The auditorium wasn’t the only place where member meetings were held.
In a smaller hall above it, the Elite squadron was assembled, rather noisily and
messily, but assembled nonetheless. At the back, nearest the exit, sat three
familiar figures. One of them busied herself with arranging her golden hair into
its usual spiked pigtails, another fiddled impatiently with the peak of the
black cap she was wearing. Last of all, the member on the end of the row
sniggered as he repeatedly read a handwritten note on a crumpled piece of
paper.
“I adore your eyes, your smile, the
way you walk. Every time you speak I feel shivers run down my spine…heh heh.”
“What are you looking at, Butch?”
Cassidy asked, without looking up. “Sounds positively
revolting.”
“Got this shoved under the door
this mornin’. Addressed to me, supposedly from a secret admirer. With rather bad
spelling, I might add.”
“Who’d admire you?” Jessie muttered
under her breath. Cassidy grunted in amusement.
“You’re just jealous, Cass” Butch
smirked, and waved the paper tauntingly under her nose. Cassidy pushed it away.
“How could I be jealous of such
opinionated mush? Love is for losers - I would never demean myself like that.”
Someone coughed loudly at the far
end of the room. It was enough to catch the Elites’ attention. The atmosphere
quietened, and Bonnie, looking exceedingly flustered, stepped up to the podium.
“Giovanni issued a statement of some
concern following the disappearance of a CSBU from the medical bay earlier this
morning. He feels that someone in this
organisation may have used such a device to forge the basis of possibly mutinous
acts.”
One of the male Elites emitted a
highly sarcastic, dramatic scream, which caused some of the lesser inhibited to
chuckle amongst themselves.
“I’ll deal with you later, Aaron”
Bonnie growled through gritted teeth. “But first, duty
assignments. I want each and every one of you to keep your eyes and ears open.
You must discover who these traitors are, bring them to me, and fast, before
this gets out of hand. Then they can be dealt with as our leader sees fit.
Dismissed!”
“I bet it’s that snivelling
ex-partner of yours,” Butch remarked, as the trio left the hall amongst the
crowd of other Elites.
“No way. James hasn’t the guts to
try that sort of thing,” Jessie shook her head.
“But one of the other intermediates might,” Cassidy grinned. "Promotional favors, here I come."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
“Ok, so here is the gist of it,” Rose announced after half an hour of scribbling on a large sheet of paper. “The laboratory floor is the most extensive and highly-secured area in the TRHQ and to infiltrate it for any means shall prove very complicated. We only have one shot at this, so we have to get it right.
Kevin, you and Caley will get to the energy room in the laboratory and unlatch the generator."
"What?" Mondo protested, to which Kevin couldn't help but smirk.
"I will make a break for the weaponry and supplies levels to gather some vital equipment. Jenna and Denise will set off for the Pokémon containment unit and Errol...are you and James up to providing our distraction?”
"Cannon fodder is primed and ready!" the man responded unflinchingly. At this point, it was rather hard to tell whether his tone of voice was a joking one or not. Adam began to look somewhat anxious at this point.
"What about me?" he exclaimed. Rose paused, her finger hovering above the plan sheet that was on the desk. It seemed she hadn't assigned the youth any particular duties for the mission. Feeling a little put on the spot, Rose glanced to the others for ideas.
"Three's a crowd, mate," Kevin commented, rather unhelpfully. He didn't want Adam's pessimistic complaints and fidgeting when he was attempting to detach a generator.
"Don't worry, Kev. He can come with us," Jenna smiled. "We're going to need all the help possible to set the laboratory's Pokémon free."
"Planning's all well and good," Adam folded his arms. "But what are we going to do to combat the multitudes of drones that'll be sent to bring us down?"
"Oh that's easy," Rose smirked, turning and looking at Mondo. "We're going to exploit the Boss' financial corner-cutting."
"This doesn't involve plugging me into any more communication devices, does it?" Mondo bit his lip. Whether it did or not, the expression on Rose's face and the direction it was pointed in hardly meant good things were in store for him.
"Not at all," Rose chuckled. "We do need your psychic immunity traits, but for something less painful. You know how Coyna City is currently bathed in a thought-tailoring psychic field, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"The source of that psychic field is a powerful Hypno called Mindwipe," the woman said confidently. "I know, because it worked with a lot of talented operatives when it was still a Drowzee - two of those operatives happened to be Butch and Cassidy. Mondo, your job would be to enter the area where Mindwipe is connected to the field amplification unit. There you will reconfigure the unit's programming turn the psychic field in on the headquarters itself."
"That's nuts!" Adam blurted out. "How is that going to help?"
"Wouldn't making Team Rocket operatives think their HQ doesn't exist when they're in it be kinda redundant?" Jenna agreed.
"Not only that, wouldn't it effect us too?" James pointed out.
"All valid concerns," Rose responded calmly. "But I don't intend the wave to be of the thought-altering variety. I've studied psywave frequencies as part of my medical training, and with this information Mondo should hopefully be able to reconfigure the field amplification unit to make Mindwipe emit sleepwaves. By this time, we'll all be on the laboratory floor and therefore unaffected."
"How does being on the laboratory floor mean we'll be unaffected?" Caley blinked.
"Simple," Rose grinned. "The Boss secures only his most vital assets. Therefore, the laboratory and executive floors will have psywave blockers installed. The grunt accommodation levels, however, will not. It'll cut down on our opponent ratio, at least."
"Eitha way, dat's still a lot of Elites fer us t' tackle," Errol pondered. "And what if James toins Houndoom again?"
"That's what I'm hoping he'll do," Rose said. A gasp arose from her listeners. "It's a dangerous course of action but we're going to need his Pokemon form to keep the Elites' attentions away from other matters. Errol's job will be to make sure none of them capture James."
"And what if he doesn't become a Houndoom tonight?" Denise asked, the quietness in her voice dictating that she wasn't happy with subjecting James to such treatment.
"Then you'd better hope I find some real big guns in the weapons bay," Rose sighed. "Has everyone got the basic idea now?"
"Yeah, I'm going to be a running target," James whimpered.
"Be glad you'll be less aware than usual, then," Adam snorted in his direction. "This plan is messed up, but its not like staying here is better."
Errol suddenly glanced up, his face overtaken by seriousness. He was certain there was someone outside the room, eavesdropping upon the conversations of the group. But no one else appeared to have noticed this unwanted presence bar James and himself. James got to his feet without a word before crossing the floor, sending the others into unsteady mumbling.
Placing his hand upon the door, James wrenched it open to see Butch directly outside. James’ stern expression was exchanged for one of quiet sadness when he noticed one of the two women who were standing a short distance behind. Jessie held herself tightly in a bottled fury, now fully aware that it had been James who was responsible, even without realising, for tearing her hair and face to shreds.
"I knew it," Butch grinned, unperturbed that the intermediates had discovered he had been listening in on their planning. "You outcasts are up to something. Not only are you hiding the true identity of that mutant Houndoom, you're also planning to use the creature to cause mass damage while you take the Pokémon specimens and make a break for it!"
"As refreshing as it is to have the 'Failure Forum' as distanced from our quarters as possible, it does make it harder to keep them in line," Cassidy muttered, walking toward the door. "The Boss should think about bringing it a little closer to home, as it were." At this point, she leant dangerously close to James, a dark smile upon her face. "That's if any of you are left standing by the time he finds out you're the ones responsible for organizing mutinous acts!"
Before any of the other frowning Intermediates could open their mouths, James’ expression quickly changed yet again. Reaching forward, he grasped hold of Cassidy by the front of her shirt, pulled her into the room and pinned her against the wall beside the door, his eyes blazing an eerie shade of red.
"Who says he's going to find out?" he growled. Cassidy's next words caught in her throat - this outburst from a usually placid man had come as an unexpected reaction to her. Butch instinctively thrust his arms out to break James away from Cassidy while Errol and Rose ran over to try and do the same.
"James, no!" Denise called nervously. "Hurting her won't improve our situation!"
"You keep out of this!" James snarled, more to the figures surrounding him than anyone else. As he swung round to push Errol and Rose away, Cassidy fell sideways, suddenly released from James' grip. Scrambling to her feet, the woman shakily ran off down the corridor with Jessie in somewhat hesitant pursuit.
"You're going to regret doing that, pus wad," Butch sneered, though with a noticeable hint of fear in his voice as he dashed after his female companions. "There'll be nowhere for you flunkies to run when we put in a request to have you detained!"
"That's right!" James screeched after them. “Go running to the Boss, you bottom feeders! It's not like you can fight for yourselves!"
Suddenly, the man stepped back from the door in silence, a blank, confused expression upon his face. Then, without warning he crumpled onto the carpet. Denise, Rose and some of the other Intermediates ran to his aid. Kevin was sniggering at the look on Butch’s face as he had left, but the rest of the intermediates had their gazes fixed on James, who had been helped back into the chair, his face even paler and more shocked than before.
“What’s happening to me…I don’t
feel well…” he moaned. Denise put her hand to his forehead.
“His temperature feels really high,”
she exclaimed. “I think it’s the Pokémon DNA taking
a different effect,” Rose pointed out unhappily. “It’s modifying the severity of
his moods, possibly matching them to the Pokémon the DNA belongs to.”
“That would explain the sudden outburst of anger, Houndooms have a tendency to attack first and ask questions later,” Caley nodded.
“It was amazing!” Adam exclaimed, suitably impressed for once.
"But hardly the provocation we needed," Rose sighed. "Butch is right. There isn't anywhere we can go. All we can do is sit here and wait to be called in for questioning."
"And what about James?" Jenna spoke up worriedly. "They realise he's the Houndoom now. They know everything we'd planned to do!"
"Not everything," Rose smirked. "From what Butch said, it sounded like they only started eavesdropping halfway through our planning session. That means they have no idea of the job Mondo is assigned."
"And?" Mondo spoke up miserably. "How is that going to help when I'm going to be locked up with you guys?"
"A minor setback," Rose shrugged. "We're Rockets, aren't we? We'll figure a way round this."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
"Figured a way round it yet?" Kevin inquired, some time later. The occupants of the ICR, minus James, were all now tightly secured inside one of the many cells on the prison level, watching an amused looking guard pass them satisfied glances every time he walked by. Caley glanced anxiously at a clock he could see not too far away, his inner tension growing with every passing minute.
Upon being summoned, Caley had been quick to hide his satchel inside Adam's room. However, it would only be a matter of time before the leader of Team Rocket ordered a search to be carried out. Caley thought nothing of the possible consequences of his containment, he was only concerned as to the dwindling amount of time left in which to get back his possessions.
Adam was another matter entirely. He was fully aware as to the likely fate of himself and those incarcerated alongside him. The previous half an hour or so had been spelt wrenching helplessly at the handcuffs which bound his wrists and ankles, crying out piteously without regard for his dignity. Now he'd degenerated into a huddled mass in the corner of the cell, without even his Pokémon companion to offer a furry shoulder of comfort. Denise gazed at Adam with saddened eyes, longing to do something to allay the youth's well-founded panic. But she too was tightly secured with no room for movement beyond the bench on which she sat.
“You know, James wouldn’t be in dis situation now if dat Meowth he woiked with hadn’t left," Errol mumbled. Meowth...such a generic title that was. He had overheard references to the Pokémon before while listening to passing conversations in the ICR - Meowth had been one of James' two companions during his many years of active duty. A highly skilled creature, Meowth had not only been capable of human speech, but also had many other talents including lock picking, impersonation and piloting mechas.
"Rose said it was his sudden disappearance dat drove his friend Jessie mad," Errol continued, while Caley tilted his head to one side and offered the man a puzzled expression. "She started placing da blame on James, sayin' he'd been an idiot and broke da team up. Sure, he seemed like a bit of a klutz, but it couldn't have been his fault. I bet he was torn apart when dat Meowth left too. And when Jessie toined on him, it musta felt like da end."
"Being a test subject was the only other way for him to earn his keep," Rose nodded sadly. Caley shuddered as he thought over how what it must have been like. No doubt James must have felt so used - unlike a person anymore, just an object of experimentation.
"How could Meowth just leave them like that?" Jenna agreed sadly. "Without a word to say where he was going...and why.”
"All I can say is he musta been pretty self-centered," Errol snorted, leaning back and folding his arms. "I mean, he'd been partners wit' dose two fer what... six years?"
"Eight," Denise corrected in neutral tones.
"Even woise!" Errol spluttered. "Eight years...all dat effort to maintain a friendship, all da pain an' hard woik, poof!" The man threw his hands up in the air at this point. "Gone, like it meant nuttin'. If dat ain't selfish, I don't know what is."
"Sometimes Meowth was selfish, yes," Rose nodded slowly. "But I worry about what could have happened to him. Maybe he fell victim to the same crazy experiments that James did."
"I sure hope not," Errol bit his lip. Even a selfish figure didn't deserve that kind of retribution. "But it hurts ta t'ink James would still be happy if dat Meowth was here. Dat loyal trio, da way dey used ta be.”
“What, a bunch of losers?” Adam remarked coldly. Errol flashed him a vicious glare, but the adolescent hadn't finished his cruel recital yet.
“Listen,
they never caught any decent Pokémon. They racked up bills of millions by
destroying a mountain of Team Rocket equipment. Plus they showed up the
organisation in every worst possible way.”
“If I weren't handcuffed, I’d come over an' t'ump some sense into youse,” Errol seethed. While the others shuffled uncomfortably, Caley couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. For a man relatively unconnected to James and his ex-companions, Errol seemed unusually passionate with regards to their wellbeing.
“Well
you can’t, so there,” Adam continued. “Anyway...life here, always under the
command of that pompous old man like a bunch of good little Growlithes, it ain't
right. It’s not living, it’s just serving! We’re just a bunch of slaves to him!
And if those three had stayed together, what's to say they wouldn't have
continued serving the Boss and living in their own little dream land until it
was too late?”
Errol calmed down slightly. “Ya right. Fer a smart-mouthed, disrespectful little kid, ya quite sharp.”
Adam raised his eyebrows, then returned to staring at the wall.
“Not that such information is any use now," Kevin muttered. "So long as we're
locked up like this, we're still just a 'bunch
of slaves'.”
I can help with that.
The figures within the cell looked up in surprise to see a small, semitransparent feline shape hovering in front of them, its lengthy yellow-tipped whiskers waving gently. At first, most of those watching thought they were caught in some fanciful hallucination - if not for the whiskers and unusual star-shaped head crest, the Pokémon would have looked like Mew. Caley was the first to react, certain that what he saw was no vision.
“Cew! What are you doing here?," he asked in lowered tones. "I thought you'd gone to find Teiresias."
I did find Teiresias, Cew replied. And now he's on his way back to Tatto to speak with you. I would have transported him myself but...my power does not extend that far. I must acquire a potent source of energy if I am to complete what I must do. The location of my birth seemed the best place to find such a thing; that is why I am here.
"This place is the location of your birth?" Caley spluttered. "So Team Rocket created you too?"
Before Cew could answer, Denise's eyes widened dramatically in realisation. She waited for the guard to pass out of earshot once again before continuing her revelation.
"I can see it now," she spoke up. "It was hard to tell at first, being semi-invisible and all, but yeah...this is the escaped enhanced Pokémon subject M1NACH1. Code name - Minachi."
"Minachi..." Caley murmured. "So you were the creature those executives had been trying so hard to find."
"But why did you call it 'Cew'?" Jenna looked at the trainer with a puzzled expression. "Have you two met before?"
Before Caley could answer, Cew made a motion to interrupt, a saddened expression upon its blue furred face.
I'm sorry, it responded. Our time is short, you must finish what you set out to do. And I...must go and complete Teiresias' request.
"What did he want you to do?" the trainer exclaimed. But Cew had already raised its arms as it began to glow. The jewel in the choker around its neck contributed to the faint aura which surrounded the group and swallowed them into the air in a white flicker. Seconds later, the figures found themselves standing in an empty corridor, slightly bewildered and without Cew's accompaniment.
"Whoa..." Kevin blinked. "What happened?"
"By the looks of things, Minachi used Teleport," Rose explained. "And a fairly powerful one, too - we seem to be in Sector 7, right where we need to be. Anyone got the time?"
"Judgin' by da position of da moon, I make it about 9:30," Errol remarked, gazing through one of the windows at the night sky.
"Right, then there's no time to lose," Rose acknowledged. "Mondo, head upstairs - that's where you'll find what you're looking for. Everyone else, come with me. We'll all have to gather a bit of 'persuasion' before we try rescuing James."
"But what if I redirect the psywave shield before you manage to get to the laboratory?" Mondo spluttered.
"It's a risk you'll have to take," Rose said forcefully as an alarm sounded in the corridor. "If it comes to the crunch, you may well have to come find us and keep us awake. With any luck, this plan still might work."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
As his consciousness was slowly forced back into him, James uttered a low moan and tried to put a hand to his head. This motion proved to be impossible, for his arms were strapped tightly to the cold, hard platform upon which he lay. James tried to work out what had just happened - last thing he remembered was a group of Team Rocket grunts with face masks bursting through the doors of the Intermediate Common Room in a cloud of Sleep Powder. Now here he was, flat on his back and struggling to get his eyes to focus on his surroundings.
"This is most intriguing," a calm, dark voice was heard from somewhere to the right. James could barely make out what the man was saying for it appeared to be partially muffled by unknown means. No sooner had his eyes adjusted to the light, James realised he was inside a long cylindrical tank used primarily for specimen examination. Outside the tube, a scientist with sleek russet hair paced back and forth with a thoughtful expression. James flinched, recognizing the figure as none other than Professor Hereford, the man whose demented theories he'd been subjected to for the past few weeks.
"So my cell alteration formula was successful," Hereford continued. Apparently the scientist was talking to himself, paying no attention to the fact his victim of experimentation had re-awakened. "Almost successful. The Boss would hardly be satisfied with my DNA tailoring efforts if they are not everlasting. And of course there are...new things to be tried once your Pokémon transformation is permanent."
James uttered a squeak, feeling his pulse beginning to race as Professor Hereford picked up a vial of blue substance from the counter and began inserting it into a dart gun-type device designed for the administration of such things.
"No! No more testing!" he found himself yelling from his reinforced prison as the scientist approached. "I don't want to be a part of this madness any more!"
"Oh, you thought this was still a matter of choice?" Professor Hereford chuckled cruelly. "I'm sorry, James. Your voluntary status expired as soon as your cell structure started showing signs of progress."
"I don't care!" James shouted. The fear and panic in his voice had suddenly vanished, only to be replaced by the same carnal tones that had entered into his manner of speech upon intercepting Cassidy. "No one is treating me like dirt any more!
This
stops
NOW!"
With a jolt the man convulsed, his waist thrown upwards like some invisible force was trying to pull him from the platform. From outside the examination chamber, Professor Hereford looked up in shock as the consoles monitoring James' progress began to beep and flash unsettlingly.
“It’s that…pain…again…” James gasped harshly, red bloodshot eyes wide with terror. “It…it……NO! Make it stop! This isn’t faiiir!”
Other scientists were quick to run to the scene, watching in awe and disgust as James writhed in agony under the unheeding grasp of his mutation. It was a horrifying sight, like a creature had crawled inside the man's body and was trying to escape by any means possible. His darkening skin seemed to crawl and bubble like molten plastic, his hair crackled with the force of some invisible unknown energy.
"This is incredible!" Enfys marvelled at the readings from one of the consoles. "You've actually managed to convince this subject's cells to assume an alternate configuration, Hereford. I'm seriously impressed!"
"I take back what I said about you being a crackpot," Mito nodded, as long, thick horns sprouted from the back of James' partially-furred head. "You're a genius! The Boss is going to eat this stuff up."
"Project Rebirth may well enter its next stage sooner than we think," Itzal grinned. "So Hereford, how'd you manage to make the transformation permanent?"
"I didn't..." Professor Hereford responded worriedly. "I hadn't even got a chance to administer the experimental stabilising formula yet."
"So this happened of its own accord?" Enfys murmured, watching the form in front of them twisting in the final stages of its awful metamorphosis. Hereford nodded.
"I wasn't expecting such a thing to occur," he stammered. The other scientists flinched in realisation, eyes wide. In Professor Hereford's rush to complete his work, he hadn't taken into account the possibility of James returning to Pokémon form without scientific provocation. As a result, the chamber Hereford's test subject was enclosed within was not designed to contain a Houndoom, much less a highly-infuriated one.
Itzal screamed as a
blast of flame tore through the lid of the examination chamber in front of him and charred the
laboratory ceiling. Out through the hole leapt a dark canine Pokémon,
snarling and foaming at the mouth. Before
any of the scientists had a
chance to think about subduing the creature, it had thrust itself at Hereford in
a flurry of claws and teeth.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
“Wow Rose! You’ve hit the jackpot!” Jenna exclaimed in astonishment, as the group of Intermediates and their more abstract companions stood admiring the shelves upon shelves of weaponry and ammunition.
"Hey, give credit where its due, Jen," Kevin reminded her lightly. "I hacked this joint."
“And there isn't much time to take advantage,” Rose reminded them.
“Mondo will have that shield inverted soon enough, so gather the most powerful
equipment you can find, ok?”
“Got it,” Caley nodded, and disappeared into the depths of the storeroom with Adam and Denise in hot pursuit. The trainer couldn't help but stare at the odd, fantastical but undoubtedly dangerous devices strapped to the walls. He'd only just been allowed to use the power tools unsupervised at home and now this! Whomever ran this organization had to be rolling in cash, for many of the weapons looked as if they had come straight out of one of the many science fiction shows he'd watch on television as a child.
Caley paused as he picked up on an odd sound in the semi-darkness behind him. Turning around, he momentarily looked his two companions up and down before realising which one the sound had come from.
“Was
that you, Denise?” the trainer whispered, before turning back to examining the
weapons array.
“Uhm…” Denise looked down embarrassedly. She desperately wished her teeth would stop chattering but she couldn’t make them. It was a reflex.
“You’re
not…scared of the dark, are you?” Adam asked. Denise detected a hint of
amusement in his voice. She frowned.
“No…just
a little anxious that something’s going to go wrong.”
“It's
okay," Caley tried to sound as calming as possible. "Everyone's scared of
something...”
“Ah-kwa?”
The trainer yelped, turned his head in alarm to see where the noise had come from and ended up walking into a nearby pillar. Denise couldn't help snickering at this.
“Sorry,”
"Rilly?" Caley blinked, re-adjusting his cap. "So you named it now?"
"I named him, yes," Denise folded her arms. "It's rather impersonal to be going around calling a Pokémon by its specie name, after all."
"Very true," Caley nodded "I named my Pokémon too."
“You have Pokémon?" Denise exclaimed, before correcting herself. "Oh, of course you would, you're a trainer. How silly of me." She giggled awkwardly before taking something from one of the wall hooks. "What are they?"
"A Psybab named 'Kota' and a Pedien called 'Stian'," Caley told her. "I'd left them in their Pokéballs in my bag for safekeeping. I only hope they'll be there with the rest of my stuff when I get a chance to retrieve it from Adam's room."
"You mean you left them in there?" Denise exclaimed, almost angrily. "How do you expect to reach Adam's room in time to get your bag back without being discovered?"
"It was my only other option to having them confiscated!" Caley protested, trying to keep his voice down. Denise sighed - the trainer had a point, but despite this, he'd put himself in a rather precarious position. Undoubtedly his satchel contained something with his trainer ID, and if that was discovered...
From a short distance away, Errol raised his eyebrows as he also put two and two together. Someone needed to retrieve Caley's bag before Mondo activated the psywave field upon the HQ - preferably someone fast, silent and with a good knowledge of where everything was in the building.
Errol rolled his eyes as he slipped from the room. Looks like he'd just volunteered himself.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Several floors below the Intermediates, two familiar Elite operatives stood surveying the empty cell complete with its equally-empty handcuffs that had once held their mutinous counterparts.
"They were in there a few minutes ago!" the prison guard insisted. "Complaining amongst themselves about something, then the next minute they've vanished into thin air!"
"Residual energy traces are here," Cassidy informed them both simply, passing a handheld aura scanner back and forth. "The kind of thing usually found after something has successfully attempted teleportation."
"This is impossible!" Butch snapped. "You confiscated their Pokémon, didn't you?"
"Well sure I did!" the prison guard nodded furiously, trying not to crumple under Butch's fearsome glare. "They had nothing that could have broken them out of there."
"They might have had nothing," Cassidy remarked. "But what's to say something didn't come in and help them from outside?"
"Status report!" Butch barked into his communicator.
"There's been a breach in sector 8," another Elite relayed from the other end. "I'm taking some men to go investigate - we're almost certain its the traitors you're looking for."
"The weapons bay!" Cassidy and Butch exclaimed in unison, before the former grabbed the communicator.
"I want grunts stationed at each end of sectors 7, 8 and 9," she ordered. "We must recapture them before they reach their destination."
"And keep yer wits about you," Butch added. "Have your Pokémon on high alert - they'll be packing some heavy artillery."
"What about the escaped Houndoom running about the laboratory block?" the Elite asked.
"That's not our current concern!" Cassidy snapped.
"Get another operative onto it, we have a mutiny to stop!"
As the duo turned to make their way towards the exit, Jessie staggered into the doorway to meet them. Her uniform was rumpled and her hat was on crooked, barely keeping a grasp on the remains of her hair, but most noticeable was the bewildered expression upon her scarred face.
"What the hell is going on?" she spluttered. Cassidy didn't reply, instead storming right past Jessie and out into the corridor.
"Clueless and late again, as usual," Butch shook his head, causing Jessie to growl and grit her teeth at him. "Your misfit 'buddies' have somehow managed to teleport out of their jail cell and get to sector 8 in the space of five minutes. If you don't slow us down, we may well be able to intercept them before they get anywhere near the laboratory."
In fact, the trio of Elites reached their intended floor just in time to catch
Rose, Jenna, Kevin, Caley, Denise and Adam clashing vigorously with the drones
that had been sent to stop them. The glow from the moon that shone through the
corridor's side windows reflected from the tips of the massive laser cannons
strapped to the shoulders of two of the group members.
“No…”
Butch’s mouth dropped open.
“You’ve got the P5-70s!”
“That’s
right, Politurd!” Kevin grinned.
“And if you know what's good for ya, you'll let us get on with our business!”
“Never!" Cassidy screeched, before waving angrily at the unsettled-looking figures clad in navy blue uniforms that were filling the corridor. "Stop them! I don't care how, just do it!”
As the grunts and their Pokémon ran forward, Rose and Kevin stood back to back and fired off a round of white-hot energy at their attackers' feet. It was enough to spook some of the figures who saw sense and dashed off towards the nearest exit. Those who didn’t have the sense to escape found themselves on the wrong end of a powerful blast of air that threw them backwards across the tiles.
"Cool," Adam smirked, shouldering the device he'd just set off. He didn't feel so bad about the oldest members of the group getting the laser cannons now.
“Come back here, you useless lot!” Butch yelled after the escaping figures, shaking his fists. While attentions were diverted, Rose glanced over her shoulder at those standing behind.
"I'll hold these guys off, you lot continue as planned," she instructed. "The cargo elevator is the quickest way to reach the lab level, you'll find it at the end of this corridor!"
The others looked at Rose reluctantly while Denise wore a surprised and somewhat admiring expression at the woman's self-sacrificing attitude. Then they ran headlong into the remaining drones, Adam firing off further air blasts to clear a path while Caley took a deep breath and tried to remember what he was involved in all this heedlessness for.
"After them!" Cassidy shouted at a few of the drones who had stayed around in case the trio wanted backup. "We can take care of this one." She swung round to face Rose, an expression of furious defeat playing upon her face which soon changed to a crafty smirk.
“You’d better not be thinking of trying any of those mind tactics on me, Cassidy,” Rose said cooly. "This P5-70 is primed and I'm not moving an inch."
"And what are you intending to do with it, huh?" Cassidy raised an eyebrow while Butch gave Rose a cynical stare. "You're hardly the type to fire on your friends."
"You're right..." Rose's eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid to exercise my conscience. But you're not my friends!"
"We might not be," Butch shrugged, none the insulted for the exclamation. "But I think yer forgetting someone else who joined our team recently." She reached to her left and roughly pulled the cap from Jessie's head, letting what remained of her magenta hair to spill down the sides of her face. Rose flinched in response - the cap had managed to obscure Jessie's identity in the heat of the moment, but now Rose was faced with the countenance of someone she held a multitude of conflicting feelings about. Jessie was the closest thing to a sister that she'd ever had - even now, with all the anger that burned over how the woman had treated James, Rose still longed to patch up the kinship she and Jessie had once shared.
"Now you be a good girl and let us get on with our business," Cassidy cooed patronizingly. Rose lowered the cannon slowly with a heavy sigh. With Jessie in the picture, she was at a loose end. Jessie simply looked on with astonishment, and noticeable guilt. Now was her chance to take Rose's side and end this madness once and for all. But would Rose honestly be willing to forgive her so quickly for all her mess ups? Jessie hadn't even managed to forgive herself for them yet! And what if she were to lash out again?
Jessie contracted a yawn as the device on Cassidy's belt began to beep loudly. The woman glanced down at it in shock - the display was showing a massive rise in psychic activity in the surrounding area.
"What's going on?" Butch looked slightly panicked as his eyelids rapidly grew heavy. Rose took the chance and ran past them back toward the staircase - Mondo had managed to invert Mindwipe's psywaves and it was only a matter of time before everyone, including her, fell asleep. She had to position herself somewhere Mondo could easily discover her. She had to...
***~~***~~***~***~***
Unaware of Mondo's successes, the fleeing remainder of the group ran aimlessly through the laboratory, knocking glass containers and files of paper from the shelves either side into the path of the relentlessly-pursuing drones who had also managed to evade an untimely rest. Kevin was forced to discard the P5-70 he had been carrying upon entering the elevator as it had been too large to cram inside. Now he and the others were relatively defenceless, with only Adam's Airzooka offering fair resistance. They were in dire need of something to further distraction and it was quick to come, in the form of James in Houndoom shape being chased by Errol wielding a capture net.
"Hey! That's my satchel!" Caley exclaimed happily, seeing the article slung
across the man's shoulders. Noting the new presences, the Houndoom whipped its
back legs to one side and upended a tall metal shelf behind it in the hopes of
deterring them. While the drones scattered in all directions, Errol crouched low
without breaking stride and leapt swiftly over the mess before landing neatly
and continuing his chase.
“Whoa,”
Adam exclaimed, as he watched Errol sprint after the Houndoom's receding figure,
showing barely any signs of effort.
“How’d he do that?”
“Mustn’t lose…sight…” Errol muttered, trying to aim the barrel of the capture gun at the Pokémon’s flank while he continued to chase. The jolting of his shoulders made it difficult to keep a lock on his target as it darted from side to side in front of him.
"I'm pretty sure you'll find that generator you're looking for...in the east wing of the laboratory," Denise panted in Caley and Kevin's direction. "Jenna, Adam and I need to head west...toward the Pokemon Containment Department.
With any luck...there'll also be something down here that can get us out of this awful place."
The
Houndoom continued to canter between the rows of machinery and computer
terminals, grating its fangs together and letting out little tongues of flame
with each breath. From out of nowhere, a different cluster of Team Rocket
minions appeared in the aisle. It seemed these ones had been sent to the lab
specifically to intercept the Houndoom - however they hadn't been expecting it
to be standing in plain sight just at that moment. The drones' first instinct
was to run screaming in the
opposite direction as the dark Pokémon unleashed a blinding blast of fire at
them, most
of which seared a large computer terminal, causing it to burst
into flames.
As the Houndoom dashed by, one woman ordered her Swampert to block the canine's
charge with a full on tackle. It was enough to stun the Houndoom momentarily,
giving the other drones the chance they needed to muzzle the Pokemon with one of
their laser tethers and surround it to prevent escape.
Errol stopped dead in his tracks as some of the drones broke away
from the circle and took to pointing their weapons at him.
“Not too clever, are we?” one of the drones sneered, lifting his tether so it prodded Errol in the chin while another snatched the capture gun from him. He replied with nothing but a low growl. The Houndoom's gaze darted this way and that, taking in the ring of vicious expressions as its red eyes flared angrily.
"Looks like someone's got a bit of cargo," another drone smirked, reaching for the satchel on Errol's back. "How's about we take a look here?"
"No!" Errol cried, ducking suddenly and swinging his leg across the ankles of the approaching figure. As they fell flat upon their back, Errol stood up again, knocking one man's weapon from his grip with one hand while clenching the other into a ball and thrusting it into the stomach of a minion standing on the opposite side. Snatching both tethers from the floor, Errol wasted no time in jabbing them into the backs of the drones surrounding the Houndoom nearest him, wracking their bodies with electricity. With this temporary distraction, the Houndoom stole its chance and leapt from the scene, bowling further drones over in the process.
"It ain't polite ta take t'ings dat don't belong ta youse," Errol smirked cheekily over his shoulder, as he swiftly left the scene. Caley had been such an unexpected source of hope to the man, the least he could do was preserve the trainer's property.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Mondo descended the staircase triumphantly, stepping around the bodies of sleeping drones that had been running up to prevent his efforts. The psywave shield had been inverted successfully with some laborious reprogramming, but for how long... he wasn't sure. It was time to act, and the young man knew where his first port of call would be.
Prison Level, Confiscated Articles Room, he nodded to himself. Pokémon that were sorely missed were being held there. It would mean descending a lot of stairs, but Mondo was none too concerned - after all, he was quite adept at 'banister surfing'.
Before he was able to carry out such a thing, however, Mondo tripped over the arm of a figure sprawled right across the stairwell and toppled flat on his face. Standing up in annoyance, the young man's jaw dropped open as he realised just whom the figure happened to be.
"Rose!" he gasped, gathering the woman up in his arms. There was no point in trying to wake her, for the psywaves were far too strong - Mondo would have to do the next best thing and carry her to a psywave free zone.
It looked like getting to the Prison Level was going to take somewhat longer than he'd hoped.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
“Wow…”
Denise, Jenna and Adam stood in awe as the violet aura of the Pokémon Containment Department danced about them, lighting up every cage and piece of equipment in its path. Agitated sounds of all descriptions could be heard from test subjects there - sensing a Pokémon running loose in another part of the laboratory, they longed to be free also.
"There seems to be one of everything in here!" Jenna marvelled, looking from cage to cage. "At least if its in its second or third stage of evolution."
"Sure is a lot of Pokémon," Denise looked uncomfortable. "And I don't want to leave any behind. But we certainly can't transport them all in Pokéballs either - there's just too many."
"Let's start with looking for the one Caley mentioned first, alright?" Adam insisted. "You two can figure out who goes in what ball after that."
Denise and Jenna nodded and continued to wander through the department. As their search progressed deeper, the Pokémon subjects surrounding them grew more bizarre and the containers holding them became tougher. Adam found himself drawn to a particularly reinforced steel cylinder with just one tiny window to gaze through. Upon looking inside, the youth's eyes were met with a churning ultramarine and violet cloud.
"Is that a Pokémon?" he pondered, more to himself than anyone else. He then noticed the round green eyes of a small, long-eared purple creature were trained intently on him. "What are you looking at?"
"Hey, guys..." Jenna called from somewhere else in the room. "I think I've found what Caley was after!"
Sure enough, when Adam and Denise joined their olive-haired counterpart they found themselves gazing upon a most rare sight. Huddled in the corner of its cage was a light blue coloured creature bearing resemblance to a more elongated Blissey, with lengthier arms and legs and upward-pointing head 'feathers'.
"That's a Uvium, right?" Jenna inquired. "I've only seen 'em in pictures, so I wasn't entirely sure."
"Nope, that's the one!" Denise grinned. "Now all we need to do is find where they keep the Rocket Balls around here."
"And open these cages, of course," Adam reminded them. "Can't exactly recall any Pokémon through gla-
...aa..aaaa..aaaaaa..."
The adolescent's final word got stuck in his throat as he noticed a large, dark horned shape poised in the entrance to the Pokémon containment department a short distance away. It appeared the Pokémon had noticed him too, as upon eye contact it uttered a gut-churning howl and leapt forward, unleashing a flamethrower at the trio.
"MOVE!" Jenna yelled, shoving Adam to the side as the burst of red and orange flame shot overhead. While many of the cages' occupants were thrown into an excited flurry at this assault, the Uvium in the nearest container frantically struggled to his feet, pounding on the reinforced panels and crying out for the Houndoom to stop. But it wasn't about to listen. Denise screamed as another flamethrower coursed past, smothering the control unit that had been keeping every cage securely in check.
Warning. Master lock has been overridden, the computer informed unhelpfully, as the doors to every Pokémon container swung open. The creatures within took no time about making their next decision, streaming across the floor and through the air in their reckless attempts to escape.
"No...no!" Denise spluttered, watching the enhanced subjects vanish from sight. "This wasn't what was meant to happen!" She went to run after the Pokémon in some dwindling hope of recapturing them, only to have her path blocked by the Houndoom who snarled ferociously. Leaning back a little on its hind legs, the canine uttered another howl, somewhat different from the previous one. Several Pokémon broke away from the retreating crowd and joined the Houndoom in its fearsome standoff.
"Wh-what's happening?" Adam whimpered, taking a step back.
"I think it's using Beat Up," Jenna explained. "Looks like it wants to finish us off!"
"Why, James?" Denise looked quite upset. "We only want to help you!"
"He can't see that now, Neesee," Jenna reminded her. "The Houndoom instinct has probably taken over everything, even memories of his friends..."
"But I don't want to fight him!" Denise protested. At this moment, a Drapion thrust itself from the group, claws outstretched. Instead of making contact, however, it rebounded from a semi-transparent wall and fell upon its back. Glancing round in surprise, the trio uttered a sigh of relief to see the Uvium standing behind them, arms raised and eyes glowing faintly.
"Awesome Barrier, there," Denise exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"
"Yu-veh," the Pokemon smiled, before motioning for the girl and her two companions to make their getaway. A Feraligator and Granbull were next to attack, each receiving a dose of Uvium's Smellingsalt ability and stumbling off soon afterward, rather bewildered.
"He's got it covered!" Jenna cried, running for the other exit with Adam close behind. Denise cast a worried glance over her shoulder as she followed.
"But what about returning him to his trainer?"
"He's defending himself against six high level Pokémon!" Jenna insisted above the increasing wail of the laboratory alarms. "I'm sure he'll be able to return himself to his trainer! Now let's focus on finding the others and getting ourselves out of here."
Denise nodded. They'd drawn more than enough attention to themselves already.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
The laboratory was ablaze - angry flames spreading with ferocity to consume the surrounding machinery and paperwork. The drones ran about in anguish, totally forgetting the reason why they had come down here in the first place, jabbering about their own punishments if the fire wasn't brought under control and the enhanced Pokemon specmiens recaptured. Amongst the commotion and madness, Mondo and Rose dashed by in the hopes of being reunited with their Intermediate companions. However, the one they were about to be reunited with wasn't exactly the one they were hoping for.
Mondo suddenly uttered a terrible scream as a raging black comet made impact with him and began tearing at his hair and uniform with its claws and teeth. It moved so fast that both its and Mondo's fighting bodies became a blur, punctuated by yells, growls and bits of flying fabric. Rose uttered a cry of alarm and grabbed the nearest thing she could find, a coat stand, and smashed it across the Houndoom's back. The dark canine paused before lifting its muzzle from the battered, shaking form of Mondo and glaring at Rose with its merciless red eyes. The woman bit her lip and slowly began to back away - the expression on the Pokémon’s face gave her the impression that attack was imminent, and escape was impossible.
A powerful leap sent the Houndoom flying towards Rose who crouched protectively with her arms in front of her face, bracing herself for the pain. But instead there was heard a strangled yelp, followed by the noise of a body hitting hard ground. Rose lifted her arms to see the Houndoom, lying splayed out upon the tiles with its eyes shut.
"Sorry, James," Mondo sniffed as he put down the laser tether he'd snatched up and used on the Pokémon. "Ambushing me is one thing, but I'm not about to let you hurt a lady."
“Why thank you, Mondo,” Rose sweatdropped, gathering a lab coat from where it had been thrown from the now-broken coat stand.
“Bet
you thought you were gonna be a dog’s dinner, eh?”
“This is no time for jokes, let's get James out of here.”
***~~***~~***~***~***
Kevin
wrenched open a panel on the terminal just as the floor began to shake
unnervingly. It had taken several minutes to work out the whereabouts of the
WaveOne generator, by which time they'd found it wired and clamped into the much
larger frame of what appeared to be a massive turbine of some sort. However, due
to the destructive rampages of both James and the escaped Pokémon, several monitors on
surrounding equipment were already flashing
warning signs and Caley was certain he could smell the pungent fumes of
charring metal and circuitry.
“There must be
something to release this blasted generator somewhere,”
"Hot?" the trainer spluttered. "That isn't good! You've gotta get that generator out, and fast!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do, you-!" Kevin snapped, only to be cut off by a Shadow Ball that grazed the top of his head and spattered into nothingness on the opposite wall.
“Caught
you in the act, mutinous scum!” came a victorious cry. Caley glanced up in
shock, his stomach practically somersaulting inside him at the familiarity of
the voice.
“You must be pretty dumb to think that there wasn’t such thing as ‘backup’ in this organisation,” Tara sneered. “And fancy attempting this by yourselves. Weren’t you smart enough to bring your accomplices? Or were they all too cowardly to help you?”
"You're a fine one to talk," Kevin smirked. "You brought adult supervision."
"I'll have you know I only had Narca wake him up so he could put a good word for me with the Boss when I finally bring you into custody," Tara replied precociously. "My more suitable Elite commander is already putting his leadership skills to good use in bringing everything under control. So you two had better give yourselves up. Your attempts are futile."
Caley’s eyes darted this way and that. He had to think of a way out of this. Why wasn’t Mondo and Rose back yet? And where on earth had Errol got to? Surely the man hadn't abandoned them. Either way, with an enhanced Pokémon at her side, Tara was not to be argued with. Kevin released the screwdriver he had clasped in his gloved hand and it clattered harmlessly onto the tiles.
"Good boy," Tara smiled nastily before glancing at Butch. "Now you, find something to tie up these traitors with."
"You really 'ave some nerve," Butch growled, finally at the end of his rope. It was bad enough having been roughly woken by a jolt of dark energy to the mind, but to be ordered around by a child less than half his age just took the biscuit. If it wasn't for the fact Tara had taken his Radeu and Noxitar...
Butch screeched, leaping a good height into the air before collapsing to the ground, shuddering and making unusual noises. Tara glanced at him with a puzzled yet distasteful expression - this expression soon altered when she discovered a chemical-carrying dart buried firmly into his rear.
"Jus' a little somet'ing I picked up on my way ova here," Errol grinned, correcting the barrel of the gun he was holding so that it aimed towards Tara. "An' dere's more where dat came from. So unless ya wish ta become an involuntary test subject like ol' Butchy dere, youse better scram. Ya Pokemon too."
"You wouldn't dare..." Tara's eyes narrowed, though Errol could detect more than a hint of hesitancy in her voice. Narca was frozen to the spot - her heightened senses picked up something unusual about the man holding them hostage, and that in itself was making her question whether to see if her Agility would be better than Errol's. Feeling unprotected by her Pokémon, Tara made a break for it with Narca in hot pursuit.
"You're not going to get away with this!" she cried over her shoulder.
"Thanks, Errol, "Kevin grinned, picking up his screwdriver from the tiles and returning to work. Caley looked somewhat worriedly at Butch who appeared to have passed out under the effects of the dart.
"What was that stuff you fired at him anyway?" the trainer asked.
"Beats me," Errol shrugged. "Whatever it was did da trick though, got'cha a few extra minutes."
"It's all I needed," Kevin replied triumphantly, as the last catch came undone. "Now you guys help me lift this thing outta here."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Rose and Mondo ran, the body of the
unconscious Houndoom held between them. It wasn't long before the creature in
their hands began to twist as it reverted back to its original form. The two
figures skidded to a halt and hurriedly placed the Pokémon upon the floor, just
before the major changes set in. Mondo looked back the way they had come, at the
smoke, the flames and the atmosphere of utter panic.
“This place could blow if they can't
put out those fires,” he remarked, turning round again to see Rose propping the
human James’ body, now dressed in the lab coat, against her shoulder. His skin
was very pale and he was still out cold. “What's our next plan of action?”
“Well…we need a way out,
preferably in something with wheels,” Rose replied. “But the problem is
the transport bay is on ground level, two floors above us, and with all the ruckus
down here there’s bound
to be an alert up there too. We can’t risk it.”
Almost on cue, Errol ran towards them waving his arms.
“Youse guys jus' gotta follow me!" Errol cried excitedly. "Caley an' Kev found a great bit of kit in da northeast wing dat we can use ta bust ourselves an' da generator outta here!”
"That's awesome!" Mondo exclaimed happily, but Rose looked despondent.
“I can’t go
just yet," she insisted. "Denise, Jenna and Adam are still out there. I need to find them.” She looked
from James upon her shoulder to Errol with a pleading expression, and
he sighed.
“Fine, I’ll take him. You go find da
others. An’ listen. If you hafta leave wit'out me, den do so. I can take care of
myself.”
Rose nodded thankfully and heaved
James onto Errol’s shoulders.
“Don’
worry Jimmy,” Errol told the figure, unsure as to why calling the man that felt
so natural to him.
“Dis
will be over soon, den we can all forget about Team Rocket an’ it’s usin’,
manipulative ways forever.”
Dodging the shards of falling ceiling tiles and laboratory equipment, Errol and Mondo arrived at their destination to find Kevin busy strapping the WaveOne generator into the cargo shelf of a large hovercraft. Caley sat stiffly in the front seat, hands grasping at the dashboard so tightly it looked as if his fingers might break off at the knuckle.
“Where
are the others?” he spluttered in panic above the incessant wailing of the alarms.
“Rose has gone to find them,” Mondo replied, leaping into the back of the hovercraft. “And she’d better hurry, cause this place won’t hold together for long.” He noted Kevin's efforts on securing the generator and offered out a hand to help, only to be pushed away.
“Hey I'm a technician too, you know," Mondo grumbled. "Can't I even suggest how you could improve that binding?"
"Do I tell you how to go about your work?" Kevin spoke up rudely, while Errol propped James carefully in the back seat.
"Often," Mondo rolled his eyes, but decided to give up and turn to face the
front of the vehicle. "Well who's going to drive this thing? I sure can't do it
- I may have driven motorised vehicles in the past but this kinda thing is way
outta my league.”
Errol
sat down in the drivers seat before raising his finger and ponderously pushing a
few of the buttons on the dashboard in front of him. The engine hummed into
action and the hovercraft began to vibrate unsteadily.
“What are you doing?” Kevin, Caley and Mondo cried out in unison, eyes wide with fear.
"We don't have time ta waste sittin' around waitin' for da uddas," Errol replied sternly. "I'm gonna go find 'em."
"But Errol, have you ever driven anything like this before?" Caley squeaked.
"I t'ink so..." the man shrugged, before jamming his foot down hard on the pedal he assumed to be the accelerator. The hovercraft lurched forward, out of the parking bay and into the laboratory. Between the crumbling walls it sped, with Caley, Kevin and Mondo hanging on for dear life - while the lattermost of these tried to prevent James' unconscious body from flying out of the vehicle as it jolted from side to side.
“Hey, dis ain't so hard," Errol grinned to himself. Any remaining drones or scientists he'd encountered had shown enough sense to leap out of the path of the oncoming transport. Just a short distance away, Denise gulped as the massive bulk of the hovercraft and its passengers rumbled swiftly toward them. Rose pushed Adam and Denise aside and leapt for cover alongside Jenna as the hovercraft shot past in a stream of dust and smoke.
"Sorry!" Errol yelled. "Haven't got da hang of driving dis t'ing yet, I'm comin' back!"
“This is our chance! We’ve got to time our jump,” Rose focused her attentions on the approaching vehicle.
“Get ready…”
Just as the hovercraft passed, Rose, Denise, Adam and Jenna took a leap, landing on the back bumper. The resulting jolt was enough to shunt the nose of the hovercraft upwards, pitching Caley (who had forgotten in all the excitement to strap himself in) out of his seat and onto the cracked tiles below.
"Caley!" Denise yelled exasperatedly as the trainer's form grew smaller with their lengthening distance. She glanced at the back of Errol's head in a panic. "We've got to turn this thing around!"
"No time," Errol said firmly. "Youse guys clamber up here and one of yas take da wheel. I'll go afta da kid."
"You know this machine better than any of us, Denise," Rose nodded, while Jenna and Adam crammed themselves onto the cargo shelf either side of the generator. "I say you drive."
"Me?" Denise spluttered, stunned once again at Rose's belief in her. She'd never driven anything before, not even the automated mower at her parents' place (especially not since she'd tinkered with it and given it a life of its own). But even so, Caley needed help and Errol was likely the best man to give it. She scrambled forward and into the front seat, while Errol undid his seat belt.
"Do us proud, Neesee," the man winked, before snatching the bag that was beside him and leaping nimbly from the hovercraft.
“I
hate to say this but we’ve
got to get out of here, now,” Jenna exclaimed, as Mondo used the advantage
of the shiny leather to move James sideways
and give Rose a seating spot.
“Before they send in the big guns and try and shoot us down.”
“But…what about Cal'?” Adam complained. "We can't leave him here, not after everything he's done for us!"
Those who were able to give their expressive opinion glanced back at Rose with saddened faces. She uttered a heavy sigh.
“He’ll be ok," she insisted. "He's not alone out there; Errol's with him. And they'll be able to take care of themselves…I hope.”