Sinnoh, near Sunnyshore

"I did not commit any crimes!" I said indignantly, trying my best to stay still and ignore the way the stolen pokeball was digging into my thigh.

"No? So you didn't break in—" Suddenly the officer broke off, cursing to herself, as she saw the time. "Oh, Arceus! I don't have time for this right now." The officer quickly walked out of the cell, slamming it shut in her hurry to leave. She didn't lock the door.

I immediately got up from the bench, craning my neck to look around the police station as well as I could from my cell. If I could just grab some money, I could get a fare to another region. I was pretty sure she kept her wallet on that desk, although I'd have to keep my face ducked the whole time to avoid the cameras. I tried my best to ignore the twinge of guilt I felt, knowing that I had no other choice.

Suddenly, I could hear footsteps, loud and discordant, as if there were multiple people. I quickly sat back down, trying to look disinterested. It was hard, because I was, in fact, extremely interested.

A large group of officers appeared, crowded around a redheaded figure. One officer stepped out, going to the desk for a few minutes, before returning with a key. She opened the door to the cell opposite mine, which took up the whole wall. It was the most intimidating cell in the whole place, completely solid, without the slightest gap or opening. The door was heavy and creaked loudly as the officer pulled it open, and I could see that the door was easily five inches thick.

All the officers filed in, closing the door with a final thud. I waited, before standing up, my heart pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears. I opened my own cell door, which was thankfully fairly light, as quietly as possible. I crept towards the desk, trying to find her wallet. There was nothing on her desk except for a couple of pokeballs which probably contained her growlithe, some keys and heaps of paper. I yanked all her drawers open, but they were chock-full of junk, and I couldn't see a wallet anywhere.

I started rifling through them wildly, finding a few bills here and there, but not a trace of wallet. My main conclusion was that the Officer Jenny in charge here was a complete slob who didn't own a wallet. As I closed the last drawer, the desk shuddered, and one of the pokeballs started rolling off the desk.

Fuck! I reached my hand out to stop the pokeball, when it started shaking wildly. Did I do something? I grabbed the shaking pokeball with one hand, trying to get the shaking to stop, while keeping my other hand in my right pocket, where my stolen pokeball was.

Suddenly a distinctively non-canine figure formed, and every cell in my body kicked into survival mode as I found myself staring into the eyes of a zoroark.

This was not Officer Jenny's pokemon, I thought rather hysterically. This was the pokemon of someone who was bad enough to be in the special cell. I was fucked.

"Your trainer's over there, she's being held by the officers. I'm not one of them." I pointed shakily to the menacing steel doors, eyes trained on the intimidating dark-type.

The pokemon held a glistening red claw up, aimed straight at me in what was unmistakably a threat.

"I—what do you want?" I asked, desperately. This was it. I was dead. I refused to release Umbreon. This was not how he deserved to go. I knew that if I died, the league would find a good trainer for him. Hopefully.

I suddenly found myself looking at a human. A woman, with bright red-hair, and a devious smile. It was extremely convincing, even though I knew it was an illusion.

"Shh. They are chasing me. They have psychics tracking. Get me out." They? The League? I had no idea how to evade a psychic.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, stalling.

"Far. No ice." Great. How helpful. I looked around wildly, but my options remained the same. Help the zoroark and make the League my enemy, or help the League and make the zoroark my enemy. Considering only one of them was right in front of me, my choice was clear. Think.

"Okay, and if you're in the pokeball, they can't detect you. So, I'll bring you to another region, and they won't be able to track you once you're out of the 'range'. Right?"

"Yes. Far. Their psychics are good." The last words were spat out like poison. I tried my best to ignore them.

"Can't they detect you now?"

"They don't know I'm free." I stared. This was such a bad idea. "Okay." Nothing about this was okay. I slowly picked the pokeball up, looking dubiously at the occupied pokeballs surrounding it. The zoroark did not spare them a glance, and I wasn't going to suggest bringing any friends.

"I'll return you now?" The zoroark nodded, eyes boring into me ominously, and I could feel the threat of its power even though it still wore the illusion of humanity.

I shakily pressed the button, feeling the weight of my decision bear down on me, before stuffing it into my left pocket. Jailbreak.