crack in the door. Homura charged in, but Burgh stayed behind for a moment, watching the guard. His heart felt tight. He looked to Leavanny and caught sight of a pair of red eyes flying directly at them from down the hall.
Burgh swung the door open, shouting "Homura! The drone is coming right for the door."
Behind the door was a lab, filled with all sorts of odd devices, though many of them looked like they'd been stripped and shut down. In the center was a table, big enough to fit one of those drones and covered in scraps of purple metal, as well as surgical tools. To the left was another entry way, though it was dark beyond the plastic curtain.
Homura toggled a switch on a machine rapidly. "Dammit, they stripped the whole damn thing. We ain't gonna have shit to work with."
"Homura," Burgh said firmly, "The drone is coming right for us, if we don't-"
"Oh of course!" Homura snapped sarcastically. She came back to Burgh and pushed past him. The drone was close now and a ball of light growing on the end of its cannon sent chills down Burgh's spine.
"Nyquist, magnet rise!" She shouted. Burgh felt the pressure in the tunnel change and the snaps on his pants tug on his legs. The zap cannon attack suddenly dispersed, but the drone kept moving forward.
"No way, that thing's organic." Homura whispered. Both of them booked it towards the lab and Burgh called Leavanny back. He shoved the door shut just as the drone crashed into it, knocking him backwards and cracking his head on the table.
A splitting pain shot up the back of his head. Homura offered a hand and pulled him to his feet, but the world slid sideways for a second.
The racket outside reminded Burgh of all those robot action movies when they actually fought each other. They listened for a painful thirty seconds to the violent battle raging just outside. Then, it went quiet. Homura put her ear to the door. Leavanny stepped in front of Burgh and raised her blades.
BOOM! Homura flew back into Burgh. She hung in his arms and the right side of her face was swelling.
A pair of purple claws reached through a crack in the door, but Leavanny forced it shut with surprising strength. However, Leavanny was trained for speed, not endurance and the monster was slowly winning, working its flat head through the door. Its arm reached for Homura's leg and Burgh dragged her away, but the room was tight; there weren't many places to hide from this thing.
An idea popped into Burgh's head. Homura mentioned this thing was organic. If its not a robot, that means…
"Beautifly!" He said, tossing the ball into the corner of the room. Beautiful appeared and Burgh shouted, "Sleep powder, now!" Beautifly flapped her wings and a dusting of silvery powder rushed through the air. Burgh removed his scarf and covered Homura's mouth and nose with it and then covered his own with his free hand and held his breath. Leavanny dropped, but so did the monster, its flat head sliding down and clocking the ground with a metallic ring.
Burgh felt his eyes droop. That was what he was afraid of. Homura went from dizzy to fast asleep, rendering the scarf useless, so Burgh set her down gently. He fought the urge to curl up in a sewer lab for a nice nap and returned Beautifly.
The monster just laid there, and one claw stuck out in the door. That drone appeared to have sprouted a whole body, which was somehow even more terrifying than when it flew. Its red eyes were dark, and Burgh nudged it with his foot. It rocked in place. Out cold. He let the door creak open and surveyed the battlefield.
The first thing he noticed was that the two guards were missing, the webs cut to pieces all over the floor. Apparently, the monster had time to free them before breaking down the door, it clearly knew who its masters were. Beyond that was 'Nyquist', leaning against the wall with nasty scuffs and dents marking its metal body. Its dim red eyes flickered back, alive, but badly hurt. Burgh heard a faint series of clicks and electrical beeps coming from it, but Burgh shook his head.
"Sorry friend, if you're trying to speak, I can't understand you." He looked down at the monster at his feet. It was huge, but its body was troublingly familiar with insect like appendages, a thorax, and an odd cannon jammed on its back. It reminded Burgh of a kabutops, or maybe a scizor, but way more…unnatural. He nudged the monster again and chuckled.
Suddenly, its other arm gabbed his leg and pulled him down. Burgh fell to his elbows and felt pain shoot up them. He tried to wrench his ankle away, but the monster had a death grip. He stomped the hand to no avail; this thing didn't feel much pain from his boots.
"Off, beast, OFF!" He shouted.
Burgh heard the water bubble behind him. Suddenly, a wave surged from the channel and covered the whole tunnel, dousing Burgh in foul slimy water. A massive blob slapped the shore and swallowed the monster in its chunky body. Burgh watched in awe and horror at a giant garbodor sitting on the monster, sticking it to the ground, and suffocating it in pounds of garbage. Burgh felt the monster loosen its grip around his ankle and he shuffled back to the wall. Garbodor grumbled and belched as the monster thrashed under its weight, but Garbodor's soft body soaked the impact quite well. Eventually, the monster shut down completely and succumbed to its injuries and Garbodor's assault.
Burgh laughed. "Thank you, friend, I never thought my hero would be clad in plastic trash bags!" The Garbodor belched at him which he assumed was its way of saying 'thank you'. He turned to Nyquist whose eyes were flickering. "I'm guessing those noises weren't for me, you were calling this thing over, huh?"
Nyquist clicked back. Burgh got up, pulled a banana peel off his pants, and frowned. That suit was not worth washing at this point.
He strode over to the door and found Homura taking a nap on top of Leavanny. In another context, it would've been quite funny to find. He returned Leavanny for some much-needed rest and shook Homura's shoulder.
"Mmf, I'm not in the mood Kiki." She mumbled.
Burgh probably shouldn't have heard that. "Beautifly's sleep powder was super effective it seems." He stood and gave her a hard kick with his pointed shoes right into her side.
"OOF!" Homura coughed and held her side. "There are better ways of doing that!"
"Ah but this one was more fun." Burgh said. "Anyways, the coast is clear, Garbodor rescued me just in time."
Homura rubbed her cheek which had grown twice its size in the last few minutes. "That would be my connection. I'm surprised she found us though, I hadn't seen her kids in a bit."
"So that's your friend? Why am I not surprised? Anyways, I think Nyquist guided her to us. Your team is quite skilled I'll admit." Burgh said.
Homura stood and rubbed her face. Her hair had almost fallen out of the bun at this point. "I don't own her, she's the queen bee of Castelia's sewers; not my place to disrupt their way of life. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing if one of her kids would join my arsenal, I could use their skill."
"You have an interesting view of what makes a strong partner." Burgh said with a smile. He meant it, Homura showed him a couple of Pokémon he would've never even considered; man-made and mechanical ones just never made any sense to him. There was no aesthetic or artistic merit, just pure utility. Though, it made perfect sense for her.
Homura just wrinkled her nose at him. "You smell worse than usual."
"Garbage has that effect on me, yes." Burgh said.
Homura walked through the door and crouched to look at the now quiet monster buried in Garbodor's body. Behind them, Nyquist clicked and beeped.
"Nyquist says this drone called itself 'Genesect', apparently it was told to defend his masters. So, it is a Pokémon after all." Homura said.
"You can understand Nyquist?" Burgh asked in shock.
Homura cracked a tired smile. "First thing I ever did was teach him morse code. My sister always blabbed about talking to her Pokémon and I got a little jealous, it has come in handy though."
"You have a sister?" Burgh asked.
Homura's smile disappeared. "Enough chit chat, let's take a look at the lab."
The lab had little for them to work with. Whoever ran it, stripped most of the information and escaped out a maintenance hatch, leaving them with the bones of the machinery and not much else. Still, Homura identified some of the equipment just by looking, so they had an idea of what was going on.
There was a DAQ, which Homura explained was used to test electrical components for things like voltage and current, so they were probably experimenting with technology in here. That or electric types. Burgh saw no sign of the Yamper, or any Pokémon for that matter, which had his heart in a vice. There was also a decommissioned fossil resurrection machine, which Burgh proudly identified for Homura, a pod hooked up to all sort of stuff Burgh didn't understand, and a lot of surgical tools.
Homura followed the hook-ups to the pod with a tight expression. She hadn't spoken much and seethed in silence for their whole exploration, probably because they lost most of the evidence and both their hostages. She picked up the cables and examined them. "It looked like this pod collected power, then sent it into this circuit to amply whatever was coming through the pod. Though whatever it was is so crude, I can't imagine the stuff inside would survive the process; you might as well be putting it through a juicer."
Burgh felt his blood turn to ice. The stolen Pokémon was an electric-type.
"Homura," he said slowly. "Do you think that pod was meant for Pokémon?"
She gave him a cold stare. "They can generate a lot more power than any battery I know."
Burgh started tearing through the walls searching for something, anything that could hold Pokémon. Finally, he turned to the other entrance. He'd avoided stepping inside for the smell. It wasn't garbage or sewage, but something sickly and sweet with the wet odor of dirt mixed inside. He parted the plastic curtain and saw a small biohazard hatch.
No, no, no. He thought as he reached the handle.
He cracked it and the smell turned his stomach. Inside he caught a glimpse of several curved yellow sticks in organic rows peaking out of a sticky black mass before he shut the hatch and covered his mouth. He heaved and felt it run through his fingers.
Homura pushed him aside and looked in the hatch herself. Her expression didn't change and remained just as bored as ever. "Electric types." She confirmed. "Plasma is either juicing Pokémon for power or testing their ability to do so. The fact that they have a DAQ tells me it's the ladder, but if they are gathering power for something, I hate to think what they need so much for."
Burgh wiped his hand on his ruined pants. "Now I don't feel so angry that you shocked that guard, I regret not doing it myself. They certainly aren't the petty thieves I'd hoped they'd be." He stood and folded his arms tight around his chest. "There are innocent Pokémon dead and trainers left without their friends and loved ones and for what? An experiment?"
"People are capable of horrible things so long as they justify it inside their minds. Welcome to Team Plasma." Homura said.
"I don't need a welcome, I was very familiar with Plasma before. I just hoped I wouldn't have to face them again." Burgh said.