Author's Note: Hey all you lovely viewers. I just wanted to point out that the little scene where Charcoal goes inside his mind was inspired from the Doctor Who episode "Heaven Sent" when the Doctor kept retreating into his mind to think. The chapter also might be a little repetitive, but other than that should be a great chapter to read on.

Chapter 48: Investigations Abound

The sound of something crashing through the roof of the Pokemon Center was what snapped me from my thoughts. The first thing I saw upon looking up was a bolt of lightning striking into the very center of the building. The second thing I saw three centimeters to the left was Zack. My heart practically stopped at the mere thought of his charred body being the only remains of what he once was as the lightning ceased its attack, leaving the building in complete darkness. I, however, hadn't noticed this, being that I was frozen where I stood holding in a breath I wasn't even aware of holding until I heard my trainer cry out Zack's name. It was then I took notice of the darkened room along with the sounds of frightened screams and cries from everybody within the building.

I could feel my brain processing a tad slower than usual, a result of both the chat Zack and I had and the fact that he was but only a smidge off from being fully struck. I wanted to run to him, to check to make sure there were no adheres effects from being that close to a bolt of lightning, yet found myself hesitating to do so, even as Ted and even Skitty cared for his well-being. The fact still remained though that I was not as good a teammate I had expected to be. Nor had I ever been good at doing anything in my entire life. The only thing I ever was good at was putting my brain to use in problematic situations. But even then I wasn't any good getting out of the situations I've gotten myself into.

"May I have your attention everyone!" the head nurse suddenly spoke as she walked into the room, snapping me from my thoughts. "Everyone please, calm down." She waited as everyone began quieting down around the room before explaining what was going on. I took that opportunity to glance back at the men I've been keeping an eye on the past two days.

Something about them seemed suspicious, especially since they kept avoiding people like the plague. Then there was that crate they never seemed to leave alone that had been nagging the ever loving crap out of me. As it were, being that everyone's attention was upon the head nurse, the men quickly, yet quietly, made their way into the back, sticking to the shadows so as not to be seen. Red flags were going off in my head, prompting me to follow.

Acting natural, I walked around to the doors leading to the back, concentrating on keeping my tail flame as dim as I could keep it, hoping that no one would notice my planned escape. Luckily, everyone's attention was still on the nurse as I ducked into the back and sprint into a brisk power walk. Up ahead, I could hear the harsh whispers of the men. What they were saying, I couldn't tell. What I wouldn't give for super hearing.

"Still though,"" I heard one of them say as I stopped at a corner. "That was some incredible luck on our part."

"Tell me about it," his partner replied. "The lightning strikes are getting bad though and we've been long overdue in getting back. They should understand though."

"Yeah," the first one who spoke grunted. "Hopefully. Let's just get there quick. Carrying this thing is a pain. It's as heavy as a-"

"Shh!" the other guy hissed. "Do you want us to get caught?"

"Sorry!" the one carrying the crate said in a sarcastic tone. "You try carrying this thing."

I carefully peeked around the corner, finding them walking down another corridor. Acting fast, I quietly ran to the corner of that wall and carefully peeked around, watching as they both exited through a door. I quickly had to back track to find some other way out so that they wouldn't be alerted to my presence had I made to follow them further. The only problem was that the front exit was basically my best chance and there were tons of people in the lobby that could stop me before I even made it out, including my trainer. That just left a window which I stopped in several rooms to scan, finding bar none being that they were all rooms for pokemon to be checked up on and heal and such.

Hope was beginning to look quite dim until I screeched to a halt, finding a single window in a room that was currently opened. A momentary question of why it was open during a storm like this was pushed aside as I ran in and climbed my way out. I'd figure that reason out once I got back.

Upon jumping down, a bolt of lightning that struck about a yard from where I stood from the left at a forty-five degree angle caught my attention. There had been a lot of talk about the lightning around the city, but this was the first I got to actually see it occurring before my eyes. I pondered on this thought though as it brought up an important question: for what reason was this storm here for? The forces of nature shouldn't have been misaligned. Being a pokemon, I would have felt a shift in the very core of the Earth itself had something changed. But this was different. Sort of like this weather happened unexpectedly and there was something bigger going on that no one knew about. That was definitely something to look into, more so than the window's mysterious opening.

Enough on that matter though! Returning my attention to the true matter at hand, I took a momentary pause to remember which way I was fixing to go and turned. Barely taking a step forward, another bolt of lightning struck to my left about a yard away at exactly a forty-five degree angle; exactly where the first bolt of lightning struck.

I stopped and blinked, finding that intriguingly interesting. Lightning, in all its history, has been known for never striking in the same place twice. If that ever were to happen, there would have to be something to draw the lightning to it such as a ground rod or anything metal, neither of which I currently saw present from where I stood. But again, that would have to wait until after I took care of what my main concern was upon.

Resuming my attention on where it was needed once more, I took off in the direction I needed to go, quickly finding the back door to the Pokemon Center. The men, as I had thought, were no longer in sight, but with how heavy the crate weighed on the one carrying it, it was safe to assume that they hadn't gotten far.

With my back at the door, I shut my eyes and entered a world of high tech machinery that made up the inside of my mind whenever I needed to think deep. As I walked in, I glanced at the computer dashboard on my left that had a keyboard within it and a few small screens for prognosis analysis effects. To my right was a blank wall. I had yet to figure what I wanted to put there. On the far end, opposite from where I stood, was a moderate sized television screen that, once turned on, showed what I was currently looking at. And in the middle of the very room was a chalkboard I used to write down what I learned and make calculations on a situation I was determined to figure out and such.

I ran for the dashboard, clacking away in an instant as the small screens all came to life with different data information upon each one. "Five minutes!" I said aloud. "Five minutes is not enough time for two men to get very far, especially if one of them is carrying a crate; meaning… they are still close by." I broke away from the dashboard to the chalkboard to write down the thoughts that floated to the forefront of my mind.

"Three questions," I spoke as I wrote down each question in thought. "Who are they? Where are they going? And what exactly is in the crate?" Upon having written my questions down, I rushed over to the TV screen and turned it on, viewing exactly what my eyes could see in front of me. Quickly sweeping the area, I calculated the many possible routes the men could have taken. Being that they were quick and discreet about their exit, one could only assume that they would want to put as much distance from the Pokemon Center as they could; meaning… there was only one direction they could have most likely taken and that direction was-

"Straight!" I snapped open my eyes and took off, scanning every which way direction I could so as not to pass them by. Returning to my thinking room, I found myself clacking away something furious at the keyboard, inputting all probabilities of which turn to make and how far in distance they've gone. It was at this point a draw of the straw so-to-speak, deciding which turn to make and hoping not to bypass them. I could easily cross out houses and practically any building in the city. I highly doubted they were planning a visit to friends.

I decided to make a left turn at the next building I reached, being that my path was running out, only to stop suddenly and hop back, dodging back around the corner, barely avoiding detection from the men who were currently taking a momentary break from the walking they've been doing.

"Hey! Did you hear something?" one of them asked.

"It was probably something falling from all the abuse it took from the lightning," the other said. "Quit being so paranoid."

"I can't help it," the first guy said. "I just got that feeling like someone noticed us leaving and is keeping tabs on us nearby!" I recognized the voice of that belonging to the man who was carrying the crate, given his wimpier, uncertain tone of voice.

"Well maybe we'll get lucky and then and whoever is following us will get struck by all this lightning," the other guy said in a more annoyed, sarcastic tone. "Now quit your bellyaching and come on!"

"All right!" the wimpier man yelled back, sounding like he was almost in tears. "There's no need to yell." I risked taking a peek from the corner to follow their movement as the wimpier man picked up the crate and followed his partner. They went straight at first, but upon reaching the third building on their right, they made that turn and disappeared from view. I took that opportunity to shoot out from my hiding spot and ran for the corner of that building, cautiously peeking out on the off chance they were planning an ambush.

As it were, they both continued straight, staying close to the buildings so they wouldn't be struck out in the open. I watched them for several seconds, ensuring that they wouldn't turn suddenly or catch me running towards them, which was a huge risk once I made a break for the next building's corner, which I somehow found myself miraculously at without so much as a glance back from either or until the last possible moment as I ducked behind the building just as the wimpier man craned his head back, his attention drawn by a bolt of lightning that struck where I had ran past seconds ago. I let out a sigh of relief mentally, surprised by the fact that I wasn't sighted.

And so the process continued. I ran from one building to the net, dodging lightning all the meanwhile chancing at being seen. Luckily for me, the other guy was growing quite annoyed at his paranoia that he literally had to threaten him to shut him up. It was a bit much but effective. Still my guard remained. It was never a good idea to become carless just because a situation was taken care of. There still was the chance he could turn around at some point and spot me anyway. Eventually though, the pathway had come to an end and, taking a hard right, the men disappeared from view once again.

I could smell a familiar scent lingering about within the air as it ingrained itself within my noscular tubes: sea salt! There were only two places I knew of that could pertain a salty atmosphere and I highly doubted that there was a beach of sorts at the edge of the city. "Meaning…" I said as I went back to the chalkboard. "The only other place that has such would be a pier. But why the pier? "No! Not why: what. What is happening at the pier that these two would risk getting struck for?" A curious question indeed. To find the answer out, it would result in me having to actually be inside. That was a feat in itself though being that I spotted people walking about upon a cargo ship as I looked out from the corner the men disappeared behind.

I may have been a few yards from it, but even from this distance I could see people walking about like the storm was no big deal. I resumed my pace behind the men as they continued to walk from where I was, running to the next building whilst nearing the pier itself to get a better view of what was going on. Once I was close enough, I remained where I was and observed the people onboard. I may not have had much knowledge on sailors, but from what I understood from skimming through that bit, I could only assume that sailors were used to dealing with storms, despite the fact that this one was entirely different. Still though, if this storm was nothing to them, then perhaps sailors were indeed fearless, which I found totally ludicrous. Humans always had an irrational fear about something, no matter how fearless they made themselves out to be. That, however, didn't change the fact that I had no way in. Not to mention that the men I had been following were now amongst them commingling. What I wouldn't give for super hearing.

For now, I had to find a way in without being seen. And to do that… I racked my brain as I scanned the area slowly this time on how I was going to get in. A cargo ship usually carried large containers and such to other ports. And as I watched the people go about, I took notice that they were carrying crates, barrels, and other large sized containers onboard the ship. Bingo! Now the only problem was finding one to sneak into.

I took a deep breath and dimmed my tail flame once more, a cold chill running down my spine as I did. Mew forbid did I hate doing that! But it was the only way to avoid detection and possibly burning something flammable that would lead into my detection. Now if I could only find an opportunity to sneak into one of those crates. That would, of course, result in me getting closer.

Exhaling the held breath, I peeked around and examined the area, deciding on what course of action would be best to take. From what I could see, some of the supposed sailors that weren't carrying cargo aboard were walking the perimeter of the ship, keeping watch as though they were to keep out unwanted attention. And by supposed, I meant that something was telling me that whoever these people were, they weren't sailors.

Upon examining the state of the pier, I realized that there was no way to get close enough which meant that I'd have to take a different approach. Fortunately, that approach seeking was short-lived as one of the ship's crew members stumbled suddenly as he was walking up the boardwalk to the ship, dropping the barrel he was carrying in the process into the water below. Some of the other crew members, including those on watch, ran to retrieve the barrel from either floating away or sinking. I couldn't tell which.

Regardless of that, with their attention occupied for the moment, I dashed from my hiding spot and made a mad dash for the pier, hoping that no one would catch sight of me as I ran for the nearest crate. I skidded to a crouch as I neared and felt around in hopes that there would be a section that would open up. To my relief, the top opened up, allowing me to slip my way inside it. Darkness surrounded me as the lid shut, the only source of light illuminating the interior was thank to my dimly lit tail. I took careful precaution to make sure my tail didn't touch anything that would be flammable, but then again, I hadn't the slightest what was in here.

Taking a moment to examine what was in the crate with me, I began to feel myself lying upon something that wasn't too hard, but was quite lumpy. Nothing but sacks full of mysterious items were what was contained in this crate as my vision adjusted to the dim lighting, albeit there were only a few of them, which was probably why I managed to get in with ease. It would have been a different story for sure if this was full.

And so I lied most uncomfortably within the crate, waiting for the humans to resume their task. After what felt like a lifetime, I felt the crate be picked up suddenly. Finally some progress was being made. I felt the crate sway left and right a little, resulting in my stomach churning. I held in a sickening groan, hoping that the crate would be placed down as soon as possible. After a few more minutes of the nonstop swaying, the crate was finally placed down with the sound of a door being shut shortly after. Even then I remained lying there, waiting for my stomach to settle down before having recovered enough for me to move.

I cautiously opened up the lid, peeking through to see if the coast was clear. All I could see was darkness as it shrouded the room. Feeling assured that I wouldn't be caught I removed the lid, quietly setting it down against the crate, and climbing out, flaring up my tail to provide light so as to look around. There were other such crates, barrels, and even a few boxes as my eyes readjusted to the lighting, clearly a storage room I just so happened to placed in.

Once my eyes were well enough adjusted, I turned and rummaged around in the crate I was brought in, untying one of the sacks so as to see just what lied inside. Reaching in, I took out the first thing my paw came in contact with and looked at the object in curiosity, surprise replacing my curiosity as I realized the object I had pulled out was a pearl necklace. I could feel every fiber in my body going haywire telling me that something was wrong, yet giving it some thought, I may have very well been jumping the gun and was rummaging what could very well be transferring merchandise. But then, why would the men from the Center sneak out the back for unless they had something they wanted to keep hidden?

Reaching back into the sack, I next pulled out a set of pure, silver dinnerware that hadn't been opened. Following that was an unused ratchet set and then an unopened box of dishware. And so it went as I searched through each sack that I found were unusable items that would be worth of value to the usual homeowners, feeling all the more reluctant to continue searching, yet did so to appease my gut instinct of there being something wrong about this.

After rummaging through about five other sacks, I was beginning to come to terms that I may have snuck aboard a normal ship full of merchandise and I was illegally sticking my nose where it shouldn't be. I was also somewhat surprised no one had walked in on me the entire time I had been pulling things out. Considering on putting everything back and then find a way out without being caught, I reached into the sack once more to grab whatever was left within when the object in my paw suddenly vibrated with a low buzzzz!

My entire body froze as I stood there feeling the vibration of the object in question as I slowly pulled it out and looked at it. Studying the object over, it looked as though it was small enough to fit into a human's pocket, given its disc-shaped form. I wasn't sure as to what this device was, but I could tell that it was a means of communication amongst others. Pressing the button in the middle, the top portion ejected outward, a small screen popping out as I fiddled with it some. Upon the lit screen read:

7 missed calls.

If all the other items weren't enough to confirm my suspicions, this device certainly was. But then a new question popped into mind. It was obvious these people were robbers of sorts, yet robbers wouldn't be part of a crew that dealt in shipping stolen valuables. That would be more of an organization of sorts. So the question to ask was who these guys were.

As I looked at the cargo within the room, my eyes came to rest upon a clipboard lying nearby with paper attached to it. No doubt it had to be a roster of sorts. Upon reading the information it contained as I looked it over, one particular crate being shipped caught my interest. Among the many items being shipped to and from different locations, one crate full of pokemon were in among them. "No way!" I said in a harsh whisper. "These guys are shipping pokemon? Why? What's the purpose? Who even are these people?"

I stepped back, bumping into the crate behind me. I turned, startled by my sudden reaction to see that I had bumped the lid slightly. Curiosity had overtaken me by this point and I was unable to resist peeking in to see what this crate contained, only for more shock to take me, for within the crate were dozens upon dozens of pokeballs.

I looked back at the roster at the shipment of pokemon that had been printed upon and then back at the crate full of pokeballs. Did each and every single one of them contain pokemon, stolen from trainers who were conned or such otherwise? Or were these meant for capturing pokemon, empty and waiting to be used for containment?

I slowly began to back up, my mind racing on what the best course of action to do would be when I looked up, my mouth gaping open as the connection came full circle, gripping me with fear. Upon the wall was a poster. And upon the poster I had come to know through reading multiple articles on the many newspapers I have read about them was a big, red, letter:

R

I had to get back to the Center and warn the others about what was transpiring at the port, even if things between Zack and I weren't so great. He at least had the right to know so that he and Ted could help put a stop to this. Getting back would be no easy effort either, what with the many Rocket members walking about. I'd find some way though, at least, I hope I would.

Turning about, I intended to make way for the door and plan my escape route. Instead, I came to face to face with-

"Hi!"

I screamed.