XXX Chapter 1

"Don't give me that look, Umbreon. I feel bad enough," Noah said to his companion in the passenger seat. Traffic was heavy, the air was smoggy, and Noah was sweating from both the heat and the worry.

The Pokémon's red-rimmed eyes extenuated his stare.

Noah had just tried and failed to get a job. He'd put on a suit and practically begged for a chance to no avail. He'd been told he was too 'unreliable.' Sure, he made some mistakes when he was young, but he hadn't been thinking long term. Dealing with the loss of his father was the hardest thing he'd gone through, and frankly, he hadn't learned responsibility in his teens—or his twenties, for that that matter. He joined the military because at least it was guaranteed pay and a place to live. But he was done with all that now, and he was ready to find a job in the civilian world.

But no one was willing to hire him.

Umbreon averted his gaze and looked out the window. An urban wasteland stared back at him.

Noah tapped his fingers on the steering wheel before reaching over to pet him. Thankfully, Umbreon reciprocated and leaned into his hand. Good. He wasn't sick of him yet. The Pokémon gave a little coo.

"Beats me. I'm running out of ideas," Noah said, understanding what Umbreon was asking. "I'd even apply to be a janitor, but that won't pay the bills."

Umbreon gave a worried coo.

"Don't worry. I will never let you guys starve. There's free Pokémon food at the Centers anyways."

There was free Pokémon food but not much for the humans who looked after them, go figure. It was 1994, and the people's dependence on food stamps had once again spiked, and there wasn't enough to go around. It didn't make sense because there was an economic boom at the same time. Noah figured it was the large corporations who were hauling in most of the dough. Sometimes he dreamt of being one of them.

Umbreon made a little noise.

"Yeah, that's right, I can fix cars and I'm good with electronics, but there's more to being a mechanic than that," he said. "No one's gonna hire me if they have to teach me anything."

Umbreon made another suggestion.

Noah clicked his tongue as he considered this. "Being a cop isn't really like being a soldier, Umbreon. Besides, I got into some trouble in my teens, and the background check is pretty crazy for a cop."

Umbreon shook his head and made another noise. It reminded him of when he was just a little Eevee.

"You know, I'm not really sure how some people with records slip through the system, but I don't think I'd be one of them."

Umbreon gave up.

"I know. It's pretty messed up, isn't it? No solution."

Noah turned off to his street and exited the car. He grew up in Brooklyn, but frankly, he was getting tired of it. Everything was so congested. Crowds everywhere. Buildings crunched together. High competitivity for all the good jobs and even many of the crummiest ones. Then there was the smog slowly choking him to death. He thought about moving, but where could he go? There were thousands of other cities to choose from, and who knows which ones would provide opportunities or dead ends. Besides that, could he uproot his family, especially with Kris being sick?

As he walked, he braced himself for his brother's bouncy Pokémon. Sure enough, Pikachu came running at him, and Kris was not far behind. The electric mouse jumped to hug his face like he usually did. "It's good to see you, too, Pikachu," he said, hugging him back. The mouse Pokémon cried his name and moved to Noah's shoulder.

"How'd it go?" Kris asked.

Noah made a defeated gesture as his stomach coiled. He felt pathetic and sweaty in his suit. He wasn't even a suit guy, and it hadn't helped at all.

He forced a smile. "Well, what I know is that this door is closed… but I can still look through the newspaper's want ads."

Kris quirked his head. "It's weird seeing you in a suit by the way." Noah patted his back.

What was he supposed to tell his mom? His stomach dropped with each step to the apartment. There she was, waiting with a hopeful look on her face. She immediately frowned when he didn't announce success.

"Noah, what happened?"

He shook his head. "He just didn't want me, Mom. I'll figure it out. I'll check the newspaper again or something."

She set her purse down and walked away. She might as well have slugged him in the stomach, and he would have actually preferred that.

His eyes started watering, but then Umbreon was at his side. Then his mother's Delcatty was there, too. The cat Pokémon nuzzled her nose against Noah's other hand. She'd known him since he was little, and she'd always treated him like a child to protect. Sometimes, he hated it, and sometimes he really appreciated it. Pikachu hadn't left him either. With three special Pokémon to support him, Noah felt a little better.

"Pika!" Pikachu said.

"Thanks, Pikachu. I can always count on you guys."

Pikachu left his shoulder to get the newspaper. Noah grabbed it from him. I am not the only one whose been through hard times before. I'll figure it out.

XX

Noah figured it out, but not in a good way. He didn't like what he was about to do, but he thought back to the list of crappy jobs in the newspaper:

Chef. He couldn't cook.

Pest Control Worker. He knew a guy in that industry and the pay was bad.

Logger. One of the most dangerous jobs in America. He couldn't support anyone if he died.

Taxi Driver. When he called, they had already filled the position.

Noah was angry now. He'd served his country, and now he had nothing to fall back on in order to support his sick brother! These were his options, and he couldn't even take any of them. Noah thought that maybe he could learn a trade, but that would take time and tuition payments. He needed money now.

That's why he was about to steal some rich guy's Porsche, and why he recruited his Pokémon to help in case he needed them. He grazed his hand over the red and white Poké Balls around his belt. They wouldn't tell on him if he asked them not to. That was the thing about Pokémon. They did what they were told and kept any secret they needed to.

Noah's heart sped up as he entered the garage under the cover of night. One of his friends, Reek, was giving him directions from a radio. He swallowed. He'd never done a hit like this before. Grand theft auto.

He carefully slid the wire under the window to unlock the vehicle. It worked, but then the locking mechanism fell back into the locked position. Puzzled, Noah tried it again. Once again, the lock fell back into place. Noah thought this was a new kind of tech for fancy cars that he wasn't familiar with yet. He decided that he would have to open the door at the same time he undid the lock.

Click. Click. What a beautiful sound.

"Yeah, now we're making money," Reek praised.

Noah slid through the door and into the finely made vehicle.

"Calling all Autobots." Noah looked down. It came from the radio, but he'd never heard a broadcast like that before.

Noah then lost the rest of his nerve. "What am I doing?" he whispered. If he was caught, he'd be going to prison!

"Whenever you want to start that car, you're good," Reek said.

"I ain't no thief," Noah declared.

"What?" Reek said.

"This is an emergency. Can you hear me, Mirage?" the voice in the radio said.

"I'm out," Noah decided.

"Hey!" someone yelled from the garage.

Noah's heart felt like it might explode in that moment. He tried to hide.

"Get out of the car!" the police officer ordered.

Noah's mind struggled to comprehend the events that happened next. The car locked itself and then turned itself on. Before he knew it, he was driving away.

Not knowing what else to do, he frantically told Reek that the car was driving by itself.

"Noah, you good?" he asked.

"It won't stop!"

"You might wanna slow down."

"I can't!" he yelled as he stomped on the breaks.

"Ahh, yeah!" Noah heard Reek praise as he flew by on the street.

Noah responded by yelling for more help. Once it was clear that the police were after Noah, Reek bailed on him.

The movie Christine came to mind as the insane Porsche took him for a joy ride that he didn't consent to. His hands went to his Pokémon belt as he thought of a move that might help him.

Pikachu might be able to thunderbolt the Porsche until the battery died, he thought. He paused for a moment. Yeah, with me in the car.

The only other thing he could think of was either Umbreon or Delcatty using Dark Pulse and Disarming Voice respectively in order to bust him out. At 70 miles an hour. He would not survive.

Whatever Christine was planning on doing, he'd have to deal with it on his own.

The crazy Porsche made many close calls by weaving in and out of traffic and running red lights. Noah couldn't help the squeak he made when they barely missed hitting other cars. He did some deep breathing and thought the worst was over when the car drove up a ramp. The cop car behind them did not have the same driving abilities and ending up flying through the air and crashing onto its side. The Porsche came to an elegant stop as if to enjoy the maneuvers it pulled off. The cop car did not come to an immediate stop, however. It would have rammed into the Porsche if an enormous truck hadn't rammed into it instead.

Noah's entire body froze. "Are you ok-?" he started to say. Of course, he wasn't okay. Noah's hand went to his belt and he picked Delcatty's Poke Ball. "Delcatty, I choose you," he announced, as he directed the beam to outside the Porche's window.

Delcatty's eyes grew wide as it took in the surroundings. It's tail lowered when it saw the totaled police car.

"Delcatty, no time to explain. I need you to use Heal Bell on that cop. Make sure he's okay!"

Delcatty nodded and adopted a determined look. She scampered off, using her impressive agility to reach the fallen officer.

"I'll come get you later!" Noah promised.

The Porsche started moving again. Noah's body felt so cold, and his head hurt so bad. If something happened to that officer, would that be his fault?

He didn't have time to contemplate. The sound of sirens filled the air. Red and blue lights reflected off of the dark streets and buildings. Noah could taste the ice and fear in the air. This time, it looked like a fleet of police cars were after him.

"Drive!" he compelled the crazy Porche.

The stick moved. The tires screeched. Another cop car couldn't make a turn and ended up crashing into something. Thankfully, not nearly as hard as the last guy.

The Porsche's engine vroomed as they headed for the bridge. One of the cop cars tried to stop the Porsche by ramming into the rear. When he did it again, the Porsche spun with the maneuver and started driving backwards.

"Neh!" Noah exclaimed. Now the cop had a view of his face.

Luckily, the Porsche turned on its lights and temporarily blinded the cop.

As if he was in a Star Trek episode, the entire car moved around him like a sci-fi jigsaw puzzle until it aligned itself perfectly and they were driving forward again.

"Can you hear me, Mirage?" the voice on the radio asked again.

Mirage?

To Noah's horror (and partial amusement), the Porsche split into five different cars, and five different hims.

"What?" Noah asked.

One of his counterparts had the audacity to flip off the police. How did this car know how to do something like that? The other Noah then smiled at him before going back to driving.

"Mirage," he repeated. The name made sense now. Probably a friend of Christine's or something.

The five Porsches wove around each other in a manner that would be very confusing for anyone to follow. The cop car had to pick one to follow, and he followed it right into some barrels on the highway. Try as he might, he could not stop in time and ended up plowing into them with enough force to almost do a front flip. Noah turned his head to assess the damage and felt another cold sweat coming on. He couldn't call on Delcatty again. But Delcatty wasn't the only Pokémon that could aid someone in need. The cops would have access to Chanseys and Blisseys.

That cop will be okay, Noah told himself.

The Porsche, Mirage, took him off the main road and towards a warehouse.

XXX

If you want more of this story, kindly leave a review. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. My two fav things—Transformers and Pokémon.

Some notes:

What happened to Noah's dad wasn't specified, so I'm assuming he passed.

I had to do some research on the economy in the 90's. There was an economic boom, and yet more people were going on food stamps.

I liked the movie, but I was definitely surprised with how not careful Mirage was with the cops. At least two of them could have died in that chase.

Pikachu is here because he's the mascot. Umbreon was picked because he is reminiscent of Pokémon Colosseum. Delcatty is featured because the Skitty line would probably be popular if Pokémon was real. Plus, it has a healing move.

I'm not sure what to do about the GI Joe plot for this movie. Of all the things that happened, I thought wearing Mirage like armor was the most unbelievable part. That and being able to fix Mirage with a couple of mechanics after how much damage he took. I also didn't watch that show.