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“Fuck!” the guy is dropping, “Shak, Snack!”

A shadow passes beneath and the falling grunt disappears into the darkness of night.

“Right,” well there's no trail, “Moving on then.”

Ever so carefully, now having a fantastic example of the result of a slip, I clamber into the window of the small airship.

Well, I imagine this joy ride has a network connection to the base. However every time I’ve seen someone teleport it’s looked pretty flashy.

Peeking out the window facing the tunnel into the mountain, “Don’t see any cameras. Doesn’t mean they aren’t there though.”

Pulling up the Wattsons on my phone, barely a ring and they pick up, “This is Kurt, I’ve found the facility.”

Mayor Joe Wattson is on the line, “Good, do you have a secure position for us to teleport in?”

“No,” poking my head up to make sure no one is coming, “I’m onboard a small airship. A tunnel leads into the mountain. I can only assume this whole entrance is under surveillance.”

“We’ll stay on the line if you have any questions.”

“Moving forward.”

Taking out my Palossand’s ball, “Alright Kona, you're the star tonight.”

Sand pours across the deck of the ship as if searching for the real ground, a small mound with a furrowed pair of eyes glares at me.

I point out the window, “Head across the gangplank carefully, stealth mode alright…” I don’t think I actually have a full stealth option here. There's only one entrance into the cave and I can only hope someone on camera duty is slacking off.

“Okay, Ill follow right behind you, cover me and we’ll move slowly off to the side of the tunnel. Glados, as soon as you sense any cameras, take them over but don’t draw attention. Just make sure they don’t catch me.”

We make Bugs Bunny proud, slowly creeping closer to the tunnel in the shadow of the mountain as the night really sets in. Kona’s sand covers me as I army crawl down the entrance.

Glados whispers in my earpiece, “Two cameras Boss. A big steel door, fancy magnetic locks.”

“Can you disable them?”

“Probably, the door malfunctioning will be more noticeable than a resolution drop on the camera.”

Joe chuckles over the Mauville line, “This is why most League agents go with brute force.”

Rolling my eyes, “Kona, make a hole down. Rusty, get digging, we're sneaking around this shit.”

The light of my Sandslash’s pokeball is shielded by Palossand’s sand. Rusty gives a little salute from the hole and starts burrowing ahead, Kona keeps the dirt evenly spread so we’re not just making a big pile of dirt at the front door.

Whispering even softer now that I’m literally in the walls, “Glados, feel a room with a bunch of electronics close by?”

A bit of snark seeps into her monotone voice, “Kind of hard to do from in here Boss.”

Rusty growls up ahead, he carefully makes enough room for me to crawl up beside me before poking one of his Wolverine claws down. A pencil thin beam of light enters our crawlspace.

Slowly, avoiding my metal pangolin’s spines, I peek down into the hole. We should be below the entrance tunnel, and apparently we’re above a locker room. Just to the side is a cable connected to a fluorescent light.

“Great work Rusty.” He gives a proud little chuff and I return him to his ball to make some room, “Glados, camera check.”

The sparks of a Rotom flicker past me into the room and surge along the power cord.

Her sparks return, “All clear Boss.”

“Great, follow the power, find the security room. Kona, widen this hole for me.”

Rotom’s presence causes the lights to flicker ominously in the room. Ghosts being ghosts means the hole widens directly beneath me.

“Shit!”

I barely catch the edge and manage to land upright.

Joe and Senior exclaim over the line, “Everything Alright?!”

Someone else from across the room calls out, “You trip over the light cable or something bud?”

Ya, no, I mute the call real quick so those two don’t mess me up.

“Damn,” I swear loudly, “Nah, I was checking the panel and it shocked me.”

“Fucking maintenance. On that note, hey can you grab me a roll of tp from the cabinet?”

“No problem.”

Around the line of lockers is a doorless bathroom set up. A stainless steel cabinet under the sink has a couple dozen rolls of toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Leaning down by the occupied stall, dude’s pants and belt clipped radio are resting at his ankles. I toss in the roll.

“Thanks man, I’ve been in here like ten minutes hoping someone would show up.”

“Ya, that sucks, sorry pal.”

He chuckles, “All good, all good.”

“No, for this.” This is a jerk move, “Kona, Sand Tomb.”

Black sand and dirt rushes from the floor and into the stall. I hear a quickly muffled scream and thrashing about before everything goes silent once more.

“Soon as he’s out cold, let him go.”

A moment later my free range sandpit spills back out of the stall.

Glados returns as well, “The door behind you heads down a short hall, a stairway just inside leads up to the entrance. One camera at the base of the stairs. Security is the first left past it. Key card door lock. Two humans in the control room.”

Alright, “Glados, Astonish into Thunder Wave one guard. Kona, Sand Tomb the other. Then use their card to open the door.”

Messing with the system itself might trip an alarm.

I watch from the cracked door as Kona flows beneath the steel grate that lines the floor and small sparks discharge from the power cables strung up along the wall. Past the mentioned staircase and around a corner.

A moment later I see a bright flash of light and race forward.

I reach the door just in time to see a couple figures slump to the ground beyond the thick glass window. A second passes and the door unlocks with a solid thunk. Sand spills away as I push in. A wall of monitors tracks the facility above two unconscious grunts in red hoodies. Spilled drinks and a scattered deck of cards on the floor between them.

“I’m just wrecking everyone’s day tonight.” Clicking unmute on the call with the Wattson men.

“Kurt, can you hear us!”

“Yes. I’m here. In the security room.” best not jinx myself about how easy that was. Now I notice a computer with an active seismograph reading. There's also a big red panic button beneath a light indicating an emergency barricade is disengaged.

“Please don’t cut us off again, we were seconds from sending in the Ace Team based on your last location.”

“Ya well, I needed to focus.” I look at my two pokemon, “You guys watch the hall, let me know if someone’s coming.”

Looking back at the monitor bank I immediately catch a familiar face leading a couple folks in lab coats down a hallway. “Looks like Tabitha is here. Will that fancy Mega Solrock alert them to anyone teleporting in?”

“Potentially,” Hollie’s voice from her desk, “They've never been in custody more than a day for us to study it.”

Senior grunts, “Slippery bastard.”

Joe cuts in, “Disable gps interference so we can back you up if necessary and then sync your phone to the network. We’ll backdoor it that way instead of risking a teleport now. What else do you see on the cameras?”

Looking from top to bottom, “Areas around the mountain, a few tunnels, the entrance, a lunch hall… something that looks like a blast furnace in a steel shop. There's a chem lab with some big tanks, looks like something’s in half of 'em. A room full of cages, lots of pokemon, fire types mostly, even a chained up Charizard. A glass room with a big ball of smog. Shit! They’ve got four different pokemon centers monitored including the one the kids are at. That’s why the Airship Pilot was picking up the scientists.”

Looking back at the labs, “They’re already packing things up.”

“Find the gps scrambler now Kurt!”

One last thing catches my eye, “They’ve got a train.”

“What?!”

“There's an elevator shaft to an underground rail line. They’re already moving crates onto a train car.”

“First,” Senior’s firm tone, “The glass room and smog ball should be a Gengar. Let it loose. Then unleash the fire pokemon. Don’t count on grabbing Tabitha, derail the train.”

“You want me to pick up some drinks while I’m at it?” I’m waving my hands over the control panel trying to find anything gps related.

“Clock’s ticking Kurt.”

I pass a green indicator labeled ‘Sat Scram.’

“Found it. I’m turning it off now. Give me 15 minutes to disable the elevator and train before you send anyone else in. Teleport is still off the table until we know they’re alerted.”

“We’ll send in the backup as soon as the Porygons take over the systems.”

I quickly download a copy of the facility map and pull it up in the corner of my goggles like a game minimap.

Alright, time to go all Doom on these assholes.

“Glados, until we reach the pokemon cells I want you to kill the lights as I approach each room. Kona, Sand Tomb and Drain anyone I don’t reach first.”

Grabbing another ball off my belt, Salazzle appears, giving me a curious look.

“Good evening lovely young miss, would you be a doll and keep our back covered with a smoke screen as we move?”

She bats her eyes and nods eagerly, the prospect of mischief sings to her soul.

Moving back into the hall, static arcing off the wall cables, sand shifting beneath the floor grates. Also smoke dripping from the mouth of the five foot, black, monitor lizard following me.

Joe must be in the security feeds now, “Looking like a proper nightmare there Kurt.”

“And yet I feel something’s missing.” Another Pokeball. Blue makes his entrance. Waving around his staff as if looking for an enemy.

I chuckle, “My thoughts exactly bud, I want the spear. Afterwards stay close and out of sight with Salazzle. You two watch my back.”

Blue looks around for something before turning back to me with a crying sound.

Glados translates, “There's no wood or plant material inside a volcano boss.”

“Ah,” right, “Well you’re made of wood aren't you? No time like the present to master all those shape changing moves we looked at.”

Slowly but surely my stump druid shifts into a long shaft and two points, a bident. The top of the haft has two eyes and the glowing green miracle seed, shaped like swirling commas.

“Ha, who needs a Honedge?”

Blue chuckles in his usual creepy laugh.

“Next stop, Gengar.”

We start down the hall, first door is the mess hall, I spot Glados and Kona moving towards it, “Not that way. Well skip ahead and just let the Wattsons lock it up with the system.”

Only one woman gets a nasty sand tackle and smother on our way deeper into the lab. Everyone must be packing up for the getaway.

Hollie reports their progress, “Kurt, the seismic alarms have been disabled and the emergency buttons in each compartment should be cut off.”

I open a door to the chamber with a large glass box, “Oh good, because I was wondering If I can just smash this cage.”

The lights flicker as Glados circles the room. Looking at the ominous gas cloud the size of a car, “I’m guessing they avoid guarding you in person.”

A high pitched cackle fills the room. Three red eyes appear in the black cloud.

Joe’s panicked voice comes over the line, “Kurt, that’s not a normal Gengar. Don’t let it out! We can have a Master on sight later.”

“No, we’re good.” Walking up to the edge of the glass, “We’re just going to have some fun, right pal?”

Mega Gengar dashes right up against the glass in front of me in a blur. It's great maw of pearly white teeth stretching in an obscenely wide grin. It nods excitedly.

“I’m setting you loose,” I tap the glass, noting hundreds of esoteric looking seals etched all around it, “You are to put anyone important looking to sleep, give them nightmares if you like, no one escapes. When you’re done, get lost to Mt. Pyre where the rest of you ghosts gather.”

More enthusiastic nodding, a purple tongue licks non existent lips.

Bring out Marble’s ball, the white and gold Onix nearly fills this part of the room. I only wink at her and tap the glass.

She rumbles in what I assume is excitement, coiling like the giant rock snake she is before striking out. Glass flies in every direction.

A horrible laughter fills the space and surely echoes throughout the facility.

“HEheehehehhee!”

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