Chapter Text
Everyone at the Celadon City Science Lab is pretty careless, if you ask me.
You'd think that one of the world's largest research facilities could afford proper security in every area. I should advise them that protecting the top-secret departments and leaving some of the regular experiments unattended is a bad idea, but that would ruin all my opportunities. I've picked a quiet part of the building, but I still make sure to peek around corners and tread carefully. Overconfidence will just get me caught.
I know the layout of the lab pretty well by now, know which experiments are in which sections and which employees should be avoided. There's still some areas I've never been able to access, but I'm not concerning myself with trying to break in to those today.
As long as she doesn't catch me, everything will be fine.
I slip into one of the rooms that's rarely checked on. To be fair, it's just full of Ditto. So many have been created in recent years that they aren't new and exciting anymore. Why pay attention to them?
Makes it all the easier for me to take one.
The Ditto are all happy to see me, and try to outdo each other by changing into increasingly rarer Pokemon. I disregard this and reach for the closest one, which reverts to its normal pink blob shape and wiggles happily at me.
"You're coming with me for a while," I inform the Ditto as I gather it into my arms. Taking it back to my own lab is less than ideal, but if I try to use the more advanced facilities here I'll get caught. I turn for the door, but she's already there. My heart sinks. If it had been anyone else, I probably could have bluffed my way out of this.
"Tessa," she says disapprovingly.
"What? Ditto is a great Pokemon to study. Don't you want me to follow in your footsteps?"
"I want you to stop stealing from my lab," my mother sighs. "You're interfering with our research."
"Well, you're interfering with my research," I argue. "And it's not stealing if I was going to bring it back. You guys don't pay attention to half your experiments anyway."
"We're on the verge of a major breakthrough," she reminds me. "We need to focus on our newer experiments."
"Maybe if you told me more about your research and let me help, I wouldn't have to sneak around and do things like this. It's really all your fault that I'm such a rebellious child."
"Don't try to blame this on me," my mother protests. I think she can't decide whether to laugh or lecture me. Instead, she surprises me by doing something completely different.
"You want to be useful? Fine. I think we really might be heading towards our breakthrough this time. We have some new DNA samples that need to be sent to Professor Oak, and I need someone I can trust to make the delivery."
I blink, startled. "An important discovery? I don't suppose you'll actually tell me what it is before you send me halfway across the region to get me out of your way?"
"I can't tell you all about our top-secret projects just because you're my daughter," she says in that infuriatingly superior tone of hers. "Besides, how often do you get a chance to observe things from the air? It's a good learning experience, too. You spend too much time locked up in that little basement lab of yours."
"You're one to talk," I point out. "And I wouldn't have to be stuck in our basement if you'd let me help you out here."
"You can help me out now by delivering the samples," she insists, reaching into her lab coat and pulling out a small package. I reluctantly let the Ditto ooze out of my arms and take it from her.
"Excellent," she says with a smile. "I really need to be getting back to work, and you need to get going." She heads for the doorway, looking back at me for a brief moment. "Have fun! You know where to find Isabel."
And then she's gone, leaving me to exit the lab with much less stealth than I used to enter it. No point in sneaking around now.
I'm greeted with a warm breeze as I step out on the street and survey the area. At least it does seem quite a pleasant day for flying, with only a few puffy white clouds drifting lazily across the sky. My mom's lab is just across the street from our house, so it's hardly inconvenient to head back there for a moment.
I do, of course, know where to find Isabel. The six Pokeballs are always neatly spread out in a row on the mantelpiece. Why my mother doesn't bother taking any of them to the lab with her I'll never understand. Laboratory Pokemon can't always be relied upon in an emergency, but it's her funeral, I guess. I reach out and pick up the first Pokeball on the left, feeling the familiar smooth shape fit comfortably into my palm as if it was meant to be there.
Once I'm back in the yard, I press the button on the Pokeball and watch as the flash of light solidifies into the looming shape of an orange dragon, stretching her wings and yawning. She sees me and leans over to give me a friendly nudge, nearly knocking me off my feet despite her best attempts to be gentle.
"Are you up for a quick flight to Pallet Town, Isabel?" I ask. My mother's Dragonite nods, always eager for a chance to fly. She doesn't get out of her ball much now that my mother's always too busy with her lab work to do any battling or leisure trips.
Isabel bends down to let me climb onto her back and patiently waits while I get settled. I pat her neck when I'm ready, and she spreads her wings wide, carrying us up into the skies with a joyful roar. I feel the familiar tug of excitement in my gut as we climb higher, and I realize how much I've missed this, missed having the wind ripple through my hair as we soar freely.
The rooftops of Celadon shrink below us as we ascend into the sky, and I settle back to relax and watch the scenery. It's hard to be bored on a Dragonite flight when you've got all of Kanto spread out in front of you. I grudgingly decide that perhaps my mother was right and I do need to get out more.
The time passes quicker than I would have liked, and before I know it we're already skimming past Viridian City and above the forest, trees rushing below us in an emerald blur. A couple of wet splashes on my glasses shake me out of my reverie, and I realize with a start that the sky above us has become thick with gray clouds. Serves me right for not checking the weather forecast before leaving, I suppose. As the clouds decide to thoroughly drench me, I curse myself for not only forgetting to bring a jacket, but also accidentally leaving my lab coat on. Well, at least I'll look appropriately scientific when I present the samples to Oak, if rather soggy.
Isabel looks back at me in concern, and I shout to be heard over the wind: "I'm all right to keep going if you are, we're not far from Pallet now!" She nods and picks up speed as we near the end of the forest. Unfortunately, the wind decides it also feels like picking up speed, and soon Isabel is fighting to stay aloft as we're buffeted by strong gusts and torrential rain. I'm not too worried at first -- she is a Dragonite, after all -- but then a bolt of crackling lightning rips through the sky in front of us, and she flinches and pulls into a dive. During the brief moment of illumination, I glimpse a flash of a red roof below us, and I'm about to call out to her before I realize she's already headed for it.
Isabel hits the ground roughly, and I slide off her back as soon as I can, yelling a quick thank you as I recall her. I fumble with her Pokeball, eventually managing to shove it in my bag while I make a dash for the old barn. It would have been great to make it all the way to Pallet, but at least we can find some shelter here. My waterlogged sneakers squelch in the mud, and I squint through my fogged-up glasses at the building looming before me. My hand slips on the slick door handle, but I get it open after a few tries and burst inside.
The warmth hits me like a sudden slap in the face before I can register anything else, but I immediately freeze when I hear a rough voice coming from somewhere above me.
"...would have been a perfect haul, if this damn storm hadn't come up and gotten in our way. I say we wait and try again after, we don't want to miss out on an opportunity like this."
Another voice floats down from the rafters, this one sounding more uncertain. "Are you sure we want to take a big risk like that? Haven't we stolen enough Pokemon today already?" I manage to stifle my gasp of shock and turn back to the door. I'll take a torrential rainstorm over a group of criminals any day.
This time, the door squeaks as I shove it open, and I hear a suspicious shout from upstairs. In a panic, my feet slip on the muddy ground before I can get very far. A rough pair of hands grabs me and drags me screaming and flailing back into the barn.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't a little eavesdropper!" the man sneers at me. "Just how much of our plans did you hear, huh? He shoves me up against the wall and I can see that I'm surrounded by a group of angry-looking people dressed in black uniforms. His face is obscured by a black hat pulled down over his eyes, but I can see a hint of blue hair. Hardly an inconspicuous style for a criminal to have.
The man nods to a woman behind him, and she whips out a Pokeball. I flail and struggle and scream for help, but that just earns me a kick in the ribs and a sharp blade at my throat. I freeze, staring into the cold eyes of the Scyther that the woman just released. I don't know what these people are up to, but they're not messing around.
"I didn't hear anything, I swear! Just that you were going to steal some Pokemon, which of course is a bad thing to do, but if you just let me go, I won't tell anyone, I promise!" I babble.
The man frowns, clearly not satisfied. "Hmm, maybe, although I doubt you won't go to the police as soon as we let you go. However, you have no proof that we've actually done anything wrong, so I'm not too worried. Still, I'm afraid we can't just let you get off scot-free, can we?" He smirks.
"Actually, if you ask me, I think you can!" I stupidly blurt out before I can stop myself.
The man laughs. "Yes, but that would be boring, wouldn't it?" His eyes flicker thoughtfully to my bag and lab coat. "A scientist, are you? Carrying some important research?"
I refrain from instinctively clutching my bag even tighter. Act natural. There's no way I can let these people get their hands on the samples. "Nope! Just out for a nice leisurely stroll. I haven't got anything that would interest you."
He raises his eyebrows, reaching for a Pokeball at his belt. "Perhaps. And perhaps you do have something of value. I'll tell you what...I'll let you live in exchange for everything in your bag, how's that?"
I flail about some more, which only leads to another kick and the Scyther's blade pressed a little harder against my throat. "I told you, I don't have anything you'd be interested in. I'm not your enemy, just let me go!"
The man laughs. "You? Not my enemy? I wouldn't be so sure about that. And I should mention that this deal isn't optional. We will take your stuff, and by the time you're awake, we'll be halfway across Kanto, so don't even think about trying to get it back."
He tosses the Pokeball with a casual flick of his wrist and calls out "Sleep Powder, Vileplume!" The Scyther quickly jumps out of the way, leaving the poison-type Pokemon to glare at me and release a flurry of bright-coloured spores in my direction.
The effect is so instantaneous that I barely even have time to panic. I slump to the ground in a daze as I dimly feel my bag being wrenched away from me. The last thing I hear before I slip into a deep sleep is the laughter of the people in the uniforms as the door bangs shut behind them.