"Shit, Gramps really does like to keep things old fashioned," Gary remarked, examining a large, fancy, and expensive looking device. "I don't think he's got anything that was built this century."
"He's got some pre-war equipment?" asked the Silph employee, an older man with long grey hair.
"No, just a bunch of antiques that were cobbled together from the Unification War," Gary replied, stepping back from the machine. "I think he prefers to spend time around things older than him, but it's not easy to find shit that old."
"I'm trying not to be offended by that you whippersnapper," the employee said, rolling his eyes.
"And I'm offended that you thought I'd only be interested in the toys," Gary shot back.
"Toys? Those were top of the line prototypes for our upcoming product offerings," the employee protested. "We've got new pokégears, pokéballs, survival equipment, scanners, upgrades for the pokédexs-"
"Toys," Gary dismissed all that with a wave. "I want to see the good stuff, not the baubles you use to distract children. I want to see where the magic happens."
"I'm sorry that we weren't aware of your interest in research," the employee rolled his eyes. "It's not like all the information we had on you indicated that your primary interest was training."
"You know what they say about assumptions," Gary said, looking around. "Now what else do you have that I can look at?"
"Well," the employee smirked, "since you did sign that confidentiality agreement, there is something very special that we can show you."
"Oh?" Gary raised an eyebrow. "How special?"
"So special that you'll be in severe legal trouble if you leak so much as a breath about this," the employee said.
"That does sound special."
"This way then," the employee said, showing the way with a mock bow. The employee then led Gary back towards the elevator and hit the button.
"See, if we had just stuck to the prototypes like we had planned then we wouldn't have to go from the underground to the top floors," the employee said. "So, don't go complaining about the wait."
"I'll survive," Gary rolled his eyes.
It took a few minutes for the elevator to arrive, which they took to the lobby and from there they got on a high-speed elevator heading for the top set of floors. The employee was toyed with his pokégear the entire time.
"Have you guys ever thought about installing one of those glass external elevators," Gary said as they sped up. "You'd have a great view."
"It doesn't fit the ascetics for the rest of the building," the employee pointed out, "and glass elevators are too fragile for the high speeds we need for express elevators."
"Okay," Gary shrugged and then stretched. While seeing the upcoming products and the laboratories had been entertaining, he was starting to get bored.
"Uh, not again," the tour guide groaned, looking up from his pokégear and shaking his head.
"What?"
"We've got a service outage," the man complained, putting his pokégear into his pocket. "I hope it isn't as bad as the last one."
There was something about an outage in the Saffron area that seemed significant to Gary, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It had something to do with Aaron, so Gary knew that it was probably concerning.
Gary's heart skipped a beat when he remembered what the connection was.
"Do you have any landlines up here?" Gary asked as the elevator slowed down, forcing himself to act calm even as his heart began to race. "Or any satellite phones?"
"Need to make a call?" The tour guide asked as the elevator dinged.
"Yes," Gary said a little too quickly.
"Guess you should have taken a closer look at our new model of pokégear, which has radio, satellite, and VOIP capability in case you can't get signal," the employee said, leading them out of the elevator. "We've even got an experimental satellite up in orbit as-"
"Okay, we can take another look at those right after I place a call," Gary said. "Now where is that landline?"
"This way," the employee said, leading them down a hall and into the conference room with a phone in the center. The man checked a digital calendar just outside the door. "No one's going to be using this room today, feel free to take your time."
"Thanks," Gary said, quickly wiping his sweaty palms on the sides of his pants and then grabbing the phone. He put it to his ear as he started to dial the number, but then he stopped.
"There's no dial tone," Gary said, slowly lowering the phone.
"What? Give me that," his tour guide took the phone and began pressing some buttons on the base station. He put down the receiver and began to check the cords.
"It's plugged in," the man said, looking at the phone in confusion. "Let's find another one."
"Let's hurry," Gary said, dread twanging his nerves like a guitar string as he shifted from foot to foot.
"What, got a hot date?" The man smirked as he led Gary towards another conference room.
"Sure," Gary replied nervously. "Don't want to accidently ghost them."
The employee chuckled. They went to another conference room and the phone was dead there too.
"Must be something with the floor," the tour guide said. "This way."
They went down a floor and tried the phones there. They were dead as well.
"What are the odds?" The tour guide shook his head. "Something goes wrong with the landlines the same day we lose service?"
"Those new pokégears, which floor were they on again?" Gary asked, swallowing nervously and looking around.
"The thirtieth floor. Why, you want to try them out?"
"Yes," Gary said nodding vigorously.
"Sheesh kid, calm down. It's not the end of the world if you're a little late." The man rolled his eyes. "They'll forgive you as long as you apologize."
"I'd rather not push my luck," Gary said, his voice thick with fear. "Let's go now."
The elevator seemed to take an eternity to arrive. Gary kept looking around. Intellectually he knew that he didn't have any cause to worry about his personal safety; there had been no confirmation that Team Rocket had been behind the very convenient previous outage. Even if they had been responsible, it was so that they could operate in the wilderness.
There was no reason for Gary to look over his shoulder, no reason for him to feel a nervous itch between his shoulder blades. There was no reason to think about Gramps going over Aaron's medical report in dry clinical detail. There was no reason to think about the murders Team Rocket had openly committed.
No intellectual reason for the swelling panic in his chest as the elevator crawled to them.
The elevator arrived anti-climatically. No one got out. Gary and his guide got in and hit the buttons. The door closed. The elevator went down.
Everything stopped or flickered for a moment and then resumed.
"Huh, we had to switch to the backup generators," the guide remarked. "City power must be having problems. Wonder if that's why the landlines are down?"
"Sure," Gary said, trying not to hunch over and hold himself.
"You okay kid?" The guide gave Gary a concerned look. "You don't look so good. We've got an infirmary on the fortieth floor, we should go there- "
"Let's just get to that pokégear, okay?" Gary snapped.
"Sheesh, fine," the man rolled his eyes. "Kids these days…."
Gary started to fidget as the elevator started to crawl towards the thirtieth floor. He couldn't stop himself. He tried to remind himself that he was being irrational.
It didn't help.
Gary nearly dashed out of the elevator, trying to remember where the prototypes had been. He paused at an intersection, looking around desperately.
"Hey, wait up!" His tour guide shouted, gently jogging after Gary. "You're supposed to stick with me-"
It was faint, but both of them heard it. It came from below and they both went quiet to listen to it. It froze Gary's heart and turned the tour guide's face pale.
Someone had screamed and the scream had been suddenly cut off.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Gary actually did hunch over and hold himself.
"What- what was that?" His tour guide asked. "Was there an accident?"
"The pokégear," Gary said, forcing himself to stand up straight. "Let's hurry. We need to call someone."
"I think you're right," the man nodded. "Alright, let's go."
He led the way at a jog. Gary followed. The pace was too fast for him to shut down, but not fast enough for him to lose himself in the motion. It was that exact wrong speed that kept Gary aware of his own fear and kept him listening.
There were more screams and now Gary could hear the sound of pokémon fighting as well. The building was under attack, there was no doubt about it.
"It's Team Rocket," Gary managed to say through gritted teeth. "They're attacking the building."
"That's madness," the employee said as they jogged. "It doesn't matter if they cut the phone lines and took down cell signal. They wouldn't be able to hide what they're doing from the gym and Sabrina will kick their asses-"
"I hope you're right," Gary interrupted as they both came to a halt in front of a doorway Gary recognized. The employee managed to swipe his keycard despite his shaking hands and then the two of them rushed inside to where the prototypes were displayed.
"Where's the pokégear….. here!" The employee grabbed the device out of the collection. "I'm going to call the cops. You've got a lot of badges, right? You know how to fight, right? Did you bring any pokémon?"
"I've got two," Gary replied. "But they're not heavy hitters."
"Oh great," the employee said, unlocking the phone. More noise reached them, this time it came from their floor. The Silph Co employee went rigid and pale. He held the phone in a shaking hand and then looked at Gary. He looked back at the phone.
"The code to unlock it is nine-one-eight-two-five," he told Gary, handing the phone over to the boy. "Call the cops, call the League, call your damn grandfather, just call someone. I'll try and distract them."
"Wait, I'm the one-"
"And- and after you make your call, d-do your best to get out of here," the man continued, ignoring Gary, his voice shaking nearly as much as his hands, his face pale as death. "Good luck." And then the employee dashed out the door, heading for the commotion.
Gary swallowed and trembling, turned his attention to the pokégear. It was already unlocked. He brought up the calling function and tried to dial the police, but the call failed.
Gary tried to remember if they had demonstrated the alternate calling modes. Was there something he was supposed to set? His shaking fingers fumbled through menus until the sounds started growing closer. Gary gave up and shoved the pokégear in his pocket.
He peeked out of the room. The hallway was still deserted. Gary took off away from the noise, looking for a place to hide. He ran through beige carpeted hallways, through open floor office spaces, through hallways full of small offices, breakrooms, and more, looking for a place to hide.
Gary knew that Team Rocket would know to look in all the obvious places, like supply closets and bathrooms. He tried to figure out someplace good, fighting the urge to lock himself away in an office, turn off the lights, and huddle under the desk like a child hiding from monsters under the blanket, thinking that he if couldn't see the thing he feared then it couldn't find him…..
The boy ended up in a mixed mail and storage room. There were cabinets everywhere, mail cubbies, and shelves containing boxes of supplies. Gary looked around, chest rapidly expanding and constricting, sweat dripping down his face, his eyes wide and his mouth open as he searched.
Gary thought he heard Team Rocket getting closer; every noise seemed just around the corner, just behind him, lurking over his shoulder and next to his ear. His head felt cold; his hair stuck to his neck in wet clumps.
He looked at one of the boxes on one of the bottom shelves. A large cardboard box. Like the sort little kids played in, but adults were too big to fit in. He looked at the filled mail cubbies and then back at the box.
The electric sensation of hope and the lightness of relief buoyed his heart as Gary realized that, while there was no way an adult could fit in the box, there was a way for him to do so. And just maybe, Gary realized, Team Rocket might only be looking for employees, for adults.
He knew he didn't have much time. The box was closed, but not sealed. It was half full of stationary supplies. Gary grabbed the box as if to dump it, but shook his head and grabbed armfuls of supplies. He dashed over to the mail cubbies and began stuffing the supplies in them, hiding them behind envelopes. It took him three trips, his head desperately swiveling around to make sure that he hadn't dropped anything, moving fast without giving into the urge to rush.
Once the box was empty, Gary climbed inside, curled up and shut the flaps over his head. Darkness surrounded him and he tried not to breathe.
Atsushi snuck through the once familiar halls of the Saffron City gym. Each step was an agony of anticipation that was almost physically painful. He kept himself pressed up against the walls, peeking around corners, shaking the whole time.
The fighting had died down. Atsushi didn't know if it was because the unaffected gym trainers had escaped or if it was because they were dead. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know. There weren't any bodies in the hallways, not anymore.
The whole place had gone quiet, quiet enough so that Atsushi could hear the ambient noises of the building, of the struggling environmental systems, the settling of the foundations, the dripping of water from broken pipes.
If Atsushi had been collected enough to reflect on it, he would have counted himself fortunate that the lights were still functioning. But his mind was filled with raw animal panic that he could barely control and there was no room left for thoughts. No room for anything but a desperate determination and a half-realized goal.
Without quite realizing it, Atsushi made his way to the central arena, the largest single room in the gym. He didn't know what he expected to find/He feared what he would find.
Everything was still silent when he reached the arena. He paused for a moment, his limbs shaking, his neck soaked in sweat, and acrid sting of bile in the back of his throat. His blood flashed ice cold through his veins.
In the back of his mind, he was screaming to himself. Atsushi kept trying to convince himself to go back and try and find a way out, even though Torch's portal had closed. But there was a wordless thought that was louder and a fear that was not for himself.
Atsushi clenched his fists and took a deep breath. His fear spiked to new heights as intention transformed into action, but he was steeled against it. He walked around the corner with his head held high and opened the doors to the arena.
Bright lights on a high ceiling shone down. Bleachers were folded up against the walls of the wide room. His footsteps were quiet against the stone floor as he walked into the room.
People and pokémon stood in several concentric circles around the center of the room, like toy soldiers on parade. Blank faces stared straight ahead, belonging to men, women, children, and all kinds of psychic pokémon.
They didn't seem to notice Atsushi's presence. The accountant couldn't even tell if they were breathing.
In the center of the arena was a floating figure. Dark green hair, almost black or brown, flowed out from under the polished metal helmet. A black visor covered their eyes, giving them an impassive stare instead of a blank one. The red and black uniform of the Saffron City Gym leader became darker set against the harsh overhead lights.
Atsushi gulped as he came to a halt under Sabrina. Internally he screamed that it wasn't too late, they hadn't noticed him, he could still just leave….
He took in a halting breath.
"S-S-Sabrina," Atsushi croaked as he shook. He took another breath.
"S-Sabrina!" Atsushi called out. "Sabrina, it's me!"
Nothing changed.
"Sabrina, it's me, Atsushi!" The accountant called out again. "Can you hear me?"
No response.
"Sabrina!" Atsushi shouted at the top of his lungs. "Sabrina!"
That got a response. The helmet turned and the black visor fixed upon him. Atsushi quailed under its gaze, but rallied.
"Sabrina! You can fight this!" Atsushi yelled. "You're stronger than this!"
With the helmet between them he couldn't know if his words were having any effect. Atsushi stared at it as if with enough effort he could see through it and know if his lover's face was still blank and empty as a doll's.
"Sabrina, this isn't you!" Atsushi continued. "You care for all these people! You do your best to keep them safe! You don't take them on missions with you because you don't want to risk them getting hurt! Think! Whatever's happening isn't you!"
Cloth rustled faintly behind him. Atsushi didn't look over his shoulder to see who was moving. It didn't matter.
Atsushi searched desperately for any sign of a reaction from Sabrina, even just a twitch of her fingers. But she was still as stone, as immovable and implacable as the mountains.
"Sabrina! Just take the helmet off!" Atsushi switched tracks. "Isn't it uncomfortable?"
Her head moved ever so slightly.
"It is, isn't it?" Atsushi nodded, speaking quickly. "I bet you're hungry too. Why don't you take off the helmet and we can go to that café you like? I'm sure Jim could whip up something nice for you super quick."
Her fingers twitched. Atsushi's heart soared at the sight.
Suddenly intense pain erupted all over his body, like a truck had slammed into him. The world was tumbling around Atsushi and a wall was growing larger-
A glow-
Everything went dark.
It was unbearable in that box. It was dark. It was hot. It was suffocating.
It was torture staying in the box, but thinking about leaving it was also torture for Gary Oak. He could hear footsteps outside. They had arrived after the sounds of fighting had ended.
Gary didn't know how long he had been in the box. His back and limbs had started to hurt from the contortion required to fit inside. Like a child slowly suffocating under their blanket as they hid from monsters, he could do nothing but squeeze his eyes shut and listen hard. Listen even though he was helpless to act on anything he managed to hear.
The footsteps were close to him now. To Gary it sounded like a small group of people, but he couldn't be sure.
"Almost done," a voice of indeterminate gender said. "We've just got what's left of this floor and then the next one."
"Oh good," a second voice spoke up, sounding like it belonged to a woman. "I need a nap."
"Same," a third voice spoke up, also sounding like it was a woman speaking. "What a day it's been."
"A productive day for once," said Voice One.
Gary was keeping his breathing as shallow and quiet as he could. It still seemed to thunder in his ears.
"Yeah, the eggheads really came through today," replied Voice Three.
"They kept coming through you mean," Voice Two added. "They helped deliver us the gym on a silver platter and they're the ones who cut off communication for the whole city."
"Well, they think they've cut off communication," Voice One corrected. "Our intelligence isn't complete in that regard. They might have a few channels we're not aware of. That's why they've got dozens of squads patrolling the building and all the eggheads are looking for any signals."
"Oh, what's left for them to use?" Voice Two asked. "Service is down for the whole Saffron area, we cut all the landlines, the computer networks are offline, we're jamming all the usual comsats, we're jamming all public radio frequencies, and nobody from the gym or Silph Co's gotten out of the city."
Gary's heart, already burdened with fear, clenched at that.
"Yeah, once it's night we'll close down the roads too," Voice Three said. "There won't be any way for the League to tell what's happening here until they send someone."
"Don't remind me," Voice One groaned. "They've got me helping with the fortifications tomorrow."
"They've got me on keeping the civilians in line," Voice Three commiserated.
"I'm confiscating pokémon," Voice Two said. "It's going to be a pain figuring out which ones are a threat and which ones we can leave with the civies."
"You should just take them all and give the civies a receipt," Voice One said. "They can get their pokémon back after we've won."
"Or get compensation if we need to keep the pokémon instead," Voice Three said.
"It'd be less work that way," Voice Two said. "Maybe I can convince one of the higher ups to try that."
"Eh, they're probably worried about PR," Voice One said. "We don't want stories about us ripping beloved pets from families going around."
"Well, I'll still try to change their minds," Voice Two said. "Anyway, I think we've taken enough of a break. Let's finish up here."
The footsteps resumed and Gary could hear them drawing closer. He quit breathing entirely, not daring the slightest sound.
The boy wanted to cry.
He heard one set coming from in front of him. They paused, while another set of footsteps continued, growing slightly more distant and then growing closer. Gary didn't know where the third speaker was.
The boy wanted to cry.
All the footsteps stopped. Gary didn't know what was going on. He kept imagining people in the old-fashioned Team Rocket uniforms standing over him and reaching for his box.
The boy wanted to cry.
He heard more footsteps. A voice spoke up, asking if they had found anything.
"Nothing," Voice One replied. "It's all clear here. Come on, let's get to the next floor."
The footsteps grew more distant and then Gary couldn't hear them anymore. He couldn't hear anything from outside.
He didn't dare do anything. He didn't dare come out. He kept taking the shallowest of breaths. The boy wanted to cry.
Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. Gary slowly uncurled himself and stuck his head out of the box, expecting to see the worst, his body tensing up. He looked around and-
There was no one there. He was alone.
He was safe. He breathed in fresh clean air.
Gary finally did cry.
Gary curled up in the back corner of the room while he had his breakdown. After he was finished crying, he felt much better. He cleaned himself up the best he could and then sat against the wall. His back still ached from being stuck in the box.
He pulled out his two pokéballs and the prototype pokégear and looked at them. Gary mentally listed his assets: he had Squirtle, Eevee, and a phone that he didn't know how to use and might not be working.
Gary tried to think of anything else. Oh yes, he recalled, there was also the fact that Team Rocket was monitoring the building to try and catch any signals. So, Gary realized, even if he did manage to get a call out, Team Rocket would probably be able to catch him.
He sighed. The day had started out pretty well too.
Gary looked at his pokéballs again. He couldn't think of a use for his two pokémon at the moment, so he miniaturized them.
He turned on the phone and set about unlocking it. It took him a few tries, he kept getting the last digit in the passcode wrong. Then he began flipping through settings menus, trying to find anything that seemed like it would work.
All the computer networks were down, so there was no VOIP. There was an option to wirelessly interface with landlines connected to a wireless receiver, but Gary already knew that they were all down. Gary tried to recall what other options his tour guide had listed. There had also been radio options, but Gary remembered that Team Rocket was jamming the public frequencies.
Desperate, Gary selected the option to use satellite calling, which would use a different set of frequencies, before remembering that Team Rocket said that they were jamming comsats. There wouldn't be any communication satellites available. Gary glanced at the pokégear, expecting an empty list.
His eyes widened when he saw that there was an option. His finger hovered over the name SILPHCOMG3P1.
A memory nagged at Gary's brain…. His tour guide had said something about an experimental satellite having been set up.
Gary took a deep breath.
He'd be able to make a call. But, he thought, if they were monitoring the building for signals, then they might catch him that way.
Gary realized that he'd have one shot. He thought about who'd be the best person to call. He eventually settled on his grandfather's lab. Even if the old man wasn't there, then one of his aides might pick up.
Gary looked up at the ceiling. It was a model with removeable panes. He quickly snuck a peak outside of the storage room to make sure there was no one nearby.
"Eevee, Squirtle," Gary whispered, picking up the pokéballs. "Stay very quiet. I need you two to hide and escape from here as soon as you can. Start by going into the ceiling."
And then he sent his pokémon out with a blaze of white light. Eevee and Squirtle took one look at their trainer and then Eevee jumped onto his chest and nuzzled him under his chin while Squirtle hugged the boy.
"Thanks," Gary said in a shaking voice. "But go hide. Stay safe. Escape if you can. And if you see a chance to save my bacon, then feel free to take it."
Eevee nodded. Gary's pokémon looked at each other and then climbed up the shelves, quietly whispering as they went. Squirtle held open a ceiling panel while Eevee slid in and then the water type followed.
Gary watched them go and then dialed the number to his grandfather's lab. The calling icon filled the screen. Gary looked over his shoulder, half expecting members of Team Rocket to literally teleport to the room and grab him.
"Gary?" A familiar voice came from the phone and Gary turned his attention back to it. "Gary what's-" Professor Oak's face filled the screen, a concerned expression on his face when he saw Gary's. "Gary, are you alright? Did something happen?"
"Hi Gramps," Gary said, a shadow of his usual smirk flashing across his face. "I- uh- don't know how to say this, but I'm in a bit of a pickle. Ya see I was taking a tour of Silph Company's labs and then Team Rocket attacked."
"What?" Oak said, alarmed.
"I don't know what's going on, I heard something about the gym being captured. They cut the landlines and they took down signal again, like they did with Aaron." Gary went on. "They also did something to the computers. I'm using satellite for this call, they missed one."
"Is- Is this a joke?" Oak asked, hesitantly.
"I wish it was Gramps," Gary said, running a trembling hand through his hair. "They said they'd be locking down the city tonight. They also said they were looking for signals in this building, they're going to find me soon." Gary's breathing was growing more rapid and he took a deep breath to regain control.
"Gary-" Oak began, but his grandson cut him off.
"So, if you call someone to check up on the city, that'd be great," Gary said. "They sounded like they thought they'd have some time before the League noticed what was going on. I'd love to see the looks on their faces when that shit hits the fan."
"I'm sending word right now," Oak and Gary could see that he was doing something off-screen. "If what you said about them scanning for communications is correct then you are going to need to get moving. Do you have somewhere to hide?"
"Sorry, I used my good hiding spot to avoid their first sweep," Gary replied with a tearful smile. "I'm SOL now."
"Gary-"
"Just get whoever's coming to hurry up," Gary continued. He could hear the sounds of people running upstairs. He didn't have much time left. "Please Grandpa, I'm scared."
"Gary-"
"Goodbye." Gary hung up. He dropped the phone and then sprinted out of the room. He didn't have a destination in mind, he just didn't want to wait there until Team Rocket found him.
Gary ran for the elevators, some half-baked idea about trying to exit out of the top hatch going through his mind. He never made it; someone barreled around a corner and tackled him mid stride. Gary let out a grunt of pain as the breath was knocked out of him.
He tried to struggle, but the person had him pinned and more members of Team Rocket arrived. He was flipped onto his stomach, his arms were barred behind his back, dozens of hands holding him down. Rough ridged plastic found its way around his wrists and ankles and then he was roughly hauled back to his feet.
Bound and helpless, Gary Oak was dragged away.
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
Ahhh... Poor Gary. I think I torture too many young folks in this fic. Oh, well, that's what they get for being in my story.
Please leave a review! Concrit is welcome!