Hello everyone, 50,000 Volts's second anniversary was a few days ago (November 30th), so hurray for that!

For those of you who are confused as to whether Lucas is the main protagonist or Cy, I have a clear answer. There are two main plots in the story: The first one concerns Lucas and Orion and the second one concerns Cy and Km. In a way, both Lucas and Cy are the main protagonists. I hope that clears some confusion.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the beginning of the climax to my story, 50,000 Volts!

Chapter thirty-four: Holo

The feeling of being crushed by concrete woke Cy from his deep sleep. The first thing he does is hold his injured leg, which is still encased in a cast. Cold sweat damps his now longer hair and wets the slightly torn bed sheets. The fugitive removes the sheets and sits on the side of the bed. He grips his head and looks toward the wooden floor in defeat.

Can't sleep…it's been this way for days…

He reaches for his metallic crutches, an upgrade from his previous usage of wooden crutches. He stands up from the bed and slowly walks to a window nearby. From what Cy can see it is snowing outside. It's dark out and despite this, the noise of cars and pedestrians can still be heard outside as if it is noon or rush hour. To make matters worse, the flash of a red neon light outside the window illuminates Cy's room to a certain degree.

It seems as though the duo have taken refuge on the fifth floor of an apartment complex in the western part of Celadon City. The building which Cy is in is not too far and not too close to Michael's auto-shop from where he and Km originally resided in several days ago.

Cy loses interest watching pedestrians and cars, so he turns around and heads for the door. Once he passes through a hallway which leads into the living room, he sees Michael, alone, and it seems as though the thirty-year old has passed out on the couch. Cy makes a turn toward the kitchen and finds Km there who is slicing an apple with a knife.

The girl looks at him and then resumes cutting the apple, "Trouble sleeping?" Km asks.

"Do I even need to answer that?"

Km grabs a slice of the apple and offers it to him. He waves a hand at her, "Not hungry, thanks."

"Suit yourself." She retorts before eating it.

"What time is it?" He asks. Km swallows the food and looks down at a watch she stole recently.

"Half-past eleven."

Cy leans toward her to reach for a slice on the counter which gets Km to raise an eyebrow. Still leaning, he looks up at her and says in an almost playful manner, "I changed my mind."

"Good, you haven't eaten much." Km retorts.

Cy returns to his normal posture, "I've been thinking lately-"

"Oh, you didn't think before?" Km jokingly says.

"Okay." He retorts coldly.

"I'm just kidding!" She laughs softly as not to wake Michael from his deep sleep.

"I've been thinking about a way to get out of here." Cy continues.

Km leans on the counter and puts her hand up to support her cheek all the while giving a silly expression to Cy.

"What if we leave through the Celadon River?" Cy looks down at her with a serious expression.

"That's quite a risk. The river is rough and unforgiving. It's probably worse than the ones in the Viridian Forest." Km retorts.

"Exactly, nobody would dare follow us down the stream." Cy gestures with one hand, "Pass me a water bottle please." Km goes to the fridge to get a bottle of water, she hands it to him, "Thanks." He says.

Km sighs as he drinks it, "Don't get your hopes up, there's a high reward for whoever gets us. I bet there are people willing to risk their lives just to get more money than what they usually get on pay day."

"That river could be the only way out of here at this point." Cy turns around, "Unless, you have a better idea?" Silence grips the air until Cy breaks it, "I thought so, we have to be serious about this. All the roads are guarded, all the trains have checkpoints, and all the flights are grounded because of the damn snow."

Km points to her left but she's doing it to prove a point, "The water down that river is freezing, if we so much as fall in, we're goners. The rocks scattered throughout the stream will kill us. And, there are no roads inside Celadon Forest. So, if you're suggesting that we go blindly into the night on a river that's rated as one of the most dangerous in the region with nothing but faith, then I have to say it isn't a very good idea. Even if we did make it, we wouldn't find shelter in the forest, we would freeze to death eventually."

"Not if you have Pokémon to help you. That dog of yours, Growlithe, he's a living tinderbox and my Fearow can help us find food and shelter." Cy retorts, "Just think about it."

"I already have, it's a stupid idea!" Km silently retorts back.

"A stupid idea that has to work or we're done for." Cy says silently to himself.

Cy heads back to his room with his water. Km decides to follow him. Once inside, Cy again heads to the window to look outside: the police are everywhere and armed with rifles. Almost every corner of every street or alleyway there is a cop waiting to get them. It seems impossible how the authorities managed to accomplish such a feat. Not to mention the fact that the authorities are checking every room of every building and house in the city, it's only a matter of time before they find them here.

Cy turns around and looks back at Km, "I need my sleep, remember?" She stands there for several seconds which causes him to look at the environment outside the window again in retaliation.

Km slowly walks toward her friend and stands next to him. Cy looks down with a stern expression on his face. He sighs softly, "You know it's only a matter of time before they find us here. And, I'm not exactly in a condition to run or fight." Cy drinks the rest of the water bottle.

Km finally gives a similar, more mature, expression to Cy, "Well, tomorrow we can discuss it with Michael, see how we'll be able to do it."

"So, you're taking my plan seriously then?" Cy turns to her with a raised brow.

"Hmm." she smiles and turns around and walks away. When she reaches the half-opened door, she looks back at him, "You should really get some rest, and tomorrow I'm forcing you to eat all the apples we have in the fridge."

The door closes and Cy frowns with a cynical expression. He decides to heed Km's advice and collapses on the bed, he places his crutches and the empty water bottle next to the bed and he soon closes his eyes.

Cy manages to get some sleep, but in only two hours since he closed his eyes he opens them again. He keeps them closed for several minutes to try and fall back asleep but later gives up completely. Now wide-awake, he sits up on his bed again and grabs the crutches to walk to the living room. He slowly makes his way through the narrow hallway. The living room and kitchen are now empty and dark, and there is no sign of anyone else too. The only sound he hears other than his crutches every time he walks is the red clock ticking on the wall. He turns on the lights in the kitchen and the living room in a grouchy manner.

Km and her brother must have gone to bed. I'm a little bit hungry…I'm going to eat something and then head back to bed.

He looks at the red clock on the wall by the television set, three in the morning…great…if I keep this bad sleep habit up any longer, I'm going to need to invest in a coffin and some fake fangs.

At the kitchen, Cy grabs a small yogurt from the fridge and quickly eats it, he throws it away and heads back to his bedroom…that is…until a faint sound of a robot walking puts Cy in a state of fear, "The hell!?" He mutters quietly.

The sound originated from the hallway, but it's too dark to see who's there. Cy focuses his eyes to try and see better to find the culprit. Almost immediately, a bright red light shines almost directly at Cy. The fugitive gasps and quickly hides behind the wall and checks for any Poké balls but he left them inside his room!

They found us! There's a Spiderbot here! I got to hurry and find something nearby to destroy it!

Cy, with his heart pounding, quickly searches the kitchen for anything useful. Although he makes some noise, he finds a large frying pan to use. He can hear the machine getting ever so closer to him from the hallway. He hides against the wall and quietly places his crutches against the wall. Cy prepares to swing the metallic weapon as hard as he possibly can. Knowing that he will fall and possibly aggravate his injury even if he succeeds, he takes in a large amount of air as the suspense builds.

From what he can see, the shadow of a small Spiderbot begins to appear from the floor and is slowly advancing more into the living room. Sweat begins to fall from the grunt's forehead as he bites his lip in anticipation. If he destroys it with one powerful swing it will be overwhelmingly satisfying. After all, a Spiderbot was the reason he was unconscious for several hours, and he wanted revenge. And, if he didn't succeed, he would probably be captured along with Michael and Km, if they hadn't been attacked yet that is; maybe they were attacked when they were sleeping? Maybe this is just some crazy nightmare he's having? Even if it was, he didn't want to go through what he went through at 3C 273 again. He just wanted to swing already and end it all!

With absolute assurance and determination, he swings his weapon downward the moment he sees the machine's legs.

Whack!

Unfortunately, the creature jumps out of the way and he misses his mark, and his posture causes his leg to hurt worse than before. Still standing, he hops with his good leg to strike the robot again.

Whack!

Again it jumps away before he can strike and then it skitters toward the wall and climbs it.

"Fuck!" Cy shouts. He throws the frying pan at the creature and misses, creating a dent on the wall. He then hops with one leg toward the kitchen, which is next to him. He quickly goes through a cabinet and starts throwing two glass cups toward the robot, but misses both of them as the Spiderbot dodges them along the wall on the other side of the room. He grabs one large glass jug and throws it as the robot spider climbs the wall to get to the ceiling. Just like all the other cups, the jug falls and shatters loudly.

Out of things to throw, he looks toward the front entrance and quickly climbs the kitchen counter and crawls on it until he falls on the other side. He yells as his injured leg comes into contact with the wooden floor. The Spiderbot makes its way to Cy from the ceiling. The Ex-Grunt, not giving up, crawls toward the door to escape outside. The Spiderbot drops from the ceiling and lands near Cy where it stares at him with its one robotic eye. Cy looks behind him and says with ever increasing volume, "No…no…no!" He continues to crawl toward the door as his painful episode continues without end. Finally, he feels the robot climb onto his back.

"Stop!"

He hears Michael say as he runs toward Cy from the hallway. The Spiderbot immediately retreats from its victim and remains idle beside Cy. Still scared for his life, the young adult slowly and shakily looks back at Michael, confused on what had just occurred.

"What the hell did you do, Cy!?" Michael asks aggressively as he looks at the damage done to the living room and kitchen.

"What…is going on, Michael…?" Is all the fugitive, Cy, can say to the tall and slim man in front of him.

"I should be asking that!"

"Where's Km!? You set us up, haven't you!?" Cy growls at the man. There is considerable pain in his voice from both the pain he has all over his leg and the feeling of being stabbed in the back by Km's brother.

Michael walks toward him as Cy attempts to crawl again to the door, "This is my robot." He tries to calm the agitated Cy down, "And Km is out, I don't know where she went." Michael crouches down to Cy but then shakes his head as the boy continues to show resistance, "Stop Cy! Everything is fine!" He grabs Cy and rolls him around in order to make him face Michael, "Calm down."

"Get that thing away from me!" Cy says through clenched teeth. Michael lets go of him and turns toward the Spiderbot.

"You heard him." He simply says as the machine retreats into the darkness of the hallway. He looks back at the startled Cy and raises an eyebrow in annoyance, "Better?" He grabs Ansel again and carefully takes him to the couch where he lays him down there, "When you're ready to talk, let me know." Michael carefully leaves, avoiding the glass shards on the floor, "And you're not going back to sleep until every piece of glass is handpicked off the ground!" Michael says angrily.

Twenty minutes pass by and Cy is still visibly shaken from the experience he just had, but at least he is calmer than before. Despite this, he's been watching the darkness in the hallway for any signs of the robot. The door to the apartment opens and Km enters, immediately finding him at the couch, "Cy, what happened!?" She kneels down in front of him and asks. Michael enters from the hallway with the Spiderbot on his shoulder, "He trashed my place, that's what happened." He walks toward the couch to face both Km and Cy, "Is he calm yet?" He asks.

"Get that thing out of here…" Cy says softly with gritted teeth as Michael ignores him.

Km looks toward the robot with immediate hostility but Michael gestures a hand at her to stop, "It's my Spiderbot, please don't go crazy like he did."

"Since when did you have a Spiderbot!?" Km asks aggressively.

"I've had a Spiderbot for years now."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Km stands up with notable belligerence, "This could have all been avoided if you did."

Michael sighs and shakes his head, "I was going to introduce him first thing in the morning!" Michael gestures toward the machine.

Km holds a hand up toward Michael as if to say 'stop right there', "Him?"

"I said get that thing away from me!" Cy shouts louder than before.

"Shut that damn mouth of yours or I will shut it myself!" Michael shouts back even louder at the young adult, his spit hits the Ex-Grunt in the face, "You're in my apartment, I can throw you out if I want to; I suggest you tread lightly from now on, Mr. Fugitive."

"Stop, both of you, let's just calm down…" Km says impatiently, which is weird because she isn't usually the one who should say that to people, "You called it a 'him'?"

Michael rolls his eyes, "His name is Holo."

Cy narrows his eyes further. Michael notices this, "Holo, retreat."

The Spiderbot, with Michael's command, crawls down his shoulder and skitters away.

Km crosses her arms, "Cy, how did this happen?"

Cy slouches on the couch, "I got out of bed to eat something and I saw that thing creeping up on me in the middle of the night." Cy retorts, "So what did you think was going to happen?"

"You were finally sound asleep, weren't you? I didn't think you would wake up!" Michael retorts back.

"This is on you, Michael." Km defends Cy.

"You're taking his side, he trashed my place!"

"You should have told us from the start." Km retorts.

"Again, he was sleeping and you decided to go on a little adventure outside apparently." Michael crosses his arms in disgust.

"I have insomnia! Haven't you figured that out by now!?" Cy shouts before Km breaks the confrontation again, "Stop, just what is the deal with the Spiderbot anyway, Michael?"

"I brought him from the auto-shop earlier today after you guys fell asleep. He was tasked with night-watch after I went to bed…look, I got tired of watching the door all the time, so I took the liberty of letting him do it for me!"

"From the auto-shop? Why didn't we see him before then?" Km raises an eyebrow in question.

"He was probably in sleep mode, recharging, I don't know." Michael shrugs in response.

After seconds of silence, Km shakes her head, "It's a very small Spiderbot. I've never seen one like that before. It's about the size of a small Pokémon."

"That's because he's the first model of the XBRM 873 series made by Team Rocket. They made a ton of them, but Team Rocket decided to decommission them all after finding out that many of them weren't following commands."

"They malfunctioned or something?" Km asks.

"No, they're self aware to a certain degree. Don't ask me why but that's how Team Rocket initially wanted them to be." Her brother retorts, "Holo was mine when I was with Team Rocket a few years ago. He…grew on me…like how a Pokémon does. I kept him safe from Team Rocket. Holo's been with me to this day, and for all I know he's the last one. And, as you guys may know, Team Rocket began making the Spiderbots much larger a few months after decommissioning the other first XBRM 873 models. I know the newer models don't have self-awareness or the ability to fly."

"Ummm, it can fly?" Km says with some degree of confusion.

"Correct, Holo can switch to fly mode anytime it is needed." Michael explains, "Basically, he has the flight of a Needlebot and the agility of a Spiderbot."

"annnnd, did you name him Holo?" Km asks before sitting down on the couch next to Cy.

"Well I had to name him something. I wasn't going to always call him XBRM and whatever." Michael retorts.

"And you're sure this thing won't turn on us…?" Cy says to himself quietly.

Michael manages to hear Cy and simply shrugs, making Cy frown even further, "Maybe."

Cy turns to Km with an expression of seriousness, but she too gives a similar shrug.

"As far as I know...Holo likes me, I don't know if he likes you after what you just did to my apartment." He chuckles.

"Just keep it away from me." Cy coldly says, "Km, where the hell did you go?"

"I went to the Celadon River."

Cy sits up and asks in a furious tone, "By yourself!?"

Km looks at him with a fuming expression, "What are you my parent?"

Michael laughs softly.

"In case you haven't noticed, every street is guarded with cops!" Cy retorts.

"Which is why I traveled by rooftop." Km retorts back, "Look, I thought about what you said about escaping by the river…and I think it just might work."

Michael and Cy both look at her with curiosity.

"Celadon River…do you know how dangerous it is?" Michael says.

"Very." Km simply talks back, "I was thinking we could go first thing in the morning."

"Basically three hours from now…" Michael retorts.

"Sure, why not, the sooner, the better." Km nods, "We can use it to our advantage, just like Cy said."

"I don't know, I'll think about." Michael begins to walk away whilst avoiding the glass shrapnel, "I'm going back to sleep, I don't want another glass break in the middle of my sleep, you got that?" He asks as Cy, reluctantly, and Km both nod, "Good, I'll think about it."

Cy and Km are left alone and the young man immediately holds his hand to Km, "Come on, help me to bed…" Km picks him up and Cy shouts in pain, "Ahh, son of a bitch!" She leads him to his bed and lays him down and leaves to get his crutches. Once she returns, she brings the crutches and leaves again. Finally, she comes back with an apple and a water bottle, "Here, this is so you don't go out and get scared again."

"And what if I have to pee…" Cy retorts.

"Pee in the bottle." Km banters in response.

Cy is awakened by Km several hours later when she turns on the lights in the room, he sits up to see that the sun has not risen up from the horizon yet as of now.

"Come on, we're going to Celadon River." She says.

Cy yawns, "Not in my Pajamas…"

"Well, get dressed fast." Km leaves the room, "Michael isn't going to wait."

"Why not go without me…I'll slow us down considerably…"

Km turns around to face him, "Because the cops are coming."

Well that wraps up the 34th chapter! If anyone is interested on how Holo looks like, he's similar in design to the DJI Inspire One drone. Thanks to everyone who has supported my fanfiction so far, thank you for your thoughtful reviews in helping me to improve. Merry Christmas and have a happy 2016!