Chapter 25 – From Hell's Heart
The next day arrived with a clap of thunder that rattled the Pokemon Center's windows and shook Ash from the clutches of a nightmare. The trainer sat up from his bedroll on the thickly carpeted floor and rubbed his eyes. In his peripheral he spotted Janine, sitting cross-legged on the bed and pulling a small tube away from her bare forearm. The girl balled her empty hand into a fist, took a deep breath, and pulled down her sleeve.
"One hell of a storm rolled in early this morning," said the girl on the bed. "We've gotten almost an inch of rainfall already it doesn't look like it's going to break anytime soon..." Janine stood up and grinned, the expression only visible in the light of the silent television. "That's good for us."
Pulling his hand away from his face, Ash glanced at the curtained windows on the opposite wall, then at the clock sitting on the nightstand. After another quick look between the two, Ash sat up a little more and nodded to the inky window.
"Is it really noon?" he asked.
"You were tired, so I let you sleep," Janine answered. She paused as Ash shivered once and put his hand back on his face. "Bad dreams again?"
"No," Ash blurted, "I always wake up shaking and sweating-" he stopped himself when he heard the venom in his words. "Sorry," he muttered, standing up as Janine leaned back a little. "I didn't mean to come across like that."
Without turning away from him, Janine shrugged and dropped her hands into her hoodie's pocket. "Things have been really stressful lately," she said, tone unchanged from before. "If you want to talk about it-"
"I really don't," Ash interrupted, grabbing his pack, turning around and walking for the bathroom. He stopped in the door and started to say something, but the words died in his mouth. Closing the door behind him, the young Gym Leader didn't see the girl in the other room pull down her hood and watch the closed door for more than a minute. Janine sighed when she heard the shower's initial sputtering hiss a few moment's later.
"Poor guy," she said under her breath, reaching under the bed and pulling out her small backpack. Sitting on the table opposite the bed, Pikachu looked up from cleaning himself and glanced between Janine and the closed door.
As the hot water stung his skin and filled the small bathroom with steam, Ash stood under the shower head and slumped against the wall, fists balled at his sides. He screwed his eyes closed and pressed one trembling fist to his forehead. Sucking in a breath and opening his eyes again, Ash stared down at the drain in the floor, watching the water swirl down passed the chromed trap.
"Why wasn't it me?" he muttered, his face and chest both drawing tight. "It should have been me."
Ash just stood there for several minutes before taking a deep breath and pushing himself away from the wall. After quickly cleaning himself up, Ash shut off the water and pulled his clean set of clothes from his backpack. Tightening his belt he glanced at the mirror, debating whether or not he wanted to bother with a shave. After a shrug and grunt, Ash opened the door and walked back into the bedroom, immediately jerking back and raising his hands to catch the object flying at his face.
"Put this on," said Janine as Ash fumbled to catch the harness she'd tossed. "Wear it under your coat and clip your pokeballs to it. That way you'll look a little less conspicuous."
Ash managed to recover his composure and, after a good deal of twisting the harness and turning it around, managed to figure out how to put it on. While the girl in the hoodie finished wrapping her arms in leather bands that bristled with Velcro loops and bands of all different sizes, Ash moved his pokeballs from his belt to the little magnetic clips hanging just under his armpits.
"So this Mewtwo guy you mentioned last night," said Janine, fastening a knife to one forearm, a long loop of fine metal wire to her other, and pulling her sleeves down over both, "you sure we can trust him?"
"Probably," Ash shrugged. "If he wasn't on our side then he wouldn't have saved me back in Lavender. I wouldn't have stood a chance without his help." The trainer immediately felt a pang in the back of his head as Haunter expressed offense. He quickly reminded the specter that, while it had helped a great deal, Mewtwo's aid had been the deciding factor in the endeavor's success. Haunter couldn't argue and floated invisibly up next to Ash, asking when "playtime" was to start.
"Hm," the girl toned. "Not that I really mind working for a disembodied voice my partner hears in his head, but he could have mentioned what he wants with Sabrina... Still, thanks for letting me know about him at least."
"No problem," Ash answered. "Speaking of, what do you know about Sabrina?"
"Much as I hate to admit, next to nothing." Janine sighed. "Getting a spy close to anyone in Saffron who actually matters isn't easy. Um," she thought for a second. "I can tell you Sabrina's a woman... probably. I know she disappeared just under a year ago, right after she personally curb-stomped the fighters in the Saffron Civil War, but that's about it. Funny, I never would have figured her to be taken prisoner by anyone, especially not Team Rocket given the chummy relationship they've had for years."
"Team Rocket's never been predictable, and it's only gotten worse recently," said Ash, throwing on a heavy brown jacket and holding out one arm. Pikachu leapt up onto his elbow and settled in on Ash's shoulder. "It might be wishful thinking but I'll hope that means they're feeling the pressure."
"Right," said Janine, walking to the window and parting the curtain just enough to look out. As Ash stepped up beside her, she nodded to one of the many neon-ringed spires poking up over the wall almost a mile away. "So..." she lowered her voice a little, "you ready to get your feet wet?"
Ash shut off the TV and the pair of trainers walked from their room to the Pokemon Center's main lobby. Ash had made a point to keep his face down and not look at any of the dozen or so people they passed on their way out. As the Center's big doors automatically opened before them, Ash felt the saturated air strike him like a slap to the face. The blustering wind only enhanced the effect, and the trainer had to reach up to steady a struggling Pikachu.
"Here you go," Ash muttered, tucking the Pokemon inside his jacket and zipping it up enough to conceal the rodent. He looked with a grimace into the street from under the Pokemon Center's concrete awning as Janine stepped out into the torrential downpour. "This sucks..." he muttered, walking through the wall of water ringing him in and instantly bunching up his shoulders in a vain attempt to stave off the rain.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," said Janine, a wide grin visible under her hood. "It's a beautiful day." She reached out and grabbed Ash's hand, pulling him along as the trainer in the cap tucked his head and fell in stride beside her. The pair quickly made their way down the sidewalk, avoiding the many puddles and miniature waterfalls that cascaded down from the tops of buildings. More than once however, Janine, still leading Ash by the hand through the storm, veered under one of the waterfalls and soaked both trainers all the way through their clothes.
"I'm glad you're having a good time," Ash grumbled as the pair came to a stop on a street corner a block from Saffron's imposing wall.
"I love the rain," Janine released Ash's hand and reached up, snatching his cap from his head. "It always makes things seem so clean, even here."
"Well I'm soaked to the bone," said Ash, reaching for his cap but closing his hand around empty air as Janine waved it away from his hand. "Would you give that back?" he growled.
"Oh, c'mon, lighten up," Janine laughed as Ash again went for his hat and she kept it away from him.
Across the intersection from a humming streetlight, Ash tried for a minute to grab his cap from Janine, but each time he went for it she would dart a step or two away from him and flaunt the cap. The girl in the hood spun around Ash as he lunged for her, practically dancing out of his way whenever he tried to grab his hat until both trainers had moved across the road, passed the streetlight, and wound up almost a block from where they'd started. Finally Janine stopped and stood still a few paces behind him, having twirled her way into a dead end alley. She quickly glanced away, seeing no route out of the alley that didn't involve jumping to a second story window.
"Gotcha," Ash smirked, turning around and facing her. "Mine now," he charged forward, lunging for Janine, but again tackling only empty space.
"Too slow," Janine teased, leaping away from him and planting her back against brick wall at the end of the shallow alley.
"Now you've got nowhere to run," Ash laughed, positioning himself for another attack.
After she wiped a lock of hair out of her face, Janine's expression flew from a teasing grin to a focused stare as her eyes darted from Ash to the passage he guarded, and back again. Quick as an arrow she bolted forward, leaning to her right, spotting Ash compensating for the feint, and immediately throwing herself to the left. The girl jumped sideways, planted her foot on the wall beside Ash, and kicked off to fling herself passed him. The triumphant smirk on her lips vanished into awed surprise as Ash's arm wrapped around her waist and he caught her in the middle of her jump.
Grunting as he absorbed the shock of the catch Ash spun on his heel, locking Janine in a vice grip of a hold and pulling her back to the ground. An instant later Ash went for the cap with his free hand, but again Janine managed to twist the article out of his reach, holding it above her head. When Ash released her to reach for the hat with both hands, Janine spun away again, still managing to corner herself in the alley.
"Alright," Ash straightened up, laughing and out of breath. "Hand it over." He extended his hand.
"Finally," Janine sighed. "It's only taken me three days."
Confusion twitched across Ash's face as he stumbled in place, foot landing with a heavy splash in a puddle. "What?" he asked. "What's taken you-"
The girl walked forward so boldly and stopped so close to him that Ash could only watch as she reached up and put the cap back on his head, pulling it down and centering the bill over his forehead. "You haven't so much as cracked a grin since we left Celadon," said Janine, pulling down her hood and looking up at him with a big smile despite the rain falling on her face. "But now I've finally gotten your spirits up again." She closed her eyes and cocked her head off to one side.
It might have been the the cool rain dripping down the back of his neck, or the warm hands resting on his shoulders, but Ash suddenly realized just how close he and Janine were standing. He stammered for a second, well aware that Janine had laced her fingers behind his neck, and tried to think of something to say.
"Well," Ash fumbled. "I'm glad- thanks for trying to cheer me up."
"Sure thing," said Janine, still looking up at him. She started to say something, but stopped and glanced away.
As Ash caught the blush seeping into her cheeks and ears, he reached up and took hold of Janine's wrists. He pulled her hands down, the slight touch of her fingers on his neck eliciting a single shiver. "This-" he paused for a breath, "this isn't really... maybe now isn't a great time... for that kind of thing."
"You sure?" asked the girl in the hoodie, looking up at him with no small amount of effort. "We're about to walk into what's probably a deathtrap, blind, with nothing but each other. It seems like a decent time to me."
Ash grinned, despite the knot twisting itself into his stomach, trying to hear his own thoughts over the driving rain and the thumping in his chest. "Listen, I know there's..." he trailed off, the thoughts sticking in his head like syrup.
"I know that things have been really hard lately," Janine didn't resist as he put her hands together and held them between her and him, "but I've been thinking about things since you helped me back in Fuchsia. I've been holding back a lot my entire life because I didn't want to get close to anyone just to... you know. But that kind of thinking isn't working anymore. If you're willing to give it a shot..." she stopped herself.
Ash felt his chest grow painfully tight as his face began to turn red. "It's..." he pressed his lips together. "It's really not that you're... I mean I'm... I just really need some time."
"That's not something I have a lot," Janine stopped when she saw the fragility in Ash's countenance. The girl took a deep breath, and nodded. "Sure," she said, her tone growing more cheery. "I didn't mean to... For now we should probably focus on getting under that wall, eh?"
Ash nodded, the crimson visibly draining from his face, though he did reach up and wipe a sleeve across his eyes. The gesture however only succeeded in getting his face even wetter. "Wait," he stopped. "Did you say we were going under?"
Without answering, Janine gestured for Ash to follow and lead him a block farther west to another alley roughly a quarter of a mile from the wall. No sooner had he rounded the corner and stepped between the two apparently abandoned buildings, than was Ash instantly stepping back and covering his nose with his hand.
"Oh god," he mumbled as Janine stepped into the alley and began looking amongst the numerous dumpsters lined up against all three of its walls. "Did they build the city around the dump or something?"
"This section of town doesn't have any regular waste management services," said the girl in the hood, checking between dumpsters as Ash stood in the alley's entrance. "People just throw their garbage wherever it can fit until someone with enough money decides to pay for a cleanup... Ah, here we go." She motioned Ash over.
Wiping stench induced tears from his eyes, but still spotting the black mark painted on the side of one bin, Ash began helping Janine push it to one side. After several minutes of tugging and pulling, the pair managed to slide the heavy dumpster aside just enough to reveal a rusty plate covering a storm drain set by the base of one building. After another minute or two of effort, the two trainers pried the solid metal slab loose from its spot over the drain. Almost immediately the sound of gurgling and splashing water rose from the drain.
"If I had know it was going to be a sewer..." Ash muttered. "I'd have insisted on flying over."
"Right," Janine glanced up at him. "Because that wouldn't tip off Team Rocket or the Psychics at all."
"They already know we're here."
"We don't need to broadcast it."
"Still," said Ash. "It's a sewer. How are we going to fit?"
"I've managed it," said the girl. "When they were building Saffron, they just constructed it over one of Lavender's old fort cities. They didn't bother to tear up the old sewers which were, lucky for us, quite a bit wider than the modern ones. The engineers just incorporated them into some other systems." Janine leaned down and shimmied through the drain, disappearing to the sound of a splash.
Ash groaned dropped to one knee, trying his best to ignore the stink rising out of the drain. He slid one leg down the narrow drain, then both legs, and dropped into the dark. He landed hard with a splash in an inky black chamber, completely unable to judge the nature of his surroundings. He felt the water rise up to his knees and he couldn't ignore the small waterfall raining down on him from above. Glancing up, he thought he could make out the faint outline of the drain through which he'd climbed.
"Hey," Janine's voice whispered in the dark as Ash felt a hand on his elbow. "That sounded like a rough drop. You alright?"
His skin going cold as he began to feel as though the darkness was closing in on him, Ash fumbled for his jacket's zipper and pulled it down. Almost immediately Pikachu popped his head out of Ash's coat, spitting and shaking.
"Light this up for us, please," Ash glanced down at where he felt Pikachu to be.
The little rodent acknowledged the request with a quick chitter and immediately began to glow like a light bulb. Ash reached down and took the Pokemon out of his coat, lighting the narrow, flooded chamber and filling it with long and twisted shadows as he put Pikachu on his shoulder. Ash cast about for a moment, spotting the rails in the wall of the chamber leading up to the drain. Two waist high tunnels leading off from the cell stood on either wall adjacent to the rusty ladder.
"I'm alright," said Ash, turning to Janine. "I'm still not liking this though."
"I hope you're not claustrophobic," the girl teased, turning and walking to one of the small tunnels.
As Janine dropped to her knees and crawled into the tunnel, which was itself so flooded that the girls head barely cleared the murky water, Ash knelt and surveyed the scene. After a quick shake of his head he backed away from the tunnel. "This is wider than the modern sewers?" he asked.
"You wouldn't fit in the newer ones," Janine called over her shoulder, unable to turn around in the tight quarters. "C'mon. It's not too far till we get under the wall. That's when things might get interesting."
Mouthing some silent curse, Ash knelt back down, turned his shoulders sideways, and maneuvered himself into the tunnel. Even on his hands and knees, Ash had to duck his head to avoid scraping it on the ceiling, and subsequently turn his face to keep his nose above the water. Pikachu fared little better as Ash began following Janine down the sewer. The glowing rodent found itself caught between the slimy brick wall and Ash's shoulder as his trainer crawled through the water. Ash's only consolation was that as he progressed, the stink of the sewer grew fainter and fainter, until the water flowing passed him smelled more of mud and rainwater than waste.
"Either I'm acclimating," Ash groaned to Pikachu, "or nobody uses these drains for sewage."
The little yellow rodent turned to Ash with a venomous glare. The trainer could almost feel Pikachu's ire as the Pokemon stared at him from under a layer of grime on his usually well cleaned forehead. Ash apologized and maneuvered one hand up to wipe away some of the muck. Pikachu didn't protest, though Ash did pause as he heard Haunter's silent giggling in the back of his mind. Feeling around for the ghost, Ash got the impression his invisible companion had floated up to street level to avoid the sewer.
Oh can it, Ash thought to the specter.
"And we're here," Janine's voice sounded up ahead.
Turning forward again, Ash spotted a dark break in the narrow tunnel ahead and hurried for it. Coming out into another comparatively open storm drain, Ash found his partner standing in the knee deep rainwater, one hand resting on an old iron ladder fastened to the grimy brick wall. Janine looked up at the ceiling as Ash arrived with his glowing Pokemon and her face soured.
"Huh," she sighed. "Go figure..."
Following her gaze, Ash immediately spotted the metal grate in the ceiling and the corner of the dumpster setting on it. The trainer stood silent for a second, looking between the rusty ladder on the wall, a structure he guessed might not even support his weight, and the grate.
"Well," he muttered. "Hold on, I think I might have this." Ash reached into his coat and grabbed a pokeball. Snapping it open and flooding the chamber with dazzling white light, Ash stepped back as Charizard materialized out of the light and splashed down in the water on his hind legs. The massive Pokemon hissed and jumped, clearing the water and slamming its head against the ceiling as it flailed to get out of the chamber. Raking it's claws along the wall, the Pokemon kicked at Ash who ducked to one side as Charizard again came splashing down into the murky water with a hiss.
"Easy," Ash barked, grabbing the pommel of Charizard's saddle and swinging himself onto the Pokemon's back. As Janine backed away, Ash reached forward and took hold of one of the spikes on the side of Charizard's skull. With a jerk, he pulled the dragon's head around to one side and looked him in the eye. "Shut up and cool it," he ordered, voice firm. The Pokemon and its trainer went silent and stared at each other for a second, before Charizard finally settled down with a grunt and dropped to all fours in the water. The dragon folded its wings as Ash released his grip on Charizards skull. "Better," said Ash. "Now, care to help out?" The trainer nodded to the grate overhead.
Craning its neck to look up, Charizard slowly lifted its forelegs out of the water with a hissing growl and rested one on the brick wall. With its other clawed hand, the dragon reached up and slipped its three scaly fingers through the grate. Without so much as a grunt of effort, Charizard pushed and both the grate and dumpster popped up, the sound of creaking and cracking metal ringing in the storm drain. Shifting for balance, Charizard easily slid the grate and the dumpster away and dropped back to all fours.
Hopping down from his Pokemon's saddle, Ash stepped forward and put one hand on the side of Charizard's head, rubbing its armored hide. "Thank you," said the trainer in a tone more respectful than amicable.
As a low growl escaped its throat, Charizard opened its mouth only a little, revealing wickedly sharp fangs and allowing bubbling saliva to drip down into the water where it hissed and steamed. It's tail swept to one side and slapped against the wall, the flame at the tip of the appendage flickering from red to white and back. A moment later, Ash returned to Pokemon to its pokeball and turned back to Janine, who had ducked back inside the drainage tunnel.
"I have no idea how you manage to command that thing," said the girl in the hoodie, looking at the deep gashes Charizard had carved into the wall, "but I'm glad it's on our side."
Ash grinned and gestured to the ladder. "Ladies first?" he said.
"Just a sec," Janine stopped him. "Before we go topside make sure that you're ready to move quickly. There's almost no electronic surveillance in the outer city and Team Rocket still recognized you. Now that they know you're in Saffron they'll be watching and the inner city does have lots of security. There's no way to make it to Silph without winding up on camera at least once, but if we move fast we should be able to get in before that matters."
Ash nodded. "And once we get there?" he asked.
"I've got my contact on standby," said Janine. "She'll be waiting for us."
Climbing up the ladder and out into the downpour, the pair of trainers and Pikachu emerged from the drain set in the base of one of the many skyscrapers within the inner ring of Saffron City. Immediately Ash noted the difference between the scenes on either side of the wall and, if he hadn't known better, he might have guessed that he'd crawled into a completely different city. Here, despite there being no people out in the storm to make use of them, streetlights and enormous neon signs kept the wide streets well lit. The inward facing side of the wall sported a coat of white paint and numerous pornographic murals that seized Ash's attention for a moment.
Janine glanced between a staring Ash and the murals and smirked. "That's Saffron's ruling elite for you," she said, patting Ash's arm to get his attention. "Everything they do is about sex, money, violence, or some combination of those three."
"How tacky can you get?" Ash wondered, turning away from the murals. "Let's go."
Nodding to the west, Janine turned and set off at a brisk run with Ash in tow. The storm, Ash thought, had grown even more intense since they crawled into the sewer, and the driving rain did little to put his mind at ease. As the trainer ran directly behind his guide, Ash tried to take in his surroundings, but the sheets of rain and the sheer number of windows in the towering highrises baffled his natural alertness. When he tried to get a glance at the sky, the way in which all of the surrounding buildings stuck into the clouds made him dizy and he had to turn his gaze back towards the ground.
Both trainers skidded to a halt on the corner of an intersection dominated by an enormous skyscraper. The structure, easily the tallest building in the city, sat on a foundation that covered its entire city block. The massive building, much to Ash's surprise, bore almost no ornate neon signs or gaudy decoration. The only part of the sterile looking structure, in fact, that looked to have been designed with beauty in mind was the main entrance, a massive double door made of aged wood lined in green patina.
"C'mon," said Janine, leading Ash to a recess set in the side of the enormous skyscraper. The pair of trainers disappeared into a the little alcove, where both stopped and glanced around. "See there," the girl pointed to a fire escape protruding from the wall of the third story.
Ash nodded. "I didn't bring a grappling hook..." he muttered, scanning the surrounding windows and noticing that most were shuttered or at least curtained from the inside.
"Don't need one," said Janine, bolting forward and running at the wall. Planting her foot on a first-story windowsill, the girl shoved herself upwards and grabbed hold of the next windowsill with one hand. Taking hold of the little ledge with both hands and hanging there, Janine focused for a second, placed the flat of one foot against the wall, and heaved herself upwards again. Her feet made contact with the stone ledge and she braced her hands on the underside of the window's recess.
"That's impressive," Ash said, crossing his arms and watching as Janine swung herself over to another windowsill twelve feet directly under the fire escape.
Looking up and getting her bearings, the girl in the hood quickly steadied herself and braced her feet within the window's deep inset in the wall. Taking baby steps she shuffled up the recess until her hands could no longer find any support in the inset and her fingers groped for holds along the lines between the building's stone blocks. Ash held his breath as he watched Janine's form go rigid for a second as she bent her knees only a little and exploded upwards. Her feet cleared the top of the window and immediately she kicked at the wall and jumped off the vertical surface, gaining only just enough altitude for her fingers to slip between the metal bars of the fire escape.
Ash and Pikachu both watched with relieved expressions as Janine climbed around the side of the bars and pulled herself into the escape. The girl kicked a lever and a second later, a long ladder fell with grinding clangs down to ground level. Ash reached up to his shoulder and patted Pikachu's drenched head before walking up to the ladder and climbing up to the third floor. When he got there, Janine was leaning against the wall.
"Pretty good, huh," she grinned, failing to adequately hide being out of breath.
"I don't think a Treecko could have done any better," he answered, glancing around. "Where from here?"
Janine dropped to one knee and ran her fingers along the edge of one of the windows. Pushing but failing to get it open, she leaned back. "Locked," she muttered, "with no way to pick it from the outside."
Looking over his shoulder, Ash put one hand on the wall. "Do you think they have some kind of security system?" he asked.
"I'm not seeing any sensors," Janine answered, looking around the edge of the window. "And all of the high security rooms are in the basements-" she stopped mid-sentence and twitched away as Ash's boot smashed through the window.
As a wide eyed Pikachu and a very surprised Janine looked up at Ash, the young trainer pulled his boot out of the window and scraped its sole along the metal grate to clean it of any fragments. "I've had about enough of this rain," Ash said, kneeling and using the side of his gloved hand to knock the spikes of glass inwards.
"So much for being sneaky," said Janine, following his lead and clearing away the glass.
"I'm not hearing any alarms," Ash responded, pushing aside the curtains and stepping through. "Seems safe to me."
Cautiously crawling through the window, Janine stepped up beside Ash in what both trainers guessed to be a small receptionist's room. On their left an open door lead into another small room, this one without any exits, and on their right stood a closed door. Only a lamp on the receptionist's desk provided any light, its subtle glow flickering off the brass name plate sitting beside the little lamp. A flash of lightning filled the room for a split second with a dazzling glare just before a peal of thunder shook the building.
"This is the room," said Janine, checking the name plate on the desk. "Third floor, north alcove, Mr Rose's office. Where's Vicki?"
Still glancing around the dark room, Ash listened to his surroundings and reached up to scratch Pikachu behind the ears. "Man it's quiet. I don't hear any people," he muttered, his heartbeat ringing in his ears.
"That's because there aren't any around," a voice called from just inside the other room. "Obviously."
Hands going to their belts, Ash and Janine instantly turned on the door. They glanced warily
at each other, but Janine motioned for Ash not to move. The young trainer turned to put his back to the wall as he searched for the source of the voice, both his and Pikachu's eyes darting from one corner to the next.
"Margaret?" Janine called, barely raising her voice above a whisper. "What are you doing here?"
From the adjacent office, seeming to form out of the gloom itself as it passed over the threshold a tall figure with a wispy frame stepped through the door and stopped, green eyes visible and plainly sizing up the two newcomers from underneath a dusky hood. The figure grinned and reached up to pull down her hood, a smile crossing her strikingly narrow face.
"What are you doing here?" Janine repeated, sidestepping to put a little distance between herself and Ash as she turned to better face the other woman in the indistinct hoodie. "Where's Vicki?"
"With all respect ma'am," said Margaret, putting her hands on her hips, "I'm here because Vicki called me in early this morning. Security tightened up a lot last night and Vicki decided it would be best to work security from two angles," she paused and looked at Ash. "I guess your just being here, Mr. Ketchum, hit a nerve."
Ash didn't answer, but glanced over at Janine. "Your operation," he said. "You're call."
"You have to know how this looks," Janine said, tone completely blank as she stared at the woman opposite the desk.
Margaret shrugged and pulled a small radio off her belt, prompting a slight, almost imperceptible tensing in Janine's fingers. "I know, a friend you haven't seen in months shows up with no warning to help on an operation. It sounds like the beginning to any of a thousand bad spy novels where the friend's actually a traitor." Margaret stopped and held out the radio. "But this isn't a spy novel," she said. "Vicki is sitting in the security office, keeping this whole building blind to you. Why else wouldn't every alarm in the complex sound when Mr. Ketchum kicked in that window?"
Flinching, an awkward grin flitted across Ash's face. He couldn't miss the tiny sigh that escaped Janine's mouth. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Ash.
"Subtle as a boot to the face," said Margaret. "Still," she gave the outstretched radio a little shake, "if you don't believe me just give Vicki a call."
Still eying the other girl, Janine kept her hands at her side. "Push the 'talk' button."
Margaret did so and the radio buzzed quietly.
"Challenge: foxtrot, November, golf," Janine said, raising her voice only enough for the radio to register the word.
A second passed as Margaret let up on the button. The instant she did, the device buzzed again. "Response:" a female voice answered over the radio, "sierra, sierra, delta, delta. How ya doing girl?"
Reaching over and grabbing the radio, Janine twisted the knob and held the device up to her ear. "No, I didn't," she said after a quick pause, responding to a voice too quiet for Ash or Margaret to hear. "That's standard procedure for a good reason and it's exactly why I'm in charge." Se went quiet again and listened to the humming voice for a second. "Understood. Out." The girl in the soaked purple hood offered the radio back to Margaret.
"Satisfied?" asked the other agent, accepting the device and clipping it to her belt.
Janine nodded. "For now."
"So," Ash cleared his throat. "How do we get to the Telesthetic Lab?"
"Lose the jacket and the hat," said Margaret, stepping back into the adjacent office and producing a briefcase. "You two need to look a lot more official."
As Ash set Pikachu down and shirked out of his soaked coat, he noticed Janine reaching up and pulling her hoodie over her head. It occurred to him that he'd never seen her without it and he couldn't contain a curious glance in her direction. Despite making every effort to be subtle and quick as he glanced at her shockingly thin yet muscular frame, Ash couldn't miss the glance signaling Janine's having caught him. Much to his relief however, Janine didn't say anything, instead just straightening out the shoulder strap of her black tank top and turning her back to him.
"Now, Miss Williams and Mr. Taylor," said Margaret, pulling two lab coats from the briefcase and tossing them to the trainers, then producing one for herself. "Put those on. Hopefully we won't meet anyone important on the way down, but if we do and if for some unforeseeable reason you wind up having to answer questions, the pair of you are from the Viridian home-office, here with one Dr. Zelle," she gestured to herself. "That's me, by the way. You're here to ensure 'quality-control' given issues had with some of Team Rocket's passed experiments... just let me do all the talking."
"You sure this is going to work?" asked Ash, a wary expression settling on his face as Margaret handed him a pair of glasses and some indecipherable chart attached to a clipboard. "I thought there would be more to sneaking into a place like this."
Margaret laughed. "Says the guy who kicked in a window. No, you'd be surprised just how easy it can be to sneak into high security locations. If you look like you belong, then most people will think you do and won't ask any questions."
"I hope so," Ash muttered, adjusting the fake glasses as Margaret handed Janine identical props. "I really don't want to get caught sneaking into one of Team Rocket's bases." Cautiously, he reached out with his mind and felt around for Haunter. Immediately he felt the ghost's presence and instructed it to remain hidden unless he specifically called for him. Haunter begrudgingly agreed.
"Sneaking in is easy," said Janine, grinning at Ash and tying her hair back. "It's sneaking out though, now that can get interesting." She stopped and glanced at Pikachu who had hopped up onto the desk to watch them. "Um," Janine motioned towards the rodent.
Ash followed her motion. "Ah," he toned, stepping up beside Pikachu and pulling a pokeball from underneath his lab coat. Immediately Pikachu recoiled from the device and glared up at Ash, who reached down to pet him. "Sorry," he muttered to the glowering Pokemon. "Don't look at me like that. I really am. I promise this will be the last time I make you wait in a pokeball, OK?"
Pikachu shook his head, but let out a little breath and relaxed. Ash took that as an acquiescence and popped the pokeball open, storing Pikachu away in a swirl of white light.
Following Margaret, Ash and Janine walked from the small office into the hallway beyond. Each step producing an echo that made Ash cringe, the three infiltrators followed the aesthetically sterile passage south, passing by numerous closed wooden doors on one side and shuttered windows on the other. Glancing over his shoulder and down the hall as his companions stopped in front of an elevator door, Ash scanned the scene for any signs they were being followed. Spotting not even a single person in the eerily unoccupied hall, Ash looked at the only sign of security he'd seen thus far, a lone camera, its power cord unplugged from the wall, positioned over the elevator door.
"In we go," said Margaret calmly, stepping inside the elevator as it dinged and the metal doors slid open.
"Never seen one of those before," said Ash as the doors slid shut and he glanced at the elevator's touchscreen interface.
Margaret reached inside her coat, produced a red card, and swiped it through the reader beneath the screen. "Wouldn't really expect a country boy like you to have seen anything like this," said the agent with a smirk, tapping a few numbers on the screen. The interface flashed a warning, blotting out the holographic keys for a second before turning red. "So you better hang on tight," she went on, "because you're not in Pallet anymore."
Janine tapped Ash's arm before he could say anything, drawing his attention and shaking her head. Ash watched the interface as the elevator began to descend. Smaller and smaller numbers blinked across the display as the elevator's motor whirred, slowed, then hissed to a stop. The display read "B-4".
Buzzing and making everyone in the elevator jump, the radio on Margaret's belt vibrated. "Hey guys," Vicki's voice came on the line just as the elevator door dinged and opened. On the other side stood four tall men, each wearing a grey uniform, body armor, and holding a humming cattle prod. "I think we've got a problem."
Margaret stepped forward and put up her hands. "Problem, gentlemen?" she asked, a saccharin grin set on her lips
The security guards, glanced at each other, the light flickering off their clear visors and polished riot-gear. "End of the line," said the man in front. "Turn around and out your hands on your he-" his sentence died in his throat as Janine snapped forward, quick as a thought, shoving his protective mask up and slamming the side of her hand into the guard's larynx.
As that man went to his knees, gurgling and clutching at his neck, Janine put the heel of her boot on his chest and kicked him to the ground, still holding his visor and ripping his helmet from his head. Simultaneously Ash bolted towards one of the other guards who reared back to swing his cattle prod. Ash caught the man's wrist, turned and planted his back against his adversary's hip. With a sharp twist, followed by a crack and a shriek of pain, Ash snapped the guard's elbow backwards. As the guard fumbled back, Ash pulled off his helmet, twirled the electric baton and smashed the prod into the guard's unprotected face. Instantly the man dropped, breathing but silent.
Casting about Ash spotted Margaret, behind the third man she held him in a sleeper hold until he went limp. Without hesitation, Ash grabbed the guard at his feet and dragged him into the elevator. Janine and Margaret followed his lead and dragged the unconscious men into the elevator, the latter immediately going for her radio and calling Vicki. Janine pulled up her sleeves, revealing the extensive collection of weapons lashed to her arms, while Ash went for his pokeballs and released Pikachu.
"Vicki," Margaret hissed into the radio as the elevator doors slid shut. "What's going on?"
"No idea," a voice sounded over the radio, a hint of panic in the words as a keyboard clicked in the background. "Someone triggered an alarm from another terminal. They've locked the elevators and cut me off from any of the security systems... I'm going hunting for that other terminal. You guys are on your own until then. Out."
The three infiltrators looked about at one another, uncertainty flitting across every face. Ash started to say something, but an era-piercing siren filled the hall and cut him off. The sound faded and rose again as red emergency lights came to life and an automated voice directed all research staff to evacuate to the emergency stairs.
"This way," said Margaret, pointing down the wide hallway lined with sliding doors and huge windows reinforced with steel bars. "The Telesthetic Lab isn't far."
Following Margaret and Janine, Ash set off down the hall, whispering to Pikachu to be ready to attack at a second's notice. He hadn't taken more than a dozen steps however, before Janine stopped dead in front of him, looking through one of the long windows that lined the hall. He almost reached out to move her along, but the stunned look on her face prompted him to pause and follow her gaze. Immediately, he also froze and Margaret stopped in front of them to look back at the pair of trainers.
On the other side the glass window, Ash saw a large room littered with tables stacked with laboratory equipment. It was at the lab table, propped up against the wall on the far side of the room however, that Ash stared. Stretched out across the table, its four arms held in thick metal restraints, was what Ash could only guess to have once been a Machamp.
The Pokemon had ostensibly undergone extensive surgery and Ash realized that whoever had been modifying the beast must have still had much work to do. Two of the Machamp's hands had been removed and capped with steel plates. All of the skin had been cut from the remaining two hands and their respective arms, exposing the red muscle and bloodied tendons, but also implanted steel wires and spiny claws, beneath. The Pokemon's sedated face however drew the most of Ash's attention. It's remaining eye, the other missing and leaving an empty socket, stared blankly at the window, unflinching. It's mouth hung limply open, half its yellowed teeth having been filed into grotesque points while the other half had yet to receive the same modification.
"So this is where they make them," Ash muttered, ignoring the alarm for a second.
"Silph sure has come a long way from just researching Pokemon," said Margaret, an edge of sarcasm in her words. "Now they're breeding and creating their own for the highest bidder."
"This is sick," said Janine, her frame rigid and her right hand balled into a shaking fist.
"Well then let's hurry up," said Margaret. "We're short on time."
Following Margaret and passing by a dozen more of the observation windows, Ash and Janine jogged passed more of the laboratories, each one occupied with another of Silph's and Rocket's experiments. They saw from the corners of their eyes one room where the absent scientists had been working to outfit half a dozen Arboks with cybernetic modifications. Another room held Pinsir and what might have once been a Starmie.
"Here," said Margaret, stopping in front of a sliding door without a window, pulling the keycard from her pocket, and running it through the reader.
Stopping and glancing behind him as the door slid open, Ash grimaced. "Where are the rest of the guards?" he asked.
"Who cares?" asked Margaret. "Follow me," she stepped over the threshold.
Ash shook his head a little and turned to walk through the door, glancing at Janine as she watched his back. He stepped over the threshold and turned to ensure Janine followed him, only to snap away as the door slammed shut behind him, cutting the girl off from the rest of the group.
"Shit!" Ash swore, whirling on the sturdy door and beating his fist against it once as Pikachu leapt from his shoulder to the ground. "Margaret," he said. "Get this thing-" Ash stopped as he felt a cold edge press against the side of his neck.
Without moving his head, Ash glanced down at the narrow blade held right at his throat. "Please," he heard Margaret whisper in his ear, "don't you or your Pikachu make any sudden moves," she ordered, "and turn around with me, very slowly."
Glancing at his Pikachu and trying to convey with a glance the gravity of the situation, Ash slowly pivoted around to face into the massive room in front of him, while Margaret stepped around behind him, still threatening him with the wicked;y sharp blade. Feeling Haunter nudge at the edge of his thoughts, Ash told the ghost to wait for a moment longer.
"So you are a traitor?" Ash muttered, facing into the enormous laboratory. He almost went on to insult her but the similarity between this place and his grandfather's old lab struck him dumb as he looked about.
Tables stacked high with lab equipment adorned the floorspace, radiating outward in semi-circles from the far end of the room where he saw an enormous spherical structure that towered to the ceiling. The sphere sported numerous spires that jutted from its frame and thick cables that ran from its equator to the floor and surrounding walls, and all around it the air seemed to vibrate and flow away. Ash's mouth dropped open a little, his mind almost refusing to accept that something that had seemed fantastic even in a dream now sat before him.
"I've got him," Margaret said, almost shouting to the apparently abandoned room.
A twitch of motion, so subtle it might have been a flickering of the sterile florescent lighting overhead, caught Ash's attention and he glanced to one of the shadows clinging to the walls all around the great sphere. When the figure stepped out of the gloom, Ash felt his stomach turn as a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Well done, Miss Zelle," said James, wiping a lock of unnaturally blue hair from his face as he walked passed several tables and stopped a dozen paces from Ash and Margaret. "We will discuss your compensation later, but now," he turned to Ash, "I would have a word if you will."
Ash's face tightened without his command and his hands balled into fists. "Simple," he spat. "Fuck you."
Without any change in his flat expression, James knocked a pokeball from his belt and it burst open in a flash of white light. "I have the advantage here," said Team Rocket's agent as a hulking Nidoking coalesced from the light. "And frankly the one reason your not dead right now is because you've done a great deal to catch my master's attention. He has an offer for you."
"No seriously," Ash responded, his tone unchanged. "Fuck you." He reached out with his mind and contacted Haunter, feeling the ghost hovering right beside Margaret. This bitch is yours, he whispered to the ghost, hearing Haunter's giggling in the back of his head immediately thereafter.
"Why do you insist on provoking me?" James sighed. "You've been captured in the heart of my stronghold, you're looking death in the face, and yet you still spit on your parent's offer of amnesty. Why-"
Refocusing instantly, James stopped mid sentence as Margaret sucked in a breath and went rigid. The woman's arm wrenched away from Ash, still holding the knife as Ash grabbed Pikachu and dove behind one of the nearby tables for cover. James sidestepped behind his Nidoking and went for the other pokeballs at his belt as Margaret, her face a mask of terror and her body under an alien influence, reared back with the knife and drove it into her own stomach.
"So he is using ghosts," James muttered as Margaret, crying, dropped to her knees and began tearing out her bowels with her bare hands. "Not unexpected," he snapped the pokeball open.
"You're not getting away this time!" Ash shouted from behind the table, grabbing three pokeballs from his belt and tossing them out onto the empty floor between the back wall and the rearmost desks. "This time you're dead!" he said, getting to his feet as Arcanine, Charizard, and Butterfree all materialized out of the white light.
Eyes narrowed, Ash cast about the room, instantly spotting James several rows of tables away. The young Gym Leader's breath caught when he saw three more Pokemon swirling into existence around the Rocket agent, two of them obviously having undergone Silph's brand of modification. In front of James stood the Nidoking, it's glowing green eyes locked on Ash as the florescent light overhead flickered off the metal plates armoring its hide. Beside the Nidoking there stood hairless Primeape, its form twitching as it beat its robotic hands together.
"We can still negotiate," said James, sidestepping to move behind his Scyther as the Pokemon, its wings removed and its serrated metal forearms hung in front of its form. "Your ghost wont work on me after all," James pointed to a spot of hazy air just over his head as a purple mist, seemingly coming from nowhere, shaped itself into a vaguely humanoid form and two red eyes lit up in the center shape's mass. Filling the room with an eery laugh, like chains being dragged through mud, the Gengar finished taking shape and hovered above James.
"I'm done talking!" Ash yelled. "Haunter!" he glanced at the drooping figure of what was once Margaret and jerked his finger towards James. "Kill him!" Filling the room with a second gurgling laugh Haunter, in physical form, burst out of Margaret's chest in a spray of bone and tissue and rushed at James.
Swooping out of the air the Gengar intercepted Haunter less than a meter from James and the two ghosts burst into a cloud of violet miasma. The mist split into two distinct portions, both with their own sets of glowing red eyes, and rushed into the air to deal with each other while James and Ash simultaneously shouted for their Pokemon to attack.
Roaring like devils, Arcanine and Charizard charged and leapt onto and over the tables, crushing instruments and equipment as they dove for the enemy. The Nidoking bellowed a war cry and tore forward, smashing through tables as the Primeape hissed its challenge and sprang to the ready. Pikachu chittered and jumped up onto a table cleared in Arcanine's wake, took aim at the fray as chaos erupted and the screaming of monsters filled the room, and loosed a blinding lightning bolt that shook the room with its thunderous boom.
Just outside the Telesthetic Lab, Janine faced the door, unable to miss the sounds of thunder and the cries of battle on the other side. She cast about for another way in, but spotted nothing more than a small air vent high in the wall that was far too narrow for even her small frame.
"Got to be another way in," she muttered, flexing her hand as her mind buzzed with adrenaline.
"I'm glad to say there isn't," a cool baritone sounded some distance behind her.
Janine managed to contain herself, taking a slow and measured breath as she turned around to the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall. "Hello, Koga," she muttered, barely loud enough to be heard over the buzzing alarms and seeing her father striding confidently out of the side elevator halfway down the wide hall. "So you sent Margaret and locked Vicki out of the security system. Nice trap."
"No need to be so cold," called Koga, closing to a few dozen feet. "I'm only here to collect you and take you home. Already you must hear James dealing with young Ketchum. The boy is dead, he just doesn't realize it yet. All that's left is for you to come home."
"Well then you have a problem," Janine muttered, pulling off her lab coat and reaching for the two pokeballs hanging at her belt, "because I'm not going home until you're dead, traitor."
Brow furrowing, Koga reached under his purple cloak and pulled three pokeballs of his own. "I've had enough of your insolence," he said, the quietest hint of a growl in his words, "and your ungratefulness."
As the white flashes of the orbs momentarily washed out the crimson emergency light of the hallway, a massive red and black Ariados and the floating shape of a hulking Weezing appeared beside her. Adjacent Koga the light swirled into a hovering Crobat and an almost amorphous mound of sludge as tall as the man himself.
On Janine's and Koga's orders, the Ariados and the Crobat both charged at each other, while the Weezing floated forward, expanded, and belched out a great cloud of black gas that sprayed towards Koga and his Pokemon. The Muk rolled over itself like scum oozing downhill towards Janine and her forces. With a flick of her wrist, Janine threw out another pokeball that snapped open and tossed a smaller mound of sludge into the fray, just as Ariados leapt into the air and barefaced into the Crobat.
"Mega Drain!" Koga shouted through the smokescreen.
"Poison Jab!" Janine countered.
Hissing and shaking, the Crobat's lower jaw dislocated with a crunch and the Pokemon lunged up at the Ariados pinning it to the ground. At the same moment the enormous spider raised its abdomen into the air, a wicked stinger lurching from between its spinnerets and angling down as the Pokemon brought its full weight to bear against the bat. Both Pokemon hissed as Crobat's fangs tore into Ariados' carapace and the massive stinger punched through the bat's hide.
Just behind the grappling Pokemon, Janine's Grimer took aim at Koga's Muk and threw itself forward, tackling the larger Pokemon with reckless abandon as the floating Weezing sucked in a breath of air and sprayed another wave of purple gas towards Koga. The man in the cloak reached inside his cape and drew out a small plastic bag filled with a moist rag. Throwing the damp cloth over his face he calmly stepped back as the poison gas rolled over him.
SC
"Charizard, Flamethrower!" Ash barked. "Arcanine, Fire Spin!"
Between Ash and James, as both trainers shouted orders to their Pokemon, Charizard squared off against the menacing Nidoking while Arcanine faced down the hissing Scyther. The dragon roared and reared up on its hind legs as the Nidoking charged and the two Pokemon slammed into each other and tumbled to the ground. Nidoking angled its head to stab at Charizard with its horn, but the dragon craned its neck, opened its jaws, and and loosed an inferno that bathed the Nidoking in red flames. The purple Pokemon reflexively leaned back, metal armor glowing with scalding heat, giving Charizard the leverage to lunge up and sink its claws into the cracks between his opponent's defenses.
Heaving with effort, every muscle in its body bulging, Charizard pushed Nidoking off and rolled to all fours, flame-tipped tail swinging and knocking into tables as the dragon jumped aside and leapt off one of the tables, sinking his claws into one wall and sticking almost fifteen feet off the ground. As Nidoking pushed itself to its feet, Charizard opened its jaws again and sprayed out a clinging, burning ooze that washed over the Nidoking, as well as everything around it, and lit the whole are ablaze.
Arcanine disappeared in a blur of speed, prompting the Scyther turn a split second too late. Arcanine reappeared out of thin air, right in the Scyther's face, and jumped forward, howling and biting down. The Two Pokemon went down to the ground in a heap as Scyther punched with both arms, one finding only empty air but the other slicing into Arcanine's chest, opening a crimson wound but rebounding off the Pokemon's ribcage. The massive Canine however held its bite on Scyther's torso. The space between its teeth flashed white then red as fire blasted from the canine's chest into the Scyther's open wound.
The tall insect screeched in pain and began slashing and flailing, wildly cutting wide gashes in Arcanine's pelt and splashing the surrounding floor and tables in red blood. Arcanine's response was a quick whimper, followed by a roar muffled by how deeply it bit into the Scyther's throat, tearing and shaking its teeth, and blasting fire into the insect's carapace. Raising its legs, Scyther planted its feet against Arcanine's chest and heaved, throwing the Pokemon away but also opening its own throat with a splash of green ichor as Arcanine's teeth ripped away the insect's protective shell. The pair, both bleeding from numerous wounds, growled and faced off against each other, beginning to slowly circle as they waited for a slip in their opponent's defense.
As Haunter and Gengar overhead, both flying at each other, dissolving into mist upon impact and reforming only to attack again, laughed manically and dueled, Pikachu and the cybernetic Primeape faced off against each other directly between Ash and James. Crouched on all fours, Pikachu darted right to flank the Primeape, but the hairless cyborg whirled to dodge out of the rodent's lightning attack. An arc of white energy blurred passed the Primeape and punched into one of the metal tables, blasting a hole the size of a fist through the metal with a boom as James stepped away to avoid the flying bits of metal.
Sizing up the opponent, Ash glanced between Pikachu and the Primeape. "Keep your distance," he ordered.
James's eyes flitted between the battle directly before him and the rest of the combatants. Eyes going wide he whirled around just in time to see the Butterfree that had floated silently behind him. Going to his belt and pulling off his last pokeball, James threw the orb to the ground just as Ash ordered his insect to attack.
Butterfree streaked forward, dodging around the column of white light as the figure's massive frame rose up on two legs. Butterfree threw open its wings, an orange powder flying in all directions, but James dove to the side and under a table as a huge grey hand lashed out from the light. The Graveler's fist closed on Butterfree, popping its exoskeleton open like a berry and splattering goo over the floor. Ash flinched at the display and clenched his jaw, instantly counting the Pokemon on both sides and measuring his disadvantage.
"Shit," he muttered as the Graveler croaked a gloating laugh. He went to his belt, grabbed the last pokeball, and threw it to the ground. Munchlax sprang from the cloud of white light, glancing around at the battlefield and looking up at Ash as he pointed at the Primeape and ordered Munchlax to attack. The little blue Pokemon squeaked in fear, turned, and ran under one of the tables to hide.
"Goddamn it," Ash hissed, looking about as Haunter's near hysterical laughter sounded overhead. The young trainer looked between battles, and then up, as Haunter and Gengar continued their duel. "Charizard!" Ash ordered, spotting his Pokemon still clinging to the wall and staring down at a badly injured Nidoking. "Finish it off! Slash it apart!"
Eyes flashing with an inner frenzy as the order registered, Charizard leapt from the wall at the staggering Nidoking, all four limbs extended, every claw outstretched. The dragon landed on the Nidoking, ignoring when the purple Pokemon's horn punched into his gut. Charizard drove its hind claws into the Pokemon's belly, almost tearing away the armored plate as it did so, and dug its front claws into the base of the Nidoking's armored skull.
Straining with all its strength, roaring with effort, Charizard wrenched back and tore the Nidoking's head from its shoulders, pulling the skull and a sizable portion of spine clean of the Pokemon's body. As the corpse toppled back, Charizard landed and hunched over his trophy, throwing his head back in a victorious rage and roaring.
James swore under his breath and reached into his boot as Ash ordered Charizard to engage the Graveler. The Rocket agent kept his eye on the battle between Pikachu and Primeape, a duel consisting of both Pokemon dodging some attempt by the other to flank, then counterattack, as he drew a thin knife from his boot. Watching for a pattern to the fight, James drew back, his whole attention focusing for an instant as he flicked the knife through the air. The weapon tumbled end over end towards empty space for a split second, then thudded into its target just as Pikachu's arcing jump brought the Pokemon in line with the attack. Pikachu dropped to the ground with a squeak as the blade slipped perfectly between two ribs and the Primeape charged.
Spotting the scene out of the corner of one eye, Ash's figure froze as he saw the Primeape standing over his unmoving Pikachu. Ash couldn't even breathe as the cybernetic Pokemon opened its clawed hands and brought them down on Pikachu like hammers, again and again, beating it into the floor.
Suddenly a single breath flooded Ash's lungs as his figure shook. "No!" he screamed, charging forward from the shelter of the rear and drawing his own knife from his belt. "Get away from him!" the trainer bellowed.
Shock playing across its face, the Primeape looked up at Ash as the trainer brought his knife down and drove his weapon into the Pokemon's bulbous body. The Primeape staggered back with a shriek as, in a flash, Ash pulled his long knife from its target and slashed again, then again. The Pokemon raised its hands to defend itself, but the next blind attack drove the knife to the hilt into the Pokemon's eye, dropping it instantly.
Hearing a voice, Ash looked up just in time for James's black boot to blot out his vision. He felt his head explode into pain and suddenly knew he was on his back, bursts of pain firing into his head one after another. One eye open, he spotted James knelt over him, beating his fists into Ash's face, each blow making the world flash white and red as the battle raged all around. Ash couldn't count the blows for the pain, he just watched, dumbstruck as the world grew paler and paler and hotter and hotter.
"You should have accepted our offer," James snarled, grabbing Ash by the collar and lifting up into a sitting position. "We could have avoided all this bloodshed... so many innocent people dead, needlessly sacrificed to your hero complex," he shouted and slammed his fist into Ash's face, knocking him back to the ground, then lifting him by his collar again. "You could have done so much good," James went on, voice grating despite the calm frozen to his features. "But you just had to play the hero... had to keep fighting and needlessly killing good people who were only trying to fix this fucking world," James beat him back to the ground and pulled him up again. "Well, my master is," he drew out the word, his voice beginning to shake, "going to make the world better... You could have helped save the world, but instead you're going to die here like an animal."
Ash coughed, feeling blood well up in his mouth as his vision blurred, then cleared again. Lashing out he slapped his palms over James's ears, making the agent scream in surprise and pain and stumble back. The young trainer rolled forward, reaching out as James dropped to his knees and grabbing the agent by his collar.
"You have got to die," Ash spat, grabbing a fistful of James's hair and throwing his head into the floor. Ash pulled the agent up by his hair again and took his head in both hands, straddling him and smashing his face into tile floor again and again. Ignoring the battle around him entirely, Ash focused solely on the limp figure beneath him, one blow faded into the next as Ash beat James's skull into the tile. Eventually the young trainer heard himself screaming as he attacked, he felt his muscles growing tired, and after a passage of time he couldn't measure, he couldn't continue.
The world all around him seemed to come back into focus and Ash smelled smoke, and heard the last cries of a dying battle. He looked down at the face-down figure beneath him, then around the laboratory where he spotted Charizard and Arcanine ganging up on the Graveler. The Scyther and Primeape were both dead and dismembered and as he scanned the scene, Ash watched absentmindedly as the Graveler went down underneath a torrent of fire and flailing claws.
Overhead Ash heard a cry of fear, and looked up to see the Gengar, seeing James unmoving, fleeing into the ether and Haunter electing not to give chase. The young trainer stood up as the lab grew quiet aside from the crackling of what few flammable materials remained in the room burning. Without any thought, he put his boot to Jame's shoulder and rolled the man onto his back, immediately seeing the agent's eyes remained open as he slowly drew breath.
"Tell me where your boss is hiding," Ash growled, his head still burning as he put his boot on James's throat, "and I'll make your passing less painful."
His face disfigured almost beyond recognition, James sucked in a wheezing breath and a thin smirk spread across his smashed lips. "So... what?" he muttered. "You want me to dump some kind of useful hint for the rest of your campaign? Some bit of information you need to continue your quest?" He chuckled until the pressure from Ash's foot cut the expression short.
"You've been defeated in the heart of your stronghold and you're looking death in the face," Ash said, letting off James's throat just a little. "Information in exchange for a quick death sounds more than fair to me."
James swallowed. "Information," he muttered, watching Arcanine and Charizard both step up to flank Ash as their trainer's face grew even harder. "Alright, how's this?" the agent said. "You spared my woman's life. To repay the kindness, Jesse and I killed your woman in Celadon." He watched with a smirk as Ash's countenance went blank and then fell. "Ran her through with a spear... you should have heard how she squealed like a stuck pig. And the best part, Jesse's long gone. Look all you want, she's still out there but you'll never find her. You'll never get your revenge."
As James began to laugh, a tremor ran through Ash's frame. The echoing laughter grew louder as Ash took his foot away from James's neck and turned away. The young trainer, eyes going blank as his jaw went lax, leaned over Arcanine and gripped his mane for support.
"Charizard," Ash said, drawing the dragon's attention as James grew quieter, but continued to alternate between snickering and choking on the blood pooling in his throat. "Kill him."
Ash closed his eyes and dropped his face into Arcanine's mane as Charizard dropped to the ground beside James, all rage leaving the dragon's face. He sniffed the agent once, looking at him with a measure of curiosity, then pulled back, positioned a single clawed hand over James's chest, and drove the four talons through the agent's trunk and into the tile beyond. Immediately the man's laughing stopped and the room grew quieter still.
Face still a blank mask, Ash pushed away from Arcanine, and looked across the room, spotting the dead figures laying strewn here and there, but coming finally to look at Pikachu. He walked up to the little rodent and dropped to his knees beside him. Holding his breath, Ash reached down and picked up the Pokemon's smashed frame from the puddle of blood in which it sat. He looked down at the Pokemon and he took a deep breath as his lip quivered.
"How much more..." Ash muttered as he looked passed Pikachu, into space. "How much longer?" He set Pikachu's body down and closed his eyes, fighting off shivering and clenching his fists. He didn't turn as the door to the laboratory slid open and two sets of footsteps moved inside.
"What the hell happened here?" asked a feminine voice. "What kinda meat grinder came through here?"
"Ash," Janine's voice called. "Ash are you- oh my god."
One set of footsteps running to him, Ash didn't answer and kept his eyes closed. He felt warm arms wrap around him and he looked up, seeing Janine looking at him.
"Well," said the girl, voice trembling, "say something..."
Ash thought for a second, then looked back at her. "I think I can go a little farther," he said, his eyes sharpening as he took a breath.
Confusion playing on her features for a second, Janine remained knelt by him and turned. She gestured to the shorter girl with fiery red hair and a freckled complexion slowly making her way to them and giving Ash's Pokemon a wide berth.
"Ash, this is Vicki," she said. "a very good friend of mine."
"A pleasure," said Vicki, voice upbeat as she folded her arms. "Pardon, but are you alright? You look like a Charizard's chew toy."
Ash shook his head and answered slowly. "I'm not dead," he answered, pushing himself up to his feet with a sigh as he turned to Janine. "Where were you? Are you OK?"
"I'm so sorry about that," she answered. "Koga set this whole thing up as a trap and ambushed me out in the hall."
"Would've killed you too," said Vicki, green eyes sparkling under the flickering florescent lights. "Of course I showed up to foil his plans, and, drum roll please, completely disable all of Silph's security in the process. Now if you two are done with all this happy-feeling stuff, we can get to business getting Sabrina out of that contraption."
"Sure," Ash straightened up, still leaning on Janine a little as she stepped up beside him. "She's in there, right?" he nodded to the enormous spherical machine on the far wall.
"Ay," said the redhead. "That's Sabrina's amplifier cell. Silph spent more money than most people know exists building that thing and now we get to shut it down. There's a funny somewhere in there."
"So what does it do?" asked Ash as the trio walked closer to the device. Quickly he glanced about, trying to locate Haunter, but finding the ghost had again become invisible and now floated behind him.
"Basically," said Vicki. "It keeps Sabrina asleep while amplifying her psychic power."
Ash frowned. "What good does it do them to make her more powerful if she's unconscious?"
"They're using her for something," Vicki answered, walking up to the control panel at the sphere's base. "All they told us lowly engineers is that Silph needed to direct all of Sabrina's psychic energy to the power plant just northeast of here. Why is beyond me." Vicki turned around after hitting a few keys on the panel. "I don't know what releasing her is going to do," she added.
"Just do it," said Ash.
"Pushy, pushy. Suit yourself," said the redhead, turning back to the panel and pulling a small flash drive from her pocket. "This might take a minute." She inserted the drive in the interface, then spotted a small footlocker by the panel and stopped to kneel down by it.
Janine looked up at Ash as he stared up at the waves rolling off the machine. "You sure you're alright?" she asked quietly.
Ash shrugged and faced her. "Not really," he said. "But I'm done complaining," he went on after a breath. "Whining never fixed anything, so I'm not going to sit around and moan about it," he looked at her with a combination of a nod and a weak grin.
Janine smiled, stepped in, and hugged him. "Well if you ever need anything," she said, then paused "You get the idea."
"Thanks," said Ash, unable to resist and embracing her back. "That helps." He paused for a second, then muttered, "Did Margaret have anything important on her?"
"Uh," Janine thought. "She might have her Soul Badge on her. Why?"
Ash nodded over to the back wall where the woman's corpse rested against the wall.
"Oh," the girl in the lab coat toned, spotting the mangled remains. "Maybe I should go get that," she started towards the back of the room.
"Hey, look here," Vicki chimed from the open foot locker, holding up a red tank top and a pair of white pants. "Clothes."
Ash sighed. "Those are probably Sab-" he stopped as an alarm sounded in the room and a small emergency light on top of the sphere lit up.
Vicki got up and looked at the control panel. "What kind of question is that?" she asked. "Yes, I've gone this far, of course I want to proceed. Stupid machine." She hit a button and turned around as the siren continued to sound. "Hey, the computer is saying something about catastrophic containment failure at the power plant,"
"Great," Janine muttered, kneeling down by Margaret's remains. "What is that supposed to mean."
A loud pop filled the room and all at once the sirens went silent and every light in the room shut off. The three trainers sat in silence for a few seconds, the only sound in the room, a quiet hum like that of an idling motor, coming from the enormous sphere.
"That totally wasn't my fault," said Vicki.
Before Ash or Janine could respond, the whir grew louder as somewhere in the wall behind the sphere an emergency generator kicked on. The lights in the laboratory flickered back to life and a the huge spherical machine hissed, sending the three trainers and Ash's Pokemon scurrying away. The floor shook as the platform on which the machine sat sank into the floor, all of the spires retracting into the contraption's frame as the heavy cables all snapped away. A hiss sounded from the machine when its lower half had completely disappeared into the floor. A seam appeared between the upper hemisphere and the lower as the machine gradually split in two, heavy rods slowly lifting the top half into the air as some kind of fluid flowed out of the interior and washed down grates all around the machine.
As the inky darkness inside the sphere retreated before the light of the laboratory, the three trainers saw a large chair suspended by cables in the center of the machine. Sitting in the device, unrestrained aside from a single strap around her waist and a transparent mask attached to her and the chair, sat a woman. Her long hair both clinging to her naked figure and clumped around her shoulders, she reclined back with her eyes closed, slowly breathing into the mask.
"That's her alright," said Vicki.
A quick cough shook through her frame and the woman's eyes opened. Instantly Ash felt a shiver run through his mind. He knew Haunter felt it too, as the ghost retreated a little farther into the back of the room. Walking forward and into the machine with Vicki, while Janine watched from the back, Ash pulled the mask from Sabrina's face while Vicki undid the strap around her waist.
"Sabrina?" Ash asked, looking down at her and making a point to maintain eye-contact. "Can you hear me?"
Sabrina's eyes, one violet and the other red as blood, focused and in an instant they were on Ash. The young trainer felt something that made his mind recoil, as though a hand had touched the back of his head though the trainer knew Sabrina had made no such move. He remained focused and awkwardly helped Sabrina sit up straight, making sure to keep his hands in acceptable places, though the Gym Leader did not take her eyes off him.
"Why can't I read your mind," Sabrina asked, her voice reaching Ash's ears and seeming to echo quietly inside his head. Before she allowed Ash to answer, Sabrina's mouth dropped open a little, though a subdued smile remained on her lips. "Ash Ketchum," she enunciated the name carefully. "Mewtwo was right. The Universe really does have a sense of irony..."
Ash glanced back at Janine and Vicki as he helped Sabrina to her feet. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "What's the irony?"
Taking a second to get her bearings, Sabrina looked at Vicki, extended her hand, and snapped her fingers. "You," said the woman, her wet hair still hanging at her shoulders. "My clothes."
Vicki looked at the garments in one of her hands. "Oh," she said, handing the clothes to Sabrina before retreating a little. "Sorry."
"What do you mean, irony?" Ash pressed.
Sabrina, as nonchalantly as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, slipped into the white pants. "Mewtwo told us to get you out of here and that you'd have more information. What's going on?"
Still watching Ash to the exclusion of everyone else int the room, Sabrina pulled the tank top down over her head, straightened it out some, then flipped her hair back before turning to the young Gym Leader. "So many questions," she muttered casually, folding one arm across her stomach and resting the opposite hand on her face. "You shouldn't be so impatient. Before we go any farther, I need to ask you one very important question."
Ash nodded and crossed his arms. "Alright," he said, "what is it."
"Do you remember your father's name?"
"What?" Ash flinched, taken aback by the question. "How in the world is that-"
"It would humor me to no end. And as it's bound to come up, I might as well get a chuckle out of it now," said Sabrina. "Go ahead. What was his name?"
"Whatever," Ash sighed. "Mom said it was Giovanni. Now how is that relevant, exactly."
A wide smirk spread across Sabrina's face and she laughed once. "Because," she said, "Mewtwo was at a huge disadvantage, pitted as he was against the villainous head of Team Rocket, a Savant by the name of Giovanni. Now it seems he's evened the odds with a Savant of his own."
Ash remained silent for a second, his mouth held tightly shut as everyone in the room stared at him. He drew a breath and began to speak, but stopped as the floor rumbled and a dull thud, like the sound of distant thunder echoed from the floors above.