Chapter 37

The Pokémon bore down on her, looking as furious as their masters.

Each one glowered in her general direction. "Better listen!" said the blue one, though how it could say anything with that tongue, she didn't know. "Or we hurt you."

"Hypno, do your thing," said one of the thugs. The same one that had thrown its pokéball. "Make her talk."

It obeyed, eyes focusing on her as it moved the little coin it held gently back and forth. "Obey," it said, as strong in her mind as it was out loud. "You will listen."

Lane felt it pressing up against her mind, an attack that few human beings would be able to resist. That was what made the attack so shocking in the first place—a Pokémon ordered to attack a human being.

But Lane only looked like one now. She met the Pokémon's eyes, and suddenly all of Korina's training came into focus. She was prepared for an attack like this. An attack that could've crushed an ordinary person until they were a gibbering wreck washed off her like water off a vaporeon's back.

"What do you want to know?" Lane asked, voice suddenly calm. Was that what a mind-controlled person should sound like?

The hypno didn't seem to think so. It blinked, giving up its attack and turning back to its master. "Something is wrong."

"You boarded this train in the presence of a dangerous legendary," their leader said, ignoring the Pokémon completely. "Were you its trainer?"

"No," she said.

His expression hardened. "How did you get it to obey you? Shaymin never let humans close to them without being broken first. Did you do it?"

"No," she said flatly. "We met in the hills above Galea. She persuaded me to help her deceive the population. She flew away when we were finished."

The man smacked his empty fist into the side of the train, hard enough that cracks appeared in the plastic molding.

"Boss, I don't think…" said a voice from behind him. "It's Hypno, sir. He's anxious. I don't think it worked on her."

He ground his teeth together, eyes fixed on her. She looked back, as placidly as she could. She watched his emotions, waiting for that final surge of hostility that would show his intentions to murder her. But can my powers stop a bullet?

"The hair," he finally went on. "Not purple, but… maybe close enough.

Are you one of Sabrina's freaks?"

She raised an eyebrow, letting a little genuine confusion onto her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Think we'd be dead if she was, boss," said the woman. "Looks like we'll have to bring her in."

He groaned in response, turning his back on her and stowing the gun.

"Guess we don't have a choice. Let's get moving, we'll be in Saffron in minutes.

We have to be gone."

Oh shit oh shit oh shit…

The thugs closed in around her, each one flanked by their Pokémon. The woman produced a thick plastic zip tie, holding it out in Lane's direction. "Nice and easy, kid. Hands go in here."

Five people, two Pokémon. Only three were actively watching Lane, and none had weapons raised. She had to do something, had to escape somehow—

but what could she do?

"We shouldn't be here," the hypno said, freezing suddenly. "She is dangerous."

A wave of force exploded out the cabin door beside Lane, strong enough that both humans were slammed backward against the wall. What had been a dying flower moments before writhed and twisted on the floor, its roots rising like tentacles as thick as Lane's arms. It lashed across the room, knocking over the man giving orders and the frog thing.

A pair of Pokémon hovered in the bedroom beyond, the same ones she'd known must still be inside. Elisa was much larger now, a fox that hovered in the air with a crooked smirk on her face. Dominic's hands glowed with deep green light, face twisted in concentration. He must be doing the thing with the flower.

Lane didn't think, just scooped up the fallen pokéball and darted into the cabin. She slammed the door shut behind her, then slid the security bolt across, ducking past the others. "How the hell didn't they find you?" she asked, running for the window. She pressed her fingers to it, gripping the red plastic handle.

She yanked, and the window sprang open. At once, sirens began to ring through the train. White light flashed from a single lamp by the door, just as it rattled against the frame with the force of a terrifying impact.

"By not being there when they looked," Dominic called, spinning on her.

"Hope you didn't plan on walking away from this. You just pulled the emergency release!"

The door banged again, and this time the metal caved inward, bending enough to permit shafts of light through the opening on either side.

"I know!" She straightened, securing her hand under the lacy strap around one shoulder. "We can't walk out." She yanked it down, pulling the skirt down with it.

It wasn't quite the same fear she'd felt when Elisa spoke to the villagers of Galea for the first time. But the effect was similar—she felt an overwhelming wave of embarrassment, centered on Dominic. She turned to face him, and her cheeks lit up as pink as her hair.

It worked. Lane might not know how to make transformation work, exactly. But she wanted to have any body except the one she'd been wearing.

She shrunk so fast that she was left hanging in the air, tail bobbing beneath her.

The door banged open, and one of the masked thugs stood in the doorway, his body too thick to allow any of the others past him.

Lane lifted one paw, channeling all the force of her fear and frustration into a wave of pressure. He fell backward through the door, smashing against the wall as though it were the floor.

They fled. Lane brought the others in close, then surrounded them with a bright pink bubble small enough to fit through the exterior window.

Almost small enough. Glass shattered and metal whined as they burst out into the open air. They blasted upward and forward, slowing only slightly with friction on the outside of the bubble.

The others watched him—Dominic fearful, and Elisa just annoyed. "You pressure me into using the damn flower," she said, voice deep and confident.

"Aren't you grateful I rescued you?"

"Oh, of course." She kept her bubble up for a few moments more, until they'd slowed enough that she was fairly confident they wouldn't get blasted away at high speed. "I thought you were afraid to fly on your own, Elisa. Are you sure about this?"

"He's sure," Dominic said, voice flat and annoyed. "You know how he gets."

If someone hadn't tried to kill her today, she might be having vertigo from the way Dominic tossed pronouns around. But considering what had just happened, she didn't even mention it.

Elisa didn't seem to mind either, and the scent certainly agreed. Lane flushed, tail curling around one of her hindlegs as she finally opened the bubble. "Alright, Elisa. But you should know—those guys were looking for you.

Not me, not Dominic. And we probably shouldn't just float up here." She stared down, eyes fixed on the train's distant outline. She could keep it in her mind easily, even while floating here, and holding the pokéball along with them.

Elisa zoomed around them once, giggling energetically. The voice was entirely male, but the joyful giggling seemed a little less so. Should it? Cedar acted like this, and he led the whole clan.

If she was going to find a place in this new world, Lane would have to find a place to drop off all her human baggage.

"I think they might've seen us," Dominic said, without any of Elisa's confidence. "Maybe? Do you think they could see us?"

Lane nodded glumly. "Unfortunately. Maybe they'll be so overwhelmed with shock they forget?"

He rolled his eyes again, patting her once on the shoulder. "I don't think the ones hunting legendaries will be so amazed and confused that they give up. That would make them… really garbage at their job."

His eyes scanned the suburbs below them, melting slowly into Saffron itself. They'd flown up high enough that individual people were hard to spot, let alone cryptid Pokémon. Lane squinted anyway, searching.

Mewtwo was like Korina, right? Whatever human intervention had created him, the same fundamentals were still true underneath. Where would he be hiding in a city so large?

"I guess we just look around?" she said, tilting her head slightly to one side. "The Historical Society told stories about a hero who only comes out at night, protecting people from… stuff. It's night, and the moon is up, so we have that part. We could look for some crime?"

"Kittens would be wise not to seek danger. It needs no assistance finding you."

Lane blinked, spinning in a rapid circle as she searched for the source of the voice. But there was nothing. It clicked a second later: telepathy.

Obviously.

Replying was harder when she couldn't see who she was talking to. But the speaker seemed to want her to reply, because his presence remained close-by. A ghostly figure in her mind, not quite physical.

"Mewtwo? Is that you?"

The feeling of pressure against her grew stronger. She imagined a pair of ghostly blue eyes, gaze unblinking and harsh. "You left the Rockets behind. I must show their masters they are unwelcome in my city." His words were confident, masculine, and utterly unwavering—like a stern professor, who saw her as beneath his attention.

Even without knowing the name, Lane could feel the intention attached to those words.

"What are you doing, Lane?" Elisa circled closer, then smacked into her.

Lane spiraled through the air for a few seconds, and caught herself upside-down. She glared at the fox, eyes harsh. "Calm down a second. He's talking to me."

"Of course he is," Domininc said flatly. "You're a mew. You flew right into his territory and now you're hovering in the sky like a spotlight. Even if human eyes can't see us against the stars, he'll feel you there. As far as ways to track him down, it makes sense, even if it means you're talking to him on his terms."

"Oh." Elisa did stop, shaking herself out and stretching her limbs. She seemed uneasy to be hovering in one place, though that might just be the number of people down below. If this was daytime, there might be hundreds of cell phones already pointed up at them. "If you're sure."

She wasn't, but she wasn't going to admit that, either.

There was a faint flash in the air beside them, a flicker of blue against the black sky. A shape appeared there, dark gray and purple, and towering over her. Not quite human sized, but almost. Its eyes settled on her, and it raised a

paw. Blue light appeared there, and the focus of power far more intense than anything she'd ever felt from Korina.

"I thought you were someone else," he said. There was another flash, and the air seemed different. Colder, biting through Lane's fur. The wind was fierce, but despite the noise and its apparent speed, it barely nudged her.

Then she looked down, and she saw why. The city was no longer model-sized under her paws. Instead, there were a few faint spots of light clustered together, like stars had fallen and embedded themselves in the soil.

She shuddered, tail wrapping tightly around herself. She squealed in surprise, then dropped—but something caught her.

Mewtwo brought her closer, holding her at eye level. "I considered, perhaps, that she had taken an interest in the outside world. Assuming a convincing guise, luring out the agents of Rocket, felt like something she would try."

In many ways, he looked like the same species she was, with a feline face and an oversized tail like hers. Except his was thicker than her whole body, and his head was held up by a secondary neck emerging from behind him. His chest had a pair of armored plates.

The combination suited him, somehow. She smiled weakly up at him.

"My mom doesn't like humans very much, I dunno if she cares what they do."

She wasn't sure where the words had come from—but now that they were out, she couldn't take them back. "I'm glad you found me, Mewtwo. I need your help!"