Chapter 5; the silent thief
Doctor Joe Rudd put his mug of coffee down and sat at his desk looking outside the window of his office at the river of Cerulean city. The day was beautiful and a couple of pidgeys flew by the window.
"What a good day" he thought to himself.
He went to pick up the coffee to drink a bit but his hand didn't find it. Confused he turned only to find it gone from his desk. He looked around in surprise as he couldn't explain how the mug disappeared. At that moment his office phone rang. He answered.
"Doctor Rudd here".
"Doctor we have a patient in need of treatment for his arm".
"Understood be right there".
He got up forgetting about the coffee and headed to the room they had the patient in.
"Where's the patient nurse?" he asked the nurse waiting.
"In here doctor" she said pointing his towards the door next to her.
Rudd entered and saw a young trainer petting his Pikachu as they were waiting.
"Good evening" he said "what seems to be the problem?"
Sonic stopped petting Pikachu and answered.
"I had some misadventures in mount moon doctor".
Rudd examined his arm carefully which still hurt.
"Nothing major. A bit of a burn and if I'm not mistaken hit by a hard object?"
"Yes a rock".
"Hm. I see. You got lucky" he said as he was putting a cream on Sonic's arm to treat the burn "it must have not been with a lot of force. Your hand could have easily been broken. If I may ask though, how did the burn happen?"
Sonic contemplated revealing his encounter with Moltres.
"It was a wild charmeleon" he lied in the end.
"I see. Tried to catch it I assume?"
"Yes".
"Did you?"
"No".
"Pity. Anyway almost done here. Just need to bandage the arm" he said turning to pick up the bandage from the bench behind him.
Only to find the bandage he had on the bench entering the room missing.
"What the…" he said in confusion.
"Everything ok doc?" Sonic asked.
"Oh um… it's nothing. Nurse just probably forgot to bring a bandage. Nurse. Nurse! I need a bandage here!"
The nurse brought in the bandage confused.
"I brought you one already doctor".
"No you didn't there was nothing there".
"I'm sure I did".
"Would you be sure if the patient had severer injuries?"
"Please let's calm down" Sonic intervened "Just please bandage my arm so I can pay and be on my way ok?"
"Yes" doctor Rudd agreed and got to work.
5 minutes later Sonic was at the front desk about to pay when he heard doctor Rudd's angry voice from the room he was in.
"Where the heck is it?!" his yell echoed across the room.
The nurse from before went to check on him and Sonic followed suit after paying for his treatment. They found the room looking like it had been raided and doctor Rudd looking sitting on the ground taking deep breaths.
"Doctor is everything ok?" the nurse asked.
"No! My phone's gone! What else is gonna disappear today?!" he asked enraged.
Sonic pondered whether to offer his assistance but decided that since it was evening and he would probably not get much training done to challenge the next gym leader stepped up.
"I can help search if you'd like me to" he said.
"Don't bother kid this is inexplicable. My mug of coffee disappeared earlier to when I was alone in my office".
"Strange" Sonic murmured.
At that moment an angry woman barged into the room pushing Sonic out of the way ungently and got to Rudd's face.
"Stealing from me you bastard?!"
"What?! Amelia what are you…?"
He didn't manage to complete his phrase and was slapped loudly. Sonic fought the urge to laugh with intense willpower.
"Next time you try to steal something you shouldn't leave your phone behind!" she screamed.
"What?" he said in shock as she revealed the phone.
"Amelia… I just lost my phone. How did you get it?"
"Oh stop lying and give me back my ring!"
Sonic scratched his heard trying to figure out what was happening when he noticed with the side of his eye something yellow floating. Thinking quick he took out the pokedex and managed to push the record button catching a glimpse of the pokemon before it disappeared in a purple flash dropping something golden at the floor. Along with the pokemon a wheelchair that was nearby also disappeared.
"I think I found the thief" he said as everyone else turned in surprise.
"What?" the woman said in shock as she exited the room and saw her ring on the floor.
"Wha.. that's… how?" she asked in surprise.
Sonic showed the recording he made. The blurry figure of a pokemon could be made out disappearing, taking the wheelchair with it and dropping the ring.
"A pokemon that steals?" doctor Rudd said surprised.
"I don't think it does it on purpose. It would seem more like its powers whatever they are, run rampant".
Amelia immediately got to apologizing. Sonic and the nurse immediately left both realizing separately what would follow. Sonic exited the hospital with Pikachu on his head again sleeping peacefully.
"What kind of pokemon can just disappear like that out of thin air? As it's…"
"Teleport!" a voice was heard.
Sonic and Pikachu who woke up from the loud voice both turned and saw a trainer and a pokemon greatly resembling the blurry pokemon in the recording. The pokemon unleashed a purple glow but remained there.
"Oh my gosh, you can't even use this move?! Just how dumb are you?!" the trainer screamed at the pokemon which didn't react.
Sonic took out the dex again and took a picture of the pokemon. The pokedex recorded the picture and a voice came from it as the pokemon's picture appeared on screen.
"Abra. The psi pokemon. Abra is incredibly aware of its surroundings by the use of a telepathic radar. Abra sleeps 18 hours a day and can teleport whenever it feels danger".
"18 hours a day?" Sonic commented as he pressed the button for the dex to explain more.
"When abra teleports, it goes to a safe area. The deeper abra sleeps the farther it teleports. The contents of abra's dream affect its powers including but not limited to: failure to teleport, teleport to a non-safe area and teleport inanimate objects too".
"That's what happened" Sonic said in realization "it was abra and it must be having a bad sleep. Maybe we should find it and help it" he said talking to Pikachu.
"Pika pika" it cried out in agreement.
"Glad you agree pal. Alright let's get something to eat and think our next move" he said and passed by the trainer who was yelling at his abra.
"Hey buddy! You might wanna let your abra sleep! Bad sleep means bad use of its power!" Sonic said without hearing the trainer's response.
They went to a sandwich stand and Sonic got one for himself and one for his 2 pokemon to share promising to get them a second one if they were still hungry. While eating he started thinking how he would find abra.
"Ok so abras live in urban areas like here. So it can't be teleporting outside the city. Dex said it teleports to a safe location. So it must have a failsafe option in case things go very bad for it. But where?" he wondered as he chewed.
A couple of minutes later he noticed a young couple pass by complaining about their stuff going missing. Sonic overheard them saying the girl saw a purple flash. They then entered their house which was next to the river.
"That's it!" Sonic said in realization taking out the map and taking out his phone facetime calling someone.
"Hey Sonic" the call was answered.
"Hey Tails got a minute?"
"Sure? Where are you at?"
Pikachu at that moment rubbed its face on Sonic's cheek obviously still hungry.
"Woah a Pikachu?"
"Yeah. I'm in Kanto".
"When did you become a trainer?"
"2 days ago. I'll tell you another time in greater detail. I'll need your help with something in a bit. Are you free?"
"Yeah".
"Thanks. I'll call you in about an hour. I'll explain then. Talk soon" Sonic said and got up.
After buying Pikachu and wartortle another sandwich, the three started walking through town making a big circle asking around gently if people's stuff were going missing lately. Though some people answered rudely and even one called him a creep, Sonic kept going eventually completing the circle and looking at his map of the town. He then called Tails again.
"Still up to help?" he asked.
"Anytime. What do we have?"
"There is an abra in town that accidentally steals people's stuff with its teleport ability. I walked around town and got several locations that have had cases of items going missing. Can you triangulate and find the possible location the abra teleports at?"
"You got way more data than I need" Tails joked "but sure. Give me a minute".
Sonic waited patiently as Tails run the formula.
"Alright. Got an address. Note it".
Sonic noted the address and started walking towards it as Pikachu and wartortle run around having fun while following him. In the meantime Sonic narrated the events of the last 3 days to Tails who was especially impressed by Sonic's encounter with Moltres.
"That all sounds so cool. Maybe I'll visit soon to see how you doing".
"That would be good" Sonic agreed.
"When do you think you'll come home though? I mean not in between your travel? I mean what is the goal you hope to reach by making this journey?"
Sonic hesitated to answer.
"Don't know yet. Oh look I'm here" he said showing Tails an abandoned garage.
"Yup that's the spot. Good luck".
"Thanks. Talk soon" Sonic said hanging up.
They quietly walked around the building trying to find a way in but all entrances were either locked or barred. Sonic then got the idea to climb a pipe on the side of a nearby building and enter through an open window. Recalling wartortle and with Pikachu on his shoulder, he climbed the pipe and quietly entered the building. They made their way to the ground floor.
Reaching the ground floor they found exactly what Sonic expected. A huge pile of items.
"These don't seem to have been stolen recently" he said picking up a wrapped toy which had a lot of dust on it "how long has that abra been having sleep problems?"
While exploring more a purple flash lighted the room and abra appeared with its back turned to them. Sonic managed not to gasp as he knew it was their chance to figure out the problem. However abra sensed his presence and the purple glow began again.
"Pika pika! Pika pi!" Pikachu cried out at abra and the glow stopped.
The abra slowly turned to face Pikachu who climbed off Sonic and walked closer to abra.
"Pika pi Pikachu! Pika pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu cried out calmly.
The abra let out a calm hum. Sonic guessed that was its way of communicating. Pikachu kept making cries and even took abra's hand. Abra let out another hum which sounded sadder than before. Sonic then noticed something on its neck. He tried to approach but abra floated a bit back in fear.
"Pika pi" Pikachu calmed it down.
Abra looked at it and let Sonic approach. Sonic knelt down and saw it was a small metal collar barely visible at the same color as abra's chest's color. He saw a small R carved on the metal.
"Team Rocket!" he said in anger "what monsters!" he said as he looked around and found a small knife. Abra hummed in fear as Sonic brought the knife closer, but Pikachu again calmed it down and so did wartortle who came out to vouch for Sonic. Sonic carefully placed the knife inside the lock of the collar and turned it for a bit unsuccessfully at first but eventually opening the lock and causing the collar to drop to the floor. Abra touched its neck and realizing it was free hummed in joy. It then floated to Sonic's face and placed its small 3 fingered hand on Sonic's forehead. Sonic's mind was flooded with memories of pain and suffering as he saw around through the bars of a cage at many pokemon crying in pain and sadness. He also noticed that he was in the hug of an Alakazam. And of course outside the cage were team rocket grunts wearing creepy smiles and making mean jokes about their prizes. Sonic then saw the door to their cage being opened then a purple glow and he was inside the garage he stood in but it was empty. He blinked and found himself in the same garage with the pile of times and the 3 pokemon inside.
"Oh my god" he said as he laid on his back overwhelmed "you were captured… and you got separated by your mother because your teleport kicked in for the first time. You have been inadvertently stealing from people in town cause of your nightmares of that night".
Abra hummed.
"Those creeps! Next time I see them I'll make them pay!" he said in anger getting up.
"I promise you little abra! I will avenge what they did to you! And if your mother is kept with them I will find her!"
Abra hummed again. Pikachu looked at it, let out a cry of excitement and climbed back on Sonic stuffing its head into his backpack and taking out a pokeball with its teeth before handing it to Sonic.
"Wha… you want to join us?" he asked in surprise.
The abra hummed again. Pikachu cried out again in excitement. Sonic smiled.
"Welcome then" he said as he threw the pokeball which hit abra turning it into red energy. It wiggled 3 times and the beep signaling the catch was heard. Sonic smiling picked up the pokeball and exited the building the same way they got in.
They decided to look for a place to rest for the night and thought to try the pokemon center first. Luckily they had rooms. Sonic left an anonymous note about the location of the missing items and went to their room where his pokemon came out of their balls and made themselves comfy. Sonic laid on the bed after brushing his teeth and saw his pokemon being soundly asleep. He noticed abra in particular making a hum that resonated like a silent song, as much sense as that made. Sonic smiled as he felt happy helping his new teammate get a good night's sleep for the first time in a long while probably. He let himself fall asleep looking outside the window at the stars wondering what adventure awaited them tomorrow.