"I have to go. Call the police and send them to Sashi's place immediately. I think she's in danger," Burnet said over the phone to Doctor Ōpūnui. She had sprinted off beside me, not missing a beat.
With her phone still in hand, I noticed her dial another number. "Come on. Pick up, pick up, pick up," she grumbled to her phone. Then, with no response, she hung up and dialed a new one.
"Hey Miku, I heard about what happened yesterday. How is Kukui?" The sound of an older woman's voice answered in concern, the mobile device still on speaker.
"Not now, Mom." Burnet shot her down swiftly between pants. "Get to the Ashoka's house now." Without explaining further, she hung up, still running breathlessly. Lei stared wide-eyed at his mother from her arm, fear keeping him silent.
We skidded to a halt at the front of the house, and I reached my hand out to the doorknob to rush inside, but Burnet snatched me by the arm before I could enter my sister's home.
"The children," she gasped in fragments through strained breaths, clutching her chest in pain. "Could be dangerous. Just wait."
"What's wrong with you?" I asked roughly, shocked by her sudden pale complexion.
"It's nothing," she panted.
"This isn't 'nothing,' Burnet," I growled, squinting at her. Though her skin had lost its color, her cheeks remained red as sweat dripped down her face. It was warm outside but certainly not hot enough to warrant this kind of reaction.
"I wasn't expecting a run today," the white-haired woman retorted, turning her back and walking toward the house to lean against the wall.
I rolled my eyes and huffed in irritation, struggling to catch my own breath, from the desperate sprint uphill. I pushed aside my sudden concern for her. If she wants to put herself in this condition, that was her own choice, I thought to myself defiant.
I wanted to ignore her command, but my daughter's safety was just as important. I couldn't go barging into a potentially hazardous situation with her by my side and I certainly couldn't leave her outside to deal with Arceus knows what kind of danger may be lurking nearby. I tapped my foot impatiently on the ground as we waited, scanning the yard and sides of the house for any misplaced signs of danger.
It was only a couple of minutes before I saw a black speck in the sky, fast approaching. A Flygon being used as a Ride Pokémon skidded to a halt on the ground within the garden, and an older, dark-skinned woman jumped off its back, then hurried over to us, her silver curled hair still in rollers.
Burnet grabbed a still-shocked Himiko by the arm and pulled her away from my grasp. "Take these two back to my place and wait for me there. I'll explain later," she said to her mum, handing her son over and my daughter's arm. Then without another word, she began to make her way to the door of the house.
"Please be careful, sweetie," her dark-skinned mum called after her with a thick accent, looking frightened. I saw the woman take a few steps back towards the Flygon, a PokéBall in hand, ready to defend against whatever we seemed to be worried about.
I followed my sister's neighbor, glancing back at my child, surprised by the swift thinking of the white-haired woman. I felt a slight burning of shame in me that my first thought was not for my own daughter's safety.
We wasted no time opening the door and walking in. I heard sirens in the distance, still a long ways off, and knew that the police were already on their way. We were aware that time was precious, though, so we didn't wait for them to arrive.
I noticed nothing out of the ordinary but for my sister's bo staff by the front door, though I recalled seeing that it was there that morning before I left.
"Sashi," I called out into the silent home, but I didn't expect a response. So instead, I grabbed hold of the tall wooden stick and armed myself with it. I had never used this type of weapon before, preferring hand-to-hand combat myself when sparring, but knowing I had some type of defense was slightly soothing.
"Burnet, have you had any martial arts training?" I called to her with a sudden realization of the perilous situation the woman had put herself in by coming inside with me.
"No," her answer was swift. "Let's stick together, though. If someone is impersonating Kukui, one of us alone could be easily overpowered. But at least with the two of us, we stand some chance." Her voice shook in fear, but she continued moving, her eyes flickering with churning emotions. Her color had already begun returning to her olive-colored skin and her breathing had evened out.
We peeked upstairs, into the sunroom, the spare bedroom at the back of the house and even the kitchen. Still, nothing seemed off, but for the eerie silence.
"The Delcatty should have heard us by now," Burnet fretted. "It's too protective not to investigate us barging in as we did. Hop!" She called uselessly. I didn't suppose she was expecting a reply either, but I did note the lack of presence from the fierce little Pokémon as well.
We rounded the corner towards the lab downstairs. I felt the hair on the back of my neck begin to rise. The room had become colder, but I was unsure if the Swanna skin on my arm was from adrenaline or a sudden drop in temperature.
A ripped piece of paper sat on the floor below, and as we descended the steps, I caught sight of a few more. My heart began to drop, knowing how organized Sashi was. She would never purposefully allow her or Kabir's research notes to be strewn about in such a way. When we finally saw the basement in full view, I had to grab hold of a wall to stop myself from falling over, the bo staff slipping from my fingers and plummeting to the floor with a noisy clatter as I brought my other hand to cover my mouth.
Desks were tipped on their sides, with expensive-looking machines lying shattered on the floor. A wall of bookshelves was charred black and still smoldering in some places, the books on them ruined. One shelf had collapsed completely and lay in pieces in a heap on the floor; its contents ripped to shreds. There were clear signs of both a Pokémon battle and one between humans.
I couldn't see any signs of my sister, but I did notice the door leading to the backyard had been smashed to pieces, glass scattered across the floor. Clearly, someone had broken into the home that way.
To my horror, there were also a few pools of blood spread about, too large for someone as small as Sashi to survive without immediate medical help. A trail of smears showed the swift exit of someone badly injured, pointing to the direction of the deadened forest behind the house.
"Anya, help me," Burnet said behind me, pulling my attention away from the dreadful scene. She was crouching by the toppled bookshelf, straining to lift it on her own.
I ran to her, over the fallen debris, anxiety bubbling in my chest at what or who I might find under this that only the woman saw. The pit in my stomach dropped as we shoved it away.
Lying in a crumpled heap, unmoving, was Hop, her body broken and bleeding on the floor.
"No," Burnet whispered beside me. She reached down and ran a hand along the cheek of the cat, ending on her throat to check for signs of life. I already knew the answer, but I couldn't help myself as I looked over at the Professor, hoping her prognosis differed from mine. To my surprise, the young woman noticed something that I didn't.
"There isn't much time. We need to get it to a Pokémon Center right away. Do you know where its PokéBall is?"
"Uh, that," I said after looking around. "They keep all of them on that shelf in the corner, by the machine." I rose to my feet swiftly but felt my heart sank once more as I realized the shelves with the depressions for PokéBalls were completely bare. Even Kabir's were missing. "They're all gone. All the Pokémon. They must have been taken as well," I said as fury rose in my stomach. First, they attacked and took my sister, and now they stole all that she loved too. What monster would do such a thing?
"Maybe not, though. Sashi usually keeps her balls on a belt if she's not at home. Maybe she had them with her," Burnet tried to reason as she saw my anger rise.
"If she had them with her, she would be here right now. There's no way she could be defeated in a battle by a single person. She's practically been training Pokémon since she was in the cradle. And where are Kabir's?" I snapped back at her, raising my voice.
"I don't know, but your yelling isn't helping," she answered softly, stopping her work and staring at me, her yellow eyes pleading.
I threw a few angry curses at the frustratingly calm woman. My mind flashed with a thousand emotions as I growled my uncontrolled fury out. "I'm not sure if you've realized, but my sister is missing, and there's a huge puddle of blood that doesn't bode well for her survival. How are you just going to sit there and act like you aren't concerned?"
"I saw that too," she nearly whispered as she bowed her head and returned to treating Hop. "What do you suppose we do? We can't give chase. You only have that Pidgeot but no clue how to battle, and my Munchlax isn't very strong."
I didn't know how to respond to her, so instead, I spewed out more furious curses as I began flinging papers and books off the table in front of me, searching desperately, but for what I didn't know anymore.
She was correct. My dislike of these creatures put me at a severe handicap since I had never learned to battle with them and never cared to try and catch any. My anger rose at my foolishness, and I took it out on the machine in front of me, yanking it off the table and throwing it to the floor. I reached my arm up to pull the shelf down as well, my fury not quelled.
"Anya, calm down," Burnet said gently, grabbing my wrist and pulling me away from my carnage. "You're doing more damage than good." Then, closing her eyes and sighing with a shaking breath, she continued, "We need to find a way to get this Delcatty to the Center, or we could lose it. I know finding your sister is important, but there's nothing we can do. The police are on their way. How about we let them handle that, and you and I can work on saving something precious to Sashi?"
I stared at the hand on my wrist and suddenly thought about what she must be going through. She had just found out her husband was in some strange coma, but her first act when she learned this was to immediately try to help me get to my sister.
Burnet left my side once more.
She's right again. My anger wouldn't do us any good in this situation, I thought in frustration. I sighed as well and tried to push down my emotions as I hurried back to the spot where the white-haired Professor was now carefully moving the purple cat to a clear space.
With my anger ebbing, I began to think more clearly, and my training as a doctor finally started to return. I glanced quickly around the room and located something that would help us transport the patient.
Rising to my feet once more, I began to rip the backing off one of the bookshelves. It was heavy, but it was large enough to hold Hop. "This can help us keep it stable. We shouldn't move it around too much, or we'll risk furthering its injuries," I said between grunts as I tried to pry it up.
"Smart thinking," Burnet said, coming over and helping me pull. With effort, we finally got it up and moved the still unresponsive Hop onto the platform. "I'll stay with the Delcatty and have one of the police officers drive us to the Pokémon Center," she said.
"Yes. That's a good plan," I answered, knowing her understanding of Pokémon health would be far more useful than my human care knowledge in a situation like this.
The sounds of many voices and footsteps, both inside and outside the home, could be heard now, the sirens finally reaching the house. The police had arrived, and it sounded as if they brought the whole force. I saw flashes of blue uniforms as several officers made their way around to the backyard.
Banging on the steps pulled both Burnet's and my attention as we saw Officer Jenny rushing downstairs with her partner, a brown and yellow weasel Pokémon I didn't know the name of. She took one quickly calculating sweep of the room with her eyes, evident signs of a lost battle all around. Pulling in a deep breath, as if steadying herself, the officer then called over the radio;
"Everyone round up and head out back. The Professor is missing. There are signs of a battle and serious injury, so approach anyone with caution. Fan out and search west. Keep your Partners with you and only search in teams of two or more. Do not lose sight of each other. Do not go alone."
To Be Continued…
