Chapter 11

My vision slowly returned and the world became clearer as I recovered from unconsciousness. When I was finally awake, I noticed I was inside in a small jail cell, if you would call it that. There was only a hard bed to my left, and a mirror to my right, which was dirty with dust. I looked outside of the bars, and I noticed I was in some kind of warehouse, and there was some kind of assembly line formed around a moving conveyor belt. I couldn't see what was on the belt, but I knew it couldn't be good. What really caught my attention were the uniforms of the people. They all donned black uniforms with the trademark red "R" on the chest. I didn't need to guess to know who this was.

I walked over to the mirror and rubbed my palm across it, clearing the dust. And then I saw my face: tired, worn, and beaten. I still had a cut across my forehead from my fall in the woods, but it had been cleaned up. I also had a large bump around my eye, which in turn was brown and bruised from the shotgun butt that had hit it.

I groaned as I dragged my feet over to the bed and sat down. And then I remembered my pokemon. I looked to my right side, and all I saw were empty pokeball clips. My pokedex was also missing, along with my knapsack.

I laid down on the bed and stared at the cracked ceiling of my jail cell, still dazed from my unconsciousness. I drifted off into a disturbing sleep, but was awoken some time later by an unfamiliar voice. "Wake up. Wake up!"

I woke up and my vision cleared to reveal a girl. She was beautiful, and my eyes widened as I glared at her face.

"It's about time," she said, holding something out to me as I slowly rised, "You've been sleeping for a couple hours now. I brought you some dinner." I took the plate and examined the food. After looking at it, I quickly set it down away from me in disgust.

"You expect me to eat that?" I yelled at her.

"I'm sorry," she replied passionately, "That's what they gave me to give you."

"So first you guys knock me out, then you lock me up in this tiny jail cell, take my pokemon, my pokedex, and my belongings, and then feed me this stuff?" I asked, my anger rising inside of me.

She stood up quickly after that remark and replied, "Listen, I'm trying to be nice to you, but you just get more angry at me. I'm not in charge here, ok? I'm just a 'Junior Rocket', which means that I'm treated like dirt. I have to do what they say, or I get in trouble. So I'm trying my best to make it easier for both of us, but you're not helping!" With that, she stormed out of the cell furiously.

I looked at my food, and realized how hungry I was. I grabbed the plate and fork, and began eating it, despite the horrible taste. After eating I walked up to the cell bars and looked outside, watching the Rocket members frantically work in the assembly line. I kept looking until I got a clear look at what they were doing. Finally, I got a quick glance at the conveyor belt when one of the members stepped back. I saw pokeballs piled on top of each other, and the men and women were putting them into separate bins across from them. I assumed that they were sorting them by type, and I went back to my bed, thinking about their whole plan. They are stopping trainers on the scenic path, stealing their pokemon, and then locking the trainers up. The stolen pokemon are then sorted into their appropriate types, but there was still the question as to where the pokemon went after this. I had heard of Giovanni, the creator of Team Rocket, in a news report, and they told of his power. I then guessed that the pokemon were sent to him for his choosing. But that still didn't explain what happened to the unwanted pokemon. I left it at that as I lay down and fell asleep again.

It was morning when I awoke, but the conveyor belt hadn't started yet. The people were probably eating breakfast now. I went over to the mirror and rubbed my face, hoping to wake myself up. I then walked back to my bed and sat down, staring at the empty warehouse.

Soon, voices formed in the background, and they grew louder as the Rockets returned from the cafeteria. I could here laughing and talking while they walked in and filled the empty warehouse. And then I noticed the girl that had delivered my dinner to me last night. She was sulking, and had a very depressed look on her face. It was odd seeing her like that, and I decided that I needed to find out what was wrong when she delivered me my meal again.

Soon enough, she entered my cell and gave me my breakfast. She still had the sullen look on her face, so I took the opportunity to ask her why, "Hey, what's wrong?"

She looked up at me and didn't reply for awhile, until she finally spoke up, "I hate this place. I hate the people here, I hate being here, and I hate what we're doing here. This place is like a prison; they hold you here and you can't do anything but work."

I was surprised by that remark, and was speechless. She continued when she realized I wasn't going to reply to her comment, "I can't believe what goes on in here. You have no idea, but I do. I hate taking pokemon away from their owners, I hate it. And the worst part is, all of the weak pokemon are thrown back into the woods, without food or shelter," she paused for a few seconds, "or their master. Do you know how hard it is for a trained pokemon to coexist with wild ones? It's almost impossible for it to survive. And they die because of us, because of me."

Again, I was completely speechless, and she just stared down at the ground. I followed her eyes, and glared down at the same piece of worn cement that she was. After a short while, she said quietly, with cracks in her voice, "I need to get out. I have to get out of this place. I have to get away from everyone and everything here."

This time, I replied, but still hastily, "I can help you, if you help me."

She glanced up at my face, shocked by my proposition, "How?"

"Listen," I started, "I want out of here too, but I can't do it without your help. I want my pokemon and my belongings back, along with my freedom from this place, and I'll help get you out of here."

As she listened, she remained still, and finally leaned back when I finished. "One more thing," she said slowly, "There's one more thing I want."

***

It was the next day, near lunchtime. I had found out the young Rocket's name: Ariana. I had also found out that she was a month younger than I was, although she looked younger than that. We had a plan, a complicated one, but it was still a plan.

She served me my lunch, cautious not to arouse any suspicion of our plan. Once the lunch was over for the other Rockets, she would retrieve my belt with my pokeballs attached. But that was only if all went well, which doesn't seem to be happening much lately. She had mentioned today being an important day, but I guess I just wasn't listening. Only time could tell what would happen.

I sat in my small jail cell reading a book, but also listening in on some of the conversations that were formulating. Everyone seemed to be extremely talkative, although I still couldn't find out why. But, I soon found out, and it was not good.

He stepped into the warehouse with swift steps, always remaining cautious and alert. I couldn't see his face, for it seemed to remain hidden in the dark shadows that he stepped through. Next to him, I saw the large cat, purring softly, while also keeping a strong watch on its surroundings. I knew who he was, and I was terribly frightened. But what surprised me even more was who was behind him. I recognized them immediately. They were Brian and Sarah, or really Jake and Erin. I remembered that encounter with them before on Mt. Moon and slowly stepped back to hide in the shadows, hoping they wouldn't see me. They must of escaped from the police's custody somehow, and now they were back, assisting their boss in his evil ways.

I saw the leader of the group walk into the warehouse, taking in every detail about it, and making sire everyone was working. As he was walking, I noticed he was making his way towards me, but slowly at that. Finally, he made it to me, and I stood up, facing his tall body.

Erin and Jake didn't see me yet, but I knew they would eventually. Their boss turned to one of the closest Rockets working at the factory, "What is this child in here for?"

"Um, uh…see, si-ii-rr…um…he's..uh.." The Rocket was too scared to respond, and Giovanni's anger rose.

"What is this child here for?" he boomed, listening to his loud voice echo through the factory.

A large man stepped up, "We found him wandering outside. Since we thought he had seen our factory, we knocked him out and brought him here, uh…sir."

"Thank you," Giovanni said, turning back to me, "So, you were wandering around outside, huh? I don't like when people wander around my operations, especially pokemon trainers." He must have noticed one of my pokemon badges from inside my jacket. He continued, "So, do you have any strong pokemon?"

I continued my firm expression, not saying anything. Finally, Jake stepped up to the bars, "The boss asked you a-" He stopped, finally discovering who I really was. "You!" he yelled angrily, "You're the little prick that put us away, aren't you?"

His boss was aroused by his follower's remark and asked me, "So, you're the trainer that put two of my best followers in the custody of the police? Interesting." He stopped, turning back to Jake and Erin, "Okay. Kill him. But make it quick, we have a very busy schedule ahead of us." I stepped back in my cell, watching Jake pull out a gun. There was nowhere I could run to. I was trapped. I shot a glance towards Ariana, but she wasn't there. I saw her quickly jolt to a closet on the other end of the warehouse, where the stolen pokemon were kept. Jake pointed the gun at me and said in a dark tone, "Revenge is sweet." He pulled the trigger and…*click* Jake looked down at the gun, and realized that the clip was empty. He began to put in a new one, all while swearing loudly. It would just give more time for Ariana to get my belt.

Jake again pointed his gun at me, but was stopped by Ariana's loud remark, "Stop!"

He jolted around and looked at her, but it was Erin who responded with a sneer, "What is it?"

Ariana walked up to my cell and stood in front of me, facing them, "You can't just kill someone like that. It's not right, and it's against human nature."

"What?" Erin asked, stepping closer to her, "How can you judge human nature? You're not fit to be a member of Team Rocket!"

Ariana was also making good use of this time, though. Behind her back, she slipped me my belt, with all six pokeballs attached, through the bars. I grabbed the belt and also kept it hidden from the view of the staring eyes, stepping back into the shadows.

Ariana was hurt from Erin's last remark, but still waited for me to do my part of the plan that had developed. I waited for the right moment, and soon saw Giovanni again approaching my cell. "Better now than never," I said quietly to myself, pulling out a pokeball. "Togepi, go!" I screamed, allowing all eyes to turn to me. I quickly picked the pokemon up and grabbed Ariana's hand through the cell bars. One I had a firm grip on both I said to Togepi, "Teleport, now!"

He squinted his eyes and began to swing his hands around in small circles. They quickly began to glow a faint blue and, in a matter of seconds, all three of us were flashed outside. Outside into the warm, summer airs. Outside where the birds were chirping and the flowers were glowing in the sunlight. Outside from the musty cell in the old warehouse. Outside to freedom.

"It worked!" Ariana squealed with happiness, hugging me. I felt weird though; one minute I was at Ariana's throat, the next she was hugging me after freeing me. I couldn't trust her just yet, but she did save my life, and I had to credit that to her.

"Okay," I said quickly, "We have to get out of this area, away from the search parties."

"Yes," she agreed as we began to run up the same path that I had been knocked unconscious on.

After running for several minutes, we both grew tired and sat down to rest. As she pulled out a water canteen from her knapsack, I listened to some noise coming a little further up the trail. "C'mon," I said, helping her up, "I think there's a highway up there or something. Let's try to hitch a ride up there."

We soon found the highway about 50 yards up the trail a little, and found a ride with a man who owned a pick-up truck. Ariana and I sat in the back, laying down to stare upwards at the passing clouds. I still owed her my part of the deal. I had a new companion.