Chapter 41 – The Driver
"So, what'll happen to Shadow now," Ash asked tentatively. He was still in a state of shock after watching the Darkrai's capture.
Zacian shrugged. "Team Rocket has plans. They won't share them with me." She had a happy, almost giddy expression across her muzzle, and her tail wagged as she spoke.
Butch and Cassidy had run off to find Dr. Namba, leaving the legendary alone in the dome lounge car with Ash and Pikachu. The three were sitting in a pair of comfortable chairs beside the window drinking mugs of hot cocoa, Zacian had insisted on having Mr. Mine fetch for them.
Ash had to admit, the strong, sweet hot liquid tasted very good - especially after being caught in the open air upstairs. Even so, the entire thing still felt weird to him.
"Honestly it doesn't matter to me," Zacian continued. "What matters is that Shadow is finally caught. He can't hurt another innocent Pokémon just because they insult his little bitch. No one else will have their face used as a puppet, will drown in their own blood or have their scaled torn off."
Pikachu coxed his head and frowned. "But aren't you worried that, if Team Rocket tries to use Shadow as a weapon, others could get hurt."
Zacian sighed. "Honestly, at this point in my life, I don't care. I don't care what the humans do to each other anymore. If the humans want to destroy their civilisation and everything they've built, just so a few can attain power and wealth above other, then so be it. Pokémon will do what we have always done."
"But Team Rocket doesn't just attack humans. They hurt Pokémon too," said Pikachu. "I spend my life trying to avoid being captured by them. Ash spends his saving me from them."
Zacian scowled at him. "If by, trying to avoid being captured, you mean blasting off those idiots Jessie and James. Or should I say messy and lames. I would hardly call that hurt. Anyone could defeat those three. Even the weakest Caterpie could beat them. They're a disgrace to Team Rocket. I often wonder why the boss hasn't thrown them out."
Pikachu and Ash looked at each other. Neither of them had expected her to say that.
"They still try," protested Pikachu.
"I've been alive for thousands of years. And as long as I have lived humans have always tried to steal the power of Pokémon. And always Pokémon endure. Civilisations rise and fall, but nature always endures. So it is. So, it will be with Team Rocket."
Pikachu just shook his head, bewildered. "I don't get you. You want to end Shadow because of the Pokémon he's killed. But you don't seem to care about Team Rocket doing the same thing or worse."
"Pikachu," said Ash. Although he thought his buddy had a point, he didn't like the way he was being rude. Ash was still curious about Zacian and wanted to learn more about her. And he thought the best way to do that was by being friendly.
"Shadow killed my mate. The best thing in my life since I became part of Team Rocket, and that Darkrai took it from me," snapped Zacian. "For that I want him to suffer. I want him to know pain. I want him to be separated from Blade."
She looked out the window. The aroura australis was still shinning overhead.
"So that he finally will understand how I feel."
Pikachu pulled a face. He opened his maw as if to say more, but Ash stopped him, whispering into his ear, "Why don't you let it go, buddy."
"But…It's just so. Hypoc…"
"I don't think she's going to get that." Ash cut him off again. "Just let it go. She has to choose her own path."
Pikachu puffed out his cheeks, annoyed. Then he let out a huffy sighed. Zacian watched him disapprovingly.
Ash, feeling uncomfortable, quickly tried to change the subject. "Uhm, so who's actually driving the train." It was the only thing he could think to say.
He hadn't expected Zacian to know or give much of an answer. Instead, she smiled and said, "come with me!"
[Pokémon]
"At last! Shadow is now our captive. Excellent work Cassidy and Biff."
Even when paying the pair compliment, Dr. Namba still sounded as though he were permanently annoyed by something. In fact, he didn't even look at the pair, his eyes remained glued to three projected computer screens in the laboratory car.
"Umm, sir it's actually," Butch begun, but was cut off and ignored by the scientist as he continued.
"Has Team Rocket HQ been informed."
"They have sir," said Cassidy. "The matrix has been dispatched. I've instructed the driver to head towards the rendezvous point."
"Good, good." Namba nodded, his eyes still not leaving the screen.
Butch sighed. "I don't know why I bother."
"Hmmm, it's got a very determined will this one. Even with the pain it must be causing, he continues to fight against the beams. The pantographs are drawing more energy than they should be to hold a Pokémon of its size."
"Well, it is a legendary, sir," said Cassidy.
This seemed to irritate Namba, as his next words were through gritted teeth. "That ought not to matter. Darkrai is hardly amongst the strongest of the legendries. I estimate level 50 or 55. At most 60. No, it seems to be using all of its strength to fight against the machine, even at risk of destroying itself. Remarkable."
"How so," Cassidy enquired curiously.
You see my dear," Namba replied. "The instinct of most Pokémon would be to protect themselves as best they can against being caused such pain. It would overwhelm their brains. Not so, it seems with this particular Darkrai. Either it is incapable of feeling pain, or merely doesn't care. This may explain why it's able to attack its victims with such ferocity. It has no care for how much it is hurt in the struggle."
He then muttered under his breath, "fascinating…We really must get hold of some tissue samples…"
[Pokémon]
With Ash and Pikachu…
"Ash, Pikachu. This is the engine room," said Zacian once they had reached the front of the train. It had been a surprisingly long walk, through a myriad of different types of carriages, and Ash felt almost out of puff.
The interior of the locomotive seemed to resemble what one might expect the interior of a spacecraft in a sci-fi film to look like, as opposed to a train. It was long and vaguely cylindrical, with a white floor and walls, and computer monitors all over the walls.
Even the front windows weren't actually windows. There was another screen with a three-dimensional replication of the tracks ahead. At the very front just below the screens, with its hind legs resting on a stool and its front paws pressed down on a lever on a console, was a plump Raichu.
"Rai-Rai," Zacian cried out happily, a wide smile crossing her muzzle.
The Raichu's ears twitched, and it looked over its shoulder. It gave a happy cry of "Rai," when it saw Zacian, and it grinned.
"Cool, a Raichu," said Ash, to himself, and to Pikachu. He whipped out his Pokédex.
Raichu, the mouse Pokémon and the evolved form of Pikachu. It can shock with more than 100,000 volts, enough to render a Dragonite unconscious.
"I can do that to," Pikachu muttered under his breath.
Zacian trotted happily over to it gave the electric mouse a lick on its cheek, making it blush. She then raised her head and flicked her muzzle, beckoning Ash and Pikachu over.
"Ash, Pikachu," she said as they approached. "This is my friend Rai-rai."
The Raichu blushed a little deeper and mumbled, "it's Raichu." Like all Raichu's, he was plump, with orange and cream fur, yellow cheeks, big curly ears, and a long thin tail shaped like a lightning bolt at the end.
"Pika Pika," Pikachu said in greeting, raising his paw.
The Raichu was wearing and round conductors' hat on the top of his head, complete with the Team Rocket R logo, set in metal above the brim. Who could say Team Rocket didn't have a sense of humour…?
"So, the train's driven by a Raichu," Ash asked.
Zacian nodded. "There's a group of five of them, and they each work five-hour shift."
"Where are the others."
"In one of the habitat pod cars further down the train."
Ash rubbed his chin curiously. "I see."
"It's all part of the anti-Darkrai defences of the train," Zacian explained. "You see this leaver here." She gestured with her nose to the console, where Raichu was pushing down on a long black leaver. "This is the dead mouse handle. The train only moves if Raichu pressed down on it. But if he raised his paw, without safety mechanism being engaged, it will activate a device that will kill Blade. And if the wheels ever leave the tracks, the entire train will explode. No way Blade will survive. So, Shadow can't attack us, without risking Blade's life. Assuming he actually cares about it."
"Rai Rai," Squeaked Raichu in agreement.
"Right," said Ash unsure how he felt about this information.
Pikachu stared intently at the Raichu pressing down on the handle. "But won't that kill everyone else as well."
Zacian shook her head. "No. There are warp tiles in the floor. Everyone would simply be teleported to safety before the explosion. Except Blade, of course. They don't work on Sneasel's."
"I'm starting to like this less and less," Pikachu mumbled, but only loud enough for Ash to hear him.
"Rai Rai here's been with Team Rocket for nearly ten years," said Zacian proudly, making the mouse blush.
"Raichu…"
"I still remember when he was a tiny Pichu."
Raichu blushed even more. Before Zacian could say anything else, however, there was dinging sound, like the ring of a bell. Then a voice spat over an intercom, "Locomotive, this is Cassidy. Route the train to the rendezvous point in the Crown Tundra."
Ash looked around to see the speaker where Cassidy's voice had come from. He eventually spotted a black microphone beside leaver under Raichu's paw. Pikachu had other concerns.
Pikachu had other concerns. "Rendezvous? Who are rendezvousing with?"
Zacian raised her muzzle and flicked her ear curiously. "I have no idea. I told you, Team Rocket don't always tell me what their plan is."
"I don't like this," Pikachu whispered urgently into Ash's ear.
Ash grunted thought didn't say anything, partly because he didn't want Zacian or Raichu to hear, and partly because he felt a lurch of fear in his stomach.
"We need to get out of here," Pikachu continued. "Let them have Shadow. We need to get Ashachu and Charizard and get out!"
[Pokémon]
Meanwhile…
"What in the distortion world!"
Ashachu and Charizard whipped around as the door to their compartment flew open. A shocked looking Namba was standing in the doorway, his mouth hanging open. The two Pokémon glanced at each other.
"Uh-oh!"
As they watched, the expression on Namba's face turned from shock to anger. "I'm done cleaning up after you horny idiots. How dare you defiled my room."
"This was his room," Charizard whispered to Ashachu.
Ashachu shrugged. "I thought it was Ash's."
Truth was Ashachu had had no idea. The train was so long and with so many similar carriages and compartment that it was impossible to remember where anything one.
"What do we do."
"I'll teach you a lesson…"
"Leave it to me," replied Charizard….