Pewter City could be a very quiet place at 3:30 a.m. Few stores were open, the streets were empty, and even the bars had already shut down for the night. Darkness had enveloped the city and little was visible beyond what was illuminated by the street lights. In the parking lot of the TU Truck Stop though there was someone still awake as a shadowy figure with a flashlight walked around GS Transport Truck #2,013, looking over every aspect of the vehicle including the brake lines.
The figure sat down next to the truck's left-front tire before resting his flashlight atop it and revealing his familiar face. Ken Worth was determined to make his second day as a GS driver more uneventful than his first and was giving his cabover truck a hearty inspection before setting off for Cerulean City. He pulled out a tire gauge and checked the air pressure of the tire to make sure it was holding up after he and Fennekin remounted it, in explosion fashion, yesterday. It was right at the proper level, for now that quick fix was holding up. He unhooked the truck stop's electrical hookup and prepared for his departure.
The day ahead would be a long one for Ken and his Pokémon with at least three stops in Cerulean City, Rota, and Stone Town so he wanted to get started early. By leaving before dawn he could tackle the treacherous, zigzagging mountain pass of I-Route 3, the so-called Pikachu Trail, with little in the way of other traffic to worry about. There was some rain last night and it had slicked the roads in Pewter City but it didn't reach up into the mountains. Ken was pleased the overnight shower had washed most if not all the dust from yesterday off his truck, restoring its regular blue and gold look. He was already thinking about Cerulean City. If he arrived early enough, he might be able to sneak in a breakfast at a diner or something before picking up his cargo today at a furniture factory. He's first run of the day though would be with an empty truck to go get his cargo, a trip known in the trucking business as deadheading.
The furniture he'd be moving today was high-end, as one would expect for a cargo headed for affluent areas like Rota where the city even had its own medieval castle, and that meant great care would need to be taken to get the stuff to its destinations safely. If Ken drove recklessly and damaged the cargo no doubt the company, and most certainly his paycheck, would be penalized for it. The run to Rota would be short but the trip to Stone Town would likely take all day.
Ken climbed back into the cab of his truck and got back behind the wheel. Before his inspection Ken had purchased a can of cherry-flavored "Volt Tackle" energy drink to fuel himself up. Quietly he popped the top and took a drink before starting up the truck. Behind him Fennekin continued to sleep on his bunk, greatly enjoying his first night sleeping outside his Poké Ball in ages. Ken shifted into gear and slowly his truck set off into the night. The streets were almost void of traffic as Ken made his way through downtown, driving past the city's famous science museum in the progress. Once he cleared the city and got onto I-Route 3 he started to speed up.
Fennekin felt the movement of the truck and awoke with a yawn and a smile. Quietly he hoped down and made his way to the front of the cab before taking his usual position in the passenger's seat.
"Finally got up, eh sleepyhead?" Ken asked his partner.
"Fen Fennekin fen ne Fennekin," Fennekin replied in a pleased tone, obviously having slept well.
"Today should be a fun one," Ken said. "The truck is running fine and the weather is looking pretty good. We'll get to Cerulean, get some breakfast, load up, and boogie on down the road."
"Fen fenne," Fennekin said in reply, probably the closest the little fox could manage to "sounds good."
The early stages of I-Route 3 were nice and flat as the road began to dry out. There was no one else on the road at this early hour although Ken and Fennekin took note of a trainer and her very happy looking Eevee that were hanging out in front of the Mt. Moon Pokémon Center as they passed it. Just past the Pokémon Center the road split with one branch leading off to Mt. Moon itself while the intercity route continued up into the neighboring mountains in the range to climb up and over them on the way to Cerulean City. There were rumors they were going to build a tunnel to replace this road in the future but already that effort was hitting trouble as surveyors seemed to spend more time fighting off the area's problematic Zubats than they did surveying.
The first stretch of the Pikachu Trail was a somewhat steep bit of road leading up to what drivers liked to call "Clefairy's Hairpin," a complete 180 degree turn by a scenic overlook that offered spectacular views of Mt. Moon itself. After that there was full mile of flat level road before the road shifted back into a steep grade leading into all the switchbacks. In the daylight this was the kind of road so beautiful car companies came here to shoot their commercials but in the darkness Ken and Fennekin wouldn't be enjoying many of the vistas. Ken reached for his radio as his truck climbed higher into the mountains. Some conversation would be a nice way to perk up the quiet drive.
"This is Vulpix 3, anyone else on I-Route 3 got their ears on this morning?" Ken asked.
Surprisingly the radio cackled to life with the sound of another driver's voice as Ken struck up some pre-dawn chat.
"Good morning Vulpix 3, this is Squirtle 1 westbound and down."
"Well maybe I'll get a chance to meet you in person," Ken replied. "I'm running eastbound and down up the hill."
"What's your real name, I didn't think we had a Vulpix 3."
"Worth. Ken Worth," Ken replied. "I just started yesterday after a stint at Rattata Express. Mack hooked me up with a 550 and got me rolling."
"Pleased to meet you. The name's Peter Biltmore."
Ken's eye brows raised at that, he knew he was talking to a legend. In his truck Peter was also deep in thought, he recognized the Worth name.
"THE Peter Biltmore?" Ken said. "I heard about you trashing Team Magma a few years back, that was epic."
"Yeah, those guys are real washouts," Peter replied. "Are you related to a Pokémon training Worth by any chance? A Sabrina or a Sally or a Sandra or something like that."
"Sandra is my sister," Ken replied. "How do you know her?"
"I faced her in the Sweet 16 round at the Sinnoh League a few years ago," Peter replied. "She's quite the trainer but her Blaziken was no match for my Samurott on that day."
"She always gets beat at Sinnoh," Ken said. "She's taking a shot at it again coming up soon though, hopefully this year she breaks though further."
"We'll see," Peter said.
"What's your rig today?" Ken asked. "I'm deadheading to go get some furniture."
"I got a 750 with a load of Miltank juice," Peter said.
"Well be careful with that milk," Ken said. "I hate for it to arrive already shaken up unless you premixed in some chocolate."
The banter between the only two drivers on the road was lighthearted and for the most part so was the mood in the cab of Peter's Truck #9. He was approaching the top of the pass and once he cleared the peak it was literally all downhill from there. Truck #9 had been acting up a bit this morning but it was nothing he couldn't drive though. One of his brake lines didn't air up right as he was leaving the truck stop and now he was going a bit harder on the others as a result. He'd give the truck a look over once he got to Pallet Town. Peter glanced over to the two armored cases with his special cargo, with something that secret moving in his truck he didn't want to stop on the side of the road for anything. In addition he had once had a similar issue to this just because of an easily-fixed glitch in the truck's on-board computer so he wasn't as worried about the issue as he likely should have been.
Peter was still unaware of the damage Team Rocket had done to his truck's brake lines, if he was he wouldn't have set off this morning. His primary focus was on using the cover of darkness to stealthily make his way toward his delivery at Professor Oak's lab. Peter drove over the top of the pass without a second thought unaware he has just passed the point of no return to avert disaster. Now driving down the mountains his truck began to pick up speed with gravity now on its side. Peter braked harder going into the first two turns trying to slow down and at that point it happened, the other brake lines failed and Truck #9 began to pick up speed.
Peter initially didn't notice the issue as he approached the third turn on the decent. He applied the brakes as he had all morning only for the pedal to go straight to the floorboard while nothing happened. He tried it again with the same result.
"Oh, that's not good," Peter said to himself.
With no traffic Peter swung his truck wide through the corner and made it through. However Truck #9 was starting to pick up speed and he had no way to slow it down. He hit the buttons for the truck's emergency brakes and again got nothing. He looked over again at the cases then grabbed the radio.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" Peter shouted into his radio. "I got no brakes! I got no brakes! No duff!"
Back in Truck #2,013 Ken couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was a dangerous situation but usually there were preparations taken to stop it getting worse. Mountain passes like this frequently had emergency off ramps filled with loose gravel for drivers to use to stop runway trucks. It wasn't a perfect option but it beat the long fall that could come with going over the side.
"Is there a runway truck ramp up there?" Ken said.
"Yeah, I'm going to dump my rig in it," Peter said. "Get your truck moving up to the top of the hill. I need a lift and fast."
"10-4," Ken responded.
Fennekin hung on as Ken started accelerating up the hill.
In Peter's truck "Built Tough Biltmore" was steadying himself for what almost felt like a deliberate crash. The truck ramp was three turns ahead and all of them were thankfully wide. Jerking the wheel hard in every direction he made it through the first two but as he approached the third something pierced the night that he knew shouldn't be up here, a set of headlights. As Truck #9 screamed around the corner the source came into view: a large tow truck and its crew working through the night to pull out another truck already stuck in the ramp. There was no way past it onto the ramp without causing an even worse accident. Peter stuck his head out the window to warn the work crew.
"CLEAR THE WAY!" Peter yelled as the workers scattered out of his path.
Truck #9 hurtled past the ramp and now continued down the mountain, gaining even more speed. The tow crew workers mouths were agape at the scene of the big rig hurtling toward certain destruction. Suddenly a second, small pickup-based tow truck drove past them at a much slower speed. Wherever those guys were going they seemed to be in in no hurry to get there.
Peter knew losing his chance to use the ramp might be the end of him. If he swung wide at the corners he could probably get down further but he'd never get around Clefairy's Hairpin at these speeds. His truck was now doing 64 as it blasted past a "Speed Limit 45" sign. He was probably going too fast to jump for it without serious injury. He'd likely have to crash the truck on purpose into the mountain side of the road and hope it didn't slide off the edge on the other side afterward. Suddenly his radio came back to life.
"Vulpix 3 to Squirtle 1, are you in the ramp yet?"
Peter reached for his radio.
"Negative, there's already a truck in it," Peter said. "I've got no option but to keep going. I'm going to just pick a spot and crash it. It beats flying off the edge and unless you've got a way to get this rig some brakes on the fly. I'm out of options."
Ken thought for a second and just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"My rig still has its brakes," Ken said. "Can we use them to stop both trucks?"
"In theory, but if we botch that we'd both go over the edge," Peter replied. "If I get on your back bumper and you dynamite those brakes with everything you've got then it might work."
"Have you ever tried that?" Ken asked.
"No." Peter replied.
"Well, I'm still game if you are," Ken said.
"You better turn and burn then," Peter said. "I'm already up to 69 and picking up speed. If you aren't at least matching that when we try this all we'll get is a nasty pileup."
"Copy," Ken said. "You focus on getting down the hill, I'll focus on the speed. I'm at mile marker 21. There's level ground at mile marker 12 right before Clefairy's Hairpin. We'll go for it there where we've got a shot."
"Roger, I'm at mile marker 35 now," Peter said. "When we meet up I'm going to weld this rig to your back bumper."
"Weld?" Ken turned to Fennekin then back to the radio. "Would that help if we physically welded the bumpers together?"
"It couldn't hurt but you'd need a ton of courage to try a move like that at speed," Peter said.
Ken turned to Fennekin.
"Would you give it a shot?" Ken asked. "We've got to do something or he's a goner."
Fennekin thought for a second then put on a brave face.
"Fen, Fennekin fen," the little fox said.
"10-4," Ken said proudly as he reached for the radio.
"I got a guy aboard who'll try it," Ken said over the radio. "We're going to ready up as fast as possible. Good luck."
"Roger, same to you," Peter replied. "We're both going to need it to get this to work."
Ken quickly swung his truck around at a turnaround spot. If he was going to make this work then he only had a few minutes to prepare and still have enough time to get his truck up to speed. He grabbed Spearow's Poké Ball and had the driver's door flung open before the rig even stopped. He left the motor running. With Fennekin leaping out in pursuit Ken quickly opened a storage area on the truck and grabbed one of the straps that would normally be used to secure freight in place.
Ken whipped open the back doors to the container and locked them in that position. He and Fennekin climbed into the container and Ken carefully tied one end of the strap around his Pokémon. He hooked the other into floor and started to tighten it a little. The strap had a lot of flex to it so Fennekin could still move in it.
"Is it too tight?" Ken asked.
"Kin," Fennekin responded.
"Okay, that should keep you solidly in the truck," Ken said. "I'm going to head back up front and drive. When Peter gets right against our back bumper I am going to blow the horn twice and that is your signal to go and ember – spot weld our back bumper to his front bumper. Once you do get clear of the back there because I don't know what is going to happen. If this goes south then I'm going to pull the horn again and jam it on, if you hear that then cut or burn the strap and jump out the back because the truck is going over the edge. Good luck Fennekin, you are a brave one and you can do this."
"Fen," Fennekin said. "Fen Fennekin ne kin."
Ken gave the little fox a salute and leaped out of the container. He deployed Spearow from his Poké Ball just before climbing back in the cab.
"Spearow, there isn't much time to explain,"
"We've got a runaway truck bearing down on us and we're going to try and stop it. Get airborne and see if you can track it. Fly clear of the road when you can but get in close and signal me when the other truck is almost on the same straightaway as us."
"Spearow," replied the little bird as it took off.
Ken climbed back in the cab and immediately put the truck back in gear. He was starting to accelerate before he even had his seatbelt buckled. In the back Fennekin looked out the back of the truck, the asphalt of the road flying by beneath the truck as the rig picked up speed. Ken had his foot to the floor as he looked down at his speedometer, he was already up to 54 and the needle was still climbing. The driver's side window was rolled down. At this moment both trainer and Pokémon had the exact same thought going through their heads: "are we really doing this?"
The thought had little time to resonate as Spearow flew past the truck squawking wildly. There was no doubt that was the bird's signal.
"I've got it!" Ken yelled back to Spearow. "Fly clear until we stop!"
"Spearow!" the bird replied as it darted away from the truck.
Ken and Fennekin knew what was coming up now. The little fox looked straight out the back of the truck while Ken became fixated on his rear-view mirror. Peter's truck came screaming around the corner and its headlights shined brightly onto their truck. The moment of truth had arrived…