A couple hours later
Jen could hear and feel the rumbling of a motorcycle’s engine under her, and smell the horrific odor of repel next to her. She tried to open her eyes, but she was still to weak to do so. “Not good.”
“Oh, Jen…my poor baby girl.” Her mom said as she stroked Jen’s hair.
Jen groaned and tried to blindly pull away from the smell and from her mom, but Lucy pulled her closer. Jen nearly gagged as she got another whiff of repel.
“Don’t worry, Jen. Officer Jenny is taking us back to Pallet Town. Once we get home, I promise I will keep you safe.” Lucy said sweetly.
Jen managed to open her mouth and said very softly, but as bitterly as she could, “I-I…h-hate…you.” She didn’t know if her mom had heard her or not, for Lucy didn’t seem to flinch at the harsh statement.
“We’re passing through Viridian City now.” Officer Jenny said blankly. She didn’t sound too happy about helping Lucy return Jen to Pallet Town.
Lucy hugged Jen tighter, pushing Jen’s face into her repel soaked hair. “Just a few more minutes, honey. I will not let anyone or anything hurt you ever again. We will be together forever.”
Jen’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and she immediately passed out.
Cell 54
Red woke up in an empty cell. He slowly looked around his cell, and saw that he was all alone. His hands quickly flew to his belt, but found that all of his Pokeballs were gone.
“Damn it!” He growled. “Jen?! Jen, are you nearby?”
No answer.
Red began to panic. “Jen! Mew! Mewtwo! Please answer me! Where are you guys?”
He was answered with silence.
Red climbed to his feet and walked around the cell, which, to his dismay, was much smaller than he thought. His heartbeat quickly began to race as he fell against one of the walls. He hadn’t been claustrophobic before fighting BuriedAlive, but ever since he was resurrected, he had become uneasy with small spaces.
He first realized this when he walked into the changing room at the costume rental store back at Rota. He had nearly fainted in the small space, and he probably would have if he didn’t throw open the curtain in time.
Now that he was in the cell, with no way to make the space larger, he began to hyperventilate. “I’ve got to calm down. We’ll get out of here. I’ve got to calm down until then…it’s going to be a while until then.”
He buried his head in his knees and thought of his Pokemon, hoping that it would help him slow his breathing. Red imagined seeing them in a wide-open field with Jen and the Mews. His breathing slowed down to normal, but he did not dare open his eyes.
“I’ll find you all, I promise. Jen, Mew, Mewtwo, and all of my friends, I promise I will find you, and when I do, I’ll make Team Rocket pay!”
Giovanni was back in his office watching the screens that held Mew and Mewtwo. Both Legendries were locked in two large, but different type of tanks. Mew was trapped within a fluid-filled tank with wires attached to her body, monitoring her heartbeat and brainwaves. Mewtwo, still wearing the helmet and cuffs, on the other hand was in a large metallic chamber surrounded by dozens of bots.
“They’re not getting away this time.” Giovanni smirked as he petted her Persian. After a moment of watching the Mews, he turned his attention to another screen and saw Red crouched in the corner of his cell. He looked like he was trying to distract himself from how small the cell was. “If I didn’t hate you so much, I may actually have some pity towards you. Unfortunately, you and your Pokemon had to play hero and ruin many of my plans.”
A knock came from his door and Ariana entered his office. “The two grunts who called you earlier about Mewtwo are waiting outside for you. Shall I send them in?”
Giovanni nodded.
Ariana left and a few moments later, Clara and Lacy entered.
“Please, girls, sit down.” Giovanni said politely, gesturing to two seats in front of his desk.
The girls quickly sat down and waited for him to speak.
“Thank you for your help in finding Mewtwo.” He said after awhile.
The girls grinned at him, hoping for a possible promotion.
“But one thing is bothering me…we had two children as our prisoners when we left the Tree. When we returned, we only had one prisoner. Why is that?” Giovanni asked.
Clara and Lacy looked at each other a little uneasily. “Don’t worry about her, sir. We got rid of her. She will not bother us.”
“Explain.”
Clara took a deep breath before explaining. “We tossed her out of the helicopter.”
Giovanni stared at them for a moment. “You tossed her…out of the helicopter? While we were flying away from the Tree? Or did you throw her out while we were at the Tree?”
“W-While we were flying away from the Tree…somewhere over the geysers.” Lacy answered meekly.
Giovanni sighed heavily and shook his head angrily. “Did it not occur to you two that maybe the geysers could have saved her or that she could have fallen into one of the hot springs?”
“No, sir. It didn’t occur to us. We thought that the fall would kill her, regardless to what she landed on, be it ground or water.” Lacy said quickly.
Giovanni stared at the two girls, debating with himself on what to do next. “Go find the body, and bring back proof that she is dead. But if she is not dead, then don’t bother returning. Do I make myself clear?”
Clara and Lacy stood. “Clear, sir.” They then quickly left to go find Jen, leaving Giovanni with his Persian and the three screens.
“Why must there always be loose ends?”
Jen awoke a couple hours later in her bedroom with the lights turned off. “Oh, crap!” She groaned as she slipped out of bed. She grabbed her hoodie and hat and slipped them on before running to the window.
To her surprise, the window wouldn’t open. She looked through the panes to see her mom had nailed the window shut.
“Are you freaking kidding me?!” She then ran to the door and found it to be locked. “Alright, mom has totally lost it now. I thought she was crazy before, but this is just nuts!”
A knock came from the other side of her door. “Jen, honey, are you awake?”
Jen didn’t answer. Instead, she walked quietly back to bed and hid under her covers. She heard her mom unlock her door and walk to the side of her bed.
“Are you alright, sweetie?” She asked. She was carrying a bowl of soup and a glass of water.
Jen remained silent.
“Jen, please answer me. I brought you something to eat.”
“Go. Away.”
Lucy sighed heavily and placed the bowl and glass on Jen’s nightstand. “That is no way to talk to me. I spent days trying to find you. Do you understand how hard it was to find you? Professor Oak wanted to give up and return to Pallet Town, but I--”
Jen quickly sat up and glared at her. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I didn’t want to be found? That maybe I wanted to travel the world as a Pokemon trainer without having to worry about you hunting me down?”
“Hunting you? Jen, no, I want to protect you.” Her mom said softly as she took off Jen’s hat and tried to stroke her hair.
Jen pulled back. “Just like dad wanted to protect me?”
Lucy flinched.
“Oh, wait, dad tried to tell you that the serum could kill me. He cared about me! You took the damn vial from him, gave it to me without giving it a second thought, and then you let him die!”
Her mom looked at her, horrified and confused. “How do you know about your father? Who told you about him?”
“Red did.” Jen growled as she snatched back her hat.
Lucy stiffened at the sound of his name. “Jen, don’t be ridiculous. Your cousin Rory is dead. He passed away a couple years ago.” She gasped and covered her mouth. She knew that she had said too much, but she didn’t know that Jen already knew about Red’s death.
“Why didn’t you just leave me alone?” Jen asked icily.
“I found you lying on the side of the road. You didn’t have your Pokemon with you and you looked horrible.”
“I remember landing in a body of water. How did I get from the hot springs to Rota? If I can teleport I need to learn how to control the ability and get out of here as soon as possible.” Jen thought to herself. “I need to leave, Lucy.”
“You’re not going anywhere. You are staying here whether you like it or not. It is too dangerous for you to go anywhere.”
Jen scoffed. “Too dangerous? Oh come on, mom. I can take care of myself. You just refuse to see that I can!”
Lucy slowly stood and walked to Jen’s bedroom door. “When you are ready to apologize to me and behave, you can be allowed downstairs.” And with that, she shut Jen’s door and locked it.
Jen clenched her fists and kinetically hurled her lamp at the door. The lamp shattered on impact. Jen flinched at how easily she lost control and shut her eyes, trying hard to calm her mind, but it was not easy. The anger she felt towards her mom kept her from staying focused and calm.
“Stay calm, Jen. You don’t want to create another storm or anything. Besides, I can always run away again. Yeah…heck, I can leave right now, and I’ll go find the Mews and Red. But where would I start looking?” She looked out her window and saw Daisy Oak, Gary’s older sister, walking outside with Professor Oak. He seemed exhausted and sad as he walked with Daisy. He glanced up at Jen’s window and winced when he saw Jen staring back at him.
He looked at her with a pained expression and mouthed, “Sorry”.
“Well this is just great! I don’t want anyone to see me fly out my window.” Jen closed her blinds and walked back to her bed. “Guess I can use this time to decide where to start looking, but I don’t even know which direction Team Rocket was headed when they left the Tree. Maybe...” She sat down on her bed and tried to reach out mentally to both Red and the Mews, but she had little success. She did not give up though. Jen tried extending her telepathic range, reaching out to wild Pokemon wandering through Viridian Forest to the minds of trainers in Fuchsia City. The feat was stressful on her mind, but Jen had to focus and increase her psychic range.
Eventually, it became too much for her and she fell back onto her bed. She held her aching head and took a few sips of water from the glass that her mom had given her before looking out the window. The sun was setting.
“Good. Just a few more minutes and then I can leave…Dialga, if you can hear me, do you mind speeding time up just a little bit? Please?”
Time, unfortunately, did not speed up for Jen. In fact, it seemed to slow down.
“Ugh! Screw it! I’ve already wasted too much time.”
Jen grabbed her bag that was resting near her door and ripped her window open with her telekinesis. The nails went flying everywhere, but that didn’t concern Jen. She flew out the window, not bothering to check to see if anyone was around, and landed roughly on the ground. “Ouch! W-What the heck?”
She climbed woozily to her feet and glanced back up at her window. Her vision was starting to blur and it was becoming more difficult for her to stay standing.
“L-Lucy druggedme. T-That seeck…crazed…w-why?” Jen tried to keep her thoughts straight, but whatever Lucy had put in her water was quickly taking its toll on Jen. Jen hovered in the air and drifted towards the forest, praying that she could get as far away as possible before passing out. “Gotta…leave.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t take her very long for her feet to start dragging across the ground. She tried to walk a few more steps, but the drug was in full effect now, and she collapsed to the ground.
Jen felt herself falling in her dream, but…it wasn’t a dream. She looked towards the ground and saw that she was heading towards a large city.
“Is that Unova? Please tell me I’m about to see where Team Rocket took my friends!”
She continued to fall through the city, passing through large buildings before phasing through the ground. Her fall slowed to a stop as she entered into a brightly lit hallway.
“She should be dead this time. I mean, who could have possibly survived a fall like that?” Someone asked nervously.
Jen turned her head to look at Lacy and Clara. They were both walking towards her, but neither one of them noticed her.
“She is dead, Lacy. Giovanni just wants us to bring him back proof.”
“But what if some Pokemon got to her? How will we be able to--”
“Lacy, shut up! Worry about that later.” Clara growled as both she and Lacy passed through Jen.
Both girls stopped and looked at each other.
“You felt that too?” Lacy asked.
Clara opened her mouth, but immediately shut it and shook her head. “I hate this new headquarters. I wish we just stayed in Kanto.”
“But Unova is so much fun.”
“If you think competing for headquarter space and power is fun than yeah, Unova is fun.” Clara said sarcastically. “Team Plasma is just annoying.”
“Not as annoying as that Jen girl’s mom.”
Clara cracked a smile. “Let’s just find the body, kay?”
Clara and Lacy continued down the hallway, leaving Jen to venture through the headquarters on her own.
“Alrighty, all I have to do is find the Mews and the others, wake up, and travel to Unova. Hate to jinx myself, but this is going to be a--”
Something bit her on the arm, forcing her to wake up.
“Ouch!” She cried as she sat up, cradling her arm. She examined the reddening bite mark on her forearm before looking around for the culprit who bit her. “Not funny you jerk!” She growled, still searching.
“It’s your fault for coming back into my home.” Jen spun around and saw a Rattata glaring at her.
“Don’t tell me. This is the same Rattata that tackled me a couple weeks ago.”
“I thought you had learned your lesson the last time I ran you out of my home. Now scram before I have to do it again, and this time, I’ll get my buddies to help me.” The Rattata hissed.
Jen narrowed her eyes at the Pokemon. “You kept me from finding my friends by waking me up. Not smart. And now you’re trying to threaten me? Now that’s really stupid.”
She could see the Rattata flinch, but it quickly recovered itself. “There is no way that this human could have understood me.” It thought.
“I’m not completely human, Sherlock.” Jen snapped mentally.
The Rattata’s eyes widened.
“Now about you and your buddies running me out of the forest?”
“Ahh…I was only kidding. I-I didn’t know--”
“That some pesky trainer could understand a Pokemon like you?” Jen asked dryly.
“Yeah! Wait, no…I mean--”
“Relax.” Jen said, standing up. “I need to find my friends as soon as possible, so I’ll be getting out of your fur. Just be careful with whomever you mess with next time.”
The Rattata just stared at her in awe.
She then began to fly away when the Rattata ran up to her and cried out, “Wait!”
Jen stopped and looked back at the purple Pokemon.
“Umm…can I come with you? I know I was being a jerk, and I don’t blame you if you don’t want me to come, but…I can make it up to you. I can help you find your friends.”
“What about your home and your buddies?” Jen asked.
Rattata scratched at the ground nervously. Images of Rattata trying to join different groups of other Rattata flashed through his mind, but each time he had tried to be apart of a group, the others would reject him. Rattata was then forced to live on his own in the forest next to Pallet Town, defending his home all alone.
Jen felt her heart sink. “Fine. You can come with me, but I must warn you now, it’s dangerous where I am headed. Do you think you can handle that?”
Rattata perked up and smiled. “I can. You won’t regret this!”
Jen picked up the enthusiastic Rattata and flew off for Unova. “Hang on, guys. I’m coming.”