Emergence (Final Update - 28.03.12)

[Cobraroll]

^Then more is what you get. Hopefully, this will satisfy your needs, everyone (or both?).

Chapter Twenty-nine: Getting home

The upper floor seemed to be almost empty of people. We met very few grunts or agents, and most of them we met, simply fled. The
layout up here was still the same; identical corridors with hidden doors leading to rooms of little interest. There were kitchens,
some wardrobes, a lot of offices and the odd storeroom, but fewer labs than we had seen further down. We kept walking in a straight
line, and only changed course if we found a nearby door that lead into an interesting-looking room.
"This place is extremely big", I said. The others nodded. Aggron, who walked first, went through another wall as if it was made of
paper. Electivire, following behind, covered him, and then the rest of us followed, with Tyranitar as last man in the group. The room
was a small storeroom, with several surgeon coats hanging in a cupboard, and shelves with medical equipment. Aggron didn't even slow
down as he strode through them and the wall behind.
"Strange", he said as he reached the room on the other side of the wall. It was a regular corridor, all white, and only a few metres
wide. Aggron was scraping at the opposite wall with his right claw. "This wall is a lot thicker than the others"
"Have we reached the perimeter wall already?", I asked. I found that a little strange, as I was pretty sure we had been going the
opposite way of the way we had gone on the floor below.
"Look at the corridor", Salamence said as he struggled his way through the hole in the wall. Those wings must have been quite a
nuisance underground. I turned around and looked down the corridor to the left. It was longer than any of the corridors I had seen so
far, and slightly curved. If it formed a circle, like I suspected it to do, it must have had a radius of several kilometres.
"Reminds me of pictures I have seen of that particle accelerator", I mumbled. The corridor went on for several kilometres to the left
as well. It was completely empty.
"Look!", Espeon said. "There's a door over there"
It was a door all right. It looked like a blast door, or a vault door as in movies about bank robberies. It was circular, about three
metres in diameter, and made of solid steel. Nevertheless, getting past it wasn't a problem. It was rather a question of punching
through it, ripping it off the hinges or melting it down. Aggron went for the fourth option, he bent down and bit a chunk off it. The
sound of his powerful jaws chewing through the steel made me instinctively put my hands over my helmet. He continued to eat about one
third of the door, then knocked over the rest. The room beyond it looked like a concrete bunker, about ten metres long and five or
six metres wide, with an identical door in the other end. A small side room contained a set of showers, a shaft labelled
"contaminated equipment", and a cupboard full of hazmat suits.
"This door looks more solid", Electivire said as he examinated the door.
"Probably built to withstand a nuclear blast", I said.
"Wonder if it can withstand this?", Lucario said. He positioned himself in the middle of the room, stretched both arms forward, and
fired off a Focus Blast. The missile of solid smoke hit the door with a thundering boom, and cracks appeared in the walls all around
it. Still, the door itself didn't budge.
"Apparently, it can", I said. "Anyone else want to give it a try?"
Salamence walked up to it, scratched a little on it with a claw, as if to test its durability. He then took a few steps backwards,
took a deep breath, and sent off a Hydro Pump. The high-pressure stream of water punched the door straight through the wall, and a
few meters into the room beyond it. The room was filled with mist as the water settled and evaporated. The next room was almost
identical to this, but with an even stronger door.
"This is getting ridiculous", I said and stepped carefully through the hole. The wall looked like it could crumble any second. "Just
get us past this as fast as possible, OK?"
Aggron walked past me and tore down half the wall around the spot the door had previously occupied, strode across the room, and
ripped the steel door out of the wall without much effort. Finally, behind this door there was nothing but a white corridor.
"Not again...", I sighed, then I noticed that there were signs on the walls in this corridor. Aggron and Tyranitar went out through
the newly created hole, and safety-checked the corridor.
"Different lamps in here", Tyranitar grunted. I followed after Electivire through the hole, and had a look. Not only did the lamps
look like they were designed to actually not look horrible, there were also signs directing potential visitors to other parts of the
complex. A small brass plaque next to the hole we had just made read "Vault 52C-A".
"A vault?", Espeon asked.
"Hardly", I said. "I think there are lots of such doors in here, but only a few of them leads to the deeper parts of the complex. The
rest might be genuine vaults"
"What do you mean?"
"I've thought about this, and I don't think there are that many places on Earth where you can build a complex like this without
getting a lot of questions asked", I said. "So I think they have built an 'official' lair first, in secrecy. If anyone ever ask
questions about it, the TLA will just present to them this. A not very suspicious underground research complex, by stereotypical
villain standards. The real goodies, which we've just left, are hidden within this 'legitimate' lair, but when people see this part,
they think they have got it all and leave satisfied"
"Which hopefully means the security isn't as strict up here?", Espeon asked
"I wouldn't take anything for granted", I said and lead the group in the direction of an "Exit"-sign. The corridors here were a lot
easier to navigate, and we didn't have to take short-cuts through side rooms any more. Compared to what was on the lower levels, we
wouldn't have found anything useful in there either.
"The exit can't be too far away now...", I mumbled. Aggron still lead the group, looking really out of place in the seemingly
ordinary office-like setting we were walking in. His head constantly scraped against the ceiling, causing a small shower of plaster
and dust to fall down behind him. His wagging tail smashed big chunks off corners, and his feet left deep tracks in the floor.
Electivire followed behind him, letting off sparks when he passed too near lamps or metal objects. I was third, walking beside
Lucario, with Espeon in tow. Just the three of us would have looked out of place everywhere, but in these corridors and with
Salamence right behind us, we really looked absurd. Infernape balanced on Salamence's back, scouting forward or backward. He didn't
move a muscle even when Salamence turned around sharp bends or up and down steps. Last came Tyranitar, who walked silently behind us
and added to the collection of tracks in our wake. He was slightly lower than Aggron, not as wide and had a lot more control of his
tail, so he didn't bump into walls nearly as much.
"Almost there...", I said, just to comfort the others. We had been walking up and down empty corridors for some twenty minutes.
Suddenly, the corridor widened, and we came to an intersection. Signs politely pointed out what was in each direction. The one we had
came from simply said "offices". The three others said "labs", "living quarters" and "hangar". I read them loud for the Pokémon, we
all looked at each other, and started a semi-spurt in the hangar direction.

We found it after less than two minutes. It was an immensely huge dimly lit room, with trucks, helicopters and vans neatly lined up.
We entered through a small door on the short wall, and just stood in awe looking for a few seconds. There were rows of large trucks.
Even black planes and snowmobiles were parked here. There were a good fifteen metres up to the ceiling, and the room was several
hundred metres big in the other directions. By the look of the mechanisms in the ceiling, parts of it could slide open so that one
could take off from in here. In the other end of the room, large doors undoubtedly lead out. We were almost free now... We started to
walk across the room, past rows upon rows of black vans. I stopped counting them when I came to 250. There also appeared to be an
aircraft carrier-style runway in here.
"They even have tanks here", Lucario said and pointed at some huge black behemoths of steel parked behind a transport plane.
"Those jet fighters...", I said. "Look familiar, Salamence?"
"The one I shot down was grey. These are black", Salamence replied.
"We're not alone in here", Infernape interrupted us. "I can see them in the shadows. We should stop, and prepare for battle"
"What?", I whispered. There appeared to be nobody in here. "Lucario?"
"He's right", Lucario's voice said in my head. "Keep going until we pass that plane. We'll be out of range from many of them there"
"FREEZE!", a voice suddenly shouted. We stopped, and the Pokémon formed a circle around me. Lucario and Infernape immediately put up
Protect bubbles. That was really bad news, as they were the ones who knew who many they were. Espeon followed up with a Safeguard.
"You are surrounded", the voice continued matter-of-factly. This must be the thirtieth time I had heard that sentence today, but this
time, I had a feeling that it was they who had the upper hand. Agents and grunts started to appear from the shadows, and formed a
perfect circle around us. There were several hundred of them here, and it worried me slightly to see that none of them were yielding
nets or cages. These were prepared for a fight to the last, catching us alive would be a second priority. There were also several
dozens of people positioned on top of the many vehicles in the room.
"Surrender or die", the voice said. A single man emerged from the rows of people. He was dressed in a tuxedo, and unlike the other
grunts, his face was scarred, and his hair had a gray tint. He had a face that was also possible to remember. I didn't know whether I
should be comforted by this, or just very afraid.
"You're outnumbered 150 to one...", he started.
"Perfectly fine odds", Tyranitar snarled.
"... and I suggest you come with us", the man continued. "That will save us both from so much trouble. You can't win this. You can't
fight yourself, and you only have seven monsters with you"
"Thirteen", a voice gruffed from the walkie-talkies all the agents had strapped to their chests. About one third of the agents
pointed their guns into the darkness to my right.
"Protect", I whispered. I heard clicks from guns all around us as the shields sprung up. If something didn't happen soon, we'd be
completely lost. A faint whooshing sound to the right made my heart beat a lot faster. Come on, come on, come on...
The agents who had turned around opened fire, and the room was filled with noise from machine guns. But not seconds later, the sound
was literally drowned in a tremendous roar. A small tsunami emerged from the darkness, it was a good five metres high and moved quite
fast across the room. The crowd split and people ran. The wave hit our Protect bubbles and washed right over them, but none of the
Pokémon budged. A few seconds later, the room was dry again, but most of the grunts had been knocked out.
"You will pay for-", the man in tux began. Like the agents, he was tough to knock out. He slowly got to his legs, and reached for
something in his pocket. A split second later, he lay on the floor again, with Scizor on top.
"FIRE!", he shouted before Scizor slashed his throat. Its thick metal armour protected it well from the oncoming storm of bullets
from the agent who had interpreted the order as "shoot Scizor". Three quarters of them, however, apparently took it as "shoot
everything that moves". Bullets flew in every direction, but few of them actually hit our shields. Unsure on what to do, Scizor
walked over to where I stood.
"On your signal...", Aggron said, eager to fight. He was virtually immune to bullets, so I was about to let him go.
"STOP!", someone shouted, and Aggron hesitated. The agents gathered again, but their ranks were a lot thinner already. The man, who I
thought Scizor had sent to dreamland for a long time, had got up again. "Just give in"
"Really, you're one to speak", the agents' walkie-talkies hummed. Those that still worked, that is.
"Kill it!", the man yelled. Almost all the agents turned to the right again, the direction both Scizor and the wave had came from.
"All right", Metagross' voice sounded again. "That was a really stupid move"
Someone had got the lights fully on, and I could now see Metagross standing about fifty metres to the right. He was alone, whatever
had sent the Surf had gone into hiding. Like Aggron, his body was covered in thick steel, and the bullets did virtually no damage. He
slowly raised his right front leg, ignoring the bullets that pelted all over him.
"This will be nasty. I suggest we move", I said. Still under Protect bubbles, we started to back off. Metagross raised his second
foreleg.
"He's not alone", Infernape noted. "See that purple thing in the shadows over there? That's a very vengeful Nidoking"
I didn't see a thing, but there was a dark spot between two trucks there that could easily hide him from my view.
"Knowing him, he wouldn't get up here before he'd found Nidoqueen", Tyranitar said. "Which probably means she's around here somewhere
too"
"Swampert as well" Scizor said. "She was also with us"  Metagross was completely hovering in mid-air now, his four legs ready to
hammer down to the ground any second. The man stared coldly at him. He was well inside the range of the attack, so he probably didn't
know what was about to happen. Anyone who's ever played a Pokémon game through knows that Earthquake is one of the most devastating
moves there is, and if you even suspect that your opponent carries it, you should get anything that doesn't resist it out of the way.
Metagross roared. It sounded like a rusty metal plate being dragged along an uneven asphalt surface, but to anyone who understood
Pokémon, the meaning was clear: "Goodbye!"

Part two will follow shortly

[Cobraroll]

Chapter twenty-nine, part two:

One side of the hangar virtually exploded. Vans and people were flung through the air, trucks toppled over, planes collapsed. From
four spots along the right wall, devastation spread rapidly, though within limited radiuses. Swampert, Nidoking and Nidoqueen all
knew Earthquake, and the effects of four simultaneous uses of the attack were apparently more than the hangar was built to withstand.
The floor cracked, the walls were shaken. The very ceiling trembled for a few seconds. Then, a bearing beam snapped.
"Watch out!", I bellowed. One of the sliding panels, probably intended for helicopter take-offs and landings, had broken in two, and
one of the parts was slowly sliding out of place. It was the size of a tennis court. I could see stars through the slowly expanding
hole. The Pokémon stood completely still, waiting for orders. The agents were busy saving themselves. There were remarkably few of
them left now.
"Over here!", I shouted, and ran across the runway for a truck that still stood upright. "Into the cargo hold!"
"Two seconds", Lucario said and fired a Focus Blast at the nearest helicopter. While everything on the other side of the runway was a
complete chaos, this side of the room still contained a lot of equipment that could be used to track us down after our escape.
"You're doing it wrong", Infernape said. This helicopter was obliterated by the blast, but the rest were still standing. Infernape
took a deep breath, and spit out a fiery orb the size of a tennis ball. It zipped through the air towards another helicopter. About
midway, it burstednd changed shape into a five-armed star, about two metres across. The Fire Blast hit the helicopter, and caused a
massive explosion. Salamence joined the wreaking fest, sending Dragon Pulses toward every vehicle he could spot.
"Come on!", I shouted. Electivire crammed his body into the driver's seat. Aggron and Tyranitar still stood outside the truck. Espeon
too jumped into the cabin. Flanked by Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Swampert came running toward us. None of the agents seemed to notice
them, they had more than enough to work with in Metagross.
"Metagross!"; I shouted.
"Don't you worry about me", the radio in the truck gruffed. "Get them doors open, and clear the way, then I'll come"
"Aggron, Tyranitar, you heard him", I said and climbed into the truck. Infernape, Swampert, Lucario, Scizor, Nidoking and Nidoqueen
went into the cargo hold.
"Six in there, two in here, two opening the doors, and two still fighting. I still can't find more than twelve", I sighed and
fastened my seatbelt. "Metagross referred to 13, did he mean Weavile?"
"No, that would be me. Nice to finally meet you", a voice said behind me. Mismagius was floating in the air less than half a metre
away from me. She was a slightly unnerving sight, the W-shaped mouth looked really scary up close, and the fact that she didn't
consist of more than a head and a hat didn't help her appearance at all.
"Where were you in this battle?", I asked after the initial shock had settled. She sighed.
"Why do you think those people don't try to stop us? They think they hear counter-orders, and their leader is too KO'd to be able to
correct them. They'll be running like headless chickens for another few hours"
"Doors cleared!", Aggron bellowed from the other end of the hangar. By the look of the doors, the two had ran straight through them.
"Do any of you know how to drive?", Metagross' voice asked from the radio.
"You're the human", Electivire grunted to me from the drivers' seat.
"Umm... no", I sighed.
"I take it that means a no. I can't hear you, remember", Metagross said. "Just pull down the clutch and turn the key..."
"Do what?", Electivire, Espeon and Mismagius said in unison. Through the window, I could see Metagross hovering toward us.
"Who's driving, anyway?", he asked as he approached us and flew into the cargo hold. I could hear him scrape against the walls in
there.
"Electivire", I replied. This didn't look too good. "But hey! You're on the Net now, right?"
"I read aloud from a guide, yes", Metagross answered.
"Could you try to find any videos? Just use psychic powers to do whatever the drivers there do"
After a few seconds, the key started to glow blue, the engine coughed, and the truck glided forward. Outside, more of the ceiling
caved in, but the pieces didn't fall anywhere near us. A tractor fell down through the hole, followed by a cow or two.
"Are we under a farm?", I asked nobody in particular.
"Yep. Among other things, the TLA actually grow vegetables for self-consumption up there", Metagross said. "I read it in their files"
"Where is Salamence?!", I suddenly remembered. I swivelled down the window and looked where he had been. He was flying in a figure
eight around the room. Several of the agents shot at him.
"Not good", I whispered. "He's sacri-"
"Just making a distraction. He has prepared an epic finale", Mismagius interrupted. "Too bad you won't be able see it"
We drove through the remains of the doors, and up a ramp. The truck was powerful enough to not slow down when Tyranitar and Aggron
jumped into the cargo hold.
"It's crammed in here", Metagross mumbled.
"Still waiting for that finale...", I whispered as we drove up the ramp. Another set of doors swung up before us, and we got out. We
were in the middle of a field, driving among wilted corn plants covered in snow. To the east, a golden strip started to appear on the
horizon. We were indeed on a farm, with a barn and everything. Said barn was slightly tilted, probably due to the massive hole in the
ground just beside it.
"Just a few more seconds", Mismagius hummed. "I have telepathic contact with him, you see. Start looking out of the right window now"
A blue flash could be seen in the hole, and Salamence came flying out of it, straight up. In his wake followed several blue-glowing
rocks the size of basketballs. I could feel the ground vibrate under the truck's wheels as the hangar collapsed, and the entire barn
fell into the hole. Salamence flew an extra victory round above the farm, roaring towards the sunrise. Then, he dived down, and by
the sounds of it, didn't fully manage to land softly in the cargo hold. With a humming sound, the doors at the back of the truck
closed.
"We did it", I whispered to the others as we drove off into the woods. "Guys, we did it!"
Cheery roars were heard from the cargo hold.

"Do you think they'll be following us?", I asked after ten minutes.
"Doubt it", Metagross said. "We've literally destroyed one third of their complex, they'll have more than enough to do saving
themselves"
"We didn't get everybody out, though...", I said. "Gallade, Houndoom... they are probably still in there"
"For how long?", Espeon asked rhetorically. "We walked through rooms destroyed by fire, and Infernape came from a different
direction. There are no other frequent users of Fire attacks among us"
"So he was caught?", I asked. This didn't exactly help my mood.
"Perhaps, but I doubt it", Metagross said. "We've completely destroyed their communications. Huge parts of the complex lacks
electricity. A lot of their equipment is ruined, and I'm willing to bet two thirds of the people in there were knocked out during the
escape. If there still are several Pokémon in there, the TLA won't be able to gather the resources to stop them. Perhaps the rest
just found a different exit?"
"Then how can we meet up with them?"
"Wait and see. After all, they all know where you live"
"So does the TLA, probably", I sighed. "Why are we going home at all? They can just gather strength again and pick me up.
"Just like they gathered strength to stop us getting out of there?", Lucario's voice interrupted. "They were on home turf. They had
all their equipment available. The entire complex was made to keep prisoners inside, and eventual attackers out. We were scattered,
there were a thousand of them for each of us. Still, we're here. There's no way they will dare to attack us at home"
"You're right", I said. "How can you hear us, by the way?"
"I brought a set of 'talkies", Metagross said. "One of you are probably sitting on one, the other lies here. Back on topic, I think
we should be safe in the cave"
"What about Emily, then?"
"Well... I take it you have little contact with your class, Rob?", Espeon asked.
"As little as possible", I said.
"You got together with Emily this holiday. But the latest thing they know about your relationship, was that she dumped you, right?"
"That actually didn't happen...", I said. "But yeah, they believe so"
"Chances are they still don't know about you two", Espeon said. "And thus, the TLA doesn't know either. As long as we're really
careful, she'll be safe"
"I really hope so", I said. The sun was rising slowly, but steadily. We were driving on an almost empty motorway through the woods.
Signs said there was about 70 kilometres to the city from here. We sat in silence, and I slowly drifted into sleep.

"Everybody out, then", Metagross' voice gruffed. I woke up, and climbed out of the truck. "They tell me you've learned a lot since we
last met, Rob?"
"Indeed", I said and gave Metagross a hug. Due to the cold, my skin stuck to the metal cross across his face. "I can understand you
without translation now"
"Great to hear", he said with his own voice. "I was getting tired of finding speakers all the time"
"Why did we stop, by the way?", I asked and looked around. We were on a parking lot behind a gas station at the edge of the forest.
There were a few kilometres left to walk home from here
"Black trucks of this size tend to turn a few heads", Lucario answered. "We don't want attention, so we walk. Under invisibility
bubbles, of course"
"I'll call back those of you who have your Poké Balls here, then", I said. That meant Tyranitar, Aggron, Swampert, Nidoking and
Scizor. The remaining eight had to walk/float after me. There was little room left under the bubbles, so I had to be fully visible.
The marine blue body suit made me stick out a little, but I had left the helmet and the bulletproof vest in the truck, so it could
have been worse after all. The suit was quite comfortable to wear, durable, and warm, all in all ideal for this weather. The sun had
gotten almost completely up by now, and while there was about a metre of snow, it wasn't colder than a few negative Celsius. The sky
was blue, and the city was starting to wake up. All in all a nice day. Still, it bothered me that I didn't know what day of the week
it was. I started to look for a shop or a news stand or anything with newspapers on display.
"Hey! Rob!", someone shouted, and I saw up. It was Edvard and Andy who came walking up the street ahead of me.
"Where have you been lately?", Edvard asked. "Even Emily says she hasn't heard of you since Monday"
"Monday? What day is it now?", I blurted out. Perhaps not the most intelligent question to ask.
"Thursday. Thursday 7th", Andy giggled. "This is planet Earth, if you wonder"
"January?"
"Wow, you've totally lost it", Edvard said. "Yeah, January. Does this sudden amnesia have anything to do with the clothes you are
wearing?"
"And why aren't you at school?"
"Why aren't you at school?", I asked. This was surreal. For two days, I had fought the battle of my life, and now I stood here
discussing the time and date with two friends who didn't have a clue about my secret.
"We're on our way now. Don't have to meet up before ten today", Edvard said. "That's in five minutes, by the way. We really have to
get going"
"Say hi to Emily for me, will you?", I said in a voice that wasn't completely mine. Discussing ordinary matters seemed so totally out
of place right now.
"We will!", Andy said, and we parted. They kept going, straight past the Pokémon, and further up the street. This was surreal. Emily
was apparently less than five minutes away, going by foot. I was tempted to follow them, just to see if she was all right, to tell
her that I was all right...
"We should get going", Espeon's voice interrupted my line of thought. "She can wait until we get home"
Half an hour later, I finally got into my home street. My house looked exactly as it has been when I left... only two days ago,
thinking about it. I wonder what would await me inside? Would I walk into another ambush, and be taken back to the base? Would the
TLA have discovered the cave, and taken the Pokémon away? Or would mom and dad not notice that I had been away? The door was
unlocked. I stopped at the doorstep, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

[GreekGeek]

Lovin' it
Great work, especially the battle scene in the hangar.

[Cobraroll]

Wow, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I wrote most of this chapter in just a few days after I submitted the last one, but for some reason, I didn't take it to the polishing stage before yesterday. Also, I'd like to point out that although the dates/week days in this story matches the 2009/2010 calendar, this wasn't done intentionally. Way back when, I needed to have Halloween on a Saturday, without noticing that it would actually be on a Saturday this year.

Anyway, enough trivia for now. Please welcome:

Chapter Thirty: New year, new problems


Home at last. It felt so unreal to walk up to the front door, coming home as if from a short day at school. I didn't have my keys,
but the door was open anyway.
"Hello?", I shouted.
"Rob? Where have you been!", the answer came. Both mom and dad came rushing out from the living room. Mom gave me a large hug, then
she looked angrily at me. "Two days, Rob! Why? What have you been up to?"
"I...", I started.
"There were two guys from the police here. Or so they said, I don't know if policemen wear tuxedos nowadays", dad said. "They said
you had ran away from school, and they wanted us to contact them if you returned"
"Wh... what?", I stuttered. "You... you're not calling them, are you?"
"You bet we are", dad said. "Rob, we... have you done anything illegal?"
"By the way, we let them check your room. We don't know what they took from there, they suddenly left", mom said "Are you hiding
anything there?"
"No", I said. Everything that could be connected to my secret in any way was firmly hidden in the cave.
"You've been acting so strange lately", mom continued. "We called Matt and Andy's parents. None of them are doing role-playing. You
have a lot to explain, young man..."
"Rob... are you going mad?", dad asked. He sounded like he was about to cry.
"Perhaps", I whispered. We went into the kitchen, and mom told me to sit down. She didn't comment on my outfit, boots or how tired I
looked, she just said:
"Rob... sometimes... you have to make decisions that may seem bad at the moment, but you will benefit from them in the long term.
Sometimes you have to ignore what seems logical at the moment, do something that seems stupid or unethical, but it will be for the
better. You have to do it to save yourself, or someone you love, or..."
"Get to the point", I interrupted her.
"Your dad and I have agreed on this. We'll pack your stuff, then it's off to St. Vilhelm's. It will be for the better"
I got up, my chair toppled over. I didn't care.
"YOU'RE SENDING ME TO A MENTAL HOSPITAL?", I bellowed.
"Sit down", dad said calmly. "None of us like it either, but it will be for the best. They are professional, they can help you"
"It's not what you think...", I whispered. Then I remembered what Azelf had said way back when. If I kept saying against them, they
would only get more suspicious. "...but okay. Will I be able to come back once in a while? Will I be able to visit my friends? St.
Vilhelm's is quite far from here". I put my chair back up, and sat down again.
"We're not going to live here any more", dad said. "Your mom and I... well, we..."
"Remember when we refurbished the house last November?", mom said. "None of us can remember why, or what company we used or anything.
But we're both sure that we haven't paid for it. And our finances are... well, we do fine, but we certainly can't afford this. In
short, I can't see how your dad wanted to refurbish the house in this situation"
"I didn't decide on anything!", dad interrupted her.
"You're the one responsible for the house", mom said back.
"You agreed, remember?"
"I can't remember that. All I know is that we did it!"
"So do I! But that's not to say I ordered it"
"I certainly didn't!"
"Stop it!", I cried. "Get to the point, mom"
"We have to move", she said after a deep breath. "When that bill arrives, we'll have to sell the house to cover the expenses,
especially now with St. Vilhelm's on top of it, then we'll see"
"So... where are we moving?"
"You are going to St. Vilhelms. Your dad and I..." She didn't finish the sentence, but I could see on her face what she was about to
say.
"But why!", I shouted. "You've been married for twenty years! From what you've told me, it's been a happy marriage too!"
"Things change, Rob", dad said. "The past months, so much has happened. You've been acting strange, been to hospital twice. The
house... Rob, what did we do wrong?"
"Nothing", a voice said behind me. Instinctively, I turned around. Espeon was standing in the doorway out to the living room. Then
things happened as in slow motion. Her telepathic voice rung in my head, calmly summing up the events of the past autumn. Mom and dad
looked like they had fallen off the moon.

This was indeed the most awkward and absurd day of my life. I showed mom and dad the Poké Balls, introduced them briefly to some of
my Pokémon, and time passed as we sat there by the kitchen table. I gave Weavile's Poké Ball to Lucario, and he ran down to the cave
with it. Then Espeon and I tried to explain this in the easiest way possible.
"But... but...", dad said after we finished, hours later. I could understand him, this clearly violated everything he had ever heard
about the laws of reality. At least, I had been introduced to it step by step.
"Where do you keep them?", mom asked. "We've searched through your room, we found nothing"
"The old boiler room, with the hatch", I said. "We've... done some digging"
"You're saying that you did this?", dad said and waved a hand at the living room. "I've always thought it wasn't completely up
to standards, but for someone your age... that is quite a feat!"
"I did get lots of help, though", I said.
"So... that's where you've been? You've tried to bring them back?", mom asked. They probably had so many questions to ask that they
didn't manage to get any consistency in the conversation.
"Yes. As you noticed, I got properly knocked out on a couple of occasions as well". I decided to keep the TLA out of the picture for
now. It could easily get too far-fetched. "In fact, you were too. Luckily, I found a way to revive knocked-out people"
"How many... Pokémon are there?", dad asked.
"About five hundred if you count alternate forms", I replied "Or do you mean how many has escaped? Umm..." They were not going to
like this.
"Tell us", mom said.
"About ninety", I sighed. Then continued, as I saw their expressions: "Half of which I haven't managed to find. But trust me, they
aren't dangerous, and it's only a matter of time before I find them all"
We sat in silence for a long time. Mom stroke Espeon, who lay on the table, like a cat. She purred.
"This puts a lot of things in a different light...", dad said after several minutes. I looked at the clock at the wall. It was almost
dinner time.
"No St. Vilhelm's?", I asked. "Or... no divorce?"
"Certainly no St. Vilhelm's", mom said, a little baffled. "But, could you leave us for a while? We have a lot of things to discuss"
"I'll go down to the basement, then", I said and got up. My legs were sore from sitting for so long. Espeon jumped down from the
table, and followed me.
"Thanks a lot", I thought. "Hopefully they won't tell the TLA"
"We can hope", she said back, telepathically. "If they do, though, Lucario has a point. They won't dare to come after us here"
We went down the stairs, through the basement, and opened the door to the hatch room. The faint smell of mildew comforted me somehow.
Finally back again. We went down the hatch (which had widened somewhat after Metagross went down there), through the tunnel, and into
the entrance chamber. The torches shone brightly in the shaft, and I heard voices down there.
"Hello!", I shouted. "Are you all all right down there?"
There was no response, the voices kept talking. Though, we were deep underground and the walls were made of rock; this place was as
silent as only caves can be. It was very likely that they didn't hear me. I started descending the shaft, once again swearing to
myself that as soon as I got time, I'd install handlebars here. Espeon skipped from rock to rock with ease, apparently not giving a
thought to the abyss to our right. As soon as we got to the bottom, I noticed there were some slight changes to the cave. Most
notably, ivy had started to cover the walls, thriving in the artificial sunlight. Somebody had put in doors as well; precisely cut
boards of wood were covering the crudely hewn entrances to the side rooms. They were tied loosely to protruding rocks in the wall, as
if the doors were put in before the door frames were ready. Come to think about it, that was probably what had happened. The voices
belonged to the Pokémon, many of them exchanging stories. Tyranitar, Metagross, Lucario and Scizor stood in a corner discussing
tactics. Aggron and Sceptile argued a little, apparently about the ivy. Infernape, Hitmonchan and Blaziken were sparring.
"Why are everybody standing in the corridor?", I asked nobody in particular.
"Weavile is under treatment in the dormitory, and some of the others are harvesting herbs for him in the garden", Lucario replied.
"And progress on the new room hasn't been going very fast, since you took all the good diggers with you", Golem added and waved at
the door to the dormitory. "By the way, we got visitors"
"Visitors?", I asked.
"TLA", Lucario grunted.
"Just two of them, though", Sceptile added.
"Did you... was there a battle here?", I asked again.
"Not exactly", Blaziken said. "We put out the lights when we heard them come. They didn't see the shaft. Blissey has been busy
patching them up since"
I shivered. If somebody fell down the shaft, the Pokémon would have no direct role in the incident. Thus, self-healing didn't kick
in, and the injuries could quickly get lethal.
"How are they?", I asked, feeling a little sorry for them despite having knocked out a thousand of them or so the past twelve hours.
"Okay, I guess. They didn't fall all the way down, and we treated them way better than they deserve. If you want to send them off,
the sooner the better. They don't need our help to survive any more. They're still knocked out, we put them in the storeroom"
"We'll take care of them tomorrow. I want to have a team of you with me to school, and we can drop them off on our way there", I
said. "Now, time for stories"

Some of the Pokémon had much to tell, others very little. After Salamence and I had abandoned Espeon, she had wiped the short-term
memory of my classmates before she was caught. That move had probably bought me several days of time. Electivire had been captured in
early December, after living in the forest for over a month. Infernape was ambushed in mid-November, but proudly claimed to have done
his best to knock out grunts before they got him.
"You've done some great work on the cave too", Salamence said. "This is a lot better than that hole up there. Nice to finally have
some space to stretch the wings whenever I want"
"Still needs some fortification", Metagross grunted. "I'd rather we put in a barrier to make it a little harder to get into this
place. We could also do with some more side rooms to hide in if they find the cave, and a defense system.... possibly divide it into
sectors too, and give each sector its own..."
"Stop it", Sceptile interrupted. "We don't want to trap ourselves in here either. This is home, not a fortress. If you want to build
a fortification, dig deeper. But we want a place to live in as well"
Agreeing sounds and roars were echoing throughout the corridor.
"Okay...", Metagross grunted. "Given that we put up a warning system, so that we have time to retreat. Give me some time, I'm sure I
can come up with something"
We were interrupted by Blissey peeking out of the door to the dormitory.
"Silent", she hissed with her rather squeaky voice. "Nice to see you Rob", she added before she went back in.
"Is he OK?", I shouted. Blissey appeared in the door frame again, one hand over her mouth. It was a rather comical sight, it looked as
if her entire shoulder joint had moved up to her chin.
"He'll be up and running in a few days, if you just let him rest!"

"We've made a decision", dad said about an hour later. I had changed clothes, taken a shower and sent a long text message to Emily
after I got up. Now, I was sitting in the sofa, with mom and dad standing by the opposite wall. I had insisted that Espeon should be
here, just in case they both believed they were both going mad and started seeing things. Telling them the secret would be of no use
if they didn't believe in it.
"First of all, we rather you don't have the... Pokémon... up here", mom said, her eyes fixed at Espeon. "We talked about pets back
when you wanted a dog, remember?" Espeon stared coldly back at her. A Pokémon could be classified as a pet, but with the amount of
time we had spent together, the correct term for Espeon would have been "companion", or at the very least "friend". But after all,
she had four legs and a tail, so I could see where the logic came from. "Second... we don't want to have anything to do with them",
mom continued. "Do whatever you want, but don't involve us. They are your responsibility, and we... we don't want them here"
"They're in shock", Espeon's voice whispered in my head.
"So we're just going to pretend that they were never here?", I asked in a friendly voice. After all, that combined with "do whatever
you want" was the best I could possibly hope for.
"Yes", mom stuttered. "Just like... they were never here. That's it. Don't mention them"
"She thinks this is a dream", I thought. "Rightfully so too"
"What if I have to go away to find more of them?", I asked. "You don't want them running wild, do you?"
"Just... put school first", dad stuttered. "Education is important. Learning the rights and... wrongs, in life"
"Okay?", mom added.
"Okay", I said. "Espeon, you can go back down now"
Judging by the look on their faces, mom and dad would have preferred that Espeon vanished in a puff of smoke, but she calmly walked
towards the door to the staircase.
"Case closed, then", mom said in a completely different voice as soon as Espeon was out of sight. "Time for dinner. What do you want,
Rob?"
"You decide", I replied, suddenly remembering that I hadn't eaten in a long time. "I'm hungry enough for anything". Mom almost danced
out to the kitchen, happy to be able to do something ordinary again, something not involving escaped monsters from hand-held video
games. The rest of the day neither she nor dad even mentioned the Pokémon. They were both pretending that everything was back to
normal. I too would be happy to get back to the ordinary daily routine, but I had one last thing to fix first...

Part two fill follow shortly

[Cobraroll]

Chapter thirty, part two:

It was the day after, two minutes to eight in the morning. As I approached the town hall, I could see my entire class had come
already, and were waiting for the bus. I was later than usual, but disposing of the TLA agents had taken a bit longer than I
expected. We had simply put them in an unlocked car, and littered it with empty beer bottles we had found in a thrash container.
Combined with a short term memory wipe, it should make up for a hilarious cover story for them to tell their boss. Also, I wanted to
be sure that everyone was present before I entered the scene.
"Good morning", I said to them as I approached them. Every person in the crowd turned to face me.
"You?", Tom said. "They've let you out? Are you with us now, then?"
"If you're still with the TLA, then no", I said. I was expecting to sound a lot tougher than I felt, but was surprised to see that I
felt tough as well. Not that hard when you have a backup team. "Now tell me, why did you cooperate with them?"
"Why should we tell you?"
"I'm just curious. I wanted to ask them while I was at their lair, but I forgot it. When I finally remembered, we had already
levelled the place"
"You lie", Julia said. "You escaped either by luck or accident, or they let you go. Either way, the answer is simpler than you think"
"Let me guess... the lot of you used to be practically brain dead. They taught you to use the cells up there?", I suggested. In the
corner of my eye, I saw the bus approaching, and there were many other cars in the street. They couldn't do me anything here, but by
the look on their faces, they sure as hell wanted to.
"More", Tom whispered. "You don't want to fight us now"
"I run the 100-meter in eight seconds now", Julia said. "Without warming up. You can try to run, but you won't get far"
I realised that my insult had been spot on. They really had got at least some of the powers the TLA agents seemed to possess. They
could easily take me out now.
"I've got backup", I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. The bus had stopped, and we got on. "I have a suggestion: You leave me
alone, and I'll not bother you"
"Backup, much. If that doggy of yours shows up again...", someone said from a few rows behind. "He won't last long. Give us all
you've got, if you so wish"
"OK then", I mumbled. "I will".

When we arrived, our teacher informed us that this would be the last day we'd use this building as classroom, as they had rebuilt the
school. From Monday on, we wouldn't have to take the bus any more, and we would get our old classroom back. Then it was time for
Physics. The teacher handled out tasks, and we started working.
"Seriously, why did they let you go?", Tom asked me.
"They were too knocked out to hold me back, so I left", I replied and concentrated on sketching up the pendulum the first task
described.
"We've got our orders. You'll be back there, and soon", Bella said. "You can't hide from us, nor run away. Until we get confirmation
that you should be running free, we'll do our best to put you back"
"Is that a threat?", I asked. In my mind, the answer continued with "I take it as a challenge".
The day passed, with steadily rising tension. The others were constantly whispering, some kept looking out of the windows, and text
messages were sent frequently. In Literature class, near the end of the day, it got to the point that the teacher asked:
"What is going on in here? I want order!" Bella looked at him, smiled, and said in a soft voice:
"Don't you worry. Just relax. Have a nap"
The teacher collapsed on the floor, sleeping deeply. I was shocked. Strength and speed was one thing, but magic? I got up and ran for
the door, but was caught before I got halfway.
"Going anywhere?", Julia asked. The others giggled. "Come with us". Everybody got up from their desks, and marched out of the door. I
was dragged down the hallway and the steps to the ground floor. Tom and Brian were holding my arms in a vice grip. The rest of the
class followed triumphantly.
"Not so tough now, huh?", Bella said.
"There's too much traffic on the road", I replied "Somebody's bound to see you, and take action"
"We're not going there", Julia said calmly. She tried to open a door to our right. I knew that it lead to a corridor used by the bus
company that also used the building. The corridor lead to a back yard used as parking lot for the buses. The door was locked.
"Hmm... shame. Now well, they'll cover that up later", Julia said and shook her head. Then, she gave the solid steel door a
lightning-quick punch. It was dented quite badly, and I heard the lock break. Then, she just pushed it open, using the same hand she
had punched with. There was no sign of pain in her expression.
"Don't you try anything, we can all do that", Brian whispered. Even without looking, I knew he was smiling. I was dragged down the
corridor, and out to the back yard. There were no buses there now, but a single black van stood in the middle of the lot. Two TLA
grunts, their faces covered by balaclavas, jumped out of the driver's cabin and opened the van's back doors.
"Where's you backup now?", Tom giggled.
"I was just waiting for that question...", I started. I didn't get all the way through the sentence before I felt something hit me
like a battering ram at the back of my head. My vision blurred.
"Not so quick...", Julia said. I felt a strong taste of blood in my mouth, and my breath was heavy. That really hurt, but it didn't
knock me out.
"Now!", I yelled. Red droplets fell from my lips. Something zipped past me like a bullet, and Brian released his grip on my right
arm. That was because he was cut in half. I dropped to the ground as Tom too released me. He was the next to go down. His body fell
over me. I could hear him breathe heavily, then suddenly calmer as he fainted. The air was suddenly filled with screams.
"Kill it!", somebody shouted. Another zip, more screaming, and I could see red droplets the size of coins raining through the air.
They evaporated before they hit the ground.
"Get moving", a voice said in my head. It was Lucario. I blinked a few times, and my vision got clear again. I slowly got to my feet,
and could get an overview of the situation. It did not look pretty. Beside me, there were twenty-five students in my class. Nine of
them now lay on the ground, the rest tried to take cover or flee. In the midst of the chaos was Scizor. Lucario stood by the gate to
the back yard, blocking the only way out apart from the door we had came from. Anyone who opted for the door, was mowed down by
Scizor.
"I said get moving!", Lucario repeated. His arms were outstretched in front of him, and it was clear that he was aiming for the TLA
van. "Now!"
I threw myself to the ground, and Lucario fired off the Focus Blast. The smoke missile shot straight through the van, tossed the two
grunts aside and blew a sizeable hole in a wall some metres past them. The three people who had ran to take on Lucario, stopped. He
turned towards them.
"Lay down, and we won't harm-" I started.
Then Scizor appeared from behind. He zipped through them like a scythe in tall grass. Blood rained everywhere around the scene, then
evaporated as the bodies reassembled themselves.
"Scizor, that was really unnecessa-", I started, but Scizor didn't stop to listen. He kicked off again, almost flew across the yard
and grabbed two boys that tried to climb over the fence that separated the back yard from the road. The two were given a brutal
pincer punch each, and fell to the ground.
"Could you just calm down for a second?", I shouted to Scizor. Either, he didn't hear me, or he didn't listen, because he kept the
carnage going. Bella just managed to throw herself out of the way as he zipped past her and mowed down three others.
"Stop it!", I yelled. Another two were knocked out.
"Try to call him back", Lucario suggested. I started searching through my pockets for Scizor's Poké Ball. I had just found it when
something fell upon me, and I was knocked to the ground. At first, I thought I was body-slammed by someone. Then I realised that this
someone did a terrible job at pinning me to the ground. The person just lay still over me, and I had an arm and a leg free too. I
pushed the body over, and realised it was Bella. She was all limp, and breathed slowly. Scizor must have got her at last, then. A
wound in her temple, the size of a tennis ball, closed itself as I watched. The skin soon was as smooth as always, but there was a
large bare patch where her long blonde hair was missing. Judging by the size of the patch, and the speed she hit me at, she would be
out for a loooong time. I got up, found Scizor's Poké Ball, and called him back. He was still scouting for another target when he
went back into the ball. The area he left behind was a mess. I could count twenty-six bodies lying on the ground. None of them moved
beyond calm and steady breathing.
"Behind you", Lucario said. I turned around, and stood face to face with Julia. She looked furious.
"Don't say I didn't warn you", I said. I didn't feel as tough any more.
"You're so dead", she said and punched. I was dragged backwards by some unknown force, and narrowly avoided her fist.
"Not if I can have my say", Lucario said and stepped in before me. He put his palms together, and bowed quickly. He was smaller than
Julia, but not much, and had a lot more battle experience. This would be interesting to watch. Julia didn't answer the introduction,
but tied up her hair in a ponytail. Then, so fast that I couldn't see her hand moving, she gave him a punch, which he blocked. Then
he had to dodge an incoming kick, then another punch. Julia was lightning fast now, and each punch looked like it could shatter
concrete. Lucario had more than enough to do in just blocking.
"Fight back!", I shouted at him.
"We... focused... on the... special... side... of the spectrum... remember?", Lucario replied, dodging her blows between words.
Apparently, he hadn't expected her to be this strong.
"Close Combat!", I shouted.
"I never... learned that"
"Brick break, then?"
Lucario lunged at her, his fist aglow. Julia skipped backwards, dodging it with ease.
"I expected more resistance from you", she teased. "Take... this!" Lucario was hit square in the chest by her kick, and lost his
balance for a second. She took advantage of the moment to punch him in his face, and he fell backwards.
"Counter!", I yelled. Lucario's response move started even before he hit the ground. He used his right hand to cushion the impact,
rolled backwards, bent his knees, then kicked off with both legs. His right hand was still outstretched behind him, and he used the
momentum of the jump to increase the speed of the punch. His hand hissed through the air and hit Julia in the chest. It sounded like
quite a few bones were broken in the impact, and she went down without a sound. Ironically, she landed right beside Bella, so close
that it seemed like they had laid down like that on purpose.
"Let's go", Lucario said calmly as he got up again. "The TLA will tidy up"
I caught a last glimpse of my class as we went through the gate. For years, I had wanted to pay them back for their behaviour towards
me, but as I saw them now, lying scattered on the empty parking lot, I really wished it had been a little less violent. There was no
blood or missing limbs, but the slashes in their clothes and in some cases hair showed how hard Scizor had been on them. I decided to
apologize once they woke up. Which would turn out to be in early August for a couple of them.

[GreekGeek]

Wowie. Good job

[dahans]

Chapter 28 was my favourite so far, the only problem I have I don't know the english names of all the pokemons . So I am sometimes a bit confused.

[SuperFireKirby]

Those kids had it coming to them Great chapters. I finally got caught up again.

[Cobraroll]

Wow, it's been over a month. I'm terribly sorry for this, but this chapter had me dried of ideas, I needed a "bridge" over to the next phase of the story, but had no specific ideas. What I had, on the other hand, was plenty of other stuff to do. So again, sorry that it took so long. I promise it won't be as long until the next one.

I'm not sky-jumpingly happy with the result, but I hope it's okay. You'll have to judge for yourself:

Chapter thirty-one: Visitors

"I must look ridiculous", Emily said. It was the day after, and we were standing in the garden behind my house.
"You never do", I replied, struggling to close a zipper. When you dress a person in three layers of jackets on top of more clothing, the last one is always hard to get on.
"I can barely move in this", she said. "And it's really, really hot"
"It is now. But it's ten negative degrees here, probably even colder up there, and you have a long flight ahead of you. You will need all the insulation you can get"
"Tell me again why you can't go"
"Salamence can only carry one person, and there are so many cabins up there that that person has to know the area to find the right one. Besides, it's your family's, so it would be burglary if I had gone"
"You're invited to come, if you want to"
"But I still don't know the area", I replied.
"What about the TLA? You said there were two grunts there yesterday, they might have recovered faster than we expected" Even though she had two scarves and a pair of ski glasses covering her face, I could see the worried expression on her face.
"Salamence is one of the strongest Pokémon there is, Espeon will keep you invisible, you're flying below the radar waves, and I put Weavile's Poké Ball in the backpack as an extra safety measure. Besides, once you're there, you will have Gardevoir and Umbreon at your disposal as well. I'd say you are safe. All well, Espeon?"
"It's nice and warm in here too", Espeon replied from the backpack. I strapped it to Emily's back, and tightened the rims.
"OK. Departure in one minute, then", I said and found Salamence's Poké Ball in my pocket. Espeon had put up an invisibility bubble here, so even though many people passed us on the street, none of them saw the big blue dragon appear from the ball.
"What will you be doing while we're away?", Emily asked.
"I thought I'd see what Mismagius could do to the mind block they put on your father", I replied.
"Please, don't", she said. "You've done a lot to him already. I think you should let him be"
"What if he can tell us something important about the TLA?"
"Please, just let him be", she said. "I don't want you to do any more to his mind. He might go crazy if you mess with it too much"
"Okay...", I said. I had hoped that she would be a little more cooperative on this subject. I was pretty certain that Joe, her father, knew something important that I really shouldn't miss.
"Ready then?", Espeon asked. Salamence stood up on his hind legs, and I gave Emily a short hug as he walked up behind her. His front claws gripped her gently, but tightly, and lifted her up. She didn't look nervous at all. As Salamence spread his wings, I took a few steps backwards, out of the invisibility bubble. To anybody who looked in my direction, it would appear as if I came out of thin air. I couldn't see Salamence and Emily any more, but I felt the force of the wind from Salamence's wings. Snow was whipped up, and I nearly fell over. Seconds later, it was all calm again.
"Now what?", Lucario asked me. He and Mismagius had been standing under a second invisibility bubble a few metres away.
"We pay Joe a visit", I said, not feeling too well about the decision.

Emily had told me her mother and sister would be away for the day, so I knew for sure that Joe was home alone. I still felt a little uneasy as I walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell. A few seconds later, he opened.
"Hello, is that Rob? I thought Emily went over to you..." he started, before I cut him off. Better get over with it.
"Hi, Joe. Yes, it's me, and yes, she did, but that's not why I'm here. I wanted to ask you about when you were knocked out", I said.
"I've already told you, it's nothing to... speak... what the..."
Behind me, Mismagius had dropped the invisibility bubble. I could see from the reflection in Joe's eyes that she already had started working with him.
"Just come in", he mumbled. I followed him through the corridor and into the living room. As we sat down on the sofas, he started talking again.
"What was that?", he said, completely baffled.
"Never mind, just tell me", I insisted. "What really happened that day?"
"It was December... 29th, I think. We were at our cabin when I got a phone call. I went back home, and was met by a couple of guys in suits as soon as I arrived. I can't remember what they looked like, but they were dressed just like government people in sci-fi movies. Black suits, sunglasses and everything"
"And?", I asked. He had been called back home the day before I was ambushed.
"They told me I was going on a special assignment that day. Then they blindfolded me and drove me to some place in the forest, where I met up with a lot of other guys from the unit. You see, I'm in the bomb squad, but because of budget cuts, I often have to do regular police work. Anyway, this was some temporary military camp in the forest, with several tents and snowcats and trucks and whatnot. It looked like the guys were expecting an attack on the country any moment, and we were called out to defend it. I think we could have been half a thousand men there. Anyway, I was given a backpack with a blanket and a sleeping bag and assigned a small corner of one of the tents. We were given something to eat, and more and more people arrived. We weren't allowed to talk, just listen to the men in suits. The morning after, we were woken up and told to hurry out of the tents. The camp was almost empty of people, and the ones who were left, me among them, were ordered into the back compartment of several snowcats. We drove for a while, then I heard a tremendous explosion, and... well, next thing I knew, I woke up at the hospital. The others are apparently out could still"
"Thanks a lot", I said. "Have you ever heard from the guys in suits before? Have they contacted you earlier? Or since you woke up?"
"I... I... I think I've heard from them before", he said after a long break. "Can't remember when or what we did, though"
"Do you know anything about them?"
"They said they worked for the government. A special branch called... TLA?"
"It's them", I said.
"Who? By the way, why am I telling you all this? I promised not to... I think there is something you have to explain to me, Rob" He suddenly looked a lot more awake, didn't mindlessly tell me everything I asked him about any more.
"Mismagius?", I thought. We had agreed to keep him hypnotized throughout the conversation, to make the task easier.
"I think we should let him know", Mismagius' telepathic voice rung in my head. "He can be trusted, and Emily would not be happy if we interrogated him and then dumped him. To anyone with a slew of mind-reading abilities, it's obvious that she needs somebody to talk to about all this, somebody who knows"
I sighed, and started to tell Joe what I had told mom and dad the day before yesterday. I also told about my encounters with the TLA, something I found much easier to tell him than mom or dad. He listened quietly, nodded a few times where his new-found memories made him remember his previous Pokémon encounters, and sighed when I finally admitted that Emily knew it all.
"Where is she now, by the way?", he finally asked. I hesitated. I had a feeling that he wouldn't take it lightly if I said "out flying with a dragon"
"She said she had a few errands to run", I lied. "Will probably be back soon"
There were no more questions from either of us. I didn't manage to look at Joe, and he probably didn't look at me either. We just sat there, thinking for a long time.
"You won't tell anybody, do you?", I suddenly asked. I was halfway through the sentence before I noticed I had even spoken.
"No. I won't tell anybody", he said. "Should I tell Emily that you've been here?"
"No need to", a voice said to our left. Emily stood there in the door opening, her arms crossed over her chest. She did not look happy.
"How... when...", Joe started. I understood him, I hadn't heard a sound either.
"When I came back, and how? Dad, I suppose Rob has told you what I've been doing. Right?", she said. Her voice was a little higher pitched than usual. That tended not to be a good sign. For how long had she been listening to us?
"I...", I said.
"Apparently not. Anyway, we landed on the roof, and I climbed in through the window to my room"
"Landed?", Joe said.
"I've been out flying with a dragon", Emily said coolly. "Did Rob forget to tell you that?"
"I...", I said.
"And I don't think I have to ask you what you were doing here. I know already, and I'm very disappointed. Just leave. You'll get your stuff back once you return my scarf. Clean and intact, please"
I finally looked at Joe. He looked back, but he didn't seem angry or anything. Just very calm.
"I'll go, then", I said to him. He just nodded. I tried to see if I could read any message in his expression, but got no results.
"I just realised...", I said as we walked back home. "...that I'm losing it. I knew all the time that this wasn't a good idea"
Mismagius, who was floating behind me under an invisibility bubble, didn't respond.

When I came back home, mom and dad met me as soon as I entered the door.
"What did we say about having... Pokémon... up here?"
"What?"
"These two knocked on the door an hour or so ago", dad said and opened the door to the living room with a dramatic gesture. Inside, all doors leading out of the room were closed, and the curtains were pulled. Houndoom lay in front of the fireplace, sleeping with one eye open. He got to his legs as soon as he saw me. As dogs go, Houndoom was quite big, over a metre tall standing up. Combined with his horns, fangs and overall appearance, I could see why mom and dad were upset. The other Pokémon sat in a chair, humming. The chair faced away from me, but I could see its green head and two long, blade-like arms hanging down from the arm rests.
"Gallade?"
"Indeed", he said and was on his legs in a fraction of a second. Behind me, mom and dad jumped backwards. He looked weary and tired, but not hurt.
"How did you... escape? Or were you released?", I thought, hoping that Gallade was "reading" me. If mom and dad heard anything about "captivity", they would start to ask questions.
"The place is a mess. It was easy to escape. They've totally lost control of their own lair now", he replied telepathically. I was relieved, the TLA really hadn't got back into business as quickly as Emily feared.
"Rob, take them away", mom said behind me.
"Okay. I'll be back soon", I said. We walked down to the basement, and eventually all the way down to the cave. The atmosphere down there was calmer today, everybody appeared to be in the dormitory or the garden, save from those who dug out the new cavern. I wanted to talk to somebody, perhaps Blissey, but at the same time, I didn't want to meet the Pokémon again. I just told Houndoom and Gallade to go to the dormitory, and went back up. When I came back, mom was vacuum-cleaning the entire living room, and dad was in the kitchen looking for detergents. I didn't feel like I could talk to them either, so I went back up to my room, and laid down on the bed, thinking. I was definitely losing it, I thought. Since when, I had no idea. First, lying to my parents. Then modifying their memories to fit into the lies. Then, more lies. Cover stories. And the Pokémon had apparently started hurting people. But only the past few days... we had been quite brutal when we broke out of the TLA lair. There and then, it was almost like playing a video game: walking around in corridors, and knock out everybody you meet on your way. To me, they were just my enemies, all I thought about was getting them out of my way. But now, I realised that they were all people. How many had we temporarily crushed, drowned, burned or crashed into walls? Probably a couple of thousands. And did I really know for certain that everybody were going to be all okay afterwards? How many percent would be haunted by the traumas for the rest of their lives? How many families would lose a member for several months? How many hospital beds would be needlessly occupied, beds that could house other patients that needed them more?
The day after, yesterday, hadn't been very nice either. I had never liked my class, and I admit that "hate" was the most recurring feeling I had about them, but they didn't deserve that brutal carnage I had released on them. I hadn't even gone back to help them afterwards. And today, I modified Joe's mind again, just what Emily had forbidden me to do. My parents were going crazy. The TLA were getting angrier, more dangerous. This was not going to end well...
"Don't you worry", a voice said. I opened my eyes. The room was all dark. Apparently, I had fallen asleep at some point.
"Who?", I asked. I noticed that my face was all wet, and my eyes were puffy. I switched on my bedside lamp, and looked at the floating shape in the middle of the room. It had two legs, two arms, two tails, and two large appendages on its head. "Mesprit?"
"Yes, it's me"
"You probably know what I've been up to the past days", I said. "Why shouldn't I worry?"
"We can start with the TLA grunts. Rob, trust me, once you find out the secret of the TLA, you will realise it's nothing to worry about"
"A secret?". This was interesting. "What secret?"
"I can't tell you. And this isn't what the conversation is about"
"All right, back to my demise, then", I sighed. For some reasons, my feelings adapted to Mesprit's whenever it spoke. I wasn't upset any more, just interested in getting to the point. "My parents, then? They are going crazy, aren't they?"
Mesprit said nothing for a while. "They deny the Pokémon. Deny what they can feel and see, but is against everything they've heard is possible. They don't want the Pokémon to exist because it's impossible, so they try to pretend they were never there. Tell them that we were never here, and they will believe it was all a dream and they were right all the time"
"Should I?"
"Up to you. They will eventually start asking questions about your behaviour again. As long as the Pokémon are here, your parents will either think that they are crazy, or that you are"
"What about Joe, then?", I asked. "He seemed to take it quite lightly"
"For five years or so, the TLA have used Joe as "extra help", just like what he told you about", Mesprit sighed. Under normal conditions, I'd have jumped by this fact, but now I just nodded. I found it interesting, but it didn't trigger any emotions. "He has seen demons, ghosts, werewolves, and so forth several times, but the TLA wiped his memories after each mission. When Mismagius undid these mind wipes, he remembered again. Considering all he's been through, he didn't find the existence of Pokémon particularly unlikely. He didn't tell you about the other stuff, though"
"Why not?"
"The TLA...", Mesprit started "...works with dreams come true, as you might have guessed. Bad dreams. A lot of the stuff is dangerous. You might think the Pokémon are bad enough, but at least we can't harm you. The same cannot be said for anything else the TLA handles. Such things are best left to professionals. You better not seek out the TLA when they're on a mission"
"He wanted me to leave them be?"
"Exactly. You don't want to get involved in the stuff nightmares can produce. And the less you know about it, the better for your sanity. Your mind isn't strong enough to tackle them"
I shivered. "And my class?"
"Frankly, I think they deserved it. And you probably saved them from being demon food on a future TLA mission. Their agents are skilled, but deaths happen. While your friends are knocked out, the TLA will probably find somebody else for high-risk missions. They have most of their free will left too, so I think most of your class will pull out when they wake up"
"Free will?"
"The TLA doesn't like people telling their secrets, or dissidents. Once you join them and learn their secrets, there's no way back. None in your class have gone as far as joining yet"
"But... they know stuff, or what?"
"Mind wipe", Mesprit just said. "They won't remember any of it. It has happened dozens of times before. The TLA contacts somebody knowing somebody they're looking for, gives them powers to ambush the subject, and later remove them and wipe their memories. Not a too big deal"
"Okay...", I said, still feeling a little bad about it. Mesprit didn't say anything, so I figured out it was waiting for any questions I might have had. "Any advice?", I asked after a few seconds.
"Use what you've got, and take advantage of the situation now that the TLA is temporarily down. They don't have the resources to track you down at the moment. Use tomorrow for all that it's worth. In other words, you should get some sleep now"
"Emily, then?"
"I have already talked to her. She will be fine"
I sat up and looked at Mesprit, widely awake. "You've talked to Emily?"
Its eyes started to glow a dull, orange colour.
"Good night"
I didn't even notice that I hit the pillow, or that the blanket in my bed was wrapped around me by an invisible force. I was far, far into dreamland.

[Cobraroll]

Excactly one month and one day since the last submission, I bring you chapter 32. Feedback would be deeply appreciated, I write a lot slower without it:

Chapter thirty-two: On mammoths, birds and motorways

"Not today. Give me some time. I'm not angry with you."
Eleven words, black on white on my phone display. It was the response to a rather lengthy text message I had sent to Emily that same morning. I read the message once more, then put my phone in my pocket and went into the kitchen to have a snack. I had been up early today, as I had fallen asleep early the day before, and even though it was barely past eleven, it was already several hours since I had breakfast. Mesprit had said that I should use today for all it was worth, but I didn't have any idea on what to do. Walk randomly around in the city until I found a Pokémon? Walk randomly around in the forest until I found a Pokémon? Swim randomly around in the sea? Emily still had Salamence, so I couldn't fly today. I still had Pidgeot, but I had understood that riding a Pokémon, as opposed to being carried by it, was incredibly difficult, not to say risky.
"Could you help us keeping the house clean today?", mom mumbled from the kitchen table. She and dad were still eating breakfast "If you could vacuum the basement, that would be fine"
I sighed. What was it with moms and their desperate need to vacuum clean everything every other day?
"By the way, we had a look at the hole you've made down there", dad said. "You've dragged up a lot of dirt in the boiler room"
"You've been to the cave?", I said, a little shocked.
"Is there a cave too? We just saw the tunnel", mom asked . "Don't say you've dug under the neighbour's garden, we can get trouble"
I laughed, nervously. The cave was probably stretching a few tens of metres in every direction under us.
"Don't worry", I said. "Okay, I'll go and clean now"

After vacuum cleaning, doing the laundry, changing bed sheets and taking out the thrash, mom still had more tasks for me. The short handle of the wall clock in the living room was pointing at four when I finally sat down in the sofa and switched on the TV. Way to use the day for all it's worth. I watched the last half of a sitcom episode for a few minutes, then a news broadcast took over. I was already slumbering when the reporter presented the last news segment before the break
"...and today, there has been reports of sightings of a woolly mammoth near the A35, just past the off-ramp to Cascilla. Biologists think that this might be a large bear that..."
I was widely awake again. I ran up to my room, flicked through a drawer and found the list I had compiled of emerged Pokémon. Then I ran down the stairs again, so fast that mom yelled as I passed:
"Rob! Slow down!"
"No time, I...", I said.
I didn't give mom time to answer before I left off. I ran through the basement, into the boiler room, took a flashlight I had placed on a shelf in there, and almost jumped into the tunnel leading to the cave. I had to stop and calm down when I reached the "staircase", as the Pokémon called the vertical shaft leading to the main cave.
"One day, soon, handlebars", I muttered as I jumped from rock to rock, protruding from the walls in spirals. At least, I would install a safety net. It took me a full two minutes to reach the bottom of the shaft. I sprinted down the hallway, noticing that the entrances to the various chambers had been chiselled out so that the doors fit in them.
"Is Metagross here?", I asked nobody in particular as I opened the door to the dormitory.
"In the garden", a voice grunted. I opened the door a little more, and stood face to face with Ursaring. "He said he expected you here any moment. What is happening?"
"I think I've got the location of another Pokémon", I said. "Want to come with me?"
Ursaring nodded, and we went to the storage room. In there, we met Lucario. He had found a backpack, and was stuffing various equipment into it.
"You ran past me like Master Balls were on sale", he remarked. "I take it you watched TV as well?"
"Where did you find all that?", I asked him. Among the items he had put in the backpack were a pair of woollen socks, a set of binoculars, two walkie-talkies, flash lights, and thermocans.
"Got some from your basement, scavenged these from the visitors who dropped in a few days ago" - he pointed at the walkie-talkies - "And Metagross is in the garden, finding berries"
"Back now", Metagross' voice echoed from the hallway outside. "Have you assembled a team, Rob?"
"The three of you are certain", I replied. My trainer bag came flying in through the door, glowing a light blue colour. Lucario snapped it and stuffed it into the larger backpack.
"We need transportation", I said. "You can hover, can't you? I could sit on you, with Mismagius providing an invisibility bubble..."
"It's minus twenty outside. Coincidentally, that's also how fast I can go. About twenty kilometres per hour"
"Guess I'll have to ask for somebody to drive me, then", I sighed and started browsing the Poké Balls that laid on the shelves.
"We need Abomasnow, he's probably an excellent battler in this cold. Mismagius could come in handy too, if somebody spots us and we need mind modification. Gallade too, for backup. Sounds okay?"
"Tar?", I heard behind me. Tyranitar was standing in the doorway. He had a thick layer of dust on his armour, and there was dirt on his claws. He had evidently been digging.
"Sorry, not this time", I said. "We need speed this time, and discretion. Besides, you need a break"
Tyranitar gave a disappointed sigh.
"There won't be any TLA people to knock out this time", I tried to comfort him. "We're just going to go get a Pokémon".
"Fine. But promise to bring me next time!", he replied.
I took off my shirt and jeans, and swapped them for the TLA suit. It was quite comfortable to wear, durable and warm. The fact that it belonged to the TLA didn't bother me much. In all the books when the hero wears the clothes of the "bad guys", they usually remark on an evil aura or similar. I didn't feel that the slightest. All in all, it was perfect for small trips like these. I called back the Pokémon who were going with me, and went back up. Mom looked slightly surprised when I came up from the basement with a stuffed backpack and wearing a battle suit, a buff and a pair of ski glasses..
"Could dad or you drive me to Cascilla?", I asked her. She looked quite perplexed.
"We... Rob... we... don't want to have anything to do with that", she mumbled and pointed a shaky finger at the Poké Balls strapped to my belt. It hurt seeing her like that, she was definitely not all right. "No, we can't. That's the way it is"
"I need to go there", I said. "Trust me, it will be all over the news tomorrow if I don't"
"Sorry", she said and left the room without any further discussion. I sighed. Without Salamence to fly me, I would have to find another way to go there. Perhaps I could ride a Pokémon, but that would take too long. Most of them weren't used to the cold anyway. No, I had to drive, but if mom or dad couldn't, who could? They were the only ones who knew about this, and a taxi driver might start asking questions about my outfit. Or... wait, there was one more person...
I put the backpack down, picked up the phone, and called Emily's number.

"Hello, Joe here" Hooray. The one person I wanted to talk to. If Emily had picked up the phone, or her sister or mother, I wouldn't have had a clue on what to say.
"It's Rob. I need some help", I said.
"Oh? Should I ask Emily?"
"No, I need you. Could you drive me to Cascilla? I think a Pokémon might be on the loose there. Don't worry, I'll get it myself, but I need help to get there"
"That's a good half an hour's worth of driving", he said. "Each way"
"I'll pay for the fuel expenses", I said.
"Is that Pokémon dangerous?"
"Very, if angered", I replied immediately. Actually, I didn't know for sure, but all the other Pokémon I had encountered were. "If anybody finds it before us, the entire secret will be busted"
"Okay", he sighed. "And I shouldn't tell Emily?"
"Preferably not", I said. "I'll guarantee your safety, by the way. No more explosions or slamming or bitter herbs or anything"
"I'll believe that when I see it. I'll pick you up in five minutes"

Forty or so minutes later, the car stopped at a gas station at the outskirts of the city. I got out, and Joe helped me get the backpack from the trunk.
"I'll manage my own from here", I shouted, my voice almost drowning in the roar from the motorway. "I can get back by myself, too. You can go back home"
"Sure?", he asked. I thought for a few seconds. This man had faced monsters before, and probably had skills that could be of help, but if anything happened to him, Emily would hate me for eternity.
"Sure", I replied.
"How do I know if anything goes wrong?"
"Umm...", I said. Actually, I wasn't sure. This Pokémon could knock me flat without making a noise that would alert the entire city, and mom and dad were probably too afraid to go looking for me if I went missing. "I'll be fine. I know how to handle them, so don't worry"
Joe didn't look all that convinced, but he did as I said and drove away. Now, I was on my own. I made sure my boot laces were properly tied, then I climbed over a pile of snow and sneaked out to the forest. It was about half a metre of powdery snow here, and an older layer of harder, crispier snow under it. I realised this was going to be more wading than walking, but the TLA outfit kept me warm and dry. For now, at least. It snowed lightly, and every now and then, a snowflake hit the bare skin of my neck. But all in all, that didn't bother me much. I had a much bigger problem than freezing a little...

The borough of Cascilla is like an urban peninsula in a foresty ocean. While the city's border to the forest is generally quite straight from north to south, Cascilla is sticking out into the forest. It houses largely only apartments, not many stores and a huge school or two. It isn't much to do there, and it doesn't have many jobs for the inhabitants, so most people who live there commute to places all around the city. And even though it was a Sunday, there were still quite a few cars on the motorway. I walked through the forest parallel to the motorway, but a hundred or so metres into the forest. When I was sure that I was out of sight from any house nearby, I stopped and released Lucario.
"What do you say?", I asked him. Lucario sniffed.
"Hard to say. Pine trees smell a lot, cars smell a lot... I can't smell anything unusual, at least..."
"I wish we still had Weavile", I said. Weavile had been really fit for fight yesterday, so I had sent him with Emily. She was still keeping him.
"...on the other hand, you should check out that trench", Lucario said. I looked where he was pointing. There was a deep trench in the snow, running parallel to my path a few tens of metres to my left. I had seen it earlier, but had assumed it was just a stream filled with snow. We waded over to it.
"Tracks, and quite fresh tracks at that", I remarked. The trench looked like it was made by something that had ploughed its way through the snow. It was a good metre deep, and about two metres wide. I couldn't see any footsteps, due to the powdery snow having fallen back into the trench after whatever made it had passed.
"If this is heading towards Cascilla, we're in for trouble", I said.
"It's not", Lucario calmly stated. "Let's follow it"

About half an hour later, the tracks got notably fresher. We had passed a place where the snow was scraped off all the way down to the ground, and roots were torn up. It seemed like the creature had made a long pause here, as the layer of fresh snow in the ditch was notably thinner after that. The tracks made a wide arc, first moving away from the motorway and closer to the houses of Cascilla (as we walked that way, my heartbeat rate increased significantly, every moment it looked like it would turn straight for the houses), but later it made a wide turn and headed towards the motorway again.
"We're close now", Lucario suddenly said, telepathically. The rush from the motorway would have drowned his voice.
"Dangerously close", I thought, referring to the motorway. Only twenty metres to our right, and down a small slope, was the motorway. We didn't have much space to move on.
"Over there", Lucario said, and I froze. Indeed, there it was. From this angle, it looked like a huge ball of fur, more than two metres tall and about as wide. I could see its gigantic tusks sticking out on the other side of it. We were right behind it, about twenty metres away. I couldn't see its face, but I knew that it mainly consisted of a pig-like snout, and big eyes with blue markings around them. Mamoswine was pretty easy to recognise.
"This will be easy", I said and got the backpack off. That was a really stupid thing to say; by now I should have known it brought bad luck. Just as I was searching the bag for Mamoswine's Poké Ball, a helicopter came flying right above us, so low that it almost skimmed the treetops.
"TLA!", I shouted instinctively. The sound from the road was distinctively lower here, as the motorway had split, and the most trafficked branch headed another way, but it was still enough to camouflage the noise of the helicopter.
"Not this time", Lucario said. "This is grey, and with a corporate logo on the side. Apparently a news helicopter"
"MmmmmmMMMMMUUUU!", Mamoswine roared. It appeared that it didn't like helicopters. A small, white orb made of thin smoke appeared in front of its face. Snow whirled up around it. It looked very much like he was going to shoot the helicopter down. Then I made my second mistake in twenty seconds.
"Hey, stop!", I shouted and ran towards Mamoswine. What an idiot I was. My face was covered, and I was wearing TLA gear. Mamoswine turned for me instead. Luckily, Lucario understood the situation and pulled me aside with Psychic. Just as I flew through the air, I heard the deafening sound of an Ice Beam being fired, the trees around it cracked and fell as they froze solid when the beam passed. Lucario took the full blow of the attack, but he wasn't seriously damaged. I wasn't either, as I landed quite soft in a pile of snow. As I sat up, I saw Mamoswine turn and run in panic...

Part two will follow shortly

[Cobraroll]

Chapter thirty-two, part two:

I almost panicked too. He headed straight for the motorway. I got up from the pile I was sitting in (now first, I noticed it was a snow-covered anthill), waded through the snow, picked up my backpack and ran back to the edge of the forest. Mamoswine slid down the slope like a small avalanche. There were three lanes in either direction here, divided by a fence, and not as much traffic. However, there was still more than enough to scare the panicked mammoth even further. A car swerved at the last second, and narrowly avoided hitting him. However, Mamoswine fired an Ice beam after the car, which milliseconds later was encased in a solid block if ice.
"Stop!", I yelled. He didn't hear me. Several drivers stopped their cars to look at him. I needed help here. "Go! Abomasnow! Mismagius! Gallade! Metagross!", I shouted and threw their respective Poké Balls down at the road. They landed a few metres off the road, at the bottom of the hill, then flew back up to my hand as the Pokémon emerged.
"Abomasnow, stop Mamoswine. You others, start covering this up!", I yelled hysterically. Even more cars stopped as the creatures emerged from the forest. Mamoswine looked around himself in panic. The cars had formed a circle around him. Curious drivers started taking up their phones for taking pictures.
"Get away before he...", I shouted at the cars. So far, no drivers had gone out of them, so they couldn't hear me. Suddenly, an ice block the size of a regular thrash bin was fired from Mamoswine's mouth straight through one of the cars. Debris flew in all directions, and the driver was flung down the road. A few of the drivers revved the engines, realising that stopping by here had been a really bad idea. The didn't calm down Mamoswine at all, he tackled a car so hard that it split in half. Then Abomasnow was upon them. He landed on the roof of another car, squeezing it quite flat in the process, and attacked Mamoswine with an Ice Punch. Mamoswine backed off, then retaliated. Sharp rocks suddenly flew in the air around him. They hovered and grew in size for a couple of seconds, then hurled themselves at Abomasnow. They all hit, and pretty hard too. Abomasnow fell back, over the car he had crushed just seconds earlier, and lay still. Mamoswine turned and slammed a tusk into a van behind him. The car was torn up like it was made from paper.
"Abomasnow, back!", I shouted and pointed his Poké Ball at him. Mamoswine's Poké Ball was in my other hand. "Lucario, stop him somehow!"
A beam of pure light passed my right shoulder just a split second later. It hit Mamoswine like a truck, tossed him over to the side, and caused him to slide over the dividing fence into the other lane. Then suddenly, the road was clear. No traces of the Pokémon. No crashed cars. Just an empty motorway.
"What the...", I mumbled. I hastily turned around to see if Lucario was still there. Luckily, he was. "What happened?"
"Invisibility bubble", he replied. "Let's go down and help them clear up the area"
I slid down the slope, and soon entered the bubble so I could see again. Mismagius and Gallade were running/floating from car to car, holding a couple in place while they modified the memories of some of the drivers. One car floated in mid-air, the wheels running like there was no tomorrow. The driver inside was hysterical, he looked out of the window, screamt, and hammered the steering wheel, as if that would make the car go forward. It made the car wobble slightly, but it was still firmly suspended.
"Could you thaw that car over there?", I asked Lucario and called Mamoswine back to its Poké Ball. The car he had frozen was still encased in ice.
"I've messed a bit with the radio signals", Metagross said from where he stood at the edge of the road. "According to all radio stations, there has been an accident here, and all traffic is directed elsewhere"
"What about the news people? Ambulances?", I asked back
"We need to hurry. I can't fake all that"
"What he said, guys!", I shouted. The man in the floating car was now tapping hysterically on his phone.
"His signals are blocked, he can't tell anyone", Metagross said. "Still, if we don't calm him soon, it will be pretty bad for his psyche in the long term"
"Go easy on him", I told Mismagius, who was floating over to the car. The man looked out the window, and his eyes rolled in their sockets. He fell backwards.
"I did nothing", Mismagius said. "Promise!"
"Whatever. Just be finished!", I shouted. Metagross and Gallade were arranging the cars so it looked like an accident had taken place. Mismagius was working on the memories of the hysterical man in the car, which had now been gently placed on the ground again. Lucario had managed to melt most of the ice encasing the other car. With a little bit of luck, we would be able to leave in a minute or so-

Suddenly a piercing screech echoed from the forest: "A-aaaa-iiiII!"
"What is that?", I said and turned over. It came from the other side of the motorway. I could see snow fall from the trees over there.
"Should I send a Focus Blast, just to be sure?", Lucario asked.
"No, we can't camouflage broken trees as an accident. Instead, keep Protect ready", I whispered back. Bushes were shaking now. Suddenly, a creature emerged from the forest.
It looked like an ostrich, silvery grey and shining, as if it was made of metal. In fact, it was, its entire body was covered in thick metal plates. Its legs and neck looked like metal rods, and its head was like encased in a helmet. All in all, the bird stood more than two metres tall. Its tail, being a half-metre long knife-like blade, waved back and forth. The only spots on its body that weren't metal grey, were the blade-like feathers on its wings. These were a deep burgundy colour. The bird looked at me with large, yellow eyes as it walked down the slope to the road.
"A-a-ii!", it said again. "You!", if translated to human speech.
"Skarmory, do you want to come with me?", I asked. Its feet made loud clanking noises when it walked across the road.
"Rather you than the other bluesuits", it replied. "Are you with them? I might have knocked a few of your friends out"
"Nah, I just took this from them", I said and realised how screwed I would be if I wore the TLA suit and met a strong Pokémon with bad eyesight.
"Sirens", Lucario said. "We have to go"
"Back to the balls, everybody but Mismagius", I said. "Keep that invisibility bubble up"
"How do you suggest we get away?", Mismagius asked. "I can use Psychic to levitate you, but I can't maintain the bubble at the same time"
I nodded in the general direction of Skarmory.
"Flying?", Mismagius asked.
"Too risky, and you can't keep pace", I replied. "But running, on the other hand..."

Even though Skarmory's Speed stat is pretty low, it can still run quite fast. Mismagius floated in the air just behind us, and struggled to keep up the pace. I'd estimate our speed to be close to 70 kilometres per hour. And yes, riding on a big steel bird was very painful. For a start, I kept bouncing up and down with every step it took. Second, I had to hold on to its neck, which consisted of several sharp plates of metal. Before five minutes had gone, my gloves were cut to pieces, and after that, the constantly opening and closing cracks kept cutting off my fingers. They grew back within seconds, but it was painful. Its wings were stretched out to the side as it ran, and when it turned to avoid cars, my legs hit the razor-sharp feathers. I think I got a cut down to the bone on a couple of instances. The wounds healed, but the legs of the suit had deep, irreparable slashes in them. And it was still minus twenty degrees. I had to bite my lip to avoid screaming in pain, and the cold wind made my tears freeze on my face. I closed my eyes. This was by far my least favourite mode of transport ever. The rush from the cars on all sides mixed with the "clang-clang" of Skarmory's feet made my ears hurt.
"I'll take care of the navigation", Mismagius said. "You know the way, I read your mind and tell Skarmory"
"Thaaa... AOUCH!", I said. My lips were almost frozen.
My vision had become quite blurry by the time we left the motorway. I felt my grip around Skarmory's neck was starting to loosen, and it didn't hurt as much when my fingers or legs were cut. My face felt all funny too.
"Stay awake!", Mismagius' voice hissed in my head.
"I'm cold", I tried to say, but no sound came.
"This might hurt a little...", Mismagius murmured. Suddenly, I felt a gentle poke in my back, and I felt a lot warmer and stronger. I sat up, and tightened my grip again.
"Didn't hurt the slightest", I thought happily.
"Not for you...", was the answer I got.

After another ten or so minutes, we were home. Skarmory walked up our driveway, making large footsteps in the snow. It stopped just before our front door, and I tried to climb off it. However, I realised that my suit had frozen stuck to Skarmory's back.
"Could somebody ring the doorbell?", I asked. Skarmory raised a foot, staying in perfect balance on the other. "On the other hand, no, don't", I said before Skarmory got the chance to kick in the door. "Mom and dad would freak out if..."
I was interrupted when the door swung open. Dad looked quite surprised when he saw me.
"You're back", he whispered, staring intently at me. This was probably because he tried to ignore the two meter tall steel bird I was sitting on.
"Could you help me off this? Go get mom's hair dryer, or I'll have to ride this thing in and get it myself"
I had to wait a few minutes before he came back. Meanwhile, I promised myself that I would never ride Skarmory again. Another (rather painful) ten minutes later, I could jump off it. I landed, but my legs couldn't carry me any more. I collapsed on the doorstep, and had to crawl in.
"Rob!", mom said as I came in. She sat in the living room, obviously waiting for me to come in instead of going out to meet me. I couldn't blame her, as Skarmory was quite intimidating. "You look terrible! What have you been up to? Have anybody hurt you?"
"No, I just have to practise my riding technique", I replied. My legs felt like they were on fire, even though they looked quite the opposite. Mom helped me get off the backpack, and climb up in the sofa.
"Your legs...", she said. "Those are some nasty frostbites you've got there. And your face... and your fingers... and your clothes look like they've been ran through a lawnmower!"
"I'll be fine", I said, mostly to comfort her. The skin on my legs, face and hands was all white and wax-like. It felt like the skin had hardened, but it wasn't frozen to the bone. "Find the berry pouch in my bag. It's in the smaller bag down there. Never mind the Poké Balls. Now... good, can I have one of those white round ones. No, the one with the markings"
Mom handed me the Aspear Berry, and I took a bite of it. It was extremely sour, but the frostbites didn't hurt as much any more. Another bite almost killed my taste buds, but I felt a lot better elsewhere. I tried to put my feet on the floor and stand up. It worked fine, though my legs still ached. I stumbled across the room and threw Lucario's Poké Ball down the stairs to the basement.
"Take this, and get Skarmory's Poké Ball", I mumbled and threw him my bag. "I need to take a bath"
Lucario nodded, and went off.
"Go get some rest", mom said. "You're exhausting yourself, those... things are not good for you"
"Rest? You bet", I replied, went up to my room, and collapsed on the bed.

[SuperFireKirby]

Just got caught up again. Very well done chapters(yet again). Can't wait for the next one.

[SirIngusBingus]

Hey, I miss this story. I think I'm about 10 chapters behind, though, so I'll have to catch up. Are you still writing it, Cobra?

[Cobraroll]

^I am. Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter up tomorrow. And dang, it's been a looong time since last update. I'll keep writing immediately!

[SuperFireKirby]

I think he said something about being in the military and that he won't be able to write anymore for a couple months. I thinks its in the random thoughts thread somewhere.