Jovi had fallen asleep at her desk when Hop burst in. Her Pokémon, a Minun and Plusle named Mimi and Pluplu and Joltik named Jolly, sensed something. They looked afraid. Their Trainer, however, was just groggy.
'Now what?'
'Shadow Pokémon!'
The desk shook. He spun his laptop to face her. It was connected to the Aura Detector, a device Jovi and her mom Lily created before she met Hop, which sensed Shadow Pokémon within its range. She squinted through her reading glasses. Pulsing purple circles made their way along Highway 1 to Phenac City.
'They just appeared on the highway,' Hop explained, 'So we were right – there's some kind of signal stopping us detecting them at the lab.'
Jovi rubbed her eyes. 'So they're already in production. There could be hundreds already. Great.'
'Now the question is – has someone accidentally taken them home, or are Cipher planning an attack on Phenac?'
Jovi picked up her phone. She copied a number from a silver card.
'Anabel, we've picked up Shadow Pokémon on Highway 1, heading for Phenac. I'll hook Pierre up to the Aura Detector.'
'We don't know what it's about,' Hop added, 'Whether it's an accident or planned attack on Phenac.'
'Thank you, professors... I suspect it's neither. I'll investigate and update you later.'
Seconds after the call ended, another cluster of circles appeared. They sped the opposite way to Gateon Port. Jovi laughed nervously.
'Oh.'
***
Znider's rage echoed through the prison. He used the P★DA Mayson threw to him to lock his own along with his credit cards. No-one answered his calls. They were all at the briefing led by their head scientist, Coren, who tended to ramble on.
Trip locked himself in his cell before they awoke. There was no point in trying to run. Even if he could make it out of the lab, where would he go on crutches? At the same time as he felt his life was over, that he had no-one, there was one thing to cling to. If Amber had their child, he would be part of a family, one where he felt so welcome and like Leon genuinely cared about him. That hope was the irrational opposite of him urging Amber to have an abortion, because he knew he might never escape, but it was all he had.
Conrad arrived hours later. He grumbled, as always, to the pet Shuppet who sometimes accompanied him. It seemed to enjoy listening to his complaints as he mimicked Znider's accent.
'"I'm Master Znider and I'm so cool with my personalised licence plate..."'
'Conrad!'
At least watching the colour drain from his face was amusing. Trip had nothing else to laugh at.
'...Sir?'
'Get – me – out!'
He hurried to the cell. His hands shook. The bars violently rattled. Znider shoved him aside as he was let out.
'Give me your Pokémon!'
'My... Pokémon?'
'Yes! Your Pokémon! Now!'
Conrad's Shuppet hid behind him. Znider seized it by the neck, only for the Ghost-type to disappear and reappear in a locked cell. He tore the bag from Conrad's shoulder. Shuppet was zapped back into its Dusk Ball.
'Sir... may I ask what happened?'
He didn't get an answer. Znider swiped his key card and ascended in the elevator. The Peons followed. Trip almost felt sorry for Conrad until he spun to glare at him.
'What have you done?!'
'Me?'
He gestured to his crutches. 'What do you think I did?'
Mayson, naked but for his Slakoth-print boxers, approached. He still looked dazed. Conrad grimaced at his colleague's fluffy beer belly.
'It wasn't him. Everyone else escaped... and took all our Pokémon.'
Trip wasn't sure if Mayson was covering for him or genuinely believed he wasn't involved. Probably the latter. Conrad fetched a new uniform. They disappeared in the elevator as if there was nothing more to guard. Maybe there wasn't. No-one remembered to bring food or water that evening. Trip couldn't sleep. Even Cipher, so afraid of being discovered they tracked down a random stalker because she caught a glimpse of the lab, weren't troubled by the thought of Trip dying in their custody. It wasn't that he didn't understand. He did. The only people who would ever ask after him were Amber, Bianka and maybe Leon... but with all that was happening, maybe even they would forget. He imagined Amber in 10 years, on a couch with their daughter who looked exactly like her mom and nothing like him. She asked if she had a dad. All Amber remembered was that he was from Pyrite Town. She didn't know if he was even alive. One day, angered by his absence, their daughter searched for any trace of him; but there was none because he died nameless and forgotten in a cell before she was born. Then there was only endless black.
Metal scraped. Trip was somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. The doctor, Kamron, shook him. He was lifted into a wheelchair. They were in a corridor when he became vaguely alert. Passing faces behind visors stared. Kamron returned Trip to the hospital. Hope ignited that people noticed he was still missing, that someone outside cared, but it was quickly extinguished by what Kamron probably thought was a kind smile.
'Have you thought of joining Cipher, Trip? I hear you're a great Trainer.'
'No.'
'Why not? The pay is decent for Peons and damn good for Commanders, let alone Admins.'
Rosen was a Commander. So she was never poor... she just didn't want to waste money on Trip.
'I bet you'd rise through the ranks real quick.'
'In a cell with two broken legs?'
'Well, you're not going back to the cell and–'
'What?'
Kamron lowered his voice. 'Znider got a ticking off for just leaving you in there.'
'Why me? What makes me more special than innocent senior citizens?'
Now he sounded like Amber. He was probably going to die if he refused to join Cipher anyway, so why not annoy them first?
'I don't make the rules, but look – now I can keep you here in the hospital, I'm pretty confident those legs can heal well enough even to play football, so you'll have no trouble running around with us.'
How did he know Trip was a football player? He hadn't mentioned it, not even to Mayson when he tried to chat, in case he suspected he might be able to throw something. Unless April mentioned it? It wasn't Rosen. She never told anyone out of fear they might recognise his talent and encourage him.
'...What's the catch?'
Kamron shrugged. 'There isn't one. The orders come from above.'
Whether it was Amber's influence or that anything was interesting after the cell, he was vaguely curious.
'Who is that?'
'I can't say for sure. We really would love you to join us, though, Trip. I was sceptical myself at first, but it's the best decision I ever made! Cipher broadens your horizons. You never know who you'll meet. My wife and I celebrated our fourth anniversary last week – and we met at this lab!'
Laying on the cell's cold floor, Trip pondered the many things he could have done differently outside Pyrite Colosseum. He could have run inside and alerted Leon. He could have been more attentive to his surroundings. He could have pretended to accept Rosen's invitation to join Cipher, rather than acting like a hero he couldn't be. At the time, he thought he was protecting Amber, but all he'd done was hurt her. He was convinced he was nothing more than a friend to her, yet as her face when the elevator doors shut haunted him, he wondered; though he told himself that was just a fantasy.
This time, he needed to make the right choice. Rosen didn't give him time. Kamron was calmer. He had time to weigh up the possibilities with Rosen's words.
I gave her a choice, too. And your dad.
He decided to take it. Your mom didn't. So, you can choose to be as stupid as your mom... or you can be smart and keep your legs... like your dad... and join us.
Did that mean his dad was a member of Cipher? Was there any possibility... the one giving orders, who cared, was him? No, that was too far-fetched. If he cared at all, surely he would've reached out sooner? Unless... it wasn't an overdose that killed his mom and he was afraid, or worse... guilty. If he really was, even if he was just a complicit member of Cipher, did Trip want to know? Though he feared he already did.