Ash Ketchum: Battle of the Ampere

Ch. 9 A Clever Distraction

An hour after Clemont had been incarcerated, a single soldier walked into his cell.  Clemont was lying on his back on the thin, flea-infested cot, staring at the cracked ceiling. The guard had no gun but held a wooden truncheon in one hand.  "Stand up."

"Qud pesa?" Clemont said, slowly rising.

"Stand up," he said.

"Okay," he said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."

The guard looked at him without comprehension.

Ten minutes earlier, Clemont had reattached the RESAT to his chest, and when he was arm's length from the soldier, he tapped on the box. "Can you turn this thing down? It's too strong."

"No. Put your hands in front of you."

Concealing the RESAT wires in his hands, Clemont held his hands out. As the guard brought the cuffs near, Clemont touched the bare-ended wires to the guard's arms.  There was a loud snap of electricity, and the man collapsed to the ground without a scream. 

Clemont looked down at him.  "I told you it was too strong." Clemont crouched down next to the man to make sure he was out.  "So that's what it's like to be Ash." He carefully rolled the wires back, then quickly undressed the guard and put on his uniform.  The guard was an inch shorter than Clemont, and the uniform fit well except for being snug in the waist. 

When Clemont had finished changing, he handcuffed the guard's hands behind his back, stuffed the man's socks into his mouth, then wrapped a sheet around the man's head to keep him from spitting the socks out.  He took the guard's key and bludgeon, peered out of his cell his, and when he saw no one, he walked out into the corridor.

The jail was small, a single corridor about sixty feet in length, with doors on each side.  Clemont had no idea which cells his friends were being kept in, so he tried the key in the first door next to his, opened it, and quickly stepped inside.  Zeus was lying on the bed, his face bent in a grimace.  Sweat was beading on his forehead his stress from a RESAT that was set too high.

"Oye!" Clemont shouted.

Zeus sneered.  "Eat my shorts, you ape."

"I'll pass," Clemont said, stepping closer.

Zeus looked over at him.  "Clemont? How did you. . ."

Clemont took the wires from the RESAT and hooked them to Zeus's machine.  "I'm going to unfasten this."

"No, don't," Zeus said. "It sets it off.  It could kill me."

"Shouldn't," he said.  He set his own RESAT on the bed next to Zeus.  "I rewired this to counter yours. I'm ninety-nine point six percent sure that it will work."

Zeus looked at it a moment, then said, "Are you sure?"

"I just told you how sure I am." Clemont grasped the closest fastener on Zeus's RESAT, then unlatched it. The RESAT immediately lit up.

"It's powering up," Zeus said anxiously.

"I know," Clemont said.  Suddenly the machine began to squeal.  "Clemont. . ."

"Does it feel different?"

"No."

"Then don't sweat it."

Zeus didn't feel it getting stronger.  If anything, his pain his was diminishing.

"I think it's working," Zeus said.

"For a minute," Clemont said. "We've got to get it off you.  The capacitor can only hold so much electricity before it will blow."

"Now you tell me." Zeus frantically unfastened the rest of the clips, then pushed the box away from him.  He fell back against the wall and took a deep breath, groaning in relief.