Chapter 2: Reinforcements

I immediately bolted in the opposite direction, mind racing. They were coming for me—why were they coming for me? Swift flew by my side as I sprinted though the woods, ash burning my eyes, my throat. Couldn't think, had to run. One foot in front of the other, pumping my arms as hard as I could. My heart pounded and my lungs ached, but the smothering wave of fear pushed me forward. I threw a glance over my shoulder, and—

I shouldn't have done that; they were too close. The jeep was bowling over the uneven ground and fallen trees like they were nothing. The forest wasn't dense enough to slow them down, not after the fire. Dammit.

My bike, had to reach my bike. Nothing was more important than that. I could make it to town before they caught me and then lose them on the side streets. Just that tiny shred of hope was enough to keep me going, but was I too far away? I couldn't help glancing over my shoulder again and—oh god. They were right behind me. I wasn't going to make it!

The jeep sped past me and swerved abruptly into my path. I skidded to a stop just before I would have slammed into the side and spun around as fast as I could. Too late—the driver threw open the door, and a fist locked around the back of my shirt collar.

"No! No, stop, let go!" I screamed, flailing as hard as I could, but I couldn't get free. The Rocket dragged me toward the jeep, flung open the back hatch, and threw me inside. Then he climbed back into the front seat and drove off.

I lay there in a crumpled heap, my heart racing and my breathing shallow and my brain still trying to work through what the hell had just happened. Why was this happening to me? Why, why, why? I tried to get my mouth to form the words, "what do you want with me?" but the sentence died in my throat.

The Rockets were talking. One of them said something and laughed, but their words seemed to bounce off my ears. Nothing felt real.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed before I finally attempted to sit up. My heart was still pounding so hard I thought it would burst. First a shuddering breath while I tried to clear the dizzying panic from my head. Then my arms pushed against the floor and lifted my upper body from the mud-caked surface. Okay, that made my head feel lighter at least. Another deep breath and I managed to sit up fully.

I found myself peering over the back seat without meaning to, glancing between the four Rockets in the jeep. The man who'd grabbed me was driving. He was tall, burly, and looked older than the others. My eyes slid to his reflection in the rearview mirror—he had thick black hair and dark eyes surrounded by a stern and commanding face. Just looking at him made me shiver; I couldn't help ducking behind the seat.

My eyes wandered to the window and caught sight of… buildings? We were nearing Viridian, but why? Why hadn't we rejoined the group going after Entei? If we drove through Viridian instead, would it be possible to yell for help?

No. The windows were up, and the Rockets were likely armed. There was no way out of this.

I sank back against the seat, staring numbly out the window. And then I saw him—Swift was following us, flapping his wings rapidly to keep up. My heart leapt for a moment… until reality caught up with the simple truth that he couldn't do anything either.

"Just go," I whispered, though he couldn't hear me. "There's nothing you can do…"

But he kept following. He trailed us all through Viridian City, even as we passed the outskirts and headed into the forests east of town. I kept my eyes on him the whole time. It was comforting… but also made my heart ache.

Eventually, the jeep turned off the road we'd been following and into an empty parking lot surrounded by trees. We slowed to a stop in front of a large warehouse, where the driver rolled down his window and reached out to tap a card key to a scanner. The oversized garage door began to slide open, revealing a wide ramp descending into darkness.

As the driver took us inside, I turned to look behind us one last time. Swift was gone. Even if he'd still been there, it would obviously be a bad idea for him to follow us inside, where he could get trapped. It was better that he'd left. And yet… I couldn't help feeling more alone than ever.

At the bottom of the ramp, we emerged into a massive underground hangar filled with trucks, small aircraft, and even a jet plane. I stared around at it all, utterly floored. Team Rocket was really this huge? The Charizard trainer had said as much, but… I hadn't wanted to believe him. Seeing all this, right in front of me, it was pretty hard to ignore.

The jeep finally came to a stop, and the engine shut off. Doors swung open; the Rockets all exited the vehicle. I watched the driver walk over to an office door and scan his card key to unlock it before walking inside. And so, I was left alone. The only person who even knew I'd been taken was Swift. And what could he do about it, really? I found myself idly reaching into my pocket and grabbing the Pokéball with the Charmander, rolling it in my palm. I couldn't let it out, not in its condition. And now it was in Team Rocket's grasp just as much as I was. Some help I'd been.

I jolted at the loud slam of a door flying open. A man stormed out wearing an irritated expression, closely followed by the driver, who had a much smaller, more defensive air than earlier. It looked like the two were arguing. Maybe… maybe I could listen to them? I had to know if I was dead. The suspense was eating me alive. And so, acting more on impulse than anything, I slowly edged myself over the back seat and cracked open the car door.

"Of course no one ever feels like telling me a damn thing about the mission status," the new (higher-ranked?) Rocket snapped. "And what the hell made you think it would be a good idea to grab some random kid who happened to see it? Sure, she reports someone attacking a legend, big deal. No one would have any idea that it was us. But now she sure as hell knows too much. Honestly, Tyson, I don't even know why I—"

"That's not all," the driver cut in. "I saw him. The one we've heard rumors about from the new recruits. Of course, he was far off so I didn't see what he looked like, but I know she did."

A very heavy pause followed.

"Don't tell me you're taking that crap seriously?" his superior asked. "I don't know what you've heard, but all I've heard is that some dumbass is going around gathering a bunch of kids to fight us."

"I heard he was a part of the revolt."

Yet another pause. "So he might know more about us than we thought," the other Rocket said, sounding at least somewhat intrigued. "But how many others left us that day? Have any of them accomplished much? I don't see how this is any—"

He was interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. Tyson answered it and proceeded to listen for nearly a minute while his superior watched, still irritated. After some time, Tyson gave a short, curt response and hung up.

"Well?" the higher-rank snapped.

Tyson straightened. "It was a mission update. Entei was just about to escape, but then—you're not gonna believe this—the Johto combat unit showed up." His superior made an exaggerated sound of disgust.

"They took control of the situation," Tyson went on, "and of course one of their agents was the one who caught Entei. But now he's refusing to hand it over; he's waiting for orders from the Johto commander."

I went rigid with shock. They had actually caught it? They'd caught Entei? A Legendary Pokémon had been captured, and these two were talking about it like it was as normal as homework.

"The idiot. Boss's word isn't enough for him?" the higher-rank muttered, folding his arms.

Tyson shrugged. "It's the Johto force. You know how they are."

"Tch… always making their own terms for everything…" He scoffed. "Anyway, we're almost ready to ship the experiments to Celadon for testing, along with the supplies and machinery." The higher-rank jerked a thumb toward the far side of the hangar. "Since you're back, and you have a… vested interest in that program, I want you on board." At this point, he let out a sigh. "Now, about the kid…"

"Should I just dispose of her?" Tyson cut in, and my heart stopped.

"Well, if you're convinced that she knows anything, it could be useful," the higher-rank said. "But I don't have time to question her, and I know none of the admins do." Unexpectedly, he laughed. "I know, this is perfect—most of the department heads are at Celadon HQ right now. Stick the girl on the transport jet; let them deal with what to do with her." With that, he walked off to discuss things with some of the other Rockets.

I collapsed into the seat, letting out a huge sigh of relief. My situation hadn't improved, but just knowing that I wasn't dead yet was enough to make me feel slightly better. But then a few seconds later, Tyson started walking back toward the jeep, and my heart jumped into my throat. I threw myself over the back seat and tried my best to look like I hadn't moved.

"Well, it's your lucky day," Tyson said with a sneer as the back hatch opened. "If you keep your head down and answer the executives' questions, they might not mind letting you live, though I'm not offering any guarantees." He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out of the jeep. I wanted to resist, I wanted to run, I wanted to do something, but I was paralyzed. Where could I run? I'd be shot if they decided I was more trouble than I was worth.

"Here," Tyson said, handing me off to one of his subordinates. "Tie her up and put her on the transport jet. Don't forget the standard procedures."

Tyson walked off, and the grunt dragged me toward the large, black airplane on the opposite side of the hangar. Several mechanics were checking the plane over while other Rockets loaded crates into the cargo hold. That's where Tyson's subordinate was taking me. We reached the front of the cargo hold, where the Rocket opened a door that led into a small, dimly-lit space with a stairwell leading upward. He proceeded to pat down my pockets and immediately found the Charmander's Pokéball, which he took.

My heart crumpled inward. "What do you want with Charmander—it's badly hurt!"

"I'm sure they'll heal it before it's sold," the Rocket drawled, pocketing it. I wanted to reach out, make him give it back, anything. But my arm wouldn't move.

The only thing else I had on me was my wallet, so the Rocket took that as well, flipping through its contents.

"So…" he said, pulling out my school ID, "Jade Arens, fourteen years old. I'll be sure to get that on file. And… what do we have here?" I felt like kicking myself when he pulled out the wad of cash I had stuffed in there. It was my birthday savings, which I'd intended to use on a journey someday. Part of me had known that it was a stupid idea to carry it around like that, but… there wasn't much I could do about it now.

After finding the money, the Rocket didn't bother looking at anything else I had in there and simply tossed the wallet into a bin. He then zip-tied me to a metal railing with my wrists behind my back, then shut the door.

I was alone. For how long, I had no idea. I couldn't see my watch. The only sound was the occasional clunk of more cargo being loaded onto the plane. It was nerve-wracking just sitting there drenched in sweat mixed with soot, not knowing how much longer until something happened, or even what would happen. Struggling against my bindings only made them dig into my wrists even more.

After what felt like hours, I heard another door shut and then the heavy thud of what must have been the cargo hatch closing. The air filled with the steadily growing hum of engines. The plane was moving now, slanting backwards as it traveled up the long ramp that led outside the hangar. Once we were outside, the plane turned, and I felt a sudden rush of acceleration until the moment we lifted off. And with that, we were airborne, and I was heading off toward an unknown fate.

Thoughts wouldn't stop buzzing in my head, no matter how badly I wanted them to stop. What would I have done differently if I had the chance to redo today? Going into the forest was probably my biggest mistake. Or maybe following the mysterious trainer I'd met. But if what he'd said about Team Rocket's goals was true…

The Rockets had caught Entei. That was just… wrong. My brain didn't know how to process it. I still found myself wishing I could have done something. Even if…

A sudden thud jarred me from my thoughts. I strained my ears to hear more, but the hum of the engines was too loud. At least, until another clang rang out a minute later, much closer to the door this time. I tensed up immediately. What did they want now?

…Wait. That door led into the cargo hold. Why on earth would anyone be in there?

I had no idea what I expected to see when the metal door swung open. …But I definitely wasn't expecting what I did see.

A teenage boy about a year or two older than me stood in the doorway. He had a messy look about him, with thick, dirty-blond hair and way-too baggy clothes and a Pokéball belt hanging low on one side. And he was currently looking rather pleased with himself.

"Hello there," he said. "It looks like I'm rescuing you. My name's Spencer—I think we're gonna be good friends."

I blinked. I had about a million questions, but about the only thing I could say was, "What?"

He frowned. "That's all the response I get? Boring." He stood aside, allowing a sleek, tan and black-furred beast to step in front of him. "Alright Typhlosion, go ahead and cut those ties."

Typhlosion's claws lit up with white light, and a few well-placed slashes later, I was free. I stood up, rubbing my wrists and clenching my hands to get the blood moving again.

Still trying to make sense out of this random turn of events, I asked, "What are you doing here? And how did you know I was here? Who are you?"

"I already told you my name," Spencer said matter-of-factly, folding his arms. "And, uh, I guess if you wanna know how I got here, you'll have to ask him." He motioned a thumb over his shoulder.

A voice behind him said, "Yeah, Jade, I hope you're happy, because I hadn't planned on getting stuck on some stupid plane like this."

What? That voice… it couldn't be…

Spencer stepped aside, revealing a rather disgruntled Rudy standing in the entrance to the cargo hold.

"How did you get here?" I asked, completely floored.

He groaned slightly, putting a hand to his face. "Well, Spencer needed to find his Pokémon, and luckily it was the same place they had taken you, so we snuck on board."

I clapped a hand to my forehead. "Okay, just… what? That doesn't answer my—how about you actually start at the beginning? How did you know I was here?"

"Alright, alright," Rudy said impatiently, as though the details didn't matter and he wanted to get them out of the way as quickly as possible. "It's because of Swift. I walked to your house to show off my starter, and I saw him pecking the windows in a fuss, and—what's with that look?" My jaw had dropped upon hearing the word "starter."

"You got a starter?" I blurted out. "Already?"

"Hey, uh, not to break up the reunion or anything, but aren't there Rockets upstairs?" Spencer asked.

I glanced up the stairwell. We were down by the cargo hold, which meant that the upper level probably led to the cockpit.

"Riiight. We should probably move out of here," I said. Luckily, the engines were loud enough that it didn't seem like anyone had overheard us. The Rockets probably would have come barging down here by now if they had.

We made our way inside the cargo hold. It was colder in here and barely had any lighting, so Spencer gave Typhlosion a pat, and the Pokémon's neck lit up. The firelight was comforting somehow. Really, just them being there was enough to make the entire situation feel better. I wasn't alone anymore; with four of us here, we had to find some way out.

"So… Swift was the one who led you to the Rocket base?" I asked Rudy.

He nodded. "Yep. Saw him flying around like crazy, and from what I could tell, he was saying you were in trouble? So I followed him to the edge of town and that's when I ran into Spencer."

"Yeah, my Pokémon were stolen from me a few days ago," Spencer added. "I'd been scoping out the entrance to the hideout for a while, but I had no idea how I was ever gonna get inside. Then Rudy showed up in the area, and about an hour later, a bunch of jeeps were returning to the base, so we took the chance to sneak in behind 'em."

I stared at him, impressed. "You guys snuck into a Rocket base? What was your plan?"

"No plan, really. Just kind of improvising, y'know?" Spencer said, laughing awkwardly. My face fell slightly. Okay, so maybe my new ally wasn't the most capable.

"We hung out by the cargo area where we could keep out of sight and eavesdrop on the passing Rockets," he went on. "Then I overheard stuff about transporting Pokémon and supplies and a prisoner."

"And just look at this awesome mess it's gotten us all into," Rudy added. His tone was somewhere between a joke and an accusation.

"You didn't have to come and get me," I muttered, a bit defensive.

"Ah, don't be stupid," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, we're here now. This Team Rocket crew sounds like bad news, so we've gotta find a way off this plane."

"I doubt that'll be happening until it lands," Spencer piped up. "I didn't pack a parachute."

"Well…" I said, "I guess we're not in any danger right now, so we've got time to plan."

"Exactly," Rudy said. "Anyway, why don't we start by screwing up as much of the crap on this plane as possible."

With a glance around at the crates surrounding us, I replied, "Screw up things how? I don't think we can just go around destroying random crap while flying."

"Well, for one thing… what do we do about the rest of the stolen Pokémon?" Spencer asked, motioning towards an open crate. "I already got mine back, but—"

"Wait, those are stolen Pokémon?" I asked, running over to see the box full of stacked Pokéball trays. "I had a Charmander with me before I was captured. It might be in here."

Now it was Rudy's turn to gape at me. "You have a Charmander? What in the… how?"

"I found it out on Route 22, where I got captured. It's… kind of a long story." I shifted through some of the Pokéballs in dismay. "How am I ever gonna figure out which one it's in?"

"Here," Spencer said, pulling out his Pokédex and opening it. I watched curiously as he held the Pokéballs up one by one to the device's scanning lens. After about twenty or so of them, he announced, "Here we go. Low-level, unregistered Charmander. Uh… its energy is reeaally low. I know they always say you gotta defeat the Pokémon before they'll let you train them, but come on now."

"I didn't catch it," I said, a bit defensive despite his joking tone. "It was half-dead when I found it. I've got to get it healed." I turned to gaze vaguely around all the boxes in the cargo hold. Maybe one of them had healing supplies?

"Alright you fix your Charmander, and I'll go see if I can find anything useful," Rudy said, taking the opportunity to wander off. I could have sworn I heard him mumble, "We should totally set some of this junk on fire at least."

I stuck closer to the front of the plane, prying open boxes and scanning their contents as I went. I had wondered what the jet was intended to transport, but now it seemed like the answer was almost anything. Most of the crates were filled with machine parts and computerized devices, but then others were packed with battle enhancements or stronger types of Pokéball. Finally, I scored—a box packed with healing supplies. I picked up the first thing I could find and read the label.

"'Full Restore—effective on all types of surface damage or injuries, including burns, frost, poison, paralysis'… sounds great." I noticed the rather unappealing price tag of 3000p—good thing I wasn't buying it.

I held out the Charmander's Pokéball and carefully pressed the button, splitting it open and letting out a burst of light that condensed into the fire lizard's unconscious form. It shivered a bit, but otherwise didn't move. Still in the same condition as earlier.

I kneeled down and sprayed the liquid all over the Charmander's skin. The lizard flinched, but soon enough, the charred flesh slowly regained its normal color, leaving only patches of scabs on some parts of its back. It was honestly amazing how quickly Pokémon could heal when given a bit of help. Now I just needed something to wake it up.

"Hey Spencer!" I called out. "Do you know the name of the stuff that can revive Pokémon?"

"You mean like a revive?"

Oh. Duh.

I dug through the box some more. "Got it," I said, pulling out a small yellow crystal. After skimming the instruction label, I cracked the shell of the crystal to activate it and then gently held it against the fire-type's forehead. After about 20 seconds, I noticed that the tiny flare on its tail had grown into a full flame. Finally, it opened its bright blue eyes and stumbled to its feet.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

The lizard spun around, eyes wide with alarm. It clutched its tail and glanced cautiously around at the strange environment.

"This has got to be a pretty big shock. And, uh… you're probably wondering how you got here. I didn't mean to take you from your home. It's just that you were sort of… dying," I finished lamely.

The Charmander relaxed slightly, but didn't give much of a reaction to my words. Could it even understand me? As a wild Pokémon, it might never have heard human speech before.

"Can you understand me?" I asked.

It stared, apparently confused at my confusion. "*Yes…*" it said slowly, in a tone suggesting that it found the question very strange.

"Well, uh, okay—so you've been around humans before. Do you have a human name?"

The fire lizard gave me a long, quiet stare, something shifting in its eyes. "*Firestorm,*" it eventually said.

"Alright then. So, uh, are you male or female?" I wasn't quite sure if that was an offensive question or not, but I couldn't really tell. And it hadn't referred to itself yet, which would've made the answer obvious, given how Pokéspeech worked.

"*Male,*" he replied simply.

I nodded, not really sure what else to ask him. After having gotten over his initial shock, Firestorm was curiously sniffing some of the storage crates, seemingly unconcerned with the whole 'kidnapped by strange human' thing.

The Charmander turned to me and said, "Mander char charmander char'charrman?" But it was longer than the previous one-word statements, and I didn't catch most of it. It sounded like a question—something to do with a Pokémon trainer? I was about to ask him to repeat it, but then I heard Rudy call out, "Hey Jade, come check this out!"

I stood to my feet and motioned for the Charmander to follow if he wanted. After making my way down the center aisle, I found Rudy, Spencer, and Typhlosion, the former sitting on the floor and undoing the latches on a long metal case.

"Oh hey," Spencer said, giving a small wave. "Normally I'd say that warnings are meant to be ignored, but I don't know about this." He flashed a skeptical look toward Rudy.

I stared blankly. "Huh?"

"Check it out," Rudy said, holding up the case. Engraved on the top in sleek lettering were the words: "Pokéball Containment Unit." Beneath that, a label read, "Caution: Experimental Pokémon are extremely unstable and must be kept in the containment unit at all times unless removed by an experiment handler."

"Experimental Pokémon?" I said incredulously. Then again, Tyson's superior had mentioned something like that…

"Yeah, yeah! Just think—these could be like, super-powerful mutant Pokémon. If we used them to fight the Rockets, we'd be able to get out of this for sure!" Rudy said excitedly.

I hesitated. "That… does seem like our best chance to escape, but… we don't even know if they'll listen to—hey, don't let them out now!" I yelled frantically. He had opened the case, revealing several black Pokéballs encased in holders, each labeled with info on the experiment within.

"I'm just looking," Rudy countered. "I'm not gonna let them out. Huh… these are weird looking, aren't they?" He pulled one of the black spheres out of its holder and rotated it in his palm.

"Okay, okay, just wait. We're not gonna have to fight until this plane lands, wherever it's going. Spencer, how many Pokémon have you got?"

"Six," he replied, posing importantly. "Typhlosion here is the strongest, but the rest are also pretty tough." At his words, Typhlosion struck a pose along with him.

"Alright, that's good since, uh… Rudy and I will be pretty useless in a fight." It felt rather awkward to admit.

"Hey, what do you mean?! I've got two Pokémon," Rudy shot back.

I clapped a hand to my forehead. "Don't be stupid, these Rockets are dangerous."

"How about when the plane lands, we confuse the experiments into attacking the Rockets, and then we run away during the commotion?" Spencer cut in.

"How do we do that—?"

An explosion of lightning erupted from within our circle, knocking the four of us backward into a wall of boxes. I sat up shakily, completely stunned. What on earth had just happened?

Spencer looked about as flustered as I felt. "Okay, what the heck was that?"

I glanced around rapidly, my eyes falling on Rudy, toppled over in a heap with his eyes wide, clutching an opened Pokéball.

"What did you…?" I gasped.

"I didn't open it, I swear!" he yelled back. "It—it let itself out!"

"Wait, where's the experiment?!" Spencer cut in frantically.

The three of us whirled around in a panic, all eyes falling on the Pokémon that had appeared behind us. A jagged, lightning bolt-shaped tail twitched. Four paws slowly lifted a small, golden-furred mouse off the floor. It couldn't be…

"It's… it's a Pikachu?" Spencer blurted out, stifling a laugh. "A Pikachu?"

Except something looked… off about it. It was missing the familiar red cheek markings. And the fur on its head was long and stiffly pointed, almost like feathers. And then its eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of piercing, birdlike eyes.

I hesitated. "Guys… I don't think—"

A burst of sparks shot from the rodent's body at once! I jumped backward and tripped over a box as a lightning bolt flew dangerously close to where I'd been standing. With a vicious cry, the experiment shot past us in a flash, bolting up to the highest point and sending waves of electricity through the air.

"Let me see that!" I shouted, practically shoving Rudy out of the way so I could get a look at the label on the Pokéball slot.

Experimental Pokémon 009: Hybrid series - Pikachu / Zapdos. Possesses abnormally high power level and untamable disposition. Experiment classified as failure due to undersized power capacity, unstable energy signature, and immunity to standard experiment control procedures.

My face fell with dread. "This thing was mixed with the Legendary Zapdos."

"What? No way… That is awesome!" Rudy exclaimed.

"Hey, focus! If we don't stop it, it could end up taking down the plane!"

"Er, right, I'll put it back in the ball—"

The Pikachu turned sharply and shot a string of lightning at us, shattering the black Pokéball before we could do anything. I gaped in horror—what were we supposed to do now? Firestorm clutched at my leg in fear. Typhlosion leapt in front of us and snarled defensively, its neck blaze flaring to full height.

And then, in the midst of all this, the overhead lights suddenly flipped on, followed by the sound of a metal door creaking open.

"WHAT. THE. EVER. LIVING. HELL?!"

My stomach sank even lower as I turned to see Tyson standing in the doorway to the cargo hold, his eyes wide with shock.

"Uhh, hey," Spencer said, waving awkwardly. "Could you leave for a bit? We kind of have a situation here."

Tyson stared at us in a sort of stupefied rage for several seconds until his eyes slid over to the experimental Pikachu. He clenched his teeth and grabbed one of the black Pokéballs from his belt, opening it. The flash of light took the form of a huge green mantis with armor plating. Blank, pupil-less eyes flared mindlessly from a reptilian face. Wings twitched, ready to strike at any moment. Light glimmered off a pair of scythe-lined forearms that looked sharp enough to cut the air. From its perch atop the mountain of supplies, the Pikachu stared at the Scyther, eyes wide with what looked like anger and dread.

"Thought you'd play with the hybrids, did you?" Tyson asked with a sneer. "Then have fun facing the strongest of them. Kill them, Razors!"

The three of us couldn't do anything but sit there, frozen in horror as the blade-armed nightmare shot toward us, too fast to even see.