Chapter 28

With more warning, the three of them could've managed a more sophisticated escape from the incoming helicopter. Hell, with more of her own powers Lane probably could've made them invisible long enough to get away from the building and hide until they left.

But that was one of many powers she barely even understood, let alone mastered. They quickly dismissed a plan to run across the field of strange red flowers. None were anywhere close to human height, and the helicopter had clear view of them in broad daylight. Elisa wouldn't get a quarter mile.

There was only one potential option left. After stowing Lopunny safely away in her pokéball, the two of them flipped off all the lights, then fled into the basement to look for a place to hide.

"They're going to see we were here," Lane muttered, perched nervously on Elisa's shoulder. "There's food in the kitchen, clothes missing, rooms cleaned up."

"Got a better idea? I thought mew were so powerful that Korina could do whatever she wanted to humans. Just do that to whoever's coming."

Lane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Korina could. I'm not all-powerful like she is.

I'm only kinda sorta a little powerful."

They weren't exactly overwhelmed with options. The basement was vast, carved into the rock with enough shelf space to store food for months, maybe longer. Huge plastic barrels were stacked up against the far wall, with pipes running in from the top and bottom. A catchment cistern, maybe?

But the mystery of whoever had stayed here and why they'd wanted to stay for so long would have to wait. Lane pointed under one of the shelves, zipping over to it. "Crawl in here, Elisa. I'll move some crap in the way and clog it."

The distant helicopter up above didn't sound nearly so distant anymore.

Its rotors were muffled through several layers of stone and house, at least for

a few more seconds. Then the engines died. Lane heard a few shouting voices up there, but couldn't make out the words. She didn't need them to taste the hostility in the air.

Well no, that wasn't quite right. There were people, maybe half a dozen of them, all feeling… aggressive, purposeful, and confident. Soldiers, maybe?

"You gonna crawl around with me?" Elisa got down onto the floor, then squirmed backward. "If I get bugs in my pants, I'm gonna scream and they'll know where I'm hiding."

"You shouldn't say that, Dominic might hear you."

Lane scanned the mostly-empty basement, levitating over a few scraps of wood and old crates. She scattered them near the front of the neighboring shelves, then clogged up theirs with a single flat piece. She wanted to light things up, but resisted, settling instead to squirm up to Elisa's shoulder, perching there to watch.

"Don't say anything," she thought. "I can feel them. They're searching the house. Looking for something." A few minutes passed. "They know we were here."

"How can you tell all that through the wall?" she whispered. Lane winced at the sound, but it wasn't like she was making a ton of noise. At only a few inches away, it would take a pair of sensitive ears to hear them.

"They're not thinking that quietly. It's a mess of tastes up there, like the worst thing you ever drank."

"I have no idea what that means. I think maybe I could read minds or whatever when I was a Pokémon, but I was too focused on not exploding to worry about the subtler stuff."

The basement door banged open, followed by several footsteps. Lane squirmed down under the collar of Elisa's shirt, poking out just enough to look.

Steps pounded down around them, and harsh white beams of a flashlight skimmed past the empty shelves. The space was large, plenty of room for people to hide.

" Don't say a word. They don't know if we ran off or not. Keep your head down."

Elisa nodded, her breathing shallow and sharp. With so many people banging around the room at random, it would be too hard to hear.

But it wasn't just people out there. Lane felt Pokémon too, at least two of them. They prowled like dark patches, minds obscure to her in a way that

even the shaymin hadn't been. He had been bigger and more powerful—not looking in his head was more about politeness. This was something else.

Something tore in front of them, and a brilliant white beam blasted around them. Elisa squealed in protest, covering her face. Lane dropped down into her shirt, squirming all the way down to her pants. There she found a pocket and wiggled inside as best she could. "Hide me!" she thought. "Don't fight while we're underground, we're too easy to trap. When we have the sky, I'll fly us out."

It wasn't a good plan, particularly if they had guns. But what else was she supposed to do? Korina never taught me how to fight humans.

"Well that's interesting. We have our trespasser. Crawl out nice and slow, stranger. Houndoom here can get nervous around people he doesn't know. I wouldn't want him to bite you by mistake."

Elisa shivered, all her courage melting to the same overripe tang of fear.

She crawled forward slowly, out into the open.

Lane didn't dare even peek out of her pocket. She spread out as best she could, sucking in her chest. How small could she be? But they had one advantage on their side this time: the oversized uniform jacket hung well past Elisa's waist, and the cold made sure she was always wearing it.

Elisa shifted nervously on her feet. "You don't need to point those at me.

I don't have anything, see?" She slid one hand briefly down her pockets, squishing Lane. She squirmed and grunted, but it didn't last. "This is all I have, my Lopunny."

"Don't release it," said the same speaker as before. A man, who had transformed almost instantly from worried to confident. Where Elisa had started to shiver with terror, he felt entirely unworried about her. "Some people try to get cute with their Pokémon. That's dangerous for my people, and even more dangerous for you. I want you to drop the jacket on the floor, then follow us up the stairs. Put that ball back into your pocket and keep it there, for now. We'll deal with that aboard the helicopter."

Elisa began to move, shuffling up the stairs with frequent nervous stops.

Her fear practically trailed in the air all around them, turning Lane's stomach.

If she didn't do something soon, she'd start getting infected with it too, then they'd really be in trouble.

Who would have the resources to build this thing out here? Who could leave cameras behind to watch if anyone came close? She'd seen no antennas

on the building itself, or anything that still worked. But the rocky peaks all around would make for an easy place to hide a single working camera, even if there was nothing to find in the house.

What if there is? What if they know about me?

"Who are you people?" Elisa asked. That alone took a great deal of bravery from her. "I didn't break anything in the house. I was just trying to survive."

"That's very interesting," said the same one who had been addressing her so far. "You're welcome to play ignorant if you like, but I don't think you'll enjoy that attitude where we're going. Cooperation can make this easy. I'm sure you want to be back with your family soon, right? Team Rocket will be happy to facilitate the trip, on certain conditions."

Rocket. Of course Lane knew the name—they were strongest in her home region. Sinnoh was far enough that they had more to fear here from rival organizations than the wild Pokémon.

"You guys are…" Elisa slowed as they crested the stairs. "Team Rocket?

Are you going to steal my lopunny?"

There was some muffled laughter from around the room. Someone else answered. "No one ever had trouble breeding rabbits, kid."

Elisa's fear retreated, replaced with indignance and pride.

"Don't argue. We want their guard down. Touch me when we're outside, I can't see anything in here."

She could feel a great deal without seeing it, though it made her head ache to focus so hard. Four people and two Pokémon, all surrounding Elisa. A few of them expected her to run. Their leader, or at least the one who did the talking so far, didn't. He still thought he was going to get something from Elisa.

There were no good answers.

Elisa deflated. Though taking any action at all already made her feel more confident. "That's good. I don't, uh… I don't have my wallet. I'd pay you for the food I stole, if I could. If we could make a phone call I could transfer some money."

More laughter, though not as enthusiastic this time. "We're not concerned with canned beans," the leader said. "What's your name, kid? I'm Wyatt. The names of my friends here aren't important."

"Elisa," she answered, wrapping her arms around herself. Lane fidgeted, though she couldn't move much without giving herself away. There was far

less noise now, less motion. There were four people watching Elisa, and one Pokémon sniffing at her. Arceus no, it can smell me.

It hadn't started barking yet, though Lane couldn't guess why. Its emotions were still entirely blank to her.

"Before we go, I'd like to ask you a few questions, Elisa. For starters—

how did you get here? Behind you is a mountain range treacherous to all but the most experienced climbers, with no civilization for hundreds of kilometers.

Ahead of you is a field of Pokémon so dangerous that those who come to study them often do not return."

With every word he spoke, Wyatt was growing more confident of something. Lane couldn't tell what, but if he didn't act soon she might just choke on the concentrated smugness.

"I don't remember," Elisa lied. It sounded confident enough, though Lane couldn't be fooled anymore. "I woke on the steps with a pokéball and nothing else. That's, uh… Guess I'll have to pay you back for these clothes, too."

Humans can't lie to me anymore, she thought. Like Korina. She squirmed again, wiggling up slightly towards the edge of the pocket. She wanted so badly to look out and see what Elisa was up against. But her pink would stand out against the brown of her pants. They'd be impossible to miss.

Someone settled something heavy against the kitchen table, then latches clicked. "You don't remember," Wyatt continued. "That's unfortunate.

There are only two answers I know of to how you got here. Before we leave, we'll test one. Forgive me for the inconvenience if I'm mistaken."

Elisa turned to face him, confidence bleeding away to confusion. "I've never seen a pokéball like that before."

"That's because there's only a handful in existence," Wyatt said. "The containment vessel within is precision-manufactured in orbit, in a facility so clean that no human being has ever set foot inside. They're fit for capturing only the strangest, most exotic Pokémon. Like yourself, maybe?"

Elisa flinched, gasping. "Ow! What the hell are you doing?"

Something thumped against the floor, then rolled away.

Wyatt's confidence switched to frustration in an instant. "How the hell did you get past the shaymin? If you're not that legendary everyone is looking for… then you'll need to answer questions from someone far more important than any of us. The boss will want to have a word with you. Come on, we're leaving."

Elisa stumbled as someone shoved her, and a second later a door banged open. Suddenly there was sunlight streaming in from overhead, and a low roar of the helicopter as its engine began to wake.

Elisa slowed as they stepped outside, indignant. "Did you seriously think I was a Pokémon? I wasn't even outside, the place we are right now."

"I get it!" Lane curled up tight, tail wrapping around herself. She wasn't getting any more confident tucked away in Elisa's pocket. There was a chance that Rocket really would leave Elisa alone. But even if she escaped, Lane probably wouldn't. They were looking for a legendary Pokémon, then thought Elisa was one of them.

They know about the shaymin too.

Hadn't Cedar said he would help her if they needed it? They needed it now.

"I don't know where you heard that," Wyatt said, as though their previous conversation hadn't happened. "But you would be wise not to repeat it. Stop stalling and get aboard, or my friends are going to lose their patience."

"Y-yeah. Losing patience. I… know how they feel."

Lane wasn't even sure she could do this—but she certainly couldn't make it work without line of sight. One success after how many failures? Only one way to find out.

She burst from Elisa's pocket, lifting into the air in front of her with relief.

It wasn't just the stale air—she wasn't meant to be trapped in such a small space. Korina had given her the sky.

She took in Wyatt and the others in a single instant. Similar uniforms to the one Elisa had stolen, but a more modern design, with stark black and white contrasts instead of different browns. Three had oversized stun-sticks drawn, the kind that could knock out a charizard if they had to. Only Wyatt himself was armed, though he hadn't drawn it. His arms were occupied with a heavy plastic crate covered in Rocket markings.

He dropped the case, shock on his face. "Mew."

Shit.