Chapter 16 – ...Double Trouble (Part 2)
(A)
"You people make me sick; abusing Pokémon for your own selfish ends. They're meant to be treated with love and respect, not treated like items to be sold and then thrown away. Didn't you people learn your lesson two years ago? You cannot carry on without consequence!" Fuji cried as he was being led up a hill just to the north of Lavender Town. His hands were tied behind his back and the Team Rocket member in charge was following close beside him with a single grunt following behind. The other two had been left to guard Fuji's Grandson.
I followed close enough to hear what they were saying, but far enough away that I wouldn't be spotted. The path we walked up was littered with large rocks to hide behind, but in the cover of night they were not really needed.
"You need get some respect, get some morals, get some –"
"-Shut it you!" The grunt cried, tightening the grip on Fuji's restraints.
"Now, which way is it?" The superior Rocket asked Fuji, invading his personal space, using his wide, intimidating gaze to ensure he gained the truth.
Fuji hesitated before averting his gaze to a small gap between two sides of a large rock formation, blocked by a sizeable boulder. "Move that."
"Do it." The senior Rocket commanded to his Grunt.
"Yes Proton Sir!"
"You better not be lying Fuji-boy, because if you are…" Proton said, holding up a small device, presumably a remote detonator as the grunt pulled the edge of the boulder outwards, making enough room to get through. Whatever these people were going after it had to be worth hiding.
"Sir, there's nothing here." The grunt said. "Just a load of useless rocks."
"What?!" Proton cried, walking over to examine the crevasse. Sure enough, the small space was littered with many fist-sized, grey and black rocks.
"What are you trying to pull Fuji? You said it would be here!" Proton cried holding up the detonator.
"It is. And if you untie me I'll show you where." Fuji said calmly, meeting Proton's gaze with a stern one of his own.
Proton quickly gave it some thought before nodding to the Grunt. The Grunt produced a small pocket-knife and sliced through the rope binding Fuji's hands. Fuji stretched outwards in front of him, letting the blood flow to his fingertips again.
Fuji slowly walked over and rummaged through the rocks carefully examining each one in turn until he found what he was looking for and rose to his feet.
"Give it to me." Proton demanded, walking over to him holding out his hand.
I felt that I should intervene and stop the Rockets getting hold of that item. There was only two of them and my pokemon had grown so much – our badges were proof of that, I was sure we could at least make them back off… for now. But waiting for the right opportunity was crucial.
Fuji looked at the item in his hand and sighed before placing it in Proton's grip.
"This is a rock." Proton stated looking at the black mass of sediment in his hand.
"No. It's a specially designed capsule made by Bill to keep it away from the likes of you. Turn it over." Fuji said, sounding disgusted at himself as he spoke.
Proton turned the black 'rock' around to reveal a small silver spot that shimmered in what little light there was. Fuji pressed his thumb against the spot, causing it to turn a shade of green before it clicked and a gap began to appear as it opened in a similar fashion to a Pokeball.
"Take it. You won't achieve anything - It's useless on its own." Fuji said, not bringing himself to look at his abductor.
Proton looked inside it and took out a shimmering rock that shone a brilliant shade of green.
"Sir.. Is that –"
"-The Emerald. So it is true." Proton muttered.
"You've got what you wanted – now leave." Fuji said, looking up.
"Ahh yes, we will. You of course are free to go; you should hurry back to your grandson." Proton said with a smirk.
Fuji slowly turned, presumably thinking about Proton's choice of words and began walking down the hill towards me when suddenly there was an ear-splitting sound of an explosion coming from behind me. I looked behind to see a fiery cloud of yellow that was soon engulfed by blanket of thick, black smoke. The explosion had taken a large chunk out of the side of Pokemon Tower, simply erasing several floors of the building I was just in, throwing bricks and debris all around the surrounding area.
I turned back and saw a look of pure horror in Fuji's eyes, both of them reflecting bright yellow of the burning flames in front of him.
Fuji's shock turned to anger he rotated 180 degrees and marched towards Proton who was still holding the detonator in his hand. His finger still pressed to the button.
"You said you wouldn't do it if I helped you!!" Fuji bellowed, his voice straining as he spoke showing a glimpse of the fury inside of him.
Proton looked down at the old man in front of him and smirked with a disgusting look of smug satisfaction and simply said. "I lied."
Fuji, about to burst suddenly swung his fist for Proton who dropped the detonator from his hand and grabbed Fuji's arm in mid-swing.
"Ariados – Spider Web!" I cried, throwing my Pokeball into air, not being able to stand the Rockets' attitude to living things.
Ariados appeared in a bright flash of light and shot out a thick piece of web towards a startled Grunt, that separated in midair to form a web that pushed the Grunt against the wall sticking him there before he had a chance to move.
Proton acted instinctively and twisted Fuji around by his arm and pulled him against him.
"Don't come any closer boy or this man will be next on the list of the dead." He threatened as I stopped in my tracks, Ariados next to me letting out a deep hiss.
"…Adam?!" Fuji cried, recognizing me from earlier.
"Get out of here before you get killed!"
"No. I'm not letting them leave with that emerald. Do you know how many people you just killed?!" I yelled at Proton letting my anger get the best of me.
"Plenty. Just enough to get the message across – Don't. Get in the way. Of Team Rocket."
Suddenly I heard a noise from behind me. I looked to see the Grunt cutting his way through the web with a knife to free himself.
"Exeggutor – Hypnosis!" Proton cried, pushing Fuji to the floor, utilizing the opportunity that my back was turned.
I turned back around to see several yellow rings of energy fly through midair and hit Ariados and me. It felt as if someone had made all of my joints stiffen and then numb as my legs turned to jelly and I collapsed upon Ariados, straining to keep my eyes open.
Fuji tried to get up and strike Proton once again but he saw it coming and hit Fuji on the head, knocking him out and to the floor.
Proton walked over to the grunt and pulled off the remaining web, releasing him from he wall in one swift motion.
"Thank you Sir. What should I do with these two?" The grunt said, wiping his uniform down.
"Leave the old man. Tie the boy up – we're taking him with us."
"And where is that Sir?" The Grunt asked as my eyelids closed.
"Chrono Island. We need to pay Gideon a visit."
I lost consciousness.
(B)
I was drawn aback, shocked by what we'd witnessed, deceived by the people inside. The people inside, not only were they not who I thought they were, they were criminals; the people behind all the attacks - the attack on Robin. Whoever they were, I wasn't about to let them get away with it.
"April… Who are these people?" I asked, looking over to her.
April was squatted in the mud, her face and hair drenched in the pouring rain. Her eyes were wide, her gaze fixed, something was wrong.
"April… what's wrong?"
"It's nothing… Don't worry." She said, only averting her gaze after finishing the sentence.
"Stalker, did you hear that?" Robin asked from behind me. "They have Courtney – she's in there all by herself, we've got to find her."
I joined Robin in looking for a way in, but, if opened, a window anywhere near the basement would alert them that someone was here because of the noise of the pouring rain. April rose to her feet, still with the same look painted across her face but began helping us search for a way inside.
We eventually came back around to the front of the house where Robin spotted that the pair of large front doors were ajar. Sebastian, or rather Petrel, had forgotten to shut it entirely giving us the perfect chance to sneak inside.
Robin's initial nerves seemed to have been calmed as she was the first to sneak inside. I protested that I should go first; having been inside before and that she should follow with April behind. After quietly protesting, she saw that it would be a much safer idea. April however, seemed much more nervous all of a sudden and stood, frozen stiff at the door.
"April, what's wrong?" I whispered, walking back through the wooden doors to her.
She looked around her, up to the top floor of the mansion and then to me."This place… these people. I don't know if I can…"
I took April's shaking hand looked into her eyes; she was obviously terrified of something.
"Robin's friend Courtney, she needs our help." I said calmly. "So we're going in there to try and get her out. You can help too. You can go get Officer Jenny or someone from the police to come over and help. Can you do that?" I asked.
April lowered her head and looked as if she was thinking about it.
"No." She said, pulling her hands from mine. "I want to help here."
"Atta girl." I said, sneaking back inside.
Inside, the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling was switched off, there was virtually no light besides the moonlight from outside in the room. I carefully looked around to see which direction to go in. The large oak doors that led to the battle arena dominated most of one of the walls whilst the grand staircase dominated two of the others. It was then I spotted a small door I hadn't seen before on my last visit, I carefully walked across the tiled floor to it, careful not to make any noise as I went and slowly opened it to find only a solid brick wall behind.
"Stalker look!" Robin whispered, a few steps up the grand staircase behind me.
Robin pointed to the top where, after disappearing around a corner, the staircase simply stopped, not attached to anything.
"It just looks like an ordinary staircase from down here." April whispered back.
"What is this place…" I muttered.
On having nowhere else to go, we had to enter the room we battled in earlier. Even though I didn't remember any rooms coming off of it, it was the only place left to go.
I pushed the large doors open carefully, only slightly at first to check there was no one in the room before opening it just so much that we could all fit through. Inside, the room was just how it was this morning, Cupboards and chests of drawers lining the walls and a large rug set over the arena.
The room was also dark, but moonlight shone through a window high up near the ceiling onto the carpet illuminating a part of the rug, showing us the way to go. Along it there was a trail of wet footprints leading up to the corner of the room where a cabinet was moved away from the wall.
Looking through the space behind it, we could see a stone passage with steps leading downwards into the basement. Deciding that we should go down one by one so that if we were noticed, we would not all be caught.
I went first, stepping on each step as lightly as I could as even the slightest noise would echo throughout the passage. Eventually I reached the bottom where I was met with a door straight ahead of me and a corridor to my left leading into a large, open room, presumably the room we saw through the window.
Needing a place to hide, I looked at the space underneath the out of place wooden door amongst the stone to see only darkness. Rather than risking entering the lit room at the end corridor, I decided that the darkness was a much safer bet of not running into the kidnappers.
I opened the door and went inside; from a quick glance of the unlit room I could see no one else inside and so signaled to the girls to come down the stairs. They each did carefully as to not raise any attention to ourselves first Robin and then April. As April reached halfway we could hear someone coming out from the room at the end of the corridor. April began to panic but we beckoned to her to come towards us and she did, running down the steps and closing the door behind her.
The three of us backed against the wall inside, trying to be as quiet as possible, April's breath was heavy from running so she put her hands to her face, trying to stop herself. The footsteps became louder and louder, edging closer until they were outside the door.
I could feel my heart beating through my chest as if I was going to burst from it. If we were found then that would be it for us; after the gym battle, April had no pokemon able to fight and I only had Sandshrew. With Robin's pokemon hidden away somewhere we would stand no chance of winning a fight.
Slowly the footsteps began again, except this time they were getting further away, whoever it was was going up the steps.
Suddenly we heard a noise, something was rustling on the other side of the room making April jump backwards against a table, causing Pokeballs to fall down around her. April turned around to find a box filled with Pokeballs sitting on the table.
Meanwhile Robin moved towards the noise, squinting as she did so as something stood out from the darkness. It was blue hair in a familiar bob.
"Courtney!" Robin cried rushing over to her friend who was tied up and gagged, lying on the floor.
"Alex look – it's the stolen pokemon!" April cried, picking up the Pokeballs she knocked over.
Robin untied Courtney and took the gag from her mouth. Courtney's face was wet with tears with a look of horror painted across it. She jumped into Robin's arms and gripped her tightly in a similar fashion to how Robin had gripped me earlier.
It was then I noticed that there was also someone else tied up behind Courtney; a man with brown hair wearing a blue shirt. I ran over to untie him. He was badly beaten with cuts and bruises all over his body, I was scared of taking off his gag incase I hurt him but it had to be done. The man gasped for air as I took it off and he clung to my arm.
"Thank you so much." The man gasped.
What's your name?" I asked. "Can you walk?"
The man pulled himself to his feet using my bodyweight as a balance.
"Yeah… I think I can, and the name's Bill."
Suddenly we heard footsteps rushing down the stairs outside along the passage as everyone held their breath.
"D, someone's here!" We heard Petrel cry as it echoed through the hallway.
"What?!" Domino yelled back.
"I went back upstairs to shut the door and there's sets of wet footprints all over the rug. Someone besides me has come in from outside."
"You mean you left the door open? So people could just waltz inside?! Idiot!" She cried as the sound of a slap to the face could be heard down the hall.
"Nevermind. We've got what we need from Bill anyway, anything else will come from the others."
"So what do we do now?"
"Protocol." Domino replied bluntly.
There was a short silence before Petrel began speaking. "…Are you sure?"
"We've been found out Petrel, word will get out and this whole charade is going to crumble one way or the other."
"What about the intruders?" Petrel asked as the sound of keys clicking on a keyboard could be heard.
"If they're stupid enough to still be here then they can burn with the other two. We've got ten minutes, now let's go."
Everyone in the room began to panic. We could of made a run for it but with Courtney near hysterical and Bill injured we wouldn't be able to keep at a fast enough pace to get away. But just as I thought that I heard footsteps run along the corridor and up the steps away from us, if they were leaving then that was our que to do the same.
April picked up the large box of Pokeballs and I helped Bill to walk whilst Courtney clung tightly to Robin. Once again I led the way; I opened the door back to the corridor to see who I guessed to be Petrel about to ascend the steps. The man stopped and looked towards us, seeming to look at us each individually with his black eyes, they seemed kinder than I'd expected a criminal's to be.
After stopping to glance he was quickly off up the stairs, his flat purple Mohawk becoming the only thing we could see through the dark.
Thinking we'd been granted a break we quickly made for the exit. Not met with any resistance we all ran as fast as we could until we ran out of the large front doors, back into the garden and the pouring rain.
After quickly descending the two stone steps onto the grass, something darted through the air and rooted itself into the ground just in front of me to which I quickly jumped backwards. It was a black tulip, but something wasn't quite right about it. Suddenly it flashed red several times within a single second and created a small explosion in front of me, making Bill and I fall to the ground.
April called out to us but as I looked up I saw Domino standing beside a black helicopter with another tulip in her hand.
"I should've known it'd be you two brats again!" Domino cried across the garden angrily. "Do you like my tulips?" she asked, her voice changing to a much more sadistic tone.
The helicopter's blades began to spin, creating what felt like an instant hurricane all around us.
"D. The chopper's ready." Petrel cried, running around to machine to an open door, loading a crate inside.
"Pity you came outside, now you're going to have to learn the hard way!" Domino cried through the storm with a smile on her face.
I looked back to the others behind me who hadn't moved as I rose to my feet, helping Bill up again.
"Everyone go, find officer Jenny – get some help!" I cried as Robin and Courtney needed ran across the garden, not needing telling twice.
"Alex!" April protested taking a few steps forward.
"I'm the only one with a pokemon left that's able to fight these people and if I can just delay them until the police get here then these attacks can stop." I said, something inside of me coming alive, something that was determined to stop these people.
"But those people… they're-"
"-Can you get Bill to safety too?" I said, almost thrusting him onto her."Now go!"
April began running away, looking back several times as I reached for a pokeball on my belt.
I gripped Sandshrew's Pokeball in my hand; my only pokemon that wasn't physically exhausted from the gym battle.
Domino looked straight at me and let out a loud maniacal laugh. "Are you honestly going to try and fight using your pathetic pokemon? Were you not here earlier?!"
I clenched the Pokeball harder, trying to contain the anger that was building up inside of me.
"Teach him a lesson Petrel, he needs to learn not to get in the way of Team Rocket." Domino continued as she went inside the cockpit.
The helicopter slowly began to lift off of the ground and I threw the Pokeball through the air, releasing Sandshrew just as another flash of light appeared in front of me making Sneasel appear opposite. Sandshrew winced at being outside in the rain, something I'd never made him do before.
Petrel sighed before saying, "And I'm supposed to be the nice guy…"
Suddenly two pairs of long, razor sharp claws that looked more like blades appeared from under the fur of Sneasel's arms. Something that wasn't there before.
"Sandshrew – Rollout!"
"Quick attack."
Sandshrew curled up into a ball and began to speed off as Sneasel disappeared in a flash and reappeared in front of Sandshrew, slashing him throwing him backwards onto his back, exposing his weak point, his soft stomach.
"Beat up!"
"-No!" I cried.
Sneasel jumped on topof Sandshrew as he squirmed to get away. Sneasel retracted his claws and began brutally battering Sandshrew all over with its fists at a lightening fast speed. Sandshrew couldn't take the beating and lost consciousness.
"…Fury Swipes."
Sneasel smiled as it drew its razor claws once more, eager to get started. Sneasel began slashing away at Sandshrew again and again without restraint, almost
enjoying it.
"Stop!" I cried, looking at the pokemon and then at the trainer, neither showing any intention to do so.
"I said stop!!!!!" I Yelled, running over to the pokemon and pushing it off of my own. It wasn't a pokemon – it was a monster.
"We're done here." Petrel said jumping onto the hovering Helicopter and withdrawing his pokemon.
"I hope you enjoy my lovely garden!" I heard Domino cry as they flew off into the night sky.
I collapsed in front of Sandshrew, not able to contain myself I burst into a neverending flow of tears, every drop of rain feeling like it came from me. I clutched my pokemon's lifeless body hoping it wasn't real but this pain tearing my heart apart was not an illusion, it was very real.
Suddenly the garden around me began glowing flashing red, near matching the blood-stained grass as every tulip began lighting up, exploding causing a chain reaction of explosions spreading through the garden around us enveloping the house and then myself, knocking me unconscious.
(A)
"You people make me sick; abusing Pokémon for your own selfish ends. They're meant to be treated with love and respect, not treated like items to be sold and then thrown away. Didn't you people learn your lesson two years ago? You cannot carry on without consequence!" Fuji cried as he was being led up a hill just to the north of Lavender Town. His hands were tied behind his back and the Team Rocket member in charge was following close beside him with a single grunt following behind. The other two had been left to guard Fuji's Grandson.
I followed close enough to hear what they were saying, but far enough away that I wouldn't be spotted. The path we walked up was littered with large rocks to hide behind, but in the cover of night they were not really needed.
"You need get some respect, get some morals, get some –"
"-Shut it you!" The grunt cried, tightening the grip on Fuji's restraints.
"Now, which way is it?" The superior Rocket asked Fuji, invading his personal space, using his wide, intimidating gaze to ensure he gained the truth.
Fuji hesitated before averting his gaze to a small gap between two sides of a large rock formation, blocked by a sizeable boulder. "Move that."
"Do it." The senior Rocket commanded to his Grunt.
"Yes Proton Sir!"
"You better not be lying Fuji-boy, because if you are…" Proton said, holding up a small device, presumably a remote detonator as the grunt pulled the edge of the boulder outwards, making enough room to get through. Whatever these people were going after it had to be worth hiding.
"Sir, there's nothing here." The grunt said. "Just a load of useless rocks."
"What?!" Proton cried, walking over to examine the crevasse. Sure enough, the small space was littered with many fist-sized, grey and black rocks.
"What are you trying to pull Fuji? You said it would be here!" Proton cried holding up the detonator.
"It is. And if you untie me I'll show you where." Fuji said calmly, meeting Proton's gaze with a stern one of his own.
Proton quickly gave it some thought before nodding to the Grunt. The Grunt produced a small pocket-knife and sliced through the rope binding Fuji's hands. Fuji stretched outwards in front of him, letting the blood flow to his fingertips again.
Fuji slowly walked over and rummaged through the rocks carefully examining each one in turn until he found what he was looking for and rose to his feet.
"Give it to me." Proton demanded, walking over to him holding out his hand.
I felt that I should intervene and stop the Rockets getting hold of that item. There was only two of them and my pokemon had grown so much – our badges were proof of that, I was sure we could at least make them back off… for now. But waiting for the right opportunity was crucial.
Fuji looked at the item in his hand and sighed before placing it in Proton's grip.
"This is a rock." Proton stated looking at the black mass of sediment in his hand.
"No. It's a specially designed capsule made by Bill to keep it away from the likes of you. Turn it over." Fuji said, sounding disgusted at himself as he spoke.
Proton turned the black 'rock' around to reveal a small silver spot that shimmered in what little light there was. Fuji pressed his thumb against the spot, causing it to turn a shade of green before it clicked and a gap began to appear as it opened in a similar fashion to a Pokeball.
"Take it. You won't achieve anything - It's useless on its own." Fuji said, not bringing himself to look at his abductor.
Proton looked inside it and took out a shimmering rock that shone a brilliant shade of green.
"Sir.. Is that –"
"-The Emerald. So it is true." Proton muttered.
"You've got what you wanted – now leave." Fuji said, looking up.
"Ahh yes, we will. You of course are free to go; you should hurry back to your grandson." Proton said with a smirk.
Fuji slowly turned, presumably thinking about Proton's choice of words and began walking down the hill towards me when suddenly there was an ear-splitting sound of an explosion coming from behind me. I looked behind to see a fiery cloud of yellow that was soon engulfed by blanket of thick, black smoke. The explosion had taken a large chunk out of the side of Pokemon Tower, simply erasing several floors of the building I was just in, throwing bricks and debris all around the surrounding area.
I turned back and saw a look of pure horror in Fuji's eyes, both of them reflecting bright yellow of the burning flames in front of him.
Fuji's shock turned to anger he rotated 180 degrees and marched towards Proton who was still holding the detonator in his hand. His finger still pressed to the button.
"You said you wouldn't do it if I helped you!!" Fuji bellowed, his voice straining as he spoke showing a glimpse of the fury inside of him.
Proton looked down at the old man in front of him and smirked with a disgusting look of smug satisfaction and simply said. "I lied."
Fuji, about to burst suddenly swung his fist for Proton who dropped the detonator from his hand and grabbed Fuji's arm in mid-swing.
"Ariados – Spider Web!" I cried, throwing my Pokeball into air, not being able to stand the Rockets' attitude to living things.
Ariados appeared in a bright flash of light and shot out a thick piece of web towards a startled Grunt, that separated in midair to form a web that pushed the Grunt against the wall sticking him there before he had a chance to move.
Proton acted instinctively and twisted Fuji around by his arm and pulled him against him.
"Don't come any closer boy or this man will be next on the list of the dead." He threatened as I stopped in my tracks, Ariados next to me letting out a deep hiss.
"…Adam?!" Fuji cried, recognizing me from earlier.
"Get out of here before you get killed!"
"No. I'm not letting them leave with that emerald. Do you know how many people you just killed?!" I yelled at Proton letting my anger get the best of me.
"Plenty. Just enough to get the message across – Don't. Get in the way. Of Team Rocket."
Suddenly I heard a noise from behind me. I looked to see the Grunt cutting his way through the web with a knife to free himself.
"Exeggutor – Hypnosis!" Proton cried, pushing Fuji to the floor, utilizing the opportunity that my back was turned.
I turned back around to see several yellow rings of energy fly through midair and hit Ariados and me. It felt as if someone had made all of my joints stiffen and then numb as my legs turned to jelly and I collapsed upon Ariados, straining to keep my eyes open.
Fuji tried to get up and strike Proton once again but he saw it coming and hit Fuji on the head, knocking him out and to the floor.
Proton walked over to the grunt and pulled off the remaining web, releasing him from he wall in one swift motion.
"Thank you Sir. What should I do with these two?" The grunt said, wiping his uniform down.
"Leave the old man. Tie the boy up – we're taking him with us."
"And where is that Sir?" The Grunt asked as my eyelids closed.
"Chrono Island. We need to pay Gideon a visit."
I lost consciousness.
(B)
I was drawn aback, shocked by what we'd witnessed, deceived by the people inside. The people inside, not only were they not who I thought they were, they were criminals; the people behind all the attacks - the attack on Robin. Whoever they were, I wasn't about to let them get away with it.
"April… Who are these people?" I asked, looking over to her.
April was squatted in the mud, her face and hair drenched in the pouring rain. Her eyes were wide, her gaze fixed, something was wrong.
"April… what's wrong?"
"It's nothing… Don't worry." She said, only averting her gaze after finishing the sentence.
"Stalker, did you hear that?" Robin asked from behind me. "They have Courtney – she's in there all by herself, we've got to find her."
I joined Robin in looking for a way in, but, if opened, a window anywhere near the basement would alert them that someone was here because of the noise of the pouring rain. April rose to her feet, still with the same look painted across her face but began helping us search for a way inside.
We eventually came back around to the front of the house where Robin spotted that the pair of large front doors were ajar. Sebastian, or rather Petrel, had forgotten to shut it entirely giving us the perfect chance to sneak inside.
Robin's initial nerves seemed to have been calmed as she was the first to sneak inside. I protested that I should go first; having been inside before and that she should follow with April behind. After quietly protesting, she saw that it would be a much safer idea. April however, seemed much more nervous all of a sudden and stood, frozen stiff at the door.
"April, what's wrong?" I whispered, walking back through the wooden doors to her.
She looked around her, up to the top floor of the mansion and then to me."This place… these people. I don't know if I can…"
I took April's shaking hand looked into her eyes; she was obviously terrified of something.
"Robin's friend Courtney, she needs our help." I said calmly. "So we're going in there to try and get her out. You can help too. You can go get Officer Jenny or someone from the police to come over and help. Can you do that?" I asked.
April lowered her head and looked as if she was thinking about it.
"No." She said, pulling her hands from mine. "I want to help here."
"Atta girl." I said, sneaking back inside.
Inside, the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling was switched off, there was virtually no light besides the moonlight from outside in the room. I carefully looked around to see which direction to go in. The large oak doors that led to the battle arena dominated most of one of the walls whilst the grand staircase dominated two of the others. It was then I spotted a small door I hadn't seen before on my last visit, I carefully walked across the tiled floor to it, careful not to make any noise as I went and slowly opened it to find only a solid brick wall behind.
"Stalker look!" Robin whispered, a few steps up the grand staircase behind me.
Robin pointed to the top where, after disappearing around a corner, the staircase simply stopped, not attached to anything.
"It just looks like an ordinary staircase from down here." April whispered back.
"What is this place…" I muttered.
On having nowhere else to go, we had to enter the room we battled in earlier. Even though I didn't remember any rooms coming off of it, it was the only place left to go.
I pushed the large doors open carefully, only slightly at first to check there was no one in the room before opening it just so much that we could all fit through. Inside, the room was just how it was this morning, Cupboards and chests of drawers lining the walls and a large rug set over the arena.
The room was also dark, but moonlight shone through a window high up near the ceiling onto the carpet illuminating a part of the rug, showing us the way to go. Along it there was a trail of wet footprints leading up to the corner of the room where a cabinet was moved away from the wall.
Looking through the space behind it, we could see a stone passage with steps leading downwards into the basement. Deciding that we should go down one by one so that if we were noticed, we would not all be caught.
I went first, stepping on each step as lightly as I could as even the slightest noise would echo throughout the passage. Eventually I reached the bottom where I was met with a door straight ahead of me and a corridor to my left leading into a large, open room, presumably the room we saw through the window.
Needing a place to hide, I looked at the space underneath the out of place wooden door amongst the stone to see only darkness. Rather than risking entering the lit room at the end corridor, I decided that the darkness was a much safer bet of not running into the kidnappers.
I opened the door and went inside; from a quick glance of the unlit room I could see no one else inside and so signaled to the girls to come down the stairs. They each did carefully as to not raise any attention to ourselves first Robin and then April. As April reached halfway we could hear someone coming out from the room at the end of the corridor. April began to panic but we beckoned to her to come towards us and she did, running down the steps and closing the door behind her.
The three of us backed against the wall inside, trying to be as quiet as possible, April's breath was heavy from running so she put her hands to her face, trying to stop herself. The footsteps became louder and louder, edging closer until they were outside the door.
I could feel my heart beating through my chest as if I was going to burst from it. If we were found then that would be it for us; after the gym battle, April had no pokemon able to fight and I only had Sandshrew. With Robin's pokemon hidden away somewhere we would stand no chance of winning a fight.
Slowly the footsteps began again, except this time they were getting further away, whoever it was was going up the steps.
Suddenly we heard a noise, something was rustling on the other side of the room making April jump backwards against a table, causing Pokeballs to fall down around her. April turned around to find a box filled with Pokeballs sitting on the table.
Meanwhile Robin moved towards the noise, squinting as she did so as something stood out from the darkness. It was blue hair in a familiar bob.
"Courtney!" Robin cried rushing over to her friend who was tied up and gagged, lying on the floor.
"Alex look – it's the stolen pokemon!" April cried, picking up the Pokeballs she knocked over.
Robin untied Courtney and took the gag from her mouth. Courtney's face was wet with tears with a look of horror painted across it. She jumped into Robin's arms and gripped her tightly in a similar fashion to how Robin had gripped me earlier.
It was then I noticed that there was also someone else tied up behind Courtney; a man with brown hair wearing a blue shirt. I ran over to untie him. He was badly beaten with cuts and bruises all over his body, I was scared of taking off his gag incase I hurt him but it had to be done. The man gasped for air as I took it off and he clung to my arm.
"Thank you so much." The man gasped.
What's your name?" I asked. "Can you walk?"
The man pulled himself to his feet using my bodyweight as a balance.
"Yeah… I think I can, and the name's Bill."
Suddenly we heard footsteps rushing down the stairs outside along the passage as everyone held their breath.
"D, someone's here!" We heard Petrel cry as it echoed through the hallway.
"What?!" Domino yelled back.
"I went back upstairs to shut the door and there's sets of wet footprints all over the rug. Someone besides me has come in from outside."
"You mean you left the door open? So people could just waltz inside?! Idiot!" She cried as the sound of a slap to the face could be heard down the hall.
"Nevermind. We've got what we need from Bill anyway, anything else will come from the others."
"So what do we do now?"
"Protocol." Domino replied bluntly.
There was a short silence before Petrel began speaking. "…Are you sure?"
"We've been found out Petrel, word will get out and this whole charade is going to crumble one way or the other."
"What about the intruders?" Petrel asked as the sound of keys clicking on a keyboard could be heard.
"If they're stupid enough to still be here then they can burn with the other two. We've got ten minutes, now let's go."
Everyone in the room began to panic. We could of made a run for it but with Courtney near hysterical and Bill injured we wouldn't be able to keep at a fast enough pace to get away. But just as I thought that I heard footsteps run along the corridor and up the steps away from us, if they were leaving then that was our que to do the same.
April picked up the large box of Pokeballs and I helped Bill to walk whilst Courtney clung tightly to Robin. Once again I led the way; I opened the door back to the corridor to see who I guessed to be Petrel about to ascend the steps. The man stopped and looked towards us, seeming to look at us each individually with his black eyes, they seemed kinder than I'd expected a criminal's to be.
After stopping to glance he was quickly off up the stairs, his flat purple Mohawk becoming the only thing we could see through the dark.
Thinking we'd been granted a break we quickly made for the exit. Not met with any resistance we all ran as fast as we could until we ran out of the large front doors, back into the garden and the pouring rain.
After quickly descending the two stone steps onto the grass, something darted through the air and rooted itself into the ground just in front of me to which I quickly jumped backwards. It was a black tulip, but something wasn't quite right about it. Suddenly it flashed red several times within a single second and created a small explosion in front of me, making Bill and I fall to the ground.
April called out to us but as I looked up I saw Domino standing beside a black helicopter with another tulip in her hand.
"I should've known it'd be you two brats again!" Domino cried across the garden angrily. "Do you like my tulips?" she asked, her voice changing to a much more sadistic tone.
The helicopter's blades began to spin, creating what felt like an instant hurricane all around us.
"D. The chopper's ready." Petrel cried, running around to machine to an open door, loading a crate inside.
"Pity you came outside, now you're going to have to learn the hard way!" Domino cried through the storm with a smile on her face.
I looked back to the others behind me who hadn't moved as I rose to my feet, helping Bill up again.
"Everyone go, find officer Jenny – get some help!" I cried as Robin and Courtney needed ran across the garden, not needing telling twice.
"Alex!" April protested taking a few steps forward.
"I'm the only one with a pokemon left that's able to fight these people and if I can just delay them until the police get here then these attacks can stop." I said, something inside of me coming alive, something that was determined to stop these people.
"But those people… they're-"
"-Can you get Bill to safety too?" I said, almost thrusting him onto her."Now go!"
April began running away, looking back several times as I reached for a pokeball on my belt.
I gripped Sandshrew's Pokeball in my hand; my only pokemon that wasn't physically exhausted from the gym battle.
Domino looked straight at me and let out a loud maniacal laugh. "Are you honestly going to try and fight using your pathetic pokemon? Were you not here earlier?!"
I clenched the Pokeball harder, trying to contain the anger that was building up inside of me.
"Teach him a lesson Petrel, he needs to learn not to get in the way of Team Rocket." Domino continued as she went inside the cockpit.
The helicopter slowly began to lift off of the ground and I threw the Pokeball through the air, releasing Sandshrew just as another flash of light appeared in front of me making Sneasel appear opposite. Sandshrew winced at being outside in the rain, something I'd never made him do before.
Petrel sighed before saying, "And I'm supposed to be the nice guy…"
Suddenly two pairs of long, razor sharp claws that looked more like blades appeared from under the fur of Sneasel's arms. Something that wasn't there before.
"Sandshrew – Rollout!"
"Quick attack."
Sandshrew curled up into a ball and began to speed off as Sneasel disappeared in a flash and reappeared in front of Sandshrew, slashing him throwing him backwards onto his back, exposing his weak point, his soft stomach.
"Beat up!"
"-No!" I cried.
Sneasel jumped on topof Sandshrew as he squirmed to get away. Sneasel retracted his claws and began brutally battering Sandshrew all over with its fists at a lightening fast speed. Sandshrew couldn't take the beating and lost consciousness.
"…Fury Swipes."
Sneasel smiled as it drew its razor claws once more, eager to get started. Sneasel began slashing away at Sandshrew again and again without restraint, almost
enjoying it.
"Stop!" I cried, looking at the pokemon and then at the trainer, neither showing any intention to do so.
"I said stop!!!!!" I Yelled, running over to the pokemon and pushing it off of my own. It wasn't a pokemon – it was a monster.
"We're done here." Petrel said jumping onto the hovering Helicopter and withdrawing his pokemon.
"I hope you enjoy my lovely garden!" I heard Domino cry as they flew off into the night sky.
I collapsed in front of Sandshrew, not able to contain myself I burst into a neverending flow of tears, every drop of rain feeling like it came from me. I clutched my pokemon's lifeless body hoping it wasn't real but this pain tearing my heart apart was not an illusion, it was very real.
Suddenly the garden around me began glowing flashing red, near matching the blood-stained grass as every tulip began lighting up, exploding causing a chain reaction of explosions spreading through the garden around us enveloping the house and then myself, knocking me unconscious.
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