Linkage

18

Wes ended up spending the night in Byron's gym with the gym leader and Cynthia. They sat there, playing guard over the gym leader. The situation wasn't ideal, and neither of them wanted to be there when they could've been looking into Turnback Spring, but they had to be there. Byron was Wes's most trusted ally.

He spent his time reading about engineering in ancient Sinnoh, at least the pages he hadn't read yet, and tried to calm himself about the way his skin was prickling. There was something beyond just amiss. Wes likened it to fear. Like he was just about to take a plunge into some dark pool that he didn't know about. Nothing could bring off the unease.

And perhaps he was right, because early in the morning, in those few minutes after sunrise Cynthia woke Wes up. Why? Because the gym was surrounded by Team Galactic. And Team Galactic had taken over Canalave City.

Wes whipped out his homemade cellphone. "Let me make a call."

"That thing looks like a bomb," Cynthia snickered.

He rolled his eyes, "Pipe it, or we're having another discussion about dreamboat."

"You wouldn't," she said.

He laughed as he dialed Saturn. "I would."

It took awhile for the executive and when he did, he sounded tired. Wes's head dipped as Cynthia began to wake up Byron. He drummed his hands on the ground while he waited.

"What in the world Wes? Why are you calling me at the break of dawn?" asked Saturn.

Wes sighed. "I want you to take this phone and any other electronic gear I've left in your office, and run. Don't go home. Just run. The rogue grunts have taken over Canalave City."

He hung up and got ready to face the grunts. He let out his Espeon for coverage and faced Cynthia, who had her Garchomp out. Byron, stressed, prepared to pull out a Pokémon, but Wes stopped him.

"We need to be smart about this," said Wes. "If we rush out and lose, then we all lose. Clearly Byron has something that they all want, so we have to focus on protecting him."

There was a bang. Not like the ringing of a gun, but as if someone were launching something. He figured they were trying to break into the gym at this point. Wes got ready and looked at Cynthia.

"There will be a lot of them, but I need you to prepare to take them," Wes said.

Cynthia, with an inherent understanding of Wes's thoughts said, "Byron, Wes has skills in Guerilla style warfare and black ops. He is going to get you out of here and into safety. Just hang in there."

The gym leader nodded and followed Wes, who decided to head for the air ducts. They needed to climb down and out, and then take to the sea. The only way that Wes could imagine getting Byron out was taking him elsewhere in Sinnoh, but where Wes didn't know where. They would just have to figure that part out later.

The air ducts were almost silent except for the small noises of Wes, Byron, and Wes's Umbreon crawling through the ducts. Wes's Umbreon was out to light the dark corridors for the both of them. He hated the space, right and restricting, but there were more important things to focus on. Like getting Byron to safety.

When the two approached a grate in the ducts, they heard a noise and so they stopped moving. There were Galactic Grunts right underneath them. So Wes strained to listen.

"Do you know why we were ordered to take Canalave?" One asked to the other.

The second one said, "Yeah, Champion Hikari was supposed to mention this in her little address coming up. I think what the real objective is though, is to take on the two blondes. I've heard talk."